Imaging of a fluid injection process using geophysical data - A didactic example

In many subsurface industrial applications, fluids are injected into or withdrawn from a geologic formation. It is of practical interest to quantify precisely where, when, and by how much the injected fluid alters the state of the subsurface. Routine geophysical monitoring of such processes attempts to image the way that geophysical properties, such as seismic velocities or electrical conductivity, change through time and space and to then make qualitative inferences as to where the injected fluid has migrated. The more rigorous formulation of the time-lapse geophysical inverse problem forecasts how the subsurface evolves during the course of a fluid-injection application. Using time-lapse geophysical signals as the data to be matched, the model unknowns to be estimated are the multiphysics forward-modeling parameters controlling the fluid-injection process. Properly reproducing the geophysical signature of the flow process, subsequent simulations can predict the fluid migration and alteration in the subsurface. The dynamic nature of fluid-injection processes renders imaging problems more complex than conventional geophysical imaging for static targets. This work intents to clarify the related hydrogeophysical parameter estimation concepts

Design and validation of a questionnaire to assess student satisfaction with mathematics study materials

This paper shows the design and validation of a questionnaire aimed at college students to assess their satisfaction level with mathematics study materials. Starting from the theoretical framework presented, we proposed three dimensions: overall quality of mathematics study materials, didactic adequacy and motivation capacity. To that effect, we hereby explain the analysis and validation procedure of the psychometric properties of the assessment instrument. The study sample comprised 1,666 university students. Sample was chosen using a random sampling technique. The exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) performed on two consecutive samples of freshmen studying Computer Science Engineering confirmed that the Questionnaire to assess student satisfaction with mathematics study materials measures satisfaction conditions in five scales: Didactic Adequacy, Relevance, Engagement, Interaction and Technological Quality. The results revealed the existence of significant psychometric features of the constructed questionnaire

Autonomy, participation, and learning in Argentine schools - findings andtheir implications for decentralization

According to a theoretical model, school autonomy and parental participation in schools, can increase student learning through separate channels. Greater school autonomy increases the rent that can be distributed among stakeholders in the school, while institutions for parental participation (such as school board) empower parents to command a larger share of this surplus - for example, through student learning. Using a rich cross-sectional data set from Argentine schools (sixth and seventh grades), the authors find that autonomy, and participation raise student test scores for a given level of inputs, in a multiplicative way, consistent with the model. Autonomy has a direct effect on learning (but not for very low levels of participation), while participation affects learning only through the mediation of the effect of autonomy. The results are robust to a variety of robustness checks, and for sub-samples of children from poor households, children of uneducated mothers, schools with low mean family wealth, and public schools. It is possible that autonomy, and participation are endogenously determined, and that this biases the results - the data available do not allow this to be ruled out with certainty. Plausible predicators of autonomy, and participation are also plausible predicators of test scores, and they fail tests for the over-identifying restrictions. Heuristically argued, however, the potential for correlation with unobserved variables may be limited: the data set is rich in observed variables, and autonomy and participation show very low correlation with observed variables. Subject to these caveats, the results may be relevant to decentralization in two ways. First, as decentralization moves responsibility from the central, toward the provincial or local government, the results should be directly relevant if the decentralization increases autonomy, and participation in schools. Second, if the results are interpreted as representing a more general effect of moving decision-making toward users, and the local community, the results are relevant even if little happens to autonomy, and participation in schools. More important, perhaps, the authors illustrate empirically the importance of knowing who is empowered when higher levels of government loosen control.Politics and Government,Teaching and Learning,Primary Education,Decentralization,Economic Theory&Research,Teaching and Learning,Primary Education,Politics and Government,ICT Policy and Strategies,Health Monitoring&Evaluation

Student time allocation, the learning environment and the acquisition of competencies

This paper investigates the significance of the higher education learning environment and the student’s time allocation over study related activities for the acquisition of generic and discipline-specific competencies. We discern four learning environments according to the emphasis placed on activating learning methods and the emphasis placed on the teacher as main source of information. Time used is measured for attention of formal education, self-study, extra-curricula activities and paid work. Using a unique data set on European higher education graduates, providing detailed information, we investigate the competencies acquisitions process by stochastic frontier production function methods. The results suggest that activating learning methods are effective in both, the acquisition of generic competencies and the acquisition of discipline-specific competencies. Moreover, the results show that discipline-specific competencies are acquired by attending formal education, by self-study and by paid work, as long as there is a strong link between the work and the study. Generic competencies are acquired by self-study and paid work that is related to the study.labour market entry and occupational careers;

Assessing the Usability of a Visual Tool for the definition of E-learning Processes

In this paper, we present a usability study aiming at assessing a visual language-based tool for developing adaptive e-learning processes. The tool implements the adaptive self-consistent learning object SET (ASCLO-S) visual language, a special case of flow diagrams, to be used by instructional designers to define classes of learners through stereotypes and to specify the more suited adaptive learning process for each class of learners. The usability study is based on the combined use of two techniques: a questionnaire-based survey and an empirical analysis. The survey has been used to achieve feedbacks from the subjects' point of view. In particular, it has been useful to capture the perceived usability of the subjects. The outcomes show that both the proposed visual notation and the system prototype are suitable for instructional designers with or without experience on the computer usage and on tools for defining e-learning processes. This result is further confirmed by the empirical analysis we carried out by analysing the correlation between the effort to develop adaptive e-learning processes and some measures suitable defined for those processes. Indeed, the empirical analysis revealed that the effort required to model e-learning processes is not influenced by the experience of the instructional designer with the use of e-learning tools, but it only depends on the size of the developed process

Measurement numeracy education for prospective elementary school teachers : effects of inductive and deductive teaching on classroom interaction and student performance

This dissertation examines classroom interaction and two different didactic approaches (deductive and inductive) to the teaching of the measurement aspect of numeracy (measurement numeracy) to students of elementary school teacher training colleges. Even though an inductive didactic approach induced more classroom interaction time, and more stimulating questions, than a deductive didactic approach, we found no significant measurement numeracy improvement difference between inductive and deductive classroom interaction. Hogeschool RotterdamMultivariate analysis of psychological dat

E-Learning for Teachers and Trainers : Innovative Practices, Skills and Competences

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