Academic Tools Research Articles

Thinking Maps Used as a Behavior Management Tool

Thinking Maps is an academic tool that allows students to organize information in a way that supports cognitive processes [1]. Thus far, research on Thinking Maps has been based on students' academic outcomes. Yet, Thinking Maps can provide students with academic as well as behavioral support while only using one tool to accomplish both. Teachers may feel overwhelmed and not adequately prepared to address the behavioral challenges inside or outside the classroom. Providing visual models can help all levels of learners (i.e., English Learners) in understanding how to use a Thinking Map that has been adapted for a behavior modification. Visual models can promote independence and minimal guidance when students are using Thinking Maps. More peer-reviewed research needs to be available and conducted on the general use of Thinking Maps for general and special education settings as well as across the grade levels of K-12. There also needs to be more research on the use of Thinking Maps for behavioral purposes across multiple grade levels and settings. Within this study, Thinking Maps was adapted for behavior modification and a handbook was developed. Participants were surveyed and provided feedback on ways to improve the handbook. Overall feedback suggested participants found the handbook beneficial for use with students in helping them to understand behavior.

Egyptology and Tour Guiding, Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice “Applied Study to Selected Sites in Luxor”

This paper studies the link between the career of tour guiding and the knowledge the guide must possess. Tour guiding in archeological sites Egypt is connected to the knowledge of Egyptology; a skill the guide must show while working in those areas. Luxor as the most important touristic city in Egypt, and also the most important city in ancient Egyptian history; the city was selected as the sample of the study, where selected places are linked with Egyptological studies to reveal its importance, and how those sites could be guided through using the academic tools such as ancient Egyptian language, and how such knowledge could add to the tour guiding in those sites.

Event chronology analysis of the historical development of tip‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy

AbstractIn this history review, the development of tip‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) is analyzed from the perspective of scientific instrumentation development. TERS is a powerful and label‐free tool for nanocharacterization, still mainly an academic tool, built from the achievements in Raman spectroscopy, surface‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy, scanning probe microscopy, near‐field optics, and plasmonics. We identified three turning points in TERS history so far, based on two approaches to categorize TERS publications. Evidences from our analyses indicate that developments have been made in the scientific understanding of the technique itself, on the technology for its implementation, and on the application of TERS in other fields. Although, in total, more papers have focused on the technological development, application‐oriented works became the most important type of publication in the last years. This development has participation from different actors, but it has been performed mainly by the academic community, alone or in association with national laboratories.

The improvements balalayka repertoire in the XX century

The purpose of this article is to reveal the features of concert and instrumental music for balalaika in the 20th century by the example of the Concert for balalaika with orchestra by P. Gaydamaki. The methods of this scientific item are based on the research ways of historical and performing analysis. There is using of empirical methods, a namely observation and generalization. The scientific novelty for this investigation is determined by the appeal to the compositions of the academic instrumental repertoire of the balalaika of the 20th century, as the least studied cultural and historical period in the field of academic balalaika performing. Conclusions. The formation and development of the balalaika as an academic tool, began its journey from the 20th century and continues today. A historically significant role in this belongs to the outstanding composer, teacher, performer, conductor, arranger Vasily Vasilievich Andreev and his followers. Today, balalaika as an instrument is actively developing in Ukraine. The repertoire is replenished with new works, new methodological collections are issued, the instrument continues to sound both solo and as an integral part of folk ensembles of small and large forms, orchestras. Since 1965, the genre of solo balalaika concert in Ukraine begins its history. One of its first authors can be considered Peter Danilovich Gaydamakа. The concert of P. Gaydamakа, which became the material of our research, is an example of the use of new achievements in performing, technical techniques, finding balance, dynamic and timbral correspondence for parts of balalaika and orchestra. The Concerto for balalaika and orchestra by P. Gaydamakа is having a big form as a base. Difficulties in realizing the large form for the balalaika, problems in building the dramaturgy of the material, the difficulty of balancing the dynamic and expressive capabilities of the instrument, prompt composers to further discoveries that contribute to the expansion of the repertoire for balalaika as an academic instrument in Ukraine.

A Field Day With Fritz: Introduction to the Symposium

The Status of Law begins with the suspicion ‘that “law” might have become the problem rather than the solution, and this problem requires further analysis.’ Given that law is a social construct, Kratochwil invites us to turn to the sites where this construction takes place. To bring the many constitutions and contestations of law to the fore, he conjures theoretical sparring partners to engage in nine meditations. The genius of this Symposium consists in inviting nine colleagues, each engaging with a different meditation, and inviting a tenth colleague to add this introduction as a way to engage the engagement. By doing practice on practice the Symposium does full justice Kratochwil’s move towards looking at the practice ‘in the middle of things.’ The resulting field day with Fritz is a piece of intellectual mastery compiled by ‘spirited members of the republic of letters’ that carries the reader along on a journey that reveals and addresses Kratochwil’s suspicions about the problem with law. In the end, we know more through sharing the problem and partaking in the joy of addressing it. In a nutshell, the Status of Law engages in a series of mediations that invite us to engage with that predicament by using our academic tools as best as we can (no need to get anxious). The Symposium’s engagements show precisely that: the ability and readiness to actually hear what Kratochwil is saying. By engaging with the engagements, the readership of this Symposium will draw their own conclusions about the promises of international law (and the discipline of International Law) despite the predicaments that Kratochwil addressed so wisely and carefully. Yet, they must engage themselves to get to the bottom of it all. Indeed, ‘Kratochwil is too smart to show us “the way” but he gives us tools to assess our journey and options — perhaps also by comparing our itineraries.’ And for that, the invitation is to start in the middle. That plunge must be taken individually. By offering their respective academic practice of embracing or eschewing the ‘midst’ which lies at the centre of Kratochwil’s grounding engagement with (legal) norms through critical pragmatism, this Symposium nicely sketches the ‘site’ where to do precisely that: generate knowledge through engagement with others.

STUDENTS’ ATTITUDE TOWARDS USING WHATSAPP FOR EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES AT FEDERAL UNIVERSITY DUTSIN-MA, KATSINA STATE, NIGERIA

Social networking sites have been so popular among students in Nigerian universities and other parts of the world. They use them for different purposes, patterns and modes. WhatsApp is one of them. It’s a free messenger application that works across multiple platforms like iPhone and android phones. This universal application is being used widely among undergraduate students. They use it to send multimedia messages like photos, videos, audios and documents or simple text messages. It’s clear that class groups created on WhatsApp are used as medium for teaching and learning. This comes in form of communicating with students by nurturing a kind of social atmosphere in the class. It helps in framing dialogue and collaboration between the students and their teachers. This research is a descriptive survey designs. The sample size comprised of 101 undergraduate and postgraduate students who were randomly selected from the different stratified levels of clustered departments. They were derived from the seven faculties of the university. The Research developed and used questionnaire as the study’s instrument. Three (3) research questions guided this study; while the analytical tools were descriptive statistics in form of mean and standard deviation. Other tools employed were t-test and ANOVA by using SPSS version 23. Overall, findings demonstrated high level of attitude towards WhatsApp among the students. It also showed how the students use the application in various modes. The general findings confirmed that WhatsApp is being used as an academic tool for both teaching and learning in Federal University Dutsin-Ma.

KMS platform: A complete tool for modeling chemical and biochemical reactors

Computer-based activities to study chemical kinetic principles have been widely used in engineering education for the last 60 years. These academic tools must be user-friendly for teachers and students and easy to adapt to practical cases. The Chemical and Environmental Engineering Group (GIQA) at University Rey Juan Carlos (URJC) has developed a Kinetic, Modeling and Simulation (KMS) platform for chemical and biochemical processes. The KMS platform provides different simulation applications programmed in Matlab® with a friendly interface design environment for users. In this work, we will focus on the Kinetics in Conventional Activated Sludge (KCAS) application, as part of the KMS platform. The design of kinetic models and the dynamic simulation of wastewater treatment plants are typically implemented by a variety of dedicated software, mostly developed for research and development purposes at universities, institutes or consulting companies. These programming tools have inherent weaknesses as simulators in virtual laboratories for academics, needing steep learning curves and lacking flexibility to evaluate complex problems, particularly in bachelor degrees programs that are not completely devoted to the mathematical modeling of processes. The simplicity and versatility of KCAS simulator make it very useful for students as starting educational tool to define kinetic models and to make the dynamic simulation of a conventional activated sludge reactor followed by a secondary decanter using different inlet streams or operation conditions. The students interact with the program through a friendly Graphical User Interface (GUI), and the results can be easily exported to a conventional spreadsheet in EXCEL© format files. With KCAS, the students can formulate kinetic models (potential models, diffusional models, Monod equations, etc.) to simulate the evolution from simple reaction systems, to complex biochemical models such as ASM (Activated Sludge Models) from the International Water Association (IWA). The KCAS simulator allows the students to enhance the understanding of complex interactions among the physical, chemical, and biological processes, reinforcing the acquisition of competences and learning skills in Environmental Engineering. The KCAS application was implemented as laboratory demonstration practice in subjects of different Engineering Degrees at URJC.

The Potential of Video Games for Enhancing Teaching History

This paper reflects on the potential of using video games as a medium to teach medieval history. Building on feedback from students and research around the topic of using video games to teach medieval history, this paper explores how video games can be used to create counterfactual simulations and their potential use as an academic teaching tool.

Nonlinear Optimization of Turbine Conjugate Heat Transfer with Iterative Machine Learning and Training Sample Replacement

A simple yet effective optimization technique is developed to solve nonlinear conjugate heat transfer. The proposed Nonlinear Optimization with Replacement Strategy (NORS) is a mutation of several existing optimization processes. With the improvements of 3D metal printing of turbine components, it is feasible to have film holes with unconventional diameters, as these holes are created while printing the component. This paper seeks to optimize each film hole diameter at the leading edge of a turbine vane to satisfy several optimum thermal design objectives with given design constraints. The design technique developed uses linear regression-based machine learning model and further optimizes with strategic improvement of the training dataset. Optimization needs cost and benefit criteria are used to base its decision of success, and cost is minimized with maximum benefit within given constraints. This study minimizes the coolant flow (cost) while satisfying the constraints on average metal temperature and metal temperature variations (benefits) that limit the useful life of turbine components. The proposed NORS methodology provides a scientific basis for selecting design parameters in a nonlinear design space. This model is also a potential academic tool to be used in thesis works without demanding extensive computing resources.

A microanálise da aprendizagem musical autorregulada como ferramenta para o desenvolvimento da pedagogia da performance

This article presents a literature review about the Self-regulated Learning Microanalysis, one of the methodological approaches developed in the last decades to measure and evaluate the learning process in different contexts. I present a historical overview of the development of measure/assessment processes and tools for Self-Regulated Learning (SRL), the microanaly-sis approach in Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1977a), and self-regulated learning (Cleary & Zimmerman, 2001; Kitsantas & Zimmerman, 2002), besides the recent proposals for the application of this evaluative/interventional technique in the musical field. This review seeks to support the arguments in favor of the viability of adopting microanalysis as a solid methodological approach and an effective didactic and academic tool for the development of performance pedagogy.

A microanálise da aprendizagem musical autorregulada como ferramenta para o desenvolvimento da pedagogia da performance

This article presents a literature review about the Self-regulated Learning Microanalysis, one of the methodological approaches developed in the last decades to measure and evaluate the learning process in different contexts. I present a historical overview of the development of measure/assessment processes and tools for Self-Regulated Learning (SRL), the microanaly-sis approach in Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1977a), and self-regulated learning (Cleary & Zimmerman, 2001; Kitsantas & Zimmerman, 2002), besides the recent proposals for the ap-plication of this evaluative/interventional technique in the musical field. This review seeks to support the arguments in favor of the viability of adopting microanalysis as a solid methodological approach and an effective didactic and academic tool for the development of performance pedagogy.

Audiovisual essays: unveiling the mystery behind the object

The beginning of an audiovisual section in the Journal of Science and Technology of the Arts has two main goals: the first one is for contributing for the acceptance of these objects in the academic field, especially within the most common practices and criteria of acceptance, reviewing and publishing. For this, we’ll have in each number a call for audiovisual essays, that will be submitted to a peer-reviewed system of evaluation. Each audiovisual essay will be accompanied by a research statement written by the author, articulating research aims and the process of work. After acceptance, the audiovisual essay and author’s statement will be published alongside the reviewers’ critical evaluation of the work; the second goal of this section will be to create a conceptual discussion around audiovisual essay as a pedagogical and academic tool, in order to generate concepts and criteria for evaluation and scientific consideration.

Validation of a Sensor-Fitted Simulator for Upper Airway Examination.

To validate a simulator for upper airway examination, fitted with sensors, for use as an academic tool for learning how to conduct examination of the upper airway and for evaluation of that learning. Validation study. Undergraduate medical education. A group of 18 fifth-year medical students and another of 6 otorhinolaryngology specialists conducted 6 examinations each with the simulator. To investigate concurrent validity, we calculated the correlation between damage scores provided by the simulator and damage assessment by a specialist. To evaluate construct validity, we compared both groups with regard to damage scores, technical procedure, and time spent. To examine content and face validity, we used questionnaires based on a 5-point Likert scale. For concurrent validity, the correlation between the simulator's damage scores and the specialist's damage assessment was high: Spearman's ρ was 0.828 (P < .001). For construct validity, the group of students differed from the group of specialists in damage scores (P = .027) and in technical procedures (P < .001) but not in time spent. For content validity, all questionnaire statements were scored highly, and both groups had similar average scores. For face validity, the group of specialists considered the simulator to be realistic, and all statements on the questionnaire were rated with at least 4/5. Concurrent, construct, content, and face validity have been demonstrated for a sensor-fitted simulator for upper airway examination, which is therefore accurate enough to be used as an academic tool for learning and evaluation of learning.

The Impact of Correctional Facility Tours on Student Perceptions and Realizations of the Correctional Environment: A Research Note

Jail and prison tours have become an important educational tool in many criminal justice programs. This study uses an inductive approach to explore student perceptions of the physical and social environment of jails and prisons following tours of correctional facilities. The study draws from Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) which supports the focus on student reflections following experiential learning activities. Eighty essays were analyzed. Three broad themes emerged: the physical environment and social atmosphere of the correctional facilities, incarcerated people and their activities, and student realizations about correctional facilities. The study’s findings suggest that correctional tours provide opportunities for students to realize that many of the beliefs held about jails, prisons, and incarcerated individuals prior to exposure to the correctional environment were false. Considering the need in society for defying the stigma attached to offenders, correctional tours stand out as relevant – and essential – academic tools.

Этнотуризм как перспективная форма сохранения этнической культуры

The author outlines that in order to maintain interest in ethnic culture during the digitalization of personal space for people interested in the ethnos of their and other regions, it is necessary to constantly expand the options for ethnographic tourism excursion programs, enrich them with exclusive topics that are in demand by wide target groups, as well as complement traditional, sometimes conservative, tourist routes with new display facilities and new excursion technologies. The purpose of the article is to determine the prospects of using different types of ethnic culture in various formats of a tourist product (tour, excursion) to increase the interest of citizens in Russian history against the background of cases of its distortion and free interpretations that became more frequent nowadays. Methods. The author analyzed some types of ethnographic tourism services in the Rostov Region, which contribute to maintaining interest in the ethnic culture of the region. Conclusions. The author concludes and presents a look at the future of preserving ethnic culture in the complex of tourist and excursion offers. It is shown that this requires analysis and transformation of traditional tourist and excursion routes and programs, as well as active interaction not only with modern people, but also with organizations representing and promoting ethnic culture and, accordingly, with related enterprises supporting them in this. It is concluded that the academic methods and tools for preserving ethnic culture, of course, remain, but not only they already determine the future of this process.

Modeling the Municipal Waste Collection Using Genetic Algorithms

Calculating adequate vehicle routes for collecting municipal waste is still an unsolved issue, even though many solutions for this process can be found in the literature. A gap still exists between academics and practitioners in the field. One of the apparent reasons why this rift exists is that academic tools often are not easy to handle and maintain by actual users. In this work, the problem of municipal waste collection is modeled using a simple but efficient and especially easy to maintain solution. Real data have been used, and it has been solved using a Genetic Algorithm (GA). Computations have been done in two different ways: using a complete random initial population, and including a seed in this initial population. In order to guarantee that the solution is efficient, the performance of the genetic algorithm has been compared with another well-performing algorithm, the Variable Neighborhood Search (VNS). Three problems of different sizes have been solved and, in all cases, a significant improvement has been obtained. A total reduction of 40% of itineraries is attained with the subsequent reduction of emissions and costs.

THE EDUCATIONAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY AS A CRITICAL REFLECTION TOOL TOWARDS PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF PRE-SERVICE EARLY YEARS PRACTITIONERS

An overview of the research area reveals the importance of using biographical methods at a higher education level. However, in Greece, there is a lack of systematic research on such applications. This paper presents a study based on the biographical approach and specifically on the method of educational autobiography (EAB). More specifically, it presents an implementation of educational autobiography in the context of the academic education of students from a Department of Early Years Learning and Care. The purpose was to investigate the use of the specific method (EAB) as an innovative academic tool towards personal growth and professional development of the students in terms of promoting critical reflection and transformative processes about themselves and their role as Early Years Practitioners. The sample of participants consisted of 87 4th-year students attending an experiential laboratory course at an Academic Department of Early Years Learning and Care in Greece. The study followed a mixed method approach. The closed-ended questions were analyzed quantitatively while the Educational Autobiography texts were analyzed thematically. The findings showed that all students engaged in reflection on past experiences. Most of them found EAB an interesting, self-enrichment process, leading to a better appreciation of experiences in shaping themselves and their role/practice as Early Years Practitioners. Article visualizations:

Private Companies and Scholarly Infrastructure - Google Scholar and Academic Autonomy

Google Scholar has become a critical piece of academic infrastructure. Not only is it used to search for academic publications, but its bibliometrics system has become central in the evaluation of scholars for hiring and funding. There have been numerous studies of Google Scholar that explore how the technology actually works (i.e. how it determines academic ‘relevance’ or ‘scholarliness’); what types of work, repositories, and authors it privileges or marginalizes; and how comprehensive its citations are. We take a different approach, however, and analyse the political and ethical dimensions of the shift in control over scholarly infrastructure from commercial academic publishers into Big Tech platforms. We discuss how this change, premised on Google Scholar's usability, implicates and potential undermines certain norms and conventions traditionally associated with academic work. In particular, we discuss how Google Scholar's centrality in evaluative bibliometrics is changing what academic knowledge looks like, further centralizes academic tools in Google service, undermines academic autonomy, and does so without transparency or accountability.

More time for science: Using Testable to create and share behavioral experiments faster, recruit better participants, and engage students in hands-on research.

A major pain for researchers in all fields is that they have less and less time for actual science activities: reading, thinking, coming up with new theories and hypotheses, testing, analyzing data, writing. In psychology, three of the most time-consuming nonactual science activities are: learning how to program an experiment, recruiting participants, and preparing teaching materials. Testable (www.testable.org) provides a suite of academic tools to speed things up considerably. The Testable software allows the development of most psychology experiments in minutes, using a natural language form and a spreadsheet. Furthermore, any experiment can be easily converted into a social experiment in Testable Arena, with multiple participants interacting and viewing each other's responses. Experiments can then be published to Testable Library, a public repository for demonstration and sharing purposes. Participants can be recruited from Testable Minds, the subject pool with the most advanced participants verification system. Testable Minds employs multiple checks (such as face authentication) to ensure participants have accurate demographics (age, sex, location), are human, unique, and reliable. Finally, the Testable Class module can be used to teach psychology through experiments. It features over 50 ready-made classic psychology experiments, fully customizable, which instructors can add to their classes, together with their own experiments. These experiments can then be made available to students to do, import, modify, and use to collect data as part of their class. These Testable tools, backed up by a strong team of academic advisors and thousands of users, can save psychology researchers and other behavioral scientists valuable time for science.

An Integrated Approach and Tool Support for the Design of FPGA-Based Multi-Grain Reconfigurable Systems

Dynamic partial reconfiguration technique can be used to modify regions of an FPGA as large as the whole reconfigurable fabric or as small as individual logic elements. However, FPGA manufacturers have focused their efforts on designing tools that support the design of monolithic reconfigurable accelerators spanning large regions of the device. Nevertheless, in some applications, it is enough to fine-tune the accelerators' behavior instead of changing them entirely. In these cases, rather than allocating new accelerators, it is possible to reconfigure individual logic elements of the circuit, such as look-up tables or flip-flops. There is also an intermediate approach that targets the reconfigurability of accelerators composed of several tightly interconnected modules, such as overlays. In those architectures, it is possible to reconfigure only the modules that differ between the existing accelerator versions, thus reducing the reconfigurable footprint granularity. This article proposes a classification of the approaches above, categorizing them as coarse, fine, and medium grain, respectively. There are neither commercial nor academic tools supporting multi-grain reconfiguration to take advantage of each granularity strength on commercial FPGAs. Differently, this article proposes a tool called IMPRESS, that provides design-time and run-time support for multi-grain reconfiguration in Xilinx 7 Series FPGAs. Specific criteria are provided to combine the different granularity levels, trading off the benefits in terms of flexibility and performance, with different design and run-time costs. Two use cases in the image processing and neural network domains have been implemented to show how IMPRESS can build multi-grain reconfigurable systems.