An IT-based teaching model for a new generation of students

To demonstrate whether individuals of the new generation have developed a unique and different learning model, research was conducted on children aged 10–11 in England, the United States, Australia and Germany. The qualities and the characteristics those children seek in the activities with which they spend more time were recognized. Using this knowledge, an innovative IT-based teaching model was structured and applied to an experimental group during the 2016–2017 school year. The results show that children indeed have developed their own learning model to extract the information they need from everything that catches their attention, challenges them and offers them rewards. In addition, they easily lose attention and interest when they are subjected to the traditional teaching model, as evidenced in the control group.

     

Inverse optimal neural control of blood glucose level for type 1 diabetes mellitus patients

In this paper, inverse optimal neural control for trajectory tracking is applied to glycemic control of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) patients. The proposed control law calculates the adequate insulin delivery rate in order to prevent hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia levels in T1DM patients. Two models are used: (1) a nonlinear compartmental model in order to obtain type 1 diabetes mellitus virtual patient behavior, and (2) a neural model obtained from an on-line neural identifier, which uses a recurrent neural network, trained with the extended Kalman filter (EKF); the last one allows the applicability of an inverse optimal neural controller. The proposed algorithm is tuned to track a desired trajectory; this trajectory reproduces the glucose absorption of a healthy person. The applicability of the proposed control scheme is illustrated via simulations.     

Logical Empiricism, Politics, and Professionalism

This paper considers George A. Reisch’s account of the role of Cold War political forces in shaping the apolitical stance that came to dominate philosophy of science in the late 1940s and 1950s. It argues that at least as early as the 1930s, Logical Empiricists such as Rudolf Carnap already held that philosophy of science could not properly have political aims, and further suggests that political forces alone cannot explain this view’s rise to dominance during the Cold War, since political forces cannot explain why a philosophy of science with liberal democratic, anti-communist aims did not flourish. The paper then argues that if professionalization is understood in the right way, it might point toward an explanation of the apolitical stance of Cold War philosophy of science.

Stable bilateral teleoperation with phase transition and haptic feedback

Abstract: In this paper, the bilateral teleoperation with haptic feedback is studied under the phase transition between the constraint and unconstraint motions. The stability of the teleoperation with both force feedback and phase transition is proven by Lyapunov–Krasovskii method and hybrid systems theory. The conditions of the theory results are more general than the others, they are time-varying delays, nonlinear systems, force feedback, and phase transition. By using the admittance control, the application results illustrate the efficiency of the proposed control method.     

Single landmark feedback-based time optimal navigation for a differential drive robot

In this paper, we propose a feedback-based control approach to execute the time optimal motion trajectories for a differential drive robot. These trajectories are composed of straight lines and rotations in place. We show that the evolution of the position of a single landmark over time, in a local reference frame, makes it possible to track a prescribed time-optimal robot’s trajectory, based on feedback of the landmark’s position. We also show that the closed-loop system is an exponentially stable one with a nonvanishing perturbation, and that globally uniformly ultimately boundedness of the tracking errors can be achieved. The two main results of this work are: 1) Our approach leverages visual servo control type of methods with tools from optimal control for executing time-optimal trajectories in the state space based on feedback information. 2) The approach is able to work with the minimum number of landmarks–only one–this represents a necessary and sufficientcondition for landmark-based navigation. Experiments in a physical robot, a nonholonomic differential drive system equipped with an omnidirectional laser sensor, are shown, which validate the proposed theoretical modelling.     

The lag effect in secondary school classrooms: Enhancing students’ memory for vocabulary

Educators often face serious time constraints that impede multiple repetition lessons on the same material. Thus, it would be useful to know when to schedule a single repetition unit to maximize memory performance. Laboratory studies revealed that the length of the retention interval (i.e., the time between the last learning session and the final memory test) dictates the optimal lag between two learning sessions. The present study tests the generalizability of this finding to vocabulary learning in secondary school. Sixth-graders were retaught English–German vocabulary after lags of 0, 1, or 10 days and tested 7 or 35 days later. In line with our predictions, we found that the optimal lag depends on the retention interval: Given a 7-day retention interval, students performed best when relearning occurred after 1 day. When vocabulary was tested after 35 days, however, students benefited from lags of both 1 and 10 days. Model-based analyses show that enhanced encoding processes and stronger resistance to forgetting—but not better retrieval processes—underlie the benefits of optimal lag. Our findings have practical implications for classroom instruction and suggest that review units should be planned carefully by taking the time of the final test into consideration.     

Can a self-efficacy-based intervention decrease burnout,increase engagement,and enhance performance? A quasi-experimental study

Using the Social Cognitive Theory as a theoretical framework, this study evaluated a 4-month, individual cognitive-behavioral intervention program to decrease burnout and increase self-efficacy, engagement, and performance among university students. The main objective of the intervention was to decrease the anxiety the students coped with before exams in order to increase their beliefs of self-efficacy. Besides the study group intervened, two control groups were involved (i.e., a “stressed” control group and a “healthy” control group). All 3 groups filled out a questionnaire before the intervention and then again 6 months later (2 months after the intervention was completed). The results show that self-efficacy, engagement and performance increased in the intervened group when compared to both control groups. Regarding burnout, decreases were noted in both the intervened and stressed control groups but not in the healthy control group. The implications of the study are discussed, together with its limitations and suggestions for future research.