THE EFFECT OF REFLECTIVE PORTFOLIO USE ON STUDENT SELF-REGULATION SKILLS IN SCIENCE

This study investigated the use of reflective portfolios in science as a means to provide students a medium to develop a repertoire of study and self-regulation strategies. These self-regulation strategies can be accessed and utilized by students to engage in independent study and help to manage workloads from multiple teachers. The use of a reflective portfolio addresses the theoretical framework laid out by Pintrich which organized regulatory processes according to four phases (a) planning, (b) self-monitoring, (c) control, and (d) evaluation. The reflective portfolio included student work samples, revisions of work, reflections, and goal statements. Construction of the portfolio gave students the opportunity to engage in a cyclical process of self-regulation facilitating an on-going assessment dialogue between themselves and their teacher. The focus of this study was a convenience sample of students from a public high school in a suburban community (population of 24,000) in the Northeast. The study used a quasi-experimental research design. Participants in the study included 158 (n=158) students in a nonrandomized control-group, pretest-posttest design. Two different situations were compared; (a) reflective portfolio use and (b) no use of reflective portfolios. Research question 1 asked: Is there a significant difference in the self-regulatory skills of high school science students who produce reflective portfolios for their science assignments and those who do not? The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) subscales of Metacognition Self-Regulation, Effort Regulation, Time and Study Environment, Rehearsal, Elaboration, and Organization were used to assess student self-regulatory skills. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was applied where the six subscales served as the multiple dependant variables. The isolation of which specific self-regulatory learning strategies (Metacognition Self-Regulation, Effort Regulation, Time and Study Environment, Rehearsal, Elaboration, and Organization) were affected by reflective portfolio use in science was statistically insignificant. Research question 2 asked: Is there change over time in the Portfolio Rubric scores within the group of students who produce reflective portfolios? The student generated reflective portfolios produced in the treatment group were assessed using the Portfolio Rubric. Four one-way repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA) procedures were used to ascertain if the rubric scores varied depending on the time interval. Statistically significant gains in students’ rubric scores over time suggest students do benefit from structured goal setting, revision, and reflection. The findings of this study support the use of reflective portfolios to provide students the necessary mastery goal orientation to reflect upon their current progress towards meeting their academic goals. Additionally, this study suggests reflective portfolio use allows students to consider behavioral changes necessary to meet their goals and provides a framework for a dialogue about self-regulation and performance between teachers and students

Wireless Sensing of Lower Lip and Thumb-Index Finger ‘Ramp-and-Hold’ Isometric Force Dynamics in a Small Cohort of Unilateral MCA Stroke: Discussion of Preliminary Findings

Automated wireless sensing of force dynamics during a visuomotor control task was used to rapidly assess residual motor function during finger pinch (right and left hand) and lower lip compression in a cohort of seven adult males with chronic, unilateral middle cerebral artery (MCA) stroke with infarct confirmed by anatomic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A matched cohort of 25 neurotypical adult males served as controls. Dependent variables were extracted from digitized records of ‘ramp-and-hold’ isometric contractions to target levels (0.25, 0.5, 1, and 2 Newtons) presented in a randomized block design; and included force reaction time, peak force, and dF/dtmax associated with force recruitment, and end-point accuracy and variability metrics during the contraction hold-phase (mean, SD, criterion percentage ‘on-target’). Maximum voluntary contraction force (MVCF) was also assessed to establish the force operating range. Results based on linear mixed modeling (LMM, adjusted for age and handedness) revealed significant patterns of dissolution in fine force regulation among MCA stroke participants, especially for the contralesional thumb-index finger followed by the ipsilesional digits, and the lower lip. For example, the contralesional thumb-index finger manifest increased reaction time, and greater overshoot in peak force during recruitment compared to controls. Impaired force regulation among MCA stroke participants during the contraction hold-phase was associated with significant increases in force SD, and dramatic reduction in the ability to regulate force output within prescribed target force window (±5% of target). Impaired force regulation during contraction hold-phase was greatest in the contralesional hand muscle group, followed by significant dissolution in ipsilateral digits, with smaller effects found for lower lip. These changes in fine force dynamics were accompanied by large reductions in the MVCF with the LMM marginal means for contralesional and ipsilesional pinch forces at just 34.77% (15.93 N vs. 45.82 N) and 66.45% (27.23 N vs. 40.98 N) of control performance, respectively. Biomechanical measures of fine force and MVCF performance in adult stroke survivors provide valuable information on the profile of residual motor function which can help inform clinical treatment strategies and quantitatively monitor the efficacy of rehabilitation or neuroprotection strategies

Assessing User Experience in A Virtual Reality Crowd Simulation

Agent-based crowd simulations are used for modelling building and space usage, allowing designers to explore hypothetical real-world scenarios, including extraordinary events such as evacuations. Existing work which engages Virtual Reality (VR) as a platform for crowd simulations has been primarily focussed on the validation of simulation models through observation; that is the use of embellishments to enhance a sense of immersion or constrained studies of proxemics. However, human participation in crowd simulations also has the potential to provide richer and more informative simulation outcomes. This issue has not yet been widely considered by researchers and warrants further study of user experience and behaviour. This work examines VR crowd simulation through the lens of user experience and simulation outcomes. A task-based simulation scenario has been created in which a participant walks freely, and interacts with agents using the same social-force model which mediates agent-to-agent interactions. It examines and reports the effects of crowd density on both the users affective state and behaviour, also comparing it with that of simulated agents. The results gained from this study indicate a significant increase in negative affect with density, measured using a self-report scale, it also shows significant differences in some aspects of user behaviour, such as increased instinctive reactions during high-density situations. This work then discusses how the results relate to VR simulation design for mixed human-agent scenarios

Classification of Tactile and Motor Velocity-Evoked Hemodynamic Response in Primary Somatosensory and Motor Cortices as Measured by Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is an emerging technique in studying cerebral hemodynamics; however, consensus on the analysis methods and the clinical applications has yet to be established. In this study, we demonstrate the results of a pilot fNIRS study of cerebral hemodynamic response (HR) evoked by pneumotactile and sensorimotor stimuli on the dominant hand. Our goal is to find the optimal stimulus parameters to maximally evoke HR in the primary somatosensory and motor cortices. We use a pulsatile pneumatic array of 14 tactile cells that were attached to the glabrous surface of the dominant hand, with a patterned stimulus that resembles saltation at three distinct traverse velocities [10, 25, and 45 cm/s]. NIRS optodes (16 sources; 20 detectors) are bilaterally and symmetrically placed over the pre-and post-central gyri (M1 and S1). Our objective is to identify the extent to which cerebral HR can encode the velocity of the somatosensory and/or motor stimuli. We use common spatial pattern for feature extraction and regularized-discriminant analysis for classifying the fNIRS time series into velocity classes. The classification results demonstrate discriminatory features of the fNIRS signal from each distinct stimulus velocity. The results are inconclusive regarding the velocity which evokes the highest intensity of hemodynamic response

Police and thieves in the stadium: measuring the (multiple) effects of football matches on crime

Large sporting events affect criminal behaviour via three channels: fan concentration, self-incapacitation and police displacement. I exploit information on football matches for London teams linked to detailed recorded crime data at the area level to estimate these effects empirically. I find that only property crime increases in the communities hosting matches but not violent offences. There is a negative away game attendance effect on crime which is due to voluntary incapacitation of potential offenders attending a match. Police displacement during home games increases property crime by 7 percentage points for every extra 10000 supporters in areas that are left underprotecte

Artificial intelligence-ready skin cancer alchemy:transforming routine teledermatology data into metadata-embedded DICOM files

Most skin artificial intelligence (AI) classifiers are trained only on images with diagnostic labels. However, the addition of clinical information can improve predictive accuracy. Recent interest has been stimulated in incorporating clinical data into image files, using the well-established international Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine (DICOM) standards (Caffery L, Weber J, Kurtansky N et al. DICOM in dermoscopic research: experience report and a way forward. J Digit Imaging 2021; 34: 967–73). We have developed an automated process of creating metadata-embedded DICOM files, directly from a live teledermatology system, described below. Through our Community and Locality Imaging Centre (CLIC) model, patients referred from primary care are triaged to CLIC for high-quality image capture. There, trained health professionals use a mobile application to capture standardized DICOM information for each lesion. Each lesion dataset contains images (macroscopic, dermoscopic) and clinical metadata (patient and lesion information). Datasets are transferred to an image management system, for teledermatology and verification of ground-truth diagnoses by a consultant dermatologist. On completion of diagnoses, datasets are flagged for conversion into DICOM format, where metadata are embedded in the image files. Flagged datasets are cleaned and clinical metadata are mapped to DICOM attributes. Datasets are converted into metadata-embedded DICOM files, and reviewed for conformance to the DICOM standard using the open-source fo-dicom library (v5). These files are further tested for conformance to DICOM standard using the dciodvfy validator tool. Compliant DICOM files are then transferred to a trusted research environment for research. To test whether these DICOM files are usable for AI research, they are examined using the DICOM viewing software 3D Slicer (https://www.slicer.org/), ensuring images are usable and metadata are correctly translated. Image pixel data and clinical metadata are extracted using pydicom, into a format suitable for AI algorithm development. In our pilot work, 658 lesion datasets have been converted into metadata-embedded DICOM files. Conversion on existing hardware [virtual Intel central processing units with 2.60 GHz (two processors) and 8 GB of memory] took < 1 s per image. Metadata-embedded DICOM files were approximately 0.2 kB bigger than the original JPEG files. For 3-MB images, this represented a negligible 0.003% increase in storage requirement. Testing has shown that these files can be successfully handled by algorithms within an AI research environment. In summary, we have demonstrated the feasibility of automating the conversion of routine teledermatology data into AI-ready image files encoded with clinical metadata. Future work is planned to evaluate the utility of this output on the performance of AI classifiers

Benefits to speech perception in noise from the binaural integration of electric and acoustic signals in simulated unilateral deafness

Objectives: This study used vocoder simulations with normal-hearing (NH) listeners to (a) measure their ability to integrate speech information from a NH ear and a simulated cochlear implant (CI); and (b) investigate whether binaural integration is disrupted by a mismatch in the delivery of spectral information between the ears arising from a misalignment in the mapping of frequency to place. Design: Eight NH volunteers participated in the study and listened to sentences embedded in background noise via headphones. Stimuli presented to the left ear were unprocessed. Stimuli presented to the right ear (referred to as the CI-simulation ear) were processed using an 8-channel noise vocoder with one of three processing strategies. An Ideal strategy simulated a frequency-to-place map across all channels that matched the delivery of spectral information between the ears. A Realistic strategy created a misalignment in the mapping of frequency to place in the CI-simulation ear where the size of the mismatch between the ears varied across channels. Finally, a Shifted strategy imposed a similar degree of misalignment in all channels resulting in consistent mismatch between the ears across frequency. The ability to report key words in sentences was assessed under monaural and binaural listening conditions and at signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) established by estimating speech-reception thresholds in each ear alone. The SNRs ensured that the monaural performance of the left ear never exceeded that of the CI-simulation ear. Binaural integration advantages were calculated by comparing binaural performance with monaural performance using the CI-simulation ear alone. Thus, these advantages reflected the additional use of the experimentally-constrained left ear and were not attributable to better-ear listening. Results: Binaural performance was as accurate as, or more accurate than, monaural performance with the CI-simulation ear alone. When both ears supported a similar level of monaural performance (50%), binaural integration advantages were found regardless of whether a mismatch was simulated or not. When the CI-simulation ear supported a superior level of monaural performance (71%), evidence of binaural integration was absent when a mismatch was simulated using both the Realistic and Ideal processing strategies. This absence of integration could not be accounted for by ceiling effects or by changes in SNR. Conclusions: If generalizable to unilaterally-deaf CI users, the results of the current simulation study would suggest that benefits to speech perception in noise can be obtained by integrating information from an implanted ear and a normal-hearing ear. A mismatch in the delivery of spectral information between the ears due to a misalignment in the mapping of frequency to place may disrupt binaural integration in situations where both ears cannot support a similar level of monaural speech understanding. Previous studies which have measured the speech perception of unilaterally-deaf individuals after cochlear implantation but with non-individualized frequency-to-electrode allocations may therefore have underestimated the potential benefits of providing binaural hearing. However, it remains unclear whether the size and nature of the potential incremental benefits from individualized allocations are sufficient to justify the time and resources required to derive them based on cochlear imaging or pitch-matching tasks

Ecological Complex Systems

Main aim of this topical issue is to report recent advances in noisy nonequilibrium processes useful to describe the dynamics of ecological systems and to address the mechanisms of spatio-temporal pattern formation in ecology both from the experimental and theoretical points of view. This is in order to understand the dynamical behaviour of ecological complex systems through the interplay between nonlinearity, noise, random and periodic environmental interactions. Discovering the microscopic rules and the local interactions which lead to the emergence of specific global patterns or global dynamical behaviour and the noises role in the nonlinear dynamics is an important, key aspect to understand and then to model ecological complex systems.Comment: 13 pages, Editorial of a topical issue on Ecological Complex System to appear in EPJ B, Vol. 65 (2008