Empowered skills

Robot Reinforcement Learning (RL) algorithms return a policy that maximizes a global cumulative reward signal but typically do not create diverse behaviors. Hence, the policy will typically only capture a single solution of a task. However, many motor tasks have a large variety of solutions and the knowledge about these solutions can have several advantages. For example, in an adversarial setting such as robot table tennis, the lack of diversity renders the behavior predictable and hence easy to counter for the opponent. In an interactive setting such as learning from human feedback, an emphasis on diversity gives the human more opportunity for guiding the robot and to avoid the latter to be stuck in local optima of the task. In order to increase diversity of the learned behaviors, we leverage prior work on intrinsic motivation and empowerment. We derive a new intrinsic motivation signal by enriching the description of a task with an outcome space, representing interesting aspects of a sensorimotor stream. For example, in table tennis, the outcome space could be given by the return position and return ball speed. The intrinsic motivation is now given by the diversity of future outcomes, a concept also known as empowerment. We derive a new policy search algorithm that maximizes a trade-off between the extrinsic reward and this intrinsic motivation criterion. Experiments on a planar reaching task and simulated robot table tennis demonstrate that our algorithm can learn a diverse set of behaviors within the area of interest of the tasks

EMPOWERMENT OF SALTED FISH PROCESSING BUSINESS IN INCREASING COMMUNITY INCOME IN LHOKSEUMAWE CITY

Empowerment is essential for the salted fish processing community in Gampong Ujung Blang. Because the salted fish processing business is one of the main livelihoods of the Ujung Blang Gampong coastal community. The powerlessness of the community whose main livelihood is in the salted fish processing business with weaknesses in various aspects, both knowledge is still carried out in traditional Processing, skills are still limited, availability of infrastructure is still limited, capital is limited, and productivity results are still narrow, only enough to be marketed to local communities. The research focuses on empowering Salted Fish Processing Businesses to increase the Income of Gampong Ujung Blang Communities, Lhokseumawe City. The study uses descriptive qualitative methods with data collection techniques by observation, interviews, and documentation. The data analysis technique was carried out by an interactive model: data reduction, data display, verification, and conclusion. The research results on empowering salted fish processing businesses in Ujung Blang village have been carried out by the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Service of Lhokseumawe City through financial assistance, infrastructure assistance, and training. However, they are still constrained and unsustainable, yet to be evenly distributed among the community. The salted fish processing business which the people of Ujung Blang village occupy has yet to be able to increase Income because each salted fish processing production is limited with a limited workforce (5 people). With erratic wages with an average worker wage of Rp. 50,000/day. Meanwhile, the Income from the owner of the salted fish processing business is around Rp. 5 million/month is only enough for daily needs and business capital playback because capital and production are still low and marketing is limited (local area).Pemberdayaan penting dilakukan kepada masyarakat pengolahan ikan asin Gampong Ujung Blang. dikarenakan  usaha pengolahan ikan asin merupakan salah satu pencaharian utama masyarakat pesisir gampong Ujung Blang. Ketidak berdayaan masyarakat yang pencaharian utamanya bidang usaha pengolahan ikan asin dengan kelemahannya pada berbagai aspek baik pengetahuannya masih dilakukan proses pengolahan secara tradisional, ketrampilan masih terbatas, ketersediaan sarana prasarana masih terbatas, modal terbatas, dan hasil produktivitasnya masih terbatas hanya cukup dipasarkan untuk masyarakat lokal. Fokus penelitian bagaimana Pemberdayaan Usaha Pengolahan Ikan Asin Dalam Meningkatkan Pendapatan Masyarakat  Gampong Ujung Blang Kota Lhokseumawe. Metode penelitian dengan menggunakan metode kualitatif bersifat deskriptif dengan Tehnik pengumpulan data dengan observasi, wawancara dan dokumentasi.   Tehnik analisis data dilakukan model interaktif yaitu reduksi data penyajian data (data display) verifikasi serta penarikan kesimpulan. Hasil penelitian pemberdayaan usaha pengolahan ikan asin di gampong Ujung Blang telah dilakukan oleh Dinas Kelautan dan Perikanan Kota Lhokseumawe dalam bentuk bantuan dana, bantuan sarana prasarana dan pelatihan namun masih sangat terbatas dan tidak berkelanjutan, belum merata kepada masyarakat. Usaha pengolahan ikan asin yang ditekuni mayarakat gampong Ujung Blang belum dapat meningkatkan pendapatan karena hasil produksi pengolahan ikan asin masing terbatas dengan penggunaan tenaga kerja yang terbatas (5 orang). Dengan upah yang tiidak menentu dengan upah pekerja rata-rata  Rp. 50.000/hari. Sedangkan Pendapatan dari pemilik usaha pengolahan ikan asin berkisar Rp. 5 juta/bulan hanya cukup untuk kebutuhan sehari-hari dan untuk pemutaran modal usaha, dikarena modal dan produksi masih rendah dan pemasaran yang terbatas (wilayah lokal)

Herramientas de gestión de la información para el desarrollo de las habilidades de aprendizaje autorregulado en la formación inicial del profesorado

En aquest article presentem una estratègia didàctica per desenvolupar els entorns personals d?aprenentatge (PLEs) dels estudiants universitaris amb un enfocament d'aprenentatge autorregulat (SRL). L'estratègia s'emmarca en el model de Dabbagh and Kitsantas (2012) el qual connecta les fases d'aprenentatge autorregulat de Zimmerman (planificació, realització, auto-reflexió) i tres nivells d'interacció que la tecnologia permet (gestió personal de la informació, interacció social i col·laboració, recuperació i gestió d'informació). L'estratègia s'implementa amb estudiants de tercer curs del Grau d'Educació Primària de la Universitat de les Illes Balears i les dades es recullen mitjançant l'aplicació d'un qüestionari sobre l'ús de la tecnologia i les percepcions dels estudiants sobre l?efectivitat de les eines utilitzades en la de gestió d'informació. L'anàlisi dels resultats permet esbossar alguns patrons en l'ús d'eines de gestió de la informació en els diversos escenaris d'aprenentatge. En les conclusions identifiquem desafiaments relacionats amb la resistència dels estudiants i l'enfocament per a l'avaluació tradicional; destaquem possibilitats de transferència dels processos de gestió d'informació desenvolupats a altres contextos i suggerim noves implementacions educatives i d'investigació. Amb aquest treball s'aporta un model aplicable a altres contextos, i es presenta una proposta didàctica per a la gestió de la informació basada en el PLE i el SRL

Impact of Educational Stage in the Application of Flipped Learning: A Contrasting Analysis with Traditional Teaching

The effectiveness of flipped learning depends largely on student typology. This study analyzes the applicability of this approach, according to the characteristics inherent to students based on their educational stage. The objective of the research is to verify the effectiveness of flipped learning compared to a traditional methodology during the stages of preschool, primary, and secondary education. For this study, a descriptive and correlational experimental research design was followed, based on a quantitative methodology. Two types of analysis groups (control and experimental) were established in each of the mentioned educational stages. As a data collection instrument, a validated ad hoc questionnaire was applied to a sample of 168 students from the Autonomous City of Ceuta (Spain). The results show that the applicability of flipped learning is more positive in primary and secondary education when compared to a traditional teaching method. However, the results found in preschool education reflect the difficulties in adapting the model to the needs of the students of that stage, due to the difficulties in the autonomous management of digital teaching platforms and the requirement of a minimum level of abstraction to apply this approach

Junior Youth Spiritual Empowerment Program: Toward a Critical Framework of Community Peacebuilding; Individual and Community Transformation Through Service and Discourse

In the form of a case study of the training and implementation of the Junior Youth Spiritual Empowerment Program (JYSEP) by the Magdalene Carney Bahá’í Institute (MCBI), this study contributes to the development of critical youth empowerment which emphasizes community building and sociopolitical transformation rooted in a worldview that recognizes the oneness of humanity. The underlying philosophy upon which the JYSEP organizes its structure, action, reflection, and materials is the idea that our view of reality, human nature, human relationships, and purpose of life shape mold individuals’ and humanity’s state of being. This study, therefore, sought to explore: 1) how conceptions of human nature and the capacity of 11 to 15 year olds impact the structure and implementation of a junior youth empowerment program, 2) how developing a culture of learning based in individual and collective acts of service contributes to an evolving process of community building, and 3) how an understanding of the interconnecting relationships of individual action, social discourse, and social structures may give rise, through the JYSEP, to an action-based process aiming to systematize a framework of learning, unifying discourse processes, and social spaces that create, legitimate, and perpetuate the forces of unity, justice and collective advancement. Through the lenses of the content and pedagogy of the JYSEP training and education materials, models of experiential- and service-learning, Jabri’s critical analysis and structuration theory, and insights from other youth empowerment researchers and practitioners, this study had significant findings for not only youth empowerment programs but for all those engaging in efforts to transform society as well. What this study offers, therefore, through an ontological inquiry and epistemological analysis is one example of how the implications of the conception of the nobility of human nature, the real possibility of the unity of humanity, and the insight into the inherent and necessary capacities that youth possess for the advancement of the human family - dynamic and regenerative capacities to overcome the individualistic, unjust, materialistic, and divisive forces of society - shape a unique grassroots framework of service and learning for collective conflict transformation and social change

Learning Replanning Policies with Direct Policy Search

Direct policy search has been successful in learning challenging real world robotic motor skills by learning open-loop movement primitives with high sample efficiency. These primitives can be generalized to different contexts with varying initial configurations and goals. Current state-of-the-art contextual policy search algorithms can however not adapt to changing, noisy context measurements. Yet, these are common characteristics of real world robotic tasks. Planning a trajectory ahead based on an inaccurate context that may change during the motion often results in poor accuracy, especially with highly dynamical tasks. To adapt to updated contexts, it is sensible to learn trajectory replanning strategies. We propose a framework to learn trajectory replanning policies via contextual policy search and demonstrate that they are safe for the robot, that they can be learned efficiently and that they outperform non-replanning policies for problems with partially observable or perturbed contex

State-of-the-art analysis of the pedagogical underpinnings of open science, citizen science and open innovation activities

The document corresponds to O2A1 of the INOS Project. This state-of-theart analysis elaborates on the current state of knowledge on learning design in open science, citizen science, and innovation activities, in order to improve their pedagogical value. This includes reporting on the different types of activities, the learning design of these activities, and the learning outcomes of these activities

Total service quality strategy in a revolutionary staffing solutions environment.

Thesis (MBA)-University of Natal, Durban, 2003.Abstract not available

Client Experience of Receiving Adapted Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) and its Perceived Role in the Process of Change

Research into Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) has been dominated by the neo positivist paradigm providing clinical practice with a sufficiently robust evidence base for DBT as an intervention, reporting positive outcomes with regards to reducing symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). However, in recent years, DBT has been adapted and replicated to different client groups, offering potential for new research into transdiagnostic applications and adapted versions of DBT to different settings. Recent literature concludes that there is less practice-based evidence on the process of change in DBT, and which components are useful. The client voice is lacking in the literature, which would provide services with evidence and unique insights into how the therapy works and for whom. This study aims to address these questions, by asking the clients how they experience DBT and its perceived role in the process of change. Furthermore, the study focusses on client experience in a private hospital setting with a transdiagnostic group of an adapted 12 week DBT programme. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was applied as the methodology, incorporating descriptive, linguistic and conceptual elements in analysis of semi-structured interviews. The sample consists of five participants whom had completed a 12 week DBT programme at a private hospital. Three master themes were identified, namely ‘Pre DBT: Crisis & Desperation’; ‘In-session: Belonging’; and ‘The Real World: Living’. Each master theme was characterised by 4 sub-themes, illustrating the journey of the participants and the perceived process of change. All themes were conceptualised by the overarching theme ‘The private setting: Heterotopia’, giving voice to the role of the context of the private psychiatric setting. The research findings illustrate that this version of DBT was a helpful and positive experience for participants, where outcomes included being able to build a life worth living, feel hope and joy, build DBT skills into a lifestyle, connect with a sense of spirituality and develop reflective practice. The implications for service delivery and for Counselling Psychology are discussed, along with ideas for future research