Floating collection in an academic library: An audacious experiment that succeeded

Can a floating collection thrive in a large multicampus academic research library? Floating collections have been successful in public libraries for some time, but it is uncommon for academic libraries and unheard of for a large academic library system. This article will discuss the investigation into the feasibility of a floating collection at Penn State University Libraries, its implementation, and continuation for a period covering 2009 through 2015. Attaining the floating collection, limited to monographs in the general stacks of campus libraries, proved to be easier to implement than imagined and resulted in unintended benefits as well as some surprises.     

Effect of blended learning and learners’ characteristics on students’ competence: An empirical evidence in learning oriental music

Blended learning emerged as the most popular instructional design strategy in the field of education since last decade to present date. In fact, it is well acknowledged that blended learning approach significantly elevate students’ engagement and competency in learning process. Despite immense potentiality, many countries are still lag behind adopting this instructional design, such as Sri Lanka. Therefore, the primary aims of this study are two fold, (a) to investigate the effect of blended learning and learners’ characteristics on students’ competence and (b) to investigate the effectiveness of blended learning in teaching Oriental Music. This study mainly carried out among the senior secondary schools students at Colombo, Sri Lanka. A mixed methods, experimental and survey, were carried out to test the effectiveness of blended learning and identifying the important factors for enhancing students’ competence in learning Oriental Music. Results of independent sample t-test confirmed that blended learning is effective in terms of improving students’ performance in learning Oriental Music. Similarly, regression analysis confirmed that attitude and motivation are the two most important determinants for improving students’ competence. This study fulfilled an existing research gap by utilizing blended learning to teach highly traditional abstract art. Results of the study contributes to the curriculum designing field with novel ideas to adapt in hybrid instructions to teach secondary level students effectively. The curriculum designers will make use of these findings during innovation and future researcher would be benefitted to overlook more possible platforms to deliver music instructions. It will help them to understand how their set objectives have been achieved in technology integrations and seek for improvement where necessary.     

Improved fast intra prediction algorithm of H.264/AVC

With advanced prediction modes of intra prediction, intra coding of H.264/AVC offers significant coding gains compared with previous video coding standards. It uses an important tool called Lagrangian rate-distortion optimization (RDO) technique to decide the best coding mode for a block, but the computational burden is extremely high. In this paper, we proposed an improved fast intra prediction algorithm including block type selection and mode decision algorithm based on analysis of edge feature of a block. Our algorithm filters out unlikely block type and candidate modes to reduce the RDO calculations. Experimental results showed that the proposed algorithm can reduce the computation complexity of intra prediction from 52.90% to 56.31%, with 0.04 dB PSNR degradation and 2% increase of bit rate.     

如何开展家长培训

残障儿童的父母．是孩子一生最好的教育者，因为他们在孩子成长的过程中无私奉献，恪尽责任。对那些有残障儿童的家庭而言．“知识就是力量”这句话就是真理。这些家长需要掌握关于残障症状的特点、教育治疗方案和策略等信息，以提升日常生活质量。家长们也想知道什么样的服务最适合孩子．如何获得这些服务．如何定位家长角色以确保孩子的进步．[第一段]     

Triadic interaction in clinical task-based interviews with mathematics teachers

A clinical task-based interview can be seen as a situation where the interviewer–interviewee interaction on a task is regulated by a system of explicit and implicit norms, values, and rules. This paper describes how documenting and mapping triadic interaction among the interviewer, the interviewee, and the knowledge negotiated can be used to increase procedural replicability of the interview and accuracy of drawn conclusions about the interviewee’s thinking process. Excerpts from interviews with 25 inservice mathematics teachers working on a task to make up a problem whose solution requires division of two fractions are discussed. The excerpts illustrate the relationship between methodological decisions taken by the interviewer during the interview and the applicability of the interview output to the research questions. A divergent analysis of the interviews with these teachers, which spanned over two years and were conducted by four interviewers, is used to offer a framework for analyzing data collected in clinical task-based interviews.     

The impact of standards-based assessment on knowledge for history education in New Zealand

This paper examines how a standards-based form of assessment in operation in New Zealand has impacted upon the knowledge taught to secondary history students. The segmentation of history into assessable components along with assessment mechanisms which encourage the reduction in the number of standards being attempted has impacted upon both the breadth and range of historical content in history programmes. The reduction in knowledge is problematic as it diminishes learners’ opportunities to draw connections between inter-related historical concepts from a wider knowledge base. Social realists have raised concerns about the reduced focus on knowledge in education and its effects in restricting students’ development of conceptual knowledge which enables higher order, more abstract thinking. Experiences of standards-based assessment for history in New Zealand are indicative of this reductive phenomenon. In a culture of accountability, standards-based assessment, as enacted in New Zealand, may impede delivery of critical knowledge.     

Giving Education a Bad Name: Bookish Boys in Contemporary American School Stories

This article discusses contemporary American school stories that appear to advocate learning and literacy as a democratic good, but actually undermine democratic possibilities by teaching young readers to think of academic inquiry as a means to selfish, petty ends. Since “learning” and “literacy” are catchwords for educators dedicated to remedying neoliberal inequities, it is understandable why authors of school fiction such as Andrew Clements and Tommy Greenwald are celebrated by educators for foregrounding the exploits of bookish characters. Yet, as is shown, the narrative arcs in works such as Frindle by Clements and Charlie Joe Jackson’s Guide to Not Reading by Greenwald ultimately endorse the market consciousness, deregulation, and excessive individualism for which neoliberalism is known. Examining the ways in which these two novels intersect with ongoing debates over literacy standards, learning outcomes, and academic honesty, it is argued that the didactic-pedagogical imagination in contemporary American fiction for young people has a biased conception of student development and life preparedness, ideologically at odds with democratic curriculum provision.     

Visualization of structured packing with laser induced fluorescence technique: Two-dimensional measurement of liquid concentration distribution

A method of using laser induced fluorescence(LIF)technique was applied to two-dimensional measurement of the liquid concentration distribution in the 250Y structured packing sheet. The experimental structured packing sheet was made of perspex so that the laser could pass through it. The visualization of the distribution of the liquid concentration in the structured packing sheet was realized. The calibration of the thickness and liquid concentration was carried out firstly and the regression formula I=kcd was acquired, in which concentration c and the liquid film thickness d were both considered. Then the liquid feed of uniform tracer(rhodamine)concentration entered the perspex structured packing from the top under different spraying densities. The corresponding thickness of liquid film on the packing was calculated. Finally, tracer(rhodamine)with a high concentration was injected only at one fixed point of the structured packing under different spraying densities of the liquid. With the known liquid film thickness, the concentration distribution of the tracer can be calculated inside the structured packing sheet.