Orthographic Learning During Oral and Silent Reading

This study examined orthographic learning in oral and silent reading conditions. Dutch third graders read, either aloud or silently, short texts containing novel target (pseudo) words. The acquisition of new word-specific orthographic knowledge was assessed several days later by comparing target spellings with homophonic spellings in tasks requiring orthographic choice, spelling, and naming. It was predicted that orthographic learning would be evident in both oral and silent conditions but stronger in the oral condition. As expected, orthographic learning was evident in both oral and silent conditions. This finding suggests that support for the self-teaching hypothesis of orthographic learning obtained in studies of unassisted oral reading can be generalized to the more common form of independent reading: silent reading. In addition, the results on the naming task provided some evidence for stronger orthographic learning during oral reading, but the two spelling tasks did not.     

Effects of planning on task load,knowledge, and tool preference: a comparison of two tools

Self-regulated learners are expected to plan their own learning. Because planning is a complex task, it is not self-evident that all learners can perform this task successfully. In this study, we examined the effects of two planning support tools on the quality of created plans, planning behavior, task load, and acquired knowledge. Sixty-five participants each worked with two versions of a planning tool. In one version, learning plans were actively constructed by the learners themselves; the other version provided learners with an adaptable computer-generated plan. The results indicated that the quality of learner-created plans was lower than computer-generated plans. Furthermore, participants reported a higher task load when they constructed the plans by themselves. However, participants gained more structural knowledge about the learning domain when they actively created plans. There was not an apparent preference for one of the tools if participants were to create a plan for someone else. However, if they were to use the plan for their own learning, participants preferred to actively create their own plans.     

Agents control in intelligent learning systems: The case of reactive characteristics

Intelligent learning systems (ILSs) have evolved in the last few years basically because of influences received from multi-agent architectures (MAs). Conflict resolution among agents has been a very important problem for multi-agent systems, with specific features in the case of ILSs. The literature shows that ILSs with cognitive or pedagogical agents are prone to arbitration methods, where as ILSs with reactive agents are much in favor of control mechanisms. For these kind of systems, different control types are proposed based on the different stimuli that these agents will receive. These stimuli are aspects to be evaluated during the teaching/learning process such as: (1) error analysis, (2) learning styles, (3) analogies, (4) social aspects, etc.

The paper reviews several ILSs, related to our work; different control mechanisms are proposed to solve the agents' intervention conflicts. Finally, the use of several mechanisms is exemplified by the results of a specific ILS.     

A nano to macroscale study on structure-mechanics relationships of archaeological oak

Mechanical properties of wood at different length scales of its hierarchical structure are governed by structural and compositional properties on smaller length scales. This opens up the possibility to use microstructural data for estimating mechanical properties, which are difficult to assess by conventional, destructive testing but are nevertheless of high relevance for conservation practice. Herein, we investigate such microstructure-mechanics relationships for a particular example, namely the load bearing archaeological oak of the Oseberg Viking ship, displayed at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, Norway. In order to identify the effects of degradation on the mechanical behavior and their relations to the microstructure, recent oak specimens of different geographical origin (Norway and Austria) are investigated as well. Wood exhibits a cellular structure. Its cell walls are composed of an amorphous polymer matrix consisting of lignin and hemicelluloses and embedded, stiff cellulose fibers. At the cell level, experimental studies comprised microscopic investigations of the cellular structure, chemical analyses of the composition of the cell walls, as well as nanoindentation tests on single cell walls. The same samples were also analyzed on the macroscopic level, where additionally mass density and annual ring data were measured together with ultrasonic stiffnesses. The chemical data clearly indicate deterioration in the archaeological oak, affecting mainly hemicelluloses and amorphous cellulose. At the cell wall scale, however, this does not necessarily lead to a weaker material behavior. The nanoindentation modulus, as a measure of the cell wall stiffness, was found to even increase. This is counterintuitive to our understanding of the effects of chemical degradation. It might be due to possible modification of lignin in the Oseberg oak, and thus have a stronger effect on the indentation modulus than the concurrent weakening of the interfaces between the load-carrying cellulose fibers and the connecting cell wall matrix when analyzing wood at the microscopic level. A similar effect is also observed for the transversal stiffness of macroscopic samples, which increases. In tension-dominated loading modes, however, the degradation of the interfaces is the dominant effect, resulting for example in a considerable reduction of the macroscopic stiffness in longitudinal direction. This underlines the utmost relevance of the loading condition on the remaining load-carrying capacity of degraded wood. On the macroscale, effects of the geographical origin (i.e. growth conditions) on ring characteristics of the oak tissues override the effects of degradation on the mechanical behavior. They have to be carefully extracted in order to come up with conclusions on the effect of degradation from macroscopic test results. The identified microstructure-mechanics relationships provide the basis for–in further research steps–building mathematical models describing the relations between microstructural characteristics and macroscopic mechanical properties and, thereon, for structural analyses of historical wooden objects.     

Universal service in a participatory democracy: A perspective from Australia

This article places universal service policy in telecommunications in Australia in an historical context. Given the dynamic growth in information technologies, universal service should be reconceptualized within a knowledge-based discourse critically linked to considerations for deepening participatory democracy. As a consequence of the discussion this article recommends that funding universal service obligations in telecommunications be based on the preferred notion of a maximally open democratic debate. The universal service obligation in telecommunications should be funded from consolidated revenue with its parameters set by democratic debate.     

Dutch Publishing Industry Seeks Startups Through the Renew the Book Competition

In order to find new ways of growing the market, the Dutch General Publishers Association developed an innovation-competition for startups worldwide to bring innovative thinking and ideas into the Dutch Publishing Industry. The competition is the first and only program dedicated to startups leveraging new and creative business ideas around all the elements of book publishing and has its second edition this year. The competition is for startups, who are active in areas such as publishing automation, book retail, data analytics, authoring, book content development, and audience engagement.     

试论新时期中学外语教师应具备的素质

教师素质是素质教育的基石 ,是创新教育的关键。只有充分认识到提高教师素质的紧迫性和重要性 ,不断提高教师的素质 ,更新教育观念 ,才能培养出高素质的教师 ,从而提高教学水平 ,促进教育事业的发展     

Governing Boards in Public Higher Education Institutions: A perspective from the United States

Governing boards have a long tradition and prominent role in U.S. higher education. The diversity of institutional types, and thus governing boards, represents a multifaceted tapestry of functions, roles, and responsibilities. This paper will attempt to define the parameters of public higher education governing boards in the USA and offer critical insights into their degree of effectiveness. It is the author’s position that both positive and negative lessons can be learned through an examination of these public governing boards in the USA. The recent emergence of university boards in Europe is examined and their characteristics are compared against the characteristics of public and private boards in the USA.