cometadata/datacite-titles-descriptions-related-identifiers huggingface dataset:
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.31062046
title: Swarm-Based Search Procedure for Finding Optimal Multi-Stage Designs for Phase II Clinical Trials

description: Multi-stage Phase II clinical trials offer advantages over single-stage designs by enabling interim analyses that can accurately inform early termination of the trial if there is evidence that the treatment is likely to be ineffective or effective. However, identifying optimal designs for multi-stage trials poses considerable computational challenges. In addition to having to optimize many integer-valued variables, there are multiple constraints, including order constraints. Traditional exhaustive search methods lack scalability and quickly become computationally infeasible when the number of stages is three or more. To overcome this challenge, we utilize a spherical coordinate system and reformulate the design problem as a continuous optimization task. The new formulation enables us to efficiently use Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) to extend Simon’s celebrated two-stage Phase II designs to three or more stages. Specifically, we show that our proposed search procedure not only reproduces the two-stage designs and certain three-stage designs found in the literature but also able to achieve the results more efficiently than traditional exhaustive search methods. We provide R codes for reproducing the optimal designs in this paper, which can be easily customized to generate tailor-made optimal designs for specific user needs.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.31062046.v1
title: Swarm-Based Search Procedure for Finding Optimal Multi-Stage Designs for Phase II Clinical Trials

description: Multi-stage Phase II clinical trials offer advantages over single-stage designs by enabling interim analyses that can accurately inform early termination of the trial if there is evidence that the treatment is likely to be ineffective or effective. However, identifying optimal designs for multi-stage trials poses considerable computational challenges. In addition to having to optimize many integer-valued variables, there are multiple constraints, including order constraints. Traditional exhaustive search methods lack scalability and quickly become computationally infeasible when the number of stages is three or more. To overcome this challenge, we utilize a spherical coordinate system and reformulate the design problem as a continuous optimization task. The new formulation enables us to efficiently use Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) to extend Simon’s celebrated two-stage Phase II designs to three or more stages. Specifically, we show that our proposed search procedure not only reproduces the two-stage designs and certain three-stage designs found in the literature but also able to achieve the results more efficiently than traditional exhaustive search methods. We provide R codes for reproducing the optimal designs in this paper, which can be easily customized to generate tailor-made optimal designs for specific user needs.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.28548162
title: Engagement in a dialogic activity after watching a video on climate change has an effect on students’ mitigation action beliefs

description: Videos can be a valuable resource for learning about climate change and stimulating deliberative discussion on the actions to mitigate it. This quasi-experimental study aimed to investigate the effects of combining video watching with a dialogic activity, and the specific contributions of these two activities, on students’ knowledge, beliefs about mitigation actions, and self-reported pro-environmental behaviour. The dialogic activity involved students creating a fictional dialogue about mitigation actions among different stakeholders, and it was conducted either collectively or individually. 75 undergraduate students participated in three conditions: (a) watching a video only or combined with a dialogic activity, either (b) collectively in small groups or (c) individually. Results showed gains in students’ knowledge on climate change, for all conditions. Watching a video combined with a dialogic activity was found to have a significantly more positive effect on students’ climate change mitigation action beliefs, than watching a video alone. These findings highlight the value of watching a video on climate change for students’ knowledge acquisition on the subject, but also the value of engaging in a dialogic activity to promote more comprehensive beliefs about the actions that need to be taken to mitigate climate change.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.28548162.v1
title: Engagement in a dialogic activity after watching a video on climate change has an effect on students’ mitigation action beliefs

description: Videos can be a valuable resource for learning about climate change and stimulating deliberative discussion on the actions to mitigate it. This quasi-experimental study aimed to investigate the effects of combining video watching with a dialogic activity, and the specific contributions of these two activities, on students’ knowledge, beliefs about mitigation actions, and self-reported pro-environmental behaviour. The dialogic activity involved students creating a fictional dialogue about mitigation actions among different stakeholders, and it was conducted either collectively or individually. 75 undergraduate students participated in three conditions: (a) watching a video only or combined with a dialogic activity, either (b) collectively in small groups or (c) individually. Results showed gains in students’ knowledge on climate change, for all conditions. Watching a video combined with a dialogic activity was found to have a significantly more positive effect on students’ climate change mitigation action beliefs, than watching a video alone. These findings highlight the value of watching a video on climate change for students’ knowledge acquisition on the subject, but also the value of engaging in a dialogic activity to promote more comprehensive beliefs about the actions that need to be taken to mitigate climate change.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.27855347
title: Trajectories of students’ momentary interest in evolution during a museum guided tour

description: A person’s stable and momentary interest have a positive influence on learning. For understanding global challenges related to e.g. biodiversity loss, interest in and knowledge about evolution is of great importance. Museums can make an important contribution to learning about evolution in terms of interest. So far, there is a lack of studies on how exactly museum visits affect students’ interest. Against this background, the present study investigated to what extent a guided tour of a NHM can arouse the momentary interest of students. Students (<i>N</i> = 251) aged 15–18 were surveyed by questionnaire before and during a museum tour on evolution. One result is that students could be assigned to theoretically describable groups. Students in the responder group showed an increase in momentary interest, while students in the non-responder group showed a low interest level. Students in the high-level responder group showed a relatively high momentary interest level. The results demonstrate that students were most activated when provided a certain level of open-mindedness. Future studies might investigate why visitors’ momentary interest behaves the way we described empirically and how museum guides can respond to students’ interests. This includes identifying cues that trigger trajectories of momentary interest during a museum tour.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.27855347.v1
title: Trajectories of students’ momentary interest in evolution during a museum guided tour

description: A person’s stable and momentary interest have a positive influence on learning. For understanding global challenges related to e.g. biodiversity loss, interest in and knowledge about evolution is of great importance. Museums can make an important contribution to learning about evolution in terms of interest. So far, there is a lack of studies on how exactly museum visits affect students’ interest. Against this background, the present study investigated to what extent a guided tour of a NHM can arouse the momentary interest of students. Students (<i>N</i> = 251) aged 15–18 were surveyed by questionnaire before and during a museum tour on evolution. One result is that students could be assigned to theoretically describable groups. Students in the responder group showed an increase in momentary interest, while students in the non-responder group showed a low interest level. Students in the high-level responder group showed a relatively high momentary interest level. The results demonstrate that students were most activated when provided a certain level of open-mindedness. Future studies might investigate why visitors’ momentary interest behaves the way we described empirically and how museum guides can respond to students’ interests. This includes identifying cues that trigger trajectories of momentary interest during a museum tour.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.28281315
title: Investigating students’ awareness of their own and others’ deviations from controlled science experiments

description: Despite an emphasis on experimentation in science curricula worldwide as part of efforts to improve scientific literacy, students encounter challenges, especially with designing unconfounded experiments as part of the control-of-variables strategy (CVS). Becoming aware of experimental design errors is a potential starting point for learners to enhance their experimental skills. Few studies investigated whether learners can accurately assess experiments and are aware of errors. This experimental study, conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, investigates the accuracy of students’ assessment of experiments and their awareness of self-generated and others’ (vicarious) design errors. 127 students (grade 7–8) were randomly split into two groups. One group conducted an experiment themselves. The other examined an erroneous example of a fictitious peer. Afterwards, both received the same instructions on the CVS and prompts to assess the experiments. Data were collected via worksheets and photos of their experiments. Analysis reveals difficulties controlling all variables in an experiment, especially if they were continuous. Interestingly, while self- and peer assessment accuracy was generally high, students were significantly more aware of vicarious errors than of self-generated ones. This highlights the potential of using assessment of experimental design errors as learning opportunity for experimentation skills, especially when using vicarious errors.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.28281315.v1
title: Investigating students’ awareness of their own and others’ deviations from controlled science experiments

description: Despite an emphasis on experimentation in science curricula worldwide as part of efforts to improve scientific literacy, students encounter challenges, especially with designing unconfounded experiments as part of the control-of-variables strategy (CVS). Becoming aware of experimental design errors is a potential starting point for learners to enhance their experimental skills. Few studies investigated whether learners can accurately assess experiments and are aware of errors. This experimental study, conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, investigates the accuracy of students’ assessment of experiments and their awareness of self-generated and others’ (vicarious) design errors. 127 students (grade 7–8) were randomly split into two groups. One group conducted an experiment themselves. The other examined an erroneous example of a fictitious peer. Afterwards, both received the same instructions on the CVS and prompts to assess the experiments. Data were collected via worksheets and photos of their experiments. Analysis reveals difficulties controlling all variables in an experiment, especially if they were continuous. Interestingly, while self- and peer assessment accuracy was generally high, students were significantly more aware of vicarious errors than of self-generated ones. This highlights the potential of using assessment of experimental design errors as learning opportunity for experimentation skills, especially when using vicarious errors.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.29040082
title: Student-generated Open Educational Resources (OERs) to inspire the next generation of STEM students and teachers

description: Open Educational Resources (OERs) are no-cost teaching tools increasingly used to support student learning at all grade levels. OERs are not equitably distributed across disciplines and few OERs exist for middle school age groups about vertebrate animal anatomy. To help fill the resource gap and explore impacts of cross-generational science teaching on students at predominately Hispanic institutions, we tasked university students with creating animal anatomy presentations for middle school audiences. Presentations were disseminated live over a virtual platform to middle school students and pre-recorded versions were posted on YouTube as OERs. University and middle school students completed voluntary pre- and post-presentation Likert-scale surveys to quantify learning experiences. By developing and sharing OERs, university students increased their animal anatomy knowledge, understanding of OERs’ purpose, beliefs in effectiveness of online educational materials, confidence in creating scientific presentations for non-peer audiences, and beliefs in their abilities to impact the next generation of learners. After watching the presentations and interacting with the university students, middle school students increased their beliefs that they learn effectively from other students, animal anatomy knowledge, and interests in studying science. The development and dissemination of animal anatomy OERs for middle school audiences fills a gap in available resources and helps inspire the next generation of science scholars.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.28343872
title: Developing a conceptual model for students’ scientific civic engagement self-concept

description: To prepare students to meet challenges of the twenty-first century, science educators must equip students with science literacy skills and the means to apply those skills to benefit their communities, i.e. science civic engagement (SCE) with dimensions of civic knowledge, civic confidence, civic action and civic value. In a college-level science literacy course we investigated students’ SCE self-concept (SCE-SC) or how they envision their ability to use their science knowledge and skills to impact their communities using a pre and post-instruction Likert-scale self-report instrument along with one open-response question. We found in students’ written response describing their SCE-SC that while students may not consistently identify mechanisms for using science to help their communities, they do believe that science skills will benefit their communities. We also observed positive relationships between SCE-SC and both science identity and perceived cohesion to a community, suggesting these are important aspects of SCE-SC development. While overall SCE-SC did not increase after the completion of the science literacy course, we did observe a significant increase in scientific civic knowledge. We suggest that classroom experiences aimed at supporting civic engagement teach science skills through examples grounded in salient community contexts.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.28343872.v1
title: Developing a conceptual model for students’ scientific civic engagement self-concept

description: To prepare students to meet challenges of the twenty-first century, science educators must equip students with science literacy skills and the means to apply those skills to benefit their communities, i.e. science civic engagement (SCE) with dimensions of civic knowledge, civic confidence, civic action and civic value. In a college-level science literacy course we investigated students’ SCE self-concept (SCE-SC) or how they envision their ability to use their science knowledge and skills to impact their communities using a pre and post-instruction Likert-scale self-report instrument along with one open-response question. We found in students’ written response describing their SCE-SC that while students may not consistently identify mechanisms for using science to help their communities, they do believe that science skills will benefit their communities. We also observed positive relationships between SCE-SC and both science identity and perceived cohesion to a community, suggesting these are important aspects of SCE-SC development. While overall SCE-SC did not increase after the completion of the science literacy course, we did observe a significant increase in scientific civic knowledge. We suggest that classroom experiences aimed at supporting civic engagement teach science skills through examples grounded in salient community contexts.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.28582617
title: Science teachers’ interactions with science centres: an exploratory study into professional development benefits and how they occur

description: This research investigated the benefits that science teachers experienced to their professional development as a result of their interactions with science centres. Such interactions included accompanying field trips and incursions, undertaking formal professional development and field work programs, and self-guided visits. Through narrative, semi-structured interviews with ten participants this study revealed that teachers experienced multiple benefits to aspects of their intellectual, attitudinal, or behavioural professional development. The interpretive analysis highlights the roles that teachers undertook throughout these interactions, enabling an understanding of how these benefits occurred. For example, for teachers accompanying field trips, being able to observe their students being taught by another science professional was important as it enabled teachers to observe and connect with their students in different ways to what they were able to do in the context of their classrooms. In turn, this led to a variety of professional development benefits for teachers. This study also provides evidence that short duration, one-off, informal learning experiences can facilitate lasting professional development benefits for science teachers. Therefore, valuing teachers participating in interactions with science centres should be considered as part of supporting science teachers’ professional development.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.28582617.v1
title: Science teachers’ interactions with science centres: an exploratory study into professional development benefits and how they occur

description: This research investigated the benefits that science teachers experienced to their professional development as a result of their interactions with science centres. Such interactions included accompanying field trips and incursions, undertaking formal professional development and field work programs, and self-guided visits. Through narrative, semi-structured interviews with ten participants this study revealed that teachers experienced multiple benefits to aspects of their intellectual, attitudinal, or behavioural professional development. The interpretive analysis highlights the roles that teachers undertook throughout these interactions, enabling an understanding of how these benefits occurred. For example, for teachers accompanying field trips, being able to observe their students being taught by another science professional was important as it enabled teachers to observe and connect with their students in different ways to what they were able to do in the context of their classrooms. In turn, this led to a variety of professional development benefits for teachers. This study also provides evidence that short duration, one-off, informal learning experiences can facilitate lasting professional development benefits for science teachers. Therefore, valuing teachers participating in interactions with science centres should be considered as part of supporting science teachers’ professional development.
DOI: 10.5066/f7rr1wbn
title: Waterfowl Counts and Wildfire Burn Data from the Western Boreal Forest of North America, 1955-2014

description: The project utilized data from the Waterfowl Breeding Population and Habitat Survey, which is an annual survey conducted since 1955 by the governments of the United States and Canada to monitor waterfowl populations. These survey data were spatially and temporally layered onto long-term databases of fire perimeters for Alaska and western Canada, providing a record of waterfowl transects which had burned over the last 60 years. The project modelled abundance of dabbler and diver pairs in relation to time since fire, looking at short-term (e.g., 1-3 years) versus long-term timeframes (e.g., greater than 5 years), and in relation to fire extent, defined as the percent of transect which had burned.
DOI: 10.15468/dl.wx6t99
title: Occurrence Download

description: A dataset containing 78900 species occurrences available in GBIF matching the query:
{
 "and" : [
 "HasCoordinate is true",
 "HasGeospatialIssue is false",
 "OccurrenceStatus is Present",
 "TaxonKey is Icterus prosthemelas (Strickland, 1850)"
 ]
}

 The dataset includes 78900 records from 49 constituent datasets; see https://api.gbif.org/v1/occurrence/download/0027152-250426092105405/datasets/export for details.
 
Data from some individual datasets included in this download may be licensed under less restrictive terms.
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.15392397
title: Open data from paper Innovation and Competitiveness in the Territorial Brand of the Algarve: A Comparative Analysis of Its Social Media  Communication and Web Content

description: Dataset used for the investigation and the paper "Innovation and Competitiveness in the Territorial Brand of the Algarve: A Comparative Analysis of Its Social Media Communication and Web Content". 

In an increasingly competitive global tourism context, territorial branding plays a key role in enhancing the visibility, identity, and resilience of regions. This study focuses on the Algarve, a region in southern Portugal, and investigates how innovation and competitiveness are reflected in its digital communication strategy. Using a mixed-methods approach, this research combines the quantitative analysis of 689 social media posts published in 2024 on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube with the qualitative content analysis of 38 documents and the official website of Algarve. The findings reveal a coherent and visually appealing brand narrative centred on the coastal identity of the Algarve, complemented by content related to nature, gastronomy, and cultural heritage. Instagram stands out as the most engaging platform, particularly when posts adopt a participatory tone, emotional storytelling, and references to specific locations. However, only 6.4% of the content surpassed the 1% engagement threshold, suggesting limited audience connection. The website presents a broader thematic range but under-represents intangible heritage and local products.The Algarve brand successfully projects an aspirational image based on landscape and leisure but would benefit from greater content diversification, enhanced stakeholder integration, and expanded narrative strategies to strengthen digital engagement and destination competitiveness.