Good science, bad science: Questioning research practices in psychological research

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bakker, M.

2014-01-01

In this dissertation we have questioned the current research practices in psychological science and thereby contributed to the current discussion about the credibility of psychological research. We specially focused on the problems with the reporting of statistical results and showed that reporting

Series: Practical guidance to qualitative research : part 2: context, research questions and designs

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Albine Moser; Irene Korstjens

2017-01-01

In the course of our supervisory work over the years, we have noticed that qualitative research tends to evoke a lot of questions and worries, so-called frequently asked questions (FAQs). This series of four articles intends to provide novice researchers with practical guidance for conducting

Developing critical thinking through Socratic Questioning: An Action Research Study

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Husniah Sahamid

2016-07-01

Full Text Available An action research study was conducted among 24 Form 4 level Malaysian students, aged 16. The duration of the study was five months and constituted 16 one-hour literature lessons (short stories from the secondary level Malaysian English Language Upper Secondary Level school syllabus. This paper describes my experience as a teacher-as-researcher to assist students to respond to teacher questions through Paul’s (1993 model of Socratic Questioning which claims to develop students’ critical thinking. Data was collected through researcher’s field notes, students’ writing tasks and student interviews which were analysed after each cycle of the action research study. Changes and adaptations were consequently made based on the data collected and upon teacher reflection to improve practice. The results of this study indicate that repeated practice of Socratic Questioning had a positive effect on student responses and writing tasks. Some of the factors affecting students’ performance included students’ language proficiency, weak reading ability and students’ anxiety towards the questioning method. These issues had to be addressed and dealt with, before Socratic Questioning could be properly implemented in the classroom. Keywords: Socratic questioning, teacher questioning, critical thinking, action research

Priority water research questions for South Africa developed through ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper describes a collaborative process of identifying and prioritising current and future water research questions from a wide range of water specialists within South Africa. Over 1 600 questions were collected, reduced in number and prioritised by specialists working in water research and practice. A total of 59 ...

Examining Research Questions on Germination from the Perspective of Scientific Creativity

Science.gov (United States)

Demir Kaçan, Sibel

2015-01-01

This study was conducted with the participation of 31 pre-service science teachers. Participants were asked to develop various research questions on germination. The study aims to examine research questions on the subject germination from the perspective of scientific creativity. The research questions were examined using the fluency, science…

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) in South Africa: engaging multiple constituents to shape the research question.

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Mosavel, Maghboeba; Simon, Christian; van Stade, Debbie; Buchbinder, Mara

2005-12-01

Community engagement is an on-going, arduous, and necessary process for developing effective health promotion programs. The challenges are amplified when the particular health issue or research question is not prominent in the consciousness of the targeted community. In this paper, we explore the community-based participatory research (CBPR) model as a means to negotiate a mutual agenda between communities and researchers. The paper is focused on the (perceived) need for cervical cancer screening in an under-resourced community in Cape Town, South Africa. Cervical cancer is a significant health problem in this community and elsewhere in South Africa. Unlike HIV-AIDS, however, many Black South Africans have not been educated about cervical cancer and the importance of obtaining screening. Many may not consider screening a priority in their lives. Our research included extensive consultations and informal interviews with diverse community and regional stakeholders. Following these, we conducted 27 focus groups and 106 demographic surveys with randomly selected youth, parents, local health care personnel, educators and school staff. Focus group data were summarized and analyzed cross-sectionally. Community stakeholders were involved throughout this research. Our consultations, interviews, and focus group data were key in identifying the concerns and priorities of the community. By engaging community stakeholders, we developed a research framework that incorporated the community's concerns and priorities, and stressed the intersecting roles of poverty, violence, and other cultural forces in shaping community members' health and wellbeing. Community members helped to refocus our research from cervical cancer to 'cervical health,' a concept that acknowledged the impact on women's bodies and lives of HIV-AIDS and STDs, sexual violence, poverty, and multiple social problems. We conclude that the research agenda and questions in community-based health research should not be

Top 40 questions in coupled human and natural systems (CHANS research

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Daniel Boyd. Kramer

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Understanding and managing coupled human and natural systems (CHANS is a central challenge of the 21st century, but more focus is needed to pursue the most important questions within this vast field given limited research capacity and funding. We present 40 important questions for CHANS research, identified through a two-part crowdsourcing exercise within the CHANS community. We solicited members of the International Network of Research on Coupled Human and Natural Systems (CHANS-Net to submit up to three questions that they considered transformative, receiving 540 questions from 207 respondents. After editing for clarity and consistency, we asked the network's members to each evaluate a random subset of 20 questions in importance on a scale from 1 (least important to 7 (extremely important. Questions on land use and agriculture topped the list, with a median importance ranking of 5.7, followed by questions of scale, climate change and energy, sustainability and development, adaptation and resilience, in addition to seven other categories. We identified 40 questions with a median importance of 6.0 or above, which we highlight as the current view of researchers active in the field as research questions to pursue in order to maximize impact on understanding and managing coupled human and natural systems for achieving sustainable development goals and addressing emerging global challenges.

The Determinants of National Funding in Trans-national Joint Research: Exploring the Proximity Dimensions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Reale, E.; Spinello, A.; Zinilli, A.

2016-07-01

This paper investigates -using an explorative approach, why policy makers at national level engage in transnational joint research activities and mobilize dedicated financial resources. The research question is: why policy makers (either Governments or Research Funding Organisations-RFOs) in EU28 countries invest in transnational joint research activities beyond the European Framework Programmes, and what are the determinants of different levels of funding engagement? The question is relevant to understand the reasons that generate the existing imbalances within European countries as to the participation in transnational research, which are likely to create peripheries within the ERA, thus undermining the process of European integration. We assume that proximity linked to cognitive, institutional and organizational dimensions can affect the policy decisions about the level of funding (real engagement) joint European research programmes, because the closeness or distance in these dimensions generate similarities that are likely to influence the possibility of decision makers to collaborate in the implementation of research programmes. The paper also explores the existence of any effect of geographical proximity, although it is not supposed to play a role in policy decisions about investment in transnational research programmes. (Author)

Phrasal Paraphrase Based Question Reformulation for Archived Question Retrieval.

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Yu Zhang

Full Text Available Lexical gap in cQA search, resulted by the variability of languages, has been recognized as an important and widespread phenomenon. To address the problem, this paper presents a question reformulation scheme to enhance the question retrieval model by fully exploring the intelligence of paraphrase in phrase-level. It compensates for the existing paraphrasing research in a suitable granularity, which either falls into fine-grained lexical-level or coarse-grained sentence-level. Given a question in natural language, our scheme first detects the involved key-phrases by jointly integrating the corpus-dependent knowledge and question-aware cues. Next, it automatically extracts the paraphrases for each identified key-phrase utilizing multiple online translation engines, and then selects the most relevant reformulations from a large group of question rewrites, which is formed by full permutation and combination of the generated paraphrases. Extensive evaluations on a real world data set demonstrate that our model is able to characterize the complex questions and achieves promising performance as compared to the state-of-the-art methods.

Exploring indicators of interdisciplinary research and education success

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Carr, Gemma; Blanch, Anicet; Blaschke, Alfred Paul; Brouwer, Roy; Bucher, Christian; Farnleitner, Andreas; Fürnkranz-Prskawetz, Alexia; Loucks, Daniel Pete; Morgenroth, Eberhard; Parajka, Juraj; Pfeifer, Norbert; Rechberger, Helmut; Wagner, Wolfgang; Zessner, Matthias; Blöschl, Günter

2017-04-01

Interdisciplinary research and education programmes aim to produce groundbreaking research, often on socially relevant topics, and to produce experts with the skills to work across disciplines. However, there are many outstanding questions on the effectiveness of interdisciplinary programmes. Such as whether they produce novel and groundbreaking research, whether interdisciplinary graduates are leading to a more interdisciplinary culture of research and practice in academia and beyond, and whether an interdisciplinary approach can more effectively address issues of societal relevance than a mono-disciplinary approach. The Vienna Doctoral Programme on Water Resource Systems at Vienna University of Technology is currently in its eighth year and offers a valuable case study to contribute to understanding interdisciplinary research and education. Ten different research fields are covered by the Programme and because collaborative research takes place both between researchers from different research fields (cross-disciplinary research) and from researchers from the same research field (mono-disciplinary research) we are able to compare the impacts of each research type. We specifically explored three questions: i) whether cross-disciplinary research leads to more innovative scientific findings than mono-disciplinary research, ii) whether cross-disciplinary researchers develop professional skills that benefit their future careers, and iii) whether cross-disciplinary research produces findings of greater societal relevance than mono-disciplinary research. To conduct the evaluation we identified a variety of indicators. Journal impact factors (IF) and citation rates of ISI indexed publications were used to compare scientific innovativeness. Based on these indicators, our findings suggest that cross-disciplinary work is more innovative. The cross-disciplinary work is published in journals with a slightly higher impact factor (mean IF is 2.36) and receives slightly more

Frequently asked questions in hypoxia research

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Wenger RH

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Roland H Wenger,1,2 Vartan Kurtcuoglu,1,2 Carsten C Scholz,1,2 Hugo H Marti,3 David Hoogewijs1,2,4 1Institute of Physiology and Zurich Center for Human Physiology (ZIHP, University of Zurich, 2National Center of Competence in Research “Kidney.CH”, Zurich, Switzerland; 3Institute of Physiology and Pathophysiology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, 4Institute of Physiology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany Abstract: “What is the O2 concentration in a normoxic cell culture incubator?” This and other frequently asked questions in hypoxia research will be answered in this review. Our intention is to give a simple introduction to the physics of gases that would be helpful for newcomers to the field of hypoxia research. We will provide background knowledge about questions often asked, but without straightforward answers. What is O2 concentration, and what is O2 partial pressure? What is normoxia, and what is hypoxia? How much O2 is experienced by a cell residing in a culture dish in vitro vs in a tissue in vivo? By the way, the O2 concentration in a normoxic incubator is 18.6%, rather than 20.9% or 20%, as commonly stated in research publications. And this is strictly only valid for incubators at sea level. Keywords: gas laws, hypoxia-inducible factor, Krogh tissue cylinder, oxygen diffusion, partial pressure, tissue oxygen levels

Questioning Questions: Elementary Teachers' Adaptations of Investigation Questions across the Inquiry Continuum

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Biggers, Mandy

2018-01-01

Questioning is a central practice in science classrooms. However, not every question translates into a "good" science investigation. Questions that drive science investigations can be provided by many sources including the teacher, the curriculum, or the student. The variations in the source of investigation questions were explored in…

Question-based inquiry. an experience in research education

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María Eugenia Plata Santos

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The present article introduces the central elements of the research and pedagogical innovation project entitled: “The Use of Questions as a Pedagogical Strategy in the Construction of Research Problems”, developed by the students of the ‘Rizoma’ research training group of the School of Psychopedagogy, which began in the year 2009, and which forms part of the “Educational Innovations” research line of the Masters sin Education Program at UPTC. The question as strategy, pedagogy or didactics, becomes an educational option for the development of thinking processes, and contributes to an education that embraces uncertainty, in order to develop flexible thinking, as well as critical and creative attitudes towards knowledge. These qualities constitute the basis of all research tasks, and are fundamental in the education of professionals in the midst of the current, fast-moving and uncertain postmodern condition. Emerging from the students’ and teacher’s own voices, this article offers an account of this experience and characterizes the findings of this education and research work.

Categorization of questions posed before and after inquiry-based learning

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Sandra Milena García González

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Posing research questions is the central ability of the scientific thought. This article examines the ability of sixth grade children to pose researchable questions before and after a three months’ work on a didactic sequence based on the inquiry school model. According to their purpose, the questions asked by children, after reading a text, were classified into researchable questions -susceptible to be empirically explored-, questions about a cause, and questions on a piece of data. The results show that the amount and the type of questions the students were able to pose during the intervention changed, from most of questions on data or information, to most of researchable questions, subsequently, the importance of designing teaching approaches to foster this ability was proved.

Approaches to Exploring Category Information for Question Retrieval in Community Question-Answer Archives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cao, Xin; Cong, Gao; Cui, Bin

2012-01-01

, and it applies these approaches to existing question retrieval models, including a state-of-the-art question retrieval model. Experiments conducted on real CQA data demonstrate that the proposed techniques are effective and efficient and are capable of outperforming a variety of baseline methods significantly......Community Question Answering (CQA) is a popular type of service where users ask questions and where answers are obtained from other users or from historical question-answer pairs. CQA archives contain large volumes of questions organized into a hierarchy of categories. As an essential function...

Socratic Questioning: A Teaching Philosophy for the Student Research Consultation

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Shannon Marie Robinson

2017-11-01

Full Text Available In Brief Socratic questioning, the act of asking questions in order to prompt critical thinking and reflection, expands the boundaries of librarianship by borrowing from the fields of philosophy, pedagogy, and psychology. When employed during the research consultation, Socratic questioning establishes a cooperative relationship between librarian and student that empowers the student to take agency over the interaction. Engaging learners not only academically but emotionally encourages them to become more deliberate and cognizant as they articulate their research need. This paper demonstrates how reference librarians can adjust interactions with students in order to encourage, empathize, and engage with these learners.

Toward sustainable environmental quality: Identifying priority research questions for Latin America

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Furley, Tatiana Heid; Brodeur, Julie; Silva de Assis, Helena C; Carriquiriborde, Pedro; Chagas, Katia R; Corrales, Jone; Denadai, Marina; Fuchs, Julio; Mascarenhas, Renata; Miglioranza, Karina SB; Miguez Caramés, Diana Margarita; Navas, José Maria; Nugegoda, Dayanthi; Planes, Estela; Rodriguez‐Jorquera, Ignacio Alejandro; Orozco‐Medina, Martha; Boxall, Alistair BA; Rudd, Murray A

2018-01-01

ABSTRACT The Global Horizon Scanning Project (GHSP) is an innovative initiative that aims to identify important global environmental quality research needs. Here we report 20 key research questions from Latin America (LA). Members of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) LA and other scientists from LA were asked to submit research questions that would represent priority needs to address in the region. One hundred questions were received, then partitioned among categories, examined, and some rearranged during a workshop in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Twenty priority research questions were subsequently identified. These research questions included developing, improving, and harmonizing across LA countries methods for 1) identifying contaminants and degradation products in complex matrices (including biota); 2) advancing prediction of contaminant risks and effects in ecosystems, addressing lab‐to‐field extrapolation challenges, and understanding complexities of multiple stressors (including chemicals and climate change); and 3) improving management and regulatory tools toward achieving sustainable development. Whereas environmental contaminants frequently identified in these key questions were pesticides, pharmaceuticals, endocrine disruptors or modulators, plastics, and nanomaterials, commonly identified environmental challenges were related to agriculture, urban effluents, solid wastes, pulp and paper mills, and natural extraction activities. Several interesting research topics included assessing and preventing pollution impacts on conservation protected areas, integrating environment and health assessments, and developing strategies for identification, substitution, and design of less hazardous chemicals (e.g., green chemistry). Finally, a recurrent research need included developing an understanding of differential sensitivity of regional species and ecosystems to environmental contaminants and other stressors. Addressing these critical

Toward sustainable environmental quality: Identifying priority research questions for Latin America.

Science.gov (United States)

Furley, Tatiana Heid; Brodeur, Julie; Silva de Assis, Helena C; Carriquiriborde, Pedro; Chagas, Katia R; Corrales, Jone; Denadai, Marina; Fuchs, Julio; Mascarenhas, Renata; Miglioranza, Karina Sb; Miguez Caramés, Diana Margarita; Navas, José Maria; Nugegoda, Dayanthi; Planes, Estela; Rodriguez-Jorquera, Ignacio Alejandro; Orozco-Medina, Martha; Boxall, Alistair Ba; Rudd, Murray A; Brooks, Bryan W

2018-05-01

The Global Horizon Scanning Project (GHSP) is an innovative initiative that aims to identify important global environmental quality research needs. Here we report 20 key research questions from Latin America (LA). Members of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) LA and other scientists from LA were asked to submit research questions that would represent priority needs to address in the region. One hundred questions were received, then partitioned among categories, examined, and some rearranged during a workshop in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Twenty priority research questions were subsequently identified. These research questions included developing, improving, and harmonizing across LA countries methods for 1) identifying contaminants and degradation products in complex matrices (including biota); 2) advancing prediction of contaminant risks and effects in ecosystems, addressing lab-to-field extrapolation challenges, and understanding complexities of multiple stressors (including chemicals and climate change); and 3) improving management and regulatory tools toward achieving sustainable development. Whereas environmental contaminants frequently identified in these key questions were pesticides, pharmaceuticals, endocrine disruptors or modulators, plastics, and nanomaterials, commonly identified environmental challenges were related to agriculture, urban effluents, solid wastes, pulp and paper mills, and natural extraction activities. Several interesting research topics included assessing and preventing pollution impacts on conservation protected areas, integrating environment and health assessments, and developing strategies for identification, substitution, and design of less hazardous chemicals (e.g., green chemistry). Finally, a recurrent research need included developing an understanding of differential sensitivity of regional species and ecosystems to environmental contaminants and other stressors. Addressing these critical questions will

Exploration-Related Research on the International Space Station: Connecting Science Results to the Design of Future Missions

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Rhatigan, Jennifer L.; Robinson, Julie A.; Sawin, Charles F.; Ahlf, Peter R.

2005-01-01

In January, 2004, the US President announced a vision for space exploration, and charged NASA with utilizing the International Space Station (ISS) for research and technology targeted at supporting the US space exploration goals. This paper describes: 1) what we have learned from the first four years of research on ISS relative to the exploration mission, 2) the on-going research being conducted in this regard, 3) our current understanding of the major exploration mission risks that the ISS can be used to address, and 4) current progress in realigning NASA s research portfolio for ISS to support exploration missions. Specifically, we discuss the focus of research on solving the perplexing problems of maintaining human health on long-duration missions, and the development of countermeasures to protect humans from the space environment, enabling long duration exploration missions. The interchange between mission design and research needs is dynamic, where design decisions influence the type of research needed, and results of research influence design decisions. The fundamental challenge to science on ISS is completing experiments that answer key questions in time to shape design decisions for future exploration. In this context, exploration-relevant research must do more than be conceptually connected to design decisions-it must become a part of the mission design process.

On framing the research question and choosing the appropriate research design.

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Parfrey, Patrick S; Ravani, Pietro

2015-01-01

Clinical epidemiology is the science of human disease investigation with a focus on diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. The generation of a reasonable question requires definition of patients, interventions, controls, and outcomes. The goal of research design is to minimize error, to ensure adequate samples, to measure input and output variables appropriately, to consider external and internal validities, to limit bias, and to address clinical as well as statistical relevance. The hierarchy of evidence for clinical decision-making places randomized controlled trials (RCT) or systematic review of good quality RCTs at the top of the evidence pyramid. Prognostic and etiologic questions are best addressed with longitudinal cohort studies.

Two-Year-Old Children Differentiate Test Questions from Genuine Questions

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Grosse, Gerlind; Tomasello, Michael

2012-01-01

Children are frequently confronted with so-called "test questions". While genuine questions are requests for missing information, test questions ask for information obviously already known to the questioner. In this study we explored whether two-year-old children respond differentially to one and the same question used as either a genuine question…

Questions That Won't Go Away in Participatory Research

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Jonathan W. Long; Heidi L. Ballard; Larry A. Fisher; Jill M. Belsky

2016-01-01

Ethical issues are intrinsic to conducting research regarding society and natural resources, but they often become poignant when engaging in Participatory Action Research. We compiled common and persistent challenges into a list of "Questions That Won't Go Away" or "QTWGAs" that are relevant to people interested in conducting participatory...

FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions regarding the IDRC Research ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

IDRC CRDI

Questions. 1. If I am selected for a Research Award, do I need a work permit to ... Yes, you are responsible for obtaining a valid work permit and proper visa prior to ... is the deadline for awards starting in January of the following calendar year.

Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute: Year Three Annual Report 2016

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Pendleton, Yvonne; Schmidt, Greg; Kring, David; Horanyi, Mihaly; Heldmann, Jennifer; Glotch, Timothy; Rivkin, Andy; Farrell, William; Pieters, Carle; Bottke, William;

Closing the gap in travel medicine: reframing research questions for a new era.

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Chen, Lin H; Leder, Karin; Wilson, Mary E

2017-07-01

Travel medicine needs are changing. New patterns of travel, including greater travel by individuals from emerging economies with different values in costs, risks and benefits, must be considered. This review aims to (1) highlight selected studies that have been published that address previously identified gaps in knowledge; (2) propose possible ways to consider questions regarding travel medicine practice for travelers from emerging economies, underscoring priorities for research focusing on these important populations; (3) highlight potential deficiencies in relevance of current international guidelines as they pertain to travelers from emerging economies; (4) frame research questions for travelers from emerging economies and (5) consider roles for ISTM in closing the gap. We reviewed past travel medicine research priorities published in 2010 to identify publications that responded to some research questions posed. We also reviewed CDC and WHO recommendations and assessed their applicability to travelers from emerging economies. Recent publications have responded to some research questions, but gaps remain and new questions have emerged. Re-framing of several key research questions is needed for travelers from emerging economies. A new challenge looms for traditional travel medicine fields to identify and attend to knowledge and guideline gaps, particularly to rethink questions regarding travel medicine to make them relevant for travelers from emerging economies. The International Society of Travel Medicine is well positioned to assist emerging economies assess their resources and needs, formulate research priorities and tailor the development of travel medicine into a framework aligned to their requirements. © International Society of Travel Medicine, 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

Top 10 research questions related to children physical activity motivation.

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Chen, Ang

2013-12-01

Physical activity is critical to healthy development of children. It is well documented that helping children develop and sustain a physically active lifestyle requires children to become motivated. Many studies have been conducted in the past 2.5 decades on determinants and correlates for children and adolescents' physical activity motivation. The findings have informed researchers and practitioners about motivation sources for children and effective strategies to motivate children in given physical activity settings. Built on the extensive knowledge base and theoretical platforms formed by these research studies, the purpose of this article is to take a look at the current research landscape and provide subjective thoughts about what we still need to know about children's physical activity motivation. The product of this subjective thinking process rendered 10 potential questions for future research on children's physical activity motivation in both in-school and out-of-school settings. These topics encompass those focusing on children's physical activity motivation as a mental dispositional process, those conceptualizing the motivation as an outcome of person-environment interactions, and those attempting to dissect the motivation as an outcome of social-cultural influences and educational policies. It is hoped that the topics can serve researchers interested in children's physical activity motivation as starting blocks from which they can extend their conceptual thinking and identify research questions that are personally meaningful. It is also hoped that the list of potential questions can be helpful to researchers in accomplishing the imperative and significant mission to motivate children to be physically active in the 21st century and beyond.

Question popularity analysis and prediction in community question answering services.

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Liu, Ting; Zhang, Wei-Nan; Cao, Liujuan; Zhang, Yu

2014-01-01

With the blooming of online social media applications, Community Question Answering (CQA) services have become one of the most important online resources for information and knowledge seekers. A large number of high quality question and answer pairs have been accumulated, which allow users to not only share their knowledge with others, but also interact with each other. Accordingly, volumes of efforts have been taken to explore the questions and answers retrieval in CQA services so as to help users to finding the similar questions or the right answers. However, to our knowledge, less attention has been paid so far to question popularity in CQA. Question popularity can reflect the attention and interest of users. Hence, predicting question popularity can better capture the users' interest so as to improve the users' experience. Meanwhile, it can also promote the development of the community. In this paper, we investigate the problem of predicting question popularity in CQA. We first explore the factors that have impact on question popularity by employing statistical analysis. We then propose a supervised machine learning approach to model these factors for question popularity prediction. The experimental results show that our proposed approach can effectively distinguish the popular questions from unpopular ones in the Yahoo! Answers question and answer repository.

Rhetorical questions or rhetorical uses of questions?

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Špago Džemal

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This paper aims to explore whether some rhetorical questions contain certain linguistic elements or forms which would differentiate them from answer-eliciting and action-eliciting questions, and thereby hint at their rhetorical nature even outside the context. Namely, despite the fact that the same questions can be rhetorical in one context, and answer-eliciting in another, some of them are more likely to be associated with rhetorical or non-rhetorical use. The analysis is based on extensive data (over 1200 examples of rhetorical questions taken from 30 plays by two British and two American writers, and the results are expected to give an insight into whether we can talk about rhetorical questions or just a rhetorical use of questions.

Modelling Question Difficulty in an A Level Physics Examination

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Crisp, Victoria; Grayson, Rebecca

2013-01-01

"Item difficulty modelling" is a technique used for a number of purposes such as to support future item development, to explore validity in relation to the constructs that influence difficulty and to predict the difficulty of items. This research attempted to explore the factors influencing question difficulty in a general qualification…

Predicting self-reported research misconduct and questionable research practices in university students using an augmented Theory of Planned Behavior

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Rajah-Kanagasabai, Camilla J.; Roberts, Lynne D.

2015-01-01

This study examined the utility of the Theory of Planned Behavior model, augmented by descriptive norms and justifications, for predicting self-reported research misconduct and questionable research practices in university students. A convenience sample of 205 research active Western Australian university students (47 male, 158 female, ages 18–53 years, M = 22, SD = 4.78) completed an online survey. There was a low level of engagement in research misconduct, with approximately one in seven students reporting data fabrication and one in eight data falsification. Path analysis and model testing in LISREL supported a parsimonious two step mediation model, providing good fit to the data. After controlling for social desirability, the effect of attitudes, subjective norms, descriptive norms and perceived behavioral control on student engagement in research misconduct and questionable research practices was mediated by justifications and then intention. This revised augmented model accounted for a substantial 40.8% of the variance in student engagement in research misconduct and questionable research practices, demonstrating its predictive utility. The model can be used to target interventions aimed at reducing student engagement in research misconduct and questionable research practices. PMID:25983709

Pollination ecology in the 21st Century: Key questions for future research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jane C. Stout

2011-03-01

Full Text Available To inspire new ideas in research on pollination ecology, we list the most important unanswered questions in the field. This list was drawn up by contacting 170 scientists from different areas of pollination ecology and asking them to contribute their opinion on the greatest knowledge gaps that need to be addressed. Almost 40% of them took part in our email poll and we received more than 650 questions and comments, which we classified into different categories representing various aspects of pollination research. The original questions were merged and synthesised, and a final vote and ranking led to the resultant list. The categories cover plant sexual reproduction, pollen and stigma biology, abiotic pollination, evolution of animal-mediated pollination, interactions of pollinators and floral antagonists, pollinator behaviour, taxonomy, plant-pollinator assemblages, geographical trends in diversity, drivers of pollinator loss, ecosystem services, management of pollination, and conservation issues such as the implementation of pollinator conservation. We focused on questions that were of a broad scope rather than case-specific; thus, addressing some questions may not be feasible within single research projects but constitute a general guide for future directions. With this compilation we hope to raise awareness of pollination-related topics not only among researchers but also among non-specialists including policy makers, funding agencies and the public at large.

Top 10 Research Questions Related to Youth Aerobic Fitness.

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Armstrong, Neil

2017-06-01

Peak oxygen uptake ([Formula: see text] 2 ) is internationally recognized as the criterion measure of youth aerobic fitness, but despite pediatric data being available for almost 80 years, its measurement and interpretation in relation to growth, maturation, and health remain controversial. The trainability of youth aerobic fitness continues to be hotly debated, and causal mechanisms of training-induced changes and their modulation by chronological age, biological maturation, and sex are still to be resolved. The daily physical activity of youth is characterized by intermittent bouts and rapid changes in intensity, but physical activity of the intensity and duration required to determine peak [Formula: see text] 2 is rarely (if ever) experienced by most youth. In this context, it may therefore be the transient kinetics of pulmonary [Formula: see text] 2 that best reflect youth aerobic fitness. There are remarkably few rigorous studies of youth pulmonary [Formula: see text] 2 kinetics at the onset of exercise in different intensity domains, and the influence of chronological age, biological maturation, and sex during step changes in exercise intensity are not confidently documented. Understanding the trainability of the parameters of youth pulmonary [Formula: see text] 2 kinetics is primarily based on a few comparative studies of athletes and nonathletes. The underlying mechanisms of changes due to training require further exploration. The aims of the present article are therefore to provide a brief overview of aerobic fitness during growth and maturation, increase awareness of current controversies in its assessment and interpretation, identify gaps in knowledge, raise 10 relevant research questions, and indicate potential areas for future research.

Fostering the exchange of real world data across different countries to answer primary care research questions: an UNLOCK study from the IPCRG.

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Cragg, Liza; Williams, Siân; van der Molen, Thys; Thomas, Mike; Correia de Sousa, Jaime; Chavannes, Niels H

2018-03-08

There is growing awareness amongst healthcare planners, providers and researchers of the need to make better use of routinely collected health data by translating it into actionable information that improves efficiency of healthcare and patient outcomes. There is also increased acceptance of the importance of real world research that recruits patients representative of primary care populations and evaluates interventions realistically delivered by primary care professionals. The UNLOCK Group is an international collaboration of primary care researchers and practitioners from 15 countries. It has coordinated and shared datasets of diagnostic and prognostic variables for COPD and asthma to answer research questions meaningful to professionals working in primary care over a 6-year period. Over this time the UNLOCK Group has undertaken several studies using data from unselected primary care populations from diverse contexts to evaluate the burden of disease, multiple morbidities, treatment and follow-up. However, practical and structural constraints have hampered the UNLOCK Group's ability to translate research ideas into studies. This study explored the constraints, challenges and successes experienced by the UNLOCK Group and its participants' learning as researchers and primary care practitioners collaborating to answer primary care research questions. The study identified lessons for future studies and collaborations that require data sharing across borders. It also explored specific challenges to fostering the exchange of primary care data in comparison to other datasets such as public health, prescribing or hospital data and mechanisms that may be used to overcome these.

On the question of pure or applied research in developing countries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sioshansi, P.; Lodhi, A.S.; Payrovan, H.

1977-01-01

One particular approach to the question of pure versus applied research is discussed in this article. It is pointed out how a modest applied research project has been initiated in this laboratory and how this line of work has subsequently developed to include pure research in related areas

NASA Virtual Institutes: International Bridges for Space Exploration

Science.gov (United States)

Schmidt, Gregory K.

2016-01-01

NASA created the first virtual institute, the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI), in 2009 with an aim toward bringing together geographically disparate and multidisciplinary teams toward the goal of answering broad questions in the then-new discipline of astrobiology. With the success of the virtual institute model, NASA then created the NASA Lunar Science Institute (NLSI) in 2008 to address questions of science and human exploration of the Moon, and then the NASA Aeronautics Research Institute (NARI) in 2012 which addresses key questions in the development of aeronautics technologies. With the broadening of NASA's human exploration targets to include Near Earth Asteroids and the moons of Mars as well as the Moon, the NLSI morphed into the Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) in 2012. SSERVI funds domestic research teams to address broad questions at the intersection of science and human exploration, with the underlying principle that science enables human exploration, and human exploration enables science. Nine domestic teams were funded in 2014 for a five-year period to address a variety of different topics, and nine international partners (with more to come) also work with the U.S. teams on a variety of topics of mutual interest. The result is a robust and productive research infrastructure that is not only scientifically productive but can respond to strategic topics of domestic and international interest, and which develops a new generation of researchers. This is all accomplished with the aid of virtual collaboration technologies which enable scientific research at a distance. The virtual institute model is widely applicable to a range of space science and exploration problems.

Improving the Development of Student's Research Questions and Hypotheses in an Introductory Business Research Methods Course

Science.gov (United States)

Strangman, Lauria; Knowles, Elizabeth

2012-01-01

In an introductory research methods course, students often develop research questions and hypotheses that are vague or confusing, do not contain measurable concepts, and are too narrow in scope or vision. Because of this, the final research projects often fail to provide useful information or address the overall research problem. A Lesson Study…

Exploring methods in information literacy research

CERN Document Server

Lipu, Suzanne; Lloyd, Annemaree

2007-01-01

This book provides an overview of approaches to assist researchers and practitioners to explore ways of undertaking research in the information literacy field. The first chapter provides an introductory overview of research by Dr Kirsty Williamson (author of Research Methods for Students, Academics and Professionals: Information Management and Systems) and this sets the scene for the rest of the chapters where each author explores the key aspects of a specific method and explains how it may be applied in practice. The methods covered include those representing qualitative, quantitative and mix

"What's the difference?" women's wheelchair basketball, reverse integration, and the question(ing) of disability.

Science.gov (United States)

Spencer-Cavaliere, Nancy; Peers, Danielle

2011-10-01

The inclusion of able-bodied athletes within disability sport, a phenomenon known as reverse integration, has sparked significant debate within adapted physical activity. Although researchers and practitioners have taken up positions for or against reverse integration, there is a lack of supporting research on the experiences of athletes who already play in such settings. In this study, we explore how competitive female athletes who have a disability experience reverse integration in Canadian wheelchair basketball. Athletic identity was used as the initial conceptual framework to guide semistructured interviews with nine participants. The results suggest that participation in this context contributed to positive athletic identities. Interviews also pointed to the unexpected theme of "what's the difference?" that this sporting context provided a space for the questioning and creative negotiation of the categories of disability and able-bodiedness. Methodologically, this paper also explores the possibilities and challenges of inter- worldview and insider-outsider research collaboration.

Backward Dependencies and in-Situ wh-Questions as Test Cases on How to Approach Experimental Linguistics Research That Pursues Theoretical Linguistics Questions

Science.gov (United States)

Pablos, Leticia; Doetjes, Jenny; Cheng, Lisa L.-S.

2018-01-01

The empirical study of language is a young field in contemporary linguistics. This being the case, and following a natural development process, the field is currently at a stage where different research methods and experimental approaches are being put into question in terms of their validity. Without pretending to provide an answer with respect to the best way to conduct linguistics related experimental research, in this article we aim at examining the process that researchers follow in the design and implementation of experimental linguistics research with a goal to validate specific theoretical linguistic analyses. First, we discuss the general challenges that experimental work faces in finding a compromise between addressing theoretically relevant questions and being able to implement these questions in a specific controlled experimental paradigm. We discuss the Granularity Mismatch Problem (Poeppel and Embick, 2005) which addresses the challenges that research that is trying to bridge the representations and computations of language and their psycholinguistic/neurolinguistic evidence faces, and the basic assumptions that interdisciplinary research needs to consider due to the different conceptual granularity of the objects under study. To illustrate the practical implications of the points addressed, we compare two approaches to perform linguistic experimental research by reviewing a number of our own studies strongly grounded on theoretically informed questions. First, we show how linguistic phenomena similar at a conceptual level can be tested within the same language using measurement of event-related potentials (ERP) by discussing results from two ERP experiments on the processing of long-distance backward dependencies that involve coreference and negative polarity items respectively in Dutch. Second, we examine how the same linguistic phenomenon can be tested in different languages using reading time measures by discussing the outcome of four self

Backward Dependencies and in-Situ wh-Questions as Test Cases on How to Approach Experimental Linguistics Research That Pursues Theoretical Linguistics Questions.

Science.gov (United States)

Pablos, Leticia; Doetjes, Jenny; Cheng, Lisa L-S

2017-01-01

The empirical study of language is a young field in contemporary linguistics. This being the case, and following a natural development process, the field is currently at a stage where different research methods and experimental approaches are being put into question in terms of their validity. Without pretending to provide an answer with respect to the best way to conduct linguistics related experimental research, in this article we aim at examining the process that researchers follow in the design and implementation of experimental linguistics research with a goal to validate specific theoretical linguistic analyses. First, we discuss the general challenges that experimental work faces in finding a compromise between addressing theoretically relevant questions and being able to implement these questions in a specific controlled experimental paradigm. We discuss the Granularity Mismatch Problem (Poeppel and Embick, 2005) which addresses the challenges that research that is trying to bridge the representations and computations of language and their psycholinguistic/neurolinguistic evidence faces, and the basic assumptions that interdisciplinary research needs to consider due to the different conceptual granularity of the objects under study. To illustrate the practical implications of the points addressed, we compare two approaches to perform linguistic experimental research by reviewing a number of our own studies strongly grounded on theoretically informed questions. First, we show how linguistic phenomena similar at a conceptual level can be tested within the same language using measurement of event-related potentials (ERP) by discussing results from two ERP experiments on the processing of long-distance backward dependencies that involve coreference and negative polarity items respectively in Dutch. Second, we examine how the same linguistic phenomenon can be tested in different languages using reading time measures by discussing the outcome of four self

Backward Dependencies and in-Situ wh-Questions as Test Cases on How to Approach Experimental Linguistics Research That Pursues Theoretical Linguistics Questions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leticia Pablos

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The empirical study of language is a young field in contemporary linguistics. This being the case, and following a natural development process, the field is currently at a stage where different research methods and experimental approaches are being put into question in terms of their validity. Without pretending to provide an answer with respect to the best way to conduct linguistics related experimental research, in this article we aim at examining the process that researchers follow in the design and implementation of experimental linguistics research with a goal to validate specific theoretical linguistic analyses. First, we discuss the general challenges that experimental work faces in finding a compromise between addressing theoretically relevant questions and being able to implement these questions in a specific controlled experimental paradigm. We discuss the Granularity Mismatch Problem (Poeppel and Embick, 2005 which addresses the challenges that research that is trying to bridge the representations and computations of language and their psycholinguistic/neurolinguistic evidence faces, and the basic assumptions that interdisciplinary research needs to consider due to the different conceptual granularity of the objects under study. To illustrate the practical implications of the points addressed, we compare two approaches to perform linguistic experimental research by reviewing a number of our own studies strongly grounded on theoretically informed questions. First, we show how linguistic phenomena similar at a conceptual level can be tested within the same language using measurement of event-related potentials (ERP by discussing results from two ERP experiments on the processing of long-distance backward dependencies that involve coreference and negative polarity items respectively in Dutch. Second, we examine how the same linguistic phenomenon can be tested in different languages using reading time measures by discussing the outcome of

Exploring Primary Student’s Problem-Solving Ability by Doing Tasks Like PISA's Question

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rita Novita

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Problem solving plays an important role in mathematics and should have a prominent role in the mathematics education. The term “problem solving” refers to mathematics tasks that have the potential to provide intellectual challenges for enhancing students’ mathematical understanding and development. In addition, the contextual problem that requires students to connect their mathematical knowledge in solving mathematical situational problem is believed to be an impact on the development students’ problem-solving ability. The tasks that have been developed by PISA meet both of these criteria. As stated by the NCTM, that problem-solving skill and ability should be developed to students when they were in primary school (K5-8, therefore, it is important to do an effort to guide students in developing problem-solving ability from primary school such as accustom students to do some mathematical solving-problem tasks. Thus, in this research we tried to investigate how to develop mathematical problem-solving tasks like PISA’s question that have potential effect toward students’ mathematical problem-solving abilities?. We used a  formative evaluation type of development research as an mean  to achieve this research goal. This type of research is conducted in two steps, namely preliminary stage and formative evaluation stage covering self evaluation, prototyping (expert reviews, one-to-one, and small group, and  field test. This research involve four primary schools in Palembang, there are SD Muhammadiyah 6 Palembang, MIN 1 & MIN 2 Palembang, and SDN 179 Palembang. The result of this research showed that the mathematical problem-solving tasks  that have been developed have potential effect in exploring mathematical problem-solving ability of the primary school students. It  is shown from their work in solving problem where all of the indicators of problem solving competency have emerged quite well category. In addition, based on interview

USER FRUSTRATION IN HIT INTERFACES: EXPLORING PAST HCI RESEARCH FOR A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF CLINICIANS' EXPERIENCES.

Science.gov (United States)

Opoku-Boateng, Gloria A

2015-01-01

User frustration research has been one way of looking into clinicians' experience with health information technology use and interaction. In order to understand how clinician frustration with Health Information Technology (HIT) use occurs, there is the need to explore Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) literature that addresses both frustration and HIT use. In the past three decades, HCI frustration research has increased and expanded. Researchers have done a lot of work to understand emotions, end-user frustration and affect. This paper uses a historical literature review approach to review the origins of emotion and frustration research and explore the research question; Does HCI research on frustration provide insights on clinicians' frustration with HIT interfaces? From the literature review HCI research on emotion and frustration provides additional insights that can indeed help explain user frustration in HIT. Different approaches and HCI perspectives also help frame HIT user frustration research as well as inform HIT system design. The paper concludes with a suggested directions on how future design and research may take.

Unsaturated flow and transport research questions and priorities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chery, D.L.

1993-01-01

A little over two years ago, a similar meeting (Workshop IV - Flow and Transport through Unsaturated Fractured Rock; Related to High-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal) was held her in Tucson, Arizona, to discuss the same issues discussed here the past 4 days. This presentation revisits what was said 2 years ago, reviews research needs that have been articulated by the licensing staff of the Division of High-Level Waste Management, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and presents some of the thoughts on research needs resulting from the deliberations of a special committee of the National Research Council. After considering these aspects the questions of what has been accomplished in the past 2 years and where attention and energies should be focused in the coming few years, can be asked. 3 refs

6th international conference on Mars polar science and exploration: Conference summary and five top questions

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Isaac B.; Diniega, Serina; Beaty, David W.; Thorsteinsson, Thorsteinn; Becerra, Patricio; Bramson, Ali; Clifford, Stephen M.; Hvidberg, Christine S.; Portyankina, Ganna; Piqueux, Sylvain; Spiga, Aymeric; Titus, Timothy N.

2018-01-01

We provide a historical context of the International Conference on Mars Polar Science and Exploration and summarize the proceedings from the 6th iteration of this meeting. In particular, we identify five key Mars polar science questions based primarily on presentations and discussions at the conference and discuss the overlap between some of those questions. We briefly describe the seven scientific field trips that were offered at the conference, which greatly supplemented conference discussion of Mars polar processes and landforms. We end with suggestions for measurements, modeling, and laboratory and field work that were highlighted during conference discussion as necessary steps to address key knowledge gaps.

NASA's Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute: Science and Technology for Lunar Exploration

Science.gov (United States)

Schmidt, Greg; Bailey, Brad; Gibbs, Kristina

2015-01-01

The NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) is a virtual institute focused on research at the intersection of science and exploration, training the next generation of lunar scientists, and development and support of the international community. As part of its mission, SSERVI acts as a hub for opportunities that engage the larger scientific and exploration communities in order to form new interdisciplinary, research-focused collaborations. The nine domestic SSERVI teams that comprise the U.S. complement of the Institute engage with the international science and exploration communities through workshops, conferences, online seminars and classes, student exchange programs and internships. SSERVI represents a close collaboration between science, technology and exploration enabling a deeper, integrated understanding of the Moon and other airless bodies as human exploration moves beyond low Earth orbit. SSERVI centers on the scientific aspects of exploration as they pertain to the Moon, Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) and the moons of Mars, with additional aspects of related technology development, including a major focus on human exploration-enabling efforts such as resolving Strategic Knowledge Gaps (SKGs). The Institute focuses on interdisciplinary, exploration-related science focused on airless bodies targeted as potential human destinations. Areas of study represent the broad spectrum of lunar, NEA, and Martian moon sciences encompassing investigations of the surface, interior, exosphere, and near-space environments as well as science uniquely enabled from these bodies. This research profile integrates investigations of plasma physics, geology/geochemistry, technology integration, solar system origins/evolution, regolith geotechnical properties, analogues, volatiles, ISRU and exploration potential of the target bodies. New opportunities for both domestic and international partnerships are continually generated through these research and

Instructor-Aided Asynchronous Question Answering System for Online Education and Distance Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Wen, Dunwei; Cuzzola, John; Brown, Lorna; Kinshuk

2012-01-01

Question answering systems have frequently been explored for educational use. However, their value was somewhat limited due to the quality of the answers returned to the student. Recent question answering (QA) research has started to incorporate deep natural language processing (NLP) in order to improve these answers. However, current NLP…

Protecting and expanding the richness and diversity of life, an ethic for astrobiology research and space exploration

Science.gov (United States)

Randolph, Richard O.; McKay, Christopher P.

2014-01-01

The ongoing search for life on other worlds and the prospects of eventual human exploration of the Moon and Mars indicate the need for new ethical guidelines to direct our actions as we search and how we respond if we discover microbial life on other worlds. Here we review how life on other worlds presents a novel question in environmental ethics. We propose a principle of protecting and expanding the richness and diversity of life as the basis of an ethic for astrobiology research and space exploration. There are immediate implications for the operational policies governing how we conduct the search for life on Mars and how we plan for human exploration throughout the Solar System.

Protecting and Expanding the Richness and Diversity of Life, An Ethic for Astrobiology Research and Space Exploration

Science.gov (United States)

Randolph, Richard O.; McKay, Chris P.

2011-01-01

The ongoing search for life on other worlds and the prospects of eventual human exploration of the Moon and Mars indicate the need for new ethical guidelines to direct our actions as we search and how we respond if we discover microbial life on other worlds. Here we review how life on other worlds presents a novel question in environmental ethics. We propose a principle of protecting and expanding the richness and diversity of life as the basis of an ethic for astrobiology research and space exploration. There are immediate implications for the operational policies governing how we conduct the search for life on Mars and how we plan for human exploration throughout the Solar System.

The Theory Question in Research Capacity Building in Education: Towards an Agenda for Research and Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Biesta, Gert; Allan, Julie; Edwards, Richard

2011-01-01

The question of capacity building in education has predominantly been approached with regard to the methods and methodologies of educational research. Far less attention has been given to capacity building in relation to theory. In many ways the latter is as pressing an issue as the former, given that good research depends on a combination of high…

Storytelling as an Instructional Method: Descriptions and Research Questions

Science.gov (United States)

2009-01-01

computational brain . Cambridge, MA: Bradford/ MIT Press. Cianciolo, A. T., Prevou, M., Cianciolo, D., & Morris, R. (2007). Using digital storytelling to...volume 3, no. 2 (Fall 2009) 6–23 Storytelling as an Instructional Method: Descriptions and Research Questions Dee H. Andrews, Thomas D. Hull, and...Jennifer A. Donahue Abstract This paper discusses the theoretical and empirical foundations of the use of storytelling in instruction. The defi nition

Exploring the Learning Mechanism of Web-Based Question-Answering Systems and Their Design

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yin

2010-01-01

In recent years, a number of models concerning question-answering (QA) systems have been put forward. But many of them stress technology and neglect the research of QA itself. In this paper, we analyse the essence of QA and discuss the relationship between technology and QA. On that basis, we propose that when designing web-based QA systems, more…

An exploration for research-oriented teaching model in biology teaching.

Science.gov (United States)

Xing, Wanjin; Mo, Morigen; Su, Huimin

2014-07-01

Training innovative talents, as one of the major aims for Chinese universities, needs to reform the traditional teaching methods. The research-oriented teaching method has been introduced and its connotation and significance for Chinese university teaching have been discussed for years. However, few practical teaching methods for routine class teaching were proposed. In this paper, a comprehensive and concrete research-oriented teaching model with contents of reference value and evaluation method for class teaching was proposed based on the current teacher-guiding teaching model in China. We proposed that the research-oriented teaching model should include at least seven aspects on: (1) telling the scientific history for the skills to find out scientific questions; (2) replaying the experiments for the skills to solve scientific problems; (3) analyzing experimental data for learning how to draw a conclusion; (4) designing virtual experiments for learning how to construct a proposal; (5) teaching the lesson as the detectives solve the crime for learning the logic in scientific exploration; (6) guiding students how to read and consult the relative references; (7) teaching students differently according to their aptitude and learning ability. In addition, we also discussed how to evaluate the effects of the research-oriented teaching model in examination.

Beyond Mere Debate: Research Questions Related to the Debate over the SED Definition.

Science.gov (United States)

Center, David B.

This paper addresses research implications of proposed modifications of the definition of "severe emotional disturbance" to include students with conduct disorders. Research questions focus on understanding the nature of antisocial, aggressive behavior in children and youth and identifying what services they need. Research is cited suggesting that…

The question of caution in professional medium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Godard, O.

2006-01-01

Contrived in Europe to tackle the environment protection policies and management of natural resources, the principle of caution has seen since 1990 its interest developed towards the fields of food safety and public health. The importance and the relevance of questions have lead the national institute of research and safety to constitute a working group to explore the problems and the potentialities that could be linked to the explicit introduction of this principle and this in the field of the prevention of professional risks. This work tackles several aspects of the question of caution in professional medium such history, concepts, evolution...as well as cases judged exemplary ones. (N.C.)

Research Award: Information and Networks

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

IDRC CRDI

... of networked technologies has created new opportunities for advancing human ... The I&N Research Awardee will ideally explore research questions centred ... Examples of questions include: ... engineering or computer/information science;.

Developmental regression in autism: research and conceptual questions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carolina Lampreia

2013-11-01

Full Text Available The subject of developmental regression in autism has gained importance and a growing number of studies have been conducted in recent years. It is a major issue indicating that there is not a unique form of autism onset. However the phenomenon itself and the concept of regression have been the subject of some debate: there is no consensus on the existence of regression, as there is no consensus on its definition. The aim of this paper is to review the research literature in this area and to introduce some conceptual questions about its existence and its definition.

Dual processing theory and experts' reasoning: exploring thinking on national multiple-choice questions.

Science.gov (United States)

Durning, Steven J; Dong, Ting; Artino, Anthony R; van der Vleuten, Cees; Holmboe, Eric; Schuwirth, Lambert

2015-08-01

An ongoing debate exists in the medical education literature regarding the potential benefits of pattern recognition (non-analytic reasoning), actively comparing and contrasting diagnostic options (analytic reasoning) or using a combination approach. Studies have not, however, explicitly explored faculty's thought processes while tackling clinical problems through the lens of dual process theory to inform this debate. Further, these thought processes have not been studied in relation to the difficulty of the task or other potential mediating influences such as personal factors and fatigue, which could also be influenced by personal factors such as sleep deprivation. We therefore sought to determine which reasoning process(es) were used with answering clinically oriented multiple-choice questions (MCQs) and if these processes differed based on the dual process theory characteristics: accuracy, reading time and answering time as well as psychometrically determined item difficulty and sleep deprivation. We performed a think-aloud procedure to explore faculty's thought processes while taking these MCQs, coding think-aloud data based on reasoning process (analytic, nonanalytic, guessing or combination of processes) as well as word count, number of stated concepts, reading time, answering time, and accuracy. We also included questions regarding amount of work in the recent past. We then conducted statistical analyses to examine the associations between these measures such as correlations between frequencies of reasoning processes and item accuracy and difficulty. We also observed the total frequencies of different reasoning processes in the situations of getting answers correctly and incorrectly. Regardless of whether the questions were classified as 'hard' or 'easy', non-analytical reasoning led to the correct answer more often than to an incorrect answer. Significant correlations were found between self-reported recent number of hours worked with think-aloud word count

Antimicrobial activity of fluoride and its in vivo importance: identification of research questions.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Loveren, C

2001-01-01

This manuscript discusses the antimicrobial activity of fluoride and its in vivo importance in order to identify research questions. There is a lot of information on mechanisms by which fluoride may interfere with bacterial metabolism and dental plaque acidogenicity. The antimicrobial activity of fluoride products is enhanced when fluoride is associated with antimicrobial cations like Sn(2+) and amine. It is not clear whether the antimicrobial mechanisms of fluoride are operating in vivo or even to what extent antimicrobial activity can contribute to caries prevention. This latter question may be the most important one in research. Copyright 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Pollination ecology in the 21st century: Key Questions for future research

OpenAIRE

STOUT, JANE CATHERINE

2011-01-01

PUBLISHED To inspire new ideas in research on pollination ecology, we list the most important unanswered questions in the field. This list was drawn up by contacting 170 scientists from different areas of pollination ecology and asking them to contribute their opinion on the greatest knowledge gaps that need to be addressed. Almost 40% of them took part in our email poll and we received more than 650 questions and comments, which we classified into different categories repr...

NASA's Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute: Merging Science and Exploration

Science.gov (United States)

Pendleton, Y. J.; Schmidt, G. K.; Bailey, B. E.; Minafra, J. A.

2016-01-01

NASA's Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) represents a close collaboration between science, technology and exploration, and was created to enable a deeper understanding of the Moon and other airless bodies. SSERVI is supported jointly by NASA's Science Mission Directorate and Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. The institute currently focuses on the scientific aspects of exploration as they pertain to the Moon, Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) and the moons of Mars, but the institute goals may expand, depending on NASA's needs, in the future. The 9 initial teams, selected in late 2013 and funded from 2014-2019, have expertise across the broad spectrum of lunar, NEA, and Martian moon sciences. Their research includes various aspects of the surface, interior, exosphere, near-space environments, and dynamics of these bodies. NASA anticipates a small number of additional teams to be selected within the next two years, with a Cooperative Agreement Notice (CAN) likely to be released in 2016. Calls for proposals are issued every 2-3 years to allow overlap between generations of institute teams, but the intent for each team is to provide a stable base of funding for a five year period. SSERVI's mission includes acting as a bridge between several groups, joining together researchers from: 1) scientific and exploration communities, 2) multiple disciplines across a wide range of planetary sciences, and 3) domestic and international communities and partnerships. The SSERVI central office is located at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, CA. The administrative staff at the central office forms the organizational hub for the domestic and international teams and enables the virtual collaborative environment. Interactions with geographically dispersed teams across the U.S., and global partners, occur easily and frequently in a collaborative virtual environment. This poster will provide an overview of the 9 current US teams and

Questioning ORACLE: An Assessment of ORACLE's Analysis of Teachers' Questions and [A Comment on "Questioning ORACLE"].

Science.gov (United States)

Scarth, John; And Others

1986-01-01

Analysis of teachers' questions, part of the ORACLE (Observation Research and Classroom Learning Evaluation) project research, is examined in detail. Scarth and Hammersley argue that the rules ORACLE uses for identifying different types of questions involve levels of ambiguity and inference that threaten reliability and validity of the study's…

Pollination ecology in the 21st century:key questions for future research

OpenAIRE

Mayer, Caroline; Adler, Lynn; Armbruster, W. Scott; Dafni, Amots; Eardley, Connal; Huang, Shuang-Quan; Kevan, Peter; Ollerton, Jeff; Packer, Laurence; Ssymank, Axel; Stout, Jane C.; Potts, Simon G.

2011-01-01

To inspire new ideas in research on pollination ecology, we list the most important unanswered questions in the field. This list was drawn up by contacting 170 scientists from different areas of pollination ecology and asking them to contribute their opinion on the greatest knowledge gaps that need to be addressed. Almost 40% of them took part in our email poll and we received more than 650 questions and comments, which we classified into different categories representing various aspects of p...

An Exploration of How Health Professionals Create eHealth and mHealth Education Interventions

Science.gov (United States)

Tamim, Suha Rahif

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore how health education professionals create ehealth and mhealth education interventions. Three research questions led this qualitative study. The first research question focused on the use of learning theories, instructional models, and instructional design models. The second research question focused on the…

So much more than just a list: exploring the nature of critical questioning in undergraduate sciences

Science.gov (United States)

Pedrosa-de-Jesus, Helena; Moreira, Aurora; Lopes, Betina; Watts, Mike

2014-05-01

Background: Critical thinking is one of the very highest orders of cognitive abilities and a key competency in higher education. Asking questions is an important component of rich learning experiences, structurally embedded in the operations of critical thinking. Our clear sense is that critical thinking and, within that, critical questioning, is heavily context dependent, in the sense that is applied, used by critical learners in a contextualised way. Purpose: Our research deals with enhancing science undergraduates' critical questioning. We are interested in understanding and describing the nature and development of students' critical questioning. The purpose is to conceptualise critical questioning as a competency, into three domains - knowledge, skills and attitudes/dispositions. We have no interest in a taxonomic category of context-free question-types called 'critical questions'. In contrast, our view is that 'being a critical questioner' trades heavily on context. Sources of evidence: Four cases are considered as illuminative of the dimensions of science undergraduates' critical questioning. Data were collected in natural learning environments through non-participant observation, audio-taping teacher-students interactions and semi-structured interviews. Students' written material resulting from diverse learning tasks was also collected. Main argument: Our supposition is that one vehicle for achieving university students as critical thinkers is to enable them not just to ask critical questions, but to be critical questioners. We relate critical questioning to three domains: (1) context, (2) competency and (3) delivery, and propose a model based on illuminating examples of the in-classroom action. Conclusions: The dimensions of the competency-context-delivery model provide a framework for describing successful student critical questioning, showing that students' capacity to be critical can be developed. It is possible, in our view, to generate critical

100 key research questions for the post-2015 development agenda

OpenAIRE

Oldekop, J. A.; Fontana, L. B.; Grugel, J.; Roughton, N.; Adu-Ampong, E. A.; Bird, G. K.; Dorgan, A.; Vera Espinoza, M. A.; Wallin, S.; Hammett, D.; Agbarakwe, E.; Agrawal, A.; Asylbekova, N.; Azkoul, C.; Bardsley, C.

2016-01-01

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) herald a new phase for international development. This article presents the results of a consultative exercise to collaboratively identify 100 research questions of critical importance for the post-2015 international development agenda. The final shortlist is grouped into nine thematic areas and was selected by 21 representatives of international and non-governmental organisations and consultancies, and 14 academics with diverse disciplinary expertise ...

Aligning the Quantum Perspective of Learning to Instructional Design: Exploring the Seven Definitive Questions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katherine J. Janzen

2011-11-01

Full Text Available This paper builds upon a foundational paper (under review which explores the rudiments of the quantum perspective of learning. The quantum perspective of learning uses the principles of exchange theory or borrowed theory from the field of quantum holism pioneered by quantum physicist David Bohm (1971, 1973 to understand learning in a new way. Bohm proposes that everything exists as wholes, rather than as parts, and that everything is connected. Similarly, the quantum perspective of learning proposes that individuals learn in holistic ways as they interact with temporal and in infinitely extending virtual worlds. Further, according to the quantum perspective of learning, learners have infinite potential. In this paper, the quantum perspective of learning is examined utilizing a combination of Schunk’s (1991 and Ertmer and Newby’s (1993 definitive questions for aligning learning theory with instructional design. These seven definitive questions focus on how learning happens, influential factors in learning, the role of memory, transfer of knowledge, modalities of learning that can best explain the quantum perspective of learning, applicable assumptions, and a discussion of how instruction can be organized to optimize learning. Examples of strategies that facilitate the quantum perspective of learning are provided.

Can multiple-choice questions simulate free-response questions?

OpenAIRE

Lin, Shih-Yin; Singh, Chandralekha

2016-01-01

We discuss a study to evaluate the extent to which free-response questions could be approximated by multiple-choice equivalents. Two carefully designed research-based multiple-choice questions were transformed into a free-response format and administered on the final exam in a calculus-based introductory physics course. The original multiple-choice questions were administered in another similar introductory physics course on final exam. Findings suggest that carefully designed multiple-choice...

Exploring undergraduates' understanding of photosynthesis using diagnostic question clusters.

Science.gov (United States)

Parker, Joyce M; Anderson, Charles W; Heidemann, Merle; Merrill, John; Merritt, Brett; Richmond, Gail; Urban-Lurain, Mark

2012-01-01

We present a diagnostic question cluster (DQC) that assesses undergraduates' thinking about photosynthesis. This assessment tool is not designed to identify individual misconceptions. Rather, it is focused on students' abilities to apply basic concepts about photosynthesis by reasoning with a coordinated set of practices based on a few scientific principles: conservation of matter, conservation of energy, and the hierarchical nature of biological systems. Data on students' responses to the cluster items and uses of some of the questions in multiple-choice, multiple-true/false, and essay formats are compared. A cross-over study indicates that the multiple-true/false format shows promise as a machine-gradable format that identifies students who have a mixture of accurate and inaccurate ideas. In addition, interviews with students about their choices on three multiple-choice questions reveal the fragility of students' understanding. Collectively, the data show that many undergraduates lack both a basic understanding of the role of photosynthesis in plant metabolism and the ability to reason with scientific principles when learning new content. Implications for instruction are discussed.

Young (gold deposits and active geothermal systems of the Great Basin: Enigmas, questions, and exploration potential

Science.gov (United States)

Coolbaugh, Mark F.; Vikre, Peter G.; Faulds, James E.

2011-01-01

remobilized from older gold mineralization? Current research is investigating these and other questions to improve our genetic understanding of these young gold systems, which in turn can lead to improved exploration targeting. The recent rapid growth in resources for both young gold deposits and geothermal systems underscores their underdeveloped exploration potential. Even though many young gold deposits exhibit relatively shallow hot-springs-style mineralization, their young age may preclude exposure by erosion. Uplift along active normal faults has exposed some deposits (e.g., Florida Canyon, Dixie Comstock, Wind Mountain), but in other areas, such as the Walker Lane, where strike-slip faulting is prevalent, the opportunities for exposure can be limited. Many active geothermal systems are also concealed below the surface in that hot springs or steam vents may be absent above areas of thermal groundwater.With sources of energy to support mine production becoming more problematic, the potential advantages of simultaneously exploring for young gold deposits and spatially associated geothermal systems are becoming more apparent. Exploration methods recently proven effective in geothermal exploration that can be adapted to gold exploration include temperature surveys, hyperspectral remote sensing, geophysical surveys, water analyses, and detailed mapping of geothermal-related features and related fault systems.

Animal Encounters in Environmental Education Research: Responding to the "Question of the Animal"

Science.gov (United States)

Oakley, Jan; Watson, Gavan P. L.; Russell, Constance L.; Cutter-Mackenzie, Amy; Fawcett, Leesa; Kuhl, Gail; Russell, Joshua; van der Waal, Marlon; Warkentin, Traci

2010-01-01

The "question of the animal" represents an area of emergent interest in the environmental education field, as researchers critically consider human-animal relations and animal advocacy in their work. Following a group discussion at the 10th Seminar in Health and Environmental Education Research, the authors of this paper share experiences,…

Exploring pedestrian movement patterns

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Orellana, D.A.

2012-01-01

The main objective of this thesis is to develop an approach for exploring, analysing and interpreting movement patterns of pedestrians interacting with the environment. This objective is broken down in sub-objectives related to four research questions. A case study of the movement of visitors in a

Overview of the Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA)

Science.gov (United States)

Neigut, J.

2015-01-01

In 2013, the Human Research Program at NASA began developing a new confinement analog specifically for conducting research to investigate the effects of confinement on the human system. The HERA (Human Exploration Research Analog) habitat has been used for both 7 and 14 day missions to date to examine and mitigate exploration risks to enable safe, reliable and productive human space exploration. This presentation will describe how the Flight Analogs Project developed the HERA facility and the infrastructure to suit investigator requirements for confinement research and in the process developed a new approach to analog utilization and a new state of the art analog facility. Details regarding HERA operations will be discussed including specifics on the mission simulation utilized for the current 14-day campaign, the specifics of the facility (total volume, overall size, hardware), and the capabilities available to researchers. The overall operational philosophy, mission fidelity including timeline, schedule pressures and cadence, and development and implementation of mission stressors will be presented. Research conducted to date in the HERA has addressed risks associated with behavioral health and performance, human physiology, as well as human factors. This presentation will conclude with a discussion of future research plans for the HERA, including infrastructure improvements and additional research capabilities planned for the upcoming 30-day missions in 2016.

Pollination ecology in the 21st Century: key questions for future research\\ud

OpenAIRE

Mayer, Carolin; Adler, Lynn; Armbruster, W Scott; Dafni, Amots; Eardley, Connal; Huang, Shuang-Quan; Kevan, Peter G; Ollerton, Jeff; Packer, Laurence; Ssymank, Axel; Stout, Jane C; Potts, Simon G

2011-01-01

To inspire new ideas in research on pollination ecology, we list the most important unanswered questions in the field. This list was drawn up by contacting 170 scientists from different areas of pollination ecology and asking them to contribute their opinion on the greatest knowledge gaps that need to be addressed. Almost 40% of them took part in our email poll and we received more than 650 questions and comments, which we classified into different categories representing various aspects of p...

Managerial Discretion: Exploring the black box of demographic research

OpenAIRE

Galavan, Robert

2005-01-01

The strategic leadership research stream is dominated by the predominantly instrumental approach of the upper echelons research stream. In recent years this research stream has been criticised for failing to develop from an exploration of whether relationships exist between managers’ background characteristics, their strategic choices and firm performances to an exploration of how managers’ characteristics influence outcomes. In this paper we build on the existing work in the s...

Managerial Discretion: Exploring the Black Box of Demographic Research

OpenAIRE

Galavan, Robert; Kakabadse, Andrew; Kakabadse , Nada

2009-01-01

The strategic leadership research stream is dominated by the predominantly instrumental approach of the upper echelons research stream. In recent years this research stream has been criticized for failing to develop from an exploration of whether relationships exist between managers’ background characteristics, their strategic choices and firm performances to an exploration of how managers’ characteristics influence outcomes. In this paper we build on the existing work in the stream by sugges...

Collaborating in Life Science Research Groups: The Question of Authorship

Science.gov (United States)

Muller, Ruth

2012-01-01

This qualitative study explores how life science postdocs' perceptions of contemporary academic career rationales influence how they relate to collaboration within research groups. One consequential dimension of these perceptions is the high value assigned to publications. For career progress, postdocs consider producing publications and…

Asking Questions in Academia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Annette Skovsted

2014-01-01

Motivation for the activity In academia the most important skill is to ask academically relevant and sound questions. This is not easy and students need to practice asking questions orally and in writing before they write research papers.......Motivation for the activity In academia the most important skill is to ask academically relevant and sound questions. This is not easy and students need to practice asking questions orally and in writing before they write research papers....

Classroom Explorations: Pendulums, Mirrors, and Galileo's Drama

Science.gov (United States)

Cavicchi, Elizabeth

2011-01-01

What do you see in a mirror when not looking at yourself? What goes on as a pendulum swings? Undergraduates in a science class supposed that these behaviors were obvious until their explorations exposed questions with no quick answers. While exploring materials, students researched Galileo, his trial, and its aftermath. Galileo came to life both…

Research and Exploration for Operational Research Education in Industry and Engineering Subject

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Yu-hua; Wang, Feng-ming; Du, Gang

2007-01-01

On the basic of exploring the relationship of industry engineering and operational research technique, the thesis analyzes the location and utility of the operational research education in the whole industry engineering subject education. It brings forward the system design about operational research and relative class among industry engineering…

Collaborative Chat Reference Service Effectiveness Varies by Question Type for Public Library Patrons. A review of: Kwon, Nahyun. ʺPublic Library Patronsʹ Use of Collaborative Chat Reference Service: The Effectiveness of Question Answering by Question Type.ʺ Library & Information Science Research 29.1 (Mar. 2007: 70‐91.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephanie Hall

2008-03-01

Full Text Available Objective – To assess the effectiveness of a collaborative chat reference service in answering different types of question. Specifically, the study compares the degree of answer completion and the level of user satisfaction for simple factual questions vs. more in‐depth subject‐based reference questions, and for ‘local’ (pertaining to a particular library and non‐local questions.Design – Content analysis of 415 transcripts of reference transactions, which were also compared to corresponding user satisfaction survey results.Setting – An online collaborative reference service offered by a large public library system (33 branch and regional locations. This service is part of the Metropolitan Cooperative Library System: a virtual reference consortium of U.S. libraries (public, academic, special, and corporate that provides 24/7 service.Subjects – Reference librarians from around the U.S. (49 different libraries, and users logging into the service via the public library system’s portal (primarily patrons of the 49 libraries. Method – Content analysis was used to evaluate virtual reference transcripts recorded between January and June, 2004. Reliability was enhanced through triangulation, with researchers comparing the content analysis of each transcript against the results of a voluntary exit survey. Of 1,387 transactions that occurred during the period of study, 420 users completed the survey and these formed the basis of the study, apart from 5 transactions that were omitted because the questions were incomprehensible. Questions were examined and assigned to five categories: “simple, factual questions; subject‐based research questions; resource access questions; circulation‐related questions; and local library information inquiries” (80‐81. Answers were classed as either “completely answered, partially answered or unanswered, referred, and problematic endings” (82. Lastly, user satisfaction was surveyed on three

Space Exploration: Challenges in Medicine, Research, and Ethics

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Jeffrey R.

2007-01-01

This viewgraph presentation describes the challenges that space exploration faces in terms of medicine, research and ethics. The topics include: 1) Effects of Microgravity on Human Physiology; 2) Radiation; 3) Bone; 4) Behavior and Performance; 5) Muscle; 6) Cardiovascular; 7) Neurovestibular; 8) Food and Nutrition; 9) Immunology and Hematology; 10) Environment; 11) Exploration; 12) Building Block Approach; 13) Exploration Issues; 14) Life Sciences Contributions; 15) Health Care; and 17) Habitability.

Beginning EFL Teachers' Beliefs about Quality Questions and Their Questioning Practices

Science.gov (United States)

Pham, Ly Ngoc Khanh; Hamid, M. Obaidul

2013-01-01

Motivated by the scarcity of research that examines the impact of teacher beliefs on their actual practices in Vietnam, this study investigated the relationship between teachers' beliefs about quality questions and their questioning behaviours in terms of questioning purposes, content focus, students' cognitive level, wording and syntax. Thirteen…

Exploring the Eastern United States Continental Shelf with the NOAA Cooperative Institute for Ocean Exploration, Research, and Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Glickson, D.; Pomponi, S. A.

2016-02-01

The Cooperative Institute for Ocean Exploration, Research, and Technology (CIOERT) serves NOAA priorities in three theme areas: exploring the eastern U.S. continental shelf, improving the understanding of coral and sponge ecosystems, and developing advanced underwater technologies. CIOERT focuses on the exploration and research of ecosystems and habitats along frontier regions of the eastern U.S. continental shelf that are of economic, scientific, or cultural importance or of natural hazards concern. One particular focus is supporting ocean exploration and research through the use of advanced underwater technologies and techniques in order to improve the understanding of vulnerable deep and shallow coral and sponge ecosystems. CIOERT expands the scope and efficiency of exploration and research by developing, testing, and applying new and/or innovative uses of existing technologies to ocean exploration and research activities. In addition, CIOERT is dedicated to expanding ocean literacy and building NOAA's technical and scientific workforce through hands-on, at-sea experiences. A recent CIOERT cruise characterized Gulf of Mexico mesophotic and deepwater reef ecosystems off the west Florida shelf, targeting northern Pulley Ridge. This project created and ground-truthed new sonar maps made with an autonomous underwater vehicle; conducted video and photographic transects of benthic habitat and fish using a remotely operated vehicle; and examined the connectivity of fauna from shallow to deep reef ecosystems. CIOERT was established in 2009 by FAU-Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, with University of North Carolina, Wilmington, SRI International, and the University of Miami. The primary NOAA partner is the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research's Office of Ocean Exploration and Research.

Applications of Adaptive Quantum Control to Research Questions in Solar Energy Conversion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Damrauer, Niels [Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)

2017-02-07

This award supported a broad research effort at the University of Colorado at Boulder comprising synthesis, applications of computational chemistry, development of theory, exploration of material properties, and advancement of spectroscopic tools including femtosecond pulse shaping techniques. It funded six graduate students and two postdoctoral researchers.

Can Scientific Research Answer the "What" Question of Mathematics Education?

Science.gov (United States)

van den Heuvel-Panhuizen, Marja

2005-01-01

This paper problematizes the issue of how decisions about the content of mathematics education can be made. After starting with two examples where research in mathematics education resulted in different choices on the content of primary school teaching, I explore where and how, in the scientific enterprise within the domain of education, issues of…

The Fear Factor: Exploring Predictors of Fear among Stalking Victims throughout the Stalking Encounter

Science.gov (United States)

Reyns, Bradford W.; Englebrecht, Christine M.

2013-01-01

The crime of stalking has received much research attention, yet there are still important questions to be explored surrounding this behavior. One such question relates to definitions of stalking, including the requirement that victims must express fear to qualify as victims of stalking. The current study addresses this issue by exploring the…

Environmental Ethics: Questions for Adult Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Parker, Jenneth

1993-01-01

Presents a series of questions through which adult educators can explore controversial questions of environmental values and moral behavior in their programs. The subjects include geography, local history, natural history, economics, politics, business, labor education, world affairs, literature, women's studies, psychology, and courses for the…

Scholar-Craftsmanship: Question-Type, Epistemology, Culture of Inquiry, and Personality-Type in Dissertation Research Design

Science.gov (United States)

Werner, Thomas P.; Rogers, Katrina S.

2013-01-01

"Scholar-Craftsmanship" (SC) is a quadrant methodological framework created to help social science doctoral students construct first-time dissertation research. The framework brackets and predicts how epistemological domains, cultures of inquiries, personality indicators, and research question--types can be correlated in dissertation…

Research Award: Networked Economies

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Office 2004 Test Drive User

2015-08-06

year, paid, ... the areas of democracy, human rights and economic growth. ... Networked Economies is seeking a Research Award Recipient to explore research questions ... such as engineering or computer/information science;.

Rigour in quantitative research.

Science.gov (United States)

Claydon, Leica Sarah

2015-07-22

This article which forms part of the research series addresses scientific rigour in quantitative research. It explores the basis and use of quantitative research and the nature of scientific rigour. It examines how the reader may determine whether quantitative research results are accurate, the questions that should be asked to determine accuracy and the checklists that may be used in this process. Quantitative research has advantages in nursing, since it can provide numerical data to help answer questions encountered in everyday practice.

Question-asking behavior as a form of cognitive activity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elvira A. Baranova

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Children’s questions are an indicator of active cognitive perception of reality. Questions but not answers are relevant in revealing a child’s mental life, consciousness and thinking. The lack of question-asking skills can hinder learning, searching and exploration in children. To determine in 7- and 8-year-old school children the common and variable peculiarities of designing a search process for necessary information concerning an unknown object by volitionally formulated questions, as well as the dynamics of the questioning process throughout a school year. The study was based on an experimental methodology, codenamed Guess what there is in the box, and was conducted in four schools in Cheboksary. The sample comprised 158 primary school first-graders who took part in a confirmatory experiment twice, once in September and once in May. The research showed that 96.3% of the questions asked were search questions. Only 30% of the first-graders initiated their searching activities of their own will without having to resort to the given search algorithm, while 70% did not begin asking questions without outside stimulation. The analysis of the dynamics of children’s question-asking behavior exhibited a tendency to decrease in a number of questions asked over the course of the school year. Primary school children need psychological and pedagogical scaffolding aimed at developing a question-asking behavior as a form of cognitive activity to achieve a possible age potential in development.

Is the wrong question being asked in infertility research?

Science.gov (United States)

Luke, Barbara; Stern, Judy E; Hornstein, Mark D; Kotelchuck, Milton; Diop, Hafsatou; Cabral, Howard; Declercq, Eugene R

2016-01-01

A persistent finding is that assisted reproductive technology (ART) is associated with compromised birth outcomes, including higher risks for prematurity, low birthweight, and congenital malformations, even among singletons. Over the past decade, our research group, the Massachusetts Outcome Study of Assisted Reproductive Technology (MOSART), has evaluated pregnancy and birth outcomes among three groups of women, those women treated with ART, those with indicators of subfertility but without ART treatment, and fertile women. We have also explored the influence of infertility-related diagnoses on outcomes for women and infants. Over the course of our research, we have changed our perspective from an original focus on ART treatment parameters as the primary cause of excess morbidity to one centered instead on the underlying infertility-related diagnoses. This paper summarizes the research findings from our group that support this change in focus for infertility-based research from a primary emphasis on ART treatment to greater attention to the contribution of preexisting pathology underlying the infertility and suggests directions for future analyses.

Philosophy and planning of uranium exploration in the arab world.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hassan, M A [Nuclear materials authority, Al Maady, Cairo, (Egypt)

1995-10-01

This paper presents concepts behind thinking and planning of uranium exploration programs to prove reserves necessary for the peaceful application on nuclear energy. This will stem from the extensive data available on uranium deposits and the great progress in the methodology of its exploration, as well as the Egyptian experience. Thinking of finding uranium deposits stems from the answers of two questions, the first is: where could uranium deposits occur in the area under exploration ? and the second is: how could these uranium deposits be located ? so, uranium exploration programs should stem from the scientific and technological base incorporating the answers to these questions: where ? and how ? the better the answers, particularly to the first question, are, the more successful the exploration process will be. The answer to the first question needs the compilation and the integration of all the available information on uranium and its deposits, as well as the geologic environments in which these deposits occur. The geologic setting of uranium deposits given by the IAEA in the Red Book and their characteristics may be used as a frame for such compilation and integration. In the same time the geologic setting of the area of exploration must be well understood. From the integration of these two lines of information, target areas with priorities can be selected for the execution of the exploration programs. This means that the answer for the first question is concerned with scientific research in the geological sciences, and the answer to the second question is concerned with the methodology of mineral exploration in general and uranium exploration in particular. This paper also presents examples of the execution of such a policy in a general way in some Arab Countries, and concludes with a general framework for successive phases of uranium exploration plans in Arab Countries. 2 fig.

Philosophy and planning of uranium exploration in the arab world

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hassan, M.A.

1995-01-01

This paper presents concepts behind thinking and planning of uranium exploration programs to prove reserves necessary for the peaceful application on nuclear energy. This will stem from the extensive data available on uranium deposits and the great progress in the methodology of its exploration, as well as the Egyptian experience. Thinking of finding uranium deposits stems from the answers of two questions, the first is: where could uranium deposits occur in the area under exploration ? and the second is: how could these uranium deposits be located ? so, uranium exploration programs should stem from the scientific and technological base incorporating the answers to these questions: where ? and how ? the better the answers, particularly to the first question, are, the more successful the exploration process will be. The answer to the first question needs the compilation and the integration of all the available information on uranium and its deposits, as well as the geologic environments in which these deposits occur. The geologic setting of uranium deposits given by the IAEA in the Red Book and their characteristics may be used as a frame for such compilation and integration. In the same time the geologic setting of the area of exploration must be well understood. From the integration of these two lines of information, target areas with priorities can be selected for the execution of the exploration programs. This means that the answer for the first question is concerned with scientific research in the geological sciences, and the answer to the second question is concerned with the methodology of mineral exploration in general and uranium exploration in particular. This paper also presents examples of the execution of such a policy in a general way in some Arab Countries, and concludes with a general framework for successive phases of uranium exploration plans in Arab Countries. 2 fig

The answer is questions: accelerated-nursing students report practice questions are fundamental to first-time NCLEX-RN success.

Science.gov (United States)

Blozen, Barbara B

2014-01-01

There are a number of anecdotal reports on demographic characteristics and academic success of accelerated-nursing students; yet few empirical studies have examined accelerated-nursing students NCLEX-RN success. Applying Knowles' adult learning theory as a guiding framework, the purpose of this qualitative study was to explore, from the accelerated-nursing students' perspective, the factors reported as contributing to their success on the NCLEX-RN. The research questions aimed to elicit participants' descriptions of their experiences and factors contributing to their success via individual interviews. The most significant finding the participants identified as the factor that contributed to their success was the practicing of NCLEX-RN questions. The findings of this study have several implications for educational policy and practice for universities and schools of nursing as the information gained from this study applies to recruitment and retention as well as curriculum and educational strategies in an accelerated-nursing program.

Generation of priority research questions to inform conservation policy and management at a national level.

Science.gov (United States)

Rudd, Murray A; Beazley, Karen F; Cooke, Steven J; Fleishman, Erica; Lane, Daniel E; Mascia, Michael B; Roth, Robin; Tabor, Gary; Bakker, Jiselle A; Bellefontaine, Teresa; Berteaux, Dominique; Cantin, Bernard; Chaulk, Keith G; Cunningham, Kathryn; Dobell, Rod; Fast, Eleanor; Ferrara, Nadia; Findlay, C Scott; Hallstrom, Lars K; Hammond, Thomas; Hermanutz, Luise; Hutchings, Jeffrey A; Lindsay, Kathryn E; Marta, Tim J; Nguyen, Vivian M; Northey, Greg; Prior, Kent; Ramirez-Sanchez, Saudiel; Rice, Jake; Sleep, Darren J H; Szabo, Nora D; Trottier, Geneviève; Toussaint, Jean-Patrick; Veilleux, Jean-Philippe

2011-06-01

Integrating knowledge from across the natural and social sciences is necessary to effectively address societal tradeoffs between human use of biological diversity and its preservation. Collaborative processes can change the ways decision makers think about scientific evidence, enhance levels of mutual trust and credibility, and advance the conservation policy discourse. Canada has responsibility for a large fraction of some major ecosystems, such as boreal forests, Arctic tundra, wetlands, and temperate and Arctic oceans. Stressors to biological diversity within these ecosystems arise from activities of the country's resource-based economy, as well as external drivers of environmental change. Effective management is complicated by incongruence between ecological and political boundaries and conflicting perspectives on social and economic goals. Many knowledge gaps about stressors and their management might be reduced through targeted, timely research. We identify 40 questions that, if addressed or answered, would advance research that has a high probability of supporting development of effective policies and management strategies for species, ecosystems, and ecological processes in Canada. A total of 396 candidate questions drawn from natural and social science disciplines were contributed by individuals with diverse organizational affiliations. These were collaboratively winnowed to 40 by our team of collaborators. The questions emphasize understanding ecosystems, the effects and mitigation of climate change, coordinating governance and management efforts across multiple jurisdictions, and examining relations between conservation policy and the social and economic well-being of Aboriginal peoples. The questions we identified provide potential links between evidence from the conservation sciences and formulation of policies for conservation and resource management. Our collaborative process of communication and engagement between scientists and decision makers for

Association between framing of the research question using the PICOT format and reporting quality of randomized controlled trials

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thabane Lehana

2010-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Experts recommend formulating a structured research question to guide the research design. However, the basis for this recommendation has not been formally evaluated. The aim of this study was to examine if a structured research question using the PICOT (Population, Intervention, Comparator, Outcome, Time-frame format is associated with a better reporting quality of randomized controlled trials (RCTs. Methods We evaluated 89 RCTs reports published in three endocrinology journals in 2005 and 2006, the quality of reporting of which was assessed in a previous study. We examined whether the reports stated each of the five elements of a structured research question: population, intervention, comparator, outcome and time-frame. A PICOT score was created with a possible score between 0 and 5. Outcomes were: 1 a 14-point overall reporting quality score (OQS based on the Consolidated Standards for Reporting Trials; and 2 a 3-point key score (KS, based on allocation concealment, blinding and use of intention-to-treat analysis. We conducted multivariable regression analyses using generalized estimating equations to determine if a higher PICOT score or the use of a structured research question were independently associated with a better reporting quality. Journal of publication, funding source and sample size were identified as factors associated with OQS in our previous report on this dataset, and therefore included in the model. Results A higher PICOT score was independently associated with OQS (incidence rate ratio (IRR = 1.021, 95% CI: 1.012 to 1.029 and KS (IRR = 1.142, 95% CI: 1.079 to 1.210. A structured research question was present in 33.7% of the reports and it was associated with a better OQS (IRR = 1.095, 95% CI 1.059-1.132 and KS (IRR = 1.530, 95% CI 1.311-1.786. Conclusions Better framing of the research question using the PICOT format is independently associated with better overall reporting quality - although the effect

Traveling questions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hoeyer, Klaus

2016-01-01

In this paper, I argue that uncertainty and nonknowledge, and not just research results, can be important vehicles of translation through which genetic research participation comes to affect the lives of research participants. Based on interviews with participants in a genetic research project, I....... Research questions, and not just results, may serve as a generative form of knowledge that can travel as fast as any answer....

"We Don't See Things as They Are, We See Things as We Are": Questioning the "Outsider" in Polish Migration Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katherine Botterill

2015-05-01

Full Text Available This article offers a reflexive account of conducting research on Polish migration to Scotland from the perspective of the "outsider." The contribution argues for a revision to the insider/outsider dichotomy viewing it as inadequately nuanced in relation to the multiple intersectionalities performed through the research encounter. It is based on data collected from biographical-narrative interviews with Polish young people living in Edinburgh, Scotland. The article explores the interview encounter between an English researcher and Polish young people about the experience of EU mobility and argues that as migration narratives unfold the distinctions between the "researcher" and the "researched" blur. In particular, I focus on the intersections of gender, class and nationality to show how different positionalities are negotiated and confronted through reflexivity. The interview is a creative process involving co-construction of narratives through dialogue, embodied performances and non-cognitive associations that draw out the multiple intersectionalities of both parties. Through this process the binary of insider/outsider is called into question and this article examines the usefulness of this dichotomy as a framework for understanding the research relationship. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs150249

Research on geochemical exploration in geotherm development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hirowatari, Kazuo; Imaizumi, Yukio; Koga, Akito; Iwanaga, Tatsuto.

1987-01-01

The decisive factor of geotherm development is to improve the exploration techniques. By effectively carrying out the selection of promising development spots and the decision of well drilling positions, the geotherm development exceeding existing energy sources becomes feasible. There have been many problems in conventional geotherm exploration such as the high cost and long work period, therefore, it was decided to advance the research on geochemical exploration techniques which are relatively simple and can be carried out with low cost. When the techniques of geochemistry are used, for example, in the case that there are hot springs or fumaroles, the temperature, origin, properties and so on of underground hot water reservoirs can be estimated from their chemical composition. The method of examining the mercury concentration in soil and soil air has been in practical use in the geothermal districts where the ground surface symptom lacks. This time, the method of investigation using radon, thoron and gamma ray as the exploration indices was newly studied. The index compositions for geochemical exploration, new exploration index compositions, the method of measurement, the basic investigation and on-the-spot investigation are reported. (Kako, I.)

NASA's Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute: Building Collaboration Through International Partnerships

Science.gov (United States)

Gibbs, K. E.; Schmidt, G. K.

2017-01-01

The NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) is a virtual institute focused on re-search at the intersection of science and exploration, training the next generation of lunar scientists, and community development. As part of the SSERVI mission, we act as a hub for opportunities that engage the larger scientific and exploration communities in order to form new interdisciplinary, research-focused collaborations. This talk will describe the international partner re-search efforts and how we are engaging the international science and exploration communities through workshops, conferences, online seminars and classes, student exchange programs and internships.

Recognizing and exploring the right questions with climate data: An example of better understanding ENSO in climate projections

Science.gov (United States)

Ammann, C. M.; Brown, B.; Kalb, C. P.; Bullock, R.; Buja, L.; Gutowski, W. J., Jr.; Halley-Gotway, J.; Kaatz, L.; Yates, D. N.

2017-12-01

Coordinated, multi-model climate change projection archives have already led to a flourishing of new climate impact applications. Collections and online tools for the computation of derived indicators have attracted many non-specialist users and decision-makers and facilitated for them the exploration of potential future weather and climate changes on their systems. Guided by a set of standardized steps and analyses, many can now use model output and determine basic model-based changes. But because each application and decision-context is different, the question remains if such a small collection of standardized tools can faithfully and comprehensively represent the critical physical context of change? We use the example of the El Niño - Southern Oscillation, the largest and most broadly recognized mode of variability in the climate system, to explore the difference in impact contexts between a quasi-blind, protocol-bound and a flexible, scientifically guided use of climate information. More use oriented diagnostics of the model-data as well as different strategies for getting data into decision environments are explored.

Workshop on Research for Space Exploration: Physical Sciences and Process Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Bhim S.

1998-01-01

This report summarizes the results of a workshop sponsored by the Microgravity Research Division of NASA to define contributions the microgravity research community can provide to advance the human exploration of space. Invited speakers and attendees participated in an exchange of ideas to identify issues of interest in physical sciences and process technologies. This workshop was part of a continuing effort to broaden the contribution of the microgravity research community toward achieving the goals of the space agency in human exploration, as identified in the NASA Human Exploration and Development of Space (HEDS) strategic plan. The Microgravity program is one of NASA'a major links to academic and industrial basic research in the physical and engineering sciences. At present, it supports close to 400 principal investigators, who represent many of the nation's leading researchers in the physical and engineering sciences and biotechnology. The intent of the workshop provided a dialogue between NASA and this large, influential research community, mission planners and industry technical experts with the goal of defining enabling research for the Human Exploration and Development of Space activities to which the microgravity research community can contribute.

Development trends of remote sensing technology for uranium exploration in 12th Five Year

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Jielin

2011-01-01

This paper introduced the research status,application requirements, technique questions and development trends of remote sensing technology for uranium exploration in the 12th five year, and discussed the applicant prospects and potential of applied basic research innovation, thermal infrared hyperspectral and microwave remote sensing, 4D geological mapping and stereo exploration model in the uranium exploration. (authors)

Robustness Analysis of Visual Question Answering Models by Basic Questions

KAUST Repository

Huang, Jia-Hong

2017-11-01

Visual Question Answering (VQA) models should have both high robustness and accuracy. Unfortunately, most of the current VQA research only focuses on accuracy because there is a lack of proper methods to measure the robustness of VQA models. There are two main modules in our algorithm. Given a natural language question about an image, the first module takes the question as input and then outputs the ranked basic questions, with similarity scores, of the main given question. The second module takes the main question, image and these basic questions as input and then outputs the text-based answer of the main question about the given image. We claim that a robust VQA model is one, whose performance is not changed much when related basic questions as also made available to it as input. We formulate the basic questions generation problem as a LASSO optimization, and also propose a large scale Basic Question Dataset (BQD) and Rscore (novel robustness measure), for analyzing the robustness of VQA models. We hope our BQD will be used as a benchmark for to evaluate the robustness of VQA models, so as to help the community build more robust and accurate VQA models.

Robustness Analysis of Visual Question Answering Models by Basic Questions

KAUST Repository

Huang, Jia-Hong

2017-01-01

Visual Question Answering (VQA) models should have both high robustness and accuracy. Unfortunately, most of the current VQA research only focuses on accuracy because there is a lack of proper methods to measure the robustness of VQA models. There are two main modules in our algorithm. Given a natural language question about an image, the first module takes the question as input and then outputs the ranked basic questions, with similarity scores, of the main given question. The second module takes the main question, image and these basic questions as input and then outputs the text-based answer of the main question about the given image. We claim that a robust VQA model is one, whose performance is not changed much when related basic questions as also made available to it as input. We formulate the basic questions generation problem as a LASSO optimization, and also propose a large scale Basic Question Dataset (BQD) and Rscore (novel robustness measure), for analyzing the robustness of VQA models. We hope our BQD will be used as a benchmark for to evaluate the robustness of VQA models, so as to help the community build more robust and accurate VQA models.

Exploring Undergraduates' Understanding of Photosynthesis Using Diagnostic Question Clusters

Science.gov (United States)

Parker, Joyce M.; Anderson, Charles W.; Heidemann, Merle; Merrill, John; Merritt, Brett; Richmond, Gail; Urban-Lurain, Mark

2012-01-01

We present a diagnostic question cluster (DQC) that assesses undergraduates' thinking about photosynthesis. This assessment tool is not designed to identify individual misconceptions. Rather, it is focused on students' abilities to apply basic concepts about photosynthesis by reasoning with a coordinated set of practices based on a few scientific…

Teacher's Questions in Reading Classes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zuliati Rohmah

2002-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract: The present paper discusses an English teacher's questions in Reading classes at MAN Malang III. Types of questions, functions of teacher's questions, question levels and the strategies applied by the teacher were put as the research problems. Non-participant observa­tion was applied to collect the data with the researcher as the main in­strument aided by field-notes and a tape recorder. It was found that the distribution of the questions did not allow the students to talk longer and to think more analytically. Meanwhile, the strategies applied by the teacher helped the students to respond to the questions previously unanswered. The teacher is suggested to produce more open and refer­ential question as well as inference and evaluation questions as to give more chances for the students to think aloud more.

ACT-CCREC Core Research Program: Study Questions and Design. ACT Working Paper Series. WP-2015-01

Science.gov (United States)

Cruce, Ty M.

2015-01-01

This report provides a non-technical overview of the guiding research questions and research design for the ACT-led core research program conducted on behalf of the GEAR UP College and Career Readiness Evaluation Consortium (CCREC). The core research program is a longitudinal study of the effectiveness of 14 GEAR UP state grants on the academic…

Searching and Archiving : Exploring Online Search Behaviors of Researchers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vyas, Dhaval; de Groot, S.; van der Veer, Gerrit C.; Dainoff, Marvin J.

2007-01-01

Searching for relevant peer-reviewed material is an integral part of corporate and academic researchers. Researchers collect huge amount of information over the years and sometimes struggle organizing it. Based on a study with 30 academic researchers, we explore, in combination, different searching

Exploring "Whakaaro": A Way of Responsive Thinking in Maori Research

Science.gov (United States)

Mika, Carl; Southey, Kim

2018-01-01

The experience of researching as a Maori student within academia will often raise questions about how and whether the student's research privileges Maori world views and articulates culturally specific epistemologies. This study offers some theorising, from the perspectives of a Maori doctoral student and her Maori supervisor (the authors of this…

European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy - Establishing the key unanswered research questions within gastrointestinal endoscopy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rees, Colin J; Ngu, Wee Sing; Regula, Jaroslaw

2016-01-01

Background and study aim: Gastrointestinal endoscopy is a rapidly evolving research field. The European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE) plays a key role in shaping opinion and endoscopy activity throughout Europe and further afield. Establishing key unanswered questions within the fi...

[The mixed design in nursing sciences or when a question of research calls for qualitative and quantitative strategies].

Science.gov (United States)

Bourgault, Patricia; Gallagher, Frances; Michaud, Cécile; Saint-Cyr-Tribble, Denise

2010-12-01

The use of a mixed method research design raises many questions, especially regarding the paradigmatic position. With this paradigm, we may consider the mixed method design as the best way of answering a research question and the latter orients to one of the different subtypes of mixed method design. To illustrate the use of this kind of design, we propose a study such as conducted in nursing sciences. In this article, the challenges raised by the mixed method design, and the place of this type of research in nursing sciences is discussed.

Exploring the research domain of consultant practice: Perceptions and opinions of consultant radiographers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harris, R.; Paterson, A.

2016-01-01

Aim: This paper reports on one part of a larger study. The aim was to explore what the core domain of research means to consultant radiographers in clinical practice and to identify the key factors that facilitate or hinder research activity by this staff group. Design and method: Grounded theory research methodology was employed. This first part of the study involved electronic questionnaires being sent to all those known in consultant radiographer posts in the United Kingdom. Results: Results indicate there are variations across clinical specialties as to the amount and level of research undertaken by consultant radiographers, and not all agreed that research should be a core domain of consultant practice. Main facilitators to research were noted as: time; skills and knowledge of the researcher; a well defined research question. Main barriers to research were noted as: lack of allocated time; lack of skills/experience; clinical workload. Conclusion: Research is one of the four core domains of consultant allied health professional and nursing roles but, as yet, it is not fully embedded into those of all consultant radiographers. Many consultant radiographers appear to spend more of their time on the ‘clinical expert’ element of their role at the expense of the research domain. This study concludes that there is an urgent need for consultant radiographers to understand that research is one of the four core domains and to recognise the need to embed research into their clinical practice. - Highlights: • Consultant radiographers undertake research but have concerns about their research skills. • Research aims to improve practice and patients' experiences. • Relatively few consultant radiographers publish their work routinely. • Consultant radiographers allocate little protected time for research due to clinical demands. • Almost half of the consultant radiographers feel research should not be a core part of their roles.

Electric Power Lines : Questions and Answers on Research into Health Effects.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

United States. Bonneville Power Administration.

1995-06-01

Most people know that electric power lines, like the wiring in our homes, can cause serious electric shocks if we`re not careful. Many people also want to know whether the EMF (electric and magnetic fields) produced by power lines and other electrical devices affect our health. Although no adverse health effects of electric power EMF have been confirmed, there is continued scientific uncertainty about this issue. Research on EMF is ongoing throughout the world. The purpose of this booklet is to answer some common questions that the BPA (Bonneville Power Administration) receives about the possible effects of power lines on health. First, some basic electrical terms are defined, and electric and magnetic fields are debed. Next, answers are given to several questions about recent scientific studies. Some important information about electrical safety follows. We then describe how BPA is addressing public concerns about potential health effects of power lines. The last section tells you how to obtain more detailed information about the health and safety issues summarized in this booklet.

["Grounded theory" develops medicine. Popular research method for exploring human behavior can discover new connections].

Science.gov (United States)

Thulesius, Hans; Barfod, Toke; Ekström, Helene; Håkansson, Anders

2004-09-30

Grounded theory (GT) is a popular research method for exploring human behavior. GT was developed by the medical sociologists Glaser and Strauss while they studied dying in hospitals in the 1960s resulting in the book "Awareness of dying". The goal of a GT is to generate conceptual theories by using all types of data but without applying existing theories and hypotheses. GT procedures are mostly inductive as opposed to deductive research where hypotheses are tested. A good GT has a core variable that is a central concept connected to many other concepts explaining the main action in the studied area. A core variable answers the question "What's going on?". Examples of core variables are: "Cutting back after a heart attack"--how people adapt to life after a serious illness; and "Balancing in palliative cancer care"--a process of weighing, shifting, compensating and compromising when treating people with a progressive and incurable illness trajectory.

An Antarctic research outpost as a model for planetary exploration.

Science.gov (United States)

Andersen, D T; McKay, C P; Wharton, R A; Rummel, J D

1990-01-01

During the next 50 years, human civilization may well begin expanding into the solar system. This colonization of extraterrestrial bodies will most likely begin with the establishment of small research outposts on the Moon and/or Mars. In all probability these facilities, designed primarily for conducting exploration and basic science, will have international participation in their crews, logistical support and funding. High fidelity Earth-based simulations of planetary exploration could help prepare for these expensive and complex operations. Antarctica provides one possible venue for such a simulation. The hostile and remote dry valleys of southern Victoria Land offer a valid analog to the Martian environment but are sufficiently accessible to allow routine logistical support and to assure the relative safety of their inhabitants. An Antarctic research outpost designed as a planetary exploration simulation facility would have great potential as a testbed and training site for the operation of future Mars bases and represents a near-term, relatively low-cost alternative to other precursor activities. Antarctica already enjoys an international dimension, an aspect that is more than symbolically appropriate to an international endeavor of unprecedented scientific and social significance--planetary exploration by humans. Potential uses of such a facility include: 1) studying human factors in an isolated environment (including long-term interactions among an international crew); 2) testing emerging technologies (e.g., advanced life support facilities such as a partial bioregenerative life support system, advanced analytical and sample acquisition instrumentation and equipment, etc.); and 3) conducting basic scientific research similar to the research that will be conducted on Mars, while contributing to the planning for human exploration. (Research of this type is already ongoing in Antarctica).

Exploring Aging Attitudes through a Puppet Making Research Study

Science.gov (United States)

Whiteland, Susan R.

2016-01-01

Intergenerational programs often reduce ageism and stereotypical thinking. This author uses a mixed methods case study to investigate how attitudes may change when older adults and children participate in an intergenerational art project. The research question, "Is there a positive correlation in children's attitudes toward older adults and…

Repetitive Questioning Exasperates Caregivers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. C. Hamdy MD

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Repetitive questioning is due to an impaired episodic memory and is a frequent, often presenting, problem in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (amnestic type. It is due to the patients’ difficulties learning new information, retaining it, and recalling it, and is often aggravated by a poor attention span and easy distractibility. A number of factors may trigger and maintain repetitive questioning. Caregivers should try to identify and address these triggers. In the case discussion presented, it is due to the patient’s concerns about her and her family’s safety triggered by watching a particularly violent movie aired on TV. What went wrong in the patient/caregiver interaction and how it could have been avoided or averted are explored. Also reviewed are the impact of repetitive questioning, the challenges it raises for caregivers, and some effective intervention strategies that may be useful to diffuse the angst that caregivers experience with repetitive questioning.

Reply & Supply: Efficient crowdsourcing when workers do more than answer questions.

Science.gov (United States)

McAndrew, Thomas C; Guseva, Elizaveta A; Bagrow, James P

2017-01-01

Crowdsourcing works by distributing many small tasks to large numbers of workers, yet the true potential of crowdsourcing lies in workers doing more than performing simple tasks-they can apply their experience and creativity to provide new and unexpected information to the crowdsourcer. One such case is when workers not only answer a crowdsourcer's questions but also contribute new questions for subsequent crowd analysis, leading to a growing set of questions. This growth creates an inherent bias for early questions since a question introduced earlier by a worker can be answered by more subsequent workers than a question introduced later. Here we study how to perform efficient crowdsourcing with such growing question sets. By modeling question sets as networks of interrelated questions, we introduce algorithms to help curtail the growth bias by efficiently distributing workers between exploring new questions and addressing current questions. Experiments and simulations demonstrate that these algorithms can efficiently explore an unbounded set of questions without losing confidence in crowd answers.

78 FR 20696 - NASA Advisory Council; Human Exploration and Operations Committee; Research Subcommittee; Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2013-04-05

... topics: --Overview of Research in Space Life and Physical Sciences --Space Station and Future Exploration... Exploration and Operations Committee; Research Subcommittee; Meeting AGENCY: National Aeronautics and Space... of the Research Subcommittee of the Human Exploration and Operations Committee (HEOC) of the NASA...

Good questions require good answers. Critics on current climate research contradicted

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vellinga, P.; Van Dorland, R.; Kabat, P.

2008-01-01

In some of the previous issues of this magazine (Spil 2007, issue 4 and 5-6, and Spil 2008, issue 1) the authors Labohm, Roersch and Thoenes started a frontal attack of the greenhouse theory and the researchers who report on the state of science in the framework of the IPCC. The author of this article addresses two main questions arising from the above-mentioned authors: (1) Does the use of fossil fuels affect global climate?; and (2) Is the warming of the last 30 years related to the increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere? [mk] [nl

Answering the Questions of Rape Prevention Research: A Response to Tharp et al. (2011)

Science.gov (United States)

Foubert, John D.

2011-01-01

Rape prevention programmers and researchers have long struggled to select the most appropriate theoretical models to frame their work. Questions abound regarding appropriate standards of evidence for success of program interventions. The present article provides an alternative point of view to the one put forward by seven staff members from the…

FINESSE Spaceward Bound - Teacher Engagement in NASA Science and Exploration Field Research

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, A. J. P.; Heldmann, J. L.; Sheely, T.; Karlin, J.; Johnson, S.; Rosemore, A.; Hughes, S.; Nawotniak, S. Kobs; Lim, D. S. S.; Garry, W. B.

2016-01-01

The FINESSE (Field Investigations to Enable Solar System Science and Exploration) team of NASA's Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) is focused on a science and exploration field-based research program aimed at generating strategic knowledge in preparation for the human and robotic exploration of the Moon, Near Earth Asteroids, and the moons of Mars. The FINESSE science program is infused with leading edge exploration concepts since "science enables exploration and exploration enables science." The FINESSE education and public outreach program leverages the team's field investigations and educational partnerships to share the excitement of lunar, Near Earth Asteroid, and martian moon science and exploration locally, nationally, and internationally. The FINESSE education plan is in line with all of NASA's Science Mission Directorate science education objectives, particularly to enable STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education and leverage efforts through partnerships.

Research as a Respectful Practice: An Exploration of the Practice of Respect in Qualitative Research

Science.gov (United States)

O'Grady, Emmanuel

2016-01-01

This article explores the practice of respect within qualitative research methods. As interpersonal respect plays a significant role in the esteem felt within a relationship, it can also serve to cultivate trust between researchers and their participants in a research study. This article details the findings of a research study examining respect…

Questioning context: a set of interdisciplinary questions for investigating contextual factors affecting health decision making

Science.gov (United States)

Charise, Andrea; Witteman, Holly; Whyte, Sarah; Sutton, Erica J.; Bender, Jacqueline L.; Massimi, Michael; Stephens, Lindsay; Evans, Joshua; Logie, Carmen; Mirza, Raza M.; Elf, Marie

2011-01-01

Abstract Objective  To combine insights from multiple disciplines into a set of questions that can be used to investigate contextual factors affecting health decision making. Background  Decision‐making processes and outcomes may be shaped by a range of non‐medical or ‘contextual’ factors particular to an individual including social, economic, political, geographical and institutional conditions. Research concerning contextual factors occurs across many disciplines and theoretical domains, but few conceptual tools have attempted to integrate and translate this wide‐ranging research for health decision‐making purposes. Methods  To formulate this tool we employed an iterative, collaborative process of scenario development and question generation. Five hypothetical health decision‐making scenarios (preventative, screening, curative, supportive and palliative) were developed and used to generate a set of exploratory questions that aim to highlight potential contextual factors across a range of health decisions. Findings  We present an exploratory tool consisting of questions organized into four thematic domains – Bodies, Technologies, Place and Work (BTPW) – articulating wide‐ranging contextual factors relevant to health decision making. The BTPW tool encompasses health‐related scholarship and research from a range of disciplines pertinent to health decision making, and identifies concrete points of intersection between its four thematic domains. Examples of the practical application of the questions are also provided. Conclusions  These exploratory questions provide an interdisciplinary toolkit for identifying the complex contextual factors affecting decision making. The set of questions comprised by the BTPW tool may be applied wholly or partially in the context of clinical practice, policy development and health‐related research. PMID:21029277

Risk Factor Analysis and the Youth Question

Science.gov (United States)

France, Alan

2008-01-01

This paper is concerned with exploring how in late modernity the "youth question" is being addressed by public policy and what impact this is having on understandings of childhood and youth. Historically the youth question has been shaped by adult anxieties over youth delinquency and their problems of social integration. In late modernity, this is…

Supplementary study of possible risks and consequences of the exploration and exploitation of shale and coal gas in the Netherlands. Final report of the research questions A and B; Aanvullend onderzoek naar mogelijke risico's en gevolgen van de opsporing en winning van schalie- en steenkoolgas in Nederland. Eindrapport onderzoeksvragen A en B

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2013-08-15

The Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs has given the consortium consisting of Witteveen and Bos, Arcadis and Fugro an assignment to investigate the possible risks and effects of exploration and exploitation of shale gas and coal bed methane in The Netherlands. The main questions of the research have been outlined in 55 research question that have been answered in the shape of technical notes. This summary contains the most important findings of this research. Attention is paid to Conventional versus unconventional gas, Footprint and nuisance, Methane emissions and climate footprint, Earthquakes and subsidence, Water usage, Fraccing fluid, Safety, Ground water, Relation with current legislation [Dutch] Het Ministerie van Economische Zaken heeft het consortium Witteveen+Bos, Arcadis en Fugro opdracht gegeven voor een onderzoek naar mogelijke risico's en gevolgen van opsporen en winnen van schaliegas (en steenkoolgas) in Nederland. De hoofdvragen van het onderzoek zijn uitgewerkt in 55 onderzoeksvragen, die in achtergrondnotities zijn beantwoord. Aandacht is besteed aan Conventioneel versus onconventioneel gas, Ruimtebeslag en hinder, Methaanemissies en klimaatvoetafdruk, Bodembewegingen, Watergebruik, Frac-vloeistof, Veiligheid, Grondwater, en de Relatie met huidige mijnbouwwetgeving.

Playful Collaborative Exploration: New Research Practice in Participatory Design

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martin Johansson

2005-01-01

Full Text Available Within the Participatory Design community as well as the Computer Supported Cooperative Work tradition, a lot of effort has been put into the question of letting field studies inform design. In this paper, we describe how game-like approaches can be used as a way of exploring a practice from a design point of view. Thinking of ethnographic fieldwork as a base for sketching, rather than descriptions, creates openness that invites collaborative authoring. The concept of playful collaborative exploration suggests certain ways of interacting with material from field studies so that it becomes a design material for an open-ended design process. We have carried out field studies, transformed the field material into design material, and set up a design game for working with it together with the people we followed in the field. The design game builds on an idea about the power of narratives and the benefits of constraining rules. We believe that this framework for collaboration opens for playfulness, experimentation, and new design ideas.

Immigration and Competitiveness – Some Methodological Questions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tünde Patay

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Immigrants can contribute significantly to the economic and social development of regions or urban areas. Some key figures on migration are thus traditionally used in studies on local development. Beyond the usual description of migratory movements, two research fields are often in the centre of controversies, namely the labour market and the inclusion of immigrants. Comparing the European regions, the phases of urban development as well as the relevant internal and external factors present a mixed picture in Europe. At the same time, the dynamics of migratory movements and the reactions of national and subnational policies also vary. The Member States of the European Union aim to harmonise their definitions and data on migration issues, however, the daily practice leads us to the questions of reliability and comparability of migration statistics; and the interdisciplinary character of migration research offers the use of variable research methods. The aim of this study, as a part of a presentation at a conference on urban development, is to describe some key methodological issues of migration research exploring the typical questions. The first part of the paper calls attention to the importance of data quality, processing and interpretation, describing the research methods mainly used in studies on immigration. The second part summarizes the significance of immigration in regional competitiveness, pointing out the possible “stumbling stones” in the relevant migration studies. Some of these factors, the areas that are mainly in the centre of scientific and political debates, are discussed in this paper, namely the labour market challenges and issues relating to the different aspects of segregation.

The relationship between facilitators' questions and the level of reflection in postsimulation debriefing.

Science.gov (United States)

Husebø, Sissel Eikeland; Dieckmann, Peter; Rystedt, Hans; Søreide, Eldar; Friberg, Febe

2013-06-01

Simulation-based education is a learner-active method that may enhance teamwork skills such as leadership and communication. The importance of postsimulation debriefing to promote reflection is well accepted, but many questions concerning whether and how faculty promote reflection remain largely unanswered in the research literature. The aim of this study was therefore to explore the depth of reflection expressed in questions by facilitators and responses from nursing students during postsimulation debriefings. Eighty-one nursing students and 4 facilitators participated. The data were collected in February and March 2008, the analysis being conducted on 24 video-recorded debriefings from simulated resuscitation teamwork involving nursing students only. Using Gibbs' reflective cycle, we graded the facilitators' questions and nursing students' responses into stages of reflection and then correlated these. Facilitators asked most evaluative and fewest emotional questions, whereas nursing students answered most evaluative and analytic responses and fewest emotional responses. The greatest difference between facilitators and nursing students was in the analytic stage. Only 23 (20%) of 117 questions asked by the facilitators were analytic, whereas 45 (35%) of 130 students' responses were rated as analytic. Nevertheless, the facilitators' descriptive questions also elicited student responses in other stages such as evaluative and analytic responses. We found that postsimulation debriefings provide students with the opportunity to reflect on their simulation experience. Still, if the debriefing is going to pave the way for student reflection, it is necessary to work further on structuring the debriefing to facilitate deeper reflection. Furthermore, it is important that facilitators consider what kind of questions they ask to promote reflection. We think future research on debriefing should focus on developing an analytical framework for grading reflective questions. Such

A Question of Control? Examining the Role of Control Conditions in Experimental Psychopathology using the Example of Cognitive Bias Modification Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Blackwell, Simon E; Woud, Marcella L; MacLeod, Colin

2017-10-26

While control conditions are vitally important in research, selecting the optimal control condition can be challenging. Problems are likely to arise when the choice of control condition is not tightly guided by the specific question that a given study aims to address. Such problems have become increasingly apparent in experimental psychopathology research investigating the experimental modification of cognitive biases, particularly as the focus of this research has shifted from theoretical questions concerning mechanistic aspects of the association between cognitive bias and emotional vulnerability, to questions that instead concern the clinical efficacy of 'cognitive bias modification' (CBM) procedures. We discuss the kinds of control conditions that have typically been employed in CBM research, illustrating how difficulties can arise when changes in the types of research questions asked are not accompanied by changes in the control conditions employed. Crucially, claims made on the basis of comparing active and control conditions within CBM studies should be restricted to those conclusions allowed by the specific control condition employed. CBM studies aiming to establish clinical utility are likely to require quite different control conditions from CBM studies aiming to illuminate mechanisms. Further, conclusions concerning the clinical utility of CBM interventions cannot necessarily be drawn from studies in which the control condition has been chosen to answer questions concerning mechanisms. Appreciating the need to appropriately alter control conditions in the transition from basic mechanisms-focussed investigations to applied clinical research could greatly facilitate the translational process.

Questioning care at the end of life.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruopp, Patricia; Good, Mary-Jo Delvecchio; Lakoma, Matthew; Gadmer, Nina M; Arnold, Robert M; Block, Susan D

2005-06-01

The goal of the larger study was to explore physicians' emotional responses to the death of their patients; this study analyzed a subset of physician transcripts to elucidate the construct of questioning care, which emerged from the larger study. To analyzes how physicians question care-expressing concern, unease, or uncertainty about treatment decisions and practices, errors, or adverse events-as they attend dying patients. Retrospective interview study of physicians caring for randomly selected deaths on the medical service of a major academic teaching hospital, using qualitative and quantitative measures. SETTING, SUBJECTS: 188 attendings, residents, and interns on the internal medical services of two academic medical centers were part of the larger study. A subsample of 75 physician narratives was selected for qualitative data analysis for this study. Qualitative measures included open-ended questions eliciting physicians' stories of the most recent and a most emotionally powerful patient death they have experienced. Grounded theory was used to analyze physician narratives. Quantitative instruments measured physician attitudes toward end-of-life care and responses to the most recent and most emotional patient death. Physicians question care more frequently in most emotional deaths (42%) than in most recent deaths (34%). Physicians question communication with patients and families and within medical teams, medical judgment and technique, standards of practice, and high-risk treatments, often assigning responsibility for medical management they perceive as inappropriate, futile, overly aggressive, or mistakes in judgment and technique. Responsibility ranges from the distal (the culture of medicine) to the proximal (personal). Frustration, guilt, and anger are more frequently expressed in these narratives when care is questioned. A typology of questioning care emerged from these physicians' narratives that parallels and reflects recent and classic research on

Testing Audiovisual Comprehension Tasks with Questions Embedded in Videos as Subtitles: A Pilot Multimethod Study

Science.gov (United States)

Núñez, Juan Carlos Casañ

2017-01-01

Listening, watching, reading and writing simultaneously in a foreign language is very complex. This paper is part of wider research which explores the use of audiovisual comprehension questions imprinted in the video image in the form of subtitles and synchronized with the relevant fragments for the purpose of language learning and testing.…

Reviewing the regulatory barriers for nanomedicine: global questions and challenges.

Science.gov (United States)

Bowman, Diana M; Gatof, Jake

2015-01-01

Nanomedicine will play an increasing role in prevention and treatment across the entire healthcare spectrum. However, their precise market size, economic value and areas of application remain unclear. This opacity, including the question of what constitutes nanomedicine matters, especially when considered alongside the key regulatory questions and concerns. This article begins by placing these key questions into context in relation to the current scientific state of the art, focusing particular attention on the human health and safety context. In exploring these central questions surrounding the regulation of nanomedicine, this perspective also explores existing and suggested frameworks that aim to deal with emerging technologies more generally. It then outlines priority areas for action and general conclusions specific to nanomedicine.

Asking the Right Questions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Richter, Line

Based on fieldwork in Mali this paper discusses the role of anthropology (and the anthropologist) in a large public health research project on children's health. In the uncertainty and disquiet that comes with the battle to combat and avoid diseases in a setting where poverty and abysmal diseases......, is the ability to move beyond even the best hidden assumptions and question our own questions, thereby enabling us to ask the right questions....

Research in thermal biology: Burning questions for coldwater stream fishes

Science.gov (United States)

McCullough, D.A.; Bartholow, J.M.; Jager, H.I.; Beschta, R.L.; Cheslak, E.F.; Deas, M.L.; Ebersole, J.L.; Foott, J.S.; Johnson, S.L.; Marine, K.R.; Mesa, M.G.; Petersen, J.H.; Souchon, Y.; Tiffan, K.F.; Wurtsbaugh, W.A.

2009-01-01

With the increasing appreciation of global warming impacts on ecological systems, in addition to the myriad of land management effects on water quality, the number of literature citations dealing with the effects of water temperature on freshwater fish has escalated in the past decade. Given the many biological scales at which water temperature effects have been studied, and the growing need to integrate knowledge from multiple disciplines of thermal biology to fully protect beneficial uses, we held that a survey of the most promising recent developments and an expression of some of the remaining unanswered questions with significant management implications would best be approached collectively by a diverse research community. We have identified five specific topic areas of renewed research where new techniques and critical thought could benefit coldwater stream fishes (particularly salmonids): molecular, organism, population/species, community and ecosystem, and policy issues in water quality. Our hope is that information gained through examination of recent research fronts linking knowledge at various scales will prove useful in managing water quality at a basin level to protect fish populations and whole ecosystems. Standards of the past were based largely on incipient lethal and optimum growth rate temperatures for fish species, while future standards should consider all integrated thermal impacts to the organism and ecosystem. ?? Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Product Design: Research Trends and an Agenda for the Future

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Di Benedetto, A.C.

2012-01-01

Academic research in product design is growing in popular- ity, and new challenging research questions are emerging. This article explores several of these product design research issues. We first explore the role of design as a driver of innovation and as a strategic resource to senior managers for

The research on magnetic exploring abandoned chemical weapons by Japanese

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Luoguo; Li Jingyue; Wang Zezhong

2007-01-01

During Word war II, a lot of chemical weapons were left by Japanese on our land. It is very difficult to explore because its complicated states underground. There is no document about the details of this. Few of the research work have been done. In order to destroy completely abandoned chemical weapons by Japanese, the paper has given a serious study on the means to explore the chemical weapons for the purpose to protect our environment and benefit our people. After plenty of research and test, we get good results. (authors)

The prime questions in authentic patient's consultations: a call for additional research on current and new paradigms.

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Hanh Thi

2013-01-01

Although the 3 prime questions ("What did your doctor tell you the medication is for?" "How did your doctor tell you to take the medication?," and "What did your doctor tell you to expect?") have been recommended as a way to implement an interactive approach to patient's counseling in pharmacy, research examining how these questions are actually used in practice is relatively sparse. Qualitative approaches might assist to inform pertinent questions that might challenge prevailing paradigms. This commentary calls for a close look at how novice pharmacists in training manage these questions in real-life patient's consultations. These examples are aimed to provide preliminary observations about (1) how the prime questions in their original and modified forms are treated by pharmacists in training and patients, and (2) the interactional functions that the prime questions and similar questions may serve. Preliminary observations based on a conversation analysis of these examples show that the open-ended nature of the original prime questions sometimes leads to interactional problems such as delays in patients' responses and pharmacists' revision of the questions. Modified question formats that involve the use of specific knowledge expected to be possessed by a pharmacist, such as declarative questions and Q-word questions with concrete information, may lead to smoother interaction. Finally, questions about the purpose of the therapy may also be used to create opportunities to express empathy toward the patient or to shift the zone of expertise to the doctor. These initial findings suggest a more context sensitive and adaptive approach to communication in pharmacy. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Research in education and concepts of knowledge: the production of knowledge in question

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Almeida, Natalia Regina

2014-04-01

Full Text Available In the field of knowledge in education, discussion about the treatment given to its definition as a field, investigative object and different possibilities theoretical-methodological, epistemological, was frequent in the last decades of the twentieth century. In this perspective, the aspects that relate to the process of construction and production of research in the field of education and knowledge of different theoretical and methodological possibilities deserve more theoretical and conceptual investment. Thus, this paper, from the literature, aims to present a brief discussion of the different conceptions of knowledge in the construction of research in the field of knowledge in education and two theoretical and methodological positions the practice of educational research. As a final consideration, the intention of this article is not to exhaust the issue in question, for there are many issues that permeate the practice of educational research.

Introducing NASA's Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute

Science.gov (United States)

Pendleton, Yvonne

The Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) is focused on the Moon, near Earth asteroids, and the moons of Mars. Comprised of competitively selected teams across the U.S., a growing number of international partnerships around the world, and a small central office located at NASA Ames Research Center, the institute advances collaborative research to bridge science and exploration goals. As a virtual institute, SSERVI brings unique skills and collaborative technologies for enhancing collaborative research between geographically disparate teams. SSERVI is jointly funded through the NASA Science Mission Directorate and the NASA Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. Current U.S. teams include: Dr. Jennifer L. Heldmann, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA; Dr. William Farrell, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD; Prof. Carlé Pieters, Brown University, Providence, RI; Prof. Daniel Britt, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL; Prof. Timothy Glotch, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY; Dr. Mihaly Horanyi, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO; Dr. Ben Bussey, Johns Hopkins Univ. Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD; Dr. David A. Kring, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, TX; and Dr. William Bottke, Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO. Interested in becoming part of SSERVI? SSERVI Cooperative Agreement Notice (CAN) awards are staggered every 2.5-3yrs, with award periods of five-years per team. SSERVI encourages those who wish to join the institute in the future to engage current teams and international partners regarding potential collaboration, and to participate in focus groups or current team activities now. Joining hand in hand with international partners is a winning strategy for raising the tide of Solar System science around the world. Non-U.S. science organizations can propose to become either Associate or Affiliate members on a no-exchange-of-funds basis. Current international partners

Research Ship Atlantic Explorer Underway Meteorological Data, Quality Controlled

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Research Ship Atlantic Explorer Underway Meteorological Data (delayed ~10 days for quality control) are from the Shipboard Automated Meteorological and Oceanographic...

Vitamin D and the brain: key questions for future research.

Science.gov (United States)

Cui, Xiaoying; Gooch, Helen; Groves, Natalie J; Sah, Pankaj; Burne, Thomas H; Eyles, Darryl W; McGrath, John J

2015-04-01

Over the last decade a convergent body of evidence has emerged from epidemiology, animal experiments and clinical trials which links low vitamin D status with a range of adverse neuropsychiatric outcomes. This research demonstrates that the timing of exposure to low vitamin D influences the nature of brain phenotypes, as exposures during gestation versus adulthood result in different phenotypes. With respect to early life exposures, there is robust evidence from rodent experiments indicating that transient developmental vitamin D (DVD) deficiency is associated with changes in brain structure, neurochemistry, gene and protein expression and behavior. In particular, DVD deficiency is associated with alterations in the dopaminergic neurotransmitter systems. In contrast, recently published animal experiments indicate that adult vitamin D (AVD) deficiency is associated with more subtle neurochemical and behavioral phenotypes. This paper explores key issues that need to be addressed in future research. There is a need to define the timing and duration of the 'critical window' during which low vitamin D status is associated with differential and adverse brain outcomes. We discuss the role for 'two-hit hypotheses', which propose that adult vitamin D deficiency leaves the brain more vulnerable to secondary adverse exposures, and thus may exacerbate disease progression. Finally, we explore the evidence implicating a role for vitamin D in rapid, non-genomic mechanisms that may involve L-type calcium channels and brain function. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled '17th Vitamin D Workshop'. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An official American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society statement: research questions in COPD

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bartolome R. Celli

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD is a leading cause of morbidity, mortality and resource use worldwide. The goal of this official American Thoracic Society (ATS/European Respiratory Society (ERS Research Statement is to describe evidence related to diagnosis, assessment, and management; identify gaps in knowledge; and make recommendations for future research. It is not intended to provide clinical practice recommendations on COPD diagnosis and management. Clinicians, researchers and patient advocates with expertise in COPD were invited to participate. A literature search of Medline was performed, and studies deemed relevant were selected. The search was not a systematic review of the evidence. Existing evidence was appraised and summarised, and then salient knowledge gaps were identified. Recommendations for research that addresses important gaps in the evidence in all areas of COPD were formulated via discussion and consensus. Great strides have been made in the diagnosis, assessment and management of COPD, as well as understanding its pathogenesis. Despite this, many important questions remain unanswered. This ATS/ERS research statement highlights the types of research that leading clinicians, researchers and patient advocates believe will have the greatest impact on patient-centred outcomes.

The Priority of the Question: Focus Questions for Sustained Reasoning in Science

Science.gov (United States)

Lustick, David

2010-08-01

Science education standards place a high priority on promoting the skills and dispositions associated with inquiry at all levels of learning. Yet, the questions teachers employ to foster sustained reasoning are most likely borrowed from a textbook, lab manual, or worksheet. Such generic questions generated for a mass audience, lack authenticity and contextual cues that allow learners to immediately appreciate a question’s relevance. Teacher queries intended to motivate, guide, and foster learning through inquiry are known as focus questions. This theoretical article draws upon science education research to present a typology and conceptual framework intended to support science teacher educators as they identify, develop, and evaluate focus questions with their students.

Best practice strategies for effective use of questions as a teaching tool.

Science.gov (United States)

Tofade, Toyin; Elsner, Jamie; Haines, Stuart T

2013-09-12

Questions have long been used as a teaching tool by teachers and preceptors to assess students' knowledge, promote comprehension, and stimulate critical thinking. Well-crafted questions lead to new insights, generate discussion, and promote the comprehensive exploration of subject matter. Poorly constructed questions can stifle learning by creating confusion, intimidating students, and limiting creative thinking. Teachers most often ask lower-order, convergent questions that rely on students' factual recall of prior knowledge rather than asking higher-order, divergent questions that promote deep thinking, requiring students to analyze and evaluate concepts. This review summarizes the taxonomy of questions, provides strategies for formulating effective questions, and explores practical considerations to enhance student engagement and promote critical thinking. These concepts can be applied in the classroom and in experiential learning environments.

Exploring research priorities in landscape architecture: An international Delphi study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Meijering, J.V.; Tobi, H.; Brink, van den A.; Morris, F.A.; Bruns, D.

2015-01-01

Many of the world's major challenges require responses that are embedded in landscape planning, design, and management. To date, however, it is unclear which research domains should form the core of a future landscape architecture research agenda. This study explored which domains landscape

Research award: Networked Economies | IDRC - International ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

2017-09-06

Sep 6, 2017 ... ... research skills and gain a fresh perspective on crucial development issues. ... and the advancement of democracy, human rights, and economic growth. ... seeking a research award recipient to explore research questions centered on the ... fields such as engineering or computer/information science; and ...

Questioning the Questions

Science.gov (United States)

Tienken, Christopher H.; Goldberg, Stephanie; DiRocco, Dominic

2010-01-01

Historical accounts of questioning used in the education process trace back to Socrates. One of the best examples of his use of questioning is found in Plato's "The Republic." Socrates used a series of strategic questions to help his student Glaucon come to understand the concept of justice. Socrates purposefully posed a series of…

Exploring IT roles in business process innovation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gong, Jie; Møller, Charles

2013-01-01

This paper explores the relationships between IT and Business process innovation (BPI) through examining IT roles in the processes of BPI. BPI is an innovative activity in business which has been paying more attention in recent years. However it is often confused with other process......-orientation concepts, such as Business process management (BPM) and Business process reengineering (BPR). The paper aims to find out two research questions: 1) How do we understand the meanings of BPI in the current background of economic globalization? 2) What IT roles are in the process of BPI? Based on finding...... the answer to these two questions, the definition of BPI in academia and the relationships with other popular process-orientation activities in practice are reviewed, then a framework of comprehensive understanding of BPI is put forward, and thereafter the interactions between IT and BPI are explored...

Top 10 Research Questions Related to Teaching Games for Understanding.

Science.gov (United States)

Memmert, Daniel; Almond, Len; Bunker, David; Butler, Joy; Fasold, Frowin; Griffin, Linda; Hillmann, Wolfgang; Hüttermann, Stefanie; Klein-Soetebier, Timo; König, Stefan; Nopp, Stephan; Rathschlag, Marco; Schul, Karsten; Schwab, Sebastian; Thorpe, Rod; Furley, Philip

2015-01-01

In this article, we elaborate on 10 current research questions related to the "teaching games for understanding" (TGfU) approach with the objective of both developing the model itself and fostering game understanding, tactical decision making, and game-playing ability in invasion and net/wall games: (1) How can existing scientific approaches from different disciplines be used to enhance game play for beginners and proficient players? (2) How can state-of-the-art technology be integrated to game-play evaluations of beginners and proficient players by employing corresponding assessments? (4) How can complexity thinking be utilized to shape day-to-day physical education (PE) and coaching practices? (5) How can game making/designing be helpfully utilized for emergent learning? (6) How could purposeful game design create constraints that enable tactical understanding and skill development through adaptive learning and distributed cognition? (7) How can teacher/coach development programs benefit from game-centered approaches? (8) How can TGfU-related approaches be implemented in teacher or coach education with the goal of facilitating preservice and in-service teachers/coaches' learning to teach and thereby foster their professional development from novices to experienced practitioners? (9) Can the TGfU approach be considered a helpful model across different cultures? (10) Can physical/psychomotor, cognitive, affective/social, and cultural development be fostered via TGfU approaches? The answers to these questions are critical not only for the advancement of teaching and coaching in PE and sport-based clubs, but also for an in-depth discussion on new scientific avenues and technological tools.

Top 10 Research Questions Related to Teaching Games for Understanding

Science.gov (United States)

Memmert, Daniel; Almond, Len; Bunker, David; Butler, Joy; Fasold, Frowin; Griffin, Linda; Hillmann, Wolfgang; Hüttermann, Stefanie; Klein-Soetebier, Timo; König, Stefan; Nopp, Stephan; Rathschlag, Marco; Schul, Karsten; Schwab, Sebastian; Thorpe, Rod; Furley, Philip

2015-01-01

In this article, we elaborate on 10 current research questions related to the “teaching games for understanding” (TGfU) approach with the objective of both developing the model itself and fostering game understanding, tactical decision making, and game-playing ability in invasion and net/wall games: (1) How can existing scientific approaches from different disciplines be used to enhance game play for beginners and proficient players? (2) How can state-of-the-art technology be integrated to game-play evaluations of beginners and proficient players by employing corresponding assessments? (4) How can complexity thinking be utilized to shape day-to-day physical education (PE) and coaching practices? (5) How can game making/designing be helpfully utilized for emergent learning? (6) How could purposeful game design create constraints that enable tactical understanding and skill development through adaptive learning and distributed cognition? (7) How can teacher/coach development programs benefit from game-centered approaches? (8) How can TGfU-related approaches be implemented in teacher or coach education with the goal of facilitating preservice and in-service teachers/coaches’ learning to teach and thereby foster their professional development from novices to experienced practitioners? (9) Can the TGfU approach be considered a helpful model across different cultures? (10) Can physical/psychomotor, cognitive, affective/social, and cultural development be fostered via TGfU approaches? The answers to these questions are critical not only for the advancement of teaching and coaching in PE and sport-based clubs, but also for an in-depth discussion on new scientific avenues and technological tools. PMID:26452580

Trick questions: cosmopolitan hospitality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eleanor Byrne

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Byrne’s paper consists of two parallel texts. The first explores the limits of cosmopolitanism in practice, taking as its subject the Life in the UK Citizenship Test, inaugurated under the Labour Government in 2005. It argues that the test exemplifies the predicament of all attempts at cosmopolitan hospitality as unconditional welcoming, through a discussion of the relation between questioning and welcoming the stranger. Establishing the relationship between cosmopolitanism and hospitality as envisaged in Derrida’s reading of Kant it asks what kind of cosmopolitan hospitality is either possible or desirable by exploring what Derrida calls the ‘perversions’ inherent in the structures of hospitality. It focuses on the concept of the ‘trick questions’ that the state asks the foreigner observed by Derrida in his reading of The Apology of Socrates; questions that seem to invite answers but foreclose the possibilities of a free response. The second text asks how this logic that Derrida identifies can be pushed or coaxed into new ways of addressing the perceived threats of ‘unconditional’ hospitality through a reading of ‘unconditional hospitality’ as queer in the work of Tove Jansson.

'The research compass'

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ringsted, Charlotte; Hodges, Brian; Scherpbier, Albert

2011-01-01

by the complexity of the field. Next is a section on how to move from an idea or problem to a research question by placing a concrete idea or problem within a conceptual, theoretical framework. The following sections are structured around an overview model of approaches to medical education research, 'The research...... compass'. Core to the model is the conceptual, theoretical framework that is the key to any direction. The compass depicts four main categories of research approaches that can be applied when studying medical education phenomena, 'Explorative studies'; 'Experimental studies'; 'Observational studies......This AMEE Guide offers an introduction to research in medical education. It is intended for those who are contemplating conducting research in medical education but are new to the field. The Guide is structured around the process of transforming ideas and problems into researchable questions...

What Makes a Scientific Research Question Worth Investigating? Students' Epistemic Criteria and Considerations of Contribution

Science.gov (United States)

Berson, Eric Bruckner

2012-01-01

This dissertation introduces the construct of "worthwhileness" as an important aspect of students' "practical" epistemologies of science (Sandoval, 2005). Specifically, it examines how students conceptualize what makes a scientific research question worthwhile, through a close analysis of the criteria they use for…

To What Degree Does the Promotion System Reward Faculty Research Productivity?

Science.gov (United States)

Tien, Flora F.

2007-01-01

This study explores the research question: Does the promotion system in Taiwan reward faculty research productivity? By conducting event history analyses, I have demonstrated that the simple answer to the question is "yes." After controlling for the effects of demography, education, institutions and seniority, the discrete-time logit…

An Exploration of Social Media Use among Multiply Minoritized LGBTQ Youth

Science.gov (United States)

Lucero, Alfie Leanna

2013-01-01

This study responds to a need for research in a fast-growing and significant area of study, that of exploring, understanding, and documenting the numerous ways that multiply marginalized LGBTQ youth between the ages of 14 and 17 use social media. The primary research question examined whether social media provide safe spaces for multiply…

Questions and Answers about School-Age Children in Self-Care: A Sloan Work and Family Research Network Fact Sheet

Science.gov (United States)

Sloan Work and Family Research Network, 2009

2009-01-01

The Sloan Work and Family Research Network has prepared Fact Sheets that provide statistical answers to some important questions about work-family and work-life issues. This Fact Sheet includes statistics about Children in Self-Care, and answers the following questions about school-age children in self-care: (1) How many school-age children are in…

Exploring the value of qualitative research films in clinical education.

Science.gov (United States)

Toye, Fran; Jenkins, Sue; Seers, Kate; Barker, Karen

2015-11-27

Many healthcare professionals use both quantitative and qualitative research to inform their practice. The usual way to access research findings is through peer-reviewed publications. This study aimed to understand the impact on healthcare professionals of watching and discussing a short research based film. The film, 'Struggling to be me' portrays findings from a qualitative synthesis exploring people's experiences of chronic pain, and was delivered as part of an inter-professional postgraduate e-learning module. The innovation of our study is to be the first to explore the impact of qualitative research portrayed through the medium of film in clinical education. All nineteen healthcare professionals enrolled on the course in December 2013 took part in on-line interviews or focus groups. We recorded and transcribed the interviews verbatim and used the methods of Grounded Theory to analyse the interview transcripts. Watching and discussing the film became a stimulus for learning : (a) A glimpse beneath the surface explored a pro-active way of seeing the person behind the pain (b) Pitfalls of the Medical Model recognised the challenge, for both patient and clinician, of 'sitting with' rather than 'fixing' an ill person; (c) Feeling bombarded by despair acknowledged the intense emotions that the clinicians brings to the clinical encounter; (d) Reconstructing the clinical encounter as a shared journey reconstructed the time-constrained clinical encounter as a single step on a shared journey towards healing, rather than fixing. Films portraying qualitative research findings can stimulate a pro-active and dialectic form of knowing. Research-based qualitative films can make qualitative findings accessible and can be a useful resource in clinical training. Our research presents, for the first time, specific learning themes for clinical education.

International health research monitoring: exploring a scientific and a cooperative approach using participatory action research

OpenAIRE

Chantler, Tracey; Cheah, Phaik Yeong; Miiro, George; Hantrakum, Viriya; Nanvubya, Annet; Ayuo, Elizabeth; Kivaya, Esther; Kidola, Jeremiah; Kaleebu, Pontiano; Parker, Michael; Njuguna, Patricia; Ashley, Elizabeth; Guerin, Philippe J; Lang, Trudie

2014-01-01

Objectives To evaluate and determine the value of monitoring models developed by the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Research Unit and the East African Consortium for Clinical Research, consider how this can be measured and explore monitors’ and investigators’ experiences of and views about the nature, purpose and practice of monitoring. Research design A case study approach was used within the context of participatory action research because one of the aims was to guide and improve practice. 34 inte...

An Exploration of Feminist Family Therapists' Resistance to and Collusion with Oppression

OpenAIRE

Goodwin, Annabelle Michelle

2011-01-01

In this study, I explore the ways in which feminist family therapists encourage exploration of, resistance to, and collusion with, oppression. I explore qualitatively the critical dialogues, both inner, and with others, that feminist family therapists employ to address oppressive systems. My research questions are: a. How do family therapists who identify as feminist describe how their feminist identities and ideas about feminism have evolved over time? b. How do feminist family therapists re...

Personality testing and workplace training : Exploring stakeholders, products and purpose in Western Europe

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lundgren, H.; Kroon, B.; Poell, R.F.

2017-01-01

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how and why personality tests are used in workplace training. This research paper is guided by three research questions that inquire about the role of external and internal stakeholders, the value of psychometric and practical considerations in test

Research Award: Information and Networks (I&N) Deadline ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

arashid

2011-09-12

Sep 12, 2011 ... human development in developing countries. Greater access to the Internet ... The I&N research awardee will ideally explore research questions centred on the ... fields such as engineering or computer/information science;.

The Impact of Political Context on the Questions Asked and Answered: The Evolution of Education Research on Racial Inequality

Science.gov (United States)

Wells, Amy Stuart; Roda, Allison

2016-01-01

This chapter examines how the larger political context and policies enacted at different points in American history have affected the questions education researchers asked and answered. The authors argue that while education researchers are often quick to consider how their research should shape policy, they are less likely to contemplate the…

Guiding Students to the Right Questions: Adaptive Navigation Support in an E-Learning System for Java Programming

Science.gov (United States)

Hsiao, I.-H.; Sosnovsky, S.; Brusilovsky, P.

2010-01-01

Rapid growth of the volume of interactive questions available to the students of modern E-Learning courses placed the problem of personalized guidance on the agenda of E-Learning researchers. Without proper guidance, students frequently select too simple or too complicated problems and ended either bored or discouraged. This paper explores a…

Multiphase flow and phase change in microgravity: Fundamental research and strategic research for exploration of space

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Bhim S.

2003-01-01

NASA is preparing to undertake science-driven exploration missions. The NASA Exploration Team's vision is a cascade of stepping stones. The stepping-stone will build the technical capabilities needed for each step with multi-use technologies and capabilities. An Agency-wide technology investment and development program is necessary to implement the vision. The NASA Exploration Team has identified a number of areas where significant advances are needed to overcome all engineering and medical barriers to the expansion of human space exploration beyond low-Earth orbit. Closed-loop life support systems and advanced propulsion and power technologies are among the areas requiring significant advances from the current state-of-the-art. Studies conducted by the National Academy of Science's National Research Council and Workshops organized by NASA have shown that multiphase flow and phase change play a crucial role in many of these advanced technology concepts. Lack of understanding of multiphase flow, phase change, and interfacial phenomena in the microgravity environment has been a major hurdle. An understanding of multiphase flow and phase change in microgravity is, therefore, critical to advancing many technologies needed. Recognizing this, the Office of Biological and Physical Research (OBPR) has initiated a strategic research thrust to augment the ongoing fundamental research in fluid physics and transport phenomena discipline with research especially aimed at understanding key multiphase flow related issues in propulsion, power, thermal control, and closed-loop advanced life support systems. A plan for integrated theoretical and experimental research that has the highest probability of providing data, predictive tools, and models needed by the systems developers to incorporate highly promising multiphase-based technologies is currently in preparation. This plan is being developed with inputs from scientific community, NASA mission planners and industry personnel

Mission to the Solar System: Exploration and Discovery. A Mission and Technology Roadmap

Science.gov (United States)

Gulkis, S. (Editor); Stetson, D. S. (Editor); Stofan, E. R. (Editor)

1998-01-01

Solar System exploration addresses some of humanity's most fundamental questions: How and when did life form on Earth? Does life exist elsewhere in the Solar System or in the Universe? - How did the Solar System form and evolve in time? - What can the other planets teach us about the Earth? This document describes a Mission and Technology Roadmap for addressing these and other fundamental Solar System Questions. A Roadmap Development Team of scientists, engineers, educators, and technologists worked to define the next evolutionary steps in in situ exploration, sample return, and completion of the overall Solar System survey. Guidelines were to "develop aa visionary, but affordable, mission and technology development Roadmap for the exploration of the Solar System in the 2000 to 2012 timeframe." The Roadmap provides a catalog of potential flight missions. (Supporting research and technology, ground-based observations, and laboratory research, which are no less important than flight missions, are not included in this Roadmap.)

Addiction Studies: Exploring Students' Attitudes toward Research in a Graduate Program

Science.gov (United States)

James, Raven; Simons, Lori

2011-01-01

An exploratory study was conducted to compare addiction studies and community counseling students' attitudes toward research. A survey of 66 addiction studies and 17 community counseling students in graduate programs was used to explore interest and self-efficacy in research and the research training environment. A pre/post test design was used to…

Research Ethics in Big Data.

Science.gov (United States)

Hammer, Marilyn J

2017-05-01

The ethical conduct of research includes, in part, patient agreement to participate in studies and the protection of health information. In the evolving world of data science and the accessibility of large quantities of web-based data created by millions of individuals, novel methodologic approaches to answering research questions are emerging. This article explores research ethics in the context of big data.

Exploring the cognitive schemas as individual or group structures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Arzenšek

2012-10-01

Full Text Available The present paper describes some features of the theory of cognitive schemas. The discussion focuses on the issue of appropriate level to explore the cognitive schemas: the individual-, above individual- or the level of larger social systems, depending on the characteristics of social cognition and the nature of cognitive schemas. Currently researchers of cognitive schemas focus on the interaction between motivational, cognitive and other personal and situational variables and on their influence on behavior. Cognitive schemas are seen as the result of mutual interplay between personal, environmental and situational variables. The answer to the appropriate level of exploration question is found to depend on the paradigm within which the individual researchers work and also on the nature of the research problem.

Research Award: Information and Networks (I&N) Deadline: 12 ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Jean-Claude Dumais

2012-09-12

Sep 12, 2012 ... The growth of networked technologies has created new opportunities for advancing human ... The I&N research awardee will ideally explore research questions centred ... such as engineering or computer/information science.

Synthesizing models useful for ecohydrology and ecohydraulic approaches: An emphasis on integrating models to address complex research questions

Science.gov (United States)

Brewer, Shannon K.; Worthington, Thomas; Mollenhauer, Robert; Stewart, David; McManamay, Ryan; Guertault, Lucie; Moore, Desiree

2018-01-01

Ecohydrology combines empiricism, data analytics, and the integration of models to characterize linkages between ecological and hydrological processes. A challenge for practitioners is determining which models best generalizes heterogeneity in hydrological behaviour, including water fluxes across spatial and temporal scales, integrating environmental and socio‐economic activities to determine best watershed management practices and data requirements. We conducted a literature review and synthesis of hydrologic, hydraulic, water quality, and ecological models designed for solving interdisciplinary questions. We reviewed 1,275 papers and identified 178 models that have the capacity to answer an array of research questions about ecohydrology or ecohydraulics. Of these models, 43 were commonly applied due to their versatility, accessibility, user‐friendliness, and excellent user‐support. Forty‐one of 43 reviewed models were linked to at least 1 other model especially: Water Quality Analysis Simulation Program (linked to 21 other models), Soil and Water Assessment Tool (19), and Hydrologic Engineering Center's River Analysis System (15). However, model integration was still relatively infrequent. There was substantial variation in model applications, possibly an artefact of the regional focus of research questions, simplicity of use, quality of user‐support efforts, or a limited understanding of model applicability. Simply increasing the interoperability of model platforms, transformation of models to user‐friendly forms, increasing user‐support, defining the reliability and risk associated with model results, and increasing awareness of model applicability may promote increased use of models across subdisciplines. Nonetheless, the current availability of models allows an array of interdisciplinary questions to be addressed, and model choice relates to several factors including research objective, model complexity, ability to link to other models, and

Biology Question Generation from a Semantic Network

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Lishan

Science instructors need questions for use in exams, homework assignments, class discussions, reviews, and other instructional activities. Textbooks never have enough questions, so instructors must find them from other sources or generate their own questions. In order to supply instructors with biology questions, a semantic network approach was developed for generating open response biology questions. The generated questions were compared to professional authorized questions. To boost students' learning experience, adaptive selection was built on the generated questions. Bayesian Knowledge Tracing was used as embedded assessment of the student's current competence so that a suitable question could be selected based on the student's previous performance. A between-subjects experiment with 42 participants was performed, where half of the participants studied with adaptive selected questions and the rest studied with mal-adaptive order of questions. Both groups significantly improved their test scores, and the participants in adaptive group registered larger learning gains than participants in the control group. To explore the possibility of generating rich instructional feedback for machine-generated questions, a question-paragraph mapping task was identified. Given a set of questions and a list of paragraphs for a textbook, the goal of the task was to map the related paragraphs to each question. An algorithm was developed whose performance was comparable to human annotators. A multiple-choice question with high quality distractors (incorrect answers) can be pedagogically valuable as well as being much easier to grade than open-response questions. Thus, an algorithm was developed to generate good distractors for multiple-choice questions. The machine-generated multiple-choice questions were compared to human-generated questions in terms of three measures: question difficulty, question discrimination and distractor usefulness. By recruiting 200 participants from

"While we are questioning we are progressing"—A Reply to the Ancestors of Qualitative Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Monika Götsch

2009-07-01

Full Text Available REICHERTZ' reflections on the development of qualitative research during the Berlin Meeting on Qualitative Research Methods in 2009 (http://www.berliner-methodentreffen.de/ have led to the following central questions: Are we facing the end of critical social research? Is this possible end correlated with an uncritical mass of young scientists? In their reply to the ancestors of qualitative research the present authors advocate the abolition of a bipolar thinking about the issues and support a hybrid turn, standing the test through a fundamentally open-minded, reflexive, and deconstructive researcher`s attitude. Using the example of ethnography and gender studies we show that there are indeed opportunities for the future of critical social research: This approach would take place beyond the slaves of market-controlled contract research and ahead of the characters of the eternal hall of fame of social research. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0903306

Impunity for International Terrorists? Key Legal Questions and Practical Considerations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christophe Paulussen

2012-04-01

Full Text Available This Research Paper discusses several of the key questions related to the subject of impunity of international terrorists, taking both a fundamental and a more practical approach within the context of international law. First, it reflects on a number of core definitional and theoretical questions which have been pushed into the background of day‐to‐day reality, by the actual fight against terrorism. For instance: what does the concept of impunity entail exactly and which kinds of standards could be used in measuring impunity? Is it clear what falls under the header of international terrorism and can it in fact be argued that international terrorists enjoy impunity? In practical terms, the paper explores a number of questions related to the actual prosecution of terrorism. What are the obstacles that national prosecutors face every day when prosecuting suspects of international terrorism? To what extent does a rule that prima facie seems ideal to fight terrorism (aut dedere aut judicare: either extradite or prosecute apply to terrorist offences? And what is the role of international criminal law – and the international criminal tribunals – in fighting terrorism? The Paper concludes with a series of recommendations.

KEMAMPUAN MAHASISWA DALAM MEMBUAT COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pudiyono Pudiyono

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The aims of the research were to find out (a the level of the students’ ability in making comprehension questions, (b the students’ map of problems in making comprehension questions. The population of the research was all students joining Reading 4 academic year 2016, totaling to 30 students, while the sample was taken from all students. The result of data analysis showed that the average ability of the students, with score more than 70 reached 66.66%. In details, only 4 of the samples (13.33% got no wrong answers or an A. Those who got good achievement (B, considered as majority, amounted to 16 students (53.33%. The participants achieving enough grades (C reached 7 students or 23.33%. The last level achieved in this research was D with the number reaching 3 (10%. The map of problems laid on their inability in identifying between yes/no and WH questions, inverted sentence, choosing the right auxiliary and verbs and their spelling ability. Keyword: comprehension, questions, inversion, problem map, ability

Question, answer, compare: a cross-category comparison of answers on question and answer websites

Science.gov (United States)

Ocepek, Melissa G.; Westbrook, Lynn

2015-10-01

Online information seekers make heavy use of websites that accept their natural language questions. This study compared the three types of such websites: social question and answer (Q&A), digital reference services, and ask-an-expert services. Questions reflecting daily life, research, and crisis situations were posed to high use websites of all three types. The resulting answers' characteristics were analyzed in terms of speed, transparency, formality, and intimacy. The results indicate that social Q&A websites excel in speed, ask-an-expert websites in intimacy, and digital reference services in transparency and formality.

Parallel experience: how art and art theory can inform ethics in human research.

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Schwartz, L

2003-12-01

Trends in ethical research involving humans emphasise the importance of collaboration, of involving research subjects, alongside the researchers in the construction and implementation of research. This paper will explore parallels derived from another tradition of investigation of the human: art and art theory. An artist's inquiry into the problems of human research will be described, followed by the application of arguments from art theory to research practice. Recently artist Christine Borland has provided examples in which the lack of collaboration in research has caused injustice. Borland's work reflects these ethical dilemmas and questions the procedures and assumptions involved. In most cases the value of subject anonymity is called into question because it reduces the subjects' control over themselves. The application of art theory, which has already considered these problems, helps question and explore the ways in which the subject turned object of artistic or scientific interpretation can maintain some control and dignity.

Sustainability, Learning and Capability: Exploring Questions of Balance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

William A. H. Scott

2010-12-01

Full Text Available It is argued that sustainable development makes best sense as a social learning process that brings tangible and useful outcomes in terms of understanding and skills, and also reinforces the motivation and capability for further learning. Thus, there are always balances to be struck between a broad-based, wide-ranging education and a more specialist one; between a focus on ideas themselves, and on their application in social or economic contexts; and between keeping ideas separate, and integrating them. This paper will explore the nature of such balances, and the issues to bear in mind when striking them, focusing on schools, university and college contexts within the United Kingdom.

ON THE QUESTION OF CORPORATE FUNDING IMPLEMENTATION OF EXPLORATION AND PRODUCTION INVESTMENT PROJECTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Voronin D. M.

2016-03-01

Full Text Available As part of the research, the content of the required theoretical and methodological tools in the field of corporate finance investment projects of exploration and production of hydrocarbons described. Indicated cash flow characteristics of such projects in accordance with the phases of the project, identified the risks associated with cash flows. In practical terms, the proposed approach to the financing of projects includes sequential algorithm deciding on the implementation of funding is considered on case studies and can be used in the process of financial planning oil and gas companies, in building policy project financing, corporate procedures and regulations. In solving problems of theoretical and applied scientific methods used in the study, including methods of logical, comparative and systematic analysis, as well as methods of economic-mathematical modeling.

Cooperative learning model with high order thinking skills questions: an understanding on geometry

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Sari, P. P.; Budiyono; Slamet, I.

2018-05-01

Geometry, a branch of mathematics, has an important role in mathematics learning. This research aims to find out the effect of learning model, emotional intelligence, and the interaction between learning model and emotional intelligence toward students’ mathematics achievement. This research is quasi-experimental research with 2 × 3 factorial design. The sample in this research included 179 Senior High School students on 11th grade in Sukoharjo Regency, Central Java, Indonesia in academic year of 2016/2017. The sample was taken by using stratified cluster random sampling. The results showed that: the student are taught by Thinking Aloud Pairs Problem-Solving using HOTs questions provides better mathematics learning achievement than Make A Match using HOTs questions. High emotional intelligence students have better mathematics learning achievement than moderate and low emotional intelligence students, and moderate emotional intelligence students have better mathematics learning achievement than low emotional intelligence students. There is an interaction between learning model and emotional intelligence, and these affect mathematics learning achievement. We conclude that appropriate learning model can support learning activities become more meaningful and facilitate students to understand material. For further research, we suggest to explore the contribution of other aspects in cooperative learning modification to mathematics achievement.

The Medical Anthropologist as the Patient: Developing Research Questions on Hospital Food in Japan through Auto-Ethnography

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Pamela Runestad

2016-03-01

Full Text Available I was an inpatient at a small maternity clinic in Japan in 2012–13 and found it impossible to separate the way I experienced medical care and my training as a medical anthropologist. As I was encouraged to eat and monitor my weight so that I would “grow” a healthy baby, I recalled how interviewees from my HIV/AIDS project described nourishing their bodies so they could fight disease. Because of my experience in the healthcare system in Japan, I ended up reframing my data to add questions about the role of hospital food in patient care. Meanwhile, I developed the social networks necessary to execute a new project, which I would later undertake. In this essay I argue that medical anthropologists working from a phenomenological perspective may regard their own bodies as assets rather than hindrances in research, and that because bodies are gendered, focusing on this facet of habitus can be particularly informative. I also illustrate how systematic reflection on personal experience in the field (autoethnography aids in the development of research questions and reframing data. Finally, I discuss how highlighting these steps in research methods courses can demystify the research process for students.

Narrative health research: Exploring big and small stories as analytical tools

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sools, Anna Maria

2013-01-01

In qualitative health research many researchers use a narrative approach to study lay health concepts and experiences. In this article, I explore the theoretical linkages between the concepts narrative and health, which are used in a variety of ways. The article builds on previous work that

VQABQ: Visual Question Answering by Basic Questions

KAUST Repository

Huang, Jia-Hong

2017-03-19

Taking an image and question as the input of our method, it can output the text-based answer of the query question about the given image, so called Visual Question Answering (VQA). There are two main modules in our algorithm. Given a natural language question about an image, the first module takes the question as input and then outputs the basic questions of the main given question. The second module takes the main question, image and these basic questions as input and then outputs the text-based answer of the main question. We formulate the basic questions generation problem as a LASSO optimization problem, and also propose a criterion about how to exploit these basic questions to help answer main question. Our method is evaluated on the challenging VQA dataset and yields state-of-the-art accuracy, 60.34% in open-ended task.

VQABQ: Visual Question Answering by Basic Questions

KAUST Repository

Huang, Jia-Hong; Alfadly, Modar; Ghanem, Bernard

2017-01-01

Taking an image and question as the input of our method, it can output the text-based answer of the query question about the given image, so called Visual Question Answering (VQA). There are two main modules in our algorithm. Given a natural language question about an image, the first module takes the question as input and then outputs the basic questions of the main given question. The second module takes the main question, image and these basic questions as input and then outputs the text-based answer of the main question. We formulate the basic questions generation problem as a LASSO optimization problem, and also propose a criterion about how to exploit these basic questions to help answer main question. Our method is evaluated on the challenging VQA dataset and yields state-of-the-art accuracy, 60.34% in open-ended task.

Applying Creativity Research to Cooking

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Beghetto, Ronald A.; Kaufman, James C.; Hatcher, Ryan

2016-01-01

What, if any, benefit might there be to applying creativity research to cooking? The purpose of this paper was to address this question. Specifically, we draw on concepts and theories from creativity research to help clarify what is meant by creative cooking. This includes exploring creative cooking through the lens of the 4-C and Propulsion…

An Exploration into the Work-Life Balance of Female Accountantsi in Malaysia

OpenAIRE

Tang, Tara

2008-01-01

This research explores the work-life balance of female accountants in Malaysia by understanding their motivation to strive in the corporate world, their perception on their employment and domestic role, and consequently discover how these affect the work-life balance issues that they face. Chapter one offers the introduction to this research, its significance, the research objectives, research questions and a brief description of the perceived role of women in Malaysia. The literature review ...

Top 10 Research Questions Related to Preventing Sudden Death in Sport and Physical Activity.

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Katch, Rachel K; Scarneo, Samantha E; Adams, William M; Armstrong, Lawrence E; Belval, Luke N; Stamm, Julie M; Casa, Douglas J

2017-09-01

Participation in organized sport and recreational activities presents an innate risk for serious morbidity and mortality. Although death during sport or physical activity has many causes, advancements in sports medicine and evidence-based standards of care have allowed clinicians to prevent, recognize, and treat potentially fatal injuries more effectively. With the continual progress of research and technology, current standards of care are evolving to enhance patient outcomes. In this article, we provided 10 key questions related to the leading causes and treatment of sudden death in sport and physical activity, where future research will support safer participation for athletes and recreational enthusiasts. The current evidence indicates that most deaths can be avoided when proper strategies are in place to prevent occurrence or provide optimal care.

Burning questions: Exploring the impact of natural disasters on community pharmacies.

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Mak, Pey Wen; Singleton, Judith

The past decade has seen a rapid change in the climate system with an increased risk of extreme weather events. On and following the 3rd of January 2013, Tasmania experienced three catastrophic bushfires, which led to the evacuation of several communities, the loss of many properties, and a financial cost of approximately AUD$80 million. To explore the impacts of the 2012/2013 Tasmanian bushfires on community pharmacies. Qualitative research methods were undertaken, employing semi-structured telephone interviews with a purposive sample of seven Tasmanian pharmacists. The interviews were recorded and transcribed, and two different methods were used to analyze the text. The first method utilized Leximancer ® text analytics software to provide a birds-eye view of the conceptual structure of the text. The second method involved manual, open and axial coding, conducted independently by the two researchers for inter-rater reliability, to identify key themes in the discourse. Two main themes were identified - 'people' and 'supply' - from which six key concepts were derived. The six concepts were 'patients,' 'pharmacists,' 'local doctor,' 'pharmacy operations,' 'disaster management planning,' and 'emergency supply regulation.' This study identified challenges faced by community pharmacists during Tasmanian bushfires. Interviewees highlighted the need for both the Tasmanian State Government and the Australian Federal Government to recognize the important primary care role that community pharmacists play during natural disasters, and therefore involve pharmacists in disaster management planning. They called for greater support and guidance for community pharmacists from regulatory and other government bodies during these events. Their comments highlighted the need for a review of Tasmania's three-day emergency supply regulation that allows pharmacists to provide a three-day supply of a patient's medication without a doctor's prescription in an emergency situation. Copyright

Personality Testing and Workplace Training: Exploring Stakeholders, Products and Purpose in Western Europe

Science.gov (United States)

Lundgren, Henriette; Kroon, Brigitte; Poell, Rob F.

2017-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how and why personality tests are used in workplace training. This research paper is guided by three research questions that inquire about the role of external and internal stakeholders, the value of psychometric and practical considerations in test selection, and the purpose of personality test use…

Gendering China studies: peripheral perspectives, central questions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Kloet, J.

2008-01-01

This article explores the connections between the field of China studies and the field of gender and sexuality studies. It engages with three questions. First, why is it that theoretical, conceptual and methodological cross-fertilization between China studies and cultural studies remains quite

Research for Safe and Pin-point Lunar Landing and Exploration

OpenAIRE

松本, 甲太郎; MATSUMOTO, Kohtaro; 佐々, 修一; SASA, Shuichi; 若林, 幸子; WAKABAYASHI, Sachiko; 片山, 保宏; KATAYAMA, Yasuhiro; 二宮, 哲次郎; NINOMIYA, Tetsujiro; 濱田, 吉郎; HAMADA, Yoshiro; 藤原, 健; FUJIWARA, Takeshi

2003-01-01

The moon is widely regarded as the next step into space for us. NASA, ESA and other agencies have recently begun new missions in the next thrust towards lunar exploration. NAL has started fundamental studies of the technologies needed for the long-term utilization of the moon as a technological and scientific base. NAL is currently taking part in the research phase of the Selenological and Engineering Explorer - B (SELENE-B) project, which was separated from SELENE in 2000, and in 2001 was de...

A Question of Balance: Exploring the Acculturation, Integration and Adaptation of Muslim Immigrant Youth

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jaimee Stuart

2011-11-01

Full Text Available The paper addresses criticisms of contemporary acculturation research by adopting a mixed method approach (open-ended survey responses, interviews, focus groups and projective techniques to the study of the acculturation experiences of Muslim youth in New Zealand. The research explores: 1 the meaning, definition and achievement of success; 2 the process of negotiating multiple social identities; and 3 the graphic representation of identity. Thematic analysis indicated that young Muslims aspire to achieve success in personal, social, material and religious domains and that they seek to balance potentially competing demands from family, friends, the Muslim community and the wider society. At the same time they aspire to balance multiple identities, retaining religious and cultural elements in the definition of self while endeavoring to integrate into the wider society. The process of achieving this balance is characterized by three strategies: alternating orientations, blending orientations and minimizing differences. The findings are discussed in relation to advancing our understanding of integration as an acculturation option, and the community-based policy implications for multicultural societies are considered.

Cell biology and biotechnology research for exploration of the Moon and Mars

Science.gov (United States)

Pellis, N.; North, R.

Health risks generated by human long exposure to radiation, microgravity, and unknown factors in the planetary environment are the major unresolved issues for human space exploration. A complete characterization of human and other biological systems adaptation processes to long-duration space missions is necessary for the development of countermeasures. The utilization of cell and engineered tissue cultures in space research and exploration complements research in human, animal, and plant subjects. We can bring a small number of humans, animals, or plants to the ISS, Moon, and Mars. However, we can investigate millions of their cells during these missions. Furthermore, many experiments can not be performed on humans, e.g. radiation exposure, cardiac muscle. Cells from critical tissues and tissue constructs per se are excellent subjects for experiments that address underlying mechanisms important to countermeasures. The development of cell tissue engineered for replacement, implantation of biomaterial to induce tissue regeneration (e.g. absorbable collagen matrix for guiding tissue regeneration in periodontal surgery), and immunoisolation (e.g. biopolymer coating on transplanted tissues to ward off immunological rejection) are good examples of cell research and biotechnology applications. NASA Cell Biology and Biotechnology research include Bone/Muscle and Cardiovascular cell culture and tissue engineering; Environmental Health and Life Support Systems; Immune System; Radiation; Gravity Thresholds ; and Advanced Biotechnology Development to increase the understanding of animal and plant cell adaptive behavior when exposed to space, and to advance technologies that facilitates exploration. Cell systems can be used to investigate processes related to food, microbial proliferation, waste management, biofilms and biomaterials. The NASA Cell Science Program has the advantage of conducting research in microgravity based on significantly small resources, and the ability to

Promoting Vicarious Learning of Physics Using Deep Questions with Explanations

Science.gov (United States)

Craig, Scotty D.; Gholson, Barry; Brittingham, Joshua K.; Williams, Joah L.; Shubeck, Keith T.

2012-01-01

Two experiments explored the role of vicarious "self" explanations in facilitating student learning gains during computer-presented instruction. In Exp. 1, college students with low or high knowledge on Newton's laws were tested in four conditions: (a) monologue (M), (b) questions (Q), (c) explanation (E), and (d) question + explanation (Q + E).…

Problems Portraying Migrants in Applied Linguistics Research

Science.gov (United States)

Block, David

2010-01-01

This paper is a very personal attempt to explore the problematics of portraying migrants in Applied Linguistics research. I begin with a discussion of identity, in particular what we might mean when we use the term, and from there I go on to explore its fundamental imprecision through an analysis of a census question about ethnicity. I then…

Image manipulation as research misconduct.

Science.gov (United States)

Parrish, Debra; Noonan, Bridget

2009-06-01

A growing number of research misconduct cases handled by the Office of Research Integrity involve image manipulations. Manipulations may include simple image enhancements, misrepresenting an image as something different from what it is, and altering specific features of an image. Through a study of specific cases, the misconduct findings associated with image manipulation, detection methods and those likely to identify such manipulations, are discussed. This article explores sanctions imposed against guilty researchers and the factors that resulted in no misconduct finding although relevant images clearly were flawed. Although new detection tools are available for universities and journals to detect questionable images, this article explores why these tools have not been embraced.

[Analysis of the question-answer activity of a hospital pharmacy. Example of the handling of drug interactions].

Science.gov (United States)

Jacqueroux, E; Lalande, L; Meddour, N; Papailhau, C; Bernard, E; Charroin, C; Perichou, J; Charpiat, B; Locher, F; Garcia, S

2015-05-01

The medical care of patients generates questions among healthcare professionals. Some will necessitate an advanced research. The hospital pharmacist is at the interface between prescribers, caregivers and the medicines and is requested to answer these requests. Studies conducted in other countries showed that this question-answer activity represents a significant amount of time in daily work. In France, this topic was poorly explored. The objective of our work was to study the volume and the type of questions, the clinical situations, the time required, the medicines implicated and the sources of information used. A prospective study was conducted in the pharmacy of a university hospital. All the requests answered by the pharmaceutical team, which needed a specific research, analysis and writing of an answer were collected. A hundred and one questions were analyzed, originating from doctors or medicals interns. Almost half concerned drug interactions, and among them, almost a fourth were not mentioned in the Summary of Product Characteristics of the medicines involved. A pharmaceutical advice was provided in 91.5% of the cases. Time dedicated to the research varied between less than 30 minutes and more than 8 hours. This study illustrates the question-answer activity of a hospital pharmacy, which is currently not taken into account as an indicator of pharmaceutical activity. A large part concerns analysis and management of drug interactions and requires a significant amount of pharmaceutical time. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Testing audiovisual comprehension tasks with questions embedded in videos as subtitles: a pilot multimethod study

OpenAIRE

Casañ Núñez, Juan Carlos

2017-01-01

[EN] Listening, watching, reading and writing simultaneously in a foreign language is very complex. This paper is part of wider research which explores the use of audiovisual comprehension questions imprinted in the video image in the form of subtitles and synchronized with the relevant fragments for the purpose of language learning and testing. Compared to viewings where the comprehension activity is available only on paper, this innovative methodology may provide some benefits. Among them, ...

Engineering Design Thinking and Information Gathering. Final Report. Research in Engineering and Technology Education

Science.gov (United States)

Mentzer, Nathan

2011-01-01

The objective of this research was to explore the relationship between information access and design solution quality of high school students presented with an engineering design problem. This objective is encompassed in the research question driving this inquiry: How does information access impact the design process? This question has emerged in…

Exploring the unconscious using faces.

Science.gov (United States)

Axelrod, Vadim; Bar, Moshe; Rees, Geraint

2015-01-01

Understanding the mechanisms of unconscious processing is one of the most substantial endeavors of cognitive science. While there are many different empirical ways to address this question, the use of faces in such research has proven exceptionally fruitful. We review here what has been learned about unconscious processing through the use of faces and face-selective neural correlates. A large number of cognitive systems can be explored with faces, including emotions, social cueing and evaluation, attention, multisensory integration, and various aspects of face processing. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Participatory Research in a Mental Health Clubhouse.

Science.gov (United States)

Townsend, Elizabeth; Birch, Diane E.; Langley, Jack; Langille, Lynn

2000-01-01

A 2-year ethnographic study of a clubhouse for people with long-term mental illness involved club members in particpatory research. The study explored questions of what is research and who drives it. A critical perspective on the social organization of knowledge and power inequities between participants was highlighted. (SK)

The SPARK Tool to prioritise questions for systematic reviews in health policy and systems research: development and initial validation.

Science.gov (United States)

Akl, Elie A; Fadlallah, Racha; Ghandour, Lilian; Kdouh, Ola; Langlois, Etienne; Lavis, John N; Schünemann, Holger; El-Jardali, Fadi

2017-09-04

Groups or institutions funding or conducting systematic reviews in health policy and systems research (HPSR) should prioritise topics according to the needs of policymakers and stakeholders. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a tool to prioritise questions for systematic reviews in HPSR. We developed the tool following a four-step approach consisting of (1) the definition of the purpose and scope of tool, (2) item generation and reduction, (3) testing for content and face validity, (4) and pilot testing of the tool. The research team involved international experts in HPSR, systematic review methodology and tool development, led by the Center for Systematic Reviews on Health Policy and Systems Research (SPARK). We followed an inclusive approach in determining the final selection of items to allow customisation to the user's needs. The purpose of the SPARK tool was to prioritise questions in HPSR in order to address them in systematic reviews. In the item generation and reduction phase, an extensive literature search yielded 40 relevant articles, which were reviewed by the research team to create a preliminary list of 19 candidate items for inclusion in the tool. As part of testing for content and face validity, input from international experts led to the refining, changing, merging and addition of new items, and to organisation of the tool into two modules. Following pilot testing, we finalised the tool, with 22 items organised in two modules - the first module including 13 items to be rated by policymakers and stakeholders, and the second including 9 items to be rated by systematic review teams. Users can customise the tool to their needs, by omitting items that may not be applicable to their settings. We also developed a user manual that provides guidance on how to use the SPARK tool, along with signaling questions. We have developed and conducted initial validation of the SPARK tool to prioritise questions for systematic reviews in HPSR, along with

How Tom Moon's research highlighted the question of glucose tolerance in carnivorous fish.

Science.gov (United States)

Polakof, S; Panserat, S

2016-09-01

Fifteen years ago, Tom Moon wrote a review on this journal in order to propose some explanations to the exacerbated glycaemic response after a glucose load or a carbohydrate meal intake observed in fish, the so-called intolerance to glucose. Before, but in most of cases after this paper, several laboratories worldwide started to make important efforts in order to better understand this strange phenotype observed in fish and that so far seemed to belong to diabetic humans only. Tom had been worked on fish metabolism for at least 30years when he proposed that mini-review and the paths opened by him in 2001 were followed by tens of fish researchers, making this paper a breaking point on the field. Fifteen years later, we propose not only to have a look to the answers given to the questions rose in that paper, but also to summarize how his career over all these years impacted the domain of glucose metabolism in fish. In the review, we will show how Tom Moon analysed at different levels (from genes up to the whole organism), using distinct experimental tools (cells, hormone or glucose injection, pumps, drugs) the questions of glucose metabolism, tolerance and nutrition in fish species. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

E-assessment for learning? Exploring the potential of computer-marked assessment and computer-generated feedback, from short-answer questions to assessment analytics.

OpenAIRE

Jordan, Sally

2014-01-01

This submission draws on research from twelve publications, all addressing some aspect of the broad research question: “Can interactive computer-marked assessment improve the effectiveness of assessment for learning?” \\ud \\ud The work starts from a consideration of the conditions under which assessment of any sort is predicted to best support learning, and reviews the broader literature of assessment and feedback before considering the potential of computer-based assessment, focusing on relat...

'Any questions?'--Clinicians' usage of invitations to ask questions (IAQs) in outpatient plastic surgery consultations.

Science.gov (United States)

Bristowe, Katherine; Patrick, Peter L

2014-12-01

To explore use of 'Invitations to Ask Questions' (IAQs) by plastic surgeons in outpatient consultations, and consider how type of IAQ impacts on patients' responses to, and recollection of, IAQs. Descriptive study: 63 patients were audio recorded in consultation with 5 plastic surgeons, and completed a brief questionnaire immediately after the consultation. Consultation transcripts were analyzed using inductive qualitative methods of Discourse Analysis and compared with questionnaire findings. A taxonomy of IAQs was developed, including three types of IAQ (Overt, Covert, and Borderline). Overt IAQs were rarely identified, and almost all IAQs occurred in the closing stages of the consultation. However, when an overt IAQ was used, patients always recollected being asked if they had any questions after the consultation. Patients are rarely explicitly offered the opportunity to ask questions. When this does occur, it is often in the closing stages of the consultation. Clinicians should openly encourage patients to ask questions frequently throughout the consultation, and be mindful that subtle differences in construction of these utterances may impact upon interpretation. Clear communication, of message and intention, is essential in clinical encounters to minimize misunderstanding, misinterpretation, or missed opportunities for patients to raise concerns. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

Questioning the efficacy of 'gold' open access to published articles.

Science.gov (United States)

Fredericks, Suzanne

2015-07-01

To question the efficacy of 'gold' open access to published articles. Open access is unrestricted access to academic, theoretical and research literature that is scholarly and peer-reviewed. Two models of open access exist: 'gold' and 'green'. Gold open access provides everyone with access to articles during all stages of publication, with processing charges paid by the author(s). Green open access involves placing an already published article into a repository to provide unrestricted access, with processing charges incurred by the publisher. This is a discussion paper. An exploration of the relative benefits and drawbacks of the 'gold' and 'green' open access systems. Green open access is a more economic and efficient means of granting open access to scholarly literature but a large number of researchers select gold open access journals as their first choices for manuscript submissions. This paper questions the efficacy of gold open access models and presents an examination of green open access models to encourage nurse researchers to consider this approach. In the current academic environment, with increased pressures to publish and low funding success rates, it is difficult to understand why gold open access still exists. Green open access enhances the visibility of an academic's work, as increased downloads of articles tend to lead to increased citations. Green open access is the cheaper option, as well as the most beneficial choice, for universities that want to provide unrestricted access to all literature at minimal risk.

Research-Based Teacher Education? Exploring the Meaning Potentials of Swedish Teacher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Alvunger, Daniel; Wahlström, Ninni

2018-01-01

In this article, we explore the meaning potentials of teacher education in terms of the significance of a research-based approach and the different pedagogic identities that such an approach implies. The study's aim is to examine the important factors for education to be considered research-based and to identify and analyse the research base of…

The science and art of simulation I exploring, understanding, knowing

CERN Document Server

Kaminski, Andreas; Gehring, Petra

2017-01-01

The new book series “The Science and Art of Simulation” (SAS) addresses computer simulations as a scientific activity and engineering artistry (in the sense of a technē). The first volume is devoted to three topics: 1. The Art of Exploring Computer Simulations Philosophy began devoting attention to computer simulations at a relatively early stage. Since then, the unquestioned point of view has been that computer simulation is a new scientific method; the philosophy of simulation is therefore part of the philosophy of science. The first section of this volume discusses this implicit, unchallenged assumption by addressing, from different perspectives, the question of how to explore (and how not to explore) research on computer simulations. Scientists discuss what is still lacking or considered problematic, while philosophers draft new directions for research, and both examine the art of exploring computer simulations. 2. The Art of Understanding Computer Simulations The results of computer simulations are ...

Exploring health researchers' perceptions of policymaking in Argentina: a qualitative study.

Science.gov (United States)

Corluka, Adrijana; Hyder, Adnan A; Winch, Peter J; Segura, Elsa

2014-09-01

Much of the published research on evidence-informed health policymaking in low- and middle-income countries has focused on policymakers, overlooking the role of health researchers in the research-to-policy process. Through 20 semi-structured, in-depth qualitative interviews conducted with researchers in Argentina's rural northwest and the capital of Buenos Aires, we explore the perspectives, experiences and attitudes of Argentine health researchers regarding the use and impact of health research in policymaking in Argentina. We find that the researcher, and the researcher's function of generating evidence, is nested within a broader complex system that influences the researcher's interaction with policymaking. This system comprises communities of practice, government departments/civil society organizations, bureaucratic processes and political governance and executive leadership. At the individual level, researcher capacity and determinants of research availability also play a role in contributing to evidence-informed policymaking. In addition, we find a recurrent theme around 'lack of trust' and explore the role of trust within a research system, finding that researchers' distrust towards policymakers and even other researchers are linked inextricably to the sociopolitical history of Argentina, which contributes to shaping researchers' identities in opposition to policymakers. For policymakers, national research councils and funders of national health research systems, this article provides a deeper understanding of researchers' perceptions which can help inform and improve programme design when developing interventions to enhance research utilization and develop equitable and rational health policies. For donors and development agencies interested in health research capacity building and achieving development goals, this research demonstrates a need for investment in building research capacity and training health researchers to interact with the public policy

Information Logistics Research report 2

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Willems, A.; Hajdasinski, A.K.; Willems, J.

2009-01-01

The goal of this research report is to further explore the concept of Information Logistics (IL), which refers to the usage and dispatch of information and methods of logistics able to support those processes. This report is based upon 6 questions that examine IL in organizations, healthcare

[Reflections on qualitative research. Interview of Luisa Saiani with Luigina Mortari].

Science.gov (United States)

Mortari, Luigina; Saiani, Luisa

2013-01-01

Reflections on qualitative research. Interview of Luisa Saiani to Luigina Mortari. Luigina Mortari, an internationally known expert of epistemology and qualitative research, was interviewed to explore her thoughts on issues relevant for qualitative research: when a research question can be considered relevant; key methodological elements; ethical issues.

Exploring Long-Term Behavior Patterns in a Book Recommendation System for Reading

Science.gov (United States)

Chien, Tzu-Chao; Chen, Zhi-Hong; Chan, Tak-Wai

2017-01-01

This study explored the behavior of students who used a book recommendation system, specifically the My-Bookstore system, over a five semester period. This study addressed two main research questions, the first being related to "the most frequent behaviors and behavioral patterns." The results showed that "visiting" behavior…

Exploring Meaning of Active Learning with Millennial Nursing Students: A Phenomenological Study

Science.gov (United States)

Szoka, Amy

2017-01-01

The purpose of this interpretive, phenomenological study was to explore and understand how millennial nursing students perceived their lived experiences of being active learners in an associate degree program and how it affected student learning outcomes and/or program satisfaction. The research questions guiding this study were based on…

Contextual Exploration of a New Family Caregiver Support Concept for Geriatric Settings Using a Participatory Health Research Strategy.

Science.gov (United States)

Dorant, Elisabeth; Krieger, Theresia

2017-11-28

Family caregivers are the backbone of the long-term care support system within the home environment. Comprehensive caregiver support programs require collaboration and coordination within the system. A new public health concept, Vade Mecum, aims to harmonize and professionalize family caregiver support initiatives in geriatric care settings in the Euregion Maas-Rhine. Exploration of the new concept recently started in Germany to gain in-depth insight into current support and the needs of the geriatric care team and family caregivers. Within the context of an exploratory qualitative study, a participatory health research (PHR) strategy was applied to make optimal use of experience and knowledge from the system. Care professionals, engaged as co-researchers, were responsible for decisions about the research question, data collection methods and procedures of engaging family caregivers. A research team representing all professions within the geriatric department was formed. Research objectives were formulated and an appropriate mix of qualitative data collection methods consisting of interviews, focus groups and story-telling was chosen. Needs and expectations of the new concept, and practical solutions for involving family caregivers were discussed. A PHR strategy resulted in initiating a qualitative study in a geriatric care setting carried out by care professionals from the department. Knowledge was generated in a co-creative manner, and co-researchers were empowered. A comprehensive understanding of the system serves as a starting point for advancement of the new family caregiver concept.

PFERD Mission: Pluto Flyby Exploration/Research Design

Science.gov (United States)

Lemke, Gary; Zayed, Husni; Herring, Jason; Fuehne, Doug; Sutton, Kevin; Sharkey, Mike

1990-01-01

The Pluto Flyby Exploration/Research Design (PFERD) mission will consist of a flyby spacecraft to Pluto and its satellite, Charon. The mission lifetime is expected to be 18 years. The Titan 4 with a Centaur upper stage will be utilized to launch the craft into the transfer orbit. The proposal was divided into six main subsystems: (1) scientific instrumentation; (2) command, communications, and control: (3) altitude and articulation control; (4) power and propulsion; (5) structures and thermal control; and (6) mission management and costing. Tradeoff studies were performed to optimize all factors of design, including survivability, performance, cost, and weight. Problems encountered in the design are also presented.

D-linking or set-restriction? Processing Which-questions in Dutch

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Donkers, Jantien; Hoeks, John C. J.; Stowe, Laurie A.

2013-01-01

Research on Wh-questions suggests that Which questions are harder to process than Who questions (e.g., Who/Which athlete won the competition?). According to the Discourse (D)-linking Hypothesis, Which-questions differ from Who-questions in that Which questions need a link to a preceding discourse,

Conducting systematic reviews of intervention questions I: Writing the review protocol, formulating the question and searching the literature.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Connor, A M; Anderson, K M; Goodell, C K; Sargeant, J M

2014-06-01

This article is the fourth of six articles addressing systematic reviews in animal agriculture and veterinary medicine. Previous articles in the series have introduced systematic reviews, discussed study designs and hierarchies of evidence, and provided details on conducting randomized controlled trials, a common design for use in systematic reviews. This article describes development of a review protocol and the first two steps in a systematic review: formulating a review question, and searching the literature for relevant research. The emphasis is on systematic reviews of questions related to interventions. The review protocol is developed prior to conducting the review and specifies the plan for the conduct of the review, identifies the roles and responsibilities of the review team and provides structured definitions related to the review question. For intervention questions, the review question should be defined by the PICO components: population, intervention, comparison and outcome(s). The literature search is designed to identify all potentially relevant original research that may address the question. Search terms related to some or all of the PICO components are entered into literature databases, and searches for unpublished literature also are conducted. All steps of the literature search are documented to provide transparent reporting of the process. © 2014 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Exploring attitudes and behaviour towards teenage pregnancy.

Science.gov (United States)

Redwood, Tracey; Pyer, Michelle; Armstrong-Hallam, Sarah

2012-03-01

This article illustrates a methodological approach, which actively engaged 14 to 19 year olds in the research process. This two phase study explored the attitudes and behaviours of young people towards teenage pregnancy in Northamptonshire, UK. The first phase involved training young mothers to lead six focus groups with three specifically targeted 'at-risk' groups; other teenage mothers, young offenders and looked after children (from 14 to 19 years of age). An open question began each focus group but the young women or peer researchers were aware of the topics they wished to explore and provided prompts as necessary. Seven topics are presented under the headings of: alcohol and drugs; planned pregnancy; professionals' treatment; need for love; support by family, friends and partners; labelling and the reality for teenage mothers; and future aspirations. The reasons for pregnancy or consequences of pregnancy are discussed under the implications and recommendations.

Research on the exploration and use of geothermal energy in Austria

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1976-01-01

The current status of geothermal exploration and utilization in Austria is reviewed. Geological characteristics of geothermal fields are discussed in general, as are exploration techniques including geological surveys, geophysical surveys, remote sensing, geochemical surveys, and test drilling. The geology of Austria is described in detail, and the economic and legal problems peculiar to Austria are discussed. Certain regions may be suitable for geothermal exploitation including the Vienna basin. Research and economic recommendations are made. Three figures one table, and thirty references are provided.

Teachers' Use of Computational Tools to Construct and Explore Dynamic Mathematical Models

Science.gov (United States)

Santos-Trigo, Manuel; Reyes-Rodriguez, Aaron

2011-01-01

To what extent does the use of computational tools offer teachers the possibility of constructing dynamic models to identify and explore diverse mathematical relations? What ways of reasoning or thinking about the problems emerge during the model construction process that involves the use of the tools? These research questions guided the…

New Tools for New Literacies Research: An Exploration of Usability Testing Software

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Asselin, Marlene; Moayeri, Maryam

2010-01-01

Competency in the new literacies of the Internet is essential for participating in contemporary society. Researchers studying these new literacies are recognizing the limitations of traditional methodological tools and adapting new technologies and new media for use in research. This paper reports our exploration of usability testing software to…

The potential for research-based information in public health: Identifying unrecognised information needs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Forsetlund Louise

2001-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Objective To explore whether there is a potential for greater use of research-based information in public health practice in a local setting. Secondly, if research-based information is relevant, to explore the extent to which this generates questioning behaviour. Design Qualitative study using focus group discussions, observation and interviews. Setting Public health practices in Norway. Participants 52 public health practitioners. Results In general, the public health practitioners had a positive attitude towards research-based information, but believed that they had few cases requiring this type of information. They did say, however, that there might be a potential for greater use. During five focus groups and six observation days we identified 28 questions/cases where it would have been appropriate to seek out research evidence according to our definition. Three of the public health practitioners identified three of these 28 cases as questions for which research-based information could have been relevant. This gap is interpreted as representing unrecognised information needs. Conclusions There is an unrealised potential in public health practice for more frequent and extensive use of research-based information. The practitioners did not appear to reflect on the need for scientific information when faced with new cases and few questions of this type were generated.

Medical Students' Understanding of Directed Questioning by Their Clinical Preceptors.

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Lo, Lawrence; Regehr, Glenn

2017-01-01

Phenomenon: Throughout clerkship, preceptors ask medical students questions for both assessment and teaching purposes. However, the cognitive and strategic aspects of students' approaches to managing this situation have not been explored. Without an understanding of how students approach the question and answer activity, medical educators are unable to appreciate how effectively this activity fulfills their purposes of assessment or determine the activity's associated educational effects. A convenience sample of nine 4th-year medical students participated in semistructured one-on-one interviews exploring their approaches to managing situations in which they have been challenged with questions from preceptors to which they do not know the answer. Through an iterative and recursive analytic reading of the interview transcripts, data were coded and organized to identify themes relevant to the students' considerations in answering such questions. Students articulated deliberate strategies for managing the directed questioning activity, which at times focused on the optimization of their learning but always included considerations of image management. Managing image involved projecting not only being knowledgeable but also being teachable. The students indicated that their considerations in selecting an appropriate strategy in a given situation involved their perceptions of their preceptors' intentions and preferences as well as several contextual factors. Insights: The medical students we interviewed were quite sophisticated in their understanding of the social nuances of the directed questioning process and described a variety of contextually invoked strategies to manage the situation and maintain a positive image.

Exploring teacher's perceptions of concept mapping as a teaching strategy in science: An action research approach

Science.gov (United States)

Marks Krpan, Catherine Anne

In order to promote science literacy in the classroom, students need opportunities in which they can personalize their understanding of the concepts they are learning. Current literature supports the use of concept maps in enabling students to make personal connections in their learning of science. Because they involve creating explicit connections between concepts, concept maps can assist students in developing metacognitive strategies and assist educators in identifying misconceptions in students' thinking. The literature also notes that concept maps can improve student achievement and recall. Much of the current literature focuses primarily on concept mapping at the secondary and university levels, with limited focus on the elementary panel. The research rarely considers teachers' thoughts and ideas about the concept mapping process. In order to effectively explore concept mapping from the perspective of elementary teachers, I felt that an action research approach would be appropriate. Action research enabled educators to debate issues about concept mapping and test out ideas in their classrooms. It also afforded the participants opportunities to explore their own thinking, reflect on their personal journeys as educators and play an active role in their professional development. In an effort to explore concept mapping from the perspective of elementary educators, an action research group of 5 educators and myself was established and met regularly from September 1999 until June 2000. All of the educators taught in the Toronto area. These teachers were interested in exploring how concept mapping could be used as a learning tool in their science classrooms. In summary, this study explores the journey of five educators and myself as we engaged in collaborative action research. This study sets out to: (1) Explore how educators believe concept mapping can facilitate teaching and student learning in the science classroom. (2) Explore how educators implement concept

The Impact and Future of Arts and Humanities Research

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Benneworth, Paul Stephen; Gulbrandsen, Magnus; Hazelkorn, Ellen

2016-01-01

Drawing on original international research by a cross-European social science team, this book makes an important contribution to the discussion about the future of arts and humanities research. It explores the responses of these fields to the growing range of questions being asked about the value,

The Construction of Academic Time: Sub/Contracting Academic Labour in Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Hey, Valerie

2001-01-01

Offers a poststructuralist analysis of the UK higher education sector's academic division of labor, exploring some new contradictions from a contract researcher's standpoint. Raises political, social, and methodological questions about these divisions by exploring their class and gender dimensions. Too many academics remain silent about adverse…

Seeking to understand: using generic qualitative research to explore access to medicines and pharmacy services among resettled refugees.

Science.gov (United States)

Bellamy, Kim; Ostini, Remo; Martini, Nataly; Kairuz, Therese

2016-06-01

Introduction There are challenges associated with selecting a qualitative research approach. In a field abundant with terminology and theories, it may be difficult for a pharmacist to know where and how to begin a qualitative research journey. The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into generic qualitative research and to describe the journey of data collection of a novice qualitative researcher in the quest to answer her research question: 'What are the barriers to accessing medicines and pharmacy services for resettled refugees in Queensland, Australia?' Methodology Generic qualitative research draws on the strengths of one or more qualitative approaches. The aim is to draw out participants' ideas about things that are 'outside themselves'; rather than focussing on their inner feelings the research seeks to understand a phenomenon, a process, or the perspectives of participants. Sampling is designed to obtain a broad range of opinions about events and experiences and data collection includes interviews, questionnaires or surveys; thematic analysis is often used to analyse data. When to use Generic qualitative research provides an opportunity to develop research designs that fit researchers' epistemological stance and discipline, with research choices, including methodology and methods, being informed by the research question. Limitations Generic qualitative research is one of many methodologies that may be used to answer a research question and there is a paucity of literature about how to do it well. There is also debate about its validity as a qualitative methodology.

Selecting Information to Answer Questions: Strategic Individual Differences when Searching Texts

Science.gov (United States)

Cerdan, Raquel; Gilabert, Ramiro; Vidal-Abarca, Eduardo

2011-01-01

The purpose of the study was to explore students' selection of information strategies in a task-oriented reading situation. 72 secondary school students read two texts and answered six questions per text, three of which were manipulated to induce a misleading matching between the wording of the question and distracting pieces of information in the…

Exploring the alchemy of qualitative management research: Seeking trustworthiness, credibility and rigor through crystallization

OpenAIRE

Stewart, Heather; Gapp, Rod; Harwood, Ian

2017-01-01

In this paper we explore crystallization in terms of its contribution to qualitative management research. This exploration of crystallization is based on a postmodern view where we utilize triangulation as a point of departure. Currently, the use of crystallization is under developed in the management discipline. Qualitative literature and metaphors are utilized to develop a focus on moving qualitative management research away from positivist terms. To do this we crystalize crystallization wi...

The Epistemology of Qualitative Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Howard S. Becker

2014-07-01

Full Text Available This article discusses questions that are relevant to the epistemology of qualitative research. In order to do so, the presumed dichotomy between qualitative and quantitative research is discussed and challenged. According to the author, the similarities between these methods are more relevant than its differences. Both methods strive to describe the social reality and thus have the same epistemological basis, even though they emphasize different questions. To shed light in such dichotomy, the author explores the origins of epistemology as a discipline and its philosophical character. Finally, the particularities and advantages of qualitative research are discussed, especially ethnography and field research, through an analysis of some of its main aspects for observing social reality: its focus on the point of view of the actor; the observation of the everyday world and the full and thick description. 

"I didn't write the questions!" - Negotiating telephone-survey questions on birth timing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marian May

2008-06-01

Full Text Available This paper examines interviewer-respondent interaction in the collection of demographic data. Conversation analysis (CA makes transparent the interaction between an interviewer and 25 respondents on a question about pregnancy and birth timing in an Australian telephone survey, Negotiating the Life Course. The analysis focuses on the troubles that occur and the work interviewers do to fit respondents' answers to the survey researcher's categories. Interviewers are shown to act as mediators in difficult interaction, with responses often distorted by question format, the imperative of achieving an allowed response, and the need to keep the respondent in the survey.

Critical realism: an important theoretical perspective for midwifery research.

Science.gov (United States)

Walsh, Denis; Evans, Kerry

2014-01-01

there is a dearth of papers in midwifery journals exploring the philosophical underpinnings of various research methods. However, explaining and justifying particular ontological and epistemological positions gives coherence and credibility to chosen research methods. to explore and explain the philosophical underpinning of critical realism and argue for it to be more widely adopted by midwifery researchers, using the exemplar of dystocia research. critical realism as originally espoused by Bhaskar sees reality as layered (realist ontology) and seeks to explore causative mechanisms for what is experienced and observed. In this way it illuminates the complexity of health care, though recognising that knowledge of this complexity is filtered through an interpretive lens (constructionist epistemology). Critical realism encourages a holistic exploration of phenomena, premised on multiple research questions that utilise multiple research methods. critical realism as a philosophical underpinning is therefore particularly apposite for researching midwifery issues and concerns. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A LARGE HUMAN CENTRIFUGE FOR EXPLORATION AND EXPLOITATION RESEARCH

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jack J.W.A. van Loon

2012-06-01

Full Text Available This paper addresses concepts regarding the development of an Altered Gravity Platform (AGP that will serve as a research platform for human space exploration. Space flight causes a multitude of physiological problems, many of which are due to gravity level transitions. Going from Earth's gravity to microgravity generates fluid shifts, space motion sickness, cardiovascular deconditioning among other changes, and returning to a gravity environment again puts the astronauts under similar stressors. A prolonged stay in microgravity provokes additional deleterious changes such as bone loss, muscle atrophy and loss of coordination or specific psychological stresses. To prepare for future manned space exploration missions, a ground-based research test bed for validating countermeasures against the deleterious effects of g-level transitions is needed. The proposed AGP is a large rotating facility (diameter > 150 m, where gravity levels ranging from 1.1 to 1.5g are generated, covering short episodes or during prolonged stays of weeks or even months. On this platform, facilities are built where a crew of 6 to 8 humans can live autonomously. Adaptation from 1 g to higher g levels can be studied extensively and monitored continuously. Similarly, re-adaptation back to 1 g, after a prolonged period of altered g can also be investigated. Study of the physiological and psychological adaptation to changing g-levels will provide instrumental and predictive knowledge to better define the ultimate countermeasures that are needed for future successful manned space exploration missions to the Moon, Mars and elsewhere. The AGP initiative will allow scientific top experts in Europe and worldwide to investigate the necessary scientific, operational, and engineering inputs required for such space missions. Because so many different physiological systems are involved in adaptation to gravity levels, a multidisciplinary approach is crucial. One of the final and crucial

Your Genes, Your Choices: Exploring the Issues Raised by Genetic Research

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baker, C.

1999-05-31

Your Genes, Your Choices provides accurate information about the ethical, legal, and social implications of the Human Genome Project and genetic research in an easy-to-read style and format. Each chapter in the book begins with a brief vignette, which introduces an issue within a human story, and raises a question for the reader to think about as the basic science and information are presented in the rest of the chapter.

Rich client data exploration and research prototyping for NOAA

Science.gov (United States)

Grossberg, Michael; Gladkova, Irina; Guch, Ingrid; Alabi, Paul; Shahriar, Fazlul; Bonev, George; Aizenman, Hannah

2009-08-01

Data from satellites and model simulations is increasing exponentially as observations and model computing power improve rapidly. Not only is technology producing more data, but it often comes from sources all over the world. Researchers and scientists who must collaborate are also located globally. This work presents a software design and technologies which will make it possible for groups of researchers to explore large data sets visually together without the need to download these data sets locally. The design will also make it possible to exploit high performance computing remotely and transparently to analyze and explore large data sets. Computer power, high quality sensing, and data storage capacity have improved at a rate that outstrips our ability to develop software applications that exploit these resources. It is impractical for NOAA scientists to download all of the satellite and model data that may be relevant to a given problem and the computing environments available to a given researcher range from supercomputers to only a web browser. The size and volume of satellite and model data are increasing exponentially. There are at least 50 multisensor satellite platforms collecting Earth science data. On the ground and in the sea there are sensor networks, as well as networks of ground based radar stations, producing a rich real-time stream of data. This new wealth of data would have limited use were it not for the arrival of large-scale high-performance computation provided by parallel computers, clusters, grids, and clouds. With these computational resources and vast archives available, it is now possible to analyze subtle relationships which are global, multi-modal and cut across many data sources. Researchers, educators, and even the general public, need tools to access, discover, and use vast data center archives and high performance computing through a simple yet flexible interface.

Michaelis' hundred Questions and the Royal Instructions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Friis, Ib

2017-01-01

Michaelis' 100 questions for the expedition is a remarkable document. It provides insight into the sources and methods of biblical research anno 1762, at the same time as highlighting the challenges the members of the expedition faced. As the scholarly foundation of the expedition, the questions ...

Michaelis' Hundred Questions and the Royal Instruction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Friis, Ib

2015-01-01

Michaelis' 100 questions for the expedition is a remarkable document. It provides insight into the sources and methods of biblical research anno 1762, at the same time as highlighting the challenges the members of the expedition faced. As the scholarly foundation of the expedition, the questions ...

A framework to explore the knowledge structure of multidisciplinary research fields.

Science.gov (United States)

Uddin, Shahadat; Khan, Arif; Baur, Louise A

2015-01-01

Understanding emerging areas of a multidisciplinary research field is crucial for researchers, policymakers and other stakeholders. For them a knowledge structure based on longitudinal bibliographic data can be an effective instrument. But with the vast amount of available online information it is often hard to understand the knowledge structure for data. In this paper, we present a novel approach for retrieving online bibliographic data and propose a framework for exploring knowledge structure. We also present several longitudinal analyses to interpret and visualize the last 20 years of published obesity research data.

Power dynamics and questioning in elementary science lessons

Science.gov (United States)

Reinsvold, Lori Ann

Discourse interactions between a teacher and students in an inquiry-based fourth-grade science classroom were analyzed to investigate how power dynamics and questioning strategies within elementary science lessons help support students in building their science understanding. Five inquiry-based classroom sessions were observed; verbal interactions were audio- and video-recorded. Research data consisted of observation transcripts, teacher interviews, student work, and instructional materials. Analyses were conducted on the frequencies of utterances, participation roles, power categories, and questioning categories. Results revealed that when students used more frequent power, (a) no significant differences were noted between frequencies of teacher and student talk, (b) the teacher posed more questions than did the students, and (c) students explained what they knew and asked questions to clarify their understanding. When the teacher used more frequent power, she asked questions to provide students opportunities to negotiate investigative processes and explain what they knew and how they knew it. Evidence of student understanding of the science concepts was found in how students used subject matter to discuss what they knew and how they knew it. Pre-service and in-service teachers should be encouraged to consider how their use of power and questioning strategies can engage students to reflect on how they build understanding of science concepts. Teachers can use Professional Learning Communities to reflect on how their practice engages students. Future research should be employed to observe classrooms across an entire school year to determine how power and questioning dynamics flow among students and teachers and change over time. Research can also be used to understand the influence of gender and culture on power and questioning dynamics in classroom settings.

Big Data: an exploration of research, technologies and application cases

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emilcy J. Hernández-Leal

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Big Data has become a worldwide trend and although still lacks a scientific or academic consensual concept, every day it portends greater market growth that surrounds and the associated research areas. This paper reports a systematic review of the literature on Big Data considering a state of the art about techniques and technologies associated with Big Data, which include capture, processing, analysis and data visualization. The characteristics, strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for some applications and Big Data models that include support mainly for modeling, analysis, and data mining are explored. Likewise, some of the future trends for the development of Big Data are introduced by basic aspects, scope, and importance of each one. The methodology used for exploration involves the application of two strategies, the first corresponds to a scientometric analysis and the second corresponds to a categorization of documents through a web tool to support the process of literature review. As results, a summary and conclusions about the subject are generated and possible scenarios arise for research work in the field.

What Children Learn from Questioning

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, Paul

2015-01-01

Research shows that young children ask a multitude of why and how questions. And when they do, they're not simply trying to get adult attention; instead, they're actively seeking information. In this article, Paul Harris describes the findings of a number of research analyses based on extensive transcripts of children's natural speech. Some of the…

Early Environmental Field Research Career Exploration: An Analysis of Impacts on Precollege Apprentices

Science.gov (United States)

Flowers, Susan K.; Beyer, Katherine M.; Pérez, Maria; Jeffe, Donna B.

2016-01-01

Research apprenticeships offer opportunities for deep understanding of scientific practice, transparency about research careers, and possible transformational effects on precollege youth. We examined two consecutive field-based environmental biology apprenticeship programs designed to deliver realistic career exploration and connections to…

Multilateral Research Opportunities in Ground Analogs

Science.gov (United States)

Corbin, Barbara J.

2015-01-01

The global economy forces many nations to consider their national investments and make difficult decisions regarding their investment in future exploration. International collaboration provides an opportunity to leverage other nations' investments to meet common goals. The Humans In Space Community shares a common goal to enable safe, reliable, and productive human space exploration within and beyond Low Earth Orbit. Meeting this goal requires efficient use of limited resources and International capabilities. The International Space Station (ISS) is our primary platform to conduct microgravity research targeted at reducing human health and performance risks for exploration missions. Access to ISS resources, however, is becoming more and more constrained and will only be available through 2020 or 2024. NASA's Human Research Program (HRP) is actively pursuing methods to effectively utilize the ISS and appropriate ground analogs to understand and mitigate human health and performance risks prior to embarking on human exploration of deep space destinations. HRP developed a plan to use ground analogs of increasing fidelity to address questions related to exploration missions and is inviting International participation in these planned campaigns. Using established working groups and multilateral panels, the HRP is working with multiple Space Agencies to invite International participation in a series of 30- day missions that HRP will conduct in the US owned and operated Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA) during 2016. In addition, the HRP is negotiating access to Antarctic stations (both US and non-US), the German :envihab and Russian NEK facilities. These facilities provide unique capabilities to address critical research questions requiring longer duration simulation or isolation. We are negotiating release of international research opportunities to ensure a multilateral approach to future analog research campaigns, hoping to begin multilateral campaigns in the

Exploring factors related to the translation of collaborative research learning experiences into clinical practice: Opportunities and tensions.

Science.gov (United States)

Fletcher, Simon; Whiting, Cheryl; Boaz, Annette; Reeves, Scott

2017-07-01

Providing training opportunities to develop research skills for clinical staff has been prioritised in response to the need for improving the evidence base underpinning the delivery of care. By exploring the experiences of a number of former participants of a multidisciplinary postgraduate research course, this article explores the factors that have enabled and impeded staff to translate their learnt research skills into clinical practice. Adopting an exploratory case study approach, 16 interviews with 5 cohorts of Masters by Research in Clinical Practice (MResCP) graduates were undertaken. The interviews explored graduates' course experiences and their subsequent attempts to undertake clinical research. Analysis of the data indicated that although participants valued their interactions with colleagues from different professions and felt they gained useful research skills/knowledge, upon returning to clinical practice, they encountered a number of barriers which restricted their ability to apply their research expertise. Professional isolation, issues of hierarchy, and a lack of organisational support were key to limiting their ability to undertake clinical research. Further work is needed to explore in more depth how (i) these barriers can be overcome and (ii) how taught collaborative research skills can be more effectively translated into practice.

Towards human exploration of space: the THESEUS review series on neurophysiology research priorities.

Science.gov (United States)

White, Olivier; Clément, Gilles; Fortrat, Jacques-Olivier; Pavy-LeTraon, Anne; Thonnard, Jean-Louis; Blanc, Stéphane; Wuyts, Floris L; Paloski, William H

2016-01-01

The THESEUS project (Towards Human Exploration of Space: a European Strategy), initiated within the seventh Framework Programme by the European Commission, aimed at providing a cross-cutting, life-science-based roadmap for Europe's strategy towards human exploration of long space missions, and its relevance to applications on Earth. This topic was investigated by experts in the field, in the framework of the THESEUS project whose aim was to develop an integrated life sciences research roadmap regarding human space exploration. In particular, decades of research have shown that altered gravity impairs neurological responses at large, such as perception, sleep, motor control, and cognitive factors. International experts established a list of key issues that should be addressed in that context and provided several recommendations such as a maximal exploitation of currently available resources on Earth and in space.

Water-energy-food nexus: concepts, questions and methodologies

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Y.; Chen, X.; Ding, W.; Zhang, C.; Fu, G.

2017-12-01

The term of water-energy -food nexus has gained increasing attention in the research and policy making communities as the security of water, energy and food becomes severe under changing environment. Ignorance of their closely interlinkages accompanied by their availability and service may result in unforeseeable, adverse consequences. This paper comprehensively reviews the state-of-the-art in the field of water-energy-food, with a focus on concepts, research questions and methodologies. First, two types of nexus definition are compared and discussed to understand the essence of nexus research issues. Then, three kinds of nexus research questions are presented, including internal relationship analysis, external impact analysis, and evaluation of the nexus system. Five nexus modelling approaches are discussed in terms of their advantages, disadvantages and application, with an aim to identify research gaps in current nexus methods. Finally, future research areas and challenges are discussed, including system boundary, data uncertainty and modelling, underlying mechanism of nexus issues and system performance evaluation. This study helps bring research efforts together to address the challenging questions in the nexus and develop the consensus on building resilient water, energy and food systems.

Phenomenology of the innovative question when based on wonderment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Herholdt-Lomholdt, Sine Maria; Hansen, Finn Thorbjørn

This paper questions, how we, from a phenomenological point of view, can describe and understand the phenomenology of innovative questions and processes of questioning when based in a wonderdriven approach to innovation and entrepreneurship. Approach: In our research we take on a phenomenological...

Interview Questions with Bentham Scientific

Science.gov (United States)

Mather, John C.

2013-01-01

John Mather answers questions for an interview for the Bentham Science Newsletter. He covers topics ranging from his childhood, his professional career and his thoughts on research, technology and today's scientists and engineers.

Informal Learning on "YouTube": Exploring Digital Literacy in Independent Online Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Elaine

2013-01-01

The focus of this paper is a project conducted in 2011, exploring the use of "YouTube" in the classroom. The project conducted a number of focus groups for which highlighted a number of issues surrounding independent informal learning environments. The questions posed by this research are concerned with what constitutes learning in these…

Student questions in urban middle school science communities of practice

Science.gov (United States)

Groome, Meghan

This dissertation examines student questions within three Communities of Practice (CoP), all urban middle school science environments. The study analyzed student questions from a sociocultural perspective and used ethnographic research techniques to detail how the CoP's shaped questions in the classroom. In the first study, two case study girls attempted to navigate questioning events that required them to negotiation participation. Their access to participation was blocked by participation frameworks that elevated some students as "gatekeepers" while suppressing the participation of others. The next two studies detail the introduction of written questioning opportunities, one into a public middle school classroom and the other into an informal classroom. In both studies, students responded to the interventions differently, most notable the adoption of the opportunity by female students who do not participate orally. Dissertation-wide findings indicate all students were able to ask questions, but varied in level of cognitive complexity, and the diagnostic interventions were able to identify students who were not known to be "target students", students who asked a high number of questions and were considered "interested in science". Some students' roles were as "gatekeepers" to participation of their peers. Two out of three teachers in the studies reported major shifts in their teaching practice due to the focus on questions and the methods used here have been found to be effective in producing educational research as well as supporting high-need classrooms in prior research. In conclusion, these studies indicate that social factors, including participation frameworks, gender dynamics, and the availability of alternative participation methods, play an important role in how students ask science-related questions. It is recommended that researchers continue to examine social factors that reduce student questions and modify their teaching strategies to facilitate

Positive, negative, and bipolar questions: The effect of question polarity on ratings of text readability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Naomi Kamoen

2013-12-01

Full Text Available For decades, survey researchers have known that respondents give different answers to attitude questions worded positively (X is good. Agree-Disagree, negatively (X is bad. Agree-Disagree or on a bipolar scale (X is bad-good. This makes survey answers hard to interpret, especially since findings on exactly how the answers are affected are conflicting. In the current paper, we present twelve studies in which the effect of question polarity was measured for a set of thirteen contrastive adjectives. In each study, the same adjectives were used so the generalizability of wording effects across studies could be examined for each word pair. Results show that for five of the word pairs an effect of question wording can be generalized. The direction of these effects are largely consistent: respondents generally give the same answers to positive and bipolar questions, but they are more likely to disagree with negative questions than to agree with positive questions or to choose the positive side of the bipolar scale. In other words, respondents express their opinions more positively when the question is worded negatively. Even though answers to the three wording alternatives sometimes differ, results also show that reliable answers can be obtained with all three wording alternatives. So, for survey practice, these results suggest that all three wording alternatives may be used for attitude measurement.

HOW TO GENERATE AUTONOMOUS QUESTIONING IN SECONDARY MATHEMATICS TEACHING?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jessen, Britta Eyrich

2017-01-01

In mathematics education it is still a major challenge to find ways to nurture students to pose and pursue their own questions in order to learn mathematics. During the last three decades problem posing has been explored through different approaches and in empirical studies. This paper presents...... the result of an empirical study, where teaching was designed and conducted based on The Anthropological Theory of the Didactic. It is shown how a changed didactic contract and open generating questions posed by the teacher can support students’ autonomous questioning of the taught knowledge. In the study......, students developed knowledge that went beyond curriculum requirements through autonomous activities, which were different from more traditional school and pedagogical culture....

Balancing exploration and exploitation in transferring research into practice: a comparison of five knowledge translation entity archetypes.

Science.gov (United States)

Oborn, Eivor; Barrett, Michael; Prince, Karl; Racko, Girts

2013-09-05

Translating knowledge from research into clinical practice has emerged as a practice of increasing importance. This has led to the creation of new organizational entities designed to bridge knowledge between research and practice. Within the UK, the Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) have been introduced to ensure that emphasis is placed in ensuring research is more effectively translated and implemented in clinical practice. Knowledge translation (KT) can be accomplished in various ways and is affected by the structures, activities, and coordination practices of organizations. We draw on concepts in the innovation literature--namely exploration, exploitation, and ambidexterity--to examine these structures and activities as well as the ensuing tensions between research and implementation. Using a qualitative research approach, the study was based on 106 semi-structured, in-depth interviews with the directors, theme leads and managers, key professionals involved in research and implementation in nine CLAHRCs. Data was also collected from intensive focus group workshops. In this article we develop five archetypes for organizing KT. The results show how the various CLAHRC entities work through partnerships to create explorative research and deliver exploitative implementation. The different archetypes highlight a range of structures that can achieve ambidextrous balance as they organize activity and coordinate practice on a continuum of exploration and exploitation. This work suggests that KT entities aim to reach their goals through a balance between exploration and exploitation in the support of generating new research and ensuring knowledge implementation. We highlight different organizational archetypes that support various ways to maintain ambidexterity, where both exploration and exploitation are supported in an attempt to narrow the knowledge gaps. The KT entity archetypes offer insights on strategies in structuring

Six questions about translational due diligence.

Science.gov (United States)

Selinger, Evan

2010-04-28

To maintain stable respect and support, translational research must be guided by appropriate ethical, social, legal, and political concerns and carry out culturally competent practices. Considering six key questions concerning due diligence will enable the translational research community to examine critically how it approaches these endeavors.

Can digital stories go where palliative care research has never gone before? A descriptive qualitative study exploring the application of an emerging public health research method in an indigenous palliative care context.

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Lisa; Gott, Merryn; Moeke-Maxwell, Tess; Black, Stella; Kothari, Shuchi; Pearson, Sarina; Morgan, Tessa; Wharemate, Matua Rawiri; Hansen, Whaea Whio

2017-09-04

The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for global approaches to palliative care development. Yet it is questionable whether one-size-fits-all solutions can accommodate international disparities in palliative care need. More flexible research methods are called for in order to understand diverse priorities at local levels. This is especially imperative for Indigenous populations and other groups underrepresented in the palliative care evidence-base. Digital storytelling (DST) offers the potential to be one such method. Digital stories are short first-person videos that tell a story of great significance to the creator. The method has already found a place within public health research and has been described as a useful, emergent method for community-based participatory research. The aim of this study was to explore Māori participants' views on DST's usefulness, from an Indigenous perspective, as a research method within the discipline of palliative care. The digital storytelling method was adapted to include Māori cultural protocols. Data capturing participant experience of the study were collected using participant observation and anonymous questionnaires. Eight participants, seven women and one man, took part. Field notes and questionnaire data were analysed using critical thematic analysis. Two main themes were identified during analyses: 1) issues that facilitated digital storytelling's usefulness as a research method for Māori reporting on end of life caregiving; and 2) issues that hindered this process. All subthemes identified: recruitment, the pōwhiri process, (Māori formal welcome of visitors) and technology, related to both main themes and are presented in this way. Digital storytelling is an emerging method useful for exploring Indigenous palliative care issues. In line with a Health Promoting Palliative Care approach that centres research in communities, it helps meet the need for diverse approaches to involve underrepresented groups.

An Exploration of the Role of Occupation in School-Based Occupational Therapy Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Benson, Jeryl DiSanti

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore the role of occupation in school-based occupational therapy practice. The research questions were (1) How do school-based occupational therapists describe the role of occupation during intervention? (2) Which theories of occupation do school-based occupational therapists associate with their own practice?…

Towards human exploration of space: The THESEUS review series on nutrition and metabolism research priorities.

Science.gov (United States)

Bergouignan, Audrey; Stein, T Peter; Habold, Caroline; Coxam, Veronique; O' Gorman, Donal; Blanc, Stéphane

2016-01-01

Nutrition has multiple roles during space flight from providing sufficient nutrients to meet the metabolic needs of the body and to maintain good health, to the beneficial psychosocial aspects related to the meals. Nutrition is central to the functioning of the body; poor nutrition compromises all the physiological systems. Nutrition is therefore likely to have a key role in counteracting the negative effects of space flight (e.g., radiation, immune deficits, oxidative stress, and bone and muscle loss). As missions increase in duration, any dietary/nutritional deficiencies will become progressively more detrimental. Moreover, it has been recognized that the human diet contains, in addition to essential macronutrients, a complex array of naturally occurring bioactive micronutrients that may confer significant long-term health benefits. It is therefore critical that astronauts be adequately nourished during missions. Problems of nutritional origin are often treatable by simply providing the appropriate nutrients and adequate recommendations. This review highlights six key issues that have been identified as space research priorities in nutrition field: in-flight energy balance; altered feeding behavior; development of metabolic stress; micronutrient deficiency; alteration of gut microflora; and altered fluid and electrolytes balance. For each of these topics, relevance for space exploration, knowledge gaps and proposed investigations are described. Finally, the nutritional questions related to bioastronautics research are very relevant to multiple ground-based-related health issues. The potential spin-offs are both interesting scientifically and potentially of great clinical importance.

Questioning the Federal Role in Educational Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Florio, David H.

1981-01-01

Reviews the Reagan administration's proposed budget cuts for education, educational research, and social science research. Holds that examples used to bolster the administration's criticisms of social and behavioral research come from the late 1960s/early 1970s, and ignore federally funded work currently focusing on educational practice, policy,…

Semantic annotation of consumer health questions.

Science.gov (United States)

Kilicoglu, Halil; Ben Abacha, Asma; Mrabet, Yassine; Shooshan, Sonya E; Rodriguez, Laritza; Masterton, Kate; Demner-Fushman, Dina

2018-02-06

useful in estimating annotation confidence. To our knowledge, our corpus is the first focusing on annotation of uncurated consumer health questions. It is currently used to develop machine learning-based methods for question understanding. We make the corpus publicly available to stimulate further research on consumer health QA.

Probability and Statistics: 5 Questions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Probability and Statistics: 5 Questions is a collection of short interviews based on 5 questions presented to some of the most influential and prominent scholars in probability and statistics. We hear their views on the fields, aims, scopes, the future direction of research and how their work fits...... in these respects. Interviews with Nick Bingham, Luc Bovens, Terrence L. Fine, Haim Gaifman, Donald Gillies, James Hawthorne, Carl Hoefer, James M. Joyce, Joseph B. Kadane Isaac Levi, D.H. Mellor, Patrick Suppes, Jan von Plato, Carl Wagner, Sandy Zabell...

Questioning As a Pedagogical Tool for Eliciting Student Generated Questions During the Teaching of Acid-base Equilibria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ayoade Ejiwale Okanlawon

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Traditionally, teachers simply taught problem-solving by explaining the worked-out examples taken from textbooks and students were expected to listen quietly, copy the solution to the problem, and then work independently at their desks. But a large body of research notes that guiding students to develop a solution pathway with questioning is more effective than simply explaining the sequence of steps to solve the problem. Students involved in question- and-answer sessions are more attentive than those who listen passively to teacher explanations and they are more likely to generate questions. The questions students ask during a lesson perform a number of important functions, including providing the teacher with valuable information about students’ understanding and misunderstanding, fostering self-regulation, inviting classroom discussions and aiding comprehension of contents presented. The skill of posing questions during classroom instruction is often under-valued and under taught in today’s classrooms. To encourage students to ask quality and thought provoking questions related to the contents taught, explicit instruction is required. This paper, therefore, qualitatively reports factors that foster student generated questions during the problem-solving instruction involving acid-base titration problem.

Further exploration of dissemination bias in qualitative research required to facilitate assessment within qualitative evidence syntheses.

Science.gov (United States)

Toews, Ingrid; Booth, Andrew; Berg, Rigmor C; Lewin, Simon; Glenton, Claire; Munthe-Kaas, Heather M; Noyes, Jane; Schroter, Sara; Meerpohl, Joerg J

2017-08-01

To conceptualise and discuss dissemination bias in qualitative research. It is likely that the mechanisms leading to dissemination bias in quantitative research, including time lag, language, gray literature, and truncation bias also contribute to dissemination bias in qualitative research. These conceptual considerations have informed the development of a research agenda. Further exploration of dissemination bias in qualitative research is needed, including the extent of non-dissemination and related dissemination bias, and how to assess dissemination bias within qualitative evidence syntheses. We also need to consider the mechanisms through which dissemination bias in qualitative research could occur to explore approaches for reducing it. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Ten questions concerning green buildings and indoor air quality

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Steinemann, Anne; Wargocki, Pawel; Rismanchi, Behzad

2017-01-01

This paper investigates the concern that green buildings may promote energy efficiency and other aspects of sustainability, but not necessarily the health and well-being of occupants through better indoor air quality (IAQ). We ask ten questions to explore IAQ challenges for green buildings as well...... as opportunities to improve IAQ within green buildings and their programs. Our focus is on IAQ, while recognizing that many factors influence human health and the healthfulness of a building. We begin with an overview of green buildings, IAQ, and whether and how green building certifications address IAQ. Next, we...... examine evidence on whether green buildings have better IAQ than comparable conventional buildings. Then, we identify so-called green practices and green products that can have unintended and unfavorable effects on IAQ. Looking ahead, we offer both immediate and longer-term actions, and a set of research...

What Value Can Qualitative Research Add to Quantitative Research Design? An Example From an Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis Trial Feasibility Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Toye, Francine; Williamson, Esther; Williams, Mark A; Fairbank, Jeremy; Lamb, Sarah E

2016-08-09

Using an example of qualitative research embedded in a non-surgical feasibility trial, we explore the benefits of including qualitative research in trial design and reflect on epistemological challenges. We interviewed 18 trial participants and used methods of Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. Our findings demonstrate that qualitative research can make a valuable contribution by allowing trial stakeholders to see things from alternative perspectives. Specifically, it can help to make specific recommendations for improved trial design, generate questions which contextualize findings, and also explore disease experience beyond the trial. To make the most out of qualitative research embedded in quantitative design it would be useful to (a) agree specific qualitative study aims that underpin research design, (b) understand the impact of differences in epistemological truth claims, (c) provide clear thematic interpretations for trial researchers to utilize, and (d) include qualitative findings that explore experience beyond the trial setting within the impact plan. © The Author(s) 2016.

Exploring the visual landscape : advances in physiognomic landscape research in the Netherlands

OpenAIRE

Nijhuis, S.; Lammeren, van, R.J.A.; Hoeven, van der, F.

2011-01-01

The book is the second volume in the Research in Urbanism Series of IOS Press and is about the combination of landscape research and planning, visual perception and Geographic Information Science. It offers clues for visual landscape assessment of spaces in cities, parks and rural areas. In that respect, it extends the long tradition in the Netherlands on physiognomic landscape research and shows the state of the art at this moment. ‘Exploring the Visual Landscape’ offers important clues for ...

Can we share questions? Performance of questions from different question banks in a single medical school.

Science.gov (United States)

Freeman, Adrian; Nicholls, Anthony; Ricketts, Chris; Coombes, Lee

2010-01-01

To use progress testing, a large bank of questions is required, particularly when planning to deliver tests over a long period of time. The questions need not only to be of good quality but also balanced in subject coverage across the curriculum to allow appropriate sampling. Hence as well as creating its own questions, an institution could share questions. Both methods allow ownership and structuring of the test appropriate to the educational requirements of the institution. Peninsula Medical School (PMS) has developed a mechanism to validate questions written in house. That mechanism can be adapted to utilise questions from an International question bank International Digital Electronic Access Library (IDEAL) and another UK-based question bank Universities Medical Assessment Partnership (UMAP). These questions have been used in our progress tests and analysed for relative performance. Data are presented to show that questions from differing sources can have comparable performance in a progress testing format. There are difficulties in transferring questions from one institution to another. These include problems of curricula and cultural differences. Whilst many of these difficulties exist, our experience suggests that it only requires a relatively small amount of work to adapt questions from external question banks for effective use. The longitudinal aspect of progress testing (albeit summatively) may allow more flexibility in question usage than single high stakes exams.

Exploring the Educative Power of an Experienced Mathematics Teacher Educator-Researcher

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Kai-Lin; Hsu, Hui-Yu; Lin, Fou-Lai; Chen, Jian-Cheng; Cheng, Ying-Hao

2015-01-01

This paper aims to explore the educative power of an experienced mathematics teacher educator-researcher (MTE-R) who displayed his insights and strategies in teacher professional development (TPD) programs. To this end, we propose a framework by first conceptualizing educative power based on three constructs--communication, reasoning, and…

NOAA Office of Exploration and Research > Exploration > Systematic

Science.gov (United States)

Vessel (E/V) Nautilus in real-time on Internet 2 and the Internet. A legacy of high quality imagery, high . Contact Information for OER Okeanos Explorer Program: Craig Russell NOAA/OAR/OER 7600 Sand Point Way NE | Disclaimer | Privacy Policy | FOIA | Web Accessibility Statement | Information Quality Copyright NOAA 2013

Idea Generation and Exploration: Benefits and Limitations of the Policy Delphi Research Method

Science.gov (United States)

Franklin, Kathy K.; Hart, Jan K.

2007-01-01

Researchers use the policy Delphi method to explore a complex topic with little historical context that requires expert opinion to fully understand underlying issues. The benefit of this research technique is the use of experts who have more timely information than can be gleamed from extant literature. Additionally, those experts place…

Using item response theory to explore the psychometric properties of extended matching questions examination in undergraduate medical education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lawton Gemma

2005-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background As assessment has been shown to direct learning, it is critical that the examinations developed to test clinical competence in medical undergraduates are valid and reliable. The use of extended matching questions (EMQ has been advocated to overcome some of the criticisms of using multiple-choice questions to test factual and applied knowledge. Methods We analysed the results from the Extended Matching Questions Examination taken by 4th year undergraduate medical students in the academic year 2001 to 2002. Rasch analysis was used to examine whether the set of questions used in the examination mapped on to a unidimensional scale, the degree of difficulty of questions within and between the various medical and surgical specialties and the pattern of responses within individual questions to assess the impact of the distractor options. Results Analysis of a subset of items and of the full examination demonstrated internal construct validity and the absence of bias on the majority of questions. Three main patterns of response selection were identified. Conclusion Modern psychometric methods based upon the work of Rasch provide a useful approach to the calibration and analysis of EMQ undergraduate medical assessments. The approach allows for a formal test of the unidimensionality of the questions and thus the validity of the summed score. Given the metric calibration which follows fit to the model, it also allows for the establishment of items banks to facilitate continuity and equity in exam standards.

Research, climate, energy : Questions of destiny for the chemical industry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kastinen, A., email: aimo.kastinen@chemind.fi

2010-07-01

Registration for the first phase of Reach finishes at the end of November. Then we will see whether the standard of legislation has been set correctly in respect of the EU's operational ability. If it isn't, significant problems will result for the community's treatment of materials and the EU's competitiveness, and Reach's value as a global model will become questionable. Also, the CLP regulation concerning classification, labelling and packaging of chemicals will start to come into effect as from the beginning of December. In the first phase, the question is one of classification of substances, and gradually the requirements will be applied to mixtures too. At the same time, Safety Data Sheets shall be renewed in accordance with their own transition period. The current product legislation concerning chemicals shall be fully revised by the mid-point of the decade, but before then company safety officers will have to do lots of work to change the previous routines

Researching Race within Educational Psychology Contexts

Science.gov (United States)

DeCuir-Gunby, Jessica T.; Schutz, Paul A.

2014-01-01

In this article, we question why race as a sociohistorical construct has not traditionally been investigated in educational psychology research. To do so, we provide a historical discussion of the significance of race as well as present current dilemmas in the exploration of race, including an examination of the incidence and prevalence of…

Research Designs and Special Education Research: Different Designs Address Different Questions

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, Bryan G.; Cook, Lysandra

2016-01-01

The aim of this article is to provide practitioners and other nonresearchers a basic understanding of research designs to aid in appropriately interpreting and applying research findings in special education. Research design provides the blueprint for conducting a research study and shapes what kind of knowledge is generated by the study. We…

Exploring evidence-policy linkages in health research plans: A case study from six countries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oladepo Oladimeji

2008-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract The complex evidence-policy interface in low and middle income country settings is receiving increasing attention. Future Health Systems (FHS: Innovations for Equity, is a research consortium conducting health systems explorations in six Asian and African countries: Bangladesh, India, China, Afghanistan, Uganda, and Nigeria. The cross-country research consortium provides a unique opportunity to explore the research-policy interface. Three key activities were undertaken during the initial phase of this five-year project. First, key considerations in strengthening evidence-policy linkages in health system research were developed by FHS researchers through workshops and electronic communications. Four key considerations in strengthening evidence-policy linkages are postulated: development context; research characteristics; decision-making processes; and stakeholder engagement. Second, these four considerations were applied to research proposals in each of the six countries to highlight features in the research plans that potentially strengthen the research-policy interface and opportunities for improvement. Finally, the utility of the approach for setting research priorities in health policy and systems research was reflected upon. These three activities yielded interesting findings. First, developmental consideration with four dimensions – poverty, vulnerabilities, capabilities, and health shocks – provides an entry point in examining research-policy interfaces in the six settings. Second, research plans focused upon on the ground realities in specific countries strengthens the interface. Third, focusing on research prioritized by decision-makers, within a politicized health arena, enhances chances of research influencing action. Lastly, early and continued engagement of multiple stakeholders, from local to national levels, is conducive to enhanced communication at the interface. The approach described has four main utilities: first

Exploring the relationship between university internationalization and university autonomy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Turcan, Romeo V.; Gullieva, Valeria

This paper explores a research gap at the intersection of university internationalization and university autonomy. A process model of university internationalization is put forward whereby the process of university internationalization is mediated by university internationalization capacity...... and moderated by target country institutional autonomy and globalization; and entry modes, timing and pace, as well as product mix of internationalization define university’s internationalization pattern. A systematic review is conducted to identify empirical studies at this intersection. One of the questions...

In the Public Eye: Swedish School Inspection and Local Newspapers: Exploring the Audit-Media Relationship

Science.gov (United States)

Ronnberg, Linda; Lindgren, Joakim; Segerholm, Christina

2013-01-01

This paper focuses on the dual dependencies apparent at the intersection of the media society and the audit society by empirically exploring and discussing the relationship between Swedish local newspaper coverage and school inspection activities. The research questions pertain to the Inspectorate's media strategy, how inspection is represented…

Engaging Students, Teachers, and the Public with NASA Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Assets

Science.gov (United States)

Graff, P. V.; Foxworth, S.; Kascak, A.; Luckey, M. K.; Mcinturff, B.; Runco, S.; Willis, K. J.

2016-01-01

Engaging students, teachers, and the public with NASA Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) assets, including Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) experts and NASA curation astromaterial samples, provides an extraordinary opportunity to connect citizens with authentic aspects unique to our nation's space program. Effective engagement can occur through both virtual connections such as webcasts and in-person connections at educator workshops and public outreach events. Access to NASA ARES assets combined with adaptable resources and techniques that engage and promote scientific thinking helps translate the science and research being facilitated through NASA exploration, elicits a curiosity that aims to carry over even after a given engagement, and prepares our next generation of scientific explorers.

Exploring Regional and Institutional Factors of International Students' Dropout: The South Korea Case

Science.gov (United States)

Jung, Jisun; Kim, Yangson

2018-01-01

With an increasing number of international students in South Korea, the issue of retaining these students and reducing their dropout rates has become important. This study explores the multilevel factors that affect the institutional dropout rate among international students in Korea. The research questions are as follows: (a) to what extent do…

Open Questions Limiting the Practice of Interorganizational Development.

Science.gov (United States)

Schermerhorn, John R., Jr.

1981-01-01

Summarizes the open questions that must be answered by researchers if practioners of interorganizational development are to have adequate planning-and-action guidelines. Suggests the questions should help practitioners become more sensitive to potential action considerations that may require special thought and attention until a firmer knowledge…

Circular Economy: Questions for Responsible Minerals, Additive Manufacturing and Recycling of Metals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Damien Giurco

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The concept of the circular economy proposes new patterns of production, consumption and use, based on circular flows of resources. Under a scenario where there is a global shift towards the circular economy, this paper discusses the advent of two parallel and yet-to-be-connected trends for Australia, namely: (i responsible minerals supply chains and (ii additive manufacturing, also known as 3D production systems. Acknowledging the current context for waste management, the paper explores future interlinked questions which arise in the circular economy for responsible supply chains, additive manufacturing, and metals recycling. For example, where do mined and recycled resources fit in responsible supply chains as inputs to responsible production? What is required to ensure 3D production systems are resource efficient? How could more distributed models of production, enabled by additive manufacturing, change the geographical scale at which it is economic or desirable to close the loop? Examples are given to highlight the need for an integrated research agenda to address these questions and to foster Australian opportunities in the circular economy.

A preliminary exploration of Advanced Molecular Bio-Sciences Research Center

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamada, Yutaka; Yanai, Takanori; Onodera, Jun'ichi; Yamagami, Mutsumi; Sakata, Hiroshi; Sota, Masahiro; Takemura, Tatsuo; Koyama, Kenji; Sato, Fumiaki

2000-01-01

Low-dose and low-dose-rate radiation effects on life-span, pathological changes, hemopoiesis and cytokine production in experimental animals have been investigated in our laboratory. In the intermediate period of the investigation, an expert committee on radiation biology, which was composed of two task groups, was organized. The purposes of the committee were to assess of previous studies and plan future research for Advanced Molecular Bio-Sciences Research Center (AMBIC). In its report, the committee emphasized the necessity of molecular research in radiation biology and ecology, and proposed six subjects for the research: 1) Molecular carcinogenesis of low-dose radiation; 2) Radiation effects on the immune system and hemopoietic system; 3) Molecular mechanisms of hereditary effect; 4) Non cancer effect of low-dose radiation; 5) Gene targeting for ion transport system in plants; 6) Bioremediation with transgenic plant and bacteria. Exploration of the AMBIC project will continue under the committee's direction. (author)

Does Quantitative Research in Child Maltreatment Tell the Whole Story? The Need for Mixed-Methods Approaches to Explore the Effects of Maltreatment in Infancy.

Science.gov (United States)

Glass, Samuel; Gajwani, Ruchika; Turner-Halliday, Fiona

Background and Aims. Research on child maltreatment has largely overlooked the under-five age group and focuses primarily on quantitative measurement. This mixed-methods study of maltreated children (N = 92) entering care (age 6-60 months) combines a quantitative focus on the associations between care journey characteristics and mental health outcomes with a qualitative exploration of maltreatment in four different families. Methods. Care journey data was obtained from social care records; mental health and attachment assessments were carried out following entry to care; qualitative data comprised semistructured interviews with professionals, foster carers, and parents. Results. Significant associations were found between suspected sexual abuse and increased DAI inhibited attachment symptoms (p = 0.001) and between reported domestic violence and decreased DAI inhibited (p = 0.016) and disinhibited (p = 0.004) attachment symptoms. Qualitative results: two themes demonstrate the complexity of assessing maltreatment: (1) overlapping maltreatment factors occur in most cases and (2) maltreatment effects may be particularly challenging to isolate. Conclusions. Qualitative exploration has underscored the complexity of assessing maltreatment, indicating why expected associations were not found in this study and posing questions for the quantitative measurement of maltreatment in general. We therefore suggest a new categorisation of maltreatment and call for the complimentary research lenses of further mixed-methods approaches.

Does Quantitative Research in Child Maltreatment Tell the Whole Story? The Need for Mixed-Methods Approaches to Explore the Effects of Maltreatment in Infancy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Samuel Glass

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Background and Aims. Research on child maltreatment has largely overlooked the under-five age group and focuses primarily on quantitative measurement. This mixed-methods study of maltreated children (N=92 entering care (age 6–60 months combines a quantitative focus on the associations between care journey characteristics and mental health outcomes with a qualitative exploration of maltreatment in four different families. Methods. Care journey data was obtained from social care records; mental health and attachment assessments were carried out following entry to care; qualitative data comprised semistructured interviews with professionals, foster carers, and parents. Results. Significant associations were found between suspected sexual abuse and increased DAI inhibited attachment symptoms (p=0.001 and between reported domestic violence and decreased DAI inhibited (p=0.016 and disinhibited (p=0.004 attachment symptoms. Qualitative results: two themes demonstrate the complexity of assessing maltreatment: (1 overlapping maltreatment factors occur in most cases and (2 maltreatment effects may be particularly challenging to isolate. Conclusions. Qualitative exploration has underscored the complexity of assessing maltreatment, indicating why expected associations were not found in this study and posing questions for the quantitative measurement of maltreatment in general. We therefore suggest a new categorisation of maltreatment and call for the complimentary research lenses of further mixed-methods approaches.

How do 5-year-olds understand questions?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sauerland, Uli; Grohmann, Kleanthes; Teresa Guasti, Maria

2016-01-01

developing children across 19 European countries, 18 different languages, and 7 language (sub-)families. The study investigated the effects of two factors on question formation: (a) whether the question contains a simple interrogative word like ‘who’ or a complex one like ‘which princess’, and (b) whether......The comprehension of constituent questions is an important topic for language acquisition research and for applications in the diagnosis of language impairment. This article presents the results of a study investigating the comprehension of different types of questions by 5-year-old, typically...... the question word was related to the sentential subject or object position of the verb. The findings show that there is considerable variation among languages, but the two factors mentioned consistently affect children’s performance. The cross-linguistic variation shows that three linguistic factors facilitate...

Top 10 research questions to promote physical activity in bipolar disorders: A consensus statement from the International Organization of Physical Therapists in Mental Health.

Science.gov (United States)

Vancampfort, Davy; Rosenbaum, Simon; Probst, Michel; Connaughton, Joanne; du Plessis, Christy; Yamamoto, Taisei; Stubbs, Brendon

2016-05-01

Research has only recently started to consider the importance and applicability of physical activity (PA) for people with bipolar disorder (BD). The aim of the current study is to highlight 10 pertinent PA research questions in people with BD. The International Organization of Physical Therapy in Mental Health executed a consultation with all National organizations (n=13) to identify the most salient questions to guide future research on PA in BD. We identified the following 10 questions: (1) What are the benefits of PA for people with BD? (2) What are the most prominent safety issues for PA prescription in BD? (3) What is the optimal PA prescription for people with BD? (4) What are the key barriers to PA among people with BD? (5) What are the most effective motivational strategies for ensuring PA adoption and maintenance in BD? (6) How do we translate PA research into community practice? (7) If one treatment goal is increased physical activity, what type of professionals are needed as part of a multidisciplinary team? (8) How do we incorporate PA as a vital sign in clinical practice? (9) How can we prevent sedentary behavior in BD? (10) What is the most appropriate PA assessment method? We did not consult people with BD. Addressing these questions is critical for developing evidence-based approaches for promoting and sustaining an active lifestyle in BD. Ultimately, achieving this will reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease and improve the quality of life of this population. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Spelling the Domain of Sustainable Product Innovation Research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Boks, Casper; McAloone, Tim C.

2009-01-01

on research methodologies used (case study research, explorative research, descriptive or prescriptive research), case studies analysed, and theories used (such as innovation theory, institutional theory, organisational learning, entrepreneurship, technology management, or design theory). A recent survey......- and user thinking, product stewardship, environmental management of industrial systems, integrated product policies, environmental technology transfer, sustainable consumption and corporate social responsibility. A related question is to determine how scientific research on the PhD level has been......, including learning from historical developments, towards future research strategies and their industrial application....

Questions and Questioning Techniques: A View of Indonesian Students’ Preferences

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Debora Tri Ragawanti

2009-01-01

Full Text Available This study investigated students’ preference on teacher’s questions and questionings techniques and more importantly on how they could facilitate or impede their learning. The results on teacher’s questioning techniques showed that random nomination was more preferred than pre-arranged format nomination. In addition, techniques of nominating volunteering students and of giving wait-time were disliked by most student-respondents. As for types of question, the yes/no question was favored by most of the respondents. Different from the yes/no question, the number of respondents leaning forward to the analysis question, questions about fact of life, and questions to state opinion did not show a significant difference from the number of those leaning against the same questions.

Performing Research at University Centers for Academic Development--An Explorative Case Study in Sweden

Science.gov (United States)

Stigmar, Martin; Edgren, Gudrun

2017-01-01

The aim is to explore the absence or presence of, and motives for, research at centers for academic development and to problematize the research situation among academic developers. Boyer's and Healey's theories are used as lenses for the analysis based on the questionnaires that were used for data collection. The conclusion is that research is a…

Qualitative research, tourism

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ren, Carina Bregnholm

2016-01-01

of qualitative research has meant a need to question and redefine criteria and research standards otherwise used in tourism research, as qualitative approach does not (seek to) conform to ideals such as truth, objectivity, and validity retrieved in the positivist sciences. In order to develop new ways by which......, the understanding of qualitative research as unable (or rather unwilling) to deliver the types of outcome which “explain and predict” tourism, has impacted upon its ability to gain general acceptance. Only slowly has tourism research made room for the changes in social and cultural sciences, which since the 1960s......Qualitative research, tourism Qualitative research refers to research applying a range of qualitative methods in order to inductively explore, interpret, and understand a given field or object under study. Qualitative research in tourism takes its inspiration primarily from the cultural and social...

Assessing the psychometric questioner for students rating teachers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Razaghi Reza Sharif

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Educational institutions use different ways to evaluate their teachers. Asking students to rate their teachers is common practice. The purpose of this research was to examine the reliability of the instruments used to evaluate the instructors in a college of medicine. This cross-sectional descriptive research used questioners that evaluated instructors. The questioner was targeting different dimensions of instructors. Item analysis in addition to exploratory factor analysis was performed on 1040questioners answered by the students of the College of Medicine of Kashan University of Medical Sciences. SPSS software was used to perform the analysis. The psychometric properties of questionnaires including Cronbach alpha was determined. The result of exploratory factor analysis and item analysis indicated that three of the subscales of the questioner showed sufficient reliability to evaluate the instructors and two subscales needed further examination. This type of evaluations is necessary to ensure quality of instructors working in an institution as well as providing reliable feedback to the instructors. The result showed that while some subscales of the questioner seems to target the concept of interest; a re-evaluation of the instrument would be valuable to increase its reliability for the administrators in the colleges.

Research Says/Curiosity Is Fleeting, but Teachable

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Goodwin, Bryan

2014-01-01

Psychologists and researchers have long puzzled over questions regarding "curiosity" and have more or less settled on a two-pronged definition as: (1) trait curiosity (an intrinsic drive for exploration and learning); and (2) state curiosity (an interest sparked by external conditions). Many studies have shown that human beings are…

Reincarnation Revisited: Question format and the distribution of belief in reincarnation in survey research

OpenAIRE

Siegers, Pascal

2013-01-01

Comparing frequency of belief in reincarnation from different international survey projects (RAMP, EVS, ISSP) reveals differences of about 15 to 20 percent depending on the specific question format. If single binary questions are used, then belief in reincarnation is more often reported than if a forced-choice question is used which offers respondents alternatives to belief in reincarnation (e.g. resurrection). One possible explanation for this result is that respondents confuse reincarnation...

Emerging Model of Questioning through the Process of Teaching and Learning Electrochemistry

Science.gov (United States)

Iksan, Zanaton Haji; Daniel, Esther

2015-01-01

Verbal questioning is a technique used by teachers in the teaching and learning process. Research in Malaysia related to teachers' questioning in the chemistry teaching and learning process is more focused on the level of the questions asked rather than the content to ensure that students understand. Thus, the research discussed in this paper is…

Exploring Anti-Semitism in the Classroom: A Case Study among Norwegian Adolescents from Minority Backgrounds

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, Paul

2016-01-01

This study explores high school students' views of Jews in one minority-dominated school in Oslo, Norway. Employing a qualitative approach, semistructured interview guides and classroom-based discussions teased out attitudes toward Jews drawing on questions from a nationwide research conducted by The Center for Studies of the Holocaust and…

Frequently Asked Questions about Clinical Research

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... Care Genomic Medicine Working Group New Horizons and Research Patient Management Policy and Ethics Issues Quick Links for Patient Care Education All About the Human Genome Project Fact Sheets Genetic Education Resources for ...

Mighty Morphin Power Ranger Play: Research and Reality.

Science.gov (United States)

Crosser, Sandra

1995-01-01

Explores the question of whether or not Mighty Morphin Power Rangers-type aggressive play is developmentally appropriate for the early childhood classroom. Compares results from research in child development to the reality of television programming, highlighting the relationship between television violence and children's aggressive behavior. (AA)

Educational Research: Educational Purposes, the Nature of Knowledge and Ethical Issues

Science.gov (United States)

López-Alvarado, Julio

2017-01-01

Educational research should aim at improving educational practice by analysing the world of Education to understand it and make it better. It should be a critical, reflective and professionally oriented activity. Educational research should have three objectives: to explore issues and find answers to questions (for academics), to share policy…

Exploring the use of research evidence in health-enhancing physical activity policies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hämäläinen, Riitta-Maija; Aro, Arja R.; van de Goor, Ien

2015-01-01

informed by research evidence compared to others. The aims of the present article are to explore the use of research evidence in health-enhancing physical activity (HEPA) policies, identify when research evidence was used, and find what other types of evidence were employed in HEPA policymaking. Methods......Background The gaps observed between the use of research evidence and policy have been reported to be based on the different methods of using research evidence in policymaking by researchers and actual policymakers. Some policies and policymaking processes may therefore be particularly well...... Multidisciplinary teams from six EU member states analysed the use of research evidence and other kinds of evidence in 21 HEPA policies and interviewed 86 key policymakers involved in the policies. Qualitative content analysis was conducted on both policy documents and interview data. Results Research evidence...

Exploring the Concept of Learner Autonomy in Cross-Cultural Research

OpenAIRE

Nga Thanh Nguyen; Donna Tangen; Denise Beutel

2014-01-01

This research explores how the concept of learner autonomy is understood and used in Vietnamese higher educational settings. Data were collected through interviews in Vietnamese with four university lecturers in Hanoi, Vietnam and then reported in an English language thesis. The problems confronted by the lecturers were in understanding the concept of learner autonomy, the complexities of translation equivalence for the concept from one language to another, and the impact of culture in interp...

Exploring teacher and school resilience as a new perspective to solve persistent problems in the educational sector

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schelvis, R.M.C.; Zwetsloot, G.I.J.M.; Bos, E.H.; Wiezer, N.M.

2014-01-01

In this paper, we will explore the relevance, meaning and perspectives of teacher, team and school resilience. The central research questions are: does the concept of teacher, team and school resilience offer new and promising perspectives on persistent problems in the educational sector? And

Dialogue in mathematics classrooms: Beyond question-and- answer methods

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Karin Brodie

2007-10-01

Full Text Available This paper explores different kinds of interaction observed in South African mathematics classrooms in order to unpack the notion of participation in mathematics learning. It argues that conventional question-and-answer methods do not promote the kind of interaction that the new South African curriculum calls for. It presents more appropriate kinds of interactions, where teachers maintain high task demands, respond to genuine learner questions and support conversations among learners. The paper argues that combinations of different kinds of interaction are  most likely to support learner participation and mathematical thinking in classrooms.

If Ethics in Psychiatry is the Answer - What was the Question? Exploring Social Space and the Role of Clinical Chaplaincy

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Helen Kohlen

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Over the last twenty years, ethics has been expanding in health care and chaplains comprise one of the key groups that provide ethics consultation services in the German arena of psychiatry. Like all professional actors in the practical arena, chaplains perform their role. Performance happens in relation to others who occupy positions that allow more or less exercise of power. This architecture of relational positioning and territory constitutes the social space. The question is, whether ethics in psychiatry can overcome the determination of positioning within the social space, and if yes: what is the scope of ethics? This article investigates into the role of chaplaincy as ethical agents (in Germany on the basis of theoretical and empirical studies over the last 10 years. The meaning of social space in the field of psychiatry is explored by taking Pierre Bourdieu’s work into account. For illustration, a case study is given.

Doctoral research on architecture in Nigeria: Exploring domains, extending boundaries

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Adetokunbo Oluwole Ilesanmi

2016-03-01

Full Text Available This paper explored through a literature review, the domains of research in Architecture and the nature of doctoral research, with a view to contributing to the evolving research agenda in the Nigerian context. The research method involved a descriptive and thematic analysis of the titles and abstracts of completed doctoral theses in Architecture in Nigeria, in the last 26 years (1990–2015, complemented by semi-structured interviews with six key informants. The study revealed an emphasis on Housing-related topics (34% relative to other research modules, such as׳ History and Theory׳ (20% and ׳Design and Production׳ (18%. It also reflected the limited coverage and scope of current research, relative to the global terrain, as evidenced in the article titles and contents of 45 Architecture-related Journals. The results of the interviews indicated the strong influence of supervisors׳ areas of interest in the choices of thesis titles. It highlighted reasons for the perceived focus on Housing, which reflect its unique place and multi-disciplinary nature. It concluded that extending the boundaries of architectural research at the doctoral level could be beneficial to the discipline and profession in Nigeria in order to align with global trends, while keeping cognizance of the local contexts.

Exploration of Textual Interactions in CALL Learning Communities: Emerging Research and Opportunities

Science.gov (United States)

White, Jonathan R.

2017-01-01

Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) has greatly enhanced the realm of online social interaction and behavior. In language classrooms, it allows the opportunity for students to enhance their learning experiences. "Exploration of Textual Interactions in CALL Learning Communities: Emerging Research and Opportunities" is an ideal…

Setting global research priorities for integrated community case management (iCCM: Results from a CHNRI (Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative exercise

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kerri Wazny

2014-11-01

LMICs prioritized different research questions than those working in organization headquarters in HICs. Further exploration is needed to determine the nature of this divergence.

What is the Significance of Research for Music Education in Practice?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Frede V.

2009-01-01

these types of relationship are considered necessary. The distinctive task of music pedagogical research is to question, explore, and develop issues, conditions, and potentialities within the practice of music education by rendering them accessible to consciousness and conceptual thought in verbal terms....... Consequently, it has to do its utmost not to degenerate into ideology. The role of teacher education is discussed. Examples show how research may matter to practical music teaching and learning. An overall conclusion is that the relationship in question should be marked by closeness and distance at the same...

Text Mining in Organizational Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Kobayashi, Vladimer B; Mol, Stefan T; Berkers, Hannah A; Kismihók, Gábor; Den Hartog, Deanne N

2018-07-01

Despite the ubiquity of textual data, so far few researchers have applied text mining to answer organizational research questions. Text mining, which essentially entails a quantitative approach to the analysis of (usually) voluminous textual data, helps accelerate knowledge discovery by radically increasing the amount data that can be analyzed. This article aims to acquaint organizational researchers with the fundamental logic underpinning text mining, the analytical stages involved, and contemporary techniques that may be used to achieve different types of objectives. The specific analytical techniques reviewed are (a) dimensionality reduction, (b) distance and similarity computing, (c) clustering, (d) topic modeling, and (e) classification. We describe how text mining may extend contemporary organizational research by allowing the testing of existing or new research questions with data that are likely to be rich, contextualized, and ecologically valid. After an exploration of how evidence for the validity of text mining output may be generated, we conclude the article by illustrating the text mining process in a job analysis setting using a dataset composed of job vacancies.

Interpersonal Barriers to Stopping Animal Abuse: Exploring the Role of Adolescent Friendship Norms and Breeches

Science.gov (United States)

Arluke, Arnold

2012-01-01

Research into bystander apathy has focused on the barriers to intervening when the perpetrators and witnesses of violence are strangers. Although violence also occurs in the presence of friends, family, and other close ties, it is unclear how these affiliations constrain the behavior of bystanders in these situations. To explore this question,…

Field-Based Teacher Research: How Teachers and Scientists Working Together Answers Questions about Turtle Nesting Ecology while Enhancing Teachers' Inquiry Skills

Science.gov (United States)

Winters, J. M.; Jungblut, D.; Catena, A. N.; Rubenstein, D. I.

2013-12-01

Providing rigorous academic supplement to a professional development program for teachers, QUEST is a fusion of Drexel University's environmental science research department with Princeton University's Program in Teacher Preparation. Completed in the summers of 2012 (in partnership with Earthwatch) and 2013 in Barnegat Bay, New Jersey, QUEST's terrapin field research program enhances K-12 teachers' ecological knowledge, develops inquiry-based thinking in the classroom, and builds citizen science engagement. With a focus on quality question development and data analysis to answer questions, teachers are coached in developing, implementing, and presenting independent research projects on diamondback terrapin nesting ecology. As a result, teachers participating in QUEST's week long program bring a realistic example of science in action into their classrooms, helping to develop their own students' critical thinking skills. For teachers, this program provides training towards educating students on how to do real and imaginative science - subsequently sending students to university better prepared to engage in their own independent research. An essential component of the collaboration through QUEST, in addition to the teacher's experience during and after the summer institute, is the research data collected which supplements that of the Principal Investigator. In 2012, by documenting terrapin nest site predators, teachers gained valuable scientific experience, while Drexel acquired important ecological data which would have not been able to be collected otherwise. In 2013, teachers helped answer important questions about terrapin nesting success post Superstorm Sandy. In fact, the 2013 QUEST teachers are the first to visualize the frighteningly increased erosion of a primary terrapin nesting site due to Sandy; showing how most terrapin nests now lie in the bay, instead of safe on shore. Teachers comment that interacting with scientists in the field, and contributing to

The self as subject autoethnographic research into identity, culture, and academic librarianship

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Deitering, Anne-Marie; Stoddart, Richard

2017-01-01

Using autoethnography as their research method, the 21 academic librarian authors of The Self as Subject: Autoethnographic Research into Identity, Culture, and Academic Librarianship investigate aspects of what it means to be a librarian. Starting with a reflective examination of themselves, they each investigate questions of culture, values, and identity. The Self as Subject presents a collection of reflective narratives that, taken together, explore the varied dimensions of librarianship in the present moment. It also examines autoethnography's potential to help librarians answer questions that cannot be answered by traditional, empirical research methods and to reveal voices that are obscured by aggregations of data.

Moon 101: Introducing Students to Lunar Science and Exploration

Science.gov (United States)

Shaner, A. J.; Shipp, S. S.; Allen, J. S.; Kring, D. A.

2011-12-01

Moon 101 is designed with the purpose of familiarizing students with lunar geology and exploration. Armed with guiding questions, students read articles covering various lunar science topics and browse images from past and current lunar missions to familiarize themselves with available lunar data sets. Moon 101 was originally created for high school students preparing to conduct open-inquiry, lunar research. Most high school students' knowledge of lunar science is limited to lunar phases and tides, and their knowledge of lunar exploration is close to non-existent. Moon 101 provides a summary of the state of knowledge of the Moon's formation and evolution, and the exploration that has helped inform the lunar science community. Though designed for high school students, Moon 101 is highly appropriate for the undergraduate classroom, especially at the introductory level where resources for teaching lunar science are scarce. Moon 101 is comprised of two sections covering lunar science (formation and geologic evolution of the Moon) and one section covering lunar exploration. Students read information on the formation and geologic evolution of the Moon from sources such as the Planetary Science Research Discoveries (PSRD) website and the USGS professional paper A Geologic History of the Moon by Wilhelms. While these resources are not peer-reviewed journals, the information is presented at a level more advanced than articles from newspapers and popular science magazines. This ensures that the language is accessible to students who do not have a strong lunar/planetary science background, or a strong science background in general. Formation readings include information on older and current formation hypotheses, including the Giant Impact Hypothesis, the Magma Ocean hypothesis, and the age of the lunar crust. Lunar evolution articles describe ideas such as the Late Heavy Bombardment and geologic processes such as volcanism and impact cratering. After reading the articles

Testing audiovisual comprehension tasks with questions embedded in videos as subtitles: a pilot multimethod study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juan Carlos Casañ Núñez

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Listening, watching, reading and writing simultaneously in a foreign language is very complex. This paper is part of wider research which explores the use of audiovisual comprehension questions imprinted in the video image in the form of subtitles and synchronized with the relevant fragments for the purpose of language learning and testing. Compared to viewings where the comprehension activity is available only on paper, this innovative methodology may provide some benefits. Among them, it could reduce the conflict in visual attention between watching the video and completing the task, by spatially and temporally approximating the questions and the relevant fragments. The technique is seen as especially beneficial for students with a low proficiency language level. The main objectives of this study were to investigate if embedded questions had an impact on SFL students’ audiovisual comprehension test performance and to find out what examinees thought about them. A multimethod design (Morse, 2003 involving the sequential collection of three quantitative datasets was employed. A total of 41 learners of Spanish as a foreign language (SFL participated in the study (22 in the control group and 19 in the experimental one. Informants were selected by non-probabilistic sampling. The results showed that imprinted questions did not have any effect on test performance. Test-takers’ attitudes towards this methodology were positive. Globally, students in the experimental group agreed that the embedded questions helped them to complete the tasks. Furthermore, most of them were in favour of having the questions imprinted in the video in the audiovisual comprehension test of the final exam. These opinions are in line with those obtained in previous studies that looked into experts’, SFL students’ and SFL teachers’ views about this methodology (Casañ Núñez, 2015a, 2016a, in press-b. On the whole, these studies suggest that this technique has

A questions-based investigation of consumer mental-health information

Science.gov (United States)

Kart, Joyce Brothers

2015-01-01

Despite the wealth of mental-health information available online to consumers, research has shown that the mental-health information needs of consumers are not being met. This study contributes to that research by soliciting consumer questions directly, categorizing them, analyzing their form, and assessing the extent to which they can be answered from a trusted and vetted source of online information, namely the website of the US National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). As an alternative to surveys and analyses of online activity, this study shows how consumer questions provide new insight into what consumers do not know and how they express their information needs. The study crowdsourced 100 consumer questions through Amazon Inc.’s Mechanical Turk. Categorization of the questions shows broad agreement with earlier studies in terms of the content of consumer questions. It also suggests that consumers’ grasp of mental health issues may be low compared to other health topics. The majority of the questions (74%) were simple in form, with the remainder being multi-part, multifaceted or narrative. Even simple-form questions could, however, have complex interpretations. Fifty four questions were submitted to the search box at the NIMH website. For 32 questions, no answer could be found in the top one to three documents returned. Inadequacies in the search and retrieval technology deployed at websites account for some of the failure to find answers. The nature of consumer questions in mental health also plays a role. A question that has a false presupposition is less likely to have an answer in trusted and vetted sources of information. Consumer questions are also expressed with a degree of specificity that makes the retrieval of relevant information difficult. The significance of this study is that it shows what an analysis of consumer mental-health questions can tell us about consumer information needs and it provides new insight into the difficulties facing

Electric Power Lines : Questions and Answers on Research into Health Effects.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

United States. Bonneville Power Administration.

1994-05-01

Most people know that electric power lines, like the wiring in our homes, can cause serious electric shocks if we`re not careful. Many people also want to know whether the electric and magnetic fields (EMF) produced by power lines and other electrical devices cause health effects. The purpose of this booklet is to answer some common questions that the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) receives about the possible effects of power lines on health. First, some basic electrical terms are defined, and electric and magnetic fields are debed. Next, answers are given to several questions about recent scientific studies. Some important information about electrical safety follows. We then describe how BPA is addressing public concerns about potential health effects of power lines. The last section tells you how to obtain more detailed information about the health and safety issues summarized in this booklet.

Nuclear questions; Le nucleaire en questions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Berg, Eugene

2012-02-15

Civilian and military nuclear questions fill a multitude of publications these days, especially after the Japanese tsunami and the Fukushima disaster. The author analyses some of them and highlights the links between civil and military nuclear industries, the realities of the nuclear cycle and related industrial questions before concluding on the controversial issue of weapons and their proliferation potential

Expanding the Frontiers of Population Nutrition Research: New Questions, New Methods, and New Approaches12

Science.gov (United States)

Pelletier, David L.; Porter, Christine M.; Aarons, Gregory A.; Wuehler, Sara E.; Neufeld, Lynnette M.

2013-01-01

Nutrition research, ranging from molecular to population levels and all points along this spectrum, is exploring new frontiers as new technologies and societal changes create new possibilities and demands. This paper defines a set of frontiers at the population level that are being created by the increased societal recognition of the importance of nutrition; its connection to urgent health, social, and environmental problems; and the need for effective and sustainable solutions at the population level. The frontiers are defined in terms of why, what, who, and how we study at the population level and the disciplinary foundations for that research. The paper provides illustrations of research along some of these frontiers, an overarching framework for population nutrition research, and access to some of the literature from outside of nutrition that can enhance the intellectual coherence, practical utility, and societal benefit of population nutrition research. The frontiers defined in this paper build on earlier forward-looking efforts by the American Society for Nutrition and extend these efforts in significant ways. The American Society for Nutrition and its members can play pivotal roles in advancing these frontiers by addressing a number of well-recognized challenges associated with transdisciplinary and engaged research. PMID:23319128

On theory, technique and text : guidelines and suggestions on publishing International Human Resource Management Research

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Raghuram, Sumita; Brewster, Chris; Chen, Xiao-Ping; Farndale, E.; Gully, Stan; Morley, Michael J.

2017-01-01

Publishing IHRM research continues to be a challenge for seasoned as much as junior faculty. Quantitative and qualitative studies exploring HRM-related topics involving multiple countries or complex contextual factors raise issues of developing an appropriate research question, presenting multilevel

Beyond Equality of the Sexes: The Question of the Children

Science.gov (United States)

Lorber, Judith

1975-01-01

This paper raises the question of how we can achieve stable parenting without the traditional structural underpinnings of the family--the sexual division of labor, economic dependence on males of women and children, and the combination of procreation with sex. Alternative arrangements are explored. (Author)

Ontologies and adaptivity in dialogue for question answering

CERN Document Server

Sonntag, D

2010-01-01

Question answering (QA) has become one of the fastest growing topics in computational linguistics and information access. To advance research in the area of dialogue-based question answering, we propose a combination of methods from different scientific fields (i.e., Information Retrieval, Dialogue Systems, Semantic Web, and Machine Learning). This book sheds light on adaptable dialogue-based question answering. We demonstrate the technical and computational feasibility of the proposed ideas, the introspective methods in particular, by beginning with an extensive introduction to the dialogical

Illustrating the use of concepts from the discipline of policy studies in energy research : An explorative literature review

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hoppe, T.; Coenen, Frans; van den Berg, Maya

2016-01-01

With the increasing challenges the energy sector faces, energy policy strategies and instruments are becoming ever more relevant. The discipline of policy studies might offer relevant concepts to enrich multidisciplinary energy research. The main research question of this article is: How can

Illustrating the use of concepts from the discipline of policy studies in energy research: An explorative literature review

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hoppe, Thomas; Coenen, Franciscus H.J.M.; van den Berg, Maya Marieke

2016-01-01

With the increasing challenges the energy sector faces, energy policy strategies and instruments are becoming ever more relevant. The discipline of policy studies might offer relevant concepts to enrich multidisciplinary energy research. The main research question of this article is: How can policy

Research on the Field of Education Policy: Exploring Different Levels of Approach and Abstraction

Science.gov (United States)

Mainardes, Jefferson; Tello, César

2016-01-01

This paper, of theoretical nature, explores the levels of approach and abstraction of research in the field of education policy: description, analysis and understanding. Such categories were developed based on concepts of Bourdieu's theory and on the grounds of epistemological studies focused on education policy and meta-research. This paper…

Asking the right questions: Scoping studies in the commissioning of research on the organisation and delivery of health services

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peckham Stephen

2008-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Scoping studies have been used across a range of disciplines for a wide variety of purposes. However, their value is increasingly limited by a lack of definition and clarity of purpose. The UK's Service Delivery and Organisation Research Programme (SDO has extensive experience of commissioning and using such studies; twenty four have now been completed. This review article has four objectives; to describe the nature of the scoping studies that have been commissioned by the SDO Programme; to consider the impact of and uses made of such studies; to provide definitions for the different elements that may constitute a scoping study; and to describe the lessons learnt by the SDO Programme in commissioning scoping studies. Scoping studies are imprecisely defined but usually consist of one or more discrete components; most commonly they are non-systematic reviews of the literature, but other important elements are literature mapping, conceptual mapping and policy mapping. Some scoping studies also involve consultations with stakeholders including the end users of research. Scoping studies have been used for a wide variety of purposes, although a common feature is to identify questions and topics for future research. The reports of scoping studies often have an impact that extends beyond informing research commissioners about future research areas; some have been published in peer reviewed journals, and others have been published in research summaries aimed at a broader audience of health service managers and policymakers. Key lessons from the SDO experience are the need to relate scoping studies to a particular health service context; the need for scoping teams to be multi-disciplinary and to be given enough time to integrate diverse findings; and the need for the research commissioners to be explicit not only about the aims of scoping studies but also about their intended uses. This necessitates regular contact between researchers and

Exploring the Philosophical Underpinnings of Research: Relating Ontology and Epistemology to the Methodology and Methods of the Scientific, Interpretive, and Critical Research Paradigms

Science.gov (United States)

Scotland, James

2012-01-01

This paper explores the philosophical underpinnings of three major educational research paradigms: scientific, interpretive, and critical. The aim was to outline and explore the interrelationships between each paradigm's ontology, epistemology, methodology and methods. This paper reveals and then discusses some of the underlying assumptions of…

Ten questions about radiant heating and cooling systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rhee, Kyu-Nam; Olesen, Bjarne W.; Kim, Kwang Woo

2017-01-01

to extend the applicability of the RHC system are providing the continuous impetus for research on RHC systems. This paper summarizes the important issues involved in the research on RHC system, whereby ten questions and answers concerning the RHC system are discussed, which will help researchers to conduct...

Beyond frontier exploration

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Visser, A.; Ji, X.; van Ittersum, M.; González Jaime, L.A.; Stancu, L.A.

2008-01-01

This article investigates the prerequisites for a global exploration strategy in an unknown environment on a virtual disaster site. Assume that a robot equipped with a laser range scanner can build a detailed map of a previous unknown environment. The remaining question is how to use this

The Neurobiology of Emotion-Cognition Interactions: Fundamental Questions and Strategies for Future Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hadas eOkon-Singer

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Recent years have witnessed the emergence of powerful new tools for assaying the brain and a remarkable acceleration of research focused on the interplay of emotion and cognition. This work has begun to yield new insights into fundamental questions about the nature of the mind and important clues about the origins of mental illness. In particular, this research demonstrates that stress, anxiety, and other kinds of emotion can profoundly influence key elements of cognition, including selective attention, working memory, and cognitive control. Often, this influence persists beyond the duration of transient emotional challenges, partially reflecting the slower molecular dynamics of catecholamine and hormonal neurochemistry. In turn, circuits involved in attention, executive control, and working memory contribute to the regulation of emotion. The distinction between the ‘emotional’ and the ‘cognitive’ brain is fuzzy and context-dependent. Indeed, there is compelling evidence that brain territories and psychological processes commonly associated with cognition, such as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and working memory, play a central role in emotion. Furthermore, putatively emotional and cognitive regions influence one another via a complex web of connections in ways that jointly contribute to adaptive and maladaptive behavior. This work demonstrates that emotion and cognition are deeply interwoven in the fabric of the brain, suggesting that widely held beliefs about the key constituents of ‘the emotional brain’ and ‘the cognitive brain’ are fundamentally flawed. We conclude by outlining several strategies for enhancing future research. Developing a deeper understanding of the emotional-cognitive brain is important, not just for understanding the mind but also for elucidating the root causes of its disorders.

Women's Healthcare, Censorship, and the Library: Problems, Issues, Questions.

Science.gov (United States)

Kuhl, Nancy

The goal of this paper is to explore a number of examples of the censorship of women's healthcare issues and to investigate issues and questions related to those examples. The paper looks primarily at censorship in the United States; however, the problems and issues discussed are international in scope, and some international examples are…

Electric Power Lines : Questions and Answers on Research into Health Effects.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

United States. Bonneville Power Administration.

1993-11-01

Most people know that electric power lines, like the wiring in our homes, can cause serious electric shocks if we`re not careful. Many people also want to know whether the electric and magnetic fields (EMF) produced by power lines and other electrical devices cause health effects. The purpose of this pamphlet is to answer some common questions that the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) receives about the possible effects of power lines on health. (BPA is the Pacific Northwest`s Federal electric power marketing agency.) First, some basic electrical terms are defined, and electric and magnetic fields are described. Next, answers are given to several questions about recent scientific studies. We then describe how BPA is addressing public concerns raised by these studies. Some important information about electrical safety follows. The last section tells you how to obtain more detailed information about the health and safety issues summarized in this pamphlet.

Can simply answering research questions change behaviour? Systematic review and meta analyses of brief alcohol intervention trials.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jim McCambridge

Full Text Available Participant reports of their own behaviour are critical for the provision and evaluation of behavioural interventions. Recent developments in brief alcohol intervention trials provide an opportunity to evaluate longstanding concerns that answering questions on behaviour as part of research assessments may inadvertently influence it and produce bias. The study objective was to evaluate the size and nature of effects observed in randomized manipulations of the effects of answering questions on drinking behaviour in brief intervention trials.Multiple methods were used to identify primary studies. Between-group differences in total weekly alcohol consumption, quantity per drinking day and AUDIT scores were evaluated in random effects meta-analyses. Ten trials were included in this review, of which two did not provide findings for quantitative study, in which three outcomes were evaluated. Between-group differences were of the magnitude of 13.7 (-0.17 to 27.6 grams of alcohol per week (approximately 1.5 U.K. units or 1 standard U.S. drink and 1 point (0.1 to 1.9 in AUDIT score. There was no difference in quantity per drinking day.Answering questions on drinking in brief intervention trials appears to alter subsequent self-reported behaviour. This potentially generates bias by exposing non-intervention control groups to an integral component of the intervention. The effects of brief alcohol interventions may thus have been consistently under-estimated. These findings are relevant to evaluations of any interventions to alter behaviours which involve participant self-report.

Research with School Students: Four Innovative Methods Used to Explore Effective Teaching

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jessica Faye Heal

2015-03-01

Full Text Available This article outlines four research methods we’ve employed to enhance how students from low-income backgrounds engage in research exploring effective teaching. It firstly outlines the need to be innovative, drawing Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and then moves on to explain two methods that scaffold a semi-structured interview, one child-led classroom tour and finally a creative ‘draw and tell’ approach. It argues that these methods are successful because they disrupt the researcher-participant power imbalance using the following techniques: Familiarity to the student, empowering the student to be an expert, and giving the student choice.

QUESTION ANSWERING SYSTEM DAN PENERAPANNYA PADA ALKITAB

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gunawan Gunawan

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Question answering system is a system that allows user to state his or her information need in the form of natural language question, and return short text excerpts or even phrases as an answer. The availability of a wide and various information source and improvements in the techniques of natural language processing, information extraction (wrapper, and information retrieval give a big effect on the development of question answering system, from just answering questions in a specific domain by consulting to structured information source such as database, and like in this research, answering any questions based on information stored in an unstructured text collection. A general architecture of question answering system based on text consists of six processing stages, i.e. question analysis, document collection preprocessing, candidate document selection, candidate document analysis, answer extraction, and response generation. Application of question answering system like AnswerBus, Mulder, and Webclopedia that are developed with its own characteristics has similar processing steps as in the general architecture. Answers returned by a question answering system need to be evaluated for performance measure. This research completed with a simple question answering system application using english Bible in World English Bible (WEB version as the source of information to answer some questions. Because specific domain is selected: Bible, questions that can be posed by user could ask about information in the Bible itself only. Question is also limited to three types of answers that can be supported by the application: person (who, location (where, and date (when. Abstract in Bahasa Indonesia : Question answering system (QA system adalah sistem yang mengijinkan user menyatakan kebutuhan informasinya dalam bentuk natural language question (pertanyaan dalam bahasa alami, dan mengembalikan kutipan teks singkat atau bahkan frase sebagai jawaban. Ketersediaan

A geoethical approach to the geological and astrobiological exploration and research of the Moon and Mars

Science.gov (United States)

Martinez-Frias, Jesus; Horneck, Gerda; de La Torre Noetzel, Rosa; Rull, Fernando

Lunar and Mars exploration and research require not only scientific and technological inter-disciplinary cooperation, but also the consideration of budding ethical and scientific integrity issues. COSPAR's planetary protection policy (in coordination with the United Nations Com-mittee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space as well as various other bilateral and multilateral organizations) serves as the consensus standard for biological contamination prevention under the 1967 Outer Space Treaty1 . Space agencies Planetary Protection Policies are mostly consis-tent with the COSPAR policy. Geoethics was formerly promoted in 1991 as a new discipline, involving scientific and societal aspects2 , and its institutionalization was officially established in 2004 with the backing of the Association of Geoscientists for International Development, AGID3 (IUGS/ICSU). Recently, it has been proposed that the integration of geoethical issues in studies on planetary geology and astrobiology would enrich their methodological and con-ceptual character4-6 . The incorporation through geoethics of new questions and approaches associated to the "abiotic world" would involve: 1) extrapolating to space the recently defined and approved IUCN/UNESCO guidelines and recommendations on geodiversity7 as "planetary geodiversity", and 2) widening the classical concept of Planetary Protection, giving an addi-tional "abiotic" dimension to the exploration and research of the Moon and Mars. Given the geological characteristics and planetary evolution of the Moon and Mars, it is obvious that they require tailored geoethical approaches. Some fundamental aspects include, among others: the interrelation with bioethics and organics vs. inorganic contamination in Planetary Protection, the appropriate regulations of some necessary natural disturbances (e.g. on the Moon) dur-ing robotic and manned planetary missions, wilderness/planetary parks8,9 , the correct use of mineralogical and geochemical analytical

Beauty from the beast: Avoiding errors in responding to client questions.

Science.gov (United States)

Waehler, Charles A; Grandy, Natalie M

2016-09-01

Those rare moments when clients ask direct questions of their therapists likely represent a point when they are particularly open to new considerations, thereby representing an opportunity for substantial therapeutic gains. However, clinical errors abound in this area because clients' questions often engender apprehension in therapists, causing therapists to respond with too little or too much information or shutting down the discussion prematurely. These response types can damage the therapeutic relationship, the psychotherapy process, or both. We explore the nature of these clinical errors in response to client questions by providing examples from our own clinical work, suggesting potential reasons why clinicians may not make optimal use of client questions, and discussing how the mixed psychological literature further complicates the issue. We also present four guidelines designed to help therapists, trainers, and supervisors respond constructively to clinical questions in order to create constructive interactions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

The science and art of asking questions in cognitive therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

James, Ian Andrew; Morse, Rachel; Howarth, Alan

2010-01-01

Questions underpin all aspects of therapeutic assessment and intervention and are a vital component of the clinical process. Over recent years frameworks have started to be applied to obtain a greater understanding of questioning formats and processes. This paper examines the use of questions in cognitive therapy (CT). An overview of the main types of questions identified in the literature is presented. In addition, we examine a range of client and therapist characteristics that may impact on the questioning process. Asking questions in therapy is a complex, yet under-taught, skill. This paper provides a set of frameworks to assist in identifying helpful and unhelpful questioning skills. Thus the article has implications for further training and research.

Whose Side Are We on and for Whom Do We Write? Notes on Issues and Challenges Facing Those Researching and Evaluating Public Policy

Science.gov (United States)

Warren, Jon; Garthwaite, Kayleigh

2015-01-01

Becker (1967) poses the question "Whose side are we on?," a question which has become an enduring part of discussions within social scientific methodology. This paper explores the key issues in Becker's argument and considers its relevance to researchers today, locating this within a consideration of evaluation-based research and policy.…

Research with and by people with learning disabilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Durell, Shirley

Many people with learning disabilities are frequently excluded from active involvement in research and, as a result, along with researchers, have questioned research processes. These discussions have influenced how research is undertaken by, and with, people who have learning disabilities. Learning disability research is now increasingly framed as inclusive. This article explores the development of inclusive learning disability research by tracing its background and influences, identifying key characteristics and highlighting some of the challenges in its application. It demonstrates how inclusive research can give people with learning disabilities a voice that will help to inform practice.

Research Questions: Women and Mass Media.

Science.gov (United States)

Busby, Linda J.

Typically, research concerning media presentations of women has involved six types of analysis: (1) content analysis (what is said), (2) cultural and social analysis (why it is said), (3) control or gatekeeper analysis (by whom it is said), (4) audience analysis (to whom it is said), (5) media analysis (in which channel), and (6) effects analysis…

Current Research in Resistivity Inversion Techniques by the Lab. Of Exploration Geophysics in Thessaloniki, Greece

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsokas, G.N.; Tsourlos, P.

2007-01-01

The current research in various topics of ERT methods is described. The main directions of this research have been imposed by exploration problems met in practice. Therefore, it is aimed towards the construction of reliable, accurate and easy to apply procedures and algorithms

Community-engaged approaches to explore research priorities in Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Peay, Holly Landrum

2015-01-01

This thesis presents a series of translational research studies to explore topics of importance to a patient stakeholder community--Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy. The overarching objective was to inform a patient/family foundation's interventions and policy and advocacy approaches. Results

IMPROVISATION OF SEEKER SATISFACTION IN YAHOO! COMMUNITY QUESTION ANSWERING PORTAL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. Latha

2011-01-01

Full Text Available One popular Community question answering (CQA site, Yahoo! Answers, had attracted 120 million users worldwide, and had 400 million answers to questions available. A typical characteristic of such sites is that they allow anyone to post or answer any questions on any subject. Question Answering Community has emerged as popular, and often effective, means of information seeking on the web. By posting questions, for other participants to answer, information seekers can obtain specific answers to their questions. However, CQA is not always effective: in some cases, a user may obtain a perfect answer within minutes, and in others it may require hours and sometimes days until a satisfactory answer is contributed. We investigate the problem of predicting information seeker satisfaction in yahoo collaborative question answering communities, where we attempt to predict whether a question author will be satisfied with the answers submitted by the community participants. Our experimental results, obtained from a large scale evaluation over thousands of real questions and user ratings, demonstrate the feasibility of modeling and predicting asker satisfaction. We complement our results with a thorough investigation of the interactions and information seeking patterns in question answering communities that correlate with information seeker satisfaction. We also explore automatic ranking, creating abstract from retrieved answers, and history updation, which aims to provide users with what they want or need without explicitly ask them for user satisfaction. Our system could be useful for a variety of applications, such as answer selection, user feedback analysis, and ranking.

Surveying Parental Mediation: Connections, Challenges and Questions for Media Literacy

Science.gov (United States)

Mendoza, Kelly

2009-01-01

This paper examines three strategies of parental mediation--coviewing, restrictive mediation, and active mediation--in order to make connections, challenge, and raise questions for media literacy. Coviewing, whether it is intentional practice, or whether it functions to promote media literacy, is explored. Restrictive mediation, how it connects to…

Nurturing the Young Shoots of Talent: Using Action Research for Exploration and Theory Building

Science.gov (United States)

Koshy, Valsa; Pascal, Christine

2011-01-01

This paper reports the outcomes of a set of action research projects carried out by teacher researchers in 14 local education authorities in England, working collaboratively with university tutors, over a period of three years. The common aim of all the projects was to explore practical ways of nurturing the gifts and talents of children aged…

Exploring science through science fiction

CERN Document Server

Luokkala, Barry B

2014-01-01

How does Einstein’s description of space and time compare with Dr. Who? Can James Bond really escape from an armor-plated railroad car by cutting through the floor with a laser concealed in a wristwatch? What would it take to create a fully-intelligent android, such as Star Trek’s Commander Data? How might we discover intelligent civilizations on other planets in the galaxy? Is human teleportation possible? Will our technological society ever reach the point at which it becomes lawful to discriminate on the basis of genetic information, as in the movie GATTACA? Exploring Science Through Science Fiction addresses these and other interesting questions, using science fiction as a springboard for discussing fundamental science concepts and cutting-edge science research. The book is designed as a primary text for a college-level course which should appeal to students in the fine arts and humanities as well as to science and engineering students. It includes references to original research papers, landmark scie...

Skeletal muscle mechanics: questions, problems and possible solutions.

Science.gov (United States)

Herzog, Walter

2017-09-16

Skeletal muscle mechanics have been studied ever since people have shown an interest in human movement. However, our understanding of muscle contraction and muscle mechanical properties has changed fundamentally with the discovery of the sliding filament theory in 1954 and associated cross-bridge theory in 1957. Nevertheless, experimental evidence suggests that our knowledge of the mechanisms of contraction is far from complete, and muscle properties and muscle function in human movement remain largely unknown.In this manuscript, I am trying to identify some of the crucial challenges we are faced with in muscle mechanics, offer possible solutions to questions, and identify problems that might be worthwhile exploring in the future. Since it is impossible to tackle all (worthwhile) problems in a single manuscript, I identified three problems that are controversial, important, and close to my heart. They may be identified as follows: (i) mechanisms of muscle contraction, (ii) in vivo whole muscle mechanics and properties, and (iii) force-sharing among synergistic muscles. These topics are fundamental to our understanding of human movement and movement control, and they contain a series of unknowns and challenges to be explored in the future.It is my hope that this paper may serve as an inspiration for some, may challenge current beliefs in selected areas, tackle important problems in the area of muscle mechanics, physiology and movement control, and may guide and focus some of the thinking of future muscle mechanics research.

Research and innovation in the `exploring our world´ project (6-12. The example of `exploring current and historical societies´ in initial teacher education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jesús Estepa Giménez

2012-04-01

Full Text Available In this paper the authors present how they research and innovate in Initial Teacher Education programmes throught the `Exploring our world´ project (6-12. Along the article aspects related to the why, what for and how to teach of the curricular project are analysed by means of the example of `Exploring current and historical societies´. Trainees´ productions on this Field of Research are presented, in which they deal with the three afore-mentioned elements throught the design of didactic units that form part, like a portfolio, of the group reseach file.

Robustness Analysis of Visual QA Models by Basic Questions

KAUST Repository

Huang, Jia-Hong

2017-09-14

Visual Question Answering (VQA) models should have both high robustness and accuracy. Unfortunately, most of the current VQA research only focuses on accuracy because there is a lack of proper methods to measure the robustness of VQA models. There are two main modules in our algorithm. Given a natural language question about an image, the first module takes the question as input and then outputs the ranked basic questions, with similarity scores, of the main given question. The second module takes the main question, image and these basic questions as input and then outputs the text-based answer of the main question about the given image. We claim that a robust VQA model is one, whose performance is not changed much when related basic questions as also made available to it as input. We formulate the basic questions generation problem as a LASSO optimization, and also propose a large scale Basic Question Dataset (BQD) and Rscore (novel robustness measure), for analyzing the robustness of VQA models. We hope our BQD will be used as a benchmark for to evaluate the robustness of VQA models, so as to help the community build more robust and accurate VQA models.

Robustness Analysis of Visual QA Models by Basic Questions

KAUST Repository

Huang, Jia-Hong; Alfadly, Modar; Ghanem, Bernard

2017-01-01

Visual Question Answering (VQA) models should have both high robustness and accuracy. Unfortunately, most of the current VQA research only focuses on accuracy because there is a lack of proper methods to measure the robustness of VQA models. There are two main modules in our algorithm. Given a natural language question about an image, the first module takes the question as input and then outputs the ranked basic questions, with similarity scores, of the main given question. The second module takes the main question, image and these basic questions as input and then outputs the text-based answer of the main question about the given image. We claim that a robust VQA model is one, whose performance is not changed much when related basic questions as also made available to it as input. We formulate the basic questions generation problem as a LASSO optimization, and also propose a large scale Basic Question Dataset (BQD) and Rscore (novel robustness measure), for analyzing the robustness of VQA models. We hope our BQD will be used as a benchmark for to evaluate the robustness of VQA models, so as to help the community build more robust and accurate VQA models.

Arts of urban exploration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pinder, David

2005-01-01

to the city’ and ‘writing the city’. Through addressing recent cases of psychogeographical experimentation in terms of these themes, the paper raises broad questions about artistic practices and urban exploration to introduce this theme issue on ‘Arts of urban exploration’ and to lead into the specific......This paper addresses ways in which artists and cultural practitioners have recently been using forms of urban exploration as a means of engaging with, and intervening in, cities. It takes its cues from recent events on the streets of New York that involved exploring urban spaces through artistic...

RESEARCH ON THE DIGITAL SIMULATION FOR THE WHOLE PROCESS OF MARS EXPLORATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L. Lyu

2018-05-01

Full Text Available China has paid considerable attention to space exploration and made great strides in the field. The first Chinese Mars Exploration Mission will be carried out in 2020. Digital simulation has been proved to be an effective and efficient means for planning and deduction in many fields. Thus, it was introduced for the Mars exploration in this paper and key technologies was researched above three aspects. First of all, complicated time-space benchmark was combed to support the interplanetary simulation. Secondly, the multi-resolution pyramid model and indexing strategy were adopted to preprocess the geographical environment data, which ensured the efficiency of data loading, browsing, and querying. Then, the activity objects were abstracted and modelled based on four aspects, including property, ephemeris, geometry, and behavior. Therefore, a digital simulation system, called Sino-Mars, was developed. The architecture of Sino- Mars consists of five layers, including data collection, data processing, scenario modelling, visualization and application layer. Using the Chinese Mars Exploration Mission slated for 2020 as an example, we demonstrated the capabilities of Sino-Mars for data integration, visualization, process deduction, and auxiliary analysis.

Four Questions

Science.gov (United States)

Hark-Weber, Amara G., Ed.

2013-01-01

The author is pleased to introduce a new section in "TAJ," Four Questions. The structure is simple: four questions are asked to teaching artists working in various media and locations. The questions are always the same, but because each teaching artist's approach is unique, their answers will provide an insight into particular methodologies that…

IDENTITIES AND CONCEPTIONS OF BORDER AREA POPULATIONS IN EAST-CENTRAL AND SOUTH-EAST EUROPE – THEMATIC ASPECTS AND QUESTIONS OF AN ACTUAL RESEARCH FIELD

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wilfried HELLER

2011-06-01

Full Text Available This article will be structured as follows: Firstly, it will be described what is to be understood by the term ‘identity’. After that, this article will explore the significance of the topic ‘identities of population’ regarding the political, social, economic and cultural developments in the border areas of East-Central and South-East Europe. Because identities are not essentially but constructed phenomena, the next chapter will deal with the role of conceptions of the border area populations for the building of identity. The then following remarks on categories of border areas shall suggest that a great variety of border areas needs to be considered if one is occupied with the subject of this article. From these explanations the article’s relation to application will be derived, and groups of questions as well as detailed questions will be developed.

Interfering with the Lived Field of Dance Pedagogy from Organizational and Leadership Studies Perspectives--An Explorative Intervention with Performing and Teaching Dance Artists

Science.gov (United States)

Østern, Tone Pernille; Irgens, Eirik J.

2018-01-01

One Saturday, in November in 2014, a researcher made an explorative intervention with 22 professional performing and teaching dance artists on the independent dance field in Norway. Through the three-hour-long intervention, the researcher and participants dived into questions about choreographic processes and dance pedagogy in contemporary times.…

An exploration of adolescent snacking conventions and dilemmas

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bech-Larsen, Tino; Jensen, Birger Boutrup; Pedersen, Susanne

2010-01-01

Purpose – Snacking has been characterized as normatively unrestricted and identified as one of the main causes of adolescent obesity. The purpose of this paper is not to question the relation between obesity and snacking, but to ask to which extent adolescent snacking is socially unrestricted...... and to explore adolescent perceptions of the potential conventions and dilemmas involved in snacking. Design/methodology/approach – Referring to previous research in food choice dilemmas and conventions, the paper starts out by discussing potential implications for adolescent snacking in different social...... contexts. Following this, the design, implementation and results of three focus groups, aiming at an exploration of adolescent snacking perceptions is described. Findings – By identifying two distinct forms of adolescent snacking, i.e. ‘‘in-between meals’’ and ‘‘fun snacks’’, the results of the focus...

Exploring Elementary Student Perceptions of Writing Feedback

Science.gov (United States)

Marrs, Sarah; Zumbrunn, Sharon; McBride, Caitlin; Stringer, J. K.

2016-01-01

The purpose of this descriptive qualitative investigation was to explore elementary students' (N = 867) perceptions of the feedback they receive on their writing. After responding to the closed-ended question, "Do you like to receive feedback about your writing?" students were branched to the appropriate follow-up open-ended question,…

An Exploration of Attitudes Among Black Americans Towards Psychiatric Genetic Research

Science.gov (United States)

Murphy, Eleanor; Thompson, Azure

2011-01-01

With increasing emphasis on understanding genetic contribution to disease, inclusion of all racial and ethnic groups in molecular genetic research is necessary to ensure parity in distribution of research benefits. Blacks are underrepresented in large-scale genetic studies of psychiatric disorders. In an effort to understand the reasons for the underrepresentation, this study explored black participants’ attitudes towards genetic research of psychiatric disorders. Twenty-six adults, the majority of whom were black (n = 18) were recruited from a New York City community to participate in six 90-minute focus groups. This paper reports findings about respondents’ understanding of genetics and genetic research, and opinions about psychiatric genetic research. Primary themes revealed participants’ perceived lack of knowledge about genetics, concerns about potentially harmful study procedures, and confidentiality surrounding mental illness in families. Participation incentives included provision of treatment or related service, monetary compensation, and reporting of results to participants. These findings suggest that recruitment of subjects into genetic studies should directly address procedures, privacy, benefits and follow-up with results. Further, there is critical need to engage communities with education about genetics and mental illness, and provide opportunities for continued discussion about concerns related to genetic research. PMID:19614555

En-Gendering the Material in Environmental Education Research: Reassembling Otherwise

Science.gov (United States)

Hart, Catherine

2017-01-01

In this article, I attempt to explore new and emerging possibilities for conceptualizing qualitative research that might be appropriate for questions those interested in gender issues in environmental education might have. Using two examples, I suggest the application of concepts, framed theoretically and methodologically. Concepts of…

Exploring the SCOAP3 Research Contributions of the United States

Science.gov (United States)

Marsteller, Matthew

2016-03-01

The Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics (SCOAP3) is a successful global partnership of libraries, funding agencies and research centers. This presentation will inform the audience about SCOAP3 and also delve into descriptive statistics of the United States' intellectual contribution to particle physics via these open access journals. Exploration of the SCOAP3 particle physics literature using a variety of metrics tools such as Web of Science™, InCites™, Scopus® and SciVal will be shared. ORA or Sci2 will be used to visualize author collaboration networks.

Powered paragliders in biodiversity exploration Uso de paramotores para explorar la biodiversidad

OpenAIRE

Mark E. Olson

2006-01-01

Transportation technology is key to biodiversity exploration, and innovations often provide new access to biological questions. Powered paragliders are very small powered aircraft developed for recreational use that have great potential for use by scientists. I provide an introduction to these aircraft based on my experience studying tree crowns in tropical Mexico, with the aim of giving sufficient information that the suitability of powered paragliders for a given research project can be eva...

Qualitative methods in pharmacy practice research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kaae, Susanne; Traulsen, Janine Marie

2015-01-01

Qualitative research within pharmacy practice is concerned with understanding the behavior of actors such as pharmacy staff, pharmacy owners, patients, other healthcare professionals, and politicians to explore various types of existing practices and beliefs in order to improve them. As qualitative...... research attempts to answer the “why” questions, it is useful for describing, in rich detail, complex phenomena that are situated and embedded in local contexts. Typical methods include interviews, observation, document analysis, and netnography. Qualitative research has to live up to a set of rigid...... quality criteria of research conduct to provide trustworthy results that contribute to the further development of the area....

Qualitative Shadowing as a Research Methodology for Exploring Early Childhood Leadership in Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Bøe, Marit; Hognestad, Karin; Waniganayake, Manjula

2017-01-01

This article explores qualitative shadowing as an interpretivist methodology, and explains how two researchers participating simultaneously in data collection using a video recorder, contextual interviews and video-stimulated recall interviews, conducted a qualitative shadowing study at six early childhood centres in Norway. This paper emerged…

Towards human exploration of space: The THESEUS review series on immunology research priorities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jean-Pol, Frippiat; Crucian, Brian E; de Quervain, Dominique

2016-01-01

to maintain immune homeostasis under such challenges. In the framework of the THESEUS project whose aim was to develop an integrated life sciences research roadmap regarding human space exploration, experts working in the field of space immunology, and related disciplines, established a questionnaire sent...

Questioning in Tongan Science Classrooms: A Pilot Study to Identify Current Practice, Barriers and Facilitators

Science.gov (United States)

Bay, Jacquie L.; Fohoko, Fehi; La'Akulu, Mumui; Leota, Ofa; Pulotu, Lesieli; Tu'Ipuloto, Sina; Tutoe, Salesi; Tovo, Oliveti; Vekoso, Ana; Pouvalu, Emeli H.

2016-01-01

Questioning is central to the development of scientific and health literacies. In exploring this concept, Tongan science teachers hypothesized that their ability to use and encourage questioning presented challenges in the context of Tongan social and cultural norms. This study set out to develop a peer-to-peer protocol to enable teachers to…

Methods of research and marketing in tourism development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vojnović Boško

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Within that context, marketing and research are becoming more important for the development of tourist pursuits, all for the purpose of increased demands for the own destinations. The basic question is oriented to the course and factors that are to be explored and analyzed towards needs of the development of tourism. Results achieved through the experiences of many high-developed economies show that those subjects who have applied an appropriate marketing and exploring in due course, achieve better and faster development. .

Transitioning a Fundamental Research Program to Align with the NASA Exploration Initiative-Perspectives from Microgravity Combustion Science and Fluid Physics

Science.gov (United States)

Sutliff, Thomas J.; Kohl, Fred J.

2004-01-01

A new Vision for Space Exploration was announced earlier this year by U.S. President George W. Bush. NASA has evaluated on-going programs for strategic alignment with this vision. The evaluation proceeded at a rapid pace and is resulting in changes to the scope and focus of experimental research that will be conducted in support of the new vision. The existing network of researchers in the physical sciences - a highly capable, independent, and loosely knitted community - typically have shared conclusions derived from their work within appropriate discipline-specific peer reviewed journals and publications. The initial result of introducing this Vision for Space Exploration has been to shift research focus from a broad coverage of numerous, widely varying topics into a research program focused on a nearly-singular set of supporting research objectives to enable advances in space exploration. Two of these traditional physical science research disciplines, Combustion Science and Fluid Physics, are implementing a course adjustment from a portfolio dominated by "Fundamental Science Research" to one focused nearly exclusively on supporting the Exploration Vision. Underlying scientific and engineering competencies and infrastructure of the Microgravity Combustion Science and Fluid Physics disciplines do provide essential research capabilities to support the contemporary thrusts of human life support, radiation countermeasures, human health, low gravity research for propulsion and materials and, ultimately, research conducted on the Moon and Mars. A perspective on how these two research disciplines responded to the course change will be presented. The relevance to the new NASA direction is provided, while demonstrating through two examples how the prior investment in fundamental research is being brought to bear on solving the issues confronting the successful implementation of the exploration goals.

To Be or Not to Be Electronic Money, That's the Question

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schudelaro, A.A.P.

2003-01-01

The European Electronic Money Directive contains a definition of electronic money. However, determining which systems involving the use of electronic value fall under its scope can be more complicated than one might think. This issue is explored in this article through consideration of the question

"NASA's Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute" - Expanded Goals and More Partners

Science.gov (United States)

Daou, D.; Schmidt, G.; Pendleton, Y.; Bailey, B.; Morrison, D.

2015-10-01

The NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) has been pursuing international partnerships since its inceptionas the NASA Lunar Science Institute (NLSI), in order to both leverage the science being done by its domestic member institutions as well as to help lunar science and exploration become a greater global endeavor. The international partners of the I nstitute have pursued a broad program of lunar science stimulated by scientific partnerships enabled by the SSERVI community. Furthermore, regional partnerships have been formed such as the new pan- European lunar science consortium, which promises both new scientific approaches and mission concepts.International partner membership requires longterm commitment from both the partner and SSERVI, together with tangible and specific plans for scientific interaction that will produce results of mutual benefit to both the institute's U.S. Teams and the international partner.International partners are invited to participate in all aspects of the Institute's activities and programs, on a basis of no exchange of funds. Through these activities, SSERVI researchers and international partners participate in sharing ideas, information, and data arising from their respective research efforts, and contribute to the training of young scientists.This talk will present an overview of the Institute and the international nodes. We will also discuss the various processes to become a SSERVI partner as well as the opportunities available for collaborations with the SSERVI national teams.

"NASA's Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute"; - Expanded Goals and New Teams

Science.gov (United States)

Daou, D.; Schmidt, G. K.; Pendleton, Y.; Bailey, B. E.

2014-04-01

The NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) has been pursuing international partnerships since its inception as the NASA Lunar Science Institute (NLSI), in order to both leverage the science being done by its domestic member institutions as well as to help lunar science and exploration become a greater global endeavor. The international partners of the Institute have pursued a broad program of lunar science stimulated by scientific partnerships enabled by the SSERVI community. Furthermore, regional partnerships have been formed such as the new pan-European lunar science consortium, which promises both new scientific approaches and mission concepts. International partner membership requires long-term commitment from both the partner and SSERVI, together with tangible and specific plans for scientific interaction that will produce results of mutual benefit to both the institute's U.S. Teams and the international partner. International partners are invited to participate in all aspects of the Institute's activities and programs, on a basis of no exchange of funds. Through these activities, SSERVI researchers and international partners participate in sharing ideas, information, and data arising from their respective research efforts, and contribute to the training of young scientists. This talk will present an overview of the Institute and the international nodes. We will also discuss the various processes to become a SSERVI partner as well as the opportunities available for collaborations with the SSERVI national teams.

Reflective questioning in management education : lessons from supervising thesis projects

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Seggelen-Damen, van I.C.M.; Romme, A.G.L.

2014-01-01

Reflective questioning is a critical activity in management learning and education. This article describes research on the nature of reflective questioning in groups of management students working on final MSc projects. Drawing on content analysis of recorded meetings, we identify the following key

Semi-automated categorization of open-ended questions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matthias Schonlau

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Text data from open-ended questions in surveys are difficult to analyze and are frequently ignored. Yet open-ended questions are important because they do not constrain respondents’ answer choices. Where open-ended questions are necessary, sometimes multiple human coders hand-code answers into one of several categories. At the same time, computer scientists have made impressive advances in text mining that may allow automation of such coding. Automated algorithms do not achieve an overall accuracy high enough to entirely replace humans. We categorize open-ended questions soliciting narrative responses using text mining for easy-to-categorize answers and humans for the remainder using expected accuracies to guide the choice of the threshold delineating between “easy” and “hard”. Employing multinomial boosting avoids the common practice of converting machine learning “confidence scores” into pseudo-probabilities. This approach is illustrated with examples from open-ended questions related to respondents’ advice to a patient in a hypothetical dilemma, a follow-up probe related to respondents’ perception of disclosure/privacy risk, and from a question on reasons for quitting smoking from a follow-up survey from the Ontario Smoker’s Helpline. Targeting 80% combined accuracy, we found that 54%-80% of the data could be categorized automatically in research surveys.

Understanding Bitcoins: Facts and Questions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bruno Saboia de Albuquerque

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The objective of this work is to do a research challenge about the digital currency named Bitcoins, as well as exploit the general concept behind digital currencies and cryptocurrencies, and enumerate some of its current criticism and problems. Such currencies usage and public knowledge is increasing hastily on the last few months, and many questions arise with its popularity.

Mathematics education, democracy and development: Exploring connections

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Renuka Vithal

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Mathematics education and its links to democracy and development are explored in this article, with specific reference to the case of South Africa. This is done by engaging four key questions. Firstly, the question of whether mathematics education can be a preparation for democracy and include a concern for development, is discussed by drawing on conceptual tools of critical mathematics education and allied areas in a development context. Secondly, the question of how mathematics education is distributed in society and participates in shaping educational possibilities in addressing its development needs and goals is used to examine the issues emerging from mathematics performance in international studies and the national Grade 12 examination; the latter is explored specifically in respect of the South African mathematics curriculum reforms and teacher education challenges. Thirdly, the question of whether a mathematics classroom can be a space for democratic living and learning that equally recognises the importance of issues of development in contexts like South Africa, as a post-conflict society still healing from its apartheid wounds, continuing inequality and poverty, is explored through pedagogies of conflict, dialogue and forgiveness. Finally the question of whether democracy and development can have anything to do with mathematics content matters, is discussed by appropriating, as a metaphor, South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s framework of multiple ‘truths’, to seek links within and across the various forms and movements in mathematics and mathematics education that have emerged in the past few decades.

Exploring the assessment of geological observation with design research

Science.gov (United States)

Baek, John Y.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the assessment of geological observation through the development and field testing of performance tasks. The study addressed a central challenge in geoscience education: for students to observe the world around them and make real-world connections. Yet, there existed no cohesive research approach for the study of observation in geoscience education. The research goal was to understand the assessment of geological observation. The design research of geological observation encountered the situation where few performance assessments existed and few domain-specific learning theories were available. Design research is suited to inquiries in which a domain of learning is unexplored and the phenomena needs to be supported in the classroom in order to study it. This dissertation addressed one general research question and four subquestions: (RQ) How should geological observation be assessed? (S1) What role did perception play in assessing students' geological observations? (S2) What role did explanation play in assessing students' geological observations? (S3) What role did gestures play in assessing students' geological observations? (S4) Were there performance differences between the first and second trial of the GO Inquire prototype with fourth graders? Students were supported in making geological observations with three performance tasks: GO Inquire stamp task, Cutting task, and Fieldguide task. The data set for this study consisted of student response data, videorecordings, and participant observations from seven field tests across one fourth and one fifth grade class. Three data-analytic methods, qualitative coding, item-difficulty analysis, and non-parametric comparisons, were utilized based on four mixed-method data analysis strategies: typology development, data transformation, extreme case analysis, and data consolidation. Analysis revealed that assessment should take into account the separation of visual from verbal

Exploring Growth (and Mitosis) through a Learning Cycle.

Science.gov (United States)

Lawson, Anton E.

1991-01-01

Presents a learning cycle lesson plan in which students investigate the question of how cells divide. Students use microscopes to explore actual plant root and stem tissues to generate and test hypotheses to answer the question. Includes teacher material, student material, and teaching tips. (MDH)

Consumption: Why Does It Matter in Cultural Research?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kimburley Wing Yee Choi

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Prompted by the opening of Hong Kong Disneyland, journalists from different countries interviewed Hong Kong scholars about their views on the project. The first question that all these journalists asked was, what is the cultural impact of Disneyland on Hong Kong? The author uses this case to explore the role of consumption within cultural research.

Action Research and Interactive Research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svensson, lennart; Nielsen, Kurt Aagaard

2006-01-01

The authors present trends in Nordic action research. They ask critical questions in the development towards mode 2 and points out alternative roads for a scientific consolidation of action research and interactive research.......The authors present trends in Nordic action research. They ask critical questions in the development towards mode 2 and points out alternative roads for a scientific consolidation of action research and interactive research....

Exploring Seafloor Volcanoes in Cyberspace: NOAA's "Ocean Explorer" Inspires Inquiry

Science.gov (United States)

Hjelm, Elizabeth

2011-01-01

Seafloor exploration being done by scientists is an ideal way to introduce students to technology as a tool for inquiry. The same technology that allows scientists to share data in near real time can also provide students the tools to become researchers. NOAA's Ocean Explorer Explorations website is a rich research data bank that can be used by…

Exploring the research domain of consultant practice: Experiences of consultant radiographers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harris, R.; Paterson, A.

2016-01-01

Aim: This paper reports on one part of a larger study. The aim of the overall study was to explore what the core domain of research means to consultant radiographers in clinical practice and to identify the key factors that facilitate or hinder research activity by this staff group. Design and method: Grounded theory research methodology was employed. This second part of the study involved telephone interviews with twenty five consultant radiographers. Results: Results indicate there are variations across clinical specialties as to the amount and level of research undertaken by consultant radiographers. The principal barriers revealed were: lack of time; excessive clinical workload; lack of skills and confidence to undertake research; poor research culture; and lack of support. The main facilitators noted were: dedicated time, research training and up-skilling; mutually beneficial collaborations; managerial understanding of the research domain of the role; and research focussed on clinical demand. Conclusion: Fulfilling the clinical role is imperative and integral to the profession at consultant level; however, if it is undertaken to the detriment of the other domains then these practitioners may not be operating at ‘consultant’ level. Overall improvements must be made to ensure that the consultant radiographer role is delivering on current expectations and is safeguarded for the future of the next generation of radiographers. - Highlights: • Consultant radiographers undertake research but have concerns about their research skills. • Research aims to improve practice and patients' experiences. • Relatively few consultant radiographers publish their work regularly. • Consultant radiographers allocate little protected time for research due to clinical demands.

Psychotherapy Outcome Research: Issues and Questions.

Science.gov (United States)

Shean, Glenn

2016-03-01

Emphasis on identifying evidence-based therapies (EBTs) has increased markedly. Lists of EBTs are the rationale for recommendations for how psychotherapy provider training programs should be evaluated, professional competence assessed, and licensure and reimbursement policies structured. There are however methodological concerns that limit the external validity of EBTs. Among the most salient is the circularity inherent in randomized control trials (RCTs) of psychotherapy that constrains the manner in which the psychological problems are defined, psychotherapy can be practiced, and change evaluated. RCT studies favor therapies that focus of specific symptoms and can be described in a manual, administered reliably across patients, completed in relatively few sessions, and involve short-term evaluations of outcome. The epistemological assumptions of a natural science approach to psychotherapy research limit how studies are conducted and assessed in ways that that advantage symptom-focused approaches and disadvantage those approaches that seek to bring broad recovery-based changes. Research methods that are not limited to RCTs and include methodology to minimize the effects of "therapist allegiance" are necessary for valid evaluations of therapeutic approaches that seek to facilitate changes that are broader than symptom reduction. Recent proposals to adopt policies that dictate training, credentialing, and reimbursement based on lists of EBTs unduly limit how psychotherapy can be conceptualized and practiced, and are not in the best interests of the profession or of individuals seeking psychotherapy services.

Cryosurgery in Cancer Treatment: Questions and Answers

Science.gov (United States)

... A to Z List of Cancer Drugs Complementary & Alternative Medicine (CAM) Questions to Ask about Your Treatment Research ... Treatment Side Effects Clinical Trials Cancer Drugs Complementary & Alternative Medicine Coping Feelings & Cancer Adjusting to Cancer Self Image & ...

How does questioning influence nursing students' clinical reasoning in problem-based learning? A scoping review.

Science.gov (United States)

Merisier, Sophia; Larue, Caroline; Boyer, Louise

2018-06-01

Problem-based learning is an educational method promoting clinical reasoning that has been implemented in many fields of health education. Questioning is a learning strategy often employed in problem-based learning sessions. To explore what is known about the influence of questioning on the promotion of clinical reasoning of students in health care education, specifically in the field of nursing and using the educational method of problem-based learning. A scoping review following Arksey and O'Malley's five stages was conducted. The CINAHL, EMBASE, ERIC, Medline, and PubMed databases were searched for articles published between the years of 2000 and 2017. Each article was summarized and analyzed using a data extraction sheet in relation to its purpose, population group, setting, methods, and results. A descriptive explication of the studies based on an inductive analysis of their findings to address the aim of the review was made. Nineteen studies were included in the analysis. The studies explored the influence of questioning on critical thinking rather than on clinical reasoning. The nature of the questions asked and the effect of higher-order questions on critical thinking were the most commonly occurring themes. Few studies addressed the use of questioning in problem-based learning. More empirical evidence is needed to gain a better understanding of the benefit of questioning in problem-based learning to promote students' clinical reasoning. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Qualitative Exploration of First Generation College Students and the Use of Facebook in the College Choice Selection Process

Science.gov (United States)

Coker, Cindy E.

2015-01-01

The purpose of this exploratory phenomenological narrative qualitative study was to investigate the influence of Facebook on first-generation college students' selection of a college framed within Hossler and Gallagher's (1987) college process model. The three questions which guided this research explored the influence of the social media website…

International health research monitoring: exploring a scientific and a cooperative approach using participatory action research.

Science.gov (United States)

Chantler, Tracey; Cheah, Phaik Yeong; Miiro, George; Hantrakum, Viriya; Nanvubya, Annet; Ayuo, Elizabeth; Kivaya, Esther; Kidola, Jeremiah; Kaleebu, Pontiano; Parker, Michael; Njuguna, Patricia; Ashley, Elizabeth; Guerin, Philippe J; Lang, Trudie

2014-02-17

To evaluate and determine the value of monitoring models developed by the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Research Unit and the East African Consortium for Clinical Research, consider how this can be measured and explore monitors' and investigators' experiences of and views about the nature, purpose and practice of monitoring. A case study approach was used within the context of participatory action research because one of the aims was to guide and improve practice. 34 interviews, five focus groups and observations of monitoring practice were conducted. Fieldwork occurred in the places where the monitoring models are coordinated and applied in Thailand, Cambodia, Uganda and Kenya. Participants included those coordinating the monitoring schemes, monitors, senior investigators and research staff. Transcribed textual data from field notes, interviews and focus groups was imported into a qualitative data software program (NVIVO V. 10) and analysed inductively and thematically by a qualitative researcher. The initial coding framework was reviewed internally and two main categories emerged from the subsequent interrogation of the data. The categories that were identified related to the conceptual framing and nature of monitoring, and the practice of monitoring, including relational factors. Particular emphasis was given to the value of a scientific and cooperative style of monitoring as a means of enhancing data quality, trust and transparency. In terms of practice the primary purpose of monitoring was defined as improving the conduct of health research and increasing the capacity of researchers and trial sites. The models studied utilise internal and network wide expertise to improve the ethics and quality of clinical research. They demonstrate how monitoring can be a scientific and constructive exercise rather than a threatening process. The value of cooperative relations needs to be given more emphasis in monitoring activities, which seek to ensure that research protects

Flood Risk Management Policy in Scotland: Research Questions Past, Present and Future

Science.gov (United States)

Wilkinson, Mark; Hastings, Emily; MacDonald, Jannette

2016-04-01

Scotland's Centre of Expertise for Waters (CREW) delivers accessible research and expert opinion to support the Scottish Government and its delivery partners in the development and implementation of water policy. It was established in 2011 by the Scottish Government (Rural and Environmental Science and Analytical Services) in recognition of a gap in the provision of short term advice and research to policy (development and implementation). Key policy areas include the Water Framework Directive, Floods Directive, Drinking Water Directive, Habitats Directive and Scotland's Hydro Nation Strategy. CREW is unique in its demand-driven and free service for policy makers and practitioners, managing the engagement between scientists, policy makers and practitioners to work effectively across this interface. The users of CREW are the Scottish Government, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Scottish Natural Heritage and Scottish Water. CREW has funded around 100 projects relating to water policy since its inception in 2011. Of these, a significant number relate to flood risk management policy. Based on a review of work to date, this poster will give an overview of these projects and a forward look at the challenges that remain. From learning from community led flood risk management to surface water flood forecasting for urban communities, links will be made between sustainable and traditional flood risk management while considering the perceptions of stakeholders to flood risk management. How can we deliver fully integrated flood risk management options? How policy makers, scientists and land managers can better work together will also be explored.

Dense Breasts: Answers to Commonly Asked Questions

Science.gov (United States)

... Cancer Prevention Genetics of Breast & Gynecologic Cancers Breast Cancer Screening Research Dense Breasts: Answers to Commonly Asked Questions What are dense breasts? Breasts contain glandular, connective, and fat tissue. Breast density is a term that describes the ...

The NASA research and technology program on space power: A key element of the Space Exploration Initiative

Science.gov (United States)

Bennett, Gary L.; Brandhorst, Henry W., Jr.; Atkins, Kenneth L.

1991-01-01

In July 1989, President Bush announced his space exploration initiative of going back to the Moon to stay and then going to Mars. Building upon its ongoing research and technology base, NASA has established an exploration technology program to develop the technologies needed for piloted missions to the Moon and Mars. A key element for the flights and for the planned bases is power. The NASA research and technology program on space power encompasses power sources, energy storage, and power management.

Can Free-Response Questions Be Approximated by Multiple-Choice Equivalents?

OpenAIRE

Lin, Shih-Yin; Singh, Chandralekha

2016-01-01

We discuss a study to evaluate the extent to which free-response questions can be approximated by multiple-choice equivalents. Two carefully designed research-based multiple-choice questions were transformed into a free-response format and administered on the final exam in a calculus-based introductory physics course. The original multiple-choice questions were administered in another, similar introductory physics course on the final exam. Our findings suggest that carefully designed multiple...

Social Network Analysis as a Methodological Approach to Explore Health Systems: A Case Study Exploring Support among Senior Managers/Executives in a Hospital Network.

Science.gov (United States)

De Brún, Aoife; McAuliffe, Eilish

2018-03-13

Health systems research recognizes the complexity of healthcare, and the interacting and interdependent nature of components of a health system. To better understand such systems, innovative methods are required to depict and analyze their structures. This paper describes social network analysis as a methodology to depict, diagnose, and evaluate health systems and networks therein. Social network analysis is a set of techniques to map, measure, and analyze social relationships between people, teams, and organizations. Through use of a case study exploring support relationships among senior managers in a newly established hospital group, this paper illustrates some of the commonly used network- and node-level metrics in social network analysis, and demonstrates the value of these maps and metrics to understand systems. Network analysis offers a valuable approach to health systems and services researchers as it offers a means to depict activity relevant to network questions of interest, to identify opinion leaders, influencers, clusters in the network, and those individuals serving as bridgers across clusters. The strengths and limitations inherent in the method are discussed, and the applications of social network analysis in health services research are explored.

Social Network Analysis as a Methodological Approach to Explore Health Systems: A Case Study Exploring Support among Senior Managers/Executives in a Hospital Network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aoife De Brún

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Health systems research recognizes the complexity of healthcare, and the interacting and interdependent nature of components of a health system. To better understand such systems, innovative methods are required to depict and analyze their structures. This paper describes social network analysis as a methodology to depict, diagnose, and evaluate health systems and networks therein. Social network analysis is a set of techniques to map, measure, and analyze social relationships between people, teams, and organizations. Through use of a case study exploring support relationships among senior managers in a newly established hospital group, this paper illustrates some of the commonly used network- and node-level metrics in social network analysis, and demonstrates the value of these maps and metrics to understand systems. Network analysis offers a valuable approach to health systems and services researchers as it offers a means to depict activity relevant to network questions of interest, to identify opinion leaders, influencers, clusters in the network, and those individuals serving as bridgers across clusters. The strengths and limitations inherent in the method are discussed, and the applications of social network analysis in health services research are explored.

United States Geological Survey uranium and thorium resource assessment and exploration research program, fiscal year 1980

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Offield, T.W.

1979-01-01

Research is being conducted by the USGS for the NURE program in six fields: geochemistry and mineralogy, sedimentary environments, igneous and metamorphic environments, geophysical exploration techniques, U resource assessment, and Th resource assessment. Some FY 1979 research results are reported and discussed

The Effects of Self-Explanation and Reading Questions and Answers on Learning Computer Programming Language

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Nancy

2013-01-01

The current study explored the differential effects of two learning strategies, self-explanation and reading questions and answers, on students' test performance in the computer programming language JavaScript. Students' perceptions toward the two strategies as to their effectiveness in learning JavaScript was also explored by examining students'…

Indigenous Research and Academic Freedom: A View from Political Scientists

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christopher Alcantara

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Over the last several decades, scholars working on Indigenous topics have faced increasing pressure to engage in research that promotes social justice and results in formal partnerships with Indigenous communities. In this article, we argue that non-community-based research, in which the researcher exercises academic autonomy over the project, still has a role to play in Indigenous-focused research, depending on the research question, topic, and situation at hand. We explore this argument from the perspective of political scientists who study Indigenous–settler political relations in Canada.

Earthworms, Dirt, and Rotten Leaves: An Exploration in Ecology.

Science.gov (United States)

McLaughlin, Molly

1994-01-01

This article provides a model for inviting children to "an exploration in ecology" by observing earthworms. It gives reasons to explore earthworms and guides the investigator through a detailed examination of the worms to answer 21 observation questions. Explores the ways in which earthworms interact with their environment. (LZ)

Research issues in preparedness for mass casualty events, disaster, war, and terrorism.

Science.gov (United States)

Hinton Walker, Patricia; Garmon Bibb, Sandra C; Elberson, Karen L

2005-09-01

This article provides a perspective on the types of research questions that might be explored and strategies used in relation to disaster,terrorism, and mass casualty events. Research is addressed in the context of three areas of focus: issues related to the health care provider; issues affecting the patient, individual, family, and community; and issues related to the health care system.

Questioning Student Learning: An Exploration of Student's Views on Learning to Become Independent Nurse Prescribers

Science.gov (United States)

Banning, Maggi; Cortazzi, Martin

2004-01-01

This illuminative evaluation study gives insights into attitudes to learning, interaction and the perceived roles of theory, evidence, reading and previous experience. These insights lead us to question some aspects of the course as currently presented. Students indicated that they found the course material stimulating but prior guidance on the…

The Effect of Accounting Question Response Formats on Student Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Jonick, Christine; Schneider, Jennifer; Boylan, Daniel

2017-01-01

The purpose of the research is to examine the effect of different response formats on student performance on introductory accounting exam questions. The study analyzes 1104 accounting students' responses to quantitative questions presented in two formats: multiple-choice and fill-in. Findings indicate that response format impacts student…

Infectious disease research investments follow colonial ties: questionable ethics.

Science.gov (United States)

Fitchett, Joseph R; Head, Michael G; Atun, Rifat

2014-03-01

International funding for global health research is not systematically documented. We have assessed the level of research funding awarded by UK funders of international research to low- and middle-income countries or research institutions in these countries. We analysed 6165 studies; from these we selected 522 that matched our criteria and used them to evaluate research funding by pathogen, disease, research and development value chain, funding organisation and country. Investment in infectious disease research in the countries studied totalled £264 million. Distribution of research investments closely mirrored that of the UK's former colonial territories; the top five countries, and eight of the top 10, have historical links with the UK, being current or former members of the Commonwealth of Nations. HIV, malaria and neglected tropical diseases attracted the greatest investment (£219 million; 82.8%), with most studies focussing on operational and epidemiological research (£109 million; 41.3%). International financing of infectious disease research by UK funding organisations follows former colonial ties. Funding institutions should review their funding policies to ensure that they also assist low- and middle-income countries without colonial ties to address their disease burden. A global investment surveillance system is needed to map and monitor funding for international research and guide the allocation of scarce resources to reduce the global disease burden.

Approaches to answering critical CER questions.

Science.gov (United States)

Kinnier, Christine V; Chung, Jeanette W; Bilimoria, Karl Y

2015-01-01

While randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are the gold standard for research, many research questions cannot be ethically and practically answered using an RCT. Comparative effectiveness research (CER) techniques are often better suited than RCTs to address the effects of an intervention under routine care conditions, an outcome otherwise known as effectiveness. CER research techniques covered in this section include: effectiveness-oriented experimental studies such as pragmatic trials and cluster randomized trials, treatment response heterogeneity, observational and database studies including adjustment techniques such as sensitivity analysis and propensity score analysis, systematic reviews and meta-analysis, decision analysis, and cost effectiveness analysis. Each section describes the technique and covers the strengths and weaknesses of the approach.

Formation of public opinion on the question of nuclear waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Asp, K.; Hedberg, P.

1988-06-01

The aim of the report is double. Firstly will bases and issues behind the media studies within the research project be presented. Secondly will the empirical investigations which are included in this part of the project be shown. Headings: - The question of nuclear waste - a controversial question. - The mass media as intermediaries of information and opinion. - The information merit of the mass media. The bias of the mass media. - The decision merit of the mass media. - Empirical investigations. * The question of nuclear waste in the news-distribution. * The question of nuclear waste in the public debate. (O.S.)

Questioning Strategies of Literature Teachers among Grade 8 Filipino Students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Magdalena M. Ocbian

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Questioning is a useful and relevant tool to facilitate classroom discussion in a literature class. This study identified the levels of questions teachers use in their literature class, determined the different question strategies they utilized and proposed activities to enhance the questioning strategies of literature teachers. Video analysis was the main instrument used. These videos were provided during the conduct of class observations by the researchers. There were eight respondents in the study selected through total enumeration. They are teachers from Gubat Cluster of secondary schools of Sorsogon Province. To identify the levels of questions and questioning strategies, question tally form and percentage were used. Results revealed that knowledge was the most used level of questions followed by comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. The most used question technique is the participation, followed by proving, sequencing, wait time, balance and student questions. It was recommended that literature teachers vary their level of questions when discussing literary pieces. They may utilize different question techniques to develop critical thinking skills of their students. The use of the proposed activities may enhance the questioning strategies of literature teachers. Likewise, school heads and program supervisors may utilize video analysis technique as a mode for classroom observation.

Internet Research: The Question of Method - A Keynote Address from the YouTube and the 2008 Election Cycle in the United States Conference

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rogers, R.

2010-01-01

Digital studies on culture may be distinguished from cultural studies of the digital, at least in terms of method. This lecture takes up the question of the distinctiveness of "digital methods" for researching Internet cultures. It asks, initially, should the methods of study change, however

Of responsible research-Exploring the science-society dialogue in undergraduate training within the life sciences.

Science.gov (United States)

Almeida, Maria Strecht; Quintanilha, Alexandre

2017-01-02

We explore the integration of societal issues in undergraduate training within the life sciences. Skills in thinking about science, scientific knowledge production and the place of science in society are crucial in the context of the idea of responsible research and innovation. This idea became institutionalized and it is currently well-present in the scientific agenda. Developing abilities in this regard seems particularly relevant to training in the life sciences, as new developments in this area somehow evoke the involvement of all of us citizens, our engagement to debate and take part in processes of change. The present analysis draws from the implementation of a curricular unit focused on science-society dialogue, an optional course included in the Biochemistry Degree study plan offered at the University of Porto. This curricular unit was designed to be mostly an exploratory activity for the students, enabling them to undertake in-depth study in areas/topics of their specific interest. Mapping topics from students' final papers provided a means of analysis and became a useful tool in the exploratory collaborative construction of the course. We discuss both the relevance and the opportunity of thinking and questioning the science-society dialogue. As part of undergraduate training, this pedagogical practice was deemed successful. © 2016 by The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 45(1):46-52, 2017. © 2016 The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Translating Answers to Open-Ended Survey Questions in Cross-Cultural Research: A Case Study on the Interplay between Translation, Coding, and Analysis