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What difficulties do architecture students encounter in the structural design for their final master project? How do they address these difficulties? This paper presents the topic and focuses on these two research questions by examining the students' experience, using thematic analysis with a qualitative approach. We obtained the data through surveys administered to architecture students during their final master project. The results show 11 categories of students' difficulties in designing the structure. The five most frequent are integration between structure and architecture, pre-sizing, long spans, complex geometries and floor systems. To deal with their difficulties, the students employed seven strategies, which we have grouped into three components: documentary, social and experimental. We found that the final master project students participating in our study possessed and practiced the following skills: self-directed learning, constructive investigation with problem-solving skills and positive social interaction. This study can help instructors understand the difficulties faced by the students learning structural design in the context of real world, authentic projects. Our findings confirm the positive effects of social learning, analogical thinking and design alternatives for structural design education.

We compare the capacity of dirty-paper coding (DPC) to that of time-division multiple access (TDMA) for a multiple-antenna (multiple- input multiple-output (MIMO)) Gaussian broadcast channel (BC). We find that the sum-rate capacity (achievable using DPC) of the multiple-antenna BC Is at most min(M, K) times the largest single-user capacity (i.e., the TDMA sum-rate) in the system, where M is the number of transmit antennas and K is the number of receivers. This result is Independent of the number of receive antennas and the channel gain matrix, and is valid at all signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). We investigate the tightness of this bound In a time-varying channel (assuming perfect channel knowledge at receivers and transmitters) where the channel experiences uncorrelated Rayleigh fading and In some situations we find that the dirty paper gain is upper-bounded by the ratio of transmit-to-receive antennas. We also show that min(M, K) upper-bounds the sum-rate gain of successive decoding over TDMA for the uplink channel, where M is the number of receive antennas at the base station and K is the number of transmitters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

THREE WEEKS AGO SCIENCE PREDICTED THAT the National Institutes of Health was likely to issue a harsh critique of Tufts immunologist Thereza Imanishi-Kari's role in what has become known as [...]

Scholars have documented a tendency of (semi-)authoritarian regimes to undermine university autonomy, mainly through organizational (de jure) changes. This paper presents a case study of a publicly triggered plagiarism investigation by the University of Belgrade into the doctoral thesis of the Serbian Minister of Finance, one of the key members of the increasingly authoritarian regime. The analysis finds a proceduralized and delayed response of the university's leadership, which indicates lowered de facto autonomy from politics, despite the university's continually high de jure autonomy. The investigation was closed only after a mobilization within the academic community which resulted in a university's blockade that forced its leadership to retract the contentious thesis. The case study shows that, in contexts of democratic backsliding, political capture can extend farther than usually thought, impacting even the implementation of internal university standards. On the other hand, the analysis also shows that political capture is not necessarily irreversible and that academic community can mobilize to 'undo' it. This reinforces the notion of academic communities as value-driven groups capable of exerting peer pressure to override even authoritarian pressures. In order to understand the dynamic of the plagiarism inquiry in its entirety, we apply insights from theory of power to complement and overcome the limitations of the conventional theoretical frameworks on democratic backsliding and academic autonomy.

Ink analysis is central to questioned document examination. We applied direct analysis in real time mass spectrometry (DART MS) to ballpoint, gel, and fluid writing ink analysis. DART MS acquires the mass spectrum of an ink while it is still on a document without altering the appearance of the document. Spectra were acquired from ink on a variety of papers, and the spectrum of the blank paper could be subtracted out to produce a cleanly isolated ink spectrum in most cases. Only certain heavy or heavily processed papers interfered. The time since an ink is written on paper has a large effect on its spectrum. DART spectra change radically during the first few months after an ink is written as the more volatile components evaporate, but the spectra stabilize after that. A library-search study involving 166 well- aged inks assessed the ability to identify inks from their DART spectra. The aggregate success rate was 92%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Boundary walls are neglected but important parts of historic urban environments, and they are often prone to serious deterioration. Understanding moisture and salt dynamics within boundary walls can help infer the causes and dynamics of deterioration. This investigation investigates the patterns of moisture, salt, and deterioration on a 300 year old limestone boundary wall in Worcester College, Oxford. Multiple methods to assess moisture and salts within and across the wall (electrical resistivity tomography, handheld resistivity-based moisture meter, paper pulp poultices, scanning electron microscopy, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry, and ion chromatography of small scale sampling of deteriorated limestone) were used in conjunction with decay mapping of both sides of the wall. The salt weathering strongly correlates with severely weathered zones at the wall and salts, mainly sulfates, seem to be the main agent of decay processes. The combined results demonstrate that the environmental influences driving stone decay can differ on a very small scale even at a comparatively simple structure like a boundary wall, and that repairs can have adverse effects if the patterns of salt and moisture dynamics are not sufficiently known. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of publications is the first criteria for assessing a researcher output. However, the main measurement for author productivity is the number of citations, and citations are typically related to the paper's visibility. In this paper, the relationship between article visibility and the number of citations is investigated. A case study of two researchers who are using publication marketing tools confirmed that the article visibility will greatly improve the citation impact. Some strategies to make the publications available to a larger audience have been presented at the end of this paper.

This research explores the professionalization of Library and Information Science (LIS) students who participated in a peer-tutoring service, "Research Rescue." Research Rescue was a collaboration of the Chapman Learning Commons and the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies (SLAIS) at the University of British Columbia. The purpose of the service was to provide an experiential learning opportunity for LIS students, benefit undergraduate students in need of assistance with term papers, and increase undergraduates' awareness and use of the campus libraries through targeted referrals. Research Rescue interactions were documented as "shift notes" in a wiki, which was moderated by a learning services librarian and SLAIS faculty. The wiki acted as a shared learning resource and a means of observing and exploring LIS students' learning and professional development as an outcome of participating in the service. In this paper, we report on our qualitative analysis of the shift notes, which provide evidence that peer tutors took steps towards the formation of their professional identities. We explore the learning and socialization that occurred as part of tutors' involvement in Research Rescue, while also advocating that peer tutoring is a viable model for LIS education.

Tracie Cone and Anna Marie dos Remedios knew there'd be plenty of unknowns when they jumped from working for a major metropolitan newspaper to owning a Hollister, California, weekly in [...]

Clemson University's homecoming weekend got off to a weird beginning when two thirds of the copies of The Tiger, Clemson's student newspaper, were apparently stolen from sites around campus. About [...]

A Minnesota House committee is conducting a conflict of interest probe into the Minneapolis Star Tribune editorial position on a light-rail project, The Associated Press reported. The committee heard testimony [...]

An electronic textbook (e-Textbook) is a digitized (or electronic) form of textbook, which normally needs an endorsement by the national or state government when it is used in the K-12 education system. E-Textbooks have been envisioned to replace existing paper-based textbooks due to its educational advantages. Hence, it is of paramount importance for the relevant parties (i.e. national and state governments, or school districts) to draw a comprehensive roadmap of technologies necessary for the successful adoption of e-Textbooks nationwide. This paper provides a brief overview of e-Textbooks and subsequently an extensive discussion on challenges associated with e-Textbooks in the pursuit of replacing traditional textbooks with e-Textbooks. This paper further provides an extensive review on how the challenges have been approached using existing e-Textbook technologies, such as multi-touch technology, e-Paper, Web 2.0 and cloud computing. Literature review and interview have been conducted to identify the challenges of e-Textbooks implementation in terms of e-Textbook usage levels and the reasons of its refusal. There were 180 students and 20 academic staff participated as a sample for interviews. Eight categories of key challenges were identified. Subsequently, assessment was performed on how the evolving e-Textbook technology has been applied to address the key challenges and problems. This article aims to provide a strong foundation for further investigations in e-Textbooks for successful adoption of e-Textbooks in school education. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)

Seven years ago The New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) was launched with its emphasis on key competencies as "the capabilities that young people need for growing, working, and participating in their communities" ("Ministry of Education," 2007, p. 38). This raises the question of what dispositions are required for students to strengthen these capabilities? Curriculum commentators advocate that teachers should monitor how students take risks so that their capabilities are stretched as they perform real tasks in real contexts. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the ongoing conversation on what key competencies can look like in New Zealand classrooms. Specifically, it focuses on learner agency as an important and undertheorised dispositional element of the key competencies. The paper reports on a discourse analysis that explores how students can act agentically in a secondary classroom. By providing a rich example of learners taking risks in their learning as they enact key competencies, this paper reveals that agency can be both dynamic and unexpected.

This paper presents a model of collaborative and reflective professional development for teachers that focuses on student learning. The model comprises a cyclical series of lessons that were carried out in Hong Kong with 94 Secondary Four (Grade 10) students. The lessons were designed to develop the reading skill of inferring characters' traits from the events of a story--a skill that presents difficulties for many secondary school students of English as a second language. The learning activities in the research lessons were underpinned by the Theory of Variation proposed by Marton and Booth (1997), which allows students to discern the critical features of the particular skill to be learnt. Findings indicate that the lessons were successful in helping the students develop the skill. Teachers also benefitted from the collaborative reflections and investigations. The paper suggests that this model may enhance both student learning and teacher professional development. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)

In this paper, the writer discusses the philosophical underpinnings of the two dominant research methods in social sciences; quantitative and qualitative paradigms. The natures of two paradigms are quite different so this leads many researchers to discuss these issues in a comparative way. This paper tackles the knowledge and understanding of quantitative and qualitative paradigms, their nature, advantages, disadvantages, assumptions, criticisms, and the possibility of linking two paradigms. Issues of validity, reliability, objectivity, and generalisation are also investigated from two distinctive perspectives of paradigms. Finally, the conclusion and suggestions are given at the end of the paper. The novice researchers who are in dilemmas about making decisions about their research designs would potentially find the discussions useful.

The Klason method is adequate for quantifying lignin in softwood (SWD) but is less so for hardwood (HWD). The latter contains a fraction of acid-soluble lignin (ASL) that is not measurable under the conditions prevailing in the Klason method and that must be quantified by other means. This study aimed at investigating the composition of ASL obtained from eucalypt and pine woods by using pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GC-MS). About 2.7% and 0.9% ASL by dry wood weight were measured in the acid filtrate of eucalypt and pine, respectively, by the Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI) UM 250 method. The acid filtrate was lyophilized and processed by Py-GC-MS, allowing identification of 26 primary pyrolysis products, with 2% and 52% relative molar abundance coming from lignin and carbohydrates, respectively, for eucalypt and 24 primary pyrolysis products, with 1% and 54% relative molar abundance from lignin and carbohydrates, respectively, for pine. The main products derived from lignin were phenol, 4-methylphenol, guaiacol, 4-methylcatechol, syringol, acetosyringone and vanillin. It was concluded that measurements of ASL remain a requirement for accurate eucalypt and pine wood lignin quantification because lignin derivatives remain in the acid filtrate from the Klason lignin quantification method. Corrections for carbohydrate-derived compounds are not necessary, despite their predominance in the filtrate, because these derivatives do not interfere with ultraviolet (UV) absorption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present investigation was conducted to describe and compare the background variables, personal characteristics and academic performance of secondary teacher trainees in distance education and face-to-face mode. The results indicated that teacher trainees in distance education differed from their counterparts in age, marital status, sex and socio-economic status. Distance trainees outperformed the on-campus trainees on their preference for left-hemispheric styles of learning and thinking, budgeting time, learning motivation, overall study habits, academic motivation, attitude towards education, work methods, interpersonal relations, and on their perception about relevance of course content of theory papers in B.Ed., but on-campus trainees outperformed distance trainees on preference for right-hemispheric learning styles, need for achievement, motivation for sports, attitude towards teaching profession, child-centered practices, teachers, overall attitude towards teaching along with their perception for development of teaching skills and attitude, personality development during B.Ed. course. In academic performance distance trainees lag behind the on-campus trainee in their marks in theory papers, skills in teaching and in aggregate. (Contains 13 tables.)

How do teachers respond to a mathematics curriculum innovation? This paper reports some of the findings from a UK Research Council (ESRC)-funded project investigating how teachers in English secondary schools (students aged 12-16 years) responded to innovation. A Gatsby Foundation funded program implemented new materials; the project investigated processes and expectations of implementation. In this paper, we consider the "gap" between innovation and proposed practice from the position of the practitioner, employing the work of Foucault (1995) and Deleuze and Guattari (1998) as a framework for analysis. The paper takes a theoretical position, arguing that teachers construct individual and constantly changing amalgams of practice. These are founded on "difference" and understood in ways, which are shifting, and partial rather than "known" via a sense-making process. Expectations of a strong correspondence between innovation and teacher response have undermined alternative perspectives that regard the interruption and re-routing of innovation as productive of viable outcomes in sites of practice.

"Discover Diversities" is a wide thematic developed within the SEMEP (South-Eastern Mediterranean Environmental Project) project, supported by UNESCO (United Nation Education, Science and Culture Organization). SEMEP is essentially a project for science education, focusing on Mediterranean environment. As the Mediterranean has been the cradle of Western civilization, the project also favours connection with humanistic disciplines like history and art in order to raise young people who have awareness of the Mediterranean valuable resources and its enormous cultural heritage to be appreciated and strongly protected. Moreover, SEMEP, through NC (National Coordinator), puts in touch students and teachers from different countries working on the same topics, favours mutual visits both of students and teachers, coordinates diffusion of materials (students' worksheets and guidelines for teachers) and exchange of ideas, papers and products; in this way, schools share information and build a common knowledge. Moreover, summer schools for students and teachers coming from different countries as well as environmental competitions and stages, are often organized in a friendly environment stimulating knowledge and comparison of different cultures and experiences. In the annual meeting, the NC presents a report about activities carried out in their countries, discusses problems and proposes new topics for students' investigations. In the present paper, we describe some SEMEP meaningful activities carried out in Italian schools. (Contains 6 figures.) [Partial support for this project was provided by the "Fondazione S. Paolo."]

A broad continuum exists to describe the structure of inquiry lessons (Hanegan, Friden, & Nelson, 2009). Most teachers have heard inquiry described from a range of simple questioning to completely student-designed scientific studies (Chinn & Malhotra, 2002). Biotechnology education often uses a variety of inquiries from cookbook laboratory investigations to authentic inquiries. We examined how authentic inquiry, in the form of student-designed original scientific research projects, impacted learning. In this paper we also describe how students expressed that authentic inquiry in biotechnology education enhanced their understanding. (This paper is a summary of Hanegan & Bigler, 2009)

Academic work is changing fast, as is the work of other professionals, because of challenges such as accountability and regulations frameworks and globalised academic markets. Such changes also have consequences for everyday academic practice and learning. This paper seeks to explore some of the ways in which academic work is changing by opening the 'black-box' of everyday academic work and examining the enactment of academics' everyday learning. The paper draws on a study of everyday academic practice in the social sciences with respect to the institution, the department and the discipline. Assuming a sociomaterial sensibility, the study also sought to understand how academics' learning is enacted in everyday work. Within three universities, fourteen academics were work-shadowed; social, material, technological, pedagogic and symbolic actors were observed and, where possible, connections and interactions were traced. The paper illuminates through two stories from the study how specific practices and meanings of disciplinary academic work are negotiated, configured and reconfigured within and beyond the department or meso-level, attending to resistance and rejection as well as accommodation and negotiation. The paper responds to educational concerns of professional (here, academic) learning by foregrounding both the assembling and reassembling of academic work and the enactment of learning.

This paper initiates an investigation of the college students' MI (multiple intelligences) distribution in English class. The participants are a group of Chinese sophomores from different majors: city planning, tourism, software engineering, financial administration and arts of English. With a view to make the investigation more specified in students' English learning activities, the paper doesn't use other existing MI scales, but specifies research items on Chinese college students' activities in their EFL (English as a Foreign Language) class. The result reveals students' overall and comparative MI distributions among different majors, which provides English teachers in China with fundamental information about college students' varieties, as well as referential information for English teachers in other EFL countries.

Multimedia is present in our everyday life, thus its management is considered as a necessity by the specialists. The relation of multimedia with education is very complex: we speak about education with multimedia and multimedia education. In this paper we propose to characterize partially the above mentioned relations, analyzing the openness of primary and secondary school curricula for use of multimedia in the learning process. This openness is the first step toward multimedia education. In our investigation were analyzed 105 primary school programs and 157 secondary school programs for 39 disciplines. The obtained results underline the lack of interest of policy makers to promote multimedia in education. In the paper there are given some suggestions for directions of use of media in school practice.