Tutorial Guidance Research Articles

“Engaging, interactive, not boring” – A new innovative tutorial programme for medical students with promising longevity at the University of East Anglia.

Introduction Medical students at the University of East Anglia (UEA) complete a psychiatry rotation in the fourth year of their MBBS degree. There are four rotations each academic year, in 2022-2023 there were 24 students per rotation. The rotation consists of two weeks of lectures, a four-week clinical placement, and then a further two weeks of lectures. Students are based across Norfolk and Suffolk for their clinical placements. Although case-based discussions occurred every Wednesday morning via Teams, there were no face-to-face small group teaching sessions during placement.ObjectivesTo design an interactive set of tutorials for medical students covering a wide range of psychiatric topics which can be easily delivered by other facilitators.MethodsThree 1.5 hour tutorials were created: 1)” Psychotic Bingo” - Students have a unique card with terms used in descriptive psychopathology to play Bingo, 2) “Medical ethics, mental health and the law” – Explores the case of Kerrie Wooltorton to discuss the mental capacity act, advanced decisions, and the mental health act, 3) “Team Quiz” – Played in groups and covers the different sub-specialties of psychiatry and pharmacology. Tutorials were only mandatory for students in Norwich (average 11 students per tutorial) due to a large geographical area across placements. Tutorials were delivered for three rotations between December 2022 – May 2023, the initial two rotations by the first author and the third rotation by other facilitators. Facilitators were provided with a tutorial guidance document to ensure consistency. The same feedback form was used to obtain qualitative and quantitative feedback from students at all tutorials.ResultsThe table below shows that feedback from students was consistently high, and there was little difference in average students rating between tutorials delivered by the first author and other facilitators. The predominant qualitative feedback was that the tutorials were “very interactive”, “engaging” and “fun”.Image:ConclusionsThis tutorial programme consistently received excellent feedback. The results show that the tutorials can be effectively delivered by other facilitators whilst maintaining a high standard, which ensures the programmes longevity. The tutorial programme is being formally implemented for all medical students at UEA from October 2023.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

“Nursing students' social representation of tutorial classes in learning process: Qualitative study”

Tutorial guidance, allows nursing students to develop soft skills. The aim is to understand the social representation of nursing bachelor's degree students on tutorial guidance classes. Qualitative, descriptive-exploratory study, guided by the theory of social representations. Data collection was performed through a free word association test delivered to undergraduate nursing students. The social representation of fits into the framework of an active learning methodology. Students should be prepared for assuming an active role.

Lone Pair…π Contacts and Structure Signatures of r(UNCG) Tetraloops, Z-Turns, and Z-Steps: A WebFR3D Survey.

Z-DNA and Z-RNA have long appeared as oddities to nucleic acid scientists. However, their Z-step constituents are recurrently observed in all types of nucleic acid systems including ribosomes. Z-steps are NpN steps that are isostructural to Z-DNA CpG steps. Among their structural features, Z-steps are characterized by the presence of a lone pair…π contact that involves the stacking of the ribose O4′ atom of the first nucleotide with the 3′-face of the second nucleotide. Recently, it has been documented that the CpG step of the ubiquitous r(UNCG) tetraloops is a Z-step. Accordingly, such r(UNCG) conformations were called Z-turns. It has also been recognized that an r(GAAA) tetraloop in appropriate conditions can shapeshift to an unusual Z-turn conformation embedding an ApA Z-step. In this report, we explore the multiplicity of RNA motifs based on Z-steps by using the WebFR3D tool to which we added functionalities to be able to retrieve motifs containing lone pair…π contacts. Many examples that underscore the diversity and universality of these motifs are provided as well as tutorial guidance on using WebFR3D. In addition, this study provides an extensive survey of crystallographic, cryo-EM, NMR, and molecular dynamics studies on r(UNCG) tetraloops with a critical view on how to conduct database searches and exploit their results.

VALIDASI DAN UJI LAPANGAN BAHAN PEMBELAJARAN GENERASI BARU (Studi pada Matakuliah Geografi dan Pelestarian Lingkungan dalam PIPS Universitas Terbuka)

This study aims to carry out the Validation and Trial of Learning Materials for the New Generation of Universitas Terbuka (UT) in Geography and Environmental Preservation in PIPS. This research was carried out in Conventional, Blended and Fully Online forms referring to steps 9 – 10 of the R & D model developed by Borg, Walter R. and Gall, Meredith D. (1983) for the macro scale, and the R & D model according to Borg and Gall (2007) for the micro scale. The results of the Preliminary Field Testing consist of input by 1) Content expert validation which includes material should not be used from the web, updated references, HOT question forms and updated material content; 2) Validation of Language Expert Instructional Design which includes more clarified drawing/illustration techniques, presentation of material plus instructions and sentences are good. The results of the Preliminary Product Revision by students (3 people) of UPBJJ-UT Jakarta, namely input in the form of being given instructions/material descriptions in the answer to the exercise. The Main Field Testing results consist of 1) UPBJJ-UT Purwokerto A total of 8 people, namely improvements to Modules 1-9 and each module a concept map is made; 2) UPBJJ-UT Semarang 4 people, namely the material is too broad and TTM Tutorial Guidance is needed; and UPBJJ-UT Jakarta 2 people, namely given instructions on the description of the material in the answers to the exercises.

Persistent confusion in nutrition and obesity research about the validity of classic nonparametric tests in the presence of heteroscedasticity: evidence of the problem and valid alternatives

The use of classic nonparametric tests (cNPTs), such as the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests, in the presence of unequal variance for between-group comparisons of means and medians may lead to marked increases in the rate of falsely rejecting null hypotheses and decreases in statistical power. Yet, this practice remains prevalent in the scientific literature, including nutrition and obesity literature. Some nutrition and obesity studies use a cNPT in the presence of unequal variance (i.e., heteroscedasticity), sometimes because of the mistaken rationale that the test corrects for heteroscedasticity. Herein, we discuss misconceptions of using cNPTs in the presence of heteroscedasticity. We then discuss assumptions, purposes, and limitations of 3 common tests used to test for mean differences between multiple groups, including 2 parametric tests: Fisher's ANOVA and Welch's ANOVA; and 1 cNPT: the Kruskal-Wallis test. To document the impact of heteroscedasticity on the validity of these tests under conditions similar to those used in nutrition and obesity research, we conducted simple simulations and assessed type I error rates (i.e., false positives, defined as incorrectly rejecting the null hypothesis). We demonstrate that type I error rates for Fisher's ANOVA, which does not account for heteroscedasticity, and Kruskal-Wallis, which tests for differences in distributions rather than means, deviated from the expected significance level. Greater deviation from the expected type I error rate was observed as the heterogeneity increased, especially in the presence of an imbalanced sample size. We provide brief tutorial guidance for authors, editors, and reviewers to identify appropriate statistical tests when test assumptions are violated, with a particular focus on cNPTs.

Workflows of the Single-Molecule Imaging Analysis in Living Cells: Tutorial Guidance to the Measurement of the Drug Effects on a GPCR.

Single-molecule imaging (SMI) is a powerful method to measure the dynamics of membrane proteins on the cell membrane. The single-molecule tracking (SMT) analysis provides information about the diffusion dynamics, the oligomer size distribution, and the particle density change. The affinity and on/off-rate of a protein-protein interaction can be estimated from the dual-color SMI analysis. However, it is difficult for trainees to determine quantitative information from the SMI movies. The present protocol guides the detailed workflows to measure the drug-activated dynamics of a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) and metabotropic glutamate receptor 3 (mGluR3), by using the total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (TIRFM). This tutorial guidance comprises an open-source software, named smDynamicsAnalyzer, with which one can easily analyze the SMT dataset by just following the workflows after building a designated folder structure ( https://github.com/masataka-yanagawa/IgorPro8-smDynamicsAnalyzer ).

PELATIHAN PENELITIAN TINDAKAN KELAS DENGAN VARIASI METODE DAN MEDIA PEMBELAJARAN UNTUK MENINGKATKAN KEMAMPUAN PENULISAN KARYA ILMIAH GURU-GURU SMK NEGERI 3 YOGYAKARTA

The Community Service Program (PPM) at SMKN 3 Yogyakarta aims to (1) increase the motivation of teachers to conduct action research and write papers, (2) increase teachers’ ability to select and use appropriate learning methods and media to conduct classroom action research, (3) increase the competence of vocational school teachers in writing scientific papers, (4) increase teachers’ knowledge in accessing scientific journals and conference to publish their work. The activity was attended by 25 participants consisting of 16 productive subject teachers and 9 normative/adaptive subject teachers. The activities carried out in the form of presentation of material about the importance of increasing teacher productivity in publishing scientific work to enhance careers, design action research in the classroom by implementing appropriate media variations and learning methods, writing strategies and publishing articles in journals and proceedings, tutorial guidance on writing articles, and the practice of compiling scientific articles. This PPM activity succeeded in increasing the motivation of teachers to conduct research and write scientific papers, improve the ability of teachers to select the right learning media and methods for conducting classroom action research, increase participants’ ability to write articles, increase teachers’ knowledge in accessing scientific journals and conference to publish their work. Participants satisfy to get new knowledge and skills about classroom action research techniques, they are open-minded and wish to further enhance their ability to conduct classroom action research and write articles to be published in proceedings/journals.

Evaluation of an e-learning module under different tutorial guidance

This multivariate, prospective, monocentric, single blind, observational study evaluates the experimental application of an interactive e-learning module under different tutorial guidance on the topic of EbD (Evidence based Dentistry).

Habilidades sociales y bullying en los estudiantes de cuarto de secundaria en la institución educativa “Kumamoto” de la red N°06. Ugel 04, Puente Piedra, lima 2017

Hemos observado con gran preocupación a nuestros niños, adolescente y jóvenes estudiantes, su fragilidad y poca voluntad, sus inclinaciones violentas en su vida cotidiana escolar, que les causa una serie de problemas psicológicos, sociales, culturales y familiares. Es necesario emplear todas las estrategias suficientes y necesarias para disminuir el alto índice de niños que sufren agresiones y violencia no solo psicológica sino también violencia física. Debemos estar alertas a las causas del bullying. Es necesario concientizar a las autoridades del colegio y a los padres de familia, la comunidad educativa en general que los niños y jóvenes deben tener un entorno armonioso sin violencia donde el respeto hacia los demás se privilegie y desarrollen una cultura de paz que les permita vivir tranquilos y desarrollar sus cualidades, habilidades y talentos. Una de las causas sería la violencia familiar, como un contexto que permite conductas imitativas en los jóvenes.
 Definitivamente todo empieza en la familia, aquellos que provienen de hogares disfuncionales, donde el trato de los padres es violento, autoritario y desdeñoso y con poca comunicación se originan los niños que hacen bullying a sus compañeros. Máxime en los adolescentes que están sufriendo cambios biológicos y psicológicos, debieran tener un entorno de tolerancia comprensión y comunicación. .Otra posibilidad es la falta de desarrollo de las habilidades sociales que impide una relación interpersonal saludable. Esto último se explica desde la comprensión de lo que son las habilidades sociales, las cuales las entendemos como las capacidades para interactuar con los demás en un contexto social como los colegios ya que, de un modo determinado, el adolescente que es aceptado o valorado socialmente tiene como corolario un beneficio personal y, al mismo tiempo, es principalmente beneficioso para los demás. (Combs y Slaby, 1977)
 De esta manera al conocer los niveles de habilidades sociales nos permitirá plantear en las áreas formativas del currículo que se inserten programas que permitan optimizar estas habilidades sociales en los alumnos. Este estudio no solo será útil en los educandos que participen en la misma sino también a los educadores, a la educación en su objetivo de formar personalidades sanas y equilibradas emocionalmente que contribuyan al desarrollo de su sociedad. Otra contribución importante a nivel teórico es comprobar si el buylling está relacionado con las habilidades sociales que es uno de los factores con que se le asocia en los estudiantes.
 Esta problemática, nos induce a la formulación del problema de la investigación. Así mismo hemos apreciado que estas conductas se dan en poblaciones escolares de secundaria de varones y mujeres. Conductas que no pueden ser detenidas por los profesores o como señalamos anteriormente que no son comprendidas. Considerando algunos de ellos que estas son conductas normales o juegos de niños o simplemente algunos docentes son indiferentes a esta violencia. Por otro lado nuestras observaciones como pedagogos nos han llevado a cuestionarnos sobre las causas posibles, considerando que las habilidades sociales pueden y están relacionadas con el buylling. Este estudio pretende encontrar la relación entre estas dos variables.
 Con todo lo expuesto anteriormente y con nuestra experiencia en el trabajo pedagógico y de orientación tutorial como tutores en el nivel de educación secundaria hemos apreciado que nuestros alumnos en general presentan dificultades a nivel de sus relaciones interpersonales, considerando las mismas pueden deberse a una falta de desarrollo de habilidades sociales básicas. Esto ha conducido a plantear una investigación que permita examinar las habilidades sociales si el buylling de estos alumnos se encuentra relacionado con sus habilidades sociales.

A practical tutorial programme for first-year university students: impact of its academic recognition / Un programa tutorial práctico en alumnos universitarios de nuevo ingreso: incidencia de su reconocimiento académico

The task of guiding and tutoring in higher education contributes to increasing the quality of teaching at university. Students who access university studies require specific guidance which is different from that required by more senior students. The aim of this study is to present a comprehensive model of tutorial guidance. The model seeks to satisfy the specific needs of first-year university students, both in terms of personal support and formative and informative support, through a set of coordinated activities during the first year of their degree. The teaching experience carried out demonstrates the students’ interest in the tutoring programme offered, and measures the impact that its academic recognition has in terms of students enrolling on and following the programme. The methodology used shows the characteristics of the programme introduced and then shows the results obtained, which are discussed in relation to the research objectives.

Maintenance or change - an analytical tool for studies of the Work-Integrated Learning in teacher education

In Sweden, as in many other countries, work-integrated learning is an emphasized part of teacher education. In parallel with this emphasis, the conflict often emerging in students’ meeting with the profession is well known from previous research. In spite there seem to be few analytical tools for capturing the characteristics of work-integrated learning. The aim of this article is to construct, operationalize and try out an analytical tool to be used in connection with studies of the character of work-integrated learning. For the construction of the tool we rely on the conceptual pair of horizontal and vertical discourse, collected from Basil Bernstein’s theoretical frame. The horizontal discourse connects to an informal, everyday context whereas the vertical discourse is formal and school-oriented. In the article we divide these concepts into certain aspects related to work-integrated learning. We also turn to empirical material where student teachers were interviewed about their experiences, mainly from tutorial guidance. Our conclusion is that the analytical tool could serve as a useful instrument for analyzing such phenomena.

El estudio de los roles y funciones de los orientadores de secundaria utilizando la técnica de los grupos de discusión

RESUMEN En el presente artículo se exponen los resultados y conclusiones de un estudio realizado, utilizando la técnica de Grupos de Discusión, sobre los roles y funciones que desempeñan los orientadores que realizan su labor en Centros de Educación Secundaria, tanto públicos como privados, de Huelva y su provincia. El objetivo perseguido era analizar la actuación profesional de los orientadores en los Institutos de Educación Secundaria de Huelva y su provincia. Dados los objetivos del estudio se decidió la utilización de la técnica del Grupo de Discusión. Participaron 34 orientadores distribuidos en cinco grupos, cuatro formados por orientadores que trabajaban en Centros Públicos y uno por orientadores de Centros Privados Concertados, que contaron entre cinco y nueve participantes. En este estudio, se presentan el proceso del análisis realizado, los resultados más destacados de la investigación, así como las conclusiones a las que se llegaron. Entre las conclusiones a destacar encontramos: a) La acción orientadora está excesivamente mediatizada por la “sensibilidad” del Equipo Directivo del Centro. b) Las funciones más desarrolladas por los orientadores son las comprendidas en el asesoramiento y consulta, seguidas de orientación, evaluación y coordinación. c) La problemática cotidiana que encuentran los orientadores en el desempeño de su trabajo es muy variada. d) Es necesario aclarar, delimitar y concretar las funciones que deben desempeñar los orienta‐ dores. e) A pesar de que los orientadores reconocen las ventajas de trabajar mediante un modelo de programas se ven obligados a tener que hacerlo a demanda y sometidos a la fuerte presión del día a día. f) Debido a la poca definición de sus funciones, la realización de éstas está excesivamente influenciada por las características personales del orientador.ABSTRACT The following paper exposes the results and conclusions of a study where the technique of Focus Groups about roles and duties of Highschool Counsellors in both private and public school of Huelva and it’s province, are done. The main goal was to analize the profesional situation of the counsellors in Huelva’s highschools and province. As the objectives of the study were given beforehand, the technique used was focus groups. Thirty four counsellors were distributed in four groups; of those four of them worked in Public cen‐ tres and one in a private‐concerted one with a total which goes from four to nine participants. This works presents the process of anaylisis, the most representative result of the investigation and the final conclusions which are: The tutorial guidance is mediated by the sensitivity of the school’s head committee. The most developed duties of the counsellors are those of advice and enquires, a long with guidance, assessment and coordination. The assorted problems that the counsellor finds in his day by day work. It is necessary to clear up, delimit and specify the duties that the counsellors have to do. Although Counsellors know the advantages of working with a model of programmes they have to work demandded by daily pressures. Due to the few definitions of their duties, the fulfilment of these is tremendoualy influences by the personal caracteristics of the counsellor in question.

Evaluación de un modelo de orientación tutorial y mentoría en la Educación Superior a distancia

This paper reports a model of tutorial guidance and mentoring in college that has been implemented at the Spanish National University for Distance Education for two academic years, in order to welcome new students and provide them with orientation, thus enhancing the quality of their academic transition and early adjustment. Designed with the distance methodology, the model incorporates the role of the advisor (played by a faculty mentor) and peer mentors (senior students) and combines the use of e-mentoring with face-to-face mentoring. This guidance intervention is organised around the Tutorial Guidance Plan, starting with web-based specific training for those involved. Thus, new students can receive guidance and advice from a personal advisor and a peer mentor for at least their first year at university. The programme was validated using a complex research design to assess the process and product. Data were collected using ad-hoc questionnaires, interviews, diaries, records and discussion groups. The results corroborate the benefits participants gained from this mode of guidance. The evaluations describe students� orientation needs, the evolution of the helping relationship, the points it addressed and the means of communication used. A general assessment of the programme and the satisfaction of participants� expectations is also given. From the assessment of benefits, it is concluded that the model is viable and applicable in distance higher education. Also, the model makes it possible to demonstrate the suitability of this methodology for achieving a flexible mentoring relationship tailored to the needs of each student.

Writing and the Problem of Will: The Creative Writing Workshop and the Stanley Milgram Paradigm

The classroom exchange of student feedback, along with the writing exercise and close reading, remains a common staple of Creative Writing teaching. Nevertheless, its acceptance by students rests on a willingness to learn through trial and error, and openness to being guided by their peers and by their tutors along this path. Where these break down, the freedom and informality of the workshop can become the conditions that strengthen hostility and mistrust. At such moments this tutor uses research by Latané and Darley (1970) and Milgram (1974) as material for debate about responsibility, authority and individuality. Their experiments demonstrate that an instinct to conform with their peers, and an instinct to rely on authority figures, interferes with normal people's ability to act as individuals for the common good. In the shorter term, a study of these experiments can help students understand the need to work together under tutorial guidance. In the longer term, they can spur thought and debate on the nature of authority in the artistic calling.

Exploring the Assistance Dilemma in Experiments with Cognitive Tutors

Intelligent tutoring systems are highly interactive learning environments that have been shown to improve upon typical classroom instruction. Cognitive Tutors are a type of intelligent tutor based on cognitive psychology theory of problem solving and learning. Cognitive Tutors provide a rich problem-solving environment with tutorial guidance in the form of step-by-step feedback, specific messages in response to common errors, and on-demand instructional hints. They also select problems based on individual student performance. The learning benefits of these forms of interactivity are supported, to varying extents, by a growing number of results from experimental studies. As Cognitive Tutors have matured and are being applied in new subject-matter areas, they have been used as a research platform and, particularly, to explore interactive methods to support metacognition. We review experiments with Cognitive Tutors that have compared different forms of interactivity and we reinterpret their results as partial answers to the general question: How should learning environments balance information or assistance giving and withholding to achieve optimal student learning? How best to achieve this balance remains a fundamental open problem in instructional science. We call this problem the “assistance dilemma” and emphasize the need for further science to yield specific conditions and parameters that indicate when and to what extent to use information giving versus information withholding forms of interaction.

On Buddhist-Christian Studies in Relation to Dialogue

On Buddhist-Christian Studies in Relation to Dialogue Francis V. Tiso In taking on the task of co-editing Buddhist-Christian Studies, it would seem appropriate to provide some background by way of introduction. Being a disciple of Brother David Steindl-Rast, O.S.B., a man who refuses to sign his name with capital letters, since the late 1960s, it goes against my grain to write too much about myself. Therefore, the following comments are meant also to serve as a foreword to the current issue. My own background in Buddhist-Christian studies has its roots in ongoing collaboration with Br. David, who will be remembered for his decades-long study of Zen and his affectionate rapport with the San Francisco Zen Center community, among others. I later studied interreligious dialogue and its theological implications with George Rupp and Harvey Cox at Harvard Divinity School. In order to let my studies sink their roots into contemplative soil, I served as Br. David's assistant at the Benedictine Grange and then went on to edit theological books at the Seabury Press in New York. Thanks to the kindness of the late and revered Alex Wayman, I was able to complete a doctorate in Buddhist Studies at Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary, where I gained some ability to work with Pali, Sanskrit, and Tibetan. I sought additional tutorial guidance from José Pereira of Fordham University, a polymath scholar deeply appreciated for his extraordinary ability to introduce students to the intricacies of Sanskrit literature. Our lengthy conversations about the Baroque Scholastic Catholic theologians formed my eagerness to welcome at least three of the articles in the current issue of BCS. After the doctorate, I continued to pursue study and contemplative practice in Europe and Asia, developing collegial friendships, especially with members of the International Association for Tibetan Studies. In 2003, M. R. John C. Wester, auxiliary bishop of San Francisco, asked me to participate in the Northern California Zen/Ch'an–Catholic Dialogue that had arisen from earlier dialogue programs in various monastic milieux such as Gethsemane and New Camaldoli. In the context of that dialogue, I was asked to serve the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops as associate director of the Secretariat for Ecumencial and Interreligious Affairs in Washington, DC, in 2004. Given this ongoing interplay in my own life between scholarly research and contemplative [End Page iii] practice, it is my hope that BCS will continue to nurture the same interests in its readership. Good scholarship and commitment to the goals of spiritual inquiry should also enrich the dialogue between Buddhists and Christians in various parts of the world. In a recent publication,1 Taigen Dan Leighton describes Dogen's methods with regard to reading: "So in addition to just reading through this material, the student of Zen may likely want to chew slowly at times, find pieces that are especially provocative, stimulating, or unsettlingly challenging, and take a while to consider, reflect, and digest." This is exactly what the Christian contemplative does in lectio divina. Moreover, to persons inclined to this kind of inquiry, even scholarly research gives rise to creative and, at times, truly contemplative insight. Thus even a journal committed to scholarship might find comfort in the "apophatic" methods of Buddhist or Christian contemplatives. Taigen reminds us that Zen sitting practice (zazen) is not the suppression of content. In fact, understanding is expected: Dogen is clearly not recommending zazen as mere blank, mindless sitting. Although he frequently criticizes practice concerned with achievement, or with reaching for particular schematized stages of development, Dogen regularly asks his monks if they thoroughly understand. He is suggesting a practice that is informed by intense inquiry into the ancient teachings, sayings, and dialogues, as well as into our present immediate experience. Throughout formal meditation as well as in our everyday activity, Dogen encourages vivid attention and awareness. In practice, this is nothing less than the interactive application of the principles of the great teachings on emptiness. As a method, the philosophical analysis of emptiness came to have an enormous impact on the Ch'an and Zen traditions; it was a method of "negation" in the sense that it could be...

Simulation of atomic spectra—II. Mutual spectral interferences of rare earth elements in the inductively coupled plasma

This article is an electronic publication in Spectrochimica Acta Electronica (SAE), the electronic section of Spectrochimica Acta B (SAB). The hardcopy text, comprising the main article and an appendix, is accompanied by a diskette with a program, data files, and a manual. The text details the purpose of the work, with emphasis on the spectroscopic aspects, and the appendix provides the essential information for accessing the diskette and using program and data. Additional tutorial guidance is provided by the manual. The program primarily concerns the simulation of the spectra of rare earth elements (REE) as interferents in 80-pm wide spectral windows centred about the wavelengths of 26 prominent lines of Ce, La, Nd, Pr, and Sm. The program essentially covers the model described in Spectrochim. Acta 43B, 1365 (1988) and the database is identical to the experimental database published in Spectrochim. Acta 44B, 31 (1989). Accordingly, the data are for an inductively coupled plasma (ICP). The program enables the user to simulate spectra with the spectral bandwidth as an optional variable. The user may then generate spectra of both single REEs, without or with analyte, and mixtures of REEs of any composition, also without or with analyte, whereby for spectra with analyte the display includes the blank spectrum. Displays are accompanied by legends providing a set of essential numerical data. In addition, particular program options allow the generation of numerical data only, one of them being the calculation of true detection limits. This option permits it to perform, within the limited scope of the database, line selection for complex REE samples in a rational way. The program operates, in principle, with the default values of the ICP Doppler temperature (6800 K) and “average” ICP a-parameter of the Voigt profile (0.5), but these values may be optionally modified. Similarly, the user may add new data files to the base and thus also apply the program for other purposes and outside the REE environment, such as model studies in general, and for learning or teaching, as explained in the manual on the diskette. The tutorial part of this manual provides the user not only with elementary instructions for using the program as a practical tool, but also incorporates a variety of instructive examples, including a brief “course” on spectral line profiles and spectral interferences.

Simulation of atomic spectra—I. Profiles and signal-to-background ratios of 350 prominent lines emitted from an inductively coupled plasma or whatever “customized” atomic emission lines

This article is an electronic publication in Spectrochimica Acta Electronica (SAE), the electronic section of Spectrochimica Acta B (SAB). The hardcopy text, comprising the main article and an appendix, is accompanied by a diskette with a program, data files, and a manual. The text details the purpose of the work, with emphasis on the spectrosopic aspects, and the appendix provides the essential information for accessing the diskette and using program and data. Additional tutorial guidance is provided by the manual. The program primarily concerns the simulation of the profiles of 350 prominent lines of 65 elements emitted from an inductively coupled plasma in dependence on the spectral bandwidth of the spectrometer and the Doppler temperature of the source as optional variables. The physical characteristics of the lines, including specific values of the a-parameter of the Voigt profile and data on hyperfine structure (HFS) are stored in the database. A spectrum is displayed in terms of (SBR + 1) as a function of wavelength, where SBR = signal-to-background ratio. A spectral window of 80 pm is covered. Additionally: numerical data are displayed, encompassing, inter alia, the SBR and background equivalent concentration (BEC) in the maximum of the spectral structure, the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the structure, and “standard” values of SBR, BEC, and detection limit, stored in the computer. The prime purpose of the program is to facilitate the conversion of data on SBRs, BECs, and detection limits between instruments of different spectral bandwidth and thus to ease unbiased comparisons between different ICPs or between ICPs and other sources. The database, which covers both simple lines and complex HFS composites, has been derived from the data reported by Boumans and Vrakking [ Spectrochim. Acta 41B, 1235 (1986)]. Vast improvements in the data resulted from the interactive development of the program and the database. The relevant studies as well as the development and testing of various models for handling HFS composites are detailed in the hardcopy text. These studies may be reworked using the program and an additional, small, dedicated database. The tutorial part of the manual provides the user not only with elementary instructions for using the program as a practical tool, but also incorporates a variety of instructive examples, including a brief “course” on spectral line profiles. The approach leaves many possibilities for customization of spectral lines, since both the data files for the individual spectral lines as well as the umbrella files for all lines grouped in a database have a simple and transparent organization: users may thus easily add customized files to the existing databases or generate new databases for whatever purposes.

Teaching social sciences in the clinical years through psychosocial conferences.

A program for teaching the social sciences in the clinical years in medical school is described. This program focuses on psychosocial conferences (PSC) held during the clerkships in internal medicine, pediatrics, and surgery. The aim of the PSC is the integration of the knowledge and skills imparted in the preclinical social sciences curriculum with the students' clinical experiences. PSC teaching includes tutorial guidance throughout the student's preparation of a case presentation in which psychological, sociological, and anthropological aspects of the patients' coping with illness and the patient-physician interrelationship are emphasized.

Intelligent Computer Assisted Instruction Systems: The Nature of Learner Control

Learner control, which is contrary in spirit to the design philosophy underlying traditional CAI systems, is an important feature of most intelligent computer assisted instruction (ICAI) systems, as revealed through the learning dialogues they support. Such learner control is made possible by the natural language interface and the type of knowledge base incorporated in these systems. Such systems, it is argued, because they enable unplanned interactions with the learner and capitalize on student curiosity and motivation, can attain a much finer grain of individualization than traditional CAI systems can. The conceptual and affective requirements of instructional adaptation indicate the desirability of substantial learner control as well as the potential danger of overly strong tutorial guidance.