Nanotechnology and the Developing World

How nanotechnology can be harnessed to address some of the world's most critical development problem

Masking in Central Visual Field Under a Variety of Temporal and Spatial Configurations

For over a century, visual maskingwhere one stimulus reduces the visibility of another stimulushas been used as a powerful tool to explore the visual system. Two major forms have emerged: backward masking and common onset masking. These two forms, which are characterized by the temporal properties of the stimuli, are often used to probe different underlying masking mechanisms, and the two forms typically employ a unique set of spatial characteristics of the mask. This clustering of stimulus properties makes it challenging to assess the effect of each stimulus property by itself. This dissertation describes an attempt to isolate the effects of these properties. In the first set of experiments various masking schedules are tested, including backward, common onset, and variations between, while keeping the spatial properties of the stimuli constant. In the second set of experiments four-dot common onset masking is explored in detail, and in one of the experiments, a single masking schedule is tested while varying the spatial properties of the mask. Across all experiments, target stimuli are presented foveally. A computational model is developed to account for data across both sets of experiments. Three important findings emerge. First, masking can be successfully obtained in central visual field using a variety of stimulus properties. Second, there is compelling evidence that persisting traces of these stimuli play an important role in masking. Third, there is strong evidence of both spatially local and global masking effects

PENANAMAN PENGETAHUAN DAN KETERAMPILAN BERBAHASA INGGRIS SISWA SD PEDESAAN MELALUI KURSUS BAHASA INGGRIS INTENSIF

Kebijakan pemerintah yang tidak memasukan Bahasa Inggris sebagai mata pelajaran wajib pada jenjang sekolah dasar menyebabkan siswa SD di pedesaan termasuk siswa SD di Desa Sambi Kecamatn Reok Barat NTT tidak mendapatkan ruang untuk mempelajari Bahasa Inggris. Keadaan ini menimbulkan dampak lanjutan yaitu siswa SD di desa Sambi mengalami kesulitan mempelajari bahasa Inggris saat berada di jenjang SMP. Selain itu, beberapa siswa SD yang dipercayakan mengikuti perlombaan tingkat kabupaten mengalami kesulitan mengerjakan soal-soal bahasa Inggris yang pada dasarnya tidak mereka pelajari di sekolah. Kegiatan PkM ini bertujuan untuk menanamkan dan memperkenalkan pengetahuan dan keterampilan berbahasa Inggris kepada siswa SD Kelas 4-6 di desa Sambi dan mendorong terbentuknya Pusat Kegiatan Belajar Masyarakat tempat masyarakat Desa Sambi mendapatkan pengetahuan Bahasa Inggris melalui pendidikan non formal yang berkelanjutan. Kegiatan kursus dilakukan dengan menggunakan metode ceramah, tanyajawab, simulasi, dialog practice, penggunaan permainan, bercerita, dan diskusi kelompok. Hasil yang dicapai dari kegiatan ini yaitu 1) siswa memiliki pengetahuan dasar dan kemampuan berbicara Bahasa Inggris sederhana, 2) Terbentuknya wadah Pusat Kegiatan belajar Masyrakat tempat siswa SD mempelajari Bahasa Inggris secara berkelanjutan. Kegiatan ini mendapat dukungan dari masyarakat desa Sambi yang diwujudkan dengan kerelaan masyarakat membentuk dan menyediakan tempat PKBM serta keterlibatan dalam kegiatan pembelajaran. Kata kunci: pengetahuan, keterampilan, bahasa Inggris, siswa SD, pedesaa

Classroom Interaction In English Speaking Class (A Study At Sma Santu Fransiskus Ruteng, Flores)

Classroom interaction emphasizes on the effectiveness of the students participation in the dialogue, and finally improving the ability of speaking. It involves all participants; teacher, learners and learning sources. There are some different purpose of using speaking. Each purpose implies knowledge of the rules that account for how spoken language reflects the context in which the speech occurs (Richard and Renandya, 2002:201). The study aims at finding out how classroom interaction employed in speaking class at SMA Santu Fransiskus Ruteng, Flores.  It’s used mixed method combining the use of descriptive quantitative and qualitative study design with phenomenological approach. It’s used random sampling, with 45 students taken as the samples. Meanwhile, employing a qualitative research design and phenomenological approach, the data for this study are mostly collected through interview completed by observation and documentation. For the purpose of deep interview, the participants are 1 English teacher and 4 students taken purposively. The study showed that 1) there is one aspect of classroom interaction mostly categorized as high level of implementation; Response and Asks Questions (28=62.2%). Data of interviewed confirmed that students needs appreciation for learning progress or achievement they may make. It encourages them to be more active and participative. 2) Feelings acceptance, praises or encouragement, and  ideas use or acceptance implementation (40=88.9%) and giving directions, criticisms or authority justification (38=84.4%) were mostly in the category of medium level. Meanwhile, initiation was mostly in the category of low level (24=53.3%). Data of interview confirmed that low initiation is caused by students learning habit. Most students do the activities of learning English when English teacher fosters them to learn. It’s in the form of quiz, assignment, mid test or final test. Leaning is merely conducted to improve and increase English score. Other activities such as memorizing vocabularies, writing stories, answering questions based on the passages, building up sentences and other classroom activities designed are done under teacher’s control and design. In the next phase, students find it difficult to accomplish complex tasks. They are only able to accomplish simple tasks. Learning autonomy which is oriented to build up speaking ability hardly ever done.  To this extend, English teacher pay more attention to the topic chosen in teaching learning processes. It determines whether the students initiate interaction or not