Library support for problem-based learning: an algorithmic approach

Academic health sciences libraries can take various approaches to support the problem-based learning component of the curriculum. This article presents one such approach taken to integrate information navigation skills into the small group discussion part of the Pathophysiology course in the second year of the Dental school curriculum. Along with presenting general resources for the course, the Library Toolkit introduced an algorithmic approach to finding answers to sample clinical case questions. While elements of Evidence-Based Practice were introduced, the emphasis was on teaching students to navigate relevant resources and apply various database search techniques to find answers to the clinical problems presented.     

Physical education and sport science undergraduate students as multimedia and web developers: Moving from the user’s to the creator’s perspective

The increasing importance that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have been gaining for Physical Education (PE) and sports pedagogy has generated the need to prepare ICT-proficient prospective PE teachers within PE and sport science university departments. This study was aimed at: (a) the design and implementation of two project-based elective courses on ICT in education (entitled ‘Informatics in Education’ and ‘Computers in Physical Education Teaching’) for the undergraduate students of a PE and sport science department, and (b) the investigation of students’ responses to the courses and instructor’s experiences from organizing and imparting the courses. The courses were focused on educational multimedia and web development for PE. Twenty-three students that had attended ‘Informatics in Education’ and 13 students that had attended ‘Computers in Physical Education Teaching’ participated in the study. Research data were collected through student questionnaires and instructor’s notes. It was found that students were helped to acquire basic multimedia and web development skills for educational purposes, and that their responses to the courses were positive overall. The courses fulfilled students’ expectations and were successful in equipping students with self-confidence in their ability to make use of ICT in PE courses and to construct multimedia and web-based learning materials. Furthermore, students were provided with opportunities to express their creativity and improve their future instructional practices. However, the study also brought to light the various difficulties and challenges of training prospective PE teachers in the didactical utilization of ICT at undergraduate level.     

Knowledge transfer in family businesses and its effects on the innovativeness of the next family generation

Processes of transferring, interacting, sharing and converting knowledge are of crucial importance in any firm due to their influence on innovations. These processes are especially challenging during the family business succession. A theory-building qualitative study was undertaken to extend our understanding of the dynamics of the knowledge transfer process and its effects on the successor’s innovativeness. The findings of the in-depth analysis of 10 family SMEs show that tacit knowledge transferred from a founder to a successor is important but not sufficient for enhancing the successor’s innovativeness. It should be combined with the knowledge gained outside the family business. Several propositions were developed that provide basis for future confirmatory research and have implications for practice by providing useful findings to key stakeholders in family businesses as well as to professionals dealing with innovativenness, knowledge transfer and creation in family businesses.     

A place for arguing in engineering education: a study on students’ assessments

This paper focuses on the issue of how engineering programmes demand and/or promote argumentative reasoning, which is a subsequent aspect of curricular development. This was the main objective of the project on which this paper reports. This is to say that the focus is on assessment as a way to establish to what extent argumentative reasoning is demanded and mobilised in teaching and learning processes. This aim was achieved using a sample of assignments developed in courses in different Bologna undergraduate programmes at the Engineering School at the University of Porto, during the first semester of the academic year 2009/2010. Whereas problem solving in engineering constitutes a structural element in the curricular organisation of the engineering programmes and is strongly related to argumentative skills, it was possible to conclude that students demonstrate and explain extensively, but do not argue, possibly because their teachers do not invite them to do so in assessment situations.     

The origin of dimensional analysis

A paper by Macagno (3) in this Journal is discussed. The origin of the concept of physical dimensions is traced back to ideas previously used in analytic geometry. Descartes' use of the word “dimension” in the study of physical magnitudes is shown to have properties completely different from Fourier's dimensions, being therefore unimportant to the evolution of dimensional analysis. It is also shown that the principle of homogeneity was used in the derivation of physical equations sixty years prior to the publication of Fourier's work, and that the latter was aware of this paper, that may be considered the earliest publication on dimensional analysis.     

Tert-butyl amine borane complex: An unusual application of a reducing agent on model molecules of cellulose based materials

The need to preserve cultural heritage on paper requires the setting up of methods and treatments that can be applied to original documents. The cellulose main degradation processes are hydrolysis and oxidation. Only the first one has been widely investigated. The Istituto Centrale per la Patologia del Libro (ICPL) focused its attention on oxidation phenomena and studied a particular class of reducing agents, namely the borane-amine complexes. During the investigation it was found that the borane tert-butylamine complex, besides being the most promising reducing agent, was also able to react with carboxylic functions. In the present study ¹H and ¹³C NMR, Pulsed field gradient NMR spectroscopy as well as Raman spectroscopy were used as analytical tools to disclose the mechanism of the interaction between the borane tert-butylamine complex and the carboxylic functions. Given the complexity of the paper/environment interactions and the subsequent degradation phenomena, we worked on simplified models based on small carbohydrate molecules in order to reproduce the behavior of degraded paper after reductive restoration. Modified D-glucose and D-cellobiose were used in this first step in order to set up the analytical methods before approaching more complex systems such as microcrystalline cellulose and paper. Our results give the experimental evidence that borane tert-butylamine complex is also able to neutralize acidic functions. This finding has important perspectives in paper restoration.     

Multi-segmental movements as a function of experience in karate

Karate is a martial art that partly depends on subjective scoring of complex movements. Principal component analysis (PCA)-based methods can identify the fundamental synergies (principal movements) of motor system, providing a quantitative global analysis of technique. In this study, we aimed at describing the fundamental multi-joint synergies of a karate performance, under the hypothesis that the latter are skilldependent; estimate karateka’s experience level, expressed as years of practice. A motion capture system recorded traditional karate techniques of 10 professional and amateur karateka. At any time point, the 3D-coordinates of body markers produced posture vectors that were normalised, concatenated from all karateka and submitted to a first PCA. Five principal movements described both gross movement synergies and individual differences. A second PCA followed by linear regression estimated the years of practice using principal movements (eigenpostures and weighting curves) and centre of mass kinematics (error: 3.71 years; R2 = 0.91, P ? 0.001). Principal movements and eigenpostures varied among different karateka and as functions of experience. This approach provides a framework to develop visual tools for the analysis of motor synergies in karate, allowing to detect the multi-joint motor patterns that should be restored after an injury, or to be specifically trained to increase performance.     

Materiality and immateriality in Lucio Fontana's environments: From documentary research to the reproduction of lost artworks

In recent years, many international initiatives have sparked a debate on guidelines and criteria for documenting existing installations and environments. Nevertheless, a comparison between those environments, and lost or reproduced ones, still needs to be closely considered. This becomes even more interesting in the case of works that were made by artists no longer alive. Starting from the study on Italian artist Lucio Fontana's historical environments, we show how a historically accurate reconstruction, based on the analysis of various sources (original documents, letters, articles, interviews and videos, as well as critical essays) can be considered as a conservation strategy for works that were originally created as ‘ephemeral’, but later became fundamental within art history. The data and metadata can be used as a second step for the reconstruction of the environments, creating ‘replicas’ that closely mimic the artist's intent and that can then be documented and properly preserved. On one hand, the outcomes of the research presented is that of understanding to what extent it is possible to achieve a fair rendition of Fontana's environments and thus foster their proper appreciation. On a second and more practical level, we will present a study of the first exhibition centered on the reproduction of the artist's environments, which will be held in HangarBicocca, Milan, Italy, in 2017. A scientific and philological approach will allow us to fully respect the original artworks and the context in which they were produced. The reconstruction will also be the occasion to collect data regarding the materials that Fontana used extensively, and to gather information about the companies that produced them, as well as about the past and present quality of such materials, and the possibility of reproducing them today. This approach seeks to investigate the interplay between theory and reconstruction materiality through the double lens of historical research, on one hand, and contemporary conservation and museology debates on the other.     

Distance Learning: The U.S. Version

Distance learning in higher education has developed differently in the United States from the way it developed many other countries. Driven by the developments in technology and fueled by partnerships with industry, distance education in the U.S. is charting unmapped waters. For over a century, universities have relied on students coming to them. Now they find that they must go to the students. This article examines some of the history, technology, research, and trends in distance education and raises key questions. What part does the profit motive play in the corporatization of education? How can traditional universities adjust to meet the needs of a changing population, and who will be the gatekeepers? The opportunity is here to improve on existing educational institutions and add flexibility to the monolithic institutions of traditional universities. Distance educators will need to be vigilant to ensure that the strengths of sound pedagogy are not lost in the race to embrace new technologies.