Proxy For Learning Research Articles

Modeling and interpreting triple oxygen isotope variations in vertebrates, with implications for paleoclimate and paleoecology

The 18O/16O ratios of biominerals have been widely used for reconstructing ecophysiology and climatic settings of modern and extinct animals. However, the 18O/16O ratios of body water, which largely determine the 18O/16O ratios of biominerals, are influenced by a host of competing factors. Regional climate and local hydrology are dominant controls on water isotopic composition before water is consumed by an animal. Behavioral and physiological factors, modified by local climate, also have a strong influence on body water compositions. The addition of a third isotope, 17O (expressed as Δ’17O) potentially allows for further resolution of these factors. Here we construct a generalized triple oxygen isotope mass balance model based on the 18O model of (Kohn 1996) (Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 60, 4811–4829) and examine the influence on vertebrate animal body water Δ’17O of numerous climatic, ecological, and isotopic variables. We evaluate the model against new and previously published triple oxygen isotope data from modern and fossil animals. The model predicts that animals from arid environments will have wider ranges and lower minimum values of body water Δ’17O than animals living in humid environments. Leaf water consumers are more sensitive to variations in relative humidity and have lower Δ’17O than surface water consumers, which more closely track meteoric water compositions. In this model, factors such as body mass and relative proportions of evaporative versus nonevaporative effluxes from the animal have a lesser influence on animal Δ’17O. If δ18O of meteoric water is invariant, body water isotopic compositions will form approximately linear arrays in Δ’17O versus δ18O space with slopes of ∼0.52. Study of Δ’17O becomes most useful when δ18O of meteoric water is variable or unknown (as is generally the case for fossil animals); in this case Δ’17O of body water responds more strongly to changes in relative humidity, evaporated water inputs, and animal water use efficiency. These predictions are generally supported by observations of Δ’17O for modern animals. This agreement suggests that Δ’17O analysis of animal tissues has great potential as a paleo-aridity proxy in continental environments and as a proxy for learning about the ecology of modern and extinct animals.

Affective learning for effective learning? Data, numbers and teachers’ learning

This article investigated the affective qualities of the datafication of education on teachers’ work and learning. Empirically, the research utilises interview data with experienced teachers from Queensland, Australia, to elaborate the affective qualities of increased policy attention to different forms of numeric targets, and associated data. The research reveals the increased datafication of education has led to significant pressure upon teachers to ensure enhanced results, even as there is also some evidence of more positive and productive engagement with data. The research cautions against the erosive emotive effects of the push for enhanced data as a proxy for learning.

On Using Controller Input and Signal Processing as a Parameter for Learning in CPHS

With the emergence of safe autonomous vehicles and systems, there is a demand for creating systems that are aware of and responsive to the human. There have been decades of work dedicated to human-in-the loop studies. However, when it comes to systems that are responsive to the human based on learning parameters, there is a need for the appropriate input parameters to assess learning. In this work, signal processing methods were used to analyze game controller input signals in response to humans completing a simulated quadrotor landing task with three levels of difficulty (easy, medium, and difficult) over 30 trials. Data collected from twelve adults were analyzed using the energy of the controller input signal; 2) non-dimensional velocity; and 3) dominant frequency analysis. The landing trajectories were also mapped graphically revealing three categories of learners: beginner, intermediate, and trained. The results from the signal processing analysis procedure provided supporting evidence for these categories. The results of this work suggests that input parameters from a game controller can be used as a proxy for learning and can provide an additional means for enabling human aware systems.

Investigating the low-risk anomaly in South Africa

PurposeRecent studies have shown that low-volatility shares outperform high-volatility shares. Given the conventional finance theory that risk drives return, this study aims to investigate and attempt to explain the presence of the low-risk anomaly (LRA) in South Africa.Design/methodology/approachUsing share prices from 1990 to 2016, various buy-and-hold strategies are constructed to determine the return to an investor attempting to capitalise on such an anomaly. These strategies involve combinations relating to a price filter, the calculation of risk and volatility, value-weighting or equal-weighting of portfolios and the window period to construct said portfolios.FindingsIt was found that the LRA exists on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE_=) when using univariate sorts, without controlling for the size or value effect. When using multivariate portfolio sorts (size and volatility or value and volatility), it was found that the LRA does not exist on the JSE under the majority of risk proxies, but particularly prevalent when downside risk is used. This loosely points towards a potential “inverse momentum” effect where low-return portfolios outperform their counterparts.Originality/valueIn general, it is established that the risk–return relationship is non-linear and deterministic under traditional proxies, but improves to being somewhat, but not completely, linear under a Kalman filter. The Kalman filter, which can be considered a proxy for learning, does not remove the anomaly in its entirety, indicating that behavioural approaches are needed to explain such phenomena.

Virtual Reality Simulations and Writing: a Neuroimaging Study in Science Education

This study investigates the role that textbooks, virtual reality (VR), and mixed approaches (i.e., text and VR) can play in the development of the two writing types, summary and argument writing. This study uses hemodynamics as a proxy for learning. Differences in hemodynamic responses during writing tasks were measured across four different pedagogical modalities: VR alone, VR followed by textbook readings, textbook readings followed by VR, and textbook readings alone. Adult students N = 80, recruited from non-science-based higher education programs, responded to two prompts related to content found in the VR environment and discussed in the textbook. The authors hypothesized that exposure to a virtual marine environment prior to writing would enhance the two writing products, when compared with participants who only had access to textbook experiences. Of the four conditions participants exposed to the VR environment then a textbook demonstrated significantly greater hemodynamic response than those who had access to VR alone or text alone.

Culture, Heritage, Art: Navigating Authenticities in Contemporary Hungarian Folk Singing.

In Hungary, the decline of traditional peasant culture and its heritage has prompted urban revivals, leading to the acceptance of traditional Hungarian folk singing as a performing arts genre. Drawing from a series of in-depth interviews, this study shows how contemporary Hungarian folk singers navigate (define, learn, police) different forms of authenticity within the field of folk music. While we find that objectified authenticity – heritagized classification systems – is the dominant form of symbolic capital, the broader symbolic economy of authenticity is complicated by competing definitions of folk singing as, variously, culture, heritage, and art. Third-person authenticity is more highly regarded, but it is more difficult for contemporary urban folk singers to achieve because they were not socialized in peasant communities. Therefore, they use objectified authenticity such as ‘original recordings’ as a proxy for learning about living folk culture. Although objectified authenticity constrains the agency of artistic expression, it affords discriminatory creativity (choosing one’s own repertoire) and rationalized creativity (adapting traditional material to external values and contexts).

Learning at the museum

Museum attendance is often seen as a chance for visitors to learn and thus increase their cultural capital. However, a share of the visitors may decide to attend museums for reasons other than cultural capital accumulation. This article investigates whether learning process takes place also in the case of tourists whose main motivation for the visit is recreational. Different attitudes towards cultural consumption may have a role in explaining visit length, seen as a proxy for learning. We present an empirical analysis of the determinants of both willingness to stay and actual length of stay at a museum. Evidence is based on a survey of tourists visiting the Italian museum of Vittoriale. Generalized ordered logit under partial proportional odds assumption and Cox proportional hazard models are used to assess the role of the covariates. A set of economic, socio-demographic, trip-related and psychographic controls is tested, with particular emphasis on motivation.

Corporate Investments and Learning*

Using age as a proxy for learning within a firm, we show that the investments of firms with younger projects react more to profit realizations. With time, firms learn about their long-term quality, and their investment decisions become less influenced by the random shocks they receive. We also show that the learning process depends on the volatility of the economic environment. In more volatile industries, firms observe more noise and less signal from profit realizations. Their investments are therefore less influenced by profits. These new empirical results are consistent with a Tobin's q framework augmented with Bayesian learning. Copyright 2013, Oxford University Press.

Do undergraduate students view calculator usage as a proxy for learning with understanding?

Do undergraduate students view calculator usage as a proxy for learning with understanding?

ACGME Work-Hour Rules Challenge Old Assumptions

ACGME Work-Hour Rules Challenge Old Assumptions

Learning at a Distance

Distance learning is the fastest growing segment of postsecondary education. Almost 3 million students took at least one online course in fall 2005, an increase of more than 800,000 over the previous year (Allen and Seaman 2006). At the same time, questions persist about the quality of online learning. In one recent study, about two-fifths of senior academic officers at U.S. degree-granting higher education institutions expressed a belief that distance learning is inferior to face-to-face learning (Allen and Seaman 2006). Although some studies show that distance education learners benefit from their experiences to the same degree as campus-based learners (Dutton, Dutton, and Perry 2002; Neuhauser 2002), most of the work demonstrating positive outcomes in distance learning has focused on older students, who are often more motivated and have the self-discipline to manage effectively the unstructured nature of the distance learning environment (Dibiase 2000; Hardy and Boaz 1997). One important unresolved issue related to the quality of the learning experience is the degree to which online learners are engaged in their educational activities relative to campus-based learners. Engagement is positively related to a host of desired outcomes, including high grades, student satisfaction, and persistence. For this reason, such activities as student-faculty interaction, peer-to-peer collaboration, and active learning are thought to be important in both face-to-face and online learning environments (Brown 2006; Chickering and Gamson 1987; Graham et al. 2001; Pascarella and Terenzini 2005; Richardson and Swan 2003). Lee Shulman, the president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, asserts that because student engagement is a precursor to building knowledge and understanding, it is both a proxy for learning and a desired outcome in itself (2002). By being engaged, students develop habits of the mind and heart that promise to stand them in good stead for a lifetime of continuous learning.