Blended learning

In recent years, the training initiatives in blended learning increased enormously as a result of the different demands to integrate the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in educational systems. In Higher Education, the blend approach is highly pursued because of its unique flexibility that allows the teacher to propose, in every situation, more advantageous train- ing solutions for their students, contrary to mandatory classroom in Basic and Secondary schools. It seems that the blended learning approach, a concept often bordering others such as e-learning, distance education, online learning or open learning, allows you to get the best of both worlds, the face-to-face and the virtual, and be an alternative to the traditional classroom teaching models and to enhance the new forms of electronic learning environments that use only the virtual and the distance. The blended learning approach seems to have the advantages of some of the concepts described, as the flexibility to determine their own pace of learning, and removes the greater disadvantage which is the lack of human contact with colleagues and teacher.CIEC – Research Centre on Child Studies, IE, UMinho (FCT R&D unit 317), Portuga

‘It’s Almost Like Talking to a Person’: Student Disclosure to Pedagogical Agents in Sensitive Settings.

This paper presents findings of a pilot study which used pedagogical agents to examine disclosure in educational settings. The study used responsive evaluation to explore how use of pedagogical agents might affect students’ truthfulness and disclosure by asking them to respond to a lifestyle choices survey delivered by a web-based pedagogical agent. Findings indicate that emotional connection with pedagogical agents were intrinsic to the user’s sense of trust and therefore likely to affect levels of truthfulness and engagement. The implications of this study are that truthfulness, personalisation and emotional engagement are all vital components in using pedagogical agents to enhance online learning

Infrared target and background radiometric measurements--concepts units and techniques

This report discusses concepts units and techniques for making and describing measurements of radiation from targets and backgrounds.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/32197/1/0000256.pd

Categorical Tensor Network States

We examine the use of the mathematics of category theory in the description of quantum states by tensor networks. This approach enables the development of a categorical framework allowing a solution to the quantum decomposition problem. Specifically, given an n-body quantum state ψ, we present a general method to factor ψ into a tensor network. Moreover, this decomposition of ψ uses building blocks defined mathematically in terms of purely diagrammatic laws. We use the solution to expose a previously unknown and large class of quantum states which we prove can be sampled efficiently and exactly. This general framework of categorical tensor network states, where a combination of generic and algebraically defined tensors appear, enhances the theory of tensor network states.   Blogs about this paper: (i) http://golem.ph.utexas.edu/category/2010/09/bimonoids_from_biproducts.html (ii) http://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/2010/09/29/jacob-biamonte-on-tensor-networks/  Talks about this paper: (i) http://new.iqc.ca/news-events/calendar/generated/jacob-biamonte-2010-12-2 (IQC, Institute for Quantum Computing University of Waterloo, Canada) Link to arXiv version: * http://arxiv.org/abs/1012.0531</p

Categorical Tensor Network States

We examine the use of the mathematics of category theory in the description of quantum states by tensor networks. This approach enables the development of a categorical framework allowing a solution to the quantum decomposition problem. Specifically, given an n-body quantum state ψ, we present a general method to factor ψ into a tensor network. Moreover, this decomposition of ψ uses building blocks defined mathematically in terms of purely diagrammatic laws. We use the solution to expose a previously unknown and large class of quantum states which we prove can be sampled efficiently and exactly. This general framework of categorical tensor network states, where a combination of generic and algebraically defined tensors appear, enhances the theory of tensor network states.   Blogs about this paper: (i) http://golem.ph.utexas.edu/category/2010/09/bimonoids_from_biproducts.html (ii) http://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/2010/09/29/jacob-biamonte-on-tensor-networks/  Talks about this paper: (i) http://new.iqc.ca/news-events/calendar/generated/jacob-biamonte-2010-12-2 (IQC, Institute for Quantum Computing University of Waterloo, Canada) Link to arXiv version: * http://arxiv.org/abs/1012.0531</p