Sample records for providing true learning

  1. Using Technology to Provide Differentiated Instruction for Deaf Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shepherd, Carol M.; Alpert, Madelon

    2015-01-01

    Knowledge is power. Technological devices provide the new pathway to online learning and student retention. This is especially true for deaf learners, who have difficulty learning with the traditional pedagogies used in teaching. Results of studies have indicated that students using the suggested new technologies become more interested and…

  2. Reciprocity within Biochemistry and Biology Service-Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Santas, Amy J.

    2009-01-01

    Service-learning has become a popular pedagogy because of its numerous and far-reaching benefits (e.g. student interest, engagement, and retention). In part, the benefits are a result of the student learning while providing a service that reflects a true need--not simply an exercise. Although service-learning projects have been developed in the…

  3. The Potential of Experiential Learning Models and Practices in Career and Technical Education and Career and Technical Teacher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Clark, Robert W.; Threeton, Mark D.; Ewing, John C.

    2010-01-01

    Since inception, career and technical education programs have embraced experiential learning as a true learning methodology for students to obtain occupational skills valued by employers. Programs have integrated classroom instruction with laboratory experiences to provide students a significant opportunity to learn. However, it is questionable as…

  4. Use of Uncertainty Reduction and Narrative Paradigm Theories in Management Consulting and Teaching: Lessons Learned

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barker, Randolph T.; Gower, Kim

    2009-01-01

    Teaching business communication while performing professional business consulting is the perfect learning match. The bizarre but true stories from the consulting world provide excellent analogies for classroom learning, and feedback from students about the consulting experiences reaffirms the power of using stories for teaching. When discussing…

  5. A template-finding algorithm and a comprehensive benchmark for homology modeling of proteins

    PubMed Central

    Vallat, Brinda Kizhakke; Pillardy, Jaroslaw; Elber, Ron

    2010-01-01

    The first step in homology modeling is to identify a template protein for the target sequence. The template structure is used in later phases of the calculation to construct an atomically detailed model for the target. We have built from the Protein Data Bank a large-scale learning set that includes tens of millions of pair matches that can be either a true template or a false one. Discriminatory learning (learning from positive and negative examples) is employed to train a decision tree. Each branch of the tree is a mathematical programming model. The decision tree is tested on an independent set from PDB entries and on the sequences of CASP7. It provides significant enrichment of true templates (between 50-100 percent) when compared to PSI-BLAST. The model is further verified by building atomically detailed structures for each of the tentative true templates with modeller. The probability that a true match does not yield an acceptable structural model (within 6Å RMSD from the native structure), decays linearly as a function of the TM structural-alignment score. PMID:18300226

  6. 29 CFR 98.365 - What must I do if I learn of information required under § 98.355 after entering into a covered...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true What must I do if I learn of information required under Â... What must I do if I learn of information required under § 98.355 after entering into a covered... with a person at a higher tier, you must provide immediate written notice to that person if you learn...

  7. A Reference Model for Sustainable E-Learning Service Systems: Experiences with the Joint University/Teradata Consortium

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Demirkan, Haluk; Goul, Michael; Gros, Mary

    2010-01-01

    Many e-learning service systems fail. This is particularly true for those sponsored by joint industry/university consortia where substantial economic investments are required up-front. This article provides an industry/university consortia reference model validated through experiences with the 8-year-old Teradata University Network. The reference…

  8. A Dialogue of Life: Integrating Service Learning in a Community-Immersion Model of Preservice Science-Teacher Preparation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Handa, Vicente; Tippins, Deborah; Thomson, Norman; Bilbao, Purita; Morano, Lourdes; Hallar, Brittan; Miller, Kristen

    2008-01-01

    Dubbed a "dialogue of life," community immersion in preservice science-teacher education aims at providing a true-to-life and empowering opportunity for prospective science teachers (both elementary and secondary) to become active participants in community life through field and service-learning experiences. It consists of a three-unit…

  9. Integrating True Short Stories into English Classes: The Case of Foundation Students in Oman

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Al Siyabi, Munira Said

    2017-01-01

    Searching for practical ways to improve students' English language skills is a real concern for all English teachers. There is a consensus among ELT practitioners regarding the significance of reading for learning new languages, since reading gives depth to language learning (Stern, 2001). Thus, teachers are obligated to provide their students…

  10. The PROFILES Project Promoting Science Teaching in a Foreign Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Blanchard, B.; Masserot, V.; Holbrook, J.

    2014-01-01

    School subjects can provide a good context for learning a second language. This is especially true for science as it can involve a range of student centred activities, which involve students in collaborative communication related to a range of different competences. This paper reflects on one approach to learning in a second language, using the…

  11. Approximate, computationally efficient online learning in Bayesian spiking neurons.

    PubMed

    Kuhlmann, Levin; Hauser-Raspe, Michael; Manton, Jonathan H; Grayden, David B; Tapson, Jonathan; van Schaik, André

    2014-03-01

    Bayesian spiking neurons (BSNs) provide a probabilistic interpretation of how neurons perform inference and learning. Online learning in BSNs typically involves parameter estimation based on maximum-likelihood expectation-maximization (ML-EM) which is computationally slow and limits the potential of studying networks of BSNs. An online learning algorithm, fast learning (FL), is presented that is more computationally efficient than the benchmark ML-EM for a fixed number of time steps as the number of inputs to a BSN increases (e.g., 16.5 times faster run times for 20 inputs). Although ML-EM appears to converge 2.0 to 3.6 times faster than FL, the computational cost of ML-EM means that ML-EM takes longer to simulate to convergence than FL. FL also provides reasonable convergence performance that is robust to initialization of parameter estimates that are far from the true parameter values. However, parameter estimation depends on the range of true parameter values. Nevertheless, for a physiologically meaningful range of parameter values, FL gives very good average estimation accuracy, despite its approximate nature. The FL algorithm therefore provides an efficient tool, complementary to ML-EM, for exploring BSN networks in more detail in order to better understand their biological relevance. Moreover, the simplicity of the FL algorithm means it can be easily implemented in neuromorphic VLSI such that one can take advantage of the energy-efficient spike coding of BSNs.

  12. Creating a Brief Rating Scale for the Assessment of Learning Disabilities Using Reliability and True Score Estimates of the Scale's Items Based on the Rasch Model

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sideridis, Georgios; Padeliadu, Susana

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of the present studies was to provide the means to create brief versions of instruments that can aid the diagnosis and classification of students with learning disabilities and comorbid disorders (e.g., attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder). A sample of 1,108 students with and without a diagnosis of learning disabilities took part…

  13. Modeling the Development of Audiovisual Cue Integration in Speech Perception

    PubMed Central

    Getz, Laura M.; Nordeen, Elke R.; Vrabic, Sarah C.; Toscano, Joseph C.

    2017-01-01

    Adult speech perception is generally enhanced when information is provided from multiple modalities. In contrast, infants do not appear to benefit from combining auditory and visual speech information early in development. This is true despite the fact that both modalities are important to speech comprehension even at early stages of language acquisition. How then do listeners learn how to process auditory and visual information as part of a unified signal? In the auditory domain, statistical learning processes provide an excellent mechanism for acquiring phonological categories. Is this also true for the more complex problem of acquiring audiovisual correspondences, which require the learner to integrate information from multiple modalities? In this paper, we present simulations using Gaussian mixture models (GMMs) that learn cue weights and combine cues on the basis of their distributional statistics. First, we simulate the developmental process of acquiring phonological categories from auditory and visual cues, asking whether simple statistical learning approaches are sufficient for learning multi-modal representations. Second, we use this time course information to explain audiovisual speech perception in adult perceivers, including cases where auditory and visual input are mismatched. Overall, we find that domain-general statistical learning techniques allow us to model the developmental trajectory of audiovisual cue integration in speech, and in turn, allow us to better understand the mechanisms that give rise to unified percepts based on multiple cues. PMID:28335558

  14. Modeling the Development of Audiovisual Cue Integration in Speech Perception.

    PubMed

    Getz, Laura M; Nordeen, Elke R; Vrabic, Sarah C; Toscano, Joseph C

    2017-03-21

    Adult speech perception is generally enhanced when information is provided from multiple modalities. In contrast, infants do not appear to benefit from combining auditory and visual speech information early in development. This is true despite the fact that both modalities are important to speech comprehension even at early stages of language acquisition. How then do listeners learn how to process auditory and visual information as part of a unified signal? In the auditory domain, statistical learning processes provide an excellent mechanism for acquiring phonological categories. Is this also true for the more complex problem of acquiring audiovisual correspondences, which require the learner to integrate information from multiple modalities? In this paper, we present simulations using Gaussian mixture models (GMMs) that learn cue weights and combine cues on the basis of their distributional statistics. First, we simulate the developmental process of acquiring phonological categories from auditory and visual cues, asking whether simple statistical learning approaches are sufficient for learning multi-modal representations. Second, we use this time course information to explain audiovisual speech perception in adult perceivers, including cases where auditory and visual input are mismatched. Overall, we find that domain-general statistical learning techniques allow us to model the developmental trajectory of audiovisual cue integration in speech, and in turn, allow us to better understand the mechanisms that give rise to unified percepts based on multiple cues.

  15. Epileptic Seizures Prediction Using Machine Learning Methods

    PubMed Central

    Usman, Syed Muhammad

    2017-01-01

    Epileptic seizures occur due to disorder in brain functionality which can affect patient's health. Prediction of epileptic seizures before the beginning of the onset is quite useful for preventing the seizure by medication. Machine learning techniques and computational methods are used for predicting epileptic seizures from Electroencephalograms (EEG) signals. However, preprocessing of EEG signals for noise removal and features extraction are two major issues that have an adverse effect on both anticipation time and true positive prediction rate. Therefore, we propose a model that provides reliable methods of both preprocessing and feature extraction. Our model predicts epileptic seizures' sufficient time before the onset of seizure starts and provides a better true positive rate. We have applied empirical mode decomposition (EMD) for preprocessing and have extracted time and frequency domain features for training a prediction model. The proposed model detects the start of the preictal state, which is the state that starts few minutes before the onset of the seizure, with a higher true positive rate compared to traditional methods, 92.23%, and maximum anticipation time of 33 minutes and average prediction time of 23.6 minutes on scalp EEG CHB-MIT dataset of 22 subjects. PMID:29410700

  16. True-3D Accentuating of Grids and Streets in Urban Topographic Maps Enhances Human Object Location Memory

    PubMed Central

    Edler, Dennis; Bestgen, Anne-Kathrin; Kuchinke, Lars; Dickmann, Frank

    2015-01-01

    Cognitive representations of learned map information are subject to systematic distortion errors. Map elements that divide a map surface into regions, such as content-related linear symbols (e.g. streets, rivers, railway systems) or additional artificial layers (coordinate grids), provide an orientation pattern that can help users to reduce distortions in their mental representations. In recent years, the television industry has started to establish True-3D (autostereoscopic) displays as mass media. These modern displays make it possible to watch dynamic and static images including depth illusions without additional devices, such as 3D glasses. In these images, visual details can be distributed over different positions along the depth axis. Some empirical studies of vision research provided first evidence that 3D stereoscopic content attracts higher attention and is processed faster. So far, the impact of True-3D accentuating has not yet been explored concerning spatial memory tasks and cartography. This paper reports the results of two empirical studies that focus on investigations whether True-3D accentuating of artificial, regular overlaying line features (i.e. grids) and content-related, irregular line features (i.e. highways and main streets) in official urban topographic maps (scale 1/10,000) further improves human object location memory performance. The memory performance is measured as both the percentage of correctly recalled object locations (hit rate) and the mean distances of correctly recalled objects (spatial accuracy). It is shown that the True-3D accentuating of grids (depth offset: 5 cm) significantly enhances the spatial accuracy of recalled map object locations, whereas the True-3D emphasis of streets significantly improves the hit rate of recalled map object locations. These results show the potential of True-3D displays for an improvement of the cognitive representation of learned cartographic information. PMID:25679208

  17. Student Learning through Service Learning: Effects on Academic Development, Civic Responsibility, Interpersonal Skills and Practical Skills

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hébert, Ali; Hauf, Petra

    2015-01-01

    Although anecdotal evidence and research alike espouse the benefits of service learning, some researchers have suggested that more rigorous testing is required in order to determine its true effect on students. This is particularly true in the case of academic development, which has been inconsistently linked to service learning. It has been…

  18. Horticulture

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Murdock, Ashleigh Barbee, Ed.

    2011-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  19. Science of Agricultural Plants

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Murdock, Ashleigh Barbee, Ed.

    2010-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  20. Science of Agricultural Mechanization

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Murdock, Ashleigh Barbee, Ed.

    2010-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  1. Science of Agricultural Environment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Murdock, Ashleigh Barbee, Ed.

    2010-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  2. Science of Agricultural Animals

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Murdock, Ashleigh Barbee, Ed.

    2010-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  3. Concepts of Agriscience

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Murdock, Ashleigh Barbee

    2010-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  4. Polymer Science. Program CIP: 15.0607

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Research and Curriculum Unit, 2010

    2010-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  5. Marketing. Program CIP: Marketing: 52.1801

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Murdock, Ashleigh Barbee, Ed.

    2008-01-01

    Secondary career-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  6. Engineering. Program CIP: 14.1901

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Agee, Kelly, Ed.

    2009-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  7. Health Sciences. Program CIP: 51.0000

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Murdock, Ashleigh, Ed.

    2007-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  8. Safe Schooling: Always at the Ready

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moore, Brian N.

    2012-01-01

    Those who spent time in the classroom recognize the need to formulate well-designed lesson plans before they can provide a first-rate education. A lesson plan provides guidance on what they will be teaching, the tools they will need to teach a lesson, and their expectations for the outcomes of the lesson--what kids will learn. The same is true for…

  9. Business Fundamentals. Program CIP: Business Fundamentals: 52.0101

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Murdock, Ashleigh Barbee, Ed.

    2008-01-01

    Secondary career-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  10. Diesel Service Technician. Program CIP: 47.0605

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Agee, Kelly, Ed.

    2010-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  11. Automotive Service Technician. Program CIP: 47.0604 - Transportation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Agee, Kelly, Ed.

    2008-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  12. Industrial Maintenance. Program CIP: 47.0303 - Industrial Maintenance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Research and Curriculum Unit, 2009

    2009-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  13. Culinary Arts. Program CIP: 12.0500-Culinary Arts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Murdock, Ashleigh, Ed.

    2008-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  14. Welding Technology. Program CIP: 48.0508 - WELDING

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ferguson, Doug

    2010-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  15. Simulation and Animation Design. Program CIP: 50.0411

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Murdock, Ashleigh Barbee, Ed.

    2010-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  16. Early Childhood Education. Program CIP: 19.0709

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Murdock, Ashleigh Barbee, Ed.

    2010-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  17. Installation and Service: HVAC. Program CIP: 47.0201

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Research and Curriculum Unit, 2009

    2009-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  18. Management. Program CIP: Business Management: 52.0204

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Murdock, Ashleigh Barbee, Ed.

    2008-01-01

    Secondary career-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  19. Principles of Adult Learning: An ESL Context

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Finn, Donald

    2011-01-01

    Given the current global economic situation, industries have been forced to examine their efficiency and effectiveness, and this is also true for adult education programs. Many programs, whether public or private, face budget downsizing which leads to questions of how to effectively instruct the adults they serve. This article provides an overview…

  20. Generations at School: Building an Age-Friendly Learning Community

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lovely, Suzette; Buffum, Austin G.; Barth, Roland S.

    2007-01-01

    Today's workforce comprises distinct generational cohorts-Veterans, Baby Boomers, Gen-Xers, and Millennials. "Generations at School" provides educators with the knowledge and tools to create and sustain true collaboration, teamwork, and consensus. Suzette Lovely and Austin G. Buffum introduce the traits and tipping points of these diverse age…

  1. 2005 Mississippi Curriculum Framework: Secondary Masonry. (Program CIP: 46.0101 - Mason/Masonry)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Davis, Milton; Harris, Chester; Richards, Toney; Smith, Allen; Weatherly, Ronald; Weeks, W. D.

    2005-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  2. 2007 Mississippi Curriculum Framework: Secondary Agriscience. (Program CIP: 01.0000 - Agriculture, General)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cantrell, Steve; Conway, Scott; Jack, Linda; Stuckey, Dan

    2007-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  3. Moodle 2.0: Shifting from a Learning Toolkit to a Open Learning Platform

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Alier, Marc; Casañ, María José; Piguillem, Jordi

    Learning Management Systems (LMS) have reached a plateau of maturity in features, application to teaching practices and wide adoption by learning institutions. But the Web 2.0 carries new kinds of tools, services and ways of using the web; personally and socially. Some educators and learners have started to advocate for a new approach to frame one's learning sources, from the LMS course space towards Personal Learning Environments (PLE). But PLE's are characterized by its absence of structure, just what is provided by open standards and mashup techniques. Based on 5 years of participative observation research, this article explains the changes in architecture performed on the second version of Moodle, why did these changes happen and what should be the next steps so Moodle can shift from being a learning tool to a true open learning platform.

  4. Clustering redshift distributions for the Dark Energy Survey

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Helsby, Jennifer

    Accurate determination of photometric redshifts and their errors is critical for large scale structure and weak lensing studies for constraining cosmology from deep, wide imaging surveys. Current photometric redshift methods suffer from bias and scatter due to incomplete training sets. Exploiting the clustering between a sample of galaxies for which we have spectroscopic redshifts and a sample of galaxies for which the redshifts are unknown can allow us to reconstruct the true redshift distribution of the unknown sample. Here we use this method in both simulations and early data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) to determine the true redshift distributions of galaxies in photometric redshift bins. We find that cross-correlating with the spectroscopic samples currently used for training provides a useful test of photometric redshifts and provides reliable estimates of the true redshift distribution in a photometric redshift bin. We discuss the use of the cross-correlation method in validating template- or learning-based approaches to redshift estimation and its future use in Stage IV surveys.

  5. Learner Autonomy and Telecollaborative Language Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Little, David

    2016-01-01

    When I was invited to give one of the keynote talks at the Second International Conference on Telecollaboration in Higher Education, my first thought was that I should decline. It is true that for thirty years I was responsible for Trinity College Dublin's self-access language learning facilities and resources; true also that around the turn of…

  6. 2005 Mississippi Curriculum Framework: Secondary Metal Trades. (Program CIP: 48.0590 - Metal Trades)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brown, Gary; Sample, John; Waits, Jeffrey; Britt, Albert; McKee, Steve; Sullivan, Kirk; Warren, Brian

    2005-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  7. 2005 Mississippi Curriculum Framework: Secondary Cosmetology. (Program CIP: 12.0401 - Cosmetology/Cosmetologist, General)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Buchanon, Rouser; Farmer, Helen

    2005-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  8. 2007 Mississippi Curriculum Framework: Secondary Diesel Service Technology. (Program CIP: 47.0605 - Diesel Mechanics Technology/Technician)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ellison, Dave; Jackson, Edward

    2007-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  9. Design Considerations for Integrating Twitter into an Online Course

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rohr, Linda E.; Costello, Jane; Hawkins, Thomas

    2015-01-01

    While the use of Twitter for communication and assessment activities in online courses is not new, it has not been without its challenges. This is increasingly true of high enrolment courses. The use of a Twitter Evaluation application which leverages a Learning Management System's (LMS's) application programming interface (API) provides a…

  10. 2005 Mississippi Curriculum Framework: Secondary Welding Theory and Applications. (Program CIP: 48.0508 - Welding Technology/Welder)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cochran, Harry; Lawrence, Kenneth; Wages, Larry; Box, Dale; Johnston, Joe; Switzer, Ronald

    2005-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and instructors are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured…

  11. 2007 Mississippi Curriculum Framework: Secondary Custodian/Caretaker Services. (Program CIP: 19.0702 - Adult Development and Aging)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Blake, LC; Harthcock, Sandra

    2007-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  12. 2005 Mississippi Curriculum Framework: Secondary Horticulture. (Program CIP: 01.0601 - Applied Horticulture/Horticultural Operations, General)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Research and Curriculum Unit, 2005

    2005-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  13. Developmental Reading Disorders in Japan--Prevalence, Profiles, and Possible Mechanisms

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Welty, Yumiko Tanaka; Menn, Lise; Oishi, Noriko

    2014-01-01

    Japan has been considered dyslexia-free because of the nature of the orthography, which consists of the visually simple kana syllabary and some thousands of visually complex, logographic kanji characters. It is true that few children struggle with learning kana, which provide consistent mappings between symbols and their pronunciation. Indeed,…

  14. 2006 Mississippi Curriculum Framework: Secondary Forestry. (Program CIP: 03.0511 - Forestry Technology/Technician)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Research and Curriculum Unit, 2006

    2006-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  15. Beyond Simple Participation: Providing a Reliable Informal Assessment Tool of Student Engagement for Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wagetti, Rebecca J.; Johnston, Patricia; Jones, Leslie B.

    2017-01-01

    Educators have realized the importance of engaging students in learning. Teachers often see participatory behaviors like "hand raising" as evidence of students being engaged in an activity. These indications of engagement do not capture motivational factors behind true engagement. A research team developed a five item scale to easily…

  16. 2007 Mississippi Curriculum Framework: Secondary Technology Applications. (Program CIP: 21.0101 - Technology Applications)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fava, David; Gunkel, Andy; Hood, Jennifer; Mason, Debra; Walker, Jim

    2007-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  17. 2005 Mississippi Curriculum Framework: Secondary Aging Services. (Program CIP: 19.0702 - Adult Development and Aging)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Walker, Kathy

    2005-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  18. 2005 Mississippi Curriculum Framework: Secondary Building Trades. (Program CIP: 46.0000 - Construction Trades, General)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jernigan, Jarvis; Manning, Phillip; Matkins, Billy

    2005-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  19. Rhythm Perception and Its Role in Perception and Learning of Dysrhythmic Speech

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Borrie, Stephanie A.; Lansford, Kaitlin L.; Barrett, Tyson S.

    2017-01-01

    Purpose: The perception of rhythm cues plays an important role in recognizing spoken language, especially in adverse listening conditions. Indeed, this has been shown to hold true even when the rhythm cues themselves are dysrhythmic. This study investigates whether expertise in rhythm perception provides a processing advantage for perception…

  20. 2007 Mississippi Curriculum Framework: Secondary Introduction to Agriscience. (Program CIP: 01.0001 - Introduction to Agriscience)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Research and Curriculum Unit, 2007

    2007-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  1. 2007 Mississippi Curriculum Framework: Secondary Computer Graphics. (Program CIP: 50.0402 - Commercial and Advertising Art)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Creel, Jo Anne; Denson, Cornelius; New, Ray

    2007-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  2. 2008 Mississippi Curriculum Framework: Family and Consumer Sciences. (Program CIP: 19.9999 - Family and Consumer Sciences)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rosetti, Pamela; Byrd, Jenean; West, Brenda; Bigham, Melody

    2008-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  3. Learning Basic English in Overcrowded Classes for True Beginners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Santana, Isaias

    2016-01-01

    The higher educational institution where this study took place is located in the Dominican Republic. The purpose of this study was to provide insights to the effectiveness and impact of the instructional process applied in a Basic English class under overcrowding conditions, implementing an in depth interview to the faculty members and an…

  4. 2005 Mississippi Curriculum Framework: Secondary Machine Tool Operation. (Program CIP: 48.0503 - Machine Shop Technology/Assistant)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gorman, Nathan; Parker, Ronald; Lurie, Charles; Maples, Thomas

    2005-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  5. The USDA and K-12 Partnership: A Model Program for Federal Agencies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Scott, Timothy P.; Wilson, Craig; Upchurch, Dan R.; Goldberg, Maria; Bentz, Adrienne

    2011-01-01

    The Future Scientists Program of Texas A&M University and the Agricultural Research Service branch of USDA serves as a model program of effective collaboration between a federal agency and K-12. It demonstrates true partnership that contextualizes learning of science and provides quality professional development, benefiting teachers and their…

  6. 2005 Mississippi Curriculum Framework: Secondary Hotel, Restaurant, and Tourism Management. (Program CIP: 52.0901--Hospitality Administration/Management)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bruce, Lady Anne; Chandler, Mark; Nichols, Raynette; Nevill, Becky

    2005-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  7. 2007 Mississippi Curriculum Framework: Secondary Food Products (Meats). (Program CIP: 01.0401 - Agricultural and Food Products Processing)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Research and Curriculum Unit, 2007

    2007-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  8. 2007 Mississippi Curriculum Framework: Secondary Agriculture Power and Machinery. (Program CIP: 01.0204 - Agricultural Power Machinery Operation)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    James, Lee; James, Terry; Washington, Lee; Taylor, John Grady; Rushing, Jimmy

    2007-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  9. 2006 Mississippi Curriculum Framework: Secondary Small Engine Repair. (Program CIP: 47.0606 - Small Engine Mechanic and Repairer)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Evans, Jimmie; Britt, Steve; Smith, Toby; Jackson, Wade

    2006-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  10. 2006 Mississippi Curriculum Framework: Secondary Outboard Marine Engine Mechanics. (Program CIP: 47.0692 - Outboard Engine Mechanics I)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chavarria, Ricardo; Bounds, Terry

    2006-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  11. 2007 Mississippi Curriculum Framework: Secondary Design Technology for Fashion and Interiors. (Program CIP: 19.0901 - Apparel and Textiles, General)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ingram, Carol; Lawrence, Angie; Pou, Margaret

    2007-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  12. 2005 Mississippi Curriculum Framework: Secondary Vehicle and Mobile Equipment Technician. (Program CIP: 47.0699 - Vehicle Maintenance and Repair Technology, Other)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brackeen, Scott; Freeman, Roscoe; Tiblier, Chris; Batton, James; Ealy, Houston; Simmons, Gerald

    2005-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  13. 2006 Mississippi Curriculum Framework: Secondary Agricultural and Natural Resources Technology. (Program CIP: 01.0003 - Agricultural and Natural Resources)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bennett, Aaron; Chaney, David; Cole, Ted; Sumrall, Billy; White, Andy

    2006-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  14. 2005 Mississippi Curriculum Framework: Secondary General Drafting. (Program CIP: 15.1301 - Drafting and Design Technology/Technician, General)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kirk, Karen; Ladner, Daryl; Lewis, Carroll; Moran, Sheryl; Schneider, Chester; Strickland, Ruth Ann; Welch, Amanda

    2005-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  15. 2007 Mississippi Curriculum Framework: Secondary Automotive Collision Repair Technology. (Program CIP: 47.0603 - Autobody/Collision and Repair Technology/Technician)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dowds, Eris; Anderson, Daniel; Sizemore, Rick; Johnson, John

    2007-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  16. Results from a National Needs Assessment Survey: A View of Assessment Efforts within Chemistry Departments

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Emenike, Mary Elizabeth; Schroeder, Jacob; Murphy, Kristen; Holme, Thomas

    2013-01-01

    As is true for virtually all of higher education, chemistry departments are often required to provide evidence of student learning at both course and curricular levels through evaluation and assessment. The ACS Exams Institute conducted a needs assessment survey of 1500 chemistry faculty members from across the country to investigate motivation,…

  17. 2006 Mississippi Curriculum Framework: Secondary Culinary and Related Foods Technology. (Program CIP: 20.0401 - Institutional Food Workers & Admin)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Durand, Linda; Early, Lanell; Wood, Becky Jolly

    2006-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  18. Should Rewards Have a Place in Early Childhood Programs?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shiller, Virginia M.; O'Flynn, Janet C.; Reineke, June; Sonsteng, Kathleen; Gartrell, Dan

    2008-01-01

    Does the use of rewards to motivate children to learn or to follow classroom rules run counter to fostering a true desire for mastery? This column, which consists of two separate articles, provides the opposing opinions of the authors regarding the appropriateness of giving rewards in an early childhood classroom. In "Using Rewards in the Early…

  19. A Study of the Effectiveness of Web-Based Homework in Teaching Undergraduate Business Statistics

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Palocsay, Susan W.; Stevens, Scott P.

    2008-01-01

    Web-based homework (WBH) Technology can simplify the creation and grading of assignments as well as provide a feasible platform for assessment testing, but its effect on student learning in business statistics is unknown. This is particularly true of the latest software development of Web-based tutoring agents that dynamically evaluate individual…

  20. Reciprocity within biochemistry and biology service-learning.

    PubMed

    Santas, Amy J

    2009-05-01

    Service-learning has become a popular pedagogy because of its numerous and far-reaching benefits (e.g. student interest, engagement, and retention). In part, the benefits are a result of the student learning while providing a service that reflects a true need-not simply an exercise. Although service-learning projects have been developed in the areas of Biochemistry and Biology, many do not require reciprocity between the student and those being served. A reciprocal relationship enables a depth in learning as students synthesize and integrate their knowledge while confronting a real-life need. A novel reciprocal service-learning project within a three-semester undergraduate research course in the areas of Biochemistry and Biology is presented. The goal of the project was agreed upon through joint meetings with the partner institution (The Wilds) to develop an in-house competitive ELISA pregnane diol assay. Student progress and achievements were followed through the use of rubrics and progress-meetings with The Wilds. A portfolio provided a visual of progress as it contained both the written assignments as well as the rubric. The article describes a specific reciprocal biochemistry and biology service-learning project and provides recommendations on how to adapt this service-learning design for use in other research courses. Copyright © 2009 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

  1. ImmuneQuest: Assessment of a Video Game as a Supplement to an Undergraduate Immunology Course.

    PubMed

    Raimondi, Stacey L

    2016-05-01

    The study of immunology, particularly in this day and age, is an integral aspect of the training of future biologists, especially health professionals. Unfortunately, many students lose interest in or lack true comprehension of immunology due to the jargon of the field, preventing them from gaining a true conceptual understanding that is essential to all biological learning. To that end, a new video game, ImmuneQuest, has been developed that allows undergraduate students to "be" cells in the immune system, finding and attacking pathogens, while answering questions to earn additional abilities. The ultimate goal of ImmuneQuest is to allow students to understand how the major cells in the immune system work together to fight disease, rather than focusing on them as separate entities as is more commonly done in lecture material. This work provides the first assessment of ImmuneQuest in an upper-level immunology course. Students had significant gains in learning of information presented in ImmuneQuest compared with information discussed in lecture only. Furthermore, while students found the game "frustrating" at times, they agreed that the game aided their learning and recommended it for future courses. Taken together, these results suggest that ImmuneQuest appears to be a useful tool to supplement lecture material and increase student learning and comprehension.

  2. Learning to walk before we run: what can medical education learn from the human body about integrated care.

    PubMed

    Manusov, Eron G; Marlowe, Daniel P; Teasley, Deborah J

    2013-04-01

    True integration requires a shift in all levels of medical and allied health education; one that emphasizes team learning, practicing, and evaluating from the beginning of each students' educational experience whether that is as physician, nurse, psychologist, or any other health profession. Integration of healthcare services will not occur until medical education focuses, like the human body, on each system working inter-dependently and cohesively to maintain balance through continual change and adaptation. The human body develops and maintains homeostasis by a process of communication: true integrated care relies on learned interprofessionality and ensures shared responsibility and practice.

  3. Learning to walk before we run: what can medical education learn from the human body about integrated care

    PubMed Central

    Manusov, Eron G; Marlowe, Daniel P; Teasley, Deborah J

    2013-01-01

    True integration requires a shift in all levels of medical and allied health education; one that emphasizes team learning, practicing, and evaluating from the beginning of each students’ educational experience whether that is as physician, nurse, psychologist, or any other health profession. Integration of healthcare services will not occur until medical education focuses, like the human body, on each system working inter-dependently and cohesively to maintain balance through continual change and adaptation. The human body develops and maintains homeostasis by a process of communication: true integrated care relies on learned interprofessionality and ensures shared responsibility and practice. PMID:23882167

  4. 2005 Mississippi Curriculum Framework: Secondary Heating and Air Conditioning. (Program CIP: 47.0201 - Heating, Air Conditioning, Ventilation, and Refrigeration Maintenance Technology/Technician)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Green, Jacob; LeBatard, Ernest; Wiggington, Donnie; Williams, Bennett

    2005-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  5. What Technology Plays Supporting Role in Learning Cycle Approach for Science Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Turkmen, Hakan

    2006-01-01

    There has been a movement nationally over past several decades to integrate technology into extent curriculum. This is true both at the K-12 level and in higher education. The purpose of this study is to show what role science education has played in this effort (i.e., what documents, research or associations provide positions on technology usage)…

  6. Theorists and Techniques: Connecting Education Theories to Lamaze Teaching Techniques

    PubMed Central

    Podgurski, Mary Jo

    2016-01-01

    ABSTRACT Should childbirth educators connect education theory to technique? Is there more to learning about theorists than memorizing facts for an assessment? Are childbirth educators uniquely poised to glean wisdom from theorists and enhance their classes with interactive techniques inspiring participant knowledge and empowerment? Yes, yes, and yes. This article will explore how an awareness of education theory can enhance retention of material through interactive learning techniques. Lamaze International childbirth classes already prepare participants for the childbearing year by using positive group dynamics; theory will empower childbirth educators to address education through well-studied avenues. Childbirth educators can provide evidence-based learning techniques in their classes and create true behavioral change. PMID:26848246

  7. How to facilitate freshmen learning and support their transition to a university study environment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kangas, Jari; Rantanen, Elisa; Kettunen, Lauri

    2017-11-01

    Most freshmen enter universities with high expectations and with good motivation, but too many are driven into performing instead of true learning. The issues are not only related to the challenge of comprehending the substance, social and other factors have an impact as well. All these multifaceted needs should be accounted for to facilitate student learning. Learning is an individual process and remarkable improvement in the learning practices is possible, if proper actions are addressed early enough. We motivate and describe a study of the experience obtained from a set of tailor-made courses that were given alongside standard curriculum. The courses aimed to provide a 'safe community' to address the multifaceted needs. Such support was integrated into regular coursework where active learning techniques, e.g. interactive small groups were incorporated. To assess impact of the courses we employ the feedback obtained during the courses and longitudinal statistical data about students' success.

  8. Altruistic learning.

    PubMed

    Seymour, Ben; Yoshida, Wako; Dolan, Ray

    2009-01-01

    The origin of altruism remains one of the most enduring puzzles of human behaviour. Indeed, true altruism is often thought either not to exist, or to arise merely as a miscalculation of otherwise selfish behaviour. In this paper, we argue that altruism emerges directly from the way in which distinct human decision-making systems learn about rewards. Using insights provided by neurobiological accounts of human decision-making, we suggest that reinforcement learning in game-theoretic social interactions (habitisation over either individuals or games) and observational learning (either imitative of inference based) lead to altruistic behaviour. This arises not only as a result of computational efficiency in the face of processing complexity, but as a direct consequence of optimal inference in the face of uncertainty. Critically, we argue that the fact that evolutionary pressure acts not over the object of learning ('what' is learned), but over the learning systems themselves ('how' things are learned), enables the evolution of altruism despite the direct threat posed by free-riders.

  9. Discovering a "True" Map of the World--Learning Activities.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hantula, James

    "True" maps of the world, as seen from the perspective of the time in which they were produced, remain an ethnocentric visual language in modern times. Students can gain insight into such "true" maps by studying maps produced in the great traditions of the West and East. Teachers can determine a map's appropriateness by identifying its title,…

  10. 2002 Mississippi Curriculum Framework: Comprehensive Consumer & Homemaking Education (Program CIP: 20.0101 - Comprehensive Consumer & Homemaking Education). Family and Consumer Sciences (Program CIP: 20.0192 - Family and Consumer Sciences)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Arthur, Jan; Blackwell, Michelle; Clemmer, Phyllis; Cocroft, Shunda; Everett, Laurelie; Green, Coretta; West, Brenda; Yarbrough, Ruthie

    2002-01-01

    Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

  11. Gifts from Exoplanetary Transits

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Narita, Norio

    2009-08-01

    The discovery of transiting extrasolar planets has enabled us to do a number of interesting studies. Transit photometry reveals the radius and the orbital inclination of transiting planets, which allows us to learn the true mass and density of the respective planets by the combined information from radial velocity (RV) measurements. In addition, follow-up observations of transiting planets, looking at such things as secondary eclipses, transit timing variations, transmission spectroscopy, and the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect, provide us information about their dayside temperatures, unseen bodies in systems, planetary atmospheres, and the obliquity of planetary orbits. Such observational information, which will provide us a greater understanding of extrasolar planets, is available only for transiting planets. Here, I briefly summarize what we can learn from transiting planets and introduce previous studies.

  12. A spiking neural network model of model-free reinforcement learning with high-dimensional sensory input and perceptual ambiguity.

    PubMed

    Nakano, Takashi; Otsuka, Makoto; Yoshimoto, Junichiro; Doya, Kenji

    2015-01-01

    A theoretical framework of reinforcement learning plays an important role in understanding action selection in animals. Spiking neural networks provide a theoretically grounded means to test computational hypotheses on neurally plausible algorithms of reinforcement learning through numerical simulation. However, most of these models cannot handle observations which are noisy, or occurred in the past, even though these are inevitable and constraining features of learning in real environments. This class of problem is formally known as partially observable reinforcement learning (PORL) problems. It provides a generalization of reinforcement learning to partially observable domains. In addition, observations in the real world tend to be rich and high-dimensional. In this work, we use a spiking neural network model to approximate the free energy of a restricted Boltzmann machine and apply it to the solution of PORL problems with high-dimensional observations. Our spiking network model solves maze tasks with perceptually ambiguous high-dimensional observations without knowledge of the true environment. An extended model with working memory also solves history-dependent tasks. The way spiking neural networks handle PORL problems may provide a glimpse into the underlying laws of neural information processing which can only be discovered through such a top-down approach.

  13. A Spiking Neural Network Model of Model-Free Reinforcement Learning with High-Dimensional Sensory Input and Perceptual Ambiguity

    PubMed Central

    Nakano, Takashi; Otsuka, Makoto; Yoshimoto, Junichiro; Doya, Kenji

    2015-01-01

    A theoretical framework of reinforcement learning plays an important role in understanding action selection in animals. Spiking neural networks provide a theoretically grounded means to test computational hypotheses on neurally plausible algorithms of reinforcement learning through numerical simulation. However, most of these models cannot handle observations which are noisy, or occurred in the past, even though these are inevitable and constraining features of learning in real environments. This class of problem is formally known as partially observable reinforcement learning (PORL) problems. It provides a generalization of reinforcement learning to partially observable domains. In addition, observations in the real world tend to be rich and high-dimensional. In this work, we use a spiking neural network model to approximate the free energy of a restricted Boltzmann machine and apply it to the solution of PORL problems with high-dimensional observations. Our spiking network model solves maze tasks with perceptually ambiguous high-dimensional observations without knowledge of the true environment. An extended model with working memory also solves history-dependent tasks. The way spiking neural networks handle PORL problems may provide a glimpse into the underlying laws of neural information processing which can only be discovered through such a top-down approach. PMID:25734662

  14. How Children Learn.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Indiana State Board of Education, Indianapolis.

    This document was prepared to help parents, educators, and concerned citizens better understand how children and adolescents actually learn. True learning involves: (1) developing a passion for learning; (2) acquiring communication skills; (3) constructing new knowledge; (4) taking part in concrete activities; and (5) developing problem solving…

  15. Tried and True: Self-Regulation Theory as a Guiding Framework for Teaching Parents Diabetes Education Using Human Patient Simulation

    PubMed Central

    Sullivan-Bolyai, Susan; Johnson, Kimberly; Cullen, Karen; Hamm, Terry; Bisordi, Jean; Blaney, Kathleen; Maguire, Laura; Melkus, Gail

    2014-01-01

    Parents become emotionally upset when learning their child has Type 1 Diabetes, yet they are expected to quickly learn functional diabetes management. The purpose of this article is to describe the application of Self-Regulation theory to guide a family-focused education intervention using human patient simulation to enhance the initial education of parents in diabetes management. A brief description is provided of the intervention framed by Self-Regulation theory. Based on the literature, we describe the educational vignettes used based on Self-Regulation in the randomized controlled trial entitled Parent Education Through Simulation-Diabetes. Examples of theory-in-practice will be illustrated by parental learning responses to this alternative educational innovation. PMID:25365286

  16. Easy and Informative: Using Confidence-Weighted True-False Items for Knowledge Tests in Psychology Courses

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dutke, Stephan; Barenberg, Jonathan

    2015-01-01

    We introduce a specific type of item for knowledge tests, confidence-weighted true-false (CTF) items, and review experiences of its application in psychology courses. A CTF item is a statement about the learning content to which students respond whether the statement is true or false, and they rate their confidence level. Previous studies using…

  17. 34 CFR 300.307 - Specific learning disabilities.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... 34 Education 2 2014-07-01 2013-07-01 true Specific learning disabilities. 300.307 Section 300.307... Educational Placements Additional Procedures for Identifying Children with Specific Learning Disabilities § 300.307 Specific learning disabilities. (a) General. A State must adopt, consistent with § 300.309...

  18. 34 CFR 300.307 - Specific learning disabilities.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 34 Education 2 2011-07-01 2010-07-01 true Specific learning disabilities. 300.307 Section 300.307... Educational Placements Additional Procedures for Identifying Children with Specific Learning Disabilities § 300.307 Specific learning disabilities. (a) General. A State must adopt, consistent with § 300.309...

  19. Many people agreeing that something is true is not the same thing as people who spend their life studying something (who speak the same way and agree about what makes something true) agreeing that something is true!

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jacobs, P.

    2016-12-01

    Burning stuff from the ground for power is changing our home. It's warming up. But some people don't understand or agree that this is true! When people who learn about stuff for their life's work- who speak the same way and agree about what makes something true, and come from many different places and groups- agree that stuff shows something is true, then it's okay to act like it's true, even if you don't study it. This is different from when a lot of people just agree about something.

  20. Are Virtual Labs as Effective as Hands-on Labs for Undergraduate Physics? A Comparative Study at Two Major Universities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Darrah, Marjorie; Humbert, Roxann; Finstein, Jeanne; Simon, Marllin; Hopkins, John

    2014-01-01

    Most physics professors would agree that the lab experiences students have in introductory physics are central to the learning of the concepts in the course. It is also true that these physics labs require time and money for upkeep, not to mention the hours spent setting up and taking down labs. Virtual physics lab experiences can provide an…

  1. The Joint Tactical Radio System: Lessons Learned and the Way Forward

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2012-02-01

    led to significant cost increases. While some JTRS variants have entered the production and fielding phases, program continuation is impacted by a...by a sense that [the Office of the Secretary of Defense] and the services did not appreciate the magnitude of the potential impact of the JTRS... impact many aspects of the battlefield by providing networked communications, enabling true, secure, connectivity across organizations and echelons

  2. 34 CFR 300.309 - Determining the existence of a specific learning disability.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 34 Education 2 2011-07-01 2010-07-01 true Determining the existence of a specific learning... Specific Learning Disabilities § 300.309 Determining the existence of a specific learning disability. (a) The group described in § 300.306 may determine that a child has a specific learning disability, as...

  3. Increased Technology Provision and Learning: Giving More for Nothing?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Quillerou, Emmanuelle

    2011-01-01

    The development of new communication technologies has led to a push for greater technology use for teaching and learning. This is most true for distance learning education, which relies heavily on new technologies. Distance learning students, however, seem to have very limited time available for studying and learning because of work and/or family…

  4. ATLAAS: an automatic decision tree-based learning algorithm for advanced image segmentation in positron emission tomography.

    PubMed

    Berthon, Beatrice; Marshall, Christopher; Evans, Mererid; Spezi, Emiliano

    2016-07-07

    Accurate and reliable tumour delineation on positron emission tomography (PET) is crucial for radiotherapy treatment planning. PET automatic segmentation (PET-AS) eliminates intra- and interobserver variability, but there is currently no consensus on the optimal method to use, as different algorithms appear to perform better for different types of tumours. This work aimed to develop a predictive segmentation model, trained to automatically select and apply the best PET-AS method, according to the tumour characteristics. ATLAAS, the automatic decision tree-based learning algorithm for advanced segmentation is based on supervised machine learning using decision trees. The model includes nine PET-AS methods and was trained on a 100 PET scans with known true contour. A decision tree was built for each PET-AS algorithm to predict its accuracy, quantified using the Dice similarity coefficient (DSC), according to the tumour volume, tumour peak to background SUV ratio and a regional texture metric. The performance of ATLAAS was evaluated for 85 PET scans obtained from fillable and printed subresolution sandwich phantoms. ATLAAS showed excellent accuracy across a wide range of phantom data and predicted the best or near-best segmentation algorithm in 93% of cases. ATLAAS outperformed all single PET-AS methods on fillable phantom data with a DSC of 0.881, while the DSC for H&N phantom data was 0.819. DSCs higher than 0.650 were achieved in all cases. ATLAAS is an advanced automatic image segmentation algorithm based on decision tree predictive modelling, which can be trained on images with known true contour, to predict the best PET-AS method when the true contour is unknown. ATLAAS provides robust and accurate image segmentation with potential applications to radiation oncology.

  5. ATLAAS: an automatic decision tree-based learning algorithm for advanced image segmentation in positron emission tomography

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Berthon, Beatrice; Marshall, Christopher; Evans, Mererid; Spezi, Emiliano

    2016-07-01

    Accurate and reliable tumour delineation on positron emission tomography (PET) is crucial for radiotherapy treatment planning. PET automatic segmentation (PET-AS) eliminates intra- and interobserver variability, but there is currently no consensus on the optimal method to use, as different algorithms appear to perform better for different types of tumours. This work aimed to develop a predictive segmentation model, trained to automatically select and apply the best PET-AS method, according to the tumour characteristics. ATLAAS, the automatic decision tree-based learning algorithm for advanced segmentation is based on supervised machine learning using decision trees. The model includes nine PET-AS methods and was trained on a 100 PET scans with known true contour. A decision tree was built for each PET-AS algorithm to predict its accuracy, quantified using the Dice similarity coefficient (DSC), according to the tumour volume, tumour peak to background SUV ratio and a regional texture metric. The performance of ATLAAS was evaluated for 85 PET scans obtained from fillable and printed subresolution sandwich phantoms. ATLAAS showed excellent accuracy across a wide range of phantom data and predicted the best or near-best segmentation algorithm in 93% of cases. ATLAAS outperformed all single PET-AS methods on fillable phantom data with a DSC of 0.881, while the DSC for H&N phantom data was 0.819. DSCs higher than 0.650 were achieved in all cases. ATLAAS is an advanced automatic image segmentation algorithm based on decision tree predictive modelling, which can be trained on images with known true contour, to predict the best PET-AS method when the true contour is unknown. ATLAAS provides robust and accurate image segmentation with potential applications to radiation oncology.

  6. Plan of Work 2010: Towards True Student-Centered Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    European Students' Union (NJ1), 2010

    2010-01-01

    The European Students' Union's (ESU's) vision regarding the Student Centered Learning concept stems from the fundamental belief that the learning process should have at its core learning objectives as they are prioritized by each individual students, also that each (potential) student should be empowered to define those objectives and progress…

  7. Brain Hemisphere Dominance: Building the Whole-Brain Singer

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Boyd, Amanda R.

    2012-01-01

    The concept of brain hemisphere dominance serves as the basis for many educational learning theories. The dominant brain hemisphere guides the learning process, but both hemispheres are necessary for true learning to take place. This treatise outlines and analyzes the dominance factor, a learning theory developed by Dr. Carla Hannaford, which…

  8. Basics of compounding: Tips and hints: powders, capsules, tablets, suppositories, and sticks, part 1.

    PubMed

    Allen, Loyd V

    2014-01-01

    No matter the profession, professionals should never stop learning. This is especially true and important in the profession of compounding pharmacy. Compounding pharmacists are continuously faced with the challenge of finding new and inventive ways to assist patients with their individual and specific drug requirements. As compounding pharmacists learn, be it through formal continuing education or experience, they should be willing to share their knowledge with other compounders. In our goal of providing compounding pharmacists with additional knowledge to improve their skills in the art and practice of compounding, this article, which provides tips and hits on compounding with powders, capsules, tablets, suppositories, and sticks, represents the first in a series of articles to assist compounding pharmacists in the preparation of compounded medications.

  9. Investigating the Retention and Time-Course of Phonotactic Constraint Learning From Production Experience

    PubMed Central

    Warker, Jill A.

    2013-01-01

    Adults can rapidly learn artificial phonotactic constraints such as /f/ only occurs at the beginning of syllables by producing syllables that contain those constraints. This implicit learning is then reflected in their speech errors. However, second-order constraints in which the placement of a phoneme depends on another characteristic of the syllable (e.g., if the vowel is /æ/, /f/ occurs at the beginning of syllables and /s/ occurs at the end of syllables but if the vowel is /I/, the reverse is true) require a longer learning period. Two experiments question the transience of second-order learning and whether consolidation plays a role in learning phonological dependencies. Using speech errors as a measure of learning, Experiment 1 investigated the durability of learning, and Experiment 2 investigated the time-course of learning. Experiment 1 found that learning is still present in speech errors a week later. Experiment 2 looked at whether more time in the form of a consolidation period or more experience in the form of more trials was necessary for learning to be revealed in speech errors. Both consolidation and more trials led to learning; however, consolidation provided a more substantial benefit. PMID:22686839

  10. Five Dispositions for Personalization

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Carter, Kim

    2017-01-01

    The author reviews various ways personalized learning has come to be interpreted and asserts that rather than requiring we create individualized learning plans for each student, true personalization requires that teachers give learners the tools, knowledge, skills, and dispositions to manage themselves and their learning environment. Teachers…

  11. Undergraduate Political Communication in Action: Volunteer Experiences in a Situated Learning Course

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brubaker, Jennifer

    2011-01-01

    In many college classes, students spend their time learning about the theories from the linear logic of a textbook. However, true learning occurs when these theories are integrated with hands-on authentic experiences. Situated learning courses are designed to bridge the gap between the theoretical and the authentic. Students apply classroom…

  12. Computer Algebra, Virtual Learning Environment and Meaningful Learning: Is It Possible?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Abar, Celina A. A. P.; Barbosa, Lisbete Madsen

    2011-01-01

    A major challenge faced by teachers nowadays relates to the usage of proper educational technology to achieve a true and meaningful learning experience involving time for reflection. Teachers constantly seek new ways to improve instruction, but in virtual learning environments they often find themselves in a new role, interacting in a dynamic…

  13. Using reusable learning objects (RLOs) in wound care education: Undergraduate student nurse's evaluation of their learning gain.

    PubMed

    Redmond, Catherine; Davies, Carmel; Cornally, Deirdre; Adam, Ewa; Daly, Orla; Fegan, Marianne; O'Toole, Margaret

    2018-01-01

    Both nationally and internationally concerns have been expressed over the adequacy of preparation of undergraduate nurses for the clinical skill of wound care. This project describes the educational evaluation of a series of Reusable Learning Objects (RLOs) as a blended learning approach to facilitate undergraduate nursing students learning of wound care for competence development. Constructivism Learning Theory and Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning informed the design of the RLOs, promoting active learner approaches. Clinically based case studies and visual data from two large university teaching hospitals provided the authentic learning materials required. Interactive exercises and formative feedback were incorporated into the educational resource. Evaluation of student perceived learning gains in terms of knowledge, ability and attitudes were measured using a quantitative pre and posttest Wound Care Competency Outcomes Questionnaire. The RLO CETL Questionnaire was used to identify perceived learning enablers. Statistical and deductive thematic analyses inform the findings. Students (n=192) reported that their ability to meet the competency outcomes for wound care had increased significantly after engaging with the RLOs. Students rated the RLOs highly across all categories of perceived usefulness, impact, access and integration. These findings provide evidence that the use of RLOs for both knowledge-based and performance-based learning is effective. RLOs when designed using clinically real case scenarios reflect the true complexities of wound care and offer innovative interventions in nursing curricula. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Actualizing the Learning Community.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Braman, Dave

    Where conditions are right, continuing education (CE) staff working in true collaboration with campus-based credit staff can meet the learning needs of the community and improve instructional quality with greater resource efficiency. CE staff must become learning strategists who bring ideas from their marketplace experience to the instructional…

  15. Pervasive, Lifestyle-Integrated Mobile Learning for Distance Learners: An Analysis and Unexpected Results from a Podcasting Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lee, Mark J. W.; Chan, Anthony

    2007-01-01

    This article opens with a discussion of how and why mobile learning (m-learning) is purported to be the next step in the evolution of distance education, before looking at various perspectives on what m-learning constitutes. It critically examines the degree to which "true" m-learning has been achieved, by offering pedagogical value…

  16. Estimating False Positive Contamination in Crater Annotations from Citizen Science Data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tar, P. D.; Bugiolacchi, R.; Thacker, N. A.; Gilmour, J. D.

    2017-01-01

    Web-based citizen science often involves the classification of image features by large numbers of minimally trained volunteers, such as the identification of lunar impact craters under the Moon Zoo project. Whilst such approaches facilitate the analysis of large image data sets, the inexperience of users and ambiguity in image content can lead to contamination from false positive identifications. We give an approach, using Linear Poisson Models and image template matching, that can quantify levels of false positive contamination in citizen science Moon Zoo crater annotations. Linear Poisson Models are a form of machine learning which supports predictive error modelling and goodness-of-fits, unlike most alternative machine learning methods. The proposed supervised learning system can reduce the variability in crater counts whilst providing predictive error assessments of estimated quantities of remaining true verses false annotations. In an area of research influenced by human subjectivity, the proposed method provides a level of objectivity through the utilisation of image evidence, guided by candidate crater identifications.

  17. Doormat or Dictator?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pawlas, George E.

    1993-01-01

    Somewhere between easygoing and hardboiled management extremes lies the realm of true leadership. An effective administrator gets results by leading people (not ordering them), learning how to handle them, and discovering what makes each one tick. A true leader captures and holds staff members' confidence, helps them develop needed skills, and…

  18. Experiential Learning and the Liberal Arts.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smith, John Kares

    True "liberal learning" often occurs far from our campuses and direct influence. The Ladakhi, a non-western culture located between Tibet, China, and Pakistan, passed on "liberal learning" as part of its communal experience. The Ladakhis were wealthy, self-sufficient, lived in roomy houses, had zero "gross national…

  19. A Performance Curriculum and Learning Outcomes.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dalton, Leonard F.

    A performance curriculum communicates with students, teachers, administrators, counselors, and taxpayers. Its heart is a series of statements which explain in observable terms what the teacher will accept as evidence that what is to be learned has been learned. Such statements allow: true teacher-pupil understanding; individually diagnosed and…

  20. Stuck in the Groove: A Critique of Compulsory Schooling

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hansen, Ron

    2011-01-01

    Learning in formal schools violates several simple principles: that no one can learn on an empty spirit; that true learning requires an absence of fear or authority; that learning is the most natural of human instincts. By making schooling compulsory, we have abandoned trust in our individual and collective experience in favour of experts and…

  1. The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: Challenges for Malaysian Academics

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Harland, Tony; Raja Hussain, Raja Maznah; Bakar, Aishah Abu

    2014-01-01

    This paper explores the adoption of the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) by 10 Malaysian university academics. SoTL was part of a pioneering sector-wide initiative for improving teaching and learning. The qualitative study showed that there had been no true learning phase for SoTL because academics had high expectations of rapid success…

  2. Searching for the Authentic: The True North and the True Composer.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fisher, Alfred J.

    1988-01-01

    Explains how the author's experiences with Native people's ways and music had a powerful linkage to his own musical composition in that these cultural experiences acted as a catalyst to action and subsequent self-knowledge. Compares this learning process to that found in higher education. (SV)

  3. Intra-procedural Path-insensitve Grams (I-GRAMS) and Disassembly Based Features for Packer Tool Classification and Detection

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2012-06-14

    executable file is packed is a critical step in software security. This research uses machine learning methods to build the Polymorphic and Non-Polymorphic...Packer Detection (PNPD) system that detects whether an executable is packed by either ASPack, UPX, Metasploit’s polymorphic msfencode, or is packed in...detect packed executables used in experiments. Overall, it is discovered i-grams provide the best results with accuracies above 99.5%, average true

  4. Pneumocystis

    PubMed Central

    Gigliotti, Francis; Limper, Andrew H.; Wright, Terry

    2014-01-01

    Since its initial misidentification as a trypanosome some 100 years ago, Pneumocystis has remained recalcitrant to study. Although we have learned much, we still do not have definitive answers to such basic questions as, where is the reservoir of infection, how does Pneumocystis reproduce, what is the mechanism of infection, and are there true species of Pneumocystis? The goal of this review is to provide the reader the most up to date information available about the biology of Pneumocystis and the disease it produces. PMID:25367973

  5. Explorations in Statistics: Confidence Intervals

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Curran-Everett, Douglas

    2009-01-01

    Learning about statistics is a lot like learning about science: the learning is more meaningful if you can actively explore. This third installment of "Explorations in Statistics" investigates confidence intervals. A confidence interval is a range that we expect, with some level of confidence, to include the true value of a population parameter…

  6. Enhancing Large-Group Problem-Based Learning in Veterinary Medical Education.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pickrell, John A.

    This project for large-group, problem-based learning at Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine developed 47 case-based videotapes that are used to model clinical conditions and also involved veterinary practitioners to formulate true practice cases into student learning opportunities. Problem-oriented, computer-assisted diagnostic…

  7. Eliciting interval beliefs: An experimental study

    PubMed Central

    Peeters, Ronald; Wolk, Leonard

    2017-01-01

    In this paper we study the interval scoring rule as a mechanism to elicit subjective beliefs under varying degrees of uncertainty. In our experiment, subjects forecast the termination time of a time series to be generated from a given but unknown stochastic process. Subjects gradually learn more about the underlying process over time and hence the true distribution over termination times. We conduct two treatments, one with a high and one with a low volatility process. We find that elicited intervals are better when subjects are facing a low volatility process. In this treatment, participants learn to position their intervals almost optimally over the course of the experiment. This is in contrast with the high volatility treatment, where subjects, over the course of the experiment, learn to optimize the location of their intervals but fail to provide the optimal length. PMID:28380020

  8. The fully integrated biomedical engineering programme at Eindhoven University of Technology.

    PubMed

    Slaaf, D W; van Genderen, M H P

    2009-05-01

    The development of a fully integrated biomedical engineering programme (life sciences included from the start) is described. Details are provided about background, implementation, and didactic concept: design centred learning combined with courses. The curriculum has developed into a bachelor-master's programme with two different master's degrees: Master's Degree in Biomedical Engineering and Master's Degree in Medical Engineering. Recently, the programme has adopted semester programming, has included a major and minor in the bachelor's degree phase, and a true bachelor's degree final project. Details about the programme and data about where graduates find jobs are provided in this paper.

  9. Natural variation in learning rate and memory dynamics in parasitoid wasps: opportunities for converging ecology and neuroscience

    PubMed Central

    Hoedjes, Katja M.; Kruidhof, H. Marjolein; Huigens, Martinus E.; Dicke, Marcel; Vet, Louise E. M.; Smid, Hans M.

    2011-01-01

    Although the neural and genetic pathways underlying learning and memory formation seem strikingly similar among species of distant animal phyla, several more subtle inter- and intraspecific differences become evident from studies on model organisms. The true significance of such variation can only be understood when integrating this with information on the ecological relevance. Here, we argue that parasitoid wasps provide an excellent opportunity for multi-disciplinary studies that integrate ultimate and proximate approaches. These insects display interspecific variation in learning rate and memory dynamics that reflects natural variation in a daunting foraging task that largely determines their fitness: finding the inconspicuous hosts to which they will assign their offspring to develop. We review bioassays used for oviposition learning, the ecological factors that are considered to underlie the observed differences in learning rate and memory dynamics, and the opportunities for convergence of ecology and neuroscience that are offered by using parasitoid wasps as model species. We advocate that variation in learning and memory traits has evolved to suit an insect's lifestyle within its ecological niche. PMID:21106587

  10. 26 CFR 1.25A-4 - Lifetime Learning Credit.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... qualified tuition and related expenses for purposes of the Lifetime Learning Credit. (d) Effective date. The... 26 Internal Revenue 1 2014-04-01 2013-04-01 true Lifetime Learning Credit. 1.25A-4 Section 1.25A-4... Rates During A Taxable Year § 1.25A-4 Lifetime Learning Credit. (a) Amount of the credit—(1) Taxable...

  11. 26 CFR 1.25A-4 - Lifetime Learning Credit.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... qualified tuition and related expenses for purposes of the Lifetime Learning Credit. (d) Effective date. The... 26 Internal Revenue 1 2011-04-01 2009-04-01 true Lifetime Learning Credit. 1.25A-4 Section 1.25A-4... Rates During A Taxable Year § 1.25A-4 Lifetime Learning Credit. (a) Amount of the credit—(1) Taxable...

  12. 26 CFR 1.25A-4 - Lifetime Learning Credit.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 26 Internal Revenue 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 true Lifetime Learning Credit. 1.25A-4 Section 1.25A-4... Rates During A Taxable Year § 1.25A-4 Lifetime Learning Credit. (a) Amount of the credit—(1) Taxable... § 1.25A-1(c), for taxable years beginning before 2003, the Lifetime Learning Credit amount is 20...

  13. Teaching and learning based on peer review: a realistic approach in forensic sciences.

    PubMed

    Dinis-Oliveira, Ricardo Jorge; Magalhães, Teresa

    2016-01-01

    Teaching and learning methods need a continuous upgrade in higher education. However it is also true that some of the modern methodologies do not reduce or prevent school failure. Perhaps the real limitation is the inability to identify the true reasons that may explain it or ignore/undervalue the problem. In our opinion, one of the current constraints of the teaching/learning process is the excess of and inadequate bibliography recommended by the teacher, which results in continuous student difficulties and waste of time in searching and selecting useful information. The need to change the paradigm of the teaching/learning process comes also from employers. They claim forensic experts armed with useful knowledge to face professional life. It is therefore mandatory to identify the new needs and opportunities regarding pedagogical methodologies. This article reflects on the recent importance of peer review in teaching/learning forensic sciences based on the last 10 years of pedagogical experience inseparably from the scientific activity.

  14. Teaching and learning based on peer review: a realistic approach in forensic sciences

    PubMed Central

    Dinis-Oliveira, Ricardo Jorge; Magalhães, Teresa

    2016-01-01

    Teaching and learning methods need a continuous upgrade in higher education. However it is also true that some of the modern methodologies do not reduce or prevent school failure. Perhaps the real limitation is the inability to identify the true reasons that may explain it or ignore/undervalue the problem. In our opinion, one of the current constraints of the teaching/learning process is the excess of and inadequate bibliography recommended by the teacher, which results in continuous student difficulties and waste of time in searching and selecting useful information. The need to change the paradigm of the teaching/learning process comes also from employers. They claim forensic experts armed with useful knowledge to face professional life. It is therefore mandatory to identify the new needs and opportunities regarding pedagogical methodologies. This article reflects on the recent importance of peer review in teaching/learning forensic sciences based on the last 10 years of pedagogical experience inseparably from the scientific activity. PMID:27547377

  15. Implementing Experiential Learning Activities in a Large Enrollment Introductory Food Science and Human Nutrition Course

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bohn, Dawn M.; Schmidt, Shelly J.

    2008-01-01

    Experiential learning activities are often viewed as impractical, and potentially unfeasible, instructional tools to employ in a large enrollment course. Research has shown, though, that the metacognitive skills that students utilize while participating in experiential learning activities enable them to assess their true level of understanding and…

  16. Administrators' Professional Learning via Twitter: The Dissonance between Beliefs and Actions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cho, Vincent

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: Although there has been increasing optimism about the potential for social media platforms such as Twitter to support educators' professional learning, it is yet unclear whether such promises hold true. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to explore school administrators' use of Twitter for professional learning.…

  17. Impact of Portfolio Assessment on Physics Students' Outcomes: Examination of Learning and Attitude

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gunay, Abdulkadir; Ogan-Bekiroglu, Feral

    2014-01-01

    In spite of the commendations for the use of portfolio assessment, there is still little evidence indicating that such assessment actually supports and encourages student learning. Hence, this research study aimed to empirically identify the effects of implementation of portfolio assessment on student learning and attitudes. True-experimental…

  18. Benchmarking Operations to Promote Learning: An Internal Supply Chain Perspective

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Benton, Helen; Binder, Mario; Egel-Hess, Wolfgang

    2007-01-01

    Despite the widespread discussion of organisational learning, there is little scholarly contribution on promoting learning through the practical application of management tools. This is especially true in a complex internal supply chain context of an organisation. This paper seeks to address this gap by exploring and analysing the capability of…

  19. Cognitive Addition: Comparison of Learning Disabled and Academically Normal Children.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Geary, David C.; And Others

    To isolate the process deficits underlying a specific learning disability in mathematics achievement, 77 academically normal and 46 learning disabled (LD) students in second, fourth or sixth grade were presented 140 simple addition problems using a true-false reaction time verification paradigm. (The problems were on a video screen controlled by…

  20. Problem-Based Learning in the Physical Science Classroom, K-12

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McConnell, Tom J.; Parker, Joyce; Eberhardt, Janet

    2018-01-01

    "Problem-Based Learning in the Physical Science Classroom, K-12" will help your students truly understand concepts such as motion, energy, and magnetism in true-to-life contexts. The book offers a comprehensive description of why, how, and when to implement problem-based learning (PBL) in your curriculum. Its 14 developmentally…

  1. Impact of a Sustained Cooperative Learning Intervention on Student Motivation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fernandez-Rio, Javier; Sanz, Naira; Fernandez-Cando, Judith; Santos, Luis

    2017-01-01

    Background: Cooperative Learning has been recently defined as a true pedagogical model. Moreover, in a recent review Casey and Goodyear reported that it can help physical education promote the four basic learning outcomes: physical, cognitive, social and affective. Purpose: The main goal was to investigate the impact of a sustained Cooperative…

  2. The Relationship Between Fidelity and Learning in Aviation Training and Assessment

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Noble, Cliff

    2002-01-01

    Flight simulators can be designed to train pilots or assess their flight performance. Low-Fidelity simulators maximize the initial learning rate of novice pilots and minimize initial costs; whereas, expensive, high-fidelity simulators predict the realworld in-flight performance of expert pilots (Fink & Shriver, 1978 Hays & Singer 1989; Kinkade & Wheaton. 1972). Although intuitively appealing and intellectually convenient to generalize concepts of learning and assessment, what holds true for the role of fidelity in assessment may not always hold true for learning, and vice versa. To bring clarity to this issue, the author distinguishes the role of fidelity in learning from its role in assessment as a function of skill level by applying the hypothesis of Alessi (1988) and reviewing the Laughery, Ditzian, and Houtman (1982) study on simulator validity. Alessi hypothesized that there is it point beyond which one additional unit of flight-simulator fidelity results in a diminished rate of learning. The author of this current paper also suggests the existence of an optimal point beyond which one additional unit of flight-simulator fidelity results in a diminished rate of practical assessment of nonexpert pilot performance.

  3. In harmony: inquiry based learning in a blended physics and music class

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hechter, Richard P.; Bergman, Daniel

    2016-11-01

    The power of music to resonate within us transcends conventional boundaries established in cultural, geographic, and political contexts. In our world, as physics educators, so does the resonating of physics phenomena. Secondary level physics is a perfect place to blend these two genres. While advocating for STEM-based education is at the forefront of pedagogical reform, seldom do we use this cross-boundary vision as the foundation to teach and learn in true collaboration of science and arts classrooms. As music enthusiasts, and physics educators, we developed new resources for a blended music and physics class through inquiry-based learning activities. Punctuated with modern technology, we aimed our activities for an engaging learning experience towards developing conceptual understandings of sound and harmonics at the grade 11 level. The umbrella activity shared here was designed to engage a wide range of students through the universal language of music, and provide them a hands-on and minds-on experience to explore harmonics through both music and physics lenses. It is our intention to provide readers with an overview of the activity, a description of exemplar student-designed inquiry-based investigations, and helpful suggestions for potential for use in reader’s classrooms.

  4. Mixed messages in learning communication skills? Students comparing role model behaviour in clerkships with formal training.

    PubMed

    Essers, Geurt; Van Weel-Baumgarten, Evelyn; Bolhuis, Sanneke

    2012-01-01

    Medical students learn professional communication through formal training and in clinical practice. Physicians working in clinical practice have a powerful influence on student learning. However, they may demonstrate communication behaviours not aligning with recommendations in training programs. This study aims to identify more precisely what differences students perceive between role model communication behaviour during clerkships and formal training. In a cross-sectional study, data were collected about physicians' communication performance as perceived by students. Students filled out a questionnaire in four different clerkships in their fourth and fifth year. Just over half of the students reported communication similar to formal training. This was especially true for students in the later clerkships (paediatrics and primary care). Good examples were seen in providing information corresponding to patients' needs and in shared decision making, although students often noted that in fact the doctor made the decision. Bad examples were observed in exploring cognitions and emotions, and in providing information meeting patient's pace. Further study is needed on actual physician behaviour in clinical practice. From our results, we conclude that students need help in reflecting on and learning from the gap in communication patterns they observe in training versus clinical practice.

  5. How evolution learns to generalise: Using the principles of learning theory to understand the evolution of developmental organisation.

    PubMed

    Kouvaris, Kostas; Clune, Jeff; Kounios, Loizos; Brede, Markus; Watson, Richard A

    2017-04-01

    One of the most intriguing questions in evolution is how organisms exhibit suitable phenotypic variation to rapidly adapt in novel selective environments. Such variability is crucial for evolvability, but poorly understood. In particular, how can natural selection favour developmental organisations that facilitate adaptive evolution in previously unseen environments? Such a capacity suggests foresight that is incompatible with the short-sighted concept of natural selection. A potential resolution is provided by the idea that evolution may discover and exploit information not only about the particular phenotypes selected in the past, but their underlying structural regularities: new phenotypes, with the same underlying regularities, but novel particulars, may then be useful in new environments. If true, we still need to understand the conditions in which natural selection will discover such deep regularities rather than exploiting 'quick fixes' (i.e., fixes that provide adaptive phenotypes in the short term, but limit future evolvability). Here we argue that the ability of evolution to discover such regularities is formally analogous to learning principles, familiar in humans and machines, that enable generalisation from past experience. Conversely, natural selection that fails to enhance evolvability is directly analogous to the learning problem of over-fitting and the subsequent failure to generalise. We support the conclusion that evolving systems and learning systems are different instantiations of the same algorithmic principles by showing that existing results from the learning domain can be transferred to the evolution domain. Specifically, we show that conditions that alleviate over-fitting in learning systems successfully predict which biological conditions (e.g., environmental variation, regularity, noise or a pressure for developmental simplicity) enhance evolvability. This equivalence provides access to a well-developed theoretical framework from learning theory that enables a characterisation of the general conditions for the evolution of evolvability.

  6. Order Matters: Sequencing Scale-Realistic Versus Simplified Models to Improve Science Learning

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Chen; Schneps, Matthew H.; Sonnert, Gerhard

    2016-10-01

    Teachers choosing between different models to facilitate students' understanding of an abstract system must decide whether to adopt a model that is simplified and striking or one that is realistic and complex. Only recently have instructional technologies enabled teachers and learners to change presentations swiftly and to provide for learning based on multiple models, thus giving rise to questions about the order of presentation. Using disjoint individual growth modeling to examine the learning of astronomical concepts using a simulation of the solar system on tablets for 152 high school students (age 15), the authors detect both a model effect and an order effect in the use of the Orrery, a simplified model that exaggerates the scale relationships, and the True-to-scale, a proportional model that more accurately represents the realistic scale relationships. Specifically, earlier exposure to the simplified model resulted in diminution of the conceptual gain from the subsequent realistic model, but the realistic model did not impede learning from the following simplified model.

  7. Diversity of devices along with diversity of data formats as a new challenge in global teaching and learning system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sultana, Razia; Christ, Andreas; Meyrueis, Patrick

    2014-07-01

    The popularity of mobile communication devices is increasing day by day among students, especially for e-learning activities. "Always-ready-to-use" feature of mobile devices is a key motivation for students to use it even in a short break for a short time. This leads to new requirements regarding learning content presentation, user interfaces, and system architecture for heterogeneous devices. To support diverse devices is not enough to establish global teaching and learning system, it is equally important to support various formats of data along with different sort of devices having different capabilities in terms of processing power, display size, supported data formats, operating system, access method of data etc. Not only the existing data formats but also upcoming data formats, such as due to research results in the area of optics and photonics, virtual reality etc should be considered. This paper discusses the importance, risk and challenges of supporting heterogeneous devices to provide heterogeneous data as a learning content to make global teaching and learning system literally come true at anytime and anywhere. We proposed and implemented a sustainable architecture to support device and data format independent learning system.

  8. Reflective Learning in a Chinese MBA Programme: Scale Assessment and Future Recommendations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Xiao, Qian; Zhu, Pinghui; Hsu, Maxwell K.; Zhuang, Weiling; Peltier, James

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to use Chinese MBA students to validate the expanded reflective learning continuum and address the concerns raised in this regard in business education; (2) to determine whether the continuum concept holds true in a non-western culture and whether the reflective learning continuum remains a powerful force…

  9. The Relationship between Workplace Climate, Motivation and Learning Approaches for Knowledge Workers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vanthournout, Gert; Noyens, Dorien; Gijbels, David; Van den Bossche, Piet

    2014-01-01

    Workplace learning is becoming a central tenet for a large proportion of today's employees. This seems especially true for so-called knowledge workers. Today, it remains unclear how differences in the quality of workplace learning are affected by differences in perception of the workplace environment and the motivation of knowledge workers to…

  10. Reading-Writing Relationships in First and Second Language Academic Literacy Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grabe, William; Zhang, Cui

    2016-01-01

    Reading and writing relations, as this concept applies to academic learning contexts, whether as a major way to learn language or academic content, is a pervasive issue in English for academic purposes (EAP) contexts. In many cases, this major link between reading/writing and academic learning is true even though explicit discussions of this…

  11. Word Learning: Homophony and the Distribution of Learning Exemplars

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dautriche, Isabelle; Chemla, Emmanuel; Christophe, Anne

    2016-01-01

    How do children infer the meaning of a word? Current accounts of word learning assume that children expect a word to map onto exactly one concept whose members form a coherent category. If this assumption was strictly true, children should infer that a homophone, such as "bat," refers to a single superordinate category that encompasses…

  12. Clear Goals, Clear Results: Content-Focused Routines Support Learning for Everyone--Including Coaches

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bickel, Donna DiPrima; Bernstein-Danis, Tabetha; Matsumura, Lindsay Clare

    2014-01-01

    Learning how to give effective feedback can be a difficult task for teacher leaders. This is especially true for what is called "hard feedback"--that is, feedback that challenges the teacher's practice and therefore may cause some level of professional discomfort. Educators at the University of Pittsburgh's Institute for Learning have…

  13. Growth in Oral Reading Fluency of Spanish ELL Students with Learning Disabilities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rubin, Daniel Ian

    2016-01-01

    The process of learning to read is difficult for many children, and this is especially true for students with learning disabilities (LD). Reading in English becomes even more difficult when a student's home language is not English. For English language learner (ELL) students with LD, acquiring the necessary skills to read fluently is an even…

  14. MO-E-18C-03: Incorporating Active Learning Into A Traditional Graduate Medical Physics Course

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

    Burmeister, J

    Purpose: To improve the ability of graduate students to learn medical physics concepts through the incorporation of active learning techniques. Methods: A traditional lecture-based radiological physics course was modified such that: (1) traditional (two-hour) lectures were provided online for students to watch prior to class, (2) a student was chosen randomly at the start of each class to give a two minute synopsis of the material and its relevance (two-minute drill), (3) lectures were significantly abbreviated and remaining classroom time used for group problem solving, and (4) videos of the abbreviated lectures were made available online for review. In themore » transition year, students were surveyed about the perceived effects of these changes on learning. Student performance was evaluated for 3 years prior to and 4 years after modification. Results: The survey tool used a five point scale from 1=Not True to 5=Very True. While nearly all students reviewed written materials prior to class (4.3±0.9), a minority watched the lectures (2.1±1.5). A larger number watched the abbreviated lectures for further clarification (3.6±1.6) and found it helpful in learning the content (4.2±1.0). Most felt that the two-minute drill helped them get more out of the lecture (3.9±0.8) and the problem solving contributed to their understanding of the content (4.1±0.8). However, no significant improvement in exam scores resulted from the modifications (mean scores well within 1 SD during study period). Conclusion: Students felt that active learning techniques improved their ability to learn the material in what is considered the most difficult course in the program. They valued the ability to review the abbreviated class lecture more than the opportunity to watch traditional lectures prior to class. While no significant changes in student performance were observed, aptitude variations across the student cohorts make it difficult to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of active learning.« less

  15. 22 CFR 1508.350 - What must I do if I learn of information required under § 1508.335 after entering into a covered...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 22 Foreign Relations 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 true What must I do if I learn of information... Information-Primary Tier Participants § 1508.350 What must I do if I learn of information required under... with which you entered into the transaction if you learn either that— (a) You failed to disclose...

  16. 22 CFR 1508.350 - What must I do if I learn of information required under § 1508.335 after entering into a covered...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... 22 Foreign Relations 2 2011-04-01 2009-04-01 true What must I do if I learn of information... Information-Primary Tier Participants § 1508.350 What must I do if I learn of information required under... with which you entered into the transaction if you learn either that— (a) You failed to disclose...

  17. Effects of Different Types of True-False Questions on Memory Awareness and Long-Term Retention

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schaap, Lydia; Verkoeijen, Peter; Schmidt, Henk

    2014-01-01

    This study investigated the effects of two different true-false questions on memory awareness and long-term retention of knowledge. Participants took four subsequent knowledge tests on curriculum learning material that they studied at different retention intervals prior to the start of this study (i.e. prior to the first test). At the first and…

  18. Innovation Partnerships to Enhance Student Learning and Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Roberts, Dennis C.; Komives, Susan R.

    2016-01-01

    Following chapters that have offered examples and tools relevant to higher education institutions that wish to enhance student learning and development, this chapter summarizes and extends the conversation of how true partnerships in international higher education can be cultivated to achieve the deepest impact.

  19. Changing Concepts of Educational Equality

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cropley, A. J.

    1976-01-01

    States that if educational equality is defined, not in terms of equal learning facilities and equally well qualified teachers, but in terms of equal outcomes, equality has not been achieved. True equality implies recognition of learning as life-long process, for the purpose of self-fulfillment. (Author/RW)

  20. "Probably True" Says the Expert: How Two Types of Lexical Hedges Influence Students' Evaluation of Scientificness

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thiebach, Monja; Mayweg-Paus, Elisabeth; Jucks, Regina

    2015-01-01

    Contemporary school learning typically includes the processing of popular scientific information as found in journals, magazines, and/or the WWW. The German high school curriculum emphasizes that students should have achieved science literacy and have learned to evaluate the substance of text-based learning content by the end of high school.…

  1. A Critique of Confucian Learning: On Learners and Knowledge

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hung, Ruyu

    2016-01-01

    In Confucianism, the subject of learning is one of the most important concerns. For centuries, Confucian thinkers have been devoted to seeking answers to questions such as, how to be a morally noble and decent human being? (??), how to be a true and moral human being--a noble man? (junzi, ??) and how to learn to be a junzi? A "junzi" can…

  2. Monaural room acoustic parameters from music and speech.

    PubMed

    Kendrick, Paul; Cox, Trevor J; Li, Francis F; Zhang, Yonggang; Chambers, Jonathon A

    2008-07-01

    This paper compares two methods for extracting room acoustic parameters from reverberated speech and music. An approach which uses statistical machine learning, previously developed for speech, is extended to work with music. For speech, reverberation time estimations are within a perceptual difference limen of the true value. For music, virtually all early decay time estimations are within a difference limen of the true value. The estimation accuracy is not good enough in other cases due to differences between the simulated data set used to develop the empirical model and real rooms. The second method carries out a maximum likelihood estimation on decay phases at the end of notes or speech utterances. This paper extends the method to estimate parameters relating to the balance of early and late energies in the impulse response. For reverberation time and speech, the method provides estimations which are within the perceptual difference limen of the true value. For other parameters such as clarity, the estimations are not sufficiently accurate due to the natural reverberance of the excitation signals. Speech is a better test signal than music because of the greater periods of silence in the signal, although music is needed for low frequency measurement.

  3. 22 CFR 1006.350 - What must I do if I learn of information required under § 1006.335 after entering into a covered...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 22 Foreign Relations 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 true What must I do if I learn of information...-Primary Tier Participants § 1006.350 What must I do if I learn of information required under § 1006.335... Foundation office with which you entered into the transaction if you learn either that— (a) You failed to...

  4. 29 CFR 98.350 - What must I do if I learn of information required under § 98.335 after entering into a covered...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true What must I do if I learn of information required under Â... What must I do if I learn of information required under § 98.335 after entering into a covered... transaction if you learn either that— (a) You failed to disclose information earlier, as required by § 98.335...

  5. 22 CFR 1508.365 - What must I do if I learn of information required under § 1508.355 after entering into a covered...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 22 Foreign Relations 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 true What must I do if I learn of information...-Lower Tier Participants § 1508.365 What must I do if I learn of information required under § 1508.355... written notice to that person if you learn either that— (a) You failed to disclose information earlier, as...

  6. 22 CFR 1006.365 - What must I do if I learn of information required under § 1006.355 after entering into a covered...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 22 Foreign Relations 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 true What must I do if I learn of information...-Lower Tier Participants § 1006.365 What must I do if I learn of information required under § 1006.355... written notice to that person if you learn either that— (a) You failed to disclose information earlier, as...

  7. 22 CFR 1508.365 - What must I do if I learn of information required under § 1508.355 after entering into a covered...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... 22 Foreign Relations 2 2011-04-01 2009-04-01 true What must I do if I learn of information...-Lower Tier Participants § 1508.365 What must I do if I learn of information required under § 1508.355... written notice to that person if you learn either that— (a) You failed to disclose information earlier, as...

  8. 22 CFR 1006.350 - What must I do if I learn of information required under § 1006.335 after entering into a covered...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... 22 Foreign Relations 2 2011-04-01 2009-04-01 true What must I do if I learn of information...-Primary Tier Participants § 1006.350 What must I do if I learn of information required under § 1006.335... Foundation office with which you entered into the transaction if you learn either that— (a) You failed to...

  9. 22 CFR 1006.365 - What must I do if I learn of information required under § 1006.355 after entering into a covered...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... 22 Foreign Relations 2 2011-04-01 2009-04-01 true What must I do if I learn of information...-Lower Tier Participants § 1006.365 What must I do if I learn of information required under § 1006.355... written notice to that person if you learn either that— (a) You failed to disclose information earlier, as...

  10. Barriers to Implementation of Effective Professional Learning Communities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kincaid, Eric R

    2014-01-01

    The implementation of professional learning communities (PLCs) in schools has been shown to increase the academic performance of students and develop a beneficial and productive culture of true teacher collaboration. Despite these demonstrated benefits, resistance to PLC implementation has been documented in various forms throughout the…

  11. The Exponentially Embedded Family of Distributions for Effective Data Representation, Information Extraction, and Decision Making

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2013-03-01

    information ex- traction and learning from data. First of all, it admits sufficient statistics and therefore, provides the means for selecting good models...readily found since the Kullback -Liebler divergence can be used to ascertain distances between PDFs for various hypothesis testing scenarios. We...t1, t2) Information content of T2 (x) is D(pryj,IJ2(tl, t2)11Pryj,!J2=0(tl, t2)) = reduction in distance to true PDF where D(p1llp2) is Kullback

  12. A Novel Image Recuperation Approach for Diagnosing and Ranking Retinopathy Disease Level Using Diabetic Fundus Image

    PubMed Central

    2015-01-01

    Retinal fundus images are widely used in diagnosing and providing treatment for several eye diseases. Prior works using retinal fundus images detected the presence of exudation with the aid of publicly available dataset using extensive segmentation process. Though it was proved to be computationally efficient, it failed to create a diabetic retinopathy feature selection system for transparently diagnosing the disease state. Also the diagnosis of diseases did not employ machine learning methods to categorize candidate fundus images into true positive and true negative ratio. Several candidate fundus images did not include more detailed feature selection technique for diabetic retinopathy. To apply machine learning methods and classify the candidate fundus images on the basis of sliding window a method called, Diabetic Fundus Image Recuperation (DFIR) is designed in this paper. The initial phase of DFIR method select the feature of optic cup in digital retinal fundus images based on Sliding Window Approach. With this, the disease state for diabetic retinopathy is assessed. The feature selection in DFIR method uses collection of sliding windows to obtain the features based on the histogram value. The histogram based feature selection with the aid of Group Sparsity Non-overlapping function provides more detailed information of features. Using Support Vector Model in the second phase, the DFIR method based on Spiral Basis Function effectively ranks the diabetic retinopathy diseases. The ranking of disease level for each candidate set provides a much promising result for developing practically automated diabetic retinopathy diagnosis system. Experimental work on digital fundus images using the DFIR method performs research on the factors such as sensitivity, specificity rate, ranking efficiency and feature selection time. PMID:25974230

  13. Learning communication from erroneous video-based examples: A double-blind randomised controlled trial.

    PubMed

    Schmitz, Felix Michael; Schnabel, Kai Philipp; Stricker, Daniel; Fischer, Martin Rudolf; Guttormsen, Sissel

    2017-06-01

    Appropriate training strategies are required to equip undergraduate healthcare students to benefit from communication training with simulated patients. This study examines the learning effects of different formats of video-based worked examples on initial communication skills. First-year nursing students (N=36) were randomly assigned to one of two experimental groups (correct v. erroneous examples) or to the control group (no examples). All the groups were provided an identical introduction to learning materials on breaking bad news; the experimental groups also received a set of video-based worked examples. Each example was accompanied by a self-explanation prompt (considering the example's correctness) and elaborated feedback (the true explanation). Participants presented with erroneous examples broke bad news to a simulated patient significantly more appropriately than students in the control group. Additionally, they tended to outperform participants who had correct examples, while participants presented with correct examples tended to outperform the control group. The worked example effect was successfully adapted for learning in the provider-patient communication domain. Implementing video-based worked examples with self-explanation prompts and feedback can be an effective strategy to prepare students for their training with simulated patients, especially when examples are erroneous. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. Family Science: An Ethnographic Case Study of the Ordinary Science and Literacy Experiences of One Family

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McCarty, Glenda M.

    2012-01-01

    Despite the copious research available on science learning, little is known about ways in which the public engages in free-choice science learning and even fewer studies have focused on how families engage in science to learn about the world around them. The same was true about studies of literacy development in the home until the 1980s when…

  15. Korean University EFL Student Perspectives of Smartphone Applications (Apps) as Tools for Language Learning: An Action Research Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jackson, Bernedette S.

    2017-01-01

    Learning a second or foreign language may be a daunting task for anyone; however, learning a language that is vastly different from a person's native language can be extremely difficult. This is especially true in South Korea where English is taught and spoken as a foreign language. For Korean students, who typically study English from a young…

  16. Boolean network identification from perturbation time series data combining dynamics abstraction and logic programming.

    PubMed

    Ostrowski, M; Paulevé, L; Schaub, T; Siegel, A; Guziolowski, C

    2016-11-01

    Boolean networks (and more general logic models) are useful frameworks to study signal transduction across multiple pathways. Logic models can be learned from a prior knowledge network structure and multiplex phosphoproteomics data. However, most efficient and scalable training methods focus on the comparison of two time-points and assume that the system has reached an early steady state. In this paper, we generalize such a learning procedure to take into account the time series traces of phosphoproteomics data in order to discriminate Boolean networks according to their transient dynamics. To that end, we identify a necessary condition that must be satisfied by the dynamics of a Boolean network to be consistent with a discretized time series trace. Based on this condition, we use Answer Set Programming to compute an over-approximation of the set of Boolean networks which fit best with experimental data and provide the corresponding encodings. Combined with model-checking approaches, we end up with a global learning algorithm. Our approach is able to learn logic models with a true positive rate higher than 78% in two case studies of mammalian signaling networks; for a larger case study, our method provides optimal answers after 7min of computation. We quantified the gain in our method predictions precision compared to learning approaches based on static data. Finally, as an application, our method proposes erroneous time-points in the time series data with respect to the optimal learned logic models. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. An ensemble deep learning based approach for red lesion detection in fundus images.

    PubMed

    Orlando, José Ignacio; Prokofyeva, Elena; Del Fresno, Mariana; Blaschko, Matthew B

    2018-01-01

    Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of the leading causes of preventable blindness in the world. Its earliest sign are red lesions, a general term that groups both microaneurysms (MAs) and hemorrhages (HEs). In daily clinical practice, these lesions are manually detected by physicians using fundus photographs. However, this task is tedious and time consuming, and requires an intensive effort due to the small size of the lesions and their lack of contrast. Computer-assisted diagnosis of DR based on red lesion detection is being actively explored due to its improvement effects both in clinicians consistency and accuracy. Moreover, it provides comprehensive feedback that is easy to assess by the physicians. Several methods for detecting red lesions have been proposed in the literature, most of them based on characterizing lesion candidates using hand crafted features, and classifying them into true or false positive detections. Deep learning based approaches, by contrast, are scarce in this domain due to the high expense of annotating the lesions manually. In this paper we propose a novel method for red lesion detection based on combining both deep learned and domain knowledge. Features learned by a convolutional neural network (CNN) are augmented by incorporating hand crafted features. Such ensemble vector of descriptors is used afterwards to identify true lesion candidates using a Random Forest classifier. We empirically observed that combining both sources of information significantly improve results with respect to using each approach separately. Furthermore, our method reported the highest performance on a per-lesion basis on DIARETDB1 and e-ophtha, and for screening and need for referral on MESSIDOR compared to a second human expert. Results highlight the fact that integrating manually engineered approaches with deep learned features is relevant to improve results when the networks are trained from lesion-level annotated data. An open source implementation of our system is publicly available at https://github.com/ignaciorlando/red-lesion-detection. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Virtual Learning: Embracing True Education Reform

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pohl, Robert

    2009-01-01

    Communication, commerce, and social patterns have changed dramatically during the past 25 years, and technology has played a major role in these transformations. Yet, one product of technology that schools have not embraced is virtual learning. For technology to play a substantive role in education, an alternative K-12 model must be established…

  19. Communication Boot Camp: Discover the Speaker in You!

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Binti Ali, Zuraidah; Binti Nor Azmi, Noor Hafiza; Phillip, Alicia; bin Mokhtar, Mohd Zin

    2013-01-01

    Learning can take place almost anywhere, and this is especially true for our undergraduates who wish to become public speakers. Besides university course and public speaking workshops on campus grounds, undergraduates are now looking for a different learning environment--communication boot camps!! This study presents a compilation of learners'…

  20. The Novelty Exploration Bonus and Its Attentional Modulation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Krebs, Ruth M.; Schott, Bjorn H.; Schutze, Hartmut; Duzel, Emrah

    2009-01-01

    We hypothesized that novel stimuli represent salient learning signals that can motivate "exploration" in search for potential rewards. In computational theories of reinforcement learning, this is referred to as the novelty "exploration bonus" for rewards. If true, stimulus novelty should enhance the reward anticipation signals in brain areas that…

  1. Linear- and Repetitive Feature Detection Within Remotely Sensed Imagery

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2017-04-01

    applicable to Python or other pro- gramming languages with image- processing capabilities. 4.1 Classification machine learning The first methodology uses...remotely sensed images that are in panchromatic or true-color formats. Image- processing techniques, in- cluding Hough transforms, machine learning, and...data fusion .................................................................................................... 44 6.3 Context-based processing

  2. Mathematical Problem Solving for Youth with ADHD, with and without Learning Disabilities.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zentall, Sydney S.; Ferkis, Mary Ann

    1993-01-01

    This review of research finds that, when IQ and reading ability are controlled, "true" math deficits of students with learning disabilities, attention deficit disorders, and attention deficit hyperactive disorders (ADHD) are specific to mathematical concepts and problem types. Slow computation affects problem solving by increasing attentional…

  3. Improving de novo sequence assembly using machine learning and comparative genomics for overlap correction.

    PubMed

    Palmer, Lance E; Dejori, Mathaeus; Bolanos, Randall; Fasulo, Daniel

    2010-01-15

    With the rapid expansion of DNA sequencing databases, it is now feasible to identify relevant information from prior sequencing projects and completed genomes and apply it to de novo sequencing of new organisms. As an example, this paper demonstrates how such extra information can be used to improve de novo assemblies by augmenting the overlapping step. Finding all pairs of overlapping reads is a key task in many genome assemblers, and to this end, highly efficient algorithms have been developed to find alignments in large collections of sequences. It is well known that due to repeated sequences, many aligned pairs of reads nevertheless do not overlap. But no overlapping algorithm to date takes a rigorous approach to separating aligned but non-overlapping read pairs from true overlaps. We present an approach that extends the Minimus assembler by a data driven step to classify overlaps as true or false prior to contig construction. We trained several different classification models within the Weka framework using various statistics derived from overlaps of reads available from prior sequencing projects. These statistics included percent mismatch and k-mer frequencies within the overlaps as well as a comparative genomics score derived from mapping reads to multiple reference genomes. We show that in real whole-genome sequencing data from the E. coli and S. aureus genomes, by providing a curated set of overlaps to the contigging phase of the assembler, we nearly doubled the median contig length (N50) without sacrificing coverage of the genome or increasing the number of mis-assemblies. Machine learning methods that use comparative and non-comparative features to classify overlaps as true or false can be used to improve the quality of a sequence assembly.

  4. Probabilistic learning of nonlinear dynamical systems using sequential Monte Carlo

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Schön, Thomas B.; Svensson, Andreas; Murray, Lawrence; Lindsten, Fredrik

    2018-05-01

    Probabilistic modeling provides the capability to represent and manipulate uncertainty in data, models, predictions and decisions. We are concerned with the problem of learning probabilistic models of dynamical systems from measured data. Specifically, we consider learning of probabilistic nonlinear state-space models. There is no closed-form solution available for this problem, implying that we are forced to use approximations. In this tutorial we will provide a self-contained introduction to one of the state-of-the-art methods-the particle Metropolis-Hastings algorithm-which has proven to offer a practical approximation. This is a Monte Carlo based method, where the particle filter is used to guide a Markov chain Monte Carlo method through the parameter space. One of the key merits of the particle Metropolis-Hastings algorithm is that it is guaranteed to converge to the "true solution" under mild assumptions, despite being based on a particle filter with only a finite number of particles. We will also provide a motivating numerical example illustrating the method using a modeling language tailored for sequential Monte Carlo methods. The intention of modeling languages of this kind is to open up the power of sophisticated Monte Carlo methods-including particle Metropolis-Hastings-to a large group of users without requiring them to know all the underlying mathematical details.

  5. Robotic astrobiology - prospects for enhancing scientific productivity of mars rover missions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ellery, A. A.

    2018-07-01

    Robotic astrobiology involves the remote projection of intelligent capabilities to planetary missions in the search for life, preferably with human-level intelligence. Planetary rovers would be true human surrogates capable of sophisticated decision-making to enhance their scientific productivity. We explore several key aspects of this capability: (i) visual texture analysis of rocks to enable their geological classification and so, astrobiological potential; (ii) serendipitous target acquisition whilst on the move; (iii) continuous extraction of regolith properties, including water ice whilst on the move; and (iv) deep learning-capable Bayesian net expert systems. Individually, these capabilities will provide enhanced scientific return for astrobiology missions, but together, they will provide full autonomous science capability.

  6. Improving the quality of cancer care in America through health information technology.

    PubMed

    Feeley, Thomas W; Sledge, George W; Levit, Laura; Ganz, Patricia A

    2014-01-01

    A recent report from the Institute of Medicine titled Delivering High-Quality Cancer Care: Charting a New Course for a System in Crisis, identifies improvement in information technology (IT) as essential to improving the quality of cancer care in America. The report calls for implementation of a learning healthcare IT system: a system that supports patient-clinician interactions by providing patients and clinicians with the information and tools necessary to make well informed medical decisions and to support quality measurement and improvement. While some elements needed for a learning healthcare system are already in place for cancer, they are incompletely implemented, have functional deficiencies, and are not integrated in a way that creates a true learning healthcare system. To achieve the goal of a learning cancer care delivery system, clinicians, professional organizations, government, and the IT industry will have to partner, develop, and incentivize participation. 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.

  7. Classification and unsupervised clustering of LIGO data with Deep Transfer Learning

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    George, Daniel; Shen, Hongyu; Huerta, E. A.

    2018-05-01

    Gravitational wave detection requires a detailed understanding of the response of the LIGO and Virgo detectors to true signals in the presence of environmental and instrumental noise. Of particular interest is the study of anomalous non-Gaussian transients, such as glitches, since their occurrence rate in LIGO and Virgo data can obscure or even mimic true gravitational wave signals. Therefore, successfully identifying and excising these anomalies from gravitational wave data is of utmost importance for the detection and characterization of true signals and for the accurate computation of their significance. To facilitate this work, we present the first application of deep learning combined with transfer learning to show that knowledge from pretrained models for real-world object recognition can be transferred for classifying spectrograms of glitches. To showcase this new method, we use a data set of twenty-two classes of glitches, curated and labeled by the Gravity Spy project using data collected during LIGO's first discovery campaign. We demonstrate that our Deep Transfer Learning method enables an optimal use of very deep convolutional neural networks for glitch classification given small and unbalanced training data sets, significantly reduces the training time, and achieves state-of-the-art accuracy above 98.8%, lowering the previous error rate by over 60%. More importantly, once trained via transfer learning on the known classes, we show that our neural networks can be truncated and used as feature extractors for unsupervised clustering to automatically group together new unknown classes of glitches and anomalous signals. This novel capability is of paramount importance to identify and remove new types of glitches which will occur as the LIGO/Virgo detectors gradually attain design sensitivity.

  8. Assessment of two different types of bias affecting the results of outcome-based evaluation in undergraduate medical education.

    PubMed

    Schiekirka, Sarah; Anders, Sven; Raupach, Tobias

    2014-07-21

    Estimating learning outcome from comparative student self-ratings is a reliable and valid method to identify specific strengths and shortcomings in undergraduate medical curricula. However, requiring students to complete two evaluation forms (i.e. one before and one after teaching) might adversely affect response rates. Alternatively, students could be asked to rate their initial performance level retrospectively. This approach might threaten the validity of results due to response shift or effort justification bias. Two consecutive cohorts of medical students enrolled in a six-week cardio-respiratory module were enrolled in this study. In both cohorts, performance gain was estimated for 33 specific learning objectives. In the first cohort, outcomes calculated from ratings provided before (pretest) and after (posttest) teaching were compared to outcomes derived from comparative self-ratings collected after teaching only (thentest and posttest). In the second cohort, only thentests and posttests were used to calculate outcomes, but data collection tools differed with regard to item presentation. In one group, thentest and posttest ratings were obtained sequentially on separate forms while in the other, both ratings were obtained simultaneously for each learning objective. Using thentest ratings to calculate performance gain produced slightly higher values than using true pretest ratings. Direct comparison of then- and posttest ratings also yielded slightly higher performance gain than sequential ratings, but this effect was negligibly small. Given the small effect sizes, using thentests appears to be equivalent to using true pretest ratings. Item presentation in the posttest does not significantly impact on results.

  9. Assessment of two different types of bias affecting the results of outcome-based evaluation in undergraduate medical education

    PubMed Central

    2014-01-01

    Background Estimating learning outcome from comparative student self-ratings is a reliable and valid method to identify specific strengths and shortcomings in undergraduate medical curricula. However, requiring students to complete two evaluation forms (i.e. one before and one after teaching) might adversely affect response rates. Alternatively, students could be asked to rate their initial performance level retrospectively. This approach might threaten the validity of results due to response shift or effort justification bias. Methods Two consecutive cohorts of medical students enrolled in a six-week cardio-respiratory module were enrolled in this study. In both cohorts, performance gain was estimated for 33 specific learning objectives. In the first cohort, outcomes calculated from ratings provided before (pretest) and after (posttest) teaching were compared to outcomes derived from comparative self-ratings collected after teaching only (thentest and posttest). In the second cohort, only thentests and posttests were used to calculate outcomes, but data collection tools differed with regard to item presentation. In one group, thentest and posttest ratings were obtained sequentially on separate forms while in the other, both ratings were obtained simultaneously for each learning objective. Results Using thentest ratings to calculate performance gain produced slightly higher values than using true pretest ratings. Direct comparison of then- and posttest ratings also yielded slightly higher performance gain than sequential ratings, but this effect was negligibly small. Conclusions Given the small effect sizes, using thentests appears to be equivalent to using true pretest ratings. Item presentation in the posttest does not significantly impact on results. PMID:25043503

  10. Estimating inverse probability weights using super learner when weight-model specification is unknown in a marginal structural Cox model context.

    PubMed

    Karim, Mohammad Ehsanul; Platt, Robert W

    2017-06-15

    Correct specification of the inverse probability weighting (IPW) model is necessary for consistent inference from a marginal structural Cox model (MSCM). In practical applications, researchers are typically unaware of the true specification of the weight model. Nonetheless, IPWs are commonly estimated using parametric models, such as the main-effects logistic regression model. In practice, assumptions underlying such models may not hold and data-adaptive statistical learning methods may provide an alternative. Many candidate statistical learning approaches are available in the literature. However, the optimal approach for a given dataset is impossible to predict. Super learner (SL) has been proposed as a tool for selecting an optimal learner from a set of candidates using cross-validation. In this study, we evaluate the usefulness of a SL in estimating IPW in four different MSCM simulation scenarios, in which we varied the specification of the true weight model specification (linear and/or additive). Our simulations show that, in the presence of weight model misspecification, with a rich and diverse set of candidate algorithms, SL can generally offer a better alternative to the commonly used statistical learning approaches in terms of MSE as well as the coverage probabilities of the estimated effect in an MSCM. The findings from the simulation studies guided the application of the MSCM in a multiple sclerosis cohort from British Columbia, Canada (1995-2008), to estimate the impact of beta-interferon treatment in delaying disability progression. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  11. Rhythm Perception and Its Role in Perception and Learning of Dysrhythmic Speech.

    PubMed

    Borrie, Stephanie A; Lansford, Kaitlin L; Barrett, Tyson S

    2017-03-01

    The perception of rhythm cues plays an important role in recognizing spoken language, especially in adverse listening conditions. Indeed, this has been shown to hold true even when the rhythm cues themselves are dysrhythmic. This study investigates whether expertise in rhythm perception provides a processing advantage for perception (initial intelligibility) and learning (intelligibility improvement) of naturally dysrhythmic speech, dysarthria. Fifty young adults with typical hearing participated in 3 key tests, including a rhythm perception test, a receptive vocabulary test, and a speech perception and learning test, with standard pretest, familiarization, and posttest phases. Initial intelligibility scores were calculated as the proportion of correct pretest words, while intelligibility improvement scores were calculated by subtracting this proportion from the proportion of correct posttest words. Rhythm perception scores predicted intelligibility improvement scores but not initial intelligibility. On the other hand, receptive vocabulary scores predicted initial intelligibility scores but not intelligibility improvement. Expertise in rhythm perception appears to provide an advantage for processing dysrhythmic speech, but a familiarization experience is required for the advantage to be realized. Findings are discussed in relation to the role of rhythm in speech processing and shed light on processing models that consider the consequence of rhythm abnormalities in dysarthria.

  12. Assessing Professional Competence by Using Occupational Judgment Tests Derived From Job Analysis Questionnaires

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2009-01-01

    theoretical framework developed by Edward L. Thorndike and his contemporaries (1935), proposed that (a) learning occurs in both formal and informal settings...implies, and general learning theory ( Thorndike , 1935) suggests, that more motivated employees should acquire more knowledge, so there should be a...that is predicted by tacit knowledge and general learning theory (Sternberg & Wagner, 1993; Thorndike , 1935). Table 3 reports modest true-score

  13. Convex Formulations of Learning from Crowds

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kajino, Hiroshi; Kashima, Hisashi

    It has attracted considerable attention to use crowdsourcing services to collect a large amount of labeled data for machine learning, since crowdsourcing services allow one to ask the general public to label data at very low cost through the Internet. The use of crowdsourcing has introduced a new challenge in machine learning, that is, coping with low quality of crowd-generated data. There have been many recent attempts to address the quality problem of multiple labelers, however, there are two serious drawbacks in the existing approaches, that are, (i) non-convexity and (ii) task homogeneity. Most of the existing methods consider true labels as latent variables, which results in non-convex optimization problems. Also, the existing models assume only single homogeneous tasks, while in realistic situations, clients can offer multiple tasks to crowds and crowd workers can work on different tasks in parallel. In this paper, we propose a convex optimization formulation of learning from crowds by introducing personal models of individual crowds without estimating true labels. We further extend the proposed model to multi-task learning based on the resemblance between the proposed formulation and that for an existing multi-task learning model. We also devise efficient iterative methods for solving the convex optimization problems by exploiting conditional independence structures in multiple classifiers.

  14. Unsupervised learning of facial emotion decoding skills.

    PubMed

    Huelle, Jan O; Sack, Benjamin; Broer, Katja; Komlewa, Irina; Anders, Silke

    2014-01-01

    Research on the mechanisms underlying human facial emotion recognition has long focussed on genetically determined neural algorithms and often neglected the question of how these algorithms might be tuned by social learning. Here we show that facial emotion decoding skills can be significantly and sustainably improved by practice without an external teaching signal. Participants saw video clips of dynamic facial expressions of five different women and were asked to decide which of four possible emotions (anger, disgust, fear, and sadness) was shown in each clip. Although no external information about the correctness of the participant's response or the sender's true affective state was provided, participants showed a significant increase of facial emotion recognition accuracy both within and across two training sessions two days to several weeks apart. We discuss several similarities and differences between the unsupervised improvement of facial decoding skills observed in the current study, unsupervised perceptual learning of simple stimuli described in previous studies and practice effects often observed in cognitive tasks.

  15. Unsupervised learning of facial emotion decoding skills

    PubMed Central

    Huelle, Jan O.; Sack, Benjamin; Broer, Katja; Komlewa, Irina; Anders, Silke

    2013-01-01

    Research on the mechanisms underlying human facial emotion recognition has long focussed on genetically determined neural algorithms and often neglected the question of how these algorithms might be tuned by social learning. Here we show that facial emotion decoding skills can be significantly and sustainably improved by practice without an external teaching signal. Participants saw video clips of dynamic facial expressions of five different women and were asked to decide which of four possible emotions (anger, disgust, fear, and sadness) was shown in each clip. Although no external information about the correctness of the participant’s response or the sender’s true affective state was provided, participants showed a significant increase of facial emotion recognition accuracy both within and across two training sessions two days to several weeks apart. We discuss several similarities and differences between the unsupervised improvement of facial decoding skills observed in the current study, unsupervised perceptual learning of simple visual stimuli described in previous studies and practice effects often observed in cognitive tasks. PMID:24578686

  16. The Value of a Multicultural and Critical Pedagogy: Learning Democracy through Diversity and Dissent

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cammarota, Julio

    2011-01-01

    In this article, the author argues that true knowledge of democracy requires learning about the values of diversity and dissent. The American brand of democratic ideology has inspired numerous movements for inclusion through the securing of rights and opportunities for marginalized populations. Multicultural education is a recent historical…

  17. The Grading System: Does an "A" Really Equal Learning?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Haley, Beverly

    1988-01-01

    Good grades on a report card do not necessarily mean the material has been comprehended. This article examines the relative worth of grades; extra credit assignments; categorizing students into A, B, or C boxes; and the role of parental pressures for higher grades. Grading systems should be subordinate to true learning motivation. (MLH)

  18. Assessing Understanding of Sampling Distributions and Differences in Learning amongst Different Learning Styles

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Beeman, Jennifer Leigh Sloan

    2013-01-01

    Research has found that students successfully complete an introductory course in statistics without fully comprehending the underlying theory or being able to exhibit statistical reasoning. This is particularly true for the understanding about the sampling distribution of the mean, a crucial concept for statistical inference. This study…

  19. Learning from Our Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Noddings, Nel

    2004-01-01

    Most teachers have been good students. Some students are fast learners and attain the required knowledge and skills easily; others are obedient, hard workers. In either case, teachers are likely to believe that if students really try, they will do well. Listening to students over many years, the author has learned that this is probably not true.…

  20. Basic Skills in Asian Studies: Japan.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hantula, James

    This publication contains 20 learning activities for developing basic skills while teaching about Japan at the secondary level. The activities are self-contained and each consists of a short description, followed by a five-item true or false test and five open-ended questions for student practice. The learning activities are followed by a…

  1. Drift in Children's Categories: When Experienced Distributions Conflict with Prior Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kalish, Charles W.; Zhu, XiaoJin; Rogers, Timothy T.

    2015-01-01

    Psychological intuitions about natural category structure do not always correspond to the true structure of the world. The current study explores young children's responses to conflict between intuitive structure and authoritative feedback using a semi-supervised learning (Zhu et al., 2007) paradigm. In three experiments, 160 children between the…

  2. Learning from the True Customers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kaster, Gregory

    2012-01-01

    Madison Elementary School, a K-6 school of 335 students in Marshfield, Wisconsin, recognizes the value of student feedback and strives to learn more through monthly student meetings, whole-class sit-downs, and student exit interviews. As the principal of Madison Elementary School, the author meets with a group of students for half an hour during…

  3. "Learn by Doing" Research: Introduction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moye, Johnny J.; Dugger, William E., Jr.; Starkweather, Kendall N.

    2014-01-01

    The research in this "Learning by Doing" study focuses on a special type of doing that applies to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. In the early stages of humankind, the act of doing was essential for survival and drove the evolution of technology. As was true in ancient times, knowledge and the ability…

  4. Influence of Type of Assessment and Stress on the Learning Outcome

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tetteh, Godson Ayertei; Sarpong, Frederick Asafo-Adjei

    2015-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of constructivism on assessment approach, where the type of question (true or false, multiple-choice, calculation or essay) is used productively. Although the student's approach to learning and the teacher's approach to teaching are concepts that have been widely researched, few…

  5. Supporting the Learning of Children with Chronic Illness

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    A'Bear, David

    2014-01-01

    This qualitative study explores the challenges that chronically ill students face in their learning as a result of prolonged and intermittent absences from school. It shows how the use of iPod technology as a communicative link minimized the impact of absences and allowed the student to experience true inclusion in their classroom, enabling the…

  6. An International Graduate Student's ESL Learning Experience beyond the Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Liu, Lu

    2011-01-01

    International graduate students are coming in ever-growing numbers to English-speaking countries. Educators have long believed that the successful English-learning experience of these students in their home countries will naturally lead to success in their academic studies and social life abroad. However, this may be not true. Using my…

  7. The Intersection of Service-Learning and Moral Growth

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Scott, Joel H.

    2012-01-01

    For the better part of the past 100 years, John Dewey, Ernest Boyer, and other higher education reform advocates have challenged universities to hold true to their civic roots and responsibilities by promoting teaching and scholarship in the context of the real world. In response, service-learning has evolved into a viable pedagogy to encourage…

  8. Family Background, Self-Confidence and Economic Outcomes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Filippin, Antonio; Paccagnella, Marco

    2012-01-01

    In this paper we analyze the role played by self-confidence, modeled as beliefs about one's ability, in shaping task choices. We propose a model in which fully rational agents exploit all the available information to update their beliefs using Bayes' rule, eventually learning their true type. We show that when the learning process does not…

  9. Chaos, Complexity, and Earning Community: What Do They Mean for Education?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pouravood, Roland C.

    1997-01-01

    Ponders possible explanations for the connections among chaos, complexity, and a learning community. Challenges the Newtonian world model, suggests that the world operates in a complex, nonlinear, unpredictable pattern, and calls for a new science to understand this complexity. A true learning community values individual autonomy, risk taking,…

  10. The Evolution of Oscillatory Behavior during Learning on a Ski Simulator

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Teulier, Caroline; Nourrit, Deborah; Delignieres, Didier

    2006-01-01

    Recent experiments on the ski simulator produced ambiguous results and raised unanswered questions concerning the true nature of "novice" behavior and the occurrence of behavioral changes during learning. The aim of the present experiment was to analyze the evolving behavior of three beginners during six practice sessions on a ski simulator. The…

  11. Improving Satellite Observation Utilization for Model Initialization with Machine Learning: An Introduction and Tackling the "Labeled Dataset" Challenge for Cyclones Around the World

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bonfanti, C. E.; Stewart, J.; Lee, Y. J.; Govett, M.; Trailovic, L.; Etherton, B.

    2017-12-01

    One of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) goals is to provide timely and reliable weather forecasts to support important decisions when and where people need it for safety, emergencies, planning for day-to-day activities. Satellite data is essential for areas lacking in-situ observations for use as initial conditions in Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) Models, such as spans of the ocean or remote areas of land. Currently only about 7% of total received satellite data is selected for use and from that, an even smaller percentage ever are assimilated into NWP models. With machine learning, the computational and time costs needed for satellite data selection can be greatly reduced. We study various machine learning approaches to process orders of magnitude more satellite data in significantly less time allowing for a greater quantity and more intelligent selection of data to be used for assimilation purposes. Given the future launches of satellites in the upcoming years, machine learning is capable of being applied for better selection of Regions of Interest (ROI) in the magnitudes more of satellite data that will be received. This paper discusses the background of machine learning methods as applied to weather forecasting and the challenges of creating a "labeled dataset" for training and testing purposes. In the training stage of supervised machine learning, labeled data are important to identify a ROI as either true or false so that the model knows what signatures in satellite data to identify. Authors have selected cyclones, including tropical cyclones and mid-latitude lows, as ROI for their machine learning purposes and created a labeled dataset of true or false for ROI from Global Forecast System (GFS) reanalysis data. A dataset like this does not yet exist and given the need for a high quantity of samples, is was decided this was best done with automation. This process was done by developing a program similar to the National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) tropical cyclone tracker by Marchok that was used to identify cyclones based off its physical characteristics. We will discuss the methods and challenges to creating this dataset and the dataset's use for our current supervised machine learning model as well as use for future work on events such as convection initiation.

  12. Creating Simple Windchill Admin Tools Using Info*Engine

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jones, Corey; Kapatos, Dennis; Skradski, Cory

    2012-01-01

    Being a Windchill administrator often requires performing simple yet repetitive tasks on large sets of objects. These can include renaming, deleting, checking in, undoing checkout, and much more. This is especially true during a migration. Fortunately, PTC has provided a simple way to dynamically interact with Windchill using Info*Engine. This presentation will describe how to create simple Info*Engine tasks capable of saving Windchill 10.0 administrators hours of tedious work. It will also show how these tasks can be combined and displayed on a simple JSP page that acts as a "Windchill Administrator Dashboard/Toolbox". The attendee will learn some valuable tasks Info*Engine capable of performing. The attendee will gain a basic understanding of how to perform and implement Info*Engine tasks. The attendee will learn what's involved in creating a JSP page that displays Info*Engine tasks

  13. Development and validation of a machine learning algorithm and hybrid system to predict the need for life-saving interventions in trauma patients.

    PubMed

    Liu, Nehemiah T; Holcomb, John B; Wade, Charles E; Batchinsky, Andriy I; Cancio, Leopoldo C; Darrah, Mark I; Salinas, José

    2014-02-01

    Accurate and effective diagnosis of actual injury severity can be problematic in trauma patients. Inherent physiologic compensatory mechanisms may prevent accurate diagnosis and mask true severity in many circumstances. The objective of this project was the development and validation of a multiparameter machine learning algorithm and system capable of predicting the need for life-saving interventions (LSIs) in trauma patients. Statistics based on means, slopes, and maxima of various vital sign measurements corresponding to 79 trauma patient records generated over 110,000 feature sets, which were used to develop, train, and implement the system. Comparisons among several machine learning models proved that a multilayer perceptron would best implement the algorithm in a hybrid system consisting of a machine learning component and basic detection rules. Additionally, 295,994 feature sets from 82 h of trauma patient data showed that the system can obtain 89.8 % accuracy within 5 min of recorded LSIs. Use of machine learning technologies combined with basic detection rules provides a potential approach for accurately assessing the need for LSIs in trauma patients. The performance of this system demonstrates that machine learning technology can be implemented in a real-time fashion and potentially used in a critical care environment.

  14. Deep learning for medical image segmentation - using the IBM TrueNorth neurosynaptic system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Moran, Steven; Gaonkar, Bilwaj; Whitehead, William; Wolk, Aidan; Macyszyn, Luke; Iyer, Subramanian S.

    2018-03-01

    Deep convolutional neural networks have found success in semantic image segmentation tasks in computer vision and medical imaging. These algorithms are executed on conventional von Neumann processor architectures or GPUs. This is suboptimal. Neuromorphic processors that replicate the structure of the brain are better-suited to train and execute deep learning models for image segmentation by relying on massively-parallel processing. However, given that they closely emulate the human brain, on-chip hardware and digital memory limitations also constrain them. Adapting deep learning models to execute image segmentation tasks on such chips, requires specialized training and validation. In this work, we demonstrate for the first-time, spinal image segmentation performed using a deep learning network implemented on neuromorphic hardware of the IBM TrueNorth Neurosynaptic System and validate the performance of our network by comparing it to human-generated segmentations of spinal vertebrae and disks. To achieve this on neuromorphic hardware, the training model constrains the coefficients of individual neurons to {-1,0,1} using the Energy Efficient Deep Neuromorphic (EEDN)1 networks training algorithm. Given the 1 million neurons and 256 million synapses, the scale and size of the neural network implemented by the IBM TrueNorth allows us to execute the requisite mapping between segmented images and non-uniform intensity MR images >20 times faster than on a GPU-accelerated network and using <0.1 W. This speed and efficiency implies that a trained neuromorphic chip can be deployed in intra-operative environments where real-time medical image segmentation is necessary.

  15. Representing high-dimensional data to intelligent prostheses and other wearable assistive robots: A first comparison of tile coding and selective Kanerva coding.

    PubMed

    Travnik, Jaden B; Pilarski, Patrick M

    2017-07-01

    Prosthetic devices have advanced in their capabilities and in the number and type of sensors included in their design. As the space of sensorimotor data available to a conventional or machine learning prosthetic control system increases in dimensionality and complexity, it becomes increasingly important that this data be represented in a useful and computationally efficient way. Well structured sensory data allows prosthetic control systems to make informed, appropriate control decisions. In this study, we explore the impact that increased sensorimotor information has on current machine learning prosthetic control approaches. Specifically, we examine the effect that high-dimensional sensory data has on the computation time and prediction performance of a true-online temporal-difference learning prediction method as embedded within a resource-limited upper-limb prosthesis control system. We present results comparing tile coding, the dominant linear representation for real-time prosthetic machine learning, with a newly proposed modification to Kanerva coding that we call selective Kanerva coding. In addition to showing promising results for selective Kanerva coding, our results confirm potential limitations to tile coding as the number of sensory input dimensions increases. To our knowledge, this study is the first to explicitly examine representations for realtime machine learning prosthetic devices in general terms. This work therefore provides an important step towards forming an efficient prosthesis-eye view of the world, wherein prompt and accurate representations of high-dimensional data may be provided to machine learning control systems within artificial limbs and other assistive rehabilitation technologies.

  16. Machine-z: Rapid Machine-Learned Redshift Indicator for Swift Gamma-Ray Bursts

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ukwatta, T. N.; Wozniak, P. R.; Gehrels, N.

    2016-01-01

    Studies of high-redshift gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) provide important information about the early Universe such as the rates of stellar collapsars and mergers, the metallicity content, constraints on the re-ionization period, and probes of the Hubble expansion. Rapid selection of high-z candidates from GRB samples reported in real time by dedicated space missions such as Swift is the key to identifying the most distant bursts before the optical afterglow becomes too dim to warrant a good spectrum. Here, we introduce 'machine-z', a redshift prediction algorithm and a 'high-z' classifier for Swift GRBs based on machine learning. Our method relies exclusively on canonical data commonly available within the first few hours after the GRB trigger. Using a sample of 284 bursts with measured redshifts, we trained a randomized ensemble of decision trees (random forest) to perform both regression and classification. Cross-validated performance studies show that the correlation coefficient between machine-z predictions and the true redshift is nearly 0.6. At the same time, our high-z classifier can achieve 80 per cent recall of true high-redshift bursts, while incurring a false positive rate of 20 per cent. With 40 per cent false positive rate the classifier can achieve approximately 100 per cent recall. The most reliable selection of high-redshift GRBs is obtained by combining predictions from both the high-z classifier and the machine-z regressor.

  17. An Exploratory Study of Online Teaching in For-Profit Undergraduate Education Degree Programs

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Butler, Rufina E.

    2013-01-01

    Throughout the history of higher education, measurement of learning was based on face-to-face delivery. Today, delivery of higher education through distance learning is moving to the forefront, and the quality of education offered in this venue has become a contentious topic. This is especially true with the undergraduate population, a population…

  18. How Do Schools Compensate for Socio-Economic Disadvantage? PISA in Focus No. 76

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    OECD Publishing, 2017

    2017-01-01

    As educators know well, there are many barriers to learning that originate outside of school, such as those that arise from socio-economic disadvantage. In many education systems, the concentration of disadvantaged students in certain schools poses an additional challenge. Yet it is also true that schools with effective learning environments and…

  19. Strong Teams, Strong Schools: Teacher-to-Teacher Collaboration Creates Synergy that Benefits Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sparks, Dennis

    2013-01-01

    Schools rise and fall based on the quality of the teamwork that occurs within their walls. Well-functioning leadership and teaching teams are essential to the continuous improvement of teaching and learning. That is particularly true when schools have clearly articulated, stretching aspirations for the learning of all their students. Effective…

  20. Beyond the Echo Chamber: Pedagogical Tools for Civic Engagement Discourse and Reflection

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Panke, Stefanie; Stephens, John

    2018-01-01

    How can educators leverage blogs and other social media spaces to encourage a reflective, critical discourse about civic engagement that fosters a true learning exchange over promoting one's own ideas? This article reports upon a single case study of the "Community Engagement Learning Exchange," a multi-author blog on civic engagement.…

  1. Effects of Training in Universal Design for Learning on Lesson Plan Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Spooner, Fred; Baker, Joshua N.; Harris, Amber A.; Ahlgrim-Delzell, Lynn; Browder, Diane M.

    2007-01-01

    The effects of training in Universal Design for Learning (UDL) on lesson plan development of special and general educators in a college classroom environment were investigated. A true experimental group design with a control group was used for this study. A one-hour teacher training session introduced UDL to the experimental group; the control…

  2. Learning Friendship: The "Indispensable Basis of a Good Society"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shushok, Frank, Jr.

    2008-01-01

    Aristotle believed that perfect friendship based in goodness is rare because few people seek to be good. In this article, the author suggests that colleges and universities can prove him wrong by helping students understand the ways and whys of being a true friend. Here, he advocates a friendship curriculum to guide students in learning to create…

  3. Challenges for Adult Skill Formation in the Globalising Learning Economy--A European Perspective

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lundvall, Bengt-Åke; Rasmussen, Palle

    2016-01-01

    The globalising learning economy driven by more intense competition and the wide use of information and communication technologies is characterised by rapid change in technologies and markets. At the level of labour markets and within enterprises, this is reflected in continuous change in skill requirements for employees. This is true for all…

  4. The Triple Flip: Using Technology for Peer and Self-Editing of Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hojeij, Zeina; Hurley, Zoe

    2017-01-01

    Many teachers consider themselves digital immigrants who struggle to keep up with student digital natives. Whether or not this dichotomy still holds true, in a 21st Century context of teaching and learning, is debatable not least of all because of the exponential development of apps and mobile learning technology. Nevertheless, it is sometimes…

  5. The Impact of Problem-Based Learning on Iranian EFL Learners' Speaking Proficiency

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ansarian, Loghman; Adlipour, Ali Akbar; Saber, Mehrnoush Akhavan; Shafiei, Elmira

    2016-01-01

    The study investigated the effect of problem-based learning through cognition-based tasks on speaking proficiency of Iranian intermediate EFL learners in comparison to the effect of objective-based tasks. To this end, a true experimental research design was employed. Ninety five (N = 95) language learners studying at a language institute in the…

  6. A Learning Cycle Approach to Dealing with Pseudoscience Beliefs of Prospective Elementary Teachers.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rosenthal, Dorothy B.

    1993-01-01

    Describes a lesson on pseudoscience for a teaching methods course that promotes active student participation, is not a laboratory activity, and follows the sequence of the three phases associated with the learning cycle model. Contains a true-false science questionnaire to be administered to students as a bridge to discussion. (PR)

  7. Tried and True: Tested Ideas for Teaching and Learning from the Regional Educational Laboratories.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Levinson, Luna; Stonehill, Robert

    This collection of 16 tested ideas for improving teaching and learning evolved from the work of the 1995 Proven Laboratory Practices Task Force charged with identifying and collecting the best and most useful work from the Regional Educational Laboratories. The Regional Educational Laboratory program is the largest research and development…

  8. True or false? Memory is differentially affected by stress-induced cortisol elevations and sympathetic activity at consolidation and retrieval.

    PubMed

    Smeets, Tom; Otgaar, Henry; Candel, Ingrid; Wolf, Oliver T

    2008-11-01

    Adrenal stress hormones released in response to acute stress may yield memory-enhancing effects when released post-learning and impairing effects at memory retrieval, especially for emotional memory material. However, so far these differential effects of stress hormones on the various memory phases for neutral and emotional memory material have not been demonstrated within one experiment. This study investigated whether, in line with their effects on true memory, stress and stress-induced adrenal stress hormones affect the encoding, consolidation, and retrieval of emotional and neutral false memories. Participants (N=90) were exposed to a stressor before encoding, during consolidation, before retrieval, or were not stressed and then were subjected to neutral and emotional versions of the Deese-Roediger-McDermott word list learning paradigm. Twenty-four hours later, recall of presented words (true recall) and non-presented critical lure words (false recall) was assessed. Results show that stress exposure resulted in superior true memory performance in the consolidation stress group and reduced true memory performance in the retrieval stress group compared to the other groups, predominantly for emotional words. These memory-enhancing and memory-impairing effects were strongly related to stress-induced cortisol and sympathetic activity measured via salivary alpha-amylase levels. Neutral and emotional false recall, on the other hand, was neither affected by stress exposure, nor related to cortisol and sympathetic activity following stress. These results demonstrate the importance of stress-induced hormone-related activity in enhancing memory consolidation and in impairing memory retrieval, in particular for emotional memory material.

  9. Creating Turbulent Flow Realizations with Generative Adversarial Networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    King, Ryan; Graf, Peter; Chertkov, Michael

    2017-11-01

    Generating valid inflow conditions is a crucial, yet computationally expensive, step in unsteady turbulent flow simulations. We demonstrate a new technique for rapid generation of turbulent inflow realizations that leverages recent advances in machine learning for image generation using a deep convolutional generative adversarial network (DCGAN). The DCGAN is an unsupervised machine learning technique consisting of two competing neural networks that are trained against each other using backpropagation. One network, the generator, tries to produce samples from the true distribution of states, while the discriminator tries to distinguish between true and synthetic samples. We present results from a fully-trained DCGAN that is able to rapidly draw random samples from the full distribution of possible inflow states without needing to solve the Navier-Stokes equations, eliminating the costly process of spinning up inflow turbulence. This suggests a new paradigm in physics informed machine learning where the turbulence physics can be encoded in either the discriminator or generator. Finally, we also propose additional applications such as feature identification and subgrid scale modeling.

  10. Explorations in statistics: hypothesis tests and P values.

    PubMed

    Curran-Everett, Douglas

    2009-06-01

    Learning about statistics is a lot like learning about science: the learning is more meaningful if you can actively explore. This second installment of Explorations in Statistics delves into test statistics and P values, two concepts fundamental to the test of a scientific null hypothesis. The essence of a test statistic is that it compares what we observe in the experiment to what we expect to see if the null hypothesis is true. The P value associated with the magnitude of that test statistic answers this question: if the null hypothesis is true, what proportion of possible values of the test statistic are at least as extreme as the one I got? Although statisticians continue to stress the limitations of hypothesis tests, there are two realities we must acknowledge: hypothesis tests are ingrained within science, and the simple test of a null hypothesis can be useful. As a result, it behooves us to explore the notions of hypothesis tests, test statistics, and P values.

  11. Comparative analysis of student self-reflections on course projects

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pomales-García, Cristina; Cortés Barreto, Kenneth

    2014-11-01

    This study presents the skills, experiences, and values identified in project self-reflections of 161 undergraduate engineering students. Self-reflections from two different engineering design courses, which provide experiences in project-based learning (PBL), are analysed through the content analysis methodology. Results show that 'application', 'true life', 'satisfaction', and 'communication' are the common keywords shared in the reflections. Multiple hypothesis tests to identify differences between courses, project types, years, and gender suggest that there are no significant differences between experiences, skills, and values self-reported by students who completed either a case study or an industry project. Based on research findings, recommendations will be provided to enhance the engineering curriculum based on PBL experiences to support the development of relevant professional skills and experiences.

  12. School and Asthma

    MedlinePlus

    ... t breathe, you can't learn! What About Sports? You might think that because you have asthma ... t run around on the playground or play sports. That's not true! Even some professional athletes have ...

  13. Transformational Teaching in the Information Age: Making Why and How We Teach Relevant to Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rosebrough, Thomas R.; Leverett, Ralph G.

    2011-01-01

    Yes, it's true that today's students have tons of distractions that take their attention away from the hard work of learning. That's why it's more important than ever to establish a teaching relationship with students that makes academic learning relevant to their lives. Here's a book that explains how to do that by changing teaching practices…

  14. An Examination of a Teacher's Use of Authentic Assessment in an Urban Middle School Setting

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stevens, Patricia

    2013-01-01

    Today in urban education, schools are forced to keep up and compete with students nationally with high-stake testing. Standardized tests are often bias in nature and often do not measure the true ability of a student. Casas (2003) believes that all children can learn but they may learn differently. Therefore, using authentic assessments is an…

  15. The Pedagogical-Technological Divide and the Elephant in the Room

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dron, Jon

    2012-01-01

    There is a widely held belief in e-learning circles that pedagogy must come before technology. In this paper it is argued that, not only is that not true, but that it is a weak distinction as pedagogies, insofar as they represent a set of techniques and tools for learning, are as much technologies as the computers, forums, virtual classrooms and…

  16. The Race to the Top--Early Learning Challenge Year Two Progress Report

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    US Department of Education, 2014

    2014-01-01

    The human brain develops rapidly in the first five years of life. High-quality early learning experiences can have a profound and lasting positive effect on young children during these years, setting the stage for success in kindergarten and beyond. This is especially true for young children with high needs who are from low-income families; who…

  17. Asian Medical Students: Quality of Life and Motivation to Learn

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Henning, Marcus A.; Hawken, Susan J.; Krageloh, Christian; Zhao, Yipin; Doherty, Iain

    2011-01-01

    Issues linked with the notions of quality of life (QOL) and motivation to learn among Asian medical students have not been well documented. This is true in both the international and the New Zealand contexts. Our paper addresses this lack of research by focusing on the QOL of international and domestic Asian students studying in New Zealand, where…

  18. How to Facilitate Freshmen Learning and Support Their Transition to a University Study Environment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kangas, Jari; Rantanen, Elisa; Kettunen, Lauri

    2017-01-01

    Most freshmen enter universities with high expectations and with good motivation, but too many are driven into performing instead of true learning. The issues are not only related to the challenge of comprehending the substance, social and other factors have an impact as well. All these multifaceted needs should be accounted for to facilitate…

  19. Evaluating a Mobile and Online System for Apprentices' Learning Documentation in Vocational Education: Usability, Effectiveness and Satisfaction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cattaneo, Alberto A. P.; Motta, Elisa; Gurtner, Jean-Luc

    2015-01-01

    In Switzerland, 99% of teenagers own a mobile phone and use it as their primary spare-time activity. Exploiting the affordances that mobile devices have for fostering learning across contexts is therefore imperative for the educational community. This is especially true in the case of dual vocational education and training (VET)--a field…

  20. The Academic and Social Implications of Virtual Learning Environments for Gifted High School Students with an Autism Spectrum Disorder

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bryant, Lorna Elizabeth

    2011-01-01

    In public schools today, students who are identified as individuals with gifts and talents are generally confronted with education that is not fitted to their learning needs and self-regulatory potentials (Colangelo, Assouline, & Gross, 2004). The mismatch between needs and services is particularly true of those students who, in addition to…

  1. Exploring Students' Learning Needs: Expectation and Challenges

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Poedjiastutie, Dwi; Oliver, Rhonda

    2017-01-01

    Needs analysis is not new in education or academic circles. Many scholars and educators in different parts of the world see this approach as a valuable tool for program development and review as it is a mechanism that can be used to link the students' present academic learning with their future needs. This is also true with respect to language…

  2. The Role of Creativity in the Development of Identity and Purpose in Undergraduate Seniors

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Aaron, Robert William

    2010-01-01

    Creativity is highly valued when teaching children to play, and it is through acts of play children begin to learn about the world. However, along the road to adulthood, creative minds often become stifled. Creativity may be viewed as impractical or unnecessary when learning hard and true facts, and yet, as experienced in childhood, creativity…

  3. A new neural net approach to robot 3D perception and visuo-motor coordination

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lee, Sukhan

    1992-01-01

    A novel neural network approach to robot hand-eye coordination is presented. The approach provides a true sense of visual error servoing, redundant arm configuration control for collision avoidance, and invariant visuo-motor learning under gazing control. A 3-D perception network is introduced to represent the robot internal 3-D metric space in which visual error servoing and arm configuration control are performed. The arm kinematic network performs the bidirectional association between 3-D space arm configurations and joint angles, and enforces the legitimate arm configurations. The arm kinematic net is structured by a radial-based competitive and cooperative network with hierarchical self-organizing learning. The main goal of the present work is to demonstrate that the neural net representation of the robot 3-D perception net serves as an important intermediate functional block connecting robot eyes and arms.

  4. Pressure to cooperate: is positive reward interdependence really needed in cooperative learning?

    PubMed

    Buchs, Céline; Gilles, Ingrid; Dutrévis, Marion; Butera, Fabrizio

    2011-03-01

    BACKGROUND. Despite extensive research on cooperative learning, the debate regarding whether or not its effectiveness depends on positive reward interdependence has not yet found clear evidence. AIMS. We tested the hypothesis that positive reward interdependence, as compared to reward independence, enhances cooperative learning only if learners work on a 'routine task'; if the learners work on a 'true group task', positive reward interdependence induces the same level of learning as reward independence. SAMPLE. The study involved 62 psychology students during regular workshops. METHOD. Students worked on two psychology texts in cooperative dyads for three sessions. The type of task was manipulated through resource interdependence: students worked on either identical (routine task) or complementary (true group task) information. Students expected to be assessed with a Multiple Choice Test (MCT) on the two texts. The MCT assessment type was introduced according to two reward interdependence conditions, either individual (reward independence) or common (positive reward interdependence). A follow-up individual test took place 4 weeks after the third session of dyadic work to examine individual learning. RESULTS. The predicted interaction between the two types of interdependence was significant, indicating that students learned more with positive reward interdependence than with reward independence when they worked on identical information (routine task), whereas students who worked on complementary information (group task) learned the same with or without reward interdependence. CONCLUSIONS. This experiment sheds light on the conditions under which positive reward interdependence enhances cooperative learning, and suggests that creating a real group task allows to avoid the need for positive reward interdependence. © 2010 The British Psychological Society.

  5. Predicting protein complexes using a supervised learning method combined with local structural information.

    PubMed

    Dong, Yadong; Sun, Yongqi; Qin, Chao

    2018-01-01

    The existing protein complex detection methods can be broadly divided into two categories: unsupervised and supervised learning methods. Most of the unsupervised learning methods assume that protein complexes are in dense regions of protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks even though many true complexes are not dense subgraphs. Supervised learning methods utilize the informative properties of known complexes; they often extract features from existing complexes and then use the features to train a classification model. The trained model is used to guide the search process for new complexes. However, insufficient extracted features, noise in the PPI data and the incompleteness of complex data make the classification model imprecise. Consequently, the classification model is not sufficient for guiding the detection of complexes. Therefore, we propose a new robust score function that combines the classification model with local structural information. Based on the score function, we provide a search method that works both forwards and backwards. The results from experiments on six benchmark PPI datasets and three protein complex datasets show that our approach can achieve better performance compared with the state-of-the-art supervised, semi-supervised and unsupervised methods for protein complex detection, occasionally significantly outperforming such methods.

  6. Vocabulary Learning in a Yorkshire Terrier: Slow Mapping of Spoken Words

    PubMed Central

    Griebel, Ulrike; Oller, D. Kimbrough

    2012-01-01

    Rapid vocabulary learning in children has been attributed to “fast mapping”, with new words often claimed to be learned through a single presentation. As reported in 2004 in Science a border collie (Rico) not only learned to identify more than 200 words, but fast mapped the new words, remembering meanings after just one presentation. Our research tests the fast mapping interpretation of the Science paper based on Rico's results, while extending the demonstration of large vocabulary recognition to a lap dog. We tested a Yorkshire terrier (Bailey) with the same procedures as Rico, illustrating that Bailey accurately retrieved randomly selected toys from a set of 117 on voice command of the owner. Second we tested her retrieval based on two additional voices, one male, one female, with different accents that had never been involved in her training, again showing she was capable of recognition by voice command. Third, we did both exclusion-based training of new items (toys she had never seen before with names she had never heard before) embedded in a set of known items, with subsequent retention tests designed as in the Rico experiment. After Bailey succeeded on exclusion and retention tests, a crucial evaluation of true mapping tested items previously successfully retrieved in exclusion and retention, but now pitted against each other in a two-choice task. Bailey failed on the true mapping task repeatedly, illustrating that the claim of fast mapping in Rico had not been proven, because no true mapping task had ever been conducted with him. It appears that the task called retention in the Rico study only demonstrated success in retrieval by a process of extended exclusion. PMID:22363421

  7. Inverse analysis of turbidites by machine learning

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Naruse, H.; Nakao, K.

    2017-12-01

    This study aims to propose a method to estimate paleo-hydraulic conditions of turbidity currents from ancient turbidites by using machine-learning technique. In this method, numerical simulation was repeated under various initial conditions, which produces a data set of characteristic features of turbidites. Then, this data set of turbidites is used for supervised training of a deep-learning neural network (NN). Quantities of characteristic features of turbidites in the training data set are given to input nodes of NN, and output nodes are expected to provide the estimates of initial condition of the turbidity current. The optimization of weight coefficients of NN is then conducted to reduce root-mean-square of the difference between the true conditions and the output values of NN. The empirical relationship with numerical results and the initial conditions is explored in this method, and the discovered relationship is used for inversion of turbidity currents. This machine learning can potentially produce NN that estimates paleo-hydraulic conditions from data of ancient turbidites. We produced a preliminary implementation of this methodology. A forward model based on 1D shallow-water equations with a correction of density-stratification effect was employed. This model calculates a behavior of a surge-like turbidity current transporting mixed-size sediment, and outputs spatial distribution of volume per unit area of each grain-size class on the uniform slope. Grain-size distribution was discretized 3 classes. Numerical simulation was repeated 1000 times, and thus 1000 beds of turbidites were used as the training data for NN that has 21000 input nodes and 5 output nodes with two hidden-layers. After the machine learning finished, independent simulations were conducted 200 times in order to evaluate the performance of NN. As a result of this test, the initial conditions of validation data were successfully reconstructed by NN. The estimated values show very small deviation from the true parameters. Comparing to previous inverse modeling of turbidity currents, our methodology is superior especially in the efficiency of computation. Also, our methodology has advantage in extensibility and applicability to various sediment transport processes such as pyroclastic flows or debris flows.

  8. Celiac Disease Changes Everything

    MedlinePlus

    ... but a true gift. Read More "Celiac Disease" Articles Celiac Disease Changes Everything / What is Celiac Disease? / Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment / Four Inches and Seven Pounds… / Learning to Live Well with Celiac Disease / Living Gluten- ...

  9. Embodying a cognitive model in a mobile robot

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Benjamin, D. Paul; Lyons, Damian; Lonsdale, Deryle

    2006-10-01

    The ADAPT project is a collaboration of researchers in robotics, linguistics and artificial intelligence at three universities to create a cognitive architecture specifically designed to be embodied in a mobile robot. There are major respects in which existing cognitive architectures are inadequate for robot cognition. In particular, they lack support for true concurrency and for active perception. ADAPT addresses these deficiencies by modeling the world as a network of concurrent schemas, and modeling perception as problem solving. Schemas are represented using the RS (Robot Schemas) language, and are activated by spreading activation. RS provides a powerful language for distributed control of concurrent processes. Also, The formal semantics of RS provides the basis for the semantics of ADAPT's use of natural language. We have implemented the RS language in Soar, a mature cognitive architecture originally developed at CMU and used at a number of universities and companies. Soar's subgoaling and learning capabilities enable ADAPT to manage the complexity of its environment and to learn new schemas from experience. We describe the issues faced in developing an embodied cognitive architecture, and our implementation choices.

  10. Thinking about online sources: Exploring students' epistemic cognition in internet-based chemistry learning

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dai, Ting

    This dissertation investigated the relation between epistemic cognition---epistemic aims and source beliefs---and learning outcome in an Internet--based research context. Based on a framework of epistemic cognition (Chinn, Buckland, & Samarapungavan, 2011), a context--specific epistemic aims and source beliefs questionnaire (CEASBQ) was developed and administered to 354 students from college--level introductory chemistry courses. A series of multitrait--multimethod model comparisons provided evidence for construct convergent and discriminant validity for three epistemic aims--- true beliefs, justified beliefs, explanatory connection, which were all distinguished from, yet correlated with, mastery goals. Students' epistemic aims were specific to the chemistry topics in research. Multidimensional scaling results indicated that students' source evaluation was based on two dimensions--- professional expertise and first--hand knowledge, suggesting a multidimensional structure of source beliefs. Most importantly, online learning outcome was found to be significantly associated with two epistemic aims---justified beliefs and explanatory connection: The more students sought justifications in the online research, the lower they tended to score on the learning outcome measure, whereas the more students sought explanatory connections between information, the higher they scored on the outcome measure. There was a significant but small positive association between source beliefs and learning outcome. The influences of epistemic aims and source beliefs on learning outcome were found to be above and beyond the effects of a number of covariates, including prior knowledge and perceived ability with online sources.

  11. Zoology, evolution, and ecology for elementary teachers in a model alliance between a university biology department and a zoo

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

    DuBrul, E.F.; Lewis N.; Mesteller, P.

    Many of the goals and performance objectives for elementary science deal with hands-on experiences such as observing the characteristics of living things, sorting and classifying, and measuring and recording data. Ideal environments for learning episodes that can foster these objectives are zoos and parks or nature preserves. This poster describes a program that uses the University faculty, local master elementary teachers, and Zoo staff and facilities to: (1) educate K-6 teachers about zoology, ecology, and evolution, (2) provide practical, on-site learning exercises as examples of how teachers can develop zoo visits that will be true learning experiences, (3) help themore » participants develop zoo-related exercises of classroom use, (4) show the participants the behind-the scenes work that goes on at a zoo, and (5) establish a close rapport between the teachers and a large group of professional resource persons. We present the results of evaluations and follow-up interviews, and we note the key features of this program and suggest how our experience may be used by other partnerships.« less

  12. The ERESE project: Bridging the gap between Digital Science Libraries and Education through Professional Development of Teachers and Database Development

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Staudigel, H.; Helly, M.; Helly, J.; Koppers, A.; Massel-Symons, C.; Miller, S.

    2004-12-01

    The ERESE (Enduring Resources in Earth Science Education) project involves a close collaboration between teachers, librarians, educators, data archive managers and scientists in Earth sciences and information technology, to create a digital library environment for Earth science education. We report here on an ongoing (NSF-NSDL) project involving teachers' professional development in the pedagogy of plate tectonics in middle and high schools. This work included efforts in scientific database development in terms of contents and search tools, the development of an inquiry based learning approach, a two week professional development workshop attended by 15 teachers from across the nation, a classroom implementation of lesson plans developed by the teachers at the workshop and an evaluation/validation process for the success of their pedagogic approaches. This ERESE project offers a novel path for both science teaching and professional outreach for scientists, and includes four key components: (1) A true, long-term research partnership between educators and scientists, guiding each other with respect to the authenticity of the science taught and the educational soundness of a scientists' elaborations on science concepts. (2) Expansion of existing scientific databases through the use of metadata that tie scientific materials to a particular expert level and teaching goal. (3) The design of interfaces that make data accessible to the educational community. (4) The use of an inquiry based teaching approach that integrates the scientist-educator collaboration and the data base developments. Our pedagogic approach includes the development of a central hypotheses by the student in response to an initial general orientation and presentation of a well chosen central provocative phenomenon by the teacher. Then, the student develops a research plan that is devoted to address this hypothesis through the use of the materials provided by a scientific database allowing a students prove or disprove their hypothesis and to explore the limits of the (current) understanding of a particular science question. Our first experience with this ERESE project involved a steep learning curve, but the initial results are very promising, providing true professional development for educators as well as for the scientists, whereby the former learn about new ways of teaching science and the latter learn to communicate with teachers.

  13. Making Training Stick: A Close Examination of How Trainee Readiness, Supervisor Support, and Practice Foster Transfer in a Mobile Technology-Based Training Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Putter, Stefanie E.

    2013-01-01

    Although today's organizations are investing copious amounts of time, money, and resources on employee learning and development, trainees often fail to apply their learning and skills on the job, bringing into question the true value of organizational training. In an attempt to improve understanding of the key individual and organizational…

  14. Learning How to be a Woman in the Canadian Forces/Unlearning it Through Feminism: An Autoethnography of My Learning Journey

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Taber, Nancy

    2005-01-01

    Gender plays a significant role in the experiences of workers within organizations. This is particularly true for women in non-traditional roles as they constantly struggle with gender barriers that are so ensconced in certain organizations and in society as to be accepted without question. Using an autoethnographical account, I explore the…

  15. Restor(y)ing Hope: Stories as Social Movement Learning in Ada Songor Salt Movement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Langdon, Jonathan; Garbary, Rachel

    2017-01-01

    Stories are a central component of how we understand ourselves and our societies in our world. This is especially true in the case of oral cultures. Stories, how they are used, how they are reframed, and how they change over time, are also an important record of learning. Randall (1996) and Kenyon and Randall (1997) have called this process…

  16. Machine- z: Rapid machine-learned redshift indicator for Swift gamma-ray bursts

    DOE PAGES

    Ukwatta, T. N.; Wozniak, P. R.; Gehrels, N.

    2016-03-08

    Studies of high-redshift gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) provide important information about the early Universe such as the rates of stellar collapsars and mergers, the metallicity content, constraints on the re-ionization period, and probes of the Hubble expansion. Rapid selection of high-z candidates from GRB samples reported in real time by dedicated space missions such as Swift is the key to identifying the most distant bursts before the optical afterglow becomes too dim to warrant a good spectrum. Here, we introduce ‘machine-z’, a redshift prediction algorithm and a ‘high-z’ classifier for Swift GRBs based on machine learning. Our method relies exclusively onmore » canonical data commonly available within the first few hours after the GRB trigger. Using a sample of 284 bursts with measured redshifts, we trained a randomized ensemble of decision trees (random forest) to perform both regression and classification. Cross-validated performance studies show that the correlation coefficient between machine-z predictions and the true redshift is nearly 0.6. At the same time, our high-z classifier can achieve 80 per cent recall of true high-redshift bursts, while incurring a false positive rate of 20 per cent. With 40 per cent false positive rate the classifier can achieve ~100 per cent recall. As a result, the most reliable selection of high-redshift GRBs is obtained by combining predictions from both the high-z classifier and the machine-z regressor.« less

  17. Knowledge into learning: comparing lecture, e-learning and self-study take-home packet instructional methodologies with nurses.

    PubMed

    Soper, Tracey

    2017-04-01

    The aim of this quantitative experimental study was to examine which of three instructional methodologies of traditional lecture, online electronic learning (e-learning) and self-study take-home packets are effective in knowledge acquisition of professional registered nurses. A true experimental design was conducted to contrast the knowledge acquisition of 87 registered nurses randomly selected. A 40-item Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) true/false test was used to measure knowledge acquisition. Based on 0.05 significance level, the ANOVA test revealed that there was no difference in knowledge acquisition by registered nurses based on which of three learning instructional method they were assigned. It can be concluded that while all of these instructional methods were equally effective in knowledge acquisition, these methods may not be equally cost- and time-effective. The study was able to determine that there were no significant differences in knowledge acquisition of nurses between the three instructional methodologies. The study also found that all groups scored at the acceptable level for certification. It can be concluded that all of these instructional methods were equally effective in knowledge acquisition but are not equally cost- and time-effective. Therefore, hospital educators may wish to formulate policies regarding choice of instructional method that take into account the efficient use of nurses' time and institutional resources.

  18. Multiswarm comprehensive learning particle swarm optimization for solving multiobjective optimization problems.

    PubMed

    Yu, Xiang; Zhang, Xueqing

    2017-01-01

    Comprehensive learning particle swarm optimization (CLPSO) is a powerful state-of-the-art single-objective metaheuristic. Extending from CLPSO, this paper proposes multiswarm CLPSO (MSCLPSO) for multiobjective optimization. MSCLPSO involves multiple swarms, with each swarm associated with a separate original objective. Each particle's personal best position is determined just according to the corresponding single objective. Elitists are stored externally. MSCLPSO differs from existing multiobjective particle swarm optimizers in three aspects. First, each swarm focuses on optimizing the associated objective using CLPSO, without learning from the elitists or any other swarm. Second, mutation is applied to the elitists and the mutation strategy appropriately exploits the personal best positions and elitists. Third, a modified differential evolution (DE) strategy is applied to some extreme and least crowded elitists. The DE strategy updates an elitist based on the differences of the elitists. The personal best positions carry useful information about the Pareto set, and the mutation and DE strategies help MSCLPSO discover the true Pareto front. Experiments conducted on various benchmark problems demonstrate that MSCLPSO can find nondominated solutions distributed reasonably over the true Pareto front in a single run.

  19. Machine learning methods can replace 3D profile method in classification of amyloidogenic hexapeptides.

    PubMed

    Stanislawski, Jerzy; Kotulska, Malgorzata; Unold, Olgierd

    2013-01-17

    Amyloids are proteins capable of forming fibrils. Many of them underlie serious diseases, like Alzheimer disease. The number of amyloid-associated diseases is constantly increasing. Recent studies indicate that amyloidogenic properties can be associated with short segments of aminoacids, which transform the structure when exposed. A few hundreds of such peptides have been experimentally found. Experimental testing of all possible aminoacid combinations is currently not feasible. Instead, they can be predicted by computational methods. 3D profile is a physicochemical-based method that has generated the most numerous dataset - ZipperDB. However, it is computationally very demanding. Here, we show that dataset generation can be accelerated. Two methods to increase the classification efficiency of amyloidogenic candidates are presented and tested: simplified 3D profile generation and machine learning methods. We generated a new dataset of hexapeptides, using more economical 3D profile algorithm, which showed very good classification overlap with ZipperDB (93.5%). The new part of our dataset contains 1779 segments, with 204 classified as amyloidogenic. The dataset of 6-residue sequences with their binary classification, based on the energy of the segment, was applied for training machine learning methods. A separate set of sequences from ZipperDB was used as a test set. The most effective methods were Alternating Decision Tree and Multilayer Perceptron. Both methods obtained area under ROC curve of 0.96, accuracy 91%, true positive rate ca. 78%, and true negative rate 95%. A few other machine learning methods also achieved a good performance. The computational time was reduced from 18-20 CPU-hours (full 3D profile) to 0.5 CPU-hours (simplified 3D profile) to seconds (machine learning). We showed that the simplified profile generation method does not introduce an error with regard to the original method, while increasing the computational efficiency. Our new dataset proved representative enough to use simple statistical methods for testing the amylogenicity based only on six letter sequences. Statistical machine learning methods such as Alternating Decision Tree and Multilayer Perceptron can replace the energy based classifier, with advantage of very significantly reduced computational time and simplicity to perform the analysis. Additionally, a decision tree provides a set of very easily interpretable rules.

  20. Patient Relationship Management: What the U.S. Healthcare System Can Learn from Other Industries.

    PubMed

    Poku, Michael K; Behkami, Nima A; Bates, David W

    2017-01-01

    As the U.S. healthcare system moves to value-based care, the importance of engaging patients and families continues to intensify. However, simply engaging patients and families to improve their subjective satisfaction will not be enough for providers who want to maximize value. True optimization entails developing deep and long-term relationships with patients. We suggest that healthcare organizations must build such a discipline of "patient relationship management" (PRM) just as companies in non-healthcare industries have done with the concept of customer relationship management (CRM). Some providers have already made strides in this area, but overall it has been underemphasized or ignored by most healthcare systems to date. As healthcare providers work to develop their dedicated PRM systems, tools, and processes, we suggest they may benefit from emulating companies in other industries who have been able to engage their customers in innovative ways while acknowledging the differences between healthcare and other industries.

  1. Strategic thinking for radiology.

    PubMed

    Schilling, R B

    1997-08-01

    We have now analyzed the use and benefits of four Strategic Thinking Tools for Radiology: the Vision Statement, the High Five, the Two-by-Two, and Real-Win-Worth. Additional tools will be provided during the tutorial. The tools provided above should be considered as examples. They all contain the 10 benefits outlined earlier to varying degrees. It is extremely important that the tools be used in a manner consistent with the Vision Statement of the organization. The specific situation, the effectiveness of the team, and the experience developed with the tools over time will determine the true benefits of the process. It has also been shown that with active use of the types of tools provided above, teams have learned to modify the tools for increased effectiveness and have created additional tools for specific purposes. Once individuals in the organization become committed to improving communication and to using tools/frameworks for solving problems as a team, effectiveness becomes boundless.

  2. Learning to Be "Me" while Coming to Understand "We": Encouraging Prosocial Babies in Group Settings

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McMullen, Mary Benson; Addleman, Jennifer M.; Fulford, Amanda M.; Moore, Sarah L.; Mooney, Shari J.; Sisk, Samantha S.; Zachariah, Jasmine

    2009-01-01

    At the same time young babies are developing an understanding of self as separate from others--what it means to be "me"--many also face having to negotiate living, learning, growing, and developing as part of a group--what it means to be "we". This is true for more than half of all infants in the United States under the age of…

  3. InterAgency Journal (Volume 2, Issue 1, Winter 2011)

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2011-01-01

    true interagency structures and saw USAFRICOM as an opportunity and a test case. As a result, speculation and rumors grew about the details of the... false .14 Likewise a lesson learned must be refutable in theory. A lesson learned that cannot theoretically be refuted can likewise not be...to an ongoing AIDS epidemic, a cholera outbreak would occur and be exacerbated by poor personal hygiene and inadequate sanitation, refuse, sewage

  4. If We Build It, They Will Come! Exploring the Role of ICTs in Curriculum Design and Development: The Myths, Miracles and Affordances

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Naidu, S.

    2007-01-01

    Central to the argument about the influence of media on learning is how this influence is measured or ascertained. Conventional methods which comprise the use of true and quasi-experimental designs are inadequate. Several lessons can be learned from this observation on the media debate. The first is that, conventional methods of ascertaining the…

  5. A Roadmap for True Accountability: Reconceptualizing Language-Learning Services, Reclassification Practices and Monitoring Systems for English Language Learners in U.S. Public Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Slama, Rachel B.

    2012-01-01

    A major problem facing educators in the United States is how to determine when the nation's five million English language learners (ELL) are ready to exit language-learning programs, i.e. to be "reclassified" as fluent English proficient (R-FEP) and placed in mainstream classrooms without additional language support. No Child Left Behind…

  6. Getting and Keeping Students' Brains Energized and Eager

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stormon-Flynn, Mary

    2011-01-01

    A brain has the capacity to absorb a great deal of information and can make decisions about what role or roles, major or minor, that data will play in its life. While it is most likely true that we learn one new thing every day, our brain, the controller of our thoughts, can decide what number of new things we can learn and remember each day. As I…

  7. Fostering significant learning in graduate nursing education.

    PubMed

    Marrocco, Geraldine F

    2014-03-01

    Faculty who want to energize graduate students with creative classes that lead to long-lasting learning will benefit by designing course objectives, learning activities, and assessment tools using Fink's taxonomy of significant learning and Wiggins's insights on performance-based or educative assessments. Research shows that course designs relying on content-driven lectures and written examinations do not promote significant learning among adult learners. This article reviews six types of significant learning using Fink's taxonomy and examines Wiggins's "backward" approach to designing courses using performance-based assessments that gauge true learning and learning that promotes a lasting change. When designing courses, educators should ask: "What do I really want students to get out of this course?" The answers will direct the design of objectives, learning activities, and assessment tools. Designing graduate courses using Fink's taxonomy and Wiggins's backward approach can lead to significant learning to better prepare nurse practitioners for the future of health care. Copyright 2014, SLACK Incorporated.

  8. Is awareness necessary for true inference?

    PubMed

    Leo, Peter D; Greene, Anthony J

    2008-09-01

    In transitive inference, participants learn a set of context-dependent discriminations that can be organized into a hierarchy that supports inference. Several studies show that inference occurs with or without task awareness. However, some studies assert that without awareness, performance is attributable to pseudoinference. By this account, inference-like performance is achieved by differential stimulus weighting according to the stimuli's proximity to the end items of the hierarchy. We implement an inference task that cannot be based on differential stimulus weighting. The design itself rules out pseudoinference strategies. Success on the task without evidence of deliberative strategies would therefore suggest that true inference can be achieved implicitly. We found that accurate performance on the inference task was not dependent on explicit awareness. The finding is consistent with a growing body of evidence that indicates that forms of learning and memory supporting inference and flexibility do not necessarily depend on task awareness.

  9. The adult learner: is it necessary to understand for teaching in anesthesiology.

    PubMed

    Gaiser, Robert R

    2010-01-01

    Educators came to realize what internists and pediatricians have known all along: adults and children are not the same. They differ in physiology, pharmacology, and learning. To approach teaching of the adult learner as one would a child is likely to fail. To effectively design and execute a curriculum for the adult, the teacher must consider the role of personal experience, learning preparedness, learning orientation, and motivation to learn. Although these principles may seem novel, they represent good judgment when teaching the adult. The key factor for the educator is to determine the needs of the adult (which is typically based upon personal experience) and then design and implement a curriculum based upon these needs. This approach is backward from the approach used in children in which the curriculum is established without any input from the learner. One other means to improve success is to foster personal reflection upon the teaching by the adult learner. This reflection may develop from carefully phrased questions, from activities in applying the knowledge, or from within the learner. By helping the learner to reflect, the true goals of the teaching may be achieved and the teacher is rewarded by having a more knowledgeable provider, who is able to use and to question the new knowledge. The cycle of adult learning is completed but also starts again.

  10. Prediction of enhancer-promoter interactions via natural language processing.

    PubMed

    Zeng, Wanwen; Wu, Mengmeng; Jiang, Rui

    2018-05-09

    Precise identification of three-dimensional genome organization, especially enhancer-promoter interactions (EPIs), is important to deciphering gene regulation, cell differentiation and disease mechanisms. Currently, it is a challenging task to distinguish true interactions from other nearby non-interacting ones since the power of traditional experimental methods is limited due to low resolution or low throughput. We propose a novel computational framework EP2vec to assay three-dimensional genomic interactions. We first extract sequence embedding features, defined as fixed-length vector representations learned from variable-length sequences using an unsupervised deep learning method in natural language processing. Then, we train a classifier to predict EPIs using the learned representations in supervised way. Experimental results demonstrate that EP2vec obtains F1 scores ranging from 0.841~ 0.933 on different datasets, which outperforms existing methods. We prove the robustness of sequence embedding features by carrying out sensitivity analysis. Besides, we identify motifs that represent cell line-specific information through analysis of the learned sequence embedding features by adopting attention mechanism. Last, we show that even superior performance with F1 scores 0.889~ 0.940 can be achieved by combining sequence embedding features and experimental features. EP2vec sheds light on feature extraction for DNA sequences of arbitrary lengths and provides a powerful approach for EPIs identification.

  11. Converging blockchain and next-generation artificial intelligence technologies to decentralize and accelerate biomedical research and healthcare

    PubMed Central

    Mamoshina, Polina; Ojomoko, Lucy; Yanovich, Yury; Ostrovski, Alex; Botezatu, Alex; Prikhodko, Pavel; Izumchenko, Eugene; Aliper, Alexander; Romantsov, Konstantin; Zhebrak, Alexander; Ogu, Iraneus Obioma; Zhavoronkov, Alex

    2018-01-01

    The increased availability of data and recent advancements in artificial intelligence present the unprecedented opportunities in healthcare and major challenges for the patients, developers, providers and regulators. The novel deep learning and transfer learning techniques are turning any data about the person into medical data transforming simple facial pictures and videos into powerful sources of data for predictive analytics. Presently, the patients do not have control over the access privileges to their medical records and remain unaware of the true value of the data they have. In this paper, we provide an overview of the next-generation artificial intelligence and blockchain technologies and present innovative solutions that may be used to accelerate the biomedical research and enable patients with new tools to control and profit from their personal data as well with the incentives to undergo constant health monitoring. We introduce new concepts to appraise and evaluate personal records, including the combination-, time- and relationship-value of the data. We also present a roadmap for a blockchain-enabled decentralized personal health data ecosystem to enable novel approaches for drug discovery, biomarker development, and preventative healthcare. A secure and transparent distributed personal data marketplace utilizing blockchain and deep learning technologies may be able to resolve the challenges faced by the regulators and return the control over personal data including medical records back to the individuals. PMID:29464026

  12. Converging blockchain and next-generation artificial intelligence technologies to decentralize and accelerate biomedical research and healthcare.

    PubMed

    Mamoshina, Polina; Ojomoko, Lucy; Yanovich, Yury; Ostrovski, Alex; Botezatu, Alex; Prikhodko, Pavel; Izumchenko, Eugene; Aliper, Alexander; Romantsov, Konstantin; Zhebrak, Alexander; Ogu, Iraneus Obioma; Zhavoronkov, Alex

    2018-01-19

    The increased availability of data and recent advancements in artificial intelligence present the unprecedented opportunities in healthcare and major challenges for the patients, developers, providers and regulators. The novel deep learning and transfer learning techniques are turning any data about the person into medical data transforming simple facial pictures and videos into powerful sources of data for predictive analytics. Presently, the patients do not have control over the access privileges to their medical records and remain unaware of the true value of the data they have. In this paper, we provide an overview of the next-generation artificial intelligence and blockchain technologies and present innovative solutions that may be used to accelerate the biomedical research and enable patients with new tools to control and profit from their personal data as well with the incentives to undergo constant health monitoring. We introduce new concepts to appraise and evaluate personal records, including the combination-, time- and relationship-value of the data. We also present a roadmap for a blockchain-enabled decentralized personal health data ecosystem to enable novel approaches for drug discovery, biomarker development, and preventative healthcare. A secure and transparent distributed personal data marketplace utilizing blockchain and deep learning technologies may be able to resolve the challenges faced by the regulators and return the control over personal data including medical records back to the individuals.

  13. Knowledge-transfer learning for prediction of matrix metalloprotease substrate-cleavage sites.

    PubMed

    Wang, Yanan; Song, Jiangning; Marquez-Lago, Tatiana T; Leier, André; Li, Chen; Lithgow, Trevor; Webb, Geoffrey I; Shen, Hong-Bin

    2017-07-18

    Matrix Metalloproteases (MMPs) are an important family of proteases that play crucial roles in key cellular and disease processes. Therefore, MMPs constitute important targets for drug design, development and delivery. Advanced proteomic technologies have identified type-specific target substrates; however, the complete repertoire of MMP substrates remains uncharacterized. Indeed, computational prediction of substrate-cleavage sites associated with MMPs is a challenging problem. This holds especially true when considering MMPs with few experimentally verified cleavage sites, such as for MMP-2, -3, -7, and -8. To fill this gap, we propose a new knowledge-transfer computational framework which effectively utilizes the hidden shared knowledge from some MMP types to enhance predictions of other, distinct target substrate-cleavage sites. Our computational framework uses support vector machines combined with transfer machine learning and feature selection. To demonstrate the value of the model, we extracted a variety of substrate sequence-derived features and compared the performance of our method using both 5-fold cross-validation and independent tests. The results show that our transfer-learning-based method provides a robust performance, which is at least comparable to traditional feature-selection methods for prediction of MMP-2, -3, -7, -8, -9 and -12 substrate-cleavage sites on independent tests. The results also demonstrate that our proposed computational framework provides a useful alternative for the characterization of sequence-level determinants of MMP-substrate specificity.

  14. Poster Development and Presentation to Improve Scientific Inquiry and Broaden Effective Scientific Communication Skills.

    PubMed

    Rauschenbach, Ines; Keddis, Ramaydalis; Davis, Diane

    2018-01-01

    We have redesigned a tried-and-true laboratory exercise into an inquiry-based team activity exploring microbial growth control, and implemented this activity as the basis for preparing a scientific poster in a large, multi-section laboratory course. Spanning most of the semester, this project culminates in a poster presentation of data generated from a student-designed experiment. Students use and apply the scientific method and improve written and verbal communication skills. The guided inquiry format of this exercise provides the opportunity for student collaboration through cooperative learning. For each learning objective, a percentage score was tabulated (learning objective score = points awarded/total possible points). A score of 80% was our benchmark for achieving each objective. At least 76% of the student groups participating in this project over two semesters achieved each learning goal. Student perceptions of the project were evaluated using a survey. Nearly 90% of participating students felt they had learned a great deal in the areas of formulating a hypothesis, experimental design, and collecting and analyzing data; 72% of students felt this project had improved their scientific writing skills. In a separate survey, 84% of students who responded felt that peer review was valuable in improving their final poster submission. We designed this inquiry-based poster project to improve student scientific communication skills. This exercise is appropriate for any microbiology laboratory course whose learning outcomes include the development of scientific inquiry and literacy.

  15. Poster Development and Presentation to Improve Scientific Inquiry and Broaden Effective Scientific Communication Skills †

    PubMed Central

    Rauschenbach, Ines; Keddis, Ramaydalis; Davis, Diane

    2018-01-01

    We have redesigned a tried-and-true laboratory exercise into an inquiry-based team activity exploring microbial growth control, and implemented this activity as the basis for preparing a scientific poster in a large, multi-section laboratory course. Spanning most of the semester, this project culminates in a poster presentation of data generated from a student-designed experiment. Students use and apply the scientific method and improve written and verbal communication skills. The guided inquiry format of this exercise provides the opportunity for student collaboration through cooperative learning. For each learning objective, a percentage score was tabulated (learning objective score = points awarded/total possible points). A score of 80% was our benchmark for achieving each objective. At least 76% of the student groups participating in this project over two semesters achieved each learning goal. Student perceptions of the project were evaluated using a survey. Nearly 90% of participating students felt they had learned a great deal in the areas of formulating a hypothesis, experimental design, and collecting and analyzing data; 72% of students felt this project had improved their scientific writing skills. In a separate survey, 84% of students who responded felt that peer review was valuable in improving their final poster submission. We designed this inquiry-based poster project to improve student scientific communication skills. This exercise is appropriate for any microbiology laboratory course whose learning outcomes include the development of scientific inquiry and literacy. PMID:29904518

  16. SEMANTIC3D.NET: a New Large-Scale Point Cloud Classification Benchmark

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hackel, T.; Savinov, N.; Ladicky, L.; Wegner, J. D.; Schindler, K.; Pollefeys, M.

    2017-05-01

    This paper presents a new 3D point cloud classification benchmark data set with over four billion manually labelled points, meant as input for data-hungry (deep) learning methods. We also discuss first submissions to the benchmark that use deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) as a work horse, which already show remarkable performance improvements over state-of-the-art. CNNs have become the de-facto standard for many tasks in computer vision and machine learning like semantic segmentation or object detection in images, but have no yet led to a true breakthrough for 3D point cloud labelling tasks due to lack of training data. With the massive data set presented in this paper, we aim at closing this data gap to help unleash the full potential of deep learning methods for 3D labelling tasks. Our semantic3D.net data set consists of dense point clouds acquired with static terrestrial laser scanners. It contains 8 semantic classes and covers a wide range of urban outdoor scenes: churches, streets, railroad tracks, squares, villages, soccer fields and castles. We describe our labelling interface and show that our data set provides more dense and complete point clouds with much higher overall number of labelled points compared to those already available to the research community. We further provide baseline method descriptions and comparison between methods submitted to our online system. We hope semantic3D.net will pave the way for deep learning methods in 3D point cloud labelling to learn richer, more general 3D representations, and first submissions after only a few months indicate that this might indeed be the case.

  17. A theory of local learning, the learning channel, and the optimality of backpropagation.

    PubMed

    Baldi, Pierre; Sadowski, Peter

    2016-11-01

    In a physical neural system, where storage and processing are intimately intertwined, the rules for adjusting the synaptic weights can only depend on variables that are available locally, such as the activity of the pre- and post-synaptic neurons, resulting in local learning rules. A systematic framework for studying the space of local learning rules is obtained by first specifying the nature of the local variables, and then the functional form that ties them together into each learning rule. Such a framework enables also the systematic discovery of new learning rules and exploration of relationships between learning rules and group symmetries. We study polynomial local learning rules stratified by their degree and analyze their behavior and capabilities in both linear and non-linear units and networks. Stacking local learning rules in deep feedforward networks leads to deep local learning. While deep local learning can learn interesting representations, it cannot learn complex input-output functions, even when targets are available for the top layer. Learning complex input-output functions requires local deep learning where target information is communicated to the deep layers through a backward learning channel. The nature of the communicated information about the targets and the structure of the learning channel partition the space of learning algorithms. For any learning algorithm, the capacity of the learning channel can be defined as the number of bits provided about the error gradient per weight, divided by the number of required operations per weight. We estimate the capacity associated with several learning algorithms and show that backpropagation outperforms them by simultaneously maximizing the information rate and minimizing the computational cost. This result is also shown to be true for recurrent networks, by unfolding them in time. The theory clarifies the concept of Hebbian learning, establishes the power and limitations of local learning rules, introduces the learning channel which enables a formal analysis of the optimality of backpropagation, and explains the sparsity of the space of learning rules discovered so far. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Evaluating a Novel Eye Tracking Tool to Detect Invalid Responding in Neurocognitive Assessment

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2014-05-07

    Learning Test-II (CVLT-II; 63), Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT; 231), Warrington’s Recognition Memory Test (RMT; 274), and Seashore Rhythm...history of brain injury (BR) and unbiased responders without a history of brain injury (UR). Demographics (e.g., age, sex , race/ethnicity, years of...project (i.e., “true” invalid responding) is rarely observed with certainty or experimentally induced . However, behavior that approximates true invalid

  19. "This above All: To Thine Own Self Be True"--Ethical Considerations and Risks in Conducting Higher Education Learning Activities in the Virtual World "Second Life" [TM

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Childs, Mark; Schnieders, H. Lori; Williams, Gweno

    2012-01-01

    Using virtual worlds as media for learning and teaching gives rise to the potential for many unique ethical problems. Some of these arise due to the nature of the engagement with these virtual worlds, in which the students create a virtual representation, called an avatar, which may enable a sense of embodiment, and hence exposure, within the…

  20. CLEANing the Reward: Counterfactual Actions to Remove Exploratory Action Noise in Multiagent Learning

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    HolmesParker, Chris; Taylor, Mathew E.; Tumer, Kagan; Agogino, Adrian

    2014-01-01

    Learning in multiagent systems can be slow because agents must learn both how to behave in a complex environment and how to account for the actions of other agents. The inability of an agent to distinguish between the true environmental dynamics and those caused by the stochastic exploratory actions of other agents creates noise in each agent's reward signal. This learning noise can have unforeseen and often undesirable effects on the resultant system performance. We define such noise as exploratory action noise, demonstrate the critical impact it can have on the learning process in multiagent settings, and introduce a reward structure to effectively remove such noise from each agent's reward signal. In particular, we introduce Coordinated Learning without Exploratory Action Noise (CLEAN) rewards and empirically demonstrate their benefits

  1. Bion's "Evidence" and his theoretical style.

    PubMed

    Civitarese, Giuseppe

    2013-07-01

    The author discusses "Evidence" (1976), a brief but very intense and fascinating paper in which Bion provides a unique opportunity to see him at work in his clinical practice. In the story of a patient, Bion reconstructs two sessions that are all the more true for being imaginary-i.e., narrated ("dreamed"). The matter of language and style in psychoanalysis is of the utmost importance, according to Bion-one could say, literally, a matter of life or death. In Bion's discourse, writing, reading, and analysis converge in the same place, the author notes; all are significant if they involve an experience of truth and the ability to learn from experience. © 2013 The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, Inc.

  2. Music lessons: revealing medicine's learning culture through a comparison with that of music.

    PubMed

    Watling, Christopher; Driessen, Erik; van der Vleuten, Cees P M; Vanstone, Meredith; Lingard, Lorelei

    2013-08-01

    Research on medical learning has tended to focus on the individual learner, but a sufficient understanding of the learning process requires that attention also be paid to the essential influence of the cultural context within which learning takes place. In this study, we undertook a comparative examination of two learning cultures - those of music and medicine - in order to unearth assumptions about learning that are taken for granted within the medical culture. We used a constructivist grounded theory approach to explore experiences of learning within the two cultures. We conducted nine focus groups (two with medical students, three with residents, four with music students) and four individual interviews (with one clinician-educator, one music educator and two doctor-musicians), for a total of 37 participants. Analysis occurred alongside and informed data collection. Themes were identified iteratively using constant comparisons. Cultural perspectives diverged in terms of where learning should occur, what learning outcomes are desired, and how learning is best facilitated. Whereas medicine valued learning by doing, music valued learning by lesson. Whereas medical learners aimed for competence, music students aimed instead for ever-better performance. Whereas medical learners valued their teachers for their clinical skills more than for their teaching abilities, the opposite was true in music, in which teachers' instructional skills were paramount. Self-assessment challenged learners in both cultures, but medical learners viewed self-assessment as a skill they could develop, whereas music students recognised that external feedback would always be required. This comparative analysis reveals that medicine and music make culturally distinct assumptions about teaching and learning. The contrasts between the two cultures illuminate potential vulnerabilities in the medical learning culture, including the risks inherent in its competence-focused approach and the constraints it places on its own teachers. By highlighting these vulnerabilities, we provide a stimulus for reimagining and renewing medicine's educational practices. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  3. Detecting Abnormal Word Utterances in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders: Machine-Learning-Based Voice Analysis Versus Speech Therapists.

    PubMed

    Nakai, Yasushi; Takiguchi, Tetsuya; Matsui, Gakuyo; Yamaoka, Noriko; Takada, Satoshi

    2017-10-01

    Abnormal prosody is often evident in the voice intonations of individuals with autism spectrum disorders. We compared a machine-learning-based voice analysis with human hearing judgments made by 10 speech therapists for classifying children with autism spectrum disorders ( n = 30) and typical development ( n = 51). Using stimuli limited to single-word utterances, machine-learning-based voice analysis was superior to speech therapist judgments. There was a significantly higher true-positive than false-negative rate for machine-learning-based voice analysis but not for speech therapists. Results are discussed in terms of some artificiality of clinician judgments based on single-word utterances, and the objectivity machine-learning-based voice analysis adds to judging abnormal prosody.

  4. Analysing How People Orient to and Spread Rumours in Social Media by Looking at Conversational Threads

    PubMed Central

    Zubiaga, Arkaitz; Liakata, Maria; Procter, Rob; Wong Sak Hoi, Geraldine; Tolmie, Peter

    2016-01-01

    As breaking news unfolds people increasingly rely on social media to stay abreast of the latest updates. The use of social media in such situations comes with the caveat that new information being released piecemeal may encourage rumours, many of which remain unverified long after their point of release. Little is known, however, about the dynamics of the life cycle of a social media rumour. In this paper we present a methodology that has enabled us to collect, identify and annotate a dataset of 330 rumour threads (4,842 tweets) associated with 9 newsworthy events. We analyse this dataset to understand how users spread, support, or deny rumours that are later proven true or false, by distinguishing two levels of status in a rumour life cycle i.e., before and after its veracity status is resolved. The identification of rumours associated with each event, as well as the tweet that resolved each rumour as true or false, was performed by journalist members of the research team who tracked the events in real time. Our study shows that rumours that are ultimately proven true tend to be resolved faster than those that turn out to be false. Whilst one can readily see users denying rumours once they have been debunked, users appear to be less capable of distinguishing true from false rumours when their veracity remains in question. In fact, we show that the prevalent tendency for users is to support every unverified rumour. We also analyse the role of different types of users, finding that highly reputable users such as news organisations endeavour to post well-grounded statements, which appear to be certain and accompanied by evidence. Nevertheless, these often prove to be unverified pieces of information that give rise to false rumours. Our study reinforces the need for developing robust machine learning techniques that can provide assistance in real time for assessing the veracity of rumours. The findings of our study provide useful insights for achieving this aim. PMID:26943909

  5. A New Computer-Based Examination System.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Los Arcos, J. M.; Vano, E.

    1978-01-01

    Describes a computer-managed instructional system used to formulate, print, and evaluate true-false questions for testing purposes. The design of the system and its application in medical and nuclear engineering courses in two Spanish institutions of higher learning are detailed. (RAO)

  6. Learning Networks: Iran and the Effects of Sanctions

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2013-03-27

    synthesizes and summarizes our research efforts. 15. SUBJECT TERMS Network Science, Social Network Analysis, Dynamic Networks 16. SECURITY...www.ecssr.com/ECSSR/appmanager/portal/ecssr?_nfpb=true. Klebnikov, Paul. " Millionaire Mullahs." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 21 July 2003. Web. http

  7. Data-adaptive test statistics for microarray data.

    PubMed

    Mukherjee, Sach; Roberts, Stephen J; van der Laan, Mark J

    2005-09-01

    An important task in microarray data analysis is the selection of genes that are differentially expressed between different tissue samples, such as healthy and diseased. However, microarray data contain an enormous number of dimensions (genes) and very few samples (arrays), a mismatch which poses fundamental statistical problems for the selection process that have defied easy resolution. In this paper, we present a novel approach to the selection of differentially expressed genes in which test statistics are learned from data using a simple notion of reproducibility in selection results as the learning criterion. Reproducibility, as we define it, can be computed without any knowledge of the 'ground-truth', but takes advantage of certain properties of microarray data to provide an asymptotically valid guide to expected loss under the true data-generating distribution. We are therefore able to indirectly minimize expected loss, and obtain results substantially more robust than conventional methods. We apply our method to simulated and oligonucleotide array data. By request to the corresponding author.

  8. Behavioral responses of trained squirrel and rhesus monkeys during oculomotor tasks

    PubMed Central

    Heiney, Shane A.; Blazquez, Pablo M.

    2018-01-01

    The oculomotor system is the motor system of choice for many neuroscientists studying motor control and learning because of its simplicity, easy control of inputs (e.g., visual stimulation), and precise control and measurement of motor outputs (eye position). This is especially true in primates, which are easily trained to perform oculomotor tasks. Here we provide the first detailed characterization of the oculomotor performance of trained squirrel monkeys, primates used extensively in oculomotor physiology, during saccade and smooth pursuit tasks, and compare it to that of the rhesus macaque. We found that both primates have similar oculomotor behavior but the rhesus shows a larger oculomotor range, better performance for horizontal saccades above 10 degrees, and better horizontal smooth pursuit gain to target velocities above 15 deg/s. These results are important for interspecies comparisons and necessary when selecting the best stimuli to study motor control and motor learning in the oculomotor systems of these primates. PMID:21656216

  9. The centrality of fear extinction in linking risk factors to PTSD: A narrative review.

    PubMed

    Zuj, Daniel V; Palmer, Matthew A; Lommen, Miriam J J; Felmingham, Kim L

    2016-10-01

    Recent prospective studies in emergency services have identified impaired fear extinction learning and memory to be a significant predictor of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), complementing a wealth of cross-sectional evidence of extinction deficits associated with the disorder. Additional fields of research show specific risk factors and biomarkers of the disorder, including candidate genotypes, stress and sex hormones, cognitive factors, and sleep disturbances. Studies in mostly nonclinical populations also reveal that the aforementioned factors are involved in fear extinction learning and memory. Here, we provide a comprehensive narrative review of the literature linking PTSD to these risk factors, and linking these risk factors to impaired fear extinction. On balance, the evidence suggests that fear extinction may play a role in the relationship between risk factors and PTSD. Should this notion hold true, this review carries important implications for the improvement of exposure-based treatments, as well as strategies for the implementation of treatment. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Increased cognitive load enables unlearning in procedural category learning.

    PubMed

    Crossley, Matthew J; Maddox, W Todd; Ashby, F Gregory

    2018-04-19

    Interventions for drug abuse and other maladaptive habitual behaviors may yield temporary success but are often fragile and relapse is common. This implies that current interventions do not erase or substantially modify the representations that support the underlying addictive behavior-that is, they do not cause true unlearning. One example of an intervention that fails to induce true unlearning comes from Crossley, Ashby, and Maddox (2013, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General), who reported that a sudden shift to random feedback did not cause unlearning of category knowledge obtained through procedural systems, and they also reported results suggesting that this failure is because random feedback is noncontingent on behavior. These results imply the existence of a mechanism that (a) estimates feedback contingency and (b) protects procedural learning from modification when feedback contingency is low (i.e., during random feedback). This article reports the results of an experiment in which increasing cognitive load via an explicit dual task during the random feedback period facilitated unlearning. This result is consistent with the hypothesis that the mechanism that protects procedural learning when feedback contingency is low depends on executive function. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  11. Assessment of various supervised learning algorithms using different performance metrics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Susheel Kumar, S. M.; Laxkar, Deepak; Adhikari, Sourav; Vijayarajan, V.

    2017-11-01

    Our work brings out comparison based on the performance of supervised machine learning algorithms on a binary classification task. The supervised machine learning algorithms which are taken into consideration in the following work are namely Support Vector Machine(SVM), Decision Tree(DT), K Nearest Neighbour (KNN), Naïve Bayes(NB) and Random Forest(RF). This paper mostly focuses on comparing the performance of above mentioned algorithms on one binary classification task by analysing the Metrics such as Accuracy, F-Measure, G-Measure, Precision, Misclassification Rate, False Positive Rate, True Positive Rate, Specificity, Prevalence.

  12. A decision model to predict the risk of the first fall onset.

    PubMed

    Deschamps, Thibault; Le Goff, Camille G; Berrut, Gilles; Cornu, Christophe; Mignardot, Jean-Baptiste

    2016-08-01

    Miscellaneous features from various domains are accepted to be associated with the risk of falling in the elderly. However, only few studies have focused on establishing clinical tools to predict the risk of the first fall onset. A model that would objectively and easily evaluate the risk of a first fall occurrence in the coming year still needs to be built. We developed a model based on machine learning, which might help the medical staff predict the risk of the first fall onset in a one-year time window. Overall, 426 older adults who had never fallen were assessed on 73 variables, comprising medical, social and physical outcomes, at t0. Each fall was recorded at a prospective 1-year follow-up. A decision tree was built on a randomly selected training subset of the cohort (80% of the full-set) and validated on an independent test set. 82 participants experienced a first fall during the follow-up. The machine learning process independently extracted 13 powerful parameters and built a model showing 89% of accuracy for the overall classification with 83%-82% of true positive fallers and 96%-61% of true negative non-fallers (training set vs. independent test set). This study provides a pilot tool that could easily help the gerontologists refine the evaluation of the risk of the first fall onset and prioritize the effective prevention strategies. The study also offers a transparent framework for future, related investigation that would validate the clinical relevance of the established model by independently testing its accuracy on larger cohort. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Rapid learning curve assessment in an ex vivo training system for microincisional glaucoma surgery.

    PubMed

    Dang, Yalong; Waxman, Susannah; Wang, Chao; Parikh, Hardik A; Bussel, Igor I; Loewen, Ralitsa T; Xia, Xiaobo; Lathrop, Kira L; Bilonick, Richard A; Loewen, Nils A

    2017-05-09

    Increasing prevalence and cost of glaucoma have increased the demand for surgeons well trained in newer, microincisional surgery. These procedures occur in a highly confined space, making them difficult to learn by observation or assistance alone as is currently done. We hypothesized that our ex vivo outflow model is sensitive enough to allow computing individual learning curves to quantify progress and refine techniques. Seven trainees performed nine trabectome-mediated ab interno trabeculectomies in pig eyes (n = 63). An expert surgeon rated the procedure using an Operating Room Score (ORS). The extent of outflow beds accessed was measured with canalograms. Data was fitted using mixed effect models. ORS reached a half-maximum on an asymptote after only 2.5 eyes. Surgical time decreased by 1.4 minutes per eye in a linear fashion. The ablation arc followed an asymptotic function with a half-maximum inflection point after 5.3 eyes. Canalograms revealed that this progress did not correlate well with improvement in outflow, suggesting instead that about 30 eyes are needed for true mastery. This inexpensive pig eye model provides a safe and effective microsurgical training model and allows objective quantification of outcomes for the first time.

  14. Harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) can steer by the stars.

    PubMed

    Mauck, Björn; Gläser, Nele; Schlosser, Wolfhard; Dehnhardt, Guido

    2008-10-01

    Offshore orientation in marine mammals is still a mystery. For visual orientation during night-time foraging and travelling in the open seas, seals cannot rely on distant terrestrial landmarks, and thus might use celestial cues as repeatedly shown for nocturnally migrating birds. Although seals detect enough stars to probably allow for astronavigation, it was unclear whether they can orient by the night sky. The widely accepted cognitive mechanism for bird night-time orientation by celestial cues is a time-independent star compass with learned geometrical star configurations used to pinpoint north as the rotational centre of the starry sky while there is no conclusive evidence for a time-compensated star compass or true star navigation. Here, we present results for two harbour seals orienting in a custom made swimming planetarium. Both seals learned to highly accurately identify a lodestar out of a pseudo-randomly oriented, realistic projection of the northern hemisphere night sky. Providing the first evidence for star orientation capability in a marine mammal, our seals' outstanding directional precision would allow them to steer by following lodestars of learned star courses, a celestial orientation mechanism that has been known to be used by Polynesian navigators but has not been considered for animals yet.

  15. Choice in experiential learning: True preferences or experimental artifacts?

    PubMed

    Ashby, Nathaniel J S; Konstantinidis, Emmanouil; Yechiam, Eldad

    2017-03-01

    The rate of selecting different options in the decisions-from-feedback paradigm is commonly used to measure preferences resulting from experiential learning. While convergence to a single option increases with experience, some variance in choice remains even when options are static and offer fixed rewards. Employing a decisions-from-feedback paradigm followed by a policy-setting task, we examined whether the observed variance in choice is driven by factors related to the paradigm itself: Continued exploration (e.g., believing options are non-stationary) or exploitation of perceived outcome patterns (i.e., a belief that sequential choices are not independent). Across two studies, participants showed variance in their choices, which was related (i.e., proportional) to the policies they set. In addition, in Study 2, participants' reported under-confidence was associated with the amount of choice variance in later choices and policies. These results suggest that variance in choice is better explained by participants lacking confidence in knowing which option is better, rather than methodological artifacts (i.e., exploration or failures to recognize outcome independence). As such, the current studies provide evidence for the decisions-from-feedback paradigm's validity as a behavioral research method for assessing learned preferences. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. Application of machine learning using support vector machines for crater detection from Martian digital topography data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Salamunićcar, Goran; Lončarić, Sven

    In our previous work, in order to extend the GT-57633 catalogue [PSS, 56 (15), 1992-2008] with still uncatalogued impact-craters, the following has been done [GRS, 48 (5), in press, doi:10.1109/TGRS.2009.2037750]: (1) the crater detection algorithm (CDA) based on digital elevation model (DEM) was developed; (2) using 1/128° MOLA data, this CDA proposed 414631 crater-candidates; (3) each crater-candidate was analyzed manually; and (4) 57592 were confirmed as correct detections. The resulting GT-115225 catalog is the significant result of this effort. However, to check such a large number of crater-candidates manually was a demanding task. This was the main motivation for work on improvement of the CDA in order to provide better classification of craters as true and false detections. To achieve this, we extended the CDA with the machine learning capability, using support vector machines (SVM). In the first step, the CDA (re)calculates numerous terrain morphometric attributes from DEM. For this purpose, already existing modules of the CDA from our previous work were reused in order to be capable to prepare these attributes. In addition, new attributes were introduced such as ellipse eccentricity and tilt. For machine learning purpose, the CDA is additionally extended to provide 2-D topography-profile and 3-D shape for each crater-candidate. The latter two are a performance problem because of the large number of crater-candidates in combination with the large number of attributes. As a solution, we developed a CDA architecture wherein it is possible to combine the SVM with a radial basis function (RBF) or any other kernel (for initial set of attributes), with the SVM with linear kernel (for the cases when 2-D and 3-D data are included as well). Another challenge is that, in addition to diversity of possible crater types, there are numerous morphological differences between the smallest (mostly very circular bowl-shaped craters) and the largest (multi-ring) impact craters. As a solution to this problem, the CDA classifies crater-candidates according to their diameter into 7 groups (D smaller/larger then 2km, 4km, 8km, 16km, 32km and 64km), and for each group uses separate SVMs for training and prediction. For implementation of the machine-learning part and integration with the rest of the CDA, we used C.-J. Lin's et al. [http://www.csie.ntu.edu.tw/˜cjlin/] LIBSVM (A Library for Support Vector Machines) and LIBLINEAR (A Library for Large Linear Classification) libraries. According to the initial evaluation, now the CDA provides much better classification of craters as true and false detections.

  17. The slow decay and quick revival of self-deception

    PubMed Central

    Chance, Zoë; Gino, Francesca; Norton, Michael I.; Ariely, Dan

    2015-01-01

    People demonstrate an impressive ability to self-deceive, distorting misbehavior to reflect positively on themselves—for example, by cheating on a test and believing that their inflated performance reflects their true ability. But what happens to self-deception when self-deceivers must face reality, such as when taking another test on which they cannot cheat? We find that self-deception diminishes over time only when self-deceivers are repeatedly confronted with evidence of their true ability (Study 1); this learning, however, fails to make them less susceptible to future self-deception (Study 2). PMID:26347666

  18. Blended learning: emerging best practices in allied health workforce development.

    PubMed

    Brandt, Barbara F; Quake-Rapp, Cindee; Shanedling, Janet; Spannaus-Martin, Donna; Martin, Peggy

    2010-01-01

    To remain dynamic and viable, academic institutions preparing the future workforce need to convert to a more accessible and convenient pathway for students. The need for responsiveness is especially true when considering strategies to prepare an allied health workforce in areas of shortages and to meet the needs of the underserved. A blended or hybrid learning model that strategically uses web-based and face-to-face teaching/learning methods is an innovative and strategic way that promotes learner-centered higher education and facilitates a higher learning experience. A model and emerging best practices for implementation are presented from our experience at the Center for Allied Health Programs at the University of Minnesota.

  19. Prediction of preterm deliveries from EHG signals using machine learning.

    PubMed

    Fergus, Paul; Cheung, Pauline; Hussain, Abir; Al-Jumeily, Dhiya; Dobbins, Chelsea; Iram, Shamaila

    2013-01-01

    There has been some improvement in the treatment of preterm infants, which has helped to increase their chance of survival. However, the rate of premature births is still globally increasing. As a result, this group of infants are most at risk of developing severe medical conditions that can affect the respiratory, gastrointestinal, immune, central nervous, auditory and visual systems. In extreme cases, this can also lead to long-term conditions, such as cerebral palsy, mental retardation, learning difficulties, including poor health and growth. In the US alone, the societal and economic cost of preterm births, in 2005, was estimated to be $26.2 billion, per annum. In the UK, this value was close to £2.95 billion, in 2009. Many believe that a better understanding of why preterm births occur, and a strategic focus on prevention, will help to improve the health of children and reduce healthcare costs. At present, most methods of preterm birth prediction are subjective. However, a strong body of evidence suggests the analysis of uterine electrical signals (Electrohysterography), could provide a viable way of diagnosing true labour and predict preterm deliveries. Most Electrohysterography studies focus on true labour detection during the final seven days, before labour. The challenge is to utilise Electrohysterography techniques to predict preterm delivery earlier in the pregnancy. This paper explores this idea further and presents a supervised machine learning approach that classifies term and preterm records, using an open source dataset containing 300 records (38 preterm and 262 term). The synthetic minority oversampling technique is used to oversample the minority preterm class, and cross validation techniques, are used to evaluate the dataset against other similar studies. Our approach shows an improvement on existing studies with 96% sensitivity, 90% specificity, and a 95% area under the curve value with 8% global error using the polynomial classifier.

  20. A System for True and False Memory Prediction Based on 2D and 3D Educational Contents and EEG Brain Signals.

    PubMed

    Bamatraf, Saeed; Hussain, Muhammad; Aboalsamh, Hatim; Qazi, Emad-Ul-Haq; Malik, Amir Saeed; Amin, Hafeez Ullah; Mathkour, Hassan; Muhammad, Ghulam; Imran, Hafiz Muhammad

    2016-01-01

    We studied the impact of 2D and 3D educational contents on learning and memory recall using electroencephalography (EEG) brain signals. For this purpose, we adopted a classification approach that predicts true and false memories in case of both short term memory (STM) and long term memory (LTM) and helps to decide whether there is a difference between the impact of 2D and 3D educational contents. In this approach, EEG brain signals are converted into topomaps and then discriminative features are extracted from them and finally support vector machine (SVM) which is employed to predict brain states. For data collection, half of sixty-eight healthy individuals watched the learning material in 2D format whereas the rest watched the same material in 3D format. After learning task, memory recall tasks were performed after 30 minutes (STM) and two months (LTM), and EEG signals were recorded. In case of STM, 97.5% prediction accuracy was achieved for 3D and 96.6% for 2D and, in case of LTM, it was 100% for both 2D and 3D. The statistical analysis of the results suggested that for learning and memory recall both 2D and 3D materials do not have much difference in case of STM and LTM.

  1. A System for True and False Memory Prediction Based on 2D and 3D Educational Contents and EEG Brain Signals

    PubMed Central

    2016-01-01

    We studied the impact of 2D and 3D educational contents on learning and memory recall using electroencephalography (EEG) brain signals. For this purpose, we adopted a classification approach that predicts true and false memories in case of both short term memory (STM) and long term memory (LTM) and helps to decide whether there is a difference between the impact of 2D and 3D educational contents. In this approach, EEG brain signals are converted into topomaps and then discriminative features are extracted from them and finally support vector machine (SVM) which is employed to predict brain states. For data collection, half of sixty-eight healthy individuals watched the learning material in 2D format whereas the rest watched the same material in 3D format. After learning task, memory recall tasks were performed after 30 minutes (STM) and two months (LTM), and EEG signals were recorded. In case of STM, 97.5% prediction accuracy was achieved for 3D and 96.6% for 2D and, in case of LTM, it was 100% for both 2D and 3D. The statistical analysis of the results suggested that for learning and memory recall both 2D and 3D materials do not have much difference in case of STM and LTM. PMID:26819593

  2. Learning To Live with Complexity.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dosa, Marta

    Neither the design of information systems and networks nor the delivery of library services can claim true user centricity without an understanding of the multifaceted psychological environment of users and potential users. The complexity of the political process, social problems, challenges to scientific inquiry, entrepreneurship, and…

  3. In Memoriam: Claude Klee, M.D. | Center for Cancer Research

    Cancer.gov

    Claude Klee, M.D., a true giant among the many great biochemists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), died on Monday, April 3, after suffering a heart attack. She was 85 years old.  Learn more...     

  4. The effect of autogenic training and biofeedback on motion sickness tolerance.

    PubMed

    Jozsvai, E E; Pigeau, R A

    1996-10-01

    Motion sickness is characterized by symptoms of vomiting, drowsiness, fatigue and idiosyncratic changes in autonomic nervous system (ANS) responses such as heart rate (HR) and skin temperature (ST). Previous studies found that symptoms of motion sickness are controllable through self-regulation of ANS responses and the best method to teach such control is autogenic-feedback (biofeedback) training. Recent experiments indicated that biofeedback training is ineffective in reducing symptoms of motion sickness or in increasing tolerance to motion. If biofeedback facilitates learning of ANS self-regulation then autogenic training with true feedback (TFB) should lead to better control over ANS responses and better motion tolerance than autogenic training with false feedback (FFB). If there is a relationship between ANS self-regulation and coping with motion stress, a significant correlation should be found between amounts of control over ANS responses and measures of motion tolerance and/or symptoms of motion sickness. There were 3 groups of 6 subjects exposed for 6 weeks to weekly sessions of Coriolis stimulation to induce motion sickness. Between the first and second Coriolis sessions, subjects in the experimental groups received five episodes of autogenic training with either true (group TFB) or false (group FFB) feedback on their HR and ST. The control group (CTL) received no treatment. Subjects learned to control their HR and ST independent of whether they received true or false feedback. Learned control of ST and HR was not related to severity of motion sickness or subject's ability to withstand Coriolis stimulation following treatment. A lack of significant correlation between these variables suggested that subjects were not able to apply their skills of ANS self-regulation in the motion environment, and/ or such skills had little value in reducing symptoms of motion sickness or enhancing their ability to withstand rotations.

  5. GeoBus: bringing experiential Earth science learning to secondary schools in the UK

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pike, C. J.; Robinson, R. A. J.; Roper, K. A.

    2014-12-01

    GeoBus (www.geobus.org.uk) is an educational outreach project that was developed in 2012 by the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of St Andrews, and it is sponsored jointly by industry and the UK Research Councils (NERC and EPSRC). The aims of GeoBus are to support the teaching of Earth Science in secondary (middle and high) schools by providing teaching support to schools that have no or little expertise of teaching Earth science, to share the outcomes of new science research and the experiences of young researchers with school pupils, and to provide a bridge between industry, higher education institutions, research councils and schools. Since its launch, GeoBus has visited over 160 different schools across the length and breadth of Scotland. Over 30,000 pupils will have been involved in experiential Earth science learning activities by December 2014, including many in remote and disadvantaged regions. The challenge with secondary school experiential learning as outreach is that activities need to be completed in either 50 or 80 minutes to fit within the school timetables in the UK, and this can limit the amount of hands-on activities that pupils undertake in one session. However, it is possible to dedicate a whole or half day of linked activities to Earth science learning in Scotland and this provides a long enough period to undertake field work, conduct group projects, or complete more complicated experiments. GeoBus has developed a suite of workshops that all involve experiential learning and are targeted for shorter and longer time slots, and the lessons learned in developing and refining these workshops to maximise the learning achieved will be presented. Three potentially unsurprising observations hold true for all the schools that GeoBus visits: young learners like to experiment and use unfamiliar equipment to make measurements, the element of competition stimulates learners to ask questions and maintain focus and enthusiasum, and role playing is an effective way to get learners to participate in group projects and to communicate with each other. Examples of our workshops and experiential learning activities for a range of ages will be presented along with feedback from teachers and young learners.

  6. Adaptive scenarios: a training model for today's public health workforce.

    PubMed

    Uden-Holman, Tanya; Bedet, Jennifer; Walkner, Laurie; Abd-Hamid, Nor Hashidah

    2014-01-01

    With the current economic climate, money for training is scarce. In addition, time is a major barrier to participation in trainings. To meet the public health workforce's rising demand for training, while struggling with less time and fewer resources, the Upper Midwest Preparedness and Emergency Response Learning Center has developed a model of online training that provides the public health workforce with individually customized, needs-based training experiences. Adaptive scenarios are rooted in case-based reasoning, a learning approach that focuses on the specific knowledge needed to solve a problem. Proponents of case-based reasoning argue that learners benefit from being able to remember previous similar situations and reusing information and knowledge from that situation. Adaptive scenarios based on true-to-life job performance provide an opportunity to assess skills by presenting the user with choices to make in a problem-solving context. A team approach was used to develop the adaptive scenarios. Storylines were developed that incorporated situations aligning with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes outlined in the Public Health Preparedness and Response Core Competency Model. This article examines 2 adaptive scenarios: "Ready or Not? A Family Preparedness Scenario" and "Responding to a Crisis: Managing Emotions and Stress Scenario." The scenarios are available on Upper Midwest Preparedness and Emergency Response Learning Center's Learning Management System, the Training Source (http://training-source.org). Evaluation data indicate that users' experiences have been positive. Integrating the assessment and training elements of the scenarios so that the training experience is uniquely adaptive to each user is one of the most efficient ways to provide training. The opportunity to provide individualized, needs-based training without having to administer separate assessments has the potential to save time and resources. These adaptive scenarios continue to be marketed to target audiences through partner organizations, various Web sites, electronic newsletters, and social media. Next steps include the implementation of a 6-month follow-up evaluation, using Kirkpatrick level III. Kirkpatrick level III evaluation measures whether there was actual transfer of learning to the work setting.

  7. A general framework for updating belief distributions.

    PubMed

    Bissiri, P G; Holmes, C C; Walker, S G

    2016-11-01

    We propose a framework for general Bayesian inference. We argue that a valid update of a prior belief distribution to a posterior can be made for parameters which are connected to observations through a loss function rather than the traditional likelihood function, which is recovered as a special case. Modern application areas make it increasingly challenging for Bayesians to attempt to model the true data-generating mechanism. For instance, when the object of interest is low dimensional, such as a mean or median, it is cumbersome to have to achieve this via a complete model for the whole data distribution. More importantly, there are settings where the parameter of interest does not directly index a family of density functions and thus the Bayesian approach to learning about such parameters is currently regarded as problematic. Our framework uses loss functions to connect information in the data to functionals of interest. The updating of beliefs then follows from a decision theoretic approach involving cumulative loss functions. Importantly, the procedure coincides with Bayesian updating when a true likelihood is known yet provides coherent subjective inference in much more general settings. Connections to other inference frameworks are highlighted.

  8. A neural learning classifier system with self-adaptive constructivism for mobile robot control.

    PubMed

    Hurst, Jacob; Bull, Larry

    2006-01-01

    For artificial entities to achieve true autonomy and display complex lifelike behavior, they will need to exploit appropriate adaptable learning algorithms. In this context adaptability implies flexibility guided by the environment at any given time and an open-ended ability to learn appropriate behaviors. This article examines the use of constructivism-inspired mechanisms within a neural learning classifier system architecture that exploits parameter self-adaptation as an approach to realize such behavior. The system uses a rule structure in which each rule is represented by an artificial neural network. It is shown that appropriate internal rule complexity emerges during learning at a rate controlled by the learner and that the structure indicates underlying features of the task. Results are presented in simulated mazes before moving to a mobile robot platform.

  9. Learned control over spinal nociception in patients with chronic back pain.

    PubMed

    Krafft, S; Göhmann, H-D; Sommer, J; Straube, A; Ruscheweyh, R

    2017-10-01

    Descending pain inhibition suppresses spinal nociception, reducing nociceptive input to the brain. It is modulated by cognitive and emotional processes. In subjects with chronic pain, it is impaired, possibly contributing to pain persistence. A previously developed feedback method trains subjects to activate their descending inhibition. Participants are trained to use cognitive-emotional strategies to reduce their spinal nociception, as quantified by the nociceptive flexor reflex (RIII reflex), under visual feedback about their RIII reflex size. The aim of the present study was to test whether also subjects with chronic back pain can achieve a modulation of their descending pain inhibition under RIII feedback. In total, 33 subjects with chronic back pain received either true (n = 18) or sham RIII feedback (n = 15), 15 healthy control subjects received true RIII feedback. All three groups achieved significant RIII suppression, largest in controls (to 76 ± 26% of baseline), intermediate in chronic back pain subjects receiving true feedback (to 82 ± 13%) and smallest in chronic back pain subjects receiving sham feedback (to 89 ± 14%, all p < 0.05). However, only chronic pain subjects receiving true feedback significantly improved their descending inhibition over the feedback training, quantified by the conditioned pain modulation effect (test pain reduction of baseline before training: to 98 ± 26%, after: to 80 ± 21%, p < 0.01). Our results show that subjects with chronic back pain can achieve a reduction of their spinal nociception and improve their descending pain inhibition under RIII feedback training. Subjects with chronic back pain can learn to control their spinal nociception, quantified by the RIII reflex, when they receive feedback about the RIII reflex. © 2017 European Pain Federation - EFIC®.

  10. Is Sucralose Too Good to Be True?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thomas, Courtney L.

    2012-01-01

    Student interest in artificial sweeteners can enhance the biochemistry classroom learning experience. This in class, guided-inquiry activity focuses on sucralose and fits into a 50-min biochemistry class for undergraduate science majors. Background knowledge of carbohydrate structure, function, and metabolism as well as familiarity with…

  11. Student Learning by Research.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schallies, Michael; Lembens, Anja

    2002-01-01

    Describes a research and development project aiming to help develop secondary students' abilities to understand biotechnology/genetic engineering. Focuses on an exemplary true-to-life experiment, planned and executed by students in grade 8, that involves external experts and uses an industrial research laboratory for solving genuine questions.…

  12. Lessons from a Dominican Republic Field Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gunter, Michael M., Jr.

    2010-01-01

    Utilizing student-centered pedagogy, this case study explores an increasingly prominent and instructive addition to traditional academic coursework--the field study experience. This is particularly true in the arena of environmental education where students learn best by experiencing environmental problems first-hand and then interacting with…

  13. Listening and Learning from Gender-Nonconforming Children.

    PubMed

    Ehrensaft, Diane

    2014-01-01

    The twenty-first century brings to our clinical doorsteps increasing numbers of children exploring and questioning their gender identities and expressions. This paper begins with a reassessment of the psychoanalytic thinking about gender and then outlines a clinical and developmental model of gender adapted from D. W. Winnicott's concepts of true self, false self, and individual creativity. The underlying premise is that gender nonconformity, when the core psychological issue, is not a sign of pathology but rather a reflection of healthy variations on gender possibilities. Working from that premise, composite clinical material from the author's practice as a psychoanalytic gender specialist is presented of a gender-nonconforming child transitioning from female to male, to demonstrate the psychoanalytic tools applied, including listening, mirroring, play, and interpretation, with the goal of facilitating a child's authentic gender self. Emphasis is placed on learning from the patient, working collaboratively with the family and social environments, and remaining suspended in a state of ambiguity and not-knowing as the child explores and solidifies a True Gender Self.

  14. An Assessment of the Effectiveness of Computer-based Training for Newly Commissioned Surface Warfare Division Officers

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2008-10-23

    a supportive learning community are related to higher satisfaction and achievement, but interviews with SWOs showed that they did not find the CBT...still want human contact. It is particularly noteworthy that no studies were found that describe the effects of a distance learning course like the...officers in the surface navy. To the extent this is true, it is in the best interest of the community to investigate in more depth why training

  15. Fifth-Graders' Ideas about European Exploration of the New World Expressed before and after Studying This Topic within a U.S. History Course. Elementary Subjects Center Series No. 78.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brophy, Jere; And Others

    Prior to a curriculum unit on European exploration of the New World, a class of fifth grade U.S. history students stated what they knew (or thought was true) about the discovery of America and what they wanted to learn about it. After the unit, they reported what they had learned about the general topic of European exploration of North America. In…

  16. Singularities of Three-Layered Complex-Valued Neural Networks With Split Activation Function.

    PubMed

    Kobayashi, Masaki

    2018-05-01

    There are three important concepts related to learning processes in neural networks: reducibility, nonminimality, and singularity. Although the definitions of these three concepts differ, they are equivalent in real-valued neural networks. This is also true of complex-valued neural networks (CVNNs) with hidden neurons not employing biases. The situation of CVNNs with hidden neurons employing biases, however, is very complicated. Exceptional reducibility was found, and it was shown that reducibility and nonminimality are not the same. Irreducibility consists of minimality and exceptional reducibility. The relationship between minimality and singularity has not yet been established. In this paper, we describe our surprising finding that minimality and singularity are independent. We also provide several examples based on exceptional reducibility.

  17. The process of the Community Psychologist training: Experiences in the Community Psychology nucleus (NUCOM).

    PubMed

    Moura, James Ferreira; Brito da Silva, Lorena; Cidade, Elívia Camurça; Braga, Alana Alencar; Ximenes, Verônica Morais

    2016-01-01

    This article presents the Community Psychology training concept created at the Community Psychology Nucleus (NUCOM), Federal University of Ceará (Brazil); mainly composed of university extension processes and their theoretical-methodological bases. Thus, university extension/cooperation emerges as a space to build new knowledge based on a cooperative perspective opposed to traditional anti-dialogical and hegemonic mechanisms. By evidencing the unabridged training of NUCOM's graduate students, we seek to provide elements that will enable the comprehension of the learning concept present in daily relations constructed in extension activities. We also plan to socialize a way of thinking Community Psychology performance, whose reference is the people, with their needs and potentials, emphasizing them as the true subjects of psychological practice.

  18. Toward Usable Interactive Analytics: Coupling Cognition and Computation

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

    Endert, Alexander; North, Chris; Chang, Remco

    Interactive analytics provide users a myriad of computational means to aid in extracting meaningful information from large and complex datasets. Much prior work focuses either on advancing the capabilities of machine-centric approaches by the data mining and machine learning communities, or human-driven methods by the visualization and CHI communities. However, these methods do not yet support a true human-machine symbiotic relationship where users and machines work together collaboratively and adapt to each other to advance an interactive analytic process. In this paper we discuss some of the inherent issues, outlining what we believe are the steps toward usable interactive analyticsmore » that will ultimately increase the effectiveness for both humans and computers to produce insights.« less

  19. A Progressive Reading, Writing, and Artistic Module to Support Scientific Literacy.

    PubMed

    Stockwell, Stephanie B

    2016-03-01

    Scientific literacy, marked by the ability and willingness to engage with scientific information, is supported through a new genre of citizen science-course-based research in association with undergraduate laboratories. A three-phased progressive learning module was developed to enhance student engagement in such contexts while supporting three learning outcomes: I) present an argument based on evidence, II) analyze science and scientists within a social context, and III) experience, reflect upon, and communicate the nature of scientific discovery. Phase I entails guided reading and reflection of citizen science-themed texts. In Phase II, students write, peer-review, and edit position and counterpoint papers inspired by the following prompt, "Nonscientists should do scientific research." Phase III involves two creative assignments intended to communicate the true nature of science. Students work collaboratively to develop public service announcement-like poster campaigns to debunk a common misconception about the nature of science or scientists. Individually, they create a work of art to communicate a specific message about the raw experience of performing scientific research. Suggestions for implementation and modifications are provided. Strengths of the module include the development of transferable skills, temporal distribution of grading demands, minimal in-class time needed for implementation, and the inclusion of artistic projects to support affective learning domains. This citizen science-themed learning module is an excellent complement to laboratory coursework, as it serves to surprise, challenge, and inspire students while promoting disciplinary values.

  20. Any Two Learning Algorithms Are (Almost) Exactly Identical

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wolpert, David H.

    2000-01-01

    This paper shows that if one is provided with a loss function, it can be used in a natural way to specify a distance measure quantifying the similarity of any two supervised learning algorithms, even non-parametric algorithms. Intuitively, this measure gives the fraction of targets and training sets for which the expected performance of the two algorithms differs significantly. Bounds on the value of this distance are calculated for the case of binary outputs and 0-1 loss, indicating that any two learning algorithms are almost exactly identical for such scenarios. As an example, for any two algorithms A and B, even for small input spaces and training sets, for less than 2e(-50) of all targets will the difference between A's and B's generalization performance of exceed 1%. In particular, this is true if B is bagging applied to A, or boosting applied to A. These bounds can be viewed alternatively as telling us, for example, that the simple English phrase 'I expect that algorithm A will generalize from the training set with an accuracy of at least 75% on the rest of the target' conveys 20,000 bytes of information concerning the target. The paper ends by discussing some of the subtleties of extending the distance measure to give a full (non-parametric) differential geometry of the manifold of learning algorithms.

  1. Many roads lead to Rome--is that true of the teaching and learning of pharmacology? Lessons from three medical schools in Malaysia.

    PubMed

    Sim, S M; Achike, F I; Geh, S L

    2005-08-01

    In Malaysia many new medical schools (both public and private) have been set up in the last 12 years. As a result of global changes and local adjustments made in medical training, cross-breeds of different medical curricula have produced a wide spectrum of teaching-learning methods in these medical schools. In this paper, we have selected three medical schools--two public (Universiti Malaya and Universiti Putra Malaysia) and one private (International Medical University) to illustrate different approaches in the teaching-learning of pharmacology that exist in Malaysia. How do these different teaching-learning approaches affect the students' interest and ability to "master" pharmacology and in turn to develop a good prescribing practice?

  2. Active learning in the presence of unlabelable examples

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mazzoni, Dominic; Wagstaff, Kiri

    2004-01-01

    We propose a new active learning framework where the expert labeler is allowed to decline to label any example. This may be necessary because the true label is unknown or because the example belongs to a class that is not part of the real training problem. We show that within this framework, popular active learning algorithms (such as Simple) may perform worse than random selection because they make so many queries to the unlabelable class. We present a method by which any active learning algorithm can be modified to avoid unlabelable examples by training a second classifier to distinguish between the labelable and unlabelable classes. We also demonstrate the effectiveness of the method on two benchmark data sets and a real-world problem.

  3. Dissociating error-based and reinforcement-based loss functions during sensorimotor learning

    PubMed Central

    McGregor, Heather R.; Mohatarem, Ayman

    2017-01-01

    It has been proposed that the sensorimotor system uses a loss (cost) function to evaluate potential movements in the presence of random noise. Here we test this idea in the context of both error-based and reinforcement-based learning. In a reaching task, we laterally shifted a cursor relative to true hand position using a skewed probability distribution. This skewed probability distribution had its mean and mode separated, allowing us to dissociate the optimal predictions of an error-based loss function (corresponding to the mean of the lateral shifts) and a reinforcement-based loss function (corresponding to the mode). We then examined how the sensorimotor system uses error feedback and reinforcement feedback, in isolation and combination, when deciding where to aim the hand during a reach. We found that participants compensated differently to the same skewed lateral shift distribution depending on the form of feedback they received. When provided with error feedback, participants compensated based on the mean of the skewed noise. When provided with reinforcement feedback, participants compensated based on the mode. Participants receiving both error and reinforcement feedback continued to compensate based on the mean while repeatedly missing the target, despite receiving auditory, visual and monetary reinforcement feedback that rewarded hitting the target. Our work shows that reinforcement-based and error-based learning are separable and can occur independently. Further, when error and reinforcement feedback are in conflict, the sensorimotor system heavily weights error feedback over reinforcement feedback. PMID:28753634

  4. Dissociating error-based and reinforcement-based loss functions during sensorimotor learning.

    PubMed

    Cashaback, Joshua G A; McGregor, Heather R; Mohatarem, Ayman; Gribble, Paul L

    2017-07-01

    It has been proposed that the sensorimotor system uses a loss (cost) function to evaluate potential movements in the presence of random noise. Here we test this idea in the context of both error-based and reinforcement-based learning. In a reaching task, we laterally shifted a cursor relative to true hand position using a skewed probability distribution. This skewed probability distribution had its mean and mode separated, allowing us to dissociate the optimal predictions of an error-based loss function (corresponding to the mean of the lateral shifts) and a reinforcement-based loss function (corresponding to the mode). We then examined how the sensorimotor system uses error feedback and reinforcement feedback, in isolation and combination, when deciding where to aim the hand during a reach. We found that participants compensated differently to the same skewed lateral shift distribution depending on the form of feedback they received. When provided with error feedback, participants compensated based on the mean of the skewed noise. When provided with reinforcement feedback, participants compensated based on the mode. Participants receiving both error and reinforcement feedback continued to compensate based on the mean while repeatedly missing the target, despite receiving auditory, visual and monetary reinforcement feedback that rewarded hitting the target. Our work shows that reinforcement-based and error-based learning are separable and can occur independently. Further, when error and reinforcement feedback are in conflict, the sensorimotor system heavily weights error feedback over reinforcement feedback.

  5. Barriers and Facilitators of HIV Care Engagement: Results of a Qualitative Study in St. Petersburg, Russia

    PubMed Central

    Kuznetsova, Anna V.; Meylakhs, Anastasia Y.; Amirkhanian, Yuri A.; Kelly, Jeffrey A.; Yakovlev, Alexey A.; Musatov, Vladimir B.; Amirkhanian, Anastasia G.

    2016-01-01

    Russia has a large HIV epidemic, but medical care engagement is low. Eighty HIV-positive persons in St. Petersburg completed in-depth interviews to identify barriers and facilitators of medical HIV care engagement. The most commonly-reported barriers involved difficulties accessing care providers, dissatisfaction with the quality of services, and negative attitudes of provider staff. Other barriers included not having illness symptoms, life stresses, low value placed on health, internalized stigma and wanting to hide one’s HIV status, fears of learning about one’s true health status, and substance abuse. Care facilitators were feeling responsible for one’s health and one’s family, care-related support from other HIV-positive persons, and the onset of health decline and fear of death. Substance use remission facilitated care engagement, as did good communication from providers and trust in one’s doctor. Interventions are needed in Russia to address HIV care infrastructural barriers and integrate HIV, substance abuse, care, and psychosocial services. PMID:26767534

  6. Barriers and Facilitators of HIV Care Engagement: Results of a Qualitative Study in St. Petersburg, Russia.

    PubMed

    Kuznetsova, Anna V; Meylakhs, Anastasia Y; Amirkhanian, Yuri A; Kelly, Jeffrey A; Yakovlev, Alexey A; Musatov, Vladimir B; Amirkhanian, Anastasia G

    2016-10-01

    Russia has a large HIV epidemic, but medical care engagement is low. Eighty HIV-positive persons in St. Petersburg completed in-depth interviews to identify barriers and facilitators of medical HIV care engagement. The most commonly-reported barriers involved difficulties accessing care providers, dissatisfaction with the quality of services, and negative attitudes of provider staff. Other barriers included not having illness symptoms, life stresses, low value placed on health, internalized stigma and wanting to hide one's HIV status, fears of learning about one's true health status, and substance abuse. Care facilitators were feeling responsible for one's health and one's family, care-related support from other HIV-positive persons, and the onset of health decline and fear of death. Substance use remission facilitated care engagement, as did good communication from providers and trust in one's doctor. Interventions are needed in Russia to address HIV care infrastructural barriers and integrate HIV, substance abuse, care, and psychosocial services.

  7. Hunting Stories.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Johnson, Frank

    Eleven stories describe traditional practices and true adventures of the Tlingit hunters of Southeast Alaska. The stories are accompanied by learning activities and discussion questions for students and are arranged under the headings of bear, mountain goat and deer, and seal and sea lion. Topics include hunting weapons and strategies, bravery,…

  8. Hands On Earth Science.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Weisgarber, Sherry L.; Van Doren, Lisa; Hackathorn, Merrianne; Hannibal, Joseph T.; Hansgen, Richard

    This publication is a collection of 13 hands-on activities that focus on earth science-related activities and involve students in learning about growing crystals, tectonics, fossils, rock and minerals, modeling Ohio geology, geologic time, determining true north, and constructing scale-models of the Earth-moon system. Each activity contains…

  9. Developing a Conceptual Framework for Student Learning during International Community Engagement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pink, Matthew A.; Taouk, Youssef; Guinea, Stephen; Bunch, Katie; Flowers, Karen; Nightingale, Karen

    2016-01-01

    University-community engagement often involves students engaging with people who experience multiple forms of disadvantage or marginalization. This is particularly true when universities work with communities in developing nations. Participation in these projects can be challenging for students. Assumptions about themselves, their professional…

  10. When We Become People with a History

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kerwin, Dale Wayne

    2011-01-01

    Aboriginal children learn a two-way pedagogy and most Aboriginal learners have to engage in bicultural and bilingual education to succeed in the dominant educational setting. Aboriginal Australians pride themselves on being Aboriginal, however Aboriginal epistemology and ontology are never considered as true methodologies within a dominant…

  11. Children's Exploration of Physical Phenomena during Object Play

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Solis, S. Lynneth; Curtis, Kaley N.; Hayes-Messinger, Amani

    2017-01-01

    Researchers propose that experiencing and manipulating physical principles through objects allows young children to formulate scientific intuitions that may serve as precursors to learning in STEM subjects. This may be especially true when children discover these physical principles through object affordances during play. The present study…

  12. Why Geography Matters.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McDougall, Walter A.

    2001-01-01

    It is important to learn geography, yet most Americans leave school functionally illiterate in geography. Geography is fundamental to student maturation, the process of true education, and it is a springboard to every other science and humanities subject. Knowledge of maps and geographical information is crucial to the examination of economic,…

  13. 34 CFR 376.4 - What definitions apply to this program?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... 34 Education 2 2014-07-01 2013-07-01 true What definitions apply to this program? 376.4 Section... project support. (2) Transitional rehabilitation services means any vocational rehabilitation services... advanced learning technology for skills training; and (iv) Follow-up services for individuals placed in...

  14. Using Elaborative Interrogation Enhanced Worked Examples to Improve Chemistry Problem Solving

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pease, Rebecca Simpson

    2012-01-01

    Elaborative interrogation, which prompts students to answer why-questions placed strategically within informational text, has been shown to increase learning comprehension through reading. In this study, elaborative interrogation why-questions requested readers to explain why paraphrased statements taken from a reading were "true."…

  15. Class Rank Weighs Down True Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Guskey, Thomas R.

    2014-01-01

    The process of determining class rank does not help students achieve more or reach higher levels of proficiency. Evidence indicates ranking students may diminish students' motivation. High school educators argue that they are compelled to rank-order graduating students because selective colleges and universities require information about…

  16. Automated detection of new impact sites on Martian surface from HiRISE images

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xin, Xin; Di, Kaichang; Wang, Yexin; Wan, Wenhui; Yue, Zongyu

    2017-10-01

    In this study, an automated method for Martian new impact site detection from single images is presented. It first extracts dark areas in full high resolution image, then detects new impact craters within dark areas using a cascade classifier which combines local binary pattern features and Haar-like features trained by an AdaBoost machine learning algorithm. Experimental results using 100 HiRISE images show that the overall detection rate of proposed method is 84.5%, with a true positive rate of 86.9%. The detection rate and true positive rate in the flat regions are 93.0% and 91.5%, respectively.

  17. Health professional learner attitudes and use of digital learning resources.

    PubMed

    Maloney, Stephen; Chamberlain, Michael; Morrison, Shane; Kotsanas, George; Keating, Jennifer L; Ilic, Dragan

    2013-01-16

    Web-based digital repositories allow educational resources to be accessed efficiently and conveniently from diverse geographic locations, hold a variety of resource formats, enable interactive learning, and facilitate targeted access for the user. Unlike some other learning management systems (LMS), resources can be retrieved through search engines and meta-tagged labels, and content can be streamed, which is particularly useful for multimedia resources. The aim of this study was to examine usage and user experiences of an online learning repository (Physeek) in a population of physiotherapy students. The secondary aim of this project was to examine how students prefer to access resources and which resources they find most helpful. The following data were examined using an audit of the repository server: (1) number of online resources accessed per day in 2010, (2) number of each type of resource accessed, (3) number of resources accessed during business hours (9 am to 5 pm) and outside business hours (years 1-4), (4) session length of each log-on (years 1-4), and (5) video quality (bit rate) of each video accessed. An online questionnaire and 3 focus groups assessed student feedback and self-reported experiences of Physeek. Students preferred the support provided by Physeek to other sources of educational material primarily because of its efficiency. Peak usage commonly occurred at times of increased academic need (ie, examination times). Students perceived online repositories as a potential tool to support lifelong learning and health care delivery. The results of this study indicate that today's health professional students welcome the benefits of online learning resources because of their convenience and usability. This represents a transition away from traditional learning styles and toward technological learning support and may indicate a growing link between social immersions in Internet-based connections and learning styles. The true potential for Web-based resources to support student learning is as yet unknown.

  18. Health Professional Learner Attitudes and Use of Digital Learning Resources

    PubMed Central

    Chamberlain, Michael; Morrison, Shane; Kotsanas, George; Keating, Jennifer L; Ilic, Dragan

    2013-01-01

    Background Web-based digital repositories allow educational resources to be accessed efficiently and conveniently from diverse geographic locations, hold a variety of resource formats, enable interactive learning, and facilitate targeted access for the user. Unlike some other learning management systems (LMS), resources can be retrieved through search engines and meta-tagged labels, and content can be streamed, which is particularly useful for multimedia resources. Objective The aim of this study was to examine usage and user experiences of an online learning repository (Physeek) in a population of physiotherapy students. The secondary aim of this project was to examine how students prefer to access resources and which resources they find most helpful. Methods The following data were examined using an audit of the repository server: (1) number of online resources accessed per day in 2010, (2) number of each type of resource accessed, (3) number of resources accessed during business hours (9 am to 5 pm) and outside business hours (years 1-4), (4) session length of each log-on (years 1-4), and (5) video quality (bit rate) of each video accessed. An online questionnaire and 3 focus groups assessed student feedback and self-reported experiences of Physeek. Results Students preferred the support provided by Physeek to other sources of educational material primarily because of its efficiency. Peak usage commonly occurred at times of increased academic need (ie, examination times). Students perceived online repositories as a potential tool to support lifelong learning and health care delivery. Conclusions The results of this study indicate that today’s health professional students welcome the benefits of online learning resources because of their convenience and usability. This represents a transition away from traditional learning styles and toward technological learning support and may indicate a growing link between social immersions in Internet-based connections and learning styles. The true potential for Web-based resources to support student learning is as yet unknown. PMID:23324800

  19. Skill (or lack thereof) of data-model fusion techniques to provide an early warning signal for an approaching tipping point.

    PubMed

    Singh, Riddhi; Quinn, Julianne D; Reed, Patrick M; Keller, Klaus

    2018-01-01

    Many coupled human-natural systems have the potential to exhibit a highly nonlinear threshold response to external forcings resulting in fast transitions to undesirable states (such as eutrophication in a lake). Often, there are considerable uncertainties that make identifying the threshold challenging. Thus, rapid learning is critical for guiding management actions to avoid abrupt transitions. Here, we adopt the shallow lake problem as a test case to compare the performance of four common data assimilation schemes to predict an approaching transition. In order to demonstrate the complex interactions between management strategies and the ability of the data assimilation schemes to predict eutrophication, we also analyze our results across two different management strategies governing phosphorus emissions into the shallow lake. The compared data assimilation schemes are: ensemble Kalman filtering (EnKF), particle filtering (PF), pre-calibration (PC), and Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) estimation. While differing in their core assumptions, each data assimilation scheme is based on Bayes' theorem and updates prior beliefs about a system based on new information. For large computational investments, EnKF, PF and MCMC show similar skill in capturing the observed phosphorus in the lake (measured as expected root mean squared prediction error). EnKF, followed by PF, displays the highest learning rates at low computational cost, thus providing a more reliable signal of an impending transition. MCMC approaches the true probability of eutrophication only after a strong signal of an impending transition emerges from the observations. Overall, we find that learning rates are greatest near regions of abrupt transitions, posing a challenge to early learning and preemptive management of systems with such abrupt transitions.

  20. Skill (or lack thereof) of data-model fusion techniques to provide an early warning signal for an approaching tipping point

    PubMed Central

    Quinn, Julianne D.; Reed, Patrick M.; Keller, Klaus

    2018-01-01

    Many coupled human-natural systems have the potential to exhibit a highly nonlinear threshold response to external forcings resulting in fast transitions to undesirable states (such as eutrophication in a lake). Often, there are considerable uncertainties that make identifying the threshold challenging. Thus, rapid learning is critical for guiding management actions to avoid abrupt transitions. Here, we adopt the shallow lake problem as a test case to compare the performance of four common data assimilation schemes to predict an approaching transition. In order to demonstrate the complex interactions between management strategies and the ability of the data assimilation schemes to predict eutrophication, we also analyze our results across two different management strategies governing phosphorus emissions into the shallow lake. The compared data assimilation schemes are: ensemble Kalman filtering (EnKF), particle filtering (PF), pre-calibration (PC), and Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) estimation. While differing in their core assumptions, each data assimilation scheme is based on Bayes’ theorem and updates prior beliefs about a system based on new information. For large computational investments, EnKF, PF and MCMC show similar skill in capturing the observed phosphorus in the lake (measured as expected root mean squared prediction error). EnKF, followed by PF, displays the highest learning rates at low computational cost, thus providing a more reliable signal of an impending transition. MCMC approaches the true probability of eutrophication only after a strong signal of an impending transition emerges from the observations. Overall, we find that learning rates are greatest near regions of abrupt transitions, posing a challenge to early learning and preemptive management of systems with such abrupt transitions. PMID:29389938

  1. Changes in educational methodologies in predoctoral dental education: finding the perfect intersection.

    PubMed

    Hendricson, William D

    2012-01-01

    This article describes the evolution of thinking, primarily over the past fifteen years, within the academic dentistry community concerning teaching and learning strategies to facilitate students' acquisition of competence. Readers are encouraged to consider four issues. First, looking back to the time of the Institute of Medicine report Dental Education at the Crossroads: Challenges and Change fifteen years ago, in the mid-1990s, where did we think we would be now, in 2011, in regard to the structure of the predoctoral curriculum and use of specific educational methodologies, and to what extent have those predictions come true? The author's own crystal ball predictions from the 1990s are used to kick off a discussion of what connected and what did not among numerous advocated educational reforms, many of them transformative in nature. Second, what is the nature of the evidence supporting our ongoing search for educational best practices, and why are advocacy for educational best practices and prediction of down-the-road outcomes so treacherous? This section distinguishes types of evidence that provide limited guidance for dental educators from evidence that is more helpful for designing educational strategies that might make a difference in student learning, focusing on factors that provide a "perfect intersection" of student, teacher, educational method, and learning environment. Third, readers are asked to revisit four not-so-new teaching/learning methods that are still worthy of consideration in dental education in light of best evidence, upcoming events, and technology that has finally matched its potential. Fourth, a specific rate-limiting factor that hinders the best efforts of both teachers and students in virtually all U.S. dental schools is discussed, concluding with a plea to find a better way so that the good works of dental educators and their students can be more evident.

  2. Technology and surgery. Dilemma of the gimmick, true advances, and cost effectiveness.

    PubMed

    Traverso, L W

    1996-02-01

    The key to evaluating a procedure in regard to a true advance versus a gimmick is to determine its value. This can be done only by physicians cognizant of a disease process. The value is determined by assessing a procedure's utilization, outcomes, and costs. Utilization allows early treatment and avoids neglected disease. Therefore, the appropriateness of the utilization can be determined only by an outcome study. An outcome study is another term for quality assessment. Outcomes deal with morbidity, mortality, and also the long- and short-term effects of the procedure on the disease. Overall, an increase of quality in a global perspective decreases the costs of the procedure to the health care community. Costs must remain secondary to outcomes. An attempt to decrease costs directly is a maneuver that, when applied by nonmedical individuals, will most likely decrease quality. When the quality can be maintained (as assessed only by a practitioner), then a decrease in global costs will increase value. The concept of increasing value by increasing quality without an attempt to decrease costs is a very important principle that the health care system must learn in our ever-challenging medical environment. Is a new procedure a gimmick or a true advance? The decision is made jointly by the stakeholders in our health care system--the patient, provider, payer, employer, and industry. If the procedure does not receive negative votes, then its adoption is almost assured. Comparing two procedures through these perspectives ultimately allows us to determine the potential for new procedures. A procedure not adopted through this method could be called a gimmick.

  3. The Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bindschadler, R.; Vornberger, P.; Fleming, A.; Fox, A.; Morin, P.

    2008-12-01

    The first-ever true-color, high-resolution digital mosaic of Antarctica has been produced from nearly 1100 Landsat-7 ETM+ images collected between 1999 and 2003. The Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica (LIMA) project was an early benchmark data set of the International Polar Year and represents a close and successful collaboration between NASA, USGS, the British Antarctic Survey and the National Science Foundation. The mosaic was successfully merged with lower resolution MODIS data south of Landsat coverage to produce a complete true-color data set of the entire continent. LIMA is being used as a platform for a variety of education and outreach activities. Central to this effort is the NASA website 'Faces of Antarctica' that offers the web visitor the opportunity to explore the data set and to learn how these data are used to support scientific research. Content is delivered through a set of mysteries designed to pique the user's interest and to motivate them to delve deeper into the website where there are various videos and scientific articles for downloading. Detailed lesson plans written by teachers are provided for classroom use and Java applets let the user track the motion of ice in sequential Landsat images. Web links take the user to other sites where they can roam over the imagery using standard pan and zoom functions, or search for any named feature in the Antarctic Geographic Names data base that returns to the user a centered true-color view of any named feature. LIMA also has appeared is a host of external presentations from museum exhibits, to postcards and large posters. It has attracted various value-added providers that increase LIMA's accessibility by allowing users to specify subsets of the very large data set for individual downloads. The ultimate goal of LIMA in the public and educational sector is to enable everyone to become more familiar with Antarctica.

  4. Motivational Factors in Telecollaborative Exchanges among Teenagers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jauregi, Kristi; Melchor-Couto, Sabela

    2017-01-01

    Motivational factors play an important role in (language) learning processes and research indicates that this is also true for telecollaboration exchanges (Jauregi, de Graaff, van den Bergh, & Kriz, 2012; Melchor-Couto, 2017; in press). This short paper will introduce a study into how motivational factors play a role in telecollaboration…

  5. Per una pedagogia della comprensione interculturale (A Method for Teaching Intercultural Understanding).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Titone, Renzo

    1986-01-01

    Defines true bilingualism as biculturalism, explains what "understanding" another culture means, and describes how to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching methods for students from different cultures. Ideally, individuals learning a second language will acquire a "metacultural" consciousness that permits them to be comfortable in any cultural…

  6. Super Mileage Challenge: Combining Education and Fun!

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thompson, Jim; Fitzgerald, Mike

    2006-01-01

    Beginning in 1996, key leaders in Indiana business, education, and industry, along with the Department of Education and the Indiana Math Science Technology Education Alliance recognized that creating an event that would showcase true integration of mathematics, science, and technology could make learning more relevant to the lives of students. The…

  7. Reinstatement in Honeybees Is Context-Dependent

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Plath, Jenny Aino; Felsenberg, Johannes; Eisenhardt, Dorothea

    2012-01-01

    During extinction animals experience that the previously learned association between a conditioned stimulus (CS) and an unconditioned stimulus (US) no longer holds true. Accordingly, the conditioned response (CR) to the CS decreases. This decrease of the CR can be reversed by presentation of the US alone following extinction, a phenomenon termed…

  8. Teaching the New Social Studies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ediger, Marlow

    2016-01-01

    The new social studies curriculum has a vibrant emphasis with in-depth teaching rather than survey procedures. In-depth teaching stresses the importance of pupils understanding concepts and generalizations more thoroughly than was true formerly. Rote learning and memorization are things of the past unless they are truly vital in ongoing lessons…

  9. Formative Assessment and Writing: A Meta-Analysis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Graham, Steve; Hebert, Michael; Harris, Karen R.

    2015-01-01

    To determine whether formative writing assessments that are directly tied to everyday classroom teaching and learning enhance students' writing performance, we conducted a meta-analysis of true and quasi-experiments conducted with students in grades 1 to 8. We found that feedback to students about writing from adults, peers, self, and computers…

  10. Simple yet Hidden Counterexamples in Undergraduate Real Analysis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shipman, Barbara A.; Shipman, Patrick D.

    2013-01-01

    We study situations in introductory analysis in which students affirmed false statements as true, despite simple counterexamples that they easily recognized afterwards. The study draws attention to how simple counterexamples can become hidden in plain sight, even in an active learning atmosphere where students proposed simple (as well as more…

  11. Revising Psychology Misconceptions by Integrating a Refutation-Style Text Framework into Poster Presentations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lassonde, Karla A.; Kolquist, Molly; Vergin, Megan

    2017-01-01

    Refutation-style texts have been considered a viable strategy for changing psychological misconceptions. The current study aims to integrate refutation-style texts into a classroom-based method of learning. Psychology students were administered a true/false misconception survey and then viewed several refutation-style poster presentations…

  12. Early Identification of Infants Who Are Deaf-Blind

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Malloy, Peggy; Thomas, Kathleen Stremel; Schalock, Mark; Davies, Steven; Purvis, Barbara; Udell, Tom

    2009-01-01

    Experiences that occur during the earliest years of life critically impact children's abilities to learn, move, and interact with others. This is especially true for children with severe sensory and multiple disabilities, for whom physical, communicative, cognitive, social, and emotional developmental domains are deeply intertwined. In…

  13. Early Identification and Referral of Infants Who Are Deaf-Blind

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Purvis, Barbara; Malloy, Peggy; Schalock, Mark; McNulty, Kathy; Davies, Steven; Thomas, Kathleen Stremel; Udell, Tom

    2014-01-01

    Experiences that occur during the earliest years of life critically impact children's abilities to learn, move, and interact with others. This is especially true for children with severe sensory and multiple disabilities, for whom physical, communicative, cognitive, social, and emotional developmental domains are deeply intertwined. In…

  14. The LSS Review. Volume 3, Number 2

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Page, Stephen, Ed.; Shaw, Danielle, Ed.

    2004-01-01

    Beginners in many disciplines learn that correlation never proves causation, but sometimes, even in public health, correlation, mistaken for causation, becomes the basis for policy and great expenditures of public and private money. "True experiments" with random assignment to experimental and control groups hold a special place in the…

  15. Curriculum-Based Learning--Museum Style

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yuill, Stephanie

    2007-01-01

    From the World Conservation Union to front-line practitioners, there is increasing recognition of the interaction between nature and people, and a growing integration of environmental and social issues. This also rings true for natural and cultural heritage educators as the line between nature and culture education slowly blurs. Perhaps the…

  16. I Think (That) Something's Missing: Complementizer Deletion in Nonnative E-Mails

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Durham, Mercedes

    2011-01-01

    Sociolinguistic competence is not often examined in nonnative English acquisition. This is particularly true for features where the variants are neither stylistically nor socially constrained, but rather are acceptable in all circumstances. Learning to use a language fully, however, implies being able to deal with this type of…

  17. An Active Old Age--Senior Citizens in Germany.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Metzler, Birgit

    1998-01-01

    Life expectancies are rising all over the world, leading to higher proportions of older adults in the population. This is especially true in Japan and Germany. In Germany today, "old" no longer means necessarily "poor and frail." Through volunteer work, lifelong learning, study tours, and participation in sports, older Germans…

  18. Feminist Social Projects: Building Bridges between Communities and Universities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Webb, Patricia; Cole, Kirsti; Skeen, Thomas

    2007-01-01

    In this article, the authors call for tying service learning to feminist agendas, emphasizing civic activism involving true collaboration with communities. They report on a graduate seminar, "Feminism and Composition," at their own university that worked toward this goal by having students self-reflectively participate in local organizations that…

  19. Cultural Schemata--Yardstick for Measuring Others: Implications for Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Plata, Maximino

    2011-01-01

    Classroom teachers' cultural schemata become important factors when they use them as the standard or yardstick to instruct culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse (CLED) students. However, when teachers' yardstick is comprised of limited cross-cultural knowledge and experiences, they cannot gauge the true learning potential of CLED…

  20. Changes in Teachers' Beliefs and Practices in Technology-Rich Classrooms.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dwyer, David C.; And Others

    1991-01-01

    The Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow (ACOT) project is a flexible consortium of researchers, educators, students, and parents who have worked collaboratively to create and study innovative learning environments since 1985. ACOT classrooms are true multimedia environments where students move from competitive work patterns toward collaborative ones. (10…

  1. 32 CFR 516.16 - Individual and supervisory procedures upon commencement of legal proceedings.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... litigation. (b) Supervisory procedures. When supervisors learn that legal proceedings in which the United... 32 National Defense 3 2012-07-01 2009-07-01 true Individual and supervisory procedures upon... to HQDA § 516.16 Individual and supervisory procedures upon commencement of legal proceedings. (a...

  2. STRUCTURE PLUS MEANING EQUALS LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    BELASCO, SIMON

    TRUE FOREIGN LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY CAN BE ACHIEVED ONLY BY THE INTERNALIZATION OF THE ENTIRE GRAMMAR OF THE TARGET LANGUAGE PLUS THE DEVELOPMENT OF SKILL IN SEMANTIC INTERPRETATION. ADHERENCE TO EITHER OF THE METHODOLOGICAL ASSUMPTIONS THAT UNDERLIE TODAY'S AUDIOLINGUALLY-ORIENTED PROGRAMS WILL LEAD STUDENTS TO NOTHING MORE THAN A LEARNING PLATEAU.…

  3. Radical Thoughts on Simplifying Square Roots

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schultz, Kyle T.; Bismarck, Stephen F.

    2013-01-01

    A picture is worth a thousand words. This statement is especially true in mathematics teaching and learning. Visual representations such as pictures, diagrams, charts, and tables can illuminate ideas that can be elusive when displayed in symbolic form only. The prevalence of representation as a mathematical process in such documents as…

  4. Methodologies for Researching Cultural Diversity in Education: International Perspectives

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smyth, Geri, Ed.; Santoro, Ninetta, Ed.

    2014-01-01

    In the true multilingual classroom, children use a variety of languages to learn: their home languages, the school language, foreign and second languages offered in the curriculum, minority languages, endangered languages. Transforming our monolingual classrooms into spaces where a multiplicity of languages can thrive remains a pedagogical…

  5. "I Can't Relate": Refusing Identification Demands in Teaching and Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barnard, Ian

    2016-01-01

    In literature, composition, and other areas of English Studies, relateability can be an important tool to inscribe marginalized subjects as academic citizens. However, its larger arc reproduces ethnocentric and individualistic ideologies at the national and personal levels that foreclose the true understanding of and engagement with Otherness that…

  6. Discriminative and informative features for biomolecular text mining with ensemble feature selection.

    PubMed

    Van Landeghem, Sofie; Abeel, Thomas; Saeys, Yvan; Van de Peer, Yves

    2010-09-15

    In the field of biomolecular text mining, black box behavior of machine learning systems currently limits understanding of the true nature of the predictions. However, feature selection (FS) is capable of identifying the most relevant features in any supervised learning setting, providing insight into the specific properties of the classification algorithm. This allows us to build more accurate classifiers while at the same time bridging the gap between the black box behavior and the end-user who has to interpret the results. We show that our FS methodology successfully discards a large fraction of machine-generated features, improving classification performance of state-of-the-art text mining algorithms. Furthermore, we illustrate how FS can be applied to gain understanding in the predictions of a framework for biomolecular event extraction from text. We include numerous examples of highly discriminative features that model either biological reality or common linguistic constructs. Finally, we discuss a number of insights from our FS analyses that will provide the opportunity to considerably improve upon current text mining tools. The FS algorithms and classifiers are available in Java-ML (http://java-ml.sf.net). The datasets are publicly available from the BioNLP'09 Shared Task web site (http://www-tsujii.is.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/GENIA/SharedTask/).

  7. An impoverished machine: challenges to human learning and instructional technology.

    PubMed

    Taraban, Roman

    2008-08-01

    Many of the limitations to human learning and processing identified by cognitive psychologists over the last 50 years still hold true, including computational constraints, low learning rates, and unreliable processing. Instructional technology can be used in classrooms and in other learning contexts to address these limitations to learning. However, creating technological innovations is not enough. As part of psychological science, the development and assessment of instructional systems should be guided by theories and practices within the discipline. The technology we develop should become an object of research like other phenomena that are studied. In the present article, I present an informal account of my own work in assessing instructional technology for engineering thermodynamics to show not only the benefits, but also the limitations, in studying the technology we create. I conclude by considering several ways of advancing the development of instructional technology within the SCiP community, including interdisciplinary research and envisioning learning contexts that differ radically from traditional learning focused on lectures and testing.

  8. Active prospective control is required for effective sensorimotor learning.

    PubMed

    Snapp-Childs, Winona; Casserly, Elizabeth; Mon-Williams, Mark; Bingham, Geoffrey P

    2013-01-01

    Passive modeling of movements is often used in movement therapy to overcome disabilities caused by stroke or other disorders (e.g. Developmental Coordination Disorder or Cerebral Palsy). Either a therapist or, recently, a specially designed robot moves or guides the limb passively through the movement to be trained. In contrast, action theory has long suggested that effective skill acquisition requires movements to be actively generated. Is this true? In view of the former, we explicitly tested the latter. Previously, a method was developed that allows children with Developmental Coordination Disorder to produce effective movements actively, so as to improve manual performance to match that of typically developing children. In the current study, we tested practice using such active movements as compared to practice using passive movement. The passive movement employed, namely haptic tracking, provided a strong test of the comparison, one that showed that the mere inaction of the muscles is not the problem. Instead, lack of prospective control was. The result was no effective learning with passive movement while active practice with prospective control yielded significant improvements in performance.

  9. Ongoing behavior predicts perceptual report of interval duration

    PubMed Central

    Gouvêa, Thiago S.; Monteiro, Tiago; Soares, Sofia; Atallah, Bassam V.; Paton, Joseph J.

    2014-01-01

    The ability to estimate the passage of time is essential for adaptive behavior in complex environments. Yet, it is not known how the brain encodes time over the durations necessary to explain animal behavior. Under temporally structured reinforcement schedules, animals tend to develop temporally structured behavior, and interval timing has been suggested to be accomplished by learning sequences of behavioral states. If this is true, trial to trial fluctuations in behavioral sequences should be predictive of fluctuations in time estimation. We trained rodents in an duration categorization task while continuously monitoring their behavior with a high speed camera. Animals developed highly reproducible behavioral sequences during the interval being timed. Moreover, those sequences were often predictive of perceptual report from early in the trial, providing support to the idea that animals may use learned behavioral patterns to estimate the duration of time intervals. To better resolve the issue, we propose that continuous and simultaneous behavioral and neural monitoring will enable identification of neural activity related to time perception that is not explained by ongoing behavior. PMID:24672473

  10. Belief-desire reasoning as a process of selection.

    PubMed

    Leslie, Alan M; German, Tim P; Polizzi, Pamela

    2005-02-01

    Human learning may depend upon domain specialized mechanisms. A plausible example is rapid, early learning about the thoughts and feelings of other people. A major achievement in this domain, at about age four in the typically developing child, is the ability to solve problems in which the child attributes false beliefs to other people and predicts their actions. The main focus of theorizing has been why 3-year-olds fail, and only recently have there been any models of how success is achieved in false-belief tasks. Leslie and Polizzi (Inhibitory processing in the false-belief task: Two conjectures. Developmental Science, 1, 247-254, 1998) proposed two competing models of success, which are the focus of the current paper. The models assume that belief-desire reasoning is a process which selects a content for an agent's belief and an action for the agent's desire. In false belief tasks, the theory of mind mechanism (ToMM) provides plausible candidate belief contents, among which will be a 'true-belief.' A second process reviews these candidates and by default will select the true-belief content for attribution. To succeed in a false-belief task, the default content must be inhibited so that attention shifts to another candidate belief. In traditional false-belief tasks, the protagonist's desire is to approach an object. Here we make use of tasks in which the protagonist has a desire to avoid an object, about which she has a false-belief. Children find such tasks much more difficult than traditional tasks. Our models explain the additional difficulty by assuming that predicting action from an avoidance desire also requires an inhibition. The two processing models differ in the way that belief and desire inhibitory processes combine to achieve successful action prediction. In six experiments we obtain evidence favoring one model, in which parallel inhibitory processes cancel out, over the other model, in which serial inhibitions force attention to a previously inhibited location. These results are discussed in terms of a set of simple proposals for the modus operandi of a domain specific learning mechanism. The learning mechanism is in part modular--the ToMM--and in part penetrable--the Selection Processor (SP). We show how ToMM-SP can account both for competence and for successful and unsuccessful performance on a wide range of belief-desire tasks across the preschool period. Together, ToMM and SP attend to and learn about mental states.

  11. Machine Learning for Treatment Assignment: Improving Individualized Risk Attribution

    PubMed Central

    Weiss, Jeremy; Kuusisto, Finn; Boyd, Kendrick; Liu, Jie; Page, David

    2015-01-01

    Clinical studies model the average treatment effect (ATE), but apply this population-level effect to future individuals. Due to recent developments of machine learning algorithms with useful statistical guarantees, we argue instead for modeling the individualized treatment effect (ITE), which has better applicability to new patients. We compare ATE-estimation using randomized and observational analysis methods against ITE-estimation using machine learning, and describe how the ITE theoretically generalizes to new population distributions, whereas the ATE may not. On a synthetic data set of statin use and myocardial infarction (MI), we show that a learned ITE model improves true ITE estimation and outperforms the ATE. We additionally argue that ITE models should be learned with a consistent, nonparametric algorithm from unweighted examples and show experiments in favor of our argument using our synthetic data model and a real data set of D-penicillamine use for primary biliary cirrhosis. PMID:26958271

  12. Machine Learning for Treatment Assignment: Improving Individualized Risk Attribution.

    PubMed

    Weiss, Jeremy; Kuusisto, Finn; Boyd, Kendrick; Liu, Jie; Page, David

    2015-01-01

    Clinical studies model the average treatment effect (ATE), but apply this population-level effect to future individuals. Due to recent developments of machine learning algorithms with useful statistical guarantees, we argue instead for modeling the individualized treatment effect (ITE), which has better applicability to new patients. We compare ATE-estimation using randomized and observational analysis methods against ITE-estimation using machine learning, and describe how the ITE theoretically generalizes to new population distributions, whereas the ATE may not. On a synthetic data set of statin use and myocardial infarction (MI), we show that a learned ITE model improves true ITE estimation and outperforms the ATE. We additionally argue that ITE models should be learned with a consistent, nonparametric algorithm from unweighted examples and show experiments in favor of our argument using our synthetic data model and a real data set of D-penicillamine use for primary biliary cirrhosis.

  13. Preschool Attendance in Chicago Public Schools: Relationships with Learning Outcomes and Reasons for Absences

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ehrlich, Stacy B.; Gwynne, Julia A.; Stitziel Pareja, Amber; Allensworth, Elaine M.; Moore, Paul; Jagesic, Sanja; Sorice, Elizabeth

    2014-01-01

    Significant attention is currently focused on ensuring that children are enrolled in preschool. However, regular attendance is also critically important. Children with better preschool attendance have higher kindergarten readiness scores, this is especially true for students entering with low skills. Unfortunately, many preschool-aged children are…

  14. Using a Personal Development Plan for Different Purposes: Its Influence on Undertaking Learning Activities and Job Performance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Beausaert, Simon A. J.; Segers, Mien S. R.; Gijselaers, Wim H.

    2011-01-01

    Today, organizations are increasingly implementing assessment tools such as Personal Development Plans. Although the true power of the tool lies in supporting the employee's continuing professional development, organizations implement the tool for various different purposes, professional development purposes on the one hand and promotion/salary…

  15. Activities for Students: Connecting Spatial Reasoning Ideas in Mathematics and Chemistry

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Raje, Sonali; Krach, Michael; Kaplan, Gail

    2013-01-01

    Concepts in mathematics are often universally applicable to other fields. A critical aspect for success in high school or college is the ability to transfer content knowledge from one discipline to another. This is especially true for material learned in the sciences and mathematics. Several studies have suggested that strong mathematical skills…

  16. Experiential Learning of the Efficient Market Hypothesis: Two Trading Games

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Park, Andreas

    2010-01-01

    In goods markets, an equilibrium price balances demand and supply. In a financial market, an equilibrium price also aggregates people's information to reveal the true value of a financial security. Although the underlying idea of informationally efficient markets is one of the centerpieces of capital market theory, students often have difficulties…

  17. Non-Science Majors' Critical Evaluation of Websites in a Biotechnology Course

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Halverson, Kristy L.; Siegel, Marcelle A.; Freyermuth, Sharyn K.

    2010-01-01

    Helping students develop criteria for judgment and apply examination skills is essential for promoting scientific literacy. With the increasing availability of the Internet, it is even more essential that students learn how to evaluate the science they gather from online resources. This is particularly true because publishing information on the…

  18. Who Prophets from Big Data in Education? New Insights and New Challenges

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lynch, Collin F.

    2017-01-01

    Big Data can radically transform education by enabling personalized learning, deep student modeling, and true longitudinal studies that compare changes across classrooms, regions, and years. With these promises, however, come risks to individual privacy and educational validity, along with deep policy and ethical issues. Education is largely a…

  19. The Applicability of Interactive Item Templates in Varied Knowledge Types

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Koong, Chorng-Shiuh; Wu, Chi-Ying

    2011-01-01

    A well-edited assessment can enhance student's learning motives. Applicability of items, which includes item content and template, plays a crucial role in authoring a good assessment. Templates in discussion contain not only conventional true & false, multiple choice, completion item and short answer but also of those interactive ones. Methods…

  20. Undergraduate Mathematics Majors' Writing Performance Producing Proofs and Counterexamples about Continuous Functions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ko, Yi-Yin; Knuth, Eric

    2009-01-01

    In advanced mathematical thinking, proving and refuting are crucial abilities to demonstrate whether and why a proposition is true or false. Learning proofs and counterexamples within the domain of continuous functions is important because students encounter continuous functions in many mathematics courses. Recently, a growing number of studies…

  1. Chris Woodhead: A New Champion of Eugenic Theories

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chitty, Clyde

    2009-01-01

    Eugenic Theories are clearly alive and well in present-day society--or this is at least true of those theories relating to the passing on of abilities and talents from one generation to the next. This depressing thought was prompted by a reading of Chris Woodhead's latest book "A Desolation of Learning."

  2. Systems Engineering Knowledge Asset (SEKA) Management for Higher Performing Engineering Teams: People, Process and Technology toward Effective Knowledge-Workers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shelby, Kenneth R., Jr.

    2013-01-01

    Systems engineering teams' value-creation for enterprises is slower than possible due to inefficiencies in communication, learning, common knowledge collaboration and leadership conduct. This dissertation outlines the surrounding people, process and technology dimensions for higher performing engineering teams. It describes a true experiment…

  3. The Effectiveness of Music Mentoring at the True Music Workshop, Incorporated in an Eastern City

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Young-Griffin, Jacqueline L.

    2012-01-01

    Music mentoring is a phenomenon that has been found to be increasingly significant with regards to counseling. It behooves counselors, educators, behavioral health coordinators, and researchers to examine this methodology more closely because of its propensity to perpetuate a child's connectivity to school and learning. This research project…

  4. Using Human Interest Stories To Demonstrate Relevant Concepts in the Public Speaking Classroom.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stowell, Jessica

    Students can learn the concepts of descriptive language, "group think," and how to overcome communication apprehension painlessly by using human interest stories with humerous elements. A public relations teacher uses two audio tapes and a true story about a former student in her classroom. Garrison Keillor's 12-minute story "Tomato…

  5. Keep it Simple

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

    Wiley, H. S.

    2010-05-01

    Creating a story for a particular audience is one of the most difficult tasks for anyone to learn. This is true for scientists and writers as well as any creative artist who tries to understand the complexity of the world and explain it to other people. Telling a good story always takes skill. Telling a popular story, however, requires simplification.

  6. The True Gift of Education Is More Giving

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bathina, Jyothi

    2014-01-01

    Educators visit India to spread expertise and learn a more important lesson in community. They hadn't anticipated the quiet successes in the schools and classrooms they visited, causing them nearly overnight to switch from being experts to novices. No matter the socioeconomic status of the school, most striking was the high value placed on…

  7. 48 CFR 2052.215-78 - Travel approvals and reimbursement-Alternate 1.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... clause of this contract when, at any time, the contractor learns that travel expenses will cause the... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 6 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 true Travel approvals and... Clauses 2052.215-78 Travel approvals and reimbursement—Alternate 1. As prescribed in 2015.209-70(d), the...

  8. Understanding Overconfidence: Theories of Intelligence, Preferential Attention, and Distorted Self-Assessment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ehrlinger, Joyce; Mitchum, Ainsley L.; Dweck, Carol S.

    2016-01-01

    Knowing what we do not yet know is critical for learning. Nonetheless, people typically overestimate their prowess--but is this true of everyone? Three studies examined who shows overconfidence and why. Study 1 demonstrated that participants with an entity (fixed) theory of intelligence, those known to avoid negative information, showed…

  9. 29 CFR 790.17 - “Administrative regulation, order, ruling, approval, or interpretation.”

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... (93 Cong. Rec. 5281). 107 That this is true on and after the effective date of the Act is clear from... Administrator's letter, not learning of the Administrator's subsequent published statement rescinding his contrary interpretations, continued to rely upon the Administrator's letter after the effective date of the...

  10. We're Losing Our Minds: Rethinking American Higher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Keeling, Richard P.; Hersh, Richard H.

    2011-01-01

    America is being held back by the quality and quantity of learning in college. This is a true educational emergency! Many college graduates cannot think critically, write effectively, solve problems, understand complex issues, or meet employers' expectations. We are losing our minds--and endangering our social, economic, and scientific leadership.…

  11. Challenges for Educational Technologists in the 21st Century

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mayes, Robin; Natividad, Gloria; Spector, J. Michael

    2015-01-01

    In 1972, Edsger Dijkstra claimed that computers had only introduced the new problem of learning to use them effectively. This is especially true in 2015 with regard to powerful new educational technologies. This article describes the challenges that 21st century educational technologists are, and will be, addressing as they undertake the effective…

  12. Non-Disclosing Students with Disabilities or Learning Challenges: Characteristics and Size of a Hidden Population

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grimes, Susan; Scevak, Jill; Southgate, Erica; Buchanan, Rachel

    2017-01-01

    Internationally, university students with disabilities (SWD) are recognised as being under-represented in higher education. They face significant problems accessing appropriate accommodations for their disability. Academic outcomes for this group are lower in terms of achievement and graduation rates. The true size of the SWD group at university…

  13. Boundary Kernel Estimation of the Two Sample Comparison Density Function

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1989-05-01

    not for the understand- ing, love, and steadfast support of my wife, Catheryn . She supported my move to statistics a mere fortnight after we were...school one learns things of a narrow and technical nature; 0 Catheryn has shown me much of what is fundamentally true and important in this world. To her

  14. Working with Stories: An Active Learning Approach to Theories of Deviance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Levy, Donald P.; Merenstein, Beth

    2005-01-01

    The study of theory is often a daunting and uninviting, if not terrifying, introduction to sociology courses. Most students do not see theory as helpful intellectual hardware that can facilitate understanding, interpretation and construction of social knowledge. This is true not only in theory courses, but also in many sociology courses including…

  15. Writing-to-Learn in the Inquiry-Science Classroom: Effective Strategies from Middle School Science and Writing Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Baker, William P.; Barstack, Renee; Clark, Diane; Hull, Elizabeth; Goodman, Ben; Kook, Judy; Kraft, Kaatje; Ramakrishna, Pushpa; Roberts, Elisabeth; Shaw, Jerome; Weaver, David; Lang, Michael

    2008-01-01

    Student writing skills are an important concern for every teacher. This is especially true when using inquiry-based approaches in the science classroom. Writing promotes critical-thinking skills and construction of vital scientific concepts and challenges ingrained misconceptions. Yet, many teachers encounter practical problems when incorporating…

  16. ABCs of Being Smart: J Is for Journey

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Foster, Joanne

    2013-01-01

    The old saying, "life is a journey" may sound cliched, but the words are nevertheless true. Children can learn a great deal from the travels and directions chosen by others, and especially from people whose life stories or experiences offer inspiration by virtue of their effort, perseverance, and acquired success. This article presents a…

  17. Aspects of Collaborative Learning Environment Using Distributed Virtual Environments.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bouras, C.; Trantafillou, V.; Tsiatsos, T.

    A decisive factor for new technologies is always the added value with respect to the efficiency and capacity of traditional technologies. This also is true when considering the impact of new technologies in training applications. New types of applications have been developed during the last few years to incorporate information technology in the…

  18. Developmental Characteristics of Middle Schoolers and Middle School Organization.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thornburg, Hershel D.

    The extent to which the middle school becomes a true educational alternative is directly related to the ability of middle school educators and researchers to identify and investigate the developmental needs and learning capacities of students. Three important developmental characteristics of early adolescents are a high need for peer friendships,…

  19. Shaping the Public Narrative about Teaching and Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sullivan, Patrick

    2017-01-01

    An urgent crisis is before us. A huge gap has appeared between how the public perceives higher education and what academics and researchers at colleges and universities know to be true. It is imperative that scholars and educators take the lead in closing this dangerous--and highly politicized--gap. This article discusses the politicization of…

  20. The Shoestring Library

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fullner, Sheryl Kindle

    2010-01-01

    An organized collection of budget saving methods, materials, and strategies, these tips are all tried-and-true examples of ways to stretch the media specialist's budget and time, and change even the drabbest library into an inviting oasis of learning. Makeovers are mesmerizing. Whether it is the 400-pound man who turns into a hunk or a hovel that…

  1. Just-in-Time Teaching Techniques through Web Technologies for Vocational Students' Reading and Writing Abilities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chantoem, Rewadee; Rattanavich, Saowalak

    2016-01-01

    This research compares the English language achievements of vocational students, their reading and writing abilities, and their attitudes towards learning English taught with just-in-time teaching techniques through web technologies and conventional methods. The experimental and control groups were formed, a randomized true control group…

  2. Examining Preservice Elementary Teachers' Technology Self-Efficacy: Impact of Mobile Technology-Based Physics Curriculum

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Menon, Deepika; Chandrasekhar, Meera; Kosztin, Dorina; Steinhoff, Douglas

    2017-01-01

    While iPads and other mobile devices are gaining popularity in educational settings, challenges associated with teachers' use of technology continue to hold true. Preparing preservice teachers within teacher preparation programs to gain experience learning and teaching science using mobile technologies is critical for them to develop positive…

  3. Moving Students to "The Why?"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cioe, Michael; King, Sherryl; Ostien, Deborah; Pansa, Nancy; Staples, Megan

    2015-01-01

    Justification is a critical mathematical practice that must play a role in teaching and learning at all grade levels. Having students share their reasoning and explain how they know something is true or correct is the process of justification. The authors (a team of teachers and researchers) worked together for two years with an NSF-funded project…

  4. A Dream Realized

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pierpont, Katherine

    2005-01-01

    This article features the Center for Inquiry, a school where the teachers are making their dreams come true. As a school designed wholly by teachers, the Center for Inquiry (CFI) in Indianapolis, Indiana, is teaching kids how to take ownership of learning. Originally designed to be a school within a school for exchange and preservice teachers, the…

  5. Merging Education with Experience: Transforming Learning into Practice

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Warren, Janet W.

    2012-01-01

    According to Bennis (2003), "True leaders are not born, but made, and usually self-made" (p. 33). The purpose of this study was to identify and examine what factors influenced and limited the opportunities of African American females to obtain and maintain leadership roles in administrative positions at urban schools and the value of…

  6. Tried and True: Springing into Linear Models

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Darling, Gerald

    2012-01-01

    In eighth grade, students usually learn about forces in science class and linear relationships in math class, crucial topics that form the foundation for further study in science and engineering. An activity that links these two fundamental concepts involves measuring the distance a spring stretches as a function of how much weight is suspended…

  7. An Evaluation of an Innovative Drug Education Program: First Year Results.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schaps, Eric; And Others

    An innovative drug education course was taught to seventh and eighth graders and evaluated in a true experiment. Students learned Lasswell's framework for understanding human needs and motives, a systematic decision-making procedure, and information about the pharmacological, psychological, and social consequences of licit and illicit drug use.…

  8. Tender Beginnings program: an educational continuum for the maternity patient.

    PubMed

    Brown, Susan E H

    2006-01-01

    The Tender Beginnings program demonstrates a comprehensive educational plan for maternity patients that can be extended throughout pregnancy, the birth process, and into the postpartum period. In today's healthcare environment, where the maternity patient continues to experience a shortened stay structure, the hurried learning process that is absorbed over a 48-hour stay is often ineffectual. This program provides a strategy and framework for effective teaching that can be successfully implemented all through the peripartum period. Budgetary constraints have given way to an innovative approach and opportunity for the healthcare specialist to explore an entrepreneurial relationship within the structure of the program. The Tender Beginnings program has proven to be a true integration of community educational outreach, nurse entrepreneurship, hospital-based education, and postpartum/neonatal follow-up.

  9. Children With Autism Show Reduced Information Seeking When Learning New Tasks.

    PubMed

    Young, Nicole; Hudry, Kristelle; Trembath, David; Vivanti, Giacomo

    2016-01-01

    Information-seeking behaviours occur when children look to adults in order to gain further information about a novel stimulus/situation. The current study investigated information seeking in children with developmental delays (DD) and those with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) during a simulated teaching situation. Twenty preschool-aged children with ASD and 15 children with DD were exposed to a series of videos where a teacher provided novel instructions and demonstrated novel actions. We found that children with DD, but not those with ASD, demonstrated information-seeking behaviours in response to instructions that exceeded their level of understanding. This suggests that children with DD may use information-seeking behaviours to compensate for their cognitive and language difficulties when novel actions are being taught, while the same is not true for children with ASD.

  10. Sparse Regression Based Structure Learning of Stochastic Reaction Networks from Single Cell Snapshot Time Series.

    PubMed

    Klimovskaia, Anna; Ganscha, Stefan; Claassen, Manfred

    2016-12-01

    Stochastic chemical reaction networks constitute a model class to quantitatively describe dynamics and cell-to-cell variability in biological systems. The topology of these networks typically is only partially characterized due to experimental limitations. Current approaches for refining network topology are based on the explicit enumeration of alternative topologies and are therefore restricted to small problem instances with almost complete knowledge. We propose the reactionet lasso, a computational procedure that derives a stepwise sparse regression approach on the basis of the Chemical Master Equation, enabling large-scale structure learning for reaction networks by implicitly accounting for billions of topology variants. We have assessed the structure learning capabilities of the reactionet lasso on synthetic data for the complete TRAIL induced apoptosis signaling cascade comprising 70 reactions. We find that the reactionet lasso is able to efficiently recover the structure of these reaction systems, ab initio, with high sensitivity and specificity. With only < 1% false discoveries, the reactionet lasso is able to recover 45% of all true reactions ab initio among > 6000 possible reactions and over 102000 network topologies. In conjunction with information rich single cell technologies such as single cell RNA sequencing or mass cytometry, the reactionet lasso will enable large-scale structure learning, particularly in areas with partial network structure knowledge, such as cancer biology, and thereby enable the detection of pathological alterations of reaction networks. We provide software to allow for wide applicability of the reactionet lasso.

  11. A machine learning approach for viral genome classification.

    PubMed

    Remita, Mohamed Amine; Halioui, Ahmed; Malick Diouara, Abou Abdallah; Daigle, Bruno; Kiani, Golrokh; Diallo, Abdoulaye Baniré

    2017-04-11

    Advances in cloning and sequencing technology are yielding a massive number of viral genomes. The classification and annotation of these genomes constitute important assets in the discovery of genomic variability, taxonomic characteristics and disease mechanisms. Existing classification methods are often designed for specific well-studied family of viruses. Thus, the viral comparative genomic studies could benefit from more generic, fast and accurate tools for classifying and typing newly sequenced strains of diverse virus families. Here, we introduce a virus classification platform, CASTOR, based on machine learning methods. CASTOR is inspired by a well-known technique in molecular biology: restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). It simulates, in silico, the restriction digestion of genomic material by different enzymes into fragments. It uses two metrics to construct feature vectors for machine learning algorithms in the classification step. We benchmark CASTOR for the classification of distinct datasets of human papillomaviruses (HPV), hepatitis B viruses (HBV) and human immunodeficiency viruses type 1 (HIV-1). Results reveal true positive rates of 99%, 99% and 98% for HPV Alpha species, HBV genotyping and HIV-1 M subtyping, respectively. Furthermore, CASTOR shows a competitive performance compared to well-known HIV-1 specific classifiers (REGA and COMET) on whole genomes and pol fragments. The performance of CASTOR, its genericity and robustness could permit to perform novel and accurate large scale virus studies. The CASTOR web platform provides an open access, collaborative and reproducible machine learning classifiers. CASTOR can be accessed at http://castor.bioinfo.uqam.ca .

  12. A Progressive Reading, Writing, and Artistic Module to Support Scientific Literacy†

    PubMed Central

    Stockwell, Stephanie B.

    2016-01-01

    Scientific literacy, marked by the ability and willingness to engage with scientific information, is supported through a new genre of citizen science—course-based research in association with undergraduate laboratories. A three-phased progressive learning module was developed to enhance student engagement in such contexts while supporting three learning outcomes: I) present an argument based on evidence, II) analyze science and scientists within a social context, and III) experience, reflect upon, and communicate the nature of scientific discovery. Phase I entails guided reading and reflection of citizen science–themed texts. In Phase II, students write, peer-review, and edit position and counterpoint papers inspired by the following prompt, “Nonscientists should do scientific research.” Phase III involves two creative assignments intended to communicate the true nature of science. Students work collaboratively to develop public service announcement–like poster campaigns to debunk a common misconception about the nature of science or scientists. Individually, they create a work of art to communicate a specific message about the raw experience of performing scientific research. Suggestions for implementation and modifications are provided. Strengths of the module include the development of transferable skills, temporal distribution of grading demands, minimal in-class time needed for implementation, and the inclusion of artistic projects to support affective learning domains. This citizen science–themed learning module is an excellent complement to laboratory coursework, as it serves to surprise, challenge, and inspire students while promoting disciplinary values. PMID:27047600

  13. How to Make Their Dreams Come True

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Easley, Dauna

    2005-01-01

    The beginning of January--a fresh start. This presents a brand new opportunity to help students plan a bright future. This article provides a step-by-step guide to ensure a student's dreams come true. Each new year gives students another chance to get it right. The author provides the following 12 steps to ensure students' success in achieving…

  14. Spatially Regularized Machine Learning for Task and Resting-state fMRI

    PubMed Central

    Song, Xiaomu; Panych, Lawrence P.; Chen, Nan-kuei

    2015-01-01

    Background Reliable mapping of brain function across sessions and/or subjects in task- and resting-state has been a critical challenge for quantitative fMRI studies although it has been intensively addressed in the past decades. New Method A spatially regularized support vector machine (SVM) technique was developed for the reliable brain mapping in task- and resting-state. Unlike most existing SVM-based brain mapping techniques, which implement supervised classifications of specific brain functional states or disorders, the proposed method performs a semi-supervised classification for the general brain function mapping where spatial correlation of fMRI is integrated into the SVM learning. The method can adapt to intra- and inter-subject variations induced by fMRI nonstationarity, and identify a true boundary between active and inactive voxels, or between functionally connected and unconnected voxels in a feature space. Results The method was evaluated using synthetic and experimental data at the individual and group level. Multiple features were evaluated in terms of their contributions to the spatially regularized SVM learning. Reliable mapping results in both task- and resting-state were obtained from individual subjects and at the group level. Comparison with Existing Methods A comparison study was performed with independent component analysis, general linear model, and correlation analysis methods. Experimental results indicate that the proposed method can provide a better or comparable mapping performance at the individual and group level. Conclusions The proposed method can provide accurate and reliable mapping of brain function in task- and resting-state, and is applicable to a variety of quantitative fMRI studies. PMID:26470627

  15. Relationship of compressive stress-strain response of engineering materials obtained at constant engineering and true strain rates

    DOE PAGES

    Song, Bo; Sanborn, Brett

    2018-05-07

    In this paper, a Johnson–Cook model was used as an example to analyze the relationship of compressive stress-strain response of engineering materials experimentally obtained at constant engineering and true strain rates. There was a minimal deviation between the stress-strain curves obtained at the same constant engineering and true strain rates. The stress-strain curves obtained at either constant engineering or true strain rates could be converted from one to the other, which both represented the intrinsic material response. There is no need to specify the testing requirement of constant engineering or true strain rates for material property characterization, provided that eithermore » constant engineering or constant true strain rate is attained during the experiment.« less

  16. Relationship of compressive stress-strain response of engineering materials obtained at constant engineering and true strain rates

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

    Song, Bo; Sanborn, Brett

    In this paper, a Johnson–Cook model was used as an example to analyze the relationship of compressive stress-strain response of engineering materials experimentally obtained at constant engineering and true strain rates. There was a minimal deviation between the stress-strain curves obtained at the same constant engineering and true strain rates. The stress-strain curves obtained at either constant engineering or true strain rates could be converted from one to the other, which both represented the intrinsic material response. There is no need to specify the testing requirement of constant engineering or true strain rates for material property characterization, provided that eithermore » constant engineering or constant true strain rate is attained during the experiment.« less

  17. Vicarious audiovisual learning in perfusion education.

    PubMed

    Rath, Thomas E; Holt, David W

    2010-12-01

    Perfusion technology is a mechanical and visual science traditionally taught with didactic instruction combined with clinical experience. It is difficult to provide perfusion students the opportunity to experience difficult clinical situations, set up complex perfusion equipment, or observe corrective measures taken during catastrophic events because of patient safety concerns. Although high fidelity simulators offer exciting opportunities for future perfusion training, we explore the use of a less costly low fidelity form of simulation instruction, vicarious audiovisual learning. Two low fidelity modes of instruction; description with text and a vicarious, first person audiovisual production depicting the same content were compared. Students (n = 37) sampled from five North American perfusion schools were prospectively randomized to one of two online learning modules, text or video.These modules described the setup and operation of the MAQUET ROTAFLOW stand-alone centrifugal console and pump. Using a 10 question multiple-choice test, students were assessed immediately after viewing the module (test #1) and then again 2 weeks later (test #2) to determine cognition and recall of the module content. In addition, students completed a questionnaire assessing the learning preferences of today's perfusion student. Mean test scores from test #1 for video learners (n = 18) were significantly higher (88.89%) than for text learners (n = 19) (74.74%), (p < .05). The same was true for test #2 where video learners (n = 10) had an average score of 77% while text learners (n = 9) scored 60% (p < .05). Survey results indicated video learners were more satisfied with their learning module than text learners. Vicarious audiovisual learning modules may be an efficacious, low cost means of delivering perfusion training on subjects such as equipment setup and operation. Video learning appears to improve cognition and retention of learned content and may play an important role in how we teach perfusion in the future, as simulation technology becomes more prevalent.

  18. Evolution of Evaluation and Assessment in Diverse Audiences in the Digital Age

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Eriksson, S. C.

    2015-12-01

    Over the past decades, researchers have learned more about how people think and act and about the social and political aspects of teaching and learning. This understanding has brought changes in researchers' and practitioners' interactions with diverse groups and individuals. This paper addresses evaluation, a process that measures the degree to which learning and project goals are met and factors contributing to or hindering outcomes. Parallels are drawn to learning assessment. The concepts of inclusion, participation, and constructivism (Mertens, 1999; Mertens and Hopson, 2006) now drive best evaluation practices for projects with persons with disabilities (AEA, 2011). This is also true in cases of other people who have been marginalized in STEM fields, e.g. women and underrepresented groups. Inclusion of these stakeholders has important implications for the validity of an evaluation, including the accuracy of results (Jacobson et al, 2012; Gill, 1999; Lee, 1999). The American Indian Higher Education Consortium's framework for indigenous groups incorporates their values and goals into evaluation design and implementation. It is feasible to include participant input in designing the questions and methods of obtaining data, ensuring that issues of access, opportunity, and power (Shuffelbeam, 2001) are taken into consideration. Geoscience projects with u-learning and m-learning provide opportunities to test these theoretical models in innovative programs such as: field work for students with physical disability; underrepresented minority, secondary students using mobile devices in contextualized learning in informal settings; and graduate students using digital maps to enhance traditional field work. This study compares program evaluation methodology of tradition learning with that of programs for diverse groups of students using digital technology. Ref: Mertens doi:10.1177/109821409902000102; Mertens and Hopson DOI: 10.1002/ev.177; AEA http://www.eval.org/p/cm/ld/fid=92; Jacobson et al DOI 10.1177/1098214012461558; Gill DOI:10.1016/S1098-2140(99)00018-1; Lee DOI: 10.1177/109821409902000210; Shuffelbeam ISBN: 978-0-7879-5755-1

  19. Can Statistical Machine Learning Algorithms Help for Classification of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Severity to Optimal Utilization of Polysomnography Resources?

    PubMed

    Bozkurt, Selen; Bostanci, Asli; Turhan, Murat

    2017-08-11

    The goal of this study is to evaluate the results of machine learning methods for the classification of OSA severity of patients with suspected sleep disorder breathing as normal, mild, moderate and severe based on non-polysomnographic variables: 1) clinical data, 2) symptoms and 3) physical examination. In order to produce classification models for OSA severity, five different machine learning methods (Bayesian network, Decision Tree, Random Forest, Neural Networks and Logistic Regression) were trained while relevant variables and their relationships were derived empirically from observed data. Each model was trained and evaluated using 10-fold cross-validation and to evaluate classification performances of all methods, true positive rate (TPR), false positive rate (FPR), Positive Predictive Value (PPV), F measure and Area Under Receiver Operating Characteristics curve (ROC-AUC) were used. Results of 10-fold cross validated tests with different variable settings promisingly indicated that the OSA severity of suspected OSA patients can be classified, using non-polysomnographic features, with 0.71 true positive rate as the highest and, 0.15 false positive rate as the lowest, respectively. Moreover, the test results of different variables settings revealed that the accuracy of the classification models was significantly improved when physical examination variables were added to the model. Study results showed that machine learning methods can be used to estimate the probabilities of no, mild, moderate, and severe obstructive sleep apnea and such approaches may improve accurate initial OSA screening and help referring only the suspected moderate or severe OSA patients to sleep laboratories for the expensive tests.

  20. On the evaluation of the fidelity of supervised classifiers in the prediction of chimeric RNAs.

    PubMed

    Beaumeunier, Sacha; Audoux, Jérôme; Boureux, Anthony; Ruffle, Florence; Commes, Thérèse; Philippe, Nicolas; Alves, Ronnie

    2016-01-01

    High-throughput sequencing technology and bioinformatics have identified chimeric RNAs (chRNAs), raising the possibility of chRNAs expressing particularly in diseases can be used as potential biomarkers in both diagnosis and prognosis. The task of discriminating true chRNAs from the false ones poses an interesting Machine Learning (ML) challenge. First of all, the sequencing data may contain false reads due to technical artifacts and during the analysis process, bioinformatics tools may generate false positives due to methodological biases. Moreover, if we succeed to have a proper set of observations (enough sequencing data) about true chRNAs, chances are that the devised model can not be able to generalize beyond it. Like any other machine learning problem, the first big issue is finding the good data to build models. As far as we were concerned, there is no common benchmark data available for chRNAs detection. The definition of a classification baseline is lacking in the related literature too. In this work we are moving towards benchmark data and an evaluation of the fidelity of supervised classifiers in the prediction of chRNAs. We proposed a modelization strategy that can be used to increase the tools performances in context of chRNA classification based on a simulated data generator, that permit to continuously integrate new complex chimeric events. The pipeline incorporated a genome mutation process and simulated RNA-seq data. The reads within distinct depth were aligned and analysed by CRAC that integrates genomic location and local coverage, allowing biological predictions at the read scale. Additionally, these reads were functionally annotated and aggregated to form chRNAs events, making it possible to evaluate ML methods (classifiers) performance in both levels of reads and events. Ensemble learning strategies demonstrated to be more robust to this classification problem, providing an average AUC performance of 95 % (ACC=94 %, Kappa=0.87 %). The resulting classification models were also tested on real RNA-seq data from a set of twenty-seven patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

  1. Blue Sky Funders Forum - Advancing Environmental Literacy through Funder Collaboration

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, A.

    2015-12-01

    The Blue Sky Funders Forum inspires, deepens, and expands private funding and philanthropic leadership to promote learning opportunities that connect people and nature and promote environmental literacy. Being prepared for the future requires all of us to understand the consequences of how we live on where we live - the connection between people and nature. Learning about the true meaning of that connection is a process that starts in early childhood and lasts a lifetime. Blue Sky brings supporters of this work together to learn from one another and to strategize how to scale up the impact of the effective programs that transform how people interact with their surroundings. By making these essential learning opportunities more accessible in all communities, we broaden and strengthen the constituency that makes well-informed choices, balancing the needs of today with the needs of future generations.

  2. A Bootstrapping Model of Frequency and Context Effects in Word Learning.

    PubMed

    Kachergis, George; Yu, Chen; Shiffrin, Richard M

    2017-04-01

    Prior research has shown that people can learn many nouns (i.e., word-object mappings) from a short series of ambiguous situations containing multiple words and objects. For successful cross-situational learning, people must approximately track which words and referents co-occur most frequently. This study investigates the effects of allowing some word-referent pairs to appear more frequently than others, as is true in real-world learning environments. Surprisingly, high-frequency pairs are not always learned better, but can also boost learning of other pairs. Using a recent associative model (Kachergis, Yu, & Shiffrin, 2012), we explain how mixing pairs of different frequencies can bootstrap late learning of the low-frequency pairs based on early learning of higher frequency pairs. We also manipulate contextual diversity, the number of pairs a given pair appears with across training, since it is naturalistically confounded with frequency. The associative model has competing familiarity and uncertainty biases, and their interaction is able to capture the individual and combined effects of frequency and contextual diversity on human learning. Two other recent word-learning models do not account for the behavioral findings. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

  3. Changing viewer perspectives reveals constraints to implicit visual statistical learning.

    PubMed

    Jiang, Yuhong V; Swallow, Khena M

    2014-10-07

    Statistical learning-learning environmental regularities to guide behavior-likely plays an important role in natural human behavior. One potential use is in search for valuable items. Because visual statistical learning can be acquired quickly and without intention or awareness, it could optimize search and thereby conserve energy. For this to be true, however, visual statistical learning needs to be viewpoint invariant, facilitating search even when people walk around. To test whether implicit visual statistical learning of spatial information is viewpoint independent, we asked participants to perform a visual search task from variable locations around a monitor placed flat on a stand. Unbeknownst to participants, the target was more often in some locations than others. In contrast to previous research on stationary observers, visual statistical learning failed to produce a search advantage for targets in high-probable regions that were stable within the environment but variable relative to the viewer. This failure was observed even when conditions for spatial updating were optimized. However, learning was successful when the rich locations were referenced relative to the viewer. We conclude that changing viewer perspective disrupts implicit learning of the target's location probability. This form of learning shows limited integration with spatial updating or spatiotopic representations. © 2014 ARVO.

  4. Connecting Students and Policymakers through Science and Service-Learning

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Szymanski, D. W.

    2017-12-01

    Successful collaborations in community science require the participation of non-scientists as advocates for the use of science in addressing complex problems. This is especially true, but particularly difficult, with respect to the wicked problems of sustainability. The complicated, unsolvable, and inherently political nature of challenges like climate change can provoke cynicism and apathy about the use of science. While science education is a critical part of preparing all students to address wicked problems, it is not sufficient. Non-scientists must also learn how to advocate for the role of science in policy solutions. Fortunately, the transdisciplinary nature of sustainability provides a venue for engaging all undergraduates in community science, regardless of major. I describe a model for involving non-science majors in a form of service-learning, where the pursuit of community science becomes a powerful pedagogical tool for civic engagement. Bentley University is one of the few stand-alone business schools in the United States and provides an ideal venue to test this model, given that 95% of Bentley's 4000 undergraduates major in a business discipline. The technology-focused business program is combined with an integrated arts & sciences curriculum and experiential learning opportunities though the nationally recognized Bentley Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Center. In addition to a required general education core that includes the natural sciences, students may opt to complete a second major in liberal studies with thematic concentrations like Earth, Environment, and Global Sustainability. In the course Science in Environmental Policy, students may apply to complete a service-learning project for an additional course credit. The smaller group of students then act as consultants, conducting research for a non-profit organization in the Washington, D.C. area involved in geoscience policy. At the end of the semester, students travel to D.C. and present their findings to the non-profit partner and make policy recommendations to legislators in Capitol Hill visits. The projects have been highly impactful as a form of community science, creating passionate science advocacy among non-majors, improving collaborations with community partners, and spurring action by federal policymakers.

  5. True Needs, True Partners: Museums Serving Schools. 2002 Survey Highlights.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Institute of Museum and Library Services, Washington, DC.

    This report documents the support museums of all types from art, history and children's museums to science centers and zoos provide to the nation's education of K-12 school children for 2000/2001. It is the second systematic survey of the range and scale of educational activities that museums provide in partnership with the nation's K-12 schools.…

  6. Lessons offered, lessons learned: reflections on how doing family therapy can affect therapists.

    PubMed

    Heatherington, Laurie; Friedlander, Myrna L; Diamond, Gary M

    2014-08-01

    Only in working conjointly with couples and families do therapists literally witness clients struggling to improve their most intimate relationships. In writing this article, we realized that, in true systemic fashion, not only have many of our clients benefited from working with us, but also we have learned some invaluable lessons from them. Indeed, practicing couple and family therapy gives therapists many opportunities to learn about themselves, especially when it is done thoughtfully. In this article, we reflect on myriad ways in which couples and family therapy has affected each of us personally-as individuals, as partners, as parents, as adult children in our families of origin, and as educators. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  7. Learning partial differential equations via data discovery and sparse optimization

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Schaeffer, Hayden

    2017-01-01

    We investigate the problem of learning an evolution equation directly from some given data. This work develops a learning algorithm to identify the terms in the underlying partial differential equations and to approximate the coefficients of the terms only using data. The algorithm uses sparse optimization in order to perform feature selection and parameter estimation. The features are data driven in the sense that they are constructed using nonlinear algebraic equations on the spatial derivatives of the data. Several numerical experiments show the proposed method's robustness to data noise and size, its ability to capture the true features of the data, and its capability of performing additional analytics. Examples include shock equations, pattern formation, fluid flow and turbulence, and oscillatory convection.

  8. Learning partial differential equations via data discovery and sparse optimization.

    PubMed

    Schaeffer, Hayden

    2017-01-01

    We investigate the problem of learning an evolution equation directly from some given data. This work develops a learning algorithm to identify the terms in the underlying partial differential equations and to approximate the coefficients of the terms only using data. The algorithm uses sparse optimization in order to perform feature selection and parameter estimation. The features are data driven in the sense that they are constructed using nonlinear algebraic equations on the spatial derivatives of the data. Several numerical experiments show the proposed method's robustness to data noise and size, its ability to capture the true features of the data, and its capability of performing additional analytics. Examples include shock equations, pattern formation, fluid flow and turbulence, and oscillatory convection.

  9. Learning partial differential equations via data discovery and sparse optimization

    PubMed Central

    2017-01-01

    We investigate the problem of learning an evolution equation directly from some given data. This work develops a learning algorithm to identify the terms in the underlying partial differential equations and to approximate the coefficients of the terms only using data. The algorithm uses sparse optimization in order to perform feature selection and parameter estimation. The features are data driven in the sense that they are constructed using nonlinear algebraic equations on the spatial derivatives of the data. Several numerical experiments show the proposed method's robustness to data noise and size, its ability to capture the true features of the data, and its capability of performing additional analytics. Examples include shock equations, pattern formation, fluid flow and turbulence, and oscillatory convection. PMID:28265183

  10. Designing Tutorial Modalities and Strategies for Digital Games: Lessons from Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    White, Matthew M.

    2012-01-01

    Contemporary digital games do little to help novice and disadvantaged players wanting to learn to play. The novice-expert divide is a significant barrierfor entry for disadvantaged groups who want to play digital games; this is especially true for women (Jenson, Fisher, & De Castell, 2011). In response to this problem, three new tutorial…

  11. Everyday Creativity: Spaces and Places for Ideas to Flourish

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bloom, Paula Jorde; Hentschel, Ann

    2012-01-01

    In an era of early learning standards, packaged curriculums, and state quality rating systems, many directors lament that the accountability movement has sapped the creativity out of their programs. They say their teachers feel constricted, as though their own good ideas just don't matter anymore. Not true. In fact, it's more vital than ever to…

  12. 26 CFR 25.2511-1 - Transfers in general.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... decedent's property within a reasonable time after learning of the existence of the transfer, he will be... 26 Internal Revenue 14 2014-04-01 2013-04-01 true Transfers in general. 25.2511-1 Section 25.2511... TAXES GIFT TAX; GIFTS MADE AFTER DECEMBER 31, 1954 Transfers § 25.2511-1 Transfers in general. (a) The...

  13. Tried and True: The Romance of the Atoms--Animated Atomic Attractions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hibbitt, Catherine

    2010-01-01

    Since the formation of atomic bonds is active, the authors sought a way of learning through drama or kinetic activity. To achieve this goal, they developed an activity called Romance of the Atoms. The activity requires students to use computer-animation technology to develop short cartoons that explain atomic classification and bonds. This…

  14. Psychological Warfare: The Media and Relational Aggression among Female College Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Goldberg, Rebecca M.

    2009-01-01

    For this study, the researcher examined the media's influences on the experience of relational aggression among college women. Women in the United States of America are learning to stifle their true selves in favor of the feminine ideal, which includes behaving covertly. Examples of female behavior as presented in the Western media include a wide…

  15. Considering the Role of Tutoring in Student Engagement: Reflections from a South African University

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Faroa, Brendon Duran

    2017-01-01

    Student engagement has been defined as the extent to which students are engaged in activities that higher education research has shown to be linked with high-quality learning outcomes. The ubiquitous influence of the term "student engagement" has been felt throughout the higher education landscape. This is especially true for South…

  16. Thermoregulatory Behavior in Diurnal Lizards as a Vehicle for Teaching Scientific Process

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Platz, James E.

    2009-01-01

    Field experiments offer the opportunity for hands on experience with the scientific process. While this is true of a wide variety of activities, many have pitfalls both experimental and logistical that reduce the overall rate of success, in turn, influencing student learning outcomes. Relying on small, territorial, diurnal lizards and an array of…

  17. Effects of Information Technologies, Department Characteristics and Individual Roles on Improving Knowledge Sharing Visibility: A Qualitative Case Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhang, Xi; Vogel, Douglas R.; Zhou, Zhongyun

    2012-01-01

    Knowledge sharing visibility (KSV) is a critical environmental factor which can reduce social loafing in knowledge sharing (KS). This is especially true in ICT [information and communication technology]-based KS in learning organisations. As such, it is imperative that we better understand how to design technology enabled knowledge management…

  18. How to Develop Learners Who Are Consistently Curious and Questioning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Scurry, Jamie E.; Wilburn, Ariel; Villagomez, Alex; McCarthy, Mike

    2010-01-01

    In a society that reaches for silver-bullet solutions, higher education is not immune from widespread attempts to raise graduation rates through scaling one-size-fits-all models at lower costs. Yet people at Big Picture Learning believe any true, long-term solution that will produce more graduates with high-quality degrees must be…

  19. New Teachers and Technology Preparation: Immersion or Infusion?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Egeland, Paul

    2009-01-01

    In the 21st Century, it is imperative for new teachers to be well prepared for utilizing technology to enhance instruction and increase student learning. While this is true for all teacher education programs it may be more challenging for those steeped in the liberal arts. With an emphasis on thinking liberally and understanding a breadth of…

  20. School Readiness for Infants and Toddlers? Really? Yes, Really!

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Petersen, Sandra

    2012-01-01

    If it is true that "new discoveries in neuroscience suggest that school readiness interventions might come too late if they start after the child is three years old", then the infant/toddler field must claim the concept of school readiness. The brain's foundation for all later learning is created in the first three years of life. As many…

  1. The "Negative" Credit Card Effect: Credit Cards as Spending-Limiting Stimuli in New Zealand

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lie, Celia; Hunt, Maree; Peters, Heather L.; Veliu, Bahrie; Harper, David

    2010-01-01

    The "credit card effect" describes a finding where greater value is given to consumer items if credit card logos are present. One explanation for the effect is that credit cards elicit spending behavior through associative learning. If this is true, social, economic and historical contexts should alter this effect. In Experiment 1, Year…

  2. Fractions: The New Frontier for Theories of Numerical Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Siegler, Robert S.; Fazio, Lisa K.; Bailey, Drew H.; Zhou, Xinlin

    2013-01-01

    Recent research on fractions has broadened and deepened theories of numerical development. Learning about fractions requires children to recognize that many properties of whole numbers are not true of numbers in general and also to recognize that the one property that unites all real numbers is that they possess magnitudes that can be ordered on…

  3. A Study on CPH and Debate Summary in FLL

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Liu, Zhiliang

    2009-01-01

    The optimal age in FLL (foreign language learning) for children has been discussed over 50 years but there is no satisfactory conclusion for us. However, the notion "the younger, the better" in FLL has a big market in the world. As a result, the distorted hypothesis is being spread widely as a true and complete theory. Specifically…

  4. How African-American Elementary Students in High-Poverty Schools Experience Creative Expression: A Case Study Approach

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Willis, Belinda F.

    2016-01-01

    Literature that addresses how the arts enhance student learning through creative expression is minimal. This is especially true for African-American elementary students from high-poverty backgrounds. The purpose of this study was to employ a case study design to explore how African-American elementary students in high-poverty schools experience…

  5. Perceptions of First-Year Title I Teachers Regarding Their Induction Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Anderson, Faith

    2017-01-01

    Many first-year teachers who enter teaching are not prepared to fulfill all of the daily teaching requirements. This is especially true of teachers assigned to Title I classrooms where the teaching challenges are often magnified. Although first-year teachers in Title I classrooms may have different learning needs than their non-Title I…

  6. A Study of Understanding: Alchemy, Abstraction, and Circulating Reference in Tertiary Science Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Merritt, Brett W.

    2013-01-01

    Understanding is widely touted to be of paramount importance for education. This is especially true in science education research and development where understanding is heralded as one of the cornerstones of reform. Teachers are expected to teach for understanding and students are expected to learn with understanding. This dissertation is an…

  7. Mobile Response System: A Novel Approach to Interactive and Hands-On Activity in the Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fuad, Muztaba; Deb, Debzani; Etim, James; Gloster, Clay

    2018-01-01

    Mobile devices are being used profusely in the classrooms to improve passive learning environments and to enhance student comprehension. However, with respect to students' active involvement in problem solving activities, the typical usage of the mobile devices in answering multiple choice and true/false questions is not adequate and the use of…

  8. Cognitive Benefits and Costs of Bilingualism in Elementary School Students: The Case of Mathematical Word Problems

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kempert, Sebastian; Saalbach, Henrik; Hardy, Ilonca

    2011-01-01

    Previous research has emphasized the importance of language for learning mathematics. This is especially true when mathematical problems have to be extracted from a meaningful context, as in arithmetic word problems. Bilingual learners with a low command of the instructional language thus may face challenges when dealing with mathematical…

  9. Understanding the Relationship among Arrhenius, Brønsted-Lowry, and Lewis Theories

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Paik, Seoung-Hey

    2015-01-01

    Many studies suggest that students have difficulties in learning acid-base concepts. This study presents some conflicts in the textbook descriptions of these concepts and proposes these to be the cause of the students' difficulties. This is especially true regarding the description of the relationship among the Arrhenius, Brønsted-Lowry, and Lewis…

  10. Mental Health in Schools: Lessons Learned from Exclusion

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Specht, Jacqueline A.

    2013-01-01

    Students who are excluded from the daily life of schools are at risk for mental illness. This is especially true for children with disabilities as they are marginalized by assumptions and beliefs about what they "cannot" do at school as opposed to what they can do. This article presents research literature on belonging, inclusion, and social and…

  11. Pre-Service Teachers' Modelling Processes through Engagement with Model Eliciting Activities with a Technological Tool

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Daher, Wajeeh M.; Shahbari, Juhaina Awawdeh

    2015-01-01

    Engaging mathematics students with modelling activities helps them learn mathematics meaningfully. This engagement, in the case of model eliciting activities, helps the students elicit mathematical models by interpreting real-world situation in mathematical ways. This is especially true when the students utilize technology to build the models.…

  12. Enacting True Partnerships within Community-Based Learning: Faculty and Community Partners Reflect on the Challenges of Engagement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kerrigan, Seanna M.; Reitenauer, Vicki L.; Arevalo-Meier, Nora

    2015-01-01

    In the past two decades, the literature on campus-community partnerships as core components of pedagogies of engagement has grown exponentially. In this article, the director and a longtime faculty member of Portland State University's capstone program report on interviews conducted with ten faculty-community partner pairs, gleaning insights on…

  13. How Can One Learn Mathematical Word Problems in a Second Language? A Cognitive Load Perspective

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moussa-Inaty, Jase; Causapin, Mark; Groombridge, Timothy

    2015-01-01

    Language may ordinarily account for difficulties in solving word problems and this is particularly true if mathematical word problems are taught in a language other than one's native language. Research into cognitive load may offer a clear theoretical framework when investigating word problems because memory, specifically working memory, plays a…

  14. Teachers' Use of Linguistic Scaffolding to Support the Academic Language Development of First-Grade Emergent Bilingual Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lucero, Audrey

    2014-01-01

    Research suggests that teachers need to scaffold emergent bilingual students as they develop the complex language associated with school success. This may especially be true in dual language settings, where children are learning two languages simultaneously. In this study, therefore, I investigate the linguistic scaffolding practices of…

  15. Helping Students Prepare for Qualifying Exams; A Summary of WCRA Institute III.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Parmer, Lorraine

    This paper describes several learning laboratory program approaches to teaching students how to prepare for professional school admission exams. That these exams are true aptitude tests is a myth repeatedly deflated when students study for the tests and manage to score significantly higher on a second testing. Factors in addition to intelligence…

  16. Investigating Effects of Using Digital Video in Teacher Training in Cambodia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lok, Leandra; Schellings, Gonny; Brouwer, Niels; Den Brok, Perry

    2018-01-01

    While research has shown that video can be an effective tool in the professional learning of teachers in industrialized countries, it is unknown whether this is also true for other countries with distinctive cultural, political, and historical contexts, such as Cambodia. This paper presents results from a study which examined the effectiveness of…

  17. Correlation of Reading and Listening Comprehension Discrepancy with Teacher Perceptions of Reading Disability in Ghana

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Taylor, Mark

    2014-01-01

    The catalyst for this study emerged from the unprecedented number of Ghanaian students with reading difficulties, in an environment where school counselors are generally unavailable, funding is limited, and most educators do not recognize learning disabilities as true disabilities. Based on the limitations of the IQ-achievement discrepancy model…

  18. Cootie Genetics: Simulating Mendel's Experiments to Understand the Laws of Inheritance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Galloway, Katelyn; Anderson, Nadja

    2014-01-01

    "Cootie Genetics" is a hands-on, inquiry-based activity that enables students to learn the Mendelian laws of inheritance and gain an understanding of genetics principles and terminology. The activity begins with two true-breeding Cooties of the same species that exhibit five observable trait differences. Students observe the retention or…

  19. Application of the endoscopic transsphenoidal approach to true type transsellar transsphenoidal meningoencephalocele in an adult: a case report and literature review.

    PubMed

    Saito, Katsuya; Toda, Masahiro; Sano, Keisho; Tomita, Toshiki; Ogawa, Kaoru; Yoshida, Kazunari

    2012-08-01

    Of the transsellar transsphenoidal meningoencephaloceles (TTSMEs), the true type presents with the hernial sac extending from the intracranium to the epipharynx through the sellar floor. The true type is the most serious and difficult to manage, especially when the hernial sac contains vital structures, such as the anterior cerebral artery, pituitary gland, optic nerve, hypothalamus, and third ventricle. Surgical outcome for true type TTSME is reported to be poor. We describe a successful case of endoscopic repair for a 36-year-old man with true type TTSME. Our success with endoscopic repair for true type TTSME in an adult is the first reported case. We believe that the endoscopic transsphenoidal approach allows less invasive surgery and provides an acceptable operative outcome in comparison with other microsurgical approaches.

  20. Insuring continuity of care for chronic disease patients after a disaster: key preparedness elements

    PubMed Central

    Arrieta, Martha I.; Foreman, Rachel D.; Crook, Errol D.; Icenogle, Marjorie L.

    2009-01-01

    Background Care for patients with chronic diseases is a challenge after a disaster. This is particularly true for individuals from health disparate populations as they are less likely to evacuate, have less financial resources and often depend on resource-strapped institutions for their care. The specific aim of the study presented here was to elicit challenges and solutions in the provision of health care to those with chronic diseases after Hurricane Katrina in coastal Alabama and Mississippi. Methods Focusing on agencies providing care to health disparate populations, a qualitative methodology was employed using in-depth interviews with health and social service providers. Participants identified key elements essential to disaster preparedness. Results Pre-disaster issues were patient education and preparedness, evacuation, special needs shelters and health care provider preparedness. Post-disaster issues were communication, volunteer coordination and donation management. Conclusions Lessons learned from those on the ground administering healthcare during disasters should inform future disaster preparations. Furthermore, the methodological approach used in this study engendered collaboration between healthcare institutions and may enhance future inter-agency disaster preparedness. PMID:18703906

  1. Comprehensive, Mixed-Methods Assessment of a Blended Learning Model for Geospatial Literacy Instruction

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Brodeur, J. J.; Maclachlan, J. C.; Bagg, J.; Chiappetta-Swanson, C.; Vine, M. M.; Vajoczki, S.

    2013-12-01

    Geospatial literacy -- the ability to conceptualize, capture, analyze and communicate spatial phenomena -- represents an important competency for 21st Century learners in a period of 'Geospatial Revolution'. Though relevant to in-course learning, these skills are often taught externally, placing time and resource pressures on the service providers - commonly libraries - that are relied upon to provide instruction. The emergence of online and blended modes of instruction has presented a potential means of increasing the cost-effectiveness of such activities, by simultaneously reducing instructional costs, expanding the audience for these resources, and addressing student preferences for asynchronous learning and '24-7' access. During 2011 and 2012, McMaster University Library coordinated the development, implementation and assessment of blended learning modules for geospatial literacy instruction in first-year undergraduate Social Science courses. In this paper, we present the results of a comprehensive mixed-methods approach to assess the efficacy of implementing blended learning modules to replace traditional (face-to-face), library-led, first-year undergraduate geospatial literacy instruction. Focus groups, personal interviews and an online survey were used to assess modules across dimensions of: student use, satisfaction and accessibility requirements (via Universal Instructional Design [UID] principles); instructor and teaching staff perception of pedagogical efficacy and instructional effectiveness; and, administrator cost-benefit assessment of development and implementation. Results showed that both instructors and students identified significant value in using the online modules in a blended-learning setting. Reaffirming assumptions of students' '24/7' learning preferences, over 80% of students reported using the modules on a repeat basis. Students were more likely to use the modules to better understand course content than simply to increase their grade in the course, which demonstrates applicability of the modules beyond a strict surface-learning approach. Instructors felt that giving students access to these modules increased flexibility in how in-class time was used, reduced student anxiety in busy lab sessions, and increased the effectiveness of face-to-face instruction and summative assessments. Though instructors perceived little to no change in grades as a result of the migration to blended-learning instruction, students overwhelmingly perceived a positive impact on their learning, as over 75% felt that the modules improved their geospatial literacy skills and general understanding in the course. Cost-benefit analyses proved challenging, as administrators struggled to estimate the true costs of both traditional instruction and module development. Recommendations for future module modification exposed the competing expectations of generalizing content to increase applicability and cost-effectiveness, versus tailoring modules to specific course content.

  2. When do latent class models overstate accuracy for diagnostic and other classifiers in the absence of a gold standard?

    PubMed

    Spencer, Bruce D

    2012-06-01

    Latent class models are increasingly used to assess the accuracy of medical diagnostic tests and other classifications when no gold standard is available and the true state is unknown. When the latent class is treated as the true class, the latent class models provide measures of components of accuracy including specificity and sensitivity and their complements, type I and type II error rates. The error rates according to the latent class model differ from the true error rates, however, and empirical comparisons with a gold standard suggest the true error rates often are larger. We investigate conditions under which the true type I and type II error rates are larger than those provided by the latent class models. Results from Uebersax (1988, Psychological Bulletin 104, 405-416) are extended to accommodate random effects and covariates affecting the responses. The results are important for interpreting the results of latent class analyses. An error decomposition is presented that incorporates an error component from invalidity of the latent class model. © 2011, The International Biometric Society.

  3. True color blood flow imaging using a high-speed laser photography system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Chien-Sheng; Lin, Cheng-Hsien; Sun, Yung-Nien; Ho, Chung-Liang; Hsu, Chung-Chi

    2012-10-01

    Physiological changes in the retinal vasculature are commonly indicative of such disorders as diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, and age-related macular degeneration. Thus, various methods have been developed for noninvasive clinical evaluation of ocular hemodynamics. However, to the best of our knowledge, current ophthalmic instruments do not provide a true color blood flow imaging capability. Accordingly, we propose a new method for the true color imaging of blood flow using a high-speed pulsed laser photography system. In the proposed approach, monochromatic images of the blood flow are acquired using a system of three cameras and three color lasers (red, green, and blue). A high-quality true color image of the blood flow is obtained by assembling the monochromatic images by means of image realignment and color calibration processes. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated by imaging the flow of mouse blood within a microfluidic channel device. The experimental results confirm the proposed system provides a high-quality true color blood flow imaging capability, and therefore has potential for noninvasive clinical evaluation of ocular hemodynamics.

  4. [Effects of false memories on the Concealed Information Test].

    PubMed

    Zaitsu, Wataru

    2012-10-01

    The effects of false memories on polygraph examinations with the Concealed Information Test (CIT) were investigated by using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm, which allows participants to evoke false memories. Physiological responses to questions consisting of learned, lure, and unlearned items were measured and recorded. The results indicated that responses to lure questions showed critical responses to questions about learned items. These responses included repression of respiration, an increase in electrodermal activity, and a drop in heart rate. These results suggest that critical response patterns are generated in the peripheral nervous system by true and false memories.

  5. Adolescent females "voice" changes can signal difficulties for teachers and administrators.

    PubMed

    Wren, D J

    1997-01-01

    This article describes the different preferences in learning styles of adolescent females and males, based on the pioneering work on adolescent values development by Lawrence Kohlberg and Carol Gilligan. Since values education programs are currently considered very important, educators need to explore the philosophical, psychological, and social influences on students' learning preferences before they can introduce appropriate curricula. An indication of problems in adolescent females frequently is the occurrence of voice changes, for example, girls may express viewpoints that do not represent their true beliefs and feelings. Curricular and co-curricular suggestions are presented.

  6. Neural Global Pattern Similarity Underlies True and False Memories.

    PubMed

    Ye, Zhifang; Zhu, Bi; Zhuang, Liping; Lu, Zhonglin; Chen, Chuansheng; Xue, Gui

    2016-06-22

    The neural processes giving rise to human memory strength signals remain poorly understood. Inspired by formal computational models that posit a central role of global matching in memory strength, we tested a novel hypothesis that the strengths of both true and false memories arise from the global similarity of an item's neural activation pattern during retrieval to that of all the studied items during encoding (i.e., the encoding-retrieval neural global pattern similarity [ER-nGPS]). We revealed multiple ER-nGPS signals that carried distinct information and contributed differentially to true and false memories: Whereas the ER-nGPS in the parietal regions reflected semantic similarity and was scaled with the recognition strengths of both true and false memories, ER-nGPS in the visual cortex contributed solely to true memory. Moreover, ER-nGPS differences between the parietal and visual cortices were correlated with frontal monitoring processes. By combining computational and neuroimaging approaches, our results advance a mechanistic understanding of memory strength in recognition. What neural processes give rise to memory strength signals, and lead to our conscious feelings of familiarity? Using fMRI, we found that the memory strength of a given item depends not only on how it was encoded during learning, but also on the similarity of its neural representation with other studied items. The global neural matching signal, mainly in the parietal lobule, could account for the memory strengths of both studied and unstudied items. Interestingly, a different global matching signal, originated from the visual cortex, could distinguish true from false memories. The findings reveal multiple neural mechanisms underlying the memory strengths of events registered in the brain. Copyright © 2016 the authors 0270-6474/16/366792-11$15.00/0.

  7. True and fake information spreading over the Facebook

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yang, Dong; Chow, Tommy W. S.; Zhong, Lu; Tian, Zhaoyang; Zhang, Qingpeng; Chen, Guanrong

    2018-09-01

    Social networks have involved more and more users who search for and share information extensively and frequently. Tremendous evidence in Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Google+ alike shows that such social networks are the major information sources as well as the most effective platforms for information transmission and exchange. The dynamic propagation of various information may gradually disseminate, drastically increase, strongly compete with each other, or slowly decrease. These observations had led to the present study of the spreading process of true and fake information over social networks, particularly the Facebook. Specifically, in this paper the topological structure of two huge-scale Facebook network datasets are investigated regarding their statistical properties. Based on that, an information model for simulating the true and fake information spreading over the Facebook is established. Through controlling the spreading parameters in extensive large-scale simulations, it is found that the final density of stiflers increases with the growth of the spreading rate, while it would decline with the increase of the removal rate. Moreover, it is found that the spreading process of the true-fake information is closely related to the node degrees on the network. Hub-individuals with high degrees have large probabilities to learn hidden information and then spread it. Interestingly, it is found that the spreading rate of the true information but not of the fake information has a great effect on the information spreading process, reflecting the human nature in believing and spreading truths in social activities. The new findings validate the proposed model to be capable of characterizing the dynamic evolution of true and fake information over the Facebook, useful and informative for future social science studies.

  8. Deep learning enables reduced gadolinium dose for contrast-enhanced brain MRI.

    PubMed

    Gong, Enhao; Pauly, John M; Wintermark, Max; Zaharchuk, Greg

    2018-02-13

    There are concerns over gadolinium deposition from gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCA) administration. To reduce gadolinium dose in contrast-enhanced brain MRI using a deep learning method. Retrospective, crossover. Sixty patients receiving clinically indicated contrast-enhanced brain MRI. 3D T 1 -weighted inversion-recovery prepped fast-spoiled-gradient-echo (IR-FSPGR) imaging was acquired at both 1.5T and 3T. In 60 brain MRI exams, the IR-FSPGR sequence was obtained under three conditions: precontrast, postcontrast images with 10% low-dose (0.01mmol/kg) and 100% full-dose (0.1 mmol/kg) of gadobenate dimeglumine. We trained a deep learning model using the first 10 cases (with mixed indications) to approximate full-dose images from the precontrast and low-dose images. Synthesized full-dose images were created using the trained model in two test sets: 20 patients with mixed indications and 30 patients with glioma. For both test sets, low-dose, true full-dose, and the synthesized full-dose postcontrast image sets were compared quantitatively using peak-signal-to-noise-ratios (PSNR) and structural-similarity-index (SSIM). For the test set comprised of 20 patients with mixed indications, two neuroradiologists scored blindly and independently for the three postcontrast image sets, evaluating image quality, motion-artifact suppression, and contrast enhancement compared with precontrast images. Results were assessed using paired t-tests and noninferiority tests. The proposed deep learning method yielded significant (n = 50, P < 0.001) improvements over the low-dose images (>5 dB PSNR gains and >11.0% SSIM). Ratings on image quality (n = 20, P = 0.003) and contrast enhancement (n = 20, P < 0.001) were significantly increased. Compared to true full-dose images, the synthesized full-dose images have a slight but not significant reduction in image quality (n = 20, P = 0.083) and contrast enhancement (n = 20, P = 0.068). Slightly better (n = 20, P = 0.039) motion-artifact suppression was noted in the synthesized images. The noninferiority test rejects the inferiority of the synthesized to true full-dose images for image quality (95% CI: -14-9%), artifacts suppression (95% CI: -5-20%), and contrast enhancement (95% CI: -13-6%). With the proposed deep learning method, gadolinium dose can be reduced 10-fold while preserving contrast information and avoiding significant image quality degradation. 3 Technical Efficacy: Stage 5 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2018. © 2018 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

  9. Multivariate analysis of full-term neonatal polysomnographic data.

    PubMed

    Gerla, V; Paul, K; Lhotska, L; Krajca, V

    2009-01-01

    Polysomnography (PSG) is one of the most important noninvasive methods for studying maturation of the child brain. Sleep in infants is significantly different from sleep in adults. This paper addresses the problem of computer analysis of neonatal polygraphic signals. We applied methods designed for differentiating three important neonatal behavioral states: quiet sleep, active sleep, and wakefulness. The proportion of these states is a significant indicator of the maturity of the newborn brain in clinical practice. In this study, we used data provided by the Institute for Care of Mother and Child, Prague (12 newborn infants of similar postconceptional age). The data were scored by an experienced physician to four states (wake, quiet sleep, active sleep, movement artifact). For accurate classification, it was necessary to determine the most informative features. We used a method based on power spectral density (PSD) applied to each EEG channel. We also used features derived from electrooculogram (EOG), electromyogram (EMG), ECG, and respiration [pneumogram (PNG)] signals. The most informative feature was the measure of regularity of respiration from the PNG signal. We designed an algorithm for interpreting these characteristics. This algorithm was based on Markov models. The results of automatic detection of sleep states were compared to the "sleep profiles" determined visually. We evaluated both the success rate and the true positive rate of the classification, and statistically significant agreement of the two scorings was found. Two variants, for learning and for testing, were applied, namely learning from the data of all 12 newborns and tenfold cross-validation, and learning from the data of 11 newborns and testing on the data from the 12th newborn. We utilized information obtained from several biological signals (EEG, ECG, PNG, EMG, EOG) for our final classification. We reached the final success rate of 82.5%. The true positive rate was 81.8% and the false positive rate was 6.1%. The most important step in the whole process is feature extraction and feature selection. In this process, we used visualization as an additional tool that helped us to decide which features to select. Proper selection of features may significantly influence the success rate of the classification. We made a visual comparison of the computed features with the manual scoring provided by the expert. A hidden Markov model was used for classification. The advantage of this model is that it determines the future behavior of the process by its present state. In this way, it preserves information about temporal development.

  10. Disinhibition of negative true self for identity reconstructions in cyberspace: Advancing self-discrepancy theory for virtual setting.

    PubMed

    Hu, Chuan; Kumar, Sameer; Huang, Jiao; Ratnavelu, Kurunathan

    2017-01-01

    In face-to-face communications, to avoid sanctions and disapproval from others, people are more likely to hide negative aspects of their true self (such as socially undesirable personalities, minds, beliefs and consciousness) to avoid conflict with social norms and laws. The anonymity of cyberspace provides people a unique environment to behave more freely and openly with less restraint from the real word. Existing research related to online true self expression has mainly explored true self as an independent aspect of self. Regarding true self as a two-dimensional concept, this study investigates true self from the perspective of individuals' self-guide and identity reconstruction in both online and offline world. Using qualitative research methods, the current study investigates 57 participants through interviews and questionnaires. Content analysis reveals four factors that motivate people to express more true self (especially negative true self) when reconstructing their online identity and involve true self as a part of their self-guide in anonymous environment. By incorporating true self as an important part of individuals' self-guide and identity online, the current study advances self-discrepancy theory, making it more comprehensive for cyberspace. The results are also interpreted based on self-determination theory. The theoretical contributions of this study are discussed and practical implications are also presented.

  11. Post-event reviews: Using a quantitative approach for analysing incident response to demonstrate the value of business continuity programmes and increase planning efficiency.

    PubMed

    Vaidyanathan, Karthik

    2017-01-01

    Business continuity management is often thought of as a proactive planning process for minimising impact from large-scale incidents and disasters. While this is true, and it is critical to plan for the worst, consistently validating plan effectiveness against smaller disruptions can enable an organisation to gain key insights about its business continuity readiness, drive programme improvements, reduce costs and provide an opportunity to quantitatively demonstrate the value of the programme to management. This paper describes a post mortem framework which is used as a continuous improvement mechanism for tracking, reviewing and learning from real-world events at Microsoft Customer Service & Support. This approach was developed and adopted because conducting regular business continuity exercises proved difficult and expensive in a complex and distributed operations environment with high availability requirements. Using a quantitative approach to measure response to incidents, and categorising outcomes based on such responses, enables business continuity teams to provide data-driven insights to leadership, change perceptions of incident root cause, and instil a higher level of confidence towards disaster response readiness and incident management. The scope of the framework discussed here is specific to reviewing and driving improvements from operational incidents. However, the concept can be extended to learning and evolving readiness plans for other types of incidents.

  12. Order priors for Bayesian network discovery with an application to malware phylogeny

    DOE PAGES

    Oyen, Diane; Anderson, Blake; Sentz, Kari; ...

    2017-09-15

    Here, Bayesian networks have been used extensively to model and discover dependency relationships among sets of random variables. We learn Bayesian network structure with a combination of human knowledge about the partial ordering of variables and statistical inference of conditional dependencies from observed data. Our approach leverages complementary information from human knowledge and inference from observed data to produce networks that reflect human beliefs about the system as well as to fit the observed data. Applying prior beliefs about partial orderings of variables is an approach distinctly different from existing methods that incorporate prior beliefs about direct dependencies (or edges)more » in a Bayesian network. We provide an efficient implementation of the partial-order prior in a Bayesian structure discovery learning algorithm, as well as an edge prior, showing that both priors meet the local modularity requirement necessary for an efficient Bayesian discovery algorithm. In benchmark studies, the partial-order prior improves the accuracy of Bayesian network structure learning as well as the edge prior, even though order priors are more general. Our primary motivation is in characterizing the evolution of families of malware to aid cyber security analysts. For the problem of malware phylogeny discovery, we find that our algorithm, compared to existing malware phylogeny algorithms, more accurately discovers true dependencies that are missed by other algorithms.« less

  13. Order priors for Bayesian network discovery with an application to malware phylogeny

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

    Oyen, Diane; Anderson, Blake; Sentz, Kari

    Here, Bayesian networks have been used extensively to model and discover dependency relationships among sets of random variables. We learn Bayesian network structure with a combination of human knowledge about the partial ordering of variables and statistical inference of conditional dependencies from observed data. Our approach leverages complementary information from human knowledge and inference from observed data to produce networks that reflect human beliefs about the system as well as to fit the observed data. Applying prior beliefs about partial orderings of variables is an approach distinctly different from existing methods that incorporate prior beliefs about direct dependencies (or edges)more » in a Bayesian network. We provide an efficient implementation of the partial-order prior in a Bayesian structure discovery learning algorithm, as well as an edge prior, showing that both priors meet the local modularity requirement necessary for an efficient Bayesian discovery algorithm. In benchmark studies, the partial-order prior improves the accuracy of Bayesian network structure learning as well as the edge prior, even though order priors are more general. Our primary motivation is in characterizing the evolution of families of malware to aid cyber security analysts. For the problem of malware phylogeny discovery, we find that our algorithm, compared to existing malware phylogeny algorithms, more accurately discovers true dependencies that are missed by other algorithms.« less

  14. Risk-sensitive reinforcement learning.

    PubMed

    Shen, Yun; Tobia, Michael J; Sommer, Tobias; Obermayer, Klaus

    2014-07-01

    We derive a family of risk-sensitive reinforcement learning methods for agents, who face sequential decision-making tasks in uncertain environments. By applying a utility function to the temporal difference (TD) error, nonlinear transformations are effectively applied not only to the received rewards but also to the true transition probabilities of the underlying Markov decision process. When appropriate utility functions are chosen, the agents' behaviors express key features of human behavior as predicted by prospect theory (Kahneman & Tversky, 1979 ), for example, different risk preferences for gains and losses, as well as the shape of subjective probability curves. We derive a risk-sensitive Q-learning algorithm, which is necessary for modeling human behavior when transition probabilities are unknown, and prove its convergence. As a proof of principle for the applicability of the new framework, we apply it to quantify human behavior in a sequential investment task. We find that the risk-sensitive variant provides a significantly better fit to the behavioral data and that it leads to an interpretation of the subject's responses that is indeed consistent with prospect theory. The analysis of simultaneously measured fMRI signals shows a significant correlation of the risk-sensitive TD error with BOLD signal change in the ventral striatum. In addition we find a significant correlation of the risk-sensitive Q-values with neural activity in the striatum, cingulate cortex, and insula that is not present if standard Q-values are used.

  15. Is extreme learning machine feasible? A theoretical assessment (part II).

    PubMed

    Lin, Shaobo; Liu, Xia; Fang, Jian; Xu, Zongben

    2015-01-01

    An extreme learning machine (ELM) can be regarded as a two-stage feed-forward neural network (FNN) learning system that randomly assigns the connections with and within hidden neurons in the first stage and tunes the connections with output neurons in the second stage. Therefore, ELM training is essentially a linear learning problem, which significantly reduces the computational burden. Numerous applications show that such a computation burden reduction does not degrade the generalization capability. It has, however, been open that whether this is true in theory. The aim of this paper is to study the theoretical feasibility of ELM by analyzing the pros and cons of ELM. In the previous part of this topic, we pointed out that via appropriately selected activation functions, ELM does not degrade the generalization capability in the sense of expectation. In this paper, we launch the study in a different direction and show that the randomness of ELM also leads to certain negative consequences. On one hand, we find that the randomness causes an additional uncertainty problem of ELM, both in approximation and learning. On the other hand, we theoretically justify that there also exist activation functions such that the corresponding ELM degrades the generalization capability. In particular, we prove that the generalization capability of ELM with Gaussian kernel is essentially worse than that of FNN with Gaussian kernel. To facilitate the use of ELM, we also provide a remedy to such a degradation. We find that the well-developed coefficient regularization technique can essentially improve the generalization capability. The obtained results reveal the essential characteristic of ELM in a certain sense and give theoretical guidance concerning how to use ELM.

  16. Learning from label proportions in brain-computer interfaces: Online unsupervised learning with guarantees.

    PubMed

    Hübner, David; Verhoeven, Thibault; Schmid, Konstantin; Müller, Klaus-Robert; Tangermann, Michael; Kindermans, Pieter-Jan

    2017-01-01

    Using traditional approaches, a brain-computer interface (BCI) requires the collection of calibration data for new subjects prior to online use. Calibration time can be reduced or eliminated e.g., by subject-to-subject transfer of a pre-trained classifier or unsupervised adaptive classification methods which learn from scratch and adapt over time. While such heuristics work well in practice, none of them can provide theoretical guarantees. Our objective is to modify an event-related potential (ERP) paradigm to work in unison with the machine learning decoder, and thus to achieve a reliable unsupervised calibrationless decoding with a guarantee to recover the true class means. We introduce learning from label proportions (LLP) to the BCI community as a new unsupervised, and easy-to-implement classification approach for ERP-based BCIs. The LLP estimates the mean target and non-target responses based on known proportions of these two classes in different groups of the data. We present a visual ERP speller to meet the requirements of LLP. For evaluation, we ran simulations on artificially created data sets and conducted an online BCI study with 13 subjects performing a copy-spelling task. Theoretical considerations show that LLP is guaranteed to minimize the loss function similar to a corresponding supervised classifier. LLP performed well in simulations and in the online application, where 84.5% of characters were spelled correctly on average without prior calibration. The continuously adapting LLP classifier is the first unsupervised decoder for ERP BCIs guaranteed to find the optimal decoder. This makes it an ideal solution to avoid tedious calibration sessions. Additionally, LLP works on complementary principles compared to existing unsupervised methods, opening the door for their further enhancement when combined with LLP.

  17. Learning from label proportions in brain-computer interfaces: Online unsupervised learning with guarantees

    PubMed Central

    Verhoeven, Thibault; Schmid, Konstantin; Müller, Klaus-Robert; Tangermann, Michael; Kindermans, Pieter-Jan

    2017-01-01

    Objective Using traditional approaches, a brain-computer interface (BCI) requires the collection of calibration data for new subjects prior to online use. Calibration time can be reduced or eliminated e.g., by subject-to-subject transfer of a pre-trained classifier or unsupervised adaptive classification methods which learn from scratch and adapt over time. While such heuristics work well in practice, none of them can provide theoretical guarantees. Our objective is to modify an event-related potential (ERP) paradigm to work in unison with the machine learning decoder, and thus to achieve a reliable unsupervised calibrationless decoding with a guarantee to recover the true class means. Method We introduce learning from label proportions (LLP) to the BCI community as a new unsupervised, and easy-to-implement classification approach for ERP-based BCIs. The LLP estimates the mean target and non-target responses based on known proportions of these two classes in different groups of the data. We present a visual ERP speller to meet the requirements of LLP. For evaluation, we ran simulations on artificially created data sets and conducted an online BCI study with 13 subjects performing a copy-spelling task. Results Theoretical considerations show that LLP is guaranteed to minimize the loss function similar to a corresponding supervised classifier. LLP performed well in simulations and in the online application, where 84.5% of characters were spelled correctly on average without prior calibration. Significance The continuously adapting LLP classifier is the first unsupervised decoder for ERP BCIs guaranteed to find the optimal decoder. This makes it an ideal solution to avoid tedious calibration sessions. Additionally, LLP works on complementary principles compared to existing unsupervised methods, opening the door for their further enhancement when combined with LLP. PMID:28407016

  18. Challenges in reproducibility of genetic association studies: lessons learned from the obesity field.

    PubMed

    Li, A; Meyre, D

    2013-04-01

    A robust replication of initial genetic association findings has proved to be difficult in human complex diseases and more specifically in the obesity field. An obvious cause of non-replication in genetic association studies is the initial report of a false positive result, which can be explained by a non-heritable phenotype, insufficient sample size, improper correction for multiple testing, population stratification, technical biases, insufficient quality control or inappropriate statistical analyses. Replication may, however, be challenging even when the original study describes a true positive association. The reasons include underpowered replication samples, gene × gene, gene × environment interactions, genetic and phenotypic heterogeneity and subjective interpretation of data. In this review, we address classic pitfalls in genetic association studies and provide guidelines for proper discovery and replication genetic association studies with a specific focus on obesity.

  19. The Psychological Benefits of Being Authentic on Facebook.

    PubMed

    Grieve, Rachel; Watkinson, Jarrah

    2016-07-01

    Having others acknowledge and validate one's true self is associated with better psychological health. Existing research indicates that an individual's true self may be more readily expressed on Facebook than in person. This study brought together these two premises by investigating for the first time the psychosocial outcomes associated with communicating one's true self on Facebook. Participants (n = 164) completed a personality assessment once as their true self and once as the self they present on Facebook (Facebook self), as well as measures of social connectedness, subjective well-being, depression, anxiety, and stress. Euclidean distances quantified the difference between one's true self and the Facebook self. Hypotheses received partial support. Better coherence between the true self and the Facebook self was associated with better social connectedness and less stress. Two models provided evidence of mediation effects. Findings highlight that authentic self-presentation on Facebook can be associated with positive psychological outcomes.

  20. Adaptive functioning in children with epilepsy and learning problems.

    PubMed

    Buelow, Janice M; Perkins, Susan M; Johnson, Cynthia S; Byars, Anna W; Fastenau, Philip S; Dunn, David W; Austin, Joan K

    2012-10-01

    In the study we describe adaptive functioning in children with epilepsy whose primary caregivers identified them as having learning problems. This was a cross-sectional study of 50 children with epilepsy and learning problems. Caregivers supplied information regarding the child's adaptive functioning and behavior problems. Children rated their self-concept and completed a battery of neuropsychological tests. Mean estimated IQ (PPVT-III) in the participant children was 72.8 (SD = 18.3). On average, children scored 2 standard deviations below the norm on the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale-II and this was true even for children with epilepsy who had estimated IQ in the normal range. In conclusion, children with epilepsy and learning problems had relatively low adaptive functioning scores and substantial neuropsychological and mental health problems. In epilepsy, adaptive behavior screening can be very informative and guide further evaluation and intervention, even in those children whose IQ is in the normal range.

  1. Application of Independent Component Analysis to Legacy UV Quasar Spectra

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Richards, Gordon

    2017-08-01

    We propose to apply a novel analysis technique to UV spectroscopy ofquasars in the HST archive. We endeavor to analyze all of thearchival quasar spectra, but will first focus on those quasars thatalso have optical spectroscopy from SDSS. An archival investigationby Sulentic et al. (2007) revealed 130 known quasars with UV coverageof CIV complementing optical emission line coverage. Today, thesample has grown considerably and now includes COS spectroscopy. Ourproposal includes a proof-of-concept demonstration of the power of atechnique called Independent Component Analysis (ICA). ICA allows usto reduce complexity of of quasar spectra to just a handful ofnumbers. In addition to providing a uniform set of traditional linemeasurements (and carefully calibrated redshifts), we will provide ICAweights to the community with examples of how they can be used to doscience that previously would have been quite difficult. The time isripe for such an investigation because 1) it has been a decade sincethe last significant archival investigation of UV emission lines fromHST quasars, 2) the future is uncertain for obtaining new UV quasarspectroscopy, and 3) the rise of machine learning has provided us withpowerful new tools. Thus our proposed work will provide a true UVlegacy database for quasar-based investigations.

  2. The Newest Offering in the Higher Education Leadership Movement: A Model Campus-Wide Residential Program for Faculty and Staff

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Scott, Susan M.; Tolar, Mary Hale

    2009-01-01

    In recent decades, leadership scholars have bemoaned the lack of true leaders and leadership education at all levels and issued the fabled "cry for leadership." Although institutions of higher learning have been engaged in guiding the leaders of society since their inception, they offered no formalized programs or courses until relatively…

  3. Adult Teachers as Researchers: Ethnographic Approaches to Numeracy and Literacy as Social Practices in South Asia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Street, Brian V.; Rogers, Alan; Baker, Dave

    2006-01-01

    It has long been orthodoxy among adult educators that those who teach adults need to take into account the existing knowledge, practices, perceptions and expectations of the learners. This is true at both central level where curricula and teaching-learning materials are developed and at local level where adult teacher/facilitator meets adult…

  4. Improving Access to Prekindergarten for Children of Immigrants: "Building Relationships." Fact Sheet No. 3

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lei, Serena

    2014-01-01

    Pre-K has been shown to strongly boost children's learning trajectories. This is as true, or even truer, for children of immigrants and English language learners (ELLs) as for children overall. Children of immigrants, who make up about a quarter of children in the United States, have significantly lower rates of pre-K enrollment, on average, than…

  5. Improving Access to Prekindergarten for Children of Immigrants: "Enrollment Strategies." Fact Sheet No. 2

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lei, Serena

    2014-01-01

    Pre-K has been shown to strongly boost children's learning trajectories. This is as true, or even truer, for children of immigrants and English language learners (ELLs) as for children overall. Children of immigrants, who make up about a quarter of children in the United States, have significantly lower rates of pre-K enrollment, on average, than…

  6. Tuesdays with an Open and Distance Learning Mentor

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Michau, Abrie; Louw, Willa

    2014-01-01

    "Tuesdays with Morrie" is a 1997 non-fictional book by an American writer, Mitch Albom, which was later made into a film with the same title. It tells the true story of sociologist Morrie Schwartz and his relationship with Mitch Albom as his protégé. When the professor is diagnosed with a terminal disease, Mitch begins to visit him at…

  7. Improving Access to Prekindergarten for Children of Immigrants: "Outreach." Fact Sheet No. 1

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lei, Serena

    2014-01-01

    Pre-K has been shown to strongly boost children's learning trajectories. This is as true, or even truer, for children of immigrants and English language learners (ELLs) as for children overall. Children of immigrants, who make up about a quarter of children in the United States, have significantly lower rates of pre-K enrollment, on average, than…

  8. Type practical application in spectral analysis, combining Labview and open source software

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chioncel, C. P.; Anghel Drugarin, C. V.

    2018-01-01

    The paper presents the interconnection possibility of LabVIEW with his different opportunities and Scilab, one of the successful free MatLAB clones. The interconnection between those was made possible through the LabVIEW to Scilab gateway. This tool can be applied in virtual as well as in real laboratories, representing a true assistance for self-learning, too.

  9. 29 CFR Appendix A to Part 35 - Age Distinctions in Statutes Affecting Financial Assistance Administered by DOL

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... implementing regulations as “a worker at least 16 years of age, * * *, who is employed to learn a skilled trade... 29 Labor 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Age Distinctions in Statutes Affecting Financial Assistance... BASIS OF AGE IN PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF...

  10. Why We Should Teach the Bohr Model and How to Teach it Effectively

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McKagan, S. B.; Perkins, K. K.; Wieman, C. E.

    2008-01-01

    Some education researchers have claimed that we should not teach the Bohr model of the atom because it inhibits students' ability to learn the true quantum nature of electrons in atoms. Although the evidence for this claim is weak, many have accepted it. This claim has implications for how to present atoms in classes ranging from elementary school…

  11. Odyssey Celebrates the Legacy of Mark Twain with "The Prince and the Pauper." Guide for Educators.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    KIDSNET, Washington, DC.

    This study guide covers the new television version of one of Mark Twain's most popular stories, "The Prince and the Pauper," the classic tale of two boys whose curiosity about each other's lives leads them to switch places and, in the process, learn valuable lessons about outward appearances and true compassion. The guide summarizes the…

  12. An Autoethnography of a First-Time School District Superintendent: Experiences in Governance, Fiscal Stress, and Community Relations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rose, Stanley, III.

    2011-01-01

    There are just over 1,000 sitting superintendents and like number of local educational agencies (LEA's) in California, serving 6.2 million students. Superintendents' ability to share knowledge and learn from each other is limited; this is especially true the further one's work is removed from concentrated urban populations. This study addresses…

  13. "You Probably Don't Even Know I Exist": Notes from a College Prison Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Maher, Jane

    2004-01-01

    Although much has been written recently about prison "writing" in general (Wally Lamb's Couldn't Keep It to Myself, Mark Salzman's True Notebooks), far less has been written about the efforts and challenges involved in helping prisoners. In this case, females in a maximum-security prison in Westchester County, New York, learn the kind of writing…

  14. Do Recognition and Priming Index a Unitary Knowledge Base? Comment on Shanks et al. (2003)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Runger, Dennis; Nagy, Gabriel; Frensch, Peter A.

    2009-01-01

    Whether sequence learning entails a single or multiple memory systems is a moot issue. Recently, D. R. Shanks, L. Wilkinson, and S. Channon advanced a single-system model that predicts a perfect correlation between true (i.e., error free) response time priming and recognition. The Shanks model is contrasted with a dual-process model that…

  15. High School Students Learning University Level Computer Science on the Web: A Case Study of the "DASK"-Model

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grandell, Linda

    2005-01-01

    Computer science is becoming increasingly important in our society. Meta skills, such as problem solving and logical and algorithmic thinking, are emphasized in every field, not only in the natural sciences. Still, largely due to gaps in tuition, common misunderstandings exist about the true nature of computer science. These are especially…

  16. Prediction of Short-Distance Aerial Movement of Phakopsora pachyrhizi Urediniospores Using Machine Learning.

    PubMed

    Wen, L; Bowen, C R; Hartman, G L

    2017-10-01

    Dispersal of urediniospores by wind is the primary means of spread for Phakopsora pachyrhizi, the cause of soybean rust. Our research focused on the short-distance movement of urediniospores from within the soybean canopy and up to 61 m from field-grown rust-infected soybean plants. Environmental variables were used to develop and compare models including the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression, zero-inflated Poisson/regular Poisson regression, random forest, and neural network to describe deposition of urediniospores collected in passive and active traps. All four models identified distance of trap from source, humidity, temperature, wind direction, and wind speed as the five most important variables influencing short-distance movement of urediniospores. The random forest model provided the best predictions, explaining 76.1 and 86.8% of the total variation in the passive- and active-trap datasets, respectively. The prediction accuracy based on the correlation coefficient (r) between predicted values and the true values were 0.83 (P < 0.0001) and 0.94 (P < 0.0001) for the passive and active trap datasets, respectively. Overall, multiple machine learning techniques identified the most important variables to make the most accurate predictions of movement of P. pachyrhizi urediniospores short-distance.

  17. Historical milestones and discoveries that shaped the toxicology sciences.

    PubMed

    Hayes, Antoinette N; Gilbert, Steven G

    2009-01-01

    Knowledge of the toxic and healing properties of plants, animals, and minerals has shaped civilization for millennia. The foundations of modern toxicology are built upon the significant milestones and discoveries of serendipity and crude experimentation. Throughout the ages, toxicological science has provided information that has shaped and guided society. This chapter examines the development of the discipline of toxicology and its influence on civilization by highlighting significant milestones and discoveries related to toxicology. The examples shed light on the beginnings of toxicology, as well as examine lessons learned and re-learned. This chapter also examines how toxicology and the toxicologist have interacted with other scientific and cultural disciplines, including religion, politics, and the government. Toxicology has evolved to a true scientific discipline with its own dedicated scientists, educational institutes, sub-disciplines, professional societies, and journals. It now stands as its own entity while traversing such fields as chemistry, physiology, pharmacology, and molecular biology. We invite you to join us on a path of discovery and to offer our suggestions as to what are the most significant milestones and discoveries in toxicology. Additional information is available on the history section of Toxipedia (www.toxipedia.org).

  18. Characteristics of Print in Books for Preschool Children.

    PubMed

    Treiman, Rebecca; Rosales, Nicole; Kessler, Brett

    Children begin to learn about the characteristics of print well before formal literacy instruction begins. Reading to children can expose them to print and help them learn about its characteristics. This may be especially true if the print is visually salient, for studies suggest that prereaders pay more attention to such print than to print that is visually less salient. To shed light on the characteristics of the print that US children see in books, especially those characteristics that may contribute to visual salience, we report a quantitative analysis of 73 books that were chosen to be representative of those seen by preschoolers. We found that print that is visually salient due to color, variation, and other features tends to be more common on the covers of books than in the interiors. It also tends to be more common in recently published books than in older books. Even in recent books, however, the print is much less visually salient than the accompanying pictures. Many studies have examined the behavior of adults and children during shared reading, but little research has examined the characteristics of books themselves. Our results provide quantitative information about this topic for one set of characteristics in books for young US children.

  19. Characteristics of Print in Books for Preschool Children

    PubMed Central

    Treiman, Rebecca; Rosales, Nicole; Kessler, Brett

    2015-01-01

    Children begin to learn about the characteristics of print well before formal literacy instruction begins. Reading to children can expose them to print and help them learn about its characteristics. This may be especially true if the print is visually salient, for studies suggest that prereaders pay more attention to such print than to print that is visually less salient. To shed light on the characteristics of the print that US children see in books, especially those characteristics that may contribute to visual salience, we report a quantitative analysis of 73 books that were chosen to be representative of those seen by preschoolers. We found that print that is visually salient due to color, variation, and other features tends to be more common on the covers of books than in the interiors. It also tends to be more common in recently published books than in older books. Even in recent books, however, the print is much less visually salient than the accompanying pictures. Many studies have examined the behavior of adults and children during shared reading, but little research has examined the characteristics of books themselves. Our results provide quantitative information about this topic for one set of characteristics in books for young US children. PMID:27239231

  20. Measuring self-reported studying and learning for university students: linking attitudes and behaviours on the same scale.

    PubMed

    Waugh, Russell F

    2002-12-01

    The relationships between self-reported Approaches to Studying and Self-concept, Self-capability and Studying and Learning Behaviour are usually studied by measuring the variables separately (using factor analysis and Cronbach Alphas) and then using various correlation techniques (such as multiple regression and path analysis). This procedure has measurement problems and is called into question. To create a single scale of Studying and Learning using a model with subsets of ordered stem-items based on a Deep Approach, a Surface Approach and a Strategic Approach, integrated with three self-reported aspects (an Ideal Self-view, a Capability Self-view and a Studying and Learning Behaviour Self-view). The stem-item sample was 33, all answered in three aspects, that produced an effective item sample of 99. The person convenience sample was 431 students in education (1(st) to 4(th) year) at an Australian university during 2000. The latest Rasch Unidimensional Measurement Model Computer Program (Andrich, Lyne, Sheridan, & Luo, 2000) was used to analyse the data and create a single scale of Studying and Learning. Altogether 77 items fitted a Rasch Measurement Model and formed a scale in which the 'difficulties' of the items were ordered from 'easy' to 'hard' and the student measures of Studying and Learning were ordered from 'low' to 'high'. The proportion of observed student variance considered true was 0.96. The response categories were answered consistently and logically and the results supported many, but not all, the conceptualised ordering of the subscales. Students found it 'easy' to report a high Ideal Self-view, 'much harder' to report a high Capability Self-view, and 'harder still' to report a high Studying and Learning Behaviour for the stem-items, in accordance with the model, where items fit the measurement model. The Ideal Self-view Surface Approach items provided the most non-fit to the model. This method was highly successful in producing a single scale of Studying and Learning from self-reported Self-concepts, Self-capabilities, and Studying and Learning Behaviours, based on a Deep Approach, a Surface Approach and a Strategic Approach.

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