An international online survey of the practices and perceptions of higher education professors with respect to the assessment of learning in the classroom

In a context where public action must demonstrate its effectiveness and efficiency, and where the links between teaching and the quality of learning are regularly highlighted, it seems relevant to identify the trends and logic that govern university professors’ decisions with respect to the modes of learning assessment favoured within the framework of their delivery of teaching services. Moreover, given that university teaching practices are changing rapidly due to the introduction of different views of the learning process, one might conclude that the same holds for assessment practices. Through our research work, we led to the development of a trilingual (English, French and Spanish) online survey devoted to an international investigation into the classroom assessment practices of higher education teachers. This survey proposes an online platform that will allow institutions of higher learning to document some of their current practices and to compare observed trends with what is happening elsewhere, in accordance with differing missions and traditions. These research notes are thus intended to describe the survey itself and to show how the questionnaire and individual items were structured, in addition to providing an overview of treatments within and between institutions that followed the testing.     

Towards a codification of practical knowledge

As practical knowledge seems to have a central place in organisational issues, we focus on possibilities of studying and formalising it. From an unusual theoretical perspective, we view practical knowledge as embodied knowing that is only manifest through action in a particular situation. Although this knowledge is largely implicit, we try to make what is articulable explicit. After highlighting the stakes involved in the codification of practices, we review the ontological and epistemological assumptions underlying the method developed. The method is founded on participant observation, a video recording of a situated subjective perspective and an ex post interview using this perspective to aid an actor in making part of his/her practical knowledge explicit. We present its implementation within research on polar expeditions in order to understand how an experienced actor deals with risks. In conclusion, we point out (1) the importance of this kind of data in knowledge management, (2) some lines of further research.     

Bio-electrospraying and aerodynamically assisted bio-jetting whole human blood: Interrogating cell surface marker integrity

Bio-electrospraying and aerodynamically assisted bio-jetting are two direct cell handling approaches recently pioneered, which have demonstrated significant applicability to the life sciences. These two bioprotocols have undergone scientific rigor, which have seen these techniques been explored in conjunction with a wide range of immortalized, primary and stem cells, and those whole organisms. Those studies have demonstrated a cellular population of >70% viable post-treatment in comparison with controls. Although, these studies assessed cellular viability, cell surface molecules play a critical role in several cellular functions, in particular, have importance to tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Thus, in the studies reported herein, we demonstrate post-treated viable cells retain their cell surface marker expression levels in comparison to controls, over both short and long time points. Therefore, these studies further push back the frontiers of both bio-electrosprays and aerodynamically assisted bio-jetting in their endeavor as novel strategies for tissue engineering and regenerative biology∕medicine with possible targeted clinical utility.     

Educating Art in a Globalizing World. The University of Ideas: A Sociological Case‐study

In 1999, the Italian Arte Povera artist Michelangelo Pistoletto and other artists laid the foundations of The University of Ideas (UNIDEE), an exceptional international artist‐in‐residence programme with a strong ideological foundation. As a sociologist of culture I had the opportunity to do research in the huge organization for a month by doing participant observation, in‐depth interviews and discourse analysis. In this article the educational programme of UNIDEE is interpreted in sociological terms. First of all it will be contextualized in the artistic work of Michelangelo Pistoletto through his concept of the mirror and his a‐modern idea of ‘The Minus Artist’. In the second part Pistoletto's artistic, political and economic movement Cittadellarte, in which UNIDEE is based, will be described. Finally UNIDEE will be analysed as a model for art education on the border of modernity attempting to redefine the position of art and of the artist in a globalizing world.     

THE PARENTS COUNCIL

The aim of this article is to consider the psychological mechanisms that may prevent individuals from achieving religious tolerance and religious pluralism. After defining these concepts and explaining why they are desirable outcomes, four psychological obstacles to the achievement of religious tolerance and religious pluralism will be explored by considering both research in psychology and the literature on religious education. The aim of identifying these obstacles is to enable us to suggest how they might be overcome through education, and what the implications for religious education are.     

The role of location and social strength for friendship prediction in location-based social networks

Recent advances in data mining and machine learning techniques are focused on exploiting location data. These advances, combined with the increased availability of location-acquisition technology, have encouraged social networking services to offer to their users different ways to share their location information. These social networks, called location-based social networks (LBSNs), have attracted millions of users and the attention of the research community. One fundamental task in the LBSN context is the friendship prediction due to its role in different applications such as recommendation systems. In the literature exists a variety of friendship prediction methods for LBSNs, but most of them give more importance to the location information of users and disregard the strength of relationships existing between these users. The contributions of this article are threefold, we: 1) carried out a comprehensive survey of methods for friendship prediction in LBSNs and proposed a taxonomy to organize the existing methods; 2) put forward a proposal of five new methods addressing gaps identified in our survey while striving to find a balance between optimizing computational resources and improving the predictive power; and 3) used a comprehensive evaluation to quantify the prediction abilities of ten current methods and our five proposals and selected the top-5 friendship prediction methods for LBSNs. We thus present a general panorama of friendship prediction task in the LBSN domain with balanced depth so as to facilitate research and real-world application design regarding this important issue.     

Talkin' 'Bout Meta-Generation: ACT UP History and Queer Futurity

Modern Eloquence. Founded by Thomas B. Reed. New Edition by Ashley H. Thorndike. Modern Eloquence Corporation, New York, 1924. Twelve volumes.

The Psychology of Selling Life Insurance. By Edward K. Strong, Jr. Harper and Brothers, 1922. Pp. 489.

The Art of Talking, or Self‐Expression in Speech and Conversation. By W. Charles Loosmoore. London, John Murray. 1923.

A Complete Course in Public Speaking. By Joseph A. Mosher. Macmillan, New York, 1924. Pp. XXV + 174.

Writing By Types. By Albert C. Baugh, Paul C. Kitchen, and Matthew W. Black. The Century Co., New York, 1924.

The Dramatization of Bible Stories. By Elizabeth Erwin Miller. University of Chicago Press, 1918. Pp. 162.     

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.