The use of trigram analysis for spelling error detection

Work performed under the SPElling Error Detection COrrection Project (SPEEDCOP) supported by National Science Foundation (NSF) at Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) to devise effective automatic methods of detecting and correcting misspellings in scholarly and scientific text is described. The investigation was applied to 50,000 word/misspelling pairs collected from six datasets (Chemical Industry Notes (CIN), Biological Abstracts (BA). Chemical Abstracts (CA), Americal Chemical Society primary journal keyboarding (ACS), Information Science Abstracts (ISA), and Distributed On-Line Editing (DOLE) (a CAS internal dataset especially suited to spelling error studies). The purpose of this study was to determine the utility of trigram analysis in the automatic detection and/or correction of misspellings. Computer programs were developed to collect data on trigram distribution in each dataset and to explore the potential of trigram analysis for detecting spelling errors, verifying correctly-spelled words, locating the error site within a misspelling, and distinguishing between the basic kinds of spelling errors. The results of the trigram analysis were largely independent of the dataset to which it was applied but trigram compositions varied with the dataset. The trigram analysis technique developed determined the error site within a misspelling accurately, but did not distinguish effectively between different error types or between valid words and misspellings. However, methods for increasing its accuracy are suggested.     

ASSESSMENT OF CONTENT AND COGNITIVE STRUCTURES IN PHYSICS AT COLLEGE LEVEL

First, the theory of directed graphs (digraphs) was used to map the conceptual structure of the content, implicit in the instructional materials, in the area of electricity at college level. After this, the graphical representation of content structure, thus obtained, was compared with those obtained for the teacher's cognitive structure and the student's cognitive structure through a word association test and the multidimensional scaling technique. Research findings suggest mainly that the techniques used to assess content and cognitive structures might be useful tools for such a purpose.

     

Reflexiones sobre los niveles y agentes del diseño del curriculum

Resumen

Este artículo explora un tema actual del diseño del curriculum. Después de hacer una definición de términos sobre el tema, se expone una propuesta sobre los distintos niveles de concreción del diseño del curriculum.     

Search for autonomy in motor task learning in physical education university students

The study focused on discovering the influence that an autonomous motor task learning programme had on the improvement of perceived competence, intrinsic regulation, incremental belief and motivational orientations. The study was performed with two groups of participants (n = 22 and n = 20) aged between 19 and 35 years. The instruments used were the incremental factor of the Conceptions of the Nature of Athletic Ability Questionnaire (CNAAQ-2), the Goal Orientation in Exercise Scale (GOES), the intrinsic regulation factor of the Behavioural Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire (BREQ-2), the perceived autonomy factor of the autonomy measurement scale (EMA) and the perceived competence factor of the Motives for Physical Activity Measure Revised Scale (MPAM-R). The questionnaires were handed out over 3 months in a weekly session with pre-test and post-test. The results showed that the use of an autonomy-based teaching programme increased perceived competence, intrinsic motivation, incremental ability belief and task-involving motivational orientation.     

The Effects of University–Industry Relationships and Academic Research On Scientific Performance: Synergy or Substitution?

This paper evaluates whether university–industry relationships (UIR) and academic research activities have complementary effects on the scientific production of university lecturers. The analysis is based on a case study of two Spanish universities. We find that the effects of R&D contracts with industry, and academic research activity on scientific production are synergistic, but only when the R&D contracts account for a low percentage of a lecturer’s total funding. This suggests that the positive effect of UIR on a lecturer’s scientific production comes fundamentally from the capacity to provide complementary resources (cognitive, technical, and/or financial) for research activities. If lecturers are not involved in research and dedicate most their time to the development of activities related to UIR, their scientific production will be negatively affected.     

The effect of external and internal factors on firms’ product innovation

In this article we analyse the effect of factors external and internal to the firm, on product innovation novelty, and how this effect varies by industry. We estimate three econometric models to determine the individual effects of these factors, their joint explanatory power and the effects of interactions among them. The analysis is based on a sample of 6094 manufacturing firms, taken from the Spanish Survey of Technological Innovation 2000. The results indicate that the firm's technological competences, derived from in-house R&D, are the main determinant of product innovation. They also suggest that in the presence of high levels of such competences, the technological opportunities deriving from non-industry agents become less important as determinants of innovation. We show that the determinants of innovation vary depending on the industrial sector and the degree of novelty of the product developed.     

Barriers and Enablers to Data‐Driven Decision Making by High School Counselors and Advisors

This article presents a study that had as its purpose to assist a large urban school district's leadership in systematically supporting school counselors and advisors conducting data‐driven decision making. Binder's Six Boxes® model served as the conceptual framework to collect and analyze information pertaining to barriers and enablers across environmental and behavioral factors. Barriers included lack of clear expectations and feedback, an overabundance of technology without time to practice, and clerical duties. Enablers included supportive leadership, knowledgeable counselors willing to participate, and leadership with positive perceptions.