Becoming an interdisciplinary scientist: an analysis of students’ experiences in three computer science doctoral programmes

The aim of this study was to identify how and why doctoral students do interdisciplinary research. A mixed-methods approach utilising bibliometric analysis of the publications of 195 students identified those who had published interdisciplinary research. This objective measurement of the interdisciplinarity, applying the Rao-Stirling index to Web of Science and Scopus citations, allowed for a comparison of students’ interdisciplinary research outcomes from three different computer science programmes: a traditional programme, a multidisciplinary doctoral school and an interdisciplinary doctoral college. Applying a sociocultural approach, interviews with the 15 most interdisciplinary students were analysed to understand how dispositions and experiences of students and factors of the different programmes affect the circumstances and processes of becoming an interdisciplinary early career scientist. The data indicate that student motivations, previous skills and knowledge interacted with policies and programme structures including type of funding and supervisor expectations to play a crucial role in interdisciplinarity at the doctoral level. These factors can give rise to interdisciplinary research even in programmes without interdisciplinary focus and compromise the interdisciplinary goals of interdisciplinary programmes.     

Flattening generalization gradients, context, and perceptual learning

The present research investigated the effects of physical context change and perceptual learning on generalization. In a video game, participants learned to suppress their mouse-clicking behavior in the presence of one stimulus (AX). Generalization was observed between the AX stimulus and another stimulus (BX) that was designed to be similar. When testing was conducted in a context different from that in which AX was used in training, responding to AX was attenuated, and responding to BX was enhanced. That is, the generalization gradient flattened. The latter effect was only evident in groups for which generalization had been reduced through a preexposure manipulation believed to produce perceptual learning. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the increase in generalization observed in the first experiment was due to the context change between the preexposure and test rather than to a change between the conditioning and test contexts. Implications for flattening generalization gradients and mechanisms of perceptual learning are discussed.     

Legitimating the world-class university concept through the discourse of elite universities’ presidents†

Although well-renowned universities attempt to differentiate themselves from other universities, little research has been undertaken on the principal themes involved in the concept of the world-class university (WCU) as presented in speeches by members of WCUs. These discourses are a key tool in universities’ attempt to shape the competitive framework of higher education through legitimacy. We study the presidents’ discourses from 100 leading universities to identify the themes and emergent discourse of these universities’ communities. Applying topic modeling methodology to the speeches’ corpus, we find seven communities (Worldwide-the four regions, American-from different states, Flagship, Education concerned, Some Chinese universities, Central European universities and Challengers) and four main themes arising from WCUs’ discourses (Research universities within international rankings, Stakeholders and leadership, Mission and values, and Education). Our preliminary findings suggest that leading universities are working to adopt the WCU label based on their salient characteristics.     

A useful framework for teacher professional development for online and blended learning to use as guidance in times of crisis

Educational technology research and development -     

Air pollution and stone decay: the case of Venice

The discolouration and decay of stonework in smokey atmospheres is a worldwide problem and enormous sums are spent on cleaning and restoration. It is surprising, therefore, that little research has been done on the nature of the process of decay, it being widely assumed that this is simply the result of the progressive coatings of sulphur dioxide on wet stone. However, investigation in northern Italy and particularly in Venice — where the rate of decay is unusually high — indicates that carbon particles derived from oil fuels have a powerful catalytic effect on the decay of marble.     

Optimal control for linear systems with time delay in control input

This paper presents the optimal regulator for a linear system with time delay in control input and a quadratic cost function. The optimal regulator equations are obtained using the duality principle, which is applied to the optimal filter for linear systems with time delay in observations, and then proved using the maximum principle. Performance of the obtained optimal regulator is verified in the illustrative example against the best linear regulator available for linear systems without delays. Simulation graphs and comparison tables demonstrating better performance of the obtained optimal regulator are included.     

La integración de la representación audiovisual en la Reforma Educativa

La palabra y la imagen son los grandes medios para la comunicación pedagógica. En este artículo se analizan la perspectiva y posibilidades que la LOGSE (cuyos presupuestos, se afirma, apuestan casi al cien por cien por el medio verbal) ofrece para contar con la comunicación audiovisual en la educación.