6,070 research outputs found
The promises of educational technology: a reassessment
The claims made for educational technology have not always been realized. Many programmes in education based on media and technology have produced useful documentation and supportive research; others have failed. The current, comprehensive definition of educational technology is a helpful key to understanding how a problem-solving orientation is necessary to approach teaching/learning designs. The process of educational technology begins with an analysis of the problem, rather than with the medium as a solution. Examples of appropriate applications come from open universities and primary schools where distance, time, insufficient personnel, and inadequate facilities have led to a search for alternative means for teaching and learning. Less successful programmes tended to have confused goals and an emphasis on one medium. They also lacked: support services, staff training, quality software and a system focus. The threads which run through the more successful programmes are described. The lessons learned from fifty years of media and technology development in education and training are discussed with an eye toward the future. It is clear that educational technology as a problem-solving process will lead the field into the twenty-first century
Consolidation, technology, and the changing structure of banks' small business lending
The U.S. banking industry continues to consolidate, with large, complex banking organizations becoming more important. Traditionally, these institutions have not emphasized small business lending. On the other hand, technological advances, particularly credit scoring models, make it easier for banks to extend small business credit. To see what effects these influences might have generated on small business lending, David Ely and Kenneth Robinson explore the small business lending patterns at U.S. banks from 1994 through 1999. They find that larger banks are increasing their market share, most noticeably in the smallest segment of the small business loan market. The authors also present evidence that the size of the average small business loan has declined, especially at larger organizations, and that the gap in lending focus on the smallest small business loans has narrowed between small and large banks. These trends are consistent with increasing use of credit scoring models.Credit ; Credit scoring systems
The determinants of the wealth effects of banks' expanded securities powers
After several unsuccessful attempts by Congress to repeal Glass-Steagall restrictions on banks, the Federal Reserve more than doubled the revenue that commercial banking organizations' securities subsidiaries may earn from certain securities activities. The wealth effects associated with this event for a sample of publicly traded banking organizations are examined. We find evidence that indicates the revenue limit resulted in a less-than-optimal mix of activities for securities subsidiaries. However, subsequent merger activity that could have been generated by the revenue increase was not viewed favorably by investors.Securities
The definition of educational technology: An emerging stability
Current definitions seem to meet the tests of clarity, currency and utility in this field
Probing CDM cosmology with the Evolutionary Map of the Universe survey
The Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) is an all-sky survey in
radio-continuum which uses the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP). Using galaxy
angular power spectrum and the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect, we study the
potential of EMU to constrain models beyond CDM (i.e., local
primordial non-Gaussianity, dynamical dark energy, spatial curvature and
deviations from general relativity), for different design sensitivities. We
also include a multi-tracer analysis, distinguishing between star-forming
galaxies and galaxies with an active galactic nucleus, to further improve EMU's
potential. We find that EMU could measure the dark energy equation of state
parameters around 35\% more precisely than existing constraints, and that the
constraints on and modified gravity parameters will improve up to
a factor with respect to Planck and redshift space distortions
measurements. With this work we demonstrate the promising potential of EMU to
contribute to our understanding of the Universe.Comment: 15 pages (29 with references and appendices), 6 figures and 10
tables. Matches the published version. Minimal changes from previous versio
Just how hot are the Centauri extreme horizontal branch pulsators?
Past studies based on optical spectroscopy suggest that the five Cen
pulsators form a rather homogeneous group of hydrogen-rich subdwarf O stars
with effective temperatures of around 50 000 K. This places the stars below the
red edge of the theoretical instability strip in the log Teff diagram,
where no pulsation modes are predicted to be excited. Our goal is to determine
whether this temperature discrepancy is real, or whether the stars' effective
temperatures were simply underestimated. We present a spectral analysis of two
rapidly pulsating extreme horizontal branch (EHB) stars found in Cen.
We obtained Hubble Space Telescope/COS UV spectra of two Cen
pulsators, V1 and V5, and used the ionisation equilibrium of UV metallic lines
to better constrain their effective temperatures. As a by-product we also
obtained FUV lightcurves of the two pulsators. Using the relative strength of
the N IV and N V lines as a temperature indicator yields Teff values close to
60 000 K, significantly hotter than the temperatures previously derived. From
the FUV light curves we were able to confirm the main pulsation periods known
from optical data. With the UV spectra indicating higher effective temperatures
than previously assumed, the sdO stars would now be found within the predicted
instability strip. Such higher temperatures also provide consistent
spectroscopic masses for both the cool and hot EHB stars of our previously
studied sample.Comment: 9 pages, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic
Studi Perkembangan Tanah Pada Suatu Toposekuen di Negeri Assilulu Kecamatan Leihitu Kabupaten Maluku Tengah
his study aims to identify the morphological and developmental characteristics of the soil and classify the soil type in a toposequence in Negeri Assilulu, Central Maluku Regency. This research used a survey method with transect observation distances and profile observation types. The results showed that there were differences in color characteristics both between layers and between profiles. The three profiles have a distribution of texture classes from loam to dusty clay. The structure of the soil is rounded cuboid, fine-medium in size, and the level of development is weak to moderate. The consistency of the soil is slightly sticky to sticky, has ABwC genetic horizon. Soil type categories in the three soil profiles are Cambisol, including developing soil
Influence of some physicochemical parameters on <i>Artemia</i> biomass and cyst production in some thalassohaline aquatic environments in the Colombian Caribbean
From July 1998 to June 2000 four thalassohaline aquatic environments along the Colombian Caribbean coast (Manaure, Galerazamba, Salina Cero, and Tayrona) were surveyed monthly to determine the influence of salinity, percent O2 saturation, pH, temperature, and nutrients (NO2-, NO3- and PO4-3) on Artemia (Crustacean, Anostracan) biomass production and cyst production potential. The effects of the regularly measured physicochemical parameters on biomass and cyst production potential were analyzed using univariate analysis of variance (SPSS V10.0). The influence of physicochemical parameters on biomass production was not significant (P > 0.05). In contrast, there was a significant interaction (P 2 saturation, and nitrate (used as a proxy for chlorophyll a) on cyst production potential. In addition, for all four locations nitrate levels were directly proportional to salinity. This might be explained by the fact that in saltworks numerous organisms are trapped and slowly die as salinity increases progressively in the evaporating basins; thus, organic matter accumulates and decomposes. Consequently, the concentration of the nitrogenous compounds, first nitrite and later nitrate, increases through time as salinity increases. Moreover, decreasing nitrate levels seem to increase cyst production potential; thus supporting the notion that when insufficient food is available cyst production increases
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