Highly integrated model assessment technology and tools

Effective and efficient measurement of the development of skill and knowledge, especially in domains of human activity that involve complex and challenging problems, is important with regard to workplace and academic performance. However, there has been little progress in the area of practical measurement and assessment, due in part to the lack of automated tools that are appropriate for assessing the acquisition and development of complex cognitive skills. In the last 2 years, an international team of researchers has developed and validated an integrated set of assessment tools called highly integrated model assessment technology and tools (HIMATT) which addresses this deficiency. HIMATT is web-based and has been shown to scale up for practical use in educational and workplace settings, unlike many of the research tools developed solely to study basic issues in human learning and performance. In this paper, we describe the functions of HIMATT and demonstrate several applications for its use. Additionally, we present two studies on the quality and usability of HIMATT. We conclude with research suggestions for the use of HIMATT and for its further development.     

An altar in honor of the anatomical gift

On All Saints Day 2009 a monument for body donors was unveiled by the Department of Anatomy, at the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre (RUNMC). Although body donation to medical science contributes substantially to the quality of medical education, the ceremony was only the first time that the RUNMC publicly reciprocated the anatomical gift. By means of the monument the department of Anatomy endeavors to express gratitude for the gift of body donors and raise awareness among students to value the gift and treat donor bodies with the proper respect. Furthermore, the large attendance of bereaved at the unveiling ceremony, revealed another equally important meaning of the monument, which is the significance of the monument to the donor kin. The wish of a body donor has large implications for the way bereaved can take leave of the donor; there is limited time to bade the deceased farewell, the body will not be available for a funeral, and the donor kin stay behind empty handed without even a grave or ashes. Therefore the monument can be meaningful by facilitating the bereaved with a place of commemoration. The design of the monument anticipates on these multiple meanings and symbolisms by placing an old marble dissection table in the shape of an altar and fixing a bronze sculpture of a phoenix as symbol of imperishableness. Anat Sci Educ. © 2010 American Association of Anatomists.     

Sample preconcentration inside sessile droplets using electrowetting

Electrowetting with alternate voltage (AC) creates azimuthal flow vortices inside sessile droplets. These flow vortices can be controlled by introducing pinning sites at the contact line. When the frequency of the applied AC voltage is gradually ramped from a few hundreds of hertz to a few tens of kilohertz the azimuthal flow vortices contract and move towards the contact line near the pinning site. Dispersed particles in the liquid are collected in the center of these vortices leading to an increase in the local particle concentration by up to more than one order of magnitude. We provide a qualitative explanation for symmetry of the flow patterns within the drops and discuss possible scenarios explaining the particle collection and preconcentration.     

Kieferchirurgische Operationsplanung mit Hilfe von Techniken der virtuellen Realit?t

Zusammenfassung.   Für ein vollst?ndig computergestütztes Planungssystem zum Zwecke der kieferchirurgischen Operationsplanung ist die Bereitstellung von virtuellen Werkzeugen für den Chirurgen eine grundlegende Voraussetzung. Ausgehend von den Volumendaten mit Sch?del- und Kieferknochen des Patienten erm?glicht ein einfaches Interface unter Verwendung einer geeigneten Visualisierung und haptischer Eingabeger?te die interaktive Definition und Manipulation einzelner virtueller Knochensegmente. Wir haben moderne kraftrückgekoppelte Ger?te aus dem Niedrigpreisbereich eingebunden und auf ihre F?higkeit untersucht, das dreidimensionale Verst?ndnis im Planungsproze?durch Anlehnung an die Vorg?nge bei der chirurgischen Prozedur zu erh?hen. Durch diese Eingabeger?te ist es m?glich, die Knochensegmentierung für eine Osteotomie des Unterkiefers intuitiver und schneller durchzuführen. Die definierten Teilvolumina ergeben zusammen mit ihrer r?umlichen Neuanordnung auf Grundlage einer kephalometrischen Analyse einen Operationsplan. Nach erfolgter Planung werden die Planungsergebnisse in den Operationssaal übertragen. Die intraoperativen Techniken beinhalten die Visualisierung der Planungsergebnisse, die Steuerung der Anwendung über Sprache und die Bestimmung der Patientenposition mittels eines elektromagnetischen 3D-Trackingsystems. Eingegangen am 27. April 2000 / Angenommen am 21. Februar 2001     

Reading guided by automated graphical representations: How model-based text visualizations facilitate learning in reading comprehension tasks

Our study integrates automated natural language-oriented assessment and analysis methodologies into feasible reading comprehension tasks. With the newly developed T-MITOCAR toolset, prose text can be automatically converted into an association net which has similarities to a concept map. The “text to graph” feature of the software is based on several parsing heuristics and can be used both to assess the learner’s understanding by generating graphical information from his or her text and to generate conceptual graphs from text which can be used as learning materials. In this study we investigate the effects of association nets made available to learners prior to reading. The results reveal that the automatically created graphs are highly similar to classical expert graphs. However, neither the association nets nor the expert graphs had a significant effect on learning, although the latter have been reported to have an effect in previous studies.     

Jugendkulturen zwischen Globalisierung und Ethnisierung

Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft - Wie formt sich der Prozess der Globalisierung in den Lebensstilen Jugendlicher aus? Dieser allgemeinen Fragestellung gehen wir im folgenden am Beispiel...