Time domain system identification of unknown initial conditions

System identification is a method for using measured data to create or improve a mathematical model of the object being tested. From the measured data however, noise is noticed at the beginning of the response. One solution to avoid this noise problem is to skip the noisy data and then use the initial conditions as active parameters, to be found by using the system identification process. This paper describes the development of the equations for setting up the initial conditions as active parameters. The simulated data and response data from actual shear buildings were used to prove the accuracy of both the algorithm and the computer program, which include the initial conditions as active parameters. The numerical and experimental model analysis showed that the value of mass, stiffness and frequency were very reasonable and that the computed acceleration and measured acceleration matched very well.     

Analysis modeling for plate buckling load of vibration test

In view of the recent technological development, the pursuit of safe high-precision structural designs has been the goal of most structural designers. To bridge the gap between the construction theories and the actual construction techniques, safety factors are adopted for designing the strength loading of structural members. If safety factors are too conservative, the extra building materials necessary will result in high construction cost. Thus, there has been a tendency in the construction field to derive a precise buckling load analysis model of member in order to establish accurate safety factors. A numerical analysis model, using modal analysis to acquire the dynamic function calculated by dynamic parameter to get the buckling load of member, is proposed in this paper. The fixed and simple supports around the circular plate are analyzed by this proposed method. And then, the Monte Carlo method and the normal distribution method are used for random sampling and measuring errors of numerical simulati     

Facilitating effective digital game-based learning behaviors and learning performances of students based on a collaborative knowledge construction strategy

Researchers have recognized the potential of educational computer games in improving students’ learning engagement and outcomes; however, facilitating effective learning behaviors during the gaming process remains an important and challenging issue. In this paper, a collaborative knowledge construction strategy was incorporated into an educational computer game to facilitate students’ knowledge sharing and organizing during the game-based learning process. An experiment was conducted to examine the students’ learning behavioral patterns, group efficacy, and problem-solving awareness. The experimental results revealed that the proposed approach improved the students’ learning achievements and awareness of problem-solving. Moreover, from the analysis of the students’ behavior sequences, it was found that, with the collaborative knowledge construction mechanism, the students revealed significantly more aggressive learning behavioral patterns, such as “comparing and observing the learning targets” and “seeking clues and answers” during the gaming process. This implies that integrating the collaborative knowledge construction mechanism into the gaming process has great potential for helping students effectively learn and organize knowledge as well as fostering their awareness of applying the acquired knowledge to dealing with problems.     

Cross‐Cultural Examination of Depression Expression and Help‐Seeking Behavior: A Comparative Study of American and Korean College Students

This study examined cross‐cultural differences in depression expression and help‐seeking behavior among college students in the United States and Korea. Results indicated that the Korean students showed more somatization tendency, negative affect, and negative help‐seeking behavior. Negative help‐seeking behavior of Korean students was shown to relate to somatization. Counseling implications are discussed.     

Learning vocabulary through e-book reading of young children with various reading abilities

Previous studies revealed that young children learn novel word meanings by simply reading and listening to a printed book. In today’s classroom, many children’s e-books provide audio narration support so young readers can simply listen to the e-books. The focus of the present study is to examine the effect of e-book reading with audio narration support on the novel vocabulary learning of first grade students with advanced, average, and poor reading abilities. The effect of adding teacher’s word explanation on novel word learning was also examined. By employing a within-subject design, students read an e-book that contained ten explained words and another e-book containing ten unexplained words. Their performances were compared to ten unexposed control words. As a whole group, results indicated that teacher’s word explanation resulted in greater word learning compared to when word explanation was not provided. However, e-book reading conditions without teacher’s word explanation did not lead to incidental word learning from the e-book context compared to the unexposed control words. When the students were divided into subgroups based on their reading abilities, readers with higher reading abilities learned more word meanings from e-book with teacher’s word explanation. However, three subgroups of readers showed different patterns of word learning across the e-book with and without word explanation and the control conditions. Educational implications of using e-books for students with different reading abilities and limitations are discussed.     

The Benefits of Intergenerational Learning in Higher Education: Lessons Learned from Two Age Friendly University Programs

This article focuses on the role of universities in the promotion of intergenerational learning and the facilitation of reciprocal sharing of expertise among learners of all ages. The principles of the Age Friendly University are used as a particular lens for interpreting two university programs, one in the United States and one in Ireland. Though different in operational implementation, core commonalities emerged within the nature of benefits to younger learners, older learners, the university, and the community. A review of these benefits illustrates how universities can provide opportunities for older and younger learners to co-create experiences and mutually enrich each other’s lives.     

Estimation of game-level attendance in major league soccer: Outcome uncertainty and absolute quality considerations

Despite its continued growth, there are doubts about the sustainability of demand for Major League Soccer, which has a strong focus on superstar externalities through its designated player rules. Yet there is relatively limited research directly focusing on classical determinants of demand for league attendance. The authors set out to establish an estimate of the relative importance of relative quality – outcome uncertainty – and absolute quality in game attendance. They find that fans behave in ways more consistent with the loss aversion hypothesis than the uncertainty of outcome hypothesis, with considerable interest in both home and away team absolute quality.     

Japanese neo‐nationalism and an idea of an East Asian community

Abstract

The paper explains the relationship between Japan and its neighboring countries, and the influence of Japanese neo‐nationalism on the idea of an East Asian community.     

On co-authorship for author disambiguation

Author name disambiguation deals with clustering the same-name authors into different individuals. To attack the problem, many studies have employed a variety of disambiguation features such as coauthors, titles of papers/publications, topics of articles, emails/affiliations, etc. Among these, co-authorship is the most easily accessible and influential, since inter-person acquaintances represented by co-authorship could discriminate the identities of authors more clearly than other features. This study attempts to explore the net effects of co-authorship on author clustering in bibliographic data. First, to handle the shortage of explicit coauthors listed in known citations, a web-assisted technique of acquiring implicit coauthors of the target author to be disambiguated is proposed. Then, a coauthor disambiguation hypothesis that the identity of an author can be determined by his/her coauthors is examined and confirmed through a variety of author disambiguation experiments.     

Puerto Rican parent'ss understanding of their young children's development: P.I.A.G.E.T. program impacts on family involvement in culturally and linguistically diverse populations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impacts of a parent involvement program, Project P.I.A.G.E.T., on parents' understanding of their children's development. Subjects were 29 Puerto Rican parents whose Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CLD) children were enrolled in the parent involvement program. With the help of home visiting paraprofessionals provided by the project, parents were trained, for six months, to use various strategies and skills in helping their children learn. The program effects were measured by a commercially available test, Alpern–Boll Developmental Profile II. The study revealed that P.I.A.G.E.T. parent involvement program was effective in improving the involved parents' understanding of their children's various developmental areas. Implications for increasing CLD parents' involvement on educating their children are also presented. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.