Karns's Learning Styles and Learning Effectiveness: A Rejoinder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morrison, Mark; Sweeney, Arthur; Heffernan, Troy

2006-01-01

Debate over the link between student learning styles and effective teaching has a long tradition, made more interesting by Karns's recent article "Learning Style Differences in the Perceived Effectiveness of Learning Activities." Fundamentally he asserts, in critiquing Morrison et al. (2003), that marketing educators should not adopt "a high…

Active learning based segmentation of Crohns disease from abdominal MRI.

PubMed

Mahapatra, Dwarikanath; Vos, Franciscus M; Buhmann, Joachim M

2016-05-01

This paper proposes a novel active learning (AL) framework, and combines it with semi supervised learning (SSL) for segmenting Crohns disease (CD) tissues from abdominal magnetic resonance (MR) images. Robust fully supervised learning (FSL) based classifiers require lots of labeled data of different disease severities. Obtaining such data is time consuming and requires considerable expertise. SSL methods use a few labeled samples, and leverage the information from many unlabeled samples to train an accurate classifier. AL queries labels of most informative samples and maximizes gain from the labeling effort. Our primary contribution is in designing a query strategy that combines novel context information with classification uncertainty and feature similarity. Combining SSL and AL gives a robust segmentation method that: (1) optimally uses few labeled samples and many unlabeled samples; and (2) requires lower training time. Experimental results show our method achieves higher segmentation accuracy than FSL methods with fewer samples and reduced training effort. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Predicting Solar Activity Using Machine-Learning Methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bobra, M.

2017-12-01

Of all the activity observed on the Sun, two of the most energetic events are flares and coronal mass ejections. However, we do not, as of yet, fully understand the physical mechanism that triggers solar eruptions. A machine-learning algorithm, which is favorable in cases where the amount of data is large, is one way to [1] empirically determine the signatures of this mechanism in solar image data and [2] use them to predict solar activity. In this talk, we discuss the application of various machine learning algorithms - specifically, a Support Vector Machine, a sparse linear regression (Lasso), and Convolutional Neural Network - to image data from the photosphere, chromosphere, transition region, and corona taken by instruments aboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory in order to predict solar activity on a variety of time scales. Such an approach may be useful since, at the present time, there are no physical models of flares available for real-time prediction. We discuss our results (Bobra and Couvidat, 2015; Bobra and Ilonidis, 2016; Jonas et al., 2017) as well as other attempts to predict flares using machine-learning (e.g. Ahmed et al., 2013; Nishizuka et al. 2017) and compare these results with the more traditional techniques used by the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (Crown, 2012). We also discuss some of the challenges in using machine-learning algorithms for space science applications.

Applying active learning to supervised word sense disambiguation in MEDLINE.

PubMed

Chen, Yukun; Cao, Hongxin; Mei, Qiaozhu; Zheng, Kai; Xu, Hua

2013-01-01

This study was to assess whether active learning strategies can be integrated with supervised word sense disambiguation (WSD) methods, thus reducing the number of annotated samples, while keeping or improving the quality of disambiguation models. We developed support vector machine (SVM) classifiers to disambiguate 197 ambiguous terms and abbreviations in the MSH WSD collection. Three different uncertainty sampling-based active learning algorithms were implemented with the SVM classifiers and were compared with a passive learner (PL) based on random sampling. For each ambiguous term and each learning algorithm, a learning curve that plots the accuracy computed from the test set as a function of the number of annotated samples used in the model was generated. The area under the learning curve (ALC) was used as the primary metric for evaluation. Our experiments demonstrated that active learners (ALs) significantly outperformed the PL, showing better performance for 177 out of 197 (89.8%) WSD tasks. Further analysis showed that to achieve an average accuracy of 90%, the PL needed 38 annotated samples, while the ALs needed only 24, a 37% reduction in annotation effort. Moreover, we analyzed cases where active learning algorithms did not achieve superior performance and identified three causes: (1) poor models in the early learning stage; (2) easy WSD cases; and (3) difficult WSD cases, which provide useful insight for future improvements. This study demonstrated that integrating active learning strategies with supervised WSD methods could effectively reduce annotation cost and improve the disambiguation models.

Applying active learning to supervised word sense disambiguation in MEDLINE

PubMed Central

Chen, Yukun; Cao, Hongxin; Mei, Qiaozhu; Zheng, Kai; Xu, Hua

2013-01-01

Objectives This study was to assess whether active learning strategies can be integrated with supervised word sense disambiguation (WSD) methods, thus reducing the number of annotated samples, while keeping or improving the quality of disambiguation models. Methods We developed support vector machine (SVM) classifiers to disambiguate 197 ambiguous terms and abbreviations in the MSH WSD collection. Three different uncertainty sampling-based active learning algorithms were implemented with the SVM classifiers and were compared with a passive learner (PL) based on random sampling. For each ambiguous term and each learning algorithm, a learning curve that plots the accuracy computed from the test set as a function of the number of annotated samples used in the model was generated. The area under the learning curve (ALC) was used as the primary metric for evaluation. Results Our experiments demonstrated that active learners (ALs) significantly outperformed the PL, showing better performance for 177 out of 197 (89.8%) WSD tasks. Further analysis showed that to achieve an average accuracy of 90%, the PL needed 38 annotated samples, while the ALs needed only 24, a 37% reduction in annotation effort. Moreover, we analyzed cases where active learning algorithms did not achieve superior performance and identified three causes: (1) poor models in the early learning stage; (2) easy WSD cases; and (3) difficult WSD cases, which provide useful insight for future improvements. Conclusions This study demonstrated that integrating active learning strategies with supervised WSD methods could effectively reduce annotation cost and improve the disambiguation models. PMID:23364851

Reducing Annotation Effort Using Generalized Expectation Criteria

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-11-30

constraints additionally consider input variables. Active learning is a related problem in which the learner can choose the particular instances to be...labeled. In pool-based active learning [Cohn et al., 1994], the learner has access to a set of unlabeled instances, and can choose the instance that...has the highest expected utility according to some metric. A standard pool- based active learning method is uncertainty sampling [Lewis and Catlett

Magnetic stimulation of visual cortex impairs perceptual learning.

PubMed

Baldassarre, Antonello; Capotosto, Paolo; Committeri, Giorgia; Corbetta, Maurizio

2016-12-01

The ability to learn and process visual stimuli more efficiently is important for survival. Previous neuroimaging studies have shown that perceptual learning on a shape identification task differently modulates activity in both frontal-parietal cortical regions and visual cortex (Sigman et al., 2005;Lewis et al., 2009). Specifically, fronto-parietal regions (i.e. intra parietal sulcus, pIPS) became less activated for trained as compared to untrained stimuli, while visual regions (i.e. V2d/V3 and LO) exhibited higher activation for familiar shape. Here, after the intensive training, we employed transcranial magnetic stimulation over both visual occipital and parietal regions, previously shown to be modulated, to investigate their causal role in learning the shape identification task. We report that interference with V2d/V3 and LO increased reaction times to learned stimuli as compared to pIPS and Sham control condition. Moreover, the impairment observed after stimulation over the two visual regions was positive correlated. These results strongly support the causal role of the visual network in the control of the perceptual learning. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Improved Neural Signal Classification in a Rapid Serial Visual Presentation Task Using Active Learning.

PubMed

Marathe, Amar R; Lawhern, Vernon J; Wu, Dongrui; Slayback, David; Lance, Brent J

2016-03-01

The application space for brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies is rapidly expanding with improvements in technology. However, most real-time BCIs require extensive individualized calibration prior to use, and systems often have to be recalibrated to account for changes in the neural signals due to a variety of factors including changes in human state, the surrounding environment, and task conditions. Novel approaches to reduce calibration time or effort will dramatically improve the usability of BCI systems. Active Learning (AL) is an iterative semi-supervised learning technique for learning in situations in which data may be abundant, but labels for the data are difficult or expensive to obtain. In this paper, we apply AL to a simulated BCI system for target identification using data from a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) paradigm to minimize the amount of training samples needed to initially calibrate a neural classifier. Our results show AL can produce similar overall classification accuracy with significantly less labeled data (in some cases less than 20%) when compared to alternative calibration approaches. In fact, AL classification performance matches performance of 10-fold cross-validation (CV) in over 70% of subjects when training with less than 50% of the data. To our knowledge, this is the first work to demonstrate the use of AL for offline electroencephalography (EEG) calibration in a simulated BCI paradigm. While AL itself is not often amenable for use in real-time systems, this work opens the door to alternative AL-like systems that are more amenable for BCI applications and thus enables future efforts for developing highly adaptive BCI systems.

A study of active learning methods for named entity recognition in clinical text.

PubMed

Chen, Yukun; Lasko, Thomas A; Mei, Qiaozhu; Denny, Joshua C; Xu, Hua

2015-12-01

Named entity recognition (NER), a sequential labeling task, is one of the fundamental tasks for building clinical natural language processing (NLP) systems. Machine learning (ML) based approaches can achieve good performance, but they often require large amounts of annotated samples, which are expensive to build due to the requirement of domain experts in annotation. Active learning (AL), a sample selection approach integrated with supervised ML, aims to minimize the annotation cost while maximizing the performance of ML-based models. In this study, our goal was to develop and evaluate both existing and new AL methods for a clinical NER task to identify concepts of medical problems, treatments, and lab tests from the clinical notes. Using the annotated NER corpus from the 2010 i2b2/VA NLP challenge that contained 349 clinical documents with 20,423 unique sentences, we simulated AL experiments using a number of existing and novel algorithms in three different categories including uncertainty-based, diversity-based, and baseline sampling strategies. They were compared with the passive learning that uses random sampling. Learning curves that plot performance of the NER model against the estimated annotation cost (based on number of sentences or words in the training set) were generated to evaluate different active learning and the passive learning methods and the area under the learning curve (ALC) score was computed. Based on the learning curves of F-measure vs. number of sentences, uncertainty sampling algorithms outperformed all other methods in ALC. Most diversity-based methods also performed better than random sampling in ALC. To achieve an F-measure of 0.80, the best method based on uncertainty sampling could save 66% annotations in sentences, as compared to random sampling. For the learning curves of F-measure vs. number of words, uncertainty sampling methods again outperformed all other methods in ALC. To achieve 0.80 in F-measure, in comparison to random sampling, the best uncertainty based method saved 42% annotations in words. But the best diversity based method reduced only 7% annotation effort. In the simulated setting, AL methods, particularly uncertainty-sampling based approaches, seemed to significantly save annotation cost for the clinical NER task. The actual benefit of active learning in clinical NER should be further evaluated in a real-time setting. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Self-learning kinetic Monte Carlo simulations of Al diffusion in Mg

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nandipati, Giridhar; Govind, Niranjan; Andersen, Amity

2016-03-16

Atomistic on-lattice self-learning kinetic Monte Carlo (SLKMC) method was used to examine the vacancy-mediated diffusion of an Al atom in pure hcp Mg. Local atomic environment dependent activation barriers for vacancy-atom exchange processes were calculated on-the-fly using climbing image nudged-elastic band method (CI-NEB) and using a Mg-Al binary modified embedded-atom method (MEAM) interatomic potential. Diffusivities of vacancy and Al atom in pure Mg were obtained from SLKMC simulations and are compared with values available in the literature that are obtained from experiments and first-principle calculations. Al Diffusivities obtained from SLKMC simulations are lower, due to larger activation barriers and lowermore » diffusivity prefactors, than those available in the literature but have same order of magnitude. We present all vacancy-Mg and vacancy-Al atom exchange processes and their activation barriers that were identified in SLKMC simulations. We will describe a simple mapping scheme to map a hcp lattice on to a simple cubic lattice that would enable hcp lattices to be simulated in an on-lattice KMC framework. We also present the pattern recognition scheme used in SLKMC simulations.« less

A study of the effects of active listening on listening attitudes of middle managers.

PubMed

Kubota, Shinya; Mishima, Norio; Nagata, Shoji

2004-01-01

The present study was conducted to clarify the direct effects of active listening (AL) training given to middle managers in a local government. Altogether, 345 middle managers participated in 13 AL training sessions over two years. We developed the Inventive Experiential Learning (IEL) method, and used it as the central training method in this study. To investigate how well the participants learned AL, we asked the middle managers to answer a shorter version of the Active Listening Attitude Scale (ALAS) consisting of two subscales-i.e. "Listening Attitude" and "Listening Skill"-before training, one month after and three months after training. Altogether, 284 middle managers answered the questionnaire three times. The scores of each subscale were analyzed by repeated measurement analysis of variance. The participants were divided into three groups using the percentile values of the original sample of ALAS, i.e. low-score group (-24%), medium-score group (25-75%) and high-score group (76%-), and the proportionate changes were examined. The results showed both the "Listening Attitude" and "Listening Skill" subscales increased significantly after training. Analysis of the percentiles showed that the proportion of the low-score group decreased and that of the high-score group increased in both subscales, from one to three months after training. These changes are considered to indicate that the participants have learned AL although they attended AL training for only one day.

Proteomics Reveals the Molecular Underpinnings of Stronger Learning and Memory in Eastern Compared to Western Bees*

PubMed Central

Meng, Lifeng; Huo, Xinmei; Feng, Mao; Fang, Yu; Han, Bin; Hu, Han; Wu, Fan; Li, Jianke

2018-01-01

The eastern (Apis cerana cerana, Acc) and western (Apis mellifera ligustica, Aml) honeybee are two major honeybee species. Surprisingly, little is known about the fundamental molecular neurobiology of brain suborgans of Acc and Aml. We characterized and compared the proteomes of mushroom bodies (MBs), antennal lobes (ALs) and optical lobes (OLs) in the brain of both species, and biologically validated the functions related to learning and memory. Acc and Aml have evolved similar proteome signatures in MBs and OLs to drive the domain-specific neural activities. In MBs of both species, commonly enriched and enhanced functional groups related to protein metabolism and Ca2+ transport relative to ALs and OLs, suggests that proteins and Ca2+ are vital for consolidating learning and memory via modulation of synaptic structure and signal transduction. Furthermore, in OLs of both species, the mainly enriched ribonucleoside metabolism suggests its vital role as second messenger in promoting phototransduction. Notably, in ALs of both species, distinct proteome settings have shaped to prime olfactory learning and memory. In ALs of Acc, this is supported by the enriched cytoskeleton organization to sustain olfactory signaling through modulation of plasticity in glomeruli and intracellular transport. In ALs of Aml, however, the enriched functional groups implicated in hydrogen ion transport are indicative of their importance in supporting olfactory processes by regulation of synaptic transmission. The biological confirmation of enhanced activities of protein metabolism and signal transduction in ALs and MBs of Acc relative to in Aml demonstrates that a stronger sense of olfactory learning and memory has evolved in Acc. The reported first in-depth proteome data of honeybee brain suborgans provide a novel insight into the molecular basis of neurobiology, and is potentially useful for further neurological studies in honeybees and other insects. PMID:29187519

Learning and dynamics in social systems. Comment on "Collective learning modeling based on the kinetic theory of active particles" by D. Burini et al.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dolfin, Marina

2016-03-01

The interesting novelty of the paper by Burini et al. [1] is that the authors present a survey and a new approach of collective learning based on suitable development of methods of the kinetic theory [2] and theoretical tools of evolutionary game theory [3]. Methods of statistical dynamics and kinetic theory lead naturally to stochastic and collective dynamics. Indeed, the authors propose the use of games where the state of the interacting entities is delivered by probability distributions.

How Gender and Reformed Introductory Physics Impacts Student Success in Advanced Physics Courses and Continuation in the Physics Major

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rodriguez, Idaykis; Potvin, Geoff; Kramer, Laird H.

2016-01-01

Active-learning approaches to teaching introductory physics have been found to improve student learning and affective gains on short-term outcomes [S. Freeman et al., "Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 111," 8410 (2014)]; however, whether or not the benefits of active learning impact women to the same degree as men has been a point of…

Better than Expected: Using Learning Analytics to Promote Student Success in Gateway Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wright, Mary C.; McKay, Timothy; Hershock, Chad; Miller, Kate; Tritz, Jared

2014-01-01

Learning Analytics (LA) has been identified as one of the top technology trends in higher education today (Johnson et al., 2013). LA is based on the idea that datasets generated through normal administrative, teaching, or learning activities--such as registrar data or interactions with learning management systems--can be analyzed to enhance…

Active learning as a path to critical thinking: are competencies a roadblock?

PubMed

Tedesco-Schneck, Mary

2013-01-01

Nursing educators are called to graduate students who are critical thinkers able to face the challenge of negotiating increasingly complex health care systems (Candela, 2011; Cerullo and da Cruz, 2010). Active learning has been incited as a mechanism to foster critical thinking skills (Michel et al., 2009; Pascarella, 2005; Walker, 2003). Yet despite evidence and academic applause in favor of active pedagogies, passive pedagogies continue to dominant the nursing education landscape (Brown et al., 2009; Burbach et al., 2004; Schnell, 2005). Although, scholarly literature in nursing and education substantiate existence of various obstacles that inhibit faculty incorporation of active pedagogies, perhaps the insidious culture of competencies in nursing education is what truly engenders a milieu for the continued use of passive pedagogies. In this article, I aim to stimulate debate about the culture of competencies in nursing education as the overriding force which perpetuates use of passive pedagogies. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Active Self-Paced Learning for Cost-Effective and Progressive Face Identification.

PubMed

Lin, Liang; Wang, Keze; Meng, Deyu; Zuo, Wangmeng; Zhang, Lei

2018-01-01

This paper aims to develop a novel cost-effective framework for face identification, which progressively maintains a batch of classifiers with the increasing face images of different individuals. By naturally combining two recently rising techniques: active learning (AL) and self-paced learning (SPL), our framework is capable of automatically annotating new instances and incorporating them into training under weak expert recertification. We first initialize the classifier using a few annotated samples for each individual, and extract image features using the convolutional neural nets. Then, a number of candidates are selected from the unannotated samples for classifier updating, in which we apply the current classifiers ranking the samples by the prediction confidence. In particular, our approach utilizes the high-confidence and low-confidence samples in the self-paced and the active user-query way, respectively. The neural nets are later fine-tuned based on the updated classifiers. Such heuristic implementation is formulated as solving a concise active SPL optimization problem, which also advances the SPL development by supplementing a rational dynamic curriculum constraint. The new model finely accords with the "instructor-student-collaborative" learning mode in human education. The advantages of this proposed framework are two-folds: i) The required number of annotated samples is significantly decreased while the comparable performance is guaranteed. A dramatic reduction of user effort is also achieved over other state-of-the-art active learning techniques. ii) The mixture of SPL and AL effectively improves not only the classifier accuracy compared to existing AL/SPL methods but also the robustness against noisy data. We evaluate our framework on two challenging datasets, which include hundreds of persons under diverse conditions, and demonstrate very promising results. Please find the code of this project at: http://hcp.sysu.edu.cn/projects/aspl/.

Improving condition severity classification with an efficient active learning based framework

PubMed Central

Nissim, Nir; Boland, Mary Regina; Tatonetti, Nicholas P.; Elovici, Yuval; Hripcsak, George; Shahar, Yuval; Moskovitch, Robert

2017-01-01

Classification of condition severity can be useful for discriminating among sets of conditions or phenotypes, for example when prioritizing patient care or for other healthcare purposes. Electronic Health Records (EHRs) represent a rich source of labeled information that can be harnessed for severity classification. The labeling of EHRs is expensive and in many cases requires employing professionals with high level of expertise. In this study, we demonstrate the use of Active Learning (AL) techniques to decrease expert labeling efforts. We employ three AL methods and demonstrate their ability to reduce labeling efforts while effectively discriminating condition severity. We incorporate three AL methods into a new framework based on the original CAESAR (Classification Approach for Extracting Severity Automatically from Electronic Health Records) framework to create the Active Learning Enhancement framework (CAESAR-ALE). We applied CAESAR-ALE to a dataset containing 516 conditions of varying severity levels that were manually labeled by seven experts. Our dataset, called the “CAESAR dataset,” was created from the medical records of 1.9 million patients treated at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC). All three AL methods decreased labelers’ efforts compared to the learning methods applied by the original CAESER framework in which the classifier was trained on the entire set of conditions; depending on the AL strategy used in the current study, the reduction ranged from 48% to 64% that can result in significant savings, both in time and money. As for the PPV (precision) measure, CAESAR-ALE achieved more than 13% absolute improvement in the predictive capabilities of the framework when classifying conditions as severe. These results demonstrate the potential of AL methods to decrease the labeling efforts of medical experts, while increasing accuracy given the same (or even a smaller) number of acquired conditions. We also demonstrated that the methods included in the CAESAR-ALE framework (Exploitation and Combination_XA) are more robust to the use of human labelers with different levels of professional expertise. PMID:27016383

Improving condition severity classification with an efficient active learning based framework.

PubMed

Nissim, Nir; Boland, Mary Regina; Tatonetti, Nicholas P; Elovici, Yuval; Hripcsak, George; Shahar, Yuval; Moskovitch, Robert

2016-06-01

Classification of condition severity can be useful for discriminating among sets of conditions or phenotypes, for example when prioritizing patient care or for other healthcare purposes. Electronic Health Records (EHRs) represent a rich source of labeled information that can be harnessed for severity classification. The labeling of EHRs is expensive and in many cases requires employing professionals with high level of expertise. In this study, we demonstrate the use of Active Learning (AL) techniques to decrease expert labeling efforts. We employ three AL methods and demonstrate their ability to reduce labeling efforts while effectively discriminating condition severity. We incorporate three AL methods into a new framework based on the original CAESAR (Classification Approach for Extracting Severity Automatically from Electronic Health Records) framework to create the Active Learning Enhancement framework (CAESAR-ALE). We applied CAESAR-ALE to a dataset containing 516 conditions of varying severity levels that were manually labeled by seven experts. Our dataset, called the "CAESAR dataset," was created from the medical records of 1.9 million patients treated at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC). All three AL methods decreased labelers' efforts compared to the learning methods applied by the original CAESER framework in which the classifier was trained on the entire set of conditions; depending on the AL strategy used in the current study, the reduction ranged from 48% to 64% that can result in significant savings, both in time and money. As for the PPV (precision) measure, CAESAR-ALE achieved more than 13% absolute improvement in the predictive capabilities of the framework when classifying conditions as severe. These results demonstrate the potential of AL methods to decrease the labeling efforts of medical experts, while increasing accuracy given the same (or even a smaller) number of acquired conditions. We also demonstrated that the methods included in the CAESAR-ALE framework (Exploitation and Combination_XA) are more robust to the use of human labelers with different levels of professional expertise. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The SWRL Audio Laboratory System (ALS): An Integrated Configuration for Psychomusicology Research. Technical Report 51.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, David Brian; Hoskin, Richard K.

This report describes features of the Audio Laboratory System (ALS), a device which supports research activities of the Southwest Regional Laboratory's Music Program. The ALS is used primarily to generate recorded audio tapes for psychomusicology research related to children's perception and learning of music concepts such as pitch, loudness,…

A "Vision and Change" Reform of Introductory Biology Shifts Faculty Perceptions and Use of Active Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Auerbach, Anna Jo; Schussler, Elisabeth

2017-01-01

Increasing faculty use of active-learning (AL) pedagogies in college classrooms is a persistent challenge in biology education. A large research-intensive university implemented changes to its biology majors' two-course introductory sequence as outlined by the "Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education" final report. One goal…

Using Formal Game Design Methods to Embed Learning Outcomes into Game Mechanics and Avoid Emergent Behaviour

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grey, Simon; Grey, David; Gordon, Neil; Purdy, Jon

2017-01-01

This paper offers an approach to designing game-based learning experiences inspired by the Mechanics-Dynamics-Aesthetics (MDA) model (Hunicke et al., 2004) and the elemental tetrad model (Schell, 2008) for game design. A case for game based learning as an active and social learning experience is presented including arguments from both teachers and…

An Active Learning Framework for Hyperspectral Image Classification Using Hierarchical Segmentation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zhang, Zhou; Pasolli, Edoardo; Crawford, Melba M.; Tilton, James C.

2015-01-01

Augmenting spectral data with spatial information for image classification has recently gained significant attention, as classification accuracy can often be improved by extracting spatial information from neighboring pixels. In this paper, we propose a new framework in which active learning (AL) and hierarchical segmentation (HSeg) are combined for spectral-spatial classification of hyperspectral images. The spatial information is extracted from a best segmentation obtained by pruning the HSeg tree using a new supervised strategy. The best segmentation is updated at each iteration of the AL process, thus taking advantage of informative labeled samples provided by the user. The proposed strategy incorporates spatial information in two ways: 1) concatenating the extracted spatial features and the original spectral features into a stacked vector and 2) extending the training set using a self-learning-based semi-supervised learning (SSL) approach. Finally, the two strategies are combined within an AL framework. The proposed framework is validated with two benchmark hyperspectral datasets. Higher classification accuracies are obtained by the proposed framework with respect to five other state-of-the-art spectral-spatial classification approaches. Moreover, the effectiveness of the proposed pruning strategy is also demonstrated relative to the approaches based on a fixed segmentation.

Making Mitosis Visible

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, Michelle; Linn, Marcia C.; Hollowell, Gail P.

2008-01-01

The Technology-Enhanced Learning in Science (TELS) center, a National Science Foundation-funded Center for Learning and Teaching, offers research-tested science modules for students in grades 6-12 (Linn et al. 2006). These free, online modules engage students in scientific inquiry through collaborative activities that include online…

Understanding Complex Ecologies: An Investigation of Student Experiences in Adventure Learning Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koseoglu, Suzan; Doering, Aaron

2011-01-01

The GoNorth! Adventure Learning (AL) Series delivered educational programs about global climate change and sustainability from 2006 to 2010 via a hybrid-learning environment that included a curriculum designed with activities that worked in conjunction with the travels of Team GoNorth! as they dog sledded throughout the circumpolar Arctic. This…

The Effect of a Stimulating Learning Environment on Pre-Service Teachers' Motivation and 21st Century Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nissim, Yonit; Weissblueth, Eyal; Scott-Webber, Lennie; Amar, Shimon

2016-01-01

We investigated the effect of an innovative technology-supported learning environment on pre-service student teachers' motivation and 21st century skills. Students and instructors filled-in the Active Learning Post Occupancy Evaluation (AL-POE) questionnaire. Analysis included tests for individual items and a comparison of the overall mean,…

The State of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gurung, Regan A. R.; Ansburg, Pamela I.; Alexander, Patricia A.; Lawrence, Natalie Kerr; Johnson, David E.

2008-01-01

Many members of the academy have tried to broaden the construct of scholarship to include activities that investigate pedagogy and student learning, the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). Halpern et al. (1998) first established such a definition for the field of psychology. This article reports on a Society for the Teaching of Psychology…

Directed functional connectivity matures with motor learning in a cortical pattern generator.

PubMed

Day, Nancy F; Terleski, Kyle L; Nykamp, Duane Q; Nick, Teresa A

2013-02-01

Sequential motor skills may be encoded by feedforward networks that consist of groups of neurons that fire in sequence (Abeles 1991; Long et al. 2010). However, there has been no evidence of an anatomic map of activation sequence in motor control circuits, which would be potentially detectable as directed functional connectivity of coactive neuron groups. The proposed pattern generator for birdsong, the HVC (Long and Fee 2008; Vu et al. 1994), contains axons that are preferentially oriented in the rostrocaudal axis (Nottebohm et al. 1982; Stauffer et al. 2012). We used four-tetrode recordings to assess the activity of ensembles of single neurons along the rostrocaudal HVC axis in anesthetized zebra finches. We found an axial, polarized neural network in which sequential activity is directionally organized along the rostrocaudal axis in adult males, who produce a stereotyped song. Principal neurons fired in rostrocaudal order and with interneurons that were rostral to them, suggesting that groups of excitatory neurons fire at the leading edge of travelling waves of inhibition. Consistent with the synchronization of neurons by caudally travelling waves of inhibition, the activity of interneurons was more coherent in the orthogonal mediolateral axis than in the rostrocaudal axis. If directed functional connectivity within the HVC is important for stereotyped, learned song, then it may be lacking in juveniles, which sing a highly variable song. Indeed, we found little evidence for network directionality in juveniles. These data indicate that a functionally directed network within the HVC matures during sensorimotor learning and may underlie vocal patterning.

Directed functional connectivity matures with motor learning in a cortical pattern generator

PubMed Central

Day, Nancy F.; Terleski, Kyle L.; Nykamp, Duane Q.

2013-01-01

Sequential motor skills may be encoded by feedforward networks that consist of groups of neurons that fire in sequence (Abeles 1991; Long et al. 2010). However, there has been no evidence of an anatomic map of activation sequence in motor control circuits, which would be potentially detectable as directed functional connectivity of coactive neuron groups. The proposed pattern generator for birdsong, the HVC (Long and Fee 2008; Vu et al. 1994), contains axons that are preferentially oriented in the rostrocaudal axis (Nottebohm et al. 1982; Stauffer et al. 2012). We used four-tetrode recordings to assess the activity of ensembles of single neurons along the rostrocaudal HVC axis in anesthetized zebra finches. We found an axial, polarized neural network in which sequential activity is directionally organized along the rostrocaudal axis in adult males, who produce a stereotyped song. Principal neurons fired in rostrocaudal order and with interneurons that were rostral to them, suggesting that groups of excitatory neurons fire at the leading edge of travelling waves of inhibition. Consistent with the synchronization of neurons by caudally travelling waves of inhibition, the activity of interneurons was more coherent in the orthogonal mediolateral axis than in the rostrocaudal axis. If directed functional connectivity within the HVC is important for stereotyped, learned song, then it may be lacking in juveniles, which sing a highly variable song. Indeed, we found little evidence for network directionality in juveniles. These data indicate that a functionally directed network within the HVC matures during sensorimotor learning and may underlie vocal patterning. PMID:23175804

Student Buy-In to Active Learning in a College Science Course.

PubMed

Cavanagh, Andrew J; Aragón, Oriana R; Chen, Xinnian; Couch, Brian; Durham, Mary; Bobrownicki, Aiyana; Hanauer, David I; Graham, Mark J

2016-01-01

The benefits of introducing active learning in college science courses are well established, yet more needs to be understood about student buy-in to active learning and how that process of buy-in might relate to student outcomes. We test the exposure-persuasion-identification-commitment (EPIC) process model of buy-in, here applied to student (n = 245) engagement in an undergraduate science course featuring active learning. Student buy-in to active learning was positively associated with engagement in self-regulated learning and students' course performance. The positive associations among buy-in, self-regulated learning, and course performance suggest buy-in as a potentially important factor leading to student engagement and other student outcomes. These findings are particularly salient in course contexts featuring active learning, which encourage active student participation in the learning process. © 2016 A. J. Cavanagh et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2016 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

Full Spectrum Training and Development: Soldier Skills and Attributes

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-07-01

aspects of social interdependence theory , which suggests that socioemotional as well as cognitive benefits can accrue from such training (O’Donnell...sociocognitive learning theories . In the ARC, P2P training can guide cadre and student interaction while creating an active learning environment...learning theories (Costanza et al., 2009). Behavioral theory prescribes gradually approximating, or shaping, the desired response until it meets

Constrained Bayesian Active Learning of Interference Channels in Cognitive Radio Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsakmalis, Anestis; Chatzinotas, Symeon; Ottersten, Bjorn

2018-02-01

In this paper, a sequential probing method for interference constraint learning is proposed to allow a centralized Cognitive Radio Network (CRN) accessing the frequency band of a Primary User (PU) in an underlay cognitive scenario with a designed PU protection specification. The main idea is that the CRN probes the PU and subsequently eavesdrops the reverse PU link to acquire the binary ACK/NACK packet. This feedback indicates whether the probing-induced interference is harmful or not and can be used to learn the PU interference constraint. The cognitive part of this sequential probing process is the selection of the power levels of the Secondary Users (SUs) which aims to learn the PU interference constraint with a minimum number of probing attempts while setting a limit on the number of harmful probing-induced interference events or equivalently of NACK packet observations over a time window. This constrained design problem is studied within the Active Learning (AL) framework and an optimal solution is derived and implemented with a sophisticated, accurate and fast Bayesian Learning method, the Expectation Propagation (EP). The performance of this solution is also demonstrated through numerical simulations and compared with modified versions of AL techniques we developed in earlier work.

Supervised machine learning and active learning in classification of radiology reports.

PubMed

Nguyen, Dung H M; Patrick, Jon D

2014-01-01

This paper presents an automated system for classifying the results of imaging examinations (CT, MRI, positron emission tomography) into reportable and non-reportable cancer cases. This system is part of an industrial-strength processing pipeline built to extract content from radiology reports for use in the Victorian Cancer Registry. In addition to traditional supervised learning methods such as conditional random fields and support vector machines, active learning (AL) approaches were investigated to optimize training production and further improve classification performance. The project involved two pilot sites in Victoria, Australia (Lake Imaging (Ballarat) and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (Melbourne)) and, in collaboration with the NSW Central Registry, one pilot site at Westmead Hospital (Sydney). The reportability classifier performance achieved 98.25% sensitivity and 96.14% specificity on the cancer registry's held-out test set. Up to 92% of training data needed for supervised machine learning can be saved by AL. AL is a promising method for optimizing the supervised training production used in classification of radiology reports. When an AL strategy is applied during the data selection process, the cost of manual classification can be reduced significantly. The most important practical application of the reportability classifier is that it can dramatically reduce human effort in identifying relevant reports from the large imaging pool for further investigation of cancer. The classifier is built on a large real-world dataset and can achieve high performance in filtering relevant reports to support cancer registries. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Paramedic Learning Style Preferences and Continuing Medical Education Activities: A Cross-Sectional Survey Study.

PubMed

Staple, Louis; Carter, Alix; Jensen, Jan L; Walker, Mark

2018-01-01

Paramedics participate in continuing medical education (CME) to maintain their skills and knowledge. An understanding of learning styles is important for education to be effective. This study examined the preferred learning styles of ground ambulance paramedics and describes how their preferred learning styles relate to the elective CME activities these paramedics attend. All paramedics (n=1,036) employed in a provincial ground ambulance service were invited to participate in a survey containing three parts: demographics, learning style assessed by the Kolb Learning Style Inventory (LSI), and elective CME activity. 260 paramedics (25%) participated in the survey. Preferred learning styles were: assimilator, 28%; diverger, 25%; converger, 24%; and accommodator, 23%. Advanced life support (ALS) providers had a higher proportion of assimilators (36%), and basic life support (BLS) providers had a higher proportion of divergers (30%). The learning style categories of CME activities attended by paramedics were: assimilators, 25%; divergers, 26%; convergers, 25%; and accommodators, 24%. These results suggest that paramedics are a diverse group of learners, and learning style differs within their demographics. Paramedics attend CME activities that complement all learning styles. Organizations providing education opportunities to paramedics should consider paramedics a diverse learning group when designing their CME programs.

Teaching Research Methods and Statistics in eLearning Environments: Pedagogy, Practical Examples, and Possible Futures

PubMed Central

Rock, Adam J.; Coventry, William L.; Morgan, Methuen I.; Loi, Natasha M.

2016-01-01

Generally, academic psychologists are mindful of the fact that, for many students, the study of research methods and statistics is anxiety provoking (Gal et al., 1997). Given the ubiquitous and distributed nature of eLearning systems (Nof et al., 2015), teachers of research methods and statistics need to cultivate an understanding of how to effectively use eLearning tools to inspire psychology students to learn. Consequently, the aim of the present paper is to discuss critically how using eLearning systems might engage psychology students in research methods and statistics. First, we critically appraise definitions of eLearning. Second, we examine numerous important pedagogical principles associated with effectively teaching research methods and statistics using eLearning systems. Subsequently, we provide practical examples of our own eLearning-based class activities designed to engage psychology students to learn statistical concepts such as Factor Analysis and Discriminant Function Analysis. Finally, we discuss general trends in eLearning and possible futures that are pertinent to teachers of research methods and statistics in psychology. PMID:27014147

Teaching Research Methods and Statistics in eLearning Environments: Pedagogy, Practical Examples, and Possible Futures.

PubMed

Rock, Adam J; Coventry, William L; Morgan, Methuen I; Loi, Natasha M

2016-01-01

Generally, academic psychologists are mindful of the fact that, for many students, the study of research methods and statistics is anxiety provoking (Gal et al., 1997). Given the ubiquitous and distributed nature of eLearning systems (Nof et al., 2015), teachers of research methods and statistics need to cultivate an understanding of how to effectively use eLearning tools to inspire psychology students to learn. Consequently, the aim of the present paper is to discuss critically how using eLearning systems might engage psychology students in research methods and statistics. First, we critically appraise definitions of eLearning. Second, we examine numerous important pedagogical principles associated with effectively teaching research methods and statistics using eLearning systems. Subsequently, we provide practical examples of our own eLearning-based class activities designed to engage psychology students to learn statistical concepts such as Factor Analysis and Discriminant Function Analysis. Finally, we discuss general trends in eLearning and possible futures that are pertinent to teachers of research methods and statistics in psychology.

Does Environmental Enrichment Exposure Prior to Injury Influence Biomarkers Associated with Chronic Stage TBI?

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-12-01

release; distribution unlimited. 88 ABW/PA Cleared 03/25/2013; 88ABW-2013-1398. enrichment (Grundy et al., 2000; Kohara et al., 2001). BDNF is an...learning and Memory. 69(3):274-289 Kohara , K., Kitamura, A., Morishima, M., Tsumoto, T. (2001). Activity- dependent transfer of brain-derived

A Tale of Tweets: Analyzing Microblogging among Language Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lomicka, Lara; Lord, Gillian

2012-01-01

In these days of ubiquitous tweeting, language teachers must consider whether microblogging is an activity that will bring benefits to the learning experience. Recent research (Junco et al., 2010; Messner, 2009, among others) indicates that Twitter is becoming increasingly popular in classrooms, but few studies (see for example, Borau et al.,…

Learners' Satisfaction Level with Online Student Portal as a Support System in an Open and Distance eLearning Environment (ODeL)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Secreto, Percia V.; Pamulaklakin, Rhodora L.

2015-01-01

Learner support in an open, distance and online learning is defined as "all activities and elements in education that respond to a known learner or group of learners, and which are designed to assist in the cognitive, affective, and systemic realms of the learning process" (Brindley, et. al, 2004). Teaching and tutoring, advising and…

Organisational adaptation in an activist network: social networks, leadership, and change in al-Muhajiroun.

PubMed

Kenney, Michael; Horgan, John; Horne, Cale; Vining, Peter; Carley, Kathleen M; Bigrigg, Michael W; Bloom, Mia; Braddock, Kurt

2013-09-01

Social networks are said to facilitate learning and adaptation by providing the connections through which network nodes (or agents) share information and experience. Yet, our understanding of how this process unfolds in real-world networks remains underdeveloped. This paper explores this gap through a case study of al-Muhajiroun, an activist network that continues to call for the establishment of an Islamic state in Britain despite being formally outlawed by British authorities. Drawing on organisation theory and social network analysis, we formulate three hypotheses regarding the learning capacity and social network properties of al-Muhajiroun (AM) and its successor groups. We then test these hypotheses using mixed methods. Our methods combine quantitative analysis of three agent-based networks in AM measured for structural properties that facilitate learning, including connectedness, betweenness centrality and eigenvector centrality, with qualitative analysis of interviews with AM activists focusing organisational adaptation and learning. The results of these analyses confirm that al-Muhajiroun activists respond to government pressure by changing their operations, including creating new platforms under different names and adjusting leadership roles among movement veterans to accommodate their spiritual leader's unwelcome exodus to Lebanon. Simple as they are effective, these adaptations have allowed al-Muhajiroun and its successor groups to continue their activism in an increasingly hostile environment. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

Mapping biological ideas: Concept maps as knowledge integration tools for evolution education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schwendimann, Beat Adrian

Many students leave school with a fragmented understanding of biology that does not allow them to connect their ideas to their everyday lives (Wandersee, 1989; Mintzes, Wandersee, & Novak, 1998; Mintzes, Wandersee, & Novak, 2000a). Understanding evolution ideas is seen as central to building an integrated knowledge of biology (Blackwell, Powell, & Dukes, 2003; Thagard & Findlay, 2010). However, the theory of evolution has been found difficult to understand as it incorporates a wide range of ideas from different areas (Bahar et al., 1999; Tsui & Treagust, 2003) and multiple interacting levels (Wilensky & Resnick, 1999; Duncan & Reiser, 2007; Hmelo-Silver et al., 2007). Research suggests that learners can hold a rich repertoire of co-existing alternative ideas of evolution (for example, Bishop & Anderson, 1990; Demastes, Good, & Peebles, 1996; Evans, 2008), especially of human evolution (for example, Nelson, 1986; Sinatra et al., 2003; Poling & Evans, 2004). Evolution ideas are difficult to understand because they often contradict existing alternative ideas (Mayr, 1982; Wolpert, 1994; Evans, 2008). Research suggests that understanding human evolution is a key to evolution education (for example, Blackwell et al., 2003; Besterman & Baggott la Velle, 2007). This dissertation research investigates how different concept mapping forms embedded in a collaborative technology-enhanced learning environment can support students' integration of evolution ideas using case studies of human evolution. Knowledge Integration (KI) (Linn et al., 2000; Linn et al., 2004) is used as the operational framework to explore concept maps as knowledge integration tools to elicit, add, critically distinguish, group, connect, and sort out alternative evolution ideas. Concept maps are a form of node-link diagram for organizing and representing connections between ideas as a semantic network (Novak & Gowin, 1984). This dissertation research describes the iterative development of a novel biology-specific form of concept map, called Knowledge Integration Map (KIM), which aims to help learners connect ideas across levels (for example, genotype and phenotype levels) towards an integrated understanding of evolution. Using a design-based research approach (Brown, 1992; Cobb et al., 2003), three iterative studies were implemented in ethically and economically diverse public high schools classrooms using the web-based inquiry science environment (WISE) (Linn et al., 2003; Linn et al., 2004). Study 1 investigates concept maps as generative assessment tools. Study 1A compares the concept map generation and critique process of biology novices and experts. Findings suggest that concept maps are sensitive to different levels of knowledge integration but require scaffolding and revision. Study 1B investigates the implementation of concept maps as summative assessment tools in a WISE evolution module. Results indicate that concept maps can reveal connections between students' alternative ideas of evolution. Study 2 introduces KIMs as embedded collaborative learning tools. After generating KIMs, student dyads revise KIMs through two different critique activities (comparison against an expert or peer generated KIM). Findings indicate that different critique activities can promote the use of different criteria for critique. Results suggest that the combination of generating and critiquing KIMs can support integrating evolution ideas but can be time-consuming. As time in biology classrooms is limited, study 3 distinguishes the learning effects from either generating or critiquing KIMs as more time efficient embedded learning tools. Findings suggest that critiquing KIMs can be more time efficient than generating KIMs. Using KIMs that include common alternative ideas for critique activities can create genuine opportunities for students to critically reflect on new and existing ideas. Critiquing KIMs can encourage knowledge integration by fostering self-monitoring of students' learning progress, identifying knowledge gaps, and distinguishing alternative evolution ideas. This dissertation research demonstrates that science instruction of complex topics, such as human evolution, can succeed through a combination of scaffolded inquiry activities using dynamic visualizations, explanation activities, and collaborative KIM activities. This research contributes to educational research and practice by describing ways to make KIMs effective and time efficient learning tools for evolution education. Supporting students' building of a more coherent understanding of core ideas of biology can foster their life-long interest and learning of science.

Effectiveness of Active Learning Strategy in Improving the Acoustic Awareness Skills and Understanding What Is Heard by the Basic Stage Students in Jordan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Al-Odwan, Yaser

2016-01-01

This research aims to get acquainted with the effectiveness of the active learning strategy in improving the acoustic awareness skills and understanding what is heard by the basic stage students in Jordan by answering the two following questions: This research has been applied to a sample of 60 students from the basic third grade in Al-Ahnaf Ben…

The role of emergency medicine clerkship e-Portfolio to monitor the learning experience of students in different settings: a prospective cohort study.

PubMed

Cevik, Arif Alper; Shaban, Sami; El Zubeir, Margret; Abu-Zidan, Fikri M

2018-04-12

Although emergency departments provide acute care learning opportunities for medical students, student exposure to recommended curriculum presentations and procedures are limited. In this perspective, clinical environments providing learning opportunities for students should be monitored as part of an ongoing quality improvement process. This study aims to analyze student exposures and their involvement levels in two different hospitals (Tawam and Al Ain) so as to improve the teaching and learning activities. This is a prospective study on all 76 final year medical students' electronic logbooks (e-Portfolio) of the academic year 2016/2017. Students recorded 5087 chief complaints and 3721 procedures. The average patient and procedure exposure in a shift per student in Al Ain Hospital compared with Tawam Hospital were 7.2 vs 6.4 and 5.8 vs 4.3, respectively. The highest full involvement with presentations was seen in the pediatric unit (67.1%, P < 0.0001). Urgent care shifts demonstrated the highest area of "full involvement" with procedures for our students (73.2%, P < 0.0001). Students' highest involvement with presentations and procedures were found during the night shifts (P < 0.0001, 66.5 and 75.1%, respectively). The electronic portfolio has proven to be a very useful tool in defining the learning activities of final year medical students during their emergency medicine clerkship and in comparing activities in two different clinical settings. Data collected and analyzed using this e-Portfolio has the potential to help medical educators and curriculum designers improve emergency medicine teaching and learning activities.

Improving Students' English Pronunciation Ability through Go Fish Game and Maze Game

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nurhayati, Dwi Astuti Wahyu

2015-01-01

The problem highlighted in this research is the low pronunciation ability of Kindergarten students in Al-Irsyad Madiun that is caused by (1) the uninteresting activities in learning English; (2) the students' difficulties of English pronunciation; (3) the students' low motivation in learning. The theoretical review includes the young learners…

Promoting Creativity in the Kitchen: Digital Lessons from the Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Surgenor, Dawn; McMahon-Beattie, Una S. M.; Burns, Amy; Hollywood, Lynsey E.

2016-01-01

Creativity and learning are heightened when individuals are exposed to problem-solving activity (Y. Cho, Chung, Choi, Sea, & Baek, 2013); however, while creativity has historically been promoted in schools, educationalists experience difficulty in integrating it meaningfully to the curriculum (Y. Cho et al., 2013). This is relevant in terms of…

Extraterrestrials and Generic Social Processes: Minimizing Resistance in Teaching the Reproduction of Inequality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parrotta, Kylie L.; Rusche, Sarah Nell

2011-01-01

In this article, the authors describe a class activity that uses a combination of strategies to overcome obstacles students face when learning about the reproduction of inequality in everyday life. Based on Schwalbe et al.'s (2000) piece on "generic social processes," and following the idea of "making the strange familiar and the familiar…

Introducing Computational Thinking to Young Learners: Practicing Computational Perspectives through Embodiment in Mathematics Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sung, Woonhee; Ahn, Junghyun; Black, John B.

2017-01-01

A science, technology, engineering, and mathematics-influenced classroom requires learning activities that provide hands-on experiences with technological tools to encourage problem-solving skills (Brophy et al. in "J Eng Educ" 97(3):369-387, 2008; Mataric et al. in "AAAI spring symposium on robots and robot venues: resources for AI…

Is Peer Interaction Necessary for Optimal Active Learning?

PubMed

Linton, Debra L; Farmer, Jan Keith; Peterson, Ernie

2014-01-01

Meta-analyses of active-learning research consistently show that active-learning techniques result in greater student performance than traditional lecture-based courses. However, some individual studies show no effect of active-learning interventions. This may be due to inexperienced implementation of active learning. To minimize the effect of inexperience, we should try to provide more explicit implementation recommendations based on research into the key components of effective active learning. We investigated the optimal implementation of active-learning exercises within a "lecture" course. Two sections of nonmajors biology were taught by the same instructor, in the same semester, using the same instructional materials and assessments. Students in one section completed in-class active-learning exercises in cooperative groups, while students in the other section completed the same activities individually. Performance on low-level, multiple-choice assessments was not significantly different between sections. However, students who worked in cooperative groups on the in-class activities significantly outperformed students who completed the activities individually on the higher-level, extended-response questions. Our results provide additional evidence that group processing of activities should be the recommended mode of implementation for in-class active-learning exercises. © 2014 D. L. Linton et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2014 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

Research Based Astronomy in the Secondary Classroom: Lessons Developed for Investigating YSOs using APT, Excel, and MOPEX

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guastella, Peter; Rebull, L.; DeWolf, C.; Johnson, C. H.; McDonald, D. W.; Schaefers, J.; Spuck, T.

2009-01-01

We present several learning activities that were performed to explore YSOs within LDN 425 and 981. Classroom instruction on the characteristics of YSOs were supplemented with hands-on learning of software needed to search Spitzer mosaics for YSO candidates. Structured activities were used to teach the intricacies of MOPEX, ATP and Excel. Excel worksheets were developed to help students convert flux densities into magnitudes. These magnitudes were then used to create Spectral Energy Distributions, (SED) plotting the energy against the wavelength of each candidate YSO. This research was made possible through the Spitzer Space Telescope Research Program for Teachers and Students and was funded by the Spitzer Science Center (SSC) and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO). Please see our companion education poster by McDonald, et al. titled "Spitzer - Hot and Colorful Student Activities" and our research poster by Johnson et al. entitled "Star Formation in Lynds Dark Nebulae."

Comparing the neural basis of monetary reward and cognitive feedback during information-integration category learning.

PubMed

Daniel, Reka; Pollmann, Stefan

2010-01-06

The dopaminergic system is known to play a central role in reward-based learning (Schultz, 2006), yet it was also observed to be involved when only cognitive feedback is given (Aron et al., 2004). Within the domain of information-integration category learning, in which information from several stimulus dimensions has to be integrated predecisionally (Ashby and Maddox, 2005), the importance of contingent feedback is well established (Maddox et al., 2003). We examined the common neural correlates of reward anticipation and prediction error in this task. Sixteen subjects performed two parallel information-integration tasks within a single event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging session but received a monetary reward only for one of them. Similar functional areas including basal ganglia structures were activated in both task versions. In contrast, a single structure, the nucleus accumbens, showed higher activation during monetary reward anticipation compared with the anticipation of cognitive feedback in information-integration learning. Additionally, this activation was predicted by measures of intrinsic motivation in the cognitive feedback task and by measures of extrinsic motivation in the rewarded task. Our results indicate that, although all other structures implicated in category learning are not significantly affected by altering the type of reward, the nucleus accumbens responds to the positive incentive properties of an expected reward depending on the specific type of the reward.

The Use of Small Group Tutorials as an Educational Strategy in Medical Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ferris, Helena

2015-01-01

Small group tutorials are an educational strategy that is growing in popularity in medical education. This is indicative of the movement from a traditional teacher centred approach to more student-centred learning, which is characterised by active participation and autonomous learning (Hedge et al, 2011). However, small group teaching is one of…

Active Learning to Overcome Sample Selection Bias: Application to Photometric Variable Star Classification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Richards, Joseph W.; Starr, Dan L.; Brink, Henrik; Miller, Adam A.; Bloom, Joshua S.; Butler, Nathaniel R.; James, J. Berian; Long, James P.; Rice, John

2012-01-01

Despite the great promise of machine-learning algorithms to classify and predict astrophysical parameters for the vast numbers of astrophysical sources and transients observed in large-scale surveys, the peculiarities of the training data often manifest as strongly biased predictions on the data of interest. Typically, training sets are derived from historical surveys of brighter, more nearby objects than those from more extensive, deeper surveys (testing data). This sample selection bias can cause catastrophic errors in predictions on the testing data because (1) standard assumptions for machine-learned model selection procedures break down and (2) dense regions of testing space might be completely devoid of training data. We explore possible remedies to sample selection bias, including importance weighting, co-training, and active learning (AL). We argue that AL—where the data whose inclusion in the training set would most improve predictions on the testing set are queried for manual follow-up—is an effective approach and is appropriate for many astronomical applications. For a variable star classification problem on a well-studied set of stars from Hipparcos and Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment, AL is the optimal method in terms of error rate on the testing data, beating the off-the-shelf classifier by 3.4% and the other proposed methods by at least 3.0%. To aid with manual labeling of variable stars, we developed a Web interface which allows for easy light curve visualization and querying of external databases. Finally, we apply AL to classify variable stars in the All Sky Automated Survey, finding dramatic improvement in our agreement with the ASAS Catalog of Variable Stars, from 65.5% to 79.5%, and a significant increase in the classifier's average confidence for the testing set, from 14.6% to 42.9%, after a few AL iterations.

Motion Based Target Acquisition and Evaluation in an Adaptive Machine Vision System

DTIC Science & Technology

1995-05-01

paths in facial recognition and learning. Annals of Neurology, 22, 41-45. Tolman, E.C. (1932) Purposive behavior in Animals and Men. New York: Appleton...Learned scan paths are the active processes of perception. Rizzo et al. (1987) studied the fixation patterns of two patients with impaired facial ... recognition and learning and found an increase in the randomness of the scan patterns compared to controls, indicating that the cortex was failing to direct

Absence of Sublexical Representations in Late-Learning Signers? A Statistical Critique of Lieberman et al. (2015)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salverda, Anne Pier

2016-01-01

Lieberman, Borovsky, Hatrak, and Mayberry (2015) used a modified version of the visual-world paradigm to examine the real-time processing of signs in American Sign Language. They examined the activation of phonological and semantic competitors in native signers and late-learning signers and concluded that their results provide evidence that the…

A Snapshot of After-School Program Research Literature. Research Watch. D&A Report No. 13.10

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rhea, Anisa

2013-01-01

After-school programs, also commonly referred to as out-of-school time and expanded learning opportunities, are typically described as safe, structured programs that offer an array of adult supervised activities to promote the learning and development of kindergarten through high school students outside of the school day (Beckett et al., 2009;…

Modeling Temporal Crowd Work Quality with Limited Supervision

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-11-11

crowdsourcing, human computation, predic- tion, uncertainty-aware learning, time- series modeling Introduction While crowdsourcing offers a cost...individual correctness. As discussed ear- lier, such a strategy is difficult to employ in a live setting because it is unrealistic to assume that all...et al. 2014). Finally, there are interesting opportunities to investigate at the intersection of live task-routing with active-learning techniques

Hope, Strength, and Perseverance Community and Connectedness through Service Learning: Active Participation in the Oklahoma City Memorial Kids' Marathon

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parker, Jaime D.

2010-01-01

Many complex problems affect the lives of our citizens, including our children. A particularly important problem is a lack of a sense of community and connectedness (Belenky, et. al, 1986; Bellah, et. al, 1985; Dewey, 1938; Houser & Kuzmic, 2001; Palmer, 1998). There is a feeling among many that we are no longer connected to something larger…

Adventure Learning: Transformative Hybrid Online Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Doering, Aaron

2006-01-01

Adventure learning (AL) is a hybrid distance education approach that provides students with opportunities to explore real-world issues through authentic learning experiences within collaborative learning environments. This article defines this online distance education approach, outlines an AL framework, and showcases an AL archetype. In AL…

The Implementation of Collaborative Learning Using AfL through Giving Feedback Strategy for Improving Students’ Attention to Mathematics Lesson

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kurniasih, R.; Sujadi, I.; Pramesti, G.

2016-02-01

This research aims to describe the process of implementation collaborative learning with AfL through giving feedback strategy for improving students’ attention to mathematics lesson. Data which is collected in this research are students’ attention towards learning and students’ achievement. The result of this research showed that the learning steps by using collaborative learning with AfL through giving feedback strategy which can improve students’ attention are: 1) pre activity: the teacher delivers the purpose of the learning, successful criteria, apperception, and motivation. 2) main activity: the teacher gives the background of learning activity, explains learning materials at a glance, divides students discuss, the teacher observes and guides students to the problem solving, present their discussion result, gives feedback, the students do AfL problem and the answer is collected and result will be given before next meeting. 3) post activity: the teacher with students concludes the material. Test result, the percentage of students who complete the examination in the second cycle is 77.27%. Based on those results can be concluded that the implementation of collaborative learning using AfL through giving feedback can improve students’ attention towards learning and students’ achievement of XI IPA Students MA Al-Islam Jamsaren Surakarta academic year 2013/2014.

Its All Action, Its All Learning: Action Learning in SMEs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clarke, Jean; Thorpe, Richard; Anderson, Lisa; Gold, Jeff

2006-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to argue that action learning (AL) may provide a means of successfully developing small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Design/methodology/approach: The literature around SME learning suggests a number of processes are important for SME learning which similarity, it is argued, are encompassed in AL. AL may…

Active machine learning for rapid landslide inventory mapping with VHR satellite images (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stumpf, A.; Lachiche, N.; Malet, J.; Kerle, N.; Puissant, A.

2013-12-01

VHR satellite images have become a primary source for landslide inventory mapping after major triggering events such as earthquakes and heavy rainfalls. Visual image interpretation is still the prevailing standard method for operational purposes but is time-consuming and not well suited to fully exploit the increasingly better supply of remote sensing data. Recent studies have addressed the development of more automated image analysis workflows for landslide inventory mapping. In particular object-oriented approaches that account for spatial and textural image information have been demonstrated to be more adequate than pixel-based classification but manually elaborated rule-based classifiers are difficult to adapt under changing scene characteristics. Machine learning algorithm allow learning classification rules for complex image patterns from labelled examples and can be adapted straightforwardly with available training data. In order to reduce the amount of costly training data active learning (AL) has evolved as a key concept to guide the sampling for many applications. The underlying idea of AL is to initialize a machine learning model with a small training set, and to subsequently exploit the model state and data structure to iteratively select the most valuable samples that should be labelled by the user. With relatively few queries and labelled samples, an AL strategy yields higher accuracies than an equivalent classifier trained with many randomly selected samples. This study addressed the development of an AL method for landslide mapping from VHR remote sensing images with special consideration of the spatial distribution of the samples. Our approach [1] is based on the Random Forest algorithm and considers the classifier uncertainty as well as the variance of potential sampling regions to guide the user towards the most valuable sampling areas. The algorithm explicitly searches for compact regions and thereby avoids a spatially disperse sampling pattern inherent to most other AL methods. The accuracy, the sampling time and the computational runtime of the algorithm were evaluated on multiple satellite images capturing recent large scale landslide events. Sampling between 1-4% of the study areas the accuracies between 74% and 80% were achieved, whereas standard sampling schemes yielded only accuracies between 28% and 50% with equal sampling costs. Compared to commonly used point-wise AL algorithm the proposed approach significantly reduces the number of iterations and hence the computational runtime. Since the user can focus on relatively few compact areas (rather than on hundreds of distributed points) the overall labeling time is reduced by more than 50% compared to point-wise queries. An experimental evaluation of multiple expert mappings demonstrated strong relationships between the uncertainties of the experts and the machine learning model. It revealed that the achieved accuracies are within the range of the inter-expert disagreement and that it will be indispensable to consider ground truth uncertainties to truly achieve further enhancements in the future. The proposed method is generally applicable to a wide range of optical satellite images and landslide types. [1] A. Stumpf, N. Lachiche, J.-P. Malet, N. Kerle, and A. Puissant, Active learning in the spatial domain for remote sensing image classification, IEEE Transactions on Geosciece and Remote Sensing. 2013, DOI 10.1109/TGRS.2013.2262052.

Prefrontal involvement in imitation learning of hand actions: effects of practice and expertise.

PubMed

Vogt, Stefan; Buccino, Giovanni; Wohlschläger, Afra M; Canessa, Nicola; Shah, N Jon; Zilles, Karl; Eickhoff, Simon B; Freund, Hans-Joachim; Rizzolatti, Giacomo; Fink, Gereon R

2007-10-01

In this event-related fMRI study, we demonstrate the effects of a single session of practising configural hand actions (guitar chords) on cortical activations during observation, motor preparation and imitative execution. During the observation of non-practised actions, the mirror neuron system (MNS), consisting of inferior parietal and ventral premotor areas, was more strongly activated than for the practised actions. This finding indicates a strong role of the MNS in the early stages of imitation learning. In addition, the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) was selectively involved during observation and motor preparation of the non-practised chords. This finding confirms Buccino et al.'s [Buccino, G., Vogt, S., Ritzl, A., Fink, G.R., Zilles, K., Freund, H.-J., Rizzolatti, G., 2004a. Neural circuits underlying imitation learning of hand actions: an event-related fMRI study. Neuron 42, 323-334] model of imitation learning: for actions that are not yet part of the observer's motor repertoire, DLPFC engages in operations of selection and combination of existing, elementary representations in the MNS. The pattern of prefrontal activations further supports Shallice's [Shallice, T., 2004. The fractionation of supervisory control. In: Gazzaniga, M.S. (Ed.), The Cognitive Neurosciences, Third edition. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, pp. 943-956] proposal of a dominant role of the left DLPFC in modulating lower level systems and of a dominant role of the right DLPFC in monitoring operations.

Teacher Knowledge for Active-Learning Instruction: Expert-Novice Comparison Reveals Differences.

PubMed

Auerbach, A J; Higgins, M; Brickman, P; Andrews, T C

2018-01-01

Active-learning strategies can improve science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) undergraduates' abilities to learn fundamental concepts and skills. However, the results instructors achieve vary substantially. One explanation for this is that instructors commonly implement active learning differently than intended. An important factor affecting how instructors implement active learning is knowledge of teaching and learning. We aimed to discover knowledge that is important to effective active learning in large undergraduate courses. We developed a lesson-analysis instrument to elicit teacher knowledge, drawing on the theoretical construct of teacher noticing. We compared the knowledge used by expert ( n = 14) and novice ( n = 29) active-learning instructors as they analyzed lessons. Experts and novices differed in what they noticed, with experts more commonly considering how instructors hold students accountable, topic-specific student difficulties, whether the instructor elicited and responded to student thinking, and opportunities students had to generate their own ideas and work. Experts were also better able to support their lesson analyses with reasoning. This work provides foundational knowledge for the future design of preparation and support for instructors adopting active learning. Improving teacher knowledge will improve the implementation of active learning, which will be necessary to widely realize the potential benefits of active learning in undergraduate STEM. © 2018 A. J. Auerbach et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2018 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

What Have We Been Writing about?: Patterns and Trends in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Political Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Craig, John

2014-01-01

It is more than 10 years since Kehl (2002) identified the increasing number of scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) papers being produced by political scientists. As noted by Hamann et al. (2009) and Whitman and Richlin (2007), this trend has developed further with increasing levels of research and publishing activity in political science…

Combining active learning and semi-supervised learning techniques to extract protein interaction sentences.

PubMed

Song, Min; Yu, Hwanjo; Han, Wook-Shin

2011-11-24

Protein-protein interaction (PPI) extraction has been a focal point of many biomedical research and database curation tools. Both Active Learning and Semi-supervised SVMs have recently been applied to extract PPI automatically. In this paper, we explore combining the AL with the SSL to improve the performance of the PPI task. We propose a novel PPI extraction technique called PPISpotter by combining Deterministic Annealing-based SSL and an AL technique to extract protein-protein interaction. In addition, we extract a comprehensive set of features from MEDLINE records by Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques, which further improve the SVM classifiers. In our feature selection technique, syntactic, semantic, and lexical properties of text are incorporated into feature selection that boosts the system performance significantly. By conducting experiments with three different PPI corpuses, we show that PPISpotter is superior to the other techniques incorporated into semi-supervised SVMs such as Random Sampling, Clustering, and Transductive SVMs by precision, recall, and F-measure. Our system is a novel, state-of-the-art technique for efficiently extracting protein-protein interaction pairs.

Gaming Geography: Educational Games and Literacy Development in the Grade 4 Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lotherington, Heather; Ronda, Natalia Sinitskaya

2009-01-01

This paper outlines a case study conducted in two public schools in the greater Toronto area as a complementary component of a multisite experimental study exploring educational game development as a learning activity for motivating and engaging students in curriculum-related literacy activities (Owston et al., 2007). Researchers studied children…

Trust, Growth Mindset, and Student Commitment to Active Learning in a College Science Course.

PubMed

Cavanagh, Andrew J; Chen, Xinnian; Bathgate, Meghan; Frederick, Jennifer; Hanauer, David I; Graham, Mark J

2018-01-01

There is growing consensus regarding the effectiveness of active-learning pedagogies in college science courses. Less is known about ways that student-level factors contribute to positive outcomes in these contexts. The present study examines students' ( N = 245) trust in the instructor-defined as perceptions of their instructor's understanding, acceptance, and care-and students' attitudes toward learning within an anatomy and physiology course featuring active learning. Analyses indicate that student trust of instructor and students' views of their own intelligence are both associated with student commitment to, and engagement in, active learning. Student-reported trust of the instructor corresponded to final grade, while students' views of their own intelligence did not. In an active-learning context in which students are more fully engaged in the learning process, student trust of the instructor was an important contributor to desired student outcomes. © 2018 A. J. Cavanagh et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2018 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

Memory Enhancing Effect of Black Pepper in the AlCl3 Induced Neurotoxicity Mouse Model is Mediated Through Its Active Component Chavicine.

PubMed

Iqbal, Ghazala; Iqbal, Anila; Mahboob, Aamra; Farhat, Syeda M; Ahmed, Touqeer

Black pepper (Piper nigrum Linn.) has vital pharmacological properties with profound effects on central nervous system. Neurotoxic agents like Aluminum Chloride (AlCl3) cause the oxidative stress and result in improper processing of amyloid proteins leading to accumulation of amyloid β plaques. The study aimed to explore the neuroprotective potential of black pepper (BP) extract (12.5mg/kg/day) on memory enhancement and its effect on expression of amyloid precursor protein (APP) isoforms (APP770 and APP695) in AlCl3 induced neurotoxicity (250mg/kg) mouse model. The study included the isolation and identification of pure compound from BP (chavicine) which was found pharmacologically active. Morris water maze test, elevated plus maze, fear conditioning, context and cue dependent test and social preference tests were performed to investigate the learning and memory. Gene expression (APP isoforms) and in-vitro and ex-vivo DPPH free radical scavenging activity were performed to evaluate the role of BP. BP significantly improved memory in AlCl3 induced neurotoxicity mouse model along with effectively decreasing the expression of APP770 (amyloidogenic) isoform and improved level of APP695 (non-amyloidogenic) in hippocampus, amygdala and cortex. Fear extinction learning was considerably improved in BP treated group (7.83±2.03) than AlCl3 induced neurotoxicity group (39.75±4.25). In the hippocampus, BP significantly reduced the expression of APP770 (0.37±0.05) as compared to AlCl3 induced neurotoxicity group (0.72±0.06), and effectively increased (34.80±1.39) the percentage inhibition of DPPH free radicals as compared to AlCl3 induced neurotoxicity group (14±2.68). The study revealed that BP improves memory and chavicine is a lead compound producing pharmacological effects of BP.

What's statistical about learning? Insights from modelling statistical learning as a set of memory processes

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Statistical learning has been studied in a variety of different tasks, including word segmentation, object identification, category learning, artificial grammar learning and serial reaction time tasks (e.g. Saffran et al. 1996 Science 274, 1926–1928; Orban et al. 2008 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105, 2745–2750; Thiessen & Yee 2010 Child Development 81, 1287–1303; Saffran 2002 Journal of Memory and Language 47, 172–196; Misyak & Christiansen 2012 Language Learning 62, 302–331). The difference among these tasks raises questions about whether they all depend on the same kinds of underlying processes and computations, or whether they are tapping into different underlying mechanisms. Prior theoretical approaches to statistical learning have often tried to explain or model learning in a single task. However, in many cases these approaches appear inadequate to explain performance in multiple tasks. For example, explaining word segmentation via the computation of sequential statistics (such as transitional probability) provides little insight into the nature of sensitivity to regularities among simultaneously presented features. In this article, we will present a formal computational approach that we believe is a good candidate to provide a unifying framework to explore and explain learning in a wide variety of statistical learning tasks. This framework suggests that statistical learning arises from a set of processes that are inherent in memory systems, including activation, interference, integration of information and forgetting (e.g. Perruchet & Vinter 1998 Journal of Memory and Language 39, 246–263; Thiessen et al. 2013 Psychological Bulletin 139, 792–814). From this perspective, statistical learning does not involve explicit computation of statistics, but rather the extraction of elements of the input into memory traces, and subsequent integration across those memory traces that emphasize consistent information (Thiessen and Pavlik 2013 Cognitive Science 37, 310–343). This article is part of the themed issue ‘New frontiers for statistical learning in the cognitive sciences'. PMID:27872374

What's statistical about learning? Insights from modelling statistical learning as a set of memory processes.

PubMed

Thiessen, Erik D

2017-01-05

Statistical learning has been studied in a variety of different tasks, including word segmentation, object identification, category learning, artificial grammar learning and serial reaction time tasks (e.g. Saffran et al. 1996 Science 274: , 1926-1928; Orban et al. 2008 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105: , 2745-2750; Thiessen & Yee 2010 Child Development 81: , 1287-1303; Saffran 2002 Journal of Memory and Language 47: , 172-196; Misyak & Christiansen 2012 Language Learning 62: , 302-331). The difference among these tasks raises questions about whether they all depend on the same kinds of underlying processes and computations, or whether they are tapping into different underlying mechanisms. Prior theoretical approaches to statistical learning have often tried to explain or model learning in a single task. However, in many cases these approaches appear inadequate to explain performance in multiple tasks. For example, explaining word segmentation via the computation of sequential statistics (such as transitional probability) provides little insight into the nature of sensitivity to regularities among simultaneously presented features. In this article, we will present a formal computational approach that we believe is a good candidate to provide a unifying framework to explore and explain learning in a wide variety of statistical learning tasks. This framework suggests that statistical learning arises from a set of processes that are inherent in memory systems, including activation, interference, integration of information and forgetting (e.g. Perruchet & Vinter 1998 Journal of Memory and Language 39: , 246-263; Thiessen et al. 2013 Psychological Bulletin 139: , 792-814). From this perspective, statistical learning does not involve explicit computation of statistics, but rather the extraction of elements of the input into memory traces, and subsequent integration across those memory traces that emphasize consistent information (Thiessen and Pavlik 2013 Cognitive Science 37: , 310-343).This article is part of the themed issue 'New frontiers for statistical learning in the cognitive sciences'. © 2016 The Author(s).

Slowly Shifting a Culture of Teaching in Higher Education: A Case Study of Biology Instructors' Micro-Processes of Collaborative Inquiry into Teaching and Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neuwald, Anuschka

The Vision and Change reports (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2011, 2013) have identified a need for change in undergraduate biology education, emphasizing student learning of content knowledge and competencies. Missing from this report and larger efforts to improve undergraduate education (Brainard, 2007; Henderson et al., 2011; Sunal et al., 2001) are guidelines for how to support instructors' professional learning to change teaching practices. I am exploring one possible support structure by studying a group of seven biology instructors that are engaged in a collaborative process over two semesters. This process is modeled after Lesson Study (Lewis et al., 2006), a form of cyclical inquiry-based professional learning activities. The purpose of this qualitative case study is to examine the micro-processes of this collaboration and how these micro-processes afford and limit the ability to change one's teaching practices. Wenger's (1998) concept of "community of practice" provides a theoretical framework for data analysis. I view an instructor's professional learning as social and situated, involving negotiation of new meanings, boundaries, and participation as part of an on-going collaboration. Data analysis shows that negotiation of meaning, characterized by friction and dissonance, is a normal part of the micro-processes of collaborative group work. There are three friction points that are intertwined and influence each other: 1) rhythmic ebb and flow of negotiation about a common professional goal for the instructors and a common learning goal for undergraduates in biology, 2) pressure of time to produce an outcome, and 3) grappling with collective agency, authority and capacity. I argue that these friction points are necessary and important for understanding the micro-processes of negotiation in a collaborative process. Furthermore, this study contributes to literature examining how the use of collaborative processes that are often counter-cultural to higher education norms and expectations will likely be necessary for instructional changes shared by educators in higher education (Henderson et al., 2011; Sunal et al., 2011; Wiemann et al., 2010). This case study sheds light on the messiness and hard work of professional learning that is necessary if we are serious about changing teaching practices in higher education.

A Bridge to Active Learning: A Summer Bridge Program Helps Students Maximize Their Active-Learning Experiences and the Active-Learning Experiences of Others.

PubMed

Cooper, Katelyn M; Ashley, Michael; Brownell, Sara E

2017-01-01

National calls to improve student academic success in college have sparked the development of bridge programs designed to help students transition from high school to college. We designed a 2-week Summer Bridge program that taught introductory biology content in an active-learning way. Through a set of exploratory interviews, we unexpectedly identified that Bridge students had developed sophisticated views of active learning, even though this was not an explicit goal of the program. We conducted an additional set of semistructured interviews that focused on active learning and compared the interviews of Bridge students with those from non-Bridge students who had been eligible for but did not participate in the program. We used the constant comparative method to identify themes from the interviews. We found that Bridge students perceived that, because they knew how to approach active learning and viewed it as important, they benefited more from active learning in introductory biology than non-Bridge students. Specifically, Bridge students seemed to be more aware of their own learning gains from participating in active learning. Compared with the majority of non-Bridge students, the majority of Bridge students described using a greater variety of strategies to maximize their experiences in active learning. Finally, in contrast to non-Bridge students, Bridge students indicated that they take an equitable approach to group work. These findings suggest that we may be able to prime students to maximize their own and other's experiences in active learning. © 2017 K. M. Cooper et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2017 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

ASPECT: A Survey to Assess Student Perspective of Engagement in an Active-Learning Classroom.

PubMed

Wiggins, Benjamin L; Eddy, Sarah L; Wener-Fligner, Leah; Freisem, Karen; Grunspan, Daniel Z; Theobald, Elli J; Timbrook, Jerry; Crowe, Alison J

2017-01-01

The primary measure used to determine relative effectiveness of in-class activities has been student performance on pre/posttests. However, in today's active-learning classrooms, learning is a social activity, requiring students to interact and learn from their peers. To develop effective active-learning exercises that engage students, it is important to gain a more holistic view of the student experience in an active-learning classroom. We have taken a mixed-methods approach to iteratively develop and validate a 16-item survey to measure multiple facets of the student experience during active-learning exercises. The instrument, which we call A ssessing S tudent P erspective of E ngagement in C lass T ool (ASPECT), was administered to a large introductory biology class, and student responses were subjected to exploratory factor analysis. The 16 items loaded onto three factors that cumulatively explained 52% of the variation in student response: 1) value of activity, 2) personal effort, and 3) instructor contribution. ASPECT provides a rapid, easily administered means to measure student perception of engagement in an active-learning classroom. Gaining a better understanding of students' level of engagement will help inform instructor best practices and provide an additional measure for comprehensively assessing the impact of different active-learning strategies. © 2017 B. L. Wiggins, S. L. Eddy, et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2017 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

Locomotor Dysfunction after Spaceflight: Characterization and Countermeasure Development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mulavara, A. P.; Cohen, H. S.; Peters, B. T.; Miller, C. A.; Brady, R.; Bloomberg, Jacob J.

2007-01-01

Astronauts returning from space flight show disturbances in locomotor control manifested by changes in various sub-systems including head-trunk coordination, dynamic visual acuity, lower limb muscle activation patterning and kinematics (Glasauer, et al., 1995; Bloomberg, et al., 1997; McDonald, et al., 1996; 1997; Layne, et al., 1997; 1998, 2001, 2004; Newman, et al., 1997; Bloomberg and Mulavara, 2003). These post flight changes in locomotor performance, due to neural adaptation to the microgravity conditions of space flight, affect the ability of crewmembers especially after a long duration mission to egress their vehicle and perform extravehicular activities soon after landing on Earth or following a landing on the surface of the Moon or Mars. At present, no operational training intervention is available pre- or in- flight to mitigate post flight locomotor disturbances. Our laboratory is currently developing a gait adaptability training program that is designed to facilitate recovery of locomotor function following a return to a gravitational environment. The training program exploits the ability of the sensorimotor system to generalize from exposure to multiple adaptive challenges during training so that the gait control system essentially "learns to learn" and therefore can reorganize more rapidly when faced with a novel adaptive challenge. Ultimately, the functional goal of an adaptive generalization countermeasure is not necessarily to immediately return movement patterns back to "normal". Rather the training regimen should facilitate the reorganization of available sensorimotor sub-systems to achieve safe and effective locomotion as soon as possible after space flight. We have previously confirmed that subjects participating in adaptive generalization training programs, using a variety of visuomotor distortions and different motor tasks from throwing to negotiating an obstacle course as the dependent measure, can learn to enhance their ability to adapt to a novel sensorimotor environment (Roller et al., 2001; Cohen et al. 2005). Importantly, this increased adaptability is retained even one month after completion of the training period. Our laboratory is currently developing adaptive generalization training procedures and the associated flight hardware to implement such a training program, using variations of visual flow, subject loading, and treadmill speed; during regular in-flight treadmill operations.

Improved Student Learning through a Faculty Learning Community: How Faculty Collaboration Transformed a Large-Enrollment Course from Lecture to Student Centered.

PubMed

Elliott, Emily R; Reason, Robert D; Coffman, Clark R; Gangloff, Eric J; Raker, Jeffrey R; Powell-Coffman, Jo Anne; Ogilvie, Craig A

2016-01-01

Undergraduate introductory biology courses are changing based on our growing understanding of how students learn and rapid scientific advancement in the biological sciences. At Iowa State University, faculty instructors are transforming a second-semester large-enrollment introductory biology course to include active learning within the lecture setting. To support this change, we set up a faculty learning community (FLC) in which instructors develop new pedagogies, adapt active-learning strategies to large courses, discuss challenges and progress, critique and revise classroom interventions, and share materials. We present data on how the collaborative work of the FLC led to increased implementation of active-learning strategies and a concurrent improvement in student learning. Interestingly, student learning gains correlate with the percentage of classroom time spent in active-learning modes. Furthermore, student attitudes toward learning biology are weakly positively correlated with these learning gains. At our institution, the FLC framework serves as an agent of iterative emergent change, resulting in the creation of a more student-centered course that better supports learning. © 2016 E. R. Elliott et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2016 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

Dataset of two experiments of the application of gamified peer assessment model into online learning environment MeuTutor.

PubMed

Tenório, Thyago; Bittencourt, Ig Ibert; Isotani, Seiji; Pedro, Alan; Ospina, Patrícia; Tenório, Daniel

2017-06-01

In this dataset, we present the collected data of two experiments with the application of the gamified peer assessment model into online learning environment MeuTutor to allow the comparison of the obtained results with others proposed models. MeuTutor is an intelligent tutoring system aims to monitor the learning of the students in a personalized way, ensuring quality education and improving the performance of its members (Tenório et al., 2016) [1]. The first experiment evaluated the effectiveness of the peer assessment model through metrics as final grade (result), time to correct the activities and associated costs. The second experiment evaluated the gamification influence into peer assessment model, analyzing metrics as access number (logins), number of performed activities and number of performed corrections. In this article, we present in table form for each metric: the raw data of each treatment; the summarized data; the application results of the normality test Shapiro-Wilk; the application results of the statistical tests T -Test and/or Wilcoxon. The presented data in this article are related to the article entitled "A gamified peer assessment model for on-line learning environments in a competitive context" (Tenório et al., 2016) [1].

Adventure Learning @ Greenland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, B. G.; Cox, C. J.; Hougham, J.; Walden, V. P.; Eitel, K.; Albano, A.

2013-12-01

Teaching the general public and K-12 communities about scientific research has taken on greater importance as climate change increasingly impacts the world we live in. Science researchers and the educational community have a widening responsibility to produce and deliver curriculum and content that is timely, scientifically sound and engaging. To address this challenge, in the summer of 2012 the Adventure Learning @ Greenland (AL@GL) project, a United States' National Science Foundation (NSF) funded initiative, used hands-on and web-based climate science experiences for high school students to promote climate and science literacy. This presentation will report on an innovative approach to education and outreach for environmental science research known as Adventure Learning (AL). The purpose of AL@GL was to engage high school students in the US, and in Greenland, in atmospheric research that is being conducted in the Arctic to enhance climate and science literacy. Climate and science literacy was explored via three fundamental concepts: radiation, the greenhouse effect, and climate vs. weather. Over the course of the project, students in each location engaged in activities and conducted experiments through the use of scientific instrumentation. Students were taught science research principles associated with an atmospheric observatory at Summit Station, Greenland with the objective of connecting climate science in the Arctic to student's local environments. Summit Station is located on the Greenland Ice Sheet [72°N, 38°W, 3200 m] and was the primary location of interest. Approximately 35 students at multiple locations in Idaho, USA, and Greenland participated in the hybrid learning environments as part of this project. The AL@GL project engaged students in an inquiry-based curriculum with content that highlighted a cutting-edge geophysical research initiative at Summit: the Integrated Characterization of Energy, Clouds, Atmospheric state, and Precipitation at Summit (ICECAPS) project (Shupe et al. 2012; http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/arctic/observatories/summit/). ICECAPS is an atmospheric observatory focused on obtaining high temporal resolution measurements of clouds from ground-based remote sensors including radar, lidar, infrared spectra and others. ICECAPS also launches radiosondes twice daily. This large suite of complementary observations are providing an important baseline understanding of cloud and atmospheric conditions over the central Greenland ice sheet and are supporting Arctic climate research on cloud processes and climate model validation. ICECAPS measures parameters that are associated with those identified in student misconceptions, for example, different types of atmospheric radiation, the effect of greenhouse gases, and climate versus weather (see also Haller et al., 2011). Thus, ICECAPS research and the AL@GL project combined to create a learning environment and educational activities that sought to increase climate literacy in high school students as well as communicate important atmospheric research to a broader audience.

Technology Enhanced Learning: Virtual Realities; Concrete Results--Case Study on the Impact of TEL on Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Al-Khatib, Hayat

2011-01-01

Technology Enhanced Learning is a feature of 21st century education. Innovations in ICT have provided unbound access to information in support of the learning process (APTEL, 2010; Allert et al, 2002; Baldry et al, 2006; Frustenberg et al, 2001; Sarkis, 2010). LMS has been extensively put to use in universities and educational institutions to…

Investigating the Relationship between Instructors' Use of Active-Learning Strategies and Students' Conceptual Understanding and Affective Changes in Introductory Biology: A Comparison of Two Active-Learning Environments.

PubMed

Cleveland, Lacy M; Olimpo, Jeffrey T; DeChenne-Peters, Sue Ellen

2017-01-01

In response to calls for reform in undergraduate biology education, we conducted research examining how varying active-learning strategies impacted students' conceptual understanding, attitudes, and motivation in two sections of a large-lecture introductory cell and molecular biology course. Using a quasi-experimental design, we collected quantitative data to compare participants' conceptual understanding, attitudes, and motivation in the biological sciences across two contexts that employed different active-learning strategies and that were facilitated by unique instructors. Students participated in either graphic organizer/worksheet activities or clicker-based case studies. After controlling for demographic and presemester affective differences, we found that students in both active-learning environments displayed similar and significant learning gains. In terms of attitudinal and motivational data, significant differences were observed for two attitudinal measures. Specifically, those students who had participated in graphic organizer/worksheet activities demonstrated more expert-like attitudes related to their enjoyment of biology and ability to make real-world connections. However, all motivational and most attitudinal data were not significantly different between the students in the two learning environments. These data reinforce the notion that active learning is associated with conceptual change and suggests that more research is needed to examine the differential effects of varying active-learning strategies on students' attitudes and motivation in the domain. © 2017 L. M. Cleveland et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2017 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

Looking from a CHAT-IT Perspective to Undergraduate Mexican Physics: Organizational Trajectories or Professors as Agents of Change?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kahveci, Ajda

2010-01-01

Recent elaborations on cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) (Engestrom et al., eds., "Perspectives on activity theory." New York: Cambridge University Press, "1999") and its relation to organizational theories have produced a theoretical amalgam of these earlier ideas, which allow for the exploration of learning in formal…

An active learning approach for rapid characterization of endothelial cells in human tumors.

PubMed

Padmanabhan, Raghav K; Somasundar, Vinay H; Griffith, Sandra D; Zhu, Jianliang; Samoyedny, Drew; Tan, Kay See; Hu, Jiahao; Liao, Xuejun; Carin, Lawrence; Yoon, Sam S; Flaherty, Keith T; Dipaola, Robert S; Heitjan, Daniel F; Lal, Priti; Feldman, Michael D; Roysam, Badrinath; Lee, William M F

2014-01-01

Currently, no available pathological or molecular measures of tumor angiogenesis predict response to antiangiogenic therapies used in clinical practice. Recognizing that tumor endothelial cells (EC) and EC activation and survival signaling are the direct targets of these therapies, we sought to develop an automated platform for quantifying activity of critical signaling pathways and other biological events in EC of patient tumors by histopathology. Computer image analysis of EC in highly heterogeneous human tumors by a statistical classifier trained using examples selected by human experts performed poorly due to subjectivity and selection bias. We hypothesized that the analysis can be optimized by a more active process to aid experts in identifying informative training examples. To test this hypothesis, we incorporated a novel active learning (AL) algorithm into FARSIGHT image analysis software that aids the expert by seeking out informative examples for the operator to label. The resulting FARSIGHT-AL system identified EC with specificity and sensitivity consistently greater than 0.9 and outperformed traditional supervised classification algorithms. The system modeled individual operator preferences and generated reproducible results. Using the results of EC classification, we also quantified proliferation (Ki67) and activity in important signal transduction pathways (MAP kinase, STAT3) in immunostained human clear cell renal cell carcinoma and other tumors. FARSIGHT-AL enables characterization of EC in conventionally preserved human tumors in a more automated process suitable for testing and validating in clinical trials. The results of our study support a unique opportunity for quantifying angiogenesis in a manner that can now be tested for its ability to identify novel predictive and response biomarkers.

On the complex interplay between learning and dynamics in life sciences. Comment on the paper "Collective learning modeling based on the kinetic theory of active particles" by Burini et al.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bellomo, Nicola; Elaiw, Ahmed; Alghamdi, Mohamed Ali

2016-03-01

The paper by Burini, De Lillo, and Gibelli [8] presents an overview and critical analysis of the literature on the modeling of learning dynamics. The first reference is the celebrated paper by Cucker and Smale [9]. Then, the authors also propose their own approach, based on suitable development of methods of the kinetic theory [6] and theoretical tools of evolutionary game theory [12,13], recently developed on graphs [2].

The Practical Enactment of Adventure Learning: Where Will You AL@?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Brant G.; Hougham, R. Justin; Eitel, Karla Bradley

2013-01-01

The Adventure Learning (AL) approach to designing and implementing learning experiences has great potential for practitioners. This manuscript delineates the practical enactment of AL to support the K-12 community, teacher educators, and residential environmental science program providers in the conceptualization and delivery of their own AL…

PORTAAL: A Classroom Observation Tool Assessing Evidence-Based Teaching Practices for Active Learning in Large Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Classes.

PubMed

Eddy, Sarah L; Converse, Mercedes; Wenderoth, Mary Pat

2015-01-01

There is extensive evidence that active learning works better than a completely passive lecture. Despite this evidence, adoption of these evidence-based teaching practices remains low. In this paper, we offer one tool to help faculty members implement active learning. This tool identifies 21 readily implemented elements that have been shown to increase student outcomes related to achievement, logic development, or other relevant learning goals with college-age students. Thus, this tool both clarifies the research-supported elements of best practices for instructor implementation of active learning in the classroom setting and measures instructors' alignment with these practices. We describe how we reviewed the discipline-based education research literature to identify best practices in active learning for adult learners in the classroom and used these results to develop an observation tool (Practical Observation Rubric To Assess Active Learning, or PORTAAL) that documents the extent to which instructors incorporate these practices into their classrooms. We then use PORTAAL to explore the classroom practices of 25 introductory biology instructors who employ some form of active learning. Overall, PORTAAL documents how well aligned classrooms are with research-supported best practices for active learning and provides specific feedback and guidance to instructors to allow them to identify what they do well and what could be improved. © 2015 S. L. Eddy et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2015 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

Long-term enhancement of synaptic transmission between antennal lobe and mushroom body in cultured Drosophila brain.

PubMed

Ueno, Kohei; Naganos, Shintaro; Hirano, Yukinori; Horiuchi, Junjiro; Saitoe, Minoru

2013-01-01

In Drosophila, the mushroom body (MB) is a critical brain structure for olfactory associative learning. During aversive conditioning, the MBs are thought to associate odour signals, conveyed by projection neurons (PNs) from the antennal lobe (AL), with shock signals conveyed through ascending fibres of the ventral nerve cord (AFV). Although synaptic transmission between AL and MB might play a crucial role for olfactory associative learning, its physiological properties have not been examined directly. Using a cultured Drosophila brain expressing a Ca(2+) indicator in the MBs, we investigated synaptic transmission and plasticity at the AL-MB synapse. Following stimulation with a glass micro-electrode, AL-induced Ca(2+) responses in the MBs were mediated through Drosophila nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (dnAChRs), while AFV-induced Ca(2+) responses were mediated through Drosophila NMDA receptors (dNRs). AL-MB synaptic transmission was enhanced more than 2 h after the simultaneous 'associative-stimulation' of AL and AFV, and such long-term enhancement (LTE) was specifically formed at the AL-MB synapses but not at the AFV-MB synapses. AL-MB LTE was not induced by intense stimulation of the AL alone, and the LTE decays within 60 min after subsequent repetitive AL stimulation. These phenotypes of associativity, input specificity and persistence of AL-MB LTE are highly reminiscent of olfactory memory. Furthermore, similar to olfactory aversive memory, AL-MB LTE formation required activation of the Drosophila D1 dopamine receptor, DopR, along with dnAChR and dNR during associative stimulations. These physiological and genetic analogies indicate that AL-MB LTE might be a relevant cellular model for olfactory memory.

DNA methylation mediates neural processing after odor learning in the honeybee

PubMed Central

Biergans, Stephanie D.; Claudianos, Charles; Reinhard, Judith; Galizia, C. Giovanni

2017-01-01

DNA methyltransferases (Dnmts) - epigenetic writers catalyzing the transfer of methyl-groups to cytosine (DNA methylation) – regulate different aspects of memory formation in many animal species. In honeybees, Dnmt activity is required to adjust the specificity of olfactory reward memories and bees’ relearning capability. The physiological relevance of Dnmt-mediated DNA methylation in neural networks, however, remains unknown. Here, we investigated how Dnmt activity impacts neuroplasticity in the bees’ primary olfactory center, the antennal lobe (AL) an equivalent of the vertebrate olfactory bulb. The AL is crucial for odor discrimination, an indispensable process in forming specific odor memories. Using pharmacological inhibition, we demonstrate that Dnmt activity influences neural network properties during memory formation in vivo. We show that Dnmt activity promotes fast odor pattern separation in trained bees. Furthermore, Dnmt activity during memory formation increases both the number of responding glomeruli and the response magnitude to a novel odor. These data suggest that Dnmt activity is necessary for a form of homoeostatic network control which might involve inhibitory interneurons in the AL network. PMID:28240742

Understanding the Advising Learning Process Using Learning Taxonomies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muehleck, Jeanette K.; Smith, Cathleen L.; Allen, Janine M.

2014-01-01

To better understand the learning that transpires in advising, we used Anderson et al.'s (2001) revision of Bloom's (1956) taxonomy and Krathwohl, Bloom, and Masia's (1964) affective taxonomy to analyze eight student-reported advising outcomes from Smith and Allen (2014). Using the cognitive processes and knowledge domains of Anderson et al.'s…

Conceptualizing Learning in the Climate Justice Movement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kluttz, Jenalee; Walter, Pierre

2018-01-01

This article extends Scandrett et al.'s conceptual framework for social movement learning to understand learning and knowledge creation in the climate justice movement. Drawing on radical pluralist theoretical approaches to social movement learning, learning in the climate justice movement is conceptualized at the micro, meso, and macro levels,…

Improving students' understanding by using on-going education research to refine active learning activities in a first-year electronics course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peter Mazzolini, Alexander; Arthur Daniel, Scott

2016-05-01

Interactive Lecture Demonstrations (ILDs) have been used across introductory university physics as a successful active learning (AL) strategy to improve students' conceptual understanding. We have developed ILDs for more complex topics in our first-year electronics course. In 2006 we began developing ILDs to improve students' conceptual understanding of Operational Amplifiers (OAs) and negative feedback in amplification circuits. The ILDs were used after traditional lecture instruction to help students consolidate their understanding. We developed a diagnostic test, to be administered to students both before and after the ILDs, as a measure of how effective the ILDs were in improving students' understanding.

e-Learning in Advanced Life Support-What factors influence assessment outcome?

PubMed

Thorne, C J; Lockey, A S; Kimani, P K; Bullock, I; Hampshire, S; Begum-Ali, S; Perkins, G D

2017-05-01

To establish variables which are associated with favourable Advanced Life Support (ALS) course assessment outcomes, maximising learning effect. Between 1 January 2013 and 30 June 2014, 8218 individuals participated in a Resuscitation Council (UK) e-learning Advanced Life Support (e-ALS) course. Participants completed 5-8h of online e-learning prior to attending a one day face-to-face course. e-Learning access data were collected through the Learning Management System (LMS). All participants were assessed by a multiple choice questionnaire (MCQ) before and after the face-to-face aspect alongside a practical cardiac arrest simulation (CAS-Test). Participant demographics and assessment outcomes were analysed. The mean post e-learning MCQ score was 83.7 (SD 7.3) and the mean post-course MCQ score was 87.7 (SD 7.9). The first attempt CAS-Test pass rate was 84.6% and overall pass rate 96.6%. Participants with previous ALS experience, ILS experience, or who were a core member of the resuscitation team performed better in the post-course MCQ, CAS-Test and overall assessment. Median time spent on the e-learning was 5.2h (IQR 3.7-7.1). There was a large range in the degree of access to e-learning content. Increased time spent accessing e-learning had no effect on the overall result (OR 0.98, P=0.367) on simulated learning outcome. Clinical experience through membership of cardiac arrest teams and previous ILS or ALS training were independent predictors of performance on the ALS course whilst time spent accessing e-learning materials did not affect course outcomes. This supports the blended approach to e-ALS which allows participants to tailor their e-learning experience to their specific needs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Enhancing Diversity in Undergraduate Science: Self-Efficacy Drives Performance Gains with Active Learning.

PubMed

Ballen, Cissy J; Wieman, Carl; Salehi, Shima; Searle, Jeremy B; Zamudio, Kelly R

2017-01-01

Efforts to retain underrepresented minority (URM) students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) have shown only limited success in higher education, due in part to a persistent achievement gap between students from historically underrepresented and well-represented backgrounds. To test the hypothesis that active learning disproportionately benefits URM students, we quantified the effects of traditional versus active learning on student academic performance, science self-efficacy, and sense of social belonging in a large (more than 250 students) introductory STEM course. A transition to active learning closed the gap in learning gains between non-URM and URM students and led to an increase in science self-efficacy for all students. Sense of social belonging also increased significantly with active learning, but only for non-URM students. Through structural equation modeling, we demonstrate that, for URM students, the increase in self-efficacy mediated the positive effect of active-learning pedagogy on two metrics of student performance. Our results add to a growing body of research that supports varied and inclusive teaching as one pathway to a diversified STEM workforce. © 2017 C. J. Ballen et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2017 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

Brain structural substrates of cognitive procedural learning in alcoholic patients early in abstinence.

PubMed

Ritz, Ludivine; Segobin, Shailendra; Le Berre, Anne Pascale; Lannuzel, Coralie; Boudehent, Céline; Vabret, François; Eustache, Francis; Pitel, Anne Lise; Beaunieux, Hélène

2014-08-01

Procedural learning allows for the acquisition of new behavioral skills. Previous studies have shown that chronic alcoholism is characterized by impaired cognitive procedural learning and brain abnormalities affecting regions that are involved in the automation of new cognitive procedures in healthy individuals. The goal of the present study was to investigate the brain structural substrates of cognitive procedural learning in alcoholic patients (ALs) early in abstinence. Thirty-one ALs and 31 control participants (NCs) performed the Tower of Toronto task (4 daily learning sessions, each comprising 10 trials) to assess cognitive procedural learning. We also assessed episodic and working memory, executive functions, and visuospatial abilities. ALs underwent 1.5T structural magnetic resonance imaging. The initial cognitive phase was longer in the AL group than in the NC group, whereas the autonomous phase was shorter. In ALs, the longer cognitive phase was predicted by poorer planning and visuospatial working memory abilities, and by smaller gray matter (GM) volumes in the angular gyrus and caudate nucleus. ALs' planning abilities correlated with smaller GM volume in the angular gyrus. Cognitive procedural learning was impaired in ALs, with a delayed transition from the cognitive to the autonomous phase. This slowdown in the automation of the cognitive procedure was related to lower planning abilities, which may have hampered the initial generation of the procedure to be learned. In agreement with this neuropsychological finding, a persistent relationship was found between learning performance and the GM volumes of the angular gyrus and caudate nucleus, which are usually regarded as markers of planning and initial learning of the cognitive procedure. Copyright © 2014 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.

Improvements from a flipped classroom may simply be the fruits of active learning.

PubMed

Jensen, Jamie L; Kummer, Tyler A; d M Godoy, Patricia D

2015-03-02

The "flipped classroom" is a learning model in which content attainment is shifted forward to outside of class, then followed by instructor-facilitated concept application activities in class. Current studies on the flipped model are limited. Our goal was to provide quantitative and controlled data about the effectiveness of this model. Using a quasi-experimental design, we compared an active nonflipped classroom with an active flipped classroom, both using the 5-E learning cycle, in an effort to vary only the role of the instructor and control for as many of the other potentially influential variables as possible. Results showed that both low-level and deep conceptual learning were equivalent between the conditions. Attitudinal data revealed equal student satisfaction with the course. Interestingly, both treatments ranked their contact time with the instructor as more influential to their learning than what they did at home. We conclude that the flipped classroom does not result in higher learning gains or better attitudes compared with the nonflipped classroom when both utilize an active-learning, constructivist approach and propose that learning gains in either condition are most likely a result of the active-learning style of instruction rather than the order in which the instructor participated in the learning process. © 2015 J. L. Jensen et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2015 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

Neural correlates of facilitations in face learning by selective caricaturing of facial shape or reflectance.

PubMed

Itz, Marlena L; Schweinberger, Stefan R; Schulz, Claudia; Kaufmann, Jürgen M

2014-11-15

Spatially caricatured faces were recently shown to benefit face learning (Schulz et al., 2012a). Moreover, spatial information may be particularly important for encoding unfamiliar faces, but less so for recognizing familiar faces (Kaufmann et al., 2013). To directly test the possibility of a major role of reflectance information for the recognition of familiar faces, we compared effects of selective photorealistic caricaturing in either shape or reflectance on face learning and recognition. Participants learned 3D-photographed faces across different viewpoints, and different images were presented at learning and test. At test, performance benefits for both types of caricatures were modulated by familiarity: Benefits for learned faces were substantially larger for reflectance caricatures, whereas benefits for novel faces were numerically larger for shape caricatures. ERPs confirmed a consistent reduction of the occipitotemporal P200 (200-240 ms) by shape caricaturing, whereas the most prominent effect of reflectance caricaturing was seen in an enhanced posterior N250 (240-400 ms), a component that has been related to the activation of acquired face representations. Our results suggest that performance benefits for face learning caused by distinctive spatial versus reflectance information are mediated by different neural processes with different timing and support a prominent role of reflectance for the recognition of learned faces. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Caudate nucleus reactivity predicts perceptual learning rate for visual feature conjunctions.

PubMed

Reavis, Eric A; Frank, Sebastian M; Tse, Peter U

2015-04-15

Useful information in the visual environment is often contained in specific conjunctions of visual features (e.g., color and shape). The ability to quickly and accurately process such conjunctions can be learned. However, the neural mechanisms responsible for such learning remain largely unknown. It has been suggested that some forms of visual learning might involve the dopaminergic neuromodulatory system (Roelfsema et al., 2010; Seitz and Watanabe, 2005), but this hypothesis has not yet been directly tested. Here we test the hypothesis that learning visual feature conjunctions involves the dopaminergic system, using functional neuroimaging, genetic assays, and behavioral testing techniques. We use a correlative approach to evaluate potential associations between individual differences in visual feature conjunction learning rate and individual differences in dopaminergic function as indexed by neuroimaging and genetic markers. We find a significant correlation between activity in the caudate nucleus (a component of the dopaminergic system connected to visual areas of the brain) and visual feature conjunction learning rate. Specifically, individuals who showed a larger difference in activity between positive and negative feedback on an unrelated cognitive task, indicative of a more reactive dopaminergic system, learned visual feature conjunctions more quickly than those who showed a smaller activity difference. This finding supports the hypothesis that the dopaminergic system is involved in visual learning, and suggests that visual feature conjunction learning could be closely related to associative learning. However, no significant, reliable correlations were found between feature conjunction learning and genotype or dopaminergic activity in any other regions of interest. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A False Foundation? AQAP, Tribes and Ungoverned Spaces in Yemen

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-09-01

to have learned from the mistakes of its predecessors. Operationally, AQAP’s targets, tactics, personnel and objectives are vastly different from...AQAP’s targets.135 The complexity of the strikes varied dramatically, ranging from small arms attacks against tourists to blended VBIED and active...4131-8140-8b76c7795e49. 349 “ Tam fiha Taqlid Tanzim al-`Iraq: bi-Tariqa Mubtakarah Tanzim al-Qa`ida Y`arid Maqt`a Fidyu Yuzhir I’adam Dabit Mabahith bi

The significance of clinical experience on learning outcome from resuscitation training-a randomised controlled study.

PubMed

Jensen, Morten Lind; Lippert, Freddy; Hesselfeldt, Rasmus; Rasmussen, Maria Birkvad; Mogensen, Simon Skibsted; Jensen, Michael Kammer; Frost, Torben; Ringsted, Charlotte

2009-02-01

The impact of clinical experience on learning outcome from a resuscitation course has not been systematically investigated. To determine whether half a year of clinical experience before participation in an Advanced Life Support (ALS) course increases the immediate learning outcome and retention of learning. This was a prospective single blinded randomised controlled study of the learning outcome from a standard ALS course on a volunteer sample of the entire cohort of newly graduated doctors from Copenhagen University. The outcome measurement was ALS-competence assessed using a validated composite test including assessment of skills and knowledge. The intervention was half a year of clinical work before an ALS course. The intervention group received the course after a half-year of clinical experience. The control group participated in an ALS course immediately following graduation. Invitation to participate was accepted by 154/240 (64%) graduates and 117/154 (76%) completed the study. There was no difference between the intervention and control groups with regard to the immediate learning outcome. The intervention group had significantly higher retention of learning compared to the control group, intervention group mean 82% (CI 80-83), control group mean 78% (CI 76-80), P=0.002. The magnitude of this difference was medium (effect size=0.57). Half a year of clinical experience, before participation in an ALS course had a small but statistically significant impact on the retention of learning, but not on the immediate learning outcome.

Could hands-on activities and smartphone in science CLIL teaching foster motivation and positive attitudes in students?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ercolino, Immacolata; Maraffi, Sabina; Sacerdoti, Francesco M.

2016-04-01

Motivating students is one of the most challenging things we do as educators. We know that students need to be engaged to fully appreciate and learn what has been taught; the secret consists in nurturing student engagement. One of the newer ways to involve students and foster motivation in their Science learning consists in focusing on their usage and on applying knowledge and skills in their real-life. Students usually are engaged in authentic teaching pathway. Learning focusing on the experience helps teachers to improve classroom management by gathering students around a common organized activity. Hands-on activities support problem-based approaches to learning by focusing on the experience and process of investigating, proposing and creating solutions developing critical thinking skills and enlarge student's scientific glossary. We utilized in our classroom some lab activities that we learned at an ESA/GTTP Teacher training Workshop 2014 program at the Lorentz Center Leiden, Netherlands. "Cooking a comet - Ingredients for life" "Demonstration of the second Kepler's law using marbles" New media equipment, as student's own smartphones, can increase the teaching impact speaking the same language used by the students every day. They can measure magnetic fields, their GPS coordinates (longitude and latitude), and so on. In this way we can measure distances as parallax using mobile devices and simulating distance measurements in the classroom, on the school campus. The smartphone is the device with which the students answer questions, take decisions, and solve quests. Students infact can observe the Universe from their classroom and scientifically they can watch the Sun with "Google sky map" or "Star walk" are excellent tools to learn your way around the night sky .As teachers we used these apps in the classroom when Sun goes through the constellations so our students don't believe in horoscopes. This paper is focused on hands on activities and the effects of the smartphone in science teaching in classroom and their use in an innovative AstroQuest project, which consists of a class interactive role-playing game to teach Astronomy, Physics and Chemistry. The AstroQuest Project enhances interdisciplinary between sciences and humanities and is multi-language in order to be used as CLIL compliance. References Immacolata Ercolino et al "Smart Astronomers: From the Classroom to the Sky" page 8-13. iStage2 Smartphones in Science teaching Science on Stage The European Platform for Science teachers -Germany 2014. http://www.science-onstage.de/download_unterrichtsmaterial/iStage_2_Smartphones_in_Science_Teaching.pdf Immacolata Ercolino et al "Fast and Curious" page 42-44. iStage2 Smartphones in Science teaching Science on Stage The European Platform for Science teachers -Germany 2014 http://www.science-onstage.de/download_unterrichtsmaterial/iStage_2_Smartphones_in_Science_Teaching.pdf ESA Educational: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1tVrS0He0U http://m.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Videos/2014/07/Marble-ous_ellipses_ _classroom_demonstration_video_VP02 Maraffi S. et al. "GeoQuest, an Interactive Role Playing game", EGU General Assembly 2015, Poster Session EOS3 Sacerdoti F.M. et al. "Autonomous system to use web educational contents in a classroom", Patent Pending NA2013A000048 Maraffi S., Sacerdoti F.M. (2015) "EVO-RPGE an Interactive Role Playing engine", Granada (Spain), ICEILT International Congress on Education, Innovation and Learning Technologies 2015

The Study and Design of Adaptive Learning System Based on Fuzzy Set Theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jia, Bing; Zhong, Shaochun; Zheng, Tianyang; Liu, Zhiyong

Adaptive learning is an effective way to improve the learning outcomes, that is, the selection of learning content and presentation should be adapted to each learner's learning context, learning levels and learning ability. Adaptive Learning System (ALS) can provide effective support for adaptive learning. This paper proposes a new ALS based on fuzzy set theory. It can effectively estimate the learner's knowledge level by test according to learner's target. Then take the factors of learner's cognitive ability and preference into consideration to achieve self-organization and push plan of knowledge. This paper focuses on the design and implementation of domain model and user model in ALS. Experiments confirmed that the system providing adaptive content can effectively help learners to memory the content and improve their comprehension.

What Am I to Action Learning and What Is Action Learning to Me?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Doherty, Daniel

2016-01-01

This account of practice charts one organisation development practitioner's experience of the influence of action learning (AL) at various points in his career, from the early 1970s to the present day. It explores the impact of AL upon his practice over the years, chronicling various episodes which had strongest impact. It contrasts AL as it was…

Drought Management Activities of the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC): Contributions Toward a Global Drought Early Warning System (GDEWS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stumpf, A.; Lachiche, N.; Malet, J.; Kerle, N.; Puissant, A.

2011-12-01

VHR satellite images have become a primary source for landslide inventory mapping after major triggering events such as earthquakes and heavy rainfalls. Visual image interpretation is still the prevailing standard method for operational purposes but is time-consuming and not well suited to fully exploit the increasingly better supply of remote sensing data. Recent studies have addressed the development of more automated image analysis workflows for landslide inventory mapping. In particular object-oriented approaches that account for spatial and textural image information have been demonstrated to be more adequate than pixel-based classification but manually elaborated rule-based classifiers are difficult to adapt under changing scene characteristics. Machine learning algorithm allow learning classification rules for complex image patterns from labelled examples and can be adapted straightforwardly with available training data. In order to reduce the amount of costly training data active learning (AL) has evolved as a key concept to guide the sampling for many applications. The underlying idea of AL is to initialize a machine learning model with a small training set, and to subsequently exploit the model state and data structure to iteratively select the most valuable samples that should be labelled by the user. With relatively few queries and labelled samples, an AL strategy yields higher accuracies than an equivalent classifier trained with many randomly selected samples. This study addressed the development of an AL method for landslide mapping from VHR remote sensing images with special consideration of the spatial distribution of the samples. Our approach [1] is based on the Random Forest algorithm and considers the classifier uncertainty as well as the variance of potential sampling regions to guide the user towards the most valuable sampling areas. The algorithm explicitly searches for compact regions and thereby avoids a spatially disperse sampling pattern inherent to most other AL methods. The accuracy, the sampling time and the computational runtime of the algorithm were evaluated on multiple satellite images capturing recent large scale landslide events. Sampling between 1-4% of the study areas the accuracies between 74% and 80% were achieved, whereas standard sampling schemes yielded only accuracies between 28% and 50% with equal sampling costs. Compared to commonly used point-wise AL algorithm the proposed approach significantly reduces the number of iterations and hence the computational runtime. Since the user can focus on relatively few compact areas (rather than on hundreds of distributed points) the overall labeling time is reduced by more than 50% compared to point-wise queries. An experimental evaluation of multiple expert mappings demonstrated strong relationships between the uncertainties of the experts and the machine learning model. It revealed that the achieved accuracies are within the range of the inter-expert disagreement and that it will be indispensable to consider ground truth uncertainties to truly achieve further enhancements in the future. The proposed method is generally applicable to a wide range of optical satellite images and landslide types. [1] A. Stumpf, N. Lachiche, J.-P. Malet, N. Kerle, and A. Puissant, Active learning in the spatial domain for remote sensing image classification, IEEE Transactions on Geosciece and Remote Sensing. 2013, DOI 10.1109/TGRS.2013.2262052.

Tech-Knowledgy & Diverse Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Suh, Jennifer M.

2010-01-01

"Cognitive" technology tools have been described as "technologies that help transcend the limitation of the mind... in thinking, learning and problem solving activities" (Pea 1985, p. 168). These tools also respond to a user's commands and make mathematical actions more overtly apparent (Zbiek et al. 2007). By definition, these cognitive…

The Effects of Accelerated Learning on Tertiary Students Learning To Write.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fretz, Barbara L.

A study investigated how Accelerated Learning (AL), a teaching methodology that purports to increase the quantity and improve the quality of learning, affected tertiary students' knowledge of and skills in writing and their feelings towards writing. AL has its origins in G. Lozanov's "suggestopedia." Believing that formal teaching…

Identifying key features of effective active learning: the effects of writing and peer discussion.

PubMed

Linton, Debra L; Pangle, Wiline M; Wyatt, Kevin H; Powell, Karli N; Sherwood, Rachel E

2014-01-01

We investigated some of the key features of effective active learning by comparing the outcomes of three different methods of implementing active-learning exercises in a majors introductory biology course. Students completed activities in one of three treatments: discussion, writing, and discussion + writing. Treatments were rotated weekly between three sections taught by three different instructors in a full factorial design. The data set was analyzed by generalized linear mixed-effect models with three independent variables: student aptitude, treatment, and instructor, and three dependent (assessment) variables: change in score on pre- and postactivity clicker questions, and coding scores on in-class writing and exam essays. All independent variables had significant effects on student performance for at least one of the dependent variables. Students with higher aptitude scored higher on all assessments. Student scores were higher on exam essay questions when the activity was implemented with a writing component compared with peer discussion only. There was a significant effect of instructor, with instructors showing different degrees of effectiveness with active-learning techniques. We suggest that individual writing should be implemented as part of active learning whenever possible and that instructors may need training and practice to become effective with active learning. © 2014 D. L. Linton et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2014 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

Factors Principals Consider When Choosing Professional Development for Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Price, Kimberly Jacob

2017-01-01

Professional development is supposed to increase instructional capacity in teachers. It is well funded by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which also provides clear expectations for activities and programs that research suggests make it effective in improving student learning (Ball & Cohen, 1999; Banilower et al., 2006; Gersten et…

Inquiry, Slime, and the National Standards

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krantz, Patrick D.

2004-01-01

This elementary activity follows the 5-E Learning Cycle as described by Bybee et al. (1989) and integrates literature from Dr. Seuss. Students observe and identify characteristics of several slime substances and must make comparisons to determine which one most closely resembles the slime substance described by Dr. Seuss. To maximize this…

Attitudes, Intentions and Participation in Education: Year 12 and Beyond. LSAY Briefing Number 20

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hillman, Kylie

2010-01-01

A number of research studies have linked poor school performance to declining motivation to learn, disengagement from school and early leaving (Astone & McLanahan, 1991; Kaplan et al, 1997). Research into student engagement distinguishes between behavioural engagement (participation in school-related and extracurricular activities), emotional…

Meta-Analysis and Empirical Research of Learning Style Theories in Higher Education: The Case of Slovenia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Penger, Sandra; Tekavcic, Metka; Dimovski, Vlado

2008-01-01

Researchers have pointed out that students learn effectively in a harmonic environment and by using teaching aids which match the students' learning style preferences (Li et al., 2008). The learning styles literature is having a revival during last years. Although learning styles have been heavily researched (Coffield et al., 2004; Reynold &…

Brain structural substrates of cognitive procedural learning in alcoholic patients early in abstinence

PubMed Central

Ritz, Ludivine; Segobin, Shailendra; Le Berre, Anne Pascale; Lannuzel, Coralie; Boudehent, Céline; Vabret, François; Eustache, Francis; Pitel, Anne Lise; Beaunieux, Hélène

2014-01-01

Background Procedural learning allows for the acquisition of new behavioral skills. Previous studies have shown that chronic alcoholism is characterized by impaired cognitive procedural learning and brain abnormalities affecting regions that are involved in the automation of new cognitive procedures in healthy individuals. The goal of the present study was to investigate the brain structural substrates of cognitive procedural learning in alcoholic patients (ALs) early in abstinence. Methods Thirty-one ALs and 31 control participants (NCs) performed the Tower of Toronto task (4 daily learning sessions, each comprising 10 trials) to assess cognitive procedural learning. We also assessed episodic and working memory, executive functions, and visuospatial abilities. ALs underwent 1.5T structural magnetic resonance imaging. Results The initial cognitive phase was longer in the AL group than in the NC group, whereas the autonomous phase was shorter. In ALs, the longer cognitive phase was predicted by poorer planning and visuospatial working memory abilities, and by smaller gray matter (GM) volumes in the angular gyrus and caudate nucleus. ALs’ planning abilities correlated with smaller GM volume in the angular gyrus. Conclusions Cognitive procedural learning was impaired in ALs, with a delayed transition from the cognitive to the autonomous phase. This slowdown in the automation of the cognitive procedure was related to lower planning abilities, which may have hampered the initial generation of the procedure to be learned. In agreement with this neuropsychological finding, a persistent relationship was found between learning performance and the GM volumes of the angular gyrus and caudate nucleus, which are usually regarded as markers of planning and initial learning of the cognitive procedure. PMID:25156613

Action Learning, Team Learning and Co-Operation in the Czech Republic

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kubatova, Slava

2012-01-01

This account of practice presents two cases of the application of Action Learning (AL) communication methodology as described by Marquardt [2004. "Optimising the power of action learning". Mountain View, CA: Davies-Black Publishing]. The teams were Czech and international top management teams. The AL methodology was used to improve…

E-Learning--Organizational Infrastructure and Tools for Specific Areas

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pontes, Elvis, Ed.; Silva, Anderson, Ed.; Guelfi, Adilson, Ed.; Kofuji, Sergio Takeo, Ed.

2012-01-01

Chapters in this book include: (1) Factors that Influence Academic Teacher's Acceptance of E-Learning Technology in Blended Learning Environment (Snjezana Babic); (2) Towards Economical E-Learning Educational Environments for Physically Challenged Students (Amir Zeid, Sarah S. Sakit, Noor A. Al-AbdulRazzaq, Mariam M. Al-Tattan, Fatima S. Sakit,…

The (kinetic) theory of active particles applied to learning dynamics. Comment on "Collective learning modeling based on the kinetic theory of active particles" by D. Burini et al.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nieto, J.

2016-03-01

The learning phenomena, their complexity, concepts, structure, suitable theories and models, have been extensively treated in the mathematical literature in the last century, and [4] contains a very good introduction to the literature describing the many approaches and lines of research developed about them. Two main schools have to be pointed out [5] in order to understand the two -not exclusive- kinds of existing models: the stimulus sampling models and the stochastic learning models. Also [6] should be mentioned as a survey where two methods of learning are pointed out, the cognitive and the social, and where the knowledge looks like a mathematical unknown. Finally, as the authors do, we refer to the works [9,10], where the concept of population thinking was introduced and which motivate the game theory rules as a tool (both included in [4] to develop their theory) and [7], where the ideas of developing a mathematical kinetic theory of perception and learning were proposed.

Understanding the Causal Path between Action, Learning, and Solutions: Maximizing the Power of Action Learning to Achieve Great Results

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leonard, H. Skipton

2015-01-01

Clients and practitioners alike are often confused about the ultimate purpose of action learning (AL). Because of the title of the method, many believe the primary goal of AL is to generate learning. This article clarifies the relationship between action, learning, and solutions. It also provides historical evidence to support the conclusion that…

Vicarious reinforcement learning signals when instructing others.

PubMed

Apps, Matthew A J; Lesage, Elise; Ramnani, Narender

2015-02-18

Reinforcement learning (RL) theory posits that learning is driven by discrepancies between the predicted and actual outcomes of actions (prediction errors [PEs]). In social environments, learning is often guided by similar RL mechanisms. For example, teachers monitor the actions of students and provide feedback to them. This feedback evokes PEs in students that guide their learning. We report the first study that investigates the neural mechanisms that underpin RL signals in the brain of a teacher. Neurons in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) signal PEs when learning from the outcomes of one's own actions but also signal information when outcomes are received by others. Does a teacher's ACC signal PEs when monitoring a student's learning? Using fMRI, we studied brain activity in human subjects (teachers) as they taught a confederate (student) action-outcome associations by providing positive or negative feedback. We examined activity time-locked to the students' responses, when teachers infer student predictions and know actual outcomes. We fitted a RL-based computational model to the behavior of the student to characterize their learning, and examined whether a teacher's ACC signals when a student's predictions are wrong. In line with our hypothesis, activity in the teacher's ACC covaried with the PE values in the model. Additionally, activity in the teacher's insula and ventromedial prefrontal cortex covaried with the predicted value according to the student. Our findings highlight that the ACC signals PEs vicariously for others' erroneous predictions, when monitoring and instructing their learning. These results suggest that RL mechanisms, processed vicariously, may underpin and facilitate teaching behaviors. Copyright © 2015 Apps et al.

The Impact of Being Part of an Action Learning Set for New Lecturers: A Reflective Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haith, Mark P.; Whittingham, Katrina A.

2012-01-01

What is an action learning set (ALS)? An ALS is a regular, action focused peer discussion group, generally facilitated, to address work place issues. Methods of undertaking ALS: methods are flexible within a range of approaches according to the group's developing needs. Benefits of ALS: builds trust, professional development, enables action,…

"On Air": Participation in an Online Radio Show to Foster Speaking Confidence. A Cooperative Learning-Based Strategies Study ("Al aire": participación en un programa de radio en línea para fomentar la confianza al hablar. Un estudio basado en estrategias de aprendizaje cooperativo)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lemos Tello, Nubia Consuelo

2012-01-01

The daily observation of class sessions has enabled me to recognize that students possess a feeling of self-distrust in oral activities. For this reason, I designed a study carried out with a group of twelve eighth graders. This article illustrates an action research project conducted to enhance students' confidence when speaking on an online…

Active Learning with a Human in The Loop

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-11-01

handwrit - ten digits (LeCun et al. [1998]). In the red curve the model is built iteratively: at each iteration the twenty examples with the lowest...continuum. The most we can say about MUC annotation is that it’s simple enough that other tasks are likely to impose a heavier load on the user for

First Steps towards Successful Group Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jacobs, George M.; Tan, Hui Shan

2015-01-01

The use in education of small groups of two to four members receives substantial support from both theory and research (e.g., (Deutsch, 1949, 1962; Gillies, 2007; Johnson & Johnson, 2006; Lewin, 1935; Sharan, 1999; Slavin, 1995; Vygotsky, 1978, Webb, et al., 2009). This theory and research suggests that people learn more and gain affective…

Role of Educational Games Improves Meaningful Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nachimuthu, K.; Vijayakumari, G.

2011-01-01

A game is a set of activities involving one or more players. It has goals, constraints, payoffs, and consequences. A game is rule-guided and artificial in some respects. (Richard Wilson, 2010). According to Garris et al. (2002), define educational game play as "voluntary, nonproductive, and separate from the real world"; and they found…

Hippocampal BOLD response during category learning predicts subsequent performance on transfer generalization.

PubMed

Fera, Francesco; Passamonti, Luca; Herzallah, Mohammad M; Myers, Catherine E; Veltri, Pierangelo; Morganti, Giuseppina; Quattrone, Aldo; Gluck, Mark A

2014-07-01

To test a prediction of our previous computational model of cortico-hippocampal interaction (Gluck and Myers [1993, 2001]) for characterizing individual differences in category learning, we studied young healthy subjects using an fMRI-adapted category-learning task that has two phases, an initial phase in which associations are learned through trial-and-error feedback followed by a generalization phase in which previously learned rules can be applied to novel associations (Myers et al. [2003]). As expected by our model, we found a negative correlation between learning-related hippocampal responses and accuracy during transfer, demonstrating that hippocampal adaptation during learning is associated with better behavioral scores during transfer generalization. In addition, we found an inverse relationship between Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent (BOLD) activity in the striatum and that in the hippocampal formation and the orbitofrontal cortex during the initial learning phase. Conversely, activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex and parietal lobes dominated over that of the hippocampal formation during the generalization phase. These findings provide evidence in support of theories of the neural substrates of category learning which argue that the hippocampal region plays a critical role during learning for appropriately encoding and representing newly learned information so that that this learning can be successfully applied and generalized to subsequent novel task demands. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The role of mirror neurons in language acquisition and evolution.

PubMed

Behme, Christina

2014-04-01

I argue that Cook et al.'s attack of the genetic hypothesis of mirror neurons misses its target because the authors miss the point that genetics may specify how neurons may learn, not what they learn. Paying more attention to recent work linking mirror neurons to language acquisition and evolution would strengthen Cook et al.'s arguments against a rigid genetic hypothesis.

Using e-learning for maintenance of ALS competence.

PubMed

Jensen, Morten Lind; Mondrup, Frederik; Lippert, Freddy; Ringsted, Charlotte

2009-08-01

A well-suited e-learning program might be a feasible strategy to maintain competence following a resuscitation course. This study had 2 aims: (1) to examine the effect of an e-learning program as a booster of competence acquired from an Advanced Life Support (ALS) course. (2) To identify factors related to the use of the e-learning program. The study contained two parts pertaining to the two aims. The first part was a prospective single blinded randomised controlled study on junior doctors. The intervention was the monthly use of an e-learning program during one year and effect was measured as ALS-competence, a composite of a knowledge and skills test. The second part was a telephone interview of the intervention group. An interview guide was constructed based on existing knowledge of e-learning. In order to identify factors explaining the use of e-learning a univariate correlation was used to select significant variables to be included in a multiple regression analysis. Of the 134 invited to participate, 103 accepted the invitation. There were 79/103 (77%) participants, 40/51 in the intervention group and 39/52 in the control group. There was no difference between the groups with regards to ALS competence. Only 'social interaction' was an individually significant factor influencing the use of the e-learning program. This study did not demonstrate an effect of an e-learning program as a booster of competence acquired from an ALS course. The primary factor influencing the use of e-learning was the lack of social interaction.

Connecting Informal and Formal Learning Experiences in the Age of Participatory Media: Commentary on Bull et al. (2008)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greenhow, Christine

2008-01-01

The recent editorial in this journal by Bull et al. ("Connecting Informal and Formal Learning Experiences in the Age of Participatory Media" Vol 8, Iss 2) discussed the challenges of bridging formal learning practices and informal learning opportunities within the context of today's Web-enhanced world. In this commentary, Christine…

Adult Learners' Understanding in Learning Islam Using Andragogy Approach: A Study in Kampung Siglap Mosque and Al-Zuhri Higher Learning Institute

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bin Kadir, Mohd Amin; Arifin, Syamsul; Latipun; Fuad, Ahmad Nur

2016-01-01

This study describes adult learners' understanding in learning Islam using andragogy approach in which the study was conducted in Kampung Siglap Mosque and Al-Zuhri Higher Learning Institute. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) educate his companions of who are adults from the shackles of "jahiliyyah," spiritual and intellectual…

Parallel Processing and Learning: Variability and Chaos in Self- Organization of Activity in Groups of Neurons

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-03-09

neurotransmission and neuromodulation (Soinila and Mpitsos, 1992; Soinila ct al., 1992). It is necessary, as these and other publications (e.g., Mpitsos and...neurotransmitters and neuromodulators affect the activity of neural assemblies, and (b) how individual transmitters act within the framework of the many...examined mammalian tissues that may he useful ajs model s~sqerni to examine distributed function in neurotransmission and neuromodulation (Soinila and

(S)Pot on Mitochondria: Cannabinoids Disrupt Cellular Respiration to Limit Neuronal Activity.

PubMed

Harkany, Tibor; Horvath, Tamas L

2017-01-10

Classical views posit G protein-coupled cannabinoid receptor 1s (CB1Rs) at the cell surface with cytosolic Giα-mediated signal transduction. Hebert-Chatelain et al. (2016) instead place CB 1 Rs at mitochondria limiting neuronal respiration by soluble adenylyl cyclase-dependent modulation of complex I activity. Thus, neuronal bioenergetics link to synaptic plasticity and, globally, learning and memory. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Therapeutic progress in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-beginning to learning.

PubMed

Kumar, Vijay; Islam, Asimul; Hassan, Md Imtaiyaz; Ahmad, Faizan

2016-10-04

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease associated with motor neuron degeneration, muscle weakness, paralysis and finally death. The proposed mechanisms of ALS include glutamate excitotoxicity, oxidative stress, inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, apoptosis and proteasomal dysfunction. Although numerous pathological mechanisms have been explained, ALS remains incurable disease because of failure of clinical trials and lack of any effective therapy. The rapid advancement in genetic discoveries in ALS emphasizes the point that ALS is a multi-subtype syndrome rather than a single disease. This can be argued as one of the single reason why many previous therapeutic drug trials have failed. Efforts to develop novel ALS treatments which target specific pathomechanisms are currently being pursued. Herein, we review the recent discovery and preclinical characterization of neuroprotective compounds and compare their effects on disease onset, duration and survival. Furthermore, the structure-activity relationships of these agents are analyzed with the overall goal of developing a screening strategy for future clinical applications. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Refining a definition of reflection for the being as well as doing the work of a physician.

PubMed

Wald, Hedy S

2015-04-21

Reflection is core to professional competency and supports the active, constructive process of professional identity formation. Medical educators thus grapple with operationalizing and effectively integrating reflection as a foundational construct within health care professions education and practice. Core elements of reflection including role of emotions and awareness of self, other and situation, do not appear within various working definitions of reflection. This observation as well as noted recent shift in medical education toward emphasis on the "being" as well as "doing the work" of a physician led to the author's proposed refining of Sandars' reflection definition and expansion of Nguyen et al.'s reflection model. A refined reflection definition is offered for a more inclusionary approach. A caveat regarding potential for expected reflective learning outcomes (given reflection as a process) is provided and the integral role of mentor-enhanced reflection is discussed. Reflection as a continuum is highlighted and exemplified within Wald et al.'s REFLECT rubric and Nguyen et al.'s reflection model.

A Learning Framework for the Small Business Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelliher, Felicity; Henderson, Joan Bernadette

2006-01-01

Purpose: The aim of this article is to offer insight into the factors affecting individual and organisational learning in a small business; specifically the identification of the learning relationships that are unique to the small business environment. Design/methodology/approach: The authors apply Crossan et al.'s (1997, 1999) Organisational…

Pharmacological benefits of selective modulation of cannabinoid receptor type 2 (CB2) in experimental Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

Jayant, Shalini; Sharma, Brij Mohan; Bansal, Rani; Sharma, Bhupesh

2016-01-01

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that pervasively affects the population across the world. Currently, there is no effective treatment available for this and existing drugs merely slow the progression of cognitive function decline. Thus, massive effort is required to find an intended therapeutic target to overcome this condition. The present study has been framed to investigate the ameliorative role of selective modulator of cannabinoid receptor type 2 (CB2), 1-phenylisatin in experimental AD condition. We have induced experimental AD in mice by using two induction models viz., intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) administration of streptozotocin (STZ) and aluminum trichloride (AlCl3)+d-galactose. Morris water maze (MWM) and attentional set shifting test (ASST) were used to assess learning and memory. Hematoxylin-eosin and Congo red staining were used to examine the structural variation in brain. Brain oxidative stress (thiobarbituric acid reactive substance and glutathione), nitric oxide levels (nitrites/nitrates), acetyl cholinesterase activity, myeloperoxidase and calcium levels were also estimated. i.c.v. STZ as well as AlCl3+d-galactose have impaired spatial and reversal learning with executive functioning, increased brain oxidative and nitrosative stress, cholinergic activity, inflammation and calcium levels. Furthermore, these agents have also enhanced the burden of Aβ plaque in the brain. Treatment with 1-phenylisatin and donepezil attenuated i.c.v. STZ as well as AlCl3+d-galactose induced impairment of learning-memory, brain biochemistry and brain damage. Hence, this study concludes that CB2 receptor modulation can be a potential therapeutic target for the management of AD. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Development of infant mismatch responses to auditory pattern changes between 2 and 4 months old.

PubMed

He, Chao; Hotson, Lisa; Trainor, Laurel J

2009-02-01

In order to process speech and music, the auditory cortex must learn to process patterns of sounds. Our previous studies showed that with a stream consisting of a repeating (standard) sound, younger infants show an increase in the amplitude of a positive slow wave in response to occasional changes (deviants) in pitch or duration, whereas older infants show a faster negative response that resembles mismatch negativity (MMN) in adults (Trainor et al., 2001, 2003; He et al., 2007). MMN reflects an automatic change-detection process that does not require attention, conscious awareness or behavioural response for its elicitation (Picton et al., 2000; Näätänen et al., 2007). It is an important tool for understanding auditory perception because MMN reflects a change-detection mechanism, and not simply that repetition of a stimulus results in a refractory state of sensory neural circuits while occasional changes to a new sound activate new non-refractory neural circuits (Näätänen et al., 2005). For example, MMN is elicited by a change in the pattern of a repeating note sequence, even when no new notes are introduced that could activate new sensory circuits (Alain et al., 1994, 1999;Schröger et al., 1996). In the present study, we show that in response to a change in the pattern of two repeating tones, MMN in 4-month-olds remains robust whereas the 2-month-old response does not. This indicates that the MMN response to a change in pattern at 4 months reflects the activation of a change-detection mechanism similarly as in adults.

Proceedings of N.A.Web 2001: The International North America Web-Based Learning Conference (7th, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, October 13-16, 2001).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ellis, Allan, Ed.; Hall, Rik, Ed.; Li, Jeni, Ed.

NAWeb 2001, the International North America Web-Based Learning Conference, focused on innovative and practical uses of the World Wide Web in teaching and learning. This proceedings contains the following papers: (1) "Roles of Parties Involved in Distance Learning" (Ahlam Al-Bassam, Peter Neubert, Ali Al-Shammari); (2) "The World…

Computer simulation and laboratory work in the teaching of mechanics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Borghi, L.; DeAmbrosis, A.; Mascheretti, P.; Massara, C. I.

1987-03-01

By analysing the measures of student success in learning the fundamentals of physics in conjunction with the research reported in the literature one can conclude that it is difficult or undergraduates as well as high-school students to gain a reasonable understanding of elementary mechanics. Considerable effort has been devoted to identifying those factors which might prevent mechanics being successfully learnt and also to developing instructional methods which could improve its teaching (Champagne et al. 1984, Hewson 1985, McDermott 1983, Saltiel and Malgrange 1980, Whitaker 1983, White 1983). Starting from these research results and drawing from their own experience (Borghi et al. 1984, 1985), they arrived at the following conclusions. A strategy based on experimental activity, performed by the students themselves, together with a proper use of computer simulations, could well improve the learning of mechanics and enhance the interest in, and understanding of, topics which are difficult to treat in a traditional way. The authors describe the strategy they have designed to help high school students to learn mechanics and report how they have applied this strategy to their particular topic of projectile motion.

How native-like can you possibly get: fMRI evidence for processing accent

PubMed Central

Ghazi-Saidi, Ladan; Dash, Tanya; Ansaldo, Ana I.

2015-01-01

Introduction: If ever attained, adopting native-like accent is achieved late in the learning process. Resemblance between L2 and mother tongue can facilitate L2 learning. In particular, cognates (phonologically and semantically similar words across languages), offer the opportunity to examine the issue of foreign accent in quite a unique manner. Methods: Twelve Spanish speaking (L1) adults learnt French (L2) cognates and practiced their native-like pronunciation by means of a computerized method. After consolidation, they were tested on L1 and L2 oral picture- naming during fMRI scanning. Results and Discussion: The results of the present study show that there is a specific impact of accent on brain activation, even if L2 words are cognates, and belong to a pair of closely related languages. Results point that the insula is a key component of accent processing, which is in line with reports from patients with foreign accent syndrome following damage to the insula (e.g., Katz et al., 2012; Moreno-Torres et al., 2013; Tomasino et al., 2013), and healthy L2 learners (Chee et al., 2004). Thus, the left insula has been consistently related to the integration of attentional and working memory abilities, together with fine-tuning of motor programming to achieve optimal articulation. PMID:26578931

Tannoid principles of Emblica officinalis renovate cognitive deficits and attenuate amyloid pathologies against aluminum chloride induced rat model of Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

Justin Thenmozhi, Arokiasamy; Dhivyabharathi, Mathiyazahan; William Raja, Tharsius Raja; Manivasagam, Thamilarasan; Essa, Musthafa Mohamed

2016-07-01

Emblica officinalis is mentioned as a maharasayana in many Ayurvedic texts and promotes intelligence, memory, freedom from disease, longevity, and strength of the senses. The present study has been designed to explore the memory-enhancing effect of the tannoid principles of E. officinalis (EoT) at the biochemical, anatomical, behavioral, and molecular levels against aluminum chloride (AlCl3) induced Alzheimer's disease (AD) in rats. Aluminum is reported to have an important role in the etiology, pathogenesis, and development of AD. Male Wistar rats were divided into control, AlCl3 treated, AlCl3 and EoT (50, 100, and 200 mg/kg bw) co-treated, and EoT (200 mg/kg bw) alone treated groups. In control and experimental rats, behavior tests including water maze and open field test, estimation of aluminum, assay of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity, and expression of amyloidogenic proteins were performed. Intraperitonial injection of AlCl3 (100 mg/kg bw) for 60 days significantly elevated the concentration of aluminum (Al), activity of AChE and protein expressions of amyloid precursor protein, A-beta1-42, beta-, and gamma-secretases as compared to control group in hippocampus and cortex. Co-administration of EoT orally to AlCl3 rats for 60 days significantly revert back the Al concentration, AChE activity, and A-beta synthesis-related molecules in the studied brain regions. The spatial learning, memory, and locomotor impairments observed in AlCl3 treated rats were significantly attenuated by EoT. Therefore, EoT may be a promising therapy in ameliorating neurotoxicity of aluminum, however further studies are warranted to elucidate the exact mechanism of action of EoT.

Back to the future! Revisiting the physiological cost of negative work as a team-based activity for exercise physiology students.

PubMed

Kilgas, Matthew A; Elmer, Steven J

2017-03-01

We implemented a team-based activity in our exercise physiology teaching laboratory that was inspired from Abbott et al.'s classic 1952 Journal of Physiology paper titled "The physiological cost of negative work." Abbott et al. connected two bicycles via one chain. One person cycled forward (muscle shortening contractions, positive work) while the other resisted the reverse moving pedals (muscle lengthening contractions, negative work), and the cost of work was compared. This study was the first to link human whole body energetics with isolated muscle force-velocity characteristics. The laboratory activity for our students ( n = 35) was designed to reenact Abbott et al.'s experiment, integrate previously learned techniques, and illustrate differences in physiological responses to muscle shortening and lengthening contractions. Students (11-12 students/laboratory section) were split into two teams (positive work vs. negative work). One student from each team volunteered to cycle against the other for ~10 min. The remaining students in each team were tasked with measuring: 1 ) O 2 consumption, 2 ) heart rate, 3 ) blood lactate, and 4 ) perceived exertion. Students discovered that O 2 consumption during negative work was about one-half that of positive work and all other physiological parameters were also substantially lower. Muscle lengthening contractions were discussed and applied to rehabilitation and sport training. The majority of students (>90%) agreed or strongly agreed that they stayed engaged during the activity and it improved their understanding of exercise physiology. All students recommended the activity be performed again. This activity was engaging, emphasized teamwork, yielded clear results, was well received, and preserved the history of classic physiological experiments. Copyright © 2017 the American Physiological Society.

Striatal cell signaling in chronically food-restricted rats under basal conditions and in response to brief handling.

PubMed

Pan, Yan; Siregar, Ermanda; Carr, Kenneth D

2006-01-30

Chronic food restriction increases exploratory behavior, cognitive function, and the rewarding effects of abused drugs. Recently, striatal neuroadaptations that may be involved in these effects were observed. Specifically, D-1 dopamine (DA) receptor agonist challenge produced stronger activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), calcium-calmodulin-dependent kinase II (CaMKII), and the nuclear transcription factor cAMP response element binding protein (CREB) in nucleus accumbens (NAc) of food-restricted (FR) relative to ad libitum fed (AL) rats. Further, when FR rats were injected intracerebroventricularly (i.c.v.) with vehicle (saline) they displayed stronger activation of c-Jun N-terminal protein kinase (JNK), ERK and CaMKII than did AL rats. It is not known to what extent the latter effects represent the basal state of FR rats or an amplified response to the brief handling involved in the i.c.v. injection procedure. Using Western blotting it was found that basal phospho-JNK is higher in caudate-putamen (CPu) and NAc of FR relative to AL rats. Interestingly, brief handling decreased phospho-JNK levels in FR subjects. Basal phospho-ERK1/2 also tended to be elevated in CPu and NAc of FR rats but the elevation was not significant. However, phospho-MEK--the activated kinase upstream of ERK1/2--was significantly elevated in NAc of FR rats. Neither ERK1/2 nor MEK were activated by brief handling. CaMKII was selectively activated by handling in NAc of FR rats, suggesting a state-dependent response to a salient event. Given the established involvement of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and CaMKII in synaptic plasticity, learning and memory, the increase in basal phospho-MEK and hyperresponsiveness of CaMKII in NAc may represent adaptive cellular responses to persistent negative energy balance that facilitate associative learning in connection with food-seeking.

Machine Learning Analysis Identifies Drosophila Grunge/Atrophin as an Important Learning and Memory Gene Required for Memory Retention and Social Learning.

PubMed

Kacsoh, Balint Z; Greene, Casey S; Bosco, Giovanni

2017-11-06

High-throughput experiments are becoming increasingly common, and scientists must balance hypothesis-driven experiments with genome-wide data acquisition. We sought to predict novel genes involved in Drosophila learning and long-term memory from existing public high-throughput data. We performed an analysis using PILGRM, which analyzes public gene expression compendia using machine learning. We evaluated the top prediction alongside genes involved in learning and memory in IMP, an interface for functional relationship networks. We identified Grunge/Atrophin ( Gug/Atro ), a transcriptional repressor, histone deacetylase, as our top candidate. We find, through multiple, distinct assays, that Gug has an active role as a modulator of memory retention in the fly and its function is required in the adult mushroom body. Depletion of Gug specifically in neurons of the adult mushroom body, after cell division and neuronal development is complete, suggests that Gug function is important for memory retention through regulation of neuronal activity, and not by altering neurodevelopment. Our study provides a previously uncharacterized role for Gug as a possible regulator of neuronal plasticity at the interface of memory retention and memory extinction. Copyright © 2017 Kacsoh et al.

Learning Structured Classifiers with Dual Coordinate Ascent

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-06-01

stochastic gradient descent (SGD) [LeCun et al., 1998], and the margin infused relaxed algorithm (MIRA) [ Crammer et al., 2006]. This paper presents a...evaluate these methods on the Prague Dependency Treebank us- ing online large-margin learning tech- niques ( Crammer et al., 2003; McDonald et al., 2005...between two kinds of factors: hard constraint factors, which are used to rule out forbidden par- tial assignments by mapping them to zero potential values

Assessment and Learning: Some Reflections

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wiliam, Dylan

2017-01-01

In this article, Dylan William states that the central claim in Baird, et al.'s piece is that if theories of assessment take into account theories of learning, assessments will somehow be more valid, and some of the more egregious effects of assessment on learning will be ameliorated. William responds to this claim by arguing that it seems…

Speedminton: Using the Tactical Games Model in Secondary Physical Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oh, Hyun-Ju; Bullard, Susan; Hovatter, Rhonda

2011-01-01

Teaching and learning of sport and sports-related games dominates the curriculum in most secondary physical education programs in America. For many secondary school students, playing games can be exciting and lead to a lifetime of participation in sport-related activities. Using the Tactical Games Model (TGM) (Mitchell et al., 2006) to teach the…

Collaborative Research Methodology for Investigating Teaching and Learning: The Use of Interactive Whiteboard Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Armstrong, Victoria; Barnes, Sally; Sutherland, Rosamund; Curran, Sarah; Mills, Simon; Thompson, Ian

2005-01-01

This paper discusses the results of a research project which aimed to capture, analyse and communicate the complex interactions between students, teachers and technology that occur in the classroom. Teachers and researchers used an innovative research design developed through the InterActive Education Project (Sutherland et al., 2003). Video case…

Investigating Student Ideas about Cosmology II: Composition of the Universe

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coble, Kim; Nickerson, Melissa D.; Bailey, Janelle M.; Trouille, Laura E.; Cochran, Geraldine L.; Camarillo, Carmen T.; Cominsky, Lynn R.

2013-01-01

Continuing our work from a previous study (Coble et al. 2013), we examine undergraduates' ideas on the composition of the Universe as they progress through a general education astronomy integrated lecture and laboratory course with a focus on active learning. The study was conducted over five semesters at an urban minority-serving institution. The…

Un Viaje al Aeropuerto (A Trip to the Airport).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Federal Aviation Administration (DOT), Washington, DC.

This illustrated, bilingual Spanish-English intermediate reader describes a class trip to an airport, in which the class tours the airport, and learns about airport activities, the parts of an airplane, and other related topics. Each page of the text is illustrated with a drawing. The narrative is followed by a list of 24 suggested learning…

Simulation Games on the European Union in Civics: Effects on Secondary School Pupils' Political Competence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oberle, Monika; Leunig, Johanna

2016-01-01

Civics courses strive to promote students' political competencies, which according to the model of Detjen et al. incorporate content knowledge, abilities to make political judgements and take political action, as well as motivational skills and attitudes. For achieving these goals, high hopes are placed on active learning tools such as political…

Challenges and Changes: Developing Teachers' and Initial Teacher Education Students' Understandings of the Nature of Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ward, Gillian; Haigh, Mavis

2017-12-01

Teachers need an understanding of the nature of science (NOS) to enable them to incorporate NOS into their teaching of science. The current study examines the usefulness of a strategy for challenging or changing teachers' understandings of NOS. The teachers who participated in this study were 10 initial teacher education chemistry students and six experienced teachers from secondary and primary schools who were introduced to an explicit and reflective activity, a dramatic reading about a historical scientific development. Concept maps were used before and after the activity to assess teachers' knowledge of NOS. The participants also took part in a focus group interview to establish whether they perceived the activity as useful in developing their own understanding of NOS. Initial analysis led us to ask another group, comprising seven initial teacher education chemistry students, to take part in a modified study. These participants not only completed the same tasks as the previous participants but also completed a written reflection commenting on whether the activity and focus group discussion enhanced their understanding of NOS. Both Lederman et al.'s (Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 39(6), 497-521, 2002) concepts of NOS and notions of "naive" and "informed" understandings of NOS and Hay's (Studies in Higher Education, 32(1), 39-57, 2007) notions of "surface" and "deep" learning were used as frameworks to examine the participants' specific understandings of NOS and the depth of their learning. The ways in which participants' understandings of NOS were broadened or changed by taking part in the dramatic reading are presented. The impact of the data-gathering tools on the participants' professional learning is also discussed.

Understand the cogs to understand cognition.

PubMed

Marblestone, Adam H; Wayne, Greg; Kording, Konrad P

2017-01-01

Lake et al. suggest that current AI systems lack the inductive biases that enable human learning. However, Lake et al.'s proposed biases may not directly map onto mechanisms in the developing brain. A convergence of fields may soon create a correspondence between biological neural circuits and optimization in structured architectures, allowing us to systematically dissect how brains learn.

Diminished Neural Adaptation during Implicit Learning in Autism

PubMed Central

Schipul, Sarah E.; Just, Marcel Adam

2015-01-01

Neuroimaging studies have shown evidence of disrupted neural adaptation during learning in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in several types of tasks, potentially stemming from frontal-posterior cortical underconnectivity (Schipul et al., 2012). The aim of the current study was to examine neural adaptations in an implicit learning task that entails participation of frontal and posterior regions. Sixteen high-functioning adults with ASD and sixteen neurotypical control participants were trained on and performed an implicit dot pattern prototype learning task in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) session. During the preliminary exposure to the type of implicit prototype learning task later to be used in the scanner, the ASD participants took longer than the neurotypical group to learn the task, demonstrating altered implicit learning in ASD. After equating task structure learning, the two groups’ brain activation differed during their learning of a new prototype in the subsequent scanning session. The main findings indicated that neural adaptations in a distributed task network were reduced in the ASD group, relative to the neurotypical group, and were related to ASD symptom severity. Functional connectivity was reduced and did not change as much during learning for the ASD group, and was related to ASD symptom severity. These findings suggest that individuals with ASD show altered neural adaptations during learning, as seen in both activation and functional connectivity measures. This finding suggests why many real-world implicit learning situations may pose special challenges for ASD. PMID:26484826

Action learning sets in a nursing and midwifery practice learning context: a realistic evaluation.

PubMed

Machin, Alison I; Pearson, Pauline

2014-08-01

Action learning sets (ALS) are used widely for organisational and workforce development, including in nursing (Anderson and Thorpe, 2004; Pounder, 2009; Young et al., 2010). In the United Kingdom, a multi-faceted educational Pilot programme for new nurses and midwives was implemented to accelerate their clinical practice and leadership development (NHS Education Scotland, 2010). Action Learning Sets were provided for peer support and personal development. The Realistic Evaluation study reported in this paper explored issues of context, mechanism and outcome (Pawson and Tilley, 1997) influencing the action learning experiences of: programme participants (recently qualified nurses and midwives, from different practice settings); and programme supporters. A range of data were collected via: online questionnaires from 66 participants and 29 supporters; three focus groups, each comprising between eight and 10 programme participants; and one focus group with three action learning facilitators. The qualitative data pertaining to the ALS are presented in this paper. Thematic data analysis of context, mechanism and outcome configurations, generated five themes: creating and sustaining a collective learning environment; challenging constructively; collective support; the role of feedback; and effectiveness of ALS. Study outcomes suggest nursing and midwifery action learning should (a) be facilitated positively to improve participants' experience; (b) be renamed to avoid learning methodology confusion; and (c) be outcome focused to evidence impact on practice. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Learning, Action and Solutions in Action Learning: Investigation of Facilitation Practice Using the Concept of Living Theories

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sanyal, Chandana

2018-01-01

This paper explores the practice of action learning (AL) facilitation in supporting AL set members to address their 'messy' problems through a self-reflexive approach using the concept of 'living theory' [Whitehead, J., and J. McNiff. 2006. "Action Research Living Theory." London: Sage]. The facilitation practice is investigated through…

Advanced life support (ALS) instructors experience of ALS education in Western Australia: a qualitative exploratory research study.

PubMed

Taplin, John; McConigley, Ruth

2015-04-01

When cardiac arrest occurs, timely competent advanced life support (ALS) interventions by nursing staff can influence patient outcomes. Ongoing ALS education influences maintenance of competency and avoids skill decay. To explore the methods of ALS education delivery for nurses in the workplace; describe the issues relating to maintaining ALS competency; explore ALS competency decay for nurses and develop recommendations for the provision of continuing ALS education. A qualitative exploratory design was used to study ALS education provision in the workplace. Data were collected from ALS nurse experts in Western Australia by face-to-face and phone interviews. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and organised around a set of predetermined questions. Two major themes were identified; the first theme Demand and Supply describes the increasing demand for ALS education for nurses and the challenges with providing timely cost effective traditional face-to-face ALS education. The second theme, Choosing The Best Education Options describes new ways to provide ALS education using emerging technologies. The study suggested that using e-learning methods would assist with educating the maximum amount of nurses in a timely manner and e-learning and teleconferencing offer opportunities to reach nurses in distant locations. Delivering ALS education more frequently than annually would increase skills maintenance and lessen skill decay. Further research is required to explore which blended e-learning model is best suited to ALS education. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Low Data Drug Discovery with One-Shot Learning.

PubMed

Altae-Tran, Han; Ramsundar, Bharath; Pappu, Aneesh S; Pande, Vijay

2017-04-26

Recent advances in machine learning have made significant contributions to drug discovery. Deep neural networks in particular have been demonstrated to provide significant boosts in predictive power when inferring the properties and activities of small-molecule compounds (Ma, J. et al. J. Chem. Inf. 2015, 55, 263-274). However, the applicability of these techniques has been limited by the requirement for large amounts of training data. In this work, we demonstrate how one-shot learning can be used to significantly lower the amounts of data required to make meaningful predictions in drug discovery applications. We introduce a new architecture, the iterative refinement long short-term memory, that, when combined with graph convolutional neural networks, significantly improves learning of meaningful distance metrics over small-molecules. We open source all models introduced in this work as part of DeepChem, an open-source framework for deep-learning in drug discovery (Ramsundar, B. deepchem.io. https://github.com/deepchem/deepchem, 2016).

Army AL&T, October-December 2007

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-12-01

school students and under- graduates, including cadets and midship- men, to study science and engineering. IAT is also the lead biannual Electromag- netic... learning . The ICT has developed active partner- ships with government laboratories, other universities, Army schools , PMs and industry to align its...information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions , searching existing data sources, gathering and

Exploring Two Teachers' Engagement with Their Students in an Online Writing Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Annamalai, Nagaletchimee; Tan, Kok Eng

2015-01-01

Little research in the ESL context has examined the online teaching and learning activities in high schools. One main reason is the lack of appropriate theoretical framework rather than the learners or the environment. Using data from twelve high school students and two teachers from two Malaysian schools, the current study adapted Borup et al.'s…

Regularized spherical polar fourier diffusion MRI with optimal dictionary learning.

PubMed

Cheng, Jian; Jiang, Tianzi; Deriche, Rachid; Shen, Dinggang; Yap, Pew-Thian

2013-01-01

Compressed Sensing (CS) takes advantage of signal sparsity or compressibility and allows superb signal reconstruction from relatively few measurements. Based on CS theory, a suitable dictionary for sparse representation of the signal is required. In diffusion MRI (dMRI), CS methods proposed for reconstruction of diffusion-weighted signal and the Ensemble Average Propagator (EAP) utilize two kinds of Dictionary Learning (DL) methods: 1) Discrete Representation DL (DR-DL), and 2) Continuous Representation DL (CR-DL). DR-DL is susceptible to numerical inaccuracy owing to interpolation and regridding errors in a discretized q-space. In this paper, we propose a novel CR-DL approach, called Dictionary Learning - Spherical Polar Fourier Imaging (DL-SPFI) for effective compressed-sensing reconstruction of the q-space diffusion-weighted signal and the EAP. In DL-SPFI, a dictionary that sparsifies the signal is learned from the space of continuous Gaussian diffusion signals. The learned dictionary is then adaptively applied to different voxels using a weighted LASSO framework for robust signal reconstruction. Compared with the start-of-the-art CR-DL and DR-DL methods proposed by Merlet et al. and Bilgic et al., respectively, our work offers the following advantages. First, the learned dictionary is proved to be optimal for Gaussian diffusion signals. Second, to our knowledge, this is the first work to learn a voxel-adaptive dictionary. The importance of the adaptive dictionary in EAP reconstruction will be demonstrated theoretically and empirically. Third, optimization in DL-SPFI is only performed in a small subspace resided by the SPF coefficients, as opposed to the q-space approach utilized by Merlet et al. We experimentally evaluated DL-SPFI with respect to L1-norm regularized SPFI (L1-SPFI), which uses the original SPF basis, and the DR-DL method proposed by Bilgic et al. The experiment results on synthetic and real data indicate that the learned dictionary produces sparser coefficients than the original SPF basis and results in significantly lower reconstruction error than Bilgic et al.'s method.

Technology-Enriched STEM Investigations of Place: Using Technology to Extend the Senses and Build Connections to and between Places in Science Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hougham, R. Justin; Eitel, Karla C. Bradley; Miller, Brant G.

2015-01-01

In this article we explore how reconceptualizing the role of technology in place-based education (PBE) enhances place responsive pedagogies through technology. Combining the strengths of adventure learning (AL) and PBE, Adventure Learning @ (AL@) advances both place responsive education and online learning in science education. This is needed, as…

Flare Prediction Using Photospheric and Coronal Image Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jonas, E.; Shankar, V.; Bobra, M.; Recht, B.

2016-12-01

We attempt to forecast M-and X-class solar flares using a machine-learning algorithm and five years of image data from both the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) and Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) instruments aboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory. HMI is the first instrument to continuously map the full-disk photospheric vector magnetic field from space (Schou et al., 2012). The AIA instrument maps the transition region and corona using various ultraviolet wavelengths (Lemen et al., 2012). HMI and AIA data are taken nearly simultaneously, providing an opportunity to study the entire solar atmosphere at a rapid cadence. Most flare forecasting efforts described in the literature use some parameterization of solar data - typically of the photospheric magnetic field within active regions. These numbers are considered to capture the information in any given image relevant to predicting solar flares. In our approach, we use HMI and AIA images of solar active regions and a deep convolutional kernel network to predict solar flares. This is effectively a series of shallow-but-wide random convolutional neural networks stacked and then trained with a large-scale block-weighted least squares solver. This algorithm automatically determines which patterns in the image data are most correlated with flaring activity and then uses these patterns to predict solar flares. Using the recently-developed KeystoneML machine learning framework, we construct a pipeline to process millions of images in a few hours on commodity cloud computing infrastructure. This is the first time vector magnetic field images have been combined with coronal imagery to forecast solar flares. This is also the first time such a large dataset of solar images, some 8.5 terabytes of images that together capture over 3000 active regions, has been used to forecast solar flares. We evaluate our method using various flare prediction windows defined in the literature (e.g. Ahmed et al., 2013) and a novel per-hour time series we've constructed which more closely mimics the demands of an operational solar flare prediction system. We estimate the performance of our algorithm using the True Skill Statistic (TSS; Bloomfield et al., 2012). We find that our algorithm gives a high TSS score and predictive abilities.

Aluminum exposure impacts brain plasticity and behavior in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar).

PubMed

Grassie, C; Braithwaite, V A; Nilsson, J; Nilsen, T O; Teien, H-C; Handeland, S O; Stefansson, S O; Tronci, V; Gorissen, M; Flik, G; Ebbesson, L O E

2013-08-15

Aluminum (Al) toxicity occurs frequently in natural aquatic ecosystems as a result of acid deposition and natural weathering processes. Detrimental effects of Al toxicity on aquatic organisms are well known and can have consequences for survival. Fish exposed to Al in low pH waters will experience physiological and neuroendocrine changes that disrupt homeostasis and alter behavior. To investigate the effects of Al exposure on both the brain and behavior, Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) kept in water treated with Al (pH 5.7, 0.37±0.04 μmol 1(-1) Al) for 2 weeks were compared with fish kept in under control conditions (pH 6.7, <0.04 μmol 1(-1) Al). Fish exposed to Al and acidic conditions had increased Al accumulation in the gills and decreased gill Na(+), K(+)-ATPase activity, which impaired osmoregulatory capacity and caused physiological stress, indicated by elevated plasma cortisol and glucose levels. Here we show for the first time that exposure to Al in acidic conditions also impaired learning performance in a maze task. Al toxicity also reduced the expression of NeuroD1 transcript levels in the forebrain of exposed fish. As in mammals, these data show that exposure to chronic stress, such as acidified Al, can reduce neural plasticity during behavioral challenges in salmon, and may impair the ability to cope with new environments.

Deep learning predictions of survival based on MRI in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

PubMed

van der Burgh, Hannelore K; Schmidt, Ruben; Westeneng, Henk-Jan; de Reus, Marcel A; van den Berg, Leonard H; van den Heuvel, Martijn P

2017-01-01

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neuromuscular disease, with large variation in survival between patients. Currently, it remains rather difficult to predict survival based on clinical parameters alone. Here, we set out to use clinical characteristics in combination with MRI data to predict survival of ALS patients using deep learning, a machine learning technique highly effective in a broad range of big-data analyses. A group of 135 ALS patients was included from whom high-resolution diffusion-weighted and T1-weighted images were acquired at the first visit to the outpatient clinic. Next, each of the patients was monitored carefully and survival time to death was recorded. Patients were labeled as short, medium or long survivors, based on their recorded time to death as measured from the time of disease onset. In the deep learning procedure, the total group of 135 patients was split into a training set for deep learning (n = 83 patients), a validation set (n = 20) and an independent evaluation set (n = 32) to evaluate the performance of the obtained deep learning networks. Deep learning based on clinical characteristics predicted survival category correctly in 68.8% of the cases. Deep learning based on MRI predicted 62.5% correctly using structural connectivity and 62.5% using brain morphology data. Notably, when we combined the three sources of information, deep learning prediction accuracy increased to 84.4%. Taken together, our findings show the added value of MRI with respect to predicting survival in ALS, demonstrating the advantage of deep learning in disease prognostication.

Dynamics of the cognitive procedural learning in alcoholics with Korsakoff's syndrome.

PubMed

Beaunieux, Hélène; Pitel, Anne L; Witkowski, Thomas; Vabret, François; Viader, Fausto; Eustache, Francis

2013-06-01

While procedures acquired before the development of amnesia are likely to be preserved in alcoholic patients with Korsakoff's syndrome, the ability of Korsakoff patients (KS) to learn new cognitive procedures is called in question. According to the Adaptive Control of Thoughts model, learning a new cognitive procedure requires highly controlled processes in the initial cognitive phase, which may be difficult for KS with episodic and working memory deficits. The goals of the present study were to examine the learning dynamics of KS compared with uncomplicated alcoholic patients (AL) and control subjects (CS) and to determine the contribution of episodic and working memory abilities in cognitive procedural learning performance. Fourteen KS, 15 AL, and 15 CS were submitted to 40 trials (4 daily learning sessions) of the Tower of Toronto task (disk-transfer task similar to the tower of Hanoi task) as well as episodic and working memory tasks. The 10 KS who were able to perform the cognitive procedural learning task obtained lower results than both CS and AL. The cognitive phase was longer in the Korsakoff's syndrome group than in the other 2 groups but did not differ between the 3 groups any more when episodic memory abilities were controlled. Our results indicate that KS have impaired cognitive procedural learning abilities compared with both AL and CS. Episodic memory deficits observed in KS result in a delayed transition from the cognitive learning phase to more advanced learning phases and, as a consequence, in an absence of automation of the procedure within 40 trials. Copyright © 2012 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.

Ripple-triggered stimulation of the locus coeruleus during post-learning sleep disrupts ripple/spindle coupling and impairs memory consolidation.

PubMed

Novitskaya, Yulia; Sara, Susan J; Logothetis, Nikos K; Eschenko, Oxana

2016-05-01

Experience-induced replay of neuronal ensembles occurs during hippocampal high-frequency oscillations, or ripples. Post-learning increase in ripple rate is predictive of memory recall, while ripple disruption impairs learning. Ripples may thus present a fundamental component of a neurophysiological mechanism of memory consolidation. In addition to system-level local and cross-regional interactions, a consolidation mechanism involves stabilization of memory representations at the synaptic level. Synaptic plasticity within experience-activated neuronal networks is facilitated by noradrenaline release from the axon terminals of the locus coeruleus (LC). Here, to better understand interactions between the system and synaptic mechanisms underlying "off-line" consolidation, we examined the effects of ripple-associated LC activation on hippocampal and cortical activity and on spatial memory. Rats were trained on a radial maze; after each daily learning session neural activity was monitored for 1 h via implanted electrode arrays. Immediately following "on-line" detection of ripple, a brief train of electrical pulses (0.05 mA) was applied to LC. Low-frequency (20 Hz) stimulation had no effect on spatial learning, while higher-frequency (100 Hz) trains transiently blocked generation of ripple-associated cortical spindles and caused a reference memory deficit. Suppression of synchronous ripple/spindle events appears to interfere with hippocampal-cortical communication, thereby reducing the efficiency of "off-line" memory consolidation. © 2016 Novitskaya et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

The Degree of Applying E-Learning in English Departments at Al-Balqa Applied University from Instructors' Perspectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alzu'bi, Mohammad Akram Mohammad

2018-01-01

The study aimed at identifying the degree of applying e-learning in Al-Balqa Applied University from instructors' perspectives so the researcher designed a questionnaire of 20 items which is applied on a sample of 48 lecturers. The study showed that the percentage of (64.0%) out of 48 participants apply e-learning in English departments at…

The Moderating Role of Self-Regulated Learning in Job Characteristics and Attitudes towards Web-Based Continuing Learning in the Airlines Workplace

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Xiao-fan; Liang, Jyh-Chong; Tsai, Chin-Chung; Hu, Qintai

2018-01-01

With the increasing importance of adult and continuing education, the present study aimed to examine the factors that influence continuing web-based learning at work. Three questionnaires were utilised to investigate the association of the job characteristics from Karasek et al.'s (1998) job demand-control-support model and the self-regulated…

Learning Circulant Sensing Kernels

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-03-01

Furthermore, we test learning the circulant sensing matrix/operator and the nonparametric dictionary altogether and obtain even better performance. We...scale. Furthermore, we test learning the circulant sensing matrix/operator and the nonparametric dictionary altogether and obtain even better performance...matrices, Tropp et al.[28] de - scribes a random filter for acquiring a signal x̄; Haupt et al.[12] describes a channel estimation problem to identify a

Social interaction with a tutor modulates responsiveness of specific auditory neurons in juvenile zebra finches.

PubMed

Yanagihara, Shin; Yazaki-Sugiyama, Yoko

2018-04-12

Behavioral states of animals, such as observing the behavior of a conspecific, modify signal perception and/or sensations that influence state-dependent higher cognitive behavior, such as learning. Recent studies have shown that neuronal responsiveness to sensory signals is modified when animals are engaged in social interactions with others or in locomotor activities. However, how these changes produce state-dependent differences in higher cognitive function is still largely unknown. Zebra finches, which have served as the premier songbird model, learn to sing from early auditory experiences with tutors. They also learn from playback of recorded songs however, learning can be greatly improved when song models are provided through social communication with tutors (Eales, 1989; Chen et al., 2016). Recently we found a subset of neurons in the higher-level auditory cortex of juvenile zebra finches that exhibit highly selective auditory responses to the tutor song after song learning, suggesting an auditory memory trace of the tutor song (Yanagihara and Yazaki-Sugiyama, 2016). Here we show that auditory responses of these selective neurons became greater when juveniles were paired with their tutors, while responses of non-selective neurons did not change. These results suggest that social interaction modulates cortical activity and might function in state-dependent song learning. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Value of Applied Research: Retrieval Practice Improves Classroom Learning and Recommendations from a Teacher, a Principal, and a Scientist

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Agarwal, Pooja K.; Bain, Patrice M.; Chamberlain, Roger W.

2012-01-01

Over the course of a 5-year applied research project with more than 1,400 middle school students, evidence from a number of studies revealed that retrieval practice in authentic classroom settings improves long-term learning (Agarwal et al. 2009; McDaniel et al., "Journal of Educational Psychology" 103:399-414, 2011; McDaniel et al.…

Electronic learning in advanced resuscitation training: The perspective of the candidate.

PubMed

Lockey, Andrew S; Dyal, Laura; Kimani, Peter K; Lam, Jenny; Bullock, Ian; Buck, Dominic; Davies, Robin P; Perkins, Gavin D

2015-12-01

Studies have shown that blended approaches combining e-learning with face-to-face training reduces costs whilst maintaining similar learning outcomes. The preferences in learning approach for healthcare providers to this new style of learning have not been comprehensively studied. The aim of this study is to evaluate the acceptability of blended learning to advanced resuscitation training. Participants taking part in the traditional and blended electronic advanced life support (e-ALS) courses were invited to complete a written evaluation of the course. Participants' views were captured on a 6-point Likert scale and in free text written comments covering the content, delivery and organisation of the course. Proportional-odds cumulative logit models were used to compare quantitative responses. Thematic analysis was used to synthesise qualitative feedback. 2848 participants from 31 course centres took part in the study (2008-2010). Candidates consistently scored content delivered face-to-face over the same content delivered over the e-learning platform. Candidates valued practical hands on training which included simulation highly. Within the e-ALS group, a common theme was a feeling of "time pressure" and they "preferred the face-to-face teaching". However, others felt that e-ALS "suited their learning style", was "good for those recertifying", and allowed candidates to "use the learning materials at their own pace". The e-ALS course was well received by most, but not all participants. The majority felt the e-learning module was beneficial. There was universal agreement that the face-to-face training was invaluable. Individual learning styles of the candidates affected their reaction to the course materials. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Long-term enhancement of synaptic transmission between antennal lobe and mushroom body in cultured Drosophila brain

PubMed Central

Ueno, Kohei; Naganos, Shintaro; Hirano, Yukinori; Horiuchi, Junjiro; Saitoe, Minoru

2013-01-01

In Drosophila, the mushroom body (MB) is a critical brain structure for olfactory associative learning. During aversive conditioning, the MBs are thought to associate odour signals, conveyed by projection neurons (PNs) from the antennal lobe (AL), with shock signals conveyed through ascending fibres of the ventral nerve cord (AFV). Although synaptic transmission between AL and MB might play a crucial role for olfactory associative learning, its physiological properties have not been examined directly. Using a cultured Drosophila brain expressing a Ca2+ indicator in the MBs, we investigated synaptic transmission and plasticity at the AL–MB synapse. Following stimulation with a glass micro-electrode, AL-induced Ca2+ responses in the MBs were mediated through Drosophila nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (dnAChRs), while AFV-induced Ca2+ responses were mediated through Drosophila NMDA receptors (dNRs). AL–MB synaptic transmission was enhanced more than 2 h after the simultaneous ‘associative-stimulation’ of AL and AFV, and such long-term enhancement (LTE) was specifically formed at the AL–MB synapses but not at the AFV–MB synapses. AL–MB LTE was not induced by intense stimulation of the AL alone, and the LTE decays within 60 min after subsequent repetitive AL stimulation. These phenotypes of associativity, input specificity and persistence of AL–MB LTE are highly reminiscent of olfactory memory. Furthermore, similar to olfactory aversive memory, AL–MB LTE formation required activation of the Drosophila D1 dopamine receptor, DopR, along with dnAChR and dNR during associative stimulations. These physiological and genetic analogies indicate that AL–MB LTE might be a relevant cellular model for olfactory memory. PMID:23027817

Cognitive Control Structures in the Imitation Learning of Spatial Sequences and Rhythms-An fMRI Study.

PubMed

Sakreida, Katrin; Higuchi, Satomi; Di Dio, Cinzia; Ziessler, Michael; Turgeon, Martine; Roberts, Neil; Vogt, Stefan

2018-03-01

Imitation learning involves the acquisition of novel motor patterns based on action observation (AO). We used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging to study the imitation learning of spatial sequences and rhythms during AO, motor imagery (MI), and imitative execution in nonmusicians and musicians. While both tasks engaged the fronto-parietal mirror circuit, the spatial sequence task recruited posterior parietal and dorsal premotor regions more strongly. The rhythm task involved an additional network for auditory working memory. This partial dissociation supports the concept of task-specific mirror mechanisms. Two regions of cognitive control were identified: 1) dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) was found to be more strongly activated during MI of novel spatial sequences, which allowed us to extend the 2-level model of imitation learning by Buccino et al. (2004) to spatial sequences. 2) During imitative execution of both tasks, the posterior medial frontal cortex was robustly activated, along with the DLPFC, which suggests that both regions are involved in the cognitive control of imitation learning. The musicians' selective behavioral advantage for rhythm imitation was reflected cortically in enhanced sensory-motor processing during AO and by the absence of practice-related activation differences in DLPFC during rhythm execution. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Peer Online Discourse Analysis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Ke; Carr-Chellman, Ali

Research shows that learning in groups improves students' achievement of learning objectives. Some indicate that a facilitator will smooth the process of collaboration (Johnson et al, 1987; Hooper, 1992; Moore and Kearsley, 1996; Brandon & Hollingshead, 1999; Bernard et al, 2000). Advocates for peer-controlled collaboration claim that learners…

Brain Mechanisms Underlying Individual Differences in Reaction to Stress: An Animal Model

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-10-29

Schooler, et al., 1976; Gershon & Buchsbaum, 1977; Buchsbaum, et al., 1977), personality scales of extraversion- introversion (Haier, 1984) and sensation...exploratory and learned to bar press more quickly and efficiently. Reducers with a lower inhibitory threshold learned the differential reinforcement of

Dopaminergic neurons write and update memories with cell-type-specific rules

PubMed Central

Aso, Yoshinori; Rubin, Gerald M

2016-01-01

Associative learning is thought to involve parallel and distributed mechanisms of memory formation and storage. In Drosophila, the mushroom body (MB) is the major site of associative odor memory formation. Previously we described the anatomy of the adult MB and defined 20 types of dopaminergic neurons (DANs) that each innervate distinct MB compartments (Aso et al., 2014a, 2014b). Here we compare the properties of memories formed by optogenetic activation of individual DAN cell types. We found extensive differences in training requirements for memory formation, decay dynamics, storage capacity and flexibility to learn new associations. Even a single DAN cell type can either write or reduce an aversive memory, or write an appetitive memory, depending on when it is activated relative to odor delivery. Our results show that different learning rules are executed in seemingly parallel memory systems, providing multiple distinct circuit-based strategies to predict future events from past experiences. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.16135.001 PMID:27441388

A comparative study of two prediction models for brain tumor progression

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Deqi; Tran, Loc; Wang, Jihong; Li, Jiang

2015-03-01

MR diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) technique together with traditional T1 or T2 weighted MRI scans supplies rich information sources for brain cancer diagnoses. These images form large-scale, high-dimensional data sets. Due to the fact that significant correlations exist among these images, we assume low-dimensional geometry data structures (manifolds) are embedded in the high-dimensional space. Those manifolds might be hidden from radiologists because it is challenging for human experts to interpret high-dimensional data. Identification of the manifold is a critical step for successfully analyzing multimodal MR images. We have developed various manifold learning algorithms (Tran et al. 2011; Tran et al. 2013) for medical image analysis. This paper presents a comparative study of an incremental manifold learning scheme (Tran. et al. 2013) versus the deep learning model (Hinton et al. 2006) in the application of brain tumor progression prediction. The incremental manifold learning is a variant of manifold learning algorithm to handle large-scale datasets in which a representative subset of original data is sampled first to construct a manifold skeleton and remaining data points are then inserted into the skeleton by following their local geometry. The incremental manifold learning algorithm aims at mitigating the computational burden associated with traditional manifold learning methods for large-scale datasets. Deep learning is a recently developed multilayer perceptron model that has achieved start-of-the-art performances in many applications. A recent technique named "Dropout" can further boost the deep model by preventing weight coadaptation to avoid over-fitting (Hinton et al. 2012). We applied the two models on multiple MRI scans from four brain tumor patients to predict tumor progression and compared the performances of the two models in terms of average prediction accuracy, sensitivity, specificity and precision. The quantitative performance metrics were calculated as average over the four patients. Experimental results show that both the manifold learning and deep neural network models produced better results compared to using raw data and principle component analysis (PCA), and the deep learning model is a better method than manifold learning on this data set. The averaged sensitivity and specificity by deep learning are comparable with these by the manifold learning approach while its precision is considerably higher. This means that the predicted abnormal points by deep learning are more likely to correspond to the actual progression region.

The NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program (NITARP) at Pierce College

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mallory, Carolyn R.; Feig, M.; Mahmud, N.; Silic, T.; Rebull, L.; Hoette, V.; Johnson, C.; McCarron, K.

2011-01-01

Our team from Pierce Community College, Woodland Hills, CA, participated in the NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program (NITARP) this past year (2010). (NITARP is described in another poster, Rebull et al.) Our team worked with archival Spitzer, 2MASS, and optical data to look for young stars in CG4, part of the Gum Nebula; our scientific results are described in a companion poster, Johnson et al. In this poster, we describe more about what we learned and how we incorporated our NITARP experiences into the Pierce College environment. Students developed critical thinking skills and an ability to organize their data analysis and develop a mental "big picture" of what is going on in the CG4 region. The NITARP program is one of several "Active Learning" programs going on at Pierce, and the other programs are briefly summarized in this poster as well. This program was made possible through the NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Project (NITARP) and was funded by NASA Astrophysics Data Program and Archive Outreach funds.

The Contribution of Adult Learning to Health and Social Capital. Wider Benefits of Learning Research Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Feinstein, Leon; Hammond, Cathie; Woods, Laura; Preston, John; Bynner, John

Researchers investigated effects of adult learning (AL) on a range of measures of health and social capital and cohesion. Data from the National Child Development Study relating to almost 10,000 adults born in Britain in 1958 were used, with focus on changes in their lives between age 33 in 1991 and 42 in 2000. Findings indicated AL played an…

How Long Does It Take to Learn a Second Language?: Applying the "10,000-Hour Rule" as a Model for Fluency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eaton, Sarah Elaine

2011-01-01

This study applies the model of expertise developed by Ericsson et al (2007) to second and foreign language learning. Ericsson et al posits that in order to achieve expertise (as they define it) requires 10,000 or longer of "intense training". Applying this model to language learning, equating an expert level of competence with fluency, various…

Using a Learning Activity Sequence in Large-Enrollment Physical Geology Classes: Supporting the Needs of Underserved Students While Motivating Interest, Learning, and Success

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pun, A.; Smith, G. A.

2011-12-01

The learning activity sequence (LAS) strategy is a student-focused pedagogy that emphasizes active classroom learning to promote learning among all students, and in particular, those with diverse backgrounds. Online assessments both set the stage for active learning and help students synthesize material during their learning. UNM is one of only two Carnegie Research University Very High institutions also designated as Hispanic-serving and the only state flagship university that is also a majority-minority undergraduate institution. In 2010 Hispanics comprised 40% of 20,655 undergraduates (and 49% of freshmen), 37% of undergraduates were Pell Grant recipients (the largest proportion of any public flagship research university; J. Blacks Higher Ed., 2009) and 44% of incoming freshmen were first-generation students. To maximize student learning in this environment rich in traditionally underserved students, we designed a LAS for nonmajor physical geology (enrollments 100-160) that integrates in-class instruction with structured out-of-class learning. The LAS has 3 essential parts: Students read before class to acquire knowledge used during in-class collaborative, active-learning activities that build conceptual understanding. Lastly, students review notes and synthesize what they've learned before moving on to the next topic. The model combines online and in-class learning and assessment: Online reading assessments before class; active-learning experiences during class; online learning assessments after class. Class sessions include short lectures, peer instruction "clickers", and small-group problem solving (lecture tutorials). Undergraduate Peer-Learning Facilitators are available during class time to help students with problem solving. Effectiveness of the LAS approach is reflected in three types of measurements. (1) Using the LAS strategy, the overall rate of students earning a grade of C or higher is higher than compared to the average for all large-enrollment department sections taught during the same period. (2) Anonymous student surveys show that: 97% of students do at least some of the assigned reading before class while 58% indicate they would not do the reading if online reading assessments were not assigned; 72% indicate post-lecture online assessments prepare them for exams; greater than 80% of students feel that they learn more in the LAS approach than with traditional instruction; 90% favor active learning in the classroom to only lecture; learning opportunities motivate 82% to attend class to participate in peer instruction and in-class exercises, even if these assignments did not contribute at all to their grade. Notably, first-generation students show disproportionately greater preference for active in-class learning. (3) Learning gains were assessed with the geoscience concept inventory (GCI) of Libarkin and Anderson (2005, J Geo Ed 53(4):395-401). Paired pre- and post-test scores (n=404) in 5 classes show an improvement from 46% to 52% (11% normalized gain), within the target goal that McConnell et al. (2008, GSA Abst Prog 41(1):49) propose for introductory geology courses that produce improved conceptual geoscience learning.

Tracking the fear memory engram: discrete populations of neurons within amygdala, hypothalamus, and lateral septum are specifically activated by auditory fear conditioning.

PubMed

Butler, Christopher W; Wilson, Yvette M; Gunnersen, Jenny M; Murphy, Mark

2015-08-01

Memory formation is thought to occur via enhanced synaptic connectivity between populations of neurons in the brain. However, it has been difficult to localize and identify the neurons that are directly involved in the formation of any specific memory. We have previously used fos-tau-lacZ (FTL) transgenic mice to identify discrete populations of neurons in amygdala and hypothalamus, which were specifically activated by fear conditioning to a context. Here we have examined neuronal activation due to fear conditioning to a more specific auditory cue. Discrete populations of learning-specific neurons were identified in only a small number of locations in the brain, including those previously found to be activated in amygdala and hypothalamus by context fear conditioning. These populations, each containing only a relatively small number of neurons, may be directly involved in fear learning and memory. © 2015 Butler et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

Permaculture in higher education: Teaching sustainability through action learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Battisti, Bryce Thomas

This is a case study of the use of Action Learning (AL) theory to teach and confer degrees in Permaculture and other forms of sustainability at the newly formed Gaia University International (GUI). In Chapter Two I argue that GUI, as an institution of higher learning, is organized to provide support for learning. The goal of the university structure is to provide students, called Associates, with a vehicle for accumulation of credit towards a bachelor's degree. This organizational structure is necessary, but insufficient for AL because Associates need more than an organization to provide and coordinate their degree programs. In other words, just because the network of university structures are organized in ways that make AL possible and convenient, it does not necessarily follow that Action Learning will occur for any individual Associate. The support structures within GUI's degrees are discussed in Chapter Three. To a greater or lesser degree GUI provides support for personal learning among Associates as advisors and advisees with the goal of helping Associates complete and document the outcomes of world-change projects. The support structures are necessary, but not sufficient for AL because the personal learning process occurring for each Associate requires transformative reflection. Additionally, because Associates' attrition rate is very high, many Associates do not remain enrolled in GUI long enough to benefit from the support structures. At the simplest organizational level I discuss the reflection process conducted in the patterned interactions of assigned learning groups called Guilds (Chapter Four). These groups of Associates work to provide each other with the best possible environment for personal learning through reflection. As its Associates experience transformative reflection, GUI is able to help elevate the quality of world-change efforts in the Permaculture community. Provided the organizational and support structures are in place, this reflection process is both necessary and sufficient for AL. By this I mean that if transformative reflection is occurring in Guild meetings, and is supported by a system of advisors, reviewers and support people within a university organized to give credit for Action Learning, then Action Learning will occur for individual Associates.

Brain-wide maps of Fos expression during fear learning and recall.

PubMed

Cho, Jin-Hyung; Rendall, Sam D; Gray, Jesse M

2017-04-01

Fos induction during learning labels neuronal ensembles in the hippocampus that encode a specific physical environment, revealing a memory trace. In the cortex and other regions, the extent to which Fos induction during learning reveals specific sensory representations is unknown. Here we generate high-quality brain-wide maps of Fos mRNA expression during auditory fear conditioning and recall in the setting of the home cage. These maps reveal a brain-wide pattern of Fos induction that is remarkably similar among fear conditioning, shock-only, tone-only, and fear recall conditions, casting doubt on the idea that Fos reveals auditory-specific sensory representations. Indeed, novel auditory tones lead to as much gene induction in visual as in auditory cortex, while familiar (nonconditioned) tones do not appreciably induce Fos anywhere in the brain. Fos expression levels do not correlate with physical activity, suggesting that they are not determined by behavioral activity-driven alterations in sensory experience. In the thalamus, Fos is induced more prominently in limbic than in sensory relay nuclei, suggesting that Fos may be most sensitive to emotional state. Thus, our data suggest that Fos expression during simple associative learning labels ensembles activated generally by arousal rather than specifically by a particular sensory cue. © 2017 Cho et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

Learning Methodology for Early Child Education Education (Paud) in the Recognition of Legal Capitals based on Android

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Siswanto, Didik

2017-12-01

School as a place to study require a medium of learning. Instructional media containinginformation about the lessons that will be used by teachers to convey a lesson. School early childhood education Al-Kindy Pekanbaru interms of learning the letter hijaiyah still use conventional learning media. But with the conventionalmedia is not very attractive to use, so the need for an exciting learning medium that can make childrenbecome interested in learningThe purpose of this study was to create a Media Learning Introduction Letter Hijaiyahmultimedia form and benefit from the introduction of letters Hijaiyah Learning Media is a renewal of themedium of learning in School early childhood education Al-Kindy Pekanbaru.In this study the authors tried to make the learning application that contains the basicknowledge of letters hijaiyah dsertai with animation, audio and explanation how to read the letters inorder to complete the learning media letters hijaiyah more interactive.

Associative (not Hebbian) learning and the mirror neuron system.

PubMed

Cooper, Richard P; Cook, Richard; Dickinson, Anthony; Heyes, Cecilia M

2013-04-12

The associative sequence learning (ASL) hypothesis suggests that sensorimotor experience plays an inductive role in the development of the mirror neuron system, and that it can play this crucial role because its effects are mediated by learning that is sensitive to both contingency and contiguity. The Hebbian hypothesis proposes that sensorimotor experience plays a facilitative role, and that its effects are mediated by learning that is sensitive only to contiguity. We tested the associative and Hebbian accounts by computational modelling of automatic imitation data indicating that MNS responsivity is reduced more by contingent and signalled than by non-contingent sensorimotor training (Cook et al. [7]). Supporting the associative account, we found that the reduction in automatic imitation could be reproduced by an existing interactive activation model of imitative compatibility when augmented with Rescorla-Wagner learning, but not with Hebbian or quasi-Hebbian learning. The work argues for an associative, but against a Hebbian, account of the effect of sensorimotor training on automatic imitation. We argue, by extension, that associative learning is potentially sufficient for MNS development. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

University Students with Dyslexia: A Qualitative Exploratory Study of Learning Practices, Challenges and Strategies.

PubMed

MacCullagh, Lois; Bosanquet, Agnes; Badcock, Nicholas A

2017-02-01

People with dyslexia are vastly under-represented in universities (Katusic et al., , Richardson & Wydell, ; Stampoltzis & Polychronopoulou, ). This situation is of concern for modern societies that value social justice. This study was designed to explore learning experiences of university students with dyslexia and factors that could contribute to their success. Thirteen students with dyslexia and 20 non-dyslexic peers were interviewed about their university learning experiences using a semi-structured qualitative approach. Students with dyslexia described engaging in learning activities intensively, frequently and strategically. They reported challenges and strengths relating to study skills, lectures, assessments, technology and support services. They also described helpful strategies including self-directed adaptive techniques, provisions from lecturers and assistance from the university. These findings suggest that students with dyslexia experience broad challenges at university, but helpful strategies may be available. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Predicting Faculty Integration of Faith and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaul, Corina R.; Hardin, Kimberly A.; Beaujean, A. Alexander

2017-01-01

Concern regarding the secularization of Christian higher education has prompted researchers to investigate the extent that faith and learning is integrated at a faculty level and what factors might predict faculty integration (Lyon, Beaty, Parker, & Mencken, 2005). This research attempted to replicate Lyon et al.'s (2005) logistic regression…

Canadian Association for the Study of Adult Education. Proceedings of the Annual Conference (12th, Ottawa, Ontario, June 1993).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Maurice, Ed.; Bedard, Rene, Ed.

Selected papers from an adult education conference are as follows: "Learner Involvement in Literacy Education" (Acton et al.); "Faith in People" (Ambury et al.); "Beginning to Tutor Problem-Based Learning" (Ambury); "Exploring Literacy through Theatre" (Andruske); "Developing Learning Packages for…

Bringing Back Our Bayou Chico

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mesa, Jennifer

2018-01-01

As an instructional framework, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) can guide science teachers to purposefully apply evidence-based instructional practices to increase engagement and learning of students with disabilities (Israel, Ribuffo, and Smith 2014; Marino et al. 2014; Ok et al. 2016). This article describes how to use the Universal Design…

Low Data Drug Discovery with One-Shot Learning

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Recent advances in machine learning have made significant contributions to drug discovery. Deep neural networks in particular have been demonstrated to provide significant boosts in predictive power when inferring the properties and activities of small-molecule compounds (Ma, J. et al. J. Chem. Inf. Model.2015, 55, 263–27425635324). However, the applicability of these techniques has been limited by the requirement for large amounts of training data. In this work, we demonstrate how one-shot learning can be used to significantly lower the amounts of data required to make meaningful predictions in drug discovery applications. We introduce a new architecture, the iterative refinement long short-term memory, that, when combined with graph convolutional neural networks, significantly improves learning of meaningful distance metrics over small-molecules. We open source all models introduced in this work as part of DeepChem, an open-source framework for deep-learning in drug discovery (Ramsundar, B. deepchem.io. https://github.com/deepchem/deepchem, 2016). PMID:28470045

Improving Citizen Preparedness Through Employee Disaster Preparedness Promotion in the Workplace

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-09-01

that lessons learned are not necessarily indicative of behavior change; a person may know an activity is beneficial or harmful , but may not readily...thesis, Naval Postgraduate School), 52. 110 Alice S. Ammerman et al., “The Efficacy of Behavioral Interventions to Modify Dietary Fat and Fruit...awarding higher-cost items (weather radio) that supplement a disaster preparedness kit provide an incentive while continuing to emphasize the

"I Go to School Six Days a Week": The Role of Cultural and Religious Practices within Hybrid Turkish-American Communities in Supporting Academic and Socioemotional Growth

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Isik-Ercan, Zeynep

2012-01-01

Children's participation in cultural activities within the community, and the particular cognitive and socioemotional skills that they gain as a result of their participation, have been thoroughly studied (Cole, 1990; Gallimore & Tharp, 1990; Moll et al., 2005; Scribner & Cole, 1981). However, the connection of these skills to school learning or…

Historical horoscopes as a source of the history of science. (German Title: Historische Horoskope als Quelle der Wissenschaftsgeschichte)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oestmann, Günther

The paper deals with the analysis and interpretation of historic horoscopes. The astrological activities of Count Heinrich Rantzau (1526-1598), Danish Governor of Schleswig-Holstein, who was one of the leading representatives of humanistic learning and culture in the 16th century, have been taken as an example. He corresponded with numerous scholars and was a friend of Tycho Brahe.

Medial temporal lobe-dependent repetition suppression and enhancement due to implicit vs. explicit processing of individual repeated search displays

PubMed Central

Geyer, Thomas; Baumgartner, Florian; Müller, Hermann J.; Pollmann, Stefan

2012-01-01

Using visual search, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and patient studies have demonstrated that medial temporal lobe (MTL) structures differentiate repeated from novel displays—even when observers are unaware of display repetitions. This suggests a role for MTL in both explicit and, importantly, implicit learning of repeated sensory information (Greene et al., 2007). However, recent behavioral studies suggest, by examining visual search and recognition performance concurrently, that observers have explicit knowledge of at least some of the repeated displays (Geyer et al., 2010). The aim of the present fMRI study was thus to contribute new evidence regarding the contribution of MTL structures to explicit vs. implicit learning in visual search. It was found that MTL activation was increased for explicit and, respectively, decreased for implicit relative to baseline displays. These activation differences were most pronounced in left anterior parahippocampal cortex (aPHC), especially when observers were highly trained on the repeated displays. The data are taken to suggest that explicit and implicit memory processes are linked within MTL structures, but expressed via functionally separable mechanisms (repetition-enhancement vs. -suppression). They further show that repetition effects in visual search would have to be investigated at the display level. PMID:23060776

Action learning in virtual higher education: applying leadership theory.

PubMed

Curtin, Joseph

2016-05-03

This paper reports the historical foundation of Northeastern University's course, LDR 6100: Developing Your Leadership Capability, a partial literature review of action learning (AL) and virtual action learning (VAL), a course methodology of LDR 6100 requiring students to apply leadership perspectives using VAL as instructed by the author, questionnaire and survey results of students who evaluated the effectiveness of their application of leadership theories using VAL and insights believed to have been gained by the author administering VAL. Findings indicate most students thought applying leadership perspectives using AL was better than considering leadership perspectives not using AL. In addition as implemented in LDR 6100, more students evaluated VAL positively than did those who assessed VAL negatively.

Evaluate Wiki Technology as e-Learning Tool from the Point View of Al-Baha University Students: A Pilot Study with Undergraduate Students in Both Faculties of Science and Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alzahrani, Ibraheem

2012-01-01

Wikis technologies are one of Web 2.0 applications that can be used to improve the learning method and to engage students in learning with others in a collaborative environment. This paper investigates the potential use of wiki technology in Al-Baha University through students' perceptions; the study seeks to answer the main question. How to…

Functional connectivity changes in second language vocabulary learning.

PubMed

Ghazi Saidi, Ladan; Perlbarg, Vincent; Marrelec, Guillaume; Pélégrini-Issac, Mélani; Benali, Habib; Ansaldo, Ana-Inés

2013-01-01

Functional connectivity changes in the language network (Price, 2010), and in a control network involved in second language (L2) processing (Abutalebi & Green, 2007) were examined in a group of Persian (L1) speakers learning French (L2) words. Measures of network integration that characterize the global integrative state of a network (Marrelec, Bellec et al., 2008) were gathered, in the shallow and consolidation phases of L2 vocabulary learning. Functional connectivity remained unchanged across learning phases for L1, whereas total, between- and within-network integration levels decreased as proficiency for L2 increased. The results of this study provide the first functional connectivity evidence regarding the dynamic role of the language processing and cognitive control networks in L2 learning (Abutalebi, Cappa, & Perani, 2005; Altarriba & Heredia, 2008; Leonard et al., 2011; Parker-Jones et al., 2011). Thus, increased proficiency results in a higher degree of automaticity and lower cognitive effort (Segalowitz & Hulstijn, 2005). Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Role of Higher Education in Raising Global Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shanker, Sandhya; Kraemer, Angelika

2014-01-01

From previous research on second language acquisition and early language learning, educators know that young children have a cognitive advantage to learning a foreign language over other age groups (e.g., Garcia-Sierra et al.; Hyltenstam and Abrahamsson; Singleton and Ryan; Werker et al.). More recently, an increase in functional benefits for…

U-ALS: A Ubiquitous Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Piovesan, Sandra Dutra; Passerino, Liliana Maria; Medina, Roseclea Duarte

2012-01-01

The diffusion of the use of the learning virtual environments presents a great potential for the development of an application which meet the necessities in the education area. In view of the importance of a more dynamic application and that can adapt itself continuously to the students' necessities, the "U-ALS" (Ubiquitous Adapted Learning…

Action Learning in Postgraduate Research Training

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marchand, Trevor

2017-01-01

This account of practice explores the benefits and challenges of using Action Learning (AL) with junior researchers. Findings are grounded in an AL set of six doctoral students, organised and convened by the author. The case study reveals the range of emotional and structural hurdles that Ph.D. candidates typically face in completing their…

How Has Pedagogy Changed in a Digital Age?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Al-Khatib, Hayat

2009-01-01

Education in the twenty-first century is underpinned by theories of inclusion and practices of open and distance learning (Aldrich, 2003; Richards, 2004). New concerns are replacing the traditional views on the impossibility of integrating pedagogy and technology (Barab et al, 2004; Roblyer et al, 2000). Supporting learning in the digital age…

Exploring Essential Conditions: A Commentary on Bull et al. (2008)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Borthwick, Arlene; Hansen, Randall; Gray, Lucy; Ziemann, Irina

2008-01-01

The editorial by Bull et al. (2008) on connections between informal and formal learning made explicit one element of solving what Koehler and Mishra (2008) termed a "wicked problem." This wicked (complex, ill-structured) problem involves working with teachers for effective integration of technology in support of student learning. The…

A fast and accurate online sequential learning algorithm for feedforward networks.

PubMed

Liang, Nan-Ying; Huang, Guang-Bin; Saratchandran, P; Sundararajan, N

2006-11-01

In this paper, we develop an online sequential learning algorithm for single hidden layer feedforward networks (SLFNs) with additive or radial basis function (RBF) hidden nodes in a unified framework. The algorithm is referred to as online sequential extreme learning machine (OS-ELM) and can learn data one-by-one or chunk-by-chunk (a block of data) with fixed or varying chunk size. The activation functions for additive nodes in OS-ELM can be any bounded nonconstant piecewise continuous functions and the activation functions for RBF nodes can be any integrable piecewise continuous functions. In OS-ELM, the parameters of hidden nodes (the input weights and biases of additive nodes or the centers and impact factors of RBF nodes) are randomly selected and the output weights are analytically determined based on the sequentially arriving data. The algorithm uses the ideas of ELM of Huang et al. developed for batch learning which has been shown to be extremely fast with generalization performance better than other batch training methods. Apart from selecting the number of hidden nodes, no other control parameters have to be manually chosen. Detailed performance comparison of OS-ELM is done with other popular sequential learning algorithms on benchmark problems drawn from the regression, classification and time series prediction areas. The results show that the OS-ELM is faster than the other sequential algorithms and produces better generalization performance.

Transfer of Problem Solving Skills from Touchscreen to 3D Model by 3- to 6-Year-Olds

PubMed Central

Tarasuik, Joanne; Demaria, Ana; Kaufman, Jordy

2017-01-01

Although much published research purports that young children struggle to solve problems from screen-based media and to transfer learning from a virtual to a physical modality, Huber et al. (2016)’s recent study on children solving the Tower of Hanoi (ToH) problem on a touchscreen app offers a clear counter example. Huber et al. (2016) reported that children transferred learning from media to the physical world. As this finding arguably differs from that of prior research in this area, the current study tests whether the Huber et al. (2016) results could be replicated. Additionally, we extended the scope of the Huber et al. (2016) work by testing a broader age range, including children as young as 3 years, and using a culturally distinct participant pool. The results of the current study verified Huber et al.’s (2016) conclusion that 4- to 6-year-old children are capable of transferring the ToH learning from touchscreen devices to the physical version of the puzzle. Children under 4 years of age, in contrast, showed little ability to improve at the ToH problem regardless of the practice modality—suggesting that a different problem-solving task is required to probe very young children’s ability to learn from touchscreen apps. PMID:28979222

Paradoxical visuomotor adaptation to reversed visual input is predicted by BDNF Val66Met polymorphism

PubMed Central

Barton, Brian; Treister, Andrew; Humphrey, Melanie; Abedi, Garen; Cramer, Steven C.; Brewer, Alyssa A.

2014-01-01

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is the most abundant neurotrophin in the brain, influencing neural development, plasticity, and repair (Chen et al., 2004; Thoenen, 1995). The BDNF gene contains a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) called Val66Met. The Met allele interferes with intracellular BDNF-trafficking, decreases activity-dependent BDNF secretion, and consequently is often associated with a shift from plasticity to stability in neural circuits (Egan et al., 2003). We investigated the behavioral consequences of the presence of the Met allele by comparing how 40 heterozygous subjects with the Val/Met genotype and 35 homozygous subjects with the Val/Val genotype performed on visuomotor tasks (reaching and navigation) under two conditions: normal vision and completely left-right reversed vision. As expected, subjects did not differ in their short-term ability to learn the tasks with normal vision (p = 0.58). Intuitively, it would be expected that homozygous Val/Val subjects with a propensity for greater BDNF-induced activity-dependent plasticity would learn new tasks more quickly than heterozygous Val/Met subjects with decreased BDNF secretion (Gilbert, Li, & Piech, 2009). However, we found the opposite here. When short-term mechanisms of visuomotor adaptation were engaged to compensate for the misalignment of visual and somatomotor information created by the left-right reversal of vision, heterozygous Val/Met subjects learned significantly more quickly than their homozygous Val/Val counterparts (p = 0.027). Our results demonstrate the paradoxical finding that the presence of the Met allele, which is thought to promote cortical stability, here improves immediate visuomotor adaptation to left–right-reversed visual input. PMID:25104829

Using Action Learning to Support Individual and Organisational Reflection in an International Development and Relief Agency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wright, Nick

2004-01-01

The dramatic rise in popularity of action learning (AL) over recent years has provided opportunity and impetus for various applications of this approach to be developed and tested in practice. This article describes one organisation's experience of AL, demonstrating that it can be effective in terms of stimulating and supporting reflective…

The Contribution of CALL to Advanced-Level Foreign/Second Language Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burston, Jack; Arispe, Kelly

2016-01-01

This paper evaluates the contribution of instructional technology to advanced-level foreign/second language learning (AL2) over the past thirty years. It is shown that the most salient feature of AL2 practice and associated Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) research are their rarity and restricted nature. Based on an analysis of four…

Student and Teacher Success: The Impact of Computers in Primary Grades.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Drexler, Nancy Gadzuk; And Others

This paper discusses the impact of computers on student learning as reported by teachers participating in a study of a computer-based language arts instructional program for the early elementary grades--the Apple Learning Series: Early Language (ALS-EL). Although they found the program difficult to evaluate, some teachers stated that the ALS-EL…

Agency Construction and Navigation in Oral Narratives of English Learning by Chinese College English Majors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Qiuming

2017-01-01

The current study aims to investigate the discursive construction and navigation of agency in oral narratives of English learning by Chinese college English majors. Based on the theoretical framework integrating Bamberg et. al.'s theory of identity dilemma and Hallidayan systemic functional linguistics, the study has addressed two research…

Autonomous Inter-Task Transfer in Reinforcement Learning Domains

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-08-01

Twentieth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelli - gence, 2007. 304 Fumihide Tanaka and Masayuki Yamamura. Multitask reinforcement learning...Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 2.2.3 Artificial Neural Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 2.2.4 Instance-based...tures [Laird et al., 1986, Choi et al., 2007]. However, TL for RL tasks has only recently been gaining attention in the artificial intelligence

A Framework for Interaction and Cognitive Engagement in Connectivist Learning Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Zhijun; Chen, Li; Anderson, Terry

2014-01-01

Interaction has always been highly valued in education, especially in distance education (Moore, 1989; Anderson, 2003; Chen, 2004a; Woo & Reeves, 2007; Wang, 2013; Conrad, in press). It has been associated with motivation (Mahle, 2011; Wen-chi, et al., 2011), persistence (Tello, 2007; Joo, Lim, & Kim, 2011), deep learning (Offir, et al.,…

Psychological Climates in Action Learning Sets: A Manager's Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yeadon-Lee, Annie

2015-01-01

Action learning (AL) is often viewed as a process that facilitates professional learning through the creation of a positive psychological climate [Marquardt, M. J. 2000. "Action Learning and Leadership." "The Learning Organisation" 7 (5): 233-240; Schein, E. H. 1979. "Personal Change Through Interpersonal…

Primary auditory cortex regulates threat memory specificity.

PubMed

Wigestrand, Mattis B; Schiff, Hillary C; Fyhn, Marianne; LeDoux, Joseph E; Sears, Robert M

2017-01-01

Distinguishing threatening from nonthreatening stimuli is essential for survival and stimulus generalization is a hallmark of anxiety disorders. While auditory threat learning produces long-lasting plasticity in primary auditory cortex (Au1), it is not clear whether such Au1 plasticity regulates memory specificity or generalization. We used muscimol infusions in rats to show that discriminatory threat learning requires Au1 activity specifically during memory acquisition and retrieval, but not during consolidation. Memory specificity was similarly disrupted by infusion of PKMζ inhibitor peptide (ZIP) during memory storage. Our findings show that Au1 is required at critical memory phases and suggest that Au1 plasticity enables stimulus discrimination. © 2016 Wigestrand et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

Investigating Flipped Learning: Student Self-Regulated Learning, Perceptions, and Achievement in an Introductory Biology Course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sletten, Sarah Rae

2017-06-01

In flipped classrooms, lectures, which are normally delivered in-class, are assigned as homework in the form of videos, and assignments that were traditionally assigned as homework, are done as learning activities in class. It was hypothesized that the effectiveness of the flipped model hinges on a student's desire and ability to adopt a self-directed learning style. The purpose of this study was twofold; it aimed at examining the relationship between two variables—students' perceptions of the flipped model and their self-regulated learning (SRL) behaviors—and the impact that these variables have on achievement in a flipped class. For the study, 76 participants from a flipped introductory biology course were asked about their SRL strategy use and perceptions of the flipped model. SRL strategy use was measured using a modified version of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ; Wolters et al. 2005), while the flipped perceptions survey was newly derived. Student letter grades were collected as a measure of achievement. Through regression analysis, it was found that students' perceptions of the flipped model positively predict students' use of several types of SRL strategies. However, the data did not indicate a relationship between student perceptions and achievement, neither directly nor indirectly, through SRL strategy use. Results suggest that flipped classrooms demonstrate their successes in the active learning sessions through constructivist teaching methods. Video lectures hold an important role in flipped classes, however, students may need to practice SRL skills to become more self-directed and effectively learn from them.

The effect of pre-course e-learning prior to advanced life support training: a randomised controlled trial.

PubMed

Perkins, Gavin D; Fullerton, James N; Davis-Gomez, Nicole; Davies, Robin P; Baldock, Catherine; Stevens, Harry; Bullock, Ian; Lockey, Andrew S

2010-07-01

The role of e-learning in contemporary healthcare education is quickly developing. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between the use of an e-learning simulation programme (Microsim, Laerdal, UK) prior to attending an Advanced Life Support (ALS) course and the subsequent relationship to candidate performance. An open label, multi-centre randomised controlled study was conducted. The control group received a course manual and pre-course MCQ four weeks prior to the face to face course. The intervention group in addition received the Microsim programme on a CD. The primary outcome was performance during a simulated cardiac arrest at the end of the course. Secondary outcomes were performance during multiple choice exams, resuscitation skills assessments and feedback to Microsim programme. 572 participants were randomised (287 Microsim, 285 control). There were no significant differences in the primary outcome (performance during a standard cardiac arrest simulation) or secondary outcomes. User evaluations were favorable. 79% would recommend it to colleagues. 9% stated Microsim could replace the entire ALS course, 25% parts. Over 70% of participants' perceived that Microsim improved their understanding of the key learning domains of the ALS course. Distributing Microsim to healthcare providers prior to attending an ALS courses did not improve either cognitive or psychomotor skills performance during cardiac arrest simulation testing. The challenge that lies ahead is to identify the optimal way to use e-learning as part of a blended approach to learning for this type of training programme.

Involving people with learning disabilities in nurse education: towards an inclusive approach.

PubMed

Bollard, Martin; Lahiff, John; Parkes, Neville

2012-02-01

There is limited evidence that explores how to effectively include people with learning disabilities in nurse education in the U.K. The majority of reported work relates to mental health nursing and social work training (Morgan and Jones, 2009). This paper specifically reports on the processes and activities undertaken by the authors with people with learning disabilities in the development of a new BSc learning disability nursing programme, a specific branch of nursing in the U.K. In doing so, findings and discussion from two separate projects involving students and people with learning disabilities will be integrated into the paper. EPICURE (Engagement, Processing, Interpretation, Critique, Usefulness, Relevance and Ethics (Stige et al. 2009) is adopted as a qualitative framework throughout the paper to evaluate the reported work that took place between September 2006 and October 2010. Suggestions are therefore made regarding the benefits and challenges of striving towards an inclusive approach to user involvement in nurse education, with particular reference to learning disability. The work presented in the paper demonstrates how through careful involvement of this population, deeper learning opportunities for all nursing students can be created. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Application of the method of one-day learning in a Morris water maze to analyse the effects of sleep deprivation on memory trace recall 24 hours later, after learning].

PubMed

Dorokhov, V B; Kozhedub, R G; Arsenyev, G N; Bukhgolts, O I; Marchenko, V G; Puchkova, A N

2014-01-01

The proposed model of a one-day spatial learning is of interest in research of how sleep influences the hippocamp-dependent memory consolidation. We have studied the influence of a one-day total sleep deprivation on spatial memory consolidation in hooded rats after a one-day learning in the Morris water maze according to Feldman et al. [2010] protocol. According to it rats had to find a submerged platform that was alternatively marked by a flag or completely invisible to an animal. In a previous study [Dorokhov et al., 2011] we have used another one-day learning protocol [Frick et al., 2000] and Wistar rats and have demonstrated a large interindividual variance in learning parameters and sleep deprivation effects on memory consolidation. In this study we confirm previously acquired results on negative impact of sleep deprivation on spatial memory consolidation. To demonstrate the effects of sleep deprivation on the results of one-day learning we are using for the first time an evaluation of the time spent by an animal in the area of the platform placement and corresponding areas in the other quadrants of the water maze.

Design of Intelligent Robot as A Tool for Teaching Media Based on Computer Interactive Learning and Computer Assisted Learning to Improve the Skill of University Student

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zuhrie, M. S.; Basuki, I.; Asto B, I. G. P.; Anifah, L.

2018-01-01

The focus of the research is the teaching module which incorporates manufacturing, planning mechanical designing, controlling system through microprocessor technology and maneuverability of the robot. Computer interactive and computer-assisted learning is strategies that emphasize the use of computers and learning aids (computer assisted learning) in teaching and learning activity. This research applied the 4-D model research and development. The model is suggested by Thiagarajan, et.al (1974). 4-D Model consists of four stages: Define Stage, Design Stage, Develop Stage, and Disseminate Stage. This research was conducted by applying the research design development with an objective to produce a tool of learning in the form of intelligent robot modules and kit based on Computer Interactive Learning and Computer Assisted Learning. From the data of the Indonesia Robot Contest during the period of 2009-2015, it can be seen that the modules that have been developed confirm the fourth stage of the research methods of development; disseminate method. The modules which have been developed for students guide students to produce Intelligent Robot Tool for Teaching Based on Computer Interactive Learning and Computer Assisted Learning. Results of students’ responses also showed a positive feedback to relate to the module of robotics and computer-based interactive learning.

Combination of inquiry learning model and computer simulation to improve mastery concept and the correlation with critical thinking skills (CTS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nugraha, Muhamad Gina; Kaniawati, Ida; Rusdiana, Dadi; Kirana, Kartika Hajar

2016-02-01

Among the purposes of physics learning at high school is to master the physics concepts and cultivate scientific attitude (including critical attitude), develop inductive and deductive reasoning skills. According to Ennis et al., inductive and deductive reasoning skills are part of critical thinking. Based on preliminary studies, both of the competence are lack achieved, it is seen from student learning outcomes is low and learning processes that are not conducive to cultivate critical thinking (teacher-centered learning). One of learning model that predicted can increase mastery concepts and train CTS is inquiry learning model aided computer simulations. In this model, students were given the opportunity to be actively involved in the experiment and also get a good explanation with the computer simulations. From research with randomized control group pretest-posttest design, we found that the inquiry learning model aided computer simulations can significantly improve students' mastery concepts than the conventional (teacher-centered) method. With inquiry learning model aided computer simulations, 20% of students have high CTS, 63.3% were medium and 16.7% were low. CTS greatly contribute to the students' mastery concept with a correlation coefficient of 0.697 and quite contribute to the enhancement mastery concept with a correlation coefficient of 0.603.

Is an Attributional Analysis of the Learned Helplessness Phenomenon Viable? A Critique of the Abramson-Seligman-Teasdale Reformulation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dintzer, Leonard; Wortman, Camille B.

1978-01-01

The reformulated learned helplessness model of depression (Abramson, Seligman, Teasdale 1978) was examined. Argues that unless it is possible to specify the conditions under which a given attribution will be made, the model becomes circular and lacks predictive power. Discusses Abramson et al.'s suggestions for therapy and prevention. (Editor/RK)

The Role of an Aligned Curriculum Design in the Achievement of Learning Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alfauzan, Abdullah A. H.; Tarchouna, Nessima

2017-01-01

The importance of learning outcomes (LOs) as a central component of LOs-based curriculum design has been emphasized by many higher education experts and researchers (Biggs, 1999; Adam, 2006; Kennedy et al., 2006; Biggs and Tang, 2007; Warnier et al., 2010). However, the important role played by program and course curriculum design in securing a…

Exploring Action Learning for Academic Development in Research Intensive Settings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stocks, Claire; Trevitt, Chris; Hughes, Joseph

2018-01-01

The potential of action learning (AL) for academic development has not received a lot of attention. Building from two case studies in which AL has been used in different ways in research-intensive universities in Australia and the UK, we suggest that the approach may be of benefit to developers in the changing landscape in which they are expected…

Using an Action Learning Set (ALS) to Support the Nurse and Allied Health Professional Consultant Role

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richardson, Janet; Ainsworth, Roberta; Allison, Rhoda; Billyard, Jo; Corley, Reine; Viner, Jane

2008-01-01

Advanced clinical practice roles are now an integral feature of many healthcare services and have been adopted in a diversity of areas. However, mentoring of these roles is not well documented in the literature and formal mechanisms of support are limited. An action learning set (ALS) was developed to provide support for consultants currently in…

Machine learning and next-generation asteroid surveys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nugent, Carrie R.; Dailey, John; Cutri, Roc M.; Masci, Frank J.; Mainzer, Amy K.

2017-10-01

Next-generation surveys such as NEOCam (Mainzer et al., 2016) will sift through tens of millions of point source detections daily to detect and discover asteroids. This requires new, more efficient techniques to distinguish between solar system objects, background stars and galaxies, and artifacts such as cosmic rays, scattered light and diffraction spikes.Supervised machine learning is a set of algorithms that allows computers to classify data on a training set, and then apply that classification to make predictions on new datasets. It has been employed by a broad range of fields, including computer vision, medical diagnoses, economics, and natural language processing. It has also been applied to astronomical datasets, including transient identification in the Palomar Transient Factory pipeline (Masci et al., 2016), and in the Pan-STARRS1 difference imaging (D. E. Wright et al., 2015).As part of the NEOCam extended phase A work we apply machine learning techniques to the problem of asteroid detection. Asteroid detection is an ideal application of supervised learning, as there is a wealth of metrics associated with each extracted source, and suitable training sets are easily created. Using the vetted NEOWISE dataset (E. L. Wright et al., 2010, Mainzer et al., 2011) as a proof-of-concept of this technique, we applied the python package sklearn. We report on reliability, feature set selection, and the suitability of various algorithms.

Frozen Nature - A high-alpine ice core record reveals fire and vegetation dynamics in Western Europe over the past millennium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brügger, S.; Gobet, E.; Sigl, M.; Osmont, D.; Schwikowski, M.; Tinner, W.

2017-12-01

Wild fires are an ecological disturbance agent across ecosystems, driving vegetation dynamics and resulting in disruption of habitats (Moritz et al. 2014).We analyze pollen and spores as proxies for vegetation composition, structure and agricultural activity, microscopic charcoal as a proxy for fire activity, and spheroidal carbonaceous particles (SCPs or soots) as a proxy for fossil fuel combustion which preserve in ice cores over millennia (Eichler et al. 2011).Our high-alpine ice core (4452 m a.s.l.) from Colle Gnifetti, Swiss Alps is located in the center of Western Europe, thus allowing to assess vegetation and societal responses to climatic change and wildfire disturbance on a subcontinental scale. The record covers the last millennium with an excellent chronological control (Jenk et al. 2009, Sigl et al. 2009), particularly over the most recent 200 years - the period that experienced important climatic changes and an increasing globalization of economy.The Colle Gnifetti record reflects large scale impacts such as extreme weather, societal innovations, agricultural crises and pollution of the industrial period in Western Europe. Pollution tracers occur in the record as early as 1750 AD and coincide with the shift to large-scale maize production in Northern Italy and with increased fire activity. Our multiproxy record may allow desentagling the role of climate and humans for vegetation composition and biomass burning. The attribution of causes may significantly advance our understanding of future vegetation and fire dynamics under global change conditions. To our knowledge we present the first long-term high-resolution palynological record of a high elevation ice core in Europe.REFERENCESEichler et al. (2011): An ice-core based history of Siberian forest fires since AD 1250. Quaternary Science Reviews, 30(9), 1027-1034.Jenk et al. (2009): A novel radiocarbon dating technique applied to an ice core from the Alps indicating late Pleistocene ages. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 114(D14).Moritz et al. (2014): Learning to coexist with wildfire. Nature, 515(7525), 58-66.Sigl et al. (2009): Towards radiocarbon dating of ice cores. Journal of Glaciology, 55(194), 985-996.

Teaching for Deep Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Tracy Wilson; Colby, Susan A.

2007-01-01

The authors have been engaged in research focused on students' depth of learning as well as teachers' efforts to foster deep learning. Findings from a study examining the teaching practices and student learning outcomes of sixty-four teachers in seventeen different states (Smith et al. 2005) indicated that most of the learning in these classrooms…

Design, Development and Preliminary Student Evaluation of Virtual Field Guides as aids to teaching and learning in the Earth sciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stott, Tim

2010-05-01

In Universities the benefits of teaching and learning through fieldwork has been brought under closer examination in recent years (e.g. Andrews et al., 2003) and the notion of supporting fieldwork in the Geography, Earth and Environmental Science (GEES) disciplines has been gathering momentum over the past decade as evidenced by conferences on ‘Supporting fieldwork using information technology' (Maskall et al., 2007) and a Higher Education Academy GEES Virtual Fieldwork Conference at University of Worcester (May 2007). Virtual environments and e-learning resources have been shown to help students become active rather than passive learners by appealing to their multi-sensory learning ability with interactive media (Fletcher et al., 2002; 2007). Research on glacial and fluvial processes has been conducted since 2003 by Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) staff, sometimes in collaboration with other Universities, at field sites in the French Alps, Swiss Alps and Cariboo Mountains in British Columbia. A virtual field guide (VFG) (www.virtualalps.co.uk) has been developed which uses maps, site photos, panorama movies, video clips, a google earth tour, student exercises using hydrological and glacial datasets collected in the field and revision exercises. A preliminary evaluation of this learning resource has been carried out with two groups of LJMU students and an article written (Stott et al. 2009a). The Ingleton Waterfalls VFG (http://www.ljmu.ac.uk/BIE/ingleton/) was developed by LJMU staff to meet the needs of Foundation degree and undergraduate students. A workshop was presented at the Earth Science Teachers Association 2008 Annual Conference at LJMU, and a subsequent article written (Stott et al. 2009b). The final section of this presentation will summarise some staff perspectives and raises some questions and issues concerned with development and accessibility of VFGs in the light of new developments of a ‘semantic web' at LJMU (Carmichael, 2009). Andrews, J., Kneale, P., Sougnez, Y., Stewart, M., and Stott, T. A. (2003). Carrying out Pedagogic research into the Constructive Alignment of Fieldwork. Planet Special Edition 5: Linking Teaching and Research and undertaking Pedagogic Research in Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, 51-52. Carmichael, P. (2008) ‘The Semantic Web and ‘Web 3.0' in: Selwyn, N. (ed.) Education 2.0? Designing the web for teaching and learning. London: ESRC Teaching and Learning Research Programme. Fletcher, S., France, D., Moore, K. and Robinson, G. (2002). Fieldwork education and technology: A GEES perspective, Planet 4, 17-19. Fletcher, S., France, D., Moore, K. and Robinson, G. (2007). Putting technology into fieldwork education: A pedagogic evaluation. Journal of Geography in Higher Education 31, 2, 319 - 330 Maskall, J., Stokes, A., Truscott, J. B., Bridge, A., Magnier, K. and Calderbank, V. (2007) Supporting fieldwork using information technology, Planet 18, 18-21. Stott, TA., Nuttall, AM. and McCloskey, J. (2009a) Design, Development and Student Evaluation of a Virtual Alps Field Guide www.virtualalps.co.uk. Planet 22, 64-71. Publication of the Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Learning & Teaching Support Network www.gees.ac.uk/planet/. Stott, TA, Clark, H., Milson, C., McCloskey, J. and Crompton, K. (2009b) The Ingleton Waterfalls Virtual Field Trip: Design, Development and Preliminary Evaluation, Teaching Earth Sciences 34 (1), 13-19, Magazine of the Earth Science Teachers Association.

Formal Methods for Information Protection Technology. Task 2: Mathematical Foundations, Architecture and Principles of Implementation of Multi-Agent Learning Components for Attack Detection in Computer Networks. Part 2

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-11-01

Lafayette, IN 47907. [Lane et al-97b] T. Lane and C . E. Brodley. Sequence matching and learning in anomaly detection for computer security. Proceedings of...Mining, pp 259-263. 1998. [Lane et al-98b] T. Lane and C . E. Brodley. Temporal sequence learning and data reduction for anomaly detection ...W. Lee, C . Park, and S. Stolfo. Towards Automatic Intrusion Detection using NFR. 1st USENIX Workshop on Intrusion Detection and Network Monitoring

Grades, Student Satisfaction and Retention in Online and Face-to-Face Introductory Psychology Units: A Test of Equivalency Theory.

PubMed

Garratt-Reed, David; Roberts, Lynne D; Heritage, Brody

2016-01-01

There has been a recent rapid growth in the number of psychology courses offered online through institutions of higher education. The American Psychological Association has highlighted the importance of ensuring the effectiveness of online psychology courses (Halonen et al., 2013). Despite this, there have been inconsistent findings regarding student grades, satisfaction, and retention in online psychology units. Equivalency Theory (Simonson, 1999; Simonson et al., 1999) posits that online and classroom-based learners will attain equivalent learning outcomes when equivalent learning experiences are provided. We present a study of an online introductory psychology unit designed to provide equivalent learning experiences to the pre-existing face-to-face version of the unit. Using quasi-experimental methods, academic performance, student feedback, and retention data from 866 Australian undergraduate psychology students were examined to assess whether the online unit developed to provide equivalent learning experiences produced comparable outcomes to the 'traditional' unit delivered face-to-face. Student grades did not significantly differ between modes of delivery, except for a group-work based assessment where online students performed more poorly. Student satisfaction was generally high in both modes of the unit, with group-work the key source of dissatisfaction in the online unit. The results provide partial support for Equivalency Theory. The group-work based assessment did not provide an equivalent learning experience for students in the online unit highlighting the need for further research to determine effective methods of engaging students in online group activities. Consistent with previous research, retention rates were significantly lower in the online unit, indicating the need to develop effective strategies to increase online retention rates. While this study demonstrates successes in presenting students with an equivalent learning experience, we recommend that future research investigate means of successfully facilitating collaborative group-work assessment, and to explore contributing factors to actual student retention in online units beyond that of non-equivalent learning experiences.

Grades, Student Satisfaction and Retention in Online and Face-to-Face Introductory Psychology Units: A Test of Equivalency Theory

PubMed Central

Garratt-Reed, David; Roberts, Lynne D.; Heritage, Brody

2016-01-01

There has been a recent rapid growth in the number of psychology courses offered online through institutions of higher education. The American Psychological Association has highlighted the importance of ensuring the effectiveness of online psychology courses (Halonen et al., 2013). Despite this, there have been inconsistent findings regarding student grades, satisfaction, and retention in online psychology units. Equivalency Theory (Simonson, 1999; Simonson et al., 1999) posits that online and classroom-based learners will attain equivalent learning outcomes when equivalent learning experiences are provided. We present a study of an online introductory psychology unit designed to provide equivalent learning experiences to the pre-existing face-to-face version of the unit. Using quasi-experimental methods, academic performance, student feedback, and retention data from 866 Australian undergraduate psychology students were examined to assess whether the online unit developed to provide equivalent learning experiences produced comparable outcomes to the ‘traditional’ unit delivered face-to-face. Student grades did not significantly differ between modes of delivery, except for a group-work based assessment where online students performed more poorly. Student satisfaction was generally high in both modes of the unit, with group-work the key source of dissatisfaction in the online unit. The results provide partial support for Equivalency Theory. The group-work based assessment did not provide an equivalent learning experience for students in the online unit highlighting the need for further research to determine effective methods of engaging students in online group activities. Consistent with previous research, retention rates were significantly lower in the online unit, indicating the need to develop effective strategies to increase online retention rates. While this study demonstrates successes in presenting students with an equivalent learning experience, we recommend that future research investigate means of successfully facilitating collaborative group-work assessment, and to explore contributing factors to actual student retention in online units beyond that of non-equivalent learning experiences. PMID:27242587

Efficacy of a Meiosis Learning Module Developed for the Virtual Cell Animation Collection.

PubMed

Goff, Eric E; Reindl, Katie M; Johnson, Christina; McClean, Phillip; Offerdahl, Erika G; Schroeder, Noah L; White, Alan R

2017-01-01

Recent reports calling for change in undergraduate biology education have resulted in the redesign of many introductory biology courses. Reports on one common change to course structure, the active-learning environment, have placed an emphasis on student preparation, noting that the positive outcomes of active learning in the classroom depend greatly on how well the student prepares before class. As a possible preparatory resource, we test the efficacy of a learning module developed for the Virtual Cell Animation Collection. This module presents the concepts of meiosis in an interactive, dynamic environment that has previously been shown to facilitate learning in introductory biology students. Participants ( n = 534) were enrolled in an introductory biology course and were presented the concepts of meiosis in one of two treatments: the interactive-learning module or a traditional lecture session. Analysis of student achievement shows that students who viewed the learning module as their only means of conceptual presentation scored significantly higher ( d = 0.40, p < 0.001) than students who only attended a traditional lecture on the topic. Our results show the animation-based learning module effectively conveyed meiosis conceptual understanding, which suggests that it may facilitate student learning outside the classroom. Moreover, these results have implications for instructors seeking to expand their arsenal of tools for "flipping" undergraduate biology courses. © 2017 E. E. Goff et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2017 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

Inquiry based learning with a virtual microscope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kelley, S. P.; Sharples, M.; Tindle, A.; Villasclaras-Fernández, E.

2012-12-01

As part of newly funded initiative, the Wolfson OpenScience Laboratory, we are linking a tool for inquiry based learning, nQuire (http://www.nquire.org.uk) with the virtual microscope for Earth science (http://www.virtualmicroscope.co.uk) to allow students to undertake projects and gain from inquiry based study thin sections of rocks without the need for a laboratory with expensive petrological microscopes. The Virtual Microscope (VM) was developed for undergraduate teaching of petrology and geoscience, allowing students to explore rock hand specimens and thin sections in a browser window. The system is based on HTML5 application and allows students to scan and zoom the rocks in a browser window, view in ppl and xpl conditions, and rotate specific areas to view birefringence and pleochroism. Importantly the VM allows students to gain access to rare specimens such as Moon rocks that might be too precious to suffer loss or damage. Experimentation with such specimens can inspire the learners' interest in science and allows them to investigate relevant science questions. Yet it is challenging for learners to engage in scientific processes, as they may lack scientific investigation skills or have problems in planning their activities; for teachers, managing inquiry activities is a demanding task (Quintana et al., 2004). To facilitate the realization of inquiry activities, the VM is being integrated with the nQuire tool. nQuire is a web tool that guides and supports students through the inquiry process (Mulholland et al., 2011). Learners are encouraged to construct their own personally relevant hypothesis, pose scientific questions, and plan the method to answer them. Then, the system enables users to collect and analyze data, and share their conclusions. Teachers can monitor their students' progress through inquiries, and give them access to new parts of inquiries as they advance. By means of the integration of nQuire and the VM, inquiries that involve collecting data through a microscope can be created and supported. To illustrate the possibilities of these tools, we have designed two inquiries that engage learners in the study of Moon rock samples under the microscope, starting from general questions such as comparison of Moon rocks or determining the origin of meteorites. One is aimed at undergraduate Geology students; the second has been conceived for the general public. Science teachers can reuse these inquiries, adapt them as they need, or create completely new inquiries using nQuire's authoring tool. We will report progress and demonstrate the combination of these two on-line tools to create an open educational resource allowing educators to design and run science inquiries for Earth and planetary science in a range of settings from schools to universities. Quintana, C., Reiser, B. J., Davis, E. A., Krajcik, J., Fretz, E., Duncan, R. G., Kyza, E., et al. (2004). A scaffolding design framework for software to support science inquiry. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 13(3), 337-386. Mulholland, P., Anastopoulou, S., Collins, T., FeiBt, M., Gaved, M., Kerawalla, L., Paxton, M., et al. (2011). nQuire: Technological support for personal inquiry learning. IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies. First published online, December 5, 2011, http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/TLT.2011.32.

How gender and reformed introductory physics impacts student success in advanced physics courses and continuation in the physics major

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rodriguez, Idaykis; Potvin, Geoff; Kramer, Laird H.

2016-12-01

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Gender in Physics.] Active-learning approaches to teaching introductory physics have been found to improve student learning and affective gains on short-term outcomes [S. Freeman et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 111, 8410 (2014)]; however, whether or not the benefits of active learning impact women to the same degree as men has been a point of concern [A. Madsen, S. B. McKagan, and E. C. Sayre, Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 9, 020121 (2013)]. Further, the long-term impacts of active-learning experiences are also understudied. At Florida International University, a Hispanic-majority institution, we have implemented Modeling Instruction (MI) and the Integrated Science Learning Environment (ISLE) in introductory physics classes for the past decade. In this empirical paper, we report on a longitudinal investigation of student performance and persistence in upper level physics courses after having previously experienced MI or ISLE in their introductory physics courses, and disaggregate students by gender. Using survival analysis methods, we find women who declare physics as a major are more likely than men to graduate with a physics degree. Women are also just as likely as men to pass through the upper division courses, with the highest failure risk for both men and women occurring in the first semester of upper-division course taking. These results reinforce the need to expand considerations of performance outcomes to be longitudinal to measure the effectiveness of the entire physics experience.

Exploring New Learning Paradigms a Reflection on Barber, Donnelly, and Rizvi (2013): "An Avalanche Is Coming: Higher Education and the Revolution Ahead"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Tom H.

2015-01-01

Barber, Donnelly & Rizvi (2013): "An avalanche is coming: Higher education and the revolution ahead" addresses some significant issues in higher education and poses some challenging questions to open and distance learning (ODL) administrators, policy makers, and of course to ODL faculty in general. Barber et al.'s paper does not…

Pre-Eminent Curriculum in Islamic Basic School Integrated Comparative Studies in Islamic Basic School Integrated Al-Izzah Serang and Al-Hanif Cilegon, Banten, Indonesia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fauz, Anis; Hasbullah

2016-01-01

Compare to General SD (Primary school), the superiority of SD Islam Terpadu (Integrated Islamic Primary School) lies on the development of the curriculum and learning that is more emphasize on integrated curriculum and integrated learning. Curriculum model applied in Sekolah Dasar Islam Terpadu (SDIT) is integrated curriculum. This curriculum is…

Problem Solving-based Learning Materials on Fraction for Training Creativity of Elementary School Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Widhitama, Y. N.; Lukito, A.; Khabibah, S.

2018-01-01

The aim of this research is to develop problem solving based learning materials on fraction for training creativity of elementary school students. Curriculum 2006 states that mathematics should be studied by all learners starting from elementary level in order for them mastering thinking skills, one of them is creative thinking. To our current knowledge, there is no such a research topic being done. To promote this direction, we initiate by developing learning materials with problem solving approach. The developed materials include Lesson Plan, Student Activity Sheet, Mathematical Creativity Test, and Achievement Test. We implemented a slightly modified 4-D model by Thiagajan et al. (1974) consisting of Define, Design, Development, and Disseminate. Techniques of gathering data include observation, test, and questionnaire. We applied three good qualities for the resulted materials; that is, validity, practicality, and effectiveness. The results show that the four mentioned materials meet the corresponding criteria of good quality product.

Adaptive rival penalized competitive learning and combined linear predictor model for financial forecast and investment.

PubMed

Cheung, Y M; Leung, W M; Xu, L

1997-01-01

We propose a prediction model called Rival Penalized Competitive Learning (RPCL) and Combined Linear Predictor method (CLP), which involves a set of local linear predictors such that a prediction is made by the combination of some activated predictors through a gating network (Xu et al., 1994). Furthermore, we present its improved variant named Adaptive RPCL-CLP that includes an adaptive learning mechanism as well as a data pre-and-post processing scheme. We compare them with some existing models by demonstrating their performance on two real-world financial time series--a China stock price and an exchange-rate series of US Dollar (USD) versus Deutschmark (DEM). Experiments have shown that Adaptive RPCL-CLP not only outperforms the other approaches with the smallest prediction error and training costs, but also brings in considerable high profits in the trading simulation of foreign exchange market.

Action Learning and Constructivist Grounded Theory: Powerfully Overlapping Fields of Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rand, Jane

2013-01-01

This paper considers the shared characteristics between action learning (AL) and the research methodology constructivist grounded theory (CGT). Mirroring Edmonstone's [2011. "Action Learning and Organisation Development: Overlapping Fields of Practice." "Action Learning: Research and Practice" 8 (2): 93-102] article, which…

Balancing patient care and student education: learning to deliver bad news in an optometry teaching clinic.

PubMed

Spafford, Marlee M; Schryer, Catherine F; Creutz, Stefan

2009-05-01

Learning to counsel patients in a teaching clinic or hospital occurs in the presence of the competing agendas of patient care and student education. We wondered about the challenges that these tensions create for clinical novices learning to deliver bad news to patients. In this preliminary study, we audio-taped and transcribed the interviews of seven senior optometry students and six optometrist instructors at a Canadian optometry teaching clinic. The participants described their experiences in learning to deliver bad news. Using a grounded theory approach, our analysis was informed by situated learning and activity theory. Optometry students received formal classroom training regarding how to deliver bad news, including exposure to the medically-based six-step SPIKES protocol (Baile et al. The Oncologist, 5, 302-311, 2000). Yet, application of this protocol to the teaching clinic was limited by the lack of exposure most instructors had received to this strategy. Determinants of the students' complex learning process during their clinical apprenticeship, included: (i) knowing one's place, (ii) knowing one's audience, (iii) knowing through feedback, and (iv) knowing who speaks. The experiences of these participants pointed toward the need for: (1) more instructional "scaffolding" (Bruner and Sherwood Play: Its role in development and evolution, p. 280, 1976) in the clinical setting when the learning task is complex, and (2) explicit discussions about the impacts that unfold when the activities of patient care and student education overlap. We reflect on the possible consequences to student education and patient care in the absence of these changes.

Explicit and Implicit Processes Constitute the Fast and Slow Processes of Sensorimotor Learning.

PubMed

McDougle, Samuel D; Bond, Krista M; Taylor, Jordan A

2015-07-01

A popular model of human sensorimotor learning suggests that a fast process and a slow process work in parallel to produce the canonical learning curve (Smith et al., 2006). Recent evidence supports the subdivision of sensorimotor learning into explicit and implicit processes that simultaneously subserve task performance (Taylor et al., 2014). We set out to test whether these two accounts of learning processes are homologous. Using a recently developed method to assay explicit and implicit learning directly in a sensorimotor task, along with a computational modeling analysis, we show that the fast process closely resembles explicit learning and the slow process approximates implicit learning. In addition, we provide evidence for a subdivision of the slow/implicit process into distinct manifestations of motor memory. We conclude that the two-state model of motor learning is a close approximation of sensorimotor learning, but it is unable to describe adequately the various implicit learning operations that forge the learning curve. Our results suggest that a wider net be cast in the search for the putative psychological mechanisms and neural substrates underlying the multiplicity of processes involved in motor learning. Copyright © 2015 the authors 0270-6474/15/359568-12$15.00/0.

Explicit and Implicit Processes Constitute the Fast and Slow Processes of Sensorimotor Learning

PubMed Central

Bond, Krista M.; Taylor, Jordan A.

2015-01-01

A popular model of human sensorimotor learning suggests that a fast process and a slow process work in parallel to produce the canonical learning curve (Smith et al., 2006). Recent evidence supports the subdivision of sensorimotor learning into explicit and implicit processes that simultaneously subserve task performance (Taylor et al., 2014). We set out to test whether these two accounts of learning processes are homologous. Using a recently developed method to assay explicit and implicit learning directly in a sensorimotor task, along with a computational modeling analysis, we show that the fast process closely resembles explicit learning and the slow process approximates implicit learning. In addition, we provide evidence for a subdivision of the slow/implicit process into distinct manifestations of motor memory. We conclude that the two-state model of motor learning is a close approximation of sensorimotor learning, but it is unable to describe adequately the various implicit learning operations that forge the learning curve. Our results suggest that a wider net be cast in the search for the putative psychological mechanisms and neural substrates underlying the multiplicity of processes involved in motor learning. PMID:26134640

Incidental Learning of Rewarded Associations Bolsters Learning on an Associative Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Freedberg, Michael; Schacherer, Jonathan; Hazeltine, Eliot

2016-01-01

Reward has been shown to change behavior as a result of incentive learning (by motivating the individual to increase their effort) and instrumental learning (by increasing the frequency of a particular behavior). However, Palminteri et al. (2011) demonstrated that reward can also improve the incidental learning of a motor skill even when…

Cooperation Not Competition: Bihemispheric tDCS and fMRI Show Role for Ipsilateral Hemisphere in Motor Learning.

PubMed

Waters, Sheena; Wiestler, Tobias; Diedrichsen, Jörn

2017-08-02

What is the role of ipsilateral motor and premotor areas in motor learning? One view is that ipsilateral activity suppresses contralateral motor cortex and, accordingly, that inhibiting ipsilateral regions can improve motor learning. Alternatively, the ipsilateral motor cortex may play an active role in the control and/or learning of unilateral hand movements. We approached this question by applying double-blind bihemispheric transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over both contralateral and ipsilateral motor cortex in a between-group design during 4 d of unimanual explicit sequence training in human participants. Independently of whether the anode was placed over contralateral or ipsilateral motor cortex, bihemispheric stimulation yielded substantial performance gains relative to unihemispheric or sham stimulation. This performance advantage appeared to be supported by plastic changes in both hemispheres. First, we found that behavioral advantages generalized strongly to the untrained hand, suggesting that tDCS strengthened effector-independent representations. Second, functional imaging during speed-matched execution of trained sequences conducted 48 h after training revealed sustained, polarity-independent increases in activity in both motor cortices relative to the sham group. These results suggest a cooperative rather than competitive interaction of the two motor cortices during skill learning and suggest that bihemispheric brain stimulation during unimanual skill learning may be beneficial because it harnesses plasticity in the ipsilateral hemisphere. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Many neurorehabilitation approaches are based on the idea that is beneficial to boost excitability in the contralateral hemisphere while attenuating that of the ipsilateral cortex to reduce interhemispheric inhibition. We observed that bihemispheric transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) with the excitatory anode either over contralateral or ipsilateral motor cortex facilitated motor learning nearly twice as strongly as unihemispheric tDCS. These increases in motor learning were accompanied by increases in fMRI activation in both motor cortices that outlasted the stimulation period, as well as increased generalization to the untrained hand. Collectively, our findings suggest a cooperative rather than a competitive role of the hemispheres and imply that it is most beneficial to harness plasticity in both hemispheres in neurorehabilitation of motor deficits. Copyright © 2017 Waters et al.

The sodium-activated potassium channel Slack is required for optimal cognitive flexibility in mice.

PubMed

Bausch, Anne E; Dieter, Rebekka; Nann, Yvette; Hausmann, Mario; Meyerdierks, Nora; Kaczmarek, Leonard K; Ruth, Peter; Lukowski, Robert

2015-07-01

Kcnt1 encoded sodium-activated potassium channels (Slack channels) are highly expressed throughout the brain where they modulate the firing patterns and general excitability of many types of neurons. Increasing evidence suggests that Slack channels may be important for higher brain functions such as cognition and normal intellectual development. In particular, recent findings have shown that human Slack mutations produce very severe intellectual disability and that Slack channels interact directly with the Fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP), a protein that when missing or mutated results in Fragile X syndrome (FXS), the most common form of inherited intellectual disability and autism in humans. We have now analyzed a recently developed Kcnt1 null mouse model in several behavioral tasks to assess which aspects of memory and learning are dependent on Slack. We demonstrate that Slack deficiency results in mildly altered general locomotor activity, but normal working memory, reference memory, as well as cerebellar control of motor functions. In contrast, we find that Slack channels are required for cognitive flexibility, including reversal learning processes and the ability to adapt quickly to unfamiliar situations and environments. Our data reveal that hippocampal-dependent spatial learning capabilities require the proper function of Slack channels. © 2015 Bausch et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

Addressing Learning Strategies for the Next Generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morris, P. A.; Reiff, P. H.; Sumners, C.

2009-12-01

Access to computers and interactive toys such as X Box have had impacts on learning strategies. New types of simulations and entertainment approaches will be increasingly important to reach out and encourage careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines including space science. Examples of effective tools are planetarium shows and CD’s and DVD’s that can be distributed to teachers, students and the general public. Planetarium shows are no longer restricted to fixed dome venues but are increasingly being adapted to portable domes that have the advantage of transporting the activity to a school, community event or neighborhood center. Groups of individuals who may not normally consider a planetarium show as a family or group event are exposed to a learning experience which is also entertaining. Selected planetarium shows are available in languages other than English, including Spanish. Hands-on interactive activities are available that will enhance the experience of the attendees. Pre and post testing have shown [Sumners et al., 2006, 2008] that these activities are effective for improving STEM knowledge. New planetarium technology includes using a Wii controller for navigating through buildings. These so far have been applied to games but could be applied to a virtual tour of the space station, for example. CD’s and DVD’s are important for augmenting the activities of the planetarium shows as they provide additional learning activities that can be used either in the home, the classroom or as an enhancement for planetarium events. Simulations on the Sun, planetary or solar events, related games such as TIC TAC TOE are easily incorporated. It is important to provide additional support for the teachers that will enable them to incorporate the data into their curriculum and state mandated achievement levels.

Adventure Learning: Situating Learning in an Authentic Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Doering, Aaron

2007-01-01

In this paper, Aaron Doering describes an adventure learning project that connected students to explorers and researchers participating in a trans-Arctic dogsled expedition. Adventure learning (AL) uses a hybrid online educational environment to provide students with opportunities to explore real-world issues through authentic learning…

Suggestions for the Design of E-Learning Environments to Enhance Learner Self-Efficacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hodges, Charles B.

2013-01-01

In this paper e-learning is used as an umbrella term for all types of learning involving technology. Graesser et al (2007) note that technologies for learning exist that allow for e-learning systems to be much more than information delivery systems, but "unfortunately, the learning strategies of most students are extremely limited, so the…

Mind the Gap: An Exploratory Investigation of a Family Learning Initiative to Develop Metacognitive Awareness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wall, Kate; Burns, Helen; Llewellyn, Anna

2017-01-01

Mind the Gap is a family learning project aiming to facilitate intergenerational engagement with learning in schools through the vehicle of a stop-motion animation project. Implicit in the animation process is reflective and strategic thinking that helps to make the process of learning explicit (Learning to Learn: Wall et al.). The animation…

What Seams Do We Remove in Mobile-Assisted Seamless Learning? A Critical Review of the Literature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wong, Lung-Hsiang; Looi, Chee-Kit

2011-01-01

Seamless learning refers to the seamless integration of the learning experiences across various dimensions including formal and informal learning contexts, individual and social learning, and physical world and cyberspace. Inspired by the exposition by Chan et al. (2006) on the seamless learning model supported by the setting of one or more mobile…

Health-Related Quality of Life for Pediatric NF1 Patients

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-08-01

writing, learning/cognitive v attendance, learning problems and/or disability, classroom classroom difficulties modifications Difficulties with family...not conclusive, there are data to suggest a high incidence of ADHD in children with NF (cf., Moore et al., 1996; North et al., 1997b) and participants...in our interviews frequently reported either a formal diagnosis of ADHD or symptoms consistent with this diagnosis. Reporting on an investigation

Instilling a Culture of Accountability at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS): Leveraging the Government Performance and Results Modernization Act (GPRA-MA) of 2010

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-09-01

Estrella et al., Learning from Change: Issues and Experiences in Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation (Ottawa, ON, CAN: IDRC Books, 2000); John Denton...afford:60 59 Estrella et al., Learning from Change: Issues and Experiences in...Administrator’s Companion: A Practical Guide. CQ Press, 2010. Estrella , Marisol, with Jutta Blauert, Dindo Campilan, John Gaventa, Julian Gonsalves

Performance Measurement Of Mel Frequency Ceptral Coefficient (MFCC) Method In Learning System Of Al- Qur’an Based In Nagham Pattern Recognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Afrillia, Yesy; Mawengkang, Herman; Ramli, Marwan; Fadlisyah; Putra Fhonna, Rizky

2017-12-01

Most of research have used signal and speech processing in order to recognize makhraj pattern and tajwid reading in Al-Quran by exploring the mel frequency ceptral coefficient (MFCC). However, to our knowledge so far there is no research has been conducted to recognize the chanting of Al-Quran verse using MFCC. This term is also well-known as nagham Al-Quran. The characteristics of nagham Al-Quran pattern is much more complex then makhraj and tajwid pattern. In nagham the wave of the sound has more variation which implies the level of noice is much higher and has sound duration longer. The data testing in this research was taken term by real-time recording. The evaluation measurement in the system performance of nagham Al-Quran pattern is based on true and false detection parameter with accuracy 80%. To measure this accuracy it is necessary to modify the MFCC or to give more data learning process with more variation.

Minimization of annotation work: diagnosis of mammographic masses via active learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Yu; Zhang, Jingyang; Xie, Hongzhi; Zhang, Shuyang; Gu, Lixu

2018-06-01

The prerequisite for establishing an effective prediction system for mammographic diagnosis is the annotation of each mammographic image. The manual annotation work is time-consuming and laborious, which becomes a great hindrance for researchers. In this article, we propose a novel active learning algorithm that can adequately address this problem, leading to the minimization of the labeling costs on the premise of guaranteed performance. Our proposed method is different from the existing active learning methods designed for the general problem as it is specifically designed for mammographic images. Through its modified discriminant functions and improved sample query criteria, the proposed method can fully utilize the pairing of mammographic images and select the most valuable images from both the mediolateral and craniocaudal views. Moreover, in order to extend active learning to the ordinal regression problem, which has no precedent in existing studies, but is essential for mammographic diagnosis (mammographic diagnosis is not only a classification task, but also an ordinal regression task for predicting an ordinal variable, viz. the malignancy risk of lesions), multiple sample query criteria need to be taken into consideration simultaneously. We formulate it as a criteria integration problem and further present an algorithm based on self-adaptive weighted rank aggregation to achieve a good solution. The efficacy of the proposed method was demonstrated on thousands of mammographic images from the digital database for screening mammography. The labeling costs of obtaining optimal performance in the classification and ordinal regression task respectively fell to 33.8 and 19.8 percent of their original costs. The proposed method also generated 1228 wins, 369 ties and 47 losses for the classification task, and 1933 wins, 258 ties and 185 losses for the ordinal regression task compared to the other state-of-the-art active learning algorithms. By taking the particularities of mammographic images, the proposed AL method can indeed reduce the manual annotation work to a great extent without sacrificing the performance of the prediction system for mammographic diagnosis.

Minimization of annotation work: diagnosis of mammographic masses via active learning.

PubMed

Zhao, Yu; Zhang, Jingyang; Xie, Hongzhi; Zhang, Shuyang; Gu, Lixu

2018-05-22

The prerequisite for establishing an effective prediction system for mammographic diagnosis is the annotation of each mammographic image. The manual annotation work is time-consuming and laborious, which becomes a great hindrance for researchers. In this article, we propose a novel active learning algorithm that can adequately address this problem, leading to the minimization of the labeling costs on the premise of guaranteed performance. Our proposed method is different from the existing active learning methods designed for the general problem as it is specifically designed for mammographic images. Through its modified discriminant functions and improved sample query criteria, the proposed method can fully utilize the pairing of mammographic images and select the most valuable images from both the mediolateral and craniocaudal views. Moreover, in order to extend active learning to the ordinal regression problem, which has no precedent in existing studies, but is essential for mammographic diagnosis (mammographic diagnosis is not only a classification task, but also an ordinal regression task for predicting an ordinal variable, viz. the malignancy risk of lesions), multiple sample query criteria need to be taken into consideration simultaneously. We formulate it as a criteria integration problem and further present an algorithm based on self-adaptive weighted rank aggregation to achieve a good solution. The efficacy of the proposed method was demonstrated on thousands of mammographic images from the digital database for screening mammography. The labeling costs of obtaining optimal performance in the classification and ordinal regression task respectively fell to 33.8 and 19.8 percent of their original costs. The proposed method also generated 1228 wins, 369 ties and 47 losses for the classification task, and 1933 wins, 258 ties and 185 losses for the ordinal regression task compared to the other state-of-the-art active learning algorithms. By taking the particularities of mammographic images, the proposed AL method can indeed reduce the manual annotation work to a great extent without sacrificing the performance of the prediction system for mammographic diagnosis.

Organizational Learning, Change and Socialization. Symposium.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

2002

This symposium is comprised of three papers on organizational learning, change, and socialization. "A Study of the Organizational Learning Profile (OLP)" (Rae Dorai, Adela J. McMurray) reports findings that show the OLP (Pace et al. 1998) is a reliable instrument for measuring organizational learning and its content validity is high.…

Connected Teaching and Learning in K-16+ Contexts: An Annotated Bibliography

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Watulak, Sarah Lohnes; Woodard, Rebecca; Smith, Anna; Johnson, Lindy; Phillips, Nathan; Wargo, Katalin

2018-01-01

Connected learning is "an emerging, synthetic model of learning whose principles are consistent with those of positive youth development, sociocultural learning theory, and findings from ethnographic studies of young people's interest-related interactions with digital media" (Maul et al., 2017, p. 2). It seeks to harness new media…

A Review of Adventure Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Veletsianos, George; Kleanthous, Irene

2009-01-01

Adventure learning (AL) is an approach for the design of digitally-enhanced teaching and learning environments driven by a framework of guidelines grounded on experiential and inquiry-based education. The purpose of this paper is to review the adventure learning literature and to describe the status quo of the practice by identifying the current…

Characteristics and Consequences of Adult Learning Methods and Strategies. Practical Evaluation Reports, Volume 2, Number 1

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trivette, Carol M.; Dunst, Carl J.; Hamby, Deborah W.; O'Herin, Chainey E.

2009-01-01

The effectiveness of four adult learning methods (accelerated learning, coaching, guided design, and just-in-time training) constituted the focus of this research synthesis. Findings reported in "How People Learn" (Bransford et al., 2000) were used to operationally define six adult learning method characteristics, and to code and analyze…

The Effect of Flipped Learning (Revised Learning) on Iranian Students' Learning Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yousefzadeh, Malahat; Salimi, Asghar

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the flipped (revised) learning had effect on student learning outcome. Lage et al (2000) describes the flipped classroom as " Inverting the classroom means that events that have traditionally take place inside the classroom now take place outside the class and vice versa" (p.32). The…

Place-Based Learning: Action Learning in MA Program for Educational Practitioners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glassner, Amnon; Eran-Zoran, Yael

2016-01-01

The study presents a new pedagogical idea and practice for educational practitioners. The practice was developed as a workshop of MA program in order to change and expand the meaning of education for the wellbeing of the community. The "place-based learning" workshop combined action learning (AL) with project-based learning (PBL). The…

Re-examination of Oostenbroek et al. (2016): evidence for neonatal imitation of tongue protrusion.

PubMed

Meltzoff, Andrew N; Murray, Lynne; Simpson, Elizabeth; Heimann, Mikael; Nagy, Emese; Nadel, Jacqueline; Pedersen, Eric J; Brooks, Rechele; Messinger, Daniel S; Pascalis, Leonardo De; Subiaul, Francys; Paukner, Annika; Ferrari, Pier F

2017-09-27

The meaning, mechanism, and function of imitation in early infancy have been actively discussed since Meltzoff and Moore's (1977) report of facial and manual imitation by human neonates. Oostenbroek et al. (2016) claim to challenge the existence of early imitation and to counter all interpretations so far offered. Such claims, if true, would have implications for theories of social-cognitive development. Here we identify 11 flaws in Oostenbroek et al.'s experimental design that biased the results toward null effects. We requested and obtained the authors' raw data. Contrary to the authors' conclusions, new analyses reveal significant tongue-protrusion imitation at all four ages tested (1, 3, 6, and 9 weeks old). We explain how the authors missed this pattern and offer five recommendations for designing future experiments. Infant imitation raises fundamental issues about action representation, social learning, and brain-behavior relations. The debate about the origins and development of imitation reflects its importance to theories of developmental science. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Find a Dermatologic Surgeon

MedlinePlus

... class="button-learn-more"> State AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE DC FL GA HI ... 250 Miles Locality City: State: AB AK AL AR AZ BC CA CO CT DC DE FL ... clicking on the procedure name. State AK AL AR AZ CA CO CT DC DE FL GA ...

Cognitive strategy use as an index of developmental differences in neural responses to feedback.

PubMed

Andersen, Lau M; Visser, Ingmar; Crone, Eveline A; Koolschijn, P Cédric M P; Raijmakers, Maartje E J

2014-12-01

Developmental differences in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and superior parietal cortex (SPC) activation are associated with differences in how children, adolescents, and adults learn from performance feedback in rule-learning tasks (Crone, Zanolie, Leijenhorst, Westenberg, & Rombouts, 2008). Both maturational differences and performance differences can potentially explain variance in functional brain activation. To disentangle those effects, we established strategy differences in the performance of participants on the task of Crone et al. (2008) by the application of latent mixture models (McLachlan & Peel, 2000). We found 4 categorically different strategies, which were divided across age groups. Both adults and adolescents were distributed among all strategy groups except for the worst performing one, whereas children were distributed among all strategy groups except for the best performing one. Strategy use was a mediator and largely explained the relation between age and variance in activation patterns in the DLPFC and the SPC but not in the ACC. These findings are interpreted vis-à-vis age versus performance predictors of brain development. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Classification of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis disease based on convolutional neural network and reinforcement sample learning algorithm.

PubMed

Sengur, Abdulkadir; Akbulut, Yaman; Guo, Yanhui; Bajaj, Varun

2017-12-01

Electromyogram (EMG) signals contain useful information of the neuromuscular diseases like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). ALS is a well-known brain disease, which can progressively degenerate the motor neurons. In this paper, we propose a deep learning based method for efficient classification of ALS and normal EMG signals. Spectrogram, continuous wavelet transform (CWT), and smoothed pseudo Wigner-Ville distribution (SPWVD) have been employed for time-frequency (T-F) representation of EMG signals. A convolutional neural network is employed to classify these features. In it, Two convolution layers, two pooling layer, a fully connected layer and a lost function layer is considered in CNN architecture. The CNN architecture is trained with the reinforcement sample learning strategy. The efficiency of the proposed implementation is tested on publicly available EMG dataset. The dataset contains 89 ALS and 133 normal EMG signals with 24 kHz sampling frequency. Experimental results show 96.80% accuracy. The obtained results are also compared with other methods, which show the superiority of the proposed method.

Learning Activity Models for Multiple Agents in a Smart Space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crandall, Aaron; Cook, Diane J.

With the introduction of more complex intelligent environment systems, the possibilities for customizing system behavior have increased dramatically. Significant headway has been made in tracking individuals through spaces using wireless devices [1, 18, 26] and in recognizing activities within the space based on video data (see chapter by Brubaker et al. and [6, 8, 23]), motion sensor data [9, 25], wearable sensors [13] or other sources of information [14, 15, 22]. However, much of the theory and most of the algorithms are designed to handle one individual in the space at a time. Resident tracking, activity recognition, event prediction, and behavior automation becomes significantly more difficult for multi-agent situations, when there are multiple residents in the environment.

Investigating Learning through Developmental Dance Movement as a Kinaesthetic Tool in the Early Years Foundation Stage

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Golding, Alison; Boes, Claudia; Nordin-Bates, Sanna M.

2016-01-01

The understanding of the significance of movement to learning benefits from advances in neuroscience. This study considered a neurophysiological perspective in relation to the educational theory of Accelerated Learning (AL) for which little empirical evidence exists. Childhood development themes and learning strategies from a…

Team-Based Learning in Honors Science Education: The Benefit of Complex Writing Assignments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wiegant, Fred; Boonstra, Johannes; Peeters, Anton; Scager, Karin

2012-01-01

Cooperative learning and team-based learning have been widely recognized as beneficial strategies to improve all levels of education, including higher education. Just forming groups, however, does not automatically lead to better learning and motivation; cooperation flourishes only under appropriate conditions (Fink; Gillies; Parmelee et al.).…

Encouraging Student Reflection and Articulation Using a Learning Companion: A Commentary

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goodman, Bradley; Linton, Frank; Gaimari, Robert

2016-01-01

Our 1998 paper "Encouraging Student Reflection and Articulation using a Learning Companion" (Goodman et al. 1998) was a stepping stone in the progression of learning companions for intelligent tutoring systems (ITS). A simulated learning companion, acting as a peer in an intelligent tutoring environment ensures the availability of a…

Ubiquitous Knowledge Construction: Mobile Learning Re-Defined and a Conceptual Framework

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peng, Hsinyi; Su, Yi-Ju; Chou, Chien; Tsai, Chin-Chung

2009-01-01

Emerging from recent mobile technologies, mobile learning, or m-learning, is beginning to offer "stunning new technical capabilities" in education (DiGiano et al., 2003). This new genre of learning is viewed as a revolutionary stage in educational technology. However, ubiquitous computing technologies have given rise to several issues. This…

Investigating High School Students' Conceptualizations of the Biological Basis of Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fulop, Rebecca M.; Tanner, Kimberly D.

2012-01-01

Students go to school to learn. How much, however, do students understand about the biological basis of this everyday process? Blackwell et al. (1) demonstrated a correlation between education about learning and academic achievement. Yet there are few studies investigating high school students' conceptions of learning. In this mixed-methods…

Experiments on Learning by Back Propagation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Plaut, David C.; And Others

This paper describes further research on a learning procedure for layered networks of deterministic, neuron-like units, described by Rumelhart et al. The units, the way they are connected, the learning procedure, and the extension to iterative networks are presented. In one experiment, a network learns a set of filters, enabling it to discriminate…

Evaluation of Bacopa monniera for its synergistic activity with rivastigmine in reversing aluminum-induced memory loss and learning deficit in rats.

PubMed

Thippeswamy, Agadi Hiremath; Rafiq, Mohamed; Viswantha, Gollapalle Lakshminarayana Shastry; Kavya, Kethaganahalli J; Anturlikar, Suryakanth D; Patki, Pralhad S

2013-08-01

The objective of this study was to evaluate the synergistic activity of Bacopa monniera with Rivastigmine against aluminum-chloride (AlCl3)-induced cognitive impairment in rats. Adult male Wistar rats were divided into ten groups (n = 10) and subjected to their assigned treatments for 42 days. On the 20(th) day of the respective drug treatments, all the animals were trained in the Morris water maze (retention latency) and the elevated plus maze (transfer latency). After the initial training, the retention latency (RL) and the transfer latency (TL) were evaluated on the 21(st) and the 42(nd) days of the study. Chronic administration of AlCl3 caused significant memory impairment associated with increased RL in the Morris water maze task and increased TL in the elevated plus maze test. Interestingly, animals treated with oral administration of B. monniera (100 and 200 mg/kg), Rivastigmine (5 mg/kg) or a combination of B. monniera (100 mg/kg) with Rivastigmine (5 mg/kg) showed significant protection against AlCl3-induced memory impairment compared to animal treated with AlCl3per se. Additionally, the neuroprotective effect of B. monniera (100 and 200 mg/kg) was significantly improved when supplemented with Rivastigmine (5 mg/kg). These findings suggest that treatment with a combination of B. monniera with Rivastigmine may be highly beneficial compared to their per-se treatment. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier B.V.

MDA ALS Caregiver's Guide

MedlinePlus

... new ALS diagnoses and their families. I Remember Running , by Darcy Wakefield, De Capo Press, 2005 Learning ... twist your hand back up between your shoulder blades. • Neck stretch: Lower your ear to your shoulder ...

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

MedlinePlus

... fact sheet. Hexachlorobenzene Learn important information about Hexachlorobenzene. ALS Registry 7th Anniversary Read how the Registry has been working to better understand ALS for 7 years now. Protect the Health of ...

Traditional and Accelerated Baccalaureate Nursing Students' Self-Efficacy for Interprofessional Learning.

PubMed

Durkin, Anne E; Feinn, Richard S

The aim of the study was to examine self-efficacy among traditional and accelerated nursing students with regard to interprofessional learning. The World Health Organization and other organizations recognize the need for interprofessional education to prepare health care providers for collaborative practice. Graduates of baccalaureate nursing programs require competence in interprofessional collaboration and communication. Traditional (n = 239) and accelerated (n = 114) nursing students' self-efficacy was measured utilizing Mann et al.'s Self-Efficacy for Interprofessional Experiential Learning Scale. Accelerated students averaged significantly higher than traditional students on the interprofessional team evaluation and feedback subscale (p = .006) and overall self-efficacy (p = .041). Awareness of possible differences between traditional and accelerated nursing students with regard to self-efficacy may help faculty develop effective interprofessional learning experiences for students in each cohort. Although results cannot be generalized, findings from this study provide evidence to guide the selection of learning strategies.

Assessment of Learning Style in a Sample of Saudi Medical Students

PubMed Central

BuAli, Waleed Hamad Al; Muhaidab, Nouria Saab Al

2013-01-01

CONFLICT OF INTEREST: NONE DECLARED Background By knowing the different students’ learning styles, teachers can plan their instruction carefully in ways that are capitalized on student preferences. The current research is done to determine specific learning styles of students. Method This cross sectional study was conducted in Al Ahsa College of Medicine from 2011 to 2012. A sample of 518 students completed a questionnaire based on Kolb inventory (LSI 2) to determine their learning style. A spreadsheet was prepared to compute all the information to get the cumulative scores of learning abilities and identify the learning styles. Results The mean values of the learning abilities; active experimentation (AE), reflective observation (RO), abstract conceptualizing (AC) or concrete experience (CE) for male students were 35, 28, 30 and 26 respectively while they were 31, 30, 31 and 29 respectively for female students. There were significant difference between male and female students regarding the mean values of AE-RO (6.7 vs 1.5) and AC-CE (4.1 vs 2.1). This indicated that the style of male students were more convergent and accommodating than those of female students. The female had more assimilating and divergent styles. Conclusion Learning style in Saudi medical students showed difference between males and females in the early college years. Most male students had convergent and accommodating learning styles, while the female dominant learning styles were divergent and assimilating. Planning and implementation of instruction need to consider these findings. PMID:24058248

Understanding Optimal Decision-Making

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-06-01

Task (IGT) (Bechara, Damasio, Damasio, & Anderson,1994), a very common test of reinforcement learning that has been used in hundreds of psychology ... psychology task that elicits reinforcement learning (Bechara et al., 1994) and has been used in hundreds of studies (Krain et al., 2006). Subjects...34) 70 # LatByTrial<- LatByTrial+geom_line(data=player,aes(x=trial,y=ewma),linetype=1, colour ="grey8 8") # LatByTrial<- LatByTrial+geom_point

Evidence from machines that learn and think like people.

PubMed

Forbus, Kenneth D; Gentner, Dedre

2017-01-01

We agree with Lake et al.'s trenchant analysis of deep learning systems, including that they are highly brittle and that they need vastly more examples than do people. We also agree that human cognition relies heavily on structured relational representations. However, we differ in our analysis of human cognitive processing. We argue that (1) analogical comparison processes are central to human cognition; and (2) intuitive physical knowledge is captured by qualitative representations, rather than quantitative simulations.

Personalized Medication Response Prediction for Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Learning in the Model Space vs. Learning in the Data Space

PubMed Central

Wong, Hin K.; Tiffin, Paul A.; Chappell, Michael J.; Nichols, Thomas E.; Welsh, Patrick R.; Doyle, Orla M.; Lopez-Kolkovska, Boryana C.; Inglis, Sarah K.; Coghill, David; Shen, Yuan; Tiño, Peter

2017-01-01

Attention-Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common mental health disorders amongst school-aged children with an estimated prevalence of 5% in the global population (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Stimulants, particularly methylphenidate (MPH), are the first-line option in the treatment of ADHD (Reeves and Schweitzer, 2004; Dopheide and Pliszka, 2009) and are prescribed to an increasing number of children and adolescents in the US and the UK every year (Safer et al., 1996; McCarthy et al., 2009), though recent studies suggest that this is tailing off, e.g., Holden et al. (2013). Around 70% of children demonstrate a clinically significant treatment response to stimulant medication (Spencer et al., 1996; Schachter et al., 2001; Swanson et al., 2001; Barbaresi et al., 2006). However, it is unclear which patient characteristics may moderate treatment effectiveness. As such, most existing research has focused on investigating univariate or multivariate correlations between a set of patient characteristics and the treatment outcome, with respect to dosage of one or several types of medication. The results of such studies are often contradictory and inconclusive due to a combination of small sample sizes, low-quality data, or a lack of available information on covariates. In this paper, feature extraction techniques such as latent trait analysis were applied to reduce the dimension of on a large dataset of patient characteristics, including the responses to symptom-based questionnaires, developmental health factors, demographic variables such as age and gender, and socioeconomic factors such as parental income. We introduce a Bayesian modeling approach in a “learning in the model space” framework that combines existing knowledge in the literature on factors that may potentially affect treatment response, with constraints imposed by a treatment response model. The model is personalized such that the variability among subjects is accounted for by a set of subject-specific parameters. For remission classification, this approach compares favorably with conventional methods such as support vector machines and mixed effect models on a range of performance measures. For instance, the proposed approach achieved an area under receiver operator characteristic curve of 82–84%, compared to 75–77% obtained from conventional regression or machine learning (“learning in the data space”) methods. PMID:28443027

Supporting the development of interpersonal skills in nursing, in an undergraduate mental health curriculum: reaching the parts other strategies do not reach through action learning.

PubMed

Waugh, Anna; McNay, Lisa; Dewar, Belinda; McCaig, Marie

2014-09-01

The centrality of therapeutic relationships is considered to be the cornerstone of effective mental health nursing practice. Strategies that support the development of these skills and the emotional aspects of learning need to be developed. Action learning is one such strategy. This article reports on a qualitative research study on the introduction of Action Learning Sets (ALS) into a Pre-registration Mental Health Nursing Programme. This teaching and learning methodology was chosen to support the emotional aspects of learning and mental health nursing skills. Four themes were identified: developing skills of listening and questioning in 'real time', enhanced self-awareness, being with someone in the moment--there is no rehearsal and doing things differently in practice. Students and lecturers found the experience positive and advocate for other Pre-registration Mental Health Nursing Programmes to consider the use of ALS within the curriculum. © 2013.

Reflective Practices in Professional Learning Communities: A Case Study of the Missouri Professional Learning Communities Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burns, Mary Ann

2012-01-01

Dewey (1933) provided the foundation for reflective practice in education with the notion that learning is not in the doing, but rather it is in the thinking about the doing that creates learning. Evidence is growing about the importance of reflection for improving teaching and learning practices to increase student achievement (York-Barr, et al.,…

Reading Embossed Capital Letters: An fMRI Study in Blind and Sighted Individuals

PubMed Central

Burton, H.; McLaren, D.G.; Sinclair, R.J.

2013-01-01

Reading Braille activates visual cortex in blind people [Burton et al., J Neurophysiol 2002;87: 589-611; Sadato et al., Nature 1996;380:526-528; Sadato et al., Brain 1998;121:1213-1229]. Because learning Braille requires extensive training, we had sighted and blind people read raised block capital letters to determine whether all groups engage visual cortex similarly when reading by touch. Letters were passively rubbed across the right index finger at 30 mm/s using an MR-compatible drum stimulator. Age-matched sighted, early blind (lost sight 0–5 years), and late blind (lost sight >5.5 years) volunteers performed three tasks: stating an identified letter, stating a verb containing an identified letter, and feeling a moving smooth surface. Responses were voiced immediately after the drum stopped moving across the fingertip. All groups showed increased activity in visual areas V1 and V2 during both letter identification tasks. Blind compared to sighted participants showed greater activation increases predominantly in the parafoveal-peripheral portions of visuotopic areas and posterior parts of BA 20 and 37. Sighted participants showed suppressed activity in most of the same areas except for small positive responses bilaterally in V1, left V5/MT+, and bilaterally in BA 37/20. Blind individuals showed suppression of the language areas in the frontal cortex, while sighted individuals showed slight positive responses. Early blind showed a more extensive distribution of activity in superior temporal sulcal multisensory areas. These results show cross-modal reorganization of visual cortex and altered response dynamics in nonvisual areas that plausibly reflect mechanisms for adaptive plasticity in blindness. PMID:16142777

Enhancing Technical Skill Learning through Interleaved Mixed-Model Observational Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Welsher, Arthur; Grierson, Lawrence E. M.

2017-01-01

A broad foundation of behavioural (Hayes et al. in "Exp Brain Res" 204(2): 199-206, 2010) and neurophysiological (Kohler et al. in "Science" 297(5582): 846-848, 2002) evidence has revealed that the acquisition of psychomotor skills, including those germane to clinical practice (Domuracki et al. in "Med Educ" 49(2):…

Effects of Traditional, Blended and E-Learning on Students' Achievement in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Al-Qahtani, Awadh A. Y.; Higgins, S. E.

2013-01-01

The study investigates the effect of e-learning, blended learning and classroom learning on students' achievement. Two experimental groups together with a control group from Umm Al-Qura University in Saudi Arabia were identified randomly. To assess students' achievement in the different groups, pre- and post-achievement tests were used. The…

Mental Time Travel, Memory and the Social Learning Strategies Tournament

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fogarty, L.; Rendell, L.; Laland, K. N.

2012-01-01

The social learning strategies tournament was an open computer-based tournament investigating the best way to learn in a changing environment. Here we present an analysis of the impact of memory on the ability of strategies entered into the social learning strategies tournament (Rendell, Boyd, et al., 2010) to modify their own behavior to suit a…

Learning and Teaching with Mobile Devices an Approach in Secondary Education in Ghana

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grimus, Margarete; Ebner, Martin

2014-01-01

While many developing nations find Internet-based e-learning unsuitable for their needs (lack of technology as well as of accessibility), mobile learning methods--specifically those involving the use of mobile-phones for both formal and informal learning--hold great promise for them (Grimus et al, 2013b). This article examines the chances and…

Pre-Service Primary Mathematics Teachers' Opportunities to Learn about School Mathematics Topics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Al Zahrani, Yahya; Jones, Keith

2013-01-01

"Opportunity to learn" (OTL), a term first coined by Carroll (1963, 727) to capture the ''time allowed for learning'', is known to be a factor in successful learning during education programmes. In a major study of teacher preparation across 17 countries (the Teacher education and development study in mathematics, TEDS-M), Tatto et al.…

Learning Management Systems and Principles of Good Teaching: Instructor and Student Perspectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lai, Alyssa; Savage, Philip

2013-01-01

The blended learning environment in university courses integrates teaching technologies in traditional (i.e. non-technological) learning contexts, most evidently through the adoption of a Learning Management System (LMS). Past studies on the use of LMSs have focused on the economic and technical challenges in LMS adoption (West et al., 2006;…

Detection and Classification of Baleen Whale Foraging Calls Combining Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning Techniques

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-12-01

Atlantic recordings is centered around 20 Hz, is the most often reported fin whale sound worldwide ( Watkins 1982; Edds 1988; Thompson et al. 1990... Watkins et al. 2000; Clark et al. 2002; Nieukirk et al. 2004; Širović et al. 2004; Castellote et al. 2012). However, only males have been found to produce...in feeding contexts without gender exception ( Watkins 1982). The frequency band of 40-Hz calls is generally 30–100 Hz, more often 40–75 Hz with

Context, Learning, and Extinction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gershman, Samuel J.; Blei, David M.; Niv, Yael

2010-01-01

A. Redish et al. (2007) proposed a reinforcement learning model of context-dependent learning and extinction in conditioning experiments, using the idea of "state classification" to categorize new observations into states. In the current article, the authors propose an interpretation of this idea in terms of normative statistical inference. They…

Aluminum chloride induces neuroinflammation, loss of neuronal dendritic spine and cognition impairment in developing rat.

PubMed

Cao, Zheng; Yang, Xu; Zhang, Haiyang; Wang, Haoran; Huang, Wanyue; Xu, Feibo; Zhuang, Cuicui; Wang, Xiaoguang; Li, Yanfei

2016-05-01

Aluminum (Al) is present in the daily life of humans, and the incidence of Al contamination increased in recent years. Long-term excessive Al intake induces neuroinflammation and cognition impairment. Neuroinflammation alter density of dendritic spine, which, in turn, influence cognition function. However, it is unknown whether increased neuroinflammation is associated with altered density of dendritic spine in Al-treated rats. In the present study, AlCl3 was orally administrated to rat at 50, 150 and 450 mg/kg for 90d. We examined the effects of AlCl3 on the cognition function, density of dendritic spine in hippocampus of CA1 and DG region and the mRNA levels of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, MHC II, CX3CL1 and BNDF in developing rat. These results showed exposure to AlCl3 lead to increased mRNA levels of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α and MCH II, decreased mRNA levels of CX3CL1 and BDNF, decreased density of dendritic spine and impaired learning and memory in developing rat. Our results suggest AlCl3 can induce neuroinflammation that may result in loss of spine, and thereby leads to learning and memory deficits. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Orbital frontal cortex updates state-induced value change for decision-making.

PubMed

Baltz, Emily T; Yalcinbas, Ege A; Renteria, Rafael; Gremel, Christina M

2018-06-13

Recent hypotheses have posited that orbital frontal cortex (OFC) is important for using inferred consequences to guide behavior. Less clear is OFC's contribution to goal-directed or model-based behavior, where the decision to act is controlled by previous experience with the consequence or outcome. Investigating OFC's role in learning about changed outcomes separate from decision-making is not trivial and often the two are confounded. Here we adapted an incentive learning task to mice, where we investigated processes controlling experience-based outcome updating independent from inferred action control. We found chemogenetic OFC attenuation did not alter the ability to perceive motivational state-induced changes in outcome value but did prevent the experience-based updating of this change. Optogenetic inhibition of OFC excitatory neuron activity selectively when experiencing an outcome change disrupted the ability to update, leaving mice unable to infer the appropriate behavior. Our findings support a role for OFC in learning that controls decision-making. © 2018, Baltz et al.

Olfactory modulation by dopamine in the context of aversive learning

PubMed Central

Riffell, Jeffrey A.; Martin, Joshua P.; Gage, Stephanie L.; Nighorn, Alan J.

2012-01-01

The need to detect and process sensory cues varies in different behavioral contexts. Plasticity in sensory coding can be achieved by the context-specific release of neuromodulators in restricted brain areas. The context of aversion triggers the release of dopamine in the insect brain, yet the effects of dopamine on sensory coding are unknown. In this study, we characterize the morphology of dopaminergic neurons that innervate each of the antennal lobes (ALs; the first synaptic neuropils of the olfactory system) of the moth Manduca sexta and demonstrate with electrophysiology that dopamine enhances odor-evoked responses of the majority of AL neurons while reducing the responses of a small minority. Because dopamine release in higher brain areas mediates aversive learning we developed a naturalistic, ecologically inspired aversive learning paradigm in which an innately appetitive host plant floral odor is paired with a mimic of the aversive nectar of herbivorized host plants. This pairing resulted in a decrease in feeding behavior that was blocked when dopamine receptor antagonists were injected directly into the ALs. These results suggest that a transient dopaminergic enhancement of sensory output from the AL contributes to the formation of aversive memories. We propose a model of olfactory modulation in which specific contexts trigger the release of different neuromodulators in the AL to increase olfactory output to downstream areas of processing. PMID:22552185

Relation between acute and long-term cognitive decline after surgery: Influence of metabolic syndrome.

PubMed

Gambús, P L; Trocóniz, I F; Feng, X; Gimenez-Milá, M; Mellado, R; Degos, V; Vacas, S; Maze, M

2015-11-01

The relationship between persistent postoperative cognitive decline and the more common acute variety remains unknown; using data acquired in preclinical studies of postoperative cognitive decline we attempted to characterize this relationship. Low capacity runner (LCR) rats, which have all the features of the metabolic syndrome, were compared postoperatively with high capacity runner (HCR) rats for memory, assessed by trace fear conditioning (TFC) on the 7th postoperative day, and learning and memory (probe trial [PT]) assessed by the Morris water-maze (MWM) at 3 months postoperatively. Rate of learning (AL) data from the MWM test, were estimated by non-linear mixed effects modeling. The individual rat's TFC result at postoperative day (POD) 7 was correlated with its AL and PT from the MWM data sets at postoperative day POD 90. A single exponential decay model best described AL in the MWM with LCR and surgery (LCR-SURG) being the only significant covariates; first order AL rate constant was 0.07 s(-1) in LCR-SURG and 0.16s(-1) in the remaining groups (p<0.05). TFC was significantly correlated with both AL (R=0.74; p<0.0001) and PT (R=0.49; p<0.01). Severity of memory decline at 1 week after surgery presaged long-lasting deteriorations in learning and memory. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Measuring Experiences of Interest-Related Pursuits in Connected Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maul, Andrew; Penuel, William R.; Dadey, Nathan; Gallagher, Lawrence P.; Podkul, Timothy; Price, Emily

2017-01-01

This paper describes an effort to develop a survey instrument capable of measuring important aspects of adolescents' experiences of interest-related pursuits that are supported by technology. The measure focuses on youths' experiences of "connected learning" (Ito et al. in Connected learning: an agenda for research and design. Digital…

Virtual Action Learning: Practices and Challenges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dickenson, Mollie; Burgoyne, John; Pedler, Mike

2010-01-01

This paper reports findings from research that set out to explore virtual action learning (VAL) as an emerging variety of action learning (AL). In bringing together geographically dispersed individuals within and across organizations, and possibly across time, VAL has obvious potential in both educational and commercial contexts. Whilst there is…

Distributed Scaffolding: Synergy in Technology-Enhanced Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ustunel, Hale H.; Tokel, Saniye Tugba

2018-01-01

When technology is employed challenges increase in learning environments. Kim et al. ("Sci Educ" 91(6):1010-1030, 2007) presented a pedagogical framework that provides a valid technology-enhanced learning environment. The purpose of the present design-based study was to investigate the micro context dimension of this framework and to…

Interinformant Agreement of the Dementia Questionnaire for People with Learning Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walker, Brigid; MacBryer, Shona; Jones, Alan; Law, Jim

2015-01-01

Because of difficulties with neuropsychological assessments for dementia in people with learning disabilities, professionals in clinical practice have relied heavily on carer interviews, one of the most widely used being the "Dementia Questionnaire for People with Learning Disabilities" (DLD-Evenhuis et al. 2006 "Dementia…

Exploring the Impact of Service Learning on Interprofessional Collaborative Practices of Occupational Therapists

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jarrett, Lindsey G.

2015-01-01

Previous research has demonstrated that students in healthcare related disciplines, who experience service learning, gain professional skills necessary for their career (Flinn, Kloos, Teaford, Clark, & Szucs, 2009; Holsapple, 2012; Seif et al., 2014). Research connecting service learning and career outcomes has primarily focused on short term…

Adventure Learning and Learner-Engagement: Frameworks for Designers and Educators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Henrickson, Jeni; Doering, Aaron

2013-01-01

There is a recognized need for theoretical frameworks that can guide designers and educators in the development of engagement-rich learning experiences that incorporate emerging technologies in pedagogically sound ways. This study investigated one such promising framework, adventure learning (AL). Data were gathered via surveys, interviews, direct…

Action Learning in Virtual Higher Education: Applying Leadership Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Curtin, Joseph

2016-01-01

This paper reports the historical foundation of Northeastern University's course, LDR 6100: Developing Your Leadership Capability, a partial literature review of action learning (AL) and virtual action learning (VAL), a course methodology of LDR 6100 requiring students to apply leadership perspectives using VAL as instructed by the author,…

Sound Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sickel, Aaron J.; Lee, Michele H.; Pareja, Enrique M.

2010-01-01

How can a teacher simultaneously teach science concepts through inquiry while helping students learn about the nature of science? After pondering this question in their own teaching, the authors developed a 5E learning cycle lesson (Bybee et al. 2006) that concurrently embeds opportunities for fourth-grade students to (a) learn a science concept,…

Learning Non-Adjacent Regularities at Age 0 ; 7

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gervain, Judit; Werker, Janet F.

2013-01-01

One important mechanism suggested to underlie the acquisition of grammar is rule learning. Indeed, infants aged 0 ; 7 are able to learn rules based on simple identity relations (adjacent repetitions, ABB: "wo fe fe" and non-adjacent repetitions, ABA: "wo fe wo", respectively; Marcus et al., 1999). One unexplored issue is…

Characterizing Reinforcement Learning Methods through Parameterized Learning Problems

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-06-03

extraneous. The agent could potentially adapt these representational aspects by applying methods from feature selection ( Kolter and Ng, 2009; Petrik et al...611–616. AAAI Press. Kolter , J. Z. and Ng, A. Y. (2009). Regularization and feature selection in least-squares temporal difference learning. In A. P

Wound care and learning disabilities: use of the Avance NPWT system.

PubMed

Porter, Michelle

Over the past two decades, topical negative pressure wound therapy has gained wide acceptance as a genuine strategy in the treatment algorithm for a wide variety of acute and chronic wounds (Bovill et al, 2008) and over 1000 peer-reviewed publications describing the clinical efficacy and safety of negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) for all wound types have been published over this period (Vig et al, 2011). Wound care and learning disabilities are very rarely discussed as joint issues. This case study aims to highlight the successful use of topical NPWT on a patient with moderate learning disabilities and examines how wound management should be individualised to meet the needs of the patient.

A complex mTOR response in habituation paradigms for a social signal in adult songbirds.

PubMed

Ahmadiantehrani, Somayeh; Gores, Elisa O; London, Sarah E

2018-06-01

Nonassociative learning is considered simple because it depends on presentation of a single stimulus, but it likely reflects complex molecular signaling. To advance understanding of the molecular mechanisms of one form of nonassociative learning, habituation, for ethologically relevant signals we examined song recognition learning in adult zebra finches. These colonial songbirds learn the unique song of individuals, which helps establish and maintain mate and other social bonds, and informs appropriate behavioral interactions with specific birds. We leveraged prior work demonstrating behavioral habituation for individual songs, and extended the molecular framework correlated with this behavior by investigating the mechanistic Target of Rapamycin (mTOR) signaling cascade. We hypothesized that mTOR may contribute to habituation because it integrates a variety of upstream signals and enhances associative learning, and it crosstalks with another cascade previously associated with habituation, ERK/ZENK. To begin probing for a possible role for mTOR in song recognition learning, we used a combination of song playback paradigms and bidirectional dysregulation of mTORC1 activation. We found that mTOR demonstrates the molecular signatures of a habituation mechanism, and that its manipulation reveals the complexity of processes that may be invoked during nonassociative learning. These results thus expand the molecular targets for habituation studies and raise new questions about neural processing of complex natural signals. © 2018 Ahmadiantehrani et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

Ion Channels in Leukocytes

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-07-01

muscle k142), heart muscle (80), bo- are released. In recent years much has been learned vine pulmonar arter endothelial cells (251), and rat about the...b3 Zn or cytes from cystic fibrosis patients lack a Cl current that Ni (1 mM)-added to the cytoplasmic side of the mem- can be acti% ated b3 the...that at37’C hu- to be defectiv.- in cystic fibrosis (55, 277), and Chen et al. man T-cell CiL channels are active at rest, implies that (25) have shown

Using Action Learning Sets to Support Students Managing Transition into the Clinical Learning Environment in a UK Medical School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McKee, Anne; Markless, Sharon

2017-01-01

This paper reports on a Curriculum Innovation Project to empower third-year Undergraduate Medical students to recognise learning opportunities in their clinical placements and to proactively use them to develop their understanding and practice. The project created action learning sets (ALS) in response to the challenges students face when trying…

Curriculum at Forty below: A Phenomenological Inquiry of an Educator/Explorer's Experience with Adventure Learning in the Arctic

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Charles; Veletsianos, George; Doering, Aaron

2008-01-01

Grounded in the theoretical approaches of experiential learning and inquiry-based learning, adventure learning (AL) is a hybrid distance education approach that seeks to transform the experiences of students by having learners explore real-world issues and pursue answers to their own questions in an authentic, anchor-based environment. In this…

Learning and Teaching with Mobile Devices: An Approach in Higher Secondary Education in Ghana

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grimus, Margarete; Ebner, Martin

2015-01-01

While many developing nations find Internet-based e-learning unsuitable for their needs mobile learning methods--specifically those involving the use of mobile-phones for both formal and informal learning--hold great promise for them (Grimus et al, 2013b). In this paper chances and challenges introduced by mobile devices to support improvement and…

Examining the Factors That Influence Students' Science Learning Processes and Their Learning Outcomes: 30 Years of Conceptual Change Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Jing-Wen; Yen, Miao-Hsuan; Liang, Jia-Chi; Chiu, Mei-Hung; Guo, Chorng-Jee

2016-01-01

This study used content analysis to examine the most studied conceptual change factors that influence students' science learning processes and their learning outcomes. The reviewed research included empirical studies published since Posner et al. proposed their conceptual change model 30 years ago (from 1982 to 2011). One hundred sixteen SSCI…

Assessing the Incremental Algorithm: A Response to Krahmer et al.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Deemter, Kees; Gatt, Albert; van der Sluis, Ielka; Power, Richard

2012-01-01

This response discusses the experiment reported in Krahmer et al.'s Letter to the Editor of "Cognitive Science". We observe that their results do not tell us whether the Incremental Algorithm is better or worse than its competitors, and we speculate about implications for reference in complex domains, and for learning from "normal" (i.e.,…

Understanding Dyslexia and Its Instructional Implications: A Case to Support Intense Intervention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gray, Erika S.

2008-01-01

Dyslexia is a congenital disorder characterized by unexpected difficulties in learning to read and spell in relation to one's verbal intelligence, motivation, and educational opportunities (Aylward et al., 2003; Morgan, 1896). Because dyslexia can affect 1.5-5% of the population (Aylward et al., 2003; Vellutino et al., 1996), understanding how to…

Data Mining and Machine Learning Models for Predicting Drug Likeness and their Disease or Organ Category

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yosipof, Abraham; Guedes, Rita C.; García-Sosa, Alfonso T.

2018-05-01

Data mining approaches can uncover underlying patterns in chemical and pharmacological property space decisive for drug discovery and development. Two of the most common approaches are visualization and machine learning methods. Visualization methods use dimensionality reduction techniques in order to reduce multi-dimension data into 2D or 3D representations with a minimal loss of information. Machine learning attempts to find correlations between specific activities or classifications for a set of compounds and their features by means of recurring mathematical models. Both models take advantage of the different and deep relationships that can exist between features of compounds, and helpfully provide classification of compounds based on such features. Drug-likeness has been studied from several viewpoints, but here we provide the first implementation in chemoinformatics of the t-Distributed Stochastic Neighbor Embedding (t-SNE) method for the visualization and the representation of chemical space, and the use of different machine learning methods separately and together to form a new ensemble learning method called AL Boost. The models obtained from AL Boost synergistically combine decision tree, random forests (RF), support vector machine (SVM), artificial neuronal network (ANN), k nearest neighbors (kNN), and logistic regression models. In this work, we show that together they form a predictive model that not only improves the predictive force but also decreases bias. This resulted in a corrected classification rate of over 0.81, as well as higher sensitivity and specificity rates for the models. In addition, separation and good models were also achieved for disease categories such as antineoplastic compounds and nervous system diseases, among others. Such models can be used to guide decision on the feature landscape of compounds and their likeness to either drugs or other characteristics, such as specific or multiple disease-category(ies) or organ(s) of action of a molecule.

Data Mining and Machine Learning Models for Predicting Drug Likeness and Their Disease or Organ Category.

PubMed

Yosipof, Abraham; Guedes, Rita C; García-Sosa, Alfonso T

2018-01-01

Data mining approaches can uncover underlying patterns in chemical and pharmacological property space decisive for drug discovery and development. Two of the most common approaches are visualization and machine learning methods. Visualization methods use dimensionality reduction techniques in order to reduce multi-dimension data into 2D or 3D representations with a minimal loss of information. Machine learning attempts to find correlations between specific activities or classifications for a set of compounds and their features by means of recurring mathematical models. Both models take advantage of the different and deep relationships that can exist between features of compounds, and helpfully provide classification of compounds based on such features or in case of visualization methods uncover underlying patterns in the feature space. Drug-likeness has been studied from several viewpoints, but here we provide the first implementation in chemoinformatics of the t-Distributed Stochastic Neighbor Embedding (t-SNE) method for the visualization and the representation of chemical space, and the use of different machine learning methods separately and together to form a new ensemble learning method called AL Boost. The models obtained from AL Boost synergistically combine decision tree, random forests (RF), support vector machine (SVM), artificial neural network (ANN), k nearest neighbors (kNN), and logistic regression models. In this work, we show that together they form a predictive model that not only improves the predictive force but also decreases bias. This resulted in a corrected classification rate of over 0.81, as well as higher sensitivity and specificity rates for the models. In addition, separation and good models were also achieved for disease categories such as antineoplastic compounds and nervous system diseases, among others. Such models can be used to guide decision on the feature landscape of compounds and their likeness to either drugs or other characteristics, such as specific or multiple disease-category(ies) or organ(s) of action of a molecule.

Alpha-lipoic acid-mediated activation of muscarinic receptors improves hippocampus- and amygdala-dependent memory.

PubMed

Mahboob, Aamra; Farhat, Syeda Mehpara; Iqbal, Ghazala; Babar, Mustafeez Mujtaba; Zaidi, Najam-us-Sahar Sadaf; Nabavi, Seyed Mohammad; Ahmed, Touqeer

2016-04-01

Aluminum (Al) is a neurotoxic agent which readily crosses the blood-brain-barrier (BBB) and accumulates in the brain leading to neurodegenerative disorders, characterised by cognitive impairment. Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) is an antioxidant and has a potential to improve cognitive functions. This study aimed to evaluate the neuroprotective effect of ALA in AlCl3-induced neurotoxicity mouse model. Effect of ALA (25mg/kg/day) was evaluated in the AlCl3-induced neurotoxicity (AlCl3 150 mg/kg/day) mouse model on learning and memory using behaviour tests and on the expression of muscarinic receptor genes (using RT-PCR), in hippocampus and amygdala. Following ALA treatment, the expression of muscarinic receptor genes M1, M2 and choline acetyltransferase (ChaT) were significantly improved (p<0.05) relative to AlCl3-treated group. ALA enhanced fear memory (p<0.01) and social novelty preference (p<0.001) comparative to the AlCl3-treated group. Fear extinction memory was remarkably restored (p<0.001) in ALA-treated group demonstrated by reduced freezing response as compared to the AlCl3-treated group which showed higher freezing. In-silico analysis showed that racemic mixture of ALA has higher binding affinity for M1 and M2 compared to acetylcholine. These novel findings highlight the potential role of ALA in cognitive functions and cholinergic system enhancement thus presenting it an enviable therapeutic candidate for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Low-frequency magnetic fields do not aggravate disease in mouse models of Alzheimer's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

PubMed Central

Liebl, Martina P.; Windschmitt, Johannes; Besemer, Anna S.; Schäfer, Anne-Kathrin; Reber, Helmut; Behl, Christian; Clement, Albrecht M.

2015-01-01

Low-frequency magnetic fields (LF-MF) generated by power lines represent a potential environmental health risk and are classified as possibly carcinogenic by the World Health Organization. Epidemiological studies indicate that LF-MF might propagate neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease (AD) or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We conducted a comprehensive analysis to determine whether long-term exposure to LF-MF (50 Hz, 1 mT) interferes with disease development in established mouse models for AD and ALS, namely APP23 mice and mice expressing mutant Cu/Zn-superoxide dismutase (SOD1), respectively. Exposure for 16 months did not aggravate learning deficit of APP23 mice. Likewise, disease onset and survival of SOD1G85R or SOD1G93A mice were not altered upon LF-MF exposure for ten or eight months, respectively. These results and an extended biochemical analysis of protein aggregation, glial activation and levels of toxic protein species suggests that LF-MF do not affect cellular processes involved in the pathogenesis of AD or ALS. PMID:25717019

Rapid L2 Word Learning through High Constraint Sentence Context: An Event-Related Potential Study

PubMed Central

Chen, Baoguo; Ma, Tengfei; Liang, Lijuan; Liu, Huanhuan

2017-01-01

Previous studies have found quantity of exposure, i.e., frequency of exposure (Horst et al., 1998; Webb, 2008; Pellicer-Sánchez and Schmitt, 2010), is important for second language (L2) contextual word learning. Besides this factor, context constraint and L2 proficiency level have also been found to affect contextual word learning (Pulido, 2003; Tekmen and Daloglu, 2006; Elgort et al., 2015; Ma et al., 2015). In the present study, we adopted the event-related potential (ERP) technique and chose high constraint sentences as reading materials to further explore the effects of quantity of exposure and proficiency on L2 contextual word learning. Participants were Chinese learners of English with different English proficiency levels. For each novel word, there were four high constraint sentences with the critical word at the end of the sentence. Learners read sentences and made semantic relatedness judgment afterwards, with ERPs recorded. Results showed that in the high constraint condition where each pseudoword was embedded in four sentences with consistent meaning, N400 amplitude upon this pseudoword decreased significantly as learners read the first two sentences. High proficiency learners responded faster in the semantic relatedness judgment task. These results suggest that in high quality sentence contexts, L2 learners could rapidly acquire word meaning without multiple exposures, and L2 proficiency facilitated this learning process. PMID:29375420

Rapid L2 Word Learning through High Constraint Sentence Context: An Event-Related Potential Study.

PubMed

Chen, Baoguo; Ma, Tengfei; Liang, Lijuan; Liu, Huanhuan

2017-01-01

Previous studies have found quantity of exposure, i.e., frequency of exposure (Horst et al., 1998; Webb, 2008; Pellicer-Sánchez and Schmitt, 2010), is important for second language (L2) contextual word learning. Besides this factor, context constraint and L2 proficiency level have also been found to affect contextual word learning (Pulido, 2003; Tekmen and Daloglu, 2006; Elgort et al., 2015; Ma et al., 2015). In the present study, we adopted the event-related potential (ERP) technique and chose high constraint sentences as reading materials to further explore the effects of quantity of exposure and proficiency on L2 contextual word learning. Participants were Chinese learners of English with different English proficiency levels. For each novel word, there were four high constraint sentences with the critical word at the end of the sentence. Learners read sentences and made semantic relatedness judgment afterwards, with ERPs recorded. Results showed that in the high constraint condition where each pseudoword was embedded in four sentences with consistent meaning, N400 amplitude upon this pseudoword decreased significantly as learners read the first two sentences. High proficiency learners responded faster in the semantic relatedness judgment task. These results suggest that in high quality sentence contexts, L2 learners could rapidly acquire word meaning without multiple exposures, and L2 proficiency facilitated this learning process.

Stacking up against alternative conceptions: using Uno cards to introduce discourse and argumentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dunac, Patricia S.; Demir, Kadir

2013-11-01

We engaged secondary science students in a teacher and student constructed Uno card game (UCG) to change their conceptual understanding of the various energy transformations. The paper outlines how we incorporated Toulmin’s argumentation pattern (Toulmin 1958 The Uses of Argument (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)) in the UCG, using discourse (Erduran et al 2004 Sci. Educ. 88 915-33) and through a 5E learning cycle (Bybee 1997 Achieving Scientific Literacy: From Purposes to Practices (Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Educational Books)). The activity helped students develop a deeper understanding of the energy transformation among and between different sources. Students experienced a conceptual gain in their ways of thinking, in contrast to traditional teaching and learning practices. The collaboration and interaction between teacher-student(s) and between students fostered an environment where they became co-constructors of knowledge.

A robust classic.

PubMed

Kutzner, Florian; Vogel, Tobias; Freytag, Peter; Fiedler, Klaus

2011-01-01

In the present research, we argue for the robustness of illusory correlations (ICs, Hamilton & Gifford, 1976) regarding two boundary conditions suggested in previous research. First, we argue that ICs are maintained under extended experience. Using simulations, we derive conflicting predictions. Whereas noise-based accounts predict ICs to be maintained (Fielder, 2000; Smith, 1991), a prominent account based on discrepancy-reducing feedback learning predicts ICs to disappear (Van Rooy et al., 2003). An experiment involving 320 observations with majority and minority members supports the claim that ICs are maintained. Second, we show that actively using the stereotype to make predictions that are met with reward and punishment does not eliminate the bias. In addition, participants' operant reactions afford a novel online measure of ICs. In sum, our findings highlight the robustness of ICs that can be explained as a result of unbiased but noisy learning.

Delayed Learning Effects with Erroneous Examples: A Study of Learning Decimals with a Web-Based Tutor

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McLaren, Bruce M.; Adams, Deanne M.; Mayer, Richard E.

2015-01-01

Erroneous examples--step-by-step problem solutions with one or more errors for students to find and fix--hold great potential to help students learn. In this study, which is a replication of a prior study (Adams et al. 2014), but with a much larger population (390 vs. 208), middle school students learned about decimals either by working with…

The effectiveness of internet-based e-learning on clinician behavior and patient outcomes: a systematic review protocol.

PubMed

Sinclair, Peter; Kable, Ashley; Levett-Jones, Tracy

2015-01-01

The objective of this systematic review is to identify, appraise and synthesize the best available evidence for the effectiveness of internet-based e-learning programs on health care professional behavior and patient outcomes. Technological innovation has not only impacted social change in recent years but has been the prime driver of educational transformation.The newest consumers of post-secondary education, the so-called 'digital natives', have come to expect education to be delivered in a way that offers increased usability and convenience. Health care professionals (HCPs) in the clinical setting, particularly those in rural and remote communities, are no different. Today's health workforce has a professional responsibility to maintain competency in practice through achieving a minimum number of hours of continuing professional development. Consequently, HCPs seeking professional development opportunities are reliant on sourcing these independently according to individual learning needs. However, difficulties exist in some health professionals' access to ongoing professional development opportunities, particularly those with limited access face-to-face educationdue to geographical isolation or for those not enrolled in a formal program of study.These issues challenge traditional methods of teaching delivery; electronic learning (e-learning) is at the nexus of overcoming these challenges.The term e-learning originated in the mid-1990s as the internet began to gather momentum.Electronic learning can be broadly defined as any type of educational media that is delivered in an electronic form.Terms such as computer-assisted learning, online learning, web-based learning and e-learning are often used synonymously but all reflect knowledge transfer via an electronic device. This broad definition allows for a gamut of multimedia to be used for the purpose of constructing and assessing knowledge. Multimedia typically used in e-learning range from the now archaic Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (CD-ROMs), to the simple Microsoft PowerPoint, or the more advanced and complex virtual worlds such a second life. Electronic learning can be delivered in asynchronous or synchronous formats, with the latter (for example interactive online lectures via platforms such as BlackboardCollaborate or WebEx) more commonly used in formal educational settings according to set timetables of study.Person-to-person interactivity is an important enabler of knowledge generation and while functionalities such as web 1.0 (discussion board and email) and more recently web 2.0 (Wikis and blogs) allow for this to occur both synchronously and asynchronously, it is usually utilized in formal educational contexts only. However, the economy of formal education does not allow for free access to courses which proves challenging for HCPs seeking quality educational opportunities who choose not to undergo a formal program of study or are just looking to meet a specific learning need. Alternatively, asynchronous e-learning is a more learner-centred approach that affords the opportunity to engage in learning at a time and location that is convenient and enables the learner to balance professional development with personal and work commitments.These learning opportunities are self-directed and do not require a human to facilitate learning, rather, technology officiates/facilitates the learning process and, in the asynchronous e-learning context, the learner negotiates meaning independently.Health-related e-learning research has focused on several domains including media comparative designs, self-efficacy, user satisfaction, instructional design, knowledge outcomes, clinical skills development, and facilitators/barriers to its use.The benefits of e-learning are well documented in terms of increased accessibility to education, efficacy, cost effectiveness, learner flexibility and interactivity.However, some fundamental methodological and philosophical flaws exist in e-learning research, not least the use of comparative design studies. Comparison between e-learning and traditional teaching methods are illogical and methodologically flawed because comparison groups are heterogeneous, lack uniformity and have multiple confounders that cannot be adjusted for.As early as 1994, researchersin computer-assisted learning were citing these limitations and called for a fresh research agenda in this area. Cookrepeated this call in 2005 and again in 2009 and noted a paucity of research related to patient or clinical practice outcomes. Electronic learning is not an educational panacea and research needs to progress from pre- and post-interventional and comparative designs that evaluate knowledge increases and user satisfaction. It is time to move towards determining whether improved self-efficacy or knowledge gained through e-learning improves patient outcomes or influences clinical behavior change and whether these changes are sustained. In order to develop the empirical evidence base in e-learning, research needs to be guided by established theoretical frameworks and use validated instruments to move from assessing knowledge generation towards improving our understanding of whether e-learning improves HCP behavior and more importantly, patient outcomes.One suitable framework that is congruent with e-learning research is Kirkpatrick'sfour levels of evaluation. Kirkpatrick's model is hierarchically based with level one relating to student reaction and how well the learner is satisfied with the education program. Level two pertains to learning and the evaluation of knowledge, level three expands on this and considers whether the education has influenced behavior. In the context of this review, behavior change is any practice that is intrinsically linked with the outcomes of the e-learning program undertaken. Finally, level four evaluates the impact on outcomes such as cost benefit or quality improvements.The majority of e-learning research has focused on participant experience and knowledge acquisition, outcomes that correspond with the first two levels of Kirkpatrick's model.To date, few studies have examined the effectiveness of internet-based e-learning programs on HCP behavior, which aligns with Level 3 of Kirkpatrick's model.Studies exist that use self-reported measures of intention to change behavior, however self-reported intention to change does not necessarily translate into actual behavior change. Studies that have not used self-reported measures of behavior change have used objectively measured evaluation criteria including objective structured assessment of technical skills (OSATS) using various methods including simulation task trainers and clinical simulations using standardized patients scored by a panel of experts using standardized assessment tools. Carney et al. used a national reporting and data system to measure the impact of a single one hour e-learning program undertaken by radiologists (n=31) aimed at reducing unnecessary recall during mammography screening. Carney et al. reported a null effect and attributed this to the complexities of behavior change, suggesting that longer term reinforcement of principles relating to mammography recall was required to effect behavior change. These findings also suggest that a multi-modal intervention may be required in order to reduce excessive recall rates in this area, rather than a single intervention. Contrary to Carney et al., Pape-Koehler et al. and Smeekins et al. reported positive findings using randomized controlled designs to test the efficacy of e-learning interventions on individual's surgical performance and the detection of child abuse, respectively. Pape-Koehler et al. used a 2x2 factorial design to demonstrate that an e-learning intervention significantly improved novice surgeon (n=70) surgical performance of a laparoscopic cholecystectomy (change between pre-post test OSATS p 0.001) when used in isolation or in combination with a practical training session compared to practical training alone. Smeekins et al. demonstrated that a 2 hour e-learning program improved nurses' (n=25) ability to detect child abuse in an emergency department. The nurses in the intervention (n=13) group demonstrated significantly better (p=0.022) questioning techniques and consequently, higher quality history taking, to determine children at risk of child abuse when compared with the control group who received no training at all.These three exemplar studies demonstrate the broad range of applications e-learning has in HCP education, as each study used different designs, had different subject areas and target health care professionals. This reflects the conceptual and practical challenges of the area of research that addresses levels three of Kirkpatrick's model. For this reason, the e-learning research agenda in health should focus on whether knowledge generated through e-learning is able to be re-contextualized into clinical practice, and influence sustained clinical behavior change and patient outcomes.A preliminary search of PubMed, CINAHL, The Cochrane Library, The JBI Database of Systematic Reviews and Implementation Reports, ERIC and PROSPERO was conducted to determine if a systematic review on the topic of interest already existed. This search identified four systematic reviews that specifically reviewed outcome measures of knowledge and skill improvement in the domain of e-learning. Two examined research conducted in nursing, with the other two in orthodontics. Lahti et al. systematic review examined the impact of e-learning on nurses' and nursing students' knowledge, skills and satisfaction. Lahti et al. were unable to demonstrate a statistical difference between cohorts undertaking e-learning compared to conventional teaching methods, findings that were not replicated by Du et al. This may be due to the decision by Lahti et al. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED)

Learning Behaviour and Learning Outcomes: The Roles for Social Influence and Field of Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smyth, Lillian; Mavor, Kenneth I.; Platow, Michael J.

2017-01-01

Research has demonstrated a significant role of discipline social identification in predicting learning approaches, even controlling for individual differences. Smyth et al. ("Educ Psychol" 35(1):53-72, 2015. doi:10.1080/01443410.2013.822962) suggest that learners share discipline-based social identifications, and that this…

Similarity and Difference in Learning L2 Word-Form

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hamada, Megumi; Koda, Keiko

2011-01-01

This study explored similarity and difference in L2 written word-form learning from a cross-linguistic perspective. This study investigated whether learners' L1 orthographic background, which influences L2 visual word recognition (e.g., Wang et al., 2003), also influences L2 word-form learning, in particular, the sensitivity to phonological and…

Transformative Sustainability Learning: Cultivating a Tree-Planting Ethos in Western Kenya

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bull, Marijoan

2013-01-01

Given the fundamental objective of ESD--perspective change--it is increasingly being aligned with the theoretical foundation of Mezirow's Transformative Learning. In 2008, Sipos et al. built upon this connection by proposing a matrix of learning objectives to assess ESD in formal settings. These objectives, grouped under the title of…

Road Maps for Learning and Teacher Evaluation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gitomer, Drew H.

2011-01-01

Black, Wilson, and Yao (this issue) make a compelling case for a coherent model of curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment, all built around a well-specified theory of learning. Arguing that dominant assessment policies and practices tend to drive pedagogy and student attitudes toward learning in pernicious ways, Black et al. make an argument that is…

Fortune Is Fickle: Null-Effects of Disfluency on Learning Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rummer, Ralf; Schweppe, Judith; Schwede, Annett

2016-01-01

Recently, Diemand-Yauman et al. "Cognition," 118, 114-118 (2011) demonstrated that learning with disfluent (hard-to-read) materials is more effective than learning with easy-to-read materials--a study that has since stipulated a number of follow-up studies (with mixed results). However, there is a potential confound in the original…

Green School Grounds as Sites for Outdoor Learning: Barriers and Opportunities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dyment, Janet E.

2005-01-01

In their review of evidence-based research entitled "A Review of Research on Outdoor Learning," Rickinson "et al." (2004) identify five key constraints that limit the amount of outdoor learning. This paper explores whether green school grounds might be a location where these constraints could be minimised. Specifically, it…

Digital Competence Model of Distance Learning Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

da Silva, Ketia Kellen A.; Behar, Patricia A.

2017-01-01

This article presents the development of a digital competency model of Distance Learning (DL) students in Brazil called CompDigAl_EAD. The following topics were addressed in this study: Educational Competences, Digital Competences, and Distance Learning students. The model was developed between 2015 and 2016 and is being validated in 2017. It was…

Identifying Learning Patterns of Children at Risk for Specific Reading Disability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barbot, Baptiste; Krivulskaya, Suzanna; Hein, Sascha; Reich, Jodi; Thuma, Philip E.; Grigorenko, Elena L.

2016-01-01

Differences in learning patterns of vocabulary acquisition in children at risk (+SRD) and not at risk (-SRD) for Specific Reading Disability (SRD) were examined using a microdevelopmental paradigm applied to the multi-trial Foreign Language Learning Task (FLLT; Baddeley et al., 1995). The FLLT was administered to 905 children from rural…

Language of Evaluation: How PLA Evaluators Write about Student Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Travers, Nan L.; Smith, Bernard; Ellis, Leslie; Brady, Tom; Feldman, Liza; Hakim, Kameyla; Onta, Bhuwan; Panayotou, Maria; Seamans, Laurie; Treadwell, Amanda

2011-01-01

Very few studies (e.g., Arnold, 1998; Joosten-ten Brinke, et al., 2009) have examined the ways in which evaluators assess students' prior learning. This investigation explored the ways that evaluators described students' prior learning in final assessment reports at a single, multiple-location institution. Results found four themes; audience,…

Implicit and Explicit Learning Mechanisms Meet in Monkey Prefrontal Cortex.

PubMed

Chafee, Matthew V; Crowe, David A

2017-10-11

In this issue, Loonis et al. (2017) provide the first description of unique synchrony patterns differentiating implicit and explicit forms of learning in monkey prefrontal networks. Their results have broad implications for how prefrontal networks integrate the two learning mechanisms to control behavior. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Teacher-Student Perspectives of Invisible Pedagogy: New Directions in Online Problem-Based Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barber, Wendy; King, Sherry

2016-01-01

Universities and institutions of higher education are facing economic pressures to sustain large classes, while simultaneously maintaining the quality of the online learning environment (Deming et al., 2015). Digital learning environments require significant pedagogical shifts on the part of the teacher. This paper is a qualitative examination of…

Embedded Incremental Feature Selection for Reinforcement Learning

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-05-01

Prior to this work, feature selection for reinforce- ment learning has focused on linear value function ap- proximation ( Kolter and Ng, 2009; Parr et al...InProceed- ings of the the 23rd International Conference on Ma- chine Learning, pages 449–456. Kolter , J. Z. and Ng, A. Y. (2009). Regularization and feature

How Do Korsakoff Patients Learn New Concepts?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pitel, Anne Lise; Beaunieux, Helene; Guillery-Girard, Berengere; Witkowski, Thomas; de la Sayette, Vincent; Viader, Fausto; Desgranges, Beatrice; Eustache, Francis

2009-01-01

The goal of the present investigation was to assess semantic learning in Korsakoff patients (KS), compared with uncomplicated alcoholics (AL) and control subjects (CS), taking the nature of the information to-be-learned and the episodic memory profiles of the three groups into account. Ten new complex concepts, each illustrated by a photo and…

Addressing Gender Disparity in Introductory Physics Courses: Are existing reforms enough?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Finkelstein, Noah; Pollock, Steven; Dubson, Michael

2007-03-01

Previously researchers have reported that by transforming teaching practices in introductory physics, it is possible to eliminate the disparity in achievement of males and females on measures of conceptual learning. [1] We follow-up on the studies of the original researchers by comparing achievement of male and female students on measures of conceptual learning in the introductory physics courses at a large public research university. Just as the original authors find, we observe that reform teaching practices, such as the use of Peer Instruction [2] increase the learning gains of all students in introductory physics. Additionally, we observe a significant reduction in this gender gap in learning gains in some but not all of our transformed courses. Notably, however, the gender gap does not completely disappear in any of our courses. In addition to discussing learning gains, we analyze shifts in student beliefs [3] and examine correlations between student beliefs and learning gains. [1] Lorenzo, M et al. (2006).Am. J. Phys. 74(2): 118-122 [2] Mazur, E. (1997). Peer Instruction (Prentice Hall). [3] Adams, W.K et al. Physical Review, ST:PER. 2,1,010101.

Towards the Development of an Academic Word List for Applied Linguistics Research Articles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Khani, Reza; Tazik, Khalil

2013-01-01

Academic vocabulary, as the most challenging aspect of language learning in EAP and ESP contexts, has received much attention in the last few decades (e.g. Laufer, 1988; Sutarsyah, et al., 1994; Laufer and Nation, 1999; Coxhead, 2000; Nation, 2001a, 2001b; Wang et al., 2008; Martinez et al., 2009). The major attainments of these studies were…

The concept of lifestyle factors, based on the teaching of avicenna (ibn sina).

PubMed

Choopani, Rasool; Emtiazy, Majid

2015-01-01

According to the definition stated in the beginning of the "Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb" (the Qanun of Medicine); medicine is a science, from which one learns the states of the human body; health and disease and what causes them, in order to preserve good health when it exists, and restore it when it is lacking. Based on this issue, Avicenna believes that medical science belongs to all human without any limitation, and maintenance of health is one of its prime objectives. He states that many disorders are related to errors in the 6 factors, which are essential for maintaining health and preventing diseases. Avicenna described these six essential factors (lifestyle factors) in his masterpiece, Qanun of Medicine, as "Asbab-e-Settah-e-Zaruriah." Based on the teaching of Avicenna, the first step for maintaining health and approaches to treatment is modification of lifestyle factors, including of nutrition, physical activity, etc.

The Examining Your Environment through the Power of Data Project (EYE-POD) Project at NAU: Professional Development for Secondary Education Teachers Using Earth Sciences and GIS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sample, J. C.; Rubino-Hare, L.; Claesgens, J.; Fredrickson, K.; Manone, M.; White, M.

2010-12-01

The EYE-POD project at Northern Arizona University is an NSF-ITEST-funded professional development program for secondary science (SS) and career technical education (CTE) teachers. The program recruited SS-CTE teacher pairs from Arizona and the surrounding region to participate in two-week workshops during Summer, 2010, and an advanced workshop ins Summer, 2011. The workshops are led by a team with distinct expertise in science content, professional development and pedagogy, GIS, and project evaluation. Learning modules and a workshop agenda are developed using the Legacy Cycle of learning. Rather than compartmentalize pedagogical, content, and GIS learning activities, they have been combined throughout the workshop timeline. Early activities focus on learning of climate and weather processes through GIS modules provided by ESRI-“Mapping our World” and “Analyzing our World”. Participants learn the technical aspects of GIS software while investigating real phenomena. The science/GIS learning activities are augmented by laboratory demonstrations and field data collection using Labquest handheld field measurement systems with a variety of probes. At the end of the first week teacher-participants presented the solution to a problem, using GIS-based climate and weather data, involving travel to various locations on Earth. The second week focused on classroom, lab, and field activities devoted to recommendations to the City of Flagstaff for development in the Rio de Flag floodplain. Teacher-participant groups presented solutions making claims and recommendations supported by evidence from georeferenced field data and other GIS data acquired from various sources. At the close of the workshop teachers were provided with GIS software, hardware for field data collection, and several reference materials to aid in curriculum development. They have been tasked with implementing two GIS-based Earth science content modules in their schools, to one science class and one CTE class. One module must involve a field-based problem at their school site. The EYE-POD team will provide support to each school team through site visits and phone consultation. As part of the project, data on learning efficacy is being collected by an independent evaluator and analyzed by a science education faculty member (summarized in companion paper by Claesgens, et al.).

Encouragement for Faculty to Implement Vision and Change.

PubMed

Harvey, Caylyn; Eshleman, Kristen; Koo, Kyosung; Smith, Kevin G; Paradise, Christopher J; Campbell, A Malcolm

2016-01-01

The seminal report Vision and Change outlined improvements necessary for undergraduate biology courses to accomplish widely recognized learning objectives. Over the past 8 years, we have developed a two-semester introductory biology course that incorporates the core concepts and competencies recommended in Vision and Change Using published research on how students learn, we focused our efforts on three main areas of change: pedagogy, course content, and technology. We introduced active-learning strategies to improve our classroom environments, wrote an e-textbook that provides students with the tools they need to construct their own knowledge, and employed an online learning hub to assist students who needed extra support. The redesigned courses have been well received by students, and we have seen good student learning outcomes. The purpose of this essay is to demonstrate to faculty that Vision and Change's recommendations are feasible and students welcome the improvements. © 2016 C. Harvey et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2016 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

Age differences in spatial working memory contributions to visuomotor adaptation and transfer

PubMed Central

Langan, Jeanne; Seidler, Rachael. D.

2011-01-01

Throughout our life span we encounter challenges that require us to adapt to the demands of our changing environment; this entails learning new skills. Two primary components of motor skill learning are motor acquisition, the initial process of learning the skill, and motor transfer, when learning a new skill is benefitted by the overlap with a previously learned one. Older adults typically exhibit declines in motor acquisition compared to young adults, but remarkably, do not demonstrate deficits in motor transfer (Seidler, 2007). Our recent work demonstrates that a failure to engage spatial working memory (SWM) is associated with skill learning deficits in older adults (Anguera et al., 2011). Here, we investigate the role that SWM plays in both motor learning and transfer in young and older adults. Both age groups exhibited performance savings, or positive transfer, at transfer of learning for some performance variables. Measures of spatial working memory performance and reaction time correlated with both motor learning and transfer for young adults. Young adults recruited overlapping brain regions in prefrontal, premotor, parietal and occipital cortex for performance of a SWM and a visuomotor adaptation task, most notably during motor learning, replicating our prior findings (Anguera et al., 2010). Neural overlap between the SWM task and visuomotor adaptation for the older adults was limited to parietal cortex, with minimal changes from motor learning to transfer. Combined, these results suggest that age differences in engagement of cognitive strategies have a differential impact on motor learning and transfer. PMID:21784106

Global structure–activity relationship model for nonmutagenic carcinogens using virtual ligand-protein interactions as model descriptors

PubMed Central

Cunningham, Albert R.; Trent, John O.

2012-01-01

Structure–activity relationship (SAR) models are powerful tools to investigate the mechanisms of action of chemical carcinogens and to predict the potential carcinogenicity of untested compounds. We describe the use of a traditional fragment-based SAR approach along with a new virtual ligand-protein interaction-based approach for modeling of nonmutagenic carcinogens. The ligand-based SAR models used descriptors derived from computationally calculated ligand-binding affinities for learning set agents to 5495 proteins. Two learning sets were developed. One set was from the Carcinogenic Potency Database, where chemicals tested for rat carcinogenesis along with Salmonella mutagenicity data were provided. The second was from Malacarne et al. who developed a learning set of nonalerting compounds based on rodent cancer bioassay data and Ashby’s structural alerts. When the rat cancer models were categorized based on mutagenicity, the traditional fragment model outperformed the ligand-based model. However, when the learning sets were composed solely of nonmutagenic or nonalerting carcinogens and noncarcinogens, the fragment model demonstrated a concordance of near 50%, whereas the ligand-based models demonstrated a concordance of 71% for nonmutagenic carcinogens and 74% for nonalerting carcinogens. Overall, these findings suggest that expert system analysis of virtual chemical protein interactions may be useful for developing predictive SAR models for nonmutagenic carcinogens. Moreover, a more practical approach for developing SAR models for carcinogenesis may include fragment-based models for chemicals testing positive for mutagenicity and ligand-based models for chemicals devoid of DNA reactivity. PMID:22678118

Global structure-activity relationship model for nonmutagenic carcinogens using virtual ligand-protein interactions as model descriptors.

PubMed

Cunningham, Albert R; Carrasquer, C Alex; Qamar, Shahid; Maguire, Jon M; Cunningham, Suzanne L; Trent, John O

2012-10-01

Structure-activity relationship (SAR) models are powerful tools to investigate the mechanisms of action of chemical carcinogens and to predict the potential carcinogenicity of untested compounds. We describe the use of a traditional fragment-based SAR approach along with a new virtual ligand-protein interaction-based approach for modeling of nonmutagenic carcinogens. The ligand-based SAR models used descriptors derived from computationally calculated ligand-binding affinities for learning set agents to 5495 proteins. Two learning sets were developed. One set was from the Carcinogenic Potency Database, where chemicals tested for rat carcinogenesis along with Salmonella mutagenicity data were provided. The second was from Malacarne et al. who developed a learning set of nonalerting compounds based on rodent cancer bioassay data and Ashby's structural alerts. When the rat cancer models were categorized based on mutagenicity, the traditional fragment model outperformed the ligand-based model. However, when the learning sets were composed solely of nonmutagenic or nonalerting carcinogens and noncarcinogens, the fragment model demonstrated a concordance of near 50%, whereas the ligand-based models demonstrated a concordance of 71% for nonmutagenic carcinogens and 74% for nonalerting carcinogens. Overall, these findings suggest that expert system analysis of virtual chemical protein interactions may be useful for developing predictive SAR models for nonmutagenic carcinogens. Moreover, a more practical approach for developing SAR models for carcinogenesis may include fragment-based models for chemicals testing positive for mutagenicity and ligand-based models for chemicals devoid of DNA reactivity.

Applying problem-based learning to otolaryngology teaching.

PubMed

Abou-Elhamd, K A; Rashad, U M; Al-Sultan, A I

2011-02-01

Undergraduate medical education requires ongoing improvement in order to keep pace with the changing demands of twenty-first century medical practice. Problem-based learning is increasingly being adopted in medical schools worldwide. We review its application in the specialty of ENT, and we present our experience of using this approach combined with more traditional methods. We introduced problem-based learning techniques into the ENT course taught to fifth-year medical students at Al-Ahsa College of Medicine, King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia. As a result, the teaching schedule included both clinical and theoretical activities. Six clinical teaching days were allowed for history-taking, examination techniques and clinical scenario discussion. Case scenarios were discussed in small group teaching sessions. Conventional methods were employed to teach audiology and ENT radiology (one three-hour session each); a three-hour simulation laboratory session and three-hour student presentation were also scheduled. In addition, students attended out-patient clinics for three days, and used multimedia facilities to learn about various otolaryngology diseases (in another three-hour session). This input was supplemented with didactic teaching in the form of 16 instructional lectures per semester (one hour per week). From our teaching experience, we believe that the application of problem-based learning to ENT teaching has resulted in a substantial increase in students' knowledge. Furthermore, students have given encouraging feedback on their experience of combined problem-based learning and conventional teaching methods.

Deep Reading and Learning

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-10-01

works better to learn two different functions rather than sharing the same function for both guiding the search and selecting the final output. 4.2 Co...actions and the other to select the best among the remaining merge actions (Ma et al. 2014). Both of these heuristics are learned by imitating the...decisions that contribute zero loss are considered good for selection . Learning occurs by adjusting weights of the heuristic and the pruning functions

Analyzing learning during Peer Instruction dialogues: A resource activation framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wood, Anna K.; Galloway, Ross K.; Hardy, Judy; Sinclair, Christine M.

2014-12-01

Peer Instruction (PI) is an evidence based pedagogy commonly used in undergraduate physics instruction. When asked questions designed to test conceptual understanding, it has been observed that the proportion of students choosing the correct answer increases following peer discussion; however, relatively little is known about what takes place during these discussions or how they are beneficial to the processes of learning physics [M. C. James and S. Willoughby, Am. J. Phys. 79, 123 (2011)]. In this paper a framework for analyzing PI discussions developed through the lens of the "resources model" [D. Hammer, Am. J. Phys. 64, 1316 (1996); D. Hammer et al., Information Age Publishing (2005)] is proposed. A central hypothesis for this framework is that the dialogue with peers plays a crucial role in activating appropriate cognitive resources, enabling the students to see the problem differently, and therefore to answer the questions correctly. This framework is used to gain greater insights into the PI discussions of first year undergraduate physics students at the University of Edinburgh, UK, which were recorded using Livescribe Smartpens. Analysis of the dialogues revealed three different types of resource activation corresponding to increasing cognitive grain size. These were activation of knowledge elements, activation of linkages between knowledge elements, and activation of control structures (epistemic games and epistemological frames). Three case studies are examined to illustrate the role that peer dialogue plays in the activation of these cognitive resources in a PI session. The implications for pedagogical practice are discussed.

Effects of Al(III) and Nano-Al13 Species on Malate Dehydrogenase Activity

PubMed Central

Yang, Xiaodi; Cai, Ling; Peng, Yu; Li, Huihui; Chen, Rong Fu; Shen, Ren Fang

2011-01-01

The effects of different aluminum species on malate dehydrogenase (MDH) activity were investigated by monitoring amperometric i-t curves for the oxidation of NADH at low overpotential using a functionalized multi-wall nanotube (MWNT) modified glass carbon electrode (GCE). The results showed that Al(III) and Al13 can activate the enzymatic activity of MDH, and the activation reaches maximum levels as the Al(III) and Al13 concentration increase. Our study also found that the effects of Al(III) and Al13 on the activity of MDH depended on the pH value and aluminum speciation. Electrochemical and circular dichroism spectra methods were applied to study the effects of nano-sized aluminum compounds on biomolecules. PMID:22163924

Effects of Al(III) and nano-Al13 species on malate dehydrogenase activity.

PubMed

Yang, Xiaodi; Cai, Ling; Peng, Yu; Li, Huihui; Chen, Rong Fu; Shen, Ren Fang

2011-01-01

The effects of different aluminum species on malate dehydrogenase (MDH) activity were investigated by monitoring amperometric i-t curves for the oxidation of NADH at low overpotential using a functionalized multi-wall nanotube (MWNT) modified glass carbon electrode (GCE). The results showed that Al(III) and Al(13) can activate the enzymatic activity of MDH, and the activation reaches maximum levels as the Al(III) and Al(13) concentration increase. Our study also found that the effects of Al(III) and Al(13) on the activity of MDH depended on the pH value and aluminum speciation. Electrochemical and circular dichroism spectra methods were applied to study the effects of nano-sized aluminum compounds on biomolecules.

Psychomotor Vigilance Performance Predicted by Epworth Sleepiness Scale Scores in an Operational Setting with the United States Navy

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-01-01

using the Motionlogger Watch [Ambulatory Monitoring Inc (AMI), Ardsley, NY, USA] using the zero-crossing mode. Analysis of the actigraphic recordings... rhythmicity (Dinges et al., 1997; Doran et al., 2001; Durmer and Dinges, 2005; Jewett et al., 1999; Wyatt et al., 1997). The PVT has only minor learning...subset of data selected for this analysis was an 11-day period from 4 December to 14 December 2012. Actigraphic record- ings were used to determine

iPTF report of bright transients

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cannella, Chris; Kuesters, Daniel; Ferretti, Raphael; Blagorodnova, Nadejda; Adams, Scott; Kupfer, Thomas; Neill, James D.; Walters, Richard; Yan, Lin; Kulkarni, Shri

2017-02-01

The intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF; ATel #4807) reports the following bright ( Our automated candidate vetting to distinguish a real astrophysical source (1.0) from bogus artifacts (0.0) is powered by three generations of machine learning algorithms: RB2 (Brink et al. 2013MNRAS.435.1047B), RB4 (Rebbapragada et al. 2015AAS...22543402R), and RB5 (Wozniak et al. 2013AAS...22143105W).

Information Processing, Specificity of Practice, and the Transfer of Learning: Considerations for Reconsidering Fidelity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grierson, Lawrence E. M.

2014-01-01

Much has been made in the recent medical education literature of the incorrect characterization of simulation along a continuum of low to high fidelity (Cook et al. "JAMA" 306(9): 978-988, 2011; Norman et al. "Med Educ" 46(7): 636-647, 2012; Teteris et al. "Adv Health Sci Educ" 17(1): 137-144, 2012). For the most…

Faculty Motivation to Participate in Program Learning Outcomes Assessment at a Research University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brey, Amanda M.

2017-01-01

External stakeholders have demanded evidence that college students learn what their institutions and programs say they will learn (Ewell, 2009; Hutchings 2010; Kuh, 2001). As the architects of curriculum and the defenders of academic freedom, faculty are responsible for any initiatives that may affect those pedagogical goals (Kuh, et al., 2015).…

Brief Report: Memory Performance on the California Verbal Learning Test-Children's Version in Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Phelan, Heather L.; Filliter, Jillian H.; Johnson, Shannon A.

2011-01-01

According to the Task Support Hypothesis (TSH; Bowler et al. in Neuropsychologia 35:65-70, 1997) individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) perform more similarly to their typically developing peers on learning and memory tasks when provided with external support at retrieval. We administered the California Verbal Learning Test-Children's…

Learning the Unlearnable: The Role of Missing Evidence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Regier, Terry; Gahl, Susanne

2004-01-01

Syntactic knowledge is widely held to be partially innate, rather than learned. In a classic example, it is sometimes argued that children know the proper use of anaphoric "one," although that knowledge could not have been learned from experience. Lidz et al. [Lidz, J., Waxman, S., & Freedman, J. (2003). What infants know about syntax but couldn't…

The Voice of Feedback: A Study of Asynchronous Audio Communication in the Online Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson Van Den Elzen, Jolene M.

2011-01-01

The interaction between learners and the instructor in an online learning environment has been shown to contribute to increases in learning through promotion of a cooperative and collaborative environment, which allows students to learn from course materials, the instructor, and each other (Jiang & Ting, 2000; Jung et al., 2002; Kollock, 1998;…

Analysis of Students' Online Learning Readiness Based on Their Emotional Intelligence Level

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Engin, Melih

2017-01-01

The objective of the present study is to determine whether there is a significant relationship between the students' readiness in online learning and their emotional intelligence levels. Correlational research method was used in the study. Online Learning Readiness Scale which was developed by Hung et al. (2010) has been used and Trait Emotional…

Neuropsychological Assessment and the Habilitation of Learning: Considerations in the Search for the Aptitude X Treatment Interaction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reynolds, Cecil R.

1981-01-01

The importance of neuropsychological paradigms of higher order human information processing in providing remedial services to learning-problem children and in providing a guide to the habilitation of learning for all children is explained. The conceptual requirements of such models as well as their implementation are described. (Author/AL)

Assessing the Effectiveness of New Mexico's K-3 plus Summer Learning Initiative

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cann, Damon; Karakaplan, Mustafa; Lubke, Margaret; Rowland, Cyndi

2014-01-01

Students' basic reading and math skills can decline significantly during the summer months. Most attribute this to the prolonged period during which young students are outside of a structured learning environment (Cooper et al 1996). While summer learning loss occurs among all income groups, the effects are more pronounced for those from…

The Third Round of the Czech Validation of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vaculíková, Jitka

2016-01-01

The authors present findings on the third round of the Czech validation of the Motivated Strategies for learning questionnaire (MSLQ), originally developed by Pintrich et al. (1991). The validation only covered an area designed to access motivation in self-regulated learning. Data was collected from a sample of university students in regular…

Generalization Gradients in Human Predictive Learning: Effects of Discrimination Training and within-Subjects Testing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vervliet, Bram; Iberico, Carlos; Vervoort, Ellen; Baeyens, Frank

2011-01-01

Generalization gradients have been investigated widely in animal conditioning experiments, but much less so in human predictive learning tasks. Here, we apply the experimental design of a recent study on conditioned fear generalization in humans (Lissek et al., 2008) to a predictive learning task, and examine the effects of a number of relevant…

The Perplexing Role of Learner Control in E-Learning: Will Learning and Transfer Benefit or Suffer?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Granger, Benjamin P.; Levine, Edward L.

2010-01-01

The appeal of e-learning is not surprising given its many proposed advantages (e.g. flexibility, responsiveness to trainees' individual needs, potential cost-effectiveness). However, as pointed out by Ruel et al., academic research in support of the proposed advantages of electronic human resource management systems is scarce. Although this is…

Convolutional Dictionary Learning: Acceleration and Convergence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chun, Il Yong; Fessler, Jeffrey A.

2018-04-01

Convolutional dictionary learning (CDL or sparsifying CDL) has many applications in image processing and computer vision. There has been growing interest in developing efficient algorithms for CDL, mostly relying on the augmented Lagrangian (AL) method or the variant alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM). When their parameters are properly tuned, AL methods have shown fast convergence in CDL. However, the parameter tuning process is not trivial due to its data dependence and, in practice, the convergence of AL methods depends on the AL parameters for nonconvex CDL problems. To moderate these problems, this paper proposes a new practically feasible and convergent Block Proximal Gradient method using a Majorizer (BPG-M) for CDL. The BPG-M-based CDL is investigated with different block updating schemes and majorization matrix designs, and further accelerated by incorporating some momentum coefficient formulas and restarting techniques. All of the methods investigated incorporate a boundary artifacts removal (or, more generally, sampling) operator in the learning model. Numerical experiments show that, without needing any parameter tuning process, the proposed BPG-M approach converges more stably to desirable solutions of lower objective values than the existing state-of-the-art ADMM algorithm and its memory-efficient variant do. Compared to the ADMM approaches, the BPG-M method using a multi-block updating scheme is particularly useful in single-threaded CDL algorithm handling large datasets, due to its lower memory requirement and no polynomial computational complexity. Image denoising experiments show that, for relatively strong additive white Gaussian noise, the filters learned by BPG-M-based CDL outperform those trained by the ADMM approach.

Machine Learning. Part 1. A Historical and Methodological Analysis.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-05-31

Machine learning has always been an integral part of artificial intelligence, and its methodology has evolved in concert with the major concerns of the field. In response to the difficulties of encoding ever-increasing volumes of knowledge in modern Al systems, many researchers have recently turned their attention to machine learning as a means to overcome the knowledge acquisition bottleneck. Part 1 of this paper presents a taxonomic analysis of machine learning organized primarily by learning strategies and secondarily by

Data science implications in diamond formation and craton evolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pan, F.; Huang, F.; Fox, P. A.

2017-12-01

Diamonds are so-called "messengers" from the deep Earth. Fluid and mineral inclusions in diamonds could reflect the compositions of fluids/melts and wall-rocks in which diamond formed. Recently many diamond samples are examined to study the water content in the mantle transition zone1, the mechanism of diamond formation2 and the mantle evolution history3. However, most of the studies can only explain local activities. Therefore, an overall project of data grouping, comparison and correlation is needed, but limited progress has been made due to a lack of benchmark datasets on diamond formation and effective computing algorithms. In this study, we start by proposing the very first complete and easily-accessible dataset on mineral and fluid inclusions in diamonds. We rescue, collect and organize the data available from papers, journals and other publications resources ([2-4] and more), and then apply several state-of-the-art machine learning methods to tackle this earth science problem by clustering diamond formation process into distinct groups primarily based on the compositions, the formation temperature and pressure, the age and so on. Our ongoing work includes further data exploration and training existing models. Our preliminary results show that diamonds formed from older cratons usually have higher formation temperature. Also peridotitic diamonds take a much larger population than the ecologitic ones. More details are being discovered when we finish constructing the database and training our model. We expect the result to demonstrate the advantages of using machine learning and data science in earth science research problems. Our methodology for knowledge discovery are very general and can be broadly applied to other earth science research problems under the same framework.[1] Pearson et al, Nature (2014); [2] Tomlinson et al, EPSL (2006); [3] Weiss et al, Nature (2016); [4] Stachel and Harris, Ore Geology Reviews (2008); Weiss et al, EPSL (2013)

Separating the effect of reward from corrective feedback during learning in patients with Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Freedberg, Michael; Schacherer, Jonathan; Chen, Kuan-Hua; Uc, Ergun Y; Narayanan, Nandakumar S; Hazeltine, Eliot

2017-06-01

Parkinson's disease (PD) is associated with procedural learning deficits. Nonetheless, studies have demonstrated that reward-related learning is comparable between patients with PD and controls (Bódi et al., Brain, 132(9), 2385-2395, 2009; Frank, Seeberger, & O'Reilly, Science, 306(5703), 1940-1943, 2004; Palminteri et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106(45), 19179-19184, 2009). However, because these studies do not separate the effect of reward from the effect of practice, it is difficult to determine whether the effect of reward on learning is distinct from the effect of corrective feedback on learning. Thus, it is unknown whether these group differences in learning are due to reward processing or learning in general. Here, we compared the performance of medicated PD patients to demographically matched healthy controls (HCs) on a task where the effect of reward can be examined separately from the effect of practice. We found that patients with PD showed significantly less reward-related learning improvements compared to HCs. In addition, stronger learning of rewarded associations over unrewarded associations was significantly correlated with smaller skin-conductance responses for HCs but not PD patients. These results demonstrate that when separating the effect of reward from the effect of corrective feedback, PD patients do not benefit from reward.

Examining the Gender Gap in Introductory Physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kost, Lauren; Pollock, Steven; Finkelstein, Noah

2009-05-01

Our previous research[1] showed that despite the use of interactive engagement techniques in the introductory physics course, the gap in performance between males and females on a mechanics conceptual learning survey persisted from pre- to post-test, at our institution. Such findings were counter to previously published work[2]. Follow-up studies[3] identified correlations between student performance on the conceptual learning survey and students' prior physics and math knowledge and their incoming attitudes and beliefs about physics and learning physics. The results indicate that the gender gap at our institution is predominantly associated with differences in males' and females' previous physics and math knowledge, and attitudes and beliefs. Our current work extends these results in two ways: 1) we look at the gender gap in the second semester of the introductory sequence and find results similar to those in the first semester course and 2) we identify ways in which males and females differentially experience several aspects of the introductory course. [1] Pollock, et al, Phys Rev: ST: PER 3, 010107. [2] Lorenzo, et al, Am J Phys 74, 118. [3] Kost, et al, PERC Proceedings 2008.

Case-Based Reasoning in Transfer Learning

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-01-01

study of transfer in psychology and education (e.g., Thorndike & Woodworth, 1901; Perkins & Salomon, 1994; Bransford et al., 2000), among other...Sutton, R., & Barto, A. (1998). Reinforcement learning: An introduction. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Thorndike , E.L., & Woodworth, R.S. (1901). The

A perspective on B-cell-targeting therapy for SLE.

PubMed

Looney, R John; Anolik, Jennifer; Sanz, Inaki

2010-02-01

In recent years, large controlled trials have tested several new agents for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Unfortunately, none of these trials has met its primary outcome. This does not mean progress has not been made. In fact, a great deal has been learned about doing clinical trials in lupus and about the biological and clinical effects of the drugs being tested. Many of these drugs were designed to target B cells directly, e.g., rituximab, belimumab, epratuzumab, and transmembrane activator and calcium modulator and cyclophilin ligand interactor-immunoglobulin (TACI-Ig). The enthusiasm for targeting B cells derives from substantial evidence showing the critical role of B cells in murine models of SLE, as well promising results from multiple open trials with rituximab, a chimeric anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody that specifically depletes B cells (Martin and Chan in Immunity 20(5):517-527, 2004; Sobel et al. in J Exp Med 173:1441-1449, 1991; Silverman and Weisman in Arthritis Rheum 48:1484-1492, 2003; Silverman in Arthritis Rheum 52(4):1342, 2005; Shlomchik et al. in Nat Rev Immunol 1:147-153, 2001; Looney et al. in Arthritis Rheum 50:2580-2589, 2004; Lu et al. in Arthritis Rheum 61(4):482-487, 2009; Saito et al. in Lupus 12(10):798-800, 2003; van Vollenhoven et al. in Scand J Rheumatol 33(6):423-427, 2004; Sfikakis et al. Arthritis Rheum 52(2):501-513, 2005). Why have the controlled trials of B-cell-targeting therapies failed to demonstrate efficacy? Were there flaws in design or execution of these trials? Or, were promising animal studies and open trials misleading, as so often happens? This perspective discusses the current state of B-cell-targeting therapies for human lupus and the future development of these therapies.

Deforestation and Industrial Forest Patterns in Colombia: a Case Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huo, L. Z.; Boschetti, L.; Sparks, A. M.; Clerici, N.

2017-12-01

The recent peace agreement between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) offers new opportunities for peaceful and sustainable development, but at the same time requires a timely effort to protect biological resources, and ecosystem services (Clerici et al., 2016). In this context, we use the 2001-2017 Landsat data record to prototype a methodology to establish a baseline of deforestation, afforestation and industrial forest practices (i.e. establishment and harvest of forest plantations), and to monitor future changes. Two study areas, which have seen considerable deforestation in recent years, were selected: one in the South of the country, at the edge of the Amazon Forest (WRS path 008 row 059) and one in the center, in mixed forest (WRS path 008 row 055). The time series of all the available cloud free Landsat 5, Landsat 7 and Landsat 8 data was classified into a sequence of binary forest/non forest maps using a deep learning model, successfully used in the natural language processing field, trained to detect forest transitions. Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN) is a class of artificial neural network that extends the conventional neural network with loops in the connections (Graves et al., 2013). Unlike a feed-forward neural network, an RNN is able to process the sequential inputs by having a recurrent hidden state whose activation at each step depends on that of the previous steps. In this manner, the RNN provides a good framework to dynamically model time series data, and has been successfully applied to natural language processing in Google (Sutskever et al., 2014). The sequence of forest cover state maps was subsequently post-processed to differentiate between deforestation (e.g. transition from forest to non forest land use) and industrial forest harvest (i.e. timber harvest followed by regrowth), by integrating the detection of temporal patterns, and spatial patterns. References Clerici, N., et al., (2016). Colombia: Dealing in conservation. Science, 354(6309), 190-190. Sutskever I.,et al. (2014). Sequence to sequence learning with neural networks. Advances in neural information processing systems, 3104-3112. Graves A., et al. (2013). Speech recognition with deep recurrent neural networks. In Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. Acoust. Speech Signal Process., 6645-6649.

Vocal learning, prosody, and basal ganglia: don't underestimate their complexity.

PubMed

Ravignani, Andrea; Martins, Mauricio; Fitch, W Tecumseh

2014-12-01

Ackermann et al.'s arguments in the target article need sharpening and rethinking at both mechanistic and evolutionary levels. First, the authors' evolutionary arguments are inconsistent with recent evidence concerning nonhuman animal rhythmic abilities. Second, prosodic intonation conveys much more complex linguistic information than mere emotional expression. Finally, human adults' basal ganglia have a considerably wider role in speech modulation than Ackermann et al. surmise.

The Effect of Using Computer Games on Lower Basic Stage Students' Achievement in English at Al-SALT Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Al-Elaimat, Abeer Rashed

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of using computer games on the lower basic stage student's achievement in learning English at Al-SALT Schools. The population of this study consisted of all lower basic stage students in AL-SALT schools during the scholastic year 2011-2012. However, the sample of this study consisted of 88…

The four pillars of education - learning by value

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Czerniak-Czyżniak, Marta

2017-04-01

Nature is a great laboratory and a place of research. Observing and being with nature tells us how to acquire knowledge, how to work in a group, how to protect nature and how to behave in its environment. There are four important elements of contemporary education. Many scientific achievements and inventions created by observation and imitation of nature. Teaching nature can take into account the four pillars of education presented in the report for the United Nations Jacques Delors: Learning to KNOW - by discovering, experiencing, develop interests Learn to ACT - by activity, experimentation, creativity and courage Learning to LIVE TOGETHER - through group work, help and care Learn to BE - safe, helpful, experience and maintain social contacts Teaching through action is extremely important for the development of the child-man* (Piaget, 2006). The thinking originates primarily from the action. Therefore, students should undertake independent research activities, perform experiments and conduct observations and thus raise questions about the world, looking for meanings and solutions. Adults (a teacher, a person with a passion) are to be the support in the search for knowledge. The following poster is the summary of Project „Environmental Education for Sustainable Development in teacher training" co-financed by Norwegian as well national funds. The aim of the project is to increase environment al awareness and strengthenknowledge about the environment and cli mate change among students of Elary childhood education, to exchange Polish-Norwegian experience on outdoor nature education didactics in the first grades of primary school, to develop a didactics of the outdoor education and to implement it in program of an early childhood education study. *Piaget, J. (2006) How a child imagines the world, Warsaw: PWN Publishing

Learning Design Rashomon I--Supporting the Design of One Lesson through Different Approaches

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Persico, Donatella; Pozzi, Francesca; Anastopoulou, Stamatina; Conole, Grainne; Craft, Brock; Dimitriadis, Yannis; Hernandez-Leo, Davinia; Kali, Yael; Mor, Yishay; Perez-Sanagustin, Mar; Walmsley, Helen

2013-01-01

This paper presents and compares a variety of approaches that have been developed to guide the decision-making process in learning design. Together with the companion Learning Design Rashomon II (Prieto "et al.," 2013), devoted to existing tools to support the same process, it aims to provide a view on relevant research results in this…

Motor-visual neurons and action recognition in social interactions.

PubMed

de la Rosa, Stephan; Bülthoff, Heinrich H

2014-04-01

Cook et al. suggest that motor-visual neurons originate from associative learning. This suggestion has interesting implications for the processing of socially relevant visual information in social interactions. Here, we discuss two aspects of the associative learning account that seem to have particular relevance for visual recognition of social information in social interactions - namely, context-specific and contingency based learning.

The Spread of the Learning Outcomes Approaches across Countries, Sub-Systems and Levels: A Special Focus on Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Halász, Gábor

2017-01-01

This article is based on the outcomes of the study entitled "The application of learning outcomes approaches across Europe", which was funded by Cedefop and completed in 2015 (Wisniewski et al, 2015). The study, aiming at exploring the implementation of the learning outcomes approach in European countries, addressed two major questions:…

An Independent Investigation of the Utility of the Learning Disability Screening Questionnaire (LDSQ) within a Community Learning Disability Team

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stirk, Steven; Field, Bryony; Black, Jessica

2018-01-01

Background: The Learning Disability Screening Questionnaire (LDSQ) has been shown to have high sensitivity and specificity to identify those who are likely to meet intellectual disability diagnostic criteria (McKenzie, et al. [McKenzie K., 2015]). However, there is no independent research to date to support these findings. Materials and Methods:…

The Two Disciplines Problem--"It's Like Déjà Vu All over Again!"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pellegrino, James W.

2017-01-01

In this commentary on this issue's focus article by Baird et al., Pellegrino focuses first on the fundamental nature of educational assessment and its connection to theories, models, and data on learning. He then discusses the contemporary views of learning in the form of learning progressions as they relate to assessment development. In the third…

Comparing the Effects of Unknown-Known Ratios on Word Reading Learning versus Learning Rates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Joseph, Laurice M.; Nist, Lindsay M.

2006-01-01

An extension of G. L. Cates et al. (2003) investigation was conducted to determine if students' cumulative learning rates would be superior for words read under a traditional drill and practice condition (as they were for spelling in the previous study) than under interspersal conditions of varying ratios of unknown to known words. Participants…

It's Not Just the Pedagogy: Challenges in Scaling Mobile Learning Applications into Institution-Wide Learning Technologies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bird, Peter; Stubbs, Mark

2015-01-01

Whilst m-learning pedagogy has received considerable attention (e.g. Sharples et. al. 2007, Kukulska-Hulme, 2012), the process of adopting this potentially disruptive innovation within universities has been neglected. Based on a PhD thesis (Bird, 2014), this paper presents some of the findings from a longitudinal study which examined the adoption…

Intergenerational reproductive parasitism in a stingless bee.

PubMed

Oldroyd, Benjamin P; Beekman, Madeleine

2009-10-01

Insect colonies have been traditionally regarded as closed societies comprised of completely sterile workers ruled over by a single once-mated queen. However, over the past 15 years, microsatellite studies of parentage have revealed that this perception is far from the truth (Beekman & Oldroyd 2008). First, we learned that honey bee queens are far more promiscuous than we had previously imagined (Estoup et al. 1994), with one Apis dorsata queen clocked at over 100 mates (Wattanachaiyingcharoen et al. 2003). Then Oldroyd et al. (1994) reported a honey bee colony from Queensland, where virtually all the males were sons of a single patriline of workers - a clear case of a cheater mutant that promoted intra-colonial reproductive parasitism. Then we learned that both bumble bee colonies (Lopez-Vaamonde et al. 2004) and queenless honey bee colonies (Nanork et al. 2005, 2007) are routinely parasitized by workers from other nests that fly in and lay male-producing eggs that are then reared by the victim colony. There is even evidence that in a thelytokous honey bee population, workers lay female-destined eggs directly into queen cells, thus reincarnating themselves as a queen (Jordan et al. 2008). And let us not forget ants, where microsatellite studies have revealed equally bizarre and totally unexpected phenomena (e.g. Cahan & Keller 2003; Pearcy et al. 2004; Fournier et al. 2005). Now, in this issue, Alves et al. (2009) use microsatellites to provide yet another shocking and completely unexpected revelation about the nefarious goings-on in insect colonies: intergenerational reproductive parasitism by stingless bee workers.

Building Emotional Competence in Educators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kasler, Jonathan; Hen, Meirav; Nov, Adi Sharabi

2013-01-01

The importance of emotion in the process of learning interpersonal communication in educational settings has been well documented. We administered the Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test (Schutte et al., 1998), the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Davis, 1980), and the Emotional Self-Efficacy Scale (Kirk et al., 2008) to 50…

Teachers' Goal Orientations: Effects on Classroom Goal Structures and Emotions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Hui; Hall, Nathan C.; Goetz, Thomas; Frenzel, Anne C.

2017-01-01

Background: Prior research has shown teachers' goal orientations to influence classroom goal structures (Retelsdorf "et al.," 2010, "Learning and Instruction, 20," 30) and to also impact their emotions (Schutz "et al.," 2007, "Emotion in Education," Academic Press, Amsterdam, the Netherlands). However,…

Stufenweise Integration von eLearning an der Technischen Universität München

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pätzold, Sebastian; Graf, Stephan; Gergintchev, Ivan; Pongratz, Hans; Rathmayer, Sabine

Der vorliegende Beitrag beschreibt als Best Practice Beispiel die stufenweise Integration eines Learning Management Systems (LMS) in die Infrastruktur von Information und Kommunikation (IuK) der Technischen Universität München (TUM). Dabei wird sowohl die Konsolidierung mehrfach angebotener Funktionalitäten und Dienste in den verschiedenen Portalen der Universität als auch die sukzessive Optimierung der Abläufe aufgezeigt. Gleichzeitig wird auf zukünftige weitere Entwicklungen hin zu einer vollständigen Integration der IuK, aber auch auf die Probleme in den unterschiedlichen Stadien der Entwicklung eingegangen.

Viewing equitable practices through the lens of intersecting identities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lyons, Renée; Dsouza, Nikeetha; Quigley, Cassie

2016-12-01

This review explores Archer, Dawson, Seakins, and Wong's "Disorienting, fun or meaningful? Disadvantaged families' experiences of a science museum visit" by examining the analytic frameworks guiding this study. To expand on Archer et al.'s use of feminist post-structuralist theories of identity we draw from the theory of intersectionality to provide a more robust framework for analyzing barriers to engagement within an informal learning space. Our response to this work ends by exploring the types of solutions generated from an intersectionality framework—solutions aimed at transforming institutional programs and practices to create more equitable spaces for learning.

Recording single neurons' action potentials from freely moving pigeons across three stages of learning.

PubMed

Starosta, Sarah; Stüttgen, Maik C; Güntürkün, Onur

2014-06-02

While the subject of learning has attracted immense interest from both behavioral and neural scientists, only relatively few investigators have observed single-neuron activity while animals are acquiring an operantly conditioned response, or when that response is extinguished. But even in these cases, observation periods usually encompass only a single stage of learning, i.e. acquisition or extinction, but not both (exceptions include protocols employing reversal learning; see Bingman et al.(1) for an example). However, acquisition and extinction entail different learning mechanisms and are therefore expected to be accompanied by different types and/or loci of neural plasticity. Accordingly, we developed a behavioral paradigm which institutes three stages of learning in a single behavioral session and which is well suited for the simultaneous recording of single neurons' action potentials. Animals are trained on a single-interval forced choice task which requires mapping each of two possible choice responses to the presentation of different novel visual stimuli (acquisition). After having reached a predefined performance criterion, one of the two choice responses is no longer reinforced (extinction). Following a certain decrement in performance level, correct responses are reinforced again (reacquisition). By using a new set of stimuli in every session, animals can undergo the acquisition-extinction-reacquisition process repeatedly. Because all three stages of learning occur in a single behavioral session, the paradigm is ideal for the simultaneous observation of the spiking output of multiple single neurons. We use pigeons as model systems, but the task can easily be adapted to any other species capable of conditioned discrimination learning.

The development of implicit learning from infancy to adulthood: item frequencies, relations, and cognitive flexibility.

PubMed

Amso, Dima; Davidow, Juliet

2012-09-01

The majority of cognitive processes show measurable change over the lifespan. However, some argue that implicit learning from environmental structure is development invariant [e.g., Muelemans et al. [1998] Experimental Child Psychology, 69, 199-221; Reber [1993] Implicit learning and tacit knowledge: An essay on the cognitive unconscious. Oxford University Press], while others have shown that adults learn faster than children [Thomas et al. [2004] Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 16, 1339-1351]. In two experiments, we tested infants through adults using the same saccade latency measure and behavioral learning paradigm. We examined implicit learning when subjects are presented with interleaved regularities acting on one item, as well as the ability to adjust behavior when learned information is violated. In one comparison, the first- (item frequencies) and second- (spatiotemporal item relations) order statistics are in conflict, allowing us to examine flexibility in learning from multiple parameters. Data from Experiment 1 (N = 90, 6- to 30-year olds) showed no developmental differences in either implicit learning from environmental regularity or flexibility of learning from conflicting parameters across our age range. Accuracy data showed that children are especially sensitive to low frequency relative to high frequency items. In Experiment 2, we showed that 7- to 11-month-old infants had a saccade latency profile that was consistent with task structure, that is, they simultaneously learned both item frequencies and spatiotemporal relations, as indicated by data patterns similar to those obtained in Experiment 1. Taken together, these data provide support for developmental invariance in implicit learning from environmental regularities. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Stress Management: When and How to Say No

MedlinePlus

... Jones & Bartlett Learning; 2017. Seaward BL. Managing Stress: Principles and Strategies for Health and Well-Being. 7th ed. Sudbury, Mass.: Jones & Bartlett Learning; 2012. Olpin M, et al. Time and life management. In: Stress Management for Life. 4th ed. Boston, ...

Conversations, Individuals and Knowables: Toward a Theory of Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Daniel, John S.

1975-01-01

Presents a learning theory in the language of cybernetics based on the tenet that the minimal experimental situation for making psychological observations is a conversation. The account is directed at generating interest in the original work by G. Pask, et al. (GS)

A Role for the Lateral Dorsal Tegmentum in Memory and Decision Neural Circuitry

PubMed Central

Redila, Van; Kinzel, Chantelle; Jo, Yong Sang; Puryear, Corey B.; Mizumori, Sheri J.Y.

2017-01-01

A role for the hippocampus in memory is clear, although the mechanism for its contribution remains a matter of debate. Converging evidence suggests that hippocampus evaluates the extent to which context-defining features of events occur as expected. The consequence of mismatches, or prediction error, signals from hippocampus is discussed in terms of its impact on neural circuitry that evaluates the significance of prediction errors: Ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine cells burst fire to rewards or cues that predict rewards (Schultz et al., 1997). Although the lateral dorsal tegmentum (LDTg) importantly controls dopamine cell burst firing (Lodge & Grace, 2006) the behavioral significance of the LDTg control is not known. Therefore, we evaluated LDTg functional activity as rats performed a spatial memory task that generates task-dependent reward codes in VTA (Jo et al., 2013; Puryear et al., 2010) and another VTA afferent, the pedunculopontine nucleus (PPTg, Norton et al., 2011). Reversible inactivation of the LDTg significantly impaired choice accuracy. LDTg neurons coded primarily egocentric information in the form of movement velocity, turning behaviors, and behaviors leading up to expected reward locations. A subset of the velocity-tuned LDTg cells also showed high frequency bursts shortly before or after reward encounters, after which they showed tonic elevated firing during consumption of small, but not large, rewards. Cells that fired before reward encounters showed stronger correlations with velocity as rats moved toward, rather than away from, rewarded sites. LDTg neural activity was more strongly regulated by egocentric behaviors than that observed for PPTg or VTA cells that were recorded by Puryear et al. and Norton et al. While PPTg activity was uniquely sensitive to ongoing sensory input, all three regions encoded reward magnitude (although in different ways), reward expectation, and reward encounters. Only VTA encoded reward prediction errors. LDTg may inform VTA about learned goal-directed movement that reflects the current motivational state, and this in turn may guide VTA determination of expected subjective goal values. When combined it is clear the LDTg and PPTg provide only a portion of the information that dopamine cells need to assess the value of prediction errors, a process that is essential to future adaptive decisions and switches of cognitive (i.e. memorial) strategies and behavioral responses. PMID:24910282

On the mechanism of aluminum ion-induced neurotoxicity: The effects of aluminum species on G-protein-mediated processes and on drug interactions with the N-methyl-D-aspartate modulated ionophore

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hubbard, C.M.

1989-01-01

To establish what effects Al{sup 3+} may have on G-protein mediate signal transduction, the effects of Al{sup 3+} on the signal-coupling G-protein from retinal rod outer segments (G{sub t} or transducin) have been investigated as a model for the effects of Al{sup 3+} on signal transduction by G-proteins in general. In this investigation, we have studied the effects of Al{sup 3+} on the isolated, light-dependent rhodopsin catalyzed GTP-GDP exchange on G{sub t}; the light-dependent GTPase activity of G{sub t}; the light-independent cGMP hydrolysis by PDE; and the light activated, rhodopsin catalyzed, cGMP hydrolysis by PDE in vitro. To determine themore » effects of two defined species of aluminum on N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptor-channel modulation we utilized a specific radioligand binding assay. This allowed us to compare the effects of aluminum to other metal ions on specific ({sup 3}H)MK-801 binding to the NMDA receptor-channel complex. This complex is involved in long-term potentiation, which is currently being investigated as the mechanism by which learning and memory occur and has been implicated in the pathology of Alzheimer's disease. We have investigated the effects of two different species of aluminum, as well as Ca{sup 2+}, Zn{sup 2+}, Mg{sup 2+}, and Li{sup +} on the specific binding of ({sup 3}H)MK-801 to the NMDA receptor-channel complex under depolarized conditions.« less

Machine Learning of Fault Friction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, P. A.; Rouet-Leduc, B.; Hulbert, C.; Marone, C.; Guyer, R. A.

2017-12-01

We are applying machine learning (ML) techniques to continuous acoustic emission (AE) data from laboratory earthquake experiments. Our goal is to apply explicit ML methods to this acoustic datathe AE in order to infer frictional properties of a laboratory fault. The experiment is a double direct shear apparatus comprised of fault blocks surrounding fault gouge comprised of glass beads or quartz powder. Fault characteristics are recorded, including shear stress, applied load (bulk friction = shear stress/normal load) and shear velocity. The raw acoustic signal is continuously recorded. We rely on explicit decision tree approaches (Random Forest and Gradient Boosted Trees) that allow us to identify important features linked to the fault friction. A training procedure that employs both the AE and the recorded shear stress from the experiment is first conducted. Then, testing takes place on data the algorithm has never seen before, using only the continuous AE signal. We find that these methods provide rich information regarding frictional processes during slip (Rouet-Leduc et al., 2017a; Hulbert et al., 2017). In addition, similar machine learning approaches predict failure times, as well as slip magnitudes in some cases. We find that these methods work for both stick slip and slow slip experiments, for periodic slip and for aperiodic slip. We also derive a fundamental relationship between the AE and the friction describing the frictional behavior of any earthquake slip cycle in a given experiment (Rouet-Leduc et al., 2017b). Our goal is to ultimately scale these approaches to Earth geophysical data to probe fault friction. References Rouet-Leduc, B., C. Hulbert, N. Lubbers, K. Barros, C. Humphreys and P. A. Johnson, Machine learning predicts laboratory earthquakes, in review (2017). https://arxiv.org/abs/1702.05774Rouet-LeDuc, B. et al., Friction Laws Derived From the Acoustic Emissions of a Laboratory Fault by Machine Learning (2017), AGU Fall Meeting Session S025: Earthquake source: from the laboratory to the fieldHulbert, C., Characterizing slow slip applying machine learning (2017), AGU Fall Meeting Session S019: Slow slip, Tectonic Tremor, and the Brittle-to-Ductile Transition Zone: What mechanisms control the diversity of slow and fast earthquakes?

Learning from Demonstration for Autonomous Navigation in Complex Unstructured Terrain

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-06-24

unstructured terrain Seraji and Howard, 2002, Huertas et al., 2005, Biesiadecki and Maimone, 2006] The common thread amongst these approaches is that they con...can be gathered either of- fline [ Seraji and Howard, 2002, Howard et al., 2007] or online [Thrun et al., 2006, Sun et al., 2007] by ob- serving where... Fe = F∗ = ~0; foreach P ie do P i∗ = planLossAugPath(start(P i e), goal(P ie), M); foreach x ∈ P ie do Fe + = Fe + Fx; foreach x ∈ P i∗ do F∗ = F∗ + Fx

Deterrence & Influence in Counterterrorism. A Component in the War on al Qaeda

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-02-01

13, 2001). Summary xv There is a lesson to learn from this for he who wishes to learn . . . . The Soviet Union entered Afghanistan in the last week of...subject needs urgent attention. Placing at Risk What the Terrorists Hold Dear: Convincing Regional Allies to Act One of the lessons learned from...formal reviews of the draft manuscript by Jerrold Green and Ambassador L. Paul Bremer. Although we learned a great deal from interactions with our

A Review of Global Learning & Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE)

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-04-01

review (Yoder et al., 2008) of the GPO performance, NASA continued the cooperative agreement with UCAR. Another external review ( Bybee et al., 2008) of...Submitted by the Program Office External Review Committee. Bybee , Rodger W. (Chair), 2008. NASA External Review of a GLOBE Proposal, The Globe

Community Partners' Perspectives of Community-University Partnerships that Support Service-Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Witchger Hansen, Anne Marie

2010-01-01

Community partner voices are important to understand because they provide the contexts in which occupational therapy students meet course objectives by applying clinical reasoning theory and developing clinical reasoning skills in a natural context (Witchger-Hansen et al., 2007; Provident, et al., 2011). To sustain these community-university…

Gender, Games and Space

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Castell, Suzanne; Larios, Hector; Jenson, Jennifer

2017-01-01

We report here a study of spatial learning and action videogame play based on Feng et al.'s (2007) finding that 10 hours spent playing an action videogame significantly improved selective attention and mental rotation. Students with above-average scores on measures of spatial abilities, such as mental rotation, prove more successful in Science,…

Discovery Learning in Autonomous Agents Using Genetic Algorithms

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-12-01

Meyer and Wilson (47). 65. Roitblat , H. L., et al. "Biomimetic Sonar Processing: Prom Dolphin Echoloc-Ation to Artificial Neural Networks." In Meyer and...34 In Meyer and Wilson (47). 65. Roitblat , H. L., et al. "Biomimetic Sonar Processing: From Dolphin Echolocation to Artificial Neural Networks." In

Values Affirmation Intervention Reduces Achievement Gap between Underrepresented Minority and White Students in Introductory Biology Classes.

PubMed

Jordt, Hannah; Eddy, Sarah L; Brazil, Riley; Lau, Ignatius; Mann, Chelsea; Brownell, Sara E; King, Katherine; Freeman, Scott

2017-01-01

Achievement gaps between underrepresented minority (URM) students and their white peers in college science, technology, engineering, and mathematics classrooms are persistent across many white-majority institutions of higher education. Attempts to reduce this phenomenon of underperformance through increasing classroom structure via active learning have been partially successful. In this study, we address the hypothesis that the achievement gap between white and URM students in an undergraduate biology course has a psychological and emotional component arising from stereotype threat. Specifically, we introduced a values affirmation exercise that counters stereotype threat by reinforcing a student's feelings of integrity and self-worth in three iterations of an intensive active-learning college biology course. On average, this exercise reduced the achievement gap between URM and white students who entered the course with the same incoming grade point average. This result suggests that achievement gaps resulting from the underperformance of URM students could be mitigated by providing students with a learning environment that removes psychological and emotional impediments of performance through short psychosocial interventions. © 2017 H. Jordt et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2017 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

Face-to-Face Interaction with Pedagogical Agents, Twenty Years Later

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, W. Lewis; Lester, James C.

2016-01-01

Johnson et al. ("International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education," 11, 47-78, 2000) introduced and surveyed a new paradigm for interactive learning environments: animated pedagogical agents. The article argued for combining animated interface agent technologies with intelligent learning environments, yielding intelligent…

Measuring strategic control in implicit learning: how and why?

PubMed

Norman, Elisabeth

2015-01-01

Several methods have been developed for measuring the extent to which implicitly learned knowledge can be applied in a strategic, flexible manner. Examples include generation exclusion tasks in Serial Reaction Time (SRT) learning (Goschke, 1998; Destrebecqz and Cleeremans, 2001) and 2-grammar classification tasks in Artificial Grammar Learning (AGL; Dienes et al., 1995; Norman et al., 2011). Strategic control has traditionally been used as a criterion for determining whether acquired knowledge is conscious or unconscious, or which properties of knowledge are consciously available. In this paper I first summarize existing methods that have been developed for measuring strategic control in the SRT and AGL tasks. I then address some methodological and theoretical questions. Methodological questions concern choice of task, whether the measurement reflects inhibitory control or task switching, and whether or not strategic control should be measured on a trial-by-trial basis. Theoretical questions concern the rationale for including measurement of strategic control, what form of knowledge is strategically controlled, and how strategic control can be combined with subjective awareness measures.

Measuring strategic control in implicit learning: how and why?

PubMed Central

Norman, Elisabeth

2015-01-01

Several methods have been developed for measuring the extent to which implicitly learned knowledge can be applied in a strategic, flexible manner. Examples include generation exclusion tasks in Serial Reaction Time (SRT) learning (Goschke, 1998; Destrebecqz and Cleeremans, 2001) and 2-grammar classification tasks in Artificial Grammar Learning (AGL; Dienes et al., 1995; Norman et al., 2011). Strategic control has traditionally been used as a criterion for determining whether acquired knowledge is conscious or unconscious, or which properties of knowledge are consciously available. In this paper I first summarize existing methods that have been developed for measuring strategic control in the SRT and AGL tasks. I then address some methodological and theoretical questions. Methodological questions concern choice of task, whether the measurement reflects inhibitory control or task switching, and whether or not strategic control should be measured on a trial-by-trial basis. Theoretical questions concern the rationale for including measurement of strategic control, what form of knowledge is strategically controlled, and how strategic control can be combined with subjective awareness measures. PMID:26441809

Breathing as a Fundamental Rhythm of Brain Function.

PubMed

Heck, Detlef H; McAfee, Samuel S; Liu, Yu; Babajani-Feremi, Abbas; Rezaie, Roozbeh; Freeman, Walter J; Wheless, James W; Papanicolaou, Andrew C; Ruszinkó, Miklós; Sokolov, Yury; Kozma, Robert

2016-01-01

Ongoing fluctuations of neuronal activity have long been considered intrinsic noise that introduces unavoidable and unwanted variability into neuronal processing, which the brain eliminates by averaging across population activity (Georgopoulos et al., 1986; Lee et al., 1988; Shadlen and Newsome, 1994; Maynard et al., 1999). It is now understood, that the seemingly random fluctuations of cortical activity form highly structured patterns, including oscillations at various frequencies, that modulate evoked neuronal responses (Arieli et al., 1996; Poulet and Petersen, 2008; He, 2013) and affect sensory perception (Linkenkaer-Hansen et al., 2004; Boly et al., 2007; Sadaghiani et al., 2009; Vinnik et al., 2012; Palva et al., 2013). Ongoing cortical activity is driven by proprioceptive and interoceptive inputs. In addition, it is partially intrinsically generated in which case it may be related to mental processes (Fox and Raichle, 2007; Deco et al., 2011). Here we argue that respiration, via multiple sensory pathways, contributes a rhythmic component to the ongoing cortical activity. We suggest that this rhythmic activity modulates the temporal organization of cortical neurodynamics, thereby linking higher cortical functions to the process of breathing.

Do yogis have "Learning Styles"? (A somatic solution).

PubMed

Strean, William Ben

2017-01-01

Learning styles has captivated a great deal of attention in yoga teacher training. The triad of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning styles has been particularly popular; yet as Sharp et al . asserted, such an approach trivializes the complexity of learning and compromises scholarship at all levels of the education community. This paper addresses that although there is great merit in recognizing yoga students' differences and preferences, many uses of learning styles in yoga teacher training are superficial and promote self-handicapping. A somatic perspective (from soma, the body in its wholeness) offers a framework to reconsider the depth of effective learning.

iPTF Discoveries of Recent Type Ia Supernovae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Papadogiannakis, S.; Taddia, F.; Petrushevska, T.; Ferretti, R.; Fremling, C.; Karamehmetoglu, E.; Nyholm, A.; Roy, R.; Hangard, L.; Vreeswijk, P.; Horesh, A.; Manulis, I.; Rubin, A.; Yaron, O.; Leloudas, G.; Khazov, D.; Soumagnac, M.; Knezevic, S.; Johansson, J.; Nir, G.; Cao, Y.; Blagorodnova, N.; Kulkarni, S.

2016-05-01

The intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (ATel #4807) reports the discovery and classification of the following Type Ia SNe. Our automated candidate vetting to distinguish a real astrophysical source (1.0) from bogus artefacts (0.0) is powered by three generations of machine learning algorithms: RB2 (Brink et al. 2013MNRAS.435.1047B), RB4 (Rebbapragada et al. 2015AAS...22543402R) and RB5 (Wozniak et al. 2013AAS...22143105W).

iPTF Discoveries of Recent Core-Collapse Supernovae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taddia, F.; Ferretti, R.; Papadogiannakis, S.; Petrushevska, T.; Fremling, C.; Karamehmetoglu, E.; Nyholm, A.; Roy, R.; Hangard, L.; Horesh, A.; Khazov, D.; Knezevic, S.; Johansson, J.; Leloudas, G.; Manulis, I.; Rubin, A.; Soumagnac, M.; Vreeswijk, P.; Yaron, O.; Bar, I.; Cao, Y.; Kulkarni, S.; Blagorodnova, N.

2016-05-01

The intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (ATel #4807) reports the discovery and classification of the following core-collapse SNe. Our automated candidate vetting to distinguish a real astrophysical source (1.0) from bogus artifacts (0.0) is powered by three generations of machine learning algorithms: RB2 (Brink et al. 2013MNRAS.435.1047B), RB4 (Rebbapragada et al. 2015AAS...22543402R) and RB5 (Wozniak et al. 2013AAS...22143105W).

iPTF Discoveries of Recent Core-Collapse Supernovae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taddia, F.; Ferretti, R.; Fremling, C.; Karamehmetoglu, E.; Nyholm, A.; Papadogiannakis, S.; Petrushevska, T.; Roy, R.; Hangard, L.; De Cia, A.; Vreeswijk, P.; Horesh, A.; Manulis, I.; Sagiv, I.; Rubin, A.; Yaron, O.; Leloudas, G.; Khazov, D.; Soumagnac, M.; Bilgi, P.

2015-04-01

The intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (ATel #4807) reports the discovery and classification of the following Core-Collapse SNe. Our automated candidate vetting to distinguish a real astrophysical source (1.0) from bogus artifacts (0.0) is powered by three generations of machine learning algorithms: RB2 (Brink et al. 2013MNRAS.435.1047B), RB4 (Rebbapragada et al. 2015AAS...22543402R) and RB5 (Wozniak et al. 2013AAS...22143105W).

iPTF Discoveries of Recent Type Ia Supernova

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petrushevska, T.; Ferretti, R.; Fremling, C.; Hangard, L.; Karamehmetoglu, E.; Nyholm, A.; Papadogiannakis, S.; Roy, R.; Horesh, A.; Khazov, D.; Knezevic, S.; Johansson, J.; Leloudas, G.; Manulis, I.; Rubin, A.; Soumagnac, M.; Vreeswijk, P.; Yaron, O.; Bilgi, P.; Cao, Y.; Duggan, G.; Lunnan, R.; Andreoni, I.

2015-10-01

The intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (ATel #4807) reports the discovery and classification of the following Type Ia SNe. Our automated candidate vetting to distinguish a real astrophysical source (1.0) from bogus artifacts (0.0) is powered by three generations of machine learning algorithms: RB2 (Brink et al. 2013MNRAS.435.1047B), RB4 (Rebbapragada et al. 2015AAS...22543402R) and RB5 (Wozniak et al. 2013AAS...22143105W).

iPTF Discoveries of Recent SNe Ia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferretti, R.; Fremling, C.; Johansson, J.; Karamehmetoglu, E.; Migotto, K.; Nyholm, A.; Papadogiannakis, S.; Taddia, F.; Petrushevska, T.; Roy, R.; Ben-Ami, S.; De Cia, A.; Dzigan, Y.; Horesh, A.; Khazov, D.; Manulis, I.; Rubin, A.; Sagiv, I.; Vreeswijk, P.; Yaron, O.; Bilgi, P.; Cao, Y.; Duggan, G.

2015-02-01

The intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (ATel #4807) reports the discovery and classification of the following Type Ia SNe. Our automated candidate vetting to distinguish a real astrophysical source (1.0) from bogus artifacts (0.0) is powered by three generations of machine learning algorithms: RB2 (Brink et al. 2013MNRAS.435.1047B), RB4 (Rebbapragada et al. 2015AAS...22543402R) and RB5 (Wozniak et al. 2013AAS...22143105W).

iPTF Discoveries of Recent Type Ia Supernovae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Papadogiannakis, S.; Taddia, F.; Ferretti, R.; Fremling, C.; Karamehmetoglu, E.; Petrushevska, T.; Nyholm, A.; Roy, R.; Hangard, L.; Vreeswijk, P.; Horesh, A.; Manulis, I.; Rubin, A.; Yaron, O.; Leloudas, G.; Khazov, D.; Soumagnac, M.; Knezevic, S.; Johansson, J.; Lunnan, R.; Blagorodnova, N.; Cao, Y.; Cenk, S. B.

2016-01-01

The intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (ATel #4807) reports the discovery and classification of the following Type Ia SNe. Our automated candidate vetting to distinguish a real astrophysical source (1.0) from bogus artifacts (0.0) is powered by three generations of machine learning algorithms: RB2 (Brink et al. 2013MNRAS.435.1047B), RB4 (Rebbapragada et al. 2015AAS...22543402R) and RB5 (Wozniak et al. 2013AAS...22143105W).

iPTF Discoveries of Recent Type Ia Supernovae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferretti, R.; Fremling, C.; Hangard, L.; Karamehmetoglu, E.; Nyholm, A.; Papadogiannakis, S.; Petrushevska, T.; Roy, R.; Taddia, F.; Horesh, A.; Khazov, D.; Knezevic, S.; Leloudas, G.; Manulis, I.; Rubin, A.; Soumagnac, M.; Vreeswijk, P.; Yaron, O.; Cao, Y.; Duggan, G.; Lunnan, R.; Blagorodnova, N.

2015-11-01

The intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (ATel #4807) reports the discovery and classification of the following Type Ia SNe. Our automated candidate vetting to distinguish a real astrophysical source (1.0) from bogus artifacts (0.0) is powered by three generations of machine learning algorithms: RB2 (Brink et al. 2013MNRAS.435.1047B), RB4 (Rebbapragada et al. 2015AAS...22543402R) and RB5 (Wozniak et al. 2013AAS...22143105W).

iPTF Discoveries of Recent Core-Collapse Supernovae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taddia, F.; Ferretti, R.; Fremling, C.; Karamehmetoglu, E.; Nyholm, A.; Papadogiannakis, S.; Petrushevska, T.; Roy, R.; Hangard, L.; Vreeswijk, P.; Horesh, A.; Manulis, I.; Rubin, A.; Yaron, O.; Leloudas, G.; Khazov, D.; Soumagnac, M.; Knezevic, S.; Johansson, J.; Duggan, G.; Lunnan, R.; Cao, Y.

2015-09-01

The intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (ATel #4807) reports the discovery and classification of the following Core-Collapse SNe. Our automated candidate vetting to distinguish a real astrophysical source (1.0) from bogus artifacts (0.0) is powered by three generations of machine learning algorithms: RB2 (Brink et al. 2013MNRAS.435.1047B), RB4 (Rebbapragada et al. 2015AAS...22543402R) and RB5 (Wozniak et al. 2013AAS...22143105W).

iPTF Discovery of Recent Type Ia Supernovae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hangard, L.; Ferretti, R.; Fremling, C.; Karamehmetoglu, E.; Nyholm, A.; Papadogiannakis, S.; Petrushevska, T.; Roy, R.; Bar, I.; Horesh, A.; Johansson, J.; Khazov, D.; Knezevic, S.; Leloudas, G.; Manulis, I.; Rubin, A.; Soumagnac, M.; Vreeswijk, P.; Yaron, O.; Cao, Y.; Kulkarni, S.; Lunnan, R.; Ravi, V.; Vedantham, H. K.; Yan, L.

2016-04-01

The intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (ATel #4807) reports the discovery and classification of the following Type Ia SNe. Our automated candidate vetting to distinguish a real astrophysical source (1.0) from bogus artifacts (0.0) is powered by three generations of machine learning algorithms: RB2 (Brink et al. 2013MNRAS.435.1047B), RB4 (Rebbapragada et al. 2015AAS...22543402R) and RB5 (Wozniak et al. 2013AAS...22143105W).

iPTF Discoveries of Recent Core-Collapse Supernovae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taddia, F.; Ferretti, R.; Fremling, C.; Karamehmetoglu, E.; Nyholm, A.; Papadogiannakis, S.; Petrushevska, T.; Roy, R.; Hangard, L.; Vreeswijk, P.; Horesh, A.; Manulis, I.; Rubin, A.; Yaron, O.; Leloudas, G.; Khazov, D.; Soumagnac, M.; Knezevic, S.; Johansson, J.; Lunnan, R.; Cao, Y.; Miller, A.

2015-11-01

The intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (ATel #4807) reports the discovery and classification of the following Core-Collapse SNe. Our automated candidate vetting to distinguish a real astrophysical source (1.0) from bogus artifacts (0.0) is powered by three generations of machine learning algorithms: RB2 (Brink et al. 2013MNRAS.435.1047B), RB4 (Rebbapragada et al. 2015AAS...22543402R) and RB5 (Wozniak et al. 2013AAS...22143105W).

iPTF Discoveries of Recent Type Ia Supernovae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petrushevska, T.; Ferretti, R.; Fremling, C.; Hangard, L.; Karamehmetoglu, E.; Nyholm, A.; Papadogiannakis, S.; Roy, R.; Horesh, A.; Khazov, D.; Knezevic, S.; Johansson, J.; Leloudas, G.; Manulis, I.; Rubin, A.; Soumagnac, M.; Vreeswijk, P.; Yaron, O.; Bilgi, P.; Cao, Y.; Duggan, G.; Lunnan, R.

2016-02-01

The intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (ATel #4807) reports the discovery and classification of the following Type Ia SNe. Our automated candidate vetting to distinguish a real astrophysical source (1.0) from bogus artifacts (0.0) is powered by three generations of machine learning algorithms: RB2 (Brink et al. 2013MNRAS.435.1047B), RB4 (Rebbapragada et al. 2015AAS...22543402R) and RB5 (Wozniak et al. 2013AAS...22143105W).

iPTF Discovery of Recent Type Ia Supernovae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hangard, L.; Taddia, F.; Ferretti, R.; Papadogiannakis, S.; Petrushevska, T.; Fremling, C.; Karamehmetoglu, E.; Nyholm, A.; Roy, R.; Horesh, A.; Khazov, D.; Knezevic, S.; Johansson, J.; Leloudas, G.; Manulis, I.; Rubin, A.; Soumagnac, M.; Vreeswijk, P.; Yaron, O.; Bar, I.; Lunnan, R.; Cenk, S. B.

2016-02-01

The intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (ATel #4807) reports the discovery and classification of the following Type Ia SNe. Our automated candidate vetting to distinguish a real astrophysical source (1.0) from bogus artifacts (0.0) is powered by three generations of machine learning algorithms: RB2 (Brink et al. 2013MNRAS.435.1047B), RB4 (Rebbapragada et al. 2015AAS...22543402R) and RB5 (Wozniak et al. 2013AAS...22143105W).

iPTF Discoveries of Recent Type Ia Supernovae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Papadogiannakis, S.; Fremling, C.; Hangard, L.; Karamehmetoglu, E.; Nyholm, A.; Ferretti, R.; Petrushevska, T.; Roy, R.; Taddia, F.; Bar, I.; Horesh, A.; Johansson, J.; Knezevic, S.; Leloudas, G.; Manulis, I.; Nir, G.; Rubin, A.; Soumagnac, M.; Vreeswijk, P.; Yaron, O.; Arcavi, I.; Howell, D. A.; McCully, C.; Hosseinzadeh, G.; Valenti, S.; Blagorodnova, N.; Cao, Y.; Duggan, G.; Ravi, V.; Lunnan, R.

2016-03-01

The intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (ATel #4807) reports the discovery and classification of the following Type Ia SNe. Our automated candidate vetting to distinguish a real astrophysical source (1.0) from bogus artifacts (0.0) is powered by three generations of machine learning algorithms: RB2 (Brink et al. 2013MNRAS.435.1047B), RB4 (Rebbapragada et al. 2015AAS...22543402R) and RB5 (Wozniak et al. 2013AAS...22143105W).

iPTF discoveries of recent type Ia supernovae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Papadogiannakis, S.; Ferretti, R.; Fremling, C.; Hangard, L.; Karamehmetoglu, E.; Nyholm, A.; Petrushevska, T.; Roy, R.; De Cia, A.; Vreeswijk, P.; Horesh, A.; Manulis, I.; Sagiv, I.; Rubin, A.; Yaron, O.; Leloudas, G.; Khazov, D.; Soumagnac, M.; Knezevic, S.; Cenko, S. B.; Capone, J.; Bartakk, M.

2015-09-01

The intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (ATel #4807) reports the discovery and classification of the following Type Ia SNe. Our automated candidate vetting to distinguish a real astrophysical source (1.0) from bogus artifacts (0.0) is powered by three generations of machine learning algorithms: RB2 (Brink et al. 2013MNRAS.435.1047B), RB4 (Rebbapragada et al. 2015AAS...22543402R) and RB5 (Wozniak et al. 2013AAS...22143105W).

iPTF Discovery of Recent Type Ia Supernova

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hangard, L.; Petrushevska, T.; Papadogiannakis, S.; Ferretti, R.; Fremling, C.; Karamehmetoglu, E.; Nyholm, A.; Roy, R.; Horesh, A.; Khazov, D.; Knezevic, S.; Johansson, J.; Leloudas, G.; Manulis, I.; Rubin, A.; Soumagnac, M.; Vreeswijk, P.; Yaron, O.; Kasliwal, M.

2015-10-01

The intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (ATel #4807) reports the discovery and classification of the following Type Ia SNe. Our automated candidate vetting to distinguish a real astrophysical source (1.0) from bogus artifacts (0.0) is powered by three generations of machine learning algorithms: RB2 (Brink et al. 2013MNRAS.435.1047B), RB4 (Rebbapragada et al. 2015AAS...22543402R) and RB5 (Wozniak et al. 2013AAS...22143105W).

iPTF Discoveries of Recent Type Ia Supernovae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petrushevska, T.; Ferretti, R.; Fremling, C.; Hangard, L.; Karamehmetoglu, E.; Nyholm, A.; Papadogiannakis, S.; Roy, R.; Horesh, A.; Khazov, D.; Knezevic, S.; Johansson, J.; Leloudas, G.; Manulis, I.; Rubin, A.; Soumagnac, M.; Vreeswijk, P.; Yaron, O.; Bilgi, P.; Cao, Y.; Duggan, G.; Lunnan, R.; Neill, J. D.; Walters, R.

2016-04-01

The intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (ATel #4807) reports the discovery and classification of the following Type Ia SNe. Our automated candidate vetting to distinguish a real astrophysical source (1.0) from bogus artifacts (0.0) is powered by three generations of machine learning algorithms: RB2 (Brink et al. 2013MNRAS.435.1047B), RB4 (Rebbapragada et al. 2015AAS...22543402R) and RB5 (Wozniak et al. 2013AAS...22143105W).

iPTF Discoveries of Recent Type Ia Supernovae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Papadogiannakis, S.; Taddia, F.; Petrushevska, T.; Fremling, C.; Hangard, L.; Johansson, J.; Karamehmetoglu, E.; Migotto, K.; Nyholm, A.; Roy, R.; Ben-Ami, S.; De Cia, A.; Dzigan, Y.; Horesh, A.; Khazov, D.; Soumagnac, M.; Manulis, I.; Rubin, A.; Sagiv, I.; Vreeswijk, P.; Yaron, O.; Bond, H.; Bilgi, P.; Cao, Y.; Duggan, G.

2015-03-01

The intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (ATel #4807) reports the discovery and classification of the following Type Ia SNe. Our automated candidate vetting to distinguish a real astrophysical source (1.0) from bogus artifacts (0.0) is powered by three generations of machine learning algorithms: RB2 (Brink et al. 2013MNRAS.435.1047B), RB4 (Rebbapragada et al. 2015AAS...22543402R) and RB5 (Wozniak et al. 2013AAS...22143105W).

iPTF Discovery of Recent Type Ia Supernovae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hangard, L.; Ferretti, R.; Papadogiannakis, S.; Petrushevska, T.; Fremling, C.; Karamehmetoglu, E.; Nyholm, A.; Roy, R.; Horesh, A.; Khazov, D.; Knezevic, S.; Johansson, J.; Leloudas, G.; Manulis, I.; Rubin, A.; Soumagnac, M.; Vreeswijk, P.; Yaron, O.; Cook, D.

2015-12-01

The intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (ATel #4807) reports the discovery and classification of the following Type Ia SNe. Our automated candidate vetting to distinguish a real astrophysical source (1.0) from bogus artifacts (0.0) is powered by three generations of machine learning algorithms: RB2 (Brink et al. 2013MNRAS.435.1047B), RB4 (Rebbapragada et al. 2015AAS...22543402R) and RB5 (Wozniak et al. 2013AAS...22143105W).

iPTF Discoveries of Recent Type Ia Supernova

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petrushevska, T.; Ferretti, R.; Fremling, C.; Hangard, L.; Karamehmetoglu, E.; Nyholm, A.; Papadogiannakis, S.; Roy, R.; Horesh, A.; Khazov, D.; Knezevic, S.; Johansson, J.; Leloudas, G.; Manulis, I.; Rubin, A.; Soumagnac, M.; Vreeswijk, P.; Yaron, O.; Bilgi, P.; Cao, Y.; Duggan, G.; Lunnan, R.; Jencson, J.

2015-11-01

The intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (ATel #4807) reports the discovery and classification of the following Type Ia SNe. Our automated candidate vetting to distinguish a real astrophysical source (1.0) from bogus artifacts (0.0) is powered by three generations of machine learning algorithms: RB2 (Brink et al. 2013MNRAS.435.1047B), RB4 (Rebbapragada et al. 2015AAS...22543402R) and RB5 (Wozniak et al. 2013AAS...22143105W).

The Undergraduate ALFALFA Team

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koopmann, Rebecca A.; Higdon, S.; Balonek, T. J.; Haynes, M. P.; Giovanelli, R.

2010-01-01

The Undergraduate ALFALFA (Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA) Team is a consortium of 16 institutions engaged in an NSF-sponsored program to promote undergraduate research within the extragalactic ALFALFA HI blind survey project. In the first two years of the program, more than three dozen undergraduate students have been closely involved in ALFALFA science, observing, and data analysis. A total of 34 students have attended the annual undergraduate workshops at Arecibo Observatory, interacting with faculty, their peers, ALFALFA experts, and Arecibo staff in lectures, group activities, tours, and observing runs. Team faculty have supervised 26 summer research projects and 14 academic year (e.g., senior thesis) projects. Students and faculty have traveled to Arecibo Observatory for observing runs and to national meetings to present their results. Eight Team schools have joined to work collaboratively to analyze HI properties of galaxy groups within the ALFALFA volume. (See O'Brien et al., O'Malley et al., and Odekon et al. posters, this meeting.) Students involved in this program are learning how science is accomplished in a large collaboration while contributing to the scientific goals of a major legacy survey. This work has been supported by NSF grants AST-0724918, AST-0725267, and AST-0725380.

SIRT1 deacetylase protects against neurodegeneration in models for Alzheimer's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

PubMed

Kim, Dohoon; Nguyen, Minh Dang; Dobbin, Matthew M; Fischer, Andre; Sananbenesi, Farahnaz; Rodgers, Joseph T; Delalle, Ivana; Baur, Joseph A; Sui, Guangchao; Armour, Sean M; Puigserver, Pere; Sinclair, David A; Tsai, Li-Huei

2007-07-11

A progressive loss of neurons with age underlies a variety of debilitating neurological disorders, including Alzheimer's disease (AD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), yet few effective treatments are currently available. The SIR2 gene promotes longevity in a variety of organisms and may underlie the health benefits of caloric restriction, a diet that delays aging and neurodegeneration in mammals. Here, we report that a human homologue of SIR2, SIRT1, is upregulated in mouse models for AD, ALS and in primary neurons challenged with neurotoxic insults. In cell-based models for AD/tauopathies and ALS, SIRT1 and resveratrol, a SIRT1-activating molecule, both promote neuronal survival. In the inducible p25 transgenic mouse, a model of AD and tauopathies, resveratrol reduced neurodegeneration in the hippocampus, prevented learning impairment, and decreased the acetylation of the known SIRT1 substrates PGC-1alpha and p53. Furthermore, injection of SIRT1 lentivirus in the hippocampus of p25 transgenic mice conferred significant protection against neurodegeneration. Thus, SIRT1 constitutes a unique molecular link between aging and human neurodegenerative disorders and provides a promising avenue for therapeutic intervention.

SIRT1 deacetylase protects against neurodegeneration in models for Alzheimer's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

PubMed Central

Kim, Dohoon; Nguyen, Minh Dang; Dobbin, Matthew M; Fischer, Andre; Sananbenesi, Farahnaz; Rodgers, Joseph T; Delalle, Ivana; Baur, Joseph A; Sui, Guangchao; Armour, Sean M; Puigserver, Pere; Sinclair, David A; Tsai, Li-Huei

2007-01-01

A progressive loss of neurons with age underlies a variety of debilitating neurological disorders, including Alzheimer's disease (AD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), yet few effective treatments are currently available. The SIR2 gene promotes longevity in a variety of organisms and may underlie the health benefits of caloric restriction, a diet that delays aging and neurodegeneration in mammals. Here, we report that a human homologue of SIR2, SIRT1, is upregulated in mouse models for AD, ALS and in primary neurons challenged with neurotoxic insults. In cell-based models for AD/tauopathies and ALS, SIRT1 and resveratrol, a SIRT1-activating molecule, both promote neuronal survival. In the inducible p25 transgenic mouse, a model of AD and tauopathies, resveratrol reduced neurodegeneration in the hippocampus, prevented learning impairment, and decreased the acetylation of the known SIRT1 substrates PGC-1alpha and p53. Furthermore, injection of SIRT1 lentivirus in the hippocampus of p25 transgenic mice conferred significant protection against neurodegeneration. Thus, SIRT1 constitutes a unique molecular link between aging and human neurodegenerative disorders and provides a promising avenue for therapeutic intervention. PMID:17581637

The kinetic activation-relaxation technique: an off-lattice, self-learning kinetic Monte Carlo algorithm with on-the-fly event search

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mousseau, Nomand

2012-02-01

While kinetic Monte Carlo algorithm has been proposed almost 40 years ago, its application in materials science has been mostly limited to lattice-based motion due to the difficulties associated with identifying new events and building usable catalogs when atoms moved into off-lattice position. Here, I present the kinetic activation-relaxation technique (kinetic ART) is an off-lattice, self-learning kinetic Monte Carlo algorithm with on-the-fly event search [1]. It combines ART nouveau [2], a very efficient unbiased open-ended activated method for finding transition states, with a topological classification [3] that allows a discrete cataloguing of local environments in complex systems, including disordered materials. In kinetic ART, local topologies are first identified for all atoms in a system. ART nouveau event searches are then launched for new topologies, building an extensive catalog of barriers and events. Next, all low energy events are fully reconstructed and relaxed, allowing to take complete account of elastic effects in the system's kinetics. Using standard kinetic Monte Carlo, the clock is brought forward and an event is then selected and applied before a new search for topologies is launched. In addition to presenting the various elements of the algorithm, I will discuss three recent applications to ion-bombarded silicon, defect diffusion in Fe and structural relaxation in amorphous silicon.[4pt] This work was done in collaboration with Laurent Karim B'eland, Peter Brommer, Fedwa El-Mellouhi, Jean-Francois Joly and Laurent Lewis.[4pt] [1] F. El-Mellouhi, N. Mousseau and L.J. Lewis, Phys. Rev. B. 78, 153202 (2008); L.K. B'eland et al., Phys. Rev. E 84, 046704 (2011).[2] G.T. Barkema and N. Mousseau, Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 4358 (1996); E. Machado-Charry et al., J. Chem Phys. 135, 034102, (2011).[3] B.D. McKay, Congressus Numerantium 30, 45 (1981).

Aluminum-activated citrate and malate transporters from the MATE and ALMT families function independently to confer Arabidopsis aluminum tolerance.

PubMed

Liu, Jiping; Magalhaes, Jurandir V; Shaff, Jon; Kochian, Leon V

2009-02-01

Aluminum-activated root malate and citrate exudation play an important role in plant Al tolerance. This paper characterizes AtMATE, a homolog of the recently discovered sorghum and barley Al-tolerance genes, shown here to encode an Al-activated citrate transporter in Arabidopsis. Together with the previously characterized Al-activated malate transporter, AtALMT1, this discovery allowed us to examine the relationship in the same species between members of the two gene families for which Al-tolerance genes have been identified. AtMATE is expressed primarily in roots and is induced by Al. An AtMATE T-DNA knockdown line exhibited very low AtMATE expression and Al-activated root citrate exudation was abolished. The AtALMT1 AtMATE double mutant lacked both Al-activated root malate and citrate exudation and showed greater Al sensitivity than the AtALMT1 mutant. Therefore, although AtALMT1 is a major contributor to Arabidopsis Al tolerance, AtMATE also makes a significant but smaller contribution. The expression patterns of AtALMT1 and AtMATE and the profiles of Al-activated root citrate and malate exudation are not affected by the presence or absence of the other gene. These results suggest that AtALMT1-mediated malate exudation and AtMATE-mediated citrate exudation evolved independently to confer Al tolerance in Arabidopsis. However, a link between regulation of expression of the two transporters in response to Al was identified through work on STOP1, a transcription factor that was previously shown to be necessary for AtALMT1 expression. Here we show that STOP1 is also required for AtMATE expression and Al-activated citrate exudation.

Investigating Students' Acceptance and Self-Efficacy of E-Learning at Al-Aqsa University Based on TAM Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mahdi, Hasan Rebhi

2014-01-01

The study aimed at investigating the influence of E-learning Self-Efficacy (ELSE) on the acceptance of e-learning by using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). According to the TAM which used as the theoretical basis, both of the Perceived Usefulness (PU) and the Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU) influence directly the end user's Behavioral Intention…

A Note on DeCaro, Thomas, and Beilock (2008): Further Data Demonstrate Complexities in the Assessment of Information-Integration Category Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tharp, Ian J.; Pickering, Alan D.

2009-01-01

DeCaro et al. [DeCaro, M. S., Thomas, R. D., & Beilock, S. L. (2008). "Individual differences in category learning: Sometimes less working memory capacity is better than more." "Cognition, 107"(1), 284-294] explored how individual differences in working memory capacity differentially mediate the learning of distinct category structures.…

Learning in the context of distribution drift

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-05-09

published in the leading data mining journal, Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery (Webb et. al., 2016)1. We have shown that the previous qualitative...learner Low-bias learner Aggregated classifier Figure 7: Architecture for learning fr m streaming data in th co text of variable or unknown...Learning limited dependence Bayesian classifiers, in Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (KDD

Obstaculos al aprendizaje--obstaculos a la ensenanza en contextos (Barriers to Learning--Barriers to Teaching in Multicultural Contexts). Papers on Teacher Training and Multicultural/Intercultural Education 25.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gagliardi, Raul

This study focused on identifying learning difficulties with a view to incorporating both understanding of those difficulties and methods for minimizing or neutralizing them in multicultural classroom settings. Discussion gives guidelines for teachers to use in analyzing student concepts and approaches to learning, particularly in the…

Deep Gate Recurrent Neural Network

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-11-22

Schmidhuber. A system for robotic heart surgery that learns to tie knots using recurrent neural networks. In IEEE International Conference on...tasks, such as Machine Translation (Bahdanau et al. (2015)) or Robot Reinforcement Learning (Bakker (2001)). The main idea behind these networks is to...and J. Peters. Reinforcement learning in robotics : A survey. The International Journal of Robotics Research, 32:1238–1274, 2013. ISSN 0278-3649. doi

The Learning Environment in Clicker Classrooms: Student Processes of Learning and Involvement in Large University-Level Courses Using Student Response Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trees, April R.; Jackson, Michele H.

2007-01-01

To explore what social and educational infrastructure is needed to support classroom use of student response systems (Roschelle et al., 2004), this study investigated the ways in which student characteristics and course design choices were related to students' assessments of the contribution of clicker use to their learning and involvement in the…

What can we learn from problem-based learning tutors at a graduate entry medical school? A mixed method approach.

PubMed

O Doherty, Diane; Mc Keague, Helena; Harney, Sarah; Browne, Gerard; McGrath, Deirdre

2018-05-04

Problem-based learning (PBL) has been adopted by many medical schools as an innovative method to deliver an integrated medical curriculum since its inception at McMaster University (Dornan et al., Med Educ 39(2):163-170, 2005; Finucane et al., Med Educ 35(1):56-61, 2001; Barrows, Tutorials in problem-based learning: A new direction in teaching the health professions, 1984). The student experience in PBL has been explored in detail (Merriam, New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education 89: 3-13, 2001; Azer, Kaohsiung J Med Sci 25(5): 240-249, 2009; Boelens et al., BMC Med Ed 15(1): 84, 2015; Dolmans et al., Med Teach 24(2):173-180, 2002; Lee et al., Med Teach 35(2): e935-e942, 2013) but the tutors who facilitate PBL have valuable insight into how PBL functions and this aspect has not been extensively researched. The integrated curriculum for years 1 and 2 at the Graduate Entry Medical School at the University of Limerick is delivered though problem-based learning (PBL). This programme requires collaborative teamwork between students and the tutors who facilitate small-group tutorial sessions. All PBL tutors at GEMS are medically qualified, with the majority (68%) currently working in clinical practice. A mixed-methods approach was adopted, utilising two surveys and follow-up focus groups to fully understand the tutor experience. Thirty-three tutors took part in two online surveys with a response rate of 89%. Thirteen tutors participated in two focus groups. Descriptive analysis was completed on survey data and thematic analysis on focus group discussions which highlighted five main themes. Tutors reported challenges with managing group dynamics, development of confidence in tutoring with experience and a willingness to learn from peers to improve practice. Findings are in keeping with previously published work. Results also identified several less commonly discussed issues impacting student engagement in PBL including the use of mobile device technology, unauthorised access to learning objectives and PBL cases, and the importance and need for professional development amongst tutors, including the impact of tutoring on clinical practice. This study revealed that experienced tutors spend considerable time preparing for PBL tutorials in the basic sciences and that this input is rewarded by the benefits it brings to their clinical practice. Understanding PBL from the tutor's perspective reveals valuable insights which can inform ongoing tutor development and support. Limited research exists in the area of PBL tutor's experiences which may be of interest to medical educators, clinicians and the wider medical community. Findings highlight the value of shared tutor experiences as a resource that can be capitalised on to benefit both novice and experienced tutors.

Psychophysiology of arterial baroreceptors and the etiology of hypertension.

PubMed

Rau, H; Elbert, T

2001-01-01

Arterial baroreceptors are sensitive to blood pressure dependent blood vessel dilation. They play a key role in the short term regulation of blood pressure. Their impact on psychological and psychophysiological aspects is of increasing interest. The review focuses on experimental techniques for the controlled baroreceptor manipulation. Results from the application of these techniques show that baroreceptor activation influences the cardiovascular system as well as central nervous functioning: Behavioral and electrophysiological measures of arousal, low level reflexes and pain responses are modulated through baroreceptor manipulation. The observation of an overall dampening ('barbiturate like') effect of baroreceptor activity led Dworkin et al. formulate the theory of learned hypertension: Subjects might experience blood pressure dependent baroreceptor activation as stress and pain relieving. High blood pressure periods become negatively reinforced. Phasic high blood pressure might develop as a coping strategy. Data from a longitudinal human study supporting this theory are reported.

Fear memory consolidation in sleep requires protein kinase A.

PubMed

Cho, Jiyeon; Sypniewski, Krzysztof A; Arai, Shoko; Yamada, Kazuo; Ogawa, Sonoko; Pavlides, Constantine

2018-05-01

It is well established that protein kinase A (PKA) is involved in hippocampal dependent memory consolidation. Sleep is also known to play an important role in this process. However, whether sleep-dependent memory consolidation involves PKA activation has not been clearly determined. Using behavioral observation, animals were categorized into sleep and awake groups. We show that intrahippocampal injections of the PKA inhibitor Rp-cAMPs in post-contextual fear conditioning sleep produced a suppression of long-term fear memory, while injections of Rp-cAMPs during an awake state, at a similar time point, had no effect. In contrast, injections of the PKA activator Sp-cAMPs in awake state, rescued sleep deprivation-induced memory impairments. These results suggest that following learning, PKA activation specifically in sleep is required for the consolidation of long-term memory. © 2018 Cho et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

EFFECTIVENESS OF PROBLEM BASED LEARNING AS A STRATEGY TO FOSTER PROBLEM SOLVING AND CRITICAL REASONING SKILLS AMONG MEDICAL STUDENTS.

PubMed

Asad, Munazza; Iqbal, Khadija; Sabir, Mohammad

2015-01-01

Problem based learning (PBL) is an instructional approach that utilizes problems or cases as a context for students to acquire problem solving skills. It promotes communication skills, active learning, and critical thinking skills. It encourages peer teaching and active participation in a group. It was a cross-sectional study conducted at Al Nafees Medical College, Isra University, Islamabad, in one month duration. This study was conducted on 193 students of both 1st and 2nd year MBBS. Each PBL consists of three sessions, spaced by 2-3 days. In the first session students were provided a PBL case developed by both basic and clinical science faculty. In Session 2 (group discussion), they share, integrate their knowledge with the group and Wrap up (third session), was concluded at the end. A questionnaire based survey was conducted to find out overall effectiveness of PBL sessions. Teaching through PBLs greatly improved the problem solving and critical reasoning skills with 60% students of first year and 71% of 2nd year agreeing that the acquisition of knowledge and its application in solving multiple choice questions (MCQs) was greatly improved by these sessions. They observed that their self-directed learning, intrinsic motivation and skills to relate basic concepts with clinical reasoning which involves higher order thinking have greatly enhanced. Students found PBLs as an effective strategy to promote teamwork and critical thinking skills. PBL is an effective method to improve critical thinking and problem solving skills among medical students.

Machine learning for micro-tomography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parkinson, Dilworth Y.; Pelt, Daniël. M.; Perciano, Talita; Ushizima, Daniela; Krishnan, Harinarayan; Barnard, Harold S.; MacDowell, Alastair A.; Sethian, James

2017-09-01

Machine learning has revolutionized a number of fields, but many micro-tomography users have never used it for their work. The micro-tomography beamline at the Advanced Light Source (ALS), in collaboration with the Center for Applied Mathematics for Energy Research Applications (CAMERA) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, has now deployed a series of tools to automate data processing for ALS users using machine learning. This includes new reconstruction algorithms, feature extraction tools, and image classification and recommen- dation systems for scientific image. Some of these tools are either in automated pipelines that operate on data as it is collected or as stand-alone software. Others are deployed on computing resources at Berkeley Lab-from workstations to supercomputers-and made accessible to users through either scripting or easy-to-use graphical interfaces. This paper presents a progress report on this work.

Interprofessional Clinical Ethics Education: The Promise of Cross-Disciplinary Problem-Based Learning.

PubMed

Kurtz, Melissa J; Starbird, Laura E

2016-09-01

A review of Lin et al.'s pilot study exploring the effects of an interprofessional, problem-based learning clinical ethics curriculum on Taiwanese medical and nursing students' attitudes towards interprofessional collaboration highlights the benefits of interprofessional collaboration and offers insight into how problem-based learning might be universally applied in ethics education. Interprofessional collaboration is an ideal approach for exploring ethical dilemmas because it involves all relevant professionals in discussions about ethical values that arise in patient care. Interprofessional ethics collaboration is challenging to implement, however, given time constraints and organizational and practice demands. Nevertheless, we suggest that when professionals collaborate, they can collectively express greater commitment to the patient. We also suggest future research avenues that can explore additional benefits of interprofessional collaboration in clinical ethics. © 2016 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.

Defining a Leader Role curriculum for radiation oncology: A global Delphi consensus study.

PubMed

Turner, Sandra; Seel, Matthew; Trotter, Theresa; Giuliani, Meredith; Benstead, Kim; Eriksen, Jesper G; Poortmans, Philip; Verfaillie, Christine; Westerveld, Henrike; Cross, Shamira; Chan, Ming-Ka; Shaw, Timothy

2017-05-01

The need for radiation oncologists and other radiation oncology (RO) professionals to lead quality improvement activities and contribute to shaping the future of our specialty is self-evident. Leadership knowledge, skills and behaviours, like other competencies, can be learned (Blumenthal et al., 2012). The objective of this study was to define a globally applicable competency set specific to radiation oncology for the CanMEDS Leader Role (Frank et al., 2015). A modified Delphi consensus process delivering two rounds of on-line surveys was used. Participants included trainees, radiation/clinical oncologists and other RO team members (radiation therapists, physicists, and nurses), professional educators and patients. 72 of 95 (76%) invitees from nine countries completed the Round 1 (R1) survey. Of the 72 respondents to RI, 70 completed Round 2 (R2) (97%). In R1, 35 items were deemed for 'inclusion' and 21 for 'exclusion', leaving 41 'undetermined'. After review of items, informed by participant comments, 14 competencies from the 'inclusion' group went into the final curriculum; 12 from the 'undetermined' group went to R2. In R2, 6 items reached consensus for inclusion. This process resulted in 20 RO Leader Role competencies with apparent global applicability. This is the first step towards developing learning, teaching and assessment tools for this important area of training. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Understanding Nomadic Collaborative Learning Groups

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ryberg, Thomas; Davidsen, Jacob; Hodgson, Vivien

2018-01-01

The paper builds on the work of Rossitto "et al." on collaborative nomadic work to develop three categories of practice of nomadic collaborative learning groups. Our study is based on interviews, workshops and observations of two undergraduate student's group practices engaged in self-organised, long-term collaborations within the frame…

Taking the New Curriculum Outdoors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Forsey, Katherine

2014-01-01

A review of research on outdoor learning by Rickinson "et al." (2004) highlights the demonstrable educational benefits and provides a source of support, justification and an evidence base for educators looking to undertake more learning outside the classroom. Bird (2004) also reviewed the widely reported health benefits of outdoor…

77 FR 26265 - Applications for New Awards; Model Demonstration Projects on Reentry of Students With...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-05-03

... specific learning disabilities; and 9.7 percent with intellectual disabilities (Quinn et al., 2005). Each... are identified as having disabilities, most of whom have learning disabilities or emotional... Students With Disabilities From Juvenile Justice Facilities Into Education, Employment, and Community...

Communicating climate science to high school students in the Arctic: Adventure Learning @ Greenland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hougham, R. J.; Miller, B.; Cox, C. J.

2012-12-01

Adventure Learning @ Greenland (AL@GL) engaged high school students in atmospheric research in the Arctic and in local environments to enhance climate literacy. The overarching objective for this project was to support climate literacy in high school students, specifically the concept of energy exchange between the Earth, atmosphere, and space. The goal then is to produce a model of education and outreach for remote STEM research that can be used to meaningfully engage K-12 and public communities. Over the course of the program experience, students conducted scientific inquiry associated with their place that supported a more focused science content at a field location. Approximately 45 students participated in the hybrid learning environments as part of this project at multiple locations in Idaho, USA, and Greenland. In Greenland, the Summit Camp research station located on the Greenland Ice Sheet was the primary location. The AL@GL project provided a compelling opportunity to engage students in an inquiry-based curriculum alongside a cutting-edge geophysical experiment at Summit: the Integrated Characterization of Energy, Clouds, Atmospheric state, and Precipitation at Summit (ICECAPS) experiment. ICECAPS measures parameters that are closely tied to those identified in student misconceptions. Thus, ICECAPS science and the AL@ approach combined to create a learning environment that was practical, rich, and engaging. Students participating in this project were diverse, rural, and traditionally underrepresented. Groups included: students participating in a field school at Kangerlussuaq, Greenland and Summit Station as members of the JSEP; students at MOSS will were part of the Upward Bound Math Science (UBMS) and HOIST (Helping Orient Indian Students and Teachers) project. These project serve high school students who are first college generation and from low-income families. JSEP is an international group of students from the United States, Greenland, and Denmark. As a result of this project a model for education and outreach for remote science research was developed. The AL@ GL project was interested in the impact on student science and climate literacy. Survey data was collected from student participants two times and the surveys included questions pertaining to student knowledge of atmospheric science and climate and their impressions on scientific inquiry, and student interest and skills in technology. A subset of students were interviewed using a semi-structured, open-ended protocol at the end of the AL@ GL expedition. Beyond reaching 45 students directly through AL@GL instruction and field experiences, the web-based platform for communicating within this project reached over 10,000 site visits. This platform can be viewed at adventurelearningat.org and includes photos, videos and authentic narratives of the students and scientists involved with the project. The Adventure Learning @ (AL@) approach presents a powerful tool for teaching and learning exploring novel places through technology-rich curricula. By defining problems of local interest, and working with experts with local knowledge who have connections to the community, students can come to think of themselves as experts, scientists, and problem solvers within their own places.

Workshop on Fielded Applications of Machine Learning Held in Amherst, Massachusetts on 30 June-1 July 1993. Abstracts.

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-01-01

engineering has led to many AI systems that are now regularly used in industry and elsewhere. The ultimate test of machine learning , the subfield of Al that...applications of machine learning suggest the time was ripe for a meeting on this topic. For this reason, Pat Langley (Siemens Corporate Research) and Yves...Kodratoff (Universite de Paris, Sud) organized an invited workshop on applications of machine learning . The goal of the gathering was to familiarize

Study of Environmental Data Complexity using Extreme Learning Machine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leuenberger, Michael; Kanevski, Mikhail

2017-04-01

The main goals of environmental data science using machine learning algorithm deal, in a broad sense, around the calibration, the prediction and the visualization of hidden relationship between input and output variables. In order to optimize the models and to understand the phenomenon under study, the characterization of the complexity (at different levels) should be taken into account. Therefore, the identification of the linear or non-linear behavior between input and output variables adds valuable information for the knowledge of the phenomenon complexity. The present research highlights and investigates the different issues that can occur when identifying the complexity (linear/non-linear) of environmental data using machine learning algorithm. In particular, the main attention is paid to the description of a self-consistent methodology for the use of Extreme Learning Machines (ELM, Huang et al., 2006), which recently gained a great popularity. By applying two ELM models (with linear and non-linear activation functions) and by comparing their efficiency, quantification of the linearity can be evaluated. The considered approach is accompanied by simulated and real high dimensional and multivariate data case studies. In conclusion, the current challenges and future development in complexity quantification using environmental data mining are discussed. References - Huang, G.-B., Zhu, Q.-Y., Siew, C.-K., 2006. Extreme learning machine: theory and applications. Neurocomputing 70 (1-3), 489-501. - Kanevski, M., Pozdnoukhov, A., Timonin, V., 2009. Machine Learning for Spatial Environmental Data. EPFL Press; Lausanne, Switzerland, p.392. - Leuenberger, M., Kanevski, M., 2015. Extreme Learning Machines for spatial environmental data. Computers and Geosciences 85, 64-73.

A simple wavelength division multiplexing system for active learning teaching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zghal, Mourad; Ghalila, Hassen; Ben Lakhdar, Zohra

2009-06-01

The active learning project consists in a series of workshops for educators, researchers and students and promotes an innovative method of teaching physics using simple, inexpensive materials that can be fabricated locally. The objective of the project is to train trainers and inspire students to learn physics. The workshops are based on the use of laboratory work and hands-on activities in the classroom. The interpretation of these experiments is challenging for some students, and the experiments can lead to a significant amount of discussion. The workshops are organized within the framework of the project ``Active Learning in Optics and Photonics" (ALOP) mainly funded by UNESCO, with the support of ICTP (Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics) and SPIE. ALOP workshops offer high school, college or university physics teachers the opportunity to improve their conceptual understanding of optics. These workshops usually run for five days and cover several of the topics usually found in any introductory university physics program. Optics and photonics are used as subject matter because it is relevant as well as adaptable to research and educational conditions in many developing countries [1]. In this paper, we will mainly focus on a specific topic of the ALOP workshops, namely optical communications and Wavelength Division Multiplexing technology (WDM). This activity was originally developed by Mazzolini et al [2]. WDM is a technology used in fibre-optic communications for transmitting two or more separate signals over a single fibre optic cable by using a separate wavelength for each signal. Multiple signals are carried together as separate wavelengths of light in a multiplexed signal. Simple and inexpensive WDM system was implemented in our laboratory using light emitting diodes or diode lasers, plastic optical fibres, a set of optical filters and lenses, prism or grating, and photodiodes. Transmission of audio signals using home-made, simple, inexpensive electronic circuits was also demonstrated. The experimental set-up was used during national ALOP workshops. Results are presented and discussed in this paper. Current explorations to further develop these and other closely-related experiments will also be described.

Design of an activity landscape view taking compound-based feature probabilities into account.

PubMed

Zhang, Bijun; Vogt, Martin; Bajorath, Jürgen

2014-09-01

Activity landscapes (ALs) of compound data sets are rationalized as graphical representations that integrate similarity and potency relationships between active compounds. ALs enable the visualization of structure-activity relationship (SAR) information and are thus computational tools of interest for medicinal chemistry. For AL generation, similarity and potency relationships are typically evaluated in a pairwise manner and major AL features are assessed at the level of compound pairs. In this study, we add a conditional probability formalism to AL design that makes it possible to quantify the probability of individual compounds to contribute to characteristic AL features. Making this information graphically accessible in a molecular network-based AL representation is shown to further increase AL information content and helps to quickly focus on SAR-informative compound subsets. This feature probability-based AL variant extends the current spectrum of AL representations for medicinal chemistry applications.

Reducing Mg Acceptor Activation-Energy in Al0.83Ga0.17N Disorder Alloy Substituted by Nanoscale (AlN)5/(GaN)1 Superlattice Using MgGa δ-Doping: Mg Local-Structure Effect

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhong, Hong-Xia; Shi, Jun-Jie; Zhang, Min; Jiang, Xin-He; Huang, Pu; Ding, Yi-Min

2014-10-01

Improving p-type doping efficiency in Al-rich AlGaN alloys is a worldwide problem for the realization of AlGaN-based deep ultraviolet optoelectronic devices. In order to solve this problem, we calculate Mg acceptor activation energy and investigate its relationship with Mg local structure in nanoscale (AlN)5/(GaN)1 superlattice (SL), a substitution for Al0.83Ga0.17N disorder alloy, using first-principles calculations. A universal picture to reduce acceptor activation energy in wide-gap semiconductors is given for the first time. By reducing the volume of the acceptor local structure slightly, its activation energy can be decreased remarkably. Our results show that Mg acceptor activation energy can be reduced significantly from 0.44 eV in Al0.83Ga0.17N disorder alloy to 0.26 eV, very close to the Mg acceptor activation energy in GaN, and a high hole concentration in the order of 1019 cm-3 can be obtained in (AlN)5/(GaN)1 SL by MgGa δ-doping owing to GaN-monolayer modulation. We thus open up a new way to reduce Mg acceptor activation energy and increase hole concentration in Al-rich AlGaN.

Reducing Mg acceptor activation-energy in Al(0.83)Ga(0.17)N disorder alloy substituted by nanoscale (AlN)₅/(GaN)₁ superlattice using Mg(Ga) δ-doping: Mg local-structure effect.

PubMed

Zhong, Hong-xia; Shi, Jun-jie; Zhang, Min; Jiang, Xin-he; Huang, Pu; Ding, Yi-min

2014-10-23

Improving p-type doping efficiency in Al-rich AlGaN alloys is a worldwide problem for the realization of AlGaN-based deep ultraviolet optoelectronic devices. In order to solve this problem, we calculate Mg acceptor activation energy and investigate its relationship with Mg local structure in nanoscale (AlN)5/(GaN)1 superlattice (SL), a substitution for Al(0.83)Ga(0.17)N disorder alloy, using first-principles calculations. A universal picture to reduce acceptor activation energy in wide-gap semiconductors is given for the first time. By reducing the volume of the acceptor local structure slightly, its activation energy can be decreased remarkably. Our results show that Mg acceptor activation energy can be reduced significantly from 0.44 eV in Al(0.83)Ga(0.17)N disorder alloy to 0.26 eV, very close to the Mg acceptor activation energy in GaN, and a high hole concentration in the order of 10(19) cm(-3) can be obtained in (AlN)5/(GaN)1 SL by Mg(Ga) δ-doping owing to GaN-monolayer modulation. We thus open up a new way to reduce Mg acceptor activation energy and increase hole concentration in Al-rich AlGaN.

Learning in Alzheimer’s Disease Is Facilitated by Social Interaction

PubMed Central

Duff, Melissa C.; Gallegos, Diana R.; Cohen, Neal J.; Tranel, Daniel

2014-01-01

Seminal work in Gary Van Hoesen’s laboratory at Iowa in the early 1980s established that the hallmark neuropathology of Alzheimer’s disease (AD; neurofibrillary tangles) had its first foothold in specific parts of the hippocampal formation and entorhinal cortex, effectively isolating the hippocampus from much of its input and output and causing the distinctive impairment of new learning that is the leading early characteristic of the disease (Hyman et al., 1984). The boundaries and conditions of the anterograde memory defect in patients with AD have been a topic of intense research interest ever since (e.g., Graham and Hodges, 1977; Nestor et al., 2006). For example, it has been shown that patients with AD may acquire some new semantic information through methods such as errorless learning, but learning under these conditions is typically slow and inefficient. Drawing on a learning paradigm (a collaborative referencing task) that was previously shown to induce robust and enduring learning in patients with hippocampal amnesia, we investigated whether this task would be effective in promoting new learning in patients with AD. We studied five women with early-stage AD and 10 demographically matched healthy comparison participants, each interacting with a familiar communication partner. AD pairs displayed significant and enduring learning across trials, with increased accuracy and decreased time to complete trials, in a manner indistinguishable from healthy comparison pairs, resulting in efficient and economical communication. The observed learning here most likely draws on neural resources outside the medial temporal lobes. These interactive communication sessions provide a potent learning environment with significant implications for memory intervention. PMID:23881834

Learning in Alzheimer's disease is facilitated by social interaction.

PubMed

Duff, Melissa C; Gallegos, Diana R; Cohen, Neal J; Tranel, Daniel

2013-12-15

Seminal work in Gary Van Hoesen's laboratory at Iowa in the early 1980s established that the hallmark neuropathology of Alzheimer's disease (AD; neurofibrillary tangles) had its first foothold in specific parts of the hippocampal formation and entorhinal cortex, effectively isolating the hippocampus from much of its input and output and causing the distinctive impairment of new learning that is the leading early characteristic of the disease (Hyman et al., 1984). The boundaries and conditions of the anterograde memory defect in patients with AD have been a topic of intense research interest ever since (e.g., Graham and Hodges, 1977; Nestor et al., 2006). For example, it has been shown that patients with AD may acquire some new semantic information through methods such as errorless learning, but learning under these conditions is typically slow and inefficient. Drawing on a learning paradigm (a collaborative referencing task) that was previously shown to induce robust and enduring learning in patients with hippocampal amnesia, we investigated whether this task would be effective in promoting new learning in patients with AD. We studied five women with early-stage AD and 10 demographically matched healthy comparison participants, each interacting with a familiar communication partner. AD pairs displayed significant and enduring learning across trials, with increased accuracy and decreased time to complete trials, in a manner indistinguishable from healthy comparison pairs, resulting in efficient and economical communication. The observed learning here most likely draws on neural resources outside the medial temporal lobes. These interactive communication sessions provide a potent learning environment with significant implications for memory intervention. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Alexander Kapp--The First Known User of the Andragogy Concept

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Loeng, Svein

2017-01-01

The German gymnasium teacher Alexander Kapp (1800-1869) was to all appearances the first one to use the "andragogy concept" as a term for "adult learning." In 1833 he published the book "Platon's Erziehungslehre, als Pädagogik für die Einzelnen und als Staatspädagogik. Oder dessen praktische Philosophie." This book…

Case Study 3: Students' Experiences of Interdisciplinary Learning While Building Scientific Video Games

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jennett, Charlene; Papadopoulou, Sofia; Himmelstein, Jesse; Vaugoux, Alexandre; Roger, Vincent; Cox, Anna L.

2017-01-01

Game jams, hackathons and similar group game creation events have become increasingly popular over the past decade (Fowler et al., 2015). They provide new and exciting opportunities for education and research. They foster creative thinking and innovation (Preston et al., 2012), and strengthen project management and communication skills (Smith…

Proceedings of the Annual Adult Education Research Conference (24th, Montreal, Quebec, April 8-10, 1983).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Montreal Univ. (Quebec).

These proceedings contain 46 papers. Brief English-language titles include: "Some Research Findings on Study Methods in Adult Distance Education" (Bajtelsmit); "Self Planned Professional Learning among Public School Adult Education Directors" (Beder, et al.); "Participation in Study Circles and the Creation of Analysis" (Beder, et al.);…

Modelling for Prediction vs. Modelling for Understanding: Commentary on Musso et al. (2013)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Edelsbrunner, Peter; Schneider, Michael

2013-01-01

Musso et al. (2013) predict students' academic achievement with high accuracy one year in advance from cognitive and demographic variables, using artificial neural networks (ANNs). They conclude that ANNs have high potential for theoretical and practical improvements in learning sciences. ANNs are powerful statistical modelling tools but they can…

Implementing Technology in the Classroom: Paths to Success and Failure.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harvey, Glen; And Others

This paper discusses the change process experienced by teachers participating in a study of a computer-based language arts instructional program for the early elementary grades--the Apple Learning Series: Early Language (ALS-EL). The study explored ways in which the teachers were implementing ALS-EL in their classrooms before attempting to…

iPTF Discoveries of Recent Type Ia Supernovae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petrushevska, T.; Ferretti, R.; Fremling, C.; Hangard, L.; Johansson, J.; Migotto, K.; Nyholm, A.; Papadogiannakis, S.; Ben-Ami, S.; De Cia, A.; Dzigan, Y.; Horesh, A.; Leloudas, G.; Manulis, I.; Rubin, A.; Sagiv, I.; Vreeswijk, P.; Yaron, O.; Cao, Y.; Perley, D.; Miller, A.; Waszczak, A.; Kasliwal, M. M.; Hosseinzadeh, G.; Cenko, S. B.; Quimby, R.

2015-05-01

The intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (ATel #4807) reports the discovery and classification of the following Type Ia SNe. Our automated candidate vetting to distinguish a real astrophysical source (1.0) from bogus artifacts (0.0) is powered by three generations of machine learning algorithms: RB2 (Brink et al. 2013MNRAS.435.1047B), RB4 (Rebbapragada et al. 2015AAS...22543402R) and RB5 (Wozniak et al. 2013AAS...22143105W). See ATel #7112 for additional details.

Al Sahawa - The Awakening. Volume 4: Al Anbar Province, Area of Operations Topeka, Ramadi

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-08-01

is a multimedia instructional package to accom- modate different teaching and learning styles. B. Collection Interviews were conducted in the...the city of Fallujah in November 2004 to rid the city of insurgents. For more information , see Matt M. Matthews, Operation AL FAJR: A Study in Army... communities . Some of the messages explicitly thanked the community “for the information that you are providing on the insurgents.” This technique served

Al Sahawa - The Awakening, Volume 4: Al Anbar Province, Area of Operations Topeka, Ramadi

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-08-01

is a multimedia instructional package to accom- modate different teaching and learning styles. B. Collection Interviews were conducted in the...the city of Fallujah in November 2004 to rid the city of insurgents. For more information , see Matt M. Matthews, Operation AL FAJR: A Study in Army... communities . Some of the messages explicitly thanked the community “for the information that you are providing on the insurgents.” This technique served

Learning in robotic manipulation: The role of dimensionality reduction in policy search methods. Comment on "Hand synergies: Integration of robotics and neuroscience for understanding the control of biological and artificial hands" by Marco Santello et al.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ficuciello, Fanny; Siciliano, Bruno

2016-07-01

A question that often arises, among researchers working on artificial hands and robotic manipulation, concerns the real meaning of synergies. Namely, are they a realistic representation of the central nervous system control of manipulation activities at different levels and of the sensory-motor manipulation apparatus of the human being, or do they constitute just a theoretical framework exploiting analytical methods to simplify the representation of grasping and manipulation activities? Apparently, this is not a simple question to answer and, in this regard, many minds from the field of neuroscience and robotics are addressing the issue [1]. The interest of robotics is definitely oriented towards the adoption of synergies to tackle the control problem of devices with high number of degrees of freedom (DoFs) which are required to achieve motor and learning skills comparable to those of humans. The synergy concept is useful for innovative underactuated design of anthropomorphic hands [2], while the resulting dimensionality reduction simplifies the control of biomedical devices such as myoelectric hand prostheses [3]. Synergies might also be useful in conjunction with the learning process [4]. This aspect is less explored since few works on synergy-based learning have been realized in robotics. In learning new tasks through trial-and-error, physical interaction is important. On the other hand, advanced mechanical designs such as tendon-driven actuation, underactuated compliant mechanisms and hyper-redundant/continuum robots might exhibit enhanced capabilities of adapting to changing environments and learning from exploration. In particular, high DoFs and compliance increase the complexity of modelling and control of these devices. An analytical approach to manipulation planning requires a precise model of the object, an accurate description of the task, and an evaluation of the object affordance, which all make the process rather time consuming. The integration of learning into control naturally leads to relaxing the above requirements through the adoption of coordinated motion patterns and sensory-motor synergies as useful tools leading to a problem of reduced dimension. To this purpose, model-based control strategies relying on synergistic models of manipulation activities learned from human experience can be integrated with real-time learning from actions strategies [5]. In [6] a classification of learning strategies for robotics is provided, while the difference between imitation learning and reinforcement learning (RL) is highlighted in [7]. From recent research in the field [8,9], it seems that RL represents the future toward autonomous and intelligent robots since it provides learning capabilities as those of humans, i.e. based on exploration and trial-and-error policies. In this context, suitable policy search methods to be implemented in a synergy-based framework are to be sought in order to reduce the search space dimension while guaranteeing the convergence and efficiency of the learning algorithm.

Secondary Teacher Candidates' Lesson Planning Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Santoyo, Christina; Zhang, Shaoan

2016-01-01

Teacher candidates (TCs) use clinical experiences to enact concepts taught in their university courses; therefore field experiences may be the most important component of teacher preparation (Hammerness et al., 2005). TCs require support and guidance as they learn to adapt curriculum materials for effective use in the classroom (Davis, 2006). They…

Lifelong Learning Research Conference Proceedings (8th, College Park, Maryland, February 19-20, 1987).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rivera, William M., Comp.; Walker, Sharon M., Comp.

Among the 46 papers in this proceedings are the following 36 selected titles: "The Intergenerational Exercise/Movement Program" (Ansello); "Using Computers for Adult Literacy Instruction" (Askov et al.); "Measuring Adults' Attitudes toward Computers" (Delcourt, Lewis); "Issues in Computers and Adult Learning" (Gerver); "Preassessment of Adult…

Facilitating Guided Participation through Mobile Technologies: Designing Creative Learning Environments for Self and Others

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Evans, Michael A.; Johri, Aditya

2008-01-01

We appropriate Rogoff's ("Apprenticeship in thinking: Cognitive development in social context," 1991; in: Wertsch et al. (eds.) "Sociocultural studies of mind," 1993) notion of guided participation to demonstrate, through abbreviated case studies, our strategy for integrating mobile technology-based learning experiences in higher education. Guided…

A Qualitative Study to Improve the Student Learning Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jastania, Raid A.; Balata, Gehan F.; Abd El-Hady, Mohamed I. S.; Gouda, Ahmad; Abd El-Wahab, Mohamad; Mohamad, Abeer S.; Ibrahim, Nashwa M.; Beshr, Eman; Mahdi, Abeer Y.; Mousa, Rabab; Tag, Batool F.; Hisham, Hadeel; El-Sofiani, Ibtehal

2017-01-01

Purpose: For any educational institution, student satisfaction is an important goal. Thus, the purpose of the study is to use a structured improvement process, define--measure--analyse--improve--control (DMAIC) methodology, to improve students' satisfaction regarding their learning experience at the College of Pharmacy/Umm Al-Qura University.…

Lifelong Learning: One Focus, Different Systems. Studien zur Erwachsenenbildung, Band 19.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harney, Klaus, Ed.; Heikkinen, Anja, Ed.; Rahn, Sylvia, Ed.; Schemmann, Michael, Ed.

These 17 articles on different subjects of the broader theme "lifelong learning" represent the latest results of the discussions of the Vocational Education and Culture Research Network. An introduction (Klaus Harney et al.) provides summaries of the contents. The articles are "The Global and International Discourse of Lifelong…

Current Approaches to Assessment in Self-Access Language Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reinders, Hayo; Lázaro, Noemí

2007-01-01

Assessment is generally seen as one of the key challenges in the field of self-access learning (Gardner & Miller, 1999; Champagne et al., 2001; Lai, 2001; Kinoshita Thomson, 1996). Many researchers and practitioners point to difficulties with assessing language gains in an environment in which variables cannot comprehensively be controlled…

Teacher Learning from Girls' Informal Science Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Birmingham, Daniel J.

2013-01-01

School science continues to fail to engage youth from non-dominant communities (Carlone, Huan-Frank & Webb, 2011). However, recent research demonstrates that informal science learning settings support both knowledge gains and increased participation in science among youth from non-dominant communities (Dierking, 2007; Falk et al., 2007; HFRP,…

Adult Learning in Innovative Organisations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sutherland Olsen, Dorothy

2016-01-01

The relationship between learning and innovation has been a central theme in studies of innovation (Fagerberg et al., 2005, Borras & Edquist, 2014, Lundvall & Johnsen, 1994). Studies of the workplace have also claimed a relationship between skills or training and a firm's ability to innovate (Toner, 2011). Recent studies of innovation in…

Efficiency in Second Language Vocabulary Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schuetze, Ulf

2017-01-01

An ongoing question in second language vocabulary learning is how to optimize the acquisition of words. One approach is the so-called "spaced repetition technique" that uses intervals to repeat words in a given time frame (Balota et al., 2007; Leitner, 1972; Oxford, 1990; Pimsleur, 1967; Roediger & Karpicke, 2010; Schuetze &…

Parent-Child Learning Interactions: A Review of the Literature on Scaffolding

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mermelshtine, Roni

2017-01-01

Background: Scaffolding can be observed during learning-based interactions, when interventions by parents are adjusted according to children's observed abilities, with the main goal of enabling the child to work independently (Wood "et al.", 1976, "Journal of child psychology and psychiatry," 17, 89). Such contingent…

XDGMM: eXtreme Deconvolution Gaussian Mixture Modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holoien, Thomas W.-S.; Marshall, Philip J.; Wechsler, Risa H.

2017-08-01

XDGMM uses Gaussian mixtures to do density estimation of noisy, heterogenous, and incomplete data using extreme deconvolution (XD) algorithms which is compatible with the scikit-learn machine learning methods. It implements both the astroML and Bovy et al. (2011) algorithms, and extends the BaseEstimator class from scikit-learn so that cross-validation methods work. It allows the user to produce a conditioned model if values of some parameters are known.

LATIST: A Performance Support Tool for Integrating Technologies into Defense Acquisition University Learning Assets

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-07-01

TECHNOLOGIES INTO DEFENSE ACqUISITION UNIVERSITY LEARNING ASSETS Nada Dabbagh, Kevin Clark, Susan Dass , Salim Al Waaili, Sally Byrd, Susan...demographic data, four Likert- scale questions that targeted respondents’ familiarity with ALT, and one Likert- scale question addressing the...use of technology in learning with under- served populations. (E-mail address: kclark6@gmu.edu) Ms. Susan Dass has over 20 years’ experi- ence in

A brief period of eyes-closed rest enhances motor skill consolidation.

PubMed

Humiston, Graelyn B; Wamsley, Erin J

2018-06-05

Post-training sleep benefits both declarative and procedural memory consolidation. However, recent research suggests that eyes-closed waking rest may provide a similar benefit. Brokaw et al. (2016), for example, recently demonstrated that verbal declarative memory improved more following a 15 min period of waking rest, in comparison to 15 min of active wake. Here, we used the same procedures to test whether procedural memory similarly benefits from waking rest. Participants were trained on the Motor Sequence Task (MST), followed by a 15 min retention interval during which they either rested with their eyes closed or completed a distractor task. Rest significantly enhanced MST performance, mirroring the effect observed in Brokaw et al. (2016) and demonstrating that waking rest benefits the early stages of procedural memory. An additional group of participants tested 4 h later displayed no effect of rest. Overall, these results suggest that the early MST performance "boost" described in prior studies may depend on post-learning state. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Adding Another Dimension to Learning: Application of Real World Globes to Undergraduate Geoscience Teaching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McLeod, C. L.; Kugler, A.

2016-12-01

The Geological Globe of the World (www.realworldglobes.com) promotes hands-on, in-class activities and allows students to engage with a physical 3-D model of Earth's characteristic, planet-forming geological features. The effectiveness of this concept in student learning has been demonstrated by two pilot studies presented as posters by Weeraratne et al. (2011) and Stoddard and Rogers (2013) at previous AGU meetings. The impact of the Geological Globe of the World on undergraduate teaching at Miami University, OH during Fall semester 2016 will be presented. It is anticipated that this teaching tool will have the biggest impact on the teaching of our 100-level lab course, GLG 155L, which engages 900 students per academic year. A Learning Assessment based on the learning objectives of GLG 115L has been written in order to demonstrate and evaluate the role of the Geological Globe in student learning. This Learning Assessment will be issued through www.salgsite.org (SALG: Student Assessment of Learning Gains) and will ask students to assess their own knowledge and understanding of key concepts before and after specific lab exercises which implement the globe. From research discussed in Bamford (2013), it has been demonstrated that "students learning with 3D teaching aids had better ordering of concepts and had enhanced skills in describing their learning, including writing more, saying more and being more likely to use models to demonstrate their (own) learning". It is anticipated that through use of the Geological Globe of the World students will be able to interpret Earth's geological features on a 3-D projection including topography, active volcanism, crustal movements and the location of seismic events. The incorporation of the Geological Globe of the World in undergraduate geoscience teaching in GLG 115L, and other departmental courses, aims to encourage students to make observations and collect data in order to interpret and evaluate relevant geological information. Bamford, A., (2013) The 3D in Education, White Paper. Stoddard, P. R and Rogers, D., (2013). Using Dry Erasable Globes in Earth and Space Science Classes. AGU Fall Meeting, #ED53G-0689 Weeraratne, D. S., Rogers, D. B., and Liedtke, J (2011). Teaching Seismic Methods Using Interactive 3-D Earth Globe, AGU Fall Meeting, #ED51B-0751

A Subject Matter Expert View of Curriculum Development.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Milazzo, M. P.; Anderson, R. B.; Edgar, L. A.; Gaither, T. A.; Vaughan, R. G.

2017-12-01

In 2015, NASA selected for funding the PLANETS project: Planetary Learning that Advances the Nexus of Engineering, Technology, and Science. The PLANETS partnership develops planetary science and engineering curricula for out of classroom time (OST) education settings. This partnership is between planetary science Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) at the US Geological Survey (USGS), curriculum developers at the Boston Museum of Science (MOS) Engineering is Everywhere (EiE), science and engineering teacher professional development experts at Northern Arizona University (NAU) Center for Science Teaching and Learning (CSTL), and OST teacher networks across the world. For the 2016 and 2017 Fiscal Years, our focus was on creating science material for two OST modules designed for middle school students. We have begun development of a third module for elementary school students. The first model teaches about the science and engineering of the availability of water in the Solar System, finding accessible water, evaluating it for quality, treating it for impurities, initial use, a cycle of greywater treatment and re-use, and final treatment of blackwater. This module is described in more detail in the abstract by L. Edgar et al., Water in the Solar System: The Development of Science Education Curriculum Focused on Planetary Exploration (233008) The second module involves the science and engineering of remote sensing in planetary exploration. This includes discussion and activities related to the electromagnetic spectrum, spectroscopy and various remote sensing systems and techniques. In these activities and discussions, we include observation and measurement techniques and tools as well as collection and use of specific data of interest to scientists. This module is described in more detail in the abstract by R. Anderson et al., Remote Sensing Mars Landing Sites: An Out-of-School Time Planetary Science Education Activity for Middle School Students (232683) The third module, described by R.G. Vaughan, Hazards in the Solar System: Out-of-School Time Student Activities Focused on Engineering Protective Space Gloves (262143), focuses on hazards in the Solar System and the engineering approach to designing space gloves to protect against those hazards.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: 231 AGN candidates from the 2FGL catalog (Doert+, 2014)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Doert, M.; Errando, M.

2016-01-01

The second Fermi-LAT source catalog (2FGL; Nolan et al. 2012, cat. J/ApJS/199/31) is the deepest all-sky survey available in the gamma-ray band. It contains 1873 sources, of which 576 remain unassociated. The Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope started operations in 2008. In this work, machine-learning algorithms are used to identify unassociated sources in the 2FGL catalog with properties similar to gamma-ray-emitting Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). This analysis finds 231 high-confidence AGN candidates (see Table3). (1 data file).

Nitric Oxide Inhibits Al-Induced Programmed Cell Death in Root Tips of Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) by Affecting Physiological Properties of Antioxidants Systems and Cell Wall

PubMed Central

Pan, Chun-Liu; Yao, Shao-Chang; Xiong, Wei-Jiao; Luo, Shu-Zhen; Wang, Ya-Lun; Wang, Ai-Qin; Xiao, Dong; Zhan, Jie; He, Long-Fei

2017-01-01

It has been reported that nitric oxide (NO) is a negative regulator of aluminum (Al)-induced programmed cell death (PCD) in peanut root tips. However, the inhibiting mechanism of NO on Al-induced PCD is unclear. In order to investigate the mechanism by which NO inhibits Al-induced PCD, the effects of co-treatment Al with the exogenous NO donor or the NO-specific scavenger on peanut root tips, the physiological properties of antioxidants systems and cell wall (CW) in root tip cells of NO inhibiting Al-induced PCD were studied with two peanut cultivars. The results showed that Al exposure induced endogenous NO accumulation, and endogenous NO burst increased antioxidant enzyme activity in response to Al stress. The addition of NO donor sodium nitroprusside (SNP) relieved Al-induced root elongation inhibition, cell death and Al adsorption in CW, as well as oxidative damage and ROS accumulation. Furthermore, co-treatment with the exogenous NO donor decreased MDA content, LOX activity and pectin methylesterase (PME) activity, increased xyloglucan endotransglucosylase (XET) activity and relative expression of the xyloglucan endotransglucosylase/hydrolase (XTH-32) gene. Taken together, exogenous NO alleviated Al-induced PCD by inhibiting Al adsorption in CW, enhancing antioxidant defense and reducing peroxidation of membrane lipids, alleviating the inhibition of Al on root elongation by maintaining the extensibility of CW, decreasing PME activity, and increasing XET activity and relative XTH-32 expression of CW. PMID:29311970

Nitric Oxide Inhibits Al-Induced Programmed Cell Death in Root Tips of Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) by Affecting Physiological Properties of Antioxidants Systems and Cell Wall.

PubMed

Pan, Chun-Liu; Yao, Shao-Chang; Xiong, Wei-Jiao; Luo, Shu-Zhen; Wang, Ya-Lun; Wang, Ai-Qin; Xiao, Dong; Zhan, Jie; He, Long-Fei

2017-01-01

It has been reported that nitric oxide (NO) is a negative regulator of aluminum (Al)-induced programmed cell death (PCD) in peanut root tips. However, the inhibiting mechanism of NO on Al-induced PCD is unclear. In order to investigate the mechanism by which NO inhibits Al-induced PCD, the effects of co-treatment Al with the exogenous NO donor or the NO-specific scavenger on peanut root tips, the physiological properties of antioxidants systems and cell wall (CW) in root tip cells of NO inhibiting Al-induced PCD were studied with two peanut cultivars. The results showed that Al exposure induced endogenous NO accumulation, and endogenous NO burst increased antioxidant enzyme activity in response to Al stress. The addition of NO donor sodium nitroprusside (SNP) relieved Al-induced root elongation inhibition, cell death and Al adsorption in CW, as well as oxidative damage and ROS accumulation. Furthermore, co-treatment with the exogenous NO donor decreased MDA content, LOX activity and pectin methylesterase (PME) activity, increased xyloglucan endotransglucosylase (XET) activity and relative expression of the xyloglucan endotransglucosylase/hydrolase ( XTH-32 ) gene. Taken together, exogenous NO alleviated Al-induced PCD by inhibiting Al adsorption in CW, enhancing antioxidant defense and reducing peroxidation of membrane lipids, alleviating the inhibition of Al on root elongation by maintaining the extensibility of CW, decreasing PME activity, and increasing XET activity and relative XTH-32 expression of CW.

The Relative Effect of Team-Based Learning on Motivation and Learning: A Self-Determination Theory Perspective.

PubMed

Jeno, Lucas M; Raaheim, Arild; Kristensen, Sara Madeleine; Kristensen, Kjell Daniel; Hole, Torstein Nielsen; Haugland, Mildrid J; Mæland, Silje

2017-01-01

We investigate the effects of team-based learning (TBL) on motivation and learning in a quasi-experimental study. The study employs a self-determination theory perspective to investigate the motivational effects of implementing TBL in a physiotherapy course in higher education. We adopted a one-group pretest-posttest design. The results show that the students' intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, perceived competence, and perceived autonomy support significantly increased going from lectures to TBL. The results further show that students' engagement and perceived learning significantly increased. Finally, students' amotivation decreased from pretest to posttest; however, students reported higher external regulation as a function of TBL. Path analysis shows that increases in intrinsic motivation, perceived competence, and external regulation positively predict increases in engagement, which in turn predict increases in perceived learning. We argue that the characteristics of TBL, as opposed to lectures, are likely to engage students and facilitate feelings of competence. TBL is an active-learning approach, as opposed to more passive learning in lectures, which might explain the increase in students' perception of teachers as autonomy supportive. In contrast, the greater demands TBL puts on students might account for the increase in external regulation. Limitations and practical implications of the results are discussed. © 2017 L. M. Jeno et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2017 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

Nucleus accumbens dopamine D2-receptor expressing neurons control behavioral flexibility in a place discrimination task in the IntelliCage.

PubMed

Macpherson, Tom; Morita, Makiko; Wang, Yanyan; Sasaoka, Toshikuni; Sawa, Akira; Hikida, Takatoshi

2016-07-01

Considerable evidence has demonstrated a critical role for the nucleus accumbens (NAc) in the acquisition and flexibility of behavioral strategies. These processes are guided by the activity of two discrete neuron types, dopamine D1- or D2-receptor expressing medium spiny neurons (D1-/D2-MSNs). Here we used the IntelliCage, an automated group-housing experimental cage apparatus, in combination with a reversible neurotransmission blocking technique to examine the role of NAc D1- and D2-MSNs in the acquisition and reversal learning of a place discrimination task. We demonstrated that NAc D1- and D2-MSNs do not mediate the acquisition of the task, but that suppression of activity in D2-MSNs impairs reversal learning and increased perseverative errors. Additionally, global knockout of the dopamine D2L receptor isoform produced a similar behavioral phenotype to D2-MSN-blocked mice. These results suggest that D2L receptors and NAc D2-MSNs act to suppress the influence of previously correct behavioral strategies allowing transfer of behavioral control to new strategies. © 2016 Macpherson et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

Evaluation of students' experience with Problem-based Learning (PBL) applied at the College of Medicine, Al-Jouf University, Saudi Arabia.

PubMed

Alduraywish, Abdulrahman Abdulwahab; Mohager, Mazin Omer; Alenezi, Mohammed Jayed; Nail, Abdelsalam Mohammed; Aljafari, Alfatih Saifudinn

2017-12-01

To evaluate the students' experience with problem-based learning. This cross-sectional, qualitative study was conducted at the College of Medicine, Al Jouf University, Sakakah, Saudi Arabia, in October 2015, and comprised medical students of the 1st to 5th levels. Interviews were conducted using Students' Course Experience Questionnaire. The questionnaire contained 37 questions covering six evaluative categories: appropriate assessment, appropriate workload, clear goals and standards, generic skills, good teaching, and overall satisfaction. The questionnaire follows the Likert's scale model. Mean values were interpreted as: >2.5= at least disagree, 2.5->3= neither/nor (uncertain), and 3 or more= at least agree. Of the 170 respondents, 72(42.7%) agreed that there was an appropriate assessment accompanied with the problem-based learning. Also, 107(63.13%) students agreed that there was a heavy workload on them. The goal and standards of the course were clear for 71(42.35%) students, 104(61.3%) agreed that problem-based learning improved their generic skills, 65(38.07%) agreed the teaching was good and 82(48.08%) students showed overall satisfaction. The students were satisfied with their experience with the problem-based learning.