QuikScan Formatting as a Means to Improve Text Recall

Purpose – QuikScan is an innovative text format that employs three prominent signaling devices – summaries, headings, and access cues – to make the reading of medium-to-long texts more productive. The experiments reported in this paper aim to examine the claim that QuikScan contributes to text recall. Design/methodology/approach – In two consecutive experiments a QuikScanned text (experimental condition) was compared to a non-QuickScanned text (control condition). In Experiment one, 41 university students read the text and then answered ten open recall questions. In Experiment two, 58 university students read the text and then wrote a summary and answered four recall questions. Findings – In Experiment one, a statistically significant overall effect on text recall favoring QuikScan was found. Detailed analyses revealed that QuikScan mainly affected the readers' responses to higher-order questions (d = 1.24). Experiment two showed that QuikScan led to significantly higher recall scores for the summaries. Just as in the first experiment, a strong effect on the higher-order questions was found (d = 1.27)

Effects of practice with videos for software training

This study investigated the contribution of practice in learning from Demonstration-Based Training (DBT) videos for software training. An experiment with three conditions is reported: practice followed by video (practice-video), video followed by practice (videopractice), and video only. The combination of practice and video was expected to enhance learning more than the video only condition. Also, practice-after was expected to be more effective than practice-before. The 82 participants, elementary students (mean age 11.2), achieved significant learning gains, reaching moderate to high levels of success on the immediate and delayed post-tests, and the transfer test. No practice effect was found. Also, there was no difference in test performance between practice conditions. The discussion advances several options for enhancing the effectiveness of the DBT-videos

Progression in Multiple Representations:Supporting students' learning with multiple representations in a dynamic simulation-based learning environment

Relating multiple representations and translating between them is important to acquire deeper knowledge about a domain. To relate representations, learners have to mentally search for similarities and differences. To translate between representations, learners need to interpret the effects that changes in one representation have on corresponding representations. The question is how presenting representations may improve or hinder the processes of relation and translation. In this study we examined the effect of sequencing dynamic representations on learning outcomes. Two versions of the same simulation-based learning environment, that of the physics topic of moments, were compared: a learning environment providing the representations step-by-step (experimental condition) and a learning environment providing All representations at once (control condition). The subjects were 120 students from secondary vocational education (aged 15 to 21). Overall, we found the subjects learned from working in the learning environment; the post-test scores on the domain and understanding items were significantly better than the pre-test scores. This was true for both the subjects with and without prior knowledge on the domain. Moreover, the subjects with prior knowledge scored significantly better on both the pre-test and the post-test compared to the subjects without prior knowledge. Despite our expectations, no differences were found between the two experimental conditions. The subjects learned equally well regardless of the way in which the representations were presented. Also, the extent to which the subjects' experienced complexity of both the topic and the learning environment did not differ between the experimental conditions

Learning with Multiple Representations:Supporting students’ translation between representations in a simulation-based learning environment

This paper reports a study which examined support the translation between multiple representations in simulation-based learning. We compared three versions of the same simulation-based learning environment: a learning environment with separated representations (control condition), a learning environment with dynamically linked representations, and a learning environment with integrated representations. Ninety learners from four middle vocational training schools (aged 16 to 18) took a pretest on an applied physics domain called ‘moment’, worked with a simulation-based learning environment on the domain, and took a posttest. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of the three experimental conditions. Subjects received an electronic questionnaire five times while working with the learning environment. This questionnaire asked subjects to score their experienced difficulty. The results of this study did not lead to significant results between conditions and thus does not lead to insights into the benefits or drawbacks of a particular measure to support translation. Insights into how the design of the learning environments may have influenced these results as well as research designs are discussed. Implications for future research will also be addressed

SWI-Prolog and the Web

Where Prolog is commonly seen as a component in a Web application that is either embedded or communicates using a proprietary protocol, we propose an architecture where Prolog communicates to other components in a Web application using the standard HTTP protocol. By avoiding embedding in external Web servers development and deployment become much easier. To support this architecture, in addition to the transfer protocol, we must also support parsing, representing and generating the key Web document types such as HTML, XML and RDF. This paper motivates the design decisions in the libraries and extensions to Prolog for handling Web documents and protocols. The design has been guided by the requirement to handle large documents efficiently. The described libraries support a wide range of Web applications ranging from HTML and XML documents to Semantic Web RDF processing. To appear in Theory and Practice of Logic Programming (TPLP)Comment: 31 pages, 24 figures and 2 tables. To appear in Theory and Practice of Logic Programming (TPLP

Biochemical composition of salivary stones in relation to stone- and patient-related factors

Salivary stones are calcified structures most often found in the main duct of the submandibular or parotid salivary gland. They contain of a core surrounded by laminated layers of organic and inorganic material. Submandibular and parotid sialoliths (n=155) were collected at the department of Oral and Maxillofacial surgery of a general hospital between February 1982 and September 2012. The weight of the sialoliths was determined and the consistency was subjectively classified. Subsequently, the biochemical composition of the stones was determined by wet chemical methods or FT-IR spectrometry. Age and gender of the patients were retrieved from their medical records. Data were statistically analyzed using Fisher?s exact tests. Sialoliths are mainly composed of inorganic material. Carbonate apatite was identified in 99% of the stones, phosphate in 88%, calcium in 87%, magnesium in 68%, struvite in 44%, oxalate in 38% and carbonate in 35%. Solid salivary stones contain more frequently struvite than stones with a soft consistency (p=0.05). Larger stones (>100mg) contain more frequently carbonate (p=0.05). Stones from older patients (?38years) showed an almost significant trend towards more frequent presence of phosphate (p=0.083). The biochemical composition of submandibular and parotid sialoliths is related to stone-related factors, probably to age but not to the gender of the patient

Traumatic lingual ulceration in a newborn: Riga-Fede disease

Riga Fede disease is a reactive mucosal disease as a result of repetitive trauma of the tongue by the anterior primary teeth during forward and backward movement. Although the aspect of the lesion might be impressive, its nature is relatively benign. The history and clinical features are most often so typical that there is seldom a need for addititonal histopathological examination. Riga Fede disease can most often be treated with conservative measures only. Beside the presentation of a six-month-old boy with Riga Fede disease, the literature has been reviewed as well. From this review it can be concluded that Riga Fede disease is almost exclusively restricted to the tongue, occurs soon after birth when associated with (neo)natal teeth, has a male predilection, and is in one quarter of the cases associated with neurologic disorders. In the later case, Riga Fede disease develops after the age of 6 months