Graduate LIS Students' Attitude Toward University Libraries and Personnel

This is an attitudinal survey that profiles Kuwait University Library and Information Science (KULIS) students' attitudes concerning Kuwait University's (KU's) libraries. It uses the phenomenological approach to analyze respondents' data regarding confidence in their skills and the effect on attitude toward KU's resources. It furthermore explores the attitudes of KU staff and the level of assistance offered to KULIS students. The results show that most of the respondents visited the library to access electronic resources. Some respondents disagreed that the staff had treated the KULIS suspiciously, yet a majority disagreed that the KU library staff was professionally trained to help KULIS students. Several respondents strongly agreed that they were confident in their searching skills. The results of the survey are used to recommend curriculum changes and ways to improve library and other academic support services at academic institutions generally.     

Opening the black box: user-log analyses of children’s e-Book reading and associations with word knowledge

Reading and Writing - Third to fifth graders read an interactive choose-your-own adventure e-Book. User logs recorded their reading behaviors and were used to investigate students’...     

Electronic detection of dielectrophoretic forces exerted on particles flowing over interdigitated electrodes

Dielectric particles flowing through a microfluidic channel over a set of coplanar electrodes can be simultaneously capacitively detected and dielectrophoretically (DEP) actuated when the high (1.45 GHz) and low (100 kHz–20 MHz) frequency electromagnetic fields are concurrently applied through the same set of electrodes. Assuming a simple model in which the only forces acting upon the particles are apparent gravity, hydrodynamic lift, DEP force, and fluid drag, actuated particle trajectories can be obtained as numerical solutions of the equations of motion. Numerically calculated changes of particle elevations resulting from the actuation simulated in this way agree with the corresponding elevation changes estimated from the electronic signatures generated by the experimentally actuated particles. This verifies the model and confirms the correlation between the DEP force and the electronic signature profile. It follows that the electronic signatures can be used to quantify the actuation that the dielectric particle experiences as it traverses the electrode region. Using this principle, particles with different dielectric properties can be effectively identified based exclusively on their signature profile. This approach was used to differentiate viable from non-viable yeast cells (Saccharomyces cerevisiae).     

Casual Games and Casual Learning About Human Biological Systems

Casual games are everywhere. People play them throughout life to pass the time, to engage in social interactions, and to learn. However, their simplicity and use in distraction-heavy environments can attenuate their potential for learning. This experimental study explored the effects playing an online, casual game has on awareness of human biological systems. Two hundred and forty-two children were given pretests at a Museum and posttests at home after playing either a treatment or control game. Also, 41 children were interviewed to explore deeper meanings behind the test results. Results show modest improvement in scientific attitudes, ability to identify human biological systems and in the children’s ability to describe how those systems work together in real-world scenarios. Interviews reveal that children drew upon their prior school learning as they played the game. Also, on the surface they perceived the game as mainly entertainment but were easily able to discern learning outcomes when prompted. Implications for the design of casual games and how they can be used to enhance transfer of knowledge from the classroom to everyday life are discussed.     

Data-driven subspace predictive control: Stability and horizon tuning

Data-driven Subspace Predictive Control (SPC) is an advanced model-free process control strategy in the presence of system constraints. Efficient implementation of SPC requires appropriate tuning of the controller horizons, which are called Prediction Horizon and Control Horizon. This tuning is a critical step to guarantee the SPC closed-loop stability and to enhance the closed-loop performance and robustness. In this paper we propose an optimal tuning method for unconstrained SPC, which can guarantee stability, computational efficiency and optimality of the unconstrained SPC closed-loop system and is applicable to non-minimum phase open-loop stable or marginally stable systems. Derivation of general form of closed-loop transfer function for unconstrained SPC, and providing a necessary and sufficient condition of the closed-loop stability is the primary contribution of this work. In addition, the stability analysis enabled us to propose an algorithm to determine the shortest-feasible-prediction-horizon and the feasible range of prediction horizon. Consequently, these results are used in proposing a new algorithm to determine the SPC horizons in optimal manner. Simulation results illustrate effectiveness and importance of our proposed stability analysis and horizons tuning algorithm for unconstrained SPC.     

Information seeking in a multimedia environment by primary school students

Three multimedia CD-ROMs were placed in two grade-six classrooms for the duration of a class project. The 53 students, working in small groups, were free to search them during designated class periods. Sample sessions at the workstations were captured along with a recording of the searchers' voices. The retrieved information was incorporated by each group into a written assignment, an oral class presentation, and a three-dimensional model. The search strategies were analyzed using a case study methodology. The content of the CD-ROMs and the students' work were analyzed to identify from which sources the students had drawn their information. The students were able to cope effectively with the physical manipulation of the three different CD-ROM interfaces, although they found certain features easier than others. Constructing effective search strategies was more difficult, and relatively little use was made of the searching in contrast to the browsing facilities. Students demonstrated an ability to extract selectively information and to evaluate sources in terms of usefulness as well as enjoyment and ease of use. Class assignments may have to be redesigned if the full capabilities offered by multimedia instructional products are to be fully exploited.     

Teacher Learning in Mathematics: Using Student Work to Promote Collective Inquiry

The study describes teachers' collective work in which they developed deeper understanding of their own students' mathematical thinking. Teachers at one school met in monthly workgroups throughout the year. Prior to each workgroup, they posed a similar mathematical problem to their students. The workgroup discussions centered on the student work those problems generated. This study draws on a transformation of participation perspective to address the questions: What do teachers learn through collective examination of student work? How is teacher learning evident in shifts in participation in discussions centered on student work? The analyses account for the learning of the group by documenting key shifts in teachers' participation across the year. The first shift in participation occurred when teachers as a group learned to attend to the details of children's thinking. A second shift in participation occurred as teachers began to develop possible instructional trajectories in mathematics. We focus our discussion on the significance of the use of student work and a transformation of participation view in analyzing the learning trajectory of teachers as a group.     

Commentary: Childbirth Education in Iran

With regard to childbirth, the role of every health-care system is to improve maternity care as well as the birth experience of women and their family members. Despite many efforts to improve maternity care in the Islamic Republic of Iran, the nation's childbirth care still faces a tremendous amount of unnecessary intervention and, consequently, a high rate of cesarean births. This article describes the strengths and weaknesses of Iran's maternity-care system and childbirth education in light of evidence-based practice.