A Dynamic Food Science Internship Program: Integration of Problem-Based Learning and Student-Centered Mentoring

ABSTRACT: An internship program based upon problem-based learning (PBL) and student-centered mentoring is developed. Food science majors are introduced to the program in their sophomore/junior year and follow a process that involves learning-style assessments, career counseling, and direct contact with industrial mentors to develop a resume. The problems are designed in collaboration with a faculty advisor so the students can apply their knowledge to industrial situations. Assessment of performance is conducted by having students submit weekly journal entries and a final report and participate in a closing interview. The journals and reports are graded on 6 aspects of a pedagogical reasoning model: Comprehension, transformation, implementation, evaluation, reflection, and new comprehension. This trains students to use a range of knowledge within a restrained environment, as well as assisting students to refine the critical food science and interpersonal skills needed for successful careers after graduation.     

中国近代学官传统的赓续及影响

学官是中国传统社会主管学务的官员和官学教师.中国19世纪末20世纪初发生的"废科举、兴学堂"运动促使社会结构与教育系统发生重要改变,教育行政职能也随之变化.晚清政府出现的视学、劝学员,民国时期的视学、辅导员,及老解放区的巡视员、辅导员都在一定程度上继承了学官的传统:监督或研究、指导学务,并向上级行政部门负责.这一教育行政、研究指导职能"两栖化"的现象对理解当今督学、教研员的职能有所启示.     

Effect of terrain and building structures on the airflow in an airport

The aim of this study was to perform computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations on the airflows at the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA). In particular, the effects of hangar buildings and terrain were studied to explore the effects of turbulence on flying aircraft, especially during landing. The CFD simulation showed that significant differences in wind speeds may occur between the north and the south runways on the western part of the HKIA under typhoon conditions with a strong north to northwesterly wind. Simulation also showed that the hanger buildings between the two runways on the western side and the nearby terrain could be causing the observed difference in the wind speeds. The results also indicated that these obstacles could cause significant wind speed variations at the western end of the south runway. This may affect the operation of landing aircraft. The CFD results for a typical typhoon case were analyzed and found to match the wind data recorded by an aircraft landing that day.     

Facilitating English-language learners' oral reading fluency with digital pen technology

Oral reading fluency is an indicator of overall reading competence. Many studies have claimed that repeated reading can promote oral reading fluency. Currently, novel Web- or computer-based reading technologies offer interactive digital materials that promote English oral reading fluency using the repeated reading strategy; however, paper-based English materials in physical classrooms are still used to train students in oral reading fluency because most students are used to learning environments with paper, pen, and face-to-face interaction. With the growth of digital pen technologies, developing an interactive learning environment that combines printed textbooks and a digital pen to support English-language classroom learning has become feasible. Thus, this work presents a digital pen and paper interaction platform (DPPIP) composed of a student-learning tier, course management tier, and teacher tutoring tier, in which digital pen technologies are integrated with printed textbooks and Moodle course management system, to support the repeated reading strategy for promoting English-language oral reading fluency, learning motivation, and learning satisfaction. Meanwhile, this work also examined whether the proposed DPPIP provides different benefits in terms of the promotion of the oral reading fluency to students with field-dependent and field-independent cognitive styles. Based on the non-equivalent control group design in the quasi-experimental research, this work recruited two junior high school classes from Taoyuan County, Taiwan, to participate in an instructional experiment. One class was randomly assigned to the experimental group, which used the DPPIP to perform the repeated reading strategy in order to enhance English-language oral reading fluency. By contrast, the other class was assigned to the control group, which adopted the traditional paired reading method to support the repeated reading strategy to improve English-language oral reading fluency. Analytical results show that applying the proposed DPPIP to support a regular English-language course in classrooms had significantly positive effects in promoting the English-language oral reading fluency, learning motivation, and learning satisfaction of junior high school students. Moreover, this DPPIP simultaneously helped the experimental group students with the field-independent and field-dependent cognitive styles accelerate their oral reading fluency. Importantly, the oral reading fluency of the experimental group students is positively correlated with the frequency which the digital pen was used.     

Patterns of Variation in Teaching the Colour of Light to Primary 3 Students

This paper shows how the patterns of variation created in the teaching were critical in helping a class of Primary 3 students in Hong Kong to learn about the colour of light, so that the students attained conceptual rather than procedural knowledge. A ‘Learning Study’ approach was adopted, which is a Lesson Study grounded in a particular learning theory to improve teaching and learning. This study, based on the learning theory of Variation advanced by Marton and Booth, was premised on three types of variation: variation in students’ ways of experiencing what is to be taught/learnt (V1), variation in teachers’ ways of dealing with the ‘object of learning’ (V2), and the use of ‘pattern of variation’ as a guiding principle of pedagogical design to enhance students’ learning (V3). In planning the lesson, a conscious effort was made to create relevant patterns of variation, i.e. varying certain critical aspect(s) while keeping other aspects of the object of learning invariant in order to help students to discern those aspects. Comparison between the results of the pre- and post-test shows that there was significant gain in the students’ learning outcomes with respect to the intended object of learning. The findings contribute knowledge to how the Theory of Variation can be used in practice. It also illustrates how teachers can make use of this theoretical framework to analyze their own teaching and thereby, develop an analytical awareness of teaching and learning.     

谈壮语的可利用价值

本文提出壮语的三方面的可利用价值 :语言学习的参考价值 ;民族源流的左证价值 ;民族关系研究的价值     

Identification of learning styles online by observing learners' browsing behaviour through a neural network

Identification of individual learning style is important when developing adaptive educational hypermedia systems. Current systems ask learners to complete questionnaires to identify their learning styles, which might not be appropriate in some contexts. The goal of this research is to identify the learner's learning style by simply observing his/her browsing behaviour without asking the learner to answer any questions or filling out any form. It is implemented through a multi‐layer feed forward neural network (MLFF). Browsing behaviour, in this research, includes three factors, the use of embedded support devices (ESDs), the selection of link types, and the navigation between visited/unvisited nodes. The experiment results showed the proposed model performed well in identifying learning styles. Link type is the dominant factor and Time shift may not be a major factor in the identification of learning styles. Because of the fast execution property of neural networks and identification of learning styles online, it is possible to incorporate learning styles into online adaptive educational web‐based systems.     

Recent Changes to Reference Services in Academic Libraries and Their Relationship to Perceived Quality: Results of a National Survey

ABSTRACT

A national survey of academic librarians was conducted to examine relationships among reference service staffing changes, reference service innovations, adoption of reference technology, library type and size, and service quality. Analysis of the 606 response sets reveals trends toward reduced use of librarians and increased use of student staff at in-person service points, widespread increases in appointment-based and self-service reference, intensive efforts to reduce demand for reference by improving library instruction, and general improvements in reference service quality. Factors strongly associated with decreases or increases in quality are discussed in detail and implications for reference managers are provided.     

The scientific investigation for the study and conservation of the wooden model of S. Maria della Consolazione's church (Todi,Italy)

The focus of this work is the wood polychrome model of the church of S. Maria della Consolazione in Todi, an artefact whose author and historical events are not completely known except a general reference to the construction period of the church (1508–1607 AD). In this study, original and additional materials were examined in order to provide a deeper understanding of the painting and assembly techniques, and a greater awareness of how well preserved the object is, as well as an analysis of previous preservation and conservation interventions. The samples from the painted surfaces were examined by means of micro-Raman spectroscopy, fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometry and internal microstratigraphic analysis. Thin sections of the wood samples were examined under an optical transmission light microscope in order to identify the botanical species. The results shown in this paper suggest the possibility that the original painted layers are made of calcium carbonate white, red ochre and indigo and they were applied by protein binder without any ground layer. Some non-original pigments were found on the model surface like Prussian blue and chrome yellow. Concerning wood components, poplar was characterized both in the original and non-original parts of the model whereas pine species were detected only in the restoration elements.     

Mining direct antagonistic communities in signed social networks

Social networks provide a wealth of data to study relationship dynamics among people. Most social networks such as Epinions and Facebook allow users to declare trusts or friendships with other users. Some of them also allow users to declare distrusts or negative relationships. When both positive and negative links co-exist in a network, some interesting community structures can be studied. In this work, we mine Direct Antagonistic Communities (DACs) within such signed networks. Each DAC consists of two sub-communities with positive relationships among members of each sub-community, and negative relationships among members of the other sub-community. Identifying direct antagonistic communities is an important step to understand the nature of the formation, dissolution, and evolution of such communities. Knowledge about antagonistic communities allows us to better understand and explain behaviors of users in the communities.