Investigating the perceptions of academic dishonesty among special educators

The purposes of this study were: (a) to investigate the perceptions of academic dishonesty among special education faculty and students particularly related to the subtleties or gray areas that surround issues of academic dishonesty, (b) to determine how to decrease incidences of academic dishonesty, and (c) to find potential solutions to the problem of academic dishonesty. The participants in this study were special education full-time and adjunct faculty and special education undergraduate and graduate students. Data were collected using the Faculty Perspectives Survey and the Student Perspectives Survey. These surveys measured opinions regarding what constitutes cheating in traditional and online courses, deterrents to cheating, and sanctions for cheating; There was a statistically significant difference among faculty and students with regard to what constitutes cheating in online environments. Students believed that collaborating on assignments and submitting the same paper twice was not cheating. Faculty believed these acts were cheating. There was a statistically significant difference among faculty and students with regard to what constitutes cheating in traditional environments. Students believed that submitting the same paper twice during the same and consecutive semesters was not cheating. Faculty believed it was cheating. There was no statistical significance among full-time and adjunct faculty with regard to what constitutes cheating in online or traditional classes. There was no statistical significance among undergraduate and graduate students with regard to what constitutes cheating in online and traditional classes, deterrents to cheating, and sanctions for cheating. There was a statistical difference among faculty and students with regard to deterrents to cheating. Students believed honor codes are deterrents to cheating in traditional classes. Faculty did not view honor codes as deterrents to cheating. There was no statistical significance between faculty and students with regard to sanctions for cheating

Vision based robot-to-robot object handover

This paper presents an autonomous robot-to-robot object handover in the presence of uncertainties and in the absence of explicit communication. Both the giver and receiver robots are equipped with an eye-in-hand depth camera. The object to handle is roughly positioned in the field of view of the giver robot's camera and a deep learning based approach is adopted for detecting the object. The physical exchange is performed by recurring to an estimate of the contact forces and an impedance control, which allows the receiver robot to perceive the presence of the object and the giver one to recognize that the handover is complete. Experimental results, conducted on a couple of collaborative 7 DoF manipulators in a partially structured environment, demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach

Accreditation by Design: Construction of an Instrument to Measure Teacher Candidates’ Perceptions of Preparedness to Meet InTASC Standards

The InTASC Candidate Self-Perception Instrument (ICSPI) is an innovative, high-quality educational measurement tool designed to support the assessment and accreditation efforts of a wide variety of educator preparation programs (EPP). The procedures used for the creation and refining of items for the ICSPI are presented, including empirical estimates of reliability from a trial implementation across three semesters. Evidence of instrument validity is discussed, while observed reliability estimates were found to be above acceptable levels for all subgroups. The ICSPI can be used to evaluate EPPs’ course offerings and requirements, align course outcomes with educational standards, provide data to advise programs of relative strengths and weaknesses, and improve teacher preparation

Multi-Scale Monitoring of Rupestrian Heritage: Methodological Approach and Application to a Case Study

Most of the artistic heritage in the Mediterranean basin is hosted in rupestrian hypogeum whose peculiarity is given by the presence of at least one open side, which makes them particularly sensitive to meteorological conditions. This makes mandatory the monitoring of both indoor and outdoor environmental parameters to analyze the cause–effect relationship between microclimatic inside and outside the hypogeum. The paper proposes a spatial and temporal multi-scale methodological approach applied to a rupestrian church in Matera, which hosts precious wall paintings, particularly vulnerable to the effects of environmental parameters. The approach is based on the analysis of data acquired by three platforms: indoor, close-range outdoor, and outdoor data from a meteorological station and weather forecast from the COSMO 5 model. The method allowed to characterize the relationships between the indoor and outdoor parameters at different spatial and temporal scales. The results showed a significant correlation between the parameters, thus opening new opportunities for the monitoring of the rupestrian heritage based on the use of data systematically available, such as those from meteorological stations and meteorological forecast

Integrated use of multi-temporal multi-sensor and multiscale Remote Sensing data for the understanding of archaeological contexts: the case study of Metaponto, Basilicata

This paper is focused on the archaeological area of Metaponto (Μεταπόντιον) and its territory, located in southern Italy. The area played an important role for the agricultural economy and the traffic of goods and people, from the south of Italy towards the central regions, starting from the Neolithic period, and reaching the zenith with the Greek polis of Metaponto and its hinterland. The site is herein analyzed through an integrated use of several Earth observation and remote sensing technologies and ancillary data produced over the years by archaeologists and scholars. The aim was to identify new buried elements of archaeological interest, for the reconstruction of the historical-archaeological landscape. Through the combined use of optical and radar satellite images, high-resolution images obtained by Unmanned Aerial System (visible, multispectral, and thermal infrared), geophysical data, and archival data, it was possible to deepen the knowledge of the area, in particular the “Castrum” area, identifying new buried evidence (structures, roads, and elements of the ancient landscape)

Cholesterol Serum Levels and Use of Statins in Graves' Orbitopathy: A New Starting Point for the Therapy.

Graves' Orbitopathy (GO) is the most frequent extrathyroidal manifestation of Graves' disease (GD). Its ultimate cause remains unclear, but it is commonly considered an autoimmune disorder due to self recognition of autoantigens constitutively expressed by orbital fibroblasts (OFs), and thyroid epithelial cells. High dose intravenous glucocorticoids (ivGC) are the most commonly used treatment for moderately severe and active GO. However, based on the complex pathogenesis of GO, a number of factors may have a protective and maybe a therapeutic role. The use of other medications improving the effect of GC may increase the overall effectiveness of the therapy and reduce GC doses, thereby limiting side effects. Recently, a possible protective role of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme reductase inhibitors, the so-called statins, and perhaps of lowering cholesterol levels, has been proposed. Thus, statins have been reported to be associated with a reduced frequency of GO in GD patients and in recent cross-sectional and retrospective studies a significant correlation was found between the occurrence of GO and both total and LDL-cholesterol in patients with a GD of relatively recent onset, suggesting a role of cholesterol in the development of GO. Moreover, a correlation was found between the GO clinical activity score and total as well as LDL-cholesterol in untreated GO patients, depending on GO duration, indicating a role of cholesterol on GO activity. Therefore, statin treatment may be beneficial for GO. Here we review this subject, which offers new therapeutic perspectives for patients with GO