DOES SCAFFOLDED BLOGGING PROMOTE PRESERVICE TEACHER REFLECTION? EXAMINING THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN LEARNING TOOL AND SCAFFOLDING IN A BLENDED LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

Thesis (PhD) - Indiana University, School of Education, 2006This study examined the effect of two variables, type of online tool and type of hard scaffolding, on the levels of reflection by preservice teachers. The online tools were a discussion forum and personal weblogs (blogs). The scaffolding types were minimal and enhanced. The participants were forty-eight preservice teachers and their instructor from a course on integrating technology into K-12 environments. The preservice teachers reflected online after watching an online video case study and after planning a lesson that integrated technology. Multiple sources of data were collected and analyzed in order to triangulate findings: the reflective online discourse, two questionnaires, interviews with preservice teachers and the instructor, and observations of classroom and online behavior. Levels of reflection were measured by using a reflection rubric by Hawkes and Romiszowski (2001) and a reflection scale by Crotty and Allyn (2001). The results revealed that enhanced scaffolding had a statistically significant effect on promoting higher levels of reflection over minimal scaffolding. This was because the guiding questions in the enhanced scaffold provided structure and focus as well as an expert practitioner's perspective on technology integration. The type of online tool did not have a statistically significant effect on promoting higher levels of reflection. Results suggest that this was due to the different personal preferences of the preservice teachers and their perceived affordances of the online tools. This study suggests that the nature of scaffolding has a more critical role in promoting reflection than the technical affordances of the online tool. In addition, as a result of the computer-mediated discourse analysis, this study suggests a modified method of measuring reflection

Google Adwords: Trademark Infringer or Trade Liberalizer

Google is the world\u27s most preferred search engine, with an audience share of eighty percent of Internet users worldwide. With so many people browsing its search results, Google is a natural advertising vehicle, and it has exploited this quality to become one of the most profitable Internet companies in U.S. history. However, success has not come without controversy, and one of the most significant concerns Google AdWords, which displays keyword-triggered ads and sponsored links alongside non-sponsored search results. AdWords has come under attack in the United States and in the European Union ( EU ) for its role in trademark infringement on the Internet, forcing courts to confront the clash of pre-Internet trademark infringement doctrines with new technology. Courts wish to be sensitive to the claims of trademark holders, but are reluctant to harm the essential functions of Google, which has become integral to Internet structure and capability. In addition, they have struggled with trademark protection\u27s traditional foundation in a world of physical boundaries when the Internet has rendered such barriers largely meaningless.[...] Part I of this Note outlines how Google AdWords uses keywords to generate online advertisements, explains where trademarked terms can enter this process, and how Google\u27s legal policy approaches the use of such terms. Part II summarizes the current state of U.S. trademark law and policy with respect to keyword-triggered online ad programs, and Part III summarizes the same with respect to the EU. Part IV argues that the United States and the EU should coordinate international efforts to legitimize through legislation certain uses of trademarked terms by search engines in order to avoid inefficient balkanization of the Internet, and to protect a search engine\u27s capability to encourage trade liberalization

Google Adwords: Trademark Infringer or Trade Liberalizer

Google is the world\u27s most preferred search engine, with an audience share of eighty percent of Internet users worldwide. With so many people browsing its search results, Google is a natural advertising vehicle, and it has exploited this quality to become one of the most profitable Internet companies in U.S. history. However, success has not come without controversy, and one of the most significant concerns Google AdWords, which displays keyword-triggered ads and sponsored links alongside non-sponsored search results. AdWords has come under attack in the United States and in the European Union ( EU ) for its role in trademark infringement on the Internet, forcing courts to confront the clash of pre-Internet trademark infringement doctrines with new technology. Courts wish to be sensitive to the claims of trademark holders, but are reluctant to harm the essential functions of Google, which has become integral to Internet structure and capability. In addition, they have struggled with trademark protection\u27s traditional foundation in a world of physical boundaries when the Internet has rendered such barriers largely meaningless.[...] Part I of this Note outlines how Google AdWords uses keywords to generate online advertisements, explains where trademarked terms can enter this process, and how Google\u27s legal policy approaches the use of such terms. Part II summarizes the current state of U.S. trademark law and policy with respect to keyword-triggered online ad programs, and Part III summarizes the same with respect to the EU. Part IV argues that the United States and the EU should coordinate international efforts to legitimize through legislation certain uses of trademarked terms by search engines in order to avoid inefficient balkanization of the Internet, and to protect a search engine\u27s capability to encourage trade liberalization

A note on the solution of regular PMDs

A new resolvent decomposition of a regular polynomial matrix is derived which is a refinement of the results given by Gohberg et al (1982) and Vardulakis (1991). Based on this, a complete solution of the regular Polynomial Matrix Descriptions (PMDs) is presented that reflects precisely the zero input response and the zero state response, and takes into account the impulsive properties of the system. An algorithm for the computation of this resolvent decomposition is provided

Spectral structures of the generalized companion form and applications

In this note, we investigate the relationship between the finite and infinite frequency structure of a regular polynomial matrix and that of a particular linearization, called the generalised companion matrix. A special resolvent decomposition of the regular polynomial matrix is proposed which is based on the Weierstrass canonical form of this generalised companion matrix and the solution of a regular PMD is thus formulated from this resolvent decomposition. Both the initial conditions of the pseudo state and the input are considered

Autonomous Ground Photographer

Dr. Penczykowski, a biology professor at Washington University in St. Louis, researches the effects of powdery mildew on three plant species. Her lab currently collects data in the field by manually counting the number of infected plants with the assistance of a simple PVC grid. Therefore, this projects aims to automate this process by capturing images that can then be processed in her lab after

Realizations of behavior for generalized chain-scattering representations

This paper introduces a notion of realization of behavior which is shown to be a generalization of the classical concept of a realization of transfer function. By using this approach, the input-output structures of the generalized chain-scattering representations (GCSRs) and the dual generalized chain-scattering representations (DGCSRs) are investigated in a behavioral theory context. Subsequently the corresponding autoregressivemoving- average (ARMA) representations are proposed and are proved to be realizations of behavior for any GCSR. Realization of behavior is particularly suitable for situations in which the coefficients are symbolic rather than numerical due to the fact that no numerical computation is involved in this approach

Spotsize Effects on Guinea Pig Skin Following Pulsed Irradiation

Laser irradiation parameters such as wavelength, irradiance (W/cm2), and pulse duration have been clearly shown to influence the extent to which tissue is damaged. The careful choice of these parameters can result in confining laser injury to specific targets in tissue. Spotsize, a parameter not commonly appreciated in the application of lasers to medicine and surgery, has been shown, in this study, to contribute to the ultimate outcome of laser effects in tissue. A series of histological events occurring in the skin are demonstrated to be directly related to the effects of spotsize on tissue at a fixed exposure time and wavelength. Many of these changes could contribute to unwanted adverse effects, such as scarring, which occur following certain laser therapies

SourceAmerica Design Challenge Accessible Kitting and Packaging Station

This document entails our research, design, proposed development, and testing process for solving the 2020 SourceAmerica collegiate design challenge. Our team, “Just Kitting”, is composed of four Mechanical Engineering students from California Polytechnic San Luis Obispo. The design challenge requires us to create a device that will help improve the quality of life and productivity of people with disabilities working in the kitting and packaging industry. This document includes our background research and information received from various interviews with our sponsor and others who have experience working with disabilities. Using this information, we refined our problem statement to focus on individuals with disabilities that affect their fine motor skills because many procedures in the kitting and packaging industry are heavily reliant on the dexterity of the user. We tailored our ideation process, decision matrices, concept prototypes, and design justification around this target demographic. This process resulted in the final design of our workstation which provides an innovate and efficient way to bag and package five types of items. In addition, this design requires simple push-pull motions to reduce the dexterity required to create a kit. We have outlined our manufacturing and design verification plans to proceed with this design, along with a breakdown of our projected costs to implement a functional prototype

Molecular Cloning and Characterization of the Human ErbB4 Gene: Identification of Novel Splice Isoforms in the Developing and Adult Brain

ErbB4 is a growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase essential for neurodevelopment. Genetic variation in ErbB4 is associated with schizophrenia and risk-associated polymorphisms predict overexpression of ErbB4 CYT-1 isoforms in the brain in the disorder. The molecular mechanism of association is unclear because the polymorphisms flank exon 3 of the gene and reside 700 kb distal to the CYT-1 defining exon. We hypothesized that the polymorphisms are indirectly associated with ErbB4 CYT-1 via splicing of exon 3 on the CYT-1 background. We report via cloning and sequencing of adult and fetal human brain cDNA libraries the identification of novel splice isoforms of ErbB4, whereby exon 3 is skipped (del.3). ErbB4 del.3 transcripts exist as CYT-2 isoforms and are predicted to produce truncated proteins. Furthermore, our data refine the structure of the human ErbB4 gene, clarify that juxtamembrane (JM) splice variants of ErbB4, JM-a and JM-b respectively, are characterized by the replacement of a 75 nucleotide (nt) sequence with a 45-nt insertion, and demonstrate that there are four alternative exons in the gene. Our analyses reveal that novel splice variants of ErbB4 exist in the developing and adult human brain and, given the failure to identify ErbB4 del.3 CYT-1 transcripts, suggest that the association of risk polymorphisms in the ErbB4 gene with CYT-1 transcript levels is not mediated via an exon 3 splicing event