Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Applications of selected cooperative learning techniques to group piano instruction.

The educational concept of cooperative learning is not a new one. The instructional model has existed for centuries and has been thoroughly researched and developed as reflected in the professional literature. Yet this vast body of research has been mostly limited to the "academic disciplines, " while the implications of these methodologies have been largely ignored in the area of music education and, more specifically, piano teaching. The author contends that cooperative learning strategies may be effectively employed in group piano instruction as utilized in university group piano programs for music majors, and may potentially produce more solid learning and a more thorough understanding of basic keyboard musicianship concepts and principles. An examination of the history and development of group piano teaching is presented followed by a review of the literature surrounding cooperative learning theory, theorists and techniques. A variety of applications of cooperative learning theory to group piano teaching are detailed, as they relate to the instruction of keyboard skills for university music major courses. A tournament activity based on Robert Slavin's Student Teams-Achievement Divisions and Teams-Games-Tournaments is presented to encourage student practice of technique. Sight Reading Drill Pairs with Eye Check, based on Spencer Kagan's Pairs Check, is used to improve student sight reading skills and to examine eye activity. Based on Spencer Kagan's Think-Pair-Share, Harmonization Think-Pair-Share, is designed to improve student understanding and application of principles involved in harmonizing melodies. Styles Improvisation Investigation is adapted from Shlomo and Yael Sharan's Group Investigation and used to teach various styles of piano playing and improvisation. Designed on David and Roger Johnson's concept known as Cooperative Base Groups, Practice Partnerships are used to motivate student practice and preparation. URI https://hdl.handle. net/11244/1031 Applications of selected cooperative learning techniques to group piano instruction SHAREOK advancing Oklahoma scholarship, research and institutional memory 
The effect of lexical collocation awareness on Iranian EFL learners' writing skill

The purpose of this study was to measure up the impact of lexical collocation awareness on pre-intermediate Iranian language learners' writing proficiency. For the purpose of this study, 50 male and female Iranian EFL learners studying at Ahvaz Islamic Azad University majoring in teaching English as a foreign language were selected through non-random convenient sampling procedure. The results of the proficiency test underlined the homogeneity of the groups. Then they were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. The control group was taught based on conventional methods of writing and the experimental group received treatment based on lexical collocation awareness in writing one paragraph essays. The design of the research was based on pre and post-test method. Pre-test was a lexical collocation test which included 35 items focusing on collocations proposed in McCarthy and O'Dell (2005). Pre-test was administered before the treatment period to ensure the researchers about the groups' homogeneity on lexical knowledge in writing paragraphs. During the treatment period five topics were administered to students to write one paragraph essay for each topic. Having done the treatment, the researchers administered a post-test on lexical collocation consisting of 35 items of multiple-choice, matching, and cloze task dealing with lexical collocations acquired through the treatment. Then, the results of the tests were analyzed through statistical analysis of Independent Samples t-test. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the scores of the participants in the control and experimental groups. In addition, all the one paragraph essays of the study were analyzed through analyzing the components of writing including grammar, vocabulary, fluency, relevance and mechanics based on the checklist extracted from Heaton (1990). The results also showed that there was a significant difference between the mean scores of control and experimental groups in writing these components (p<0.05). Lexical collocation awareness developed the writing components of vocabulary and mechanics rather than grammar, relevance, and fluency in writing one paragraph essays.
Developing Thinking in Statistics

BLOCK 1 Describing with Words and Numbers Comparing with Words and Numbers Interrelating with Words and Numbers Uncertainty BLOCK 2 Describing with Pictures Comparing with Pictures Interrelating with Pictures Picturing Probability BLOCK 3 Describing with ICT Comparing with ICT Interrelating with ICT Probability with ICT BLOCK 4 Models and Modelling Statistical Investigation Teaching and Learning Statistics
Convex Optimization with Random Pursuit

Optimization problems are ubiquitous in science and engineering. In this thesis, we study unconstrained black-box optimization problems that can only be accessed by an oracle that returns the function value at a query point. The theory of convex optimization problems is welldeveloped and such problems are typically solved with gradient-based methods. For non-convex problems, there is no unifying theoretical treatment and one has to rely on, typically gradient-free, search heuristics. Here, we analyze gradient-free optimization algorithms on convex functions. In the first part of this thesis, we study Random Pursuit algorithms. These are iterative search schemes, where each iteration consists of two steps: (i) the generation of a (random) search direction and (ii) performing a step along this direction. We present a general framework to study such algorithms and prove convergence on smooth convex and strongly convex functions. The convergence rates depend on a sufficient decrease condition that measures the quality of the generated steps. This condition is for instance met by schemes that use a line search to generate the steps. For line search algorithms, we extend the convergence analysis to functions that are not necessarily everywhere strongly convex, but only at the optimum. Line search algorithms do not need any problem specific parameterization as input and are invariant under strictly monotone transformations of the objective functions. They thus enjoy identical convergence behavior on a wider function class. We discuss several kinds of random search directions and provide estimates for the expected convergence rates. In the second part, we present three, at first sight seemingly unrelated, optimization algorithms that can be analyzed in the Random Pursuit framework. The examples comprise (i) solving linear systems with Kaczmarz’ method and (ii) Hessian learning with Leventhal and
The Effect of Medium and Gender on Mathematics Achievement among Secondary Level School Students

India is a Multilanguage country and students pursue their education in different language. Medium and gender are the key factors of education. This paper explores the influences that medium and gender may play vital role on the mathematics achievement of students. The data for this survey are collected from 8th to 10th grade students of Guwahati city of Assam, India. It investigates the mathematics achievement of the students divided on basis of medium and gender. Analysis of data indicated that there were no significant differences in mathematics achievement of the students based on medium and gender.
Fully decentralized solutions of supervisory control problems

The paper gives a new characterization of solutions of the decentralized supervisory control problem and presents a special class of "fully decentralized" solutions, so called because the main idea is to avoid communication not only among subsupervisors during run-time but also among agents designing the subsupervisors. The solutions are constructed from optimal centralized ones using a worst-case philosophy. Their basic properties and comparison with the partially observable supervisory control problem are given. If it is known a priori that the fully decentralized solution exists, then the supervisor can be computed partly online. A sufficiency test of the existence of such a solution is provided.
Instantaneous spectral characteristics of postural stability using time-frequency analysis

Postural stability assessment is paramount in understanding control of stability. The center of pressure (COP) metric has shown to be a suitable output measure for time and frequency analysis. However, the COP is also a non-stationary signal. Standard time and frequency analysis methods may not be useful for monitoring the dynamic changes in the COP signal. In this study, a time-frequency method, based on data-adaptive evolutionary spectral estimation, has been applied to monitor the dynamic changes in the COP in a non-stationary environment. Metrics including the instantaneous mean frequency (IMF), instantaneous spectral bandwidth (ISB) and instantaneous average power (IAP) are analyzed to characterize the COP signal in both the anterior-posterior and the medial-lateral planes. IMF and ISB were shown to be exponentially proportional to IAP. The decay factors were calculated in both eyes-open and eyes-closed trials during upright quiet standing.
HOW UNSCHOOLERS CAN HELP TO END TRADITIONAL READING INSTRUCTION

Unschoolers can help end traditional, de-contextualized reading skills instruction, a change which might create other beneficial ripple effects. An unschooling parent and early childhood teacher educator, the author describes how his children learned to read without formal instruction. Next is a description of how prospective and practicing teachers react to this example, to examples of how children learned to read in alternative schools, and to reading research that clearly favors a more natural approach to learning to read. Five ways in which the unschooling model can influence others are described, and three specific suggestions for advocacy by unschoolers are outlined.
Information Behaviors of Nuclear Scientists at Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute

The goal of the study was to analyze the information use behaviors of researchers in the science and technology domain. A survey and interviews were conducted targeting nuclear scientists at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. Study results indicate that the nuclear scientists mainly use the Institute library/information center and Internet portal/search engines during information acquisition. Easy access to information, accuracy, currency and cost are the most critical factors in selecting and obtaining information. The most frequently used database for executing research is the Institute’s electronic library (NUCLIS21) followed by the Citation Index SCOPUS. The results of the study indicate that monographs, reports and journal articles are the most frequently used information sources in all stages of the research process. Contrary to our expectations, the usage of monographs and reports is at the same level as that of journal and proceedings articles. This indicates that it is necessary to provide monographs and reports to researchers through online information sources in addition to journal and conference proceeding articles. Provision of upto-date lists of new monograph publications and reports would also be useful for researchers to scan for information relevant to their research in an effective and timely manner.
Remote sensing of desert surface processes and properties using multi-temporal radar imagery

The utilisation of the European Space Agency (ESA) ERS Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) sensor for monitoring semiarid and arid land surface properties and processes is explored. Adopting a time-series approach, variations in the backscatter coefficient are observed for a range of natural surfaces that are considered characteristic of the Eastern Badia of Jordan. Imagery covering the period March 1995 through to March 1997 are analysed; aided with a knowledge of radar-surface interactions at C-band and field measurements made during three seasons. Soil moisture and texture, surface roughness and vegetation data were collected along with climatic data from an automatic weather station. This data are used to validate an approximation of the integral equation model (IEM) to test the applicability of a theoretical scattering model on desert surfaces. Good correlation's have been found between those backscatters predicted by the IEM and those backscatters derived from imagery. These encouraging results enable a greater understanding of how important environmental variables influence the backscatter coefficient.
Collecting data through focus groups

This 10th article in the Performance Technologist's Toolbox series describes the data collection method of focus groups. Several variations in structure and facilitation techniques are summarized and common misconceptions are explained. Multiple applications of focus groups in performance technology are illustrated with examples. The advantages and disadvantages of using focus groups are then reviewed. The article concludes with guidelines for planning and conducting effective focus groups.
Assessment and Learning in the Virtual World: Tasks, Taxonomies and Teaching for Real

Normal.dotm 0 0 1 201 1151 Future University/ Mirai Daigaku 9 2 1413 12.0 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false Many educational institutions make use of assessment schemes based on an ordered hierarchy of cognitive activity, where the judgments of educators on the learning progress of students are expressed using marks or grades. These have high face-validity because they appear to represent intuitively sound descriptions of learning development. The language found in many such assessment structures and their protocols reflects the hierarchy within a revised Bloom's Taxonomy where, in the cognitive domain, evaluation and synthesis is regarded as superior to analysis or application, which are themselves rewarded above memory or understanding. Virtual worlds provide an opportunity to explore new educational contexts for analyzing and measuring cognitive processes that support learning. The present research used the Second Life virtual world as a medium for remotely located students to communicate in the collaborative construction and programming of robots. Iterative tasks were used to explore several neo-Bloomian cognitive processes and knowledge dimensions. Analysis of 60 hours of video from classroom activity, transcribed data and in-world interaction suggests that the hierarchy of descriptors and associated ratings that are used within assessment schemes based on neo-Bloomian taxonomies may not accurately correspond to the 'higher order' cognitive ability development of students.
Systolic array implementation of multipliers for finite fields GF(2/sup m/)

A parallel-in-parallel-out systolic array and a serial-in-serial-out systolic array are proposed for fast multiplication in finite fields GF(2/sup m/) with the standard basis representation. Both of the architectures possess features of regularity, modularity, concurrency, and unidirectional data flow. As a consequence, they have high throughput rates and are well suited to VLSI implementation with fault-tolerant design. As compared to the related multipliers presented by C.S. Yeh et al. (see IEEE Trans. Comput., vol.C-33, p.357-360, Apr. 1984), the proposed parallel implementation makes it easier to incorporate fault-tolerant design, and the proposed serial implementation requires only one control signal instead of two. >
Who needs 3D when the Universe is flat

An overlooked feature in astronomy education is the need for students to learn to extrapolate three-dimensionality and the challenges that this may involve. Discern- ing critical features in the night sky that are embedded in dimensionality is a long-term learning process. Several articles have addressed the usefulness of three-dimensional (3D) simulations in astronomy education, but they have neither addressed what students discern nor the nature of that discernment. A Web-based questionnaire was designed using links to video clips drawn from a simulation video of travel through our galaxy and beyond. The questionnaire was completed by 137 participants from nine countries across a broad span of astronomy education. The descriptions provided by the participants were analyzed using hermeneutics in combination with a constant comparative approach to formulate six categories of discernment in relation to multidimensionality. These results are used to make the case that the ability to extrapolate three-dimensionality calls for the creation of meaningful motion parallax experiences. C 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 98:412-442, 2014
The study on the relationship among technical indicators and the development of stock index prediction system

The purpose of this research is to study the relationship of changes between the stock indicators and stock index in order to understand how the trend of stock index change is under the complex influence among the stock technical indicators. The proposed methodology, first of all, applies the self-organizing map (SOM) neural network to cluster the similar indicators into groups based on their similarity of moving curve within a certain period of time. To investigate the relationship between the stock index and the technical indicators within any of the groups, the fuzzy neural network (FNN) technique is employed to search for the rules about their relationships. To evaluate the performance of the SOM, the grey relationship analysis was used for the verification of how similar of the indicators which was clustered into a group. According to the results, it is clear that the capability of the SOM in clustering is confirmed. To further improve the predication accuracy, this research selected some key indicators from each of the groups as the inputs of neural network and the results completes a much better prediction accuracy than all of the previous networks.
LOGISTIC REGRESSION MODELS: FEATURE SELECTION FOR P300 DETECTION IMPROVEMENT

Brain computer interfaces are devices that enable people to communicate using their brain activity, being useful for those suffering with neurodegenerative diseases. Many BCI use the P300 evoked response. However, the detection of this potential is very difficult, since it presents low signal-to-noise ratio. This paper studies which time features present in the electroencephalogram can improve the detection rates of this response. For this purpose, logistic regression models were used to assess the significance of the following features for P300 representation: most positive peak, most negative peak, latencies of these peaks, area and RMS value between them. These parameters were evaluated on averages of 600 ms windows that could or not contain the potential. The results showed that positive peak, RMS value and both latencies significantly improve P300 detection rates.
Measuring the effectiveness of word prediction: The advantage of long-term use

This paper provides results regarding keystroke savings and text composition time from a long-term evaluation of a Swedish word prediction program. The evaluation was carried out as a single-case pilot study for one participant with dyslexia and no motor disabilities. During 13 months of training, during which a speech synthesis facility was introduced, his performance was shown to improve both with and without the word prediction program after an initial increase in text composition time. On average, he was able to save 22.7% total keystrokes with word prediction only and 30.5% with word prediction combined with speech synthesis. Text composition time increased upon introduction of the word prediction program by at least 22 %. Over time, however, and with the further
Performance of Fractional-Slot Winding PM Machines due to Un-even Coil Turns and Asymmetric Design of Stator Teeth

PM machines in which slot number and pole number combination differs by one have to be configured with asymmetric winding pattern in order to maximize it back-emf performance. However, this asymmetric winding configuration inherently results an unwanted Unabalanced Magnetic Force (UMF). Investigations of electromagnetic performance of fractional-slot asymmetric winding PM machines using 2-D Finite-Element Analysis are presented. The investigations are mainly driven by the effort of minimizing the UMF. By employing techniques such as non-uniform number of coil turns in every tooth and asymmetric design of stator tooth, the UMF are expected can be minimized. The investigations show that the radial component of UMF has greater effect than the tangential component on the UMF itself. In all proposed techniques, a slight reduction of machine torque performance is inevitable.
Detection and clustering of features in aerial images by neuron network-based algorithm

The paper presents the algorithm for detection and clustering of feature in aerial photographs based on artificial neural networks. The presented approach is not focused on the detection of specific topographic features, but on the combination of general features analysis and their use for clustering and backward projection of clusters to aerial image. The basis of the algorithm is a calculation of the total error of the network and a change of weights of the network to minimize the error. A classic bipolar sigmoid was used for the activation function of the neurons and the basic method of backpropagation was used for learning. To verify that a set of features is able to represent the image content from the user's perspective, the web application was compiled (ASP.NET on the Microsoft .NET platform). The main achievements include the knowledge that man-made objects in aerial images can be successfully identified by detection of shapes and anomalies. It was also found that the appropriate combination of comprehensive features that describe the colors and selected shapes of individual areas can be useful for image analysis.