Scientific Research Process Research Articles

Reflections on the "Ethics Guideline for using Generative Artificial Intelligence in Scientific Research and Publication Process of Higher Education Institutions".

Reflections on the "Ethics Guideline for using Generative Artificial Intelligence in Scientific Research and Publication Process of Higher Education Institutions".

Digitally enabled workflows: Unlocking the power of our data – An introduction to the thematic collection

This contribution is an introduction to the thematic collection “Digitally enabled workflows: Unlocking the power of our data”. The goal of the collection is to show how advances in data-science are transforming the process of scientific research and fueling a new generation of energy geoscience workflows. These workflows are providing game-changing advances in terms of time saving on complex tasks, improved consistency and repeatability of interpretation, and utilization of scarce experienced geoscientists. Eight articles have been accepted for publication as part of this thematic collection, five in Petroleum Geoscience and three in Geoenergy . We provide a short summary of each of these contributions and hope that this collection will provide inspiration and examples of the breadth of workflows that can be transformed by embracing the coming wave of digital technologies.

New Approaches in the Assessment of Pre-Service Teachers' Scientific Research Skills: Multidimensional-Many Facet Rasch Model Application

This survey study aimed to determine pre-service teachers’ skills in conducting and presenting scientific research process and to examine their peer-scoring behaviors. The participants consisted of 36 pre-service teachers and seven peer raters. The analytical rubric developed by the researchers and the performance task were used to collect data. The multidimensional many-facet Rasch measurement model was employed in data analysis. Rasch analysis was carried out with a fully crossed design. The analyses revealed that the least difficult criterion in the dimension of conducting the scientific research process was to perform data analysis while the most challenging criterion was to determine the research model and sample. In addition, the least difficult criterion in the dimension of making an oral presentation was to ensure the interest and participation of the audience, while the most challenging criterion was to make an effective start. The analysis of the rater facet demonstrated that the most severity rater was R3, while the most leniency rater was R4. The study argues that the multidimensional many-facet Rasch model can be used to present reliability and validity evidence in multidimensional performance evaluations.

Advancing scientific literacy: Integrating nature of science and nature of scientific inquiry in teaching Griffith’s and Avery-MacLeod-McCarty experiments

The present study aims to design an instruction that engages nature of science (NOS) and nature of scientific inquiry (NOSI) learning objectives with the teaching and learning of important historical experiments taught around the world and presented in most biology textbooks such as those by Griffith and by Avery, MacLeod, and McCarty. The design process involves decisions about which NOS and NOSI aspects to teach and decisions about how to teach. With respect to the latter decisions, our preference is an explicit/reflective perspective used in an overarching inquiry-based science teaching and history of science instructional context. The proposed course is going to provide high school students meaningful and practical inquiry-based experiences through the use of simulated experiments and would help their teachers (a) illuminate several procedural aspects of the taught experiments (b) internalize the importance of teaching NOS and NOSI aspects (c) acquire an integrative understanding of the process of scientific inquiry and the product of that inquiry, namely scientific knowledge, and (d) portray science less as a body of knowledge and more as a creative process involving human and non-human actors. The potential benefits of our proposed instruction for learners’ scientific literacy are also discussed.

An Action Research on Basic Competence in Science and Technology in Social Studies Course

Social Studies course is one of the basic courses that prepare students for social life. Change and development have become important in science and technology in the present time. Social Studies course has found its place in the development and change in science and technology. Developments in science and technology are given in Social Studies course, considering the basic competences in science and technology. The aim of this research is to reveal the process of activities related to the basic competence area of social studies course regarding science and technology and to determine the views of students and teachers regarding this process. The research was designed in action research pattern which is one of the qualitative research methods. The research was conducted in the first and second semesters of 2022-2023 academic year. The participants of the research are 6th grade students and their social studies teacher. The data of the research, observation form, teacher and student diaries, student products, semi-structured interview forms were gathered via video recordings of the researcher in the process. Data analysis of the research was conducted using descriptive analysis method. In the research it was concluded that the activities conducted regarding basic competence in science and technology in social studies course entertained the students during the course, the course was better comprehended and the subjects were learned easily. In addition, it was concluded that the activities related to the basic competence in science and technology in Social Studies course improved students' ability to conduct research using scientific research process, and realized the importance of the scientific ethics concept, respect for labor and citing references. Considering the results of the research, recommendations for practitioners and researchers were made.

Ontologies and Research Data

This study examines the relationship between ontologies and open research data within the framework of the Semantic Web. The objective is to investigate the interconnectivity of both subjects through scholarly works that offer enhancements to the Web ecosystem and scientific research processes. The paper reviews critical theoretical frameworks related to the Semantic Web and the significance of metadata within this model. It also delves into the function that ontologies can fulfill in the Semantic Web landscape. The paper provides a historical overview of the emergence of ontologies and definitions in both Computer Science and Information Science. It chronicles how theorists in Information Science have progressively embraced the concept of ontologies since the late 20th century and assesses the current scholarly consensus on the subject. The study also addresses the importance of open research data in modern science by doing a systematic literature review; this study sources relevant publications from the Web of Science and Scopus databases, with a temporal focus from 2000 to 2023. The findings offer a comprehensive analysis of existing literature that bridges the two domains above, aiding in the theoretical and methodological systematization of the subject matter. The discussion section elaborates on the findings, offering insights into the evolutionary trajectory of the subject matter. Emphasis is placed on the utility of ontologies as tools for the sustainable and effective utilization of research data, accentuating the value of such data as a basis for future scholarly work. In conclusion, we advocate for information science to take a leading role in initiatives that leverage ontological frameworks to manage specialized knowledge in research data sets effectively, ensuring that such data remains an asset for advancing scientific understanding.

Traditional cuisine, a true identity marker

The assumption of ethno-cultural identity through traditional cuisine has become an increasingly popular phenomenon recently, in the context of the increase in migration flows, on the one hand, and the agglutination of the sense of identity, on the other. In this article, we aim to examine the specific gastronomic identity, the circumstances of the construction of contemporary Moldovan cuisine and the influences that have left their mark on the local gastronomic profile. We also highlighted the contributions of ethnologists in the scientific research process of traditional gastronomy. In the second part of the article, we found that, for Moldovans in the diaspora, preserving eating habits and eating traditional foods helps to calm nostalgia for the past and heritage. At the same time, food functions as a social binder, strengthening ties with family and friends.

Demystifying the way libraries support distance learning: a bibliometric analysis of scholarly communication in distance libraries

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to report on bibliometric research on the activities and services offered by distance libraries that serve distance learning institutions.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis of scholarly communication has always been a valuable tool for researchers and policymakers in order to understand trends, gaps and patterns in a specific field. In this paper, a bibliometric analysis has been applied based on a well-known bibliometric tool called “VOSviewer.” The articles that constitute the dataset of current research were drawn from two journals: the Journal of Library Administration and the Journal of Library and Information Services in Distance Learning.FindingsThe bibliometric analysis applied in distance libraries showed that the researchers in this domain are mainly introverts and need to prioritize engaging in the scientific research process over merely publishing good practices. Although there are a lot of libraries serving distance learning institutions (formal and non-formal), there is a notable lack of activity in the scientific publication field.Originality/valueDistance libraries have played a significant role in supporting distance learning, and since distance education has become more important in the educational ecosystem, the analysis of its scholarly production would provide administrators, researchers and policymakers with insights for the next era of conventional libraries.

The Unbearable Lightness of Financed Research

This paper aims at drawing the attention of national and international academic communities on an ethical issue which seems to have become systematic: the propensity of forging the scientific research process and its results, in various lines of activity. The manipulation of knowledge and the falsification of knowledge are directly connected to the current conditions and procedures of scholarships granting, of financing research projects, of publishing the results of the research and of promoting research and higher education staff. In order to highlight the manner in which these processes are linked and mutually amplified, we shall make use of the investigations results that the Italian researcher Enrico Bucci presents in his book The Bastard Scientists. Scientific Research Frauds (2015)

Link prediction for hypothesis generation: an active curriculum learning infused temporal graph-based approach

Over the last few years Literature-based Discovery (LBD) has regained popularity as a means to enhance the scientific research process. The resurgent interest has spurred the development of supervised and semi-supervised machine learning models aimed at making previously implicit connections between scientific concepts/entities within often extensive bodies of literature explicit—i.e., suggesting novel scientific hypotheses. In doing so, understanding the temporally evolving interactions between these entities can provide valuable information for predicting the future development of entity relationships. However, existing methods often underutilize the latent information embedded in the temporal aspects of the interaction data. Motivated by applications in the food domain—where we aim to connect nutritional information with health-related benefits—we address the hypothesis-generation problem using a temporal graph-based approach. Given that hypothesis generation involves predicting future (i.e., still to be discovered) entity connections, in our view the ability to capture the dynamic evolution of connections over time is pivotal for a robust model. To address this, we introduce THiGER, a novel batch contrastive temporal node-pair embedding method. THiGER excels in providing a more expressive node-pair encoding by effectively harnessing node-pair relationships. Furthermore, we present THiGER-A, an incremental training approach that incorporates an active curriculum learning strategy to mitigate label bias arising from unobserved connections. By progressively training on increasingly challenging and high-utility samples, our approach significantly enhances the performance of the embedding model. Empirical validation of our proposed method demonstrates its effectiveness on established temporal-graph benchmark datasets, as well as on real-world datasets within the food domain.

University Research, Climate and Organizational Culture in a Peruvian University

Objective: To determine the relationship between the participation of engineering faculty students in university research, climate and organizational culture in a Peruvian university. Theoretical Framework: Science research as a development of scientific competencies is a way of learning production and learning development in the promotion of critical thinking and argumentative forms in the growth and ability to interact among students with scientific level research (Valdiviezo, 2023). Method: The research is basic, non-experimental, descriptive and correlational level; providing scopes for an adequate progress of the strategic objectives of the university institution with a quantitative approach (Hernández & Mendoza, 2018). Methods, techniques and instruments were applied for the collection of information for the treatment, analysis and presentation of results (Sánchez & Reyes, 2015). Results and Discussion: It was evidenced the existence of correlation between the study variables University research and Organizational climate (rho=0.442 and p=0.000<0.05) as well as between University research and Organizational culture (rho=0.328; p=0.000<0.05 ), being a moderate positive correlation. Research Implications: Scientific production is a fundamental part of the university professor's activity and dissemination through the publication of scientific articles has become an essential pillar (Delgado et al., 2021). Originality/Value: The research will contribute to the improvement of scientific research processes in universities by promoting a climate and culture of research character to generate the conditions for the development of research projects and the participation of the university community.

REAL possibilities: innovative and responsive curriculum enactment enabling impactful inquiry in primary science

ABSTRACT The goal of the Beyond 2000 report (Millar & Osborne, 1998) to prepare young people for uncertain futures is arguably more crucial than ever. Current educational policies and curricula emphasise STEAM, twenty-first-century skills, and citizenship perspectives for solution generation to address global challenges. However, generative enactment in primary science requires ongoing attention, which is the focus of this paper. Conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic in Melbourne, Australia, our design-based research with Year 6 students and teachers used inductive thematic analysis to identify what we term impactful inquiry. Students scientifically-grounded solutions to an issue relevant to them. Drawing on existing inquiry models, we propose an empirically informed framing of our impactful inquiry as REAL: (a) Relevant-contextually integrated and responsive; (b) Evidence-focused-using epistemic tools, practices and processes of scientific inquiry; (c) Actioned-driving science-informed change in the community; and (d) Linked, to learning and life, with consideration of the past, present, and future including sustained and continued action and curriculum in meaningful ways. We intend the REAL framing of our impactful inquiry to contribute to efforts to innovate responsive curriculum enactment of primary science that prepares students to negotiate socio-ecological issues and realise transformative change, now and into the future.

Layouts and tips for a typical final-year chemical engineering graduation project

Abstract A fundamental step in the education and scientific research processes is the final-year project for undergraduate students. In chemical engineering departments, the final year project has unique properties since it deals with the design and production of specific materials or chemicals. It represents a whole plant design. In the present work, a layout and tips are proposed for a typical final-year chemical engineering graduation project. Six chapters are suggested. Each chapter is given a main theme and subtitles in order to facilitate the writing process of the project. Chapter one represents an introduction to the importance of the material that was produced, material properties, production process, etc. In chapter two, material and energy balance calculations are addressed. Chapter three handled the equipment design. Cost and environmental assessments are discussed in Chapter four. The results of chapters two and three are compared with software outcomes, which can be collected in chapter five. Finally, the main results, conclusion, and recommendations for future work are proposed to be in Chapter six. Furthermore, tips and advice are addressed to assist students in the writing of a typical graduation project.

Bot log mining: An approach to the integrated analysis of Robotic Process Automation and process mining

Process mining and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) are two technologies of great interest in research and practice. Process mining uses event logs as input, but much of the information available about processes is not yet considered since the data is outside the scope of ordinary event logs. RPA technology can automate tasks by using bots, and the executed steps can be recorded, which could be a valuable data source for process mining. With the use of RPA technology expected to grow, an integrated view of steps performed by bots in business processes is needed. In process mining, various techniques to analyze processes have already been developed. Most RPA software also includes basic measures to monitor bot performance. However, the isolated use of bot-related or process mining measures does not provide an end-to-end view of bot-enabled business processes. To address these issues, we develop an approach that enables using RPA logs for process mining and propose tailored measures to analyze merged bot and process logs. We use the design science research process to structure our work and evaluate the approach by conducting a total of 14 interviews with experts from industry and research. We also implement a software prototype and test it on real-world and artificial data. This approach contributes to prescriptive knowledge by providing a concept on how to use bot logs for process mining and brings the research streams of RPA and process mining further together. It provides new data that expands the possibilities of existing process mining techniques in research and practice, and it enables new analyses that can observe bot-human interaction and show the effects of bots on business processes.

Technology-Enhanced Collaborative Inquiry in K–12 Classrooms: A Systematic Review of Empirical Studies

AbstractCollaborative inquiry is an instructional approach that encourages student groups to engage in scientific inquiry processes, thereby enhancing their critical thinking and exploratory skills. The effective classroom implementation of this method requires ensuring student engagement in each inquiry stage, where technological tools and activity strategies play a crucial role in supporting their inquiry processes. However, the technological tools and activity strategies that contribute to designing classroom activities and fostering students’ engagement in collaborative inquiry remain unclear. This systematic review analyzed 58 empirical studies on technology-enhanced collaborative inquiry in K–12 classrooms. We examined the characteristics of these studies, the technological tools and activity strategies employed, and their reported outcomes and effects on student learning. The results indicate that most classroom practices featured diverse technological tools and activity strategies to support students in collaboratively performing stages of inquiry tasks. The findings highlight the need for further research into effectively integrating technological tools with activity strategies to provide adaptive support for specific inquiry processes, such as hypothesis generation and scientific argumentation. Our synthesis of previous outcome measurements revealed the positive impacts of technology-enhanced collaborative inquiry on students’ content knowledge, overall inquiry process, and scientific skills like argumentation. The implications of these findings are discussed for both researchers and practitioners, emphasizing the necessity of integrating appropriate technological tools and activity strategies to effectively facilitate collaborative inquiry in K–12 classrooms.

Assessing ChatGPT's ability to emulate human reviewers in scientific research: A descriptive and qualitative approach

BackgroundChatGPT is an AI platform whose relevance in the peer review of scientific articles is steadily growing. Nonetheless, it has sparked debates over its potential biases and inaccuracies. This study aims to assess ChatGPT's ability to qualitatively emulate human reviewers in scientific research. MethodsWe included the first submitted version of the latest twenty original research articles published by the 3rd of July 2023, in a high-profile medical journal. Each article underwent evaluation by a minimum of three human reviewers during the initial review stage. Subsequently, three researchers with medical backgrounds and expertise in manuscript revision, independently and qualitatively assessed the agreement between the peer reviews generated by ChatGPT version GPT-4 and the comments provided by human reviewers for these articles. The level of agreement was categorized into complete, partial, none, or contradictory. Results720 human reviewers’ comments were assessed. There was a good agreement between the three assessors (Overall kappa >0.6). ChatGPT's comments demonstrated complete agreement in terms of quality and substance with 48 (6.7 %) human reviewers’ comments, partially agreed with 92 (12.8 %), identifying issues necessitating further elaboration or recommending supplementary steps to address concerns, had no agreement with a significant 565 (78.5 %), and contradicted 15 (2.1 %). ChatGPT comments on methods had the lowest proportion of complete agreement (13 comments, 3.6 %), while general comments on the manuscript displayed the highest proportion of complete agreement (17 comments, 22.1 %). ConclusionChatGPT version GPT-4 has a limited ability to emulate human reviewers within the peer review process of scientific research.

The Polish version of the Process-Based Assessment Tool (PBAT)-The measure of processes of change in psychological interventions.

The aim of this study was to conduct a Polish adaptation of Process-Based Assessment Tool (PBAT), to be used primarily for measurement of the processes of change occurring within psychological interventions, regardless of the therapeutic approach. PBAT includes a set of statements related to negative and positive behaviors in the domains of selection, variation, and retention, as it is theoretically embedded in the evolutionary approach. The tool's construction was determined by resolving the issue of ergodic error, hence employs an idiographic approach. A total of 602 (319 F, 281 M) participants in the age 18-85 took part in the study. Apart from the original 21 PBAT items, two additional items related to self-care vs. self-impatience were tested. The included criterion variables related to the assessment of individual functioning in terms of distress (sadness, anxiety, stress, anger, lack of social support), health (health and vitality levels), the fulfillment or frustration of autonomy, connection, and competence need, as well as well-being (life-satisfaction and sense of professional burnout). The machine learning Boruta algorithm was utilized. PBAT items significantly predicted criterion variables. Positive selection behaviors were strongest predictors of Health, Vitality, Life-satisfaction as well as satisfaction of autonomy, connection and competence needs. Negative selection behaviors were strongest predictors of distress, lack of social support, work burnout as well as the frustration of autonomy, connection and competence needs. Overall, the PBAT items were more predictive of variables encompassing negative aspects of functioning than positive aspects or well-being. The overall relationships and conclusions are consistent with those obtained in the original study. The Polish version of PBAT is recommended for use in further scientific research and therapeutic processes.

Is Artificial Intelligence against/for Better Ethical Scientific Research?

Artificial intelligence has become a highly debated topic globally. Its impact and the changes it brings in every field prompt a reassessment of the human factor's contribution. This study aims to examine the use of artificial intelligence for academic purposes for researchers. In the study, ethical concerns about the use of artificial intelligence in scientific research are explained descriptively. Various studies and opinions regarding this matter in the literature have been examined. While artificial intelligence has become a part of everyday life and a reality, it cannot be separated from scientific research processes and environments. It should be remembered that regardless of how successful artificial intelligence is in all these processes, the role and impact of researchers remain constant. Researchers have to be capable of responding to the changing needs and demands of the evolving world, producing works that are free from any bias and incorrect information, and being ethically sensitive.

Game-based collaborative scientific inquiry learning using realistic context and inquiry process-based multidimensional scaffolding

ABSTRACT Integrating multidimensional scaffolding into digital game-based learning is expected to address scientific inquiry teaching challenges, simulating real-world complexities to ignite learner interest. This study stands out by using realistic scenarios and multidimensional scaffolding to develop an online collaborative scientific inquiry game, designed based on the scientific inquiry process to create corresponding game mechanics and processes. It leverages cloud technology integration as scaffolding, accompanied by a train maintenance scenario with non-player characters (NPC) to enhance electromagnetism learning for learners. This study involved 90 college students divided into three groups: game scaffolding group (remote gaming teaching activities with NPC-based scaffolding), document scaffolding group (remote case study activities with document-based scaffolding), and no scaffolding group (remote case study activities without scaffolding). The results indicate that providing scaffolding in remote scientific inquiry teaching enhances learning outcomes compared to activities without scaffolding. Learners in the game scaffolding group reported a high level of flow experience, perceived that remote gaming teaching was helpful for scientific inquiry learning, and experienced lower anxiety. Furthermore, learners provided highly positive feedback on the usefulness of multidimensional scaffolding in the game. There were no significant differences among the three instructional activities in terms of flow state, activity anxiety, and the usefulness of scientific inquiry.

Theory, validation, and improvement of four enhancement algorithms for repetitive impulses

Analyzing vibration of rotating machinery signals is a popular methodology derived on the potent tools provided by cyclostationary process theory. Among them, the autocorrelation function (ACF), the Fourier transform (FT), the short-time Fourier transform (STFT), and the time synchronous average (TSA) are widely used for enhancing and analyze random cyclostationary components, i.e., repetitive impulses. This paper aims to thoroughly investigate these techniques through a comprehensive scientific research process. Initially, theoretical analyses are conducted to discuss their noise suppression principles, on the foundation of mean and variance analysis. Results indicate that for Gaussian random noise, the variance of the noise linked to the ACF, the FT, and TSA almost decreases linearly with signal length, while the noise variance of the short-time Fourier transform does so with window length. Therefore, longer signal lengths for the ACF, the FT, and the TSA, or extended window lengths for the STFT, improve their denoising performance. Subsequently, a series of simulated signals are generated to validate these findings, complemented by public datasets for further verification. Finally, the paper discusses and concludes with enhancement approaches derived from these four methodologies.