Music and eJay: An opportunity for creative collaborations in the classroom

This paper draws on results of a research project InterActive Education: Teaching and Learning in the Information Age (see www.interactiveeducation.ac.uk). The overall aim of the project was to examine ways in which new technologies can be used in educational settings to enhance learning. Research was carried out across a range of school subjects: English, history, geography, mathematics, modern foreign languages, music and science. Within this paper we report on the work of two teachers within the same primary school who devised an initiative to support the development of composition skills of children aged 10 and 11, using Dance eJay software. We explore the ways in which collaborations took place between the pupils, arguing that eJay provides a rich mediational tool where creative outcomes are negotiated. We suggest that the computer workstation provides the mediational means by which all pupils – whether or not they possess formal instrumental skills – can be creative, working within a musical style in which they are culturally located. Furthermore, we propose that the teacher is central to the creative–collaborative process and suggest implications for teachers when planning for creative, collaborative work in the classroom using music software such as eJay.     

实际选择权决策框架

自从Black—Scholes公式发表之后,期权问题成为财务经济学中最热门的研究领域,其中资本预算决策中的实际选择权方法是迄今为止最前沿的研究领域之一。本论文试图总结实际选择权问题在理论和实践上的发展过程,并提出实际选择权的基本定价方法的框架结构。首先讨论几种传统资本预算方法的缺点,再从灵活性措施的价值引入实际选择权的概念。因为灵活性措施提供的投资机会和金融期权都共同拥有一个最核心的特点:权利与义务的不对称性,故此可以把这些投资机会和金融期权做类比,认为灵活性的投资机会是一种实标选择权。接着概述实际选择权理论的发展历程。然后提出了实际选择权资本决策的总体架构,指出管理者真正关心的应当是扩大的、战略性的净现值。最后给出的若干通解对那些具有相似条件的实际选择权定价都是适用的。     

Decreasing students’ stress through time management training: an intervention study

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of a time management training program on perceived control of time and perceived stress in the context of higher education. Twenty-three undergraduate students attended a time management training intervention and reported demands, perceived stress and perceived control of time directly before 2 and 4 weeks after training. We used a “non-equivalent dependent variable design” (Cook and Campbell, Quasi-experimentation: design and analysis for field settings, p. 118, 1979) with perceived stress and perceived control of time as dependent variables, which should be influenced by the training, and demands as control variable, which should not be changed. As expected, perceived stress decreased and perceived control of time increased after training, whereas demands did not change. Therefore, time management training might be beneficial for undergraduate students’ well-being. Nevertheless, more intervention studies in this field are necessary, especially with lager samples, to contribute to more robust results and conclusions.     

分裂的法兰西

法国之于网球,就如同苏格兰之于高尔夫,即使岁月荏苒,历史变成传说,传说变成了神话,也改变不了萌芽的土壤,滋养出传统与惯性。更何况,作为网球运动的发源地,法国从来没有失去过自己的位置。直到今天,ATP世界排名TOP100中仍有11人来自法国,仅次于西班牙的14人。     

Learning to design and implement educational web sites within pre‐service training: a project‐based learning environment and its impact on student teachers

This paper reports on a project‐based learning (PBL) environment targeted towards introducing student teachers to the design and development of educational web sites. The participants were 46 student teachers who constructed 16 web sites for primary school. A survey of their views, before and after the projects, and an evaluation of the web sites created by them were conducted with a view to assessing their responses to the learning environment, its impact on them, as well as the challenges faced during web site creation. The results showed that the PBL approach has been motivational and effective regarding the acquisition of web site design and development skills. The participants demystified the process of educational web site creation and became more interested in and self‐confident about it, although they encountered certain difficulties in image processing, file management and design of navigational structures.     

Nonlinear stochastic position and attitude filter on the Special Euclidean Group 3

This paper formulates the pose (attitude and position) estimation problem as nonlinear stochastic filter kinematics evolved directly on the Special Euclidean Group 3 ($\mathbb{SE}\left(3\right)$). This work proposes an alternate way of potential function selection and handles the problem as a stochastic filtering problem. The problem is mapped from $\mathbb{SE}\left(3\right)$ to vector form, using the Rodriguez vector and the position vector, and then followed by the definition of the pose problem in the sense of Stratonovich. The proposed filter guarantees that the errors present in position and Rodriguez vector estimates are semi-globally uniformly ultimately bounded (SGUUB) in mean square, and that they converge to small neighborhood of the origin in probability. Simulation results show the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed filter in presence of high levels of noise and bias associated with the velocity vector as well as body-frame measurements.     

How geographic maps increase recall of instructional text

This article reviews research on how geographic maps influence the recall of associated text. Drawing on literature from cartography and educational, experimental, and cognitive psychology, the authors describe a model of map-text learning based on dual-coding theory and focused on activities that take place during working memory operations. The instructional implications of the model are explored, and recommendations for instructional applications are given.The authors wish to thank Jenine Doran, Kent Rittschof, Michael Verdi, and three anonymous reviewers for providing insightful comments on earlier drafts of this article.