14,201 research outputs found
Assessment and learning outcomes: the evaluation of deep learning in an on-line course
Using an online learning environment, students from European countries collaborated and communicated to carry out problem based learning in occupational therapy. The effectiveness of this approach was evaluated by means of the final assessments and published learning outcomes. In particular, transcripts from peer-to-peer sessions of synchronous communication were analysed. The SOLO taxonomy was used and the development of deep learning was studied week by week. This allowed the quality of the course to be appraised and showed, to a certain extent, the impact of this online international course on the learning strategies of the students. Results indicate that deep learning can be supported by synchronous communication and online meetings between course participants.</p
Living with the user: Design drama for dementia care through responsive scripted experiences in the home
Participation in forms of drama and narrative can provoke empathy and creativity in user-centred design processes. In this paper, we expand upon existing methods to explore the potential for responsive scripted experiences that are delivered through the combination of sensors and output devices placed in a home. The approach is being developed in the context of Dementia care, where the capacity for rich user participation in design activities is limited. In this case, a system can act as a proxy for a person with Dementia, allowing designers to gain experiences and insight as to what it is like to provide care for, and live with, this person. We describe the rationale behind the approach, a prototype system architecture, and our current work to explore the creation of scripted experiences for design, played out though UbiComp technologies.This research is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council UK, (AH/K00266X/1) and Horizon Digital Economy Research (RCUK grant EP/G065802/1)
Instantons of Type IIB Supergravity in Ten Dimensions
A family of SO(10) symmetric instanton solutions in Type IIB supergravity is
developed. The instanton of least action is a candidate for the low-energy,
semiclassical approximation to the {D=--1} brane. Unlike a previously published
solution,[GGP] this admits an interpretation as a tunneling amplitude between
perturbatively degenerate asymptotic states, but with action twice that found
previously. A number of associated issues are discussed such as the relation
between the magnetic and electric pictures, an inversion symmetry of the
dilaton and the metric, the topology of the background, and some
properties of the solution in an "instanton frame" corresponding to a
Lagrangian in which the dilaton's kinetic energy vanishes.Comment: 15 pages, no figures; Version 2 has revised sections IV and V.
Earlier equations are essentially unchanged, but interpretation changed, on
advice of counse
Using cultural probes to inform the design of assistive technologies
This paper discusses the practical implications of applying cultural probes to drive the design of assistive technologies. Specifically we describe a study in which a probe was deployed with home-based carers of people with dementia in order to capture critical data and gain insights of integrating the technologies into this sensitive and socially complex design space. To represent and utilise the insights gained from the cultural probes, we created narratives based on the probe data to enhance the design of assistive technologies.This work was supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AH/K00266X/1) and RCUK through the Horizon Digital Economy Research grant (EP/G065802/1)
The provision of education and training for healthcare professionals through the medium of the internet
This paper describes a new initiative to provide Internet based courses to student and professional occupational therapists in four centres in the UK, Belgium the Netherlands and Sweden. The basis of this collaborative Occupational Therapy Internet School (OTIS) is the concept of the “Virtual College”. This comprises the design and implementation of a sophisticated Internet-based system through which courses can be managed, prepared and delivered online in an effective fashion, and where students can communicate both with the staff and their peers. The aim is to support and facilitate the whole range of educational activities within a remote electronic environment. A major feature of the course organisation is the adoption of a problem-based approach in which students will collaborate internationally to propose effective intervention in given case study scenarios.
The paper outlines the rationale for OTIS, the content and structure of the courseware, the technical specification of the system and evaluation criteria. In addition to the more conventional web-based learning facilities generally offered, a number of agent-based approaches are being adopted to assist in the management of the course by ensuring the proper delivery of course materials and to assist the functioning of project groups. </p
Interband, intraband and excited-state direct photon absorption of silicon and germanium nanocrystals embedded in a wide band-gap lattice
Embedded Si and Ge nanocrystals (NCs) in wide band-gap matrices are studied
theoretically using an atomistic pseudopotential approach. From small clusters
to large NCs containing on the order of several thousand atoms are considered.
Effective band-gap values as a function of NC diameter reproduce very well the
available experimental and theoretical data. It is observed that the highest
occupied molecular orbital for both Si and Ge NCs and the lowest unoccupied
molecular orbital for Si NCs display oscillations with respect to size among
the different irreducible representations of the point group to which
these spherical NCs belong. Based on this electronic structure, first the
interband absorption is thoroughly studied which shows the importance of
surface polarization effects that significantly reduce the absorption when
included. This reduction is found to increase with decreasing NC size or with
increasing permittivity mismatch between the NC core and the host matrix.
Reasonable agreement is observed with the experimental absorption spectra where
available. The deformation of spherical NCs into prolate or oblate ellipsoids
are seen to introduce no pronounced effects for the absorption spectra. Next,
intraconduction and intravalence band absorption coefficients are obtained in
the wavelength range from far-infrared to visible region. These results can be
valuable for the infrared photodetection prospects of these NC arrays. Finally,
excited-state absorption at three different optical pump wavelengths, 532 nm,
355 nm and 266 nm are studied for 3- and 4 nm-diameter NCs. This reveals strong
absorption windows in the case of holes and a broad spectrum in the case of
electrons which can especially be relevant for the discussions on achieving
gain in these structures.Comment: Published version, 13 pages, 15 figures, local field effects include
On the "Causality Argument" in Bouncing Cosmologies
We exhibit a situation in which cosmological perturbations of astrophysical
relevance propagating through a bounce are affected in a scale-dependent way.
Involving only the evolution of a scalar field in a closed universe described
by general relativity, the model is consistent with causality. Such a specific
counter-example leads to the conclusion that imposing causality is not
sufficient to determine the spectrum of perturbations after a bounce provided
it is known before. We discuss consequences of this result for string motivated
scenarios.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, ReVTeX, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let
Quasar Evolution and the Baldwin Effect in the Large Bright Quasar Survey
From a large homogeneous sample of optical/UV emission line measurements for
993 quasars from the Large Bright Quasar Survey (LBQS), we study correlations
between emission line equivalent width and both restframe ultraviolet
luminosity (i.e., the Baldwin Effect) and redshift. Our semi-automated spectral
fitting accounts for absorption lines, fits blended iron emission, and provides
upper limits to weak emission lines. Use of a single large, well-defined sample
and consistent emission line measurements allows us to sensitively detect many
correlations, most of which have been previously noted. A new finding is a
significant Baldwin Effect in UV iron emission. Further analysis reveals that
the primary correlation of iron emission strength is probably with redshift,
implying an evolutionary rather than a luminosity effect. We show that for most
emission lines with a significant Baldwin Effect, and for some without,
evolution dominates over luminosity effects. This may reflect evolution in
abundances, in cloud covering factors, or overall cloud conditions such as
density and ionization. We find that in our sample, a putative correlation
between Baldwin Effect slope and the ionization potential is not significant.
Uniform measurements of other large quasar samples will extend the luminosity
and redshift range of such spectral studies and provide even stronger tests of
spectral evolution.Comment: 16 pages, Latex, emulateapj style, including 3 tables and 6 figures.
Accepted April 02, 2001 for publication in ApJ Main Journal. See also
http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~pgreen/Papers.htm
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