bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
GEOGRAPHIC VISUALIZATIONS OF THE E-LEARNING USAGE IN ROMANIA
Authors: Bucur Stefanlucian , Moldoveanu Florica
Published: February 2023

We used data gathered on the Integrated Educational Registry (Registrul Educational Integrat - rei.gov.ro), which contains information about students enrolled in the national public and private university programs. The information is aggregated and anonymized to ensure students privacy. The student data is correlated with information about the e-learning courses offered by the universities. The research analyses the availability of two types of e-learning resources: online materials for attendance required courses and stand-alone online courses available to university students. To study the spread of persons that have access to national e-learning materials, the data is plotted using geographic visualizations. The study uses three types of visualizations: heatmaps, comparative heatmaps and choropleth maps. Heatmaps are used to observe areas of high e-learning usage, showing only the locations of students that are enrolled in universities that offer both e-learning courses and attendance required courses. Comparative heatmaps are a new type of geographic visualization that consists of multiple layers of different colored semi-transparent heatmaps. Since the heatmaps are semi-transparent, the areas where they overlap will have the combined color of both. For example, overlapping areas between a yellow heatmap and a blue one will be coloured green. In our study, comparative heatmaps are used to observe the locations of students that can access e-learning courses compared to students that can't, in an attempt to find the differences and intersections between the two distinct datasets. Choropleth maps are used to visualize student locations aggregated by territorial and administrative divisions (counties, cities and towns). The resulting maps will be accessible via an online web platform on the Integrated Educational Registry website.
WEBRTC BASED ELEARNING PLATFORM
Authors: Balan Titus constantin , Stanciu Alexandra , Sandu Florin , Surariu Stefania
Published: February 2023

WebRTC (Web Real-Time-Communications) enable blended learning in universities and support the "virtual universities". In these "cloud universities", equipment vendors can also integrate their "laboratories as a service". The paper presents a Demonstrator platform based on Unify Circuit WebRTC integrated with other web-based applications that are exposing APIs and dedicated to simple browsers on "thin clients". Keywords: WebRTC; eLearning platform; real-time communications; virtual classroom INTRODUCTION The eLearning platforms are starting to compete with traditional learning resource centres and enable the so-called "virtual universities" to offer a big range of specializations. Also, for their certification programs, most vendors offer for training purpose virtual laboratories "as-a-service" (e.g. Cisco, Microsoft, VMware), but most of them are self-paced, so they miss the advantage of real-time communication and interaction with the teacher and other students, compared to the traditional hands-on teacher-led courses and workshops. Most course providers are having their own implementations and methods for deploying personalized laboratory lessons, difficult to integrate with course content from other providers. To solve these challenges, we propose a solution based on WebRTC (Web Real-Time-Communications) suggest a standard method to integrate real-time communications with heterogeneous course resources at web level. The eLearning platforms become easily accessible from the browser without the need of any plug-in or any dedicated client (then, from any "thin client"), having all the communication back-end running in the cloud. Not only the usage of the platform is facile, but having all components web implemented, standardized by W3C (World Wide Web Consortium), allows the integration with a big number of web-based applications that are exposing APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) in order to create complex personalized learning environments as simple web applications. As illustrative examples for integration with WebRTC features we could mention office suites like MS Office 365 or Moodle implementations. Unified communications and mobile office concepts can be extrapolated to the virtual classroom concept with features like voice, video, chat, on-demand ad-hoc assistance, content share, online laboratories and a lot of curricula related features (already part of Moodle). THE DEMONSTRATOR PLATFORM For our implementation demonstrator at DEC - Department of Electronics and Computers, presented in the paper, we have chosen Circuit, the webRTC framework offered by Unify, which offers different Software Development Kits for JavaScript, node.js and RESTful API, and also allows free-of-charge invitations for real-time communication guest users.
COMPUTERISED LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT: LIMITATIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES
Authors: Rasskazova Tatiana , Muzafarova Anna , Daminova Julia , Okhotnikova Anna
Published: February 2023

Over the last several decades advances in technology have permeated almost every aspect of education, foreign language teaching and assessment being no exception. There are a huge number of easily available technological resources, yet language teachers and those involved in designing language tests still need to gain greater familiarity with the potential benefits and challenges associated with the use of digital technology. The paper describes some of the existing digital tools for developing, administering and scoring language tests (Hot Potatoes, Moodle and AST-TEST software complex developed by a team of Russian programmers) and examines their advantages and drawbacks based on Ural Federal University's first-hand experience. The article then discusses the general advantages and limitations of computerised language tests related to their validity, reliability, practicality and impact. The essential features of the two main types of computer-based language tests (linear and adaptive) are examined: the authors advocate the use of adaptive tests exploring their multiple benefits. Special focus is given to some of the commercially-available computer-based adaptive tests of English-language proficiency (Oxford Online Placement Test, Cambridge English Placement Test, English First Standardised English Test, TOEFL IBT, BULATS, Lingua Leo, etc.); their positive and negative sides are critically evaluated. The issue of computer-assisted assessment of productive language skills is also explored, through analysing some of the existing marking software tools and computerised English-language tests that include productive skills components: the authors conclude that the idea of it being possible seems far-fetched at present. Nevertheless, the authors are broadly in favour of computer-assisted language assessment and their overall conclusion is that increased awareness of the existing digital assessment instruments, as well as of the potential opportunities and challenges related to their use would only be beneficial both for teachers and learners.
COGNITIVE LOAD AND SHORT TERM MEMORY EVALUATION BASED ON EEG TECHNIQUES
Authors: Ungureanu Florina , Dumitriu Tiberius , Manta Vasile ion , Cimpanu Corina
Published: February 2023

The performance of learning process (standard system, e-learning or in a virtual environment) is associated with cognitive load and memory working activity. Working memory (or short-term memory) is the ability to hold multiple pieces of information in mind as you solve a problem. An example of short-term memory is a chess master who can explore several possible solutions mentally before choosing the one that will lead to checkmate. This ability to hold information temporarily to complete a task is specifically human. It causes frontal and pre-frontal lobe regions of the brain to become very active. It was proven that the frontal lobe also deals with higher-level cognitive functions like reasoning and judgment. Sometimes called executive function, it is associated with the pre-frontal cortex. The goal of our work is to study different approaches to assess and classify cognitive load and working memory activity along teaching activity. For this purpose, Electroencephalography (EEG) signals were acquired using Emotive EPOC+ neuroheadset and BrainProducts Amplifier with EasyCap helmet. The BrainProducts device offers high accuracy and possibility to investigate signals in Gamma range, but EPOC+ headset allows wireless acquisition that means user’s mobility. The EEG signals were acquired using OpenVibe software from users involved in N-back dual memory tests and some typical reasoning scenarios (math type in our case). The experimental setting involved the use of 16 electrodes among which 6 collected brain signals from frontal and prefrontal brain regions. The raw data were preprocessed to reject the artifacts and filtered to obtain the Delta, Theta, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma waves for further analysis and classification. Particular attention considers the beta wave that reflects active thinking, attention, solving real problems. A low power spectrum denotes relaxation, and it is most evident frontally. Gamma wave denotes mechanism of consciousness, associated with the formation of ideas, language and memory processing, and various types of learning. Alpha wave is also important in our study because it is related to positive and negative emotions, relaxation or responsiveness. For each wave of interest, the power spectrum and signal envelopes were obtained for relaxation state and playing N-back memory and reasoning tests. To classify cognitive load and working memory activity some well-known techniques for regression and classification were used like support vector machine and random forests.
EXPERIENCES IN ONLINE COLLABORATIVE LEARNING WITH AUGMENTED REALITY
Authors: Andone Diana , Frydenberg Mark
Published: February 2023

The popularity of augmented and virtual reality technologies offers students an opportunity to become more familiar with these technologies and their applications in business context. This paper shares results of the TalkTech project, in which first-year introductory technology students from a university in the United States and fourth-year multimedia students from a university in Romania study uses of augmented reality in a variety of industries, create original augmented reality artifacts, and demonstrate their results with international partners. Using Internet-based communication tools to collaborate, students investigate the possibilities that augmented reality enables. The assignment promotes creativity using technology as students develop original artifacts that demonstrate their understanding of augmented reality as applied to a variety of business contexts.
PEDAGOGY ISSUES IN MOOCS. CHALLENGES IN ASSESSMENT IN ONLINE ECONOMICS COURSES
Authors: Lacatus Maria liana , Staiculescu Camelia , Cace Corina
Published: February 2023

Since 2011, when first MOOCs where launched on Internet, the number of online courses and students increased constantly and universities developed their capabilities to offer online education those interested in. In few years, MOOCs became a real phenomenon and faculties had to think how to deal with this phenomenon not only in terms of course design, but also in terms of methods of teaching, and assessment. MOOC pedagogy represents nowadays the most challenging issue of online education together with maintaining students in the program and conducting them to finalize the course. Our paper is presenting different issues of MOOC pedagogy with special focus on assessment as the authors have identified them in some online economics courses. The paper is structured in three parts. The first part is analyzing so called "MOOC phenomenon" and challenges universities have to face in respect with this. Special emphasize is giving to pedagogy of MOOCs and interactions with students in online environment. The second part of the paper is focusing on assessment in MOOCs. Different forms and methods used to assess knowledge and competences students gained participating in an online course are discussed, each method being analyzed both from students' and instructors' perspective. Assessment is seen in relationship with students' certification and recognition that has to be given to different paths and forms of education. The final part of the paper presents some critical issues on assessment authors identified analyzing assessment methods used in some economics online courses and questioning students that had the experience of being enrolled in different MOOCs.
OPEN ONLINE COURSES FOR BUSINESS: THE M-COMMERCE CASE
Authors: Vasiu Radu , Mocofan Muguras , Ternauciuc Andrei , Vert Silviu
Published: February 2023

The project m-commerce focuses on the training of staff and employees of Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in order to facilitate the further development and expansion of m-commerce activities. The m-commerce training course, a holistic approach, includes economic, legal and technical topics that are necessary for the switch to m-commerce. In Romania, the training course was run online using the (MOOCs model) on the UniCampus Romanian platform in the spring of 2016. The online participants were involved in several online activities created for increasing their ability to develop m-commerce applications. Some face-to-face meetings have also been scheduled. A final evaluation has been done in order to award the certificate. The purpose of the paper was to evaluate the developed course from the point of view of: content, delivery methods, students’ perception on the tools implemented on the platform, the communication tools and their effectiveness.
DEVELOPING PRE-SERVICE SCIENCE TEACHERS TPACK CONFIDENCE THROUGH WEB BASED COMICS
Authors: Craciun Dana , Bunoiu Madalin
Published: February 2023

The Technology Pedagogy and Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework used in the pre-service teacher training program requires new approaches to the effective integration of technology in science education, highlighting the intersection of the three main domains previously mentioned (technology, pedagogy and science content knowledge) in the training of future teachers. To develop the pre-service teacher's confidence in using TPACK we have chosen training activities built on web based comics and mind/concept maps as our pedagogical methods. Web based comics consist of fixed sequences of images and text created and viewed through specialized online applications. In science education, comics represent a creative alternative to present and explain a concept, phenomenon and/or a situation. Visual methods such as concept cartoons or concept maps can be used for learning new concepts or systemizing information. We have opted for these methods since communicating scientific concepts and knowledge through visual representations and using web 2.0 applications and gadgets are features which characterize the current generation of students. In this paper we describe the way in which pre-service physics teachers enrolled in the Teacher Training Program at the West University of Timisoara between the years 2014 and 2016, have acquired and evaluated TPACK while participating in the design, management and analysis of learning activities based on visual representations developed for compulsory education. Our study reveals that they consider the integration of web based comics in their teaching activities to be beneficial for presenting, explaining and assessing the concepts and phenomena taught in class, as well as for identifying and correcting misconceptions. Furthermore, our study shows that the future physics teachers have developed TPACK since an efficient integration of comics and mind maps assumes a more profound understanding of the relationship between technology, pedagogical knowledge and the scientific content taught in class.
ARCHITECTURE FOR RESEARCH, TRAINING AND EDUCATION IN CONTROL ENGINEERING
Authors: Hossu Daniela , Fagarasan Ioana , Iliescu Sergiu stelian , Hossu Andrei , Stamatescu Grigore , Stamatescu Iulia , Arghira Nicoleta , Calofir Vasile
Published: February 2023

In control engineering both practical and theoretical components of the education are very important for courses as well as laboratory work. The aspects of design and implementation of control need to be integrated in the whole process of learning and training. The paper is presenting a proposal of an architecture of a platform dedicated for research, training and education in control engineering. The proposed architecture is based on components with important “ready to evolve” features. The open platform for study has as input an image process data with an online updating snapshots of data. The structure is based on a connection to the real process to be study and periodically this connection is providing to the platform a new set of data improving an updating image of the process current used by the platform. This transfer of data is obtained from the process via Internet by the simulation and modeling PC of the proposed platform. A fuzzy black-box modeling technique is used in this purpose. In order to complete the functionality of our propose platform, inside the architecture will be included a PLC for implementing and experimenting different types of control strategies from very simple ones to the most advanced algorithms. Also, the proposed platform includes a SCADA station for providing the most complete education and training experience. The advantage of proposed architecture is to use the real data input from a complex industrial process, to build a model improved in time, but to isolate and protect the process from research, training and education area contained in the built platform.
METHODOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF DESIGNING ONLINE TEACHING ACTIVITIES
Authors: Oproiu Gabriela carmen
Published: February 2023

During the recent years there has been an increase in the use of electronic learning platforms in all educational systems. Learning platforms as virtual learning environments are considered necessary for developing e-learning activities. The Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) is a specific system built around computers, software and Internet access to support teaching, learning and assessment. As a result of the increase in using ICT tools in education it should be noted that more universities integrated VLE in traditional courses in order to satisfy student learning needs and improve teaching activities. In this context, traditional academic institutions reorganize and reconsider their educational offer by purchasing or designing their own e-learning system accessible to students enrolled not only in e-learning courses but also in the daily courses. Particularly, teaching engineering students cannot take place entirely online, thus VLE should be used in a mix with traditional teaching courses (blended learning). As a result these types of learning (e-learning or blended learning) come to enrich teaching activities which takes place in laboratories and workshops. Using this environment the students obtain professional skills and some transversal competences (e.g. teamwork). This kind of learning does not have a well-defined methodology yet. E-learning was considered as a combination of several learning methods facilitated by technology. One might say that e-learning represents a learning strategy which unifies specific teaching methods, online resources used individually or collaboratively, in order to achieve specific operational objectives. This paper aims to present some of the didactical aspects of e-learning. A comparative presentation between the role of the teacher and students in e-learning has been presented. Also, the correlation between educational objectives and different teaching strategies has been made. The paper presents some aspects regarding the design of virtual teaching activities.
ESTABLISH - LINK BETWEEN RESEARCH AND EDUCATION
Authors: Baldea Ana  maria , Garabet Mihaela
Published: February 2023

ESTABLISH - Environmental Sensing To Act for a Better quality of Life: Smart Health is an European project which goal is is to convert environmental (sensor) data into actionable information for users to provide a healthier and safer environment thereby improving the quality of life. Today we can see that the digital health market is growing rapidly due to the opportunities that sensor technology, connectivity and cloud services bring forward. Exposure to increased levels of air pollution and deteriorated indoor climatic conditions has a severe impact on health and well-being. It leads to increased medication intake and a higher number of hospital admissions, especially for vulnerable groups such as elderly, patients with respiratory or cardiovascular problems, and to a lesser extent also employees in office environments and children. The Internet of Things influence is increasing rapidly and the smart adaptive services providing real-time feedback tailored to specific user and application needs will be developed by combining networked sensors and other data sources with adaptive models in a non-predefined manner. ESTABLISH can improve the personal quality-of-life in the buildings and outside through the connecting the information between human and the IoT sensors. This transition from monitoring to managing environmental conditions will lead to a lower health risk and a better quality of life in our highly urbanized society, resulting in reduced health costs. Students from high school will learn how to use special devices like FitBit and environmental sensors in order to improve their physical condition. This paper aims to illustrate how research can be conducted in a high school from Bucharest: searching how the air quality parameters could influence the vital parameters when performing physical exercises.
POKEMON GO, A FINANCIAL STRATEGY OR A MODERN FIGHT AGAINST SEDENTARY LIFESTYLE?
Authors: Ivan Corina
Published: February 2023

Performance sports and sedentary lifestyle are two sides of the same coin. Conditioned by determination and work, achieving performance is much facilitated by the emergence and continuous improvement of electronic devices: simulators, software for the fine and detailed analysis of technical aspects, applications for data management and the prediction of competitive performances, etc. On the other hand, ordinary population not involved in sports activity is more or less sedentary. Paradoxically, the emergence of sedentary lifestyle has become possible just because of technological modernization. The world we live in provides fewer and fewer opportunities to practice physical activity, and the more the daily living is facilitated by modern technology, the more it becomes the source of various physical and mental health problems. At the same time, decreasing the level of physical exercise is, among others, a consequence of the sedentary content of many forms of recreation, because the main entertaining activity is closely related to the computer keyboard or, more recently, that of cell phone. This paper focuses on the latest electronic game, Pokémon Go, which no longer sticks the practitioners in front of the computer, but gets them out of their houses and forces them to travel by walking, running, or even alternately, in full consonance with the message of World Health Organization, which urges us to consume 300 calories daily through movement. Our study tries to determine whether the release of the new game is just a financial boom or, on the contrary, an attempt to avoid sedentary lifestyle, combining the fascination of the game with the need for movement. Conclusions are based on the analysis of responses to a questionnaire addressed to a heterogeneous sample of players.
A SERIOUS GAME FOR IMPROVING ELDERLY MOBILITY BASED ON USER EMOTIONAL STATE
Authors: Mocanu Irina , Schipor Ovidiuandrei
Published: February 2023

Many studies highlight the relationship between emotional state and behaviour. Emotions influence elderly people especially on physical activity and their mobility. It was shown that people with positive emotions perform more physical activity and have less difficulty in walking. Thus we can say that positive emotions can be associated with mobility in case of older people. Some older people may develop fear of moving, leading to reduce the outdoor mobility. An active lifestyle can maintain or improve everyday life, delaying different types of disabilities and mental health disease through elderly people. Also, emotions play a primary role into the structure and experience of Serious Games. The linkage between emotions and actions is extremely relevant in learning processes - learning is viewed as a process of participatory appropriation, where the learner acts and actively participates in doing within specific routinized contexts. The purpose of this paper is to present the development of an application as a serious game that aims to help elderly people to learn how to perform physical exercises in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle in their homes. A personalized program has as main advantage a higher flexibility, as it offers the patient the possibility of adjusting his training schedule according to his preferences and daily activities. In this sense, there is need for a sustainable platform designed specifically for performing physical exercises at home that would promote increasing mobility, especially for elderly people. An efficient method to accomplish this purpose is through the development of a cheap, accessible and easy to use a serious game, based on the motion capture technology. The exercises that need to be performed by the patient are automatically selected according to his profile, medical condition and acquired progress. By using the Kinect motion capture device, our application analyses the user's movements and compares them to those of a trainer character, by taking into account the performance and efficiency parameters. Also, the type of the exercise will be adjusted based on emotions, and the motivation of the user in performing physical exercises will be increased. Emotions are recognised using facial features (Facial Action Coding System) extracted from the user face using Microsft.Kinect and Microsoft.Kinect.Face libraries. Our system has been tested with several users who acquired a certain degree of progress. Therefore, we conclude that the presented solution can be successfully used for stimulating the physical activity and improving the mobility of elderly people, representing a great contribution to the field.
COMPARATIVE STUDY ON STUDENTS' PERCEPTION RELATED TO THE EFFICIENCY OF EEDUCATION
Authors: Bucovetchi Olga maria cristina , Anchugova Olga , Stanciu Radu d.
Published: February 2023

Digital educational platforms are widely used in university environment. Computer-based learning started in the early 90s and became more and more present in the educational environment as the technology developed in this direction. The starting point of the present research was the Association of American Publishers (AAP) report that described the American students’ perception concerning the use of digital learning platforms. The AAP study stated that this type of platforms "equip students with the technical skills and knowledge needed for future courses and jobs" and that "the use of digital platforms can increase student performance by up to a full letter grade". The main objective of the present research is to identify whether the students from the other side of the Atlantic have the same perception related to the efficiency of eEducation. The present paper embedded a comparative approach regarding Romanian and Russian students perception related to learning efficiency while using educational platforms in order to identify the benefits and challenges faced by users. Furthermore, the research identifies the level of attractiveness of such educational instruments within Romanian and Russian educational environment, particularly the degree of interest in accessing the virtual classes. The authors consider that identifying the potential, the advantages and the disadvantages of these platforms, from students point of view, helps the professors organize better the e-content. Research methodology consisted in a survey based on a questionnaire. The respondents of the pilot sample are students of University “Politehnica” of Bucharest and of Ural Federal University, the authors intending to expand the research to other universities.
ARE CURRENT MODELS OF TECHNOLOGY ACCEPTANCE EXPLANATORY ENOUGH? AN ANALYSIS OF POTENTIALLY UNDEREXPLOITED PSYCHOLOGICAL CORRELATES OF TECHNOLOGY ACCEPTANCE.
Authors: Stanciu Ionutdorin
Published: February 2023

Technology becomes increasingly more pervasive in our lives. Therefore, a lot of research interests were invested into uncovering which factors influence technology’s acceptance by the to-be or intended user. Amongst many others, social media has become a vehicle and a medium not only for transmission of information but for the construction of knowledge, and even for learning as well. To date, the most prominent models to date with respect to technology acceptance (TAMs) are Venkatesh and colleagues’ models, based on their Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology, and Lowry and colleagues’ Hedonic-Motivation System Adoption Model. Both models have their most recent versions developed in the 2010s and both incorporate the most relevant theories and models up to them. However, both models are based and justified on structural equation modelling, which can be a very unforgiving technique with respect to the inclusion of constructs of influence, due to the procedures required by the factor analysis for establishing convergent and discriminant validity. As such, many constructs which are relevant and that can serve to increase the explanatory powers of the above mentioned models, are treated superficially or even overlooked in the study of technology acceptance. One particular example of shortcomings of TAMs is their departure from a number of psychological constructs such as the users’ evaluative processes with respect to safety, risk and security, need for connectedness, user self-objectification, users’ perceived similarity with others, etc. Our paper presents a literature review to date and exposes constructs that, while not explicitly included in, or taken into consideration by the above-mentioned models, were revealed as having a good potential in explaining the technology acceptance and even to expand the explanatory power of the currently preeminent models.
RECOVERING OLD ROMANIAN LEMMATA
Authors: Gifu Daniela
Published: February 2023

The present study describes a method of exploring the Romanian old words collected in the written press, from 1829 till 2015, and contains three independent collections of newspapers, developed and structured corresponding to Moldavia, Wallachia, and Transylvania. The purpose of this research is to record the chronology of the Romanian old words identified in the diachronic corpus that we have built in the last three years, called RODICA (ROmanian DIachonic Corpus with Annotations), in order to develop a learning technology based on the language evolution. We have used the citations extracted from the eDTLR (Dictionary Thesaurus of the Romanian Language in electronic form), with an important role for eLearning applications. To recover lemmata of old, obsolete, word forms using eDTLR quotations is a target on which NLP group from Iasi has started to work a few years ago and this work contributes significantly in developing a diachronic POS-tagger. A diachronic POS-tagger is very important in different comparative language analyzes of eLearning. However, there is an important problem, which arises, the fact that the corpus contains only quotations and not a complete sentence. One quotation may be attached both to a title-word different than the word searched for or belonging to the searched for title-word. We consider that the model of language that we used could be useful both for applicative objectives (for enabling effective language similarity analysis using statistical methods) and for scientific objectives (for exploring the nature of related languages).
ROUTE SUGGESTION FOR VISITING MUSEUMS USING SEMANTIC DATA
Authors: Rinciog Octavian , Posea Vlad , Dorobat Ilie cristian
Published: February 2023

Open data published by the Romanian Government in the data.gov.ro portal can be used to create e-learning applications. In the RoLOD platform, which contains semantic data, a part of the published data has been converted into a machine-readable format, named RDF (Resource Description Framework). This format was chosen in order to standardize the information and also to augment it with various other existing online information, such as geographic coordinates. In Romania, according to published data, there are 1014 museums, scattered throughout the entire country. In this article, we present an application which suggests the visiting route for a number of museums, using data provided by the Romanian National Heritage Institute, which have already been published in RDF format. This suggestion is based on user preferences, which can select the time length of the route (which may vary from one hour to several days) and the preferred museum type. Sightseeing route is calculated taking into account the starting point, the selected duration. The means of transport is considered personal car. The optimal route, which in our view is maximizing the number of museums and is decreasing the overall duration of transit, is calculated using a series of graph algorithms.
BEYOND THE TALE OF THE 'TWO CULTURES': FILLING THE GAP BETWEEN ALGORITHMS AND INTERPRETATION
Authors: Taut Val codrin
Published: February 2023

In the late 1940s, Roberto Busa, an Italian Jesuit priest, conceived a computer tool allowing researchers to navigate within the massive corpus of Aquinas's works. The project, called Index Thomisticus, was the setting out of a very fruitful application of digital technologies in linguistics and literary analysis, generating a considerable epistemological optimism that catalyzed the formation of a broad epistemic field, today known as the field of Digital Humanities. However, recent findings show that Digital Humanities are still far from being a unified field, able to harbor new insights into human culture. Of course, digital tools have penetrated nearly all humanists’ research phases, but there are still strong incongruences between these two areas. One of the most common explanations of this mismatch points to the so called mutual opacity between the humanistic disciplines and the realm of technoscience, a line of division already outlined in the late nineteenth century and made famous by Charles P. Snow in his highly influential talk, subsequently published as The Two Cultures and the scientific Revolution (1959).Our intervention aims to move beyond this apparent antithesis. The core argument is that the division between humanities and technoscience has to be broken down into two distinct levels. The first one concerns the exclusionary structure of the digital field, while the second encompasses the circulation and the institutional valuation of knowledge in Humanities. The talk will be organized in 3 major steps. First, as already discussed, we will deal with the constitution of the epistemic field of Digital Humanities, mainly after 1990, trying to understand who is in and who is out. The second step will try to find out what are the institutional obstacles in digitalizing the humanistic research. Finally, the paper will end with some concrete suggestions in order to overcome the hindrances between the Humanities and the digital techniques.
VIRTUAL REALITY, EDUCATIONAL GAMES AND LEISURE IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY: THE SPORT PEDAGOGY POINT OF VIEW
Authors: Isidori Emanuele , Sandor Iosif , Fazio Alessandra
Published: February 2023

Play and game are two activities which allow us to be and develop as human beings, and they represent two basic components of education conceived of as a practice of teaching and learning. The importance of these activities which belong both to human nature and culture has been stressed by many modern and contemporary philosophers and educationists (Schiller, Huizinga, Simon, etc.). In recent years, the Polish sociologist and philosopher Zygmunt Baumann, father of so-called "liquid theory" of society, has discussed the role and function of play and game within postmodern society. Pedagogy as a theoretical and practical science of education highlights the importance of examining and studying all human games in order to identify those that can be better used as a means to promote education and its values in the context of leisure. Sort pedagogy as a science of physical and leisure activity is interested in this topic. To be clear, this science is interested in studying sport as a recreational activity which always implies body actions, movement, and play/game. For this reason, among the points of view of the sciences dealing with the study of human games, that of sport pedagogy can be seen as one of the most capable of explaining, comprehending and understanding what play and game really are and their meaning for the person and her/his education. The digital revolution and the advent of virtual reality in all its forms (mainly 3D) we experience in our everyday life have created new scenarios for developing new educational games and virtual ways to play the sports. All these scenarios frame and mark a new digital era in which communication technologies give rise to new trends in education, and edutainment (a concept expressing both education and entertainment) plays a fundamental role and function. For this reason, starting from this cultural analysis and utilizing a hermeneutical methodological approach, our study will classify, first all, the different types of educational games, and show their implications from a theoretical point of view. Secondly, it will stress the importance of sport pedagogy in studying the issues dealing with this specific research field. Our aim is to show that digital and virtual games are emerging tools capable of fostering leisure along with health, exercise, and sport. We want to demonstrate that this kind of games allows pupils and children as digital natives to learn and to be educated in a true educational way, that is playing. In conclusion, because of their being wonderful tools to improve learning skills and to promote educational values and the sports in their different aspects, educational and virtual reality-based games have not to be considered with suspicion by educators and (physical education) teachers but a great opportunity to teach and learn.
A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE INDIRECT ASSESSMENT OF LEG EXTENSOR POWER USING SIMULTANEOUSLY THE JUMP-AND-REACH TEST FROM ALPHA-FIT AND THE OPTOJUMP SYSTEM
Authors: Becea Liliana , Branet Camelia , Rachita Iancu , Pelin Raluca anca
Published: February 2023

The ALPHA-FIT Project, completed in 2009 and funded by the European Union, aimed at providing a set of validated tools to assess levels of physical activity and fitness. This study seeks to assess indirectly a component of muscular fitness, namely the leg extensor power in young Romanians aged 20-29 years and also to compare the two methods of measurement using the metric band and optical sensors. The research was conducted within the UPB Sports Complex between 15 October and 1 December 2016. There were investigated 493 young people, of which 334 were males and 159 females. Indirect assessment of leg extensor power was achieved simultaneously through two tests: Jump-and-reach, according to instructions specified in the Tester’s Manual for ALPHA-FIT Test Battery for Adults Aged 18-69, and Vertical Jump, using the Optojump system and the Optojump Pro software. To analyze the results in the Jump-and-reach test, they were processed by quartile, according to the analysis used in ALPHA-FIT. Values achieved by male subjects are: 44, 48,5, 54 and 72cm for the first, second, third and fourth quartiles. Female subjects achieved the following results: 27,5, 31,5, 37 and 54 cm for the first, second, third and fourth quartiles. Simultaneously with the application of Jump-and-reach test, it was used the Optojump system, namely the Vertical Jump test. Results for the Vertical jump assessed using the Optojump system are significantly lower than those assessed through the Jump-and-reach test, between 32.18 % (female subjects, first quartile) and 23.71% (male subjects, fourth quartile).Since the ALPHA-FIT Test Battery has no reference values for the population aged 20-29 years, as regards the Jump-and-reach test, the results of this research can represent, due to the specificity and size of the investigated sample, a baseline for both Romania and other European countries.
RENDERING OBJECTIVE AND OPTIMIZING KINETIC PROGRAMS FOR SCOLIOSIS USING EQUIPMENT OF MOVEMENT ANALISYS
Authors: Leonte Nicoleta , Bucur Doina , Pelin Raluca anca , Grigoroiu Carmen , Popescu Ofelia
Published: February 2023

This paper aims to highlight aspects regarding the body weight distribution on the inferior limbs so as to render objective the youth’s deficient attitudes. The study’s objective is to compare the plantar pressure parameters in static and dynamic balance for subjects with scoliosis and healthy subjects. It is considered that subjects with scoliosis attitude have a different map of the plantar pressure than healthy ones. The presented data in this study are initials, the research being underway. Research is conducted according to the schedule: pretest-kinetic application programs- posttest. Postural assessment is performed with the purpose of diagnosing the mechanical loads deviations from the pelvis and spine in order to optimize the kinetic programs by basketball specific means. The introduction of the basketball means in the kinetic programs was made in order to diversify the classic exercises for prevention /recovery of the deficient spine attitudes. The techniques process of the basketball game, seen as a associated means of physical therapy, represents an innovative approach to postural prevention. In this regard, PedarX system was used, which measures the interaction between the foot, shoe and ground through sensors. The data transmitted are observed in real time on the screen, followed by an analysis of the data. The Pedar X system adds dates regarding distribution of the foot pressures to kinematics analysis. These pieces of information are particularly useful in evaluation of the dynamics movement, also posture. The results obtained showed that the shape of the plantar surface and of the stability area size in scoliosis subjects is modified compared to the plantar pressure map for healthy subjects.
RAISING ENGINEERING STUDENTS' AWARENESS ABOUT THE USEFULNESS OF E-LEARNING BASED LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES
Authors: Catelly Yolandamirela
Published: February 2023

The curriculum for tertiary education engineering students has continuously been put under the pressure of time constraints versus high efficiency to be reached. This situation has strongly impacted the decisions taken by university teachers, including foreign language ones, as regards establishing priorities and designing optimal time and approach framework paradigms for the various components of the course they deliver. Consequently, one of the teacher’s roles in ensuring both quality and efficiency of the instructional process is that of enlarging the students’ repertory of language learning and using strategies meant to increase the learners’ possibility to study the foreign language, both in class, but also outside it - in their post-course activity of study and work, in an effective autonomous manner. In the current period, strategy training is in fact much facilitated by the variety of e-learning means and tools available, particularly in the case of engineering students, whose computer literacy and level of comfort in using such technology are far higher than those of other categories of learners. The aim of the paper is, therefore, to propose an approach to the teaching of English as a foreign language that should embed, as one of its main objectives, a coherent way of raising the trainees’ awareness of the most useful e-learning based language learning and using strategies. A presentation of the activities proposed and implemented in the concrete educational setting - a technical university in Romania – is provided, together with the rationale and pedagogical support underlying their design and use in the language class.
THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS: USING E-NATURE AND XENO-TOLERANCE PROJECT MATERIALS IN CLIL AND E-LEARNING PROGRAMMES
Authors: Colibaba Anca cristina , Gheorghiu Irina , Dinu Claudia elena , Arhip Cristian , Gardikiotis Rodica
Published: February 2023

The article is based on two European projects: E-nature (2015-1-IT02-KA201-015133) and Xeno-tolerance (2015-1-FR01-KA202-015143), which are being implemented by EuroEd Foundation Iasi, Romania. The ideas behind the projects stem from the challenges that the European educational context is facing at present and from current educational needs: students’ lack of motivation when studying science and teachers’ lack of educational materials and techniques related to diversity and inclusive learning. The projects stimulate cooperation across Europe in order to promote scientific and civic knowledge and competences in school education. The materials, created by teachers from shared knowledge and experiences and relying on direct sources (photos, videos, stories or drawings in digital format) aim at making scientific and civic education more effective, involving and appealing. These materials can be used in CLIL and e-learning programmes, where students develop and use not only their knowledge and understanding of social or natural phenomena but also their language and IT competences. The CLIL and e-learning programmes can be sources of inspiration and imagination for teachers whose main goal is to engage students in attractive and meaningful activities while using the language purposefully. The article gives insights into the way the CLIL programmes supported by IT have enabled students to process information, negotiate meaning, and share knowledge even when their levels of the target language were heterogeneous.
A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SYSTEMS USED IN ASSESSING LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY
Authors: Costea Luiza , Bursuc Catalin , Radu Orlando
Published: February 2023

Linguistic skills are a set or a category of skills that are distinct and of common importance recognized in the linguistic competence. At community level the "Common European Framework of Reference for Languages", published by the Council of Europe in 2001 highlights the "way of mastering" a foreign language, a concept that is more appropriate than "the knowledge level" of a foreign language. The subtle difference between the two concepts is based within the generality of language proficiency that describes what you can do in various areas of expertise in a foreign language. CEFR scales that reveal the levels of mastering a foreign language represent a standardized system, applicable to any European language, which was assimilated by national or supra-state actors and allow the evaluation with other national or international instruments. The purpose of the article is to carry out a comparative analysis of European standards and similar linguistic standard within North-Atlantic Alliance. Potential benefits and limitations of STANAG 6001 standard, resulted from this analysis will provide conclusions on the optimization of foreign language learning programs in the Romanian Army.