Toward better intelligent learning (iLearning) performance:what makes iLearning work for students in a university setting?

We explored the critical factors associated with iLearning that impact students’ learning performance and identified the factors with a notable influence to help managers in higher education institutions increase the effectiveness of iLearning for students. We initially synthesised 4 main dimensions (including 26 criteria): performance expectancy, lecturers’ influence, quality of service, and personal innovativeness. Subsequently, we conducted surveys in two stages. First, by studying a group of students with experience using iLearning at Taiwanese universities, we extracted 5 critical dimensions (including 18 criteria) through a factor analysis. Second, by studying a group of senior educators and practitioners in Taiwan, we prioritised the dimensions and criteria through the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). We found that performance expectancy is the top critical dimension, and the top five critical criteria pertain to enhancing the learning performance, increasing the learning participation, altering learning habits, ensuring access at all times, and enabling prompt use of learning resources. Moreover, we recommend several suggestions for the relevant managers to enhance the students’ iLearning performance

Critical Factors Influencing the Extent of Customer Relationship Management Systems Adoption in Hospitals

Customer relationship management system (CRMS) is an innovation technology which has dramatic impacts on healthcare quality and customer satisfaction. Although the critical factors for the adoption of information systems have been identified in prior studies, few of them specifically explore the extent of CRMS adoption in hospitals. To fill this gap, this study proposes an integrated model that incorporates both organizational and system related factors as primary determiners the extent of CRMS adoption in hospitals. A series of survey were conducted with three levels of health institutions including medical centers, regional hospitals, and community hospitals in Taiwan. The results indicated that hospital size and complexity have significant influence on the scope of CRMS adoption, and also indicated that hospital size, complexity and compatibility have significant influence on the depth of CRMS adoption in hospitals. These findings provided fruitful implications for both associated academics and practitioners

Assessment of Cryoprotectant Concentration by Electrical Conductivity Measurement and Its Applications in Cryopreservation

This chapter presents an important application of the electrical conductivity measurement in cryopreservation. Long-term cryopreservation of cells and tissues is essential in both clinical treatments and fundamental researches. In order to reduce the cryo-injury to the cells during cryopreservation, cryoprotective agents (CPAs) should be added before freezing, but also removed after thawing duo to the cytotoxicity. In these steps, severe osmotic stresses may result in injuries to the cells too. Therefore, monitoring the addition and removal of CPAs to the cell samples is critical in order to prevent the osmotic injury. In this chapter, the electrical conductivity measurement was applied to assess the CPA concentration in cryopreservation. Firstly, the standard correlations between the CPA concentration and the electrical conductivity of the solutions (including CPA-NaCl-water ternary solutions and CPA-albumin-NaCl-water quaternary solutions) were experimentally obtained for a few mostly used CPAs. Then a novel ?dilution-filtration? system with hollow fiber dialyzer was designed and applied to remove the CPA from the solutions effectively. Measurement of electrical conductivity was validated as a safer and easier way to on-line and real-time monitoring of CPA concentration in cell suspensions. This work demonstrated a very important application of electrical conductivity in the biomedical engineering field

The Relationships between Peer- and Self-Assessment and Teacher Assessment of Young EFL Learners’ Oral Presentations

A uncorrected proof of the manuscript is released here according to Springer author agreement.As the traditional grammar translation approach is being gradually replaced by communicative or task-based approaches, paper-and-pencil tests, commonly used in English classes in Taiwan, do not meet the course goals. Alternative assessment, known for increasing learners’ cognitive and meta-cognitive development as well as empowering students to take ownership of their learning, has been practiced extensively in L1 higher education, but neglected in L2 elementary schools. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate how peer and self-assessment can be implemented to evaluate young EFL learners’ oral presentation and how the students perceive this experience. The study was conducted in two sixth grade classes at a public elementary school in southern Taiwan. After attending a professional development workshop held by the government, a local English teacher practiced peer and self-assessment in her class so as to engage every student in class activities and also to provide an opportunity for them to reflect upon their performance. In the process, the students formed groups of six to discuss and give grades after each individual student’s oral report. Three types of data sources were analyzed. The first was the evaluation rubrics from peer groups, each presenting students, and the teacher. Then, a survey, containing 16 closed-format questions and one open-ended question, was administered to elicit the students’ perceptions of the assessment process. Also, an interview was done with the teacher. The results show that peer and teacher assessment had strong positive correlation, whereas self- and teacher assessment were moderately correlated. The strength of correlation also varied for each evaluation criterion. Though learners responded positively to the assessing experiences in the questionnaires, they expressed concern that some grades assigned by peers were not fair and a few group members dominated the grading process. The findings shed light on benefits of combining peer and self- assessment and suggest training should emphasize self-assessment, evaluation criteria related to content of the presentation, and students’ social skills to work harmoniously in groups. Most of all, students’ traditional way of learning should not be neglected

U(1) CS Theory vs SL(2) CS Formulation: Boundary Theory and Wilson Line

We first derive the boundary theory from the U(1) Chern-Simons theory. We then introduce the Wilson line and discuss the effective action on an $n$-sheet manifold from the back-reaction of the Wilson line. The reason is that the U(1) Chern-Simons theory can provide an exact effective action when introducing the Wilson line. This study cannot be done in the SL(2) Chern-Simons formulation of pure AdS$_3$ Einstein gravity theory. It is known that the expectation value of the Wilson line in the pure AdS$_3$ Einstein gravity is equivalent to entanglement entropy in the boundary theory up to classical gravity. We show that the boundary theory of the U(1) Chern-Simons theory deviates by a self-interaction term from the boundary theory of the AdS$_3$ Einstein gravity theory. It provides a convenient path to the building of "minimum surface=entanglement entropy" in the SL(2) Chern-Simons formulation. We also discuss the Hayward term in the SL(2) Chern-Simons formulation to compare with the Wilson line approach. To reproduce the entanglement entropy for a single interval at the classical level, we introduce two wedges under a regularization scheme. We propose the quantum generalization by combining the bulk and Hayward terms. The quantum correction of the partition function vanishes. In the end, we exactly calculate the entanglement entropy for a single interval. The pure AdS$_3$ Einstein gravity theory shows a shift of central charge by 26 at the one-loop level. The U(1) Chern-Simons theory does not have such a shift from the quantum effect, and the result is the same in the weak gravitational constant limit. The non-vanishing quantum correction shows the naive quantum generalization of the Hayward term is incorrect.Comment: 39 pages, 2 figure

Existence theorems for a crystal surface model involving the p-Laplace operator

The manufacturing of crystal films lies at the heart of modern nanotechnology. How to accurately predict the motion of a crystal surface is of fundamental importance. Many continuum models have been developed for this purpose, including a number of PDE models, which are often obtained as the continuum limit of a family of kinetic Monte Carlo models of crystal surface relaxation that includes both the solid-on-solid and discrete Gaussian models. In this paper we offer an analytical perspective into some of these models. To be specific, we study the existence of a weak solution to the boundary value problem for the equation - \Delta e^{-\mbox{div}\left(|\nabla u|^{p-2}\nabla u\right)}+au=f, where $p>1, a>0$ are given numbers and $f$ is a given function. This problem is derived from a crystal surface model proposed by J.L.~Marzuola and J.~Weare (2013 Physical Review, E 88, 032403). The mathematical challenge is due to the fact that the principal term in our equation is an exponential function of a p-Laplacian. Existence of a suitably-defined weak solution is established under the assumptions that $p\in(1,2], \ N\leq 4$, and $f\in W^{1,p}$. Our investigations reveal that the key to our existence assertion is how to control the set where -\mbox{div}\left(|\nabla u|^{p-2}\nabla u\right) is $\pm\infty$

Ultra-wideband Outdoor Communication Characteristics with and without Traffic

[[abstract]]The BER performance for ultra-wideband (UWB) outdoor communication in LOS and NLOS environments with and without traffic is investigated. We obtain the impulse responses of the UWB outdoor environment by both 2.5D SBR-Image method and inverse Fourier transform techniques. The 2.5D SBR-Image method is first considered for two-dimensional environment simulated without heights of obstacles by ray tubes. Then, heights of the obstacles are taken into consideration between the transmitters and receivers. If the height of ray is lower than that of obstacles, the ray is neglected for the receivers. This effectively reduces the simulating time. By using the impulse response of multipath channels, the BER performance for binary pulse amplitude modulation communications over the radio UWB system is evaluated. We have performed computer simulations in LOS and NLOS environments with and without traffic in dense building areas. Numerical results have shown that the multipath effect caused by moving vehicles in the outdoor LOS and NLOS environments has a great impact on BER performance. Rake receivers are used to improve the outage probability. The relationship between traffic and BER performance is investigated; meanwhile, the characteristics of LOS and NLOS outdoor UWB environments are analyzed. Our investigation results can help improve planning and design of the UWB system.[[notice]]補正完畢[[incitationindex]]SCI[[booktype]]電子