Identifying history in servitude : A comparative study on the teaching of critical historical thinking in Finland, the United States, and China

This study examines senior secondary level History education in three countries—Finland, the United States and China—from the vantage point of critical thinking skills. Critical historical thinking skills are a vast and ambiguous concept encompassing different kinds of factual knowledge and skills. For this reason, the focus of the study is on the teaching of the concept of history politics. History politics can be defined as the intentional “twisting and turning” —i.e. misinterpretation—of past events in order to further political ambitions. This kind of behavior can be understood as a central part of a larger toolbox of critical historical thinking skills. In particular, the work seeks to examine how and why education seeks to highlight the possibility of using history in this manner. When examining these choices made in the field of educational policy, the work sets off with the so-called political curriculum theories, which suggest, that the curriculum not only mirrors, but also constructs societal values and ambitions. When it comes to these ambitions, the focus of my work in particular is on the conflict between the so-called qualificative and integrative functions of education. This juxtaposition has been seen as the central question in the sociology of education. In other words, this study seeks to answer, whether the manner in which the concept of history politics is being taught offers students factual knowledge and skills, which allow them to survive in life (qualificative functions) or if the purpose of education is to further societal cohesion (integrative functions). This question is examined at different levels of the curriculum. In addition to comparisons made between geographical/cultural units and educational regimes, this study examines also temporal changes in educational policy when it examines whether there has been changes in these policies over time, and whether a global convergence is identifiable. Curriculum documents and school textbooks, as well as teacher interviews in the cases of Finland and the United States have been used as research materials. The temporal comparisons have been carried out by comparing textbooks from the mid-1980s and mid-2010s. The research material has been approached in an abductive manner by utilizing qualitative content analysis. The study reveals how the concept of history politics can be taught in numerous ways. On the one hand, a marked difference can be identified in whether the talk is clearly about history politics or in a much more ambiguous way about ideas, concepts and behavior, which are only tentatively linked to the concept of history politics. On the other hand, there were clear differences identifiable in the research material in terms of whether the concept is being taught at a theoretical/abstract level, or alternatively through concerete examples. Additionally, one can identify different kinds of concrete examples of the use of history politics, which are being highlighted. The different emphases between these approaches can be interpreted as furthering either the qualificative or integrative functions of education. In Finland the concept of history politics has been taught in senior secondary education rather extensively already in the 1980s, although by the 2010s even more viewpoints were covered. It is noticeable that closer to our time the concept of history politics is taught as part of the mandatory studies in particular, whereas the elective courses emphasize the issue much less. In the case of the United States it is worth noticing that already in the 1980s the concept of history politics has been cover in education to a degree, but no temporal change is identifiable. In addition, the study uncovered how the more demanding Advanced Placement courses, which are being offered to students, do not examine the concept any more thoroughly compared to the standard courses. In the cases of Finland and the United States the teacher interviews suggest, that at least when it comes to the teaching of the concept of history politics, the teachers have a quite a bit room for maneuverability, which they also gladly also use. For this reason, at the grassroots level education can further very different kinds of ambitions depending on the preferences of individual teachers. In China the concept of history politics has not been taught much previously, and arguably the goal of education was much more that of preserving societal cohesion rather than the cultivation of individual thinking skills. However, by the 2010s, the Chinese educational system had clearly taken steps towards emphasizing historical thinking skills. It is noticeable, however, that teaching about the concept of history politics in modern China is part of the elective, rather than the mandatory courses in senior secondary education. Additionally, the lack of teacher interviews in the case of China means that it is not possible to comprehensively assess how the ambitions layed out in curriculum documents and textbooks is actually put into action at the grassroots level. The culturally, politically and historically very different kinds of societies aim—at least when examined from the perspective of teaching the concept of history politics—at the cultivation of thinking skills rather than at the preservation of societal cohesion. However, different cultures, countries and educational regimes do not emphasize these qualificative functions of education equally strongly, and the temporal comparisons do not lend support to the notion about the global convergence of educational policy.Tutkimuksessa vertaillaan kolmen maan – Suomen, Yhdysvaltojen sekä Kiinan – lukiotasoista historianopetusta kriittisten ajattelutaitojen opettamisen perspektiivistä. Kriittiset historian ajattelutaidot ovat erittäin laaja ja monitulkintainen kokonaisuus erilaisia tietoja ja taitoja. Tutkimuksen fokus on näin ollen rajattu niin kutsutun historiapolitiikan käsitteen opettamiseen. Historiapolitiikka voidaan määritellä toiminnaksi, jossa historian tapahtumia tarkoitushakuisesti ”käännetään ja väännetään” – siis väärintulkitaan – poliittisten intressien edistämiseksi. Kuvatun kaltaisen toiminnan ymmärtäminen voidaan nähdä keskeisenä osana laajempaa historian kriittisten ajattelutaitojen työkalupakkia. Nimenomaisesti työ hakee selvyyttä siihen, miten ja miksi koulutuksessa tuodaan esiin idea historian käytön mahdollisuudesta edellä kuvattuun tapaan. Näitä koulutuspoliitisia valintoja tutkiessaan työ lähtee teoreettisesti liikkeelle niin kutsutusta poliittisesta opetussuunnitelmateoriasta joka esittää, että opetussuunnitelma paitsi heijastelee, mutta myös rakentaa yhteiskunnallisia arvoja sekä tavoitteita. Näiden tavoitteiden osalta työni keskittyy erityisesti koulutuksen nk. kvalifikaatio- ja integraatiotehtävien väliseen ristiriitaan, joka on perinteisesti nähty koulutussosiologian keskeisimpänä kysymyksenä. Toisin sanoen työ hakee vastauksia kysymykseen, pyrkiikö tapa, jolla historiapolitiikan käsitettä opetetaan, tarjoamaan oppilaille erilaisia tietoja ja taitoja pärjätä elämässä (kvalifikaatiot), vai onko valitun lähestymistavan ensisijainen tarkoitus edistää yhteiskunnallista koheesiota (integraatio). Tätä problematiikkaa lähestytään opetussuunnitelman eri tasoilla. Maantieteellis-kulttuurillisen ja opetusjärjestelmäkohtaisen vertailun ohella työ tarkastelee myös koulutuspolitiikan ajallisia muutoksia tarkastellessaan kysymystä siitä, onko koulutuspolitiikan tavoitteissa havaittavissa ajan myötä tapahtunutta globaalia yhdenmukaistumista – konvergenssia. Analyysiaineistona työssä on käytetty opetussuunnitelmadokumentteja ja oppikirjoja, sekä Suomen ja Yhdysvaltojen tapauksessa lisäksi myös opettajahaastatteluita. Ajallinen vertailu on toteutettu 1980- sekä 2010-lukujen puolivälien oppikirjoja vertailemalla. Aineistoa on analysoitu laadullisen sisällönanalyysin keinoin, abduktiivisella tutkimusotteella. Tutkimuksesta käy ilmi, miten historiapolitiikan käsitettä voidaan opettaa hyvin erilaisilla tavoilla. Selviä jakolinjoja on nähtävissä yhtäältä siinä, puhutaanko opetuksessa selvästi historiapoliittisesta toiminnasta vaiko ympäripyöreästi ajatuksista, käsitteistä ja toiminnasta, joiden yhteys nimenomaisesti historiapoliittiseen toimintaan ei ole täysin selvä. Toisaalta tutkimusmateriaalin valossa on havaittavissa selviä eroja myös siinä, opetetaanko käsitettä teoreettisella tai abstraktilla tasolla, vai vaihtoehtoisesti konkreettisten esimerkkien kautta. Lisäksi eroja on havaittavissa siinä, millaisia konkreettisia esimerkkejä historiapolitiikan käytöstä nostetaan esiin. Näiden eri lähestymistapojen välisten painotusten voidaan tulkita tähtäävän joko koulutuksen kvalifikaatio- tai integrointitehtävien edistämiseen. Suomessa historiapolitiikan käsitettä on opetettu lukioissa jo 1980-luvun puolivälissä melko monipuolisesti, joskin 2010-luvulle tultaessa aiheen käsittely on monipuolistunut entisestään. Huomattavaa on kuitenkin se, että lähempänä omaa aikaamme historiapolitiikan käsitettä opetetaan erityisesti osana pakollisia historian opintoja, kun taasen valinnaisten kurssien yhteydessä käsitteen opetus painuu selvästi enemmän taka-alalle. Yhdysvaltojen tapauksessa huomionarvoista puolestaan on se, että historiapolitiikkaa on käsitelty ja käsitellään opetuksessa jonkin verran, mutta mitään ajallista muutosta ei aineistossa ole havaittavissa. Lisäksi tutkimuksessa selvisi, että vaikka oppilaille on nykyään tarjolla vaativampia Advanced Placement -kursseja, ei niiden opetustarjonta pureudu historiapolitiikan käsitteen opettamisessa perusmuotoisia kursseja syvemmälle. Suomen ja Yhdysvaltojen tapauksessa opettajahaastattelut muodostavat kuitenkin sen kuvan, että ainakin niiltä osin, mitä tulee historiapolitiikan käsitteen opettamiseen, on opettajilla aiheessa varsin mittavasti liikkumavaraa, jota he myös käyttävät. Näin ollen ruohonjuuritasolla käytännön opetus voi edistää hyvin erilaisia tavoitteita opettajan omista preferensseistä riippuen. Kiinassa ei historiapolitiikan käsitettä aiemmin juuri opetettu, ja voidaankin nähdä, että koulutuksen tehtävänä oli ennemminkin yhteiskunnallisen koheesion vaalinta kuin yksilön ajattelutaitojen kultivointi. 2010-luvulle tultaessa kiinalainen opetusjärjestelmäkin on kuitenkin selvästi ottanut askeleita historian ajattelutaitoja korostavampaan suuntaan. Huomattavaa on kuitenkin se, että historiapolitiikan opetus nyky-Kiinassa painottuu nimenomaisesti osaksi valinnaisten kurssien sisältöä. Lisäksi Kiinan tapauksessa ei opettajahaastattelujen puutteen vuoksi ole mahdollista tehdä erityisen pitkälle meneviä johtopäätöksiä siltä osin, miten opetussuunnitelmien ja oppikirjojen sisältö sekä tavoitteet realisoituvat ruohonjuuritason opetuksessa. Yleisemmällä tasolla voidaan kuitenkin sanoa, että vertailun alla olevat, kulttuurillisesti, poliittisesti ja historiallisesti hyvin erilaiset yhteiskunnat pyrkivät ainakin historiapolitiikan käsitteen opetuksen perspektiivistä tarkasteltuna historianopetuksessa ennemminkin ajattelutaitojen kultivointiin kuin yhteiskunnallisen koheesion vaalimiseen. Eri maailmankolkissa ei kuitenkaan missään nimessä anneta edellä mainitulle koulutuksen kvalifikaatiotehtäville samoissa määrin painoarvoa, eikä ajallinen vertailu anna tukea teorioille koulutuspolitiikan globaalista konvergenssista

Transform-based methods for stereo matching and dense depth estimation

Stereo matching is a passive method for estimating depth of a scene from two views from different perspectives. Parallax creates a disparity between the relative positions of scene points on the imaging planes depending on the distance of the points. The principle of stereo matching is to extract those disparities by finding the corresponding points between the images. Although stereo matching has been extensively studied, the existing solutions are still compromises between computational load and achieved quality. In this thesis, advances are made on both fronts. At the core of the matching algorithm is the similarity measure, which directly determines how well correspondences are found and how reliable they are. Traditionally, matching has been done in spatial domain using pixel differences such as sum of absolute differences (SAD). In this thesis, a similarity measure is proposed for use in stereo matching that is based on analysis of coefficient signs of transform domain representations. While originally formulated as an extension of Fourier domain phase-only correlation to the discrete cosine transform (DCT), here the method is developed further by applying it to a number of real-valued abstract harmonic transforms, including type II DCT, integer DCT, Walsh-Hadamard and a modified version of Haar. Results are presented showing that the method in general provides better quality than the reference algorithm SAD, while Haar is shown to be the best performing transform, both in terms of quality and speed. Furthermore, the approach is adapted to a mobile platform by replacing the transform with an even simpler one, the census transform. An efficient implementation is developed, which utilizes the single instruction, multiple data (SIMD) enabled NEON core included in many ARM processors currently dominating the mobile market. Special attention is paid to the alternate methods of performing a population count on a variable, which is a key component in computing the similarities. Subjective testing along with numerical measurements set the census-based matching slightly under the reference point SAD in terms of quality, but speed-wise SAD is clearly out-performed by the census approach, thus establishing it as a competitive candidate for stereo matching in mobile applications

Optimal Measurement Scheduling in LQG Systems

Optimisäädössä määritetään säätöpolitiikka matemaattisesti täyttämään tietty tavoitekriteeri. Stokastisen prosessin tilaa mitataan säätöä varten. Jos mittausvaihtoehtoja on useampi on optimaalinen mittaus määritettävä säädön parhaan suorituskyvyn takaamiseksi. Tässä työssä pyritään valitsemaan optimaalinen mittaus joka hetkellä diskreetistä joukosta mittausvaihtoehtoja diskreettiaikaisessa lineaari-kvadraatti-gaussisessa järjestelmässä. Työn ensimmäisessä osassa esitetään Kalman suodatus, jonka avulla tietoa prosessin tilasta voidaan rekursiivisesti päivittää. Kalman suodatus johdetaan esittämällä sen perustana toimivat ehdollinen todennäköisyys ja Bayesin sääntö. Tietoa prosessin tilasta kuvataan Gaussin jakauman avulla. Työn toisessa osiossa johdetaan säätöpolitiikka prosessin tilalle ensin tilanteessa, jossa prosessin tila tiedetään ilman epävarmuutta. Samaa ongelmaa tarkastellaan tilanteessa, jossa prosessin tilasta saadaan tietoa epävarmojen mittausten avulla. Tämän johdon avulla saadaan määritettyä tavoitefunktio mittauksen valinnalle. Tilan ja mittauksen säätöä voidaan tässä tapauksessa tarkastella erikseen. Työssä esitetään kaksi optimointimenetelmää mittauksen valinnalle. Ensimmäisessä valitaan lyhyt ennustusaika, jonka kaikkia mahdollisia mittaussekvenssejä tarkastelemalla valitaan optimaalinen. Tästä sekvenssistä ensimmäinen mittaus suoritetaan ja seuraavalla ajanhetkellä optimointi toistetaan. Tämän menetelmän avulla saadaan lokaalisti optimaalinen mittaus valittua prosessin ajon aikana. Vaihtoehtoisesti mittausongelman optimaalinen arvofunktio määritetään koko mittausongelman avaruudessa. Arvofunktio konvergoituu tässä tapauksessa äärettömän horisontin tapaukseen. Tämän menetelmän avulla saadaan globaali mittauspolitiikka määritettyä ennen ajoa. Menetelmien toimivuus varmistetaan tarkastelemalla numeerisesti kolmea erilaista järjestelmää. /Kir1

Recent advances in monocular model-based tracking: a systematic literature review

In this paper, we review the advances of monocular model-based tracking for last ten years period until 2014. In 2005, Lepetit, et. al, [19] reviewed the status of monocular model based rigid body tracking. Since then, direct 3D tracking has become quite popular research area, but monocular model-based tracking should still not be forgotten. We mainly focus on tracking, which could be applied to aug- mented reality, but also some other applications are covered. Given the wide subject area this paper tries to give a broad view on the research that has been conducted, giving the reader an introduction to the different disciplines that are tightly related to model-based tracking. The work has been conducted by searching through well known academic search databases in a systematic manner, and by selecting certain publications for closer examination. We analyze the results by dividing the found papers into different categories by their way of implementation. The issues which have not yet been solved are discussed. We also discuss on emerging model-based methods such as fusing different types of features and region-based pose estimation which could show the way for future research in this subject.Siirretty Doriast

Model-Based Tracking Initialization in Ship Building Environment

An augmented reality (AR) device must know observer’s location and orientation, i.e. observer’s pose, to be able to correctly register the virtual content to observer’s view. One possible way to determine and continuously follow-up the pose is model-based visual tracking. It supposes that a 3D model of the surroundings is known and that there is a video camera that is fixed to the device. The pose is tracked by comparing the video camera image to the model. Each new pose estimate is usually based on the previous estimate. However, the first estimate must be found out without a prior estimate, i.e. the tracking must be initialized, which in practice means that some model features must be identified from the image and matched to model features. This is known in literature as model-to-image registration problem or simultaneous pose and correspondence problem. This report reviews visual tracking initialization methods that are suitable for visual tracking in ship building environment when the ship CAD model is available. The environment is complex, which makes the initialization non-trivial. The report has been done as part of MARIN project.Siirretty Doriast

Optimizing high-dimensional stochastic forestry via reinforcement learning

In proceeding beyond the generic optimal rotation model, forest economic research has applied various specifications that aim to circumvent the problems of high dimensional-ity. We specify an age-and size-structured mixed-species optimal harvesting model with binary variables for harvest timing, stochastic stand growth, and stochastic prices. Rein-forcement learning allows solving this high-dimensional model without simplifications. In addition to presenting new features in reservation price schedules and effects of stochas-ticity, our setup allows evaluating the simplifications in the existing research. We find that one-or two-dimensional models lose a high fraction of attainable economic output while the commonly applied size-structured matrix model overestimates economic profitability, yields deviations in harvest timing, including optimal rotation, and dilutes the effects of stochasticity. Reinforcement learning is found to be an efficient and promising method for detailed age-and size-structured optimization models in resource economics. (c) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )Peer reviewe

Plant-wide interoperability and decoupled, data-driven process control with message bus communication

Conventional industrial communication systems suffer from rigidness, inflexibility and lack of scalability. The environment is heterogeneous as the systems exchange data with a variety communication protocols, some of which are proprietary. This makes it laborious and expensive to reconfigure or upgrade the systems. As the solution, this article proposes a message-bus-based communication architecture to enable information exchange between systems regardless of their geographical location and position within the functional hierarchy of the plant. The architecture not only enables communication to cross the conventional physical borders but also provides scalability to growing data volumes and network sizes. As proofs of concept, the article presents a prototype in three environments: a copper smelter, a steel plant and a distillation column. The results suggest that the message-bus-based approach has potential to renew industrial communications, a core part of the fourth industrial revolution.H2020, 723661, COCO

Towards Sustainable Forest Management Strategies with MOEAs

Sustainable forest management is a crucial element in combating climate change, plastic pollution, and other unsolved challenges of the 21st century. Forests not only produce wood - a renewable resource that is increasingly replacing fossil-based materials - but also preserve biodiversity and store massive amounts of carbon. Thus, a truly optimal forest policy has to balance profit-oriented logging with ecological and societal interests, and should thus be solved as a multi-objective optimization problem. Economic forest research, however, has largely focused on profit maximization. Recent publications still scalarize the problem a priori by assigning weights to objectives. In this paper, we formulate a multi-objective forest management problem where profit, carbon storage, and biodiversity are maximized. We obtain Pareto-efficient forest management strategies by utilizing three state-of-the-art Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithms (MOEAs), and by incorporating domain-specific knowledge through customized evolutionary operators. An analysis of Pareto-efficient strategies and their harvesting schedules in the design space clearly shows the benefits of the proposed approach. Unlike many EMO application studies, we demonstrate how a systematic post-optimality trade-off analysis can be applied to choose a single preferred solution. Our pioneering work on sustainable forest management explores an entirely new application area for MOEAs with great societal impact.Peer reviewe

Cost-effectiveness calculators for health, well-being and safety promotion: a systematic review

BackgroundThe health, well-being and safety of the general population are important goals for society, but forecasting outcomes and weighing up the costs and benefits of effective promotional programmes is challenging. This study aimed to identify and describe the cost-effectiveness calculators that analyze interventions that promote health, well-being and safety.MethodsOur systematic review used the CINAHL, PsycINFO, SocINDEX, EconLit, PubMed and Scopus databases to identify peer-reviewed studies published in English between January 2010 and April 2020. The data were analyzed with narrative synthesis.ResultsThe searches identified 6880 papers and nine met our eligibility and quality criteria. All nine calculators focussed on interventions that promoted health and well-being, but no safety promotion tools were identified. Five calculators were targeted at group-level initiatives, two at regional levels and two at national levels. The calculators combined different data sources, in addition to data inputted by users. This included empirical research and previous literature. The calculators created baseline estimates and assessed the cost-effectiveness of the interventions before or after they were implemented. The calculators were heterogeneous in terms of outcomes, the interventions they evaluated and the data and methods used.ConclusionThis review identified nine calculators that assessed the cost-effectiveness of health and well-being interventions and supported decision-making and resource allocations at local, regional and national levels, but none focussed on safety. Producing calculators that work accurately in different contexts might be challenging. Further research should identify how to assess sustainable evaluation of health, well-being and safety strategies.</p