Finite Element Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Plate Impacted by Block

A new concept of structurally dissipating rock-shed (SDR) was developed by the lab of Tonello IC and LOCIE-ESIGEC (France). To decide the dimension of the plate used in SDR, an ANSYS model which could simulate the impact of rock in the centre of the plate was established by Fabien Delhomme. By using this model, some finite element analyses are carried out in the present paper. Firstly, a plate impacted by a block is numerically simulated, the numerical results obtained from different mesh sizes are compared and the accuracy of the finite element model is verified. Then, the dynamic response of the plate impacted at the boundary and in the medium part is computed. By analyzing the stress in rebar, the most dangerous region of impact of plate was found. For a rectangular plate, the most dangerous region is at the corner of the plate when a block drops in. Finally, the whole deformation process of the plate under dropping block was simulated and a simplified definition (effect zone) to describe the deformation process in different positions of plate was given. From this study, it is found that the impact only affects heavily within the effect zone.     

The social context of human learning: Some prospects for the study of socio-cognitive regulations

Numerous studies conducted by social, cognitive, and educational psychologists suggest that learning, cognitive functioning and development, and education are fundamentally embedded in a complex social matrix. Recent studies have demonstrated the influence on cognitive performances of several basic social variables, including evaluative pressure, group membership, situations of personal or categorical social comparison, and the academic value of the task. These findings clearly point out the necessity of considering the autobiographical dimension of the individual to explain this influence, an idea which is clearly consistent with other results obtained in studies on scholastic self-schemas. The present paper shows that the influence of the social context of cognition cannot be explained unless it is viewed from a sociocognitive perspective which considers the autobiographical memory of the individual.     

Social comparison and cognitive performance: A descriptive approach in an academic context

Eighty pupils of different academic levels (i.e. strong vs weak) were asked to make estimations about the different subjects taught at school. Gathered post-experimentally, the data allow specification of the relation to intelligence in which each school subject stands for the two different types of subjects. Evaluations of the significations accorded to performances in the different disciplines were also obtained. In accordance with expectations, analysis of these estimations reveals that pupils in a failure situation have an “original” conception of the field of academic comparison. However, the data obtained show that this originality (i.e. this social differentiation) stays within the dominant value system which sets the confines of the field of academic comparison. Taken in conjunction with more experimental results reported elsewhere, these estimations suggest that the cognitive attitude adopted by subjects towards an object of knowledge (here academic) can, in certain conditions, be formed independently of the social significations associated with this object but not independently of the nature of the social insertion which subjects undergo at the time of this interaction.     

Learning the norm of internality: NetNorm,a connectionist model

The objective of the present article is to show that connectionist simulations can be used to model some of the socio-cognitive processes underlying the learning of the norm of internality. For our simulations, we developed a connectionist model which we called NetNorm (based on Dual-Network formalism). This model is capable of simulating the implicit learning of this social norm through a simple process of situation/reinforcement association. In a second simulation, we simulated a non-linear learning in order to reproduce the triple inflexion in the internality learning curve that has been observed for children entering high school. The results support those previously reported in the literature. Moreover, our simulations could be used to develop new experimental predictions.     

Exclusion Expected? Cardiac Slowing Upon Peer Exclusion Links Preschool Parent Representations to School-Age Peer Relationships

Attachment theory proposes that children’s representations of interactions with caregivers guide information-processing about others, bridging interpersonal domains. In a longitudinal study (N = 165), preschoolers (M_age = 5.19 years) completed the MacArthur Story Stem Battery to assess parent representations. At school-age (M_age = 8.42 years), children played a virtual ballgame with peers who eventually excluded them to track event-related cardiac slowing, a physiological correlate of rejection, especially when unexpected. At both ages, parents and teachers reported on peer and emotional problems. During exclusion versus inclusion-related events, cardiac slowing was associated with greater positive parent representations and fewer emerging peer problems. Cardiac slowing served as a mediator between positive parent representations and peer problems, supporting a potential psychophysiological mechanism underlying the generalization of attachment-related representations to peer relationships.     

Social anxiety with peers in 9- to 14-year-olds. Developmental process and relations with self-counsciousness and perceived peer acceptance

Social anxiety in the peer groups is currently viewed as typical of early adolescence. This awkwardness with peers is supposedly a consequence of the of the multiple changes occuring during this period. Nevertheless, empirical evidence regarding the development of social anxiety with peers, as well as its psychological correlates, is scarce. To shed light on these issues, a total of 508 French fourth-to-ninth-graders completed questionnaires assessing their perception of social anxiety with peers. They assessed also various aspects of their self-consciousness and perceived peer acceptance, because we hypothesized that these two social cognitive dimensions were correlated — positively and negatively respectively — with social anxiety. Within each of these three general domains, several more specific variables were considered. Specifically, inward and outward self-consciousness were distinguished. Overall, a decreasing tendency with age was observed for social anxiety and inward self-consciousness, although the participants increasingly perceived thewselves to be neglected by their peers. Correlational analyses suggested that inward self-consciousness, outward self-consciousness, and perceived peer acceptance contribute independently to social anxiety.     

Helping students build competences in physical education: theoretical proposals and illustrations

In the French education system, the current curriculum for students from the primary to the end of secondary school is structured around the notion of key competence. A competence can be defined as an integrated and stable network of knowledge and know-how, with normative behaviors, procedures and types of reasoning. However, without a theoretical conceptualization of building and mobilization processes, the components of a competence are considered as isolated and not interconnected. In the health and physical education (HPE) setting, too few empirical studies have analyzed how teachers would contribute to the development of student’s competence. The aim of this forward-looking article grounded on an experiential and cultural framework consists in clarifying and illustrating a conceptualization of the dynamics of development of competences among students considering the teacher activity. This theoretical framework seems to offer heuristic possibilities for the examination of teaching and learning practices which contribute to the development of the key competences, particularly when a competence is read as an experience that integrates multiple dimensions. Based on audio-video recording of PE lessons and self-confrontation interviews with the teacher and a student, the results of the present study strengthen the criticism of the definition of competence emphasizing the relevance to adopt a holistic approach corresponding to the articulation of intertwined resources (i.e. motor, methodological and social) students allocate to act in PE groups. Furthermore, the results show that the competence building depends on various roles students have the opportunity to play in PE (i.e. observer, tutor). Finally, our results underline the importance of identifying the specific characteristics of the teacher activity designed to structure the learning environment to train students to acquire new competences transferable in society.     

The Rise of Computing Research in East Africa: The Relationship Between Funding,Capacity and Research Community in a Nascent Field

The emergence of vibrant research communities of computer scientists in Kenya and Uganda has occurred in the context of neoliberal privatization, commercialization, and transnational capital flows from donors and corporations. We explore how this funding environment configures research culture and research practices, which are conceptualized as two main components of a research community. Data come from a three-year longitudinal study utilizing interview, ethnographic and survey data collected in Nairobi and Kampala. We document how administrators shape research culture by building academic programs and training growing numbers of PhDs, and analyze how this is linked to complicated interactions between political economy, the epistemic nature of computer science and sociocultural factors like entrepreneurial leadership of key actors and distinctive cultures of innovation. In a donor-driven funding environment, research practice involves scientists constructing their own localized research priorities by adopting distinctive professional identities and creatively structuring projects. The neoliberal political economic context thus clearly influenced research communities, but did not debilitate computing research capacity nor leave researchers without any agency to carry out research programs. The cases illustrate how sites of knowledge production in Africa can gain some measure of research autonomy, some degree of global competency in a central arena of scientific and technological activity, and some expression of their regional cultural priorities and aspirations. Furthermore, the cases suggest that social analysts must balance structure with culture, place and agency in their approaches to understanding how funding and political economy shape scientific knowledge.     

Effects of gender role and task content on performance in same-gender dyads: Transactive memory as a potential mediator

This experiment was designed to examine the effects of gender role and task content on performance in learning dyads and to test the potential mediator effect of an intragroup process related to transactive memory. A total of 44 same-gender dyads participated in the study and were asked to collaborate on a stereotypically masculine or feminine task in a laboratory setting. Collective performance and transactive memory were measured. As predicted, the results showed an interaction between group gender and task content on group performance, with male dyads showing poorer performance on a masculine task than female dyads. However, contrary to expectations, this moderation effect was not mediated by transactive memory, which appeared as a simple mediator of the relationship between group gender and performance. The results are discussed in the framework of the social role theory, and implications for future research in small learning groups are proposed.     

A methodological shortnote on measuring and assessing the effects of normative clearsightedness about internality

This shortnote deals with measuring normative clearsightedness about internality and assessing its effects. After raising the issue of how to measure normative clearsightedness, another operationalization of this concept is proposed based on a multilevel model. In an attempt to understand the relationship between pupils’ clearsightedness about internality and their teachers’ judgments of them, empirical data was collected from 404 third-grade pupils and their 19 teachers. The estimates obtained point out the heuristic value of the proposed model.