工程教育的全球合作

Erasmus主题网络(Erasmus Thematic Networks)已经成功地为欧洲高等教育的发展做出了贡献:取得了若干重要成果,同时也指出了不久的将来所面临的挑战。这些成果和挑战包括:完成博洛尼亚进程、在工程教育领域发展和推广欧洲互认机制(例如EUR-ACE)、保护大学的自主权、吸引最优秀的年轻人参与工程研究、提供好的终身学习(LLL)机会、在不降低科学和技术学习水平的前提下扩展非技术技能的内容、加强企业和大学在教育问题上的合作。欧洲工程教育肯定要越过老欧洲大陆的界限,以确保质量和提高其对整个大西洋地区和新兴经济体的吸引力为目标。在不久的未来,欧洲学术网络必将向全世界开放,与全球的学者、学生、工业界和专业人士合作。我们已经通过国际工程教育学会联盟(IFEES)为这样的合作提供了一把保护伞,以期为这个目标提供良好的服务。即使这些任务看上去似乎已经很令人欣慰了,但是仍然不够。基于总体成本效益比而不只是GDP增长的分析,使我们有了更长远的眼光,我们还应考虑工程教育其他方面的重要因素,并且克服在科学/技术文化和人文文化之间固有的鸿沟。从社会和环境的角度看,如果工程教育希望为维护整个地球的良好状况做出贡献,这...     

Do Italian dyslexic children use the lexical reading route efficiently? An orthographic judgment task

The study uses an orthographic judgment task to evaluate the efficiency of the lexical reading route in Italian dyslexic children. It has been suggested that Italian dyslexic children rely prevalently on the sub-word-level routine for reading. However, it is not easy to test the lexical reading route in Italian directly because of the lack of critical items (irregular words), so visual lexical decision tasks and the comprehension/detection of pseudo-homophones are often used. While the former may also be solved on the basis of visual familiarity or phonological re-codification, the latter also involves conceptual and syntactic skills. Eleven dyslexic children participated in the study, performing an orthographic judgment task on stimuli with two phonologically plausible spellings, of which only one was orthographically correct. Their performance was compared with those of 11 proficient readers. The dyslexic children showed selective impairment in detecting phonologically plausible errors, but their performance was normal when required to judge errors inserted in words with regular orthography, i.e., devoid of orthographic ambiguity, and for which a sub-word-level reading procedure is sufficient to guarantee a good performance. Overall, data are coherent with a diagnosis of surface dyslexia, with most children showing defective orthographic lexical processing.

Verification of the stomatal conductance of Nebbiolo grapevine

Wine is one of the most important Italian export products, and Nebbiolo is one of the most respected Italian grapes. In the summer of 2007, a measurement campaign was carried out in a Nebbiolo vineyard located in Vezza d＇Alba, near Cuneo, Italy. Using a gauge of trade gases and some other instruments, we recorded the stomatal conductance and also some physiological parameters useful for estimating the dependence of stomatal conductance on environmental variables. The goal of this experiment was improving the parameterization of grapevine evapotranspiration through the assessment of the stomatal conductance and, in particular, of the functional dependence of the stomatal conductance on the following variables： the photosynthetically active radiation, the atmospheric temperature, the atmospheric moisture deficit, and the carbon dioxide concentration. The observations allowed us to check and, in some cases, to adapt the existing general parameterizations found in literature. The results showed some significant differences with the existing parameterizations concerning the atmospheric temperature, the atmospheric moisture deficit, and the carbon dioxide concentration. The parameterizations obtained in this experiment, although referring to a specific plant and site （namely the Nebbiolo at Vezza d＇Alba）, could allow assessment of the best environmental conditions under which the Nebbiolo grapevine production is the best, and in future could be tested for other grapevines or climates.     

Similarity caching in large-scale image retrieval

Feature-rich data, such as audio-video recordings, digital images, and results of scientific experiments, nowadays constitute the largest fraction of the massive data sets produced daily in the e-society. Content-based similarity search systems working on such data collections are rapidly growing in importance. Unfortunately, similarity search is in general very expensive and hardly scalable.     

Factors influencing teachers’ adoption of AR inquiry games to foster skills for Responsible Research and Innovation

Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) is a contemporary approach to promote science with and for society for aligning scientific innovations with societal needs. Literature about education for RRI is limited because it is not a widespread practice at the moment. To explore this gap, this study examines teachers’ views about a novel inquiry game with Augmented Reality to foster inquiry skills for RRI. This game about Genetic-Modified food was used by 18 educators from Secondary and Higher Education who engaged 390 students to form opinions about risks and benefits of GM cereal. The thematic analysis of qualitative data: semi-structured questionnaires, teaching reports and focus groups, revealed motivations and practices that influence teachers’ adoption of OER created with new technologies. Findings revealed that the 3-phase-model approach used in the game engaged students to “CARE” about global issues, “KNOW” science concepts and “DO” actions through an active open schooling network. The key drivers for educators’ adoption of AR inquiry games are to make learning more meaningful and engaging through students-centred approaches and topical resources for them to develop scientific knowledge and skills. However, the key requirements for that are easy-to-use technologies and pedagogical strategies for identifying learner’s achievements and difficulties.     

Apprenticeship — The perilous journey from Germany to Togo

This paper explores the economic and cultural reasons why apprenticeship programmes imported by developing countries typically fail. The authors pursue this inquiry in a comparative manner by addressing experiences in Western Africa and by drawing on the outcomes of apprentice programmes in some industrialised countries. The authors identify major issues that explain why programmes borrowed from the West are so ineffective in Africa. Essentially, the imported apprenticeship programmes are decidedly Western and white concepts that link education to employment through certification and individual ownership of knowledge, and that clash with African cultural traditions. Individual success is central to Western-based programmes, which is opposed to more community-based conceptions of traditional African culture. Because of this inherent mismatch, the authors conclude with several options for developing apprenticeship training in Africa that are more relevant and adaptable to the prevailing cultural, educational and economic climate. They encourage programmes that improve the educational system incrementally and caution against programmes that run counter to the predominant culture.

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Zusammenfassung In diesem Artikel werden die wirtschaftlichen und kulturellen Gründe untersucht, warum die von Entwicklungsländern importierten Ausbildungs-programme typischerweise erfolglos bleiben. Die Autoren gehen dieser Frage nach durch Vergleiche von Erfahrungen in Westafrika mit Ergebnissen von Ausbildungsprogrammen in einigen Industrieländern. Die Autoren zeigen die wesentlichen Merkmale auf, aus denen ersichtlich wird, warum vom Westen entliehene Ausbildungsprogramme in Afrika so wenig Wirkung zeigen. Hauptsächlich handelt es sich bei den importierten Ausbildungsprogrammen um auf den Westen und auf Weiße zugeschnittene Konzepte, die Bildung und Arbeitsplatz mittels Zeugnissen und individuellem Wissen miteinander verbinden und mit afrikanischen Kulturtraditionen nicht in Einklang zu bringen sind. Individueller Erfolg ist Kernpunkt westlicher Programme, die den eher gemeinschaftsbezogenen Konzeptionen traditioneller afrikanischer Kultur entgegenstehen. Wegen dieses naturgegebenen Mißverhältnisses zeigen die Autoren abschließend mehrere Möglichkeiten zur Entwicklung von Ausbildungsprogrammen für Afrika auf, die den kulturellen, erzieherischen und wirtschaftlichen Gegebenheiten in Afrika besser angepaßt sind. Sie befürworten Programme zu einer stetigen Verbesserung des Bildungssystems und warnen vor Programmen, die der prädominanten Kultur entgegenwirken.

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Résumé Le présent article cherche les raisons économiques et culturelles pour lesquelles les programmes d'apprentissage importés par les pays en développement échouent généralement. Les auteurs poursuivent leur recherche d'une manière comparée en examinant les expériences faites en Afrique occidentale et en exploitant les résultats des programmes de ce genre appliqués dans certains pays industrialisés. Les auteurs définissent les problèmes majeurs qui expliquent pourquoi les programmes empruntés au monde occidental sont si peu efficaces en Afrique. Avant tout, les programmes d'apprentissage sont typiquement occidentaux, les concepts blancs lient l'éducation à l'emploi grâce à un système de certificats, et la propriété individuelle du savoir est en désaccord avec les traditions culturelles africaines. Le succès individuel qui est central dans les programmes appliqués en Occident est opposé aux conceptions davantage fondées sur la collectivité de la culture africaine traditionnelle. En raison de ce défaut d'adaptation inhérent, les auteurs concluent en proposant plusieurs options de développement de l'apprentissage professionnel en Afrique qui sont plus pertinentes et adaptables au climat culturel, éducatif et économique qui prévaut dans cette région. Ils prônent des programmes visant à améliorer progressivement le système éducatif et mettent en garde contre ceux qui vont à l'encontre de la culture prédominante.

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An earlier version of this paper was presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Boston Massachusetts, April 1990. Opinions expressed in this paper do not represent official views of The World Bank or International Labour Office.     

Modeling and predicting heart rate dynamics across a broad range of transient exercise intensities during cycling

Prior studies have investigated heart rate dynamics from a variety of perspectives, but are often inadequate for predicting heart rate responses across a broad range of transient exercise intensities. The aim of this study was to develop a nonlinear model to describe the heart rate response of an individual during cycling and to investigate whether heart rate is more accurately predicted by a combination of power output and cadence than by power output alone. The proposed model can account for the transient fluctuations of an individual’s heart rate while they participate in exercise that varies in intensity. The participants for this study each performed a fifty minute bout of cycling on an electric-braked cycle ergometer in the laboratory. The testing protocol for the cycling bout was designed to challenge the predictive capabilities of the model and the participants therefore abruptly changed their power outputs and cadences throughout the tests, which resulted in significant transient fluctuations in their heart rate responses. Due to the nonlinear nature of the proposed heart rate model, a heuristic algorithm was developed to perform the parameter estimation. The model predictions for heart rate matched very well with the experimental heart rate responses for each of the participants, especially when considering the challenges inherent to predicting abrupt transient behavior in the heart rate response. Model comparisons also indicated that heart rate is more accurately predicted by a combination of power output and cadence than by power output alone.     

The World Bank Policies: Damned if you do,damned if you don't

To some, the World Bank is the all-powerful arm of imperialism. Others regret that it is powerless, incapable of influencing policies in the countries in which it operates. This paper discusses these issues, as seen by the author, a former employee both of the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, as well as a civil servant and consultant at the receiving end of the loans. This experience provides an inside view but the reader has to be warned of the biases that might have resulted from it.     

Role of affective self-regulatory efficacy in diverse spheres of psychosocial functioning

This prospective study with 464 older adolescents (14 to 19 years at Time 1; 16 to 21 years at Time 2) tested the structural paths of influence through which perceived self-efficacy for affect regulation operates in concert with perceived behavioral efficacy in governing diverse spheres of psychosocial functioning. Self-efficacy to regulate positive and negative affect is accompanied by high efficacy to manage one's academic development, to resist social pressures for antisocial activities, and to engage oneself with empathy in others' emotional experiences. Perceived self-efficacy for affect regulation essentially operated mediationally through the latter behavioral forms of self-efficacy rather than directly on prosocial behavior, delinquent conduct, and depression. Perceived empathic self-efficacy functioned as a generalized contributor to psychosocial functioning. It was accompanied by prosocial behavior and low involvement in delinquency but increased vulnerability to depression in adolescent females.