Ordinary Tasks Research Articles

Cynthia Ozick’s “Outcry of Failure”

Abstract This article examines the preoccupation with failure that pervades Cynthia Ozick’s essays. Ozick regularly presents herself in her public statements as obscure, unread, and soon to be forgotten; in essays and interviews she habitually returns to a period in her twenties and thirties when she labored in vain to get published. Ozick’s concern with the youthful literary success that eluded her is the visible edge of a larger fascination with failure that spirals through her essays. Whether comically underscoring the incompetence with which writers approach the ordinary tasks of life or meditating more somberly on the waning of fame and the difficulties of achieving cultural permanence, Ozick finds marginality, failure, and falling short as fundamental to literary creation.

Undue Burden the Medical School Application Process Places on Low-Income Latinos

Undue Burden the Medical School Application Process Places on Low-Income Latinos

СОЦИАЛЬНО-ЭКОЛОГИЧЕСКАЯ КОМПОНЕНТА ЭКОЛОГИЧЕСКОЙ КУЛЬТУРЫ ШКОЛЬНИКОВ НА УРОКАХ МАТЕМАТИКИ

The issues of ensuring the country’s environmental security are presented in the Environmental Security Strategy of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2025. Ecological education of schoolchildren and education of the population is one of the solutions to the issues raised. According to the Federal State Educational Standard of basic and secondary general education, the formation of the foundations of the ecological culture of schoolchildren is one of the requirements for mastering the main educational program. The article describes the process of formation of the socio-ecological component of the ecological culture of schoolchildren in the process of teaching mathematics. Achievement of the set task is carried out by direct solution of ordinary tasks in mathematics lessons, but having a real substantive formulation of regional environmental priority. The didactic possibilities of the content of a school course in mathematics make it possible to predetermine and resolve a number of environmental problems. This is possible only in integration with other academic disciplines. At the same time, the technologies of the meta-subject approach, as the basis of education, fully contribute to the achievement of personal, subject and meta-subject learning outcomes for schoolchildren, provide tremendous opportunities for greening the content of all disciplines, and even can be aimed at integrating the content of environmental and vocational education. The purpose of the study is to develop a teaching methodology aimed at the formation of the socio-ecological component of the schoolchildren’s ecological culture in the process of teaching mathematics in grades 5-6. The quantitative and qualitative methods used to analyze and interpret the data obtained in our study proved the effectiveness of the developed methodology. At the same time, the subject level of mastering the school course in mathematics did not decrease. Thus, the study devoted to the formation of the socio-ecological component of the ecological culture of schoolchildren in the process of teaching mathematics is relevant and socially significant. The organizational and pedagogical conditions for the formation of the socio-ecological component of the schoolchild’s ecological culture make it possible to use the developed teaching methodology in the educational process in educational institutions, in gymnasiums. The developed methodological recommendations for teachers are recommended for conducting lessons in mathematics using the technology of the meta-subject approach.

Infrastructure-level Support for GPU-Enabled Deep Learning in DATAVIEW

Scientific workflow has become a common practice for scientists to effectively formalize and structure complex scientific processes, which in turn has accelerated scientific discoveries in numerous research fields. With the recent thriving of deep learning in broad range of scientific projects, there is a rising need for deep learning support in scientific workflow infrastructures — SWFMSs. However, current GPU-enabled deep learning frameworks are developed separately, not suitable for direct exploitation in SWFMSs, which forces scientists to handle deep learning outside of SWFMSs and then integrate in workflows in an ad-hoc manner. What workflow users pressingly need today is a user-friendly and well-integrated SWFMS to facilitate GPU-enabled deep learning as native workflows so that they can conveniently design, train, reuse, and integrate deep learning models in comprehensive workflows. In this paper, We report our latest research progress in supporting GPU-enabled deep learning at infrastructure-level in a popular SWFMS — DATAVIEW, which facilitates: (1) fast design, train, reuse neural networks as native workflows per Deep-Learning-as-a- Workflow (DLaaW) or integrate pre-trained neural network models with ordinary Tasks in one comprehensive workflow via JAVA API or WebBench GUI; (2) flexibly leverage various types of GPU resources for executing deep learning workflows. Our approach and implementations are thoroughly evaluated through experiments that demonstrate the efficacy and efficiency as compared to conventional Pytorch-based implementations.

Self-Perceived Fatigue After Motor Abilities Testing in Adolescent Elite Tennis Players

SummaryThe objective of the study was to determine self-perceived fatigue (S-PF) after motor abilities testing (MAT) in adolescent male and female elite tennis players. The research sample comprised of 17 male (mean age of 13.00 ± 1.54 years) and 20 female (mean age of 13.15 ± 1.42 years) adolescent elite tennis players who underwent testing of selected motor abilities in tennis. The level of fatigue in adolescent elite tennis players was measured with the Training Distress Scale (TDS). Both groups of elite tennis players declared the lowest, zero level of S-PF by TDS symptoms as inability to remember things and loose bowels or diarrhoea and significant S-PF during 48 hours after MAT was in both genders felt by lack of energy, feeling of heavy arms and legs, joint stiffness of soreness, and muscle soreness. Boys versus girls experienced significantly higher S-PF in the symptoms as difficulty falling asleep, being unusually tired during the day, joint stiffness of soreness, and ordinary tasks require extra effort. No significant differences were found in overall TDS between males and females adolescent elite tennis players.

Gamification and EFL Writing: Effects on Student Motivation

Many Korean students report lower motivation for English language writing. Gamification, a field receiving much attention in recent years, purports to increase motivation by adding game-like mechanics to ordinary tasks. This study reports on a quasi-experimental study aiming to examine gamification on a Korean university level English academic writing course to identify the effects of gamification on EFL writing motivation and writing performance. The Academic Writing Motivation Questionnaire (AWMQ) measured levels of English writing motivation among 22 Korean university students, half taking a course with additional gamified content, the rest taking the same course without gamified content. Mean scores for five motivational factors identified within the AWMQ were examined both for pre- and post-treatment and between treatment and control groups. Self-reported motivation showed a significant improvement in four of five factors for the treatment group post-treatment, but only one factor showed significant difference between the treatment and control groups. Comparison of writing samples produced by the participants and final course grades show no significant difference in EFL writing outcomes for the two groups. The results of gamification on motivation and writing outcomes, as well as potential areas of further research and implications for pedagogy related to gamification are discussed.

Estimating electrodeposition properties and processes: Cu-Ag alloy at n-Si(001) and Ru substrates from acidic sulfate bath

In alloy electrodeposition, estimations of the initial transient and the potential vs. composition trend of the film system is important for material design, deposition procedure and the deposit characterization. However, solving the diffusion-migration-convection problem based on common simulation methods is often too burdensome and too resource-consuming for ordinary tasks in the context of alloy electrodeposition works. In this work, based on a stagnant diffusion layer model, we have proposed simple estimates on (1) the potential-composition curve, (2) the thickness of the initial deposit, and (3) the time interval to reach the steady state deposition. These estimates were validated by using a Cu-Ag acidic sulfate electrolyte, which upon electrodeposition results in an immiscible Cu-Ag alloy, both at n-Si(001) or at polycrystallline Ru substrates. The limiting current of Cu-Ag electrodeposition is compared with the numerical results given by Selman and Newman in 1970s [17], whereas the film composition deposited at the limiting current from various electrolyte constitutions is compared with the model suggest by Brenner based on stagnant diffusion layer model [21]. The proposed estimation methods show good agreement with the observed values, despite being highly simplified, since they are compared with the actual mass-transfer problem of ions under convection and migration.

‘What does the fox say?’

AbstractThe late M. A. K. Halliday sketched a language-based theory of learning which posited three overlapping functions of learning language, learning through language, and finally learning about language as the young learner struggles to direct his or her own learning from language. Here we focus on one aspect of this struggle for what Vygotsky called conscious awareness and mastery of learning, namely questions. First we examine Hasan’s case that learning particular kinds of questions enable participation in classroom discourse while others disable it. Next, we look at Vygotsky’s case that self-directed questions (rhetorical and narrativized questions) have a key role to play in learning through questions. Finally, we consider what path the child has to take in learning about questions in English as a foreign language. Using ordinary classroom tasks under ordinary classroom conditions, we trace changes in children’s questions over six months, and we find statistically significant changes, particularly remarkable in retelling dialogues containing questions as narratives. But we also find very few new wh-questions, and we suggest that this is because mastery and conscious awareness of the structure of wh-questions still lie in the next, or proximal, zone of the children’s development.

APPLICATION OF INTERACTIVE TOOLS OF MOODLE CMS FOR HOLDING MINI-CONFERENCES WHEN STUDYING THE DISCIPLINE «MATHEMATICS»

The idea of mini-conferences when teaching mathematics at the university is presented. Both creative projects and ordinary tasks can be submitted as works. The relevance of the use of this technique is given and the scheme of implementation by means of the Moodle CMS is proposed.

Lived Experiences of Korean Young Adults After Heart Transplantation: A Phenomenological Approach

PurposeThis study aimed to explore and describe the lived experience of young adult heart transplant recipients in Korea. MethodsFifteen young adult heart transplant recipients participated in this qualitative study. Data were collected from March to August 2019 through in-depth individual interviews and analyzed using Colaizzi's phenomenological method. ResultsTheir experiences about the arduous journey of heart transplant surgery and life after surgery were captured in four themes: (1) unwelcome rebirth without vitality, (2) facing unreachable ordinary tasks in life, (3) lifestyle bordering between burdensome and self-valued, and (4) finding the true meaning of a newly given life. ConclusionYoung adult heart transplant recipients struggled with the burdens of their health problems, which impacted their employment and relationships. The participants' lifelong challenges and psychological turbulence identified in this study provide guidance for health-care providers to understand this population.

Strategies of Pen Tip Path Estimation and of Workload Comparison for Handwriting Tasks

The magnitude of impulse and work at pen tip, which are related to the fingertip force, may be indicators of fatigue and pain during writing. Previous methods used specially prepared pens for testing which have different sizes and weights from those commercially available; however, they are not suitable for evaluating the operation and workload of ordinary handwriting tasks. This article proposes a data processing method of a six-axis force-torque sensor for determining the contact state of the pen tip and calculating the position and work of the pen tip without adding anything to a commercially available pen. The proposed method consists of kinematic calculation of the pen tip position as the observation and probabilistic determination of the contact state of the pen tip. The performance of the proposed method is presented by applying to the time-series data of force vector and moment vector during handwriting tasks of symbols. The data was measured by a low-resolution high-frequency 6-DoF force-torque sensor. Multiple handwriting tasks with the same or different load at one time were set. It was confirmed statistically whether the work amount with one pen tip can be evaluated appropriately if the work amount is the same or different. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can compare the movement distance and work of the pen tip, depending on the severity of the writing task.

Inward-region-growing-based accurate partitioning of closely stacked objects for bin-picking

Object segmentation is a common task in bin-picking. Region-growing-based methods have been proven to be applicable for ordinary tasks, but they are not suitable for closely adjacent and stacked scenes. In this paper, we propose an inward-region-growing-based accurate partitioning method for bin-picking. A boundary bud generation algorithm is proposed for detecting the boundary initial points of closely adjacent objects for region growing. Then, a simplified growing algorithm, namely, the oriented unrestrained growing algorithm, is proposed for limiting the growing direction to the inward direction and accelerating the growing process. These experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can achieve higher accuracy and speed than existing methods, especially in closely adjacent scenes.

Using games during online English classes in Zoom (based on author’s personal experience)

The article is dedicated to adapting traditional games in English lessons to using them during classes on Zoom video conferencing platform, based on the author's own experience. The development of technology in the modern world allows us to take our classes beyond our classrooms and to conduct them where we consider it convenient. This makes it possible not to stop the learning process even in the context of a pandemic or under some other conditions that prevent our students from attending traditional classes. Using Zoom to learn and teach English also provides new opportunities to turn the ordinary tasks we are used to during our classes into unusual ones. Games occupy an important place in the process of mental development of pupils at different levels of language acquisition. They entertain, help to revise and recycle vocabulary, improve grammar skills, tune in for a lesson, etc. At the same time, distance learning in the spring of 2020 in Ukraine showed the need to use technologies and the Internet during the educational process, which in its turn led to the need to find optimal conditions for studying in order not to interrupt it in the circumstances of a world pandemic. Excessive use of technology has negative effects on pupils. In such conditions, games become not only a tool for learning, but also a means of achieving maximum result with minimal fatigue of students. The author of the article adapted 4 games and tested their effectiveness during distance education of pupils of Kharkiv specialized school #11. These studies in adapting games, which can be used in Zoom, can be continued as they make online English lessons interesting and productive. There are many other games that can be adapted during online learning.

Balance as a postural key component (core) for establishing physical state in school program reports

Admit balance control tends to test muscle imbalances, mobility restrictions and postural-control stability problems. Specifically include in Euro fit Fitness Testing Battery and absent in FitnessGram. This cross section-study examined the importance of balancing test as a missing component (core) for establishing a physical state in school program reports. Build on Flamingo Balance test as a messing protocol requested in the FitnessGram battery test. To test this hypothesis, 400 male middle school students, age 13.03 ± 0.56-year, sector education Mostaganem for academic years 2017–2018 participate voluntaries in the present study. Classified into two groups based on their levels falls up or down to 5 in Flamingo Balance. Build on studying design, protocol and statistics applied. Our results claim balance as a key component functional fitness related to both lumbar and trunk muscular fitness strength endurance and flexibility. Recommend by this study as key assessing test motor fitness. Need to be integrated into FitnessGram to evaluate deficits in improvements postural-control related to muscular fatigue, which ultimately affects balance performance during ordinary tasks or complex dynamic activities.

Benefits of Multiple Sclerosis Adult Day Program Participation for People with Multiple Sclerosis: A Qualitative Study.

Multiple sclerosis adult day programs (MSADPs) are nonmedical service programs that provide care and support to people with multiple sclerosis (MS) experiencing levels of impairment that interfere with employment and activities of daily living. The purpose of this study was to identify how program participants think MSADPs benefit them. We conducted in-depth interviews with 95 people with MS who were MSADP participants. Interviews occurred as part of site visits to ten programs across the country. We supplemented participant interviews with interviews of program staff and ethnographic observation of activities at each site over 1 to 3 days. Participants reported several benefits from participating in an MSADP. Almost universally, participants explained that receiving and giving social support were the most important benefits. Other positive outcomes described included increased emotional well-being, better understanding and acceptance of MS, practical know-how for accomplishing ordinary tasks, and increased mobility and improved motor functioning. Participants believe that MSADPs have a profound influence on their psychosocial health, much of which they attribute to membership in a socially cohesive community. Clinicians and policy makers should consider recommending these programs for people with MS who have unmet psychosocial needs and experience functional impairments.

The Formation of Professional Thinking for Future Technology Teachers

The article discusses the problem of the formation of the future Technology teachers’ professional thinking. The concept of «professional thinking of the Technology teacher» is clarified, which is considered as the features of the teacher’s thinking, letting him/her perform professional and pedagogical tasks successfully at a high level of mastery: quickly, accurately solve both the ordinary and extraordinary tasks of teaching and upbringing students in an original way. It has been established that the professional training of Technology teachers is a multi-faceted and time-consuming process. On the one hand, the student must master various work operations and technological processes at the industrial level or close to it, and on the other hand it must have general pedagogical knowledge and methods of their sharing. The peculiarities of the formation of the future Technology teachers’ professional thinking are determined by their activity specifics, which is defined by the goals, tasks, content, external and internal conditions, means, difficulties, features of the mental processes occurrence, motivation displays, the state of a person and a team towards the implementation of management and guidance. That is why the formation of the Technology teachers’ professional thinking should be carried out in an integral system of educational process at a pedagogical institution of higher education, and the methods of teaching students technologies to solve pedagogical tasks should be widely used at training sessions and pedagogical practices, contributing to the professional thinking formation. Moreover the research proves the necessity of wider informational technologies elements’ application with the use of computerized and audio-visual complexes as leading means and a leader, which allow synthesizing the intellectual components of professional thinking and activating its structural components development. The benefit of the article is the defined conditions for the formation of the future Technology teachers professional thinking, they are: a motivation, new means of mastering professional activity, a mental activity intensification, the scientifically substantiated selection of educational material, students’ age possibilities and individual peculiarities. As a result, the article reveals the need to include the material that reflects the specifics of the future Technology teachers professional thinking formation to the content of their subject and psychological and pedagogical training, as well as to combine individual and collective forms of students' work in the process of forming a professional thinking and to carry out a step-by-step control and correction of the future Technology teacher professional thinking formation.

Debates en torno a la estabilidad laboral de los agentes contratados por la administración pública nacional

En el presente trabajo se analiza el empleo público nacional con especial referencia al caso vinculado a los agentes contratados, y el análisis de la variable estabilidad, para poder estudiar, Constitución de la Nación mediante, la posibilidad cierta de reconocerle el derecho a la propiedad en el puesto de trabajo, a aquellas personas que, vinculadas jurídicamente con el Estado, hubieran celebrado con el mismo un vínculo jurídico de prestación personal que, desde su inicio, o bien, en el desa­rrollo posterior, se hubiese tornado contrario a la ley. Desde este punto, la hipótesis central del artículo escrito, lejos de negar la posibilidad de que el Estado nacional contrate a personas para desarrollar tareas que no respondan a una necesidad permanente, es concebir que aquellos que hubieran sido contratados en fraude al ordenamiento jurídico, y destinados, por ende, a desempeñar tareas ordinarias para el órgano o dependencia, pueden reclamar el reconocimiento de su derecho a la estabilidad, que supone, en el mejor de los casos, la solicitud tendiente a que se lo reincorpore a su lugar de trabajo. En este paper se trabaja con una mirada constitucional de las relaciones que pueden establecerse entre el derecho del trabajo y el derecho administrativo.

Burdened parents sharing their concerns for their children with the doctor. The impact of trust in general practice: a qualitative study

Objective: The aim of this study was to recognise the preconditions experienced by general practitioners (GPs) in addressing the children’s needs when ill and substance abusing parents consult for their own health problems.Design: Qualitative analysis of 38 case stories told by GPs in focus group interviews.Setting: Focus group interviews of four continuing medical education groups for GPs in western Norway.Subjects: 27 GPs (nine females) with at least 5 years’ experiences in general practice.Results: Different aspects of the GPs’ perceived mandate of trust from the parents was a precondition for the children’s situation to be addressed. In some case stories the participants took an open mandate from the parent for granted, while in others they assumed that the parent did not want to discuss their family situation. Sometimes the participants had faith that by continuing with their ordinary GP tasks, they might obtain a more open mandate of trust. Their evaluation of the mandate of trust seemed to impact on how the GP could adopt a mediating role between the parents and various support agencies, thus supporting children who were at risk.Discussion/conclusion: The children most at risk may remain invisible in GPs’ encounters with their parents, possibly because their parent’s health problems and overall situation overshadow the children’s situation. The mandate of trust from burdened parents to GPs can be a fruitful concept in understanding the interaction regarding the welfare of the parent’s children. Negotiating the mandate of trust with parents by explicitly addressing trust and having an ongoing discussion about the mandate and its limits might be an option to secure the children support if necessary.KEY POINTSOffering children of burdened parents information and support can be crucial for health promotion and illness prevention.A general practitioner’s (GP’s) evaluation of the trust parents have in them can determine the extent of support children receive.Depending on the parents’ level of trust, GPs may take a mediating role between support services and parents for the benefit of the children.A negotiation concerning the trust parents have in the GP may open up possibilities for GPs to offer children necessary support.

EEG analysis of mixed‐reality music rehabilitation system for post‐stroke lower limb therapy

AbstractLots of evidence and guidelines recommended that stroke patients have to do the rehabilitation all the time, but in fact, the ratio of patients doing the rehabilitation is usually less than one third. In order to enhance the rehabilitation efficacy, we develop an innovative mixed‐reality music rehabilitation (MR2) system, which is consisted of an MR goggle, inertial measurement unit sensors, and an EEG system. Several music contents with different levels are implemented into the MR system. While doing the rehabilitation task, our system can monitor patient's both gait information and electroencephalographic (EEG) signals to understand the rehabilitation performance in both central and peripheral nervous systems. The MR2 system has been pilot testing on two stroke patients and three healthy controls. Experiment results show that the patient's motor function is significantly activating when wearing the MR2 system during the rehabilitation task. Furthermore, the gait analysis results also show that flexion angle of the hemiplegic knee during walking was significantly improved when following the tempo of the MR music content in the rehabilitation. The pilot testing results provide new insights into the understanding of complex brain functions of patients actively and continuously performing the rehabilitation ordinary tasks within the mixed‐reality applications.

The Role of Reflection in Family Support Social Work and Its Possible Promotion by a Research-Supported Model

ABSTRACTPurpose: There is a prevailing controversy over the use of evidence-based practice (EBP) within human-service organizations. Since it is argued that it is a threat to reflection, proven experience, and tacit knowledge, we wanted to investigate the impact of the research-supported, family-centered model Family Check-Up (FCU) on practitioners’ use of, and opportunities for, reflection.Method: Focus group interviews with family support social workers trained in FCU (n = 19) were conducted.Results: The significance of reflection for social work practice is clearly indicated. It is crucial for providing quality care: for making progress, processing cases, and effecting change in client-related work. Described as a coping-mechanism, it is also crucial for practitioners. Since various elements of FCU require practitioners’ reflective ability, it was argued that it promotes both reflection and professional learning.Discussion: Rather than constituting a threat to reflection, FCU was seen as promoting it, indicating an inaccuracy in prevailing assumptions about research-supported models. This implies the need for revising the definition of such models to promote their potential use and benefits. Working with FCU, however, demands sufficient resources.Conclusion: With an increased focus on “production” leading to changes in priorities, it is argued that resources and opportunities for reflection decrease. As FCU and similar models seem to allow for the incorporation of reflection into ordinary tasks, we propose that they be used to prevent reflection from becoming even more difficult. However, to gain from the benefits of both reflection and research-supported models, various external factors need to be considered.