A Blurring of the Boundaries

Our certainty about the definition of museums is disappearing and with it goes our assurance about where we are and what we are becoming. Observing visitors' use of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum could cause us to change our understanding about how people use and act in museums. Further boundaries are blurring as the native communities worldwide ask museum personnel to change their methods of collections care and alter rules of accessioned objects' use. Without acknowledging it, museum personnel are becoming more comfortable with reproductions and purposebuilt material. Technology is making us a “paperless” society. Our need for and understanding of “authenticity” is changing, and we no longer rely purely on our objects to define our work. Are we destroying museums, changing with the times, or creating some new and potentially more vibrant and useful institutions? Can a new realignment and new definition of our institutions help us to create a more civil society? Do we wish to continue on this road?     

Risks and Opportunities for Natural History Collections: Moving Toward a Unified Policy

The current status of natural history collections is complex and seemingly contradictory. While opportunities for collections to serve society are greater than ever, many institutions find that their ability to care for collections is diminishing. Competition for resources, especially in academic institutions, is one reason. But there is also sometimes a lack of clear mission for collections within organizations themselves. The Association of Systematics Collections (ASC) provides programs and resources to help institutions meet the challenge of maintaining natural history collections. If collections are truly endangered, we can help ensure that they are not lost to science and society.     

Learning and Thinking Styles: An analysis of their interrelationship and influence on academic achievement

This study examined whether college students' learning styles (LS) and thinking styles (TS) were interrelated, and if these could predict academic achievement. A total of 210 college students completed two inventories, one of LS (LSQ, Kolb), and the other of TS (MSG, Sternberg). The results of canonical correlation analysis revealed the presence of a moderate relationship between both types of styles. The results of regression analysis indicated that students' academic achievement was related to students' thinking styles. Students that prefer to work individually (Internal), that do not enjoy creating, formulating, and planning for problem solution (Legislative in a negative sense) and those that have adherence to existing rules and procedures (Executive) were those which obtained higher academic achievement. The implications of these findings for educational psychologists, which include assessment of LS and TS and the need to encourage thinking as an important part of the learning process, are discussed.     

SIMULATION OF IN-CYLINDER RADIATIVE HEAT TRANSFER OF DIESEL ENGINE WITH MONTE-CARLO METHOD

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A behavior systems view of responding to probe stimuli during an interfood clock

Two experiments used a behavior systems approach to relate the form of responses during an interfood clock to the temporal distance of the individual clock stimuli to food. Stimuli proximate to food should better control a focal search mode and related responses, whereas stimuli temporally distant from food should better control a general search mode and related responses. Experiment 1 conditioned two groups of rats with a sequence of four equal-length 12-sec clock stimuli that terminated with food and then tested for the conditioning of a general search mode by presenting an unconditioned moving probe stimulus (either a rolling ball bearing or a rotating mechanical door) during each of the clock stimuli. Consistent with a behavior systems view, contact with the ball bearing was markedly greater during a clock stimulus distant from food. The absence of similar differential contact of the door across the clock stimuli showed that the effect was specific to the ball bearing rather than a general response to stimulus dimensions of movement and sound. Experiment 2 showed that the general search mode was controlled by the clock stimulus rather than the passage of time.     

Assessing the Impact of a Ceremony in Honor of the Body Donors in the Development of Ethical and Humanistic Attitudes among Medical Students

Activities related to body donation programs, such as donor memorial ceremonies, provide the opportunity to complement student training, especially with regard to the ethical and humanistic elements involved in medical training. This study sought to assess the impact of a ceremony in honor of the body donors has on ethical and humanistic attitudes in medical students. Medical students were surveyed about their perceptions of changes in themselves, respect for donors and donor families, and their relationship with patients. The effect of the students' contact with the family of the donor was analyzed in students who had contact with the cadaver in the dissection room and had either participated or not participated in the donor memorial ceremony. A total of 370 questionnaires were answered by first-, second-, and third-year medical students at the Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre in 2017. The students who participated in the ceremony presented more positive responses in relation to commitment to their studies, reflection on death, and positive development of empathy when compared to those who did not attend the ceremony. Most of the students that attended the ceremony suggested the event led to an improvement in the doctor–patient relationship. These results suggest that cadaver dissection with accompanied memorial ceremony involving contact with donor families is an effective means of fostering ethical and humanistic attitudes among medical students from the beginning of the course.     

Educational Assessment in Singapore

Educational assessment in the Singapore context is shaped, to a large extent, by the country's educational policies and programmes, as well as the general principles and practices of assessment. This paper presents a profile of the assessment system in Singapore and how it complements the education system to realise the fullest potential of its precious human resources. National examinations and school-based assessments at each milestone in the education system are described so as to highlight the distinctive features of educational assessment in Singapore.