Learning Spaces

CERN Document Server

Falmagne, Jean-Claude

2011-01-01

Learning spaces offer a rigorous mathematical foundation for practical systems of educational technology. Learning spaces generalize partially ordered sets and are special cases of knowledge spaces. The various structures are investigated from the standpoints of combinatorial properties and stochastic processes. Leaning spaces have become the essential structures to be used in assessing students' competence of various topics. A practical example is offered by ALEKS, a Web-based, artificially intelligent assessment and learning system in mathematics and other scholarly fields. At the heart of A

Learning characteristics of a space-time neural network as a tether skiprope observer

Science.gov (United States)

Lea, Robert N.; Villarreal, James A.; Jani, Yashvant; Copeland, Charles

1993-01-01

The Software Technology Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center is testing a Space Time Neural Network (STNN) for observing tether oscillations present during retrieval of a tethered satellite. Proper identification of tether oscillations, known as 'skiprope' motion, is vital to safe retrieval of the tethered satellite. Our studies indicate that STNN has certain learning characteristics that must be understood properly to utilize this type of neural network for the tethered satellite problem. We present our findings on the learning characteristics including a learning rate versus momentum performance table.

Learning organisations: the challenge of finding a safe space in a climate of accountability.

Science.gov (United States)

McKee, Anne

2017-03-01

The effects of health policy reforms over a twenty-five year period have changed the NHS as a place in which to work and learn. Some of these changes have had unintentional consequences for learning in the workplace. A recent King's Fund contribution to quality improvement debates included an extensive review of NHS policies encouraging change 'from within' the NHS and renewed calls to develop learning organisations there. I draw upon an action research project designed to develop learning organisations in primary care to locate quality improvement debates amid the realities of practice. The project identified key challenges primary care practices encountered to protect time and space for this form of work based learning, even when they recognised the need for it and wanted to engage in it. Implications for policy makers, primary care practices and health professional educationalists are identified.

Organising a Safe Space for Navigating Social-Ecological Transformations to Sustainability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura Pereira

2015-05-01

Full Text Available The need for developing socially just living conditions for the world’s growing population whilst keeping human societies within a ‘safe operating space’ has become a modern imperative. This requires transformative changes in the dominant social norms, behaviours, governance and management regimes that guide human responses in areas such as urban ecology, public health, resource security (e.g., food, water, energy access, economic development and biodiversity conservation. However, such systemic transformations necessitate experimentation in public arenas of exchange and a deepening of processes that can widen multi-stakeholder learning. We argue that there is an emergent potential in bridging the sustainability transitions and resilience approaches to create new scientific capacity that can support large-scale social-ecological transformations (SETs to sustainability globally, not just in the West. In this article, we elucidate a set of guiding principles for the design of a ‘safe space’ to encourage stronger interactions between these research areas and others that are relevant to the challenges faced. We envisage new opportunities for transdisciplinary collaboration that will develop an adaptive and evolving community of practice. In particular, we emphasise the great opportunity for engaging with the role of emerging economies in facilitating safe space experimentation.

Organising a Safe Space for Navigating Social-Ecological Transformations to Sustainability

Science.gov (United States)

Pereira, Laura; Karpouzoglou, Timothy; Doshi, Samir; Frantzeskaki, Niki

2015-01-01

The need for developing socially just living conditions for the world’s growing population whilst keeping human societies within a ‘safe operating space’ has become a modern imperative. This requires transformative changes in the dominant social norms, behaviours, governance and management regimes that guide human responses in areas such as urban ecology, public health, resource security (e.g., food, water, energy access), economic development and biodiversity conservation. However, such systemic transformations necessitate experimentation in public arenas of exchange and a deepening of processes that can widen multi-stakeholder learning. We argue that there is an emergent potential in bridging the sustainability transitions and resilience approaches to create new scientific capacity that can support large-scale social-ecological transformations (SETs) to sustainability globally, not just in the West. In this article, we elucidate a set of guiding principles for the design of a ‘safe space’ to encourage stronger interactions between these research areas and others that are relevant to the challenges faced. We envisage new opportunities for transdisciplinary collaboration that will develop an adaptive and evolving community of practice. In particular, we emphasise the great opportunity for engaging with the role of emerging economies in facilitating safe space experimentation. PMID:26030471

Education in Safe and Unsafe Spaces

Science.gov (United States)

Callan, Eamonn

2016-01-01

Recent student demands within the academy for "safe space" have aroused concern about the constraints they might impose on free speech and academic freedom. There are as many kinds of safety as there are threats to the things that human beings might care about. That is why we need to be very clear about the specific threats of which the…

Habitability and Human Factors: Lessons Learned in Long Duration Space Flight

Science.gov (United States)

Baggerman, Susan D.; Rando, Cynthia M.; Duvall, Laura E.

2006-01-01

This study documents the investigation of qualitative habitability and human factors feedback provided by scientists, engineers, and crewmembers on lessons learned from the ISS Program. A thorough review and understanding of this data is critical in charting NASA's future path in space exploration. NASA has been involved in ensuring that the needs of crewmembers to live and work safely and effectively in space have been met throughout the ISS Program. Human factors and habitability data has been collected from every U.S. crewmember that has resided on the ISS. The knowledge gained from both the developers and inhabitants of the ISS have provided a significant resource of information for NASA and will be used in future space exploration. The recurring issues have been tracked and documented; the top 5 most critical issues have been identified from this data. The top 5 identified problems were: excessive onsrbit stowage; environment; communication; procedures; and inadequate design of systems and equipment. Lessons learned from these issues will be used to aid in future improvements and developments to the space program. Full analysis of the habitability and human factors data has led to the following recommendations. It is critical for human factors to be involved early in the design of space vehicles and hardware. Human factors requirements need to be readdressed and redefined given the knowledge gained during previous ISS and long-duration space flight programs. These requirements must be integrated into vehicle and hardware technical documentation and consistently enforced. Lastly, space vehicles and hardware must be designed with primary focus on the user/operator to successfully complete missions and maintain a safe working environment. Implementation of these lessons learned will significantly improve NASA's likelihood of success in future space endeavors.

Interactive eLearning - a safe place to practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Einarson, Elisabeth; Moen, Anne; Kolberg, Ragnhild; Flingtorp, Gry; Linnerud, Eva

2009-01-01

Interactive web-based learning environment offers refreshing opportunities to create innovative solutions to explore and exploit informatics support on-the-job training. We report from a study where a hospital is created a interactive eLearning resource. The modules are creating a safe place to practice - to be used for introduction to the work and preparation for certification or re-certification of competencies.

Models of Learning Space: Integrating Research on Space, Place and Learning in Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Ellis, R. A.; Goodyear, P.

2016-01-01

Learning space research is a relatively new field of study that seeks to inform the design, evaluation and management of learning spaces. This paper reviews a dispersed and fragmented literature relevant to understanding connections between university learning spaces and student learning activities. From this review, the paper distils a number of…

Online Learning of Safe Patient Transfers in Occupational Therapy Education

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Cynthia L. Hayden D. H. Ed., OTR/L, CHT

2013-02-01

Full Text Available Online higher education is steadily increasing. For programs in allied health to be offered effectively in an elearning format, clinical psychomotor skills need to be addressed. The aim of this research was to design, implement, and evaluate an online safe patient transfers module for occupational therapy assistant (OTAstudents. The efficacy of teaching safe patient transfers in an e-learning environment was appraised using both quantitative and qualitative analysis. The applied research project was completed at a Tennessee community college. A convenience sample of eighteen students participated in the pilot study. Twenty-five studentsparticipated in the subsequent study. The instructional design of the course was based on Mager’s CriterionReferenced Instruction model. Streaming video was used as the delivery method for course material. A pretest/posttest evaluated the students’ cognitive knowledge of safe patient transfers. A behavioral transferscompetency checklist was used to rate videotapes of students’ performance of assisted stand pivot and dependent sliding board transfers. Research findings indicated students were able to learn this psychomotor clinical skill online with beginning proficiency. A paired t-test showed marked improvement of cognitive knowledge. A student learning survey revealed the majority of students preferred at least one hands-on classroom session where instructor feedback and interaction with classmates confirmed safe and effectiveclinical technique.

Operationalizing safe operating space for regional social-ecological systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Hossain, Md Sarwar; Dearing, John A; Eigenbrod, Felix; Johnson, Fiifi Amoako

2017-04-15

This study makes a first attempt to operationalize the safe operating space concept at a regional scale by considering the complex dynamics (e.g. non-linearity, feedbacks, and interactions) within a systems dynamic model (SD). We employ the model to explore eight 'what if' scenarios based on well-known challenges (e.g. climate change) and current policy debates (e.g. subsidy withdrawal). The findings show that the social-ecological system in the Bangladesh delta may move beyond a safe operating space when a withdrawal of a 50% subsidy for agriculture is combined with the effects of a 2°C temperature increase and sea level rise. Further reductions in upstream river discharge in the Ganges would push the system towards a dangerous zone once a 3.5°C temperature increase was reached. The social-ecological system in Bangladesh delta may be operated within a safe space by: 1) managing feedback (e.g. by reducing production costs) and the slow biophysical variables (e.g. temperature, rainfall) to increase the long-term resilience, 2) negotiating for transboundary water resources, and 3) revising global policies (e.g. withdrawal of subsidy) that negatively impact at regional scales. This study demonstrates how the concepts of tipping points, limits to adaptations, and boundaries for sustainable development may be defined in real world social-ecological systems. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Convergent Learning Space

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kjeldsen, Lars Peter; Kjærgaard, Hanne Wacher

networks are still more prominently expected by students. Against this backdrop, an action research project has worked with the definition and testing of the hypothesized constituents of the Convergent Learning Space and how it challenges our traditional conceptions of learning spaces. The article...... describes this pilot study involving teachers in conscious, documented reflection on methods, approaches, and procedures conducive to learning processes in this new learning space. As a perspective, the article briefly outlines an intervention study aimed at investigating how students benefit from......The concept of the Convergent Learning Space has been hypothesized and explored in an ongoing action research project carried out at undergraduate level in select bachelor programs at a Danish University College, where classrooms are technology rich and students bring their own devices. The changes...

Creating and Maintaining a Safe Space in Experiential Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Kisfalvi, Veronika; Oliver, David

2015-01-01

The increasing popularity of experiential learning in management education raises a number of new opportunities and challenges for instructors, particularly with regard to shifting instructor roles and attention to learning through one's emotions. In this article, we draw on psychodynamics--in particular D. W. Winnicott's notions of…

What's space to learning?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Troelsen, Rie

As “space […] works on its occupants” (Pouler cited in Scheer & Preiser 1994, p. 175), both students and teachers are influenced by the physical contexts in which learning occurs. However, so far focus on the furnishing of classrooms (and built environment as a whole) in universities as being of ...... and practices for technology supported physical learning spaces (JELS). Learning Sciences Research Institute at Nottingham University. Temple, P. (2008). Learning spaces in higher education: an under-researched topic. London Review of Education, 6(3), 229-41......As “space […] works on its occupants” (Pouler cited in Scheer & Preiser 1994, p. 175), both students and teachers are influenced by the physical contexts in which learning occurs. However, so far focus on the furnishing of classrooms (and built environment as a whole) in universities as being...... of importance to the student learning experience has not been overwhelming (Temple 2008). In this paper preliminary findings from a small-scale research project are presented aiming at investigating the influence of spatial conditions on teachers’ views on teaching and learning. Not to evaluate if any given...

Workplaces as Transformative Learning Spaces

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Maslo, Elina

2010-01-01

some other examples on “successful learning” from the formal, informal and non-formal learning environments, trying to prove those criteria. This presentation provides a view on to new examples on transformative learning spaces we discovered doing research on Workplace Learning in Latvia as a part......Abstract to the Vietnam Forum on Lifelong Learning: Building a Learning Society Hanoi, 7-8 December 2010 Network 2: Competence development as Workplace Learning Title of proposal: Workplaces as Transformative Learning Spaces Author: Elina Maslo, dr. paed., University of Latvia, elina@latnet.lv Key...... words: learning, lifelong learning, adult learning, workplace learning, transformative learning spaces During many years of research on lifelong foreign language learning with very different groups of learners, we found some criteria, which make learning process successful. Since then we tried to find...

Learning Space Service Design

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elliot Felix

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Much progress has been made in creating informal learning spaces that incorporate technology and flexibly support a variety of activities. This progress has been principally in designing the right combination of furniture, technology, and space. However, colleges and universities do not design services within learning spaces with nearly the same level of sophistication or integration. Nor do they adequately assess their services. This paper calls for a focus on designing services to facilitate better learning experiences. It describes the fundamentals of service design practice, a selection of exemplary spaces, and the implications for design, budgeting, and staffing.

Learning Space Service Design

Science.gov (United States)

Felix, Elliot

2011-01-01

Much progress has been made in creating informal learning spaces that incorporate technology and flexibly support a variety of activities. This progress has been principally in designing the right combination of furniture, technology, and space. However, colleges and universities do not design services within learning spaces with nearly the same…

Grounding word learning in space.

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Larissa K Samuelson

Full Text Available Humans and objects, and thus social interactions about objects, exist within space. Words direct listeners' attention to specific regions of space. Thus, a strong correspondence exists between where one looks, one's bodily orientation, and what one sees. This leads to further correspondence with what one remembers. Here, we present data suggesting that children use associations between space and objects and space and words to link words and objects--space binds labels to their referents. We tested this claim in four experiments, showing that the spatial consistency of where objects are presented affects children's word learning. Next, we demonstrate that a process model that grounds word learning in the known neural dynamics of spatial attention, spatial memory, and associative learning can capture the suite of results reported here. This model also predicts that space is special, a prediction supported in a fifth experiment that shows children do not use color as a cue to bind words and objects. In a final experiment, we ask whether spatial consistency affects word learning in naturalistic word learning contexts. Children of parents who spontaneously keep objects in a consistent spatial location during naming interactions learn words more effectively. Together, the model and data show that space is a powerful tool that can effectively ground word learning in social contexts.

OverView of Space Applications for Environment (SAFE) initiative

Science.gov (United States)

Hamamoto, Ko; Fukuda, Toru; Tajima, Yoshimitsu; Takeuchi, Wataru; Sobue, Shinichi; Nukui, Tomoyuki

2014-06-01

Climate change and human activities have a direc or indirect influence on the acceleration of environmental problems and natural hazards such as forest fires, draughts and floods in the Asia-Pacific countries. Satellite technology has become one of the key information sources in assessment, monitoring and mitigation of these disasters and related phenomenon. However, there are still gaps between science and application of satellite technology in real-world usage. Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF) recommended to initiate the Space Applications for Environment (SAFE) proposal providing opportunity to potential user agencies in the Asia Pacific region to develop prototype applications of satellite technology for number of key issues including forest resources management, coastal monitoring and management, agriculture and food security, water resource management and development user-friendly tools for application of satellite technology. This paper describes the overview of SAFE initiative and outcomes of two selected prototypes; agricultural drought monitoring in Indonesia and coastal management in Sri Lanka, as well as the current status of on-going prototypes.

OverView of Space Applications for Environment (SAFE) initiative

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hamamoto, Ko; Fukuda, Toru; Nukui, Tomoyuki; Tajima, Yoshimitsu; Takeuchi, Wataru; Sobue, Shinichi

2014-01-01

Climate change and human activities have a direc or indirect influence on the acceleration of environmental problems and natural hazards such as forest fires, draughts and floods in the Asia-Pacific countries. Satellite technology has become one of the key information sources in assessment, monitoring and mitigation of these disasters and related phenomenon. However, there are still gaps between science and application of satellite technology in real-world usage. Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF) recommended to initiate the Space Applications for Environment (SAFE) proposal providing opportunity to potential user agencies in the Asia Pacific region to develop prototype applications of satellite technology for number of key issues including forest resources management, coastal monitoring and management, agriculture and food security, water resource management and development user-friendly tools for application of satellite technology. This paper describes the overview of SAFE initiative and outcomes of two selected prototypes; agricultural drought monitoring in Indonesia and coastal management in Sri Lanka, as well as the current status of on-going prototypes

Safe Spaces in Online Places: Social Media and LGBTQ Youth

Science.gov (United States)

Lucero, Leanna

2017-01-01

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 use social media as part of their everyday experiences in an attempt to safely navigate their lives through learning, participating, engaging,…

Lost in Space: Designing for Learning

Science.gov (United States)

La Marca, Susan

2010-01-01

The design of a learning space, and the many factors that come together to create that space, impact on how we feel and behave in that space and ultimately how we learn. This paper will discuss the importance of mission statements, policy and planning in light of how we create spaces that are learning-driven, human-centred and flexible. Of…

Consensus shaping and safe space public participation processes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Andersson, Kjell [Karita Research AB, Taeaby (Sweden)

2015-07-01

map public participation - consultation, consensus shaping processes and safe space. In contrast to consensus shaping processes, in the safe space approach there is no intention to develop solutions together between the implementer and other stakeholders. In comparison with the ladder, the basic approaches offer advantages for the mapping of public participation processes: If you strive for consensus or ''only'' clarity and awareness is a crucial question to be answered before a process is launched as it determines which stakeholders can join and which goals are feasible to reach. It is easier to use in assigning properties to a process, as it more straight-forward to understand if a process is consensus shaping or a safe space than where it is on the ladder. It clarifies better the links between the participation processes and the actual political and/or legal decision-making process. A consensus shaping process should produce real advice (or even decisions) but a safe space is limited to improving the decision making base with enhanced clarity.

Consensus shaping and safe space public participation processes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andersson, Kjell

2015-01-01

map public participation - consultation, consensus shaping processes and safe space. In contrast to consensus shaping processes, in the safe space approach there is no intention to develop solutions together between the implementer and other stakeholders. In comparison with the ladder, the basic approaches offer advantages for the mapping of public participation processes: If you strive for consensus or ''only'' clarity and awareness is a crucial question to be answered before a process is launched as it determines which stakeholders can join and which goals are feasible to reach. It is easier to use in assigning properties to a process, as it more straight-forward to understand if a process is consensus shaping or a safe space than where it is on the ladder. It clarifies better the links between the participation processes and the actual political and/or legal decision-making process. A consensus shaping process should produce real advice (or even decisions) but a safe space is limited to improving the decision making base with enhanced clarity.

The Difference Safe Spaces Make

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kendric Coleman

2016-05-01

Full Text Available In the last decade, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT students have become very visible at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs, but this visibility is not reflected in some colleges’ student programs and activities. Only a few notable HBCUs, such as Howard University and Spelman College, have made a concerted effort. Acknowledging that the LGBT community is significant and exists, and fostering such support, comes up against a steep wall of religious tradition and doctrines, and conservative administrations. It is imperative that HBCUs address LGBT issues and create and support a safe space for students to articulate their identity. Meanwhile, many LGBT students on these campuses find voice and understanding in Black scholars and writers such as Audre Lorde’s Zami: A New Spelling of My Name and Charles Michael Smith’s Fighting Words: Personal Essays by Black Gay Men.

Blue limits of the Blue Planet : An exploratory analysis of safe operating spaces for human water use under deep uncertainty

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kwakkel, J.H.; Timmermans, J.S.

2012-01-01

In the Nature article ‘A safe operating space for humanity’, Rockström et al. (2009) introduce the concept of a safe operating space for humanity. A safe operating space is the space for human activities that will not push the planet out of the ‘Holocene state’ that has seen human civilizations

Allowing variance may enlarge the safe operating space for exploited ecosystems.

Science.gov (United States)

Carpenter, Stephen R; Brock, William A; Folke, Carl; van Nes, Egbert H; Scheffer, Marten

2015-11-17

Variable flows of food, water, or other ecosystem services complicate planning. Management strategies that decrease variability and increase predictability may therefore be preferred. However, actions to decrease variance over short timescales (2-4 y), when applied continuously, may lead to long-term ecosystem changes with adverse consequences. We investigated the effects of managing short-term variance in three well-understood models of ecosystem services: lake eutrophication, harvest of a wild population, and yield of domestic herbivores on a rangeland. In all cases, actions to decrease variance can increase the risk of crossing critical ecosystem thresholds, resulting in less desirable ecosystem states. Managing to decrease short-term variance creates ecosystem fragility by changing the boundaries of safe operating spaces, suppressing information needed for adaptive management, cancelling signals of declining resilience, and removing pressures that may build tolerance of stress. Thus, the management of variance interacts strongly and inseparably with the management of resilience. By allowing for variation, learning, and flexibility while observing change, managers can detect opportunities and problems as they develop while sustaining the capacity to deal with them.

A learning space Odyssey

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Beckers, Ronald

2016-01-01

This dissertation addresses the alignment of learning space with higher education learning and teaching. Significant changes in higher education the past decades, such as increased information and communication technology (ICT) and new learning theories have resulted in the dilemma whether higher

Lessons learned from commercial experience with nuclear plant decontamination to safe storage

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fischer, S.R.; Partain, W.L.; Sype, T.

1995-01-01

The Department of Energy (DOE) has successfully performed decontamination and decommissioning (D ampersand D) on many production reactors it. DOE now has the challenge of performing D ampersand D on a wide variety of other nuclear facilities. Because so many facilities are being closed, it is necessary to place many of them into a safe-storage status before conducting D ampersand D-for perhaps as much as 20 yr. The challenge is to achieve this safe-storage condition in a cost-effective manner while remaining in compliance with applicable regulations. The DOE Office of Environmental Management, Office of Transition and Management, commissioned a lessons learned study of commercial experience with safe storage and transition to D ampersand D. Although the majority of the commercial experience has been with reactors, many of the lessons learned presented in this paper are directly applicable to transitioning the DOE Weapons Complex

Designing informal learning spaces using student perspectives

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matthew David Riddle

2012-06-01

Full Text Available This article describes the design of informal learning spaces at an Australian university that support students in the generation of knowledge. Recent learning space design projects at La Trobe have been informed by a number of pre-existing projects, including a small research project on student use of technologies, a national project on learning space design, and a significant curriculum renewal process at the university. It demonstrates the ways in which evidence based on student perspectives and principles developed through applied research in teaching and learning can inform real world learning space design projects in a higher education context.

Safe robot execution in model-based reinforcement learning

OpenAIRE

Martínez Martínez, David; Alenyà Ribas, Guillem; Torras, Carme

2015-01-01

Task learning in robotics requires repeatedly executing the same actions in different states to learn the model of the task. However, in real-world domains, there are usually sequences of actions that, if executed, may produce unrecoverable errors (e.g. breaking an object). Robots should avoid repeating such errors when learning, and thus explore the state space in a more intelligent way. This requires identifying dangerous action effects to avoid including such actions in the generated plans...

Self and other in digital learning spaces

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schraube, Ernst

expanding human activities, they are also powerful socio-political “forms of life” (Langdon Winner) constituting the relationship between self and the other and transforming fundamentally the practices of teaching and learning and the processes of generating knowledge. This paper explores the meaning......The teaching and learning spaces at universities are in transformation. With the incorporation of electronic technologies like ipads, smart boards and electronic platforms like “moodle” new digital spaces are emerging in educational practices. These technological spaces are not only useful tools...... of digital learning spaces at universities focusing on their implications for the learning processes of students. Usually studies of technology and learning identify teaching with learning and conceptualize research from an external, third-person standpoint. Starting with a discussion of the paradoxes...

Safe Exploration for Identifying Linear Systems via Robust Optimization

OpenAIRE

Lu, Tyler; Zinkevich, Martin; Boutilier, Craig; Roy, Binz; Schuurmans, Dale

2017-01-01

Safely exploring an unknown dynamical system is critical to the deployment of reinforcement learning (RL) in physical systems where failures may have catastrophic consequences. In scenarios where one knows little about the dynamics, diverse transition data covering relevant regions of state-action space is needed to apply either model-based or model-free RL. Motivated by the cooling of Google's data centers, we study how one can safely identify the parameters of a system model with a desired ...

Space Operations Learning Center

Science.gov (United States)

Lui, Ben; Milner, Barbara; Binebrink, Dan; Kuok, Heng

2012-01-01

The Space Operations Learning Center (SOLC) is a tool that provides an online learning environment where students can learn science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) through a series of training modules. SOLC is also an effective media for NASA to showcase its contributions to the general public. SOLC is a Web-based environment with a learning platform for students to understand STEM through interactive modules in various engineering topics. SOLC is unique in its approach to develop learning materials to teach schoolaged students the basic concepts of space operations. SOLC utilizes the latest Web and software technologies to present this educational content in a fun and engaging way for all grade levels. SOLC uses animations, streaming video, cartoon characters, audio narration, interactive games and more to deliver educational concepts. The Web portal organizes all of these training modules in an easily accessible way for visitors worldwide. SOLC provides multiple training modules on various topics. At the time of this reporting, seven modules have been developed: Space Communication, Flight Dynamics, Information Processing, Mission Operations, Kids Zone 1, Kids Zone 2, and Save The Forest. For the first four modules, each contains three components: Flight Training, Flight License, and Fly It! Kids Zone 1 and 2 include a number of educational videos and games designed specifically for grades K-6. Save The Forest is a space operations mission with four simulations and activities to complete, optimized for new touch screen technology. The Kids Zone 1 module has recently been ported to Facebook to attract wider audience.

Psychology of Learning Spaces: Impact on Teaching and Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Granito, Vincent J.; Santana, Mary E.

2016-01-01

New research is emerging that focuses on the role the physical classroom space plays in the teaching-learning dynamic. The purpose of this exploratory research is to describe the students' and instructors' perspectives of how the classroom space and environment impact teaching and learning. Focus groups were utilized with data points coming from…

Planetary Boundaries: Exploring the Safe Operating Space for Humanity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Richardson, Katherine; Rockström, Johan; Steffen, Will

2009-01-01

boundaries are rough, first estimates only, surrounded by large uncertainties and knowledge gaps. Filling these gaps will require major advancements in Earth System and resilience science. The proposed concept of "planetary boundaries" lays the groundwork for shifting our approach to governance...... and management, away from the essentially sectoral analyses of limits to growth aimed at minimizing negative externalities, toward the estimation of the safe space for human development. Planetary boundaries define, as it were, the boundaries of the "planetary playing field" for humanity if we want to be sure...

Designing informal learning spaces using student perspectives

OpenAIRE

Matthew David Riddle; Kay Souter

2012-01-01

This article describes the design of informal learning spaces at an Australian university that support students in the generation of knowledge. Recent learning space design projects at La Trobe have been informed by a number of pre-existing projects, including a small research project on student use of technologies, a national project on learning space design, and a significant curriculum renewal process at the university. It demonstrates the ways in which evidence based on student perspectiv...

The right time to learn: mechanisms and optimization of spaced learning

Science.gov (United States)

Smolen, Paul; Zhang, Yili; Byrne, John H.

2016-01-01

For many types of learning, spaced training, which involves repeated long inter-trial intervals, leads to more robust memory formation than does massed training, which involves short or no intervals. Several cognitive theories have been proposed to explain this superiority, but only recently have data begun to delineate the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms of spaced training, and we review these theories and data here. Computational models of the implicated signalling cascades have predicted that spaced training with irregular inter-trial intervals can enhance learning. This strategy of using models to predict optimal spaced training protocols, combined with pharmacotherapy, suggests novel ways to rescue impaired synaptic plasticity and learning. PMID:26806627

LEARNING AND ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN: Softer Learning Spaces

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. Ümran TOPÇU

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Learning is a central part of everyone’s life that is often associated with school and  classrooms. Today’ classroom looks and functions like the classroom of an earlier century. Desks lined up in neat rows, facing the teacher and a board or screen is the general condition in many educational institutions. Most of us have sat through classes in plain, hard rooms. Although they did not look very pleasant, we all coped with them. If they could be designed slightly more tolerable, would they help in the betterment of education and learning in any measurable way? This paper aims at describing an attempt to design an alternative classroom. Based on several years of experience, it is observed that there is a demand among students for softer, warmer and more intimate instructional spaces. Students of “People and Environment” Course were asked to select a suitable space to redesign as a “Soft Classroom” within Bahçeşehir University Besiktas Campus  premises. This case study presented a potential research project to etter understand,  how student engagement can be increased by changing learning spaces.

Of watchdogs and safe havens: control mechanisms and/in online sacred spaces

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexander Darius Ornella

2013-01-01

Full Text Available ‘Die große Schlacht. Der Hass des Satans auf Benedikt XVI. Non prae­valebunt’ is the headline of an article the Austrian-based and Catholic news portal, kath.net, published in early June 2012. It is about how badly and unfairly the media treat the Catholic Church and its official representatives in the wake of the so-called ‘Vatileaks’ scandal and it reasons that Satan is behind the attacks of the media, society, popular culture, on saintly figures such as Pope Benedict XVI. ‘Gegen die Diktatur des Relativismus’ is another article published on the same platform in the context of a conference hosted by the Catholic Heiligenkreuz monastery. On the forum kath.net, powerful language is employed to draw the faithful in, to make them feel themselves to be safe within a community of like-minded people in the midst of turmoil. News portals and message boards such as kath.net create safe spaces within a world whose culture, values, and morals are not only not understood but despised. The analysis is informed by critical discourse analysis and based on Paul Ricœur’s understanding of narratives and how narratives create worlds. As a first step, the concept of space and Ricœur’s understanding of narrative identity are discussed. After an introduction to the news portal kath.net, a close reading of some articles shows how these safe spaces are created and guarded. To conclude, a reflection on the implications of the self-understanding of kath.net and some of its user base on the understanding of hierarchy and the role of theology in the Church, is provided.

Space: the final frontier in the learning of science?

Science.gov (United States)

Milne, Catherine

2014-03-01

In Space, relations, and the learning of science, Wolff-Michael Roth and Pei-Ling Hsu use ethnomethodology to explore high school interns learning shopwork and shoptalk in a research lab that is located in a world class facility for water quality analysis. Using interaction analysis they identify how spaces, like a research laboratory, can be structured as smart spaces to create a workflow (learning flow) so that shoptalk and shopwork can projectively organize the actions of interns even in new and unfamiliar settings. Using these findings they explore implications for the design of curriculum and learning spaces more broadly. The Forum papers of Erica Blatt and Cassie Quigley complement this analysis. Blatt expands the discussion on space as an active component of learning with an examination of teaching settings, beyond laboratory spaces, as active participants of education. Quigley examines smart spaces as authentic learning spaces while acknowledging how internship experiences all empirical elements of authentic learning including open-ended inquiry and empowerment. In this paper I synthesize these ideas and propose that a narrative structure might better support workflow, student agency and democratic decision making.

The International Active Learning Space

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Manners, Ian James

2015-01-01

-Danish students receive the basic international and intercultural skills and knowledge they need in current society. The English-language masters’ seminars I teach at the Department of Political Science are international in terms of students and teacher, but they are also Active Learning seminars......-Danish students (and sometimes teachers) rarely speak to each other or learn each other’s names. In the international AL spaces I create, students must work together on joint tasks which require interaction to address tasks and integration in order to benefit from the multinational activity groups. Planning AL...... that complete the seminar soon become vocal advocates of international AL. Ultimately, enriching student learning through immersing Danish and international students in an international AL space is, for me, the best way of ensuring an internationalised learning outcome, rather than just international mobility....

Exploring the Use of Electronic Mobile Technologies among Distance Learners in Rural Communities for Safe and Disruptive Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Ntloedibe-Kuswani, Gomang Seratwa

2013-01-01

Several studies indicated the potential of electronic mobile technologies in reaching (safe learning) under-served communities and engaging (disruptive learning) disadvantaged peoples affording them learning experiences. However, the potential benefits of (electronic mobile learning) e-mobile learning have not been well understood from the…

Autonomous Motion Learning for Intra-Vehicular Activity Space Robot

Science.gov (United States)

Watanabe, Yutaka; Yairi, Takehisa; Machida, Kazuo

Space robots will be needed in the future space missions. So far, many types of space robots have been developed, but in particular, Intra-Vehicular Activity (IVA) space robots that support human activities should be developed to reduce human-risks in space. In this paper, we study the motion learning method of an IVA space robot with the multi-link mechanism. The advantage point is that this space robot moves using reaction force of the multi-link mechanism and contact forces from the wall as space walking of an astronaut, not to use a propulsion. The control approach is determined based on a reinforcement learning with the actor-critic algorithm. We demonstrate to clear effectiveness of this approach using a 5-link space robot model by simulation. First, we simulate that a space robot learn the motion control including contact phase in two dimensional case. Next, we simulate that a space robot learn the motion control changing base attitude in three dimensional case.

Learning space preferences of higher education students

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Beckers, R.; van der Voordt, Theo; Dewulf, G

2016-01-01

This paper aims to address higher education students' learning space preferences. The study is based on a survey that involved 697 business management students of a Dutch University of Applied Sciences. The research focuses on preferred learning spaces for individual study activities, which

Learning space preferences of higher education students

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Beckers, Ronald; van der Voordt, Theo; Dewulf, Geert P.M.R.

2016-01-01

This paper aims to address higher education students’ learning space preferences. The study is based on a survey that involved 697 business management students of a Dutch University of Applied Sciences. The research focuses on preferred learning spaces for individual study activities, which require

Learners’ Perceptions of the Effectiveness of Spaced Learning Schedule in L2 Vocabulary Learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amir Reza Lotfolahi

2016-05-01

Full Text Available The spacing effect is a ubiquitous phenomenon, whereby memory is enhanced for the information that is learned across different points in time rather than being learned at once. A considerable amount of research has focused on the nature of the spacing effect, and there is general acceptance that spacing learning events out in time promotes learning. However, fewer studies have been conducted in educational settings. The aim of this study is to explore learners’ perceptions of different spacing schedules (massed vs. spaced. To achieve the purpose of the study, we taught 30 children 24 English–Farsi word pairs utilizing different spacing schedules. Later, we administered a questionnaire to explore leaarners’ perceptions of both massed and spaced schedules. The results revealed that the children percieved spaced practice to be more effective than massed practice.

State-Space Inference and Learning with Gaussian Processes

OpenAIRE

Turner, R; Deisenroth, MP; Rasmussen, CE

2010-01-01

18.10.13 KB. Ok to add author version to spiral, authors hold copyright. State-space inference and learning with Gaussian processes (GPs) is an unsolved problem. We propose a new, general methodology for inference and learning in nonlinear state-space models that are described probabilistically by non-parametric GP models. We apply the expectation maximization algorithm to iterate between inference in the latent state-space and learning the parameters of the underlying GP dynamics model. C...

Creating a Public Space through Service-Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Brigham, Erin

2012-01-01

In this paper, I suggest that community-based learning can act as a "public space" for the exchange of religious and non-religious identities. By providing a space for the collaboration between religiously-affiliated Universities and non-religiously affiliated community partners, community-based learning offers the opportunity for the negotiation…

Cooperation and dialogical modeling for designing a safe Human space exploration mission to Mars

Science.gov (United States)

Grès, Stéphane; Tognini, Michel; Le Cardinal, Gilles; Zalila, Zyed; Gueydan, Guillaume

2014-11-01

This paper proposes an approach for a complex and innovative project requiring international contributions from different communities of knowledge and expertise. Designing a safe and reliable architecture for a manned mission to Mars or the Asteroids necessitates strong cooperation during the early stages of design to prevent and reduce risks for the astronauts at each step of the mission. The stake during design is to deal with the contradictions, antagonisms and paradoxes of the involved partners for the definition and modeling of a shared project of reference. As we see in our research which analyses the cognitive and social aspects of technological risks in major accidents, in such a project, the complexity of the global organization (during design and use) and the integration of a wide and varie d range of sciences and innovative technologies is likely to increase systemic risks as follows: human and cultural mistakes, potential defaults, failures and accidents. We identify as the main danger antiquated centralized models of organization and the operational limits of interdisciplinarity in the sciences. Beyond this, we can see that we need to take carefully into account human cooperation and the quality of relations between heterogeneous partners. Designing an open, self-learning and reliable exploration system able to self-adapt in dangerous and unforeseen situations implies a collective networked intelligence led by a safe process that organizes interaction between the actors and the aims of the project. Our work, supported by the CNES (French Space Agency), proposes an innovative approach to the coordination of a complex project.

Borderland Spaces for Learning Partnership: Opportunities, Benefits and Challenges

Science.gov (United States)

Hill, Jennifer; Thomas, Greg; Diaz, Anita; Simm, David

2016-01-01

This paper uses case studies and secondary literature to critically examine how learning spaces inhabited by geographers might be used productively as borderland spaces for learning partnership. Borderland spaces are novel, challenging, permissive and liminal, destabilizing traditional power hierarchies. In these spaces, students gain confidence…

Overcoming Learning Time And Space Constraints Through Technological Tool

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nafiseh Zarei

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Today the use of technological tools has become an evolution in language learning and language acquisition. Many instructors and lecturers believe that integrating Web-based learning tools into language courses allows pupils to become active learners during learning process. This study investigate how the Learning Management Blog (LMB overcomes the learning time and space constraints that contribute to students’ language learning and language acquisition processes. The participants were 30 ESL students at National University of Malaysia. A qualitative approach comprising an open-ended questionnaire and a semi-structured interview was used to collect data. The results of the study revealed that the students’ language learning and acquisition processes were enhanced. The students did not face any learning time and space limitations while being engaged in the learning process via the LMB. They learned and acquired knowledge using the language learning materials and forum at anytime and anywhere. Keywords: learning time, learning space, learning management blog

A Space-Based Learning Service for Schools Worldwide

Science.gov (United States)

White, Norman A.; Gibson, Alan

2002-01-01

This paper outlines a scheme for international collaboration to enrich the use of space in school education, to improve students' learning about science and related subjects and to enhance the continuity of science-related studies after the age of 16. Guidelines are presented for the design of an on-line learning service to provide schools worldwide with:- interactive curriculum-related learning resources for teaching about space and through - access to a purpose-designed education satellite or satellites; - opportunities for hands-on work by students in out-of-school hours; - news about space developments to attract, widen and deepen initial interest among teachers - support services to enable teachers to make effective use of the learning service. The Learning Service is the product of almost twenty years of experience by a significant number of UK schools in experimenting with, and in using, satellites and space to aid learning; and over four years of study and development by the SpaceLink Learning Foundation - a private-sector, not- for-profit UK registered charity, which is dedicated to help in increasing both the supply of scientists and engineers and the public understanding of science. This initiative provides scope for, and could benefit from, the involvement of relevant/interested organisations drawn from different countries. The Foundation would be ready, from its UK base, to be among such a group of initiating organisations.

X-space MPI: magnetic nanoparticles for safe medical imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Goodwill, Patrick William; Saritas, Emine Ulku; Croft, Laura Rose; Kim, Tyson N; Krishnan, Kannan M; Schaffer, David V; Conolly, Steven M

2012-07-24

One quarter of all iodinated contrast X-ray clinical imaging studies are now performed on Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) patients. Unfortunately, the iodine contrast agent used in X-ray is often toxic to CKD patients' weak kidneys, leading to significant morbidity and mortality. Hence, we are pioneering a new medical imaging method, called Magnetic Particle Imaging (MPI), to replace X-ray and CT iodinated angiography, especially for CKD patients. MPI uses magnetic nanoparticle contrast agents that are much safer than iodine for CKD patients. MPI already offers superb contrast and extraordinary sensitivity. The iron oxide nanoparticle tracers required for MPI are also used in MRI, and some are already approved for human use, but the contrast agents are far more effective at illuminating blood vessels when used in the MPI modality. We have recently developed a systems theoretic framework for MPI called x-space MPI, which has already dramatically improved the speed and robustness of MPI image reconstruction. X-space MPI has allowed us to optimize the hardware for fi ve MPI scanners. Moreover, x-space MPI provides a powerful framework for optimizing the size and magnetic properties of the iron oxide nanoparticle tracers used in MPI. Currently MPI nanoparticles have diameters in the 10-20 nanometer range, enabling millimeter-scale resolution in small animals. X-space MPI theory predicts that larger nanoparticles could enable up to 250 micrometer resolution imaging, which would represent a major breakthrough in safe imaging for CKD patients.

Mentored retroperitoneal laparoscopic renal surgery in children: a safe approach to learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Farhat, W; Khoury, A; Bagli, D; McLorie, G; El-Ghoneimi, A

2003-10-01

To review the feasibility of introducing advanced retroperitoneal renal laparoscopic surgery (RRLS) to a paediatric urology division, using the mentorship-training model. Although the scope of practice in paediatric urology is currently adapting endoscopic surgery into daily practice, most paediatric urologists in North America have had no formal training in laparoscopic surgery. The study included four paediatric urologists with 3-25 years of practice; none had had any formal laparoscopic training or ever undertaken advanced RRLS. An experienced laparoscopic surgeon (the mentor) assisted the learning surgeons over a year. The initial phases of learning incorporated detailed lectures, visualization through videotapes and 'hands-on' demonstration by the expert in the technique of the standardized steps for each type of surgery. Over 10 months, ablative and reconstructive RRLS was undertaken jointly by the surgeons and the mentor. After this training the surgeons operated independently. To prevent lengthy operations, conversion to open surgery was planned if there was no significant progression after 2 h of laparoscopic surgery. Over the 10 months of mentorship, 36 RRLS procedures were undertaken in 31 patients (28 ablative and eight reconstructive). In all cases the mentored surgeons accomplished both retroperitoneal access and the creation of a working space within the cavity. The group was able to initiate ablative RRLS but the mentor undertook all the reconstructive procedures. After the mentorship period, over 10 months, 12 ablative procedures were undertaken independently, and five other attempts at RRLS failed. Although the mentored approach can successfully and safely initiate advanced RRLS in a paediatric urology division, assessing the laparoscopic practice pattern after mentorship in the same group of trainees is warranted. Ablative RRLS is easier to learn for the experienced surgeon, but reconstructive procedures, e.g. pyeloplasty, require a high degree

Low-temperature thermionics in space nuclear power systems with the safe-type fast reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zrodnikov, A.V.; Yarygin, V.I.; Lazarenko, G.E.; Zabudko, A.N.; Ovcharenko, M.K.; Pyshko, A.P.; Mironov, V.S.; Kuznetsov, R.V.

2007-01-01

The potentialities of the use of the low-temperature thermionic converters (TIC) with the emitter temperature ≤ 1500 K in the space nuclear power system (SNPS) with the SAFE-type (Safe Affordable Fission Engine) fast reactor proposed and developed by common efforts of American experts have been considered. The main directions of the 'SAFE-300-TEG' SNPS (300 kW(thermal)) design update by replacing the thermoelectric converters with the low-temperature high-performance thermionic converters (with the barrier index V B ≤ 1.9 eV and efficiency ≥ 10%) meant for a long-term operation (5 years at least) as the components of the SAFE-300-TIC SNPS for a Lunar base have been discussed. The concept of the SNPS with the SAFE-type fast reactor and low-temperature TICs with specific electric power of about 1.45 W/cm 2 as the components of the SAFE-300-TIC system meeting the Nasa's initial requirements to a Lunar base with the electric power demand of about 30 kW(electrical) for robotic mission has been considered. The results, involving optimization and mass-and-size estimation, show that the SAFE-300-TIC system meets the initial requirements by Nasa to the lunar base power supply. The main directions of the system update aimed at the output electric power increase up to 100 kW(electrical) have also been presented. (authors)

Aligning physical learning spaces with the curriculum: AMEE Guide No. 107.

Science.gov (United States)

Nordquist, Jonas; Sundberg, Kristina; Laing, Andrew

2016-08-01

This Guide explores emerging issues on the alignment of learning spaces with the changing curriculum in medical education. As technology and new teaching methods have altered the nature of learning in medical education, it is necessary to re-think how physical learning spaces are aligned with the curriculum. The better alignment of learning spaces with the curriculum depends on more directly engaged leadership from faculty and the community of medical education for briefing the requirements for the design of all kinds of learning spaces. However, there is a lack of precedent and well-established processes as to how new kinds of learning spaces should be programmed. Such programmes are essential aspects of optimizing the intended experience of the curriculum. Faculty and the learning community need better tools and instruments to support their leadership role in briefing and programming. A Guide to critical concepts for exploring the alignment of curriculum and learning spaces is provided. The idea of a networked learning landscape is introduced as a way of assessing and evaluating the alignment of physical spaces to the emerging curriculum. The concept is used to explore how technology has widened the range of spaces and places in which learning happens as well as enabling new styles of learning. The networked learning landscaped is explored through four different scales within which learning is accommodated: the classroom, the building, the campus, and the city. High-level guidance on the process of briefing for the networked learning landscape is provided, to take into account the wider scale of learning spaces and the impact of technology. Key to a successful measurement process is argued to be the involvement of relevant academic stakeholders who can identify the strategic direction and purpose for the design of the learning environments in relation to the emerging demands of the curriculum.

Consider the category: The effect of spacing depends on individual learning histories.

Science.gov (United States)

Slone, Lauren K; Sandhofer, Catherine M

2017-07-01

The spacing effect refers to increased retention following learning instances that are spaced out in time compared with massed together in time. By one account, the advantages of spaced learning should be independent of task particulars and previous learning experiences given that spacing effects have been demonstrated in a variety of tasks across the lifespan. However, by another account, spaced learning should be affected by previous learning because past learning affects the memory and attention processes that form the crux of the spacing effect. The current study investigated whether individuals' learning histories affect the role of spacing in category learning. We examined the effect of spacing on 24 2- to 3.5-year-old children's learning of categories organized by properties to which children's previous learning experiences have biased them to attend (i.e., shape) and properties to which children are less biased to attend (i.e., texture and color). Spaced presentations led to significantly better learning of shape categories, but not of texture or color categories, compared with massed presentations. In addition, generalized estimating equations analyses revealed positive relations between the size of children's "shape-side" productive vocabularies and their shape category learning and between the size of children's "against-the-system" productive vocabularies and their texture category learning. These results suggest that children's attention to and memory for novel object categories are strongly related to their individual word-learning histories. Moreover, children's learned attentional biases affected the types of categories for which spacing facilitated learning. These findings highlight the importance of considering how learners' previous experiences may influence future learning. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Convergent Learning Space:

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kjærgaard, Hanne Wacher; Kjeldsen, Lars Peter; Asmussen, Jørgen Bering

is described as well as the theoretical construct and hypotheses surrounding the emergence of the concept in technology-rich classrooms, where students bring their own devices and involve their personal learning spaces and networks. The need for new ways of approaching concepts like choice, learning resources......This paper describes the concept of “The Convergent Learning Space” as it is being explored in an ongoing action research project carried out at undergraduate level in select bachelor programs at a Danish University College. The background nature, design, and beginning of this work in progress......, trajectories of participation etc. calls for new action and new pedagogies by teachers in order to secure alignment between students’ worlds and expectations and aims and plans of the teacher. Action research methods are being used to define and test the constituents and variables of the convergent learning...

The Rainbow Connection: How Music Classrooms Create Safe Spaces for Sexual-Minority Young People

Science.gov (United States)

Southerland, William

2018-01-01

LGBTQ students in many parts of the United States often experience hostility on the part of other students, teachers, and administrators. This article reviews current terminology, examines present-day attitudes and recent literature, and offers suggestions to educators who want to create safe spaces for all students in their classrooms.

History and Evolution of Active Learning Spaces

Science.gov (United States)

Beichner, Robert J.

2014-01-01

This chapter examines active learning spaces as they have developed over the years. Consistently well-designed classrooms can facilitate active learning even though the details of implementing pedagogies may differ.

Reinforcement Learning in Continuous Action Spaces

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hasselt, H. van; Wiering, M.A.

2007-01-01

Quite some research has been done on Reinforcement Learning in continuous environments, but the research on problems where the actions can also be chosen from a continuous space is much more limited. We present a new class of algorithms named Continuous Actor Critic Learning Automaton (CACLA)

A Social Learning Space Grid for MOOCs: Exploring a FutureLearn Case

OpenAIRE

Manathunga, Kalpani; Hernández-Leo, Davinia; Sharples, Mike

2017-01-01

Collaborative and social engagement promote active learning through knowledge intensive interactions. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are dynamic and diversified learning spaces with varying factors like flexible time frames, student count, demographics requiring higher engagement and motivation to continue learning and for designers to implement novel pedagogies including collaborative learning activities. This paper looks into available and potential collaborative and social learning sp...

Spaced learning and innovative teaching: school time, pedagogy of attention and learning awareness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Garzia Maeca

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Currently, the ‘time’ variable has taken on the function of instructional and pedagogical innovation catalyst, after representing-over the years-a symbol of democratisation, learning opportunity and instruction quality, able to incorporate themes such as school dropout, personalisation and vocation into learning. Spaced Learning is a teaching methodology useful to quickly seize information in long-term memory based on a particular arrangement of the lesson time that comprises three input sessions and two intervals. Herein we refer to a teachers’ training initiative on Spaced Learning within the programme ‘DocentiInFormAzione’ in the EDOC@WORK3.0 Project in Apulia region in 2015. The training experience aimed at increasing teachers’ competencies in the Spaced Learning method implemented in a context of collaborative reflection and reciprocal enrichment. The intent of the article is to show how a process of rooting of the same culture of innovation, which opens to the discovery (or rediscovery of effective teaching practices sustained by scientific evidences, can be successfully implemented and to understand how or whether this innovation- based on the particular organisation of instructional time-links learning awareness to learning outcomes.

Designing New Learning Spaces

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Specht, Marcus

2014-01-01

We are moving towards new learning spaces merging the digital and the physical world. Real world objects get augmented by information streams and real world activities are measured with sensor technology to be reviewed afterwards or in real time. A variety of links is currently created to link

A nuclear waste deposit in space - the ultimate solution for low-cost and safe disposal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ruppe, H.O.; Hayn, D.; Braitinger, M.; Schmucker, R.H.

1980-01-01

The disposal of nuclear high-active waste (HAW) is representative for the problem of burdening the environment with highly active or toxic waste products at present and in the future. Safe disposal methods on Earth are technically very difficult to achieve and the costs of establishment and maintenance of such plants are extremely high. Furthermore the emotionally based rejection by a wide sector of the population gives sufficient reason to look for new solutions. Here, space technology can offer a real alternative - a waste deposit in space. With the Space Transportation System, which shall soon be operative, and the resulting high flight frequencies it will be possible to transport all future HAW into space at economical casts. (orig.) [de

Connecting Learning Spaces Using Mobile Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Wenli; Seow, Peter; So, Hyo-Jeong; Toh, Yancy; Looi, Chee-Kit

2010-01-01

The use of mobile technology can help extend children's learning spaces and enrich the learning experiences in their everyday lives where they move from one context to another, switching locations, social groups, technologies, and topics. When students have ubiquitous access to mobile devices with full connectivity, the in-situ use of the mobile…

Safe Spaces, Support, Social Capital: A Critical Analysis of Artists Working with Vulnerable Young People in Educational Contexts

Science.gov (United States)

Sellman, Edward

2015-01-01

This article provides a critical and thematic analysis of three research projects involving artists working with vulnerable young people in educational contexts. It argues that artists create safe spaces in contrast to traditional educational activities but it will also raise questions about what constitutes such a space for participants. It will…

The Online Classroom: A Thorough Depiction of Distance Learning Spaces

Science.gov (United States)

McKenna, Kelly

2018-01-01

This study investigated the online higher education learning space of a doctoral program offered at a distance. It explored the learning space, the stakeholders, utilization, and creators of the space. Developing a successful online classroom experience that incorporates an engaging environment and dynamic community setting conducive to learning…

Affinity Spaces and 21st Century Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Gee, James Paul

2017-01-01

This article discusses video games as "attractors" to "affinity spaces." It argues that affinity spaces are key sites today where people teach and learn 21st Century skills. While affinity spaces are proliferating on the Internet as interest-and-passion-driven sites devoted to a common set of endeavors, they are not new, just…

The Critical Importance of Retrieval--and Spacing--for Learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Soderstrom, Nicholas C; Kerr, Tyson K; Bjork, Robert A

2016-02-01

We examined the impact of repeated testing and repeated studying on long-term learning. In Experiment 1, we replicated Karpicke and Roediger's (2008) influential results showing that once information can be recalled, repeated testing on that information enhances learning, whereas restudying that information does not. We then examined whether the apparent ineffectiveness of restudying might be attributable to the spacing differences between items that were inherent in the between-subjects design employed by Karpicke and Roediger. When we controlled for these spacing differences by manipulating the various learning conditions within subjects in Experiment 2, we found that both repeated testing and restudying improved learning, and that learners' awareness of the relative mnemonic benefits of these strategies was enhanced. These findings contribute to understanding how two important factors in learning-test-induced retrieval processes and spacing-can interact, and they illustrate that such interactions can play out differently in between-subjects and within-subjects experimental designs. © The Author(s) 2015.

Space reactor safety, 1985--1995 lessons learned

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marshall, A.C.

1995-01-01

Space reactor safety activities and decisions have evolved over the last decade. Important safety decisions have been made in the SP-100, Space Exploration Initiative, NEPSTP, SNTP, and Bimodal Space Reactor programs. In addition, international guidance on space reactor safety has been instituted. Space reactor safety decisions and practices have developed in the areas of inadvertent criticality, reentry, radiological release, orbital operation, programmatic, and policy. In general, the lessons learned point out the importance of carefully reviewing previous safety practices for appropriateness to space nuclear programs in general and to the specific mission under consideration

Space reactor safety, 1985--1995 lessons learned

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Marshall, A.C.

1995-12-31

Space reactor safety activities and decisions have evolved over the last decade. Important safety decisions have been made in the SP-100, Space Exploration Initiative, NEPSTP, SNTP, and Bimodal Space Reactor programs. In addition, international guidance on space reactor safety has been instituted. Space reactor safety decisions and practices have developed in the areas of inadvertent criticality, reentry, radiological release, orbital operation, programmatic, and policy. In general, the lessons learned point out the importance of carefully reviewing previous safety practices for appropriateness to space nuclear programs in general and to the specific mission under consideration.

Mixed reality learning spaces for collaborative experimentation: A challenge for engineering education and training

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dieter Müller

2007-10-01

Full Text Available Although the vast majority of research in human-computer interaction involves only our senses of sight and hearing, with sporadic forays into touch, future laboratories used in engineering education will mostly benefit from developments beyond video and sound. Tangible and embedded interaction, augmented and mixed reality characterizes ultimate technologies for further applications in collaborative remote engineering and lab work. This paper presents our latest research to facilitate collaborative experimentation with such innovative technologies. Our vision is a collaborative learning space, which involves an amalgam of real, virtual and remote lab tools to support a wide spectrum of simple and complex, concrete and abstract, safe and dangerous experimentation settings. We will review related concepts and discuss lessons learned from our research and prototype development. Recent work involves the use of mixed reality (as opposed to ‘pure’ virtual reality techniques to support seamless collaborative work between remote sites. We describe this and identify areas for future research.

Switching Reinforcement Learning for Continuous Action Space

Science.gov (United States)

Nagayoshi, Masato; Murao, Hajime; Tamaki, Hisashi

Reinforcement Learning (RL) attracts much attention as a technique of realizing computational intelligence such as adaptive and autonomous decentralized systems. In general, however, it is not easy to put RL into practical use. This difficulty includes a problem of designing a suitable action space of an agent, i.e., satisfying two requirements in trade-off: (i) to keep the characteristics (or structure) of an original search space as much as possible in order to seek strategies that lie close to the optimal, and (ii) to reduce the search space as much as possible in order to expedite the learning process. In order to design a suitable action space adaptively, we propose switching RL model to mimic a process of an infant's motor development in which gross motor skills develop before fine motor skills. Then, a method for switching controllers is constructed by introducing and referring to the “entropy”. Further, through computational experiments by using robot navigation problems with one and two-dimensional continuous action space, the validity of the proposed method has been confirmed.

Mechanisms for Creating a Psychologically Safe Learning Environment in an Educational Institution of General Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leonova O.I.,

2014-11-01

Full Text Available At the moment the question of how to create and maintain the psychological safety of the educational environment of the school is not sufficiently studied. Meanwhile, there has been proved its positive effect on the psychological health of students, their emotional and personal well-being, the formation of a meta-subjective and personal educational outcomes. This paper describes a study the purpose of which was to examine and verify empiricaly the features of management activities in the educational organization to create a psychologically safe learning environment. We studied personality traits of the Head of an educational organization by the procedure "Troubleshooting leadership abilities" (E. Zharikova, E. Krushelnytsky, techniques "Diagnosis of the level of burnout" (V.V. Boyko, methods of self-management style assessment (A.V. Agrashenkova, modified by E.P. Ilyin, and methods for rapid assessment of health, activity, mood (SAN. We proposed mechanisms to solve the problem of creating a comfortable and safe learning environment in the educational organization of general education

Researching transformative learning spaces through learners' stories

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Maslo, Elina

spaces, learning to learn through languages, learners´ stories, qualitative research method Methodology or Methods/Research Instruments or Sources Used A number of semi structured qualitative interviews have been conducted with three learners of Danish as second language. The language learners...... in the paper is on the research process and methodological tools. The goal of this paper is to show, that learners´ stories have a huge potential in researching learning processes. References Benson, P. & D. Nunan (2004). Lerners´ stories. Difference and Diversity in Language Learning. Cambridge University...... to use learners´ stories as a research methodology in the field of learning in general and language learning in particular....

Other people as means to a safe end: vicarious extinction blocks the return of learned fear.

Science.gov (United States)

Golkar, Armita; Selbing, Ida; Flygare, Oskar; Ohman, Arne; Olsson, Andreas

2013-11-01

Information about what is dangerous and safe in the environment is often transferred from other individuals through social forms of learning, such as observation. Past research has focused on the observational, or vicarious, acquisition of fears, but little is known about how social information can promote safety learning. To address this issue, we studied the effects of vicarious-extinction learning on the recovery of conditioned fear. Compared with a standard extinction procedure, vicarious extinction promoted better extinction and effectively blocked the return of previously learned fear. We confirmed that these effects could not be attributed to the presence of a learning model per se but were specifically driven by the model's experience of safety. Our results confirm that vicarious and direct emotional learning share important characteristics but that social-safety information promotes superior down-regulation of learned fear. These findings have implications for emotional learning, social-affective processes, and clinical practice.

Learning spaces as representational scaffolds for learning conceptual knowledge of system behaviour

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bredeweg, B.; Liem, J.; Beek, W.; Salles, P.; Linnebank, F.; Wolpers, M.; Kirschner, P.A.; Scheffel, M.; Lindstaedt, S.; Dimitrova, V.

2010-01-01

Scaffolding is a well-known approach to bridge the gap between novice and expert capabilities in a discovery-oriented learning environment. This paper discusses a set of knowledge representations referred to as Learning Spaces (LSs) that can be used to support learners in acquiring conceptual

Navigation and wayfinding in learning spaces in 3D virtual worlds

OpenAIRE

Minocha, Shailey; Hardy, Christopher

2016-01-01

There is a lack of published research on the design guidelines of learning spaces in virtual worlds. Therefore, when institutions aspire to create learning spaces in Second Life, there are few studies or guidelines to inform them except for individual case studies. The Design of Learning Spaces in 3D Virtual Environments (DELVE) project, funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee in the UK, was one of the first initiatives that identified through empirical investigations the usability ...

Submersion-Subcritical Safe Space (S4) reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

King, Jeffrey C.; El-Genk, Mohamed S.

2006-01-01

The Submersion-Subcritical Safe Space (S 4 ) reactor, developed for future space power applications and avoidance of single point failures, is presented. The S 4 reactor has a Mo-14% Re solid core, loaded with uranium nitride fuel, cooled by He-30% Xe and sized to provide 550 kWth for 7 years of equivalent full power operation. The beryllium oxide reflector of the S 4 reactor is designed to completely disassemble upon impact on water or soil. The potential of using Spectral Shift Absorber (SSA) materials in different forms to ensure that the reactor remains subcritical in the worst-case submersion accident is investigated. Nine potential SSAs are considered in terms of their effect on the thickness of the radial reflector and on the combined mass of the reactor and the radiation shadow shield. The SSA materials are incorporated as a thin (0.1 mm) coating on the outside surface of the reactor core and as core additions in three possible forms: 2.0 mm diameter pins in the interstices of the core block, 0.25 mm thick sleeves around the fuel stacks and/or additions to the uranium nitride fuel. Results show that with a boron carbide coating and 0.25 mm iridium sleeves around the fuel stacks the S 4 reactor has a reflector outer diameter of 43.5 cm with a combined reactor and shadow shield mass of 935.1 kg. The S 4 reactor with 12.5 at.% gadolinium-155 added to the fuel, 2.0 mm diameter gadolinium-155 sesquioxide interstitial pins, and a 0.1 mm thick gadolinium-155 sesquioxide coating has a slightly smaller reflector outer diameter of 43.0 cm, resulting in a smaller total reactor and shield mass of 901.7 kg. With 8.0 at.% europium-151 added to the fuel, along with europium-151 sesquioxide for the pins and coating, the reflector's outer diameter and the total reactor and shield mass are further reduced to 41.5 cm and 869.2 kg, respectively

Evaluating a Safe Space Training for School Counselors and Trainees Using a Randomized Control Group Design

Science.gov (United States)

Byrd, Rebekah; Hays, Danica G.

2014-01-01

School counselors need to advocate and act as an ally for all students. Safe Space, a training designed to facilitate competency for working with and serving LGBTQ youth (i.e., LGBTQ competency), has received increased attention in the field of school counseling. However, limited empirical support exists for training interventions such as Safe…

Problem and Project Based Learning in Hybrid Spaces

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ryberg, Thomas; Davidsen, Jacob; Hodgson, Vivien

2016-01-01

There is a need within networked learning to understand and conceptualise the interplay between digital and physical spaces or what we could term hybrid spaces. Therefore, we discuss a recent study of students from two different programmes who are engaged in long-term, group-based problem...... and project based learning. Based on interviews, workshops and observations of students’ actual group practices in open, shared and flexible spaces in Aalborg University (AAU), we identify and discuss how students incorporate networked and digital technologies into their group work and into the study places...... they create for themselves. We describe how in one of the programmes ‘nomadic’ groups of students used different technologies and spaces for ‘placemaking’. We then show how their experience and approach to collaborative work differs to that of the more static or ‘artisan’ groups of students in the other...

Trial and Error: A new Approach to Space-Bounded Learning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ameur, F.; Fischer, Paul; Hoeffgen, H.-U.

1996-01-01

A pac-learning algorithm is d-space bounded, if it stores at most d examples from the sample at any time. We characterize the d-space learnable concept classes. For this purpose we introduce the compression parameter of a concept class 𝒞 and design our trial and error learning algorithm. We ...

Self-supervised learning as an enabling technology for future space exploration robots: ISS experiments on monocular distance learning

Science.gov (United States)

van Hecke, Kevin; de Croon, Guido C. H. E.; Hennes, Daniel; Setterfield, Timothy P.; Saenz-Otero, Alvar; Izzo, Dario

2017-11-01

Although machine learning holds an enormous promise for autonomous space robots, it is currently not employed because of the inherent uncertain outcome of learning processes. In this article we investigate a learning mechanism, Self-Supervised Learning (SSL), which is very reliable and hence an important candidate for real-world deployment even on safety-critical systems such as space robots. To demonstrate this reliability, we introduce a novel SSL setup that allows a stereo vision equipped robot to cope with the failure of one of its cameras. The setup learns to estimate average depth using a monocular image, by using the stereo vision depths from the past as trusted ground truth. We present preliminary results from an experiment on the International Space Station (ISS) performed with the MIT/NASA SPHERES VERTIGO satellite. The presented experiments were performed on October 8th, 2015 on board the ISS. The main goals were (1) data gathering, and (2) navigation based on stereo vision. First the astronaut Kimiya Yui moved the satellite around the Japanese Experiment Module to gather stereo vision data for learning. Subsequently, the satellite freely explored the space in the module based on its (trusted) stereo vision system and a pre-programmed exploration behavior, while simultaneously performing the self-supervised learning of monocular depth estimation on board. The two main goals were successfully achieved, representing the first online learning robotic experiments in space. These results lay the groundwork for a follow-up experiment in which the satellite will use the learned single-camera depth estimation for autonomous exploration in the ISS, and are an advancement towards future space robots that continuously improve their navigation capabilities over time, even in harsh and completely unknown space environments.

Representative Model of the Learning Process in Virtual Spaces Supported by ICT

Science.gov (United States)

Capacho, José

2014-01-01

This paper shows the results of research activities for building the representative model of the learning process in virtual spaces (e-Learning). The formal basis of the model are supported in the analysis of models of learning assessment in virtual spaces and specifically in Dembo´s teaching learning model, the systemic approach to evaluating…

Reinforcement learning in continuous state and action spaces

NARCIS (Netherlands)

H. P. van Hasselt (Hado); M.A. Wiering; M. van Otterlo

2012-01-01

textabstractMany traditional reinforcement-learning algorithms have been designed for problems with small finite state and action spaces. Learning in such discrete problems can been difficult, due to noise and delayed reinforcements. However, many real-world problems have continuous state or action

Better safe than sorry: Increasing safety in radioactive waste management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gaspar, Miklos; Mutluer, Adem

2015-01-01

Abderrahim Bouih used to be worried about space. In charge of managing Morocco’s radioactive waste since 2006, he had long projected that the country’s sole radioactive waste facility would fill up by 2019. Thanks to a new methodology he and his colleagues learned through an IAEA project, they can now dismantle smoke detectors, lightning rods and other waste that contains radioactive material, safely separating the radioactive components from the metal, and significantly reducing the amount of radioactive waste they need to store.

Advanced Learning Space as an Asset for Students with Disabilities

Science.gov (United States)

Císarová, Klára; Lamr, Marián; Vitvarová, Jana

2015-01-01

The paper describes an e-learning system called Advanced Learning Space that was developed at the Technical University of Liberec. The system provides a personalized virtual work space and promotes communication among students and their teachers. The core of the system is a module that can be used to automatically record, store and playback…

Conferences as a Dramaturgical Learning Space

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Nicoline Jacoby

Arguing that conferences are an important but under-researched and under-developed dimension of continuing education, the paper proposes a notion of conferences as a dramatic learning space. Using the design-based research methodology, a theoretical framework drawing on adult learning theories...... and dramaturgy is developed, consisting of four design principles: rhythm, reflection, involvement and interaction. These are sought implemented in a specific conference program, the case of the ECCI X conference, and the final program is explained and discussed....

Listening to Students: Make Learning Spaces Your Own

Science.gov (United States)

Shouder, Tim; Inglis, Grant; Rossini, Alexander

2014-01-01

Today, collaborative learning and teamwork are largely achieved through remote connections that are increasingly available and powerful. Collaboration of this sort is the highlight of an award-winning film "Your Own," which the authors created in response to the question, "What makes a learning space great?" for Herman…

Lack of spacing effects during piano learning.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Melody Wiseheart

Full Text Available Spacing effects during retention of verbal information are easily obtained, and the effect size is large. Relatively little evidence exists on whether motor skill retention benefits from distributed practice, with even less evidence on complex motor skills. We taught a 17-note musical sequence on a piano to individuals without prior formal training. There were five lags between learning episodes: 0-, 1-, 5-, 10-, and 15-min. After a 5-min retention interval, participants' performance was measured using three criteria: accuracy of note playing, consistency in pressure applied to the keys, and consistency in timing. No spacing effect was found, suggesting that the effect may not always be demonstrable for complex motor skills or non-verbal abilities (timing and motor skills. Additionally, we taught short phrases from five songs, using the same set of lags and retention interval, and did not find any spacing effect for accuracy of song reproduction. Our findings indicate that although the spacing effect is one of the most robust phenomena in the memory literature (as demonstrated by verbal learning studies, the effect may vary when considered in the novel realm of complex motor skills such as piano performance.

Lack of spacing effects during piano learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Wiseheart, Melody; D'Souza, Annalise A; Chae, Jacey

2017-01-01

Spacing effects during retention of verbal information are easily obtained, and the effect size is large. Relatively little evidence exists on whether motor skill retention benefits from distributed practice, with even less evidence on complex motor skills. We taught a 17-note musical sequence on a piano to individuals without prior formal training. There were five lags between learning episodes: 0-, 1-, 5-, 10-, and 15-min. After a 5-min retention interval, participants' performance was measured using three criteria: accuracy of note playing, consistency in pressure applied to the keys, and consistency in timing. No spacing effect was found, suggesting that the effect may not always be demonstrable for complex motor skills or non-verbal abilities (timing and motor skills). Additionally, we taught short phrases from five songs, using the same set of lags and retention interval, and did not find any spacing effect for accuracy of song reproduction. Our findings indicate that although the spacing effect is one of the most robust phenomena in the memory literature (as demonstrated by verbal learning studies), the effect may vary when considered in the novel realm of complex motor skills such as piano performance.

Space Weather in the Machine Learning Era: A Multidisciplinary Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Camporeale, E.; Wing, S.; Johnson, J.; Jackman, C. M.; McGranaghan, R.

2018-01-01

The workshop entitled Space Weather: A Multidisciplinary Approach took place at the Lorentz Center, University of Leiden, Netherlands, on 25-29 September 2017. The aim of this workshop was to bring together members of the Space Weather, Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science communities to address the use of advanced techniques such as Machine Learning, Information Theory, and Deep Learning, to better understand the Sun-Earth system and to improve space weather forecasting. Although individual efforts have been made toward this goal, the community consensus is that establishing interdisciplinary collaborations is the most promising strategy for fully utilizing the potential of these advanced techniques in solving Space Weather-related problems.

Student Perceptions of a 21st Century Learning Space

Science.gov (United States)

Adedokun, Omolola A.; Henke, Jacqueline N.; Parker, Loran Carleton; Burgess, Wilella D.

2017-01-01

Higher education institutions are increasingly building or remodeling classrooms to be flexible spaces that support learner-centered instruction. However, little is known about the actual impact of these spaces on student outcomes. Using a mixed method design, this study examined student perceptions of a flexible learning space on student learning…

Successive and discrete spaced conditioning in active avoidance learning in young and aged zebrafish.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Peng; Kajiwara, Riki; Tonoki, Ayako; Itoh, Motoyuki

2018-05-01

We designed an automated device to study active avoidance learning abilities of zebrafish. Open source tools were used for the device control, statistical computing, and graphic outputs of data. Using the system, we developed active avoidance tests to examine the effects of trial spacing and aging on learning. Seven-month-old fish showed stronger avoidance behavior as measured by color preference index with discrete spaced training as compared to successive spaced training. Fifteen-month-old fish showed a similar trend, but with reduced cognitive abilities compared with 7-month-old fish. Further, in 7-month-old fish, an increase in learning ability during trials was observed with discrete, but not successive, spaced training. In contrast, 15-month-old fish did not show increase in learning ability during trials. Therefore, these data suggest that discrete spacing is more effective for learning than successive spacing, with the zebrafish active avoidance paradigm, and that the time course analysis of active avoidance using discrete spaced training is useful to detect age-related learning impairment. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ireland Ltd and Japan Neuroscience Society. All rights reserved.

Organizing for Spaces and Dynamics of Multipolar Learning in Multinational Corporations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hull Kristensen, Peer; Lotz, Maja

Limited research has been conducted on how MNCs organize conditions and spaces for recursive learning to facilitate the practice of innovation across dispersed units as well as how organizational members at all levels may become involved in innovations through the engagement in ongoing multipolar...... learning dynamics. Based on longitudinal case studies in two MNCs this paper contributes with insights into how spaces and dynamics of multipolar learning are organized and governed across dispersed MNC units at the micro level of everyday work practices. The paper shows that it is possible to organize...... spaces and dynamics that can organize recursiveness and continuity in multipolar learning by way of experimentation with new coordination components and governance architectures. Against the previous literature, however, it becomes evident that these are not the outcome of spontaneous interactions...

Spaced Learning Enhances Subsequent Recognition Memory by Reducing Neural Repetition Suppression

Science.gov (United States)

Xue, Gui; Mei, Leilei; Chen, Chuansheng; Lu, Zhong-Lin; Poldrack, Russell; Dong, Qi

2011-01-01

Spaced learning usually leads to better recognition memory as compared with massed learning, yet the underlying neural mechanisms remain elusive. One open question is whether the spacing effect is achieved by reducing neural repetition suppression. In this fMRI study, participants were scanned while intentionally memorizing 120 novel faces, half…

Safety And Promotion in the Federal Aviation Administration- Enabling Safe and Successful Commercial Space Transportation

Science.gov (United States)

Repcheck, Randall J.

2010-09-01

The United States Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation(AST) authorizes the launch and reentry of expendable and reusable launch vehicles and the operation of launch and reentry sites by United States citizens or within the United States. It authorizes these activities consistent with public health and safety, the safety of property, and the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States. In addition to its safety role, AST has the role to encourage, facilitate, and promote commercial space launches and reentries by the private sector. AST’s promotional role includes, among other things, the development of information of interest to industry, the sharing of information of interest through a variety of methods, and serving as an advocate for Commercial Space Transportation within the United States government. This dual safety and promotion role is viewed by some as conflicting. AST views these two roles as complementary, and important for the current state of commercial space transportation. This paper discusses how maintaining a sound safety decision-making process, maintaining a strong safety culture, and taking steps to avoid complacency can together enable safe and successful commercial space transportation.

Active Affordance Learning in Continuous State and Action Spaces

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wang, C.; Hindriks, K.V.; Babuska, R.

2014-01-01

Learning object affordances and manipulation skills is essential for developing cognitive service robots. We propose an active affordance learning approach in continuous state and action spaces without manual discretization of states or exploratory motor primitives. During exploration in the action

Better library and learning space projects, trends, ideas

CERN Document Server

Watson, Les

2014-01-01

What are the most important things a 21st-century library should do with its space? This title includes chapters that address this critical question, capturing the insights and practical ideas of international librarians, educators and designers to offer you a 'creative resource bank' that helps to transform your library and learning spaces.

Human reinforcement learning subdivides structured action spaces by learning effector-specific values.

Science.gov (United States)

Gershman, Samuel J; Pesaran, Bijan; Daw, Nathaniel D

2009-10-28

Humans and animals are endowed with a large number of effectors. Although this enables great behavioral flexibility, it presents an equally formidable reinforcement learning problem of discovering which actions are most valuable because of the high dimensionality of the action space. An unresolved question is how neural systems for reinforcement learning-such as prediction error signals for action valuation associated with dopamine and the striatum-can cope with this "curse of dimensionality." We propose a reinforcement learning framework that allows for learned action valuations to be decomposed into effector-specific components when appropriate to a task, and test it by studying to what extent human behavior and blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) activity can exploit such a decomposition in a multieffector choice task. Subjects made simultaneous decisions with their left and right hands and received separate reward feedback for each hand movement. We found that choice behavior was better described by a learning model that decomposed the values of bimanual movements into separate values for each effector, rather than a traditional model that treated the bimanual actions as unitary with a single value. A decomposition of value into effector-specific components was also observed in value-related BOLD signaling, in the form of lateralized biases in striatal correlates of prediction error and anticipatory value correlates in the intraparietal sulcus. These results suggest that the human brain can use decomposed value representations to "divide and conquer" reinforcement learning over high-dimensional action spaces.

Learning Spaces in Academic Libraries--A Review of the Evolving Trends

Science.gov (United States)

Turner, Arlee; Welch, Bernadette; Reynolds, Sue

2013-01-01

This paper presents a review of the professional discourse regarding the evolution of information and learning spaces in academic libraries, particularly in the first decade of the twenty-first century. It investigates the evolution of academic libraries and the development of learning spaces focusing on the use of the terms which have evolved…

"May We Please Have Sex Tonight?"--People with Learning Difficulties Pursuing Privacy in Residential Group Settings

Science.gov (United States)

Hollomotz, Andrea

2009-01-01

Many residential group settings for people with learning difficulties do not provide individuals with the private space in which they can explore their sexual relationships in a safe and dignified manner. Lack of agreed private spaces seriously infringes the individual's human rights. Many people with learning difficulties who lack privacy have no…

Problem and Project Based Learning in Hybrid Spaces:Nomads and Artisans

OpenAIRE

Ryberg, Thomas; Davidsen, Jacob; Hodgson, Vivien

2016-01-01

There is a need within networked learning to understand and conceptualise the interplay between digital and physical spaces or what we could term hybrid spaces. Therefore, we discuss a recent study of students from two different programmes who are engaged in long-term, group-based problem and project based learning. Based on interviews, workshops and observations of students’ actual group practices in open, shared and flexible spaces in Aalborg University (AAU), we identify and discuss how st...

Exploration of joint redundancy but not task space variability facilitates supervised motor learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Puneet; Jana, Sumitash; Ghosal, Ashitava; Murthy, Aditya

2016-12-13

The number of joints and muscles in a human arm is more than what is required for reaching to a desired point in 3D space. Although previous studies have emphasized how such redundancy and the associated flexibility may play an important role in path planning, control of noise, and optimization of motion, whether and how redundancy might promote motor learning has not been investigated. In this work, we quantify redundancy space and investigate its significance and effect on motor learning. We propose that a larger redundancy space leads to faster learning across subjects. We observed this pattern in subjects learning novel kinematics (visuomotor adaptation) and dynamics (force-field adaptation). Interestingly, we also observed differences in the redundancy space between the dominant hand and nondominant hand that explained differences in the learning of dynamics. Taken together, these results provide support for the hypothesis that redundancy aids in motor learning and that the redundant component of motor variability is not noise.

Review of Issues Associated with Safe Operation and Management of the Space Shuttle Program

Science.gov (United States)

Johnstone, Paul M.; Blomberg, Richard D.; Gleghorn, George J.; Krone, Norris J.; Voltz, Richard A.; Dunn, Robert F.; Donlan, Charles J.; Kauderer, Bernard M.; Brill, Yvonne C.; Englar, Kenneth G.;

Portrait of a rural health graduate: exploring alternative learning spaces.

Science.gov (United States)

Ross, Andrew; Pillay, Daisy

2015-05-01

Given that the staffing of rural facilities represents an international challenge, the support, training and development of students of rural origin at institutions of higher learning (IHLs) should be an integral dimension of health care provisioning. International studies have shown these students to be more likely than students of urban origin to return to work in rural areas. However, the crisis in formal school education in some countries, such as South Africa, means that rural students with the capacity to pursue careers in health care are least likely to access the necessary training at an IHL. In addition to challenges of access, throughput is relatively low at IHLs and is determined by a range of learning experiences. Insight into the storied educational experiences of health care professionals (HCPs) of rural origin has the potential to inform the training and development of rural-origin students. Six HCPs of rural origin were purposively selected. Using a narrative inquiry approach, data were generated from long interviews and a range of arts-based methods to create and reconstruct the storied narratives of the six participants. Codes, categories and themes were developed from the reconstructed stories. Reid's four-quadrant model of learning theory was used to focus on the learning experiences of one participant. Alternative learning spaces were identified, which were made available through particular social spaces outwith formal lecture rooms. These offered opportunities for collaboration and for the reconfiguring of the participants' agency to be, think and act differently. Through the practices enacted in particular learning spaces, relationships of caring, sharing, motivating and mentoring were formed, which contributed to personal, social, academic and professional development and success. Learning spaces outwith the formal lecture theatre are critical to the acquisition of good clinical skills and knowledge in the development of socially accountable

Live from Space Station Learning Technologies Project

Science.gov (United States)

2001-01-01

This is the Final Report for the Live From Space Station (LFSS) project under the Learning Technologies Project FY 2001 of the MSFC Education Programs Department. AZ Technology, Inc. (AZTek) has developed and implemented science education software tools to support tasks under the LTP program. Initial audience consisted of 26 TreK in the Classroom schools and thousands of museum visitors to the International Space Station: The Earth Tour exhibit sponsored by Discovery Place museum.

Distributing learning over time: the spacing effect in children's acquisition and generalization of science concepts.

Science.gov (United States)

Vlach, Haley A; Sandhofer, Catherine M

2012-01-01

The spacing effect describes the robust finding that long-term learning is promoted when learning events are spaced out in time rather than presented in immediate succession. Studies of the spacing effect have focused on memory processes rather than for other types of learning, such as the acquisition and generalization of new concepts. In this study, early elementary school children (5- to 7-year-olds; N = 36) were presented with science lessons on 1 of 3 schedules: massed, clumped, and spaced. The results revealed that spacing lessons out in time resulted in higher generalization performance for both simple and complex concepts. Spaced learning schedules promote several types of learning, strengthening the implications of the spacing effect for educational practices and curriculum. © 2012 The Authors. Child Development © 2012 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Yahoo! Answers as a Space for Informal Language Learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Giuliana Dettori

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Online social spaces, where users can exchange information, opinions and resources, have achieved wide popularity and are gaining attention in many research fields, including education. Their actual potential support to learning, however, still requires investigation, especially because portals can widely differ as concerns purpose and internal structure. This paper aims to contribute in this respect, by concentrating on question answering, a kind of social space not yet widely discussed in education. We analyzed a small corpus of posts from the Languages section of Yahoo! Answers Italy, checking if the questions reveal some inclination to learning or just the desire to obtain a service and if the answers provided by the community members can be considered as reliable sources of knowledge. Our analysis highlights the presence of a variety of question/answer types, from mere information exchange or help for task completion, up to language-related questions prompting valuable short lessons. The quality of answers may widely vary as concerns pertinence, correctness and richness of supporting elements. We found a high number of purely task-oriented questions and answers, but also a higher number of learning-oriented questions and correct, informative answers. This suggests that this kind of social space actually has valuable potential for informal learning.

Aligning Pedagogy with Physical Learning Spaces

Science.gov (United States)

van Merriënboer, Jeroen J. G.; McKenney, Susan; Cullinan, Dominic; Heuer, Jos

2017-01-01

The quality of education suffers when pedagogies are not aligned with physical learning spaces. For example, the architecture of the triple-decker Victorian schools across England fits the information transmission model that was dominant in the industrial age, but makes it more difficult to implement student-centred pedagogies that better fit a…

Understanding Interorganizational Learning Based on Social Spaces and Learning Episodes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anelise Rebelato Mozzato

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Different organizational settings have been gaining ground in the world economy, resulting in a proliferation of different forms of strategic alliances that translate into a growth in the number of organizations that have started to deal with interorganizational relationships with different actors. These circumstances reinforce Crossan, Lane, White and Djurfeldt (1995 and Crossan, Mauer and White (2011 in exploring what authors refer to as the fourth, interorganizational, level of learning. These authors, amongst others, suggest that the process of interorganizational learning (IOL warrants investigation, as its scope of analysis needs widening and deepening. Therefore, this theoretical essay is an attempt to understand IOL as a dynamic process found in interorganizational cooperative relationships that can take place in different structured and unstructured social spaces and that can generate learning episodes. According to this view, IOL is understood as part of an organizational learning continuum and is analyzed within the framework of practical rationality in an approach that is less cognitive and more social-behavioral.

Developing Safe Schools Partnerships with Law Enforcement

Science.gov (United States)

Rosiak, John

2009-01-01

Safe schools are the concern of communities throughout the world. If a school is safe, and if children feel safe, students "are better able to learn. But what are the steps to make" this happen? First, it is important to understand the problem: What are the threats to school safety? These include crime-related behaviors that find their way to…

Space as a Tool for Analysis: Examining Digital Learning Spaces

Science.gov (United States)

Harrison, Michelle

2018-01-01

Over the past decade we have seen a rise in the adoption and proliferation of social technologies, and along with these a move to build on the capacity to embrace new pedagogies and practices that can open our boundaries for both teaching and learning. How do we determine what we mean by space specifically in online environments and how can we…

Landscape planning for a safe city

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Ishikawa

2002-06-01

Full Text Available To create a safe city free from natural disasters has been one of the important criteria in city planning. Since large cities have suffered from large fires caused by earthquakes, the planning of open spaces to prevent the spread of fires is part of the basic structure of city planning in Japan. Even in the feudal city of Edo, the former name of Tokyo, there had been open spaces to prevent fire disasters along canals and rivers. This paper discusses the historical evolution of open space planning, that we call landscape planning, through the experiences in Tokyo, and clarifies the characteristics and problems for achieving a safe city.

Decision Making in Reinforcement Learning Using a Modified Learning Space Based on the Importance of Sensors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yasutaka Kishima

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Many studies have been conducted on the application of reinforcement learning (RL to robots. A robot which is made for general purpose has redundant sensors or actuators because it is difficult to assume an environment that the robot will face and a task that the robot must execute. In this case, -space on RL contains redundancy so that the robot must take much time to learn a given task. In this study, we focus on the importance of sensors with regard to a robot’s performance of a particular task. The sensors that are applicable to a task differ according to the task. By using the importance of the sensors, we try to adjust the state number of the sensors and to reduce the size of -space. In this paper, we define the measure of importance of a sensor for a task with the correlation between the value of each sensor and reward. A robot calculates the importance of the sensors and makes the size of -space smaller. We propose the method which reduces learning space and construct the learning system by putting it in RL. In this paper, we confirm the effectiveness of our proposed system with an experimental robot.

Human reinforcement learning subdivides structured action spaces by learning effector-specific values

OpenAIRE

Gershman, Samuel J.; Pesaran, Bijan; Daw, Nathaniel D.

2009-01-01

Humans and animals are endowed with a large number of effectors. Although this enables great behavioral flexibility, it presents an equally formidable reinforcement learning problem of discovering which actions are most valuable, due to the high dimensionality of the action space. An unresolved question is how neural systems for reinforcement learning – such as prediction error signals for action valuation associated with dopamine and the striatum – can cope with this “curse of dimensionality...

From Commons to Classroom: The Evolution of Learning Spaces in Academic Libraries

Science.gov (United States)

Karasic, Victoria

2016-01-01

Over the past two decades, academic library spaces have evolved to meet the changing teaching and learning needs of diverse campus communities. The Information Commons combines the physical and virtual in an informal library space, whereas the recent Active Learning Classroom creates a more formal setting for collaboration. As scholarship has…

Intentional Process for Intentional Space: Higher Education Classroom Spaces for Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Olsen, Taimi; Guffey, Stanley

2016-01-01

This chapter addresses the confluence of theory and practice in developing and using "flexible" classrooms for student learning. A large classroom building renovation will be described, in terms of how collaboration and co-creation of value led to early success of the renovated space. Co-creation of value for staff and faculty can help…

Learning from Space Entrepreneurs

Science.gov (United States)

Pomerantz, William

2008-01-01

The early days of rocketry and space exploration in the United States were marked by incredibly rapid progress: a seemingly endless parade of firsts. Not coincidentally, this period also saw more than its fair share of failure, especially in the infamous "kaputnik" days prior to the successful launch of Explorer. Without a standard canon of known quantities to turn to, the early pioneers of rocketry and space flight were forced to dream up new ideas that ranged from the elegant to the bizarre and to accept the fact that the price of radical progress is occasional failure. Nowadays, rapid prototyping and testing have slowed, as we rely more and more on the extensive knowledge pined by our predecessors and on the embarrassment of riches modern engineers get from computational modeling and computer assisted design. In many cases, this leads to much improved or phenomenally more efficient designs. It also, however, fosters a culture so terrified of failure that we over-engineer and overanalyze everything, often tweaking designs for decades before a new system takes flight. (This is not a problem unique to rockets; the same phenomenon seems to have occurred in high-performance jets.) This is one reason why it was possible for President Kennedy to dream of the completion of the Mercury and Gemini missions and a successful landing on the moon in under a decade, while returning to the moon may take nearly twice as long. Lacking access to the tremendous computational resources of the national space program-and, just as importantly, removed from the harsh judgment of public shareholders or congressional appropriations committees-the hungry entrepreneurs who compete for our prizes tend not to display such fear of failure. Instead, most of them follow a rapid "build, test, fly" program. They are willing to throw a handful of concepts against the wall and see what sticks. They often go from drawing on the back of a napkin to firing engines or even flying vehicles in a matter of

Playful learning in higher education

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nørgård, Rikke Toft; Toft-Nielsen, Claus; Whitton, Nicola

2017-01-01

in higher education through the metaphor of the ‘magic circle’. This approach stimulates intrinsic motivation and educational drive, creates safe spaces for academic experimentation and exploration, and promotes reflective risk-taking, ideation, and participation in education. We present a model of playful......Increased focus on quantifiable performance and assessment in higher education is creating a learning culture characterised by fear of failing, avoidance of risk, and extrinsic goal-oriented behaviours. In this article, we explore possibilities of a more playful approach to teaching and learning...... learning, drawing on notions of signature pedagogies, field literature, and two qualitative studies on learner conceptions of enjoyment and reasons for disengagement. We highlight the potential of this approach to invite a different mind-set and environment, providing a formative space in which failure...

From Planetary Boundaries to national fair shares of the global safe operating space — How can the scales be bridged?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Häyhä, Tiina; Lucas, Paul L.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/272607444; van Vuuren, Detlef P.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/11522016X; Cornell, Sarah E.; Hoff, Holger

2016-01-01

The planetary boundaries framework proposes quantitative global limits to the anthropogenic perturbation of crucial Earth system processes, and thus marks out a planetary safe operating space for human activities. Yet, decisions regarding resource use and emissions are mostly made at less aggregated

Towards Ways to Promote Interaction in Digital Learning Spaces

OpenAIRE

Olsson , Hanna ,

2012-01-01

Part 7: Doctoral Student Papers; International audience; Social learning is dependent on social interactions. I am exploring ways to promote interaction in Digital Learning Spaces. As theoretical framework I use the types of interaction between learner, instructor and content. That learners feel isolated and lonely in DLSs is a problem which comes at high cost for social learning. My aim is to promote social interaction by offering the edentity: a system for making participants visible to eac...

Learning Latent Vector Spaces for Product Search

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Van Gysel, C.; de Rijke, M.; Kanoulas, E.

2016-01-01

We introduce a novel latent vector space model that jointly learns the latent representations of words, e-commerce products and a mapping between the two without the need for explicit annotations. The power of the model lies in its ability to directly model the discriminative relation between

The Rhetoric of Multi-Display Learning Spaces: exploratory experiences in visual art disciplines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brett Bligh

2010-11-01

Full Text Available Multi-Display Learning Spaces (MD-LS comprise technologies to allow the viewing of multiple simultaneous visual materials, modes of learning which encourage critical reflection upon these materials, and spatial configurations which afford interaction between learners and the materials in orchestrated ways. In this paper we provide an argument for the benefits of Multi-Display Learning Spaces in supporting complex, disciplinary reasoning within learning, focussing upon our experiences within postgraduate visual arts education. The importance of considering the affordances of the physical environment within education has been acknowledged by the recent attention given to Learning Spaces, yet within visual art disciplines the perception of visual material within a given space has long been seen as a key methodological consideration with implications for the identity of the discipline itself. We analyse the methodological, technological and spatial affordances of MD-LS to support learning, and discuss comparative viewing as a disciplinary method to structure visual analysis within the space which benefits from the simultaneous display of multiple partitions of visual evidence. We offer an analysis of the role of the teacher in authoring and orchestration and conclude by proposing a more general structure for what we term ‘multiple perspective learning’, in which the presentation of multiple pieces of visual evidence creates the conditions for complex argumentation within Higher Education.

Safe spaces for youth "At Risk"

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Morten Kromann; Wistoft, Karen

as different motivations, strategies and outcomes from participation in the program activities that can be identified in two main trajectories: network building and job training and emerging activist identities engaging youth in food justice issues and movement building in local communities. The research shows...... for learning, democratic participation and citizenship education through farming and gardening. Keywords: Food Systems, Transformative Learning, Youth Empowerment Stream: Food Policies, Politics and Cultures Presentation Type: Paper Presentation in a Themed Session in English Paper: A paper has not yet been...

Synthetic torpor: A method for safely and practically transporting experimental animals aboard spaceflight missions to deep space

Science.gov (United States)

Griko, Yuri; Regan, Matthew D.

2018-02-01

Animal research aboard the Space Shuttle and International Space Station has provided vital information on the physiological, cellular, and molecular effects of spaceflight. The relevance of this information to human spaceflight is enhanced when it is coupled with information gleaned from human-based research. As NASA and other space agencies initiate plans for human exploration missions beyond low Earth orbit (LEO), incorporating animal research into these missions is vitally important to understanding the biological impacts of deep space. However, new technologies will be required to integrate experimental animals into spacecraft design and transport them beyond LEO in a safe and practical way. In this communication, we propose the use of metabolic control technologies to reversibly depress the metabolic rates of experimental animals while in transit aboard the spacecraft. Compared to holding experimental animals in active metabolic states, the advantages of artificially inducing regulated, depressed metabolic states (called synthetic torpor) include significantly reduced mass, volume, and power requirements within the spacecraft owing to reduced life support requirements, and mitigated radiation- and microgravity-induced negative health effects on the animals owing to intrinsic physiological properties of torpor. In addition to directly benefitting animal research, synthetic torpor-inducing systems will also serve as test beds for systems that may eventually hold human crewmembers in similar metabolic states on long-duration missions. The technologies for inducing synthetic torpor, which we discuss, are at relatively early stages of development, but there is ample evidence to show that this is a viable idea and one with very real benefits to spaceflight programs. The increasingly ambitious goals of world's many spaceflight programs will be most quickly and safely achieved with the help of animal research systems transported beyond LEO; synthetic torpor may

A Novel Transfer Learning Method Based on Common Space Mapping and Weighted Domain Matching

KAUST Repository

Liang, Ru-Ze; Xie, Wei; Li, Weizhi; Wang, Hongqi; Wang, Jim Jing-Yan; Taylor, Lisa

2017-01-01

In this paper, we propose a novel learning framework for the problem of domain transfer learning. We map the data of two domains to one single common space, and learn a classifier in this common space. Then we adapt the common classifier to the two domains by adding two adaptive functions to it respectively. In the common space, the target domain data points are weighted and matched to the target domain in term of distributions. The weighting terms of source domain data points and the target domain classification responses are also regularized by the local reconstruction coefficients. The novel transfer learning framework is evaluated over some benchmark cross-domain data sets, and it outperforms the existing state-of-the-art transfer learning methods.

A Novel Transfer Learning Method Based on Common Space Mapping and Weighted Domain Matching

KAUST Repository

Liang, Ru-Ze

2017-01-17

In this paper, we propose a novel learning framework for the problem of domain transfer learning. We map the data of two domains to one single common space, and learn a classifier in this common space. Then we adapt the common classifier to the two domains by adding two adaptive functions to it respectively. In the common space, the target domain data points are weighted and matched to the target domain in term of distributions. The weighting terms of source domain data points and the target domain classification responses are also regularized by the local reconstruction coefficients. The novel transfer learning framework is evaluated over some benchmark cross-domain data sets, and it outperforms the existing state-of-the-art transfer learning methods.

The Influence of Hierarchy and Layout Geometry in the Design of Learning Spaces

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Charlie

2017-01-01

For a number of years, higher education has moved away from didactic teaching toward collaborative and self-directed learning. This paper discusses how the configuration and spatial geometry of learning spaces influences engagement and interaction, with a particular focus on hierarchies between people within the space. Layouts, presented as…

From Planetary Boundaries to national fair shares of the global safe operating space - How can the scales be bridged?

Science.gov (United States)

Häyhä, Tiina; Cornell, Sarah; Lucas, Paul; van Vuuren, Detlef; Hoff, Holger

2016-04-01

The planetary boundaries framework proposes precautionary quantitative global limits to the anthropogenic perturbation of crucial Earth system processes. In this way, it marks out a planetary 'safe operating space' for human activities. However, decisions regarding resource use and emissions are mostly made at much smaller scales, mostly by (sub-)national and regional governments, businesses, and other local actors. To operationalize the planetary boundaries, they need to be translated into and aligned with targets that are relevant at these smaller scales. In this paper, we develop a framework that addresses the three dimension of bridging across scales: biophysical, socio-economic and ethical, to provide a consistent universally applicable approach for translating the planetary boundaries into national level context-specific and fair shares of the safe operating space. We discuss our findings in the context of previous studies and their implications for future analyses and policymaking. In this way, we help link the planetary boundaries framework to widely- applied operational and policy concepts for more robust strong sustainability decision-making.

Action Research as a Space for Transforming Learning Cultures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elżbieta Wołodźko

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The article presents a three-year educational action research project on autonomous and reflective learning. Students and teachers, being actively engaged in many learning practices, were both participating in process(es of developing educational and research community. These interrelated processes framed a dynamic space for constructing and reconstructing the participants’ learning cultures. Thanks to linking educational and research aspects of students’ activity and to interpenetration of practice and reflection, action research generates particular conditions for learning cultures’ transformation, from “traditional” toward “new” ones, based on reflectivity, authenticity and empowerment. The dynamism of learning cultures was connected to various and conscious and reflective types of educational participation, which affected autonomy of studying (in its numerous dimensions and types, being in turn a constitutive element of participants’ learning cultures.

A Learning State-Space Model for Image Retrieval

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lee Greg C

2007-01-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes an approach based on a state-space model for learning the user concepts in image retrieval. We first design a scheme of region-based image representation based on concept units, which are integrated with different types of feature spaces and with different region scales of image segmentation. The design of the concept units aims at describing similar characteristics at a certain perspective among relevant images. We present the details of our proposed approach based on a state-space model for interactive image retrieval, including likelihood and transition models, and we also describe some experiments that show the efficacy of our proposed model. This work demonstrates the feasibility of using a state-space model to estimate the user intuition in image retrieval.

An online learning space facilitating supervision pedagogies in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Quality research supervision leading to timely completion and student satisfaction involves explicit pedagogy and effective communication. This article describes the development within an action research cycle of an online learning space designed to achieve these goals. The research 'spirals' involved interventions in the ...

Sodium heat pipe module test for the SAFE-30 reactor prototype

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reid, Robert S.; Sena, J. Tom; Martinez, Adam L.

2001-01-01

Reliable, long-life, low-cost heat pipes can enable safe, affordable space fission power and propulsion systems. Advanced versions of these systems can in turn allow rapid access to any point in the solar system. Twelve stainless steel-sodium heat pipe modules were built and tested at Los Alamos for use in a non-nuclear thermohydraulic simulation of the SAFE-30 reactor (Poston et al., 2000). SAFE-30 is a near-term, low-cost space fission system demonstration. The heat pipes were designed to remove thermal power from the SAFE-30 core, and transfer this power to an electrical power conversion system. These heat pipe modules were delivered to NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in August 2000 and were assembled and tested in a prototypical configuration during September and October 2000. The construction and test of one of the SAFE-30 modules is described

Learning Theory Expertise in the Design of Learning Spaces: Who Needs a Seat at the Table?

Science.gov (United States)

Rook, Michael M.; Choi, Koun; McDonald, Scott P.

2015-01-01

This study highlights the impact of including stakeholders with expertise in learning theory in a learning space design process. We present the decision-making process during the design of the Krause Innovation Studio on the campus of the Pennsylvania State University to draw a distinction between the architect and faculty member's decision-making…

Safe and unsafe spaces: Non-fatal overdose, arrest, and receptive syringe sharing among people who inject drugs in public and semi-public spaces in Baltimore City.

Science.gov (United States)

Hunter, Kyle; Park, Ju Nyeong; Allen, Sean T; Chaulk, Patrick; Frost, Taeko; Weir, Brian W; Sherman, Susan G

2018-04-13

The spaces in which drug use occurs constitutes a key aspect of the "risk environment" of people who inject drugs (PWID). We aimed to add nuance to the characterization of "safe" and "unsafe" spaces in PWID's environments to further understand how these spaces amplify the risk of morbidities associated with injection drug use. PWID were recruited through the Baltimore City syringe service program and through peer referral. Participants completed a socio-behavioral survey. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify associations between utilization of public, semi-public and private spaces with arrest, non-fatal overdose, and receptive syringe sharing. The sample of PWID (N = 283) was mostly 45 years and older (54%), male (69%), Black (55%), and heroin users (96%). Compared to PWID who primarily used private settings, the adjusted odds of recent overdose were greater among PWID who mostly used semi-public and public locations to inject drugs. We also found independent associations between arrest and semi-public spaces, and between receptive syringe sharing and public spaces (all p spaces where PWID can reduce their risk of overdose, likelihood of arrest and blood-borne diseases, and the dual potential of the environment in promoting health and risk. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Cube and the Poppy Flower: Participatory Approaches for Designing Technology-Enhanced Learning Spaces

Science.gov (United States)

Casanova, Diogo; Mitchell, Paul

2017-01-01

This paper presents an alternative method for learning space design that is driven by user input. An exploratory study was undertaken at an English university with the aim of redesigning technology-enhanced learning spaces. Two provocative concepts were presented through participatory design workshops during which students and teachers reflected…

Experience the city : analysis of space-time behavior and spatial learning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Moiseeva, A.

2013-01-01

Learning plays an important role by coding information into individual cognitive maps that can be used to make decisions concerning individual behavior in space. Through traveling people learn about the urban environment and update their knowledge. In this regard, the growing concern in the field of

Commercial experience with facility deactivation to safe storage

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sype, T.T. [Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States); Fischer, S.R. [Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States); Lee, J.H. Jr.; Sanchez, L.C.; Ottinger, C.A.; Pirtle, G.J. [Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)

1995-09-01

The Department of Energy (DOE) has shutdown many production reactors; the Department has begun a major effort to also shutdown a wide variety of other nuclear facilities. Because so many facilities are being closed, it is necessary to place many of them into a safe- storage status, i.e., deactivation, before conducting decommissioning- for perhaps as long as 20 years. The challenge is to achieve this safe-storage condition in a cost-effective manner while remaining in compliance with applicable regulations. The DOE Office of Environmental Management, Office of Transition and Management, commissioned a lessons-learned study of commercial experience with safe storage and decommissioning. Although the majority of the commercial experience has been with reactors, many of the lessons learned presented in this document can provide insight into transitioning challenges that Will be faced by the DOE weapons complex.

Commercial experience with facility deactivation to safe storage

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sype, T.T.; Fischer, S.R.; Lee, J.H. Jr.; Sanchez, L.C.; Ottinger, C.A.; Pirtle, G.J.

1995-09-01

The Department of Energy (DOE) has shutdown many production reactors; the Department has begun a major effort to also shutdown a wide variety of other nuclear facilities. Because so many facilities are being closed, it is necessary to place many of them into a safe- storage status, i.e., deactivation, before conducting decommissioning- for perhaps as long as 20 years. The challenge is to achieve this safe-storage condition in a cost-effective manner while remaining in compliance with applicable regulations. The DOE Office of Environmental Management, Office of Transition and Management, commissioned a lessons-learned study of commercial experience with safe storage and decommissioning. Although the majority of the commercial experience has been with reactors, many of the lessons learned presented in this document can provide insight into transitioning challenges that Will be faced by the DOE weapons complex

On equivalent parameter learning in simplified feature space based on Bayesian asymptotic analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Yamazaki, Keisuke

2012-07-01

Parametric models for sequential data, such as hidden Markov models, stochastic context-free grammars, and linear dynamical systems, are widely used in time-series analysis and structural data analysis. Computation of the likelihood function is one of primary considerations in many learning methods. Iterative calculation of the likelihood such as the model selection is still time-consuming though there are effective algorithms based on dynamic programming. The present paper studies parameter learning in a simplified feature space to reduce the computational cost. Simplifying data is a common technique seen in feature selection and dimension reduction though an oversimplified space causes adverse learning results. Therefore, we mathematically investigate a condition of the feature map to have an asymptotically equivalent convergence point of estimated parameters, referred to as the vicarious map. As a demonstration to find vicarious maps, we consider the feature space, which limits the length of data, and derive a necessary length for parameter learning in hidden Markov models. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Designing new collaborative learning spaces in clinical environments: experiences from a children's hospital in Australia.

Science.gov (United States)

Bines, Julie E; Jamieson, Peter

2013-09-01

Hospitals are complex places that provide a rich learning environment for students, staff, patients and their families, professional groups and the community. The "new" Royal Children's Hospital opened in late 2011. Its mission is focused on improving health and well-being of children and adolescents through leadership in healthcare, research and education. Addressing the need to create "responsive learning environments" aligned with the shift to student-centred pedagogy, two distinct learning environments were developed within the new Royal Children's Hospital; (i) a dedicated education precinct providing a suite of physical environments to promote a more active, collaborative and social learning experience for education and training programs conducted on the Royal Children's Hospital campus and (ii) a suite of learning spaces embedded within clinical areas so that learning becomes an integral part of the daily activities of this busy Hospital environment. The aim of this article is to present the overarching educational principles that lead the design of these learning spaces and describe the opportunities and obstacles encountered in the development of collaborative learning spaces within a large hospital development.

Learning Landscapes: Playing the Way to Learning and Engagement in Public Spaces

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brenna Hassinger-Das

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Children from under-resourced communities regularly enter formal schooling lagging behind their peers. These deficits in areas such as language development, reading readiness, and even in the kind of spatial skills that predict later mathematical knowledge, may persist throughout their lifespan. To address such gaps, policymakers have focused largely on schooling as the great equalizer. Yet, children only spend 20% of their waking hours in school. How can developmental scientists and educators address this “other 80%” for the benefit of children’s development? One answer is the Learning Landscapes initiative, which involves crafting carefully planned play experiences that focus on learning outcomes, particularly for children and families from under-resourced communities. Playful learning, a broad pedagogical approach featuring child-directed play methods, provides a unique way to foster learning and engagement organically within the built environment. Learning Landscapes already incorporates several well-documented projects. The Ultimate Block Party brought over 50,000 people to Central Park to engage in playful learning activities. Supermarkets became hotspots for caregiver-child interaction by simply adding prompts for caregiver-child interaction through signage in everyday “trapped” experiences. Urban Thinkscape transformed a bus stop and adjacent lot into a hub for playful learning while families were waiting for public transportation. Finally, Parkopolis is a life-size human board game that fosters STEM and reasoning skills in public spaces. This paper reflects on data from these projects while reflecting on lessons learned and future directions.

Construction and Evaluation of an Integrated Formal/Informal Learning Environment for Foreign Language Learning across Real and Virtual Spaces

Science.gov (United States)

Waragai, Ikumi; Ohta, Tatsuya; Kurabayashi, Shuichi; Kiyoki, Yasushi; Sato, Yukiko; Brückner, Stefan

2017-01-01

This paper presents the prototype of a foreign language learning space, based on the construction of an integrated formal/informal learning environment. Before the background of the continued innovation of information technology that places conventional learning styles and educational methods into new contexts based on new value-standards,…

Active learning in the space engineering education at Technical University of Madrid

Science.gov (United States)

Rodríguez, Jacobo; Laverón-Simavilla, Ana; Lapuerta, Victoria; Ezquerro Navarro, Jose Miguel; Cordero-Gracia, Marta

This work describes the innovative activities performed in the field of space education at the Technical University of Madrid (UPM), in collaboration with the center engaged by the European Space Agency (ESA) in Spain to support the operations for scientific experiments on board the International Space Station (E-USOC). These activities have been integrated along the last academic year of the Aerospatiale Engineering degree. A laboratory has been created, where the students have to validate and integrate the subsystems of a microsatellite by using demonstrator satellites. With the acquired skills, the students participate in a training process centered on Project Based Learning, where the students work in groups to perform the conceptual design of a space mission, being each student responsible for the design of a subsystem of the satellite and another one responsible of the mission design. In parallel, the students perform a training using a ground station, installed at the E-USOC building, which allow them to learn how to communicate with satellites, how to download telemetry and how to process the data. This also allows students to learn how the E-USOC works. Two surveys have been conducted to evaluate the impact of these techniques in the student engineering skills and to know the degree of satisfaction of students with respect to the use of these learning methodologies.

Conscious Thought is for facilitating the work places as learning spaces

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Dellen, Theo

2015-01-01

Conscious Thought is for facilitating the work places as learning spaces Theo van Dellen In the workplace learning and development of work identity can be assumed in at least three ways. First, the processes are managed by the organizational context, which promotes a particular model of workers as

Cultivating social learning spaces at an urban Johannesburg university student residence

OpenAIRE

Agherdien, Najma

2015-01-01

Ph.D. (Education) This case study investigated the conceptualisation and implementation of social learning spaces (SLS) in a University of Johannesburg student residence. The literature base I drew on included ideas, concepts and constructs associated with learning communities [where the terms ‘SLS’ and ‘learning communities’ (LCs) are often used interchangeably], Wenger’s communities of practice, the First Year Experience (FYE), university student residence life and transformation in high...

Commentary: Latina Literacies in "Convivencia": Communal Spaces of Teaching and Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Villenas, Sofia A.

2005-01-01

Inspired by Delgado-Gaitan's work with Latina mothers' stories of transformation, this commentary engages scholarship on the communal "mujer-" or womanist-oriented spaces of teaching and learning. The author explores themes of "convivencia" (communalism) centered on faith, spirituality, and humor central to creating compassionate spaces of…

The Role of Space in Learning: Spatio-Educational Experiences of Female Students within Emirati Higher Education

OpenAIRE

Zaidan, Gergana

2015-01-01

This interdisciplinary research examines the intersectional relationship between\\ud the domains of space, gender and education. It aims, first, to understand the\\ud spatio-educational experience of Emirati female learners; and second, to make\\ud it possible to enhance their learning experience by exploring the role of space in\\ud learning in a single gender context. This thesis addresses the lack of literature\\ud on women’s spatiality and space in learning, specifically in relation to Arab\\ud...

SafeDroid: A Distributed Malware Detection Service for Android

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Goyal, Rohit; Spognardi, Angelo; Dragoni, Nicola

2016-01-01

Android platform has become a primary target for malware. In this paper we present SafeDroid, an open source distributed service to detect malicious apps on Android by combining static analysis and machine learning techniques. It is composed by three micro-services, working together, combining...... static analysis and machine learning techniques. SafeDroid has been designed as a user friendly service, providing detailed feedback in case of malware detection. The detection service is optimized to be lightweight and easily updated. The feature set on which the micro-service of detection relies...

Students' Imaginings of Spaces of Learning in Outdoor and Environmental Education

Science.gov (United States)

Preston, Lou

2014-01-01

In this article, I interrogate students' stories about the spaces and places in a tertiary Outdoor and Environmental Education course that support and shape their environmental ethics. Drawing on a longitudinal qualitative study, I explore the ways in which particular sites of learning (outdoor, practical learning) are privileged and how…

The study of selective property of college student’s learning space

Science.gov (United States)

Nagai, Mizuki; Matsumoto, Yuji; Naka, Ryusuke

2018-05-01

These days, college students study not only at places designed for learning such as libraries in colleges, but also cafes in downtown while the number of facilities for learning run by colleges is increasing. Then I have researched facilities in college and those in downtown to find selective properties of college students’ learning space. First, I found by questionnaire survey that students chose “3rd place” such as cafes and fast food shops, second to their houses and libraries in college. Next, I found “psychological factor” were also affected their choice. Furthermore, they studied different subjects at different places. In experiments, I researched how effectively they studied each subject at every place. The results show that I find that places you like and places where learning efficiency is good are different. They learned the least effective at “3d place” regardless of what they learned. The result of how long they kept high-level intellectual activity at each place shows that they could work on the study with more motivation at their favorite place and 3rd place. On the other hand, at the 2nd place, they could study rather effectively, but could not keep concentration and motivation for a long time. In this way, college students have 2 patterns of choosing learning space.

Learning strategies of public health nursing students: conquering operational space.

Science.gov (United States)

Hjälmhult, Esther

2009-11-01

To develop understanding of how public health nursing students learn in clinical practice and explore the main concern for the students and how they acted to resolve this main concern. How professionals perform their work directly affects individuals, but knowledge is lacking in understanding how learning is connected to clinical practice in public health nursing and in other professions. Grounded theory. Grounded theory was used in gathering and analysing data from 55 interviews and 108 weekly reports. The participants were 21 registered nurses who were public health nursing students. The grounded theory of conquering operational space explains how the students work to resolve their main concern. A social process with three identified phases, positioning, involving and integrating, was generated from analysing the data. Their subcategories and dimensions are related to the student role, relations with a supervisor, student activity and the consequences of each phase. Public health nursing students had to work towards gaining independence, often working against 'the system' and managing the tension by taking a risk. Many of them lost, changed and expanded their professional identity during practical placements. Public health nursing students' learning processes in clinical training are complex and dynamic and the theory of 'Conquering operational space' can assist supervisors in further developing their role in relation to guiding students in practice. Relationships are one key to opening or closing access to situations of learning and directly affect the students' achievement of mastering. The findings are pertinent to supervisors and educators as they prepare students for practice. Good relationships are elementary and supervisors can support students in conquering the field by letting students obtain operational space and gain independence. This may create a dialectical process that drives learning forward.

Topology of sustainable management of dynamical systems with desirable states: from defining planetary boundaries to safe operating spaces in the Earth System

Science.gov (United States)

Heitzig, Jobst; Kittel, Tim; Donges, Jonathan; Molkenthin, Nora

2016-04-01

To keep the Earth System in a desirable region of its state space, such as defined by the recently suggested "tolerable environment and development window", "guardrails", "planetary boundaries", or "safe (and just) operating space for humanity", one not only needs to understand the quantitative internal dynamics of the system and the available options for influencing it (management), but also the structure of the system's state space with regard to certain qualitative differences. Important questions are: Which state space regions can be reached from which others with or without leaving the desirable region? Which regions are in a variety of senses "safe" to stay in when management options might break away, and which qualitative decision problems may occur as a consequence of this topological structure? In this work, we develop a mathematical theory of the qualitative topology of the state space of a dynamical system with management options and desirable states, as a complement to the existing literature on optimal control which is more focussed on quantitative optimization and is much applied in both the engineering and the integrated assessment literature. We suggest a certain terminology for the various resulting regions of the state space and perform a detailed formal classification of the possible states with respect to the possibility of avoiding or leaving the undesired region. Our results indicate that before performing some form of quantitative optimization such as of indicators of human well-being for achieving certain sustainable development goals, a sustainable and resilient management of the Earth System may require decisions of a more discrete type that come in the form of several dilemmas, e.g., choosing between eventual safety and uninterrupted desirability, or between uninterrupted safety and larger flexibility. We illustrate the concepts and dilemmas drawing on conceptual models from climate science, ecology, coevolutionary Earth System modeling

Resident Space Object Characterization and Behavior Understanding via Machine Learning and Ontology-based Bayesian Networks

Science.gov (United States)

Furfaro, R.; Linares, R.; Gaylor, D.; Jah, M.; Walls, R.

2016-09-01

In this paper, we present an end-to-end approach that employs machine learning techniques and Ontology-based Bayesian Networks (BN) to characterize the behavior of resident space objects. State-of-the-Art machine learning architectures (e.g. Extreme Learning Machines, Convolutional Deep Networks) are trained on physical models to learn the Resident Space Object (RSO) features in the vectorized energy and momentum states and parameters. The mapping from measurements to vectorized energy and momentum states and parameters enables behavior characterization via clustering in the features space and subsequent RSO classification. Additionally, Space Object Behavioral Ontologies (SOBO) are employed to define and capture the domain knowledge-base (KB) and BNs are constructed from the SOBO in a semi-automatic fashion to execute probabilistic reasoning over conclusions drawn from trained classifiers and/or directly from processed data. Such an approach enables integrating machine learning classifiers and probabilistic reasoning to support higher-level decision making for space domain awareness applications. The innovation here is to use these methods (which have enjoyed great success in other domains) in synergy so that it enables a "from data to discovery" paradigm by facilitating the linkage and fusion of large and disparate sources of information via a Big Data Science and Analytics framework.

Active and Passive Technology Integration: A Novel Approach for Managing Technology's Influence on Learning Experiences in Context-Aware Learning Spaces

Science.gov (United States)

Laine, Teemu H.; Nygren, Eeva

2016-01-01

Technology integration is the process of overcoming different barriers that hinder efficient utilisation of learning technologies. The authors divide technology integration into two components based on technology's role in the integration process. In active integration, the technology integrates learning resources into a learning space, making it…

Making "ethical safe space" in the translation of contested knowledge: the role of community debate in defining end-of-life decision ethics.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaufert, Joseph; Schwartz, Karen; Wiebe, Rhonda; Derksen, Jim; Lutfiyya, Zana M; Richert, Dean

2013-04-01

The objectives of this article are, first, to document a unique process of research knowledge translation (KT), which the authors describe as the creation of "ethical safe space," and, second, to document the narratives of forum participants and describe their interaction in a dialogue about vulnerability, the authority of physicians, and the perspective of people with disabilities on the policy. Narrative data from qualitative interviews with individual key informants and focus groups were used to identify speakers with specific expertise on policy, disability perspectives, and bioethical issues, who were invited to participate in the Forum on Ethical Safe Space. The planning workgroup adopted a model for enabling representative participation in the public forum designed to reduce the impact of physical, sensory, financial, language, and professional status barriers. Using the transcripts and keynote speakers' printed texts, primary themes and patterns of interaction were identified reflecting the alternative perspectives. Through the development of a workshop on ethical, legal, and disability-related implications of professional policy guidelines developed by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba, we provided a qualitative analysis of the discourse involving experts and disability community members supporting alternative positions on the impact of the policy statement, and discuss ethical, legal, and disability rights issues identified in the public debate. Contested policy and ethical frameworks for making decisions about withdrawing and withholding life supporting treatment may influence both the perspectives of palliative care providers and patients referred to palliative care facilities. An innovative model for KT using a public forum that enabled stakeholders with conflicting perspectives to engage with ethical and professional policy issues asserting the physician's authority in contested decisions involving withdrawing or withholding life

Leveraging Faculty Reflective Practice to Understand Active Learning Spaces: Flashbacks and Re-Captures

Science.gov (United States)

Ramsay, Crystal M.; Guo, Xiuyan; Pursel, Barton K.

2017-01-01

Although learning spaces research is not new, research approaches that target the specific teaching and learning experiences of faculty and students who occupy active learning classrooms (ALCs) is nascent. We report on two novels data collection approaches: Flashbacks and Re-Captures. Both leverage faculty reflective practice and provide windows…

Safe Sleep for Babies PSA (:60)

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

This 60 second public service announcement is based on the January 2018 CDC Vital Signs report. Every year, there are about 3,500 sleep-related deaths among U.S. babies. Learn how to create a safe sleep environment for babies.

Developments in the Multilingual and Multicultural Learning Space

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lauridsen, Karen M.; Cozart, Stacey Marie; Kling, Joyce

Uni project (2012-15) recommends that higher education institutions (HEI) provide ‘the necessary professional development and teacher training programmes that will allow HE teachers to appropriately develop (…) their professional and pedagogical knowledge, skills and competences and thereby empower them...... to ensure the quality of their teaching – and their students’ learning – in the multilingual and multicultural learning space’ (www.intluni.eu; Carroll 2015; Leask 2015). For many universities and other HEIs around the world, the multilingual and multicultural classroom is the new – or no longer quite so...... platform with resources targeted at EDs responsible for advancing faculty development in this area. In this session, the presenters will report on the first outcomes of EQUiiP. Participants will then be invited to interact and explore best practices in the multilingual and multicultural learning space...

Uncommons: Transforming Dusty Reading Rooms into Artefactual "Third Space" Library Learning Labs

Science.gov (United States)

Schadl, Suzanne Michele; Nelson, Molly; Valencia, Kristen S.

2015-01-01

This article describes the implementation of two inexpensive social learning library laboratories for advanced students in Latin American and Chicana/o studies. Drawing on philosophical literature from these interdisciplinary areas and ethnic studies, these cases present a "third space" option for library learning called…

IntlUni - The Challenges of the Multilingual and Multicultural Learning Space in the International University

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lauridsen, Karen M.

learning space, and to develop recommendations for how higher education institutions may implement and ensure the sustainability of quality teaching and learning in this space. IntlUni is a three-year Erasmus Academic Network (2012-2015) and has received financial support from the European Commission......IntlUni: The challenges of the multilingual and multicultural learning space in the international university The past decade has witnessed an unprecedented increase in the internationalisation of higher education. This means that more people in higher education than ever before are teaching...... and learning through the medium of a language other than their own first languages. What are the implication of this for lecturers and students? And what are the implications for this for the quality of European higher education programmes? Taking it for granted that the internationalisation of higher...

Prototypes and matrix relevance learning in complex fourier space

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Straat, M.; Kaden, M.; Gay, M.; Villmann, T.; Lampe, Alexander; Seiffert, U.; Biehl, M.; Melchert, F.

2017-01-01

In this contribution, we consider the classification of time-series and similar functional data which can be represented in complex Fourier coefficient space. We apply versions of Learning Vector Quantization (LVQ) which are suitable for complex-valued data, based on the so-called Wirtinger

Transforming Conceptual Space into a Creative Learning Place: Crossing a Threshold

Science.gov (United States)

Moffat, Kirstine; McKim, Anne

2016-01-01

This article describes, discusses and reflects on a teaching and learning experiment in a first year BA course. Students were led out of the lecture room to a different space, the New Place Theatre. While this move out of the usual teaching space was appropriate for the text being studied, William Shakespeare's "The Tempest", the…

The Ten Commandments revisited: the Qualities of Good Library Space

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrew McDonald

2006-06-01

Full Text Available An increasing diversity of imaginative new academic libraries are being constructed around the world, successfully combining exciting architectural expression, inspiring internal spaces and good functionality. Library managers must have a strong vision for the new library and this should inspire the design and the whole building process. This paper explores the key qualities of good learning space, whether in new or refurbished buildings. It is suggested that, ideally, learning space should be functional, adaptable, accessible, varied, interactive, conducive, environmentally suitable, safe and secure, efficient and suitable for information technology. New space should also have “oomph”, capturing the minds of users and the spirit of the university. These indicative issues should be discussed in the brief and throughout the planning process, and the priority given to them will depend on the mission and culture of the library. Greater attention is being given to daylight, natural ventilation, cultural artwork, noise management, security, disabled access, information skills training and provision for e-services. Planning is increasingly centred on people or the learner, emphasising the need for social, interactive and collaborative learning spaces as well as for traditional spaces for quiet study and reflection. Some libraries are joined-up with other services. The academic library is an enduring physical ‘place’, providing a blended, hybrid environment of traditional and electronic services crucial for the future of our universities and their communities.

Transformative learning spaces

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Maslo, Elina

Despite rapid development of learning theory in general and language learning theory in particular in the last years, we still cannot provide an unequivocal answer on the question “why do individuals who presumably possess similar cognitive capacities for second language learning achieve such var......, Leo (2010). The ecology of language learning: Practice to theory, theory to practice. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences. Elsevier......., social, personal, cultural, and historical world they live in (van Lier, 2000). People can learn when they discover possibilities for learning, which appear in this complex world – so called affordances (Gibson, 1979). This happens in the interaction between people and their environment on the basis...... to the different ways of interaction of cognitive, affective and social factors by different individuals. Learning stories, where multilingual individuals are telling about their subjective experiences in language learning in particular and learning in general, are constructed by using a special developed...

Lessons Learned from Biosphere 2: When Viewed as a Ground Simulation/Analogue for Long Duration Human Space Exploration and Settlement

Science.gov (United States)

MacCallum, T.; Poynter, J.; Bearden, D.

A human mission to Mars, or a base on the Moon or Mars, is a longer and more complex mission than any space endeavor undertaken to date. Ground simulations provide a relevant, analogous environment for testing technologies and learning how to manage complex, long duration missions, while addressing inherent mission risks. Multiphase human missions and settlements that may preclude a rapid return to Earth, require high fidelity, end-to-end, at least full mission duration tests in order to evaluate a system's ability to sustain the crew for the entire mission and return the crew safely to Earth. Moreover, abort scenarios are essentially precluded in many mission scenarios, though certain risks may only become evident late in the mission. Aging and compounding effects cannot be simulated through accelerated tests for all aspects of the mission. Until such high fidelity long duration simulations are available, and in order to help prepare those simulations and mission designs, it is important to extract as many lessons as possible from analogous environments. Possibly the best analogue for a long duration space mission is the two year mission of Biosphere 2. Biosphere 2 is a three-acre materially closed ecological system that supported eight crewmembers with food, air and water in a sunlight driven bioregenerative system for two years. It was designed for research applicable to environmental management on Earth and the development of human life support for space. A brief overview of the two-year Biosphere 2 mission is presented, followed by select data and lessons learned that are applicable to the design and operation of a long duration human space mission, settlement or test bed. These lessons include technical, programmatic, and psychological issues

Safe or Unsafe? The Paradox of Action Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Robertson, Jane; Bell, Diane

2017-01-01

Business Driven Action Learning (BDAL), as a learning philosophy that attempts to create real value for business is often used by executive education providers in their management development programmes. As the action learning facilitator, I found that the learning that took place during such a management development programme resulted in…

Safe affordable fission engine (SAFE 30) module conductivity test thermal model correlation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roman, Jose

2001-01-01

The SAFE 30 is a simple, robust space fission power system that is comprised of several independent modules. Each module contains 4 fuel tubes bonded to a central heatpipe. Fission energy is conducted from the fuel tubes to the heatpipe, which in turn transfers the energy to a power conversion system. This paper benchmarks a thermal model of the SAFE 30 with actual test data from simulated SAFE 30 module tests. Two 'dummy' SAFE 30 modules were fabricated - each consisted of 4 1-inch dia. tubes (simulating the fuel tubes) bonded to a central '1' dia. tube (simulating the heatpipe). In the first module the fuel tubes were simply brazed to the heatpipe along the line of contact (leaving void space in the interstices), and in the second module the tubes and heatpipe were brazed via tri-cusps that completely fill the interstices between the tubes. In these tests, fission energy is simulated by placing resistance heaters within each of the 4 fuel tubes. The tests were conducted in a vacuum chamber in 4 configurations: tri-cusps filled with and without an outer insulation wrap, and no tri-cusps with and without an outer insulation wrap. The baseline SAFE 30 configuration uses the brazed tri-cusps. During the tests, the power applied to the heaters was varied in a stepwise fashion, until a steady-state temperature profile was reached. These temperature levels varied between 773 K and 1073 K. To benchmark the thermal model, the input energy and chamber surface temperature were used as boundary conditions for the model. The analytical results from the nodes at the same location as the test thermocouples were plotted again test data to determinate the accuracy of the analysis. The unknown variables on the analysis are the radiation emissivity of the pipe and chamber and the radiation view factor between the module and the chamber. A correlation was determined using a parametric analysis by varying the surface emissivity and view factor until a good match was reached. This

Investigating the Impact of Schools' Open Space on Learning and Educational Achievement of Elementary Students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdolreza Gilavand

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Background It is obvious that most of informal learnings of social skills and constructive plays occur in school yards and play-fields where children spend much of their non-official time of teaching. This study aimed to investigate the impact of schools' open space on learning and educational achievement of elementary students in Ahvaz, Southwest of Iran. Materials and Methods At a cross-sectional study, 210 students were selected randomly as sample of study. Data collection tools included Hermance’s achievement motivation questionnaire and researcher-constructed questionnaire (observation checklist to examine the physical parameters of learning schools' open space and interviews with students. Data of study were analyzed in SPSS- 21 software. Results Results of this study showed that schools' open space has a significant impact on learning and academic achievement of elementary school students in Ahvaz- Iran (P

Lack of spacing effects during piano learning

OpenAIRE

Wiseheart, Melody; D?Souza, Annalise A.; Chae, Jacey

2017-01-01

Spacing effects during retention of verbal information are easily obtained, and the effect size is large. Relatively little evidence exists on whether motor skill retention benefits from distributed practice, with even less evidence on complex motor skills. We taught a 17-note musical sequence on a piano to individuals without prior formal training. There were five lags between learning episodes: 0-, 1-, 5-, 10-, and 15-min. After a 5-min retention interval, participants' performance was meas...

14 CFR 91.119 - Minimum safe altitudes: General.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... than 500 feet to any person, vessel, vehicle, or structure. (d) Helicopters. Helicopters may be... 14 Aeronautics and Space 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Minimum safe altitudes: General. 91.119 Section 91.119 Aeronautics and Space FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION...

Warping similarity space in category learning by human subjects: the role of task difficulty

OpenAIRE

Pevtzow, Rachel; Harnad, Stevan

1997-01-01

In innate Categorical Perception (CP) (e.g., colour perception), similarity space is "warped," with regions of increased within-category similarity (compression) and regions of reduced between-category similarity (separation) enh ancing the category boundaries and making categorisation reliable and all-or-none rather than graded. We show that category learning can likewise warp similarity space, resolving uncertainty near category boundaries. Two Hard and two Easy texture learning tasks were ...

Innovative Learning Environments and New Materialism: A Conjunctural Analysis of Pedagogic Spaces

Science.gov (United States)

Charteris, Jennifer; Smardon, Dianne; Nelson, Emily

2017-01-01

An Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development research priority, innovative learning environments (ILEs) have been translated into policy and practice in 25 countries around the world. In Aotearoa/New Zealand, learning spaces are being reconceptualised in relation to this policy work by school leaders who are confronted by an impetus to…

Transformative unlearning: safety, discernment and communities of learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Macdonald, Geraldine

2002-09-01

This paper aims to stimulate awareness about the intellectual and emotional work of 'unlearning' in knowledge workers in the emerging learning age. The importance of providing a safe space for dialogue to promote transformative learning, through building 'communities of learning', is highlighted. Unlearning is conceptualized within a transformative education paradigm, one whose primary orientation is discernment, a personal growth process involving the activities of receptivity, recognition and grieving. The author utilizes the metaphor of an unfolding spiral path to explore her experience of needing to 'unlearn' a trusted nursing practice prior to 'learning' new best caring practices related to infant sleep positions. Macro and micro approaches to facilitating unlearning in organizations, in learners and in nurses are suggested.

Better safe than sorry: Increasing safety in radioactive waste management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gaspar, Miklos; Mutluer, Adem

2015-01-01

Abderrahim Bouih used to be worried about space. In charge of managing Morocco’s radioactive waste since 2006, he had long projected that the country’s sole radioactive waste facility would fill up by 2019. Thanks to a new methodology he and his colleagues learned through an IAEA project, they can now dismantle smoke detectors, lightning rods and other waste that contains radioactive material, safely separating the radioactive components from the metal, and significantly reducing the amount of radioactive waste they need to store. “We have condensed 60 drums of waste into just two,” said Bouih, Head of the Radioactive Waste Collection, Treatment and Storage Unit at the Moroccan National Centre for Nuclear Energy, Sciences and Technology. “This means our site won’t fill up for another 16 years.”

Safe medication management in specialized home healthcare - an observational study.

Science.gov (United States)

Lindblad, Marléne; Flink, Maria; Ekstedt, Mirjam

2017-08-24

Medication management is a complex, error-prone process. The aim of this study was to explore what constitutes the complexity of the medication management process (MMP) in specialized home healthcare and how healthcare professionals handle this complexity. The study is theoretically based in resilience engineering. Data were collected during the MMP at three specialized home healthcare units in Sweden using two strategies: observation of workplaces and shadowing RNs in everyday work, including interviews. Transcribed material was analysed using grounded theory. The MMP in home healthcare was dynamic and complex with unclear boundaries of responsibilities, inadequate information systems and fluctuating work conditions. Healthcare professionals adapted their everyday clinical work by sharing responsibility and simultaneously being authoritative and preserving patients' active participation, autonomy and integrity. To promote a safe MMP, healthcare professionals constantly re-prioritized goals, handled gaps in communication and information transmission at a distance by creating new bridging solutions. Trade-offs and workarounds were necessary elements, but also posed a threat to patient safety, as these interim solutions were not systematically evaluated or devised learning strategies. To manage a safe medication process in home healthcare, healthcare professionals need to adapt to fluctuating conditions and create bridging strategies through multiple parallel activities distributed over time, space and actors. The healthcare professionals' strategies could be integrated in continuous learning, while preserving boundaries of safety, instead of being more or less interim solutions. Patients' and family caregivers' as active partners in the MMP may be an underestimated resource for a resilient home healthcare.

Safe Heavens: Military Strategy and Space Sanctuary Thought

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Ziegler, David

1997-01-01

National leaders are debating the merits of American weapons in space. A decision to operationally deploy such weapons would reverse the United States longstanding commitment to space as a sanctuary...

Safe Heavens. Military Strategy and Space Sanctuary Thought

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Ziegler, David

1998-01-01

National leaders are debating the merits of American weapons in space. A decision to operationally deploy such weapons would reverse the United States's long-standing commitment to space as a sanctuary...

Online Distributed Learning Over Networks in RKH Spaces Using Random Fourier Features

Science.gov (United States)

Bouboulis, Pantelis; Chouvardas, Symeon; Theodoridis, Sergios

2018-04-01

We present a novel diffusion scheme for online kernel-based learning over networks. So far, a major drawback of any online learning algorithm, operating in a reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS), is the need for updating a growing number of parameters as time iterations evolve. Besides complexity, this leads to an increased need of communication resources, in a distributed setting. In contrast, the proposed method approximates the solution as a fixed-size vector (of larger dimension than the input space) using Random Fourier Features. This paves the way to use standard linear combine-then-adapt techniques. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that a complete protocol for distributed online learning in RKHS is presented. Conditions for asymptotic convergence and boundness of the networkwise regret are also provided. The simulated tests illustrate the performance of the proposed scheme.

Learning in Discussion Forums: An Analysis of Knowledge Construction in a Gaming Affinity Space

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Don; Marone, Vittorio

2016-01-01

In the learning sciences and game studies communities, there has been an increasing interest in the potential of game-related "paratexts" and "surrounds" in supporting learning, such as online discussion forums and gaming affinity spaces. While there have been studies identifying how learning occurs in such communities, little…

Designing learning spaces for interprofessional education in the anatomical sciences.

Science.gov (United States)

Cleveland, Benjamin; Kvan, Thomas

2015-01-01

This article explores connections between interprofessional education (IPE) models and the design of learning spaces for undergraduate and graduate education in the anatomical sciences and other professional preparation. The authors argue that for IPE models to be successful and sustained they must be embodied in the environment in which interprofessional learning occurs. To elaborate these arguments, two exemplar tertiary education facilities are discussed: the Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney for science education and research, and Victoria University's Interprofessional Clinic in Wyndham for undergraduate IPE in health care. Backed by well-conceived curriculum and pedagogical models, the architectures of these facilities embody the educational visions, methods, and practices they were designed to support. Subsequently, the article discusses the spatial implications of curriculum and pedagogical change in the teaching of the anatomical sciences and explores how architecture might further the development of IPE models in the field. In conclusion, it is argued that learning spaces should be designed and developed (socially) with the expressed intention of supporting collaborative IPE models in health education settings, including those in the anatomical sciences. © 2015 American Association of Anatomists.

VirtualSpace: A vision of a machine-learned virtual space environment

Science.gov (United States)

Bortnik, J.; Sarno-Smith, L. K.; Chu, X.; Li, W.; Ma, Q.; Angelopoulos, V.; Thorne, R. M.

2017-12-01

Space borne instrumentation tends to come and go. A typical instrument will go through a phase of design and construction, be deployed on a spacecraft for several years while it collects data, and then be decommissioned and fade into obscurity. The data collected from that instrument will typically receive much attention while it is being collected, perhaps in the form of event studies, conjunctions with other instruments, or a few statistical surveys, but once the instrument or spacecraft is decommissioned, the data will be archived and receive progressively less attention with every passing year. This is the fate of all historical data, and will be the fate of data being collected by instruments even at the present time. But what if those instruments could come alive, and all be simultaneously present at any and every point in time and space? Imagine the scientific insights, and societal gains that could be achieved with a grand (virtual) heliophysical observatory that consists of every current and historical mission ever deployed? We propose that this is not just fantasy but is imminently doable with the data currently available, with the present computational resources, and with currently available algorithms. This project revitalizes existing data resources and lays the groundwork for incorporating data from every future mission to expand the scope and refine the resolution of the virtual observatory. We call this project VirtualSpace: a machine-learned virtual space environment.

Autonomous Alignment Advancements for Eye-safe Coherent Lidar, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Eye-safe coherent lidar technology holds increasing promise of meeting NASA's demanding remote 3D space winds goal near term. Highly autonomous, long-range coherent...

Developments in the Multilingual and Multicultural Learning Space

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lauridsen, Karen M.; Cozart, Stacey Marie; Kling, Joyce

Uni project (2012-15) recommends that higher education institutions (HEI) provide ‘the necessary professional development and teacher training programmes that will allow HE teachers to appropriately develop (…) their professional and pedagogical knowledge, skills and competences and thereby empower them...... platform with resources targeted at EDs responsible for advancing faculty development in this area. In this session, the presenters will report on the first outcomes of EQUiiP. Participants will then be invited to interact and explore best practices in the multilingual and multicultural learning space......Internationalization of higher education, and the often accompanying shift from what previously were relatively homogenous national student populations, to more blended, culturally and linguistically heterogeneous group of students, impacts teaching and learning in a number of ways. The Intl...

Manifold learning to interpret JET high-dimensional operational space

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cannas, B; Fanni, A; Pau, A; Sias, G; Murari, A

2013-01-01

In this paper, the problem of visualization and exploration of JET high-dimensional operational space is considered. The data come from plasma discharges selected from JET campaigns from C15 (year 2005) up to C27 (year 2009). The aim is to learn the possible manifold structure embedded in the data and to create some representations of the plasma parameters on low-dimensional maps, which are understandable and which preserve the essential properties owned by the original data. A crucial issue for the design of such mappings is the quality of the dataset. This paper reports the details of the criteria used to properly select suitable signals downloaded from JET databases in order to obtain a dataset of reliable observations. Moreover, a statistical analysis is performed to recognize the presence of outliers. Finally data reduction, based on clustering methods, is performed to select a limited and representative number of samples for the operational space mapping. The high-dimensional operational space of JET is mapped using a widely used manifold learning method, the self-organizing maps. The results are compared with other data visualization methods. The obtained maps can be used to identify characteristic regions of the plasma scenario, allowing to discriminate between regions with high risk of disruption and those with low risk of disruption. (paper)

University-Preschool Partnership and Workplace-Based Learning: A Collaborative "Third Space" or No Space at All?

Science.gov (United States)

Jónsdóttir, Arna H.

2015-01-01

The article examines the aims of the workplace-based learning of prospective preschool teachers in Iceland and associated cooperative practices between the University of Iceland and preschools. A "third space" of collaboration between these two sites is considered necessary if the education of preschool student teachers is to be…

Planetary boundaries: exploring the safe operating space for humanity

Science.gov (United States)

Johan Rockström; Will Steffen; Kevin Noone; Asa Persson; F. Stuart Chapin; Eric Lambin; Timothy M. Lenton; Marten Scheffer; Carl Folke; Hans Joachim Schellnhuber; Björn Nykvist; Cynthia A. de Wit; Terry Hughes; Sander van der Leeuw; Henning Rodhe; Sverker Sörlin; Peter K. Snyder; Robert Costanza; Uno Svedin; Malin Falkenmark; Louise Karlberg; Robert W. Corell; Victoria J. Fabry; James Hansen; Brian Walker; Diana Liverman; Katherine Richardson; Paul Crutzen; Jonathan Foley

2009-01-01

Anthropogenic pressures on the Earth System have reached a scale where abrupt global environmental change can no longer be excluded. We propose a new approach to global sustainability in which we define planetary boundaries within which we expect that humanity can operate safely. Transgressing one or more planetary boundaries may be deleterious or even catastrophic due...

A History of Space Toxicology Mishaps: Lessons Learned and Risk Management

Science.gov (United States)

James, John T.

2009-01-01

After several decades of human spaceflight, the community of space-faring nations has accumulated a diverse and sometimes harrowing history of toxicological events that have plagued human space endeavors almost from the very beginning. Lessons have been learned in ground-based test beds and others were discovered the hard way - when human lives were at stake in space. From such lessons one can build a risk-management framework for toxicological events to minimize the probability of a harmful exposure, while recognizing that we cannot foresee all events. Space toxicologists have learned that relatively harmless compounds can be converted by air revitalization systems into compounds that cause serious harm to the crew. Our toxic risk management strategy now includes an assessment of the fate of any compound that might be released into the atmosphere. Propellants are highly toxic compounds, yet we have not always been able to thoroughly isolate the crew from exposure to these toxicants. Leakage of fluids from systems has resulted in hazardous conditions at times, and the behavior of such compounds inside a spacecraft has taught us how to manage potentially harmful escapes should they occur. Potential combustion events are an ever-present threat to the wellbeing of the crew. Such events have been sufficiently common that we have learned that one cannot judge the health threat of a given fire by the magnitude of the event. Management of such risks demands monitoring of combustion products. In the category of unpredictable toxic events, if one assumes that fires are predictable, we can place experience with toxic microbial metabolites, upsets during repair operations, and discharges from filters that have accumulated a substantial load of pollutants in their absorption beds. Management of such events requires a broad-spectrum, real-time analytical capability to discern the identity and concentrations of pollutants if they enter the atmosphere. Adverse events are an

Advanced Vacuum Plasma Spray (VPS) for a Robust, Longlife and Safe Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME)

Science.gov (United States)

Holmes, Richard R.; Elam, Sandra K.; McKechnie, Timothy N.; Power, Christopher A.

2010-01-01

In 1984, the Vacuum Plasma Spray Lab was built at NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center for applying durable, protective coatings to turbine blades for the space shuttle main engine (SSME) high pressure fuel turbopump. Existing turbine blades were cracking and breaking off after five hot fire tests while VPS coated turbine blades showed no wear or cracking after 40 hot fire tests. Following that, a major manufacturing problem of copper coatings peeling off the SSME Titanium Main Fuel Valve Housing was corrected with a tenacious VPS copper coating. A patented VPS process utilizing Functional Gradient Material (FGM) application was developed to build ceramic lined metallic cartridges for space furnace experiments, safely containing gallium arsenide at 1260 degrees centigrade. The VPS/FGM process was then translated to build robust, long life, liquid rocket combustion chambers for the space shuttle main engine. A 5K (5,000 Lb. thrust) thruster with the VPS/FGM protective coating experienced 220 hot firing tests in pristine condition with no wear compared to the SSME which showed blanching (surface pulverization) and cooling channel cracks in less than 30 of the same hot firing tests. After 35 of the hot firing tests, the injector face plates disintegrated. The VPS/FGM process was then applied to spraying protective thermal barrier coatings on the face plates which showed 50% cooler operating temperature, with no wear after 50 hot fire tests. Cooling channels were closed out in two weeks, compared to one year for the SSME. Working up the TRL (Technology Readiness Level) to establish the VPS/FGM process as viable technology, a 40K thruster was built and is currently being tested. Proposed is to build a J-2X size liquid rocket engine as the final step in establishing the VPS/FGM process TRL for space flight.

The Pathway to a Safe and Effective Medication Formulary for Exploration Spaceflight

Science.gov (United States)

Daniels, V. R.; Bayuse, T. M.; Mulcahy, R. A.; Mcguire, R. K. M.; Antonsen, E. L.

2017-01-01

PURPOSE: Exploration space missions pose several challenges to providing a comprehensive medication formulary designed to accommodate the size and space limitations of the spacecraft; while addressing the individual medications needs and preferences of the Crew; the negative outcome of a degrading inventory over time, the inability to resupply before expiration dates; and the need to properly forecast the best possible medication candidates to treat conditions that will occur in the future. METHODS: The Pharmacotherapeutics Discipline has partnered with the Exploration Medical Capabilities (ExMC) Element to develop and propose a research pathway that is comprehensively focused on evidence-based models and theories, as well as on new diagnostic tools and treatments or preventive measures aimed at closure of the Med02 “Pharmacy” Gap; defined in the Human Research Program’s (HRP) risk-based research strategy. The Med02 Gap promotes the challenge to identify a strategy to ensure that medications used to treat medical conditions during exploration space missions are available, safe, and effective. It is abundantly clear that pharmaceutical intervention is an essential component of risk management planning for astronaut healthcare during exploration space. However, the quandary still remains of how to assemble a formulary that is comprehensive enough to prevent or treat anticipated medical events; and is also chemically stable, safe, and robust enough to have sufficient potency to last for the duration of an exploration space mission. In cases where that is not possible, addressing this Gap requires exploration of novel drug development techniques, dosage forms, and dosage delivery platforms that enhance chemical stability as well as therapeutic effectiveness. RESULTS: The proposed research pathway outlines the steps, processes, procedures, and a research portfolio aimed at identifying a capability that will provide a safe and effective pharmacy for any specific

What Drives Student Engagement: Is It Learning Space, Instructor Behavior, or Teaching Philosophy?

Science.gov (United States)

Sawers, Kimberly M.; Wicks, David; Mvududu, Nyaradzo; Seeley, Lane; Copeland, Raedene

2016-01-01

This study investigates how instructor teaching philosophy (traditional vs. constructivist) and type of learning space (traditional vs. active) influence instructor perceptions of student engagement. In a quasi-experimental study, we found that instructors perceived that students were more engaged in the active learning classroom (ALC) than in the…

Repurposing With Purpose: Creating a Collaborative Learning Space to Support Institutional Interprofessional Initiatives.

Science.gov (United States)

Young, Lauren M; Machado, Connie K; Clark, Susan B

2015-01-01

When the University of Mississippi Medical Center embraced a didactic shift to patient-centered, interprofessional education of its medical, dental, nursing, pharmacy, and allied health students, the Rowland Medical Library repurposed space to support the cause and created a collaborative learning space designated for campus-wide utility.

Previous experience in manned space flight: A survey of human factors lessons learned

Science.gov (United States)

Chandlee, George O.; Woolford, Barbara

1993-01-01

Previous experience in manned space flight programs can be used to compile a data base of human factors lessons learned for the purpose of developing aids in the future design of inhabited spacecraft. The objectives are to gather information available from relevant sources, to develop a taxonomy of human factors data, and to produce a data base that can be used in the future for those people involved in the design of manned spacecraft operations. A study is currently underway at the Johnson Space Center with the objective of compiling, classifying, and summarizing relevant human factors data bearing on the lessons learned from previous manned space flights. The research reported defines sources of data, methods for collection, and proposes a classification for human factors data that may be a model for other human factors disciplines.

Space Mechanisms Lessons Learned and Accelerated Testing Studies

Science.gov (United States)

Fusaro, Robert L.

1997-01-01

A number of mechanism (mechanical moving component) failures and anomalies have recently occurred on satellites. In addition, more demanding operating and life requirements have caused mechanism failures or anomalies to occur even before some satellites were launched (e.g., during the qualification testing of GOES-NEXT, CERES, and the Space Station Freedom Beta Joint Gimbal). For these reasons, it is imperative to determine which mechanisms worked in the past and which have failed so that the best selection of mechanically moving components can be made for future satellites. It is also important to know where the problem areas are so that timely decisions can be made on the initiation of research to develop future needed technology. To chronicle the life and performance characteristics of mechanisms operating in a space environment, a Space Mechanisms Lessons Learned Study was conducted. The work was conducted by the NASA Lewis Research Center and by Mechanical Technologies Inc. (MTI) under contract NAS3-27086. The expectation of the study was to capture and retrieve information relating to the life and performance of mechanisms operating in the space environment to determine what components had operated successfully and what components had produced anomalies.

Structural Design of Glass and Ceramic Components for Space System Safety

Science.gov (United States)

Bernstein, Karen S.

2007-01-01

Manned space flight programs will always have windows as part of the structural shell of the crew compartment. Astronauts and cosmonauts need to and enjoy looking out of the spacecraft windows at Earth, at approaching vehicles, at scientific objectives and at the stars. With few exceptions spacecraft windows have been made of glass, and the lessons learned over forty years of manned space flight have resulted in a well-defined approach for using this brittle, unforgiving material in NASA's vehicles, in windows and other structural applications. This chapter will outline the best practices that have developed at NASA for designing, verifying and accepting glass (and ceramic) windows and other components for safe and reliable use in any space system.

Safe laparoscopic colorectal surgery performed by trainees

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Langhoff, Peter Koch; Schultz, Martin; Harvald, Thomas

2013-01-01

Laparoscopic surgery for colorectal cancer is safe, but there have been hesitations to implement the technique in all departments. One of the reasons for this may be suboptimal learning possibilities since supervised trainees have not been allowed to do the operations to an adequate extent...

International conference on lessons learned from the decommissioning of nuclear facilities and the safe termination of nuclear activities. Contributed papers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2006-12-01

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in cooperation with the European Commission (EC), Nuclear Energy Agency to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD/NEA), and the World Nuclear Association (WNA), organized an International Conference on Lessons Learned from the Decommissioning of Nuclear Facilities and the Safe Termination of Nuclear Activities from 11 to 15 December 2006 in Athens, Greece. This Book of Contributed Papers contains technical papers and posters contributed by experts from operating organisations, regulatory bodies, technical support organisations, and other institutions on issues falling within the scope of the Conference. The following main topics were covered: Evolution of national and international policies and criteria for the safe and efficient decommissioning of nuclear facilities and safe termination of nuclear activities; Review of lessons learned from ongoing or completed activities associated with decommissioning; Improvement of safety and efficiency through the use of new and innovative technologies; Practical aspects in the management of material, waste and sites resulting from decommissioning, including the management of waste in the absence of repositories and waste acceptance requirements; Procedures for demonstrating compliance with clearance criteria; Experience from radiological assessments associated with decommissioning; Involvement of the local communities and the impact that decommissioning activities has on them. The presented papers and posters were reviewed and accepted following the guidelines established by the Conference Programme Committee for consideration at the Conference. The material compiled in this Book of Contributed Papers has not undergone rigorous editing by the editorial staff of the IAEA. However, certain modifications were made: a unified format was adopted for all papers; and minor corrections were made in the text where required. Each paper and poster has been indexed

International conference on lessons learned from the decommissioning of nuclear facilities and the safe termination of nuclear activities. Contributed papers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2006-12-15

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in cooperation with the European Commission (EC), Nuclear Energy Agency to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD/NEA), and the World Nuclear Association (WNA), organized an International Conference on Lessons Learned from the Decommissioning of Nuclear Facilities and the Safe Termination of Nuclear Activities from 11 to 15 December 2006 in Athens, Greece. This Book of Contributed Papers contains technical papers and posters contributed by experts from operating organisations, regulatory bodies, technical support organisations, and other institutions on issues falling within the scope of the Conference. The following main topics were covered: Evolution of national and international policies and criteria for the safe and efficient decommissioning of nuclear facilities and safe termination of nuclear activities; Review of lessons learned from ongoing or completed activities associated with decommissioning; Improvement of safety and efficiency through the use of new and innovative technologies; Practical aspects in the management of material, waste and sites resulting from decommissioning, including the management of waste in the absence of repositories and waste acceptance requirements; Procedures for demonstrating compliance with clearance criteria; Experience from radiological assessments associated with decommissioning; Involvement of the local communities and the impact that decommissioning activities has on them. The presented papers and posters were reviewed and accepted following the guidelines established by the Conference Programme Committee for consideration at the Conference. The material compiled in this Book of Contributed Papers has not undergone rigorous editing by the editorial staff of the IAEA. However, certain modifications were made: a unified format was adopted for all papers; and minor corrections were made in the text where required. Each paper and poster has been indexed

Investigating the Impact of Lighting Educational Spaces on Learning and Academic Achievement of Elementary Students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdolreza Gilavand

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Background In modern education, physical space is considered as a dynamic factor in students' educational activities. This study was conducted to investigating the impact of lighting educational spaces on learning and academic achievement of elementary students. Materials and Methods At a cross-sectional study (2015-2016, a total of 210 students were selected randomly as sample of study. Cluster sampling was done by appropriate allocation and questionnaires were randomly divided among students. Data collection tools included Hermance’s achievement motivation questionnaire and researcher-constructed questionnaire (observation checklist to examine the physical parameters of learning environment lighting and interviews with students. Data of study were analyzed using SPSS- 21 software. Results Results of this study showed that lighting educational spaces has a significant impact on learning and academic achievement of elementary school students in Ahvaz, Iran (P

Uncanny spaces for higher education: teaching and learning in virtual worlds

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Siân Bayne

2008-12-01

Full Text Available This paper brings together the theory of the uncanny as it emerges in cultural theory, with an understanding of the uncanniness and troublesomeness seen to be inherent in certain understandings of teaching and learning in higher education. Drawing on research into students' experiences of learning in virtual worlds, it explores the sense in which teaching in such spaces materialises and extends the positive aspects of uncertainty, strangeness, disquietude and troublesomeness in online higher education.

A Danish Perspective on Problem Based Learning in Space Education

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bhanderi, Dan D. V.; Bisgaard, Morten; Alminde, Lars

2006-01-01

This paper describes the goals of the Student Satellite Program at Aalborg University (AAU), and the means for implementing it, namely a concept called Problem Based Learning, which is the cornerstone in the education at AAU. AAU has within the last decade chosen to focus strongly on education...... in space technology, not because the country lacks aerospace engineers, but because space projects require the students to think about systems rather than individual modules, while providing problems that are technically challenging for the students to solve. This combination makes the graduates very...

Space Transportation and the Computer Industry: Learning from the Past

Science.gov (United States)

Merriam, M. L.; Rasky, D.

2002-01-01

Since the space shuttle began flying in 1981, NASA has made a number of attempts to advance the state of the art in space transportation. In spite of billions of dollars invested, and several concerted attempts, no replacement for the shuttle is expected before 2010. Furthermore, the cost of access to space has dropped very slowly over the last two decades. On the other hand, the same two decades have seen dramatic progress in the computer industry. Computational speeds have increased by about a factor of 1000 and available memory, disk space, and network bandwidth has seen similar increases. At the same time, the cost of computing has dropped by about a factor of 10000. Is the space transportation problem simply harder? Or is there something to be learned from the computer industry? In looking for the answers, this paper reviews the early history of NASA's experience with supercomputers and NASA's visionary course change in supercomputer procurement strategy.

Lessons learned using different mouse models during space radiation-induced lung tumorigenesis experiments

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Jian; Zhang, Xiangming; Wang, Ping; Wang, Xiang; Farris, Alton B.; Wang, Ya

2016-06-01

Unlike terrestrial ionizing radiation, space radiation, especially galactic cosmic rays (GCR), contains high energy charged (HZE) particles with high linear energy transfer (LET). Due to a lack of epidemiologic data for high-LET radiation exposure, it is highly uncertain how high the carcinogenesis risk is for astronauts following exposure to space radiation during space missions. Therefore, using mouse models is necessary to evaluate the risk of space radiation-induced tumorigenesis; however, which mouse model is better for these studies remains uncertain. Since lung tumorigenesis is the leading cause of cancer death among both men and women, and low-LET radiation exposure increases human lung carcinogenesis, evaluating space radiation-induced lung tumorigenesis is critical to enable safe Mars missions. Here, by comparing lung tumorigenesis obtained from different mouse strains, as well as miR-21 in lung tissue/tumors and serum, we believe that wild type mice with a low spontaneous tumorigenesis background are ideal for evaluating the risk of space radiation-induced lung tumorigenesis, and circulating miR-21 from such mice model might be used as a biomarker for predicting the risk.

After-School Spaces: Looking for Learning in All the Right Places

Science.gov (United States)

Schnittka, Christine G.; Evans, Michael A.; Won, Samantha G. L.; Drape, Tiffany A.

2016-06-01

After-school settings provide youth with homework support, social outlets and fun activities, and help build self-confidence. They are safe places for forming relationships with caring adults. More after-school settings are starting to integrate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) topics. What science skills and concepts might youth learn in engineering design-based after-school settings? Traditional assessments often fail to capture the ways youth learn in informal settings, and deep science understandings are notoriously difficult to measure. In this study, we examined three after-school settings where 65 youth were learning science through engineering design challenges. In this informal setting, we examined storyboards, social networking forum (SNF) chat logs, videos of whole-class interactions, interviews with groups and single participants, and traditional multiple-choice pre- and posttest results. As we looked for evidence of learning, we found that the social networking forum was rich with data. Interviews were even more informative, much more so than traditional pencil and paper multiple-choice tests. We found that different kinds of elicitation strategies adopted by site leaders and facilitators played an important role in the ways youth constructed knowledge. These elicitation strategies also helped us find evidence of learning. Based on findings, future iterations of the curricula will involve tighter integration of social networking forums, continued use of videotaped interviews for data collection, an increased focus on training site leaders and facilitators in elicitation strategies, and more open-ended pencil and paper assessments in order to facilitate the process of looking for learning.

Multi-Objective Reinforcement Learning-Based Deep Neural Networks for Cognitive Space Communications

Science.gov (United States)

Ferreria, Paulo Victor R.; Paffenroth, Randy; Wyglinski, Alexander M.; Hackett, Timothy M.; Bilen, Sven G.; Reinhart, Richard C.; Mortensen, Dale J.

2017-01-01

Future communication subsystems of space exploration missions can potentially benefit from software-defined radios (SDRs) controlled by machine learning algorithms. In this paper, we propose a novel hybrid radio resource allocation management control algorithm that integrates multi-objective reinforcement learning and deep artificial neural networks. The objective is to efficiently manage communications system resources by monitoring performance functions with common dependent variables that result in conflicting goals. The uncertainty in the performance of thousands of different possible combinations of radio parameters makes the trade-off between exploration and exploitation in reinforcement learning (RL) much more challenging for future critical space-based missions. Thus, the system should spend as little time as possible on exploring actions, and whenever it explores an action, it should perform at acceptable levels most of the time. The proposed approach enables on-line learning by interactions with the environment and restricts poor resource allocation performance through virtual environment exploration. Improvements in the multiobjective performance can be achieved via transmitter parameter adaptation on a packet-basis, with poorly predicted performance promptly resulting in rejected decisions. Simulations presented in this work considered the DVB-S2 standard adaptive transmitter parameters and additional ones expected to be present in future adaptive radio systems. Performance results are provided by analysis of the proposed hybrid algorithm when operating across a satellite communication channel from Earth to GEO orbit during clear sky conditions. The proposed approach constitutes part of the core cognitive engine proof-of-concept to be delivered to the NASA Glenn Research Center SCaN Testbed located onboard the International Space Station.

Process Improvement for Next Generation Space Flight Vehicles: MSFC Lessons Learned

Science.gov (United States)

Housch, Helen

2008-01-01

This viewgraph presentation reviews the lessons learned from process improvement for Next Generation Space Flight Vehicles. The contents include: 1) Organizational profile; 2) Process Improvement History; 3) Appraisal Preparation; 4) The Appraisal Experience; 5) Useful Tools; and 6) Is CMMI working?

Entering the Interaction Age: Implementing a Future Vision for Campus Learning Spaces...Today

Science.gov (United States)

Milne, Andrew J.

2007-01-01

Learning space design for higher education has become a popular topic of discussion as institutions attempt to chart a course for the future of their campuses. Several authors in EDUCAUSE publications have forecast the future for such spaces, a future infused with new and sometimes exotic-sounding technologies. Indeed, some discussions in the…

Researching Children's Understanding of Safety: An Auto-Driven Visual Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Agbenyega, Joseph S.

2011-01-01

Safe learning spaces allow children to explore their environment in an open and inquiring way, whereas unsafe spaces constrain, frustrate and disengage children from experiencing the fullness of their learning spaces. This study explores how children make sense of safe and unsafe learning spaces, and how this understanding affects the ways they…

Residents’ perceptions of simulation as a clinical learning approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Catharine M Walsh

2017-02-01

Results: Residents’ perceptions of simulation included: 1 simulation serves pragmatic purposes; 2 simulation provides a safe space; 3 simulation presents perils and pitfalls; and 4 optimal design for simulation: integration and tension. Key findings included residents’ markedly narrow perception of simulation’s capacity to support non-technical skills development or its use beyond introductory learning. Conclusion: Trainees’ learning expectations of simulation were restricted. Educators should critically attend to the way they present simulation to learners as, based on theories of problem-framing, trainees’ a priori perceptions may delimit the focus of their learning experiences. If they view simulation as merely a replica of real cases for the purpose of practicing basic skills, they may fail to benefit from the full scope of learning opportunities afforded by simulation.

Lessons learned using different mouse models during space radiation-induced lung tumorigenesis experiments.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Jian; Zhang, Xiangming; Wang, Ping; Wang, Xiang; Farris, Alton B; Wang, Ya

2016-06-01

Unlike terrestrial ionizing radiation, space radiation, especially galactic cosmic rays (GCR), contains high energy charged (HZE) particles with high linear energy transfer (LET). Due to a lack of epidemiologic data for high-LET radiation exposure, it is highly uncertain how high the carcinogenesis risk is for astronauts following exposure to space radiation during space missions. Therefore, using mouse models is necessary to evaluate the risk of space radiation-induced tumorigenesis; however, which mouse model is better for these studies remains uncertain. Since lung tumorigenesis is the leading cause of cancer death among both men and women, and low-LET radiation exposure increases human lung carcinogenesis, evaluating space radiation-induced lung tumorigenesis is critical to enable safe Mars missions. Here, by comparing lung tumorigenesis obtained from different mouse strains, as well as miR-21 in lung tissue/tumors and serum, we believe that wild type mice with a low spontaneous tumorigenesis background are ideal for evaluating the risk of space radiation-induced lung tumorigenesis, and circulating miR-21 from such mice model might be used as a biomarker for predicting the risk. Copyright © 2016 The Committee on Space Research (COSPAR). Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Teaching students in place: the languages of third space learning

Science.gov (United States)

Morawski, Cynthia M.

2017-09-01

With a perceptive eye cast on geoscience pedagogy for students labeled as disabled, Martinez-Álvarez makes important contributions to the existing conversation on placed-based learning. It is in our local backyards, from the corner basketball court, to the mud bank of a city lake, to the adjacent field where rocky outcrops spill down to a forgotten farmer's field, that we find rich working material for connecting self and community, moving students' out-of-school experiences that feature their cultural and linguistic knowledge, from misconceptions to "alternative conceptions." Informed by her insights regarding the learning of students whose literacy does not match conventional classroom practice, geoscience learning in the place of third space can act as a model of meaning making across the entire curriculum. In the pages that follow, I transact, both aesthetically and efferently, with Martinez-Álvarez's text as she presents her research on special ways of learning in placed-based geoscience explorations with bilingual children experiencing disabilities.

Steering teens safe: a randomized trial of a parent-based intervention to improve safe teen driving.

Science.gov (United States)

Peek-Asa, Corinne; Cavanaugh, Joseph E; Yang, Jingzhen; Chande, Vidya; Young, Tracy; Ramirez, Marizen

2014-07-31

Crashes are the leading cause of death for teens, and parent-based interventions are a promising approach. We assess the effectiveness of Steering Teens Safe, a parent-focused program to increase safe teen driving. Steering Teens Safe aimed to improve parental communication with teens about safe driving using motivational interviewing techniques in conjunction with 19 safe driving lessons. A randomized controlled trial involved 145 parent-teen dyads (70 intervention and 75 control). Intervention parents received a 45-minute session to learn the program with four follow-up phone sessions, a DVD, and a workbook. Control parents received a standard brochure about safe driving. Scores were developed to measure teen-reported quantity and quality of parental communication about safe driving. The main outcome measure was a previously validated Risky Driving Score reported by teens. Because the Score was highly skewed, a generalized linear model based on a gamma distribution was used for analysis. Intervention teens ranked their parent's success in talking about driving safety higher than control teens (p = 0.035) and reported that their parents talked about more topics (non-significant difference). The Risky Driving Score was 21% lower in intervention compared to control teens (85% CI = 0.60, 1.00). Interaction between communication quantity and the intervention was examined. Intervention teens who reported more successful communication had a 42% lower Risky Driving Score (95% CI = 0.37, 0.94) than control parents with less successful communication. This program had a positive although not strong effect, and it may hold the most promise in partnership with other programs, such as Driver's Education or Graduated Driver's License policies. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01014923. Registered Nov. 16, 2009.

NASA’s Universe of Learning: Providing a Direct Connection to NASA Science for Learners of all Ages with ViewSpace

Science.gov (United States)

Lawton, Brandon L.; Rhue, Timothy; Smith, Denise A.; Squires, Gordon K.; Biferno, Anya A.; Lestition, Kathleen; Cominsky, Lynn R.; Godfrey, John; Lee, Janice C.; Manning, Colleen

2018-06-01

NASA's Universe of Learning creates and delivers science-driven, audience-driven resources and experiences designed to engage and immerse learners of all ages and backgrounds in exploring the universe for themselves. The project is the result of a unique partnership between the Space Telescope Science Institute, Caltech/IPAC, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and Sonoma State University, and is one of 27 competitively-selected cooperative agreements within the NASA Science Mission Directorate STEM Activation program. The NASA's Universe of Learning team draws upon cutting-edge science and works closely with Subject Matter Experts (scientists and engineers) from across the NASA Astrophysics Physics of the Cosmos, Cosmic Origins, and Exoplanet Exploration themes. As one example, NASA’s Universe of Learning program is uniquely able to provide informal learning venues with a direct connection to the science of NASA astrophysics via the ViewSpace platform. ViewSpace is a modular multimedia exhibit where people explore the latest discoveries in our quest to understand the universe. Hours of awe-inspiring video content connect users’ lives with an understanding of our planet and the wonders of the universe. This experience is rooted in informal learning, astronomy, and earth science. Scientists and educators are intimately involved in the production of ViewSpace material. ViewSpace engages visitors of varying backgrounds and experience at museums, science centers, planetariums, and libraries across the United States. In addition to creating content, the Universe of Learning team is updating the ViewSpace platform to provide for additional functionality, including the introduction of digital interactives to make ViewSpace a multi-modal learning experience. During this presentation we will share the ViewSpace platform, explain how Subject Matter Experts are critical in creating content for ViewSpace, and how we are addressing audience

Learning physical space

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hasse, Cathrine

2002-01-01

The article argues that cultural learning is a useful concept in analysing how neophytes learn from reactions and other forms of social designation. Through the newcomers learning process a concrete physical place takes on new cultural meaning. The specific example deals with first year students...... who have to learn that certain physical places, acts and objects are imbued with a cultural significance as the act of sitting on a chair or wearing a short dress takes on a new symbolic meaning in a cultural context where inclusion and exclusion are a constant concern. By following and analysing what...... is involved in the process of becoming ? in this case the becoming of physicist students ? the moral cultural logic behind in- and exclusion from physical places are established....

Space space space

CERN Document Server

Trembach, Vera

2014-01-01

Space is an introduction to the mysteries of the Universe. Included are Task Cards for independent learning, Journal Word Cards for creative writing, and Hands-On Activities for reinforcing skills in Math and Language Arts. Space is a perfect introduction to further research of the Solar System.

Learning Problems

Science.gov (United States)

... Staying Safe Videos for Educators Search English Español Learning Problems KidsHealth / For Kids / Learning Problems What's in ... for how to make it better. What Are Learning Disabilities? Learning disabilities aren't contagious, but they ...

Safe Sleep for Babies PSA (:60)

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

2018-01-09

This 60 second public service announcement is based on the January 2018 CDC Vital Signs report. Every year, there are about 3,500 sleep-related deaths among U.S. babies. Learn how to create a safe sleep environment for babies.  Created: 1/9/2018 by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).   Date Released: 1/9/2018.

Tips for a Healthy Long-Life Learned from Space Medicine

Science.gov (United States)

Ohshima, Hiroshi; Yamada, Shin; Matsuo, Tomoaki; Yamamoto, Masafumi; Mukai, Chiaki

2013-02-01

The field of space medicine is responsible for maintaining astronauts’ health and optimizing their performance. A prolonged stay in space with little gravity results in weakening of the bones and muscles that otherwise support body weight, which is precisely the problem faced by elderly people on Earth. Space medicine provides the means of alleviating such problems. Bone loss, muscle atrophy, and disturbed circadian rhythms are common issues for both astronauts and the elderly alike and can be prevented, if the risks are addressed correctly. To have a healthy long-life, it is important to practice effective health improvement techniques and take preventive measures. The space medicine technologies a for astronauts will provide helpful information to people living in a super aging society. and Japanese medical societies for health promotion. With the aids of the Japanese Society of Physical Fitness and Sports Medicine, the Japanese Orthopaedic Association, and the Japanese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine, JAXA has made a leaflet titled for general citizen to show the tips for a healthy long-life learned from space medicine from the viewpoints of their respective expertise.

Does emotion modulate the efficacy of spaced learning in recognition memory?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicola Mammarella

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Memory for repeated items improves when presentations are spaced during study. Here, two experiments assessed the so-called spacing effect on a yes–no recognition memory task using affective and neutral words. In Experiment 1, a group of participants was asked to orient their attention to semantic features of target words (deep semantic analysis that were consecutively repeated or spaced, while another group was engaged in a graphemic shallow analysis of words (Experiment 2. The depth of word processing approach was meant to highlight the role of repetition priming mechanisms in the generation of spacing effects. We found that spacing effects occurred for both affective and neutral words (Experiment 1. However, following shallow analysis of words, the spacing effect was reduced for both affective and neutral words (Experiment 2. No differences were detected in terms of positive versus negative words. These results suggest that spaced learning operates when the to-be-remembered material is also affectively charged and that, under certain circumstances, it may enhance recognition memory as affective connotation does.

Workplace learning from a socio-cultural perspective: creating developmental space during the general practice clerkship.

Science.gov (United States)

van der Zwet, J; Zwietering, P J; Teunissen, P W; van der Vleuten, C P M; Scherpbier, A J J A

2011-08-01

Workplace learning in undergraduate medical education has predominantly been studied from a cognitive perspective, despite its complex contextual characteristics, which influence medical students' learning experiences in such a way that explanation in terms of knowledge, skills, attitudes and single determinants of instructiveness is unlikely to suffice. There is also a paucity of research which, from a perspective other than the cognitive or descriptive one, investigates student learning in general practice settings, which are often characterised as powerful learning environments. In this study we took a socio-cultural perspective to clarify how students learn during a general practice clerkship and to construct a conceptual framework that captures this type of learning. Our analysis of group interviews with 44 fifth-year undergraduate medical students about their learning experiences in general practice showed that students needed developmental space to be able to learn and develop their professional identity. This space results from the intertwinement of workplace context, personal and professional interactions and emotions such as feeling respected and self-confident. These forces framed students' participation in patient consultations, conversations with supervisors about consultations and students' observation of supervisors, thereby determining the opportunities afforded to students to mind their learning. These findings resonate with other conceptual frameworks and learning theories. In order to refine our interpretation, we recommend that further research from a socio-cultural perspective should also explore other aspects of workplace learning in medical education.

International Space Station Configuration Analysis and Integration

Science.gov (United States)

Anchondo, Rebekah

2016-01-01

Ambitious engineering projects, such as NASA's International Space Station (ISS), require dependable modeling, analysis, visualization, and robotics to ensure that complex mission strategies are carried out cost effectively, sustainably, and safely. Learn how Booz Allen Hamilton's Modeling, Analysis, Visualization, and Robotics Integration Center (MAVRIC) team performs engineering analysis of the ISS Configuration based primarily on the use of 3D CAD models. To support mission planning and execution, the team tracks the configuration of ISS and maintains configuration requirements to ensure operational goals are met. The MAVRIC team performs multi-disciplinary integration and trade studies to ensure future configurations meet stakeholder needs.

Creating opportunities through mentorship, parental involvement, and safe spaces (COMPASS program: multi-country study protocol to protect girls from violence in humanitarian settings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kathryn L. Falb

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Violence against adolescent girls in humanitarian settings is of urgent concern given their additional vulnerabilities to violence and unique health and well-being needs that have largely been overlooked by the humanitarian community. In order to understand what works to prevent violence against adolescent girls, a multi-component curriculum-based safe spaces program (Creating Opportunities through Mentorship, Parental involvement and Safe Spaces – COMPASS will be implemented and evaluated. The objectives of this multi-country study are to understand the feasibility, acceptability and effectiveness of COMPASS programming to prevent violence against adolescent girls in diverse humanitarian settings. Methods/design Two wait-listed cluster-randomized controlled trials are being implemented in conflict-affected communities in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (N = 886 girls aged 10–14 years and in refugee camps in western Ethiopia (N = 919 girls aged 13–19 years. The intervention consists of structured facilitated sessions delivered in safe spaces by young female mentors, caregiver discussion groups, capacity-building activities with service providers, and community engagement. In Ethiopia, the research centers on the overall impact of COMPASS compared to a wait-list group. In DRC, the research objective is to understand the incremental effectiveness of the caregiver component in addition to the other COMPASS activities as compared to a wait-list group. The primary outcome is change in sexual violence. Secondary outcomes include decreased physical and emotional abuse, reduced early marriage, improved gender norms, and positive interpersonal relationships, among others. Qualitative methodologies seek to understand girls’ perceptions of safety within their communities, key challenges they face, and to identify potential pathways of change. Discussion These trials will add much needed evidence for the humanitarian

Creating opportunities through mentorship, parental involvement, and safe spaces (COMPASS) program: multi-country study protocol to protect girls from violence in humanitarian settings.

Science.gov (United States)

Falb, Kathryn L; Tanner, Sophie; Ward, Leora; Erksine, Dorcas; Noble, Eva; Assazenew, Asham; Bakomere, Theresita; Graybill, Elizabeth; Lowry, Carmen; Mallinga, Pamela; Neiman, Amy; Poulton, Catherine; Robinette, Katie; Sommer, Marni; Stark, Lindsay

2016-03-05

Violence against adolescent girls in humanitarian settings is of urgent concern given their additional vulnerabilities to violence and unique health and well-being needs that have largely been overlooked by the humanitarian community. In order to understand what works to prevent violence against adolescent girls, a multi-component curriculum-based safe spaces program (Creating Opportunities through Mentorship, Parental involvement and Safe Spaces - COMPASS) will be implemented and evaluated. The objectives of this multi-country study are to understand the feasibility, acceptability and effectiveness of COMPASS programming to prevent violence against adolescent girls in diverse humanitarian settings. Two wait-listed cluster-randomized controlled trials are being implemented in conflict-affected communities in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (N = 886 girls aged 10-14 years) and in refugee camps in western Ethiopia (N = 919 girls aged 13-19 years). The intervention consists of structured facilitated sessions delivered in safe spaces by young female mentors, caregiver discussion groups, capacity-building activities with service providers, and community engagement. In Ethiopia, the research centers on the overall impact of COMPASS compared to a wait-list group. In DRC, the research objective is to understand the incremental effectiveness of the caregiver component in addition to the other COMPASS activities as compared to a wait-list group. The primary outcome is change in sexual violence. Secondary outcomes include decreased physical and emotional abuse, reduced early marriage, improved gender norms, and positive interpersonal relationships, among others. Qualitative methodologies seek to understand girls' perceptions of safety within their communities, key challenges they face, and to identify potential pathways of change. These trials will add much needed evidence for the humanitarian community to meet the unique needs of adolescent girls and to promote

Differential effects of massed and spaced training on place and response learning: A memory systems perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Wingard, Jeffrey C; Goodman, Jarid; Leong, Kah-Chung; Packard, Mark G

2015-09-01

Studies employing brain lesion or intracerebral drug infusions in rats have demonstrated a double dissociation between the roles of the hippocampus and dorsolateral striatum in place and response learning. The hippocampus mediates a rapid cognitive learning process underlying place learning, whereas the dorsolateral striatum mediates a relatively slower learning process in which stimulus-response habits underlying response learning are acquired in an incremental fashion. One potential implication of these findings is that hippocampus-dependent learning may benefit from a relative massing of training trials, whereas dorsal striatum-dependent learning may benefit from a relative distribution of training trials. In order to examine this hypothesis, the present study compared the effects of massed (30s inter-trial interval; ITI) or spaced (30min ITI) training on acquisition of a hippocampus-dependent place learning task, and a dorsolateral striatum-dependent response task in a plus-maze. In the place task rats swam from varying start points (N or S) to a hidden escape platform located in a consistent spatial location (W). In the response task rats swam from varying start points (N or S) to a hidden escape platform located in the maze arm consistent with a body-turn response (left). In the place task, rats trained with the massed trial schedule acquired the task quicker than rats trained with the spaced trial schedule. In the response task, rats trained with the spaced trial schedule acquired the task quicker than rats trained with the massed trial schedule. The double dissociation observed suggests that the reinforcement parameters most conducive to effective learning in hippocampus-dependent and dorsolateral striatum-dependent learning may have differential temporal characteristics. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Developing Learning Analytics Design Knowledge in the "Middle Space": The Student Tuning Model and Align Design Framework for Learning Analytics Use

Science.gov (United States)

Wise, Alyssa Friend; Vytasek, Jovita Maria; Hausknecht, Simone; Zhao, Yuting

2016-01-01

This paper addresses a relatively unexplored area in the field of learning analytics: how analytics are taken up and used as part of teaching and learning processes. Initial steps are taken towards developing design knowledge for this "middle space," with a focus on students as analytics users. First, a core set of challenges for…

Compliant Task Execution and Learning for Safe Mixed-Initiative Human-Robot Operations

Science.gov (United States)

Dong, Shuonan; Conrad, Patrick R.; Shah, Julie A.; Williams, Brian C.; Mittman, David S.; Ingham, Michel D.; Verma, Vandana

2011-01-01

We introduce a novel task execution capability that enhances the ability of in-situ crew members to function independently from Earth by enabling safe and efficient interaction with automated systems. This task execution capability provides the ability to (1) map goal-directed commands from humans into safe, compliant, automated actions, (2) quickly and safely respond to human commands and actions during task execution, and (3) specify complex motions through teaching by demonstration. Our results are applicable to future surface robotic systems, and we have demonstrated these capabilities on JPL's All-Terrain Hex-Limbed Extra-Terrestrial Explorer (ATHLETE) robot.

Curiosity's Autonomous Surface Safing Behavior Design

Science.gov (United States)

Neilson, Tracy A.; Manning, Robert M.

2013-01-01

The safing routines on all robotic deep-space vehicles are designed to put the vehicle in a power and thermally safe configuration, enabling communication with the mission operators on Earth. Achieving this goal is made a little more difficult on Curiosity because the power requirements for the core avionics and the telecommunication equipment exceed the capability of the single power source, the Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator. This drove the system design to create an operational mode, called "sleep mode", where the vehicle turns off most of the loads in order to charge the two Li-ion batteries. The system must keep the vehicle safe from over-heat and under-heat conditions, battery cell failures, under-voltage conditions, and clock failures, both while the computer is running and while the system is sleeping. The other goal of a safing routine is to communicate. On most spacecraft, this simply involves turning on the receiver and transmitter continuously. For Curiosity, Earth is above the horizon only a part of the day for direct communication to the Earth, and the orbiter overpass opportunities only occur a few times a day. The design must robustly place the Rover in a communicable condition at the correct time. This paper discusses Curiosity's autonomous safing behavior and describes how the vehicle remains power and thermally safe while sleeping, as well as a description of how the Rover communicates with the orbiters and Earth at specific times.

Learning Agents for Autonomous Space Asset Management (LAASAM)

Science.gov (United States)

Scally, L.; Bonato, M.; Crowder, J.

2011-09-01

Current and future space systems will continue to grow in complexity and capabilities, creating a formidable challenge to monitor, maintain, and utilize these systems and manage their growing network of space and related ground-based assets. Integrated System Health Management (ISHM), and in particular, Condition-Based System Health Management (CBHM), is the ability to manage and maintain a system using dynamic real-time data to prioritize, optimize, maintain, and allocate resources. CBHM entails the maintenance of systems and equipment based on an assessment of current and projected conditions (situational and health related conditions). A complete, modern CBHM system comprises a number of functional capabilities: sensing and data acquisition; signal processing; conditioning and health assessment; diagnostics and prognostics; and decision reasoning. In addition, an intelligent Human System Interface (HSI) is required to provide the user/analyst with relevant context-sensitive information, the system condition, and its effect on overall situational awareness of space (and related) assets. Colorado Engineering, Inc. (CEI) and Raytheon are investigating and designing an Intelligent Information Agent Architecture that will provide a complete range of CBHM and HSI functionality from data collection through recommendations for specific actions. The research leverages CEI’s expertise with provisioning management network architectures and Raytheon’s extensive experience with learning agents to define a system to autonomously manage a complex network of current and future space-based assets to optimize their utilization.

Safe, High Specific Energy & Power Li-ion Cells

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Today’s best, safe commercial Li-ion cell designs achieve ~180 Wh/kg, ~500 Wh/L, and 400 W/kg. When accounting for the lightest (1.35) parasitic mass and smallest...

Statistical learning modeling method for space debris photometric measurement

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Wenjing; Sun, Jinqiu; Zhang, Yanning; Li, Haisen

2016-03-01

Photometric measurement is an important way to identify the space debris, but the present methods of photometric measurement have many constraints on star image and need complex image processing. Aiming at the problems, a statistical learning modeling method for space debris photometric measurement is proposed based on the global consistency of the star image, and the statistical information of star images is used to eliminate the measurement noises. First, the known stars on the star image are divided into training stars and testing stars. Then, the training stars are selected as the least squares fitting parameters to construct the photometric measurement model, and the testing stars are used to calculate the measurement accuracy of the photometric measurement model. Experimental results show that, the accuracy of the proposed photometric measurement model is about 0.1 magnitudes.

Applied Drama and the Higher Education Learning Spaces: A Reflective Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Moyo, Cletus

2015-01-01

This paper explores Applied Drama as a teaching approach in Higher Education learning spaces. The exploration takes a reflective analysis approach by first examining the impact that Applied Drama has had on my career as a Lecturer/Educator/Teacher working in Higher Education environments. My engagement with Applied Drama practice and theory is…

"Space on Earth:" A Learning Community Integrating English, Math, and Science

Science.gov (United States)

Fortna, Joanna; Sullivan, Jim

2010-01-01

Imagine a mathematics instructor and English instructor sharing an office; scribbled equations litter one desk, snatches of poetry the other. Our learning community, "Space on Earth," grew from conversations in just such an office where we bridged our own disciplinary gap and discovered a shared passion for helping students apply the concepts and…

Safe sex

Science.gov (United States)

... sex; Sexually transmitted - safe sex; GC - safe sex; Gonorrhea - safe sex; Herpes - safe sex; HIV - safe sex; ... contact. STIs include: Chlamydia Genital herpes Genital warts Gonorrhea Hepatitis HIV HPV Syphilis STIs are also called ...

Organising a safe space for navigating social-ecological transformations to sustainability

NARCIS (Netherlands)

L. Pereira (Laura); T. Karpouzoglou (Timothy); S. Doshi (Samir); N. Frantzeskaki (Niki)

2015-01-01

textabstractThe need for developing socially just living conditions for the world’s growing population whilst keeping human societies within a ‘safe operating space’ has become a modern imperative. This requires transformative changes in the dominant social norms, behaviours, governance and

Organising a safe space for navigating social-ecological transformations to sustainability

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pereira, L.; Karpouzoglou, T.D.; Doshi, S.; Frantzeskaki, N.

2015-01-01

The need for developing socially just living conditions for the world’s growing population whilst keeping human societies within a ‘safe operating space’ has become a modern imperative. This requires transformative changes in the dominant social norms, behaviours, governance and management regimes

Project Based Learning experiences in the space engineering education at Technical University of Madrid

Science.gov (United States)

Rodríguez, Jacobo; Laverón-Simavilla, Ana; del Cura, Juan M.; Ezquerro, José M.; Lapuerta, Victoria; Cordero-Gracia, Marta

2015-10-01

This work describes the innovation activities performed in the field of space education since the academic year 2009/10 at the Technical University of Madrid (UPM), in collaboration with the Spanish User Support and Operations Center (E-USOC), the center assigned by the European Space Agency (ESA) in Spain to support the operations of scientific experiments on board the International Space Station. These activities have been integrated within the last year of the UPM Aerospace Engineering degree. A laboratory has been created, where students have to validate and integrate the subsystems of a microsatellite using demonstrator satellites. In parallel, the students participate in a Project Based Learning (PBL) training process in which they work in groups to develop the conceptual design of a space mission. One student in each group takes the role of project manager, another one is responsible for the mission design and the rest are each responsible for the design of one of the satellite subsystems. A ground station has also been set up with the help of students developing their final thesis, which will allow future students to perform training sessions and learn how to communicate with satellites, how to receive telemetry and how to process the data. Several surveys have been conducted along two academic years to evaluate the impact of these techniques in engineering learning. The surveys evaluate the acquisition of specific and generic competences, as well as the students' degree of satisfaction with respect to the use of these learning methodologies. The results of the surveys and the perception of the lecturers show that PBL encourages students' motivation and improves their results. They not only acquire better technical training, but also improve their transversal skills. It is also pointed out that this methodology requires more dedication from lecturers than traditional methods.

Sustainable development and social learning: Re-contextualising the space of orientation

Science.gov (United States)

Seddon, Terri

2016-10-01

In the lead-up to the 2007 Australian federal election, Labor candidate Kevin Rudd described climate change as the "great moral challenge of our generation". In the years since then, the heat in Australia has been rising - in terms of both temperature and climate politics -, but government action has slowed down. Endorsement of economic growth is prioritised, with only intermittent recognition of environmental costs. At grassroots level, citizens' attitudes are influenced by social norms. This kind of social learning is a major constraint on sustainability. Therefore, it seems useful to consider how educators might help build sustainable futures. To understand how historical context entangles social learning in ways that complicate policies associated with Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and practices of Education for Sustainability (EfS), the author of this paper draws on the concept of "space of orientation". Focusing on adult education, she traces the contradiction between "globalisation" and "sustainability" through policy logics, relational practices in Australian adult education and the "necessary utopia" which provides a point of reference for making futures. She argues that spaces of orientation are a critical resource in this era of intensifying conflicts of interest between economic priorities of globalisation and environmental priorities intended to slow global warming, because they mediate context and orient learning in ways that clear a path towards sustainability through the entangled histories of this present.

Learning by random walks in the weight space of the Ising perceptron

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huang, Haiping; Zhou, Haijun

2010-01-01

Several variants of a stochastic local search process for constructing the synaptic weights of an Ising perceptron are studied. In this process, binary patterns are sequentially presented to the Ising perceptron and are then learned as the synaptic weight configuration is modified through a chain of single- or double-weight flips within the compatible weight configuration space of the earlier learned patterns. This process is able to reach a storage capacity of α≈0.63 for pattern length N = 101 and α≈0.41 for N = 1001. If in addition a relearning process is exploited, the learning performance is further improved to a storage capacity of α≈0.80 for N = 101 and α≈0.42 for N = 1001. We found that, for a given learning task, the solutions constructed by the random walk learning process are separated by a typical Hamming distance, which decreases with the constraint density α of the learning task; at a fixed value of α, the width of the Hamming distance distribution decreases with N

Safety Analysis For Evaluating (SAFE) sUAS, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — NASA's Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration in the NAS (UAS in the NAS) project is aimed at developing new technologies to enable safe operations of UAS in the NAS....

Using an Outdoor Learning Space to Teach Sustainability and Material Processes in HE Product Design

Science.gov (United States)

Firth, Richard; Stoltenberg, Einar; Jennings, Trent

2016-01-01

This "case study" of two jewellery workshops, used outdoor learning spaces to explore both its impact on learning outcomes and to introduce some key principles of sustainable working methodologies and practices. Using the beach as the classroom, academics and students from a Norwegian and Scottish (HE) product design exchange programme…

Why Do They Study There? Diary Research into Students' Learning Space Choices in Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Beckers, Ronald; van der Voordt, Theo; Dewulf, Geert

2016-01-01

Higher education learning and teaching methods have changed while most educational buildings are still rather traditional. Yet, there is an increasing interest in whether we can educate today's higher education students in yesterday's buildings. This paper aims to contribute to this debate by studying the learning space choices of higher education…

Effect of urban noise to the acoustical performance of the secondary school’s learning spaces - A case study in Batu Pahat.

Science.gov (United States)

Tong, Y. G.; Abu Bakar, H.; Mohd. Sari, K. A.; Ewon, U.; Labeni, M. N.; Fauzan, N. F. A.

2017-11-01

Classrooms and laboratories are important spaces that use for teaching and learning process in the school. Therefore, good acoustical performances of these spaces are essential to ensure the speech or message from the teacher can be delivered to the students effectively and clearly. The aims of this study is to determine the acoustical performance of the teaching and learning spaces in public school that situated near to the traffic roads. The acoustical performance of the classrooms and laboratories at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Convent Batu Pahat was evaluated in this study. The reverberation time and ambient noise of these learning spaces which are the main parameters for classroom design criteria were evaluated. Field measurements were carried out inside six classrooms and four laboratories unoccupied furnished according to the international standards. The acoustical performances of the tested learning spaces were poor where the noise criteria and reverberation times inside the measured classrooms and laboratories were higher than recommended values.

"From Bricks to Clicks": Hybrid Commercial Spaces in the Landscape of Early Literacy and Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Nixon, Helen

2011-01-01

In their quest for resources to support children's early literacy learning and development, parents encounter and traverse different spaces in which discourses and artifacts are produced and circulated. This paper uses conceptual tools from the field of geosemiotics to examine some commercial spaces designed for parents and children that…

Clinical evaluation of semiautonomous smart wheelchair architecture (Drive-Safe System) with visually impaired individuals.

Science.gov (United States)

Sharma, Vinod; Simpson, Richard C; LoPresti, Edmund F; Schmeler, Mark

2012-01-01

Nonambulatory, visually impaired individuals mostly rely on caregivers for their day-to-day mobility needs. The Drive-Safe System (DSS) is a modular, semiautonomous smart wheelchair system aimed at providing independent mobility to people with visual and mobility impairments. In this project, clinical evaluation of the DSS was performed in a controlled laboratory setting with individuals who have visual impairment but no mobility impairment. Their performance using DSS was compared with their performance using a standard cane for navigation assistance. Participants rated their subjective appraisal of the DSS by using the National Aeronautics and Space Administration-Task Load Index inventory. DSS significantly reduced the number and severity of collisions compared with using a cane alone and without increasing the time required to complete the task. Users rated DSS favorably; they experienced less physical demand when using the DSS, but did not feel any difference in perceived effort, mental demand, and level of frustration when using the DSS alone or along with a cane in comparison with using a cane alone. These findings suggest that the DSS can be a safe, reliable, and easy-to-learn and operate independent mobility solution for visually impaired wheelchair users.

The interprofessional learning experience

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jakobsen, Flemming; Morcke, Anne Mette; Hansen, Torben Baek

2017-01-01

in a safe and challenging learning environment. The shift to the outpatient setting was strongly and practically supported by the management. This study indicates that student learning can be shifted to the outpatient clinic setting if there is supportive management and dedicated supervisors who establish...... a challenging yet safe interprofessional learning environment....... who worked in an interprofessional outpatient orthopaedic clinic from March 2015 to January 2016. The interviews were transcribed and analysed using systematic text condensation. The students’ self-reported learning experience in this outpatient clinic was characterised by direct patient contact...

'Play Safe' Syndrome among University Adolescents: Implications for ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper investigated the prevalence of sexual activities among university undergraduates who have made regular sexual intercourse part of their lives. This they do with the belief that it is a normal part of their developmental stage as youths and that they only need to learn to 'play safe' (avoiding STDs). Respondents ...

Learning in third spaces: community art studio as storefront university classroom.

Science.gov (United States)

Timm-Bottos, Janis; Reilly, Rosemary C

2015-03-01

Third spaces are in-between places where teacher-student scripts intersect, creating the potential for authentic interaction and a shift in what counts as knowledge. This paper describes a unique community-university initiative: a third space storefront classroom for postsecondary students in professional education programs, which also functions as a community art studio for the surrounding neighborhood. This approach to professional education requires an innovative combination of theory, methods, and materials as enacted by the professionals involved and performed by the students. This storefront classroom utilizes collaborative and inclusive instructional practices that promote human and community development. It facilitates the use of innovative instructional strategies including art making and participatory dialogue to create a liminal learning space that reconfigures professional education. In researching the effectiveness of this storefront classroom, we share the voices of students who have participated in this third space as part of their coursework to underscore these principles and practices.

Outcrossings of safe regions by generalized hyperbolic processes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Klüppelberg, Claudia; Rasmussen, Morten Grud

2013-01-01

We present a simple Gaussian mixture model in space and time with generalized hyperbolic marginals. Starting with Rice’s celebrated formula for level upcrossings and outcrossings of safe regions we investigate the consequences of the mean-variance mixture model on such quantities. We obtain...

Enabling the Use of Space Fission Propulsion Systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mike Houts; Melissa Van Dyke; Tom Godfroy; James Martin; Kevin Pedersen; Ricky Dickens; Ivana Hrbud; Leo Bitteker; Bruce Patton; Suman Chakrabarti; Joe Bonometti

2000-01-01

This paper gives brief descriptions of advantages of fission technology for reaching any point in the solar system and of earlier efforts to develop space fission propulsion systems, and gives a more detailed description of the safe, affordable fission engine (SAFE) concept being pursued at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Marshall Space Flight Center

Less is more: Sampling chemical space with active learning

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Justin S.; Nebgen, Ben; Lubbers, Nicholas; Isayev, Olexandr; Roitberg, Adrian E.

2018-06-01

The development of accurate and transferable machine learning (ML) potentials for predicting molecular energetics is a challenging task. The process of data generation to train such ML potentials is a task neither well understood nor researched in detail. In this work, we present a fully automated approach for the generation of datasets with the intent of training universal ML potentials. It is based on the concept of active learning (AL) via Query by Committee (QBC), which uses the disagreement between an ensemble of ML potentials to infer the reliability of the ensemble's prediction. QBC allows the presented AL algorithm to automatically sample regions of chemical space where the ML potential fails to accurately predict the potential energy. AL improves the overall fitness of ANAKIN-ME (ANI) deep learning potentials in rigorous test cases by mitigating human biases in deciding what new training data to use. AL also reduces the training set size to a fraction of the data required when using naive random sampling techniques. To provide validation of our AL approach, we develop the COmprehensive Machine-learning Potential (COMP6) benchmark (publicly available on GitHub) which contains a diverse set of organic molecules. Active learning-based ANI potentials outperform the original random sampled ANI-1 potential with only 10% of the data, while the final active learning-based model vastly outperforms ANI-1 on the COMP6 benchmark after training to only 25% of the data. Finally, we show that our proposed AL technique develops a universal ANI potential (ANI-1x) that provides accurate energy and force predictions on the entire COMP6 benchmark. This universal ML potential achieves a level of accuracy on par with the best ML potentials for single molecules or materials, while remaining applicable to the general class of organic molecules composed of the elements CHNO.

Adaptive Learning in Cartesian Product of Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Spaces

OpenAIRE

Yukawa, Masahiro

2014-01-01

We propose a novel adaptive learning algorithm based on iterative orthogonal projections in the Cartesian product of multiple reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces (RKHSs). The task is estimating/tracking nonlinear functions which are supposed to contain multiple components such as (i) linear and nonlinear components, (ii) high- and low- frequency components etc. In this case, the use of multiple RKHSs permits a compact representation of multicomponent functions. The proposed algorithm is where t...

Storytelling in videogames: a cultural space to learn emocional habilities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Graciela Alicia ESNAOLA HORACEK

2017-07-01

Full Text Available We want to analyze the characteristics of nowadays learning and the construction of the social identity through the storytelling of videogames. We recognize these technologies as an “homogeneous culture discourse” that can only be understood searching the keys that move the world beyond the walls of the school. From this perspective we are interested in the new spaces of power and authority that these technologies introduce in the institutions. To understand these processes we organize the analysis around certain aspects that operate in the interaction between children and this object. These reasons will guide us in the analyses. The problem of our investigation is defined by stating that videogames are involved in the construction of the social identity of the users facilitating archetypes of identification models. These discourses, also, design learning modes that generate a microculture of practices and meanings with a particular logic different from the school culture. As educators, we are interested in understanding how students organize their behaviours and identifications once immersed in this technological culture. Furthermore, we aim at comprehending the communicative strategies developed by users when utilizing this technology. We claim that these cultural behaviours bring about consequences in academic learning. This investigation presents basic aspects of the theoretical background, underpinning the construction of the social identity in the context of the global condition and the hybridization of cultures. We point out the characteristics of the cultural scenario linking the students and the Informational Society. It also studies in depth the characteristics of the digitalization of the narrative space and the ludic area, which offer us the possibility to analyze videogames from a complex perspective. To sum up, our main interest is to ascertain the characteristics of learning within the storytelling and game narrative generated

Contesting a linguistic space: A case in the teaching and learning of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The paper aims to highlight a contesting linguistic space, investigating the impact and the significance of code-switching in the teaching and learning of African languages in private schools. This research was undertaken in three private schools in the Limpopo Province in South Africa. In these schools English is prescribed ...

Perceptions of Online Learning Spaces and Their Incorporation in Mathematics Teacher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Moore-Russo, Deborah; Wilsey, Jillian; Grabowski, Jeremiah; Bampton, Tina M.

2015-01-01

While digital environments can offer convenient, viable options for preservice and inservice teachers to engage in or continue their studies, little is known about teachers' experiences with and perceptions of various existing online learning spaces. This paper describes an initial investigation using data from a group of preservice and in-service…

A Connected Space for Early Experiential Learning in Teacher Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yong Yu

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Carefully constructed field-based experiences in teacher education programs have been recognized as one of the essential conditions for effective teacher learning. Most college/university-based teacher education programs, however, are still dominated by the epistemology that academic knowledge is the authoritative source of knowledge about teaching, while spaces outside the college classroom remain the “practice fields.” This study examined Project CONNECT (PC, an after-school program designed to create early experiential learning opportunities for pre-service teachers (PSTs by bringing together different aspects of expertise from the schools, communities, and universities. Pre-service teachers in this study worked with children one afternoon a week in school-based sites during their sophomore and junior years. Case study was adopted to assess the impact of the experience on teacher learning and the factors contributing to the effect. Multiple data sources, including weekly reflection journals, field observation notes, and an exit survey were collected and analyzed. Results revealed participants’ transformation of professional identity, and development of professional skills and dispositions. Several factors emerged as important to PSTs’ learning throughout the experience, including connections between the course and the program, quality of faculty supervision, and systematic reflection. Implications for teacher education were discussed.

Safe and Inclusive Cities Research to Reduce Urban Violence ...

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

2014-04-08

TOm mCKeLVey. Date: Tuesday April 8, 2014, 2:00-4:00pm | Location: Medellín, Colombia, Plaza Mayor (Yellow Pavilion, Room 5) ... discuss the challenges of creating safe urban spaces where all residents can ... MULTI FUNDER INITIATIVE.

Flexible and Safe Control of Mobile Surface Systems, Phase II

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The primary innovation of this work is a novel approach for flexible and safe control of highly capable mobile surface systems, such as long-duration science rovers,...

Fuzzy-logic based learning style prediction in e-learning using web ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

tion, especially in web environments and proposes to use Fuzzy rules to handle the uncertainty in .... learning in safe and supportive environment ... working of the proposed Fuzzy-logic based learning style prediction in e-learning. Section 4.

Human demonstrations for fast and safe exploration in reinforcement learning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schonebaum, G.K.; Junell, J.L.; van Kampen, E.

2017-01-01

Reinforcement learning is a promising framework for controlling complex vehicles with a high level of autonomy, since it does not need a dynamic model of the vehicle, and it is able to adapt to changing conditions. When learning from scratch, the performance of a reinforcement learning controller

Flexible and Safe Control of Mobile Surface Systems, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The primary innovation of this work is a novel Petri net based approach for safe and flexible control of highly capable mobile surface systems, such as long-duration...

Which Way is Up? Lessons Learned from Space Shuttle Sensorimotor Research

Science.gov (United States)

Wood, S. J.; Reschke, M. F.; Harm, D. L.; Paloski, W. H.; Bloomberg, J. J.

2011-01-01

.g., sensory aids) will have both space and Earth-based applications. Early postflight field tests are recommended to provide the evidence base for best practices for future commercial flight programs. Learning Objective: Overview of the Space Shuttle Program regarding adaptive changes in sensorimotor function, including what was learned from research, what was implemented for medical operations, and what is recommended for commercial flights.

Action Research to Improve the Learning Space for Diagnostic Techniques

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ellen Ariel

2015-08-01

Full Text Available The module described and evaluated here was created in response to perceived learning difficulties in diagnostic test design and interpretation for students in third-year Clinical Microbiology. Previously, the activities in lectures and laboratory classes in the module fell into the lower cognitive operations of “knowledge” and “understanding.” The new approach was to exchange part of the traditional activities with elements of interactive learning, where students had the opportunity to engage in deep learning using a variety of learning styles. The effectiveness of the new curriculum was assessed by means of on-course student assessment throughout the module, a final exam, an anonymous questionnaire on student evaluation of the different activities and a focus group of volunteers. Although the new curriculum enabled a major part of the student cohort to achieve higher pass grades (p < 0.001, it did not meet the requirements of the weaker students, and the proportion of the students failing the module remained at 34%. The action research applied here provided a number of valuable suggestions from students on how to improve future curricula from their perspective. Most importantly, an interactive online program that facilitated flexibility in the learning space for the different reagents and their interaction in diagnostic tests was proposed. The methods applied to improve and assess a curriculum refresh by involving students as partners in the process, as well as the outcomes, are discussed.

Action Research to Improve the Learning Space for Diagnostic Techniques.

Science.gov (United States)

Ariel, Ellen; Owens, Leigh

2015-12-01

The module described and evaluated here was created in response to perceived learning difficulties in diagnostic test design and interpretation for students in third-year Clinical Microbiology. Previously, the activities in lectures and laboratory classes in the module fell into the lower cognitive operations of "knowledge" and "understanding." The new approach was to exchange part of the traditional activities with elements of interactive learning, where students had the opportunity to engage in deep learning using a variety of learning styles. The effectiveness of the new curriculum was assessed by means of on-course student assessment throughout the module, a final exam, an anonymous questionnaire on student evaluation of the different activities and a focus group of volunteers. Although the new curriculum enabled a major part of the student cohort to achieve higher pass grades (p < 0.001), it did not meet the requirements of the weaker students, and the proportion of the students failing the module remained at 34%. The action research applied here provided a number of valuable suggestions from students on how to improve future curricula from their perspective. Most importantly, an interactive online program that facilitated flexibility in the learning space for the different reagents and their interaction in diagnostic tests was proposed. The methods applied to improve and assess a curriculum refresh by involving students as partners in the process, as well as the outcomes, are discussed. Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education.

Impact of Spacing of Practice on Learning Brand Name and Generic Drugs.

Science.gov (United States)

Terenyi, James; Anksorus, Heidi; Persky, Adam M

2018-02-01

Objective. To test the impact of schedules of retrieval practice on learning brand and generic name drug information in a self-paced course. Methods. Students completed weekly quizzes on brand and generic name conversions for 100 commonly prescribed drugs. Each student completed part of the drug list on a schedule of equal, expanding, or contracting spacing, one practice (massed) or study only in a partial block design. Results. On measures of long-term retention, the contracting spacing schedule led to superior retention (67%) compared to the massed practice (50%) and study-only condition (46%); contracting practice also was significantly higher than expanding practice (58%,) or equal practice (59%). Overall performance decreased by almost 50% (final exam 95%, long-term retention 55%) over a 6-week period. Conclusion. A contracting spacing schedule was the most effective schedule of practice, and all spacing schedules were superior to massed practice or study-only conditions.

Space environment studies for the SZ-4 spacecraft

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ye Zonghai

2004-01-01

The space environment, especially the solar-terrestrial space environment, has close bearings on mankind's astronautical activities. An overview is presented of the space environment and safeguard services on the 'SZ' series of spacecraft, with special reference to the SZ-4 spacecraft. These include monitoring of the space environment on SZ-4, studies on its distribution, variation and effects on astronautical performance, as well as space environment forecasts for safe launching, normal operation and safe return of SZ-4. Current progress both in China and overseas is covered

Simple Automatic File Exchange (SAFE) to Support Low-Cost Spacecraft Operation via the Internet

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, Paul; Repaci, Max; Sames, David

1998-01-01

Various issues associated with Simple Automatic File Exchange (SAFE) are presented in viewgraph form. Specific topics include: 1) Packet telemetry, Internet IP networks and cost reduction; 2) Basic functions and technical features of SAFE; 3) Project goals, including low-cost satellite transmission to data centers to be distributed via an Internet; 4) Operations with a replicated file protocol; 5) File exchange operation; 6) Ground stations as gateways; 7) Lessons learned from demonstrations and tests with SAFE; and 8) Feedback and future initiatives.

Feel the Fear: Learning Graphic Design in Affective Places and Online Spaces

Science.gov (United States)

Nottingham, Anitra

2017-01-01

This article explores the idea of pedagogic affect in both onsite and online graphic design learning spaces, and speculates on the role that this affect plays in the formation of the design student. I argue that embodied design knowledge is built by interactions with design professionals, activities that mimic the daily work of designers, and…

IntlUni - The Challenges of the Multilingual and Multicultural Learning Space in the International University

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lauridsen, Karen M.

IntlUni: The challenges of the multilingual and multicultural learning space in the international university The past decade has witnessed an unprecedented increase in the internationalisation of higher education. This means that more people in higher education than ever before are teaching...... education adds value – or has the potential to add value – to the programmes offered and the learning outcomes achieved by students, the overarching aim of IntlUni is to identify the quality criteria that characterize or should characterize teaching and learning in the multilingual and multicultural...

Unpacking Virtual and Intercultural Spaces: A Presentation of a Conceptual Framework to Investigate the Connection between Technology and Intercultural Learning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Rikke; Jørgensen, Mette; Harrison, Roger

This paper presents a framework for the development of research within the emerging areas of internationalisation and technology that connect to build potential learning spaces within intercultural and global settings.......This paper presents a framework for the development of research within the emerging areas of internationalisation and technology that connect to build potential learning spaces within intercultural and global settings....

Designing flexible instructional space for teaching introductory physics with emphasis on inquiry and collaborative active learning

Science.gov (United States)

Bykov, Tikhon

2010-03-01

In recent years McMurry University's introductory physics curriculum has gone through a series of significant changes to achieve better integration of traditional course components (lecture/lab/discussion) by means of instructional design and technology. A system of flexible curriculum modules with emphasis on inquiry-based teaching and collaborative active learning has been introduced. To unify module elements, a technology suite has been used that consists of Tablet PC's and software applications including Physlets, tablet-adapted personal response system, PASCO data acquisition systems, and MS One-note collaborative writing software. Adoption of the new teaching model resulted in reevaluation of existing instructional spaces. The new teaching space will be created during the renovation of the McMurry Science Building. This space will allow for easy transitions between lecture and laboratory modes. Movable partitions will be used to accommodate student groups of different sizes. The space will be supportive of small peer-group activities with easy-to-reconfigure furniture, multiple white and black board surfaces and multiple projection screens. The new space will be highly flexible to account for different teaching functions, different teaching modes and learning styles.

Safe Laser Beam Propagation for Interplanetary Links

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, Keith E.

2011-01-01

Ground-to-space laser uplinks to Earth–orbiting satellites and deep space probes serve both as a beacon and an uplink command channel for deep space probes and Earth-orbiting satellites. An acquisition and tracking point design to support a high bandwidth downlink from a 20-cm optical terminal on an orbiting Mars spacecraft typically calls for 2.5 kW of 1030-nm uplink optical power in 40 micro-radians divergent beams.2 The NOHD (nominal ocular hazard distance) of the 1030nm uplink is in excess of 2E5 km, approximately half the distance to the moon. Recognizing the possible threat of high power laser uplinks to the flying public and to sensitive Earth-orbiting satellites, JPL developed a three-tiered system at its Optical Communications Telescope Laboratory (OCTL) to ensure safe laser beam propagation through navigational and near-Earth space.

Study on Space Audit Assessment Criteria for Public Higher Education Institution in Malaysia: Space Capacity Assessment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wan Hamdan Wan Samsul Zamani

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study is to measure the capacity rate of learning space based on the as-built drawing provided by the institutions or if the as-built drawing is missing, the researcher have to prepare measured drawing as per actual on site. The learning space Capacity Index is developed by analyzing the space design in as-built drawing or measured drawing and the list of learning spaces available at the institution. The Capacity Index is classified according to the level of Usable Floor Area (UFA and Occupancy Load (OL according to learning space design capacity. The classification of Capacity Index is demonstrated through linguistic value and the color-coded key. From the said index, the institution can easily identify whether the existing learning space is currently best used or vice versa and standard space planning compliance in Malaysia Public Higher Education Institutions. The data will assist the management to clarify whether to maximize the use of existing space or to request for new learning space.

Which Space? Whose Space? An Experience in Involving Students and Teachers in Space Design

Science.gov (United States)

Casanova, Diogo; Di Napoli, Roberto; Leijon, Marie

2018-01-01

To date, learning spaces in higher education have been designed with little engagement on the part of their most important users: students and teachers. In this paper, we present the results of research carried out in a UK university. The research aimed to understand how students and teachers conceptualise learning spaces when they are given the…

Travellers and Home Education: Safe Spaces and Inequality

Science.gov (United States)

D'Arcy, Kate

2014-01-01

Elective home education (EHE) is a legal alternative to school in England but the statutory requirements for provision are remarkably vague. This book explores the use of EHE by Gypsy and Traveller families. The accounts of their experiences and their views about education spaces reveal the racism and discrimination their children encounter in…

Iterative co-creation for improved hand hygiene and aseptic techniques in the operating room: experiences from the safe hands study.

Science.gov (United States)

Erichsen Andersson, Annette; Frödin, Maria; Dellenborg, Lisen; Wallin, Lars; Hök, Jesper; Gillespie, Brigid M; Wikström, Ewa

2018-01-04

Hand hygiene and aseptic techniques are essential preventives in combating hospital-acquired infections. However, implementation of these strategies in the operating room remains suboptimal. There is a paucity of intervention studies providing detailed information on effective methods for change. This study aimed to evaluate the process of implementing a theory-driven knowledge translation program for improved use of hand hygiene and aseptic techniques in the operating room. The study was set in an operating department of a university hospital. The intervention was underpinned by theories on organizational learning, culture and person centeredness. Qualitative process data were collected via participant observations and analyzed using a thematic approach. Doubts that hand-hygiene practices are effective in preventing hospital acquired infections, strong boundaries and distrust between professional groups and a lack of psychological safety were identified as barriers towards change. Facilitated interprofessional dialogue and learning in "safe spaces" worked as mechanisms for motivation and engagement. Allowing for the free expression of different opinions, doubts and viewing resistance as a natural part of any change was effective in engaging all professional categories in co-creation of clinical relevant solutions to improve hand hygiene. Enabling nurses and physicians to think and talk differently about hospital acquired infections and hand hygiene requires a shift from the concept of one-way directed compliance towards change and learning as the result of a participatory and meaning-making process. The present study is a part of the Safe Hands project, and is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (ID: NCT02983136 ). Date of registration 2016/11/28, retrospectively registered.

Learning, Play, and Your Newborn

Science.gov (United States)

... Staying Safe Videos for Educators Search English Español Learning, Play, and Your Newborn KidsHealth / For Parents / Learning, ... Some Other Ideas Print What Is My Newborn Learning? Play is the chief way that infants learn ...

Bike Skills Training in PE Is Fun, Keeps Kids Safe

Science.gov (United States)

Wallace, Judi Lawson; Sutton, Nancy P.

2015-01-01

Incorporating bike skills into the elementary- and middle-school physical education curriculum encourages students to be physically active in a fun way while also learning bike safety skills. Winston-Salem's (NC) Safe Routes to School program demonstrates how collaboration with the public schools' health and physical education program can…

Organising a safe space for navigating social-ecological transformations to sustainability

OpenAIRE

Pereira, L.; Karpouzoglou, T.D.; Doshi, S.; Frantzeskaki, N.

2015-01-01

textabstractThe need for developing socially just living conditions for the world’s growing population whilst keeping human societies within a ‘safe operating space’ has become a modern imperative. This requires transformative changes in the dominant social norms, behaviours, governance and management regimes that guide human responses in areas such as urban ecology, public health, resource security (e.g., food, water, energy access), economic development and biodiversity conservation. Howeve...

Fictive kinship as it mediates learning, resiliency, perseverance, and social learning of inner-city high school students of color in a college physics class

Science.gov (United States)

Alexakos, Konstantinos; Jones, Jayson K.; Rodriguez, Victor H.

2011-12-01

In this hermeneutic study we explore how fictive kinship (kin-like close personal friendship) amongst high school students of color mediated their resiliency, perseverance, and success in a college physics class. These freely chosen, processual friendships were based on emotional and material support, motivation, and caring for each other, as well as trust, common interests, and goals. Such close bonds contributed in creating a safe and supportive emotional space and allowed for friendly, cooperative competition within the physics classroom. Friends became the role models, source of support, and motivation for the fictive kinship group as well as for each other, as the group became the role model, source of support, and motivation for the individuals in it. Because of their friendships with one another, physics talk was extended and made part of their personal interactions outside the classroom. These social relationships and safe spaces helped the students cope and persevere despite their initial conflicting expectations of their success in physics. Our research thus expands on the concept of social learning by exploring student friendships and how they frame and mediate such a process.

Early Childhood Studies--Students' Participation in the Development of a Learning Space in a Higher Education Institution

Science.gov (United States)

Kanyal, Mallika

2014-01-01

The article argues for the participation and involvement of students in developing learning spaces within higher education. In early childhood education there is a strong emphasis upon rights, democracy and planning learning through listening to young children. Taking inspiration from this, the study explores the use of participatory approaches in…

Challenging Heteronormativity: Creating a Safe and Inclusive Environment for LGBTQ Students

Science.gov (United States)

Steck, Andy K.; Perry, David

2018-01-01

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) youth face hostile and exclusionary learning environments. A qualitative phenomenographic method involving semistructured interviews of seven secondary school administrators was conducted to identify perceptions of experiences creating a safe and inclusive environment for students…

In-Space Manufacturing at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center: Enabling Technologies for Exploration

Science.gov (United States)

Bean, Quincy; Johnston, Mallory; Ordonez, Erick; Ryan, Rick; Prater, Tracie; Werkeiser, Niki

2015-01-01

NASA Marshall Space Flight Center is currently engaged in a number of in-space manufacturing(ISM)activities that have the potential to reduce launch costs, enhance crew safety, and provide the capabilities needed to undertake long duration spaceflight safely and sustainably.

The Evolution of Failure Analysis at NASA's Kennedy Space Center and the Lessons Learned

Science.gov (United States)

Long, Victoria S.; Wright, M. Clara; McDanels, Steve

2015-01-01

The United States has had four manned launch programs and three station programs since the era of human space flight began in 1961. The launch programs, Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and Shuttle, and the station programs, Skylab, Shuttle-Mir, and the International Space Station (ISS), have all been enormously successful, not only in advancing the exploration of space, but also in advancing related technologies. As each subsequent program built upon the successes of previous programs, they similarly learned from their predecessors' failures. While some failures were spectacular and captivated the attention of the world, most only held the attention of the dedicated men and women working to make the missions succeed.

Lessons learned from the design of chemical space networks and opportunities for new applications

Science.gov (United States)

Vogt, Martin; Stumpfe, Dagmar; Maggiora, Gerald M.; Bajorath, Jürgen

2016-03-01

The concept of chemical space is of fundamental relevance in chemical informatics and computer-aided drug discovery. In a series of articles published in the Journal of Computer- Aided Molecular Design, principles of chemical space design were evaluated, molecular networks proposed as an alternative to conventional coordinate-based chemical reference spaces, and different types of chemical space networks (CSNs) constructed and analyzed. Central to the generation of CSNs was the way in which molecular similarity relationships were assessed and a primary focal point was the network-based representation of biologically relevant chemical space. The design and comparison of CSNs based upon alternative similarity measures can be viewed as an evolutionary path with interesting lessons learned along the way. CSN design has matured to the point that such chemical space representations can be used in practice. In this contribution, highlights from the sequence of CSN design efforts are discussed in context, providing a perspective for future practical applications.

Lessons learned from the design of chemical space networks and opportunities for new applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Vogt, Martin; Stumpfe, Dagmar; Maggiora, Gerald M; Bajorath, Jürgen

2016-03-01

The concept of chemical space is of fundamental relevance in chemical informatics and computer-aided drug discovery. In a series of articles published in the Journal of Computer-Aided Molecular Design, principles of chemical space design were evaluated, molecular networks proposed as an alternative to conventional coordinate-based chemical reference spaces, and different types of chemical space networks (CSNs) constructed and analyzed. Central to the generation of CSNs was the way in which molecular similarity relationships were assessed and a primary focal point was the network-based representation of biologically relevant chemical space. The design and comparison of CSNs based upon alternative similarity measures can be viewed as an evolutionary path with interesting lessons learned along the way. CSN design has matured to the point that such chemical space representations can be used in practice. In this contribution, highlights from the sequence of CSN design efforts are discussed in context, providing a perspective for future practical applications.

Learning about Proteins

Science.gov (United States)

... Fitness Diseases & Conditions Infections Drugs & Alcohol School & Jobs Sports Expert Answers (Q&A) Staying Safe Videos for Educators Search English Español Learning About Proteins KidsHealth / For Kids / Learning About Proteins What's in ...

Defining Learning Space in a Serious Game in Terms of Operative and Resultant Actions

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Michael W.; Shen, Yuzhong

2012-01-01

This paper explores the distinction between operative and resultant actions in games, and proposes that the learning space created by a serious game is a function of these actions. Further, it suggests a possible relationship between these actions and the forms of cognitive load imposed upon the game player. Association of specific types of cognitive load with respective forms of actions in game mechanics also presents some heuristics for integrating learning content into serious games. Research indicates that different balances of these types of actions are more suitable for novice or experienced learners. By examining these relationships, we can develop a few basic principles of game design which have an increased potential to promote positive learning outcomes.

Crossing Boundaries in Facebook: Students' Framing of Language Learning Activities as Extended Spaces

Science.gov (United States)

Lantz-Andersson, Annika; Vigmo, Sylvi; Bowen, Rhonwen

2013-01-01

Young people's interaction online is rapidly increasing, which enables new spaces for communication; the impact on learning, however, is not yet acknowledged in education. The aim of this exploratory case study is to scrutinize how students frame their interaction in social networking sites (SNS) in school practices and what that implies for…

Lessons Learned for Space Safety from the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Accident

Science.gov (United States)

Nogami, Manami; Miki, Masami; Mitsui, Masami; Kawada, Ysuhiro; Takeuchi, Nobuo

2013-09-01

On March 11 2011, Tohoku Region Pacific Coast Earthquake hit Japan and caused the devastating damage. The Fukushima Nuclear Power Station (NPS) was also severely damaged.The Japanese NPSs are designed based on the detailed safety requirements and have multiple-folds of hazard controls to the catastrophic hazards as in space system. However, according to the initial information from the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) and the Japanese government, the larger-than-expected tsunami and subsequent events lost the all hazard controls to the release of radioactive materials.At the 5th IAASS, Lessons Learned from this disaster was reported [1] mainly based on the "Report of the Japanese Government to the IAEA Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Safety" [2] published by Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters in June 2011, three months after the earthquake.Up to 2012 summer, the major investigation boards, including the Japanese Diet, the Japanese Cabinet and TEPCO, published their final reports, in which detailed causes of this accident and several recommendations are assessed from each perspective.In this paper, the authors examine to introduce the lessons learned to be applied to the space safety as findings from these reports.

Probing forces of menisci: what levels are safe for arthroscopic surgery

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tuijthof, Gabriëlle J. M.; Horeman, Tim; Schafroth, Matthias U.; Blankevoort, Leendert; Kerkhoffs, Gino M. M. J.

2011-01-01

To facilitate effective learning, feedback on performance during arthroscopic training is essential. Less attention has been paid to feedback on monitoring safe handling of delicate tissues such as meniscus. The goal is to measure in vitro probing forces of menisci and compare them with a

Food technology in space habitats

Science.gov (United States)

Karel, M.

1979-01-01

The research required to develop a system that will provide for acceptable, nutritious, and safe diets for man during extended space missions is discussed. The development of a food technology system for space habitats capable of converting raw materials produced in the space habitats into acceptable food is examined.

The Learning Exchange: A Shared Space for the University of British Columbia and Vancouver's Downtown Eastside Communities

Science.gov (United States)

Towle, Angela; Leahy, Kathleen

2016-01-01

The Learning Exchange was established by the University of British Columbia (UBC) in 1999 in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside (DTES). The challenge has been to create a shared space for learning exchanges between two very different communities: a research-intensive university and an inner city area most commonly depicted as a place of hopelessness.…

Dwelling and Creative Imagination in Gaston Bachelard's Phenomenology: Returning to the Poetic Space of Education and Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Magrini, James M.

2017-01-01

In response to the so-called crisis in contemporary education in the institutions of higher learning (USA)--the encroachment of corporatism and pervasion of standardization--there is a move to offset this dominance by reconceiving the university in terms of an intimate space of dwelling in learning and education. In light of this moribund…

76 FR 12719 - Safe Schools/Healthy Students Program; Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools; Safe Schools/Healthy...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-03-08

... DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Safe Schools/Healthy Students Program; Office of Safe and Drug- Free Schools; Safe Schools/Healthy Students Program; Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Numbers: 84... priorities, requirements, and definitions under the Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) program. Since...

Differentiating qualitative representations into learning spaces

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Liem, J.; Beek, W.; Bredeweg, B.; de Kleer, J.; Forbus, K.D.

2010-01-01

The DynaLearn interactive learning environment allows learners to construct their conceptual ideas and investigate the logical consequences of those ideas. By building and simulating causal models, students develop an understanding of how systems work. The DynaLearn interactive learning environment

Probing forces of menisci : What levels are safe for arthroscopic surgery

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tuijthof, G.J.M.; Horeman, T.; Schafroth, M.U.; Blankevoort, L.; Kerkhoffs, G.M.M.J.

2010-01-01

Purpose To facilitate effective learning, feedback on performance during arthroscopic training is essential. Less attention has been paid to feedback on monitoring safe handling of delicate tissues such as meniscus. The goal is to measure in vitro probing forces of menisci and compare them with a

Body-Building: A Female Student's Use of the Transitional Spaces of a Painting Degree Course to Explore Her Sexual Desirability and Aesthetics as a "Grotesque" Female Body

Science.gov (United States)

Chittenden, Tara

2013-01-01

Whilst a part of the fine art degree course is about teaching technical skills and learning from tutor/peer group crits, a larger part is about the facilitation of a "safe" and structured space in which students gain the confidence to experiment with personal ideas, to hone a self-critical reflection and understand who they are as individuals,…

Software functions for safe operation - learning from Sizewell-B

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Welbourne, D.

1996-01-01

Future nuclear plants will use computer-based systems extensively. Regulatory acceptance must be planned and not underestimated. Commercial software packages will simplify it, but costly analysis and demonstration may be needed. Multiplexed control needs preparation of extensive configuration data and careful checking. On-screen soft control will need consideration of the integrity of the control path. Display design should follow human factors analysis of the operators' needs, and display layout needs great care for clarity. Computer-based system with planned quality will then bring great benefits in safe operation. (author) 1 fig., 3 refs

Space Science in Action: Space Exploration [Videotape].

Science.gov (United States)

1999

In this videotape recording, students learn about the human quest to discover what is out in space. Students see the challenges and benefits of space exploration including the development of rocket science, a look back at the space race, and a history of manned space travel. A special section on the Saturn V rocket gives students insight into the…

Cognitive Bias for Learning Speech Sounds From a Continuous Signal Space Seems Nonlinguistic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sabine van der Ham

2015-10-01

Full Text Available When learning language, humans have a tendency to produce more extreme distributions of speech sounds than those observed most frequently: In rapid, casual speech, vowel sounds are centralized, yet cross-linguistically, peripheral vowels occur almost universally. We investigate whether adults’ generalization behavior reveals selective pressure for communication when they learn skewed distributions of speech-like sounds from a continuous signal space. The domain-specific hypothesis predicts that the emergence of sound categories is driven by a cognitive bias to make these categories maximally distinct, resulting in more skewed distributions in participants’ reproductions. However, our participants showed more centered distributions, which goes against this hypothesis, indicating that there are no strong innate linguistic biases that affect learning these speech-like sounds. The centralization behavior can be explained by a lack of communicative pressure to maintain categories.

C-SAFE: A Computer-Delivered Sexual Health Promotion Program for Latinas.

Science.gov (United States)

Klein, Charles H; Kuhn, Tamara; Altamirano, Midori; Lomonaco, Carmela

2017-07-01

This article describes the development and evaluation of C-SAFE (Sexual Awareness for Everyone), a computer-delivered sexual health promotion program for Latinas. We first describe the process of adapting an evidence-based, group-level intervention into an individually administered computer-delivered program. We then present the methods and results of a randomized control trial with 321 Latinas in California and Florida to test C-SAFE's preliminary efficacy in reducing sexual health risk. We found no statistically significant differences between the two conditions at a six-month follow-up in terms of sexual behaviors or attitudes toward sexually transmitted infections and condoms, although C-SAFE women reported fewer days in the past month when their mental health was not good (p = .02). C-SAFE condition women also reported more satisfaction than control condition women in their assessment of information presentation (on a scale of 1 = poor and 5 = excellent; C-SAFE = 4.45 vs. control = 4.25, p = .053) and having learned something new (C-SAFE = 95.1% vs. control = 79.3%, χ 2 importance of teachable moments, matching of delivery modalities to implementation contexts, and possible directions for evidence-based sexual health promotion programs given the current sexual health landscape.

Creating a Space for Creativity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bøjer, Bodil

2017-01-01

Space shapes us but is also shaped by the way we interact with and act within the space. In recent years many schools are being built or rebuilt based on student-centred learning with smaller classrooms and large innovative learning environments (ILEs), expected to foster collaboration and creati......Space shapes us but is also shaped by the way we interact with and act within the space. In recent years many schools are being built or rebuilt based on student-centred learning with smaller classrooms and large innovative learning environments (ILEs), expected to foster collaboration...... teacher), space (the designer) and organisation (management). With my research, I would like to contribute to the understanding of the relationship between the physical learning environment and creative learning processes and the potential of the space as a tool to stimulate creativity. In my poster...... presentation at ‘Educational Architecture’ I will present a case study from my PhD-project where I developed a new ILE at a Danish municipal school in collaboration with the design agency Rune Fjord Studio. A starting point for the project was to examine if and how involving teachers and management...

Virtual Spaces: Employing a Synchronous Online Classroom to Facilitate Student Engagement in Online Learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Lynn McBrien

2009-06-01

Full Text Available This research study is a collaborative project between faculty in social foundations, special education, and instructional technology in which we analyze student data from six undergraduate and graduate courses related to the use of a virtual classroom space. Transactional distance theory (Moore & Kearsley, 1996 operates as our theoretical framework as we explore the role of a virtual classroom in distance education and analyze the ways in which a synchronous learning environment affects students’ learning experiences. Elluminate Live! was the software employed in the virtual classroom. In this analysis, particular themes emerged related to dialogue, structure, and learner autonomy. In addition, students rated convenience, technical issues, and pedagogical preferences as important elements in their learning experiences. The article discusses these themes as a contribution to reducing the “distance” that students experience in online learning and to developing quality distance education experiences for students in higher education.

Boundary Interaction: Towards Developing a Mobile Technology-Enabled Science Curriculum to Integrate Learning in the Informal Spaces

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Daner; Looi, Chee-Kit

2018-01-01

This paper explores the crossover between formal learning and learning in informal spaces supported by mobile technology, and proposes design principles for educators to carry out a science curriculum, namely Boundary Activity-based Science Curriculum (BAbSC). The conceptualization of the boundary object, and the principles of boundary activity as…

Cool and Safe: Multiplicity in Safe Innovation at Unilever

Science.gov (United States)

Penders, Bart

2011-01-01

This article presents the making of a safe innovation: the application of ice structuring protein (ISP) in edible ices. It argues that safety is not the absence of risk but is an active accomplishment; innovations are not "made safe afterward" but "safe innovations are made". Furthermore, there are multiple safeties to be accomplished in the…

NASA Strategy to Safely Live and Work in the Space Radiation Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Cucinotta, Francis; Wu, Honglu; Corbin, Barbara; Sulzman, Frank; Kreneck, Sam

2007-01-01

This viewgraph document reviews the radiation environment that is a significant potential hazard to NASA's goals for space exploration, of living and working in space. NASA has initiated a Peer reviewed research program that is charged with arriving at an understanding of the space radiation problem. To this end NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) was constructed to simulate the harsh cosmic and solar radiation found in space. Another piece of the work was to develop a risk modeling tool that integrates the results from research efforts into models of human risk to reduce uncertainties in predicting risk of carcinogenesis, central nervous system damage, degenerative tissue disease, and acute radiation effects acute radiation effects.

Safe motherhood at risk?

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, A

1996-12-01

Health professionals' negative attitudes toward clients often exacerbate the problems women face in terms of health status and access to health care. Thus, the health professionals can themselves be obstacles to women seeking the health care they need. A key challenge to midwives, in addition to providing technically competent services, is gaining insight into the people for whom they are responsible so that childbirth traditions are treated with respect and women are offered dignity. Safe motherhood requires intersectoral collaboration. Many innovative approaches to safe motherhood are based on the community's participation in planning services that meet the needs of women. Other approaches are based on decentralization of services. For example, a large university teaching hospital in Lusaka, Zambia, set up birthing centers around the city to take the pressure off the hospital. Midwives head up these centers, which are close to the women's homes. Decentralization of delivery services has improved the physical and emotional outcomes for mothers and newborns. Midwives must be prepared to articulate concerns about inequalities and deficiencies in the health care system in order to persuade the government to change. Women, including midwives, need to form multidisciplinary alliances to work together to effect change. The front-line workers in maternity care are midwives. They should adopt the following strategies to become even more effective in their efforts to make motherhood safer. They should listen to what women say about their needs. They should scale services to a manageable, human scale. They should learn the skills to become politically active advocates. They should work with other midwives, women, leaders, and other professional groups. Motherhood can be safe when women have more control over their own decision making, the education to liberate themselves to make their own decisions, and access to skilled care.

The experience of learning to speak up: a narrative inquiry on newly graduated registered nurses.

Science.gov (United States)

Law, Bernice Yee-Shui; Chan, Engle Angela

2015-07-01

To explore the process of learning to speak up in practice among newly graduated registered nurses. Speaking up is an important aspect of communication to ensure patient safety within a healthcare team. However, nurses have reported being hesitant about speaking up or being unable to be heard, despite adopting various safety tools. A power differential could be a factor in their hesitation to speak up. While a large number of new graduates are employed in the lower rungs of the hospital hierarchy to resolve local and global nursing shortages, the process of their learning to speak up remains under-explored. The narrative concept of experience is addressed through the three-dimensional space of a narrative inquiry. Eighteen new graduates were recruited. Stories of experiences of speaking up emerged naturally during repeated unstructured interviews and ongoing email conversations with three participants. The complex process of learning to speak up is schematically represented. Three interrelated narrative threads were identified: (1) learning to speak up requires more than one-off training and safety tools, (2) mentoring speaking up in the midst of educative and miseducative experiences and (3) making public spaces safe for telling secret stories. Speaking up requires ongoing mentoring to see new possibilities for sustaining professional identities in the midst of miseducative experiences under the potential shaping of the Chinese culture and generational differences. Appreciative inquiry might be a new approach that can be used to promote positive cultural changes to encourage newly graduated registered nurses to learn to speak up to ensure patient safety. Cultivating a safe and open culture of communication and mentoring new graduates to speak up will benefit patient safety now and in the future by helping to retain committed patient advocates who could mentor future generations. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

CDC Vital Signs–Safe Sleep for Babies

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

2018-01-09

This podcast is based on the January 2018 CDC Vital Signs report. Every year, there are about 3,500 sleep-related deaths among U.S. babies. Learn how to create a safe sleep environment for babies.  Created: 1/9/2018 by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).   Date Released: 1/9/2018.

E-Learning for Geography's Teaching and Learning Spaces

Science.gov (United States)

Lynch, Kenneth; Bednarz, Bob; Boxall, James; Chalmers, Lex; France, Derek; Kesby, Julie

2008-01-01

The authors embed their advocacy of educational technology in a consideration of contemporary pedagogy in geography. They provide examples of e-learning from a wide range of teaching and learning contexts. They promote the idea that considering best practice with reference to educational technology will increase the versatility of teaching…

Loss of Signal, Aeromedical Lessons Learned for the STS-I07 Columbia Space Shuttle Mishap

Science.gov (United States)

Patlach, Robert; Stepaniak, Philip C.; Lane, Helen W.

2014-01-01

Loss of Signal, a NASA publication to be available in May 2014, presents the aeromedical lessons learned from the Columbia accident that will enhance crew safety and survival on human space flight missions. These lessons were presented to limited audiences at three separate Aerospace Medical Association (AsMA) conferences: in 2004 in Anchorage, Alaska, on the causes of the accident; in 2005 in Kansas City, Missouri, on the response, recovery, and identification aspects of the investigation; and in 2011, again in Anchorage, Alaska, on future implications for human space flight. As we embark on the development of new spacefaring vehicles through both government and commercial efforts, the NASA Johnson Space Center Human Health and Performance Directorate is continuing to make this information available to a wider audience engaged in the design and development of future space vehicles. Loss of Signal summarizes and consolidates the aeromedical impacts of the Columbia mishap process-the response, recovery, identification, investigative studies, medical and legal forensic analysis, and future preparation that are needed to respond to spacecraft mishaps. The goals of this book are to provide an account of the aeromedical aspects of the Columbia accident and the investigation that followed, and to encourage aerospace medical specialists to continue to capture information, learn from it, and improve procedures and spacecraft designs for the safety of future crews.

Space Objects Maneuvering Detection and Prediction via Inverse Reinforcement Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Linares, R.; Furfaro, R.

This paper determines the behavior of Space Objects (SOs) using inverse Reinforcement Learning (RL) to estimate the reward function that each SO is using for control. The approach discussed in this work can be used to analyze maneuvering of SOs from observational data. The inverse RL problem is solved using the Feature Matching approach. This approach determines the optimal reward function that a SO is using while maneuvering by assuming that the observed trajectories are optimal with respect to the SO's own reward function. This paper uses estimated orbital elements data to determine the behavior of SOs in a data-driven fashion.

Does Digitized Virtual Space Allow for Effective Learning in Creating Environments for Theatrical Productions?

Science.gov (United States)

Magruder, Lewis

2016-01-01

Learning how to transform an empty space into one alive with dramatic possibilities is one of the challenges facing students in several disciplines--for example, graphic design, filmmaking, gaming, architecture, interior design, visual arts, and designing and directing for the theatre. The author, a professor of directing for the theatre,…

A Green, Safe, Multi-Pulse Solid Motor (MPM) for CubeSats, Phase II

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Today's CubeSats lack storable, green, safe propulsion options for complex science missions that may involve large Delta-V changes, proximity operations, and...

Creating a Space for Creativity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bøjer, Bodil

2017-01-01

and creativity. But the relational dependence between the physical space, pedagogics and organisation is widely overlooked when designing these new learning environments as a new spatial design in itself is expected to change the way we teach and learn. Simply changing the space is not enough (Imms & Byers, 2017......) and the intentions of the space can only be fully realised if the inhabitants of the schools completely understand and support the pedagogical principles informing the provision of these spaces (Burke, 2016). This is why three things should be aligned in order for an ILE to work intendedly: creative teaching (the...... teacher), space (the designer) and organisation (management). With my research, I would like to contribute to the understanding of the relationship between the physical learning environment and creative learning processes and the potential of the space as a tool to stimulate creativity. In my poster...

Constructing Digital "Safe" Space: Navigating Tensions in Transnational Feminist Organizing Online

Science.gov (United States)

Linabary, Jasmine R.

2017-01-01

Despite decades of advocacy, women still struggle to gain access to public spaces, in particular to spaces of power such as formal governance and decision-making processes, economic sites, and media institutions. Globalization has enabled the emergence of transnational feminist organizing in response to these exclusions, yet scholars have largely…

Social Justice and Out-of-School Science Learning: Exploring Equity in Science Television, Science Clubs and Maker Spaces

Science.gov (United States)

Dawson, Emily

2017-01-01

This article outlines how social justice theories, in combination with the concepts of infrastructure access, literacies and community acceptance, can be used to think about equity in out-of-school science learning. The author applies these ideas to out-of-school learning via television, science clubs, and maker spaces, looking at research as well…

Space Toxicology: Human Health during Space Operations

Science.gov (United States)

Khan-Mayberry, Noreen; James, John T.; Tyl, ROchelle; Lam, Chiu-Wing

2010-01-01

Space Toxicology is a unique and targeted discipline for spaceflight, space habitation and occupation of celestial bodies including planets, moons and asteroids. Astronaut explorers face distinctive health challenges and limited resources for rescue and medical care during space operation. A central goal of space toxicology is to protect the health of the astronaut by assessing potential chemical exposures during spaceflight and setting safe limits that will protect the astronaut against chemical exposures, in a physiologically altered state. In order to maintain sustained occupation in space on the International Space Station (ISS), toxicological risks must be assessed and managed within the context of isolation continuous exposures, reuse of air and water, limited rescue options, and the need to use highly toxic compounds for propulsion. As we begin to explore other celestial bodies in situ toxicological risks, such as inhalation of reactive mineral dusts, must also be managed.

Entertainment, Engagement and Education: Foundations and Developments in Digital and Physical Spaces to Support Learning through Making

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Giannakos, Michail N.; Divitini, Monica; Iversen, Ole Sejer

2017-01-01

like problem solving, design thinking, collaboration, and innovation, to mention few. Contemporary technical and infrastructural developments, like Hackerspaces, Makerspaces, TechShops, FabLabs and the appearance of tools such as wearable computing, robotics, 3D printing, microprocessors, and intuitive......Making is a relatively new concept applied to describe the increasing attention on constructing activities to enable entertaining, engaging and efficient learning. Making focuses on the process that occurs in digital and/or physical spaces that is not always learning oriented, but enables qualities...... programming languages; posit making as a very promising research area to support the learning processes, especially towards the acquisition of 21st Century learning competences. Collecting learning evidence via rigorous multidimensional and multidisciplinary case studies will allow us to better understand...

UAV Research at NASA Langley: Towards Safe, Reliable, and Autonomous Operations

Science.gov (United States)

Davila, Carlos G.

2016-01-01

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) are fundamental components in several aspects of research at NASA Langley, such as flight dynamics, mission-driven airframe design, airspace integration demonstrations, atmospheric science projects, and more. In particular, NASA Langley Research Center (Langley) is using UAVs to develop and demonstrate innovative capabilities that meet the autonomy and robotics challenges that are anticipated in science, space exploration, and aeronautics. These capabilities will enable new NASA missions such as asteroid rendezvous and retrieval (ARRM), Mars exploration, in-situ resource utilization (ISRU), pollution measurements in historically inaccessible areas, and the integration of UAVs into our everyday lives all missions of increasing complexity, distance, pace, and/or accessibility. Building on decades of NASA experience and success in the design, fabrication, and integration of robust and reliable automated systems for space and aeronautics, Langley Autonomy Incubator seeks to bridge the gap between automation and autonomy by enabling safe autonomous operations via onboard sensing and perception systems in both data-rich and data-deprived environments. The Autonomy Incubator is focused on the challenge of mobility and manipulation in dynamic and unstructured environments by integrating technologies such as computer vision, visual odometry, real-time mapping, path planning, object detection and avoidance, object classification, adaptive control, sensor fusion, machine learning, and natural human-machine teaming. These technologies are implemented in an architectural framework developed in-house for easy integration and interoperability of cutting-edge hardware and software.

Loss of Signal, Aeromedical Lessons Learned from the STS-107 Columbia Space Shuttle Mishap

Science.gov (United States)

Stepaniak, Phillip C.; Patlach, Robert

2014-01-01

Loss of Signal, a NASA publication to be available in May 2014 presents the aeromedical lessons learned from the Columbia accident that will enhance crew safety and survival on human space flight missions. These lessons were presented to limited audiences at three separate Aerospace Medical Association (AsMA) conferences: in 2004 in Anchorage, Alaska, on the causes of the accident; in 2005 in Kansas City, Missouri, on the response, recovery, and identification aspects of the investigation; and in 2011, again in Anchorage, Alaska, on future implications for human space flight. As we embark on the development of new spacefaring vehicles through both government and commercial efforts, the NASA Johnson Space Center Human Health and Performance Directorate is continuing to make this information available to a wider audience engaged in the design and development of future space vehicles. Loss of Signal summarizes and consolidates the aeromedical impacts of the Columbia mishap process-the response, recovery, identification, investigative studies, medical and legal forensic analysis, and future preparation that are needed to respond to spacecraft mishaps. The goal of this book is to provide an account of the aeromedical aspects of the Columbia accident and the investigation that followed, and to encourage aerospace medical specialists to continue to capture information, learn from it, and improve procedures and spacecraft designs for the safety of future crews. This poster presents an outline of Loss of Signal contents and highlights from each of five sections - the mission and mishap, the response, the investigation, the analysis and the future.

Spaces of Performance in Higher Education

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Kenneth Mølbjerg

2018-01-01

Abstract Purpose — The purpose of the paper is to provide a framework for reflecting on how different ways of configuring spaces in higher education (HE) condition the possibilities of learning. Second, the purpose is to construct a storytelling approach for the configuration of such spaces. Design...... to the potential of HE to produce new and innovative forms of learning. Value — This paper introduces the term “spaces of performance,” which directs attention towards the material, discursive, and relational conditions for learning. It also introduces a space of storytelling as a new principle for learning in HE...

A glimpse from the inside of a space suit: What is it really like to train for an EVA?

Science.gov (United States)

Gast, Matthew A.; Moore, Sandra K.

2011-01-01

The beauty of the view from the office of a spacewalking astronaut gives the impression of simplicity, but few beyond the astronauts, and those who train them, know what it really takes to get there. Extravehicular Activity (EVA) training is an intense process that utilizes NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) to develop a very specific skill set needed to safely construct and maintain the orbiting International Space Station. To qualify for flight assignments, astronauts must demonstrate the ability to work safely and efficiently in the physically demanding environment of the space suit, possess an acute ability to resolve unforeseen problems, and implement proper tool protocols to ensure no tools will be lost in space. Through the insights and the lessons learned by actual EVA astronauts and EVA instructors, this paper will take you on a journey through an astronaut's earliest experiences working in the space suit, termed the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU), in the underwater training environment of the NBL. This work details an actual Suit Qualification NBL training event, outlines the numerous challenges the astronauts face throughout their initial training, and the various ways they adapt their own abilities to overcome them. The goal of this paper is to give everyone a small glimpse into what it is really like to work in a space suit.

Learning of state-space models with highly informative observations: A tempered sequential Monte Carlo solution

Science.gov (United States)

Svensson, Andreas; Schön, Thomas B.; Lindsten, Fredrik

2018-05-01

Probabilistic (or Bayesian) modeling and learning offers interesting possibilities for systematic representation of uncertainty using probability theory. However, probabilistic learning often leads to computationally challenging problems. Some problems of this type that were previously intractable can now be solved on standard personal computers thanks to recent advances in Monte Carlo methods. In particular, for learning of unknown parameters in nonlinear state-space models, methods based on the particle filter (a Monte Carlo method) have proven very useful. A notoriously challenging problem, however, still occurs when the observations in the state-space model are highly informative, i.e. when there is very little or no measurement noise present, relative to the amount of process noise. The particle filter will then struggle in estimating one of the basic components for probabilistic learning, namely the likelihood p (data | parameters). To this end we suggest an algorithm which initially assumes that there is substantial amount of artificial measurement noise present. The variance of this noise is sequentially decreased in an adaptive fashion such that we, in the end, recover the original problem or possibly a very close approximation of it. The main component in our algorithm is a sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) sampler, which gives our proposed method a clear resemblance to the SMC2 method. Another natural link is also made to the ideas underlying the approximate Bayesian computation (ABC). We illustrate it with numerical examples, and in particular show promising results for a challenging Wiener-Hammerstein benchmark problem.

Safe Human-Robot Cooperation in an Industrial Environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicola Pedrocchi

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The standard EN ISO10218 is fostering the implementation of hybrid production systems, i.e., production systems characterized by a close relationship among human operators and robots in cooperative tasks. Human-robot hybrid systems could have a big economic benefit in small and medium sized production, even if this new paradigm introduces mandatory, challenging safety aspects. Among various requirements for collaborative workspaces, safety-assurance involves two different application layers; the algorithms enabling safe space-sharing between humans and robots and the enabling technologies allowing acquisition data from sensor fusion and environmental data analysing. This paper addresses both the problems: a collision avoidance strategy allowing on-line re-planning of robot motion and a safe network of unsafe devices as a suggested infrastructure for functional safety achievement.

Library as a Partner in Co-Designing Learning Spaces: A Case Study at Tampere University of Technology, Finland

Science.gov (United States)

Tevaniemi, Johanna; Poutanen, Jenni; Lähdemäki, Riitta

2015-01-01

This article presents a case of co-designed temporary learning spaces at a Finnish academic library, together with the results of a user-survey. The experimental development of the multifunctional spaces offered an opportunity for the library to collaborate with its parent organisation thus broadening the role of the library. Hence, library can be…

The Role of Architectural and Learning Constraints in Neural Network Models: A Case Study on Visual Space Coding.

Science.gov (United States)

Testolin, Alberto; De Filippo De Grazia, Michele; Zorzi, Marco

2017-01-01

The recent "deep learning revolution" in artificial neural networks had strong impact and widespread deployment for engineering applications, but the use of deep learning for neurocomputational modeling has been so far limited. In this article we argue that unsupervised deep learning represents an important step forward for improving neurocomputational models of perception and cognition, because it emphasizes the role of generative learning as opposed to discriminative (supervised) learning. As a case study, we present a series of simulations investigating the emergence of neural coding of visual space for sensorimotor transformations. We compare different network architectures commonly used as building blocks for unsupervised deep learning by systematically testing the type of receptive fields and gain modulation developed by the hidden neurons. In particular, we compare Restricted Boltzmann Machines (RBMs), which are stochastic, generative networks with bidirectional connections trained using contrastive divergence, with autoencoders, which are deterministic networks trained using error backpropagation. For both learning architectures we also explore the role of sparse coding, which has been identified as a fundamental principle of neural computation. The unsupervised models are then compared with supervised, feed-forward networks that learn an explicit mapping between different spatial reference frames. Our simulations show that both architectural and learning constraints strongly influenced the emergent coding of visual space in terms of distribution of tuning functions at the level of single neurons. Unsupervised models, and particularly RBMs, were found to more closely adhere to neurophysiological data from single-cell recordings in the primate parietal cortex. These results provide new insights into how basic properties of artificial neural networks might be relevant for modeling neural information processing in biological systems.

Broadening conceptions of learning in medical education: the message from teamworking.

Science.gov (United States)

Bleakley, Alan

2006-02-01

There is a mismatch between the broad range of learning theories offered in the wider education literature and a relatively narrow range of theories privileged in the medical education literature. The latter are usually described under the heading of 'adult learning theory'. This paper critically addresses the limitations of the current dominant learning theories informing medical education. An argument is made that such theories, which address how an individual learns, fail to explain how learning occurs in dynamic, complex and unstable systems such as fluid clinical teams. Models of learning that take into account distributed knowing, learning through time as well as space, and the complexity of a learning environment including relationships between persons and artefacts, are more powerful in explaining and predicting how learning occurs in clinical teams. Learning theories may be privileged for ideological reasons, such as medicine's concern with autonomy. Where an increasing amount of medical education occurs in workplace contexts, sociocultural learning theories offer a best-fit exploration and explanation of such learning. We need to continue to develop testable models of learning that inform safe work practice. One type of learning theory will not inform all practice contexts and we need to think about a range of fit-for-purpose theories that are testable in practice. Exciting current developments include dynamicist models of learning drawing on complexity theory.

A "safe space" for learning and reflection: one school's design for continuity with a peer group across clinical clerkships.

Science.gov (United States)

Chou, Calvin L; Johnston, C Bree; Singh, Bobby; Garber, Jonathan D; Kaplan, Elizabeth; Lee, Kewchang; Teherani, Arianne

2011-12-01

The value of continuity in medical education, particularly during clerkships, is increasingly recognized. Previous clerkship-based models have described changes that emphasize continuity in patient care, learner supervision, and curriculum. The creation of continuous student peer groups can foster interactions that enhance mutual support through uncomfortable professional transitions during the clerkship years. Here, the authors describe a third-year clerkship model based at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center called VA Longitudinal Rotations (VALOR), designed explicitly to establish a supportive learning environment for small peer groups.Seven groups of medical students (42 total) completed VALOR across three academic years between 2007 and 2009. On clerkships during VALOR, one hour per week was designated for faculty-facilitated sessions amongst peer groups. Students' perceptions of peer group support and overall program satisfaction were determined with immediate post surveys and focus groups at the end of VALOR, and with follow-up surveys 5 to 27 months after completing VALOR. Students strongly valued several elements of VALOR peer groups, including support through clerkship challenges, meeting for facilitated reflection, and appreciating patient experiences across the continuum of care. Students' appreciation for their peer group experiences persisted well after the conclusion of VALOR. VALOR students performed the same as or better than traditional clerkship students on knowledge and skill-based outcomes. The authors demonstrate that their third-year clerkship program using peer groups has built supportive learning networks and facilitated reflection, allowing students to develop critical professional skills. Student communication around patient care was also feasible and highly valued.

Energy-efficient and safe driving using a situation-aware gamification approach in logistics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Klemke, Roland; Kravcik, Milos; Bohuschke, Felix

2013-01-01

Klemke, R., Kravčík, M., & Bohuschke, F. (2013, 23-25 October). Energy-efficient and safe driving using a situation-aware gamification approach in logistics. Presentation at the Games and Learning Alliance Conference (GALAConf 2013), Paris, France. http://www.galaconf.org/

Proposal for a new normalization reference in LCA based on “safe operating space”: presentation of framework and global factors at midpoint level

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bjørn, Anders; Hauschild, Michael Zwicky

Planetary boundaries have been suggested for a range of environmental impacts,such as climate change, eutrophying nutrients and land use. The boundaries demarcate the safe operating space of humanity: Staying within the space ensures environmental sustainability, while exceeding it risks pushing...... ecosystems into alternative regimes, leading to adverse effects for humanity. Planetary boundaries can be applied as policy targets. To promote a societal development in the direction of these targets, an indicator system is needed that measures the fraction of the safe operating space that a given activity...... normalization factors in units compatible with characterized results at midpoint level in LCA. Our suggested framework allows expressing normalized results in units of “sustainable person years”. Normalization factors are derived by dividing the safe operating space by the global population. The proposed...

Youth Clubs as Spaces of Non-Formal Learning: Professional Idealism Meets the Spatiality Experienced by Young People in Finland

Science.gov (United States)

Kiilakoski, Tomi; Kivijärvi, Antti

2015-01-01

For many young people, youth clubs constitute a key instrument for learning outside the school curriculum. In this article, we scrutinise Finnish youth clubs empirically as spaces of non-formal learning from the perspectives of both professional youth workers and young people themselves. We propose that youth workers tend to present an educational…

Building a quality culture in the Office of Space Flight: Approach, lessons learned and implications for the future

Science.gov (United States)

Roberts, C. Shannon

1992-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to describe the approach and lessons learned by the Office of Space Flight (OSF), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), in its introduction of quality. In particular, the experience of OSF Headquarters is discussed as an example of an organization within NASA that is considering both the business and human elements of the change and the opportunities the quality focus presents to improve continuously. It is hoped that the insights shared will be of use to those embarking upon similar cultural changes. The paper is presented in the following parts: the leadership challenge; background; context of the approach to quality; initial steps; current initiatives; lessons learned; and implications for the future.

A learning heuristic for space mapping and searching self-organizing systems using adaptive mesh refinement

Science.gov (United States)

Phillips, Carolyn L.

2014-09-01

In a complex self-organizing system, small changes in the interactions between the system's components can result in different emergent macrostructures or macrobehavior. In chemical engineering and material science, such spontaneously self-assembling systems, using polymers, nanoscale or colloidal-scale particles, DNA, or other precursors, are an attractive way to create materials that are precisely engineered at a fine scale. Changes to the interactions can often be described by a set of parameters. Different contiguous regions in this parameter space correspond to different ordered states. Since these ordered states are emergent, often experiment, not analysis, is necessary to create a diagram of ordered states over the parameter space. By issuing queries to points in the parameter space (e.g., performing a computational or physical experiment), ordered states can be discovered and mapped. Queries can be costly in terms of resources or time, however. In general, one would like to learn the most information using the fewest queries. Here we introduce a learning heuristic for issuing queries to map and search a two-dimensional parameter space. Using a method inspired by adaptive mesh refinement, the heuristic iteratively issues batches of queries to be executed in parallel based on past information. By adjusting the search criteria, different types of searches (for example, a uniform search, exploring boundaries, sampling all regions equally) can be flexibly implemented. We show that this method will densely search the space, while preferentially targeting certain features. Using numerical examples, including a study simulating the self-assembly of complex crystals, we show how this heuristic can discover new regions and map boundaries more accurately than a uniformly distributed set of queries.

Posterior Retroperitoneoscopic Resection of Extra-adrenal Paraganglioma Located in the Aorto-caval Space.

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, Sang-Wook; Kandil, Emad; Kim, Min Jhi; Kim, Kwang Soon; Lee, Cho Rok; Jeong, Jong Ju; Nam, Kee-Hyun; Chung, Woong Youn; Park, Cheong Soo

2018-04-01

The posterior retroperitoneoscopic adrenalec tomy has several advantages compared with the transperitoneal approach such as a shorter and more direct route to the target organ, no breach of the intraperitoneal space, and no required retraction of the adjacent organs. It also is a safe procedure with a short learning curve.1 - 5 This report presents a challenging case of an extra-adrenal paraganglioma located in the aorto-caval space and managed using the retroperitoneal approach. A 39-year-old man was placed in the prone jackknife position, and three incisions were made in the right posterior abdominal wall for placement of the laparoscopic ports. The retroperitoneal space was entered with diathermy and blunt finger dissection, and retropneumoperitoneum was achieved with carbon dioxide insufflation pressure up to 18 mmHg. After identification of the right kidney and vessels, the tumor was meticulously dissected and excised with an energy device. The specimen was removed using a laparoscopic specimen retrieval bag, and the port sites were closed in layers. The operative time was 130 min, and the total blood loss was 30 ml. The tumor was diagnosed as a moderately differentiated extra-adrenal paraganglioma. The Von Hippel-Lindau gene mutation was detected using next-generation sequencing. The posterior retroperitoneoscopic approach is a safe, feasible, and effective method for excising an extra-adrenal paraganglioma even in the aorto-caval space. The authors suggest that this procedure is a useful surgical option for treatment of an aorto-caval paraganglioma for selected patients and by experienced surgeons.

The SafeCOP ECSEL Project: Safe Cooperating Cyber-Physical Systems Using Wireless Communication

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pop, Paul; Scholle, Detlef; Hansson, Hans

2016-01-01

This paper presents an overview of the ECSEL project entitled "Safe Cooperating Cyber-Physical Systems using Wireless Communication" (SafeCOP), which runs during the period 2016 -- 2019. SafeCOP targets safety-related Cooperating Cyber-Physical Systems (CO-CPS) characterised by use of wireless...... detection of abnormal behaviour, triggering if needed a safe degraded mode. SafeCOP will also develop methods and tools, which will be used to produce safety assurance evidence needed to certify cooperative functions. SafeCOP will extend current wireless technologies to ensure safe and secure cooperation...

Finding the Connective Tissue in Teacher Education: Creating New Spaces for Professional Learning to Teach

Science.gov (United States)

Hopper, Tim F.; Sanford, Kathy; Fu, Hong

2016-01-01

A common concern in teacher education programs is the fragmentation of knowledge between courses that contribute to separation between discipline-focused theoretical knowledge and teachers' practical work in schools. Drawing on reviews on innovative learning spaces in schools and analysis of teacher knowledge, we theorize a conceptualization of…

Critically safe volume vacuum pickup for use in wet or dry cleanup of radioactive enclosures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zeren, J.D.

1993-01-01

A physical compact vacuum pickup device of critically safe volume and geometric shape is provided for use in radioactive enclosures, such as a small glove box, to facilitate manual cleanup of either wet or dry radioactive material. The device is constructed and arranged so as to remain safe when filled to capacity with plutonium-239 oxide. Two fine mesh filter bags are supported on the exterior of a rigid fine mesh stainless steel cup. This assembly is sealed within, and spaced from, the interior walls of a stainless steel canister. An air inlet communicates with the interior of the canister. A modified conventional vacuum head is physically connected to, and associated with, the interior of the mesh cup. The volume of the canister, as defined by the space between the mesh cup and the interior walls of the canister, forms a critically safe volume and geometric shape for dry radioactive particles that are gathered within the canister. A critically safe liquid volume is maintained by operation of a suction terminating float valve, and/or by operation of redundant vacuum check/liquid drain valves and placement of the air inlet. 5 figures

Peripersonal Space and Margin of Safety around the Body: Learning Visuo-Tactile Associations in a Humanoid Robot with Artificial Skin.

Science.gov (United States)

Roncone, Alessandro; Hoffmann, Matej; Pattacini, Ugo; Fadiga, Luciano; Metta, Giorgio

2016-01-01

This paper investigates a biologically motivated model of peripersonal space through its implementation on a humanoid robot. Guided by the present understanding of the neurophysiology of the fronto-parietal system, we developed a computational model inspired by the receptive fields of polymodal neurons identified, for example, in brain areas F4 and VIP. The experiments on the iCub humanoid robot show that the peripersonal space representation i) can be learned efficiently and in real-time via a simple interaction with the robot, ii) can lead to the generation of behaviors like avoidance and reaching, and iii) can contribute to the understanding the biological principle of motor equivalence. More specifically, with respect to i) the present model contributes to hypothesizing a learning mechanisms for peripersonal space. In relation to point ii) we show how a relatively simple controller can exploit the learned receptive fields to generate either avoidance or reaching of an incoming stimulus and for iii) we show how the robot can select arbitrary body parts as the controlled end-point of an avoidance or reaching movement.

Safe Kids Worldwide

Science.gov (United States)

... Blog Videos Newsletter facebook twitter instagram pinterest gplus youtube Search Menu Why It Matters Who We Are What We Do Find Your Safe Kids Safe Kids Day Main menu Keeping All Kids Safe Safety Tips Get Involved 4 Star Charity Donate Text Burns and Scalds 4 tips ...

More than a Safe Space: How Schools Can Enable LGBTQ Students to Thrive

Science.gov (United States)

Sadowski, Michael

2017-01-01

Few educators or philosophers of education would argue that schools' sole purpose is to keep children safe. Yet a particular subset of students in the United States--lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) students--are often served by their schools as if their mere safety were a sufficient objective in and of itself.…

Residents' perceptions of simulation as a clinical learning approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Walsh, Catharine M; Garg, Ankit; Ng, Stella L; Goyal, Fenny; Grover, Samir C

2017-02-01

Simulation is increasingly being integrated into medical education; however, there is little research into trainees' perceptions of this learning modality. We elicited trainees' perceptions of simulation-based learning, to inform how simulation is developed and applied to support training. We conducted an instrumental qualitative case study entailing 36 semi-structured one-hour interviews with 12 residents enrolled in an introductory simulation-based course. Trainees were interviewed at three time points: pre-course, post-course, and 4-6 weeks later. Interview transcripts were analyzed using a qualitative descriptive analytic approach. Residents' perceptions of simulation included: 1) simulation serves pragmatic purposes; 2) simulation provides a safe space; 3) simulation presents perils and pitfalls; and 4) optimal design for simulation: integration and tension. Key findings included residents' markedly narrow perception of simulation's capacity to support non-technical skills development or its use beyond introductory learning. Trainees' learning expectations of simulation were restricted. Educators should critically attend to the way they present simulation to learners as, based on theories of problem-framing, trainees' a priori perceptions may delimit the focus of their learning experiences. If they view simulation as merely a replica of real cases for the purpose of practicing basic skills, they may fail to benefit from the full scope of learning opportunities afforded by simulation.

Professionals learning together with patients: An exploratory study of a collaborative learning Fellowship programme for healthcare improvement.

Science.gov (United States)

Myron, Rowan; French, Catherine; Sullivan, Paul; Sathyamoorthy, Ganesh; Barlow, James; Pomeroy, Linda

2018-05-01

Improving the quality of healthcare involves collaboration between many different stakeholders. Collaborative learning theory suggests that teaching different professional groups alongside each other may enable them to develop skills in how to collaborate effectively, but there is little literature on how this works in practice. Further, though it is recognised that patients play a fundamental role in quality improvement, there are few examples of where they learn together with professionals. To contribute to addressing this gap, we review a collaborative fellowship in Northwest London, designed to build capacity to improve healthcare, which enabled patients and professionals to learn together. Using the lens of collaborative learning, we conducted an exploratory study of six cohorts of the year long programme (71 participants). Data were collected using open text responses from an online survey (n = 31) and semi-structured interviews (n = 34) and analysed using an inductive open coding approach. The collaborative design of the Fellowship, which included bringing multiple perspectives to discussions of real world problems, was valued by participants who reflected on the safe, egalitarian space created by the programme. Participants (healthcare professionals and patients) found this way of learning initially challenging yet ultimately productive. Despite the pedagogical and practical challenges of developing a collaborative programme, this study indicates that opening up previously restricted learning opportunities as widely as possible, to include patients and carers, is an effective mechanism to develop collaborative skills for quality improvement.

The Learning Impact of a 4-Dimensional Digital Construction Learning Environment

OpenAIRE

Chris Landorf; Stephen Ward

2017-01-01

This paper addresses a virtual environment approach to work integrated learning for students in construction-related disciplines. The virtual approach provides a safe and pedagogically rigorous environment where students can apply theoretical knowledge in a simulated real-world context. The paper describes the development of a 4-dimensional digital construction environment and associated learning activities funded by the Australian Office for Learning and Teaching. The environment was trialle...

Transoral robotic assisted resection of the parapharyngeal space.

Science.gov (United States)

Mendelsohn, Abie H

2015-02-01

Preliminary case series have reported clinical feasibility and safety of a transoral minimally invasive technique to approach parapharyngeal space masses. With the assistance of the surgical robotic system, tumors within the parapharyngeal space can now be excised safely without neck incisions. A detailed technical description is included. After developing compressive symptoms from a parapharyngeal space lipomatous tumor, the patient was referred by his primary otolaryngologist because of poor open surgical access to the nasopharyngeal component of the tumor. Transoral robotic assisted resection of a 54- × 46-mm parapharyngeal space mass was performed, utilizing 97 minutes of robotic surgical time. Pictorial demonstration of the robotic resection is provided. Parapharyngeal space tumors have traditionally been approached via transcervical skin incisions, typically including blunt dissection from tactile feedback. The transoral robotic approach offers magnified 3D visualization of the parapharyngeal space that allows for complete and safe resection. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Systems engineering, systems thinking, and learning a case study in space industry

CERN Document Server

Moser, Hubert Anton

2014-01-01

This book focuses on systems engineering, systems thinking, and how that thinking can be learned in practice. It describes a novel analytical framework based on activity theory for understanding how systems thinking evolves and how it can be improved to support multidisciplinary teamwork in the context of system development and systems engineering. This method, developed using data collected over four years from three different small space systems engineering organizations, can be applied in a wide variety of work activities in the context of engineering design and beyond in order to monitor and analyze multidisciplinary interactions in working teams over time. In addition, the book presents a practical strategy called WAVES (Work Activity for a Evolution of Systems engineering and thinking), which fosters the practical learning of systems thinking with the aim of improving process development in different industries. The book offers an excellent resource for researchers and practitioners interested in system...

Space Strategies for the New Learning Landscape

Science.gov (United States)

Dugdale, Shirley

2009-01-01

The Learning Landscape is the total context for students' learning experiences and the diverse landscape of learning settings available today--from specialized to multipurpose, from formal to informal, and from physical to virtual. The goal of the Learning Landscape approach is to acknowledge this richness and maximize encounters among people,…

"Same Room, Safe Place".

Science.gov (United States)

Keene Woods, Nikki

2017-04-01

There are many different professional stances on safe sleep and then there is the reality of caring for a newborn. There is a debate among professionals regarding safe sleep recommendations. The continum of recommendations vary from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Safe Sleep Guidelines to the bed-sharing recommendations from the Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory. The lack of consistent and uniform safe sleep recommendations from health professionals has been confusing for families but has more recently raised a real professional ethical dilemma. Despite years of focused safe sleep community education and interventions, sleep-related infant deaths are on the rise in many communities. This commentary calls for a united safe sleep message from all health professionals to improve health for mothers and infants most at-risk, "Same Room, Safe Place."

SAFE: A Sentiment Analysis Framework for E-Learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francesco Colace

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The spread of social networks allows sharing opinions on different aspects of life and daily millions of messages appear on the web. This textual information can be a rich source of data for opinion mining and sentiment analysis: the computational study of opinions, sentiments and emotions expressed in a text. Its main aim is the identification of the agreement or disagreement statements that deal with positive or negative feelings in comments or reviews. In this paper, we investigate the adoption, in the field of the e-learning, of a probabilistic approach based on the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA as Sentiment grabber. By this approach, for a set of documents belonging to a same knowledge domain, a graph, the Mixed Graph of Terms, can be automatically extracted. The paper shows how this graph contains a set of weighted word pairs, which are discriminative for sentiment classification. In this way, the system can detect the feeling of students on some topics and teacher can better tune his/her teaching approach. In fact, the proposed method has been tested on datasets coming from e-learning platforms. A preliminary experimental campaign shows how the proposed approach is effective and satisfactory.

Exploring Mobile Learning in the Third Space

Science.gov (United States)

Schuck, Sandy; Kearney, Matthew; Burden, Kevin

2017-01-01

Mobile learning is enabling educators and students to learn in ways not previously possible. The ways that portable, multi-functional mobile devices can untether the learner from formal institutional learning give scope for learning to be conceptualised in an expanded variety of places, times and ways. In this conceptual article the authors…

Studying Space: Improving Space Planning with User Studies

Science.gov (United States)

Pierard, Cindy; Lee, Norice

2011-01-01

How can libraries best assess and improve user space, even if they are not in a position to undertake new construction or a major renovation? Staff at New Mexico State University used a variety of ethnographic methods to learn how our spaces were being used as well as what our users considered to be ideal library space. Our findings helped us make…

Service Oriented Robotic Architecture for Space Robotics: Design, Testing, and Lessons Learned

Science.gov (United States)

Fluckiger, Lorenzo Jean Marc E; Utz, Hans Heinrich

2013-01-01

This paper presents the lessons learned from six years of experiments with planetary rover prototypes running the Service Oriented Robotic Architecture (SORA) developed by the Intelligent Robotics Group (IRG) at the NASA Ames Research Center. SORA relies on proven software engineering methods and technologies applied to space robotics. Based on a Service Oriented Architecture and robust middleware, SORA encompasses on-board robot control and a full suite of software tools necessary for remotely operated exploration missions. SORA has been eld tested in numerous scenarios of robotic lunar and planetary exploration. The experiments conducted by IRG with SORA exercise a large set of the constraints encountered in space applications: remote robotic assets, ight relevant science instruments, distributed operations, high network latencies and unreliable or intermittent communication links. In this paper, we present the results of these eld tests in regard to the developed architecture, and discuss its bene ts and limitations.

Lessons Learned (3 Years of H2O2 Propulsion System Testing Efforts at NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center)

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Gary O.

2001-01-01

John C. Stennis Space Center continues to support the Propulsion community in an effort to validate High-Test Peroxide as an alternative to existing/future oxidizers. This continued volume of peroxide test/handling activity at Stennis Space Center (SSC) provides numerous opportunities for the SSC team to build upon previously documented 'lessons learned'. SSC shall continue to strive to document their experience and findings as H2O2 issues surface. This paper is intended to capture all significant peroxide issues that we have learned over the last three years. This data (lessons learned) has been formulated from practical handling, usage, storage, operations, and initial development/design of our systems/facility viewpoint. The paper is intended to be an information type tool and limited in technical rational; therefore, presenting the peroxide community with some issues to think about as the continued interest in peroxide evolves and more facilities/hardware are built. These lessons learned are intended to assist industry in mitigating problems and identifying potential pitfalls when dealing with the requirements for handling high-test peroxide.

Learning, Play, and Your 4- to 7-Month-Old

Science.gov (United States)

... Staying Safe Videos for Educators Search English Español Learning, Play, and Your 4- to 7-Month-Old ... for Encouraging Learning Print What Your Baby Is Learning By 4 months old, your baby has learned ...

Learning, Play, and Your 1- to 3-Month-Old

Science.gov (United States)

... Staying Safe Videos for Educators Search English Español Learning, Play, and Your 1- to 3-Month-Old ... Baby to Learn Print What Your Baby Is Learning After learning to recognize your voice, your face, ...

Phase space and jet definitions in soft-collinear effective theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cheung, William Man-Yin; Luke, Michael; Zuberi, Saba

2009-01-01

We discuss consistent power counting for integrating soft and collinear degrees of freedom over arbitrary regions of phase space in the soft-collinear effective theory, and illustrate our results at one-loop with several jet algorithms: JADE, Sterman-Weinberg and k perpendicular . Consistently applying soft-collinear effective theory power counting in phase space, along with nontrivial zero-bin subtractions, prevents double counting of final states. The resulting phase space integrals over soft and collinear regions are individually ultraviolet divergent, but the phase space ultraviolet divergences cancel in the sum. Whether the soft and collinear contributions are individually infrared safe depends on the jet definition. We show that while this is true at one-loop for JADE and Sterman-Weinberg, the k perpendicular algorithm does not factorize into individually infrared safe soft and collinear pieces in dimensional regularization. We point out that this statement depends on the ultraviolet regulator, and that in a cutoff scheme the soft functions are infrared safe.

Establishing a Distance Learning Plan for International Space Station (ISS) Interactive Video Education Events (IVEE)

Science.gov (United States)

Wallington, Clint

1999-01-01

Educational outreach is an integral part of the International Space Station (ISS) mandate. In a few scant years, the International Space Station has already established a tradition of successful, general outreach activities. However, as the number of outreach events increased and began to reach school classrooms, those events came under greater scrutiny by the education community. Some of the ISS electronic field trips, while informative and helpful, did not meet the generally accepted criteria for education events, especially within the context of the classroom. To make classroom outreach events more acceptable to educators, the ISS outreach program must differentiate between communication events (meant to disseminate information to the general public) and education events (designed to facilitate student learning). In contrast to communication events, education events: are directed toward a relatively homogeneous audience who are gathered together for the purpose of learning, have specific performance objectives which the students are expected to master, include a method of assessing student performance, and include a series of structured activities that will help the students to master the desired skill(s). The core of the ISS education events is an interactive videoconference between students and ISS representatives. This interactive videoconference is to be preceded by and followed by classroom activities which help the students aftain the specified learning objectives. Using the interactive videoconference as the centerpiece of the education event lends a special excitement and allows students to ask questions about what they are learning and about the International Space Station and NASA. Whenever possible, the ISS outreach education events should be congruent with national guidelines for student achievement. ISS outreach staff should recognize that there are a number of different groups that will review the events, and that each group has different criteria

Using drugs in un/safe spaces: Impact of perceived illegality on an underground supervised injecting facility in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Davidson, Peter J; Lopez, Andrea M; Kral, Alex H

2018-03-01

Supervised injection facilities (SIFs) are spaces where people can consume pre-obtained drugs in hygienic circumstances with trained staff in attendance to provide emergency response in the event of an overdose or other medical emergency, and to provide counselling and referral to other social and health services. Over 100 facilities with formal legal sanction exist in ten countries, and extensive research has shown they reduce overdose deaths, increase drug treatment uptake, and reduce social nuisance. No facility with formal legal sanction currently exists in the United States, however one community-based organization has successfully operated an 'underground' facility since September 2014. Twenty three qualitative interviews were conducted with people who used the underground facility, staff, and volunteers to examine the impact of the facility on peoples' lives, including the impact of lack of formal legal sanction on service provision. Participants reported that having a safe space to inject drugs had led to less injections in public spaces, greater ability to practice hygienic injecting practices, and greater protection from fatal overdose. Constructive aspects of being 'underground' included the ability to shape rules and procedures around user need rather than to meet political concerns, and the rapid deployment of the project, based on immediate need. Limitations associated with being underground included restrictions in the size and diversity of the population served by the site, and reduced ability to closely link the service to drug treatment and other health and social services. Unsanctioned supervised injection facilities can provide a rapid and user-driven response to urgent public health needs. This work draws attention to the need to ensure such services remain focused on user-defined need rather than external political concerns in jurisdictions where supervised injection facilities acquire local legal sanction. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All

Physical and chemical test results of electrostatic safe flooring materials

Science.gov (United States)

Gompf, R. H.

1988-01-01

This test program was initiated because a need existed at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) to have this information readily available to the engineer who must make the choice of which electrostatic safe floor to use in a specific application. The information, however, should be of value throughout both the government and private industry in the selection of a floor covering material. Included are the test results of 18 floor covering materials which by test evaluation at KSC are considered electrostatically safe. Tests were done and/or the data compiled in the following areas: electrostatics, flammability, hypergolic compatibility, outgassing, floor type, material thickness, and available colors. Each section contains the test method used to gather the data and the test results.

Global opportunities in land and water use while staying within the safe (and just) operating space: quantifications of interactions and tradeoffs

Science.gov (United States)

Gerten, Dieter; Jägermeyr, Jonas; Heck, Vera

2016-04-01

Staying within the safe and just operating space as defined by multiple planetary boundaries will be a major challenge especially in view of anticipated future increases in food demand, the potential need for balancing climate change (e.g. through terrestrial carbon dioxide removal) and its impacts, and the water and land demand associated with these goals and measures. This presentation will show simulation results from a comprehensive model-based study on the global potentials of diverse crop management options considered as opportunities to stay within the planetary boundaries for human freshwater use and land-system change. The quantified on-farm options include rainwater harvesting, soil conservation and more efficient irrigation, all of which are designed to use neither more water nor more land for agriculture than is presently the case. Results show that irrigation efficiency improvements could save substantial amounts of water in many river basins (globally 48% of non-productive water consumption in an ambitious scenario), and if rerouted to irrigate neighbouring rainfed systems, could at the same time boost kilocalorie production by 26% globally. Low-tech solutions for small-scale farmers on water-limited croplands show the potential to increase rainfed yields to a similar extent. In combination, such ambitious yet achievable integrated water management strategies could increase global kcal production by 41% and close the water-related yield gap by 62%. Global climate change would have adverse effects on crop yields in many regions, but the improvements in water management quantified here could buffer such effects to a significant degree. Thus, a substantial amount of anticipated future needs for food production could be fulfilled without further approaching / transgressing planetary boundaries. In addition, it will be shown how large-scale biomass plantations for the purpose of terrestrial CO2 removal (climate engineering, potentially implemented should

Technology, Educator Intention, and Relationships in Virtual Learning Spaces: A Qualitative Metasynthesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Gdanetz, Lorraine M; Hamer, Mika K; Thomas, Eileen; Tarasenko, Lindsey M; Horton-Deutsch, Sara; Jones, Jacqueline

2018-04-01

A main concern that remains with the continued growth of online nursing education programs is the way educator and student relationships can be affected by new technologies. This interpretive study aims to gain an understanding of how technology influences the development of interpersonal relationships between the student and faculty in a virtual learning environment. Using an established structured approach to qualitative metasynthesis, a search was conducted using PubMed, EBSCO, CINAHL, Medline, ProQuest, Ovid Nursing databases, and Google Scholar, focused on caring and relational aspects of online nursing education. Technology alters communication, thereby positioning the intentionality of the educator at the heart of interpersonal relationship development in virtual learning spaces. This interpretive synthesis of prior qualitative research supports the development of a framework for online nursing courses, the need for continuing education of nursing faculty, the value of caring intentions, and enhancement of the educator's technological proficiency. [J Nurs Educ. 2018;57(4):197-202.]. Copyright 2018, SLACK Incorporated.

Space Operations Learning Center Facebook Application

Science.gov (United States)

Lui, Ben; Milner, Barbara; Binebrink, Dan; Kuok, Heng

2012-01-01

The proposed Space Operations Learning Center (SOLC) Facebook module, initially code-named Spaceville, is intended to be an educational online game utilizing the latest social networking technology to reach a broad audience base and inspire young audiences to be interested in math, science, and engineering. Spaceville will be a Facebook application/ game with the goal of combining learning with a fun game and social environment. The mission of the game is to build a scientific outpost on the Moon or Mars and expand the colony. Game activities include collecting resources, trading resources, completing simple science experiments, and building architectures such as laboratories, habitats, greenhouses, machine shops, etc. The player is awarded with points and achievement levels. The player s ability increases as his/her points and levels increase. A player can interact with other players using multiplayer Facebook functionality. As a result, a player can discover unexpected treasures through scientific missions, engineering, and working with others. The player creates his/her own avatar with his/her selection of its unique appearance, and names the character. The player controls the avatar to perform activities such as collecting oxygen molecules or building a habitat. From observations of other successful social online games such as Farmville and Restaurant City, a common element of these games is having eye-catching and cartoonish characters, and interesting animations for all activities. This will create a fun, educational, and rewarding environment. The player needs to accumulate points in order to be awarded special items needed for advancing to higher levels. Trophies will be awarded to the player when certain goals are reached or tasks are completed. In order to acquire some special items needed for advancement in the game, the player will need to visit his/her neighboring towns to discover the items. This is the social aspect of the game that requires the

Safe Patient Handling and Mobility: Development and Implementation of a Large-Scale Education Program.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Corinne; Knight, Suzanne W; Smith, Sharon L; Nagle, Dorothy J; DeVries, Lori

This article addresses the development, implementation, and evaluation of an education program for safe patient handling and mobility at a large academic medical center. The ultimate goal of the program was to increase safety during patient mobility/transfer and reduce nursing staff injury from lifting/pulling. This comprehensive program was designed on the basis of the principles of prework, application, and support at the point of care. A combination of online learning, demonstration, skill evaluation, and coaching at the point of care was used to achieve the goal. Specific roles and responsibilities were developed to facilitate implementation. It took 17 master trainers, 88 certified trainers, 176 unit-based trainers, and 98 coaches to put 3706 nurses and nursing assistants through the program. Evaluations indicated both an increase in knowledge about safe patient handling and an increased ability to safely mobilize patients. The challenge now is sustainability of safe patient-handling practices and the growth and development of trainers and coaches.

DroidSafe

Science.gov (United States)

2016-12-01

Massachusetts Avenue, Build E19-750 Cambridge , MA 02139-4307 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER 9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS...Activity objects illustrating the challenges of points-to and information flow analysis...measure how many malicious flows Droid- Safe was able to detect). As these results illustrate , DroidSafe implements an analysis of unprece- dented

Stroking the Net Whale: A Constructivist Grounded Theory of Self-Regulated Learning in Virtual Social Spaces

Science.gov (United States)

Kasperiuniene, Judita; Zydziunaite, Vilma; Eriksson, Malin

2017-01-01

This qualitative study explored the self-regulated learning (SRL) of teachers and their students in virtual social spaces. The processes of SRL were analyzed from 24 semi-structured individual interviews with professors, instructors and their students from five Lithuanian universities. A core category stroking the net whale showed the process of…

Creating a Safe Haven for University Students: How Are We Doing?

Science.gov (United States)

Sanders, Mark

2012-01-01

Too frequently, and often too late, academic librarians learn of patron experiences involving problem patrons, misdemeanor criminal activity, or poorly secured areas. Regrettably, these experiences can irrevocably diminish perceptions of access to the vibrant learning spaces and services offered by our institutions. This article assesses the…

Making operations on standard-library containers strongly exception safe

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Katajainen, Jyrki

2007-01-01

-library containers to provide the strong guarantee of exception safety, instead of the default guarantee, without violating the stringent performance requirements specified in the C++ standard. In particular, we show that every strongly exception-safe operation on dynamic arrays and ordered dictionaries is only...... a constant factor slower than the corresponding default-guarantee operation. In terms of the amount of space, the overhead introduced is linear in the number of elements stored....

Learning analytics as a "middle space"

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Suthers, D.D.; Verbert, K.; Suthers, D.; Verbert, K.; Duval, E.; Ochoa, X.

2013-01-01

Learning Analytics, an emerging field concerned with analyzing the vast data "given off" by learners in technology supported settings to inform educational theory and practice, has from its inception taken a multidisciplinary approach that integrates studies of learning with technological

The Forgetful Professor and the Space Biology Adventure

Science.gov (United States)

Massa, Gioia D.; Jones, Wanda; Munoz, Angela; Santora, Joshua

2014-01-01

This video was created as one of the products of the 2013 ISS Faculty Fellows Summer Program. Our High School science teacher faculty fellows developed this video as an elementary/middle school education component. The video shows a forgetful professor who is trying to remember something, and along the journey she learns more about the space station, space station related plant science, and the Kennedy Space Center. She learns about the Veggie hardware, LED lighting for plant growth, the rotating garden concept, and generally about space exploration and the space station. Lastly she learns about the space shuttle Atlantis.

Safe havens in Europe

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Paldam, Martin

2013-01-01

Eleven safe havens exist in Europe providing offshore banking and low taxes. Ten of these states are very small while Switzerland is moderately small. All 11 countries are richer than their large neighbors. It is shown that causality is from small to safe haven to wealth, and that theoretically...... equilibriums are likely to exist where a certain regulation is substantially lower in a small country than in its big neighbor. This generates a large capital inflow to the safe havens. The pool of funds that may reach the safe havens is shown to be huge. It is far in excess of the absorptive capacity...... of the safe havens, but it still explains, why they are rich. Microstates offer a veil of anonymity to funds passing through, and Switzerland offers safe storage of funds....

Traveling Safely with Medicines

Science.gov (United States)

... Medications Safely My Medicine List How to Administer Traveling Safely with Medicines Planes, trains, cars – even boats ... your trip, ask your pharmacist about how to travel safely with your medicines. Make sure that you ...

Optimal and Scalable Caching for 5G Using Reinforcement Learning of Space-Time Popularities

Science.gov (United States)

Sadeghi, Alireza; Sheikholeslami, Fatemeh; Giannakis, Georgios B.

2018-02-01

Small basestations (SBs) equipped with caching units have potential to handle the unprecedented demand growth in heterogeneous networks. Through low-rate, backhaul connections with the backbone, SBs can prefetch popular files during off-peak traffic hours, and service them to the edge at peak periods. To intelligently prefetch, each SB must learn what and when to cache, while taking into account SB memory limitations, the massive number of available contents, the unknown popularity profiles, as well as the space-time popularity dynamics of user file requests. In this work, local and global Markov processes model user requests, and a reinforcement learning (RL) framework is put forth for finding the optimal caching policy when the transition probabilities involved are unknown. Joint consideration of global and local popularity demands along with cache-refreshing costs allow for a simple, yet practical asynchronous caching approach. The novel RL-based caching relies on a Q-learning algorithm to implement the optimal policy in an online fashion, thus enabling the cache control unit at the SB to learn, track, and possibly adapt to the underlying dynamics. To endow the algorithm with scalability, a linear function approximation of the proposed Q-learning scheme is introduced, offering faster convergence as well as reduced complexity and memory requirements. Numerical tests corroborate the merits of the proposed approach in various realistic settings.

Space Shuttle and Space Station Radio Frequency (RF) Exposure Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Hwu, Shian U.; Loh, Yin-Chung; Sham, Catherine C.; Kroll, Quin D.

2005-01-01

This paper outlines the modeling techniques and important parameters to define a rigorous but practical procedure that can verify the compliance of RF exposure to the NASA standards for astronauts and electronic equipment. The electromagnetic modeling techniques are applied to analyze RF exposure in Space Shuttle and Space Station environments with reasonable computing time and resources. The modeling techniques are capable of taking into account the field interactions with Space Shuttle and Space Station structures. The obtained results illustrate the multipath effects due to the presence of the space vehicle structures. It's necessary to include the field interactions with the space vehicle in the analysis for an accurate assessment of the RF exposure. Based on the obtained results, the RF keep out zones are identified for appropriate operational scenarios, flight rules and necessary RF transmitter constraints to ensure a safe operating environment and mission success.

New models to support the professional education of health visitors: A qualitative study of the role of space and place in creating 'community of learning hubs'.

Science.gov (United States)

Donetto, Sara; Malone, Mary; Sayer, Lynn; Robert, Glenn

2017-07-01

In response to a policy-driven workforce expansion in England new models of preparing health visitors for practice have been implemented. 'Community of Learning hubs' (COLHs) are one such model, involving different possible approaches to student support in clinical practice placements (for example, 'long arm mentoring' or 'action learning set' sessions). Such models present opportunities for studying the possible effects of spatiality on the learning experiences of students and newly qualified health visitors, and on team relationships more broadly. To explore a 'community of learning hub' model in health visitor education and reflect on the role of space and place in the learning experience and professional identity development of student health visitors. Qualitative research conducted during first year of implementation. Three 'community of learning hub' projects based in two NHS community Trusts in London during the period 2013-2015. Managers and leads (n=7), practice teachers and mentors (n=6) and newly qualified and student health visitors (n=16). Semi-structured, audio-recorded interviews analysed thematically. Participants had differing views as to what constituted a 'hub' in their projects. Two themes emerged around the spaces that shape the learning experience of student and newly qualified health visitors. Firstly, a generalised need for a 'quiet place' which allows pause for reflection but also for sharing experiences and relieving common anxieties. Secondly, the role of physical arrangements in open-plan spaces to promote access to support from more experienced practitioners. Attention to spatiality can shed light on important aspects of teaching and learning practices, and on the professional identities these practices shape and support. New configurations of time and space as part of educational initiatives can surface new insights into existing practices and learning models. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

ASSESSMENT OF STUDENT LEARNING IN VIRTUAL SPACES, USING ORDERS OF COMPLEXITY IN LEVELS OF THINKING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jose CAPACHO

2017-04-01

Full Text Available This paper aims at showing a new methodology to assess student learning in virtual spaces supported by Information and Communications Technology-ICT. The methodology is based on the Conceptual Pedagogy Theory, and is supported both on knowledge instruments (KI and intelectual operations (IO. KI are made up of teaching materials embedded in the virtual environment. The student carries out IO in his/her virtual formation process based on KI. Both instruments of knowledge and intellectual operations can be mathematically modelled by using functions of increasing complexity order. These functions represent the student’s learning change. This paper main contribution is to show that these functions let the student go from a concrete thinking to a formal one in his/her virtual learning process. The research showed that 47% of the students moved from a concrete thinking level to the formal thinking level.

Weaving Knowledges: The Development of Empowering Intercultural Learning Spaces for Smallholder Farmers in Papua New Guinea

Science.gov (United States)

Pamphilon, Barbara

2015-01-01

Since the early 1970s there has been increasing interest in effective adult education systems and practices as a core foundation for capacity building in developing countries. This paper presents the philosophy behind the concept of an "intercultural learning space" and argues its relevance for such adult learners. Drawing on work in…

Advanced Materials for Safe, High Performance Space-Rated Lithium-Ion Batteries, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — NASA space exploration vehicles are trending to higher pulse power, energy capacity levels and cycle life in order to meet exponentially increasing performance and...

Multi-Agent Framework for Virtual Learning Spaces.

Science.gov (United States)

Sheremetov, Leonid; Nunez, Gustavo

1999-01-01

Discussion of computer-supported collaborative learning, distributed artificial intelligence, and intelligent tutoring systems focuses on the concept of agents, and describes a virtual learning environment that has a multi-agent system. Describes a model of interactions in collaborative learning and discusses agents for Web-based virtual…

The University of Nebraska at Omaha Center for Space Data Use in Teaching and Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Grandgenett, Neal

2000-01-01

Within the context of innovative coursework and other educational activities, we are proposing the establishment of a University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) Center for the Use of Space Data in Teaching and Learning. This Center will provide an exciting and motivating process for educators at all levels to become involved in professional development and training which engages real life applications of mathematics, science, and technology. The Center will facilitate innovative courses (including online and distance education formats), systematic degree programs, classroom research initiatives, new instructional methods and tools, engaging curriculum materials, and various symposiums. It will involve the active participation of several Departments and Colleges on the UNO campus and be well integrated into the campus environment. It will have a direct impact on pre-service and in-service educators, the K12 (kindergarten through 12th grade) students that they teach, and other college students of various science, mathematics, and technology related disciplines, in which they share coursework. It is our belief that there are many exciting opportunities represented by space data and imagery, as a context for engaging mathematics, science, and technology education. The UNO Center for Space Data Use in Teaching and Learning being proposed in this document will encompass a comprehensive training and dissemination strategy that targets the improvement of K-12 education, through changes in the undergraduate and graduate preparation of teachers in science, mathematics and technology education.

Residents’ perceptions of simulation as a clinical learning approach

Science.gov (United States)

Walsh, Catharine M.; Garg, Ankit; Ng, Stella L.; Goyal, Fenny; Grover, Samir C.

2017-01-01

Background Simulation is increasingly being integrated into medical education; however, there is little research into trainees’ perceptions of this learning modality. We elicited trainees’ perceptions of simulation-based learning, to inform how simulation is developed and applied to support training. Methods We conducted an instrumental qualitative case study entailing 36 semi-structured one-hour interviews with 12 residents enrolled in an introductory simulation-based course. Trainees were interviewed at three time points: pre-course, post-course, and 4–6 weeks later. Interview transcripts were analyzed using a qualitative descriptive analytic approach. Results Residents’ perceptions of simulation included: 1) simulation serves pragmatic purposes; 2) simulation provides a safe space; 3) simulation presents perils and pitfalls; and 4) optimal design for simulation: integration and tension. Key findings included residents’ markedly narrow perception of simulation’s capacity to support non-technical skills development or its use beyond introductory learning. Conclusion Trainees’ learning expectations of simulation were restricted. Educators should critically attend to the way they present simulation to learners as, based on theories of problem-framing, trainees’ a priori perceptions may delimit the focus of their learning experiences. If they view simulation as merely a replica of real cases for the purpose of practicing basic skills, they may fail to benefit from the full scope of learning opportunities afforded by simulation. PMID:28344719

Lessons Learned: Mechanical Component and Tribology Activities in Support of Return to Flight

Science.gov (United States)

Handschuh, Robert F.; Zaretsky, Erwin V.

2017-01-01

The February 2003 loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia resulted in NASA Management revisiting every critical system onboard this very complex, reusable space vehicle in a an effort to Return to Flight. Many months after the disaster, contact between NASA Johnson Space Center and NASA Glenn Research Center evolved into an in-depth assessment of the actuator drive systems for the Rudder Speed Brake and Body Flap Systems. The actuators are CRIT 1-1 systems that classifies them as failure of any of the actuators could result in loss of crew and vehicle. Upon further evaluation of these actuator systems and the resulting issues uncovered, several research activities were initiated, conducted, and reported to the NASA Space Shuttle Program Management. The papers contained in this document are the contributions of many researchers from NASA Glenn Research Center and Marshall Space Flight Center as part of a Lessons Learned on mechanical actuation systems as used in space applications. Many of the findings contained in this document were used as a basis to safely Return to Flight for the remaining Space Shuttle Fleet until their retirement.

Occupational Space Medicine

Science.gov (United States)

Tarver, William J.

2012-01-01

Learning Objectives are: (1) Understand the unique work environment of astronauts. (2) Understand the effect microgravity has on human physiology (3) Understand how NASA Space Medicine Division is mitigating the health risks of space missions.

Towards a Theory of Learning for Naming Rehabilitation: Retrieval Practice, Retrieval Effort, and Spacing Effects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erica Middleton

2015-04-01

Methods. Four PWA with naming impairment named and gave familiarity ratings to a corpus of 700 pictures of proper noun entities twice over two weeks. For each participant, we selected items the participant knew recognized but could not consistently name for assignment into the conditions, with a minimum of 36 (max=72 items per condition across participants. The design involved a 2-level factor of type of training (retrieval practice versus errorless learning, i.e., repetition and a factor of spacing, which included a massed condition (lag 1 and three spaced conditions (lags 5, 15, and 30. Lag corresponded to the number of training trials for other items that intervened between three presentations of an item for retrieval practice or repetition training. On a repetition trial, the name was presented (seen/heard and the participant repeated the name at picture onset. On a naming trial, only the picture was presented. All trials ended in feedback (i.e., the name was presented. Primary outcome was naming performance on a retention test administered 1-day following training, with a 1-week follow-up test administered to measure persistence of the effects. Results & Conclusions. Mixed regression analyses revealed that the naming condition was associated with superior performance over repetition, observed both at the retention test (p=.001 and follow-up (p=.01; Figure 1, left panel. Also, spaced training conferred superior benefits compared to massed, both at retention test (p<.001 and follow-up (p=.006; Figure 1, right panel. An analysis of the spaced lags in the naming condition revealed that though increasing lag made retrieval practice more effortful (i.e., error-prone during training, increasing lag conferred more powerful learning at retention test. The present study provides definitive evidence of the relevance of retrieval practice, retrieval effort, and spacing for optimizing existing treatments, their explanatory power, and their importance in driving future

A gap analysis of meteorological requirements for commercial space operators

Science.gov (United States)

Stapleton, Nicholas James

Commercial space companies will soon be the primary method of launching people and supplies into orbit. Among the critical aspects of space launches are the meteorological concerns. Laws and regulations pertaining to meteorological considerations have been created to ensure the safety of the space industry and those living around spaceports; but, are they adequate? Perhaps the commercial space industry can turn to the commercial aviation industry to help answer that question. Throughout its history, the aviation industry has dealt with lessons learned from mishaps due to failures in understanding the significance of weather impacts on operations. Using lessons from the aviation industry, the commercial space industry can preempt such accidents and maintain viability as an industry. Using Lanicci's Strategic Planning Model, this study identified the weather needs of the commercial space industry by conducting three gap analyses. First, a comparative analysis was done between laws and regulations in commercial aviation and those in the commercial space industry pertaining to meteorological support, finding a "legislative gap" between the two industries, as no legal guarantee is in place to ensure weather products remain available to the commercial space industry. A second analysis was conducted between the meteorological services provided for the commercial aviation industry and commercial space industry, finding a gap at facilities not located at an established launch facility or airport. At such facilities, many weather observational technologies would not be present, and would need to be purchased by the company operating the spaceport facility. A third analysis was conducted between the meteorological products and regulations that are currently in existence, and those needed for safe operations within the commercial space industry, finding gaps in predicting lightning, electric field charge, and space weather. Recommendations to address these deficiencies have

The assessment of knowledge and learning in competence spaces: The gain-loss model for dependent skills.

Science.gov (United States)

Anselmi, Pasquale; Stefanutti, Luca; de Chiusole, Debora; Robusto, Egidio

2017-11-01

The gain-loss model (GaLoM) is a formal model for assessing knowledge and learning. In its original formulation, the GaLoM assumes independence among the skills. Such an assumption is not reasonable in several domains, in which some preliminary knowledge is the foundation for other knowledge. This paper presents an extension of the GaLoM to the case in which the skills are not independent, and the dependence relation among them is described by a well-graded competence space. The probability of mastering skill s at the pretest is conditional on the presence of all skills on which s depends. The probabilities of gaining or losing skill s when moving from pretest to posttest are conditional on the mastery of s at the pretest, and on the presence at the posttest of all skills on which s depends. Two formulations of the model are presented, in which the learning path is allowed to change from pretest to posttest or not. A simulation study shows that models based on the true competence space obtain a better fit than models based on false competence spaces, and are also characterized by a higher assessment accuracy. An empirical application shows that models based on pedagogically sound assumptions about the dependencies among the skills obtain a better fit than models assuming independence among the skills. © 2017 The British Psychological Society.

Commercial Space Travel, Ethics and Society

Science.gov (United States)

Cox, N. L. J.

2002-01-01

For the past two decades interest in the possibilities of commercial (manned) space travel or space tourism has increased among engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs and also citizens. A continuously growing collection of papers is being published on space tourism itself and associated subjects, like new reusable launch vehicles, space habitats, space entertainment and corresponding law and regulation. Market research promises sufficient interest in tourist space travel to take off and develop into a multi billion-dollar business. The basic engineering knowledge and expertise is available to start development and designing of safe and affordable reusable vertical lift off and landing vehicles, like the Kankoh-Maru. However, many issues remain fairly untouched in literature. These include, for example, regulations, law, international agreement on space traffic control and also insurance policy. One important topic however has been barely touched upon. This concerns the ethical issues in commercial (manned) space travel, which need to be considered thoroughly, preferably before actual take off of the first regular space tourist services. The answer to the latter question comprises the major part of the paper. First, the paper deals with the issue of who wants, needs and will go to space at what stage in the development of the space tourism industry. A schematic pyramid differentiating between several community groups is made. Secondly, it discusses the way we can and should deal with our environment. Space is still fairly unspoiled, although there is a lot of (government) debris out there. Rules of the space tourist game need to be established. A few general directions are presented, for example on debris cleaning and garbage disposal. Also our right to exploit the asteroids and the moon for material is discussed. In the last part of this paper, the risks involved with the harsh environment of space are considered. Is it safe and responsible to eject people into outer

How Teachers Learn and Change in Reciprocal Learning Space

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Xuefeng HUANG

2017-01-01

This paper reports the impact of a new Canada and China school network on its participating teachers in the context of the Canada-China Partnership Grant Project.Eight schools formed four pairs of sister schools,and teachers in these schools created collaborations embedded in their practices.The data include interviews of teachers and principals in both countries and records of teachers' cross-cultural collaborations.Informed by the literature on teacher learning and professional learning communities,this paper shows benefits of international teacher communities.Also,it explores a new approach to research that features spatiality considerations reflecting a new trend in the comparative education literature.Focusing on teacher knowledge and practice,it shows reciprocal effects of collaboration in the international school network.Finally,this paper links the research results to the literature in a way that highlights the potential of international teacher professional learning communities and contributions of this kind of practice and research.

Safe transport of radioactive material. Second edition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1996-01-01

In 1991, the International Atomic Energy Agency published Training Course Series No. 1 (TCS-1), a training manual that provides in 20 chapters a detailed discussion of the background, philosophy, technical bases and requirements and implementation aspects of the Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material. The Transport Regulations are widely implemented by the IAEA's Member States and are also used as the bases for radioactive material transport requirements of modal organisations such as the International Maritime Organization and the International Civil Aviation Organization. This document is a supplement of TCS-1 to provide additional material in the form of learning aids and new exercises, that have been developed with the use of TCS-1 at succeeding IAEA training courses. The learning aids in the first part of the supplement are hitherto unpublished material that provide detailed guidance useful in solving the exercises presented in the second part. Solutions to the exercises are on field at the IAEA Secretariat and are available by arrangement to lectures presenting IAEA training courses. 4 refs, 1 fig., 6 tabs

How Do Lessons Learned on the International Space Station (ISS) Help Plan Life Support for Mars?

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Harry W.; Hodgson, Edward W.; Gentry, Gregory J.; Kliss, Mark H.

2016-01-01

How can our experience in developing and operating the International Space Station (ISS) guide the design, development, and operation of life support for the journey to Mars? The Mars deep space Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) must incorporate the knowledge and experience gained in developing ECLSS for low Earth orbit, but it must also meet the challenging new requirements of operation in deep space where there is no possibility of emergency resupply or quick crew return. The understanding gained by developing ISS flight hardware and successfully supporting a crew in orbit for many years is uniquely instructive. Different requirements for Mars life support suggest that different decisions may be made in design, testing, and operations planning, but the lessons learned developing the ECLSS for ISS provide valuable guidance.

Optimizing Working Space in Laparoscopy: Studies in a porcine model

NARCIS (Netherlands)

J. Vlot (John)

2014-01-01

markdownabstract__Abstract__ Adequate working space is essential for safe and effective laparoscopic surgery. However, the factors that determine working space have not been sufficiently studied. Working space can be very limited, especially in children. A literature review was undertaken to

Year-end technical stop: train to work safely

CERN Multimedia

Rosaria Marraffino

2016-01-01

As mentioned in the previous issue of the Bulletin (see here), the accelerators are currently undergoing maintenance as part of the year-end technical stop (YETS). Hundreds of people are working simultaneously on different machines, and many of them need to be trained in order to work safely underground. From a Safety Training point of view, this has resulted in a significant increase in training requests, most of them at the last minute, which are now being handled – but not without difficulties.     In the LHC mock-up, a helium leak is simulated. In this stressful situation, the trainees learn how to put their mask on in less than 40 seconds.   "The most requested course is the Self-Rescue Mask classroom training,” explains Christoph Balle, Safety Training Section Leader. “In this course, people are trained to face the oxygen deficiency hazards that may occur in CERN's underground areas, learning...

Creating the Thermal Environment for Safely Testing the James Webb Space Telescope at the Johnson Space Center's Chamber A

Science.gov (United States)

Homan, Jonathan L.; Lauterbach, John; Garcia, Sam

2016-01-01

Chamber A is the largest thermal vacuum chamber at the Johnson Space Center and is one of the largest space environment chambers in the world. The chamber is 19.8 m (65 ft) in diameter and 36.6 m (120 ft) tall and is equipped with cryogenic liquid nitrogen panels (shrouds) and gaseous helium shrouds to create a simulated space environment. The chamber was originally built to support testing of the Apollo Service and Command Module for lunar missions, but underwent major modifications to be able to test the James Webb Space Telescope in a simulated deep space environment. To date seven tests have been performed in preparation of testing the flight optics for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Each test has had a uniquie thermal profile and set of thermal requirements for cooling down and warming up, controlling contamination, and releasing condensed air. These range from temperatures from 335K to 15K, with tight uniformity and controllability for maintining thermal stability and pressure control. One unique requirement for two test was structurally proof loading hardware by creating thermal gradients at specific temperatures. This paper will discuss the thermal requirements and goals of the tests, the original requirements of the chamber thermal systems for planned operation, and how the new requirements were met by the team using the hardware, system flexiblilty, and engineering creativity. It will also discuss the mistakes and successes to meet the unique goals, especially when meeting the thermal proof load.

Designing a 'safe and just operating space' for the Chilika lagoon fishery of the Mahanadi delta, India

Science.gov (United States)

Cooper, Gregory; Dearing, John

2017-04-01

Annual fish production from the Chilika lagoon is worth US25-million/year, underpinning the livelihoods of 35,000 fishers and 200,000 secondary dependants. The system has a legacy of collapse, transitioning from annual production rates of 9000 tonnes to 1300 tonnes during the late-1980s, with resulting livelihood losses triggering the first recorded instances of economic migration from Chilika. Despite engineered recovery since 2000, the future persistence of Chilika's resource stock is uncertain. Climate change may strengthen freshwater and sediment delivery, promoting ecohydrological degradation through tidal outlet sedimentation, reduced salinity and freshwater weed growth. Simultaneously, human population growth, fleet motorisation and consumption demands threaten overexploitation driven collapse. These critical social-ecological drivers and feedbacks are projected into future by integrating system dynamics modelling with Monte Carlo inputs. Sustainable pathways are identified from outputs producing social-ecologically desirable futures, such as mid-century catch equalling maximum sustainable yield. The 'safe and just operating space' metaphor is regionalised by the limits of sustainable trajectories, such as the permissible number of active fishers, motorised boats and juvenile catch under alternative governance scenarios. These critical thresholds suggest policy-relevant guardrails for the sustainable governance of Chilika, in order to avoid regional productivity collapse, ecological degradation and livelihood losses. Benefits and trade-offs of alternative governance approaches are also discussed, aiding the optimisation of future regulatory decision-making.

Lessons Learned to Date in Developing the Virtual Space Physics Observatory

Science.gov (United States)

Cornwell, C.; Roberts, D. A.; King, J.; Smith, A.

2005-12-01

We now have an operational Virtual Space Physics Observatory that provides users the ability to search for and retrieve data from hundreds of space and solar physics data products based on specific terms or a Google-like interface. Lessons learned in building VSPO include: (a) A very close and highly interactive collaboration between scientists and information technologists in the definition and development of services is essential. (b) Constructing a Data Model acceptable to a broad community is very important but very difficult. Variations in usage are inevitable and must be dealt with through translations; this is especially true for the description of variables within data products. (c) Higher-order queries (searches based on events, positions, comparisons of measurements, etc.) are possible, and have been implemented in various systems; currently we see these as being separate from the basic data finding and retrieval services. (d) Building a Virtual Observatory is often more a matter of the tedious details of product descriptions than an exercise in implementing fancy middleware. Paying a knowledgeable third party to build registries can be more efficient than working directly with providers, and automated tools can help but do not solve all the problems. (e) The success of the VO effort in space and solar physics, as elsewhere, will depend on whether the scientific communities involved use and critique the services so that they will come to meet a real need for the integration of resources to solve new scientific problems of perceived importance.

Adoption of the B2SAFE EUDAT replication service by the EPOS community

Science.gov (United States)

Cacciari, Claudio; Fares, Massimo; Fiameni, Giuseppe; Michelini, Alberto; Danecek, Peter; Wittenburg, Peter

2014-05-01

B2SAFE is the EUDAT service for moving and replicating data between sites and storage systems for different purposes. The goal of B2SAFE is to keep the data from a repository safe by replicating it across different geographical and administrative zones according to a set of well-defined policies. It is also a way to store large volumes of data permanently at those sites which are providing powerful on-demand data analysis facilities. In particular, B2SAFE operates on the domain of registered data where data objects are referable via persistent identifiers (PIDs). B2SAFE is more than just copying data because the PIDs must be carefully managed when data objects are moved or replicated. The EUDAT B2SAFE Service offers functionality to replicate datasets across different data centres in a safe and efficient way while maintaining all information required to easily find and query information about the replica locations. The information about the replica locations and other important information is stored in PID records, each managed in separate administrative domains. The B2SAFE Service is implemented as an iRODS module providing a set of iRODS rules or policies to interface with the EPIC handle API and uses the iRODS middleware to replicate datasets from a source data (or community) centre to a destination data centre. The definition of the dataset(s) to replicate is flexible and up to the communities using the B2SAFE service. While the B2SAFE is internally using the EPIC handle API, communities have the choice to use any PID system they prefer to assign PIDs to their digital objects. A reference to one or more EUDAT B2SAFE PIDs is returned by the B2SAFE service when a dataset is replicated. The presentation will introduce the problem space of B2SAFE, presents the achievements that have been made during the last year for enabling communities to make use of the B2SAFE service, demonstrates a EPOS use cases, outlines the commonalities and differences between the policies

Organizational Learning in Health Care Organizations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Savithiri Ratnapalan

2014-02-01

Full Text Available The process of collective education in an organization that has the capacity to impact an organization’s operations, performance and outcomes is called organizational learning. In health care organizations, patient care is provided through one or more visible and invisible teams. These teams are composed of experts and novices from diverse backgrounds working together to provide coordinated care. The number of teams involved in providing care and the possibility of breakdowns in communication and coordinated care increases in direct proportion to sophisticated technology and treatment strategies of complex disease processes. Safe patient care is facilitated by individual professional learning; inter-professional team learning and system based organizational learning, which encompass modified context specific learning by multiple teams and team members in a health care organization. Organizational learning in health care systems is central to managing the learning requirements in complex interconnected dynamic systems where all have to know common background knowledge along with shared meta-knowledge of roles and responsibilities to execute their assigned functions, communicate and transfer the flow of pertinent information and collectively provide safe patient care. Organizational learning in health care is not a onetime intervention, but a continuing organizational phenomenon that occurs through formal and informal learning which has reciprocal association with organizational change. As such, organizational changes elicit organizational learning and organizational learning implements new knowledge and practices to create organizational changes.

Spring 2004 Industry Study: Space Industry

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Romano, Anthony F; Brandt, Linda S; Burns, Cynthia Q; Grubbs, Lawrence K; McGee, Anne E; Barzler, Paul M; Bennett, Kathleen R; Bryner, Drew A; Clubb, Timothy L; Flynn, John E

2004-01-01

.... These challenges include the complex technologies necessary to safely travel the hazardous environment and great distances of space, as well as the public will and commitment of resources required...

Just forest governance: how small learning groups can have big impact

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mayers, James; Bhattacharya, Prodyut; Diaw, Chimere [and others

2009-10-15

Forests are power bases, but often for the wrong people. As attention turns from making an international deal on REDD to making it work on the ground, the hunt will be on for practical ways of shifting power over forests towards those who enable and pursue sustainable forest-linked livelihoods. The Forest Governance Learning Group – an alliance active in Cameroon, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Uganda and Vietnam – has developed practical tactics for securing safe space, provoking dialogue, building constituencies, wielding evidence and interacting politically. It has begun to have significant impacts. To deepen and widen those impacts, FGLG seeks allies.

Workshop on Developing Safe Software

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lawrence, J.D.

1994-11-01

The Workshop on Developing Safe Software was held July 22--23, 1992, at the Hotel del Coronado, San Diego, California. The purpose of the workshop was to have four world experts discuss among themselves software safety issues which are of interest to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. These issues concern the development of software systems for use in nuclear power plant protection systems. The workshop comprised four sessions. Wednesday morning, July 22, consisted of presentations from each of the four panel members. On Wednesday afternoon, the panel members went through a list of possible software development techniques and commented on them. The Thursday morning, July 23, session consisted of an extended discussion among the panel members and the observers from the NRC. A final session on Thursday afternoon consisted of a discussion among the NRC observers as to what was learned from the workshop

Getting to know patients’ lived space

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Norlyk, Annelise; Martinsen, Bente; Dahlberg, Karen

2013-01-01

.g. the role of the good patient and the ambiance of hospitals. Home, on the other hand, offers familiar lived space in which patients feel protected and safe. Further, the paper relates patients’ experience of lived space to a phenomenological view of lived space in order to illustrate the radical influence...... as a theoretical framework for an excursive analysis. The paper demonstrates that existential dimensions of lived space at the hospital and at home differ significantly. For the patients, the hospital space means alien territory as opposed to the familiar territory of home. To some extent the experienced...

The BMC ACCESS project: the development of a medically enhanced safe haven shelter.

Science.gov (United States)

Lincoln, Alisa; Johnson, Peggy; Espejo, Dennis; Plachta-Elliott, Sara; Lester, Peggy; Shanahan, Christopher; Abbott, Susan; Cabral, Howard; Jamanka, Amber; Delman, Jonathan; Kenny, Patty

2009-10-01

This paper describes the development and implementation of the Boston Medical Center (BMC) Advanced Clinical Capacity for Engagement, Safety, and Services Project. In October 2002, the BMC Division of Psychiatry became the first such entity to open a Safe Haven shelter for people who are chronically homeless, struggling with severe mental illness, and actively substance abusing. The low-demand Safe Haven model targets the most difficult to reach population and serves as a "portal of entry" to the mental health and addiction service systems. In this paper, the process by which this blended funded, multi-level collaboration, consisting of a medical center, state, city, local, and community-based consumer organizations, was created and is maintained, as well as the clinical model of care is described. Lessons learned from creating the Safe Haven Shelter and the development and implementation of the consumer-informed evaluation are discussed as well as implications for future work with this population.

Multiresolutional schemata for unsupervised learning of autonomous robots for 3D space operation

Science.gov (United States)

Lacaze, Alberto; Meystel, Michael; Meystel, Alex

1994-01-01

This paper describes a novel approach to the development of a learning control system for autonomous space robot (ASR) which presents the ASR as a 'baby' -- that is, a system with no a priori knowledge of the world in which it operates, but with behavior acquisition techniques that allows it to build this knowledge from the experiences of actions within a particular environment (we will call it an Astro-baby). The learning techniques are rooted in the recursive algorithm for inductive generation of nested schemata molded from processes of early cognitive development in humans. The algorithm extracts data from the environment and by means of correlation and abduction, it creates schemata that are used for control. This system is robust enough to deal with a constantly changing environment because such changes provoke the creation of new schemata by generalizing from experiences, while still maintaining minimal computational complexity, thanks to the system's multiresolutional nature.

SAFE Newsletter

OpenAIRE

2013-01-01

The Center of Excellence SAFE – “Sustainable Architecture for Finance in Europe” – is a cooperation of the Center for Financial Studies and Goethe University Frankfurt. It is funded by the LOEWE initiative of the State of Hessen (Landes-Offensive zur Entwicklung wissenschaftlich-ökonomischer Exzellenz). SAFE brings together more than 40 professors and just as many junior researchers who are all dedicated to conducting research in support of a sustainable financial architecture. The Center has...

"Becoming" Learners/Teachers in Nomadic Space

Science.gov (United States)

Gorodetsky, Malka; Barak, Judith

2016-01-01

This paper suggests a conjunction between the learning space of educational edge community (EEC) and the Deleuzeguattarian thought regarding the nature of teachers' "becoming." It attends to the emerging subjectivities of teachers/learners within an EEC, a nomadic, open, and smooth space of learning. It is suggested that autonomous…

Space Use in the Commons: Evaluating a Flexible Library Environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrew D. Asher

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Objective – This article evaluates the usage and user experience of the Herman B Wells Library’s Learning Commons, a newly renovated technology and learning centre that provides services and spaces tailored to undergraduates’ academic needs at Indiana University Bloomington (IUB. Methods – A mixed-method research protocol combining time-lapse photography, unobtrusive observation, and random-sample surveys was employed to construct and visualize a representative usage and activity profile for the Learning Commons space. Results – Usage of the Learning Commons by particular student groups varied considerably from expectations based on student enrollments. In particular, business, first and second year students, and international students used the Learning Commons to a higher degree than expected, while humanities students used it to a much lower degree. While users were satisfied with the services provided and the overall atmosphere of the space, they also experienced the negative effects of insufficient space and facilities due to the space often operating at or near its capacity. Demand for collaboration rooms and computer workstations was particularly high, while additional evidence suggests that the Learning Commons furniture mix may not adequately match users’ needs. Conclusions – This study presents a unique approach to space use evaluation that enables researchers to collect and visualize representative observational data. This study demonstrates a model for quickly and reliably assessing space use for open-plan and learning-centred academic environments and for evaluating how well these learning spaces fulfill their institutional mission.

A Compact Safe Cold-Start (CS2) System for Scramjets using Dilute Triethylaluminum Fuel Mixtures, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This proposal addresses the cold-start requirements of scramjet engines by developing a safe, energy-dense, and low volume hydrocarbon fuel conditioning system based...

Creating a Safe Place in the Midst of Aggression: Music Therapy in Child Psychiatry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marieke Degryse

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Working as a music therapist in a psychiatric unit for children with learning disabilities, one is often confronted with a lot of aggression. Most of these children have attachment disorders and severe behavioural problems. By which means can music exist in music therapy within this specific setting? Can we speak of a traumatic nature in music and body? This article will present a case study, where finding a safe place within music therapy is of major importance. Learning and listening to songs can be a necessary way to safeguard control for the client, gain some self-confidence, and create a place for regression. Going through this process in finding a safe and contained place within music therapy, the possibility of playing techniques arises, offering the freedom for exploration and a form of control and predictability. The case study concludes with the importance of playfulness whereby traumatic material can be digested through the music. Also, the role of singing songs in music therapy with this population is highlighted briefly.

Ethnography in the Danish Veterinary Learning Environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Camilla Kirketerp Nielsen

2015-11-01

Full Text Available The overall objective of this project is research-based development, implementation and evaluation of a game-based learning concept to be used in the veterinary education. Herd visits and animal contact are essential for the development of veterinary competences and skills during education. Yet veterinary students have little occasion to reach/attain a proper level of confidence in their own skills/abilities, as they have limited “training-facilities” (Kneebone & Baillie, 2008. One possible solution mightbe to provide a safe, virtual environment (game-based where students could practise interdisciplinary clinical skills in an easily-accessible, interactive setting. A playable demo using Classical Swine Fever in a pig herd as an example has been produced for this purpose. In order totailor the game concept to the specific veterinary learning environment and to ensure compliance with both learning objectives and the actual learning processes/procedures of the veterinary students, the project contains both a developmental aspect (game development and an exploration of the academic (scholastic and profession (practice oriented learning context. The initial phase of the project was a preliminary exploration of the actual learning context, providing an important starting point for the upcoming phase in which I will concentrate on research-based development, implementation and evaluation of a game-based virtual environment in this course context. In the academic (scholastic and profession (practice oriented learning context of a veterinary course in Herd Health Management (Pig module,ethnographic studies have been conducted by using multiple data collection methods; participant observation, spontaneous dialogues and interviews (Borgnakke, 1996; Hammersley & Atkinson, 2007. All courserelated activities in the different learning spaces (commercial pig herds, auditoriums, post-mortem examinations, independent group work were followed.This paper will

Local Farmers' Organisations: A Space for Peer-to-Peer Learning? The Case of Milk Collection Cooperatives in Morocco

Science.gov (United States)

Faysse, Nicolas; Srairi, Mohamed Taher; Errahj, Mostafa

2012-01-01

Purpose: The study investigated to what extent local farmers' organisations are spaces where farmers discuss, learn and innovate. Design/methodology/approach: Two milk collection cooperatives in Morocco were studied. The study analysed the discussion networks, their impacts on farmers' knowledge and innovation, and the performance of collective…

Novel Solid Polymer Nanocomposite Electrolyte to Enable Lithium Metal Safely Cycling for Next Generation High Energy Battery

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — NASA future missions demand safe, high specific energy (>400 Wh/kg) batteries. Current state-of-the-art (SOA) lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) can only provide...

Agnostic Active Learning Without Constraints

OpenAIRE

Beygelzimer, Alina; Hsu, Daniel; Langford, John; Zhang, Tong

2010-01-01

We present and analyze an agnostic active learning algorithm that works without keeping a version space. This is unlike all previous approaches where a restricted set of candidate hypotheses is maintained throughout learning, and only hypotheses from this set are ever returned. By avoiding this version space approach, our algorithm sheds the computational burden and brittleness associated with maintaining version spaces, yet still allows for substantial improvements over supervised learning f...

Language and learning in transformative learning spaces – multilingual learner’s stories

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Maslo, Elina

: Practice to theory, theory to practice. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences. Elsevier. Van Manen, M. (1997). Researching Lived Experience. The Althouse Press.  Intent of the Publication:This publication intends to provide a more nuanced understanding of human learning processes, not least......Proposal information:The necessity of knowing languages, many languages in fact, is emphasised in many different contexts in Europe, often in connection with globalisation. Languages are referred to as a key that opens a door – or many doors. Language is “a key to education”, ”a key to employment...... to success – language and learning in transformative learning spaces” is a study of multilingual people’s experiences of their (language) learning processes. It is aimed to improve our understanding of human learning processes, not least the subjective dimensions of these processes. Despite rapid development...

Safe Grid

Science.gov (United States)

Chow, Edward T.; Stewart, Helen; Korsmeyer, David (Technical Monitor)

2003-01-01

The biggest users of GRID technologies came from the science and technology communities. These consist of government, industry and academia (national and international). The NASA GRID is moving into a higher technology readiness level (TRL) today; and as a joint effort among these leaders within government, academia, and industry, the NASA GRID plans to extend availability to enable scientists and engineers across these geographical boundaries collaborate to solve important problems facing the world in the 21 st century. In order to enable NASA programs and missions to use IPG resources for program and mission design, the IPG capabilities needs to be accessible from inside the NASA center networks. However, because different NASA centers maintain different security domains, the GRID penetration across different firewalls is a concern for center security people. This is the reason why some IPG resources are been separated from the NASA center network. Also, because of the center network security and ITAR concerns, the NASA IPG resource owner may not have full control over who can access remotely from outside the NASA center. In order to obtain organizational approval for secured remote access, the IPG infrastructure needs to be adapted to work with the NASA business process. Improvements need to be made before the IPG can be used for NASA program and mission development. The Secured Advanced Federated Environment (SAFE) technology is designed to provide federated security across NASA center and NASA partner's security domains. Instead of one giant center firewall which can be difficult to modify for different GRID applications, the SAFE "micro security domain" provide large number of professionally managed "micro firewalls" that can allow NASA centers to accept remote IPG access without the worry of damaging other center resources. The SAFE policy-driven capability-based federated security mechanism can enable joint organizational and resource owner approved remote

Bumblebees exhibit the memory spacing effect

Science.gov (United States)

Toda, Nicholas R. T.; Song, Jeremy; Nieh, James C.

2009-10-01

Associative learning is key to how bees recognize and return to rewarding floral resources. It thus plays a major role in pollinator floral constancy and plant gene flow. Honeybees are the primary model for pollinator associative learning, but bumblebees play an important ecological role in a wider range of habitats, and their associative learning abilities are less well understood. We assayed learning with the proboscis extension reflex (PER), using a novel method for restraining bees (capsules) designed to improve bumblebee learning. We present the first results demonstrating that bumblebees exhibit the memory spacing effect. They improve their associative learning of odor and nectar reward by exhibiting increased memory acquisition, a component of long-term memory formation, when the time interval between rewarding trials is increased. Bombus impatiens forager memory acquisition (average discrimination index values) improved by 129% and 65% at inter-trial intervals (ITI) of 5 and 3 min, respectively, as compared to an ITI of 1 min. Memory acquisition rate also increased with increasing ITI. Encapsulation significantly increases olfactory memory acquisition. Ten times more foragers exhibited at least one PER response during training in capsules as compared to traditional PER harnesses. Thus, a novel conditioning assay, encapsulation, enabled us to improve bumblebee-learning acquisition and demonstrate that spaced learning results in better memory consolidation. Such spaced learning likely plays a role in forming long-term memories of rewarding floral resources.

Safe from harm: learned, instructed, and symbolic generalization pathways of human threat-avoidance.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Simon Dymond

Full Text Available Avoidance of threatening or unpleasant events is usually an adaptive behavioural strategy. Sometimes, however, avoidance can become chronic and lead to impaired daily functioning. Excessive threat-avoidance is a central diagnostic feature of anxiety disorders, yet little is known about whether avoidance acquired in the absence of a direct history of conditioning with a fearful event differs from directly learned avoidance. In the present study, we tested whether avoidance acquired indirectly via verbal instructions and symbolic generalization result in similar levels of avoidance behaviour and threat-beliefs to avoidance acquired after direct learning. Following fear conditioning in which one conditioned stimulus was paired with shock (CS+ and another was not (CS-, participants either learned or were instructed to make a response that cancelled impending shock. Three groups were then tested with a learned CS+ and CS- (learned group, instructed CS+ (instructed group, and generalized CS+ (derived group presentations. Results showed similar levels of avoidance behaviour and threat-belief ratings about the likelihood of shock across each of the three pathways despite the different mechanisms by which they were acquired. Findings have implications for understanding the aetiology of clinical avoidance in anxiety.

Examples of learning activities for Earth and Space Sciences in the new Italian National curriculum

Science.gov (United States)

Macario, Maddalena

2016-04-01

In the last few years, starting from 2010, science curricula were changed dramatically in the secondary Italian school as consequence of a radical law reform. In particular, Earth Science and Astronomy subjects have been shifted from the last to the previous school years; in addition, these subjects have been integrated with other natural sciences learning, such as biology and chemistry. As a consequence, Italian teachers felt forced to totally revise their teaching methods for all of these disciplines. The most demanding need was adapting content to younger learners, as those of the first years are, who usually do have neither pre-knowledge in physics nor high level maths skills. Secondly, content learning was progressively driven toward a greater attention to environmental issues in order to raise more awareness in learners about global changes as examples of fragile equilibrium of our planet. In this work some examples of activities are shown, to introduce students to some astronomical phenomena in a simpler way, which play a key role in influencing other Earth's events, in order to make pupils more conscious about how and to what extent our planet depends on space, at different time scales. The activities range from moon motions affecting tides, to secondary Earth motions, which are responsible for climate changes, to the possibility to find life forms in other parts of the Universe, to the possibility for humans to live in the space for future space missions. Students are involved in hands-on inquiry-based laboratories that scaffold both theoretic knowledge and practical skills for a deeper understanding of cause-effect relationships existing in the Earth.

Nuclear safety as applied to space power reactor systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cummings, G.E.

1987-01-01

To develop a strategy for incorporating and demonstrating safety, it is necessary to enumerate the unique aspects of space power reactor systems from a safety standpoint. These features must be differentiated from terrestrial nuclear power plants so that our experience can be applied properly. Some ideas can then be developed on how safe designs can be achieved so that they are safe and perceived to be safe by the public. These ideas include operating only after achieving a stable orbit, developing an inherently safe design, ''designing'' in safety from the start and managing the system development (design) so that it is perceived safe. These and other ideas are explored further in this paper