Conservation of a room: A treatment proposal for Mark Rothko's Harvard Murals

A treatment with projected light for Mark Rothko's Harvard Murals (1962) is proposed. The group of five paintings on canvas has changed color due to the presence of a fugitive red pigment and excessive exposure to natural light in a room with large windows. For the conservation of Rothko's Harvard room, it is brought into context within his other commissions and environments. The original color of the works is determined by the digital restoration of contemporary photographs. With a camera projector system a compensation image is calculated that is projected onto the original canvas resulting in a restored color appearance. This approach of inpainting with light is compared with considerations of cleaning and inpainting in conventional conservation treatments. Overall lighting and architecture including the unusual wall color carefully chosen by Rothko play a key role in the treatment of the Mural cycle as an environment.     

Empirical Validation of DIMTEST on Nonnormal Ability Distributions

DIMTEST is a nonparametric statistical test procedure for assessing unidimensionality of binary item response data. The development of Stout's statistic, T, used in the DIMTEST procedure, does not require the assumption of a particular parametric form for the ability distributions or the item response functions. The purpose of the present study was to empirically investigate the performance of the statistic T with respect to different shapes of ability distributions. Several nonnormal distributions, both symmetric and nonsymmetric, were considered for this purpose. Other factors varied in the study were test length, sample size, and the level of correlation between abilities. The results of Type I error and power studies showed that the test statistic T exhibited consistently similar performance for all different shapes of ability distributions investigated in the study, which confirmed the nonparametric nature of the statistic T.     

Relationships among individual task self-efficacy,self-regulated learning strategy use and academic performance in a computer-supported collaborative learning environment

This study investigates relationships between self-efficacy, self-regulated learning strategy use and academic performance. Participants were 96 undergraduate students working on projects with three subtasks (idea generation task, methodical task and data collection) in a blended learning environment. Task self-efficacy was measured with self-reports administered during each subtask. Learning strategies were assessed by counting each instance of strategy use as it occurred in peer-to-peer conversations typed into a computer software system. Results showed that for each subtask, learners with higher task self-efficacy had higher task performance. Those who used more learning strategies on each subtask also had higher performance. In turn, high performance was associated with high self-efficacy on subsequent subtasks. Surprisingly, results showed that task self-efficacy and learning strategy use were not significantly related during any subtask. Overall, results imply that task self-efficacy, learning strategy use and past performance are important predictors of task performance.     

Teaching compassionate research in a global classroom

This essay challenges conventional understandings of how research methods courses are taught in the social sciences and the humanities. Currently, students in American Universities are trained in techniques on how to conduct and disseminate research. While these skills are essential, we argue that, as educators, we need to teach students to recognize that the research process does not simply entail method, logic and reason. It begins with the self and with the assumption that emotions have a place in higher education. By using what we call Compassionate Research as a model, we contend that our humanity becomes the point of entry into the world of research. This pedagogical model relies on three interconnected principles, namely the abilities to question, self-question, and empathize. Its implementation in the classroom helps to foster culturally sensitive research and to promote self-awareness that translates into meaningful interactions with our communities.     

Socio-Economic Profile of Shopkeepers in Embedded Markets: Social and Cultural Perspectives From a Hundred Years of Bengali Literary Works

Retailing, in the context of developing economies, has been claimed to be a social practice. A review of fictional literature from the ethno-linguistic region of Bengal may enhance our understanding of the social and cultural history of independent retailing. The evidence from social sciences shows that most retail markets in the economically less developed countries function in similar ways. Such a similarity in social structures may be explained using the concept of embeddedness. This article identifies the history of socio-economic roles of rural unorganised retailers in the embedded markets of developing economies through the discourse analysis of Bengali fictional literature.     

Rethinking e-learning support strategies

This paper discusses an e-learning support team model developed as part of a new e-learning strategy within a tertiary education polytechnic. Based upon a community of practice model, the e-Team supports the establishment of e-learning and m-learning (mobile learning) throughout the institution as a catalyst for the adoption of social constructivist pedagogy. The paper reviews and reflects upon the impact of strategies for creating and supporting communities of practice across the institution along with the ways this model is achieving the breaking down of the barriers to ‘e’ and ‘m’ learning adoption among lecturers. This model helped to move lecturers from non-engagement to legitimate peripheral participation and onto full participation within the institution’s e-learning community, and ultimately enabling social constructivist learning environments for students. This model based on a community of practice framework for e-learning support is potentially transferable to other educational contexts.     

Simultaneous DIF Amplification and Cancellation: Shealy-Stout's Test for DIF

The present study investigates the phenomena of simultaneous DIF amplification and cancellation and SIBTEST's role in detecting such. A variety of simulated test data were generated for this purpose. In addition, real test data from various sources were analyzed. The results from both simulated and real test data, as Sheafy and Stout's theory (1993a, 1993b) suggests, show that the SIBTEST is effective in assessing DIF amplification and cancellation (partially or fully) at the test score level. Finally, methodological and substantive implications of DIF amplification and cancellation are discussed.     

New educational technologies: Their impact on relationships of dependence and interdependence for Third World countries

The widening gap between North and South is more than economic: it is a knowledge and power gap. The influence of the present information revolution on education in the West, unprecedented in its rate and scope of expansion, is increasing the information gap at an alarming rate. Should Third World countries use new educational technologies (NET) as a tool for development? Can they afford it? Will borrowing NET perpetuate the present dependency of the Third World? This paper argues that Third World countries will continue to be technologically dependent because of research and development in the West. The solution lies in the balance of power theory — selective transfer of NET appropriate for their level of development, to strengthen their bargaining position. Mass education and the development of indigenous technological capacity are implied. Bargaining capacity would reduce dependency, create greater interdependence and change the equation of power.     

Lexical Principles May Underlie the Learning of Verbs

To examine whether children (mean age 34 months) can fast map and extend novel action labels to actions for which they do not already have names, the comprehension of familiar and novel verbs was tested using colored drawings of Sesame Street characters performing both familiar and unfamiliar actions. Children were asked to point to the character "verbing," from among sets of 4 drawings. With familiar words and actions, children made correct choices 97% of the time. With novel action words, children performed at levels mostly significantly above chance, selecting a previously unlabeled action or another token of a just-names action. In a second, control experiment children were asked to select an action from among the same sets of 4 drawings, but they were not given a novel action name. Here children mainly demonstrated performance at levels not significantly different from chance, showing that the results from the main experiment were attributable to the presence of a word in the request. Results of these studies are interpreted as support for the availability of principles to ease verb acquisition.