Doctoral School Research Articles

Intelligent 3D Video-Laser System for Measuring Distance and Avoidance of Obstruct Obstacles Integrable Into Robotic Platforms

AbstractOutcome of the scientific concerns from the Doctoral School of Mechanical Engineering and Mechatronics at Valahia University of Târgovişte in the field of unconventional measurements using non-contact laser technique, the scientific work “Intelligent 3D video-laser system for measuring distance and avoidance of obstruct obstacles integrable into robotic platforms” is a work in progress being in the experimental phase of single-channel testing. The system is designed for robotic platforms for special interventions in high-risk work environments, with the main goal of an active, real-time 3D spatial stereo interface for the operator who manages the robotic platform remotely. 3D imaging and real-time measurements of distances provide the operator of the robotic intervention platform with the ability to perform extremely precise maneuvers. The scientific work ultimately results in an intelligent integral system that can predict the emergence of an obstacle to the robotic platform movement, thus determining the distance in real time to it. The measuring distance is between 0 m - 40 m, with an accuracy of +/−0.5 cm being synchronized with the video system with a clear visual area from 0.05 m to infinity. The 3D video laser system can simultaneously shoot movie or single images of the obstacle, storing data in 3D, photo or video digital formats, both locally in non-volatile memory or externally thru any GPSR network to the operator and / or to a control center. In later development, the measurement system will be coupled to a GPS network for auto location of position and architected with a self-defense and offensive module mounted on the mobile robotic platform. Thus, this complex project combines in a unified knowledge of Mechatronics, Integronics, Cyber-Mix Mechatronics, Artificial Intelligence and Information Technology.

Philosophy with Children within Social Network Sites: Engaging Towards a Virtual Community

IntroductionPhilosophy with children is an educational field that provides children with appropriate instruments as they begin to question world and their own insertion in it. It is a systematic and progressive program specially designed for them. The program is based on traditional topics in history of Philosophy, and through a set of methodological guidelines, carefully planned and implemented, which nurture curiosity and wonder of children, it aims to stimulate and develop complex thinking within a community of inquiry. In this type of community, members work to be able to understand point of view of others and strive in solidarity to discover meaning of world and society in which they live. This article aims to highlight benefits of applying philosophy with children, at same time pointing towards a series of communicational strategies used to promote a with children on social media networks.The philosophy with Children Club?The project Philosophy with Children Club is an initiative of a group of teachers from Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, a group composed of Associate professor PhD Mihaela Frunza from Department of Philosophy, Faculty of History and Philosophy, Assist. PhD Iulia Grad, and respectively PhD candidates Ariana Guga and Iulia Medveschi (the latter ones studying at Doctoral School of Department of Communication, Public Relations and Advertising at Faculty of Political, Administrative and Communication Sciences). The project aims to introduce with Children in cultural and educational institutions in Romania and to develop partnerships with similar institutions from Romania and abroad.The for Children programs (P4C) draw their inspiration from life-time activity of professor Matthew Lipman in 1970s from US, and subsequent developments from European space, in 1990s. Currently, this discipline is studied in more than 60 countries. In this respect, P4C should be understood as the attempt to construct a pedagogical tool that functions as a model for critical thinking by describing 'real life' children engaged in critical dialogue about philosophical issues, with goal of stimulating same sort of dialogue among groups of students (Vansieleghem, Kennedy 2011, 173).In a constantly changing society, Van der Leeuw advocates for an educational system which pledges for reflexive thinking and communication. According to his perspective through philosophy expect people to be able to reflect rationally on human life, which includes a view of reality, of place of individual in society, of values and norms, of meaning of life and so on. [And] ... we expect them to be able to communicate these views to others, because we live in a common reality, and this common reality must be subject of common discourse, and can even be regarded as a common construct (Van der Leeuw 2009, 113).The introduction of philosophy as an object of study for several generations of children in learning systems in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, or UK has shown that this way of engaging philosophical thinking skills, from a young age, has generated a large number of assertive kids endowed with independent thinking, able to relate critically-constructive to knowledge, to articulate and conceptualize their ideas and to think independently and creatively, to be tolerant towards ideas of others, and ultimately, to work in innovative communities of people with similar thinking. Undoubtedly, this kind of philosophical meetings can help children develop their patience, contentment, confidence in their own strengths, and also to realize their own weaknesses, prioritizing values such as respect and subjectivity related to personal experience (Daniel, Auriac 2011, 421).The with Children aims to involve pupils aged between 7 and 12 in reflection and philosophical exploration through a set of specific methods of stimulating and encouraging curiosity of children, all of which help them to look for meanings, to cultivate intellectual courage, and to make fair judgments in everyday life. …

Szkoły doktorskie i ich rola w kształceniu doktorantów

System kształcenia doktorantów w Polsce wymaga gruntownej przebudowy. Najbardziej efektywnym rozwiązaniem może być system oparty o tzw. szkoły doktorskie, prowadzone przez najlepsze uniwersytety. Szkoły takie mogłyby przyczynić się do poprawy jakości doktoratów i dzięki temu stać się istotnym elementem budowania reputacji i prestiżu uniwersytetu. Ich powstanie powinno przede wszystkim sprzyjać tworzeniu optymalnych warunków do prowadzenia badań naukowych przez doktorantów oraz ich wszechstronnego rozwoju. Szkoły doktorskie powinny mieć z jednej strony zapewnioną autonomię, z drugiej zaś – dobrze określony zakres odpowiedzialności. Zaproponowane tu rozwiązanie konfrontowane jest z różnymi modelami kształcenia doktorantów w Europie.

Los nuevos estudios de doctorado en España: avances y retos para su convergencia con Europa

La transformación de los estudios de doctorado en España para adaptarse a las directrices del Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior ha conllevado todo un cambio legislativo, no exento de dificultades, con el objetivo de armonizar la formación doctoral con las directrices europeas de internacionalización. La normativa actual para el doctorado, legislada en el Real Decreto 99/2011, delimita una nueva estructura organizativa y detalla las características que rigen los nuevos estudios de doctorado. En este artículo presentamos los cambios más relevantes y significativos que se han regulado para esta etapa formativa, en concreto, la novedad de la creación de las escuelas de doctorado, la especialización de la formación en investigación a través de los nuevos programas de doctorado, la formación en competencias investigadoras y de transferencia de conocimiento, y la internacionalización de la formación doctoral.

ACADEMIC CAREERS IN THE SPECTRUM OF POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS' PROFESSIONAL PREFERENCES

The authors present a case study of the Lobachevsky State University of Nizhni Novgorod concerning the motivation and professional plans of postgraduate students, as well as the factors that influence their choice of an academic career. Peculiarities of professional interests of postgraduate students enrolled in natural sciences, social sciences and humanities programs are considered. Research method: a standardized on-line questionnaire survey of postgraduate students (N = 427). The sample adequately reflects the proportions of the university's doctoral school by subject, age and gender. It was established that the previous experience of studying at the same university, the reputation of a faculty or a specific doctoral program play the main role among the factors that determine the choice of the university when students enroll in the doctoral school. Over 80 % of postgraduate students did not consider other universities as a possible place of study. It was also found that the focus on professional activities in the field of science and higher education clearly expressed at the beginning of training can change in the course of studies. The proportion of postgraduate students who retain their steady focus on academic professions essentially depends on the area of studies and amounts to an average of about 55 %. Postgraduate students who study in social sciences and humanities often switch to a «non-academic» career path, since they are not ready for territorial mobility. The authors substantiate their conclusion that the low level of territorial mobility is one of the key factors that reduce the effectiveness of the institution of doctoral education in relation to the implementation of its main function of reproducing the human potential of science and higher education. Following the analysis of empirical data, possible measures aimed at increasing the effectiveness of doctoral programs are discussed: developing a system of grant support for dissertational research, enhancing the links between dis-sertational subjects and major research projects, diversification of doctoral programs, introducing professional degrees into the legal framework (for example, in such fields as public administration, management and business, jurisprudence, education). The results of this research may be of interest to academic and administrative personnel of higher educational institutions involved in doctoral education management.

CIMEE16: International Conference on Materials and Electrochemistry and Applications for the Environment: The Doctoral School in Science and Technology, AZM Center for Biotechnology Research and Applications, Faculty of Public Health at the Lebanese University Tripoli, Lebanon, September 22–24, 2016

CIMEE16: International Conference on Materials and Electrochemistry and Applications for the Environment: The Doctoral School in Science and Technology, AZM Center for Biotechnology Research and Applications, Faculty of Public Health at the Lebanese University Tripoli, Lebanon, September 22–24, 2016

English

In Spain, the organisation of doctoral studies has been substantially modified to come into line with the changes introduced by the agenda of the Bologna process. These changes have been specified in a number of statements by European Ministers of Education, and have required alterations to Spanish doctoral regulations. The aim of these changes has been to focus doctoral training more on the development of competency as better preparation for research tasks, linking the doctoral candidate with the job market outside university and allowing for the transfer of knowledge within the European context. To this end, Doctoral schools have been set up as a space in which to manage doctoral training, introducing specialisation in research through the design of new doctoral programmes, and means to provide doctoral candidates with mobility for their international training. Key words: Doctoral legislation, doctoral schools, international mobility, R&D training, transfer of knowledge, funding.

Introduction: From Comparative Arts to Interart Studies

AbstractThe essays assembled in this volume were initially presented at the concluding conference of the International Doctoral School “InterArt Studies” held at the Freie Universität Berlin from June 25-27, 2015. The school bore the label “international” not just because its students hailed from five different continents. Rather, it was called that because it was born out of the collaboration with the Copenhagen Doctoral School in Cultural Studies, Literature and the Arts, later joined by the Doctoral School of Goldsmiths College, London, and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Columbia University, New York. During these nine years (2006-2015) of research, it was generously funded by the German Research Council.

Modelling the financial stability of an enterprise taking into account macroeconomic indicators

Davit S. Bidzhoyan - Postgraduate Student, Department of Business Analytics, Doctoral School of Economics, National Research University Higher School of EconomicsAddress: 20, Myasnitskaya Street, Moscow, 101000, Russian FederationE-mail: bidzhoyan_david@mail.ruTatiana K. Bogdanova - Associate Professor, Department of Business Analytics, National Research University Higher School of EconomicsAddress: 20, Myasnitskaya Street, Moscow, 101000, Russian FederationE-mail: tanbog@hse.ru Nowadays enterprises operate in a rapidly changing macroeconomic environment, and this factor should be taken into account when forecasting a company’s financial statement as a whole, or some of its particular aspects. However, development of the company’s financial stability assessment model taking into account macroeconomic factors is hampered by the problem of inclusion in the model of some factors with frequency of measurement different from that of the internal financial performance. For example, currency rates and crude oil prices can change on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Changes in the key interest rate cannot be characterized as systematic, since the Central Bank can vary the key interest rate depending on market conditions. Meanwhile, financial indicators of the company are published in the semi-annual and annual reports. This paper proposes an approach that aggregates macroeconomic factors, which means presenting a time series of each variable for each year, followed by the inclusion of polynomial coefficients in the final model as reference variable characteristics. The weighted average is calculated for the key interest rate, where the weights are the days during which the rate is operated. Based on the data of 291 metallurgical industry enterprises of the Volga federal district for the period 2012-2014, a financial stability assessment model has been built relying on the decision tree model using CRT (Classification and Regression Tree). The accuracy of the model is approximately 86%. The decision tree structure has served as a basis for recommendations to optimize certain financial indicators of operations to reach financial stability.

Identifying, Characterising and Assessing New Practices in Doctoral Education

AbstractTraditionally, European doctoral education has principally taken place within the binary relationship of professors and their doctoral students according to the apprenticeship model. However, in the last one to two decades, this model has been questioned. Governments and higher education institutions (HEIs) reform doctoral education by establishing and running structured doctoral programmes or Doctoral Schools. Inspired by American Graduate Schools, various forms of Doctoral Schools have been increasingly emerging in many European HEIs. This article identifies, characterises and critically assesses the principal changes in doctoral education practices introduced through Doctoral Schools on the basis of eight case studies carried out in Swiss and Norwegian HEIs. The empirical analysis results in the identification of six types of changes which concern doctoral students’ recruitment, curricular component, supervision, scientific exchange, tracking and their career. These changes lead to four kind of trends – which vary according to the case study – consisting of a structuring, standardisation and opening of doctoral education, whereas its academic character is maintained. If greater competitiveness, better scientific quality and higher graduating rates may be achieved, problems in terms of ‘brain drain’, workload, supervision, innovation and careers may even be reinforced or at least not completely solved.

The choice of control points of projects taking into account possible change of structure of works

Maxim A. Maron - Postgraduate Student, Department of Business Analytics, Doctoral School of Computer Science, National Research University Higher School of EconomicsAddress: 20, Myasnitskaya Street, Moscow, 101000, Russian FederationE-mail: maxim.tbconsulting@gmail.com This article is devoted to a problem of controlling implementation of multiscenario projects when it is necessary to provide not one, but several scenarios of performance differing from each other in structure of works. As a control method, we propose carrying out intermediate checks. The task is to determine after which works you have to carry out the checks. A heuristic method of the solution of this task is offered on the basis of an information approach. The places of performance of checks (control points) are defined step by step. Each check is chosen so that it gives maximum information (according to Shannon) concerning the work from those already completed that has been performed incorrectly. In calculations, we consider not only previously established control points, but also probabilities of implementation of various scenarios of implementation of the project under examination. The solution for two very important practicalcases is proposed: when the number of admissible intermediate checks is set and when their number is not set but achievement of a certainlevel of information completeness of control is required. In practice, the number of intermediate checks is limited from above by the budget for costs of control which is selected by the sponsor of the project. Information completeness of the diagnosis, in turn, is inversely proportional to the risk that the wrong implementation of the project will be revealed only after it ends. In this regard, the project manager demands that information completeness of control be no lower than a certainlevel. The results received are sought, first of all, by heads of design offices of large construction companies realizing standard projects in various natural and climatic conditions (in their practice practically all projects are multiscenario). Results can also be requested in the practice of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

The concept of reference models of automated planning and budgeting systems

Emil K. Kamalov - Postgraduate Student, Department of Business Analytics, Doctoral School of Management, National Research University Higher School of EconomicsAddress: 20, Myasnitskaya Street, Moscow, 101000, Russian FederationE-mail: ekkamalov@gmail.com The article proposes a concept of reference models for automated budgeting systems designed to highlight the cross-subject area between information technologies and budgeting theory. The paper identifies methods of automation of budgeting systems, their reference elements and interaction with the organization budgeting system. In particular, the extension of functionality of spreadsheets, the development of functionality of ERP-systems, customized development of automated budgeting systems, task-oriented budgeting systems and systems available within the “software as a services” (SaaS) model are considered as the main approaches to budgeting automation. Reference models are taken to mean models of automated budgeting systems which describe the information system configuration for certain sectors or types of production, i.e. a meta description based on which a specific system can be configured and implemented. For description of a reference model, such documents as a directory of budget items grouped within the analytical dimensions, album of forms (including data entry forms and report forms), as well as passport of algorithms, which describes methods of calculation of budget accounts are proposed to be used. This documentation covers three main areas within which the information systems are designed, namely, design of data objects, design of screen forms and reports, and record of the technology being used. Reference models of the budgeting systems enable consulting companies to formalize and systematize the project experience to achieve a competitive position through reduction of terms and enhancement of the system integration.

A Descriptive Analysis of Doctoral Studies in Spain: Recent Changes

The adaptation of Doctoral studies to the European Higher Education Area has involved a complex regulatory change in Spain, with the aim of harmonizing this stage of training with European guidelines. Royal Decree 99/2011 established a new organizational structure for the Doctorate and sets out the guidelines, conditions and procedures that are to regulate the new Doctoral studies. In this paper we describe some of the most significant changes, including, among others, the novelty of the creation of Doctoral Schools, and we likewise present a succinct descriptive overview of some data resulting from the implementation of the regulations on the configuration and putting into practice of the new Doctoral studies. We conclude that these transformations are complex at the levels of management, organization and operation, although they have involved a move towards training that qualifies candidates in research competencies within a setting of internationalization and European mobility.

Becoming an interdisciplinary scientist: an analysis of students’ experiences in three computer science doctoral programmes

ABSTRACTThe aim of this study was to identify how and why doctoral students do interdisciplinary research. A mixed-methods approach utilising bibliometric analysis of the publications of 195 students identified those who had published interdisciplinary research. This objective measurement of the interdisciplinarity, applying the Rao-Stirling index to Web of Science and Scopus citations, allowed for a comparison of students’ interdisciplinary research outcomes from three different computer science programmes: a traditional programme, a multidisciplinary doctoral school and an interdisciplinary doctoral college. Applying a sociocultural approach, interviews with the 15 most interdisciplinary students were analysed to understand how dispositions and experiences of students and factors of the different programmes affect the circumstances and processes of becoming an interdisciplinary early career scientist. The data indicate that student motivations, previous skills and knowledge interacted with policies and programme structures including type of funding and supervisor expectations to play a crucial role in interdisciplinarity at the doctoral level. These factors can give rise to interdisciplinary research even in programmes without interdisciplinary focus and compromise the interdisciplinary goals of interdisciplinary programmes.

The iconography of the Roman province personifications and their role in the imperial propaganda

Abstract of PhD thesis submitted in 2015 to the Archaeology Doctoral Programme, Doctoral School of History, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest under the supervision of Miklós Szabó.

Roman Age iron tools from Pannonia

Abstract of PhD thesis submitted in 2015 to the Archaeology Doctoral Programme, Doctoral School of History, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest under the supervision of László Borhy.

History of the settlement of the Sand Ridges of Kiskunság between the 13th–16th century

Abstract of PhD thesis submitted in 2015 to the Archaeology Doctoral Programme, Doctoral School of History, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest under the supervision of József Laszlovszky.

Abstract P1-01-02: Ki-67 proliferation index supported by digital quantitation in breast cancer: A comparative study

Abstract Introduction: In cases of breast cancer, in addition to hormone receptor and Her2 status, proliferation markers (mitotic index, Ki-67 proliferation index = KIPI) also have therapeutic implications. The 2013 St. Gallen consensus guideline includes 14% cut-off point (20% by many experts) for KIPI to distinguish luminal A-like and luminal B-like subtypes, that might be associated with remarkable intra-/interobsever variability applied in daily pathological routine utilizing semiquantitative (SQ) "eye-balling" method. Objective: The comparison of conventional SQ method and digital image-analysis (DIA) processes for the detection of KIPI. Methods: Three hundred and forty-seven breast cancer patients' samples with 99.24 months median follow-up data were included in our study (ethical approval: IKEB #7/2008 and 7-1/2008). Tissue microarrays (TMA) were prepared from the representative paraffin-embedded tumor blocks. After performing Ki-67 (MIB1 clone, #0505 by iOT on Ventana Benchmark XT autostainer by Roche) immunoreaction, conventional evaluation of KIPI was performed by 3 breast pathologists independently (SQ1-3). Digital image analysis was supported by PatternQuant (Pannoramic Viewer v15.3 and QuantCenter 2.0, 3DHistech Ltd.) applying a fully automatic tumor tissue recognition module with KIPI detection (DIA-1), and an adjustable module (DIA-2) with the possibility of manual corrections to exclude false detections. Interobserver variability was estimated with intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC). Digital pathological methods were compared to the - currently gold standard - SQ determination of KIPI using SPSS 22 statistical program. Results: The three pathologists' SQ evaluations demonstrated a remarkable concordance (ICC=0.889; 95% CI= 0.834-0.922). A reference KIPI value (KIPI-RV) was derived from mean values of SQ2 and SQ3, since no significant difference was found between them (p=0.617). KIPI-RV and DIA-2 showed no significant difference (p=0.754), and excellent concordance (ICC=0.979; 95% CI=0.975-0.982). Significant difference has occurred between KIPI-RV and results of DIA-1 (p=0.001). Upon dichotomizing KIPI value at 14%, no significant difference was found between KIPI-RV and DIA-2 (p=0.262), while KIPI-RV and DIA-1 differed (p=0.006). For prognosis prediction, all three methods were able to perform statistically significant division of our patients into 2 cohorts with distinct DFS at 14% (p<0.017-0.038). At 20% threshold of KIPI, DIA-1 failed (p=0.053), while KIPI-RV and DIA-2 were able to separate good and unfavorable prognosis patients' cohorts (p=0.01; p=0.004). Conclusion: The DIA processes are objective methods in the evaluation of KIPI. The fully automated DIA-1 method differed most from SQ results. Digital image analysis adjusted by a pathologist (our DIA-2 method) reached high concordance with results of SQ. Further refinement and validation are needed to verify applicability of automatic tumor pattern recognition software in diagnostic practice. Our results confirm that SQ evaluation of KIPI is reliable. This study was supported by the research grant from Hungarian Society of Medical Oncology 2014 and research grant from Doctoral School of Ph.D. Studies, Semmelweis University 2014. Citation Format: Acs B, Madaras L, Kovacs KA, Tokes A-M, Kulka J, Szasz AM. Ki-67 proliferation index supported by digital quantitation in breast cancer: A comparative study. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Eighth Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2015 Dec 8-12; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P1-01-02.

Report of Meeting Researches in Didactics of Mathematics and Computer Sciences

The meeting Researches in Didactics of Mathematics and Computer Sciences was held in Bratislava, Slovakia from the 22th to the 24th of January, 2016 at Comenius University in Bratislava. It was organized by the Doctoral School of Mathematical and Computational Sciences of University of Debrecen and the Faculty of Education of Comenius University. The 60 participants – including 47 lecturers and 15 PhD students – came from 5 countries, 23 cities and represented 32 institutions of higher and secondary education.

Internationalization of research and studies in adult education

There is a high need for formal provision for professionalization of adult educators at academic level (Research voor Beleid, 2008; European Commission, 2013b; CEDEFOP, 2013). In this paper, we explored the views of colleagues from ten universities from nine European countries who work together on developing the joint program on European Master in Adult Education (EMAE) as the European Doctoral School in Adult Education, in this way setting up the largest network of professionalization in adult education at European level. Our colleagues have been interviewed with the purpose of finding out about their motivation, expectations, the added value for their universities, and the outcomes and benefits of joining to such consortium. We also explored the obstacles and difficulties in designing and implementing the joint programs. Their reflections and experiences can be a source of inspiration for other universities interested in joining the consortium or setting up similar offers.