Consensus-based technical recommendations for clinical translation of renal T1 and T2 mapping MRI

To develop technical recommendations on the acquisition and post-processing of renal longitudinal (T1) and transverse (T2) relaxation time mapping. A multidisciplinary panel consisting of 18 experts in the field of renal T1 and T2 mapping participated in a consensus project, which was initiated by the European Cooperation in Science and Technology Action PARENCHIMA CA16103. Consensus recommendations were formulated using a two-step modified Delphi method. The first survey consisted of 56 items on T1 mapping, of which 4 reached the pre-defined consensus threshold of 75% or higher. The second survey was expanded to include both T1 and T2 mapping, and consisted of 54 items of which 32 reached consensus. Recommendations based were formulated on hardware, patient preparation, acquisition, analysis and reporting. Consensus-based technical recommendations for renal T1 and T2 mapping were formulated. However, there was considerable lack of consensus for renal T1 and particularly renal T2 mapping, to some extent surprising considering the long history of relaxometry in MRI, highlighting key knowledge gaps that require further work. This paper should be regarded as a first step in a long-term evidence-based iterative process towards ever increasing harmonization of scan protocols across sites, to ultimately facilitate clinical implementation

TARGET: Rapid Capture of Process Knowledge

TARGET (Task Analysis/Rule Generation Tool) represents a new breed of tool that blends graphical process flow modeling capabilities with the function of a top-down reporting facility. Since NASA personnel frequently perform tasks that are primarily procedural in nature, TARGET models mission or task procedures and generates hierarchical reports as part of the process capture and analysis effort. Historically, capturing knowledge has proven to be one of the greatest barriers to the development of intelligent systems. Current practice generally requires lengthy interactions between the expert whose knowledge is to be captured and the knowledge engineer whose responsibility is to acquire and represent the expert's knowledge in a useful form. Although much research has been devoted to the development of methodologies and computer software to aid in the capture and representation of some types of knowledge, procedural knowledge has received relatively little attention. In essence, TARGET is one of the first tools of its kind, commercial or institutional, that is designed to support this type of knowledge capture undertaking. This paper will describe the design and development of TARGET for the acquisition and representation of procedural knowledge. The strategies employed by TARGET to support use by knowledge engineers, subject matter experts, programmers and managers will be discussed. This discussion includes the method by which the tool employs its graphical user interface to generate a task hierarchy report. Next, the approach to generate production rules for incorporation in and development of a CLIPS based expert system will be elaborated. TARGET also permits experts to visually describe procedural tasks as a common medium for knowledge refinement by the expert community and knowledge engineer making knowledge consensus possible. The paper briefly touches on the verification and validation issues facing the CLIPS rule generation aspects of TARGET. A description of efforts to support TARGET's interoperability issues on PCs, Macintoshes and UNIX workstations concludes the paper

The Construct Definition of an English Language Teachers’ Content Knowledge

Regardless of the increasing emphasis on the importance of language teachers’ content knowledge, there is a lack of consensus regarding its constituents. To this end, a panel of experts and non-experts were requested to express their opinions regarding the constructs of content knowledge (CK) in the format of an open-ended written questionnaire. The findings indicate that teachers’ CK includes eleven categories: teaching skills, structures, method and approaches, curriculum, language acquisition theories, classroom context, language testing theories, learner related knowledge, ELT research methods, and teacher related knowledge. The findings can help training educated teachers to be familiar with various aspects of the CK

How Are Curiosity and Interest Different? Naive Bayes Classification of People's Beliefs

Researchers studying curiosity and interest note a lack of consensus in whether and how these important motivations for learning are distinct. Empirical attempts to distinguish them are impeded by this lack of conceptual clarity. Following a recent proposal that curiosity and interest are folk concepts, we sought to determine a non-expert consensus view on their distinction using machine learning methods. In Study 1, we demonstrate that there is a consensus in how they are distinguished, by training a Naïve Bayes classification algorithm to distinguish between free-text definitions of curiosity and interest (n = 396 definitions) and using cross-validation to test the classifier on two sets of data (main n = 196; additional n = 218). In Study 2, we demonstrate that the non-expert consensus is shared by experts and can plausibly underscore future empirical work, as the classifier accurately distinguished definitions provided by experts who study curiosity and interest (n = 92). Our results suggest a shared consensus on the distinction between curiosity and interest, providing a basis for much-needed conceptual clarity facilitating future empirical work. This consensus distinguishes curiosity as more active information seeking directed towards specific and previously unknown information. In contrast, interest is more pleasurable, in-depth, less momentary information seeking towards information in domains where people already have knowledge. However, we note that there are similarities between the concepts, as they are both motivating, involve feelings of wanting, and relate to knowledge acquisition

Screencasts: how effective are they and how do students engage with them?

The use of screencasts as an instructional technology is increasing rapidly in higher education. While there appears to be a consensus around students’ satisfaction with the provision of technology enhanced tools, there is limited evidence revolving around their impact in terms of knowledge acquisition. Moreover, the reasons why students choose to engage (or not) with these resources remain largely unreported. The study assessed the effect of using screencasts on undergraduate students’ understanding and engagement with learning material in one of their modules. Customised screencasts were used as optional additional learning and teaching resources. Grades obtained in a test module (with screencasts) and a control module (without screencasts) were compared to gauge the impact of screencasts on knowledge acquisition. Furthermore, the reasons for students’ engagement (or lack thereof) with the screencasts were explored using questionnaires. A modest but significant impact of screencasts on knowledge acquisition was found and students’ perception of the screencasts was overwhelmingly positive. Students suggested that screencasts should be kept short to summarise lectures or delve in-depth into complex concepts but should not replace whole lectures. Reasons for not using screencasts revolved around a lack of understanding of what the resources were but also a reported lack of fit between the nature of the tool and self-assessed learning style

Screencasts: how effective are they and how do students engage with them?

The use of screencasts as an instructional technology is increasing rapidly in higher education. While there appears to be a consensus around students’ satisfaction with the provision of technology enhanced tools, there is limited evidence revolving around their impact in terms of knowledge acquisition. Moreover, the reasons why students choose to engage (or not) with these resources remain largely unreported. The study assessed the effect of using screencasts on undergraduate students’ understanding and engagement with learning material in one of their modules. Customised screencasts were used as optional additional learning and teaching resources. Grades obtained in a test module (with screencasts) and a control module (without screencasts) were compared to gauge the impact of screencasts on knowledge acquisition. Furthermore, the reasons for students’ engagement (or lack thereof) with the screencasts were explored using questionnaires. A modest but significant impact of screencasts on knowledge acquisition was found and students’ perception of the screencasts was overwhelmingly positive. Students suggested that screencasts should be kept short to summarise lectures or delve in-depth into complex concepts but should not replace whole lectures. Reasons for not using screencasts revolved around a lack of understanding of what the resources were but also a reported lack of fit between the nature of the tool and self-assessed learning style

Specification of knowledge acquisition and modeling of the process of the consensus

zhdanova2004aIn this deliverable, specification of knowledge acquisition and modeling of the process of consensus is provided

Development of multi criteria tacit knowledge acquisition framework (MC-TKAF) to support talent development intervention program in a Malaysian comprehensive university

In Higher Education Institutions (HEI), the process of retaining leadership succession is critical since it has involved the process in choosing the right person. The purpose is to steer the institutions to sustain organizations’ excellence for academic leadership and management (ALM) position. Many ALM of Malaysia HEIs are struggling to find the right successor to replace their roles as they do not have yet any firm criteria in evaluating the competence among their potential successors in their home institutions. This study aims to propose a multi criteria tacit knowledge acquisition framework (MC-TKAF) for supporting talent development intervention program in Malaysia HEIs. It will be based on cognitive apprenticeship, socialization and informal learning theory which mostly used in acquiring knowledge from expertise to overcome talent bottleneck among novice. The main process of this study will use Fuzzy Delphi among ALM in Malaysian HEIsto get consensus judgement about the right indicator to evaluate tacit knowledge competence. Three phases involved are: Phase 1 is to analyze the existing Tacit Knowledge Acquisition (TKA) by finding the suitable parameters to construct intended framework, Phase 2 is to use the findings in Phase 1 in order to develop a new framework of Tacit Knowledge Acquisition Framework (TKAF) that suits with HEI environment. Finally, Phase 3 is to evaluate the practicality of Tacit Knowledge Acquisition Framework (TKAF) by using Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) approach in supporting Talent Development Intervention Program. The objective of this paper is to propose the multi criteria tacit acquisition framework by using MCDM technique as a talent performance indicator. This paper basically will focus on Phase 1 of the research design. The constructed indicators in this paper could be served as a reference for the HEI industries to establish applicable talent performance indicators according to the properties of each TKA used

The Possibility of Mutual Benefit from Exchange between the Philosophy of Language and Second Language Acquisition Research and Pedagogy

This dissertation has three parts. The first part is an ESL textbook that is based on a grammar which I call term and predicate grammar. This name reflects the view that all simple and complex sentences of English consist of one predicate and one or more terms, or are simple transforms of such sentences. There are four predicate types and seven term types, all of which can be specified precisely. The term and predicate grammar itself is based on the syntactic component of a semiotic system I developed, which standardly includes as well a semantic component and a pragmatic component. The second part of the dissertation establishes a connection between the philosophy of language and second language acquisition research and pedagogy by presenting two cases in which an analysis of a feature of English in the one discipline is juxtaposed with an analysis of the same feature in the other discipline. On the basis of these two cases, it is proposed that a merger of interests and lines of work between the two disciplines would be mutually beneficial, and that an ESL text book that is based in the philosophy of language should foster such a merger. The third and final part of the dissertation has a general aspect and a specific aspect. On its general aspect, it is a philosophical examination of the relationship between the implicit knowledge of language vs. explicit knowledge of language distinction in second language acquisition research and pedagogy and the knowing-how vs. knowing-that distinction in the philosophy of language. The two distinctions are found to align and it is claimed on this basis that the second language acquisition distinction has an antecedent in the earlier philosophical distinction. On its specific aspect, the third part of the dissertation is an analysis of what is called the interface issue in second language acquisition research. This issue addresses the question of how implicit knowledge and explicit knowledge contribute to the acquisition of a second language. Three positions have been taken on the issue, viz. the strong position, the no position and the weak position. On the strong position the explicit knowledge of language developed by instruction and practice plays a major role in acquisition, on the no position such knowledge plays no role in acquisition while on the weak position such knowledge plays a facilitating role in acquisition. But there is a consensus in the second language acquisition research community that the strong position should be rejected and yet it is this position that accords with the views of traditional language pedagogists, and with thoughtful common sense generally. This poses a dilemma that I claim can be resolved by making a philosophical interpretation of ideas and information that can be found in recent second language acquisition theory and research

Crowsdsourcing semantic web

Finding easier and less resource-intensive ways of building knowledge resources is neces- sary to help broaden the coverage and use of semantic web technologies. Crowdsourcing presents a means through which knowledge can be efficiently acquired to build semantic resources. Crowds can be identified that represent communities whose knowledge could be used to build domain ontologies. This work presents a knowledge acquisition approach aimed at incorporating ontology engineering tasks into community crowd activity. The success of this approach is evaluated by the degree to which a crowd consensus is reached regarding the description of the target domain. Two experiments are described which test the effectiveness of the approach. The first experiment tests the approach by using a crowd that is aware of the knowledge acquisition task. In the second experiment, the crowd is unaware of the knowledge acquisition task and is motivated to contribute through the use of an interactive map. The results of these two experiments show that a similar consensus is reached from both experiments, suggesting that the approach offered provides a valid mechanism for incorporating knowledge acquisition tasks into routine crowd activity