Re-examining the effects of adding relevance information in a relevance feedback environment

This paper presents an investigation about how to automatically formulate effective queries using full or partial relevance information (i.e., the terms that are in relevant documents) in the context of relevance feedback (RF). The effects of adding relevance information in the RF environment are studied via controlled experiments. The conditions of these controlled experiments are formalized into a set of assumptions that form the framework of our study. This framework is called idealized relevance feedback (IRF) framework. In our IRF settings, we confirm the previous findings of relevance feedback studies. In addition, our experiments show that better retrieval effectiveness can be obtained when (i) we normalize the term weights by their ranks, (ii) we select weighted terms in the top K retrieved documents, (iii) we include terms in the initial title queries, and (iv) we use the best query sizes for each topic instead of the average best query size where they produce at most five percentage points improvement in the mean average precision (MAP) value. We have also achieved a new level of retrieval effectiveness which is about 55–60% MAP instead of 40+% in the previous findings. This new level of retrieval effectiveness was found to be similar to a level using a TREC ad hoc test collection that is about double the number of documents in the TREC-3 test collection used in previous works.     

Laughter,smiles and grins: The role of humor in learning and facilitating

Abstract

This article inquires into the role of humor in the relational learning process that takes place in adventure education programs. It presents program episodes, which the authors experienced in their practice as facilitator, staff trainer and researcher, and explores the related literature. Four aspects appear to affect whether humor either facilitates or interferes with participants' learning in development programs. First, humor plays a role in developing relationships among participants and between participants and facilitators, and hence in the relational safety that characterizes an environment conducive to learning. Second, it may play a role in creating a workable distance to sensitive learning issues. Third, humor may offer new and unexpected perspectives, which contribute to revising familiar but restrictive reference frames. Finally, humor seems to fulfill these functions to the extent that it is not planned to do so, and as such may exemplify the ‘paradox of functionality’ in relational processes.     

Towards a hybrid conceptualisation of Chinese women primary school teachers' changing femininities – a case study of Hong Kong

In this paper, I posit a hybrid conceptualisation of women teachers' identities in the globalising and localising negotiation of gender. Drawing on Homi Bhabha's theory of hybridities, this paper argues for a fluid, hybrid and multifaceted reality of women teachers' lives in the areas of family, the husband and wife relationship, and the place of the child in the family as they engage in workplaces. The analysis draws on in‐depth interviews with 20 Chinese women primary school teachers first individually and then in groups of four or five in Hong Kong where globalisation meets with the indigenous Chinese culture. Implications for teacher education are discussed.     

New Documents on the History of the Russian Historical Archive Abroad in Prague

The article discusses a newly-discovered collection of administrative documents and correspondence from the Russkii zagranichnyi istoricheskii arkhiv [Russian Historical Archive Abroad], which was active 1924–1945. The collection is housed in the Slavonic Library in Prague. It is important for both the history of the archive itself and the history of the Russian emigration. An inventory list of the collection is now available on the library's Web site.     

Globalisation and localisation enmeshed—towards a framework for the development of guidance curriculum in Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s 150 years of colonisation by the British is a classic example of how globalisation comes into direct contact with a local Chinese culture and creates cultural hybridities. The paper presents a framework for developing a hybrid guidance curriculum, drawing together western traditions of developmental contextualism in guidance and Chinese traditions of Confucian humanism in moral education. The core of the framework is a hybrid self, integrating the individualist and the embedded self. The paper highlights the importance of culture and context in considering school guidance and the ‘fluid’ and dynamic nature of ‘glocalisation’ working towards integration.     

Hydrogel discs for digital microfluidics

Hydrogels are networks of hydrophilic polymer chains that are swollen with water, and they are useful for a wide range of applications because they provide stable niches for immobilizing proteins and cells. We report here the marriage of hydrogels with digital microfluidic devices. Until recently, digital microfluidics, a fluid handling technique in which discrete droplets are manipulated electromechanically on the surface of an array of electrodes, has been used only for homogeneous systems involving liquid reagents. Here, we demonstrate for the first time that the cylindrical hydrogel discs can be incorporated into digital microfluidic systems and that these discs can be systematically addressed by droplets of reagents. Droplet movement is observed to be unimpeded by interaction with the gel discs, and gel discs remain stationary when droplets pass through them. Analyte transport into gel discs is observed to be identical to diffusion in cases in which droplets are incubated with gels passively, but transport is enhanced when droplets are continually actuated through the gels. The system is useful for generating integrated enzymatic microreactors and for three-dimensional cell culture. This paper demonstrates a new combination of techniques for lab-on-a-chip systems which we propose will be useful for a wide range of applications.     

Testing the predictive power of executive functions,motivation, and input on second language vocabulary acquisition: a prospective study

European Journal of Psychology of Education - This longitudinal study assessed the relative importance of second language exposure, motivational and attitudinal factors, and executive functions in...     

Roma Undergraduates’ Personal Network in the Process of College Transition. A Social Capital Approach

Roma university students’ personal networks become unstable in the process of college transition. We describe the personal networks of these students using the model set up by Brandes et al. (in: Proceedings of the IEEE pacific visualization symposium (Pacific Vis’08), IEEE Computer Society Press, 2008) and analyse the identified groups utilizing the social capital approach. We mapped seventy-six students’ networks applying contact diary. Origin, host and fellow groups significantly differ in their composition; they provide different (‘bonding’ or ‘bridging’) type of resources, and their availability to the Roma students is also different. We found significant differences between the students in their tendency to rely on certain groups in the process of academic adjustment.

     

香港高等体育教育课程体系简析

通过对香港中文大学体育运动科学系和香港浸会大学体育系为代表的香港体育高等教育课程设置的比较分析,探讨了香港体育高等教育课程体系的特点。