Universal design of public open spaces

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Petra Krajner

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Urban open spaces are public places that must assure access for all users. They should be designed for equal use despite disabilities and special recreational needs. Their design must be functional and must meet user’s special requirements, either everyday functional or special (recreational needs. It is not just about overcoming architectural obstacles by building ramps of suitable slope and size; it is about inclusive, universal landscape design of urban space made for all citizens. For this matter, different ways of public use for each group of users is defined, functional criteria are determined, and examples of good and bad design are assembled to present the differences between technically accomplished ramps, and slope paths that include quality landscape inclusive design. To prove the unsuitability of public open spaces in Ljubljana, various analyses were made, including the measurement of steepness, lengths and wideness of certain urban elements. As an application of results, the universal designing principles are summarized in new proposal for entrance into Tivoli Park.

Researchers' perspectives on open access scholarly communication in Tanzanian public universities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F.W. Dulle

2009-04-01

Full Text Available This research explored the awareness, usage and perspectives of Tanzanian researchers on open access as a mode of scholarly communication. A survey questionnaire targeted 544 respondents selected through stratified random sampling from a population of 1088 university researchers of the six public universities in Tanzania. With a response rate of 73%, the data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences. The study reveals that the majority of the researchers were aware of and were positive towards open access. Findings further indicate that the majority of researchers in Tanzanian public universities used open access outlets more to access scholarly content than to disseminate their own research findings. It seems that most of these researchers would support open access publishing more if issues of recognition, quality and ownership were resolved. Thus many of them supported the idea of establishing institutional repositories at their respective universities as a way of improving the dissemination of local content. The study recommends that public universities and other research institutions in the country should consider establishing institutional repositories, with appropriate quality assurance measures, to improve the dissemination of research output emanating from these institutions.

Assembling university learning technologies for an open world

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hannon, John; Riddle, Matthew; Ryberg, Thomas

2014-01-01

This paper considers the emergence of social media in university teaching and learning and the capacity or universities as complex organisations with disparate interacting parts to respond to the shift of pedagogies and practices to open networks. Institutional learning technology environments...... reflect a legacy of prescriptive, hierarchical arrangements associated with enterprise systems, and are a poor fit with the heterarchical and self-organised potential for learning associated with social media and open education practices. In this paper we focus on the tensions that arise from...... the juxtaposition of these two orientations to learning technologies, and focus on how an emerging online sociality can destabilise established boundaries of learning and connect to other domains of practice...

The Open Education System, Anadolu University, Turkey: E-Transformation in a Mega-University

Science.gov (United States)

Latchem, Colin; Ozkul, Ali Ekrem; Aydin, Cengiz Hakan; Mutlu, Mehmet Emin

2006-01-01

Anadolu University in Turkey is one of the world's largest and least known mega-universities. Well over one million students in Turkey, the European Union and Northern Cyprus are enrolled in its Open Education System and yet few accounts of this dual-mode provider appear in the international literature. This article describes the evolution of the…

Access to Knowledge Southern Africa : Universities, Open Research ...

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

Journal articles. Research productivity-visibility-accessibility and scholarly communication in Southern African universities. Download PDF ... Call for new OWSD Fellowships for Early Career Women Scientists now open. In partnership with ...

Workshop for Open Source Universal Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS)

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Tohme, Walid G

2006-01-01

.... The "Open Source Universal PACS Archive" workshop focused on current challenges of and open source solutions to the management of images and other clinical information in multi-center settings...

Design Principles of Open Innovation Concept – Universal Design Viewpoint

OpenAIRE

Mustaquim, Moyen; Nyström, Tobias

2013-01-01

The concept of open innovation is becoming an increasingly popular topic of interest and seems to promise a lot in organizational development. However, to date there are no certain design principles that can be followed by organizations on how to use open innovation successfully. In this paper seven design principles of open innovation concept have been proposed. The derived principles are the outcome which is based on the principles of universal design. The open innovation design, based on t...

Creating Open Textbooks: A Unique Partnership Between Oregon State University Libraries and Press and Open Oregon State

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Faye A. Chadwell

2016-05-01

Full Text Available This article presents Oregon State University’s experience launching an innovative Open Textbook initiative in spring 2014. The partners, Open Oregon State and the Oregon State University Libraries and Press, aimed to reduce the cost of course materials for students while ensuring the content created was peer-reviewed and employed multimedia capabilities. This initiative sought to showcase existing and emerging disciplinary strengths of the University thus creating unique course content that could be shared globally. This article briefly describes the U.S. landscape for open textbook creation and adoption. It demonstrates how this unique partnership has developed, covering barriers and benefits, and what the future could hold for new projects.

Cosmic strings in an open universe: Quantitative evolution and observational consequences

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Avelino, P.P.; Caldwell, R.R.; Martins, C.J.

1997-01-01

The cosmic string scenario in an open universe is developed - including the equations of motion, a model of network evolution, the large angular scale cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy, and the power spectrum of density fluctuations produced by cosmic strings with dark matter. We first derive the equations of motion for a cosmic string in an open Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) space-time. With these equations and the cosmic string stress-energy conservation law, we construct a quantitative model of the evolution of the gross features of a cosmic string network in a dust-dominated, Ω 2 /Mpc. In a low density universe the string+CDM scenario is a better model for structure formation. We find that for cosmological parameters Γ=Ωh∼0.1 - 0.2 in an open universe the string+CDM power spectrum fits the shape of the linear power spectrum inferred from various galaxy surveys. For Ω∼0.2 - 0.4, the model requires a bias b approx-gt 2 in the variance of the mass fluctuation on scales 8h -1 Mpc. In the presence of a cosmological constant, the spatially flat string+CDM power spectrum requires a slightly lower bias than for an open universe of the same matter density. copyright 1997 The American Physical Society

Opening access to African scholarly content: Stellenbosch University's AOARI platforms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dr Reggie Raju

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Africa is viewed as a consumer of the world's knowledge production. A significant factor influencing this status is the low research output, with the main contributor to this status being minimum access to scholarly content to support research. Stellenbosch University, a leading research institution on the African continent, is committed to contributing to changing this status quo through the distribution of its own research output utilizing open sources. Given the challenges that have plagued Africa in developing processes for the distribution of their research, Stellenbosch University has developed the African Open Access Repository Initiative (AOARI which uses open source software for two platforms that support the ‘green’ and ‘gold’ route to sharing scholarly literature: Ubuntu is used as the operating system, DSpace is used for its repository and Open Journal Systems for its publication platform. It is anticipated that AOARI will be the bridge that facilitates the sharing of research output and nurtures a culture of research production in Africa.

Open Access Publishing in Canada: Current and Future Library and University Press Supports

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrew Waller

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Canadian university libraries, Canadian university presses, and non-university scholarly presses at Canadian universities were surveyed in the first part of 2010 as to the level of their support of Open Access (OA journal publishing. Respondents were asked about journal hosting services in their organization as well as their thoughts on internal and external support for open access publishing. Results showed that most of the organizations are hosting OA journals, largely between one and five in number, and many supply journal hosting services, including some technical support. Personnel resources are a notable factor in the ability to host journals. Most respondents engage in some sort of internal support for open access publishing and are open to options that they are presently not utilizing. They are particularly amenable to OA publishing support from outside of their organizations, especially assistance at a consortial level.

Analysis of Turkey’s Institutional Open Repositories: An Example of Dokuz Eylül University Institutional Open Repository

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Korhan Levent Ertürk

2012-03-01

Full Text Available After the declaration of the Budapest Open Access Initiative in 2001, institutional open repositories are known as the most important tool of the self archiving, which is also known as green road. There are 26 institutional repositories, which are all compatible to international standards. All the institutional open repositories of Turkey mentioned before are listed in international open archive directories. In this study institutional open repository of Dokuz Eylül University is examined and institutional open repositories of Turkey are discussed.

International survey of research university leadership views on supporting open access scholarly & educational materials

CERN Document Server

2017-01-01

This report looks closely at the attitudes on open access of a sample of 314 deans, chancellors, department chairmen, research institute directors, provosts, trustees, vice presidents and other upper level administrators from more than 50 research universities in the USA, Canada, the UK, Ireland and Australia. The report gives detailed information on what they think of the cost of academic journal subscriptions, and how they understand the meaning of the term “open access.” The study also gives highly detailed data on what kind of policies the research university elite support or might support in the area of open access, including policies such as restricting purchases of very high-priced journals, paying publication fees for open access publications, mandating deposit of university scholarship into digital repositories, and developing open access educational materials from university resources. Just a few of the report’s many findings are that: • The lowest percentage of those interviewed considering...

The case of National Open University of Nigeria

African Journals Online (AJOL)

User

2012-01-24

Jan 24, 2012 ... technology media on effective distance learning education in Nigeria. It ... The Open University is perhaps the most comprehensive of existing distance ... numbers of people through a single act of writing or broadcasting, very many ... Provide for an egalitarian society reaching people of all age, sex,.

Students' Perception of the National Open University of Nigeria ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Nekky Umera

Hence the need for distance education (National Open University of Nigeria) ... students was used and with a single hypothesis formulated, a t-test analysis .... whether the students' apprehension to NOUN scheme is influenced by sex.

Towards a University of the Common: Reimagining the University in Order to Abolish It with the Really Open University

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andre Pusey

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The autumn of 2010, in the UK, was characterised by a series of protests against the proposed tripling of university tuition fees and the removal of the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA. These protests were set within a broader international background of contestation around universities and higher education reforms. This article focuses on the activities of a group, which emerged within this context, called the Really Open University (ROU, and its efforts to engender a reimagining of the university. Specifically, this article argues that the activities of the ROU were attempts to create new, radical imaginaries of the university and were linked to broader efforts to re-conceptualise knowledge production and pedagogy. The central point is that ultimately the ROU’s invitation to ‘reimagine the university’ was a provocation to abolish the university in its capitalist form, through a process of reimagining the university, exodus from the university machine and creation of a university of the common.

Institutional Evaluation in Poles of the Open University System of Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexciano de Sousa Martins

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The study wanted to know the institutional evaluation in poles of distance education, of the Open University of Brazil (UAB system, analyzing the poles of the State of Ceará. The UAB system of the Brazilian Ministry of Education makes it possible to offer courses of higher level agreements with public universities. Ceará counts on UAB poles, since 2006, that form teachers and other professionals, even in regions lacking public higher education. The objective of this study was to discuss the importance of the institutional evaluation in the poles of the Open University of Brazil program through an exploratory and descriptive field research, showing that the institutional evaluation at the poles is minimal and out of line with the legislation in force. Suggestions on how to develop the evaluative practice.

Potentiality of Disaster Management Education through Open and Distance Learning System in Bangladesh Open University

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Saima AHMAD

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Bangladesh Open University (BOU is the only public educational institution in Bangladesh, where, a dual-mode method of learning system has been introduced. Established in 21st October, 1992, the University now accommodates 1,74,459 learners in 2012. The wide range networking of this university provides it a great prospect to execute a broad spectrum of activities to accomplish its social responsibilities. Despite the aims of BOU at continuous quantitative improvement and greater equity in the society, like most of the ODL method universities in the world, BOU framed a limited objective to create awareness and preparedness about the contemporary global disaster proneness among its learners. Bangladesh for its geographical location, experiences several natural disasters like annual flood, heavy rainfall, cyclone and tidal surge, earth quake, river bank erosion, drought, etc. Lack of awareness of the sustainable use of the natural resources, and the consequences of the heedless consumption of them by the inhabitants enhanced the degree and frequency of these natural disasters during the last decades. The present study emphasizes on the role of Bangladesh Open University in creating awareness among its learners about the causes and pattern of disasters, pre and post disaster management strategies, etc. The study proves that BOU is a unique educational institution which, through the ODL method of teaching, using various educational medium like, tutorial support, printed study materials, electronic media, internet, and cellular phone, etc. can provided a wide range of knowledge about the disaster vulnerability, risk reduction and management strategies to its learners.

EXPERIENCES AND TENSIONS OF TUTURING AT ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY (AIOU PAKISTAN

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nabi Bux JUMANI

2009-04-01

Full Text Available Pakistan is a country with thick population of 160 million. Its geographical area is 796,096-sq. Km. Its 69% of population lives in rural areas and rest in urban. Since the education of rural people is a difficult task for the government therefore, there emerged a need of open and distance in Pakistan. Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU is the first Open University in Asia. It was established in 1974 and now has earned the status of Mega University. AIOU is a Distance Education institution, which provides multi disciplinary education from basic to doctoral level programs. The university employs non-formal method of correspondence, radio and television broadcasts, special textbooks and reading materials prepared on self-learning basis, part-time teachers (tutors engaged nearest to the student's residences. The university has more than 36 regional campuses and centers in various parts of the country to coordinate and facilitate decentralized system of education of the university. The regional directors keep a roster of qualified teachers and experts in each field of study in their area and enlist them as the university’s part-time tutors.The number of registered tutors with AIOU is more than 30,000. Each group of students is entrusted to a tutor for guidance. Assignments written by the students are evaluated by the tutors and returned to them, with comments. The regional campuses also arrange practical training, teaching practice, workshops and seminars and facilitate holding of examinations in their own areas. This study presents data from a study of experiences of distance education tutors at Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU, Pakistan, in the use of face-to-face tuition to support their students undertaking teacher training programmes at a distance. It explores the tensions for ‘face-to-face’ teachers involved in ‘distance teaching’ courses, and discusses these in terms of the tutors’ perceptions of the ways in which face

Estimating the Economic Payoff to Virtual University Education: A Case Study of the Open University of Catalonia

Science.gov (United States)

Castaño-Muñoz, Jonatan; Carnoy, Martin; Duart, Josep M.

2016-01-01

There is surprisingly little analysis of the employment and earnings impact on students of taking and completing Internet-based programs and of how it compares with earnings outcomes for graduates of face-to-face universities. This paper analyzes a follow-up survey of students who began attending the virtual Internet-based Open University of…

University Supports for Open Access: A Canadian National Survey

Science.gov (United States)

Greyson, Devon; Vezina, Kumiko; Morrison, Heather; Taylor, Donald; Black, Charlyn

2009-01-01

The advent of policies at research-funding organizations requiring grantees to make their funded research openly accessible alters the life cycle of scholarly research. This survey-based study explores the approaches that libraries and research administration offices at the major Canadian universities are employing to support the…

In Search for the Open Educator: Proposal of a Definition and a Framework to Increase Openness Adoption among University Educators

Science.gov (United States)

Nascimbeni, Fabio; Burgos, Daniel

2016-01-01

The paper explores the change process that university teachers need to go through in order to become fluent with Open Education approaches. Based on a literature review and a set of interviews with a number of leading experts in the field of Open Educational Resources and Open Education, the paper puts forward an original definition of Open…

Acceptance and Adoption of Open Access Publication (OAP) in University Libraries in South East Nigeria

Science.gov (United States)

Sambe, Manasseh Tyungu; Raphael, Gabriel Okplogidi

2015-01-01

This study examines the kinds of open access scholarly publication or information resources accepted and adopted by federal university libraries in South East Nigeria. The purpose was to determine the factors that affect open access scholarly publication or information resources acceptance and adoption in university libraries. The study adopted…

Assessment of reading habits of national open university of Nigeria ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Assessment of reading habits of national open university of Nigeria students in Abuja. ... A general recommendation was made to the ministry of education in Nigeria to make reading a subject of its own which ... AJOL African Journals Online.

Distance Teaching of Environmental Engineering Courses at the Open University.

Science.gov (United States)

Porteous, Andrew; Nesaratnam, Suresh T.; Anderson, Judith

1997-01-01

Describes two integrated distance learning environmental engineering degree courses offered by the environmental engineering group of the Open University in Great Britain. Discusses admission requirements for courses, advantages offered by distance learning, professional accreditation, site visits, and tutors. (AIM)

Teachers as a Special Target Population at the Open University of Israel.

Science.gov (United States)

Guri-Rozenblit, Sarah

1992-01-01

Examines the programs of the Open University of Israel (OUI) that offer preservice and in-service teacher training. Policies and trends that led to a new model of Israeli teacher education are discussed, and the role of distance teaching universities in teacher training is considered. (15 references) (LRW)

Depressive symptoms in elderly participants of an open university for elderly

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Samila Sathler Tavares Batistoni

Full Text Available Abstract Although the prevalence of depressive disorders among the elderly is lower than among the younger population, the presence of significant symptoms of depression is common in this group. Studies report that participation in social, educational and leisure activities is related to fewer depressive symptoms in this population. Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of depression among elderly participants of an Open University for the Third Age, in terms of the time studying. Methods: The study had a cross-sectional design and the participation of 95.2% (n=184 of total enrollers in the first half of 2010 on the activities of the Third Age Open University's School of Arts, Sciences and Humanities of the University of São Paulo. All participants answered a socio-demographic questionnaire and the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15. Results: An association between studying time of over one semester at the University of the Third Age and a lower rate of depressive symptoms, was observed. Conclusion: Study time of over one semester was associated with less depressive symptoms, acting as a possible protective factor against depression.

Pre-Service Teachers' Attitudes toward Teaching Science and Their Science Learning at Indonesia Open University

Science.gov (United States)

Suprapto, Nadi; Mursid, Ali

2017-01-01

This study focuses on attitudes toward (teaching) science and the learning of science for primary school among pre-service teachers at the Open University of Indonesia. A three-year longitudinal survey was conducted, involving 379 students as pre-service teachers (PSTs) from the Open University in Surabaya regional office. Attitudes toward…

International outreach for promoting open geoscience content in Finnish university libraries - libraries as the advocates of citizen science awareness on emerging open geospatial data repositories in Finnish society

Science.gov (United States)

Rousi, A. M.; Branch, B. D.; Kong, N.; Fosmire, M.

2013-12-01

In their Finnish National Spatial Strategy 2010-2015 the Finland's Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry delineated e.g. that spatial data skills should support citizens everyday activities and facilitate decision-making and participation of citizens. Studies also predict that open data, particularly open spatial data, would create, when fully realizing their potential, a 15% increase into the turnovers of Finnish private sector companies. Finnish libraries have a long tradition of serving at the heart of Finnish information society. However, with the emerging possibilities of educating their users on open spatial data a very few initiatives have been made. The National Survey of Finland opened its data in 2012. Finnish technology university libraries, such as Aalto University Library, are open environments for all citizens, and seem suitable of being the first thriving entities in educating citizens on open geospatial data. There are however many obstacles to overcome, such as lack of knowledge about policies, lack of understanding of geospatial data services and insufficient know-how of GIS software among the personnel. This framework examines the benefits derived from an international collaboration between Purdue University Libraries and Aalto University Library to create local strategies in implementing open spatial data education initiatives in Aalto University Library's context. The results of this international collaboration are explicated for the benefit of the field as a whole.

Optimising the Blended Learning Environment: The Arab Open University Experience

Science.gov (United States)

Hamdi, Tahrir; Abu Qudais, Mohammed

2018-01-01

This paper will offer some insights into possible ways to optimise the blended learning environment based on experience with this modality of teaching at Arab Open University/Jordan branch and also by reflecting upon the results of several meta-analytical studies, which have shown blended learning environments to be more effective than their face…

Assessing Perseverance in Studies at the Open University of Israel.

Science.gov (United States)

Guri-Rozenblit, Sarah

1990-01-01

A study at the Open University of Israel found students who study in organized groups and get weekly tutorials have a higher persistence rate than those with tutorials every three weeks. More experienced students and those in liberal arts and social sciences have a higher course completion rate. Age, sex, and educational background have little…

Pre-Service Teachers’ Attitudes Toward Teaching Science and Their Science Learning at Indonesia Open University

OpenAIRE

Nadi SUPRAPTO; Ali MURSID

2017-01-01

This study focuses on attitudes toward (teaching) science and the learning of science for primary school among pre-service teachers at the Open University of Indonesia. A three-year longitudinal survey was conducted, involving 379 students as pre-service teachers (PSTs) from the Open University in Surabaya regional office. Attitudes toward (teaching) science’ (ATS) instrument was used to portray PSTs’ preparation for becoming primary school teachers. Data analyses were used, including descrip...

An Evaluation of the Informedia Digital Video Library System at the Open University.

Science.gov (United States)

Kukulska-Hulme, Agnes; Van der Zwan, Robert; DiPaolo, Terry; Evers, Vanessa; Clarke, Sarah

1999-01-01

Reports on an Open University evaluation study of the Informedia Digital Video Library System developed at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). Findings indicate that there is definite potential for using the system, provided that certain modifications can be made. Results also confirm findings of the Informedia team at CMU that the content of video…

Butterflies Diversity in Brawijaya University, Veteran, Jakarta and Velodrom Green Open Space

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ayu Raisa Khairun Nisa'

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Butterflies have some roles in environmental as pollinator and bioindicator. Habitat is one of important factor to support butterflies growth. The aim of this research was to describe butterflies diversity in some green open spaces in Malang. Direct observations of butterflies diversity, vegetation structures and abiotic factors in Brawijaya University, Veteran, Jakarta and Velodrom Green Open Space were conducted on June 2012. Sampling was took place in each sites using cruising method in three times observation at 07.00, 11.00 a.m. and 3.30 p.m . Data were analyzed by statistical descriptive using Microsoft Excel 2007 and PAST. The result showed that butterflies composition in all sites dominated by Delias sp., Leptosia nina and Eurema venusta. The diversity index of all sites showed moderate rank that indicate communities equilibrium in environment was still good. In this case, Velodrom Green Open Space has the highest one of diversity index, it was about 2,199. Brawijaya University and Jakarta Green Open Space have a high similarity index based on Morisita Index. The highest abundance of butterflies was observed at 11.00-12.30 a.m. Delias sp. and Leptosia nina has temporal spread all day long, while Eurema venusta just in day light.

Pre-Service Teachers’ Attitudes Toward Teaching Science and Their Science Learning at Indonesia Open University

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nadi SUPRAPTO

2017-10-01

Full Text Available This study focuses on attitudes toward (teaching science and the learning of science for primary school among pre-service teachers at the Open University of Indonesia. A three-year longitudinal survey was conducted, involving 379 students as pre-service teachers (PSTs from the Open University in Surabaya regional office. Attitudes toward (teaching science’ (ATS instrument was used to portray PSTs’ preparation for becoming primary school teachers. Data analyses were used, including descriptive analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. The model fit of the attitudes toward (teaching science can be described from seven dimensions: self-efficacy for teaching science, the relevance of teaching science, gender-stereotypical beliefs, anxiety in teaching science, the difficulty of teaching science, perceived dependency on contextual factors, and enjoyment in teaching science. The results of the research also described science learning at the Open University of Indonesia looks like. Implications for primary teacher education are discussed.

Towards Development of OER Derived Custom-Built Open Textbooks: A Baseline Survey of University Teachers at the University of the South Pacific

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Deepak Prasad

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Textbook prices have soared over the years, with several studies revealing many university students are finding it difficult to afford textbooks. Fortunately, two innovations – open educational resources (OER and open textbooks – hold the potential to increase textbook affordability. Experts, though, have stated the obvious: that students can save money through open textbooks only if teachers are willing to develop and use them. Considering both the high price of textbooks and the benefits offered by OER and open textbooks, the aim of this study was to assess the University of the South Pacific (USP teachers’ willingness towards development of custom-built OER derived open textbooks for their courses with a focus on providing a foundation for strategies to promote open textbook development at USP. This paper reports the findings of an online survey of 39 USP teachers. The results show that 17 teachers were willing to develop OER derived custom-built open textbooks for their courses. Besides this, there are findings relating to six important areas: teachers’ motivation to develop open textbooks; the frequency of more than one prescribed textbook per course; teachers’ awareness of the costs of the prescribed textbooks; the average cost of prescribed textbooks in a course; teachers’ awareness and utilization of OER and open textbooks; and teachers’ perceived barriers to using OER and types of challenges they encounter while using OER. These findings have been discussed in relation to research studies on OER and open textbooks.

"I've Never Heard of It Before": Awareness of Open Access at a Small Liberal Arts University

Science.gov (United States)

Kocken, Gregory J.; Wical, Stephanie H.

2013-01-01

Small colleges and universities, often late adopters of institutional repositories and open access initiatives, face challenges that have not fully been explored in the professional literature. In an effort to gauge the level of awareness of open access and institutional repositories at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire (UWEC), the authors of…

Open Source in Higher Education: Towards an Understanding of Networked Universities

Science.gov (United States)

Quint-Rapoport, Mia

2012-01-01

This article addresses the question of understanding more about networked universities by looking at open source software developers working in academic contexts. It sketches their identities and work as an emerging professional community that both relies upon and develops digitally mediated networks and contributes to the progress of academic…

Massive open online courses: The new vector in classical university education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mozhaeva Galina

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The influence of Massive Open Online Course (MOOC on classical university education is investigated. Opportunities and prospects of development of MOOC at classical universities, requirements to development and implementation of qualitative MOOC-projects, conditions and mechanisms of integration of MOOC into professional education are studied. Work is performed on the basis of the analysis of experience of the world MOOС-platforms and the Russian universities. The new vector in development of classical university under the influence of MOOC is considered on the example of National Research Tomsk State University (http://www.lektorium.tv/mooc. Questioning more than 5000 participants of MOOС-projects was carried out, motivators of learning are revealed, and marketing potential of MOOC and possibility of analytical work on an assessment of the contingent, quality of education and efficiency of the applied technologies are analyzed. The quantitative analysis of basic data is made; results of he analysis are described and presented in the graphic form

Towards Development of OER Derived Custom-Built Open Textbooks: A Baseline Survey of University Teachers at the University of the South Pacific

Science.gov (United States)

Prasad, Deepak; Usagawa, Tsuyoshi

2014-01-01

Textbook prices have soared over the years, with several studies revealing many university students are finding it difficult to afford textbooks. Fortunately, two innovations--open educational resources (OER) and open textbooks--hold the potential to increase textbook affordability. Experts, though, have stated the obvious: that students can save…

A Proposed Model for Measuring Performance of the University-Industry Collaboration in Open Innovation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anca Draghici

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The paper aims to present a scientific approach to the creation, testing and validation of a model for performance measurement for university-industry collaboration (UIC. The main idea of the design process is to capitalize on existing success factors, facilitators and opportunities (motivation factors, knowledge transfer channels and identified benefits and to diminish or avoid potential threats and barriers that might interfere with such collaborations. The main purpose of the applied methodology is to identify solutions and measures to overcome the disadvantages, conflicts or risk issues and to facilitate the open innovation of industrial companies and universities. The methodology adopted was differentiated by two perspectives: (1 a business model reflecting the university perspective along with an inventory of key performance indicators (KPIs; (2 a performance measurement model (including performance criteria and indicators and an associated methodology (assimilated to an audit that could help companies increase collaboration with universities in the context of open innovation. In addition, in order to operationalize the proposed model (facilitating practical implementation, an Excel tool has been created to help identifying potential sources of innovation. The main contributions of the research concern the expansion of UICs knowledge to enhance open innovation and to define an effective performance measurement model and instrument (tested and validated by a case study for companies.

The Universal Primer - An open source solution for archiving, organizing and streaming live lectures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christoffersen, Marc Juul; Panton, Hans Christian Hansen; Krajowski-Kukiel, Maciej

2011-01-01

. The goal of the Universal Primer is to address these problems, and allow anyone, anywhere, to teach or learn anything that can be reasonably taught or learned through a computer. The Universal Primer is 1: A fully open source solution for streaming live lectures. And 2: A Wikipedia-like website...

Large-angle cosmic microwave background anisotropies in an open universe

Science.gov (United States)

Kamionkowski, Marc; Spergel, David N.

1994-01-01

If the universe is open, scales larger than the curvature scale may be probed by observation of large-angle fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). We consider primordial adiabatic perturbations and discuss power spectra that are power laws in volume, wavelength, and eigenvalue of the Laplace operator. Such spectra may have arisen if, for example, the universe underwent a period of `frustated' inflation. The resulting large-angle anisotropies of the CMB are computed. The amplitude generally increases as Omega is decreased but decreases as h is increased. Interestingly enough, for all three Ansaetze, anisotropies on angular scales larger than the curvature scale are suppressed relative to the anisotropies on scales smaller than the curvature scale, but cosmic variance makes discrimination between various models difficult. Models with 0.2 approximately less than Omega h approximately less than 0.3 appear compatible with CMB fluctuations detected by Cosmic Background Explorer Satellite (COBE) and the Tenerife experiment and with the amplitude and spectrum of fluctuations of galaxy counts in the APM, CfA, and 1.2 Jy IRAS surveys. COBE normalization for these models yields sigma(sub 8) approximately = 0.5 - 0.7. Models with smaller values of Omega h when normalized to COBE require bias factors in excess of 2 to be compatible with the observed galaxy counts on the 8/h Mpc scale. Requiring that the age of the universe exceed 10 Gyr implies that Omega approximately greater than 0.25, while requiring that from the last-scattering term in the Sachs-Wolfe formula, large-angle anisotropies come primarily from the decay of potential fluctuations at z approximately less than 1/Omega. Thus, if the universe is open, COBE has been detecting temperature fluctuations produced at moderate redshift rather than at z approximately 1300.

Use and Mastery of Virtual Learning Environment in Brazilian Open University

Science.gov (United States)

Gomez, Margarita Victoria

2014-01-01

This paper describes and analyses the dynamics of the use and/or mastery of Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) by educators and students Open University, important part of the Brazilian Educational System. A questionnaire with 32 items was answered by 174 students/instructors/coordinators of the Media in Education and Physics courses, of two…

Knowledge Management Systems and Open Innovation in Second Tier UK Universities

Science.gov (United States)

Chaston, Ian

2012-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to examine the performance of second tier UK universities in relation to the effectiveness of their knowledge management systems and involvement in open innovation. Data were acquired using a mail survey of academic staff in social science and business faculties in second tier institutions. The results indicate that…

The permanent education protagonized by the elderly in the open university for the third age/UEPG

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rita de Cássia da Silva Oliveira

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The Brazilian age pyramid shows an aging population. The Active Aging Paradigm is now evident, in which education assumes relevance. Brazilian universities have offered specific projects / programs for the elderly, which are Open Universities for the Elderly. They focus on valuing the elderly, placing them at the center of the educational process. This article aims to present the UATI / UEPG Program; explain the objectives and structure of this extensionist action. This research was bibliographical and documentary. The State University of Ponta Grossa created the UATI in 1992. The UATI is based on 4 articulating axes, offers theoretical and practical disciplines in the different areas of knowledge, totaling 240 hours. The UATI program consists of the Open University Courses for the Elderly and the Continuing University Course for the Elderly. UATI is a program of success and social and academic recognition in its 26 years of activities.

Open access, open education resources and open data in Uganda.

Science.gov (United States)

Salvo, Ivana Di; Mwoka, Meggie; Kwaga, Teddy; Rukundo, Priscilla Aceng; Ernest, Dennis Ssesanga; Osaheni, Louis Aikoriogie; John, Kasibante; Shafik, Kasirye; de Sousa, Agostinho Moreira

2015-01-01

As a follow up to OpenCon 2014, International Federation of Medical Students' Associations (IFMSA) students organized a 3 day workshop Open Access, Open Education Resources and Open Data in Kampala from 15-18 December 2014. One of the aims of the workshop was to engage the Open Access movement in Uganda which encompasses the scientific community, librarians, academia, researchers and students. The IFMSA students held the workshop with the support of: Consortium for Uganda University Libraries (CUUL), The Right to Research Coalition, Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL), Makerere University, International Health Sciences University (IHSU), Pan African Medical Journal (PAMJ) and the Centre for Health Human Rights and Development (CEHURD). All these organizations are based or have offices in Kampala. The event culminated in a meeting with the Science and Technology Committee of Parliament of Uganda in order to receive the support of the Ugandan Members of Parliament and to make a concrete change for Open Access in the country.

“Universe of Particles” opens in the Globe

CERN Multimedia

Carolyn Lee

2010-01-01

CERN’s brand new permanent exhibition provides a high-tech experience with virtual interactive stations and pieces of actual detectors to intrigue the general public about some of the world’s most sophisticated physics tools and experiments.   Universe of Particles exhibition will open on 1 July in the Globe of Science and Technology. Upon entering the dark interior of the Globe, one has a sense of emerging into a portal to the outer universe. Large projections that fill the walls and a 6 m large diameter circle screen in the middle of the ground where space swirls with stars and planets, as well as particle collisions from the LHC experiments. Questions such as where do we come from? What are the laws of Nature? Why did antimatter and matter not destroy each other just after the Big Bang? Will we find particles that make up the mysterious dark matter or the Higgs particle? are linked to the research being done at the LHC. Visitors are invited to explore the unique spherica...

QUALITY AND PROCESSES OF BANGLADESH OPEN UNIVERSITY COURSE MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. M. Rezanur RAHMAN

2006-04-01

Full Text Available A new member of the mega-Universities, Bangladesh Open University (BOU introduced a course team approach for developing effective course materials for distance students. BOU teaching media includes printed course books, study guides, radio and television broadcasts, audiocassettes and occasional face-to-face tutorials. Each course team comprises specialist course writer(s, editor, trained style editor, graphic designer,illustrator, audio-visual producer and anonymous referees. An editorial board or preview committee is responsible for the final approval for publishing or broadcasting materials for learners. This approach has been proved to be effective, but appeared to be complicated and time-consuming. This report focuses on the quality and processes of BOU course materials development taking into account the strengths and weaknesses of the current approach.

Widening Access through Openness in Higher Education in the Developing World: A Bourdieusian Field Analysis of Experiences from the National Open University of Nigeria

Science.gov (United States)

Olakulehin, Felix Kayode; Singh, Gurmit

2013-01-01

Bourdieu has argued that higher education is a field that reproduces social inequality, thus complicating how openness widens access to higher education in the developing world. Drawing on the experiences of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), this paper critically analyses and evaluates the rationale, approach, difficulties,…

Initial behavior of a quantized scalar field and the associated pair-creation in several isotropic closed and open universes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nariai, Hidekazu.

1981-01-01

The concept of a positive frequency part near the initial epoch in a big-bang universe or its counterpart in other (say, de Sitter) one for a canonically quantized scalar field is important in discussing the associated pair-creation of those particles. Therefore, an attempt is made to define the positive frequency part in such isotropic closed and open universes that the scalar wave equation can be exactly solved. Except for some closed universe, the parts in question and, therefore, the Feynman propagators in the remaining universes are uniquely settled. Then it is shown that (1) the pair-creation in the Friedmann open universe (which is very interesting not only from observational, but also from theoretical viewpoints) is essentially equivalent to that in the Chitre-Hartle universe with flat 3-space and (2) the respective pair-creations in expanding metrics with open and flat 3-spaces of the de Sitter universe are different from each other, as insisted upon by Gibbons and Hawking basing on the original static metric. (author)

Initial behavior of a quantized scalar field and the associated pair-creation in several isotropic closed and open universes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nariai, Hidekazu

1982-01-01

The concept of a positive frequency part near the initial epoch in a big-bang universe or its counterpart in other (say, de Sitter) one for a canonically quantized scalar field is important in discussing the associated pair-creation of those particles. Therefore, an attempt is made to define the positive frequency part in such isotropic closed and open universes that the scalar wave equation can be exactly solved. Except for some closed universe, the parts in question and, therefore, the Feynman propagators in the remaining universes are uniquely settled. Then it is shown that (1) the pair-creation in the Friedmann open universe (which is very interesting not only from observational, but also from theoretical viewpoints) is essentially equivalent to that in the Chitre-Hartle universe with flat 3-space and (2) the respective pair-creations in expanding metrics with open and flat 3-spaces of the de Sitter universe are different from each other, as insisted upon by Gibbons and Hawking basing on the original static metric. (author)

The Extent of and Reasons for Non Re-Enrollment: A Case of Korea National Open University

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Hyoseon; Lee, Yekyung; Jung, Insung; Latchem, Colin

2013-01-01

Despite continuous efforts to increase retention, dropout rates are high in distance universities. The objectives of this study were: 1) to investigate the extent and causes of non re-enrollment at a mega university, Korea National Open University; and 2) to suggest actions to improve the retention of students, in general, and those with higher…

The One Universal Graph — a free and open graph database

Science.gov (United States)

Ng, Liang S.; Champion, Corbin

2016-02-01

Recent developments in graph database mostly are huge projects involving big organizations, big operations and big capital, as the name Big Data attests. We proposed the concept of One Universal Graph (OUG) which states that all observable and known objects and concepts (physical, conceptual or digitally represented) can be connected with only one single graph; furthermore the OUG can be implemented with a very simple text file format with free software, capable of being executed on Android or smaller devices. As such the One Universal Graph Data Exchange (GOUDEX) modules can potentially be installed on hundreds of millions of Android devices and Intel compatible computers shipped annually. Coupled with its open nature and ability to connect to existing leading search engines and databases currently in operation, GOUDEX has the potential to become the largest and a better interface for users and programmers to interact with the data on the Internet. With a Web User Interface for users to use and program in native Linux environment, Free Crowdware implemented in GOUDEX can help inexperienced users learn programming with better organized documentation for free software, and is able to manage programmer's contribution down to a single line of code or a single variable in software projects. It can become the first practically realizable “Internet brain” on which a global artificial intelligence system can be implemented. Being practically free and open, One Universal Graph can have significant applications in robotics, artificial intelligence as well as social networks.

Mobile Learning via SMS at Open University Malaysia: Equitable, Effective, and Sustainable

Science.gov (United States)

Lim, Tina; Fadzil, Mansor; Mansor, Norziati

2011-01-01

This article describes Open University Malaysia's efforts at enhancing the blended learning approach for undergraduate distance learners with the successful implementation of the Mobile Learning via SMS initiative. The pilot project was implemented in the May 2009 semester, and this coming January 2011 semester will be in its sixth consecutive…

Mathematical E-Learning: State of the Art and Experiences at the Open University of Catalonia

Science.gov (United States)

Juan, A.; Huertas, A.; Steegmann, C.; Corcoles, C.; Serrat, C.

2008-01-01

In this article we present a review of the state of the art in mathematical e-learning and some personal experiences on this area developed during the last eleven years at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), a completely online university located in Spain. The article discusses important aspects related to online mathematics courses offered in…

STAY HERE, GO FURTHER: The Status of Open and Distance Education in Bangladesh Open University (BOU in comparison to two other South Asian Countries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Monira JAHAN

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Distance education has emerged out of social compulsion, the dynamics of change and new cultures. It was the failure of traditional systems to be able to meet the demand in countries, where the resources available for tertiary education are limited, which basically gave birth to the new trend of education known as open and distance education. This new and innovative system of education has received a high level of acceptance in different countries as it offers flexible educational opportunities for continuing education to a large segment of their population. The increasing number of older adult learners with varying lifestyles in the population, increasing competitiveness of getting places in tertiary institutions, higher cost of education and a shortage of teachers are the main factors for increasing the popularity of distance education (Duncan, et al., 2003. Bangladesh has also taken the opportunity to provide a uniform and mass oriented universal system of education through open and distance education establishing Bangladesh Open University (BOU in 1992. Objectives of the Study: The main objectives of this study are- to assess the overall status of BOU in comparison with the open universities of two neighboring South Asian countries considering the following aspects:•Administrative structural functions, •Courses and instructional strategies, •Learning opportunities, and •Library, laboratory and counselling facilities to explore the potential of improvement for BOU to enable it to meet the challenges of the country’s educational needs in the next millennium.

Huria: Journal of the Open University of Tanzania - Vol 18, No 1 (2014)

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Huria: Journal of the Open University of Tanzania. ... Convergence of Distance Education and Conventional Learning: ... Challenges of Implementing Quality Assurance Systems in Blended Learning in Uganda: ... Learning Programmes: A Case Study of the Institute of Adult Education · EMAIL FULL TEXT EMAIL FULL TEXT

The One Universal Graph — a free and open graph database

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ng, Liang S.; Champion, Corbin

2016-01-01

Recent developments in graph database mostly are huge projects involving big organizations, big operations and big capital, as the name Big Data attests. We proposed the concept of One Universal Graph (OUG) which states that all observable and known objects and concepts (physical, conceptual or digitally represented) can be connected with only one single graph; furthermore the OUG can be implemented with a very simple text file format with free software, capable of being executed on Android or smaller devices. As such the One Universal Graph Data Exchange (GOUDEX) modules can potentially be installed on hundreds of millions of Android devices and Intel compatible computers shipped annually. Coupled with its open nature and ability to connect to existing leading search engines and databases currently in operation, GOUDEX has the potential to become the largest and a better interface for users and programmers to interact with the data on the Internet. With a Web User Interface for users to use and program in native Linux environment, Free Crowdware implemented in GOUDEX can help inexperienced users learn programming with better organized documentation for free software, and is able to manage programmer's contribution down to a single line of code or a single variable in software projects. It can become the first practically realizable “Internet brain” on which a global artificial intelligence system can be implemented. Being practically free and open, One Universal Graph can have significant applications in robotics, artificial intelligence as well as social networks. (paper)

AUPress: A Comparison of an Open Access University Press with Traditional Presses

Science.gov (United States)

McGreal, Rory; Chen, Nian-Shing

2011-01-01

This study is a comparison of AUPress with three other traditional (non-open access) Canadian university presses. The analysis is based on the rankings that are correlated with book sales on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca. Statistical methods include the sampling of the sales ranking of randomly selected books from each press. The results of one-way…

A Pre-Post Evaluation of OpenMinds: a Sustainable, Peer-Led Mental Health Literacy Programme in Universities and Secondary Schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Patalay, Praveetha; Annis, Jennifer; Sharpe, Helen; Newman, Robbie; Main, Dominic; Ragunathan, Thivvia; Parkes, Mary; Clarke, Kelly

2017-11-01

Engaging young people in the design and delivery of mental health education could lead to more effective interventions; however, few of these interventions have been evaluated. This study aimed to gain preliminary evidence with regards to the efficacy and acceptability of OpenMinds: a peer-designed and facilitated mental health literacy programme for university and secondary school students. The programme involves a structured programme of education and training for university medical students, who then deliver workshops in secondary schools. Pre- and post-surveys were completed by 234 school students who received two workshops and 40 university medical students who completed the OpenMinds programme and delivered the workshops. The main outcomes in both groups were components of mental health literacy (non-stigmatising attitudes, knowledge, social distance and helping attitudes). Perceived teaching efficacy and interest in mental health careers (university medical students) and workshop acceptability (school students) were also examined. University and school student participation in OpenMinds was associated with significant improvements in three of four mental health literacy elements in both samples. Knowledge and attitudes improved in both samples, social distance improved only in the university sample and knowledge of helping behaviours increased in the school sample. University students' perceived teaching efficacy improved but there was no change in their reported interest in pursuing psychiatry in their career. Acceptability was high; over 70% of the school students agreed that they enjoyed the workshops and liked being taught by a university student. This study provides preliminary evidence for the acceptability and efficacy of OpenMinds as a sustainable peer-led model of mental health education for young people. The OpenMinds programme is ready for efficacy testing in a randomised trial.

ALOUD: Adult Learning Open University Determinants Study: Association between biological and psychological determinants and study success in adult formal distance education

NARCIS (Netherlands)

De Groot, Renate; Neroni, Joyce; Gijselaers, Jérôme; Kirschner, Paul A.

2012-01-01

De Groot, R. H. M., Neroni, J., Gijselaers, J., & Kirschner, P. A. (2012, 6 December). ALOUD: Adult Learning Open University Determinants Study: Associations between biological and psychological determinants and study success in adult formal distance education. Presented at the Open University for

A Technical Mode for Sharing and Utilizing Open Educational Resources in Chinese Universities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juan Yang

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Open educational resources just supply potentials to help equalize the access to worldwide knowledge and education, but themselves alone do not cause effective learning or education. How to make effective use of the resources is still a big challenge. In this study, a technical mode is proposed to collect the open educational resources from different sources on the Internet into a campus-network-based resource management system. The system facilitates free and easy access to the resources for instructors and students in universities and integrates the resources into learning and teaching. The technical issues regarding the design the resource management system are examined, including the structure and functions of the system, metadata standard compatibility and scalability, metadata file format, and resource utilization assessment. Furthermore, the resource collecting, storage and utilization modes are also discussed so as to lay a technical basis for extensive and efficient sharing and utilization of the OER in Chinese universities.

Use of Information and Communication Technologies in India's First Open University: Experience and Perceptions of Learners and Learner Support Providers

Science.gov (United States)

Satyanarayana, P.; Meduri, Emmanuel D. K.

2015-01-01

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Open University (BRAOU), the first distance teaching university in India, was a great educational event. It started a new chapter in the history of India's distance higher education. The general objects this research studies are: (1) to identify the information and communication technologies used in open distance education…

Problem-solving activities in Biology for Open University students [poster session

OpenAIRE

Ash, P.; Robinson, D.

2006-01-01

Problem-based learning is a valuable tool for enhancing student learning and for providing remedial help in grasping difficult concepts in Biology. Most teaching at the Open University is by course texts, DVDs and television. Teaching material is written by academics and\\ud expert consultants. An important feature of the material is that it includes interactive in-text and self-assessed questions, and also activities which may be home experiments or computer-based.\\ud Students are provided wi...

Improving Student Retention through Evidence Based Proactive Systems at the Open University (UK)

Science.gov (United States)

Gibbs, Graham; Regan, Peter; Simpson, Ormond

2007-01-01

The Open University has been undertaking an extended initiative to improve student retention through enhanced support for at-risk students. This initiative has evolved through a series of stages from ad hoc small scale local interventions relying largely on tutors and student self-referral, to an institution-wide pro-active system implemented by…

Prior Education of Open University Students Contributes to Their Capability in Critical Thinking

Science.gov (United States)

Repo, Saara; Lehtinen, Taina; Rusanen, Erja; Hyytinen, Heidi

2017-01-01

The focus of this study is on Open University students' entry-level critical thinking skills. The research questions were: how are students' age, and level and discipline of previous education related to critical thinking skills; is the level and discipline of previous education connected to the accuracy of students' self-evaluation of their…

Transactional Distance among Open University Students: How Does it Affect the Learning Process?

Science.gov (United States)

Kassandrinou, Amanda; Angelaki, Christina; Mavroidis, Ilias

2014-01-01

This study examines the presence of transactional distance among students, the factors affecting it, as well as the way it influences the learning process of students in a blended distance learning setting in Greece. The present study involved 12 postgraduate students of the Hellenic Open University (HOU). A qualitative research was conducted,…

Widening access through openness in higher education in the developing world: A Bourdieusian field analysis of experiences from the National Open University of Nigeria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Felix Kayode Olakulehin

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Bourdieu has argued that higher education is a field that reproduces social inequality, thus complicating how openness widens access to higher education in the developing world. Drawing on the experiences of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN, this paper critically analyses and evaluates the rationale, approach, difficulties, opportunities, outcomes and benefits of NOUN’s experience in widening access to higher education in Nigeria using Bourdieu’s field theory. We argue that the success of efforts for openness in higher education in a developing world context involves steering the contradictory tensions of openness and access across competing policy and practice fields. We offer this theorisation as a future social theoretical agenda for reflexive research for improving the effectiveness of praxis to widen access through openness in higher education in the developing world.

Establishment of the Slovenian Universities' Repositories and of the National Open Science Portal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Milan Ojsteršek

2014-12-01

Full Text Available AbstractThe paper presents the legal, organisational and technical perspectives regarding the implementation of the Slovenian national open access infrastructure for electronic theses and dissertations as well as for research publications. The infrastructure consists of four institutional repositories and a national portal that aggregates content from the university repositories and other Slovenian archives in order to provide a common search engine, recommendation of similar publications, and similar text detection. We have developed the software which is integrated with the universities' information and authentication systems and with the COBISS.SI. During the project the necessary legal background was defined and processes for mandatory submission of electronic theses and dissertations as well as of research publications were designed. The processes for data exchange between the institutional repositories and the national portal, and the processes for similar text detection and recommendation system were established. Bilingual web and mobile applications, a recommendation system and the interface suitable for persons with disabilities are provided to the users from around the world. The repositories are an effective promotion tool for universities and their researchers. It is expected that they will improve the recognition of Slovenian universities in the world. The complex national open access infrastructure with similar text detection support and integration with other systems will enable the storage of almost eighty percent of peer-reviewed scientific papers, annually published by Slovenian researchers. The majority of electronic theses and dissertations yearly produced at the Slovenian higher education institutions will also be accessible.

Building it together: collaboration in university-based open access book publishing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dr Andrea Hacker

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Open access (OA book publishing in the humanities and social sciences is becoming technically more feasible and financially more desirable. After securing funding for the development of a business model based on a pilot book series, the University of Heidelberg is joining this development and building an infrastructure to publish OA books on campus. The challenges facing such new publishing outlets are considerable. This article argues that the best strategy to build the prestige, affordability and competitiveness necessary to succeed is collaboration. Accomplishing this within the OA community will prove less difficult than extending collaboration beyond it because many agencies and individuals still lack information about, and are often unconvinced of, the merits of open access. The key lies in offering excellence in manuscript development to revitalize the most important collaboration of all: that between publisher and author.

Going for (Nano)Gold: A University Open Day Experiment for Year 13 Students

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, Christopher; Patel, Bhavik Ani; Cragg, Alexander S.; Cragg, Peter J.

2013-01-01

Open day activities rarely give applicants a real sense of the practical and intellectual work that goes on in university chemistry departments. We devised an experiment for year 13 (age 17-18) students based on the size-dependent colours of gold nanoparticles and linked this to current research in diagnostic medicine. The experience was designed…

Library Subject Guides: A Content Management Case Study at the Open University, UK

Science.gov (United States)

Wales, Tim

2005-01-01

Purpose: To share the experiences and challenges faced by the Open University Library (OUL) in developing a content management (CM) system for its subject guides. Design/methodology/approach: A summary of multi-format subject guide production at the OUL is provided to justify the decision to develop a new system for their production using a…

Open Innovation Practice: A Case Study of University Spin-Offs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuliya Shutyak

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The paper investigates the practice of Open Innovation (OI of university spin-offs. Three interviews were conducted to discuss the knowledge of spin-offs about OI, their attitude to this innovation management strategy based on perceived advantages and disadvantages, and their motivation towards OI practice in the future. Problems with planning, control and trust appear to be some of the most important for OI success. Focusing on these and other urgent aspects of OI, the article discusses a research agenda that can help in formulating research questions and hypothesis, thus directing their efforts to search for solutions to identified problems

The Legacy and Impact of Open University Women's/Gender Studies: 30 Years On

Science.gov (United States)

Kirkup, Gill; Whitelegg, Elizabeth

2013-01-01

In 1983, the UK Open University (OU) offered its first women's/gender studies (WGS) course. Although a late entrant to the area, OU WGS courses were influential nationally and internationally for many feminists and WGS teachers and scholars. Not only did OU WGS courses have the largest WGS student cohort of any UK institution with over 8000…

Virtual Attendance: Analysis of an Audiovisual over IP System for Distance Learning in the Spanish Open University (UNED

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Esteban Vázquez-Cano

2013-07-01

Full Text Available This article analyzes a system of virtual attendance, called “AVIP” (AudioVisual over Internet Protocol, at the Spanish Open University (UNED in Spain. UNED, the largest open university in Europe, is the pioneer in distance education in Spain. It currently has more than 300,000 students, 1,300 teachers, and 6,000 tutors all over the world, besides Spain. This university is redefining, on the lines of other universities, many of its academic processes to meet the new requirements of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA. Since its inception, more than 30 years ago, the methodology chosen by UNED has been blended learning. Today, this university combines face-to-face tutorial sessions with new methodological proposals, mediated by ICT. Through a quantitative methodology, the perception of students and tutors of the new model of virtual tutoring, called AVIP Classrooms, was analyzed. The results show that the new model greatly improves the orientation and teaching methodology of tutors. However, it requires training and new approaches to provide a more collaborative and participatory environment for students.

Potential influence of e-learning and Open Source solutions for education at Palacký University in Olomouc inspired by Polytechnic University in Valencia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rostislav Nétek

2012-10-01

Full Text Available This paper assesses different approaches in education between Western and Eastern Europe. It is based on a case study, comparing which compares universityies conventions inbetween Spain and Czech Republic, focusinged on e-learning and Open Source softwareources. The Eeducation system at Polytechnic University in Valencia (UPV puts much more emphasis on open source solutions and elearning compared to the situation in Czech Republic. gvSIG is an open source geographic information system (GIS, co-developed at UPV as ain collaboration of commercial companies with research institutions. Lecturers at UPV significantly integrate free and open source (FOSS into classes as well as they participate in open source communities like Planet gvSIG, gvSIG Outreach or Association for the promotion of FOSS4G and the development of gvSIG. In fact, a complex system for self-education in the field of GIS has been developed there. It combines positive relationship to open source solutions and takes advantage from all sections together. The “Aula Virtual” project is a virtual training classroom using the virtual educational platform. Great emphasis is put on step-by-step video tutorials.  300 videos are uploaded on PoliTube Channel, which contain both video and audio and “time-stamps-links”. Time-stamp allows the possibility to switch among videos and other sources (annotation, webpages, etc. dependent on the student’s individual requirements. Compared to the situation in the Czech Republic, where proprietary software is still preferred in the academic sphere, this topic brings place for discussion. This paper discusses two different points of views, benefits of both of them and proposes a solution with regard to the specifics of Czech university education.

REGION NORTH OF TEACHER EDUCATION POLICY AND EVALUATION OF POLES OPEN UNIVERSITY SYSTEM OF BRAZIL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Celso José da Costa

2013-03-01

Full Text Available This text aims to present, in general, the north region and policies for teacher training implemented in the last 5 years, locating in this context the importance of the Brazil Open University system and its supporting poles face as methodology research linked to the project "Institutionalization of Distance Education in Brazil." Greater emphasis will be given to data from the states of Pará and Acre, given that two authors of this text act as coordinators of the poles supporting attendance System Open University of Brazil in these states. We design the text, based on testimony of poles coordinators who participated in participatory research, conducted by the Research Group "Teacher education and information and communication technologies", LANTE / UFF. We aim also to identify the structure and functioning of the Poles face Supporting UAB in the North as well as the assessment tool applied in this region.

National Student Feedback Surveys in Distance Education: An Investigation at the UK Open University

Science.gov (United States)

Ashby, Alison; Richardson, John T. E.; Woodley, Alan

2011-01-01

National student feedback surveys are administered in a number of countries, and several of these encompass both campus-based and distance learning students. The UK Open University achieves a high ranking in the annual National Student Survey (NSS), but there are some anomalies in the results. The NSS questionnaire was administered to three…

Examination Management as a Way of Achieving Quality Assurance in ODL Institutions: The Case of Zimbabwe Open University

Science.gov (United States)

Mafa, Onias; Gudhlanga, Enna Sukutai

2012-01-01

An examination is an important component of any institution that educates people. It is a form of assessment used to measure the students' understanding of the concepts and principles they would have learnt. Zimbabwe Open University, an Open and Distance Learning institution has been setting its own examinations for the academic programmes…

E-learning course design in teacher design teams. Experiences in the Open University of Tanzania

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nihuka, Kassimu A.; Voogt, Joke

2009-01-01

Collaborative course design in teacher design teams (TDTs) has proved to be a promising professional development arrangement. This study explored the potential of TDTs in orienting teachers on course redesign for e-learning delivery at the context of Open University of Tanzania (OUT). Three teachers

Tuition fees and funding – barriers for non-traditional students? First results from the international research project Opening Universities for Lifelong Learning (OPULL)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Moissidis, Sonja; Schwarz, Jochen; Yndigegn, Carsten

2011-01-01

Project OPULL – Opening Universities for Lifelong Learning – is undertaking research into ways of opening up higher education to vocationally qualified and experienced target groups in four European countries. Open university models in Germany, Denmark, Finland and the United Kingdom are being...... investigated in three research phases between 2009 and 2012 with the aim of identifying critical success factors for building open universities for Europe. This paper presents the first phase, in which educational systems in the participant countries have been mapped and interviews with lifelong learning...... experts undertaken. The current situation and perspectives in each country together with critical issues on how fees and funding influence higher education access for non-traditional students in these countries are discussed and explored through the interview evidence. The initial findings of the first...

A Backstairs to a Degree. Demands for an Open University in Late Victorian England. Leeds Studies in Adult and Continuing Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Marriott, Stuart

This book examines the proposal of individuals in England's university extension movement in the final 2 decades of the 19th century to create a part-time teaching university that shared the following similarities with present-day open universities: a policy of admitting all individuals likely to benefit from the university irrespective of their…

Open Access Monitor - DK

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svendsen, Michael; Hansen, Lars Asger Juel; Andersen, Dorte

2017-01-01

Open Access Monitor - DK (OAM-DK) is a 2-year DEFF funded [DEFF.2016-0018] national project running in 2017-2018 with the aim of collecting, documenting and administrating Open Access publishing costs. OAM-DK is lead by Copenhagen University Library under the Royal Danish Library with participation...... of all Danish University Libraries. This poster presents the first results of Open Access costs related to 2015 publications at the The University of Copenhagen....

Burnout Syndrome in Students of a Distance Learning Program: The Open University of Cyprus Experience

Science.gov (United States)

Pavlakis, Andreas; Kaitelidou, Dafni

2012-01-01

Introduction: Distance learning seems to have a crucial impact on the social and emotional life of students. Within the framework of distance learning at the Open University of Cyprus, the "Healthcare Management" department conducted a study regarding the levels of stress, anxiety and depression reported by the student population. The…

University Physics Students' Ideas of Thermal Radiation Expressed in Open Laboratory Activities Using Infrared Cameras

Science.gov (United States)

Haglund, Jesper; Melander, Emil; Weiszflog, Matthias; Andersson, Staffan

2017-01-01

Background: University physics students were engaged in open-ended thermodynamics laboratory activities with a focus on understanding a chosen phenomenon or the principle of laboratory apparatus, such as thermal radiation and a heat pump. Students had access to handheld infrared (IR) cameras for their investigations. Purpose: The purpose of the…

The Federal University of Minas Gerais into context of open access to scientific information: identification of their information systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ráisa Mendes Fernandes de Souza

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The obstacles faced by the scientific community in the dissemination and access to their own productions, contextualized in need of open access to scientific information, boosted the creation of Institutional Repositories. These are technologies adopted by educational institutions and research that aim to manage and provide scientific production site. Objective: to characterize Federal University of Minas Gerais’ information systems, analyzing the perception of the actors responsible for their existence / maintenance within the context of open access to scientific information. Methodology: This is a descriptive and qualitative research, which is engaged in the information systems developed within the university to support the teaching, research and extension, which contain the records of productions or productions, scientific or not, the local academic community. Results: we found some awareness of the actors interviewed in relation to the existence of other systems, although such awareness is not ideal. Generally, UFMG has Managers and depositors competent enough to manage a repository greater, as is the case of an RI. Conclusion: It is necessary an information policy that is born of consolidated scientific sectors hierarchically superior and inferior sectors to be transferred to, well, be possible to articulate the entire university community in support of a common cause. The study emphasizes the community of UFMG and optimization of open access to publications of the University as the scope for possible future studies.

OpenCL Implementation of a Parallel Universal Kriging Algorithm for Massive Spatial Data Interpolation on Heterogeneous Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fang Huang

2016-06-01

Full Text Available In some digital Earth engineering applications, spatial interpolation algorithms are required to process and analyze large amounts of data. Due to its powerful computing capacity, heterogeneous computing has been used in many applications for data processing in various fields. In this study, we explore the design and implementation of a parallel universal kriging spatial interpolation algorithm using the OpenCL programming model on heterogeneous computing platforms for massive Geo-spatial data processing. This study focuses primarily on transforming the hotspots in serial algorithms, i.e., the universal kriging interpolation function, into the corresponding kernel function in OpenCL. We also employ parallelization and optimization techniques in our implementation to improve the code performance. Finally, based on the results of experiments performed on two different high performance heterogeneous platforms, i.e., an NVIDIA graphics processing unit system and an Intel Xeon Phi system (MIC, we show that the parallel universal kriging algorithm can achieve the highest speedup of up to 40× with a single computing device and the highest speedup of up to 80× with multiple devices.

CHANGES OF LEARNERS’ SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONTEXT AFTER COMPLETING A PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION FROM BANGLADESH OPEN UNIVERSITY

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A. K. M. Iftekhar KHALID

2009-07-01

Full Text Available Creating same opportunity in term of social and economic context for the learners of distance education as the students from conventional education is a challenging task since professional education through distance method is a new genre in Bangladesh. This genre of professional education starts successfully with the establishment of the Bangladesh Open University (BOU in 1992. The university creates immense opportunities to study anytime and anywhere. This paper explains what social and economic changes happened to the students who completed a professional programme like B.Ag.Ed, MBA, CEMBA and CEMPA at the Bangladesh Open University. As BOU is the first and pioneer organization, which provides education in distance mode, a study has been necessary for BOU to know what contribution it provides to the nation in social and economic aspects. This paper should be able to elevate the morale of the organizations like BOU in involving more effort for expanding the organization and also to understand how successful these organization in imparting the knowledge and skill and how effectively the students are able to use those knowledge and skill in their professional life which in turn affects the learners’ income and social esteem. The university has been established with aims to raise the standard of education and to give the people educational opportunities by democratizing education and to create a class of competent people by raising the standard of education of the people generally. The paper also shows how the professional programmes of BOU supports to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in Bangladesh.

Open digital badges in Open edX

OpenAIRE

Hickey, Daniel T.; Barba, Lorena A.; Lemoie, Kerri; Amigot, Michael; Ewens, Damian

2014-01-01

Slides for the presentation at the Open edX Conference, Cambridge, MA 2014.   This talk presented the first public update of our collaboration to implement open digital badges in Dr. Barba's new MOOC, "Practical Numerical Methods with Python." It's a collaboration between Indiana University's Center for Research on Learning and Technology (led by Prof. Daniel T. Hickey);  Prof. Lorena Barba and her team at George Washington University, with her partners at IBL Studios Education, and...

A diary study to open up the black box of overtime work among university faculty members

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Beckers, D.G.J.; Hooff, M.L.M. van; Linden, D. van der; Kompier, M.A.J.; Taris, T.W.; Geurts, S.A.E.

2008-01-01

Objectives: This study aimed at opening up the black box of overtime work among university faculty members by providing information on (i) when faculty members work overtime, (ii) what activities are undertaken during overtime, and (iii) how overtime is experienced. Methods: Data were collected

A diary study to open up the black box of overtime work among university faculty members

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Beckers, D.G.J.; Hooff, M.L.M. van; Linden, D. van der; Kompier, M.A.J.; Taris, T.W.; Geurts, S.A.E.

2008-01-01

Objectives - This study aimed at opening up the black box of overtime work among university faculty members by providing information on (i) when faculty members work overtime, (ii) what activities are undertaken during overtime, and (iii) how overtime is experienced. Methods - Data were collected

Department Involvement in Instructional Materials Development for ODL Study at the Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU)

Science.gov (United States)

Tanyanyiwa, Vincent Itai; Mutambanengwe, Betty

2015-01-01

The teaching and designing of modules at Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU) is the principal responsibility of a single body of teaching staff, although some authors and content reviewers could be sourced from elsewhere if they are not available in ZOU. This survey, through a case study, examines the involvement of lecturers and staff in the…

Charting a Course through CORAL: Texas A&M University Libraries' Experience Implementing an Open-Source Electronic Resources Management System

Science.gov (United States)

Hartnett, Eric; Beh, Eugenia; Resnick, Taryn; Ugaz, Ana; Tabacaru, Simona

2013-01-01

In 2010, after two previous unsuccessful attempts at electronic resources management system (ERMS) implementation, Texas A&M University (TAMU) Libraries set out once again to find an ERMS that would fit its needs. After surveying the field, TAMU Libraries selected the University of Notre Dame Hesburgh Libraries-developed, open-source ERMS,…

The Impact of "Virtualization" on Independent Study Course Completion Rates: The British Columbia Open University Experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Giguere, Louis

2009-01-01

In 1997 the British Columbia Open University (BCOU) adopted a virtualization strategy based primarily on twinning off-line independent study distance education courses (textbook-based with study guide and telephone and e-mail tutor support) with alternate online versions (textbook-based with integrated conferencing and communications provided…

Increasing Public Access to University Qualifications: Evolution of The University of the West Indies Open Campus

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael L. Thomas

2009-02-01

Full Text Available This paper traces the evolution of The University of the West Indies’ Open Campus (UWIOC, which is expected to expand service and increase access to the underserved communities of the Eastern Caribbean. At present, UWI, which caters to the needs of the 16 far flung countries of the Commonwealth Caribbean, has not been able to fully serve these countries, the UWI-12, in a way that is commensurate with their developmental needs. Historically, the institution has been dominated by campus-based education, and its three campuses have been poles of attraction for scholars and scholarship to the significant advantage of the countries in which they are located: Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Barbados. The University’s creation of an open campus, a fourth campus, enables it to expand its scope, enhance its appeal, and improve the efficiency of its services to individuals, communities, and countries. This new campus, a merger of UWI’s Outreach sector, which comprises the School of Continuing Studies, the Tertiary Level Institute Unit, and The UWI Distance Education Centre, will have a physical presence in each contributing country and will function as a network of real and virtual modes to deliver education and training to anyone with access to Internet facilities.

Factors associated with self-reported number of teeth in a large national cohort of Thai adults

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Yiengprugsawan Vasoontara

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Oral health in later life results from individual's lifelong accumulation of experiences at the personal, community and societal levels. There is little information relating the oral health outcomes to risk factors in Asian middle-income settings such as Thailand today. Methods Data derived from a cohort of 87,134 adults enrolled in Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University who completed self-administered questionnaires in 2005. Cohort members are aged between 15 and 87 years and resided throughout Thailand. This is a large study of self-reported number of teeth among Thai adults. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regressions were used to analyse factors associated with self-reported number of teeth. Results After adjusting for covariates, being female (OR = 1.28, older age (OR = 10.6, having low income (OR = 1.45, having lower education (OR = 1.33, and being a lifetime urban resident (OR = 1.37 were statistically associated (p Conclusions This study addresses the gap in knowledge on factors associated with self-reported number of teeth. The promotion of healthy childhoods and adult lifestyles are important public health interventions to increase tooth retention in middle and older age.

What Makes a MOOC? Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCSs) Compared to Mainstream Online University Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Johnston, Timothy C.

2014-01-01

A Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) is a model for delivering learning content online to any person who wants to take a course, with no limit on attendance. The MOOC industry is growing rapidly, fueled by students interested in free higher-education learning, and the universities and venture capitalists willing to fund the courses. This paper…

Through the Open Door--Today's Revolution in Open Access and Distance Learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Bennett, Roger, Ed.

1986-01-01

Consists of eight articles discussing the topic of open learning. Articles address (1) definitions, (2) corporate training, (3) further education programs, (4) university-based training, (5) distance learning, (6) learning to learn, (7) Britain's Open University, (8) the Business-Technical Education Council. (CH)

UNIVERSAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM OF EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES OF THE KHMARA’S SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH PROJECT OF OPEN EDUCATION

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Volodymyr I. Bessarabov

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The article is devoted to actual problems of the choice of technological platform and creation of a universal system of management of educational resources. The advantages of cloud technologies of distributed computing compared to server-side technologies for the purpose of creating a universal system of management of educational resources are shown. The choice of the service Google Apps for Education as a technological basis for constructing the system of management of educational resources was substantiated. It is concluded about the high efficiency of cloud technologies for creating the universal system of management of educational resources to integrate education and training on a single technology platform in projects of open education.

The OpenPMU Platform for Open Source Phasor Measurements

OpenAIRE

Laverty, David M.; Best, Robert J.; Brogan, Paul; Al-Khatib, Iyad; Vanfretti, Luigi; Morrow, D John

2013-01-01

OpenPMU is an open platform for the development of phasor measurement unit (PMU) technology. A need has been identified for an open-source alternative to commercial PMU devices tailored to the needs of the university researcher and for enabling the development of new synchrophasor instruments from this foundation. OpenPMU achieves this through open-source hardware design specifications and software source code, allowing duplicates of the OpenPMU to be fabricated under open-source licenses. Th...

Experience with open prostatectomy in Bingham University ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Journal Home > Vol 8, No 4 (2017) > ... The standard of care for benign prostatic hyperplasia is still the open prostatectomy ... Keywords: Open prostatectomy, benign prostatic hyperplasia, Complications, Assisted robotic radical prostatectomy ...

Does On-Line Distance Higher Education Pay off for Adult Learners? The Case of the Open University of Catalonia

Science.gov (United States)

Carnoy, Martin; Rabling, Brenda Jarillo; Castano-Munoz, Jonatan; Montoliu, Josep Maria Duart; Sancho-Vinuesa, Teresa

2012-01-01

The increasing opportunities created for adults by on-line distance universities raise important issues about the payoff to such education. This study uses a unique set of survey data gathered by the Open University of Catalonia (UOC) in 2009 to estimate the earnings gains of the 2000-2003 cohorts of UOC students in six programmes of study over an…

The Hellenic Open University: providing opportunities for personal and professional development

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Barbara Koziori

2011-02-01

Full Text Available This paper examines and discusses the position of the Hellenic Open University (HOU as the main provider of higher adult education via Open and Distance Education (ODE in Greece, and the role it plays both locally and internationally. It also attempts a clear, albeit brief, presentation of the structure and organisation of the MEd course for English as a Foreign Language (EFL teachers provided by the HOU, which along with a postgraduate course in ODE, were the first courses offered by the HOU in 1998 when it admitted its first students. Such presentation is followed by a discussion of the true training and developmental nature of the course based on the elements constituting O’Brien’s EROTI model. Finally, suggestions are made with regard to the improvement of the postgraduate course under examination so as the effects thereof are granted permanence status and, therefore, being really beneficial for its participants, who then will not only be able to constantly pursue their personal and professional development through a reflective approach to teacher education, but also integrate more learner-centred techniques in their daily practice for the benefit of their students.

Research on OpenStack of open source cloud computing in colleges and universities’ computer room

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Lei; Zhang, Dandan

2017-06-01

In recent years, the cloud computing technology has a rapid development, especially open source cloud computing. Open source cloud computing has attracted a large number of user groups by the advantages of open source and low cost, have now become a large-scale promotion and application. In this paper, firstly we briefly introduced the main functions and architecture of the open source cloud computing OpenStack tools, and then discussed deeply the core problems of computer labs in colleges and universities. Combining with this research, it is not that the specific application and deployment of university computer rooms with OpenStack tool. The experimental results show that the application of OpenStack tool can efficiently and conveniently deploy cloud of university computer room, and its performance is stable and the functional value is good.

Open globe injury in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia - A 10-year review

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Madhusudhan A/L Paramananda

2014-06-01

Full Text Available AIM: To identify the aetiology of open globe injuries at Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia over a period of 10y and the prognostic factors for visual outcome.METHODS:Retrospective review of medical records of open globe injury cases that presented from January 2000 to December 2009. Classification of open globe injury was based on the Birmingham Eye Trauma Terminology (BETT. Records were obtained with hospital permission via the in-house electronic patient management system, and the case notes of all patients with a diagnosis of open globe injury were scrutinised. Patients with prior ocular trauma, pre-existing ocular conditions affecting the visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, central vision or corneal thickness, as well as those with a history of previous intraocular or refractive surgery were excluded. Analysis of data was with SPSS version 20.0. Ordinal logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association between prognostic factors and visual outcome.RESULTS: This study involved 220 patients (n=222 eyes. The most common place of injury was the home (51.8%, followed by the workplace (23.4%. Among children aged less than 16y of age, domestic-related injury was the predominant cause (54.6%, while in those aged 16y and above, occupational injuries were the most common cause (40.0%. Most eyes (76.5% had an initial visual acuity worse than 3/60, and in half of these, the visual acuity improved. The visual outcome was found to be significantly associated with the initial visual acuity (P<0.005, posterior extent of wound (P<0.001, length of wound (P<0.001, presence of hyphaema (P<0.001 and presence of vitreous prolapse ((P<0.005.CONCLUSION:The most common causes of open globe injury are domestic accidents and occupational injuries. Significant prognostic factors for final visual outcome in patients with open globe injury are initial visual acuity, posterior extent and length of wound, presence of hyphaema and presence of vitreous

Research Notes ~ Combating HIV/AIDS Epidemic in Nigeria: Responses from National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN

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Terhemba Nom Ambe-Uva

2007-11-01

Full Text Available Universities have come under serious attack because of their lackluster response to HIV/AIDS. This article examines the response of National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN and its strategic responses in combating HIV/AIDS epidemic. This is achieved by examining NOUN’s basic structures that position the University to respond to the epidemic; and second, by assessing HIV/AIDS strategies and policy framework the University has put in place. An interpretative epistemological stance was used for this study, and a qualitative research involving focus group discussion (FGD and analysis of secondary data was carried out. Results showed that NOUN has identified the impact the epidemic has on the university, although it has yet to institutionalize an HIV/AIDS policy. NOUN’s Draft Service Charter, however, has identified the fight against HIV/AIDS as a core mandate of the University, and the introduction of HIV/AIDS certification programs can be viewed as proactive policies in response to the epidemic. Results of this study are discussed in terms of their relevance to future research and the impact such policy frameworks may have on combating the epidemic, both within the University and the wider community.

Quasi-open inflation

CERN Document Server

García-Bellido, J; Montes, X; Garcia-Bellido, Juan; Garriga, Jaume; Montes, Xavier

1998-01-01

We show that a large class of two-field models of single-bubble open inflation do not lead to infinite open universes, as it was previously thought, but to an ensemble of very large but finite inflating `islands'. The reason is that the quantum tunneling responsible for the nucleation of the bubble does not occur simultaneously along both field directions and equal-time hypersurfaces in the open universe are not synchronized with equal-density or fixed-field hypersurfaces. The most probable tunneling trajectory corresponds to a zero value of the inflaton field; large values, necessary for the second period of inflation inside the bubble, only arise as localized fluctuations. The interior of each nucleated bubble will contain an infinite number of such inflating regions of comoving size of order $\\gamma^{-1}$, where $\\gamma$ depends on the parameters of the model. Each one of these islands will be a quasi-open universe. Since the volume of the hyperboloid is infinite, inflating islands with all possible values...

The University as an Open Laboratory

Science.gov (United States)

Birx, Donald L.; Ford, Ralph M.; Payne, Carrie A.

2013-01-01

Colleges and universities are two of the most formidable resources a country has to reinvent and grow its economy. This is the second of two papers that outlines a process of building and strengthening research universities that enhances regional technology development and facilitates flexible networks of collaboration and resource sharing. In the…

Openly Published Environmental Sensing (OPEnS) | Advancing Open-Source Research, Instrumentation, and Dissemination

Science.gov (United States)

Udell, C.; Selker, J. S.

2017-12-01

The increasing availability and functionality of Open-Source software and hardware along with 3D printing, low-cost electronics, and proliferation of open-access resources for learning rapid prototyping are contributing to fundamental transformations and new technologies in environmental sensing. These tools invite reevaluation of time-tested methodologies and devices toward more efficient, reusable, and inexpensive alternatives. Building upon Open-Source design facilitates community engagement and invites a Do-It-Together (DIT) collaborative framework for research where solutions to complex problems may be crowd-sourced. However, barriers persist that prevent researchers from taking advantage of the capabilities afforded by open-source software, hardware, and rapid prototyping. Some of these include: requisite technical skillsets, knowledge of equipment capabilities, identifying inexpensive sources for materials, money, space, and time. A university MAKER space staffed by engineering students to assist researchers is one proposed solution to overcome many of these obstacles. This presentation investigates the unique capabilities the USDA-funded Openly Published Environmental Sensing (OPEnS) Lab affords researchers, within Oregon State and internationally, and the unique functions these types of initiatives support at the intersection of MAKER spaces, Open-Source academic research, and open-access dissemination.

TEACHERS TRAINING THROUGH DISTANCE MODE IN ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY (AIOU PAKISTAN: A case study

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Nabi Bux JUMANI

2011-04-01

Full Text Available Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU is the first Open University in Asia and established in 1974 on the model of UKOU. AIOU uses different media for the delivery of instruction. It has a well established Institute of Educational Technology which has radio and TV production facilities and advance level of work in computer technology. AOU offers diversified courses and programs ranging from literacy to PhD level in its four faculties. The Faculty of Education established in 1984 is the largest faculties of the university with 47% enrolment of the university and contributor of 53% to the total annual university exchequer.At present 30 programs and 135 courses in its eight department/Institutes being run by the faculty. The Faculty offers variety of programs in education and training of teachers and educational professionals. These academic programs range from primary teachers training to M.S/M.Phil and Ph.D. levels in various areas of specializations by its following departments: Secondary Teacher Education, Distance Non Formal and Continuing Education, Educational Planning, Policy studies and leadership, Early Childhood Education and Elementary Education, Special Education and Science Education. The faculty has also chalked out B.Ed (Honors 4 year degree programme in various specializations. The mode of delivery is absolutely a distance learning mode and various components are devised as teaching methodology which is based on; Study centers and information technology, Radio and TV programs, tutorials, assignments/formative evaluation, workshops/practical, face to face teaching, internship and final examination. The university employs non-formal method of correspondence, radio and television broadcasts, special textbooks and reading materials prepared on self-learning basis, part-time teachers (tutors engaged nearest to the student's residences. And a system of study centers for applied training is spread throughout Pakistan.There is an effective

Close connections between open science and open-source software

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

YouHua Chen

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Open science is increasingly gaining attention in recent years. In this mini-review, we briefly discuss and summarize the reasons of introducing open science into academic publications for scientists. We argue that open-source software (like R and Python software can be the universal and important platforms for doing open science because of their appealing features: open source, easy-reading document, commonly used in various scientific disciplines like statistics, chemistry and biology. At last, the challenges and future perspectives of performing open science are discussed.

Implementing Open Data: The Open Data Commons Project

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Jordan Hatcher

2008-02-01

Full Text Available Free and libre/open source software (F/LOSS movements have spawned similar solutions in many other contexts, each at differing stages of development. As F/LOSS enters the routine and familiarity of middle age, the open content movement--open source for non-software copyright and best embodied by the work of Creative Commons--has just graduated university and is getting a feel for the world. Even younger is the open data movement, whose legal tools have just started to come online.

Geometric universality of currents in an open network of interacting particles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sinitsyn, Nikolai A.; Chernyak, Vladimir Y.; Chertkov, Michael

2010-01-01

We discuss a non-equilibrium statistical system on a graph or network. Identical particles are injected, interact with each other, traverse, and leave the graph in a stochastic manner described in terms of Poisson rates, possibly dependent on time and instantaneous occupation numbers at the nodes of the graph. We show that under the assumption of the relative rates constancy, the system demonstrates a profound statistical symmetry, resulting in geometric universality of the particle currents statistics. The phenomenon applies broadly to many man-made and natural open stochastic systems, such as queuing of packages over internet, transport of electrons and quasi-particles in mesoscopic systems, and chains of reactions in bio-chemical networks. We illustrate the utility of the general approach using two enabling examples from the two latter disciplines.

PRINCIPLES OF MODERN UNIVERSITY "ACADEMIC CLOUD" FORMATION BASED ON OPEN SOFTWARE PLATFORM

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Olena H. Hlazunova

2014-09-01

Full Text Available In the article approaches to the use of cloud technology in teaching of higher education students are analyzed. The essence of the concept of "academic cloud" and its structural elements are justified. The model of academic clouds of the modern university, which operates on the basis of open software platforms, are proposed. Examples of functional software and platforms, that provide the needs of students in e-learning resources, are given. The models of deployment Cloud-oriented environment in higher education: private cloud, infrastructure as a service and platform as a service, are analyzed. The comparison of the cost of deployment "academic cloud" based on its own infrastructure of the institution and lease infrastructure vendor are substantiated.

Exploring Strategies of Assessment and Results in the Spanish Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia and the United Kingdom Open University.

Science.gov (United States)

James, Arthur

The strategies of student evaluation and the patterns of results are compared for The Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia (UNED) in Spain and The Open University of The United Kingdom. Both universities operate a system of undergraduate subject credits leading to a degree, but the length of the courses of the two systems differ. UNED…

Open Access, Open Source and Digital Libraries: A Current Trend in University Libraries around the World

Science.gov (United States)

Krishnamurthy, M.

2008-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the open access and open source movement in the digital library world. Design/methodology/approach: A review of key developments in the open access and open source movement is provided. Findings: Open source software and open access to research findings are of great use to scholars in developing…

Pulsed power opening switch research at the University of New Mexico

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Humphries, S. Jr.

1987-01-01

Opening switch research at the University of New Mexico (UNM) is directed toward moderate-current (--10 kA) devices with potential applications to high-power charged particle accelerators. Two devices with the capacity for controlling gigawatt high-voltage circuits, the grid-controlled plasma flow switch and the scanned-beam switch, are under investigation. Both switches are conceptually simple; they involve little collective physics and are within the capabilities of current technology. In the plasma flow switch, the flux of electrons into a high-voltage power gap is controlled by a low-voltage control grid. Plasma generation is external to, and independent of, the power circuit. In the closed phase, plasma fills the gap so that the switch has a low on-state impedance. Pulse repetition rates in the megahertz range should be feasible. In single-shot proof-of-principle experiments, a small area switch modulated a 3-MW circuit; a 20-ns opening time was observed. The scanned-beam switch will utilize electric field deflection to direct the power of a sheet electron beam. The beam is to be alternately scanned to two inverse diodes connected to output transmission lines. The switch is expected to generate continuous-wave pulse trains for applications such as high-frequency induction linacs. Theoretical studies indicate that 10-GW devices in the 100-MHz range with 70-percent efficiency should be technologically feasible

ELECTRONIC MEDIA LEARNING MATERIALS OF INDIRA GANDHI NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY, INDIA: An Analytical Study

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Manoj Roy. V.

2013-10-01

Full Text Available The establishment of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU in 1985 has been a milestone in the growth of higher education in India. A very special feature of the University is that a composite of several instructional methods in practice are aimed at giving effective support to distance learners. Self-instructional print materials are the mainstay of the courseware. Besides this, at the support centres, the learners attend a few face-to-face counselling sessions and get access to audio-video materials stocked in the library. Gyandarshan and Gyanvani, the educational television and radio channels broadcast programmes with academic content. The curriculum-based audio-video programmes developed by the University are supplementary in nature. This blending of traditional printed self-learning materials with electronic courseware is a conscious decision of the University which is intended to enhance the quality and effectiveness of learning. Over the years, audio and video cassettes have made way for digital compact discs. Resultant development in information and communication technology heralded virtual campus initiatives of IGNOU, conspicuous among them being the creation of eGyanKosh, the digital repository of the learning materials of IGNOU. Nevertheless, majority of the academic programmes are not being provided audio video supports. The paper analyses the application of electronic media in IGNOU’s course delivery platform.

ONLINE SERVICES FOR 'OPEN' COOPERATION OF UNIVERSITY TEACHERS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Manzhula

2013-08-01

Full Text Available In this article the basic stages of creating open educational resources were defined (creation, storing, protection, publication, social assessment, search of creative partners, forming a culture of social exchange and collaboration, as well as analysis of tools for such type of creative activity was made, following free online service were described: Google docs, Google Drive, Yandex Disc, Creative Commons, Innovative Teachers Net. The intensity of ICT and open educational resources use, general attitude and position toward open educational resources among teachers were analyzed.

Information needs and barriers to information sources by open and distance learners: A case of Mzuzu University, Malawi

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Winner D. Chawinga

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Background: The Centre for Open and Distance Learning at Mzuzu University was established in 2006 with the aim to increase and broaden access to higher education to most Malawians who despite meeting entry requirements into higher education were not selected because of shortage of space on campus and other learning and teaching resources. Although Open and Distance Learning (ODL is hyped as a practical option for making higher education available to many people as widely reported in the literature, universities need to address several issues for it to hold its ground. Objectives: The study set out to investigate information needs and barriers to information sources by ODL students by addressing three objectives, namely information needs of ODL students, information sources of ODL students and challenges that ODL students face when seeking information for their courses of study. Method: A survey questionnaire with a mix of closed-ended and open-ended questions was distributed to 350 students to find out the information sources and challenges that the ODL students face when searching for information to accomplish their academic activities. Results: According to the findings, all 258 (100% students who answered the questionnaire need information to prepare for the end-of-semester examinations. Information sources that are used most by students include lecture notes, Internet and library books with scores of 238 (92.6%, 207 (80.5% and 199 (77.4%, respectively. Conclusion: ODL students have limited access to information materials for accomplishing their academic activities and Mzuzu University can resolve this challenge by introducing satellite information centres in the three geographical regions of Malawi.

Open-Access-Kooperationen in Österreich: Open Access Network Austria und E-Infrastructures Austria – aktuelle Entwicklungen seit 2012

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bauer, Bruno

2014-12-01

Full Text Available [english] The Berlin Declaration on Open Access to scientific knowledge was published in October 2003. All over the world initiatives and projects were started. However, in Austria Open Access got little attention over many years. This was confirmed by a study among Austrian universities on behalf of the Council of Austrian University Libraries. Finally at the turn of the year 2012/2013 the Open Access Network Austria and the university infrastructure project E-Infrastructure Austria were started to push Open Access in Austria on a national level. So 10 years after the Berlin Declaration Austria set up the preconditions to establish sustainable Open Access.

The CT Scanner Facility at Stellenbosch University: An open access X-ray computed tomography laboratory

Science.gov (United States)

du Plessis, Anton; le Roux, Stephan Gerhard; Guelpa, Anina

2016-10-01

The Stellenbosch University CT Scanner Facility is an open access laboratory providing non-destructive X-ray computed tomography (CT) and a high performance image analysis services as part of the Central Analytical Facilities (CAF) of the university. Based in Stellenbosch, South Africa, this facility offers open access to the general user community, including local researchers, companies and also remote users (both local and international, via sample shipment and data transfer). The laboratory hosts two CT instruments, i.e. a micro-CT system, as well as a nano-CT system. A workstation-based Image Analysis Centre is equipped with numerous computers with data analysis software packages, which are to the disposal of the facility users, along with expert supervision, if required. All research disciplines are accommodated at the X-ray CT laboratory, provided that non-destructive analysis will be beneficial. During its first four years, the facility has accommodated more than 400 unique users (33 in 2012; 86 in 2013; 154 in 2014; 140 in 2015; 75 in first half of 2016), with diverse industrial and research applications using X-ray CT as means. This paper summarises the existence of the laboratory's first four years by way of selected examples, both from published and unpublished projects. In the process a detailed description of the capabilities and facilities available to users is presented.

The CT Scanner Facility at Stellenbosch University: An open access X-ray computed tomography laboratory

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Plessis, Anton du, E-mail: anton2@sun.ac.za [CT Scanner Facility, Central Analytical Facilities, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch (South Africa); Physics Department, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch (South Africa); Roux, Stephan Gerhard le, E-mail: lerouxsg@sun.ac.za [CT Scanner Facility, Central Analytical Facilities, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch (South Africa); Guelpa, Anina, E-mail: aninag@sun.ac.za [CT Scanner Facility, Central Analytical Facilities, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch (South Africa)

2016-10-01

The Stellenbosch University CT Scanner Facility is an open access laboratory providing non-destructive X-ray computed tomography (CT) and a high performance image analysis services as part of the Central Analytical Facilities (CAF) of the university. Based in Stellenbosch, South Africa, this facility offers open access to the general user community, including local researchers, companies and also remote users (both local and international, via sample shipment and data transfer). The laboratory hosts two CT instruments, i.e. a micro-CT system, as well as a nano-CT system. A workstation-based Image Analysis Centre is equipped with numerous computers with data analysis software packages, which are to the disposal of the facility users, along with expert supervision, if required. All research disciplines are accommodated at the X-ray CT laboratory, provided that non-destructive analysis will be beneficial. During its first four years, the facility has accommodated more than 400 unique users (33 in 2012; 86 in 2013; 154 in 2014; 140 in 2015; 75 in first half of 2016), with diverse industrial and research applications using X-ray CT as means. This paper summarises the existence of the laboratory’s first four years by way of selected examples, both from published and unpublished projects. In the process a detailed description of the capabilities and facilities available to users is presented.

A Balanced Scorecard for Open Innovation: Measuring the Impact of Industry-University Collaboration

Science.gov (United States)

Flores, Myrna; Al-Ashaab, Ahmed; Magyar, Andrea

The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) can be considered as a strategic measurement tool. Since its first publication by Norton and Kaplan in the early 1990’s, many companies have applied it to measure four key aspects of their organisations’ performance: Financial, Customer, Internal Business Process, Learning and Growth. Although it is widely used in the business arena, this original BSC was not developed to assess the impact of collaborative research projects under an open innovation strategy, where the outputs of research and development (R&D) developed by collaborative projects undertaken by industry and universities should be measured in a different way. In fact, many companies are losing important opportunities to spur their R&D results by not being able to quantify the results of such collaborations. Therefore, this paper will propose a Scorecard to measure the outcomes of collaborative research. It is important to recall that this scorecard has been developed during a collaborative research project by CEMEX Research Group AG (Switzerland) and Cranfield University (UK). During such project, a survey was developed to carry out eleven face-to-face interviews in a sample of ten companies in UK, which provided important inputs to design such strategic scorecard. It was confirmed that a collaborative balanced scorecard is a very useful tool to measure, track and improve the impact of conducting collaborative projects with universities.

INTERROGATING THE TEACHING AND LEARNING MODES IN OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING (ODL WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF QUALITY EDUCATION: A Case Study of The Zimbabwe Open University; Department of Education

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Wellington SAMKANGE,

2013-01-01

Full Text Available There have been concerns about the teaching and learning modes in both conventional and Open and Distance Learning (ODL institutions globally. Such concerns emanate from issues of quality and standards in education. In view of such concerns, the study examined the teaching and learning modes in Open and Distance Learning (ODL. These were examined in relation to how they contribute to quality and standards within the the context of ODL. The study focused on the Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU, an ODL university in Zimbabwe. It used the qualitative methodology and the case study design. A purposively selected sample of twenty students on the Bachelor of Education in Educational Management (BEDM programme, another twenty on the Masters of Education in Educational Management (MEDM programme and and thirty students on the teacher development programmes were selected from a population of one hundred and sixty two students in the Department of Education in Harare region. In total, the sample was made up of seventy students and fifteen tutors who were observed teaching. Data was collected through the use of interviews, open-ended questionnaires and analysis of documents. Data was collected from current students in the Faculty of Arts and Education in the Departments of Educational Studies and Teacher Development. Data was also collected through the evaluation instruments and other related documents used at ZOU. Furthermore, students evaluated the different teaching and learning modes used in the university. These included reading material, modules, tutors and tutorials. The study concluded that whilst students expressed satisfaction in areas such as the work and efforts of their tutors and the relevance of the courses to their jobs and promotion prospects, they were concerns about the non-availability of learning materials in some cases, the coverage of some topics in some modules and the language of instruction used by the tutors. The cases observed

Approach to the open advanced facilities initiative for innovation (strategic use by industry) at the University of Tsukuba, Tandem Accelerator Complex

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sasa, K.; Tagishi, Y.; Naramoto, H.; Kudo, H.; Kita, E.

2010-01-01

The University of Tsukuba, Tandem Accelerator Complex (UTTAC) possesses the 12UD Pelletron tandem accelerator and the 1 MV Tandetron accelerator for University's inter-department education research. We have actively advanced collaborative researches with other research institutes and industrial users. Since the Open Advanced Facilities Initiative for Innovation by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology started in 2007, 12 industrial experiments have been carried out at the UTTAC. This report describes efforts by University's accelerator facility to get industrial users. (author)

Social Capital, Trust, Economic Stress and Religion in a Cohort of 87,134 Thai Adults

Science.gov (United States)

Yiengprugsawan, Vasoontara; Seubsman, Sam-ang; Lim, Lynette; Sleigh, Adrian

2011-01-01

Social capital includes collective features such as social trust, norms, and networks. This paper examines social capital-related variables against demographic, socioeconomic and geographic characteristics of 87,134 adult distance-learning students from Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University. We have found economic stress to be higher in non-married groups, lower income groups, and those residing in rural areas. Social trust was higher among married, especially with higher income and those in rural areas. Those who were separated, divorced or widowed and those with lower socioeconomic status had the highest economic stress and the least social trust. These groups also reported high importance of religious belief, karma and spiritual belief, along with lower income groups. Despite having high economic stress, social interaction with and support from families were found to be high among those not-married, with lower income, and in rural areas. As Thailand urbanises and progresses economically, diverse patterns of social capital have emerged and some changes might have offset others. For example, we have shown that economic stress associated with low income tends to co-occur with high social interaction and family support. This observation should be reassuring to policymakers aiming to preserve and promote social capital as Thailand continues to urbanise and modernise. PMID:22003268

Access under Siege: Are the Gains of Open Education Keeping Pace with the Growing Barriers to University Access?

Science.gov (United States)

Olcott, Don, Jr.

2013-01-01

Traditional and affordable access to a university education is under siege from all sides. National realpolitiks and global economic downturns have driven open education into the mainstream to stand against educational elitism, the growing digital divide, and to support the core values that give education its fundamental credence as a human right.…

Nurse-delivered universal point-of-care testing for HIV in an open-access returning traveller clinic.

Science.gov (United States)

Herbert, R; Ashraf, A N; Yates, T A; Spriggs, K; Malinnag, M; Durward-Brown, E; Phillips, D; Mewse, E; Daniel, A; Armstrong, M; Kidd, I M; Waite, J; Wilks, P; Burns, F; Bailey, R; Brown, M

2012-09-01

Early diagnosis of HIV infection reduces morbidity and mortality associated with late presentation. Despite UK guidelines, the HIV testing rate has not increased. We have introduced universal HIV screening in an open-access returning traveller clinic. Data were prospectively recorded for all patients attending the open-access returning traveller clinic between August 2008 and December 2010. HIV testing was offered to all patients from May 2009; initially testing with laboratory samples (phase 1) and subsequently a point-of-care test (POCT) (phase 2). A total of 4965 patients attended the clinic; 1342 in phase 0, 792 in phase 1 and 2831 in phase 2. Testing rates for HIV increased significantly from 2% (38 of 1342) in phase 0 to 23.1% (183 of 792) in phase 1 and further increased to 44.5% (1261 of 2831) during phase 2 (P travelling to the Middle East and Europe were less likely to accept an HIV test with POCT. A nurse-delivered universal point-of-care HIV testing service has been successfully introduced and sustained in an acute medical clinic in a low-prevalence country. Caution is required in communicating reactive results in low-prevalence settings where there may be alternative diagnoses or a low population prevalence of HIV infection. © 2012 British HIV Association.

Practice in a dispersed professional community : a case study of associate lecturers at the Open University

OpenAIRE

Cox, Graham; Saunders, Murray

2006-01-01

This thesis examines in depth the work of four associate lecturers at the Open University. Given that they see colleagues infrequently, it explores how they resource their practice, in what has been termed a dispersed community that lacks the social interaction associated with more traditional lecturing. This research identifies what knowledge resources and professional practices are used, and what the relationships are between these and the process of occupational identity-building. It also ...

Open-Heart surgery and cerebrovascular accident: retrospective study at King Khalid University Hospital

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Al-Satli, R.A.; Takrouri, Mohammad S.M.; Al-Daif, A.; Fouda, Mohamed N.; Maher, S.; Al-Khwsky, F.

2000-01-01

Stroke after coronary by-pass grafting (CABG) is often disabling. The incidence of ischemic stroke may approach 3% to 5%. Several risk factors have been identified including previous history of stroke, prolonged cardiopulmonary bypass time, and postoperative atrial fibrillation. Objective was to determine the incidence and risk factors of neurological deficit after open heart surgery. Retrospective study was done during the period 1992-1995 at the King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. There were 350 patients who were subjected to (CABG), 10 patients (2.8%) found to suffer from cerebrovascular accidents (CVA) following open-heart surgery. In 8 patients, the complaint lasted more than 24 hours (stroke), while 2 patients developed transient ischemic attacks (TIA). Five factors were found to be associated with increased risk of post cardiac surgery CVA. These factors are postoperative atrial fibrillation, carotid bruit, past history of heart failure, past history of CVA and smoking. The authors concluded that it is necessary to start a prospective study to verify the area of improvement with regards to technique, selection of patients and mode of perfusion during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) Arabia. (author)

The Use of Facebook to Build a Community for Distance Learning Students: A Case Study from the Open University

Science.gov (United States)

Callaghan, George; Fribbance, Ian

2016-01-01

Social media platforms such as Facebook are commonplace throughout society. However, within higher education institutions such networking environments are still in the developmental stage. This paper describes and discusses case study data from the Open University's Faculty of Social Science Facebook page. It starts by giving an overview of the…

Open Education: Strategic and organisational challenges

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Stracke, Christian M.

2017-01-01

Open Education: Strategic and organisational challenges. Presentation at Open Education Week, Welten Institute, Open University of the Netherlands, Heerlen, The Netherlands. Held by Stracke, C. M. (2016, 11 March).

Comparisons in the Organisation, Methods, and Results of the Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia (Spain) and The Open University of The United Kingdom.

Science.gov (United States)

James, Arthur

The organization, methods, and outcomes of the distance education systems at the Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia (UNED) in Spain and The Open University of the United Kingdom are compared. The following topics are covered: higher education in Spain, UNED's ideology, student characteristics in both universities, organization,…

Regional Focus Editorial ~ Changing Faces of Open and Distance Learning in Asia

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Insung Jung

2007-03-01

Full Text Available It is no incident that IRRODL begins the year of 2007 with this regional focus edition on “Changing Faces of Open and Distance Learning in Asia.” Over the recent years, there has been tremendous growth and diversity in open and distance learning (ODL in Asia. With over 56 percent of the global population, Asia has over 70 universities that are dedicated to open access to education, including seven out of 11 of the world's mega universities (universities with over 100,000 active students in degree-level courses serving six million active students all together (Daniel, 1996. Quite a few distance teaching universities or programs such as the Bangladeshi Open University, the Hanoi Open University, the Open University Malaysia, and the Open and Distance Learning Program in Singapore, have been established since the 1990s and now provide tertiary level education to those seeking continuing education opportunities. Virtual universities are growing fast and, with 17 virtual universities in Korea alone! Many conventional, campus-based universities have started to offer e-Learning programs as well. For example, 67 e-Colleges have been established within conventional research universities in China.

The Practice of a Quality Assurance System in Open and Distance Learning: A case study at Universitas Terbuka Indonesia (The Indonesia Open University

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Tian Belawati

2007-03-01

Full Text Available Quality assurance for distance higher education is one of the main concerns among institutions and stakeholders today. This paper examines the experiences of Universitas Terbuka (UT, which has initiated and implemented an innovative strategy of quality assurance (QA for continuous improvement. The credo of the UT quality assurance system is "We write what we do. We do what we write. We check. We improve continuously!" Implementing a quality management system at the UT, a mega-university with a student body of more than a quarter of a million and which involved a network of participating institutions and regional centres, was a formidable task to accomplish. To achieve its lofty goal, UT adopted and contextualised the draft of the Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU QA Framework to launch its own quality assurance program. This has taken a great deal of commitment and participation of all staff involved. QA at the UT required systematic and step-by-step processes, including development of the QA framework and job manuals, raising awareness and commitment amongst all staff involved, internal assessment, and integration of QA programs into the university's annual action plans, external assessment and benchmarking. This paper concludes that quality assurance must be developed as institutional policy and strategy for continuous improvement.

Higher Education System and the "Open" Knowledge Transfer: A View from Perception of Senior Managers at University Knowledge Transfer Offices

Science.gov (United States)

Sharifi, Hossein; Liu, Weisheng; Ismail, Hossam S.

2014-01-01

Higher education institutions (HEIs) have become increasingly entrepreneurial. Such a shift is highly dependent on the managers of university knowledge transfer offices whose perceptions can be critical in this transformation. This study examines such senior managers' perceptions concerning the "open" paradigm in relation with the…

First Stages of Adult Students' Relationship to Scientific Knowing and Research in the Open University's Web-Based Methodology Course

Science.gov (United States)

Isosomppi, Leena; Maunula, Minna

2016-01-01

The adult students who participate in the web-based studies of the open university have in many ways heterogeneous starting points for studying and learning, for example, the educational backgrounds, the acquired work experience, the general academic skills and the objectives of the future can vary considerably. The adult students striving from…

Beliefs about depression among the elderly in an Open University for Seniors

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Fábia Helena Muniz

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Concepts and attribution of cause of depression and its relationship withsociodemographics variables and physical and mental health were investigated among 35elderly (M = 66.9 years, SD = 5.73, 65.7% female participating in an Open University toSeniors. Data were collected by questionnaire about sociodemographics variables, perceivedhealth, depressive symptoms, concepts, causes and search for treatment for depression.Depression was defined as "behavioral symptoms" (37.7%, "Psychological status" (35.9%,"Physical illness" (18.9% and "Moral/psychological weakness" (7.5% and its causes assignedto the "Events psychosocial" (30.1%, "Personality" (25.4%, "Frustration" (20.6% and"Losses" (23.9%. The term "Behavioral Symptoms" was more prevalent among more youngerpeople and the attribution to "losses" among the worst health. Prevention and treatment musttake into account the beliefs of the elderly and include patient education.

Student Assessment of Quality of Access at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN

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Juliet Obhajajie Inegbedion

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a study conducted by Inegbedion, Adu and Ofulue from the National Open University of Nigeria. The study focused on the quality of access (admission and registration at NOUN from a student perspective. A survey design was used for the study while a multi-stage sampling technique was used to select the sample size. All the 78,555 registered students in all the 61 Study Centres of the University at the time of the study formed the population; out of which 3,060 students were sampled. The questionnaire instrument is the Institutional Internal QA Tools and Instrument developed by the African Council for Distance Education (ACDE as a regulatory mechanism. The data collected were analyzed using simple statistics. The result showed that 66% of the students confirmed that NOUN has published clear policies on the admission and registration of students. About 29.1% of the students were not satisfied with the transparency of the admission process. In conclusion, the study revealed high quality of access and some deficiencies in website and Internet connectivity.

Massive Open Online Courses

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Tharindu Rekha Liyanagunawardena

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs are a new addition to the open educational provision. They are offered mainly by prestigious universities on various commercial and non-commercial MOOC platforms allowing anyone who is interested to experience the world class teaching practiced in these universities. MOOCs have attracted wide interest from around the world. However, learner demographics in MOOCs suggest that some demographic groups are underrepresented. At present MOOCs seem to be better serving the continuous professional development sector.

Broadcasting environmental knowledge: Open University & BBC collaborations serving massive global audiences

Science.gov (United States)

Brandon, M. A.; Smith, J.; Garrow, K. H.; Law, A.

2013-12-01

The UK Open University has a long history of working with broadcast media - indeed before it first formed over 40 years ago it was proposed to be a "University of the Air ". Originally the University made its own television programmes that were directly connected with teaching. They were usually recordings of academics giving lectures that were broadcast late at night. Over recent times we have moved into developing co-productions with mainstream broadcast media specifically designed to be of general educational interest to UK and worldwide audiences. These include both high impact one-off programmes such as Are we changing planet Earth?, multiple international award winning series such as Frozen Planet, and World Service radio such as Earth Reporters. These programmes have had global audiences; in some cases of tens of millions. Whilst we have only worked using clear scientific evidence and expertise, we have co-produced media which small sections of the general public could consider controversial. For example, in Are we changing planet Earth? the case was presented pre IPCC AR4 for anthropogenic climate change. The final episode of Frozen Planet "On thin ice" presented evidence of how the polar climate is changing and likely future global impacts. It created a large and occasionally hostile international media impact long before broadcast. This continued after broadcast in some media but we believe it stopped because the science presented was robust within the current literature. Based around broadcasting, we used a communication strategy based on our personal experience over the last decade along with our institutional experience going back 40 years. For example our outreach include social media, newspapers, radio and podcasts to speak about underpinning science. We use Twitter during actual broadcasts to circulate links to journal articles and provide context around the science presented on screen. Backed up by a large public outreach campaign at science fairs

Investigating the Difficulties and Problems Faced by the English Language Students of Al Quds Open University in Legal Translation Process

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Ahmed Maher Mahmoud Al-Nakhalah

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Following experimental descriptive method, the paper explores the difficulties and problems faced by the English language students of Al Quds Open University in legal translation process; that is, while translating legal terms/documents from Arabic to English and from English to Arabic. A test was designed by the researcher in order to explore and investigate the difficulties and problems faced by the students. The test included four questions: 1 Translating English legal paragraph, 2 Translating Arabic legal paragraph, 3 Translating ten Arabic legal terms and 4 Translating ten English legal terms. The test was applied on the English language students of Al Quds Open University in Gaza Region in Palestine during the second course of the academic year 2010/2011. The samples of the study were chosen and selected randomly. Following suitable statistical methods, the paper offers the obtained results with critical discussion. Possible solutions, recommendations and suggestions to overcome these difficulties and problems also form important parts of the discussion in the paper.

Open innovation and serious gaming

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Westera, Wim

2010-01-01

Westera, W. (2010, 15 April). Open innovation and serious gaming. Workshop presentation and discussion with Hogeschool Zuyd, Communication and Multimedia Design, Heerlen, The Netherlands: Open University of the Netherlands.

University and Research Libraries in Europe Working towards Open Access

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Paul Ayris

2011-02-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an overview of ways in which LIBER (Association of European Research Libraries and its members are working towards embedding Open Access approaches to the dissemination of research outputs. It does this in three ways — by looking at current debates in which LIBER has become interested, on the economics of Open Access; by highlighting new projects in which LIBER is engaged, to develop new models and services via Open Access; and by looking at a model of best practice amongst LIBER members for developing an institutional Open Access mandate. The paper ends by drawing conclusions about the vitality of the work of LIBER member libraries in the Open Access landscape.

The low-frequency array (LOFAR): opening a new window on the universe

Science.gov (United States)

Kassim, N. E.; Lazio, T. J. W.; Ray, P. S.; Crane, P. C.; Hicks, B. C.; Stewart, K. P.; Cohen, A. S.; Lane, W. M.

2004-12-01

We present an overview of the low-frequency array (LOFAR) that will open a window on one of the last and most poorly explored regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. LOFAR will be a large (baselines up to 400 km), low-frequency (ν˜10-240MHz) aperture synthesis array with large collecting area ( ˜106m2 at 15MHz) and high resolution ( ˜1.5″ at 100 MHz), and will provide sub-mJy sensitivity across much of its operating range. LOFAR will be a powerful instrument for solar system and planetary science applications as reviewed by papers in this monogram. Key astrophysical science drivers include acceleration, turbulence, and propagation in the galactic interstellar medium, exploring the high red-shift universe and transient phenomena, as well as searching for the red-shifted signature of neutral hydrogen from the cosmologically important epoch of re-ionization.

Enacs Survey of Southern Galaxies Indicates Open Universe

Science.gov (United States)

1996-02-01

New Light on Rich Clusters of Galaxies and their Formation History In the context of a comprehensive Key-Programme , carried out with telescopes at the ESO La Silla Observatory, a team of European astronomers [1]. has recently obtained radial velocities for more than 5600 galaxies in about 100 rich clusters of galaxies. With this programme the amount of information about the motions of galaxies (the kinematical data) in such clusters has almost been doubled. This has allowed the team to study the distribution of the cluster masses, and also the dynamical state of clusters in new and interesting ways. An important result of this programme is that the derived masses of the investigated clusters of galaxies indicate that the mean density of the Universe is insufficient to halt the current expansion; we may therefore be living in an open Universe that will expand forever. Clusters of galaxies as tracers of large-scale structure About 40 years ago, American astronomer George Abell, working at the Palomar Observatory in California, was the first to perform a systematic study of rich clusters of galaxies , that is clusters with particularly many member galaxies located within a relatively restricted region in the sky. He identified several thousands of such clusters, and he numbered and described them; they are now known to astronomers as `Abell clusters'. More than twenty years earlier, Swiss-American astronomer Fritz Zwicky, using the famous 100-inch Mount Wilson telescope above Los Angeles, concluded that the total mass of a rich cluster of galaxies is probably much larger than the combined mass of the individual galaxies we can observe in it. This phenomenon is now known as the `Missing Dark Matter' , and many attempts have since been made to understand its true nature. Although the existence of this Dark Matter is generally accepted, it has been very difficult to prove its existence in a direct way. Rich clusters have several components: in addition to several

Open-Source tools: Incidence in the wireless security of the Technical University of Babahoyo

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Joffre León-Acurio

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Computer security is a fundamental part of an organization, especially in Higher Education institutions, where there is very sensitive information, capable of being vulnerable by diffeerent methods of intrusion, the most common being free access through wireless points. The main objective of this research is to analyze the impact of the open source tools in charge of managing the security information of the wireless network, such as OSSIM, a set of active and passive components used to manage events that generate tra c within the network. net. This research exposes the use of free software as a viable option of low cost to solve the problems that a ict student sta , such as lack of access to academic services, problems of wireless interconnectivity, with the purpose to restore confidence in students in the Use of the services offered by the institution for research-related development, guaranteeing free and free access to the internet. The level of dissatisfaction on the part of the students con rms the problem presented at the Technical University of Babahoyo, thus confirming the positive influence of the Open-Source tools for the institution’s wireless security.

SPECIFIC OF USING MASSIVE OPEN EDUCATIONAL ELECTRONIC COURSES IN RUSSIAN AND FOREIGN UNIVERSITIES

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В В Гриншкун

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Characteristic feature of informatization of education for several last years is emergence and fast distribution of MOOCs - mass open online courses. Specificity of the Russian education system can’t but affect features of development and deployment of such courses taking into account realities of work of domestic universities. For expansion of opportunities of influence of MOOCs on increase in learning efficiency of students in higher education institutions carrying out the analysis of experience of use of such means of informatization of education, both in Russia, and beyond her limits is expedient. The present article contains transfer and the description of various aspects of emergence and distribution of MOOCs in the world, in general, and in our country, in particular. The short characteristic of possible approaches to development and deployment of MOOCs and their component in domestic system of the higher education is given, examples of the Russian and foreign platforms by means of which such courses become public are given. It is emphasized that universal experience of informatization of the higher education on the basis of use of MOOCs without the corresponding adaptation can’t be applied to training of students in the Russian higher education institutions.

Ten years of open practice: a reflection on the impact of OpenLearn

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Patrina Law

2016-05-01

Full Text Available The Open University (OU makes a proportion of all its taught modules available to the public via OpenLearn each year. This process involves the modification, of module excerpts, showcasing subject matter and teaching approach. This activity serves both the University's social and business missions through the delivery of free courses to the public, but increasingly its students are using it to inform module choice, to augment their studies and to boost confidence. In a year that celebrates 10 years of OpenLearn, this paper reports on the growth and impact of the platform as a vast open, learning resource and how a new study underlines how this is also serving the OU’s own students in terms of supporting motivation for learning and impact on achievements. The paper also discusses how the OU is mainstreaming open practice via module production in releasing content on OpenLearn from its paid-for modules in order to improve student module choice and preparedness and in doing so, is providing a richer learning experience for informal learners.

Distance and E-Learning, Social Justice, and Development: The Relevance of Capability Approaches to the Mission of Open Universities

Science.gov (United States)

Tait, Alan

2013-01-01

This article reviews the discourse of mission in large distance teaching and open universities, in order to analyse the theories of development and social justice that are claimed or may be inherent in them. It is suggested that in a number of cases the claims are unsupported or naive. The article goes on to set out the nature of Amartya…

Open Bibliography

OpenAIRE

Murray-Rust, Peter; Pollock, Rufus; MacGillivray, Mark; O'Steen, Ben; Waites, William

2011-01-01

Poster presented at the VSMF Symposium held at the Unilever Centre on 2011-01-17. More research is published currently than can be understood or followed by a researcher without the aid of a computer. We need Open shareable information on research publications, an Open Bibliography, to build the services that enable researchers to explore their field and discover the research they need. Producers of bibliographic data such as libraries, publishers, universities, scholars or social referenc...

Open Access to Scientific Literature: An Assessment of Awareness Support and Usage among Academic Librarians at Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Science.gov (United States)

Evans, Marsha Ann Johnson

2012-01-01

Open Access (OA) to scholarly communications is a critical component in providing equitable admission to scholarly information and a key vehicle toward the achievement of global access to research in the knowledge building process. A standard and universally accepted process for guaranteeing OA permits complimentary access to knowledge, research…

Using Satellite Classes to Optimise Access to and Participation in First-Year Business Management: A Case at an Open and Distance-Learning University in South Africa

Science.gov (United States)

Swanepoel, Elana; De Beer, Andreas; Muller, Helene

2009-01-01

We investigated the effect of satellite classes as a component of blended learning, to enhance student performance of the Business Management I and Management I students at an open and distance-learning university. We discuss the evolution of distance education, the interactivities promoted by open and distance learning and the concept of blended…

Evaluation of the Undergraduate Physics Programme at Indira Gandhi National Open University: A Case Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arundhati Mishra

2009-12-01

Full Text Available The undergraduate science programme was launched at the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU in 1991-92 with an enrolment of 1,210 students. The programme was well received, and enrolments increased over the years. However, the success rates have not kept pace with enrolment.In this paper, the authors report the results of an evaluation of the undergraduate Physics programme at IGNOU. The evaluation, the first of its type for this programme, adapted the major tenets of the CIPP model. The findings are based on the responses from a randomly chosen sample of 509 learners across India. The methods employed for the study include records, document, and database analysis, surveys, and case studies.Although the University has enhanced access to higher science education, the attrition rate is high (73%, and the success rate is low. The authors recommend that the University review and reorient its strategies for providing good quality, learner-centred higher education in science subjects. The programme should address the concerns of the learners about the effectiveness of the student support systems, the difficulty level, and the learner-friendliness of study materials with the goal of achieving long-term sustainability while maintaining parity with the conventional system. The need for improving the presentation of the courses and simplifying the mathematical details is emphasised.

Polarization of the microwave background in open universes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tolman, B.W.

1985-01-01

The polarization and anisotropy of the microwave background radiation in open universes with an expansion anisotropy, arising from either cosmological anisotropy or density inhomogeneities on large scales, are computed by a direct, or Monte Carlo, simulation of the problem. The simulation includes accurate numerical data for the ionization of matter during both the decoupling and the reheated eras. Besides the well-known result that the radiation anisotropy is distorted and focused by the spatial curvature into a single very small, intense spot, it is found that the scattering of this spot during the reheated epoch generates features in the polarization of the radiation which cover fully one-half of the sky. The radiation is polarized in a wide band encircling the spot, with the direction of polarization opposite that of the rest of the sky and at a level only slightly below present observed upper limits, given an expansion anisotropy also near its upper limit. This region of strong polarization is surrounded by an unpolarized band near the equator (where the spot is at a pole), while the rest of the sky is also polarized at a level near the upper limits. The amount of polarization is very sensitive to the amount of scattering, and thus to the reheating epoch; further, features in the polarization remain visible even for very long reheated epochs, whereas the intensity anisotropy is quickly damped out. The widths of the unusually polarized region and the spot are sensitive to the cosmological matter density. The extension of these results to the case of a spectrum of large-scale inhomogeneities is briefly discussed. The polarization of the microwaves thus provides an important and observationally accessible test of these cosmological models

The Extent of and Reasons for Non Re-Enrollment: A Case of Korea National Open University

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hyoseon Choi

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Despite continuous efforts to increase retention, dropout rates are high in distance universities. The objectives of this study were: 1 to investigate the extent and causes of non re-enrollment at a mega university, Korea National Open University; and 2 to suggest actions to improve the retention of students, in general, and those with higher risks of dropout in particular. A survey designed to establish the student demographics and the students’ main reasons for non re-enrollment was carried out during spring, 2009 with 1,353 respondents. The results indicate that a lack of feedback from the instructors, heavy workload, and difficulties in studying at a distance were the main reasons for non re-enrollment. The learners’ perceptions of the value of the degrees and their ages, gender, and educational backgrounds were also found to be significant factors in decisions not to re-enroll. The suggested solutions for reducing non re-enrollment include: a decrease in the number of required credit hours’ study per semester; the provision of stronger social support; the introduction of a more flexible enrollment system; and better use of the available technology and infrastructure to help both students and instructors build stronger learning communities.

The Role of Open Access and Open Educational Resources: A Distance Learning Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Hatzipanagos, Stylianos; Gregson, Jon

2015-01-01

The paper explores the role of Open Access (in licensing, publishing and sharing research data) and Open Educational Resources within Distance Education, with a focus on the context of the University of London International Programmes. We report on a case study where data were gathered from librarians and programme directors relating to existing…

How academic entrepreneurship meets the university: university spin-offs in stakeholder networks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rasmussen, Einar; Benneworth, Paul Stephen; Gulbrandsen, Magnus

2015-01-01

Some universities and departments have been very successful in stimulating university spin-off firms (USOs). It remains an open question whether this is due to unique abilities and circumstances or if it can be stimulated at many universities. This paper seeks to discuss this question by integrating

Open Textbooks and Increased Student Access and Outcomes

Science.gov (United States)

Feldstein, Andrew; Martin, Mirta; Hudson, Amy; Warren, Kiara; Hilton, John, III; Wiley, David

2012-01-01

This study reports findings from a year-long pilot study during which 991 students in 9 core courses in the Virginia State University School of Business replaced traditional textbooks with openly licensed books and other digital content. The university made a deliberate decision to use open textbooks that were copyrighted under the Creative…

LERU roadmap towards Open Access.

Science.gov (United States)

Ayris, Paul; Björnshauge, Lars; Collier, Mel; Ferwerda, Eelco; Jacobs, Neil; Sinikara, Kaisa; Swan, Alma; de Bries, Saskia; van Wesenbeeck, Astrid

2015-09-01

Money which is not directly spent on research and education, even though it is largely taxpayers´ money. As Harvard University already denounced in 2012, many large journal publishers have rendered the situation "fiscally unsustainable and academically restrictive", with some journals costing as much as $40,000 per year (and publishers drawing profits of 35% or more). If one of the wealthiest universities in the world can no longer afford it, who can? It is easy to picture the struggle of European universities with tighter budgets. In addition to subscription costs, academic research funding is also largely affected by "Article Processing Charges" (APC), which come at an additional cost of €2000/article, on average, when making individual articles Gold Open Access. Some publishers are in this way even being paid twice for the same content ("double dipping"). In the era of Open Science, Open Access to publications is one of the cornerstones of the new research paradigm and business models must support this transition. It should be one of the principal objectives of Commissioner Carlos Moedas and the Dutch EU Presidency (January-June 2016) to ensure that this transition happens. Further developing the EU´s leadership in research and innovation largely depends on it. With this statement "Moving Forwards on Open Access", LERU calls upon all universities, research institutes, research funders and researchers to sign this statement and give a clear signal towards the European Commission and the Dutch EU Presidency. Copyright© by the Spanish Society for Microbiology and Institute for Catalan Studies.

Revolution of open source and film making towards open film making

OpenAIRE

Löker, Koray

2008-01-01

Ankara : The Department of Communication and Design and the Institute of Economics and Social Sciences of Bilkent University, 2008. Thesis (Master's) -- Bilkent University, 2008. Includes bibliographical references leaves 74-80. This thesis is a critical analysis of self-proclaimed open source movie projects, Elephants Dream and The Digital Tipping Point. The theoretical framework derived from the new media discourse on film making, mainly based on Lev Manovich's database na...

The Scholarly Communication Process within the University Research Corridor (Michigan State University, the University of Michigan, and Wayne State University): A Case Study in Cooperation

Science.gov (United States)

Utter, Timothy; Holley, Robert P.

2009-01-01

The growth of open access publishing, the development of institutional repositories, and the availability of millions of digitized monographs and journals are rapidly changing scholarly communication. This case study looks at the current and possible uses of these tools by Michigan's three largest universities: Michigan State University, the…

Student Dropout at the Hellenic Open University: Evaluation of the Graduate Program, "Studies in Education"

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dimitris Vergidis

2002-10-01

Full Text Available This study traces the root causes of dropout rates in one post-graduate course “Studies in Education,” offered by the Hellenic Open University (HOU. From our research findings, it was found that the main cause of dropping out stem from a combination of adult learners’ obligations, specifically balancing their academic workload with their employment commitments and family obligations (mainly for female students. The second reason for dropout rates among adult distance education learners include students’ miscalculation of the available time for studying and their underestimation of the extra effort required for effective learning. These reasons can be compared to the educational material, which, in general, was not considered overly difficult and did not appear to compel students to abandon their studies.

Sheet universes and the shapes of Friedmann universes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lynden-Bell, D.; Redmount, I.H.

1989-01-01

Unless Ω>1,the Big Bang did not start from a point. Consideration shows sheet universes in which matter is confined to a homogeneous universe. Sheet universes and the corresponding embeddings of FRW universes into Minkowski space are drawn. Their initial singularities are shown to be point-like for the 'closed' case, line-like for the 'flat' (Ω=1) case and surface-like for the 'open' case. In contrast to the cross-sections at constant comoving proper time, typical spacelike cross-sections of the 'flat' universes are closed and encounter their extensive singularities. All cross-sections of the 'closed' universe are closed and only very special cross-sections encounter the point singularities at the Big Bang or the Big Crunch. (author)

Arab Researchers Promotions of Open Archives and Free

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abd Al-Majid Salih Bu Azza

2006-09-01

Full Text Available A study aiming at measuring the promotion of Arab researches for Open Archives and Free Electronic Journal, contained 60 researches in Sultan Qabus university in Oman, and discovered their opinion about open access resources. It found that 78.8 % of researchers did not publish articles in Free Electronic Journals, and 77.8 % do not aware about the international imitative of Open Access. Also discovered that researchers refuse publishing their articles in e-journals because of electronic articles are not considered in their universities.

openBIS ELN-LIMS: an open-source database for academic laboratories.

Science.gov (United States)

Barillari, Caterina; Ottoz, Diana S M; Fuentes-Serna, Juan Mariano; Ramakrishnan, Chandrasekhar; Rinn, Bernd; Rudolf, Fabian

2016-02-15

The open-source platform openBIS (open Biology Information System) offers an Electronic Laboratory Notebook and a Laboratory Information Management System (ELN-LIMS) solution suitable for the academic life science laboratories. openBIS ELN-LIMS allows researchers to efficiently document their work, to describe materials and methods and to collect raw and analyzed data. The system comes with a user-friendly web interface where data can be added, edited, browsed and searched. The openBIS software, a user guide and a demo instance are available at https://openbis-eln-lims.ethz.ch. The demo instance contains some data from our laboratory as an example to demonstrate the possibilities of the ELN-LIMS (Ottoz et al., 2014). For rapid local testing, a VirtualBox image of the ELN-LIMS is also available. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press.

Open Source Software Projects Needing Security Investments

Science.gov (United States)

2015-06-19

modtls, BouncyCastle, gpg, otr, axolotl. 7. Static analyzers: Clang, Frama-C. 8. Nginx. 9. OpenVPN . It was noted that the funding model may be similar...to OpenSSL, where consulting funds the company. It was also noted that OpenVPN needs to correctly use OpenSSL in order to be secure, so focusing on...Dovecot 4. Other high-impact network services: OpenSSH, OpenVPN , BIND, ISC DHCP, University of Delaware NTPD 5. Core infrastructure data parsers

Very High Energy astronomy from H.E.S.S. to CTA. Opening of a new astronomical window on the non-thermal Universe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naurois, Mathieu de

2012-01-01

The last ten years saw the emergence of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes as a mature and efficient technique for the study of the Very High Energy Universe, leading to the successful opening, mainly by the HESS experiment, of our understanding of the non-thermal Universe. This Habilitation thesis summaries ten years of research in Very High Energy gamma-ray astronomy with HESS and CTA. In the first part, instrumental aspects such as the experiment conception, its calibration, the reconstruction of the events and the data analysis are presented. The second parts draws a panorama of the main discoveries in the domain. (author)

EVALUATION OF NEW PRIMARY TEACHERS ORIENTATION COURSE PROJECT LAUNCHED THROUGH ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY, ISLAMABAD PAKISTAN

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Syed Manzoor H. SHAH

2011-07-01

Full Text Available Primary Education is an important stage in the education system of any country. Every developed and developing nation is keen to develop and improve its primary education. In service training of the primary school teachers is a major factor in improving primary education. In Pakistan efforts have been made from the very beginning to improve the primary education especially in the late seventy’s. Different Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs, Donors Agencies and Institutions had been involved in taking different initiatives for the improvement of the quality of primary education. New Primary Teachers Orientation Course (N-PTOC was a similar effort of the Norwegian Agency for Development Co-operation (NORAD in joint collaboration of Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad (AIOU. The major objective of the project was to improve the teaching of primary school teachers through selected microteaching skills, lesson planning, use of teaching kit and AV aids. This project was started in 1991-92 and completed in the year, 1999. Different studies were conducted which indicated that the project has an impact on the performance of the trained teachers. The present study aimed for evaluation of the N-PTOC project launched through Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad. The study is based on the documentary analysis. All the existing record of the project including different reports, documents etc. were consulted for the purpose. It was concluded that the project achieved its trainee teacher’s targets up to 70% and training of tutors and senior tutors up to 100%. Moreover the project produced a model teachers training module for the in-service training of the primary school teachers. There were some problems and challenges in its implementation including; late release of funds, shifting of targets to next semester and its non continuation by the AIOU.

University students and faculty have positive perceptions of open/alternative resources and their utilization in a textbook replacement initiative

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicole Delimont

2016-06-01

Full Text Available This is contribution no. 16-114-J from the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station.The Kansas State University Open/Alternative Textbook Initiative provides grants to faculty members to replace textbooks with open/alternative educational resources (OAERs that are available at no cost to students. Open educational resources are available for anyone to access, while alternative educational resources are not open. The objective of this study was to determine the perceptions towards OAERs and the initiative, of students enrolled in, and faculty members teaching, courses using OAERs. A survey was sent out to 2,074 students in 13 courses using the OAERs. A total of 524 (25.3% students completed the survey and a faculty member from each of the 13 courses using OAERs was interviewed. Students rated the OAERs as good quality, preferred using them instead of buying textbooks for their courses, and agreed that they would like OAERs used in other courses. Faculty felt that student learning was somewhat better and it was somewhat easier to teach using OAERs than when they used the traditional textbooks. Nearly all faculty members preferred teaching with OAERs and planned to continue to do so after the funding period. These results, combined with the tremendous savings to students, support the continued funding of the initiative and similar approaches at other institutions.

Students' Perception on the Quality of Open and Distance Learning ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study aimed at assessing the quality of open and distance learning programmes from students‟ point of view. The sample was drawn from the Open University of Tanzania‟s students in nine University regional centres from Tanzania mainland and it constituted 305 students. Both qualitative and quantitative methods ...

Seventeen Years of Delivery of Open and Distance Education by ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Seventeen Years of Delivery of Open and Distance Education by The Open University of Tanzania (OUT) in East Africa and Beyond. ... This has necessitated the abandonment of the old annual confidential review forms used by most east African universities. The paper ends by highlighting the main prospects and ...

Physically and psychologically hazardous jobs and mental health in Thailand.

Science.gov (United States)

Yiengprugsawan, Vasoontara; Strazdins, Lyndall; Lim, Lynette L-Y; Kelly, Matthew; Seubsman, Sam-ang; Sleigh, Adrian C

2015-09-01

This paper investigates associations between hazardous jobs, mental health and wellbeing among Thai adults. In 2005, 87 134 distance-learning students from Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University completed a self-administered questionnaire; at the 2009 follow-up 60 569 again participated. Job characteristics were reported in 2005, psychological distress and life satisfaction were reported in both 2005 and 2009. We derived two composite variables grading psychologically and physically hazardous jobs and reported adjusted odds ratios (AOR) from multivariate logistic regressions. Analyses focused on cohort members in paid work: the total was 62 332 at 2005 baseline and 41 671 at 2009 follow-up. Cross-sectional AORs linking psychologically hazardous jobs to psychological distress ranged from 1.52 (one hazard) to 4.48 (four hazards) for males and a corresponding 1.34-3.76 for females. Similarly AORs for physically hazardous jobs were 1.75 (one hazard) to 2.76 (four or more hazards) for males and 1.70-3.19 for females. A similar magnitude of associations was found between psychologically adverse jobs and low life satisfaction (AORs of 1.34-4.34 among males and 1.18-3.63 among females). Longitudinal analyses confirm these cross-sectional relationships. Thus, significant dose-response associations were found linking hazardous job exposures in 2005 to mental health and wellbeing in 2009. The health impacts of psychologically and physically hazardous jobs in developed, Western countries are equally evident in transitioning Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand. Regulation and monitoring of work conditions will become increasingly important to the health and wellbeing of the Thai workforce. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press.

Sharing Lessons-Learned on Effective Open Data, Open-Source Practices from OpenAQ, a Global Open Air Quality Community.

Science.gov (United States)

Hasenkopf, C. A.

2017-12-01

Increasingly, open data, open-source projects are unearthing rich datasets and tools, previously impossible for more traditional avenues to generate. These projects are possible, in part, because of the emergence of online collaborative and code-sharing tools, decreasing costs of cloud-based services to fetch, store, and serve data, and increasing interest of individuals to contribute their time and skills to 'open projects.' While such projects have generated palpable enthusiasm from many sectors, many of these projects face uncharted paths for sustainability, visibility, and acceptance. Our project, OpenAQ, is an example of an open-source, open data community that is currently forging its own uncharted path. OpenAQ is an open air quality data platform that aggregates and universally formats government and research-grade air quality data from 50 countries across the world. To date, we make available more than 76 million air quality (PM2.5, PM10, SO2, NO2, O3, CO and black carbon) data points through an open Application Programming Interface (API) and a user-customizable download interface at https://openaq.org. The goal of the platform is to enable an ecosystem of users to advance air pollution efforts from science to policy to the private sector. The platform is also an open-source project (https://github.com/openaq) and has only been made possible through the coding and data contributions of individuals around the world. In our first two years of existence, we have seen requests for data to our API skyrocket to more than 6 million datapoints per month, and use-cases as varied as ingesting data aggregated from our system into real-time models of wildfires to building open-source statistical packages (e.g. ropenaq and py-openaq) on top of the platform to creating public-friendly apps and chatbots. We will share a whirl-wind trip through our evolution and the many lessons learned so far related to platform structure, community engagement, organizational model type

Student perspectives about mobile learning initiatives at Open University of Brazil: the mobile phone issue - doi: 10.4025/actascieduc.v32i2.11545

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Otacilio Antunes Santana

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Normal 0 21 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Tabela normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} The objectives of this study were to verify if students of Open University of Brazil approve of mobile learning (m-learning initiatives, to identify the students' perspectives about m-learning, to develop a model of instructional design for m-learning environments, and to quantify student satisfaction with the presented model. 1,328 students agreed to participate in this study, all students of Open University of Brazil. They were questioned about their perspectives on m-learning at this university and if they agree with this educational model. The students agreed with the possible implementation of m-learning at this university, especially through mobiles phones. Collectively, the main ideas that the students offered to improve the efficiency of knowledge construction were classified into three groups: theory, practice, and interactivity. They also agreed with an instructional design model that was developed and shown to the three groups.  

Big Five Personality Factors and Facets as Predictors of Openness to Diversity.

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Suejung; Pistole, M Carole

2017-11-17

Openness to diversity is a crucial component of cultural competence needed in the increasingly diversified modern society and a necessary condition for benefitting from diversity contacts and interventions (e.g., diversity training, cultural courses). Responding to the recent call for more research on personality and its relation to diversity outcomes, we examined the associations between Big Five personality (i.e., Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, Extraversion, Neuroticism, and Conscientiousness) higher order factors and lower order facets and universal-diverse orientation (i.e., open attitude of appreciating human universality and diversity; Miville et al., 1999 ). In the Study 1 (N = 338) web survey on Big Five factors, Openness to Experience and Agreeableness were associated with universal-diverse orientation significantly. In the Study 2 (N = 176) paper survey on both Big Five factors and facets, Openness to Experience, low Neuroticism, and Conscientiousness, and various lower-order facets of all the Big Five personality were associated with universal-diverse orientation significantly. Practical implications were suggested on how personality facets could be incorporated into current diversity interventions to enhance their effectiveness of promoting openness to diversity.

Study of the Factors Responsible for the Dropouts from the BSc Programme of Indira Gandhi National Open University

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bharat Inder Fozdar

2006-12-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a report on students who decided to drop out of the BSc programme offered by Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU. This study was designed to determine the reasons leading to students’ decisions to withdraw from the programme. Identified in this study are nine major reasons for dropouts. Results of this study lead to several suggestions for improving current instructional and delivery strategies of IGNOU’s BSc Programme. Following such suggestions could help to reduce students’ dropout rate for this particular programme through implementation of timely interventions at different critical stages of their learning journey.

Open Biomedical Engineering education in Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Ahluwalia, Arti; Atwine, Daniel; De Maria, Carmelo; Ibingira, Charles; Kipkorir, Emmauel; Kiros, Fasil; Madete, June; Mazzei, Daniele; Molyneux, Elisabeth; Moonga, Kando; Moshi, Mainen; Nzomo, Martin; Oduol, Vitalice; Okuonzi, John

2015-08-01

Despite the virtual revolution, the mainstream academic community in most countries remains largely ignorant of the potential of web-based teaching resources and of the expansion of open source software, hardware and rapid prototyping. In the context of Biomedical Engineering (BME), where human safety and wellbeing is paramount, a high level of supervision and quality control is required before open source concepts can be embraced by universities and integrated into the curriculum. In the meantime, students, more than their teachers, have become attuned to continuous streams of digital information, and teaching methods need to adapt rapidly by giving them the skills to filter meaningful information and by supporting collaboration and co-construction of knowledge using open, cloud and crowd based technology. In this paper we present our experience in bringing these concepts to university education in Africa, as a way of enabling rapid development and self-sufficiency in health care. We describe the three summer schools held in sub-Saharan Africa where both students and teachers embraced the philosophy of open BME education with enthusiasm, and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of opening education in this way in the developing and developed world.

Incorporating modern OpenGL into computer graphics education.

Science.gov (United States)

Reina, Guido; Muller, Thomas; Ertl, Thomas

2014-01-01

University of Stuttgart educators have updated three computer science courses to incorporate forward-compatible OpenGL. To help students, they developed an educational framework that abstracts some of modern OpenGL's difficult aspects.

A review of recent work on the Discrete Particle Method at the University of Twente : An introduction to the open-source package MercuryDPM

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Thornton, Anthony Richard; Krijgsman, Dinant; te Voortwis, Ate; Ogarko, V.; Luding, Stefan; Fransen, Rudi; Gonzalez, Sebastian; Bokhove, Onno; Imole, Olukayode Isaiah; Weinhart, Thomas; Graham Mustoe,

2013-01-01

In this paper we review some recent advances in DEM (DPM) modelling undertaken at the University of Twente. We introduce the new open-source package MercuryDPM that we have been developing over the last few years. MercuryDPM is an object-oriented program with a simple C++ implementation and

How OpenLearn Supports a Business Model for OER

Science.gov (United States)

Law, Patrina; Perryman, Leigh-Anne

2017-01-01

In 2013, the Open University (OU) in the UK launched a large-scale survey of users of its OpenLearn platform for open educational resources. The survey results revealed that OpenLearn is functioning as a showcase and a taster for the OU, thereby offering informal learners a bridge to formal education. In 2014 and 2015, the OpenLearn survey was…

A heterogeneous computing accelerated SCE-UA global optimization method using OpenMP, OpenCL, CUDA, and OpenACC.

Science.gov (United States)

Kan, Guangyuan; He, Xiaoyan; Ding, Liuqian; Li, Jiren; Liang, Ke; Hong, Yang

2017-10-01

The shuffled complex evolution optimization developed at the University of Arizona (SCE-UA) has been successfully applied in various kinds of scientific and engineering optimization applications, such as hydrological model parameter calibration, for many years. The algorithm possesses good global optimality, convergence stability and robustness. However, benchmark and real-world applications reveal the poor computational efficiency of the SCE-UA. This research aims at the parallelization and acceleration of the SCE-UA method based on powerful heterogeneous computing technology. The parallel SCE-UA is implemented on Intel Xeon multi-core CPU (by using OpenMP and OpenCL) and NVIDIA Tesla many-core GPU (by using OpenCL, CUDA, and OpenACC). The serial and parallel SCE-UA were tested based on the Griewank benchmark function. Comparison results indicate the parallel SCE-UA significantly improves computational efficiency compared to the original serial version. The OpenCL implementation obtains the best overall acceleration results however, with the most complex source code. The parallel SCE-UA has bright prospects to be applied in real-world applications.

The Morfeo Open Source Community: Building Technologies of the Future Web through Open Innovation

OpenAIRE

Lizcano Casas, David; Jiménez Gañán, Miguel; Soriano Camino, Francisco Javier; Hierro, Juan Jose; Martínez, Andres L.

2009-01-01

Nowadays enterprise collaboration is becoming essential for valuable innovation and competitive advantage. This collaboration has to be brought a step forward from technical collaboration till collective smart exploitation of global intelligence. Morfeo Open Source Community implements it as an open innovation schema of collaboration among SME’s, universities, research centres, public administration and major corporations. Its disruptive contribution to the state of the art is to manage the c...

Universe symmetries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Souriau, J.M.

1984-01-01

The sky uniformity can be noticed in studying the repartition of objects far enough. The sky isotropy description uses space rotations. The group theory elements will allow to give a meaning at the same time precise and general to the word a ''symmetry''. Universe models are reviewed, which must have both of the following qualities: - conformity with the physic known laws; - rigorous symmetry following one of the permitted groups. Each of the models foresees that universe evolution obeys an evolution equation. Expansion and big-bang theory are recalled. Is universe an open or closed space. Universe is also electrically neutral. That leads to a work hypothesis: the existing matter is not given data of universe but it appeared by evolution from nothing. Problem of matter and antimatter is then raised up together with its place in universe [fr

Pushing Firm Boundaries through Research and Open Innovation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Borup Lynggaard, Aviaja

2011-01-01

In this paper we will exemplify open innovation through a university-industry collaboration called Mobile Home Center (MHC). We will demonstrate how the model by Chesbrough can be used as a tool for mapping out a research process and furthermore illustrate what kind of outcast such project can...... provide into the company and bring forward the effect it has inside a company when performing open innovation together with research partners. We seek to bring forward how performing university-research collaboration can also change the practices inside a company and thus push the firm boundaries in new...... directions. Rather than looking at the firm as something static we will demonstrate how Chesbrough’s model on Open Innovation can be used to illustrate the dynamics of a company’s boundaries through Open Innovation....

Open-Ended Evolution

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Taylor, Tim; Bedau, Mark A.; Channon, Alastair

2016-01-01

This report describes the First Workshop on Open-Ended Evolution: Recent Progress and Future Milestones (OEE1), held during the ECAL 2015 conference at the University of York, U.K., in July 2015. We briefly summarise the content of the talks and discussions and the workshop, and provide links...

EUA's Open Access Checklist for Universities: A Practical Guide on Implementation

Science.gov (United States)

Morais, Rita; Lourenço, Joana; Smith, John H.; Borrell-Damian, Lidia

2015-01-01

Open Access (OA) to research publications has received increased attention from the academic community, scientific publishers, research funding agencies and governments. This movement has been growing exponentially in recent years, both in terms of the increasing number of Open Access journals and the proliferation of policies on this topic. The…

An Analysis of Challenges Faced by Students Learning in Virtual and Open Distance Learning System: A Case of Bindura University of Science Education (BUSE)

Science.gov (United States)

Dodo, Obediah; Makwerere, David; Parwada, Matavire; Parwada, Cosmas

2013-01-01

After realizing that the traditional modes of tuition in Zimbabwe's andragogy had either gone obsolete or over-crowded, BUSE ventured into a "virtualised" model of open and distance learning as a way of out-doing other competing universities. However, as the programme was rolled out, there came a myriad of challenges affecting the…

How to Run a University

Science.gov (United States)

Evans, G. R.

2006-01-01

The Lambert Review of Business-University Collaboration proposed a business model for universities in 2003. Pressure to change university governance to make it match the business model remains strong, and it is being most actively applied to Oxford and Cambridge. The Oxford and Cambridge governance debates (which began in the 1990s) open up the…

STUDY OF CURRENT APPROACHES FOR WEB PUBLISHING OF OPEN SCIENTIFIC DATA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. I. Mouromtsev

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Subject of Study. The subject of study of this work is closely related to the development of tools and technologies for Internet publishing of open data in machine-readable formats with regard to data of universities, educational and research organizations and scientific laboratories. We analyze the trends in the publishing formats most commonly used including not only popular formats such as pdf, csv, excel, but also the Semantic Web formats such as RDF. The paper describes the way of scientific data publication in semantic formats on the example of import and convertation of the information from University database. Methods. We describe the methods of publication for scientific open data in the network consisting of a set of transformations of the original data sets to the final semantic representation. These transformation steps include data upload from a relational database, data mapping on the ontological model (schema and the generation of a set of RDF-triples corresponding to the initial database fragment. A description is given to the popular open data publishing systems, such as CKAN, VIVO, and others. OpenLink Virtuoso system is selected as the primary storage and data publication. The description of RDF data model is used as a way of presenting open data of ITMO University. Main Results. The authors have described the methods of scientific open data publication and identified their shortcomings. To demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed method of university open data publication, a software prototype has been developed available online at: http://lod.ifmo.ru/. The example of the system usage is also given. Practical Relevance. Implementation of the proposed approach will improve significantly the effect of the publication of university open data and make it available for third-party applications, such as applications for information retrieval about educational activities and research results, analysis of scientific activities in

Open Hardware at CERN

CERN Multimedia

CERN Knowledge Transfer Group

2015-01-01

CERN is actively making its knowledge and technology available for the benefit of society and does so through a variety of different mechanisms. Open hardware has in recent years established itself as a very effective way for CERN to make electronics designs and in particular printed circuit board layouts, accessible to anyone, while also facilitating collaboration and design re-use. It is creating an impact on many levels, from companies producing and selling products based on hardware designed at CERN, to new projects being released under the CERN Open Hardware Licence. Today the open hardware community includes large research institutes, universities, individual enthusiasts and companies. Many of the companies are actively involved in the entire process from design to production, delivering services and consultancy and even making their own products available under open licences.

State-of-the-Art in Open Courseware Initiatives Worldwide

Science.gov (United States)

Vladoiu, Monica

2011-01-01

We survey here the state-of-the-art in open courseware initiatives worldwide. First, the MIT OpenCourseWare project is overviewed, as it has been the real starting point of the OCW movement. Usually, open courseware refers to a free and open digital publication of high quality university level educational materials that are organized as courses,…

The Challenges Facing Corporate Universities in Dealing with Open Innovation

Science.gov (United States)

Rhéaume, Louis; Gardoni, Mickaël

2015-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to illustrate the quick rise in the popularity of corporate universities since the 1990s. Because knowledge management is becoming imperative to the survival and growth of firms in most industries, better management of corporate universities is becoming more and more critical. The purpose of this paper is to analyze three…

Practical work at the Open University of the Netherlands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Meester, M.A.M.; Kirschner, P.A.

1995-01-01

Achieving practical objectives in an open distance educational system is a real challenge. Its philosophy requires self-instructional materials that students can study at their own time, place, and pace. Practical work, in particular laboratory work, can test the limits of this philosophy. A new

Video and Course Context Discussion on Massive Open Online Courses

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dubosson, Magali; Emad, Sabine; Broillet, Alexandra

2014-01-01

Video and Course Content Discussion on Massive Open Online Courses: An Exploratory Research—Magali Dubosson (HEG Fribourg), Sabine Emad (HEG Genève), Alexandra Broillet (University of Geneva and Webster University Geneva), Constance Kampf (Aarhus University, Denmark)...

Selectivity and Openness in Israeli Higher Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Guri-Rozenblit, Sarah

1990-01-01

Israel's efforts to respond to growing social demands and to expand higher education are outlined, focusing on the extent of the state's involvement in higher education, demand and supply in Israeli universities, the social and academic functions of the Open University, and the overall academization of postsecondary institutions. (MSE)

PREFACE: 2nd International School and Conference Saint-Petersburg OPEN on Optoelectronics, Photonics, Engineering and Nanostructures (SPbOPEN2015)

Science.gov (United States)

2015-11-01

The 2nd International School and Conference ''Saint Petersburg OPEN 2015'' on Optoelectronics, Photonics, Engineering and Nanostructures was held on April 6 - 8, 2015 at St. Petersburg Academic University. The School and Conference included a series of invited talks given by leading professors with the aim to introduce young scientists with actual problems and major advances in physics and technology. The keynote speakers were Mikhail V. Maximov (Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute RAS, Russia) Vladimir G. Dubrovskii (St. Petersburg Academic University and St. Petersburg State University, Russia) Anton Yu. Egorov (JSC Connector Optics, Russia) Victor V. Luchinin (St. Petersburg State Electrotechnical University, Russia) Vladislav E. Bugrov (St. Petersburg University of Internet Technologies, Mechanics and Optics, Russia) Vitali A. Schukin (VI Systems, Germany) Yuri P. Svirko (University of Eastern Finland, Finland) During the poster session all undergraduate and graduate students attending the conference presented their works. A sufficiently large number of participants, with more than 170 student attendees from all over the world, allowed the Conference to provide a fertile ground for fruitful discussions between the young scientists as well as to become a perfect platform for valuable discussions between student authors and highly experienced scientists. The best student papers, which were selected by the Program Committee and by the invited speakers basing on the theses and their poster presentation, were awarded with diplomas of the conference - see the photos. This year ''Saint Petersburg OPEN 2015'' is organized by St. Petersburg Academic University in cooperation with Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University. The School and Conference is supported by Russian Science Foundation, SPIE (The International Society for Optics and Photonics), OSA (The Optical Society) and by Skolkovo Foundation. It is a continuation of the annual schools and seminars for

LIGO and the opening of a unique observational window on the universe.

Science.gov (United States)

Kalogera, Vassiliki; Lazzarini, Albert

2017-03-21

A unique window on the universe opened on September 14, 2015, with direct detection of gravitational waves by the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors. This event culminated a half-century effort around the globe to develop terrestrial detectors of adequate sensitivity to achieve this goal. It also happened appropriately only a few months before the centennial of Einstein's final paper introducing the general theory of relativity. This detection provided the surprising discovery of a coalescing pair of "heavy" black holes (more massive than [Formula: see text] M[Formula: see text]) leading to the formation of a spinning [Formula: see text]62 solar mass black hole. One more binary black-hole detection and a significant candidate event demonstrated that a population of such merging binaries is formed in nature with a broad mass spectrum. This unique observational sample has already provided concrete measurements on the coalescence rates and has allowed us to test the theory of general relativity in the strong-field regime. As this nascent field of gravitational-wave astrophysics is emerging we are looking forward to the detection of binary mergers involving neutron stars and their electromagnetic counterparts, as well as continuous-wave sources, supernovae, a stochastic confusion background of compact-object mergers, known sources detected in unexpected ways, and completely unknown sources.

Difficulties Of Self-Learning To The Open Arab University Students In The Sultanate Of Oman From The Perspective Of The Students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dr. Mahmoud Mohamed Ali

2015-08-01

Full Text Available This study aimed to reveal the most important difficulties that hinder the Arab Open University in Oman students for the practice of self-learning method in their studies has been rated difficulties to the three pillars namely difficulties related to students and the skills of self-learning and difficulties related to teachers and methods of teaching and difficulties related to the curriculum and learning resources and after the application of the study of the identification of the difficulties tool 200 of university students 697 study concluded that many of the results that were notably that the difficulties related to students and the skills of self-learning more difficulties impeding the exercise of self-learning compared to the difficulties related to the other two mentioned and the students ability to connect and communicate and to evaluate themselves and correct educational careers and their ability to control their behavior and direct their activities toward self-learning are more difficulties influential and disability for students on their ability to exercise self-learning in their study of the Arab open University and as for the axis of teachers and teaching methods has shown results weakness encourage teachers to students to apply and practice this kind of learning and focus on traditional methods and weak development of skills for self-learning is one of the more difficulties that limit the exercise of the students of this method of learning and for the focus of the curriculum and learning resources has shown results of the study that the lack of educational software miscellaneous non-availability of electronic research base and lack of stimulating courses on the exercise of self-learning method is one of the most difficulties that hinder students ability to exercise self-learning.

Geometry of the Universe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gurevich, L.Eh.; Gliner, Eh.B.

1978-01-01

Problems of investigating the Universe space-time geometry are described on a popular level. Immediate space-time geometries, corresponding to three cosmologic models are considered. Space-time geometry of a closed model is the spherical Riemann geonetry, of an open model - is the Lobachevskij geometry; and of a plane model - is the Euclidean geometry. The Universe real geometry in the contemporary epoch of development is based on the data testifying to the fact that the Universe is infinitely expanding

THE OPEN EDUCATION SYSTEM: FORMATION AND FUNCTIONING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julia A. Mamonova

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The study is aimed at developing the basic principles of foundation and functioning of the open educational system, its relevance results from the strategic goal of knowledge integration facing the modern universities.The research findings and novelty: The author identifies the general needs of the users of open educational resources and proves the advantages of organizing the institutional repositories, based on sociological surveys targeting the university students of Nizhny Novgorod and academic staff of several Russian higher schools. The basic principles of the unified educational information and communications environment were developed, and a feasible structure of educational portal presented.The practical significance: The research outcomes, complying with the new ≪consumer strategies≫, can be used by the higher educational institutions for developing the distance system of education and implementing the open educational resources in academic process.

National open university of Nigeria (noun) students' perception of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper studied the perception and challenges of students of open and distance learning (ODL) mode. ODL is a welcome development in Nigeria educational system. Participants in this study were 500 NOUN students that were randomly selected from Abuja study center. A well structured and validated questionnaire ...

Universal appeal of how it all started

CERN Multimedia

Grattan, G

2002-01-01

Our current understanding of how the universe was created is being explained in an interactive exhibition developed by PPARC, entitled 'Building the Universe', which opened in the Odyssey, Belfast today.

Anadolu University, Open Education Faculty, Turkish Language and Literature Department Graduated Students' Views towards Pedagogical Formation Training Certificate, Special Teaching Methods Courses and Turkish Language and Literature Education from: Sample of Turkey

Science.gov (United States)

Bulut, Mesut

2016-01-01

The aim of this study is to find out Anadolu University Open Education Faculty Turkish Language and Literature graduated students' views towards Pedagogical Formation Training certificate and their opinions about special teaching methods. This study has been done in one of the universities of East Karadeniz in Turkey in which the 20 Turkish…

University Teaching around the World.

Science.gov (United States)

Ballantine, Jeanne

1989-01-01

Explores the concept of good teaching in universities worldwide by interviewing professors and exchange students from USSR, England, Spain, Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union, Turkey, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan. Finds that teaching receives low priority in elite institutions while universities with open access…

THE IMPACT O ICT IN LEARNING THROUGH DISTANCE EDUCATION PROGRAMMES AT ZIMBABWE OPEN UNIVERSITY (ZOU: Roles Of Ict In Learning Through Distance Education Programmes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John MPOFU, Zimbabwe Open University ZIMBABWE

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Zimbabwe Distance Open University is enrols students from both urban and rural settings. The majority of students living and working in rural areas have limited or no access to computers and electricity as a result the use of information and communication technology (ICT in the learning process is very limited. Though government has realized the importance of developing ICT for learning purposes, in practice very little has materialized in the provision of the ICT technology especially in rural areas. The majority of Zimbabwe Open University students have expressed difficulties in coping with their studies partly due to lack of supplementary reading materials from internet. The research will use a descriptive survey method to extract information regarding use of ICT from students living in rural areas and those in urban areas. Observation on what actually takes place in the library and learning process will be highlighted by the researching team comprising three lecturers who all work for ZOU. A contrastive approach will be used to compare the performance of students with access to internet with those without access to internet. Interviews of ZOU students and lecturers will be used to collect data.

Types of Open Access Publishers in Scopus

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Solomon

2013-05-01

Full Text Available This study assessed characteristics of publishers who published 2010 open access (OA journals indexed in Scopus. Publishers were categorized into six types; professional, society, university, scholar/researcher, government, and other organizations. Type of publisher was broken down by number of journals/articles published in 2010, funding model, location, discipline and whether the journal was born or converted to OA. Universities and societies accounted for 50% of the journals and 43% of the articles published. Professional publisher accounted for a third of the journals and 42% of the articles. With the exception of professional and scholar/researcher publishers, most journals were originally subscription journals that made at least their digital version freely available. Arts, humanities and social science journals are largely published by societies and universities outside the major publishing countries. Professional OA publishing is most common in biomedicine, mathematics, the sciences and engineering. Approximately a quarter of the journals are hosted on national/international platforms, in Latin America, Eastern Europe and Asia largely published by universities and societies without the need for publishing fees. This type of collaboration between governments, universities and/or societies may be an effective means of expanding open access publications.

Tiger Teams Technical Assistance: Reliable, Universal Open Architecture for Card Access to Dispense Alternative Fuels

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2002-03-01

Report discusses the dilemma of incorporating consistent, convenient, universal card access (or ''pay-at-the-pump'') systems into alternative fueling stations across the country. The state of California continues to be in the forefront of implementing alternative fuels for transportation applications. Aggressive efforts to deploy alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) in California have highlighted the need to provide adequate fueling stations and develop appropriate, user-friendly means to purchase fuel at the pump. Since these fuels are not typically provided by petroleum companies at conventional fueling stations, and acceptance of cash is often not an option, a payment method must be developed that is consistent with the way individual AFV operators are accustomed to purchasing automotive fuels--with a credit card. At the same time, large fleets like the California Department of General Services must be able to use a single fuel card that offers comprehensive fleet management services. The Gas Technology Institute's Infrastructure Working Group (IWG) and its stakeholders have identified the lack of a common card reader system as a hurdle to wider deployment of AFVs in California and the United States. In conjunction with the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Clean Cities Program, the IWG has outlined a multi-phased strategy to systematically address the barriers to develop a more ''open'' architecture that's similar to the way gasoline and diesel are currently dispensed. Under the auspices of the IWG, survey results were gathered (circa 1999) from certain fuel providers, as a means to more carefully study card reader issues and their potential solutions. Pilot programs featuring card reader systems capable of accepting wider payment options have been attempted in several regions of the United States with mixed success. In early 2001, DOE joined the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the

Mobile Learning: Challenges for Teachers of Indian Open Universities

Science.gov (United States)

Awadhiya, Ashish Kumar; Miglani, Anshu

2016-01-01

"Mobile Learning" (m-Learning) has emerged as a trend in the field of Open and Distance Learning (ODL). It is removing the time and geographical barriers for learning by placing learning opportunities at the fingertips of learners. ODL institutes in India are also adopting m-learning in different forms; however, it is not fully…

Visibility of Open Acces Repositories of Digital University Libraries: A Case Study of the EU Visegrád Group

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erzsebet Dani

2014-04-01

Full Text Available For scientific research institutions, as well as for scientists individually, the degree of accessibility of a given institution's and of an individual researcher's scientific achievement is of growing significance in this world of the internet: i.e., it is vitally important to know about and to have easy access to what research is conducted in what fields and with what results in the different institutions. In this study I intend to survey the present situation concerning the homepages of leading universities of the so-called Visegrad Group inside the European Union and the extent to which the present situation serves or fails to serve the cause of the philosophy of open access. My aim is twofold. (1 I will consider whether the scienetific-knowledge repositories built by universities are accessible or not, and/or how easy or difficult it is to access them. Provided that those repositories exist at all, because, in spite of the fact that the Berlin Declaration is generally adopted in principle, the homepages of a good number of the surveyed Visegrad Group universities or libraries do not make their research databases easily accessible or accessible at all, or they can be accessed in the given national language only. (2[1] http://openaccess.mpg.de/286432/Berlin-Declaration [09.18.2013.] [2] https://www.openaire.eu/en/contact-us/partners

Chaotic inflation and global geometry of the Universe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berezin, V.A.; Kuz'min, V.A.; Tkachev, I.I.

1985-01-01

An inflation model of the Universe is discussed. It is shown that either the early Universe is a ''mole-hill'' (which is possible both in a closed Universe and in an open one), or the fluctuation occupies more than half of the closed Universe. Other potentialities are extremely exotic

The Critical Role of Institutional Services in Open Access Advocacy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tomasz Neugebauer

2013-06-01

Full Text Available This paper examines the development of the Open Access movement in scholarly communication, with particular attention to some of the rhetorical strategies and policy mechanisms used to promote it to scholars and scientists. Despite the majority of journal publishers’ acceptance of author self-archiving practices, and the minimal time commitment required by authors to successfully self-archive their work in disciplinary or institutional repositories, the majority of authors still by and large avoid participation. The paper reviews the strategies and arguments used for increasing author participation in open access, including the role of open access mandates. We recommend a service-oriented approach towards increasing participation in open access, rather than rhetoric that speculates on the benefits that open access will have on text/data mining innovation. In advocating for open access participation, we recommend focusing on its most universal and tangible purpose: increasing public open (gratis access to the published results of publicly funded research. Researchers require strong institutional support to understand the copyright climate of open access self-archiving, user-friendly interfaces and useful metrics, such as repository usage statistics. We recommend that mandates and well-crafted and responsive author support services at universities will ultimately be required to ensure the growth of open access. We describe the mediated deposit service that was developed to support author self-archiving in Spectrum: Concordia University Research Repository. By comparing the number of deposits of non-thesis materials (e.g. articles and conference presentations that were accomplished through the staff-mediated deposit service to the number of deposits that were author-initiated, we demonstrate the relative significance of this service to the growth of the repository.

Lifelong Open and Flexible Learning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bang, Jørgen

2006-01-01

and Flexible (LOF) learning embracing characteristics as: open learning, distance learning, e-learning, online learning, open accessibility, multimedia support, virtual mobility, learning communities, dual mode (earn & learn) approaches, and the like.In my presentation I will focus on the EADTU strategies...... for creating a synergy network in e-learning – eventually leading to a European Learning Space that supports virtual mobility of students, staff and courses, adds an e-dimension to the Bologa process and facilitates collaboration between universities and the corporate sector....

ScienceSoft: Open software for open science

CERN Document Server

Di Meglio, Alberto

2012-01-01

Most of the software developed today by research institutes, university, research projects, etc. is typically stored in local source and binary repositories and available for the duration of a project lifetime only. Finding software based on given functional characteristics is almost impossible and binary packages are mostly available from local university or project repositories rather than the open source community repositories like Fedora/EPEL or Debian. Furthermore general information about who develops, contributes to and most importantly uses a given software program is very difficult to find out and yet the widespread availability of such information would give more visibility and credibility to the software products. The creation of links or relationships not only among pieces of software, but equally among the people interacting with the software across and beyond specific project and communities would foster a more active community and create the conditions for sharing ideas and skills, a ...

Stability of the Einstein static universe in open cosmological models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Canonico, Rosangela; Parisi, Luca

2010-01-01

The stability properties of the Einstein static solution of general relativity are altered when corrective terms arising from modification of the underlying gravitational theory appear in the cosmological equations. In this paper the existence and stability of static solutions are considered in the framework of two recently proposed quantum gravity models. The previously known analysis of the Einstein static solutions in the semiclassical regime of loop quantum cosmology with modifications to the gravitational sector is extended to open cosmological models where a static neutrally stable solution is found. A similar analysis is also performed in the framework of Horava-Lifshitz gravity under detailed balance and projectability conditions. In the case of open cosmological models the two solutions found can be either unstable or neutrally stable according to the admitted values of the parameters.

Accessibility of Open Educational Resources for Distance Education ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper investigated the accessibility of Open Educational Resources at. The Open University of Tanzania. Specifically, the study looked at staff and students' level of awareness on the types of OER available at OUT Library, access and use trends of OER by academic staff and students, challenges faced in accessing ...

Open access and scholarly communication, part 4

CERN Document Server

Eden, Brad

2009-01-01

This fourth e-book on the subject of open access in the academic field includes a Latin American case study on open access penetration, a paper from Germany on the promotion of OA illustrated by a project at the University of Konstanz, and a case study on OA at Bioline International, a non-profit scholarly publications aggregator, distributor, publisher and publishing assistance service.

Education for university students, high school teachers and the general public using the Kinki University Reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsuruta, T.

2007-01-01

Atomic Energy Research Institute of Kinki University is equipped with a nuclear reactor which is called UTR-KINKI. UTR is the abbreviation for University Teaching and Research Reactor. The reactor is the first one installed in Japanese universities. Though the reactor is owned and operated by Kinki University, its use is widely open to scientists and students from other universities and research institutions. The reactor is made the best of teaching instrument for the training of high school teachers. In addition, the reactor is utilized for general public education concerning atomic energy. (author)

Implementing an Open Source Learning Management System: A Critical Analysis of Change Strategies

Science.gov (United States)

Uys, Philip M.

2010-01-01

This paper analyses the change and innovation strategies that Charles Sturt University (CSU) used from 2007 to 2009 during the implementation and mainstreaming of an open source learning management system (LMS), Sakai, named locally as "CSU Interact". CSU was in January 2008 the first Australian University to implement an open source…

Social networks' openness, university entrepreneurship and differences between regional innovation systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Soetanto, D.; Van Geenhuizen, M.S.

2012-01-01

Enhancing the establishment and growth of spin-off firms from university is receiving an increased attention in local and regional policy today. University spin-off firms are typically in short of resources, reason why social networks play a vital role in their early growth. There is however a lack

FORMS OF DEMOCRACY IN EDUCATION: Open Access and Distance Education–Athens, Greece

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Reviewed by Antonis LIONARAKIS

2008-01-01

Full Text Available The 4th International Conference in Open and Distance Learning - Forms of Democracy in Education: Open Access and Distance Education (ICODL 2007 had a special role to play this time: it was focused on the relationship between distance education and democratic principles which are connected and interrelated to eachother. These principles identify a new social role of distance education. Educational applications can be more flexible and effective when they follow some basic From the early beginning open universities and alternative forms of education have defined e democratic framework for educational systems. Their connection with the conventional educational system has influenced to a great extend new innovations in the system. With this approach we can realize that distance learning may become a bridge between these innovations and the initial ideals of democracy and human ICODL 2007 took place in Athens, Greece, from 23 to 25 of November 2007. There were 160 papers presented from 36 countries: Greece, Cyprus, Belgium, Spain, Iran,Canada, Turkey, South Africa, Italy, Palestine, France, Ireland, Japan, Nigeria,Bulgaria, USA, Austria, Finland, Pakistan, Great Britain, Ukraine, Egypt, Lithuania, Israel, India, Czech Republic, Brazil, Portugal, Botswana, Barbados–West Indies,The key–note speakers of ICODL 2007 were Professor Alan Tait, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, The Open University/UK, with the title ―What are Open Universities for?‖, Professor Michael Grahame Moore, the Pennsylvania State University and Editor of the American Journal of Distance Education with the title ―The scholarship of distance education: a review of the 40 years of growth and achievement‖ and Professor Paul Clark, Senior Research Fellow in the IET at the UK Open University with the title

Innovative and high quality education through Open Education and OER

OpenAIRE

Stracke, Christian M.

2017-01-01

Online presentation and webinar by Stracke, C. M. (2017, 18 December) on "Innovative and high quality education through Open Education and OER" for the Belt and Road Open Education Learning Week by the Beijing Normal University, China.

Open source in Experimental Psychology

OpenAIRE

Dalmaijer, Edwin

2015-01-01

Talk on using open-source software in experimental psychology. Presented on 3 March 2015, at the Attention, Brain and Cognitive Development group (http://www.psy.ox.ac.uk/research/attention-brain-and-cognitive-development-group) at the University of Oxford's Department of Experimental Psychology.

Open Admissions: Expanding Educational Opportunity

Science.gov (United States)

Benjamin, Jeanette Ann; Powell, Philip Edward

1971-01-01

A report on initial results of the open admissions policy (City University of New York) concludes that significant numbers of high risk students can make progress toward a degree. Program modifications are suggested as a response to the learning needs of these students. (Author/CJ)

Relationship of obesity to physical activity, domestic activities, and sedentary behaviours: cross-sectional findings from a national cohort of over 70,000 Thai adults

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bain Chris

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Patterns of physical activity (PA, domestic activity and sedentary behaviours are changing rapidly in Asia. Little is known about their relationship with obesity in this context. This study investigates in detail the relationship between obesity, physical activity, domestic activity and sedentary behaviours in a Thai population. Methods 74,981 adult students aged 20-50 from all regions of Thailand attending the Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University in 2005-2006 completed a self-administered questionnaire, including providing appropriate self-reported data on height, weight and PA. We conducted cross-sectional analyses of the relationship between obesity, defined according to Asian criteria (Body Mass Index (BMI ≥25, and measures of physical activity and sedentary behaviours (exercise-related PA; leisure-related computer use and television watching ("screen-time"; housework and gardening; and sitting-time adjusted for age, sex, income and education and compared according to a range of personal characteristics. Results Overall, 15.6% of participants were obese, with a substantially greater prevalence in men (22.4% than women (9.9%. Inverse associations between being obese and total weekly sessions of exercise-related PA were observed in men, with a significantly weaker association seen in women (p(interaction Conclusions Domestic activities and sedentary behaviours are important in relation to obesity in Thailand, independent of exercise-related physical activity. In this setting, programs to prevent and treat obesity through increasing general physical activity need to consider overall energy expenditure and address a wide range of low-intensity high-volume activities in order to be effective.

The Open College of the North West, Distance Learning, and the "Open Tech" Programme.

Science.gov (United States)

Percy, Keith; Saunders, Murray

1982-01-01

A regional program of pre-university courses in northwestern England open to adults with no entry qualifications is discussed. It uses some distance learning techniques but is investigating expansion to technical education through distance learning. The complexities and potential costs of such a substantial directional change are examined. (MSE)

Use of technology for supporting and developing the national open

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Emeka Egbochuku

ways of solving this problem was the establishment of the National Open. University of ... organizations and individual experts in partnership for the advancement of using needed modern technology to support the university. Key Words: ...

Awareness and Use of Open Access Scholarly Publications by ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The study investigated the awareness and use of Open Access scholarly publications by postgraduate students of Faculty of Science in Ahmadu Bello University Zaria (ABU), Kaduna State, Nigeria. The study was guided by four research objectives namely to determine the channels of awareness of Open Access ...

Theorizing the Entrepreneurial University: Open Questions and Possible Answers

Science.gov (United States)

Sotiris, Panagiotis

2012-01-01

This article attempts to address theoretical questions regarding the transition towards an entrepreneurial university and the changes associated with this process, namely the increased commodification, the competitive quest for private funding and the introduction of business management practices. The important theoretical advances made in the…

Attitudes and Perceptions of Students to Open and Distance Learning in Nigeria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Olugbenga Ojo

2006-06-01

Full Text Available In the West African Region of Africa, the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN is the first full fledged university that operates in an exclusively open and distance learning (ODL mode of education. NOUN focuses mainly on open and distance teaching and learning system, and delivers its courses materials via print in conjunction with information and communication technology (ICT, when applicable. This ‘single mode’ of open education is different from the integration of distance learning system into the face- to- face teaching and learning system, which is more typical of conventional Universities in Nigeria and other parts of the world. Thus, NOUN reflects a novel development in the provision of higher education in Nigeria. This study assesses the attitudes and perceptions of distance teaching and learning by students enrolled in the NOUN and of the National Teachers’ Institute (NTI compared to their experiences at conventional universities. One hundred and twenty (n = 120 randomly selected NOUN and NTI students of NOUN were the subjects of the study. The Students’ Attitude and Perception Rating of Open and Distance Learning Institutions Inventory (SAPRODLII, developed by the researchers, was administered to the subjects to measure their attitudes and experiences. Results of the study showed that students generally have a positive perception and attitude towards ODL, compared to traditional forms of higher education.

An open experiment of a submilli-PIXE camera

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matsuyama, S.; Ishii, K.; Yamazaki, H.; Iwasaki, S.; Tokai, Y.; Sugimoto, A.; Endo, H.; Ozawa, T.

1999-01-01

We have annually held an open experiment of PIXE analysis since 1996 to get people's understanding on nuclear technology and radiation science. Up to the present, more than 270 participants joined and enjoyed the open experiments. This year, we demonstrated performance of a submilli-PIXE camera and had sixty-nine participants in the open experiment of PIXE. Elemental spatial distribution images gave deep impression to the participants. Half of the participants were high school students since the open experiment of PIXE was held during the period of open campus of Tohoku University. About ten percents of the participants were junior high school students. Our open experiment of PIXE was very effective to arouse public interest in radiation science and nuclear technology. (author)

OPEN COURSEWARE OPPORTUNITIES FOR ARCHITECTURE EDUCATION: Anadolu University ANAPOD Experience

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alper CABUK

2009-10-01

Full Text Available Today, in every field of our lives, an efficient information access and mobility has become a prerequisite for the sustainability of all systems. Considering this fact, Internet technology is the fastest and the most proper media to access the required information worldwide, from our daily questions to scientific researches. Within this rapid development, many Internet compatible applications have been specialized to ease information access and sharing. Hence, internet inevitably becomes the top asset for obtaining the inputs, sharing the information and marketing goods and services. Increasing demand for web based education services is also one of the reflections of this rapid development. Internet based education models integrated with computer technologies provide the best and most efficient conclusions for mass education. To meet the mentioned demands and needs, Anadolu University, has been providing higher education opportunities through distance education since 1982. The University, with over 1.2 million distant students, is one of the leading universities in Turkey and the world. ANAPOD application is a new education model within University’s distance education process, which is highly applicable for many disciplines. In this paper, ANAPOD experiences for the architecture education will be discussed.

Editorial | Kigadye | Huria: Journal of the Open University of Tanzania

African Journals Online (AJOL)

DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT Open Access DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT Subscription or Fee Access. Editorial. ESP Kigadye. Abstract. Editorial. Full Text: EMAIL FULL TEXT EMAIL FULL TEXT · DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT · AJOL African Journals Online. HOW TO USE AJOL... for Researchers · for Librarians ...

Depth of interaction in scintillation crystal by light collimation for the design of open-quotes universal nuclear medicine imagerclose quotes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bosnjakovic, V.B.

1996-01-01

The detector head for a dual headed open-quotes Universal Nuclear Medicine Imagerclose quotes (UNMI) is designed. It is based on position sensitive (PS) area detectors fitted with a thick (0.75 inches) NaI(Tl) crystal. In order to make it open-quotes universalclose quotes, a means for determining the depth of interaction (DOI) in the crystal is devised. Crystal thickness is divided into two layers, each 3/8 inches thick, by insertion of a thin (0.03 inches) quartz (glass) layer; these layers added to the external lower and upper surfaces of crystal, too, form two internal open-quotes light collimatorclose quotes (LC) channels by their reflectively (specular) polished couplings. These DOI channels, according to the light refraction / reflection law direct the light reflected from quartz layers (as exceeding a critical angle) through NaI(Tl) layers to the external parts of LC system; these are connected via quartz optical cables to the DOI determining PM tubes. DOI electronics including a coincidence circuit, connecting signals from conventional PS and DOI PM tubes arrays, identifies a DOI layer and shifts an, x, y, address to the particular DOI memory stack. The UNMI design is likely to retain spatial resolution of PS detectors - gamma cameras for low energy single photon emitters and to improve spatial resolution in PET studies done by PS detectors fitted with thick NaI crystals, enabling a proper correction for parallax error

A Matter of Discipline: Open Access, the Humanities, and Art History

Science.gov (United States)

Tomlin, Patrick

2009-01-01

Recent events suggest that open access has gained new momentum in the humanities, but the slow and uneven development of open-access initiatives in humanist fields continues to hinder the consolidation of efforts across the university. Although various studies have traced the general origins of the humanities' reticence to embrace open access, few…

Editorial | Kigadye | Huria: Journal of the Open University of Tanzania

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Journal Home > Vol 19, No 1 (2015) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads. Username, Password, Remember me, or Register. DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT Open Access DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT Subscription or Fee Access. Editorial. ESP Kigadye. Abstract. No Abstract. Full Text: EMAIL FULL TEXT EMAIL ...

Cosmological D-instantons and cyclic universes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bergshoeff, E A; Collinucci, A; Roest, D; Russo, J G; Townsend, P K

2005-01-01

For models of gravity coupled to hyperbolic sigma models, such as the metric-scalar sector of IIB supergravity, we show how smooth trajectories in the 'augmented target space' connect FLRW cosmologies to non-extremal D-instantons through a cosmological singularity. In particular, we find closed cyclic universes that undergo an endless sequence of big-bang to big-crunch cycles separated by instanton 'phases'. We also find 'big-bounce' universes in which a collapsing closed universe bounces off its cosmological singularity to become an open expanding universe

Open Praxis, volumen 4 issue 1

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Editor Open Praxis

2010-03-01

Full Text Available - Correlation between Performance and Quality of Academic Staff in National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN Olubiyi Adeniyi Adewale, Timothy Olugbenga Ajadi & Juliet O.Inegbedion (1-7 - Benchmarking E-Learning in UK Universities: Lessons from and for the International Context Paul Bacsich (9-17 - Structural equation modelling of factors affecting success in student’s performance in ODL-Programs: Extending Quality Management concepts Per Bergamin, Simone Ziska & Rudolf Groner (18-25 - Quality Assurance in Open and Distance Learning in India S.K. Gandhe (26-32 - Leading innovative approaches to the financial crisis Sarah Guri-Rosenblit (33-38 - TOWARDS KNOWLEDGE BASED ECONOMIES - the contribution of open distance learning strategies in addressing equity and inclusiveness issues in small states like Mauritius Jheengut (39-63 - New Approaches to Quality Assurance in the Changing World of Higher Education Maria Jose Lemaitre (64-75 - Entrepreneurship: New Challenges for Higher Education Institutions Josep Lladós (76-87 - A Psychometric Study in the Performance of Distance learners Ravi K Mahajan (88-94 - Managing Quality Assurance for Distance Learning Programs in Malaysia Mohd Ismail Ramli (95-101 - Employability and lifelong learning Hazel Simmons-McDonald (102-113

Validation of open-surgery VR trainer

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sanders, A.J.B.; Luursema, J.M.; Warntjes, P.; Mastboom, W.J.B.; Geelkerken, R.H.; Klaase, J.M.; Rödel, S.G.J.; ten Cate Hoedemaker, H.O.; Kommers, P.A.M.; Verwey, W.B.; Kunst, E.E.; Westwood, James D.

2006-01-01

VREST (Virtual Reality Educational Surgical Tools) is developing a universal and autonomous simulation platform which can be used for training and assessment of medical students and for continuing education of physicians. With the VREST - Virtual Lichtenstein Trainer, simulating the open surgery

A study of institutional spending on open access publication fees in Germany.

Science.gov (United States)

Jahn, Najko; Tullney, Marco

2016-01-01

Publication fees as a revenue source for open access publishing hold a prominent place on the agendas of researchers, policy makers, and academic publishers. This study contributes to the evolving empirical basis for funding these charges and examines how much German universities and research organisations spent on open access publication fees. Using self-reported cost data from the Open APC initiative, the analysis focused on the amount that was being spent on publication fees, and compared these expenditure with data from related Austrian (FWF) and UK (Wellcome Trust, Jisc) initiatives, in terms of both size and the proportion of articles being published in fully and hybrid open access journals. We also investigated how thoroughly self-reported articles were indexed in Crossref, a DOI minting agency for scholarly literature, and analysed how the institutional spending was distributed across publishers and journal titles. According to self-reported data from 30 German universities and research organisations between 2005 and 2015, expenditures on open access publication fees increased over the years in Germany and amounted to € 9,627,537 for 7,417 open access journal articles. The average payment was € 1,298, and the median was € 1,231. A total of 94% of the total article volume included in the study was supported in accordance with the price cap of € 2,000, a limit imposed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) as part of its funding activities for open access funding at German universities. Expenditures varied considerably at the institutional level. There were also differences in how much the institutions spent per journal and publisher. These differences reflect, at least in part, the varying pricing schemes in place including discounted publication fees. With an indexing coverage of 99%, Crossref thoroughly indexed the open access journals articles included in the study. A comparison with the related openly available cost data from Austria and

A study of institutional spending on open access publication fees in Germany

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Najko Jahn

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Publication fees as a revenue source for open access publishing hold a prominent place on the agendas of researchers, policy makers, and academic publishers. This study contributes to the evolving empirical basis for funding these charges and examines how much German universities and research organisations spent on open access publication fees. Using self-reported cost data from the Open APC initiative, the analysis focused on the amount that was being spent on publication fees, and compared these expenditure with data from related Austrian (FWF and UK (Wellcome Trust, Jisc initiatives, in terms of both size and the proportion of articles being published in fully and hybrid open access journals. We also investigated how thoroughly self-reported articles were indexed in Crossref, a DOI minting agency for scholarly literature, and analysed how the institutional spending was distributed across publishers and journal titles. According to self-reported data from 30 German universities and research organisations between 2005 and 2015, expenditures on open access publication fees increased over the years in Germany and amounted to € 9,627,537 for 7,417 open access journal articles. The average payment was € 1,298, and the median was € 1,231. A total of 94% of the total article volume included in the study was supported in accordance with the price cap of € 2,000, a limit imposed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG as part of its funding activities for open access funding at German universities. Expenditures varied considerably at the institutional level. There were also differences in how much the institutions spent per journal and publisher. These differences reflect, at least in part, the varying pricing schemes in place including discounted publication fees. With an indexing coverage of 99%, Crossref thoroughly indexed the open access journals articles included in the study. A comparison with the related openly available cost data

Cosmology in the plasma universe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alfven, H.

1987-05-01

Space observations have opened the spectral regions of X-rays and γ-rays, which are produced by plasma processes. The Plasma Universe derived from observations in these regions is drastically different from the now generally accepted 'Visual Light Universe' based on visual light observations alone. Historically this transitions can be compared only to the transition from the geocentric to the heliocentric cosmology. The purpose of this paper is to discuss what criteria a cosmological theory must satisfy in order to be acceptable in the Plasma Universe. (author)

Academic Culture and Campus Culture of Universities

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Xi; Tian, Xianghong

2012-01-01

Academic culture of universities mainly consists of academic outlooks, academic spirits, academic ethics and academic environments. Campus culture in a university is characterized by individuality, academic feature, opening, leading, variety and creativity. The academic culture enhances the construction of campus culture. The campus culture…

THE IMPACT O ICT IN LEARNING THROUGH DISTANCE EDUCATION PROGRAMMES AT ZIMBABWE OPEN UNIVERSITY (ZOU): Roles Of Ict In Learning Through Distance Education Programmes

OpenAIRE

John MPOFU, Zimbabwe Open University ZIMBABWE; Sylod CHIMHENGA; Onias MAFA,

2013-01-01

Zimbabwe Distance Open University is enrols students from both urban and rural settings. The majority of students living and working in rural areas have limited or no access to computers and electricity as a result the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the learning process is very limited. Though government has realized the importance of developing ICT for learning purposes, in practice very little has materialized in the provision of the ICT technology especially in ru...

Reusing open data for learning database design through project development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jose-Norberto MAZÓN

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This paper describes a novel methodology based on reusing open data for applying project-based learning in a Database Design subject of a university degree. This methodology is applied to the ARA (Alto Rendimiento Académico or High Academic Performance group taught in the degree in Computer Engineering at the University of Alicante (Spain during 2012/2013, 2013/2014, and 2014/2015. Openness philosophy implies that huge amount of data is available to students in tabular format, ready for reusing. In our teaching experience, students propose an original scenario where different open data can be reused to a specific goal. Then, it is proposed to design a database in order to manage this data in the envisioned scenario. Open data in the subject helps in instilling a creative and entrepreneur attitude in students, as well as encourages autonomous and lifelong learning. Surveys made to students at the end of each year shown that reusing open data within project-based learning methodologies makes more motivated students since they are using real data.

Open wounds of the Achilles tendon in tropical settings: 36 cases at the Donka University Hospital in Guinea Conakry.

Science.gov (United States)

Lamah, L; Diallo, M; Tékpa, J B D; Bah, M L; Keita, K; Sidime, S; Soumah, M T; Diallo, I

2017-06-01

The aim of this study was to analyze the epidemiologic, etiologic, and therapeutic aspects of open wounds of the Achilles tendon managed in the Donka University Hospital. This 3-year prospective included all patients admitted for an Achilles tendon injury. Closed injuries, suppurating wounds, and those that occurred more than 24 hours before admission were excluded. Surgical treatment consisted in debridement and tendon repair, with plaster cast protection for 6 weeks. The study included 36 patients with a mean age of 23.4 years, 29 of whom were male. The primary cause was traffic accidents (n = 21), mainly due to motorcycle taxis (n = 18). The mean follow-up was 9 months. Infection (7 cases) and skin necrosis (5 cases) were the main postoperative complications. The functional result, evaluated by the McComis score, was excellent in 20 cases, good or satisfactory in 10, and poor in 6 cases. Open injuries of the Achilles tendon are common in Guinea-Conakry and mostly due to motorcycle taxis. Outcome of surgical treatment depends on the severity of the injury. Infection and skin necrosis are frequent complications, and their management is challenging in this setting.

Open BIM in courses in engineering education

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Karlshøj, Jan; Vestergaard, Flemming

2016-01-01

The Technical University of Denmark has included open BIM in its BIM or BIM-related courses for bachelor, master and PhD students studying civil or architectural engineering. A majority of students are introduced to open BIM during their education, and those who are selecting courses in advanced...... BIM or building design are becoming more familiar with the concept. A number of students are including open BIM in their bachelor projects or master theses. The main reason for including open BIM in teaching is that open BIM has been a mandatory deliverable in Denmark since 2007 in state......-financed construction projects through the IFC format. From 2013 the requirements also included social housing and all public building projects. Students are exploring the capabilities of open BIM, and have been able both to identify satisfactory results as well as propose enhancements in order to compensate...

Students' Experiences with Community in an Open Access Course

Science.gov (United States)

Blackmon, Stephanie J.; Cullen, Theresa A.

2016-01-01

Online open access courses have become regular offerings of many universities. Building community and connectedness is an important part of branding and success of such offerings. Our goal was to investigate students' experiences with community in an open access course. Therefore, in this study, we explored the sense of community of 342…

ICT Application and Utilization for Distance and Open Learning ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study examined the extent of ICT application and utilization for distance and open learning education at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN). The descriptive survey research method was adopted for the study while questionnaire was adopted as major instrument of data collection. A total of 113 copie/s of ...

Rehabilitating a landfill site of lowland tropical landscape into an urban green space: A case study from the Open University of Sri Lanka

OpenAIRE

B.D. Madurapperuma; K.A.J.M. Kuruppuarachchi

2016-01-01

This study examines vegetation, carbon sequestration, and spatial and temporal changes of green space at the premises of the Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL). The primary objective of this study is to examine floral diversity of the OUSL premises that was rehabilitated from a landfill site and to determine suitable trees for landfill sites based on growth performance and biomass carbon stocks. The girth and height of plants ⩾5 cm dbh were measured to estimate biomass carbon stocks of each ...

Web accessibility and open source software.

Science.gov (United States)

Obrenović, Zeljko

2009-07-01

A Web browser provides a uniform user interface to different types of information. Making this interface universally accessible and more interactive is a long-term goal still far from being achieved. Universally accessible browsers require novel interaction modalities and additional functionalities, for which existing browsers tend to provide only partial solutions. Although functionality for Web accessibility can be found as open source and free software components, their reuse and integration is complex because they were developed in diverse implementation environments, following standards and conventions incompatible with the Web. To address these problems, we have started several activities that aim at exploiting the potential of open-source software for Web accessibility. The first of these activities is the development of Adaptable Multi-Interface COmmunicator (AMICO):WEB, an infrastructure that facilitates efficient reuse and integration of open source software components into the Web environment. The main contribution of AMICO:WEB is in enabling the syntactic and semantic interoperability between Web extension mechanisms and a variety of integration mechanisms used by open source and free software components. Its design is based on our experiences in solving practical problems where we have used open source components to improve accessibility of rich media Web applications. The second of our activities involves improving education, where we have used our platform to teach students how to build advanced accessibility solutions from diverse open-source software. We are also partially involved in the recently started Eclipse projects called Accessibility Tools Framework (ACTF), the aim of which is development of extensible infrastructure, upon which developers can build a variety of utilities that help to evaluate and enhance the accessibility of applications and content for people with disabilities. In this article we briefly report on these activities.

Why open innovation is easier said than done

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mahdad, Maral; Piccaluga, Andrea; Di Minin, Alberto

innovation implementation suggests the following: (1) The process of open innovation through mobility of skilled R&D employees triggers organizational identity ambiguity and change, (2) Organizational identity ambiguity phase in the process of open innovation can be shortened by the support of parent company...... and managerial skills highlighting sensemaking mechanisms, (3) Constructing a shared organizational identity with university members involved in this process is an undeniable element of OI success for this strategy. We contribute to the literature by establishing linkages among organizational identity and open...

OpenAIRE, a breath of freedom in publishing

CERN Multimedia

CERN Bulletin

2010-01-01

On 2 December, the new OpenAIRE portal was launched at Ghent University (Belgium) in the presence of the Vice-President of the European Commission, Dr Neelie Kroes. OpenAIRE will be a central point for the publications of EC-funded researchers. One pillar on which OpenAIRE is built is CERN’s Invenio, the digital library system software that also powers CDS and INSPIRE.     Screenshot of the OpenAIRE website. The OpenAIRE (Open Access Infrastructure for Research in Europe) project was launched one year ago to create a gateway for easy access to the research results of EU-funded programmes, in support of the EC initiative on open access that was part of the Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7). “OpenAIRE demonstrates the EU's engagement with the open access philosophy, providing an infrastructure which removes the obstacles preventing EU researchers from making their EU-funded research results freely available,” says Tim Smith, head of the IT/UDS group a...

Open Access Metadata, Catalogers, and Vendors: The Future of Cataloging Records

Science.gov (United States)

Flynn, Emily Alinder

2013-01-01

The open access (OA) movement is working to transform scholarly communication around the world, but this philosophy can also apply to metadata and cataloging records. While some notable, large academic libraries, such as Harvard University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Cambridge, released their cataloging records under OA…

GOSH! A roadmap for open-source science hardware

CERN Multimedia

Stefania Pandolfi

2016-01-01

The goal of the Gathering for Open Science Hardware (GOSH! 2016), held from 2 to 5 March 2016 at IdeaSquare, was to lay the foundations of the open-source hardware for science movement.   The participants in the GOSH! 2016 meeting gathered in IdeaSquare. (Image: GOSH Community) “Despite advances in technology, many scientific innovations are held back because of a lack of affordable and customisable hardware,” says François Grey, a professor at the University of Geneva and coordinator of Citizen Cyberlab – a partnership between CERN, the UN Institute for Training and Research and the University of Geneva – which co-organised the GOSH! 2016 workshop. “This scarcity of accessible science hardware is particularly obstructive for citizen science groups and humanitarian organisations that don’t have the same economic means as a well-funded institution.” Instead, open sourcing science hardware co...

Bringing together the work of subscription and open access specialists: challenges and changes at the University of Sussex

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eleanor Craig

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The rise in open access (OA publishing has required library staff across many UK academic institutions to take on new roles and responsibilities to support academics. At the same time, the long-established work of negotiating with publishers around journal subscriptions is changing as such deals now usually include OA payment or discount plans in many different forms that vary from publisher to publisher. This article outlines some of the issues we encountered at the University of Sussex Library whilst trying to pull together the newer strand of OA advocacy and funder compliance work with existing responsibilities for managing subscription deals. It considers the challenges faced in effectively bringing together Library staff with knowledge in these areas, and outlines the steps we have taken so far to ensure OA publishing is taken into account wherever appropriate.

Article Processing Charges and OpenAPC

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva

2017-01-01

The publication landscape is about to change. While being largely operated by subscription based journals in the past, recent political decisions force the publishing industry towards OpenAccess. Especially, the publication of the Finch report in 2012 put APC based Gold OpenAccess models almost everywhere on the agenda. These models also require quite some adoptions for library work flows to handle payments, bills and centralized funds for publication fees. Sometimes handled in specialized systems (e.g. first setups in Jülich) pretty early on discussions started to handle APCs in local repositories which would also hold the OpenAccess content resulting from these fees, e.g. the University of Regenburg uses ePrints for this purpose. Backed up by the OpenData movmement, libraries also saw opportunity to exchange data about fees payed. Thus, OpenAPC.de was born in 2014 on github to facilitate this exchange and aggregate large amounts of data for evaluation and comparison. Using the repository to hold payment d...

The Quality of Open Online Education: Towards a Reference Framework for MOOCs

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Stracke, Christian M.; Kameas, Achilles; Vassiliadis, Bill; Sgouropoulou, Cleo; Texeira, António Moreira; Pinto, Maria do Carmo; Vidal, Gérard

2017-01-01

This paper introduces the Quality Reference Framework (QRF) for the improvement of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and Open Online Education. It is developed by the European Initiative MOOQ led by the Open University of the Netherlands. The vision of MOOQ is to contribute to fostering quality in

Presentatie: Professional development of university teachers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ebrecht, Diny

2012-01-01

Ebrecht, D. (2012, 4 juni). Professional development of university teachers. Presentatie bijeenkomst UOC-vertegenwoordigers in het kader van Erasmusuitwisseling, Heerlen, Nederland: Open Universiteit, L&C.

Factors influencing publication choice: why faculty choose open access.

Science.gov (United States)

Warlick, Stefanie E; Vaughan, Ktl

2007-03-09

In an attempt to identify motivating factors involved in decisions to publish in open access and open archives (OA) journals, individual interviews with biomedical faculty members at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-Chapel Hill) and Duke University, two major research universities, were conducted. The interviews focused on faculty identified as early adopters of OA/free full-text publishing. Searches conducted in PubMed and PubMed Central identified faculty from the two institutions who have published works in OA/free full-text journals. The searches targeted authors with multiple OA citations during a specified 18 month period. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the most prolific OA authors at each university. Individual interviews attempted to determine whether the authors were aware they published in OA journals, why they chose to publish in OA journals, what factors influenced their publishing decisions, and their general attitude towards OA publishing models. Fourteen interviews were granted and completed. Respondents included a fairly even mix of Assistant, Associate and Full professors. Results indicate that when targeting biomedical faculty at UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke, speed of publication and copyright retention are unlikely motivating factors or incentives for the promotion of OA publishing. In addition, author fees required by some open access journals are unlikely barriers or disincentives. It appears that publication quality is of utmost importance when choosing publication venues in general, while free access and visibility are specifically noted incentives for selection of OA journals. Therefore, free public availability and increased exposure may not be strong enough incentives for authors to choose open access over more traditional and respected subscription based publications, unless the quality issue is also addressed.

Why Open Source Hardware matters and why you should care

OpenAIRE

Gürkaynak, Frank K.

2017-01-01

Open source hardware is currently where open source software was about 30 years ago. The idea is well received by enthusiasts, there is interest and the open source hardware has gained visible momentum recently, with several well-known universities including UC Berkeley, Cambridge and ETH Zürich actively working on large projects involving open source hardware, attracting the attention of companies big and small. But it is still not quite there yet. In this talk, based on my experience on the...

Where "Sign Language Studies" Has Led Us in Forty Years: Opening High School and University Education for Deaf People in Viet Nam through Sign Language Analysis, Teaching, and Interpretation

Science.gov (United States)

Woodward, James; Hoa, Nguyen Thi

2012-01-01

This paper discusses how the Nippon Foundation-funded project "Opening University Education to Deaf People in Viet Nam through Sign Language Analysis, Teaching, and Interpretation," also known as the Dong Nai Deaf Education Project, has been implemented through sign language studies from 2000 through 2012. This project has provided deaf…

NETWORK UNIVERSITIES: INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE AND TRENDS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Г А Краснова

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The article is devoted to networking foreign universities, in particular, it considers the experience of cooperation of Vietnamese and Chinese universities with the leading universities of the world and the implementation of joint educational projects. The article deals with the basic characteristics of university networks that emerged in the last decade in developing countries. The authors analyzed the model, sources of financing, the organization of educational process, teaching of languages and the number of students in the university network, as well as the main mechanisms that allow open network structure of education in different countries of the world. The authors also address the main reasons for encouraging networking of foreign universities.

Huria: Journal of the Open University of Tanzania - Vol 17 (2014)

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Security Vulnerabilities of the Web Based Open Source Information Systems: Adoption Process and Source Codes Screening · EMAIL FULL TEXT EMAIL FULL TEXT · DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT. S Ally, 1-13 ...

Experience of e-learning implementation through massive open online courses

Science.gov (United States)

Ivleva, N. V.; Fibikh, E. V.

2016-04-01

E-learning is considered to be one of the most prospective directions in education development worldwide. To have a competitive advantage over other institutions offering a wide variety of educational services it is important to introduce information and communication technologies into the educational process to develop e-learning on the whole. The aim of the research is to reveal problems which prevent from full implementation of e-learning at the Reshetnev Siberian State Aerospace University (SibSAU) and to suggest ways on solving those problems through optimization of e-learning introduction process at the university by motivating students and teaching staff to participate in massive open online courses and formation of tailored platforms with the view to arrange similar courses at the premises of the university. The paper considers the introduction and development level of e-learning in Russia and at SibSAU particularly. It substantiates necessity to accelerate e-learning introduction process at an aerospace university as a base for training of highly-qualified specialists in the area of aviation, machine building, physics, info-communication technologies and also in other scientific areas within which university training is carried out. The paper covers SibSAU’s experience in e-learning implementation in the educational process through students and teaching staff participation in massive open online courses and mastering other up-to-date and trendy educational platforms and their usage in the educational process. Key words. E-learning, distance learning, online learning, massive open online course.

Book Review ~ Socio-Economics of Virtual Universities: Experiences from open and distance higher education in Europe. Edited by Friedhelm Nickolmann and Gerhard E. Ortner

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Reviewed by Paul Kirschner

2002-10-01

Full Text Available If I begin on the “topicality” of the content, I can stop immediately. But that will not yield the promised review, so let’s do it a different way. I’ll begin with the content and with the title itself: Virtual Universities. How do they think up such titles? Isn’t virtual reality, a reality that does not exist? Instead, isn’t it a combination of interaction between the digital zeroes and ones of my computer (often networked with other computers and the perceptions of my sensory organs and how they are processed by my brain. The feelings, people, and things that inhabit such virtual worlds don’t really exist, except in my own mind. But now a “virtual university?” As I understand from this book, virtual universities really do exist, real people work there (and are paid real money, real students study there, and real diplomas are awarded. Nothing virtual about this! Or is “virtual universities” just a sexy new buzzword to set apart what used to be called correspondence or distance universities from traditional, contiguous universities? If this is the case and the “campus of a VU is globally open, electronically accessible . . . free of real time constrictions . . . ” (p. 10 then I am again back to my first problem, namely that topicality renders the term “virtual” virtually useless? Most universities are already partially virtual or are rapidly becoming so. So what’s a poor vacationer to do?

„Austrian Transition to Open Access“ 2017–2020

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bauer, Bruno

2017-12-01

Full Text Available In December the higher education structural funds project (Hochschulraumstrukturmittelprojekt “Austrian Transition to Open Access (AT2OA“ was authorised by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy. The 21 public universities cooperate on this project running from 2017 to 2020 in order to promote open access through concerted measures. Constitutive on OANA’s “suggestions for the implementation of Open Access in Austria” published in 2015 four subprojects have been developed. These subprojects’ main focuses are drafting an expert’s report about the financial impact of a total adjustment to open access on a national and institutional basis, the extension of existing consortium licences with an open access component, establishment of an open access publishing fund as well as the promotion of open access monographs and suitable open access infrastructures.

University of Virginia open-quotes virtualclose quotes reactor facility tours

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krause, D.R.; Mulder, R.U.

1995-01-01

An electronic information and tour book has been constructed for the University of Virginia reactor (UVAR) facility. Utilizing the global Internet, the document resides on the University of Virginia World Wide Web (WWW or W) server within the UVAR Homepage at http://www.virginia. edu/∼reactor/. It is quickly accessible wherever an Internet connection exists. The UVAR Homepage files are accessed with the hypertext transfer protocol (http) prefix. The files are written in hypertext markup language (HTML), a very simple method of preparing ASCII text for W3 presentation. The HTML allows use of various hierarchies of headers, indentation, fonts, and the linking of words and/or pictures to other addresses-uniform resource locators. The linking of texts, pictures, sounds, and server addresses is known as hypermedia

The Spaces of Open-Source Politics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Husted, Emil; Plesner, Ursula

The recent proliferation of Web 2.0 technologies and their role in contemporary political life has inspired the coining of the term ‘open-source politics’. This article analyzes how open-source politics is organized in the case of a young radical political party called The Alternative. Inspired...... processes, but may provide both closure and disconnection between the party’s universal body and its particular body. In conclusion, we propose that such a disconnection might be a precondition for success when institutionalizing radical politics, as it allows parties like The Alternative to maintain...

The open science grid

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pordes, R.

2004-01-01

The U.S. LHC Tier-1 and Tier-2 laboratories and universities are developing production Grids to support LHC applications running across a worldwide Grid computing system. Together with partners in computer science, physics grid projects and active experiments, we will build a common national production grid infrastructure which is open in its architecture, implementation and use. The Open Science Grid (OSG) model builds upon the successful approach of last year's joint Grid2003 project. The Grid3 shared infrastructure has for over eight months provided significant computational resources and throughput to a range of applications, including ATLAS and CMS data challenges, SDSS, LIGO, and biology analyses, and computer science demonstrators and experiments. To move towards LHC-scale data management, access and analysis capabilities, we must increase the scale, services, and sustainability of the current infrastructure by an order of magnitude or more. Thus, we must achieve a significant upgrade in its functionalities and technologies. The initial OSG partners will build upon a fully usable, sustainable and robust grid. Initial partners include the US LHC collaborations, DOE and NSF Laboratories and Universities and Trillium Grid projects. The approach is to federate with other application communities in the U.S. to build a shared infrastructure open to other sciences and capable of being modified and improved to respond to needs of other applications, including CDF, D0, BaBar, and RHIC experiments. We describe the application-driven, engineered services of the OSG, short term plans and status, and the roadmap for a consortium, its partnerships and national focus

A Qualitative Research on the University Administrators' Capacity to Use Management Knowledge Tools (The Case of TRNC Universities)

Science.gov (United States)

Dagli, Gokmen; Silman, Fatos; Birol, Cem

2009-01-01

In order to reach goals and continue the ongoing learning process, like other organizations, universities also need the effective use of knowledge management. Knowledge management is an ongoing process and it has to be organized in a manner that is always open to new ideas. In universities where research and development studies play an important…

Gender Dependence in Mouth Opening Dimensions in Normal Adult Malaysians Population

OpenAIRE

Shaari, Ramizu; Hwa, Teoh Eng; Rahman, Shaifulizan Abdul

2011-01-01

While measurement of mouth opening is an important clinica examination in diagnosis and management of oral disease, data on non-Western populations are limited. This study was therefore conducted to determine the range of mouth opening in normal Malaysian male and female adults. A total of 34 dental students of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) were chosen randomly and their maximum mouth opening was measured after being asked to open their mouth sufficiently to accommodate three fingers. Measu...

From elite to mass to universal higher education: from distance to open education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Larry Cooperman

2014-01-01

Full Text Available In 1970, Martin Trow, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, identified a transition “underway in every advanced society, from elite to mass higher education and subsequently to universal access.” This article adapts this framework of the historical and structural development of higher education as a phased process in which absolute and relative growth of university enrollment transforms the institutions of higher education and alters its functions. The transition to universal access may support economic development, social mobility and greater income equality, in turn buttressing even the institution of democracy. Arriving at those optimal social outcomes is not automatic, however, because of a variety of remaining issues: how universality of higher education translates to economic growth and social equality. The problem of the ‘next 1%,’ shorthand for the continued entrance of new social layers into higher education presents novel challenges that ‘access’ alone may not solve.

Open Innovation in Research Libraries-Myth or Reality?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Scupola, Ada; W. Nicolajsen, Hanne

2009-01-01

  In this article we investigate open innovation in a non commercial setting: research libraries. The research questions are: Do academic libraries engage in open innovation processes? If so, what are the most important actors in e-services innovation and development and what is their role......? By drawing on earlier research on open innovation, new product development and new service development a case study at Roskilde University Library is conducted. We found that research libraries are indeed engaging in open innovation, especially involving competitors, government agencies and users....... In particular collaboration with other Danish research libraries and governmental agencies are important in setting the visions and strategies for e-services innovations; users have a more limited role....

Open Innovation in Research Libraries-Myth or Reality?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Scupola, Ada; Nicolajsen, Hanne Westh

2010-01-01

In this article we investigate open innovation in a non commercial setting: research libraries. The research questions are: Do academic libraries engage in open innovation processes? If so, what are the most important actors in e-services innovation and development and what is their role......? By drawing on earlier research on open innovation, new product development and new service development a case study at Roskilde University Library is conducted. We found that research libraries are indeed engaging in open innovation, especially involving competitors, government agencies and users....... In particular collaboration with other Danish research libraries and governmental agencies are important in setting the visions and strategies for e-services innovations; users have a more limited role....

The development of the learning video for the flipped classroom model on student of open university on human skeletal system and muscles

Science.gov (United States)

Andrini, V. S.

2018-05-01

The objectives of the research are to develop the learning video for the flipped classroom model for Open University’s student and to know the effectiveness of the video. The development of the video used Research and Development ADDIE design (Analyses, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation). The sampling used purposive sampling was 28 students in Open University of Nganjuk. The techniques of data collection were the observation data to know the problems of the students, and learning facilities, the test (pre-test and post-test) to know a knowledge aspect, a questionnaire to know advisability of video learning, a structured interview to confirm their answer. The result of the expert of matter and media showed that the average product score was 3.75 of 4 or very good, the small-scale test showed that the average score was 3.60 of 4 and the large-scale test showed that the average score was 3.80 of 4, it had a very good category. The t-test with paired sample test showed that sig. (2-tailed) video for flipped classroom was effective to be implemented.

Open Science: Trends in the Development of Science Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Scanlon, Eileen

2011-01-01

This article comments on some trends in the evolution of science teaching at a distance using the Open University UK (OU UK) experience as a benchmark. Even from the first years of the university there was an understanding of the potential role for media in developing methods for teaching science at a distance, in particular the potential for…

University Technology Transfer: In Tough Economic Times

Science.gov (United States)

Powers, Joshua B.; Campbell, Eric G.

2009-01-01

In 1907, Frederick Cottrell, professor of chemistry at the University of California-Berkeley and father of the modern academic patent, worried that if universities became too directly involved in patenting and licensing operations, their thirst for profits could lead to the erosion of the openness necessary for academic science to flourish. For…

Open Source Software Development

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

appropriate to refer to FOSS or FLOSS (L for Libre , where the alternative term “ libre software ” has popularity in some parts of the world) in order...Applying Social Network Analysis to Community-Drive Libre Software Projects, Intern. J. Info. Tech. and Web Engineering, 2006, 1(3), 27-28. 17...Open Source Software Development* Walt Scacchi Institute for Software Researcher University of California, Irvine Irvine, CA 92697-3455 USA Abstract

Opening the Curriculum through Open Educational Practices: International experience

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura Ritchie

2018-04-01

Full Text Available A successful international learning initiative focusing on student agency began with a link facilitating OE-enhanced teaching between a UK university and a US high school class. It became an international trip organised and funded by five UK students and their teacher who travelled to California, teaching and performing music across formal and informal learning settings. The project is now a credit-bearing class, retaining the original initiative’s openness within the university curriculum where final-year students collaborate with the teacher, self-organising to design and plan curricular details from travel logistics to musical interactions. Students engage in heutagogy, demonstrating the highest levels of autonomous, personal learning in this co-learning environment. Their assessment, a reflective journal, encourages engage with deeper learning processes. The original trip was documented as an eBook including 10,000 student-authored words telling their collaborative learning journey. The book was published without DRM an accessible model for other students and educators.

Global monopoles can change Universe's topology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marunović, Anja; Prokopec, Tomislav

2016-01-01

If the Universe undergoes a phase transition, at which global monopoles are created or destroyed, topology of its spatial sections can change. More specifically, by making use of Myers' theorem, we show that, after a transition in which global monopoles form, spatial sections of a spatially flat, infinite Universe becomes finite and closed. This implies that global monopoles can change the topology of Universe's spatial sections (from infinite and open to finite and closed). Global monopoles cannot alter the topology of the space-time manifold.

Who Attends and Completes Virtual Universities: The Case of the Open University of Catalonia (UOC)

Science.gov (United States)

Carnoy, Martin; Rabling, Brenda Jarillo; Castano-Munoz, Jonatan; Montoliu, Josep Maria Duart; Sancho-Vinuesa, Teresa

2012-01-01

A highly touted feature of the so-called global "revolution" in higher education is the trend to use information technology to reach a broader clientele. Although there is evidence that students may be learning the material in on-line courses as well as in traditional face-to-face universities, how well students learn content is not the…

Astronomers' Do-It-Yourself Project Opening A New Window on the Universe

Science.gov (United States)

1999-05-01

Rolling up their sleeves to build and install new equipment for the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope, a team of astronomers has opened a new window on the universe, revealing tantalizing new information about the explosions of massive stars, the workings of galaxies with supermassive black holes at their centers, and clusters of galaxies. "We're going back to the region of wavelengths where Karl Jansky started radio astronomy in 1932," said Namir Kassim, of the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), in Washington, D.C. "This is one of the most poorly explored regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, yet it offers tremendous potential to learn exciting new information about everything from the Sun and planets to galaxy clusters and the universe itself," Kassim said. Kassim, along with Rick Perley of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Socorro, NM; William Erickson, a professor emeritus at the University of Maryland; and Joseph Lazio, also of NRL, presented results of their observations with the new VLA system at the American Astronomical Society's meeting in Chicago. The new system uses the 27 dish antennas of the VLA, each 25 meters (82 feet) in diameter, to receive cosmic radio emissions at a frequency of 74 MHz, or a wavelength of about four meters. This frequency, lower than that of the FM broadcast band, is far below the usual frequencies, 1- 50 GHz, used for radio astronomy. "Though the region of 15-150 MHz is where Jansky and Grote Reber did the first radio-astronomy work in the 1930s and 1940s, it has long been neglected because of technical difficulties of working in that region," said Perley. Still, the astronomers said, there is much to be learned by studying the universe at these wavelengths. "There are phenomena associated with the Sun and planets, with other objects in our own Milky Way Galaxy, and with other galaxies and clusters of galaxies, and potentially ancient emission from the Universe itself

Understanding and Making Use of Academic Authors’ Open Access Rights

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Hansen

2012-09-01

Full Text Available INTRODUCTION Authors of academic works do not take full advantage of the self-archiving rights that they retain in their publications, though research shows that many academic authors are well-aligned (at least in principle with open access (OA principles. This article explains how institutionally-assisted self-archiving in open access repositories can effectively take advantage of retained rights and highlights at least one method of facilitating this process through automated means. METHODS To understand the scope of author-retained rights (including the right to purchase hybrid or other open access options at some sample universities, author-rights data through the SHERPA/RoMEO API was combined with individual article citations (from Thomson Reuters' Web of Science for works published over a one-year period (2011 and authored by individuals affiliated with five major U.S. research universities. RESULTS Authors retain significant rights in the articles that they create. Of the 29,322 unique articles authored over the one year period at the five universities, 28.83 percent could be archived in final PDF form and 87.95 percent could be archived as the post-print version. Nearly 43.47 percent also provided authors the choice of purchasing a hybrid paid open access option. DISCUSSION A significant percentage of current published output could be archived with little or no author intervention. With prior approval through an open access policy or otherwise, article manuscripts or final PDFs can be obtained and archived by library staff, and hybrid paid-OA options could be negotiated and exploited by library administrators. CONCLUSION Although mandates, legislation, and other policy tools may be useful to promote open access, many institutions already have the ability to increase the percentage of accessible works by taking advantage of retained author rights and hybrid OA options.

Plasma universe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alfven, H.

1986-04-01

Traditionally the views in our cosmic environment have been based on observations in the visual octave of the electromagnetic spectrum, during the last half-century supplemented by infrared and radio observations. Space research has opened the full spectrum. Of special importance are the X-ray-gamma-ray regions, in which a number of unexpected phenomena have been discovered. Radiations in these regions are likely to originate mainly from magnetised cosmic plasma. Such a medium may also emit synchrotron radiation which is observable in the radio region. If we try to base a model of the universe on the plasma phenomena mentioned we find that the plasma universe is drastically different from the traditional visual universe. Information about the plasma universe can also be obtained by extrapolation of laboratory experiments and magnetospheric in situ measurements of plasma. This approach is possible because it is likely that the basic properties of plasma are the same everywhere. In order to test the usefulness of the plasma universe model we apply it to cosmogony. Such an approach seems to be rather successful. For example, the complicated structure of the Saturnian C ring can be accounted for. It is possible to reconstruct certain phenomena 4-5 bilions years ago with an accuracy of better than 1 percent

Free and Open Source Software in North African Universities | IDRC ...

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

... (such as e-mail), software for administration and software for online services, ... Project partners will come from the university, government, and the private and ... Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD), IDRC is ... IWRA/IDRC webinar on climate change and adaptive water management.

Merchant Banks Fortunes And Structureal Challenges Of Universal ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Merchant Banks Fortunes And Structureal Challenges Of Universal Banking In The Port Harcourt Business Environment. ... The techniques adopted in the analysis of data included tabulation, simple percentage, and chi-square (X2). The findings indicated that, although the advent of universal banking has opened up a new ...

Evolution of an Open Source Strategy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ronald Baecker

2007-10-01

Full Text Available On June 8th, 2005, we officially launched the ePresence (http://epresence.tv/ Interactive Media Open Source Consortium, at the Knowledge Media Design Institute (KMDI, University of Toronto (UofT. We had been researching and developing ePresence, our webcasting, webconferencing, and archiving software project for about five years. Throughout the early phase of the project we used the system to produce live webcasts of KMDI's annual lecture series. Eventually word spread about our webcasting system and other universities, such as Memorial University in Newfoundland, became interested. It was obvious that the time to share our project with the world had come, but what wasn't obvious to us at the time was how we were going to do that.

OpenAPC. Open-Access-Publikationskosten als Open Data

OpenAIRE

Tullney, Marco

2015-01-01

Präsentationsfolien zum Vortrag „OpenAPC. Open-Access-Publikationskosten als Open Data“ in der Session „Ausgestaltung eines wissenschaftsadäquaten APC-Marktes: Grundsätze, Finanzierungsansätze und Management“ der Open-Access-Tage 2015 in Zürich (https://www.open-access.net/community/open-access-tage/open-access-tage-2015-zuerich/programm/#c1974)

A Case Study of Scholars’ Open and Sharing Practices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

George Veletsianos

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Although the open scholarship movement has successfully captured the attention and interest of higher education stakeholders, researchers currently lack an understanding of the degree to which open scholarship is enacted in institutions that lack institutional support for openness. I help fill this gap in the literature by presenting a descriptive case study that illustrates the variety of open and sharing practices enacted by faculty members at a North American university. Open and sharing practices enacted at this institution revolve around publishing manuscripts in open ways, participating on social media, creating and using open educational resources, and engaging with open teaching. This examination finds that certain open practices are favored over others. Results also show that even though faculty members often share scholarly materials online for free, they frequently do so without associated open licenses (i.e. without engaging in open practices. These findings suggest that individual motivators may significantly affect the practice of openness, but that environmental factors (e.g., institutional contexts and technological elements (e.g., YouTube’s default settings may also shape open practices in unanticipated ways.

Physically and psychologically hazardous jobs and mental health in Thailand

Science.gov (United States)

Yiengprugsawan, Vasoontara; Strazdins, Lyndall; Lim, Lynette L.-Y.; Kelly, Matthew; Seubsman, Sam-ang; Sleigh, Adrian C.

2015-01-01

This paper investigates associations between hazardous jobs, mental health and wellbeing among Thai adults. In 2005, 87 134 distance-learning students from Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University completed a self-administered questionnaire; at the 2009 follow-up 60 569 again participated. Job characteristics were reported in 2005, psychological distress and life satisfaction were reported in both 2005 and 2009. We derived two composite variables grading psychologically and physically hazardous jobs and reported adjusted odds ratios (AOR) from multivariate logistic regressions. Analyses focused on cohort members in paid work: the total was 62 332 at 2005 baseline and 41 671 at 2009 follow-up. Cross-sectional AORs linking psychologically hazardous jobs to psychological distress ranged from 1.52 (one hazard) to 4.48 (four hazards) for males and a corresponding 1.34–3.76 for females. Similarly AORs for physically hazardous jobs were 1.75 (one hazard) to 2.76 (four or more hazards) for males and 1.70–3.19 for females. A similar magnitude of associations was found between psychologically adverse jobs and low life satisfaction (AORs of 1.34–4.34 among males and 1.18–3.63 among females). Longitudinal analyses confirm these cross-sectional relationships. Thus, significant dose–response associations were found linking hazardous job exposures in 2005 to mental health and wellbeing in 2009. The health impacts of psychologically and physically hazardous jobs in developed, Western countries are equally evident in transitioning Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand. Regulation and monitoring of work conditions will become increasingly important to the health and wellbeing of the Thai workforce. PMID:24218225

Open Standards, Open Source, and Open Innovation: Harnessing the Benefits of Openness

Science.gov (United States)

Committee for Economic Development, 2006

2006-01-01

Digitization of information and the Internet have profoundly expanded the capacity for openness. This report details the benefits of openness in three areas--open standards, open-source software, and open innovation--and examines the major issues in the debate over whether openness should be encouraged or not. The report explains each of these…

The Invention Studio: A University Maker Space and Culture

Science.gov (United States)

Forest, Craig R.; Moore, Roxanne A.; Jariwala, Amit S.; Fasse, Barbara Burks; Linsey, Julie; Newstetter, Wendy; Ngo, Peter; Quintero, Christopher

2014-01-01

Creativity, invention, and innovation are values championed as central pillars of engineering education. However, university environments that foster open-ended design-build projects are uncommon. Fabrication and prototyping spaces at universities are typically "machine shops" where students relinquish actual fabrication activities to…

Social Work Education through Open and Distance Learning: An Indian Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Dash, Bishnu Mohan; Botcha, Rambabu

2018-01-01

The paper traces the historical perspectives of open and distance education in India. It also discusses the various modalities and standards followed by various universities in offering social work education through open and distance learning (ODL) mode. It also highlights the achievements and challenges of social work education through ODL mode…

Open Innovation Challenge in Healthcare. Role for Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Dimitriu, Rodica; Lungeanu, Diana; Mãnescu, Cristina; Pantazi, Mirela; Mihalas, George I

2015-01-01

The vision of this paper is that collaboration creates new openings for engagement of non-commercial actors, such as universities, in innovation networks on the one hand, while opening up for collaborative innovation, and getting valuable real life anchors on the other hand, all these underpinned by greater connectivity and globalization. We present our approach in re-designing the courses on medical informatics and data processing to meet these challenges by employing public Internet services and media facilitation.

Open Polar Server (OPS—An Open Source Infrastructure for the Cryosphere Community

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Weibo Liu

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS at the University of Kansas has collected approximately 1000 terabytes (TB of radar depth sounding data over the Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets since 1993 in an effort to map the thickness of the ice sheets and ultimately understand the impacts of climate change and sea level rise. In addition to data collection, the storage, management, and public distribution of the dataset are also primary roles of the CReSIS. The Open Polar Server (OPS project developed a free and open source infrastructure to store, manage, analyze, and distribute the data collected by CReSIS in an effort to replace its current data storage and distribution approach. The OPS infrastructure includes a spatial database management system (DBMS, map and web server, JavaScript geoportal, and MATLAB application programming interface (API for the inclusion of data created by the cryosphere community. Open source software including GeoServer, PostgreSQL, PostGIS, OpenLayers, ExtJS, GeoEXT and others are used to build a system that modernizes the CReSIS data distribution for the entire cryosphere community and creates a flexible platform for future development. Usability analysis demonstrates the OPS infrastructure provides an improved end user experience. In addition, interpolating glacier topography is provided as an application example of the system.

Introducing Collabra, OA Journal from University of California Press

OpenAIRE

Morgan, Daniel

2015-01-01

An introductory presentation of Collabra, the open access mega journal from University of California Press, highlighting its unique business model which shares and spreads revenue back to the research community. (Presented at the FORCE 2015 conference at the University of Oxford, January 13, 2015.)

Multiple choice exams of medical knowledge with open books and web access? A validity study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

O'Neill, Lotte; Simonsen, Eivind Ortind; Knudsen, Ulla Breth

2015-01-01

Background: Open book tests have been suggested to lower test anxiety and promote deeper learning strategies. In the Aarhus University medical program, ¼ of the curriculum assess students’ medical knowledge with ‘open book, open web’ (OBOW) multiple choice examinations. We found little existing...

Climate Change and Sustainability Open Educational Resources: Lessons learned and challenges to tackle

Science.gov (United States)

Robinson, Zoe; Whitfield, Stephen; Gertisser, Ralf; Krause, Stefan; McKay, Deirdre; Pringle, Jamie; Szkornik, Katie; Waller, Richard

2010-05-01

The UK's Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (GEES) is currently running a project entitled ‘C-Change in GEES: Open licensing of climate change and sustainability resources in the Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences' as part of a national Open Educational Resource project. The C-Change project aims to explore the challenges involved in ‘repurposing' existing teaching materials on the topics of climate change and sustainability to make them open access. This project has produced an open access resource of diverse climate change and sustainability-related teaching materials across the subjects of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences. The process of repurposing existing face-to-face teaching resources requires consideration of a wide variety of issues including the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) associated with images and other material included in the teaching resources, in addition to issues of quality, accessibility and usability of resources. Open access education is an issue that will have implications across the whole of the organizational structure of a university, from legal advisors with commitments to University research and enterprise activities, to the academics wishing to produce open access resources, through to all levels of senior management. The attitudes, concerns and openness to Open Educational Resources of stakeholders from all positions within a HE institution will have implications for the participation of that institution within the OER movement. The many barriers to the whole-scale adoption of Open Educational Resources within the UK Higher Education system and the willingness of UK Higher Education Institutions to engage in the OER movement include institutional perspectives on the IPR of teaching materials developed by members of staff within the institution and financial viability, in addition to more sceptical attitudes of potential contributors. Keele University is

Two faces of global open society

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cvetićanin Neven

2008-01-01

Full Text Available The Essay considers 'the rule' of the so called post-civil political centre that corresponds to the familiar concept of open society, questioning the good as well as the bad sides of such 'rule'. The research is in the first place about global open society stability and attention is addressed to its present enemies - from terrorism, over organized crime, all the way to the so called local legitimates that are confronting the universal and global legitimates represented by the followers of the open society from the post civil political centre area. The Essay presents the debate with Fukuyama's thesis about the 'end of history' considering that open society, i.e. global post civil political centre has visible enemies who do not allow for dialectics of history to stand still as Fukuyama believed. Instead of Fukuyama's 'end of history' the Essay comes to the conclusion that present global situation is marked by post-modern opposition of liberal-democratic post civil centre and extreme anti civil margins, with reference to the opposition of open society and its enemies, which will put under limits further steps of history towards new socio-historical forms.

Open source Modeling and optimization tools for Planning

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Peles, S. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

2017-02-10

Open source modeling and optimization tools for planning The existing tools and software used for planning and analysis in California are either expensive, difficult to use, or not generally accessible to a large number of participants. These limitations restrict the availability of participants for larger scale energy and grid studies in the state. The proposed initiative would build upon federal and state investments in open source software, and create and improve open source tools for use in the state planning and analysis activities. Computational analysis and simulation frameworks in development at national labs and universities can be brought forward to complement existing tools. An open source platform would provide a path for novel techniques and strategies to be brought into the larger community and reviewed by a broad set of stakeholders.

Atomoxetine Open-Label Trial in ADHD

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J Gordon Millichap

2002-07-01

Full Text Available Atomoxetine (originally named tomoxetine, a new therapy for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD marketed by Eli Lilly, was compared to methylphenidate in a prospective, randomized, open-label study for 10 weeks duration, at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Carolinas Medical Center, and Lilly Research Laboratories.

A toy model for single field open inflation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vaudrevange, Pascal M.; Westphal, Alexander

2012-05-01

Inflation in an open universe produced by Coleman-De Luccia (CDL) tunneling induces a friction term that is strong enough to allow for successful small-field inflation in models that would otherwise suffer from a severe overshoot problem. In this paper, we present a polynomial scalar potential which allows for a full analysis. This provides a simple model of single-field open inflation on a small-field inflection point after tunneling. We present numerical results and compare them with analytic approximations.

MASSIVE OPEN ONLINE COURSES IN EDUCATION OF ROBOTICS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gyula Mester

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Recently, the requirement for learning is constantly increasing. MOOC – massive open online courses represent educational revolution of the century. A MOOC is an online course accessible to unlimited number of participation and is an open access via the web. Mayor participants in the MOOCS are: Coursera, Udacity (Stanford, since 2012 and edX (Harvard, MIT, since 2012. In this paper two MOOCs are considered: Introduction for Robotics and Robotics Vision, both from the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.

ATLAS OpenData and OpenKey: using low tech computational tools for students training in High Energy Physics

CERN Document Server

Sanchez Pineda, Arturos; The ATLAS collaboration

2018-01-01

One of the big challenges in High Energy Physics development is the fact that many potential -and very valuable- students and young researchers live in countries where internet access and computational infrastructure are poor compared to institutions already participating. In order to accelerate the process, the ATLAS Open Data project releases useful and meaningful data and tools using standard and easy-to-deploy computational means, such as custom and light Linux Virtual Machines, open source technologies, web and desktop applications. The ATLAS Open Key, a simple USB pen, allows transporting all those resources around the globe. As simple as it sounds, this approach is helping to train students that are now PhD candidates and to integrate HEP educational programs at Master level in universities where did not exist before. The software tools and resources used will be presented, as well as results and stories, ideas and next steps of the ATLAS Open Data project.

Understanding Bereavement in a Christian University: A Qualitative Exploration

Science.gov (United States)

Walker, Andrea C.; Gewecke, Rachelle; Cupit, Illene N.; Fox, Jeffrey T.

2014-01-01

This phenomenological study, based on ecological systems theory, examined the college student bereavement experience in a Christian university. Undergraduate students (N = 127) from a small Christian university provided answers to open-ended questions about their experiences regarding college following a death loss. Results indicate that students…

Compte-rendu des journées des rencontres orales en ligne pour l'apprentissage les 22-23 juin 2007, The Open University, Royaume-Uni

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marie-Noëlle Lamy

2008-06-01

Full Text Available L'association Baal-CUP (British Association for Applied Linguistics avec Cambridge University Press http://www.baal.org.uk/ finance régulièrement des journées destinées à susciter des débats entre une vingtaine de chercheurs très actifs d'un domaine bien ciblé. Soutenue par Baal-CUP, l'Open Universitya organisé en juin dernier deux journées sur le thème des rencontres orales en ligne pour l'apprentissage (Spoken Online Learning Events ou Sole. Sole a réuni principalement mais non exclusivem...

A Closed Universe Expanding Forever

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Silva N. P.

2014-07-01

Full Text Available In a recent paper, the expression a ( t = e H 0 T 0 [ ( t T 0 where = 0 : 5804, was proposed for the expansion factor of our Universe. According to it, gravity dominates the expan- sion ( matter era until the age of T ⋆ = 3 : 214 Gyr and, after that, dark energy dominates ( dark energy era leading to an eternal expansion, no matter if the Universe is closed, flat or open. In this paper we consider only the closed version and show that there is an upper limit for the size of the radial comoving coordinate, beyond which nothing is observed by our fundamental observer, on Earth. Our observable Universe may be only a tiny portion of a much bigger Universe most of it unobservable to us. This leads to the idea that an endless number of other fundamental observers may live on equal number of Universes similar to ours. Either we talk about many Universes — Multiverse — or about an unique Universe, only part of it observable to us.

Dubna - A University Town Exhibition Science Bringing Nations Together

CERN Multimedia

2000-01-01

1994 marked the opening of the Dubna International University of Nature, Society and Man. It was established on the initiative of the JINR Directorate and supported by the Academy of Natural Sciences of Russia. An integral part of the University is the JINR University Centre which offers educational programmes in high energy physics, nuclear physics, nuclear methods in condensed matter physics, applied physics, and radio-biology.

Gravitational Wave Astrophysics: Opening the New Frontier

Science.gov (United States)

Centrella, Joan

2012-01-01

A new era in astronomy will begin when the gravitational wave window onto the universe opens in approx. 5 years, as ground-based detectors make the first detections in the high-frequency regime. Since the universe is nearly transparent to gravitational waves, these signals carry direct information about their sources - such as masses, spins, luminosity distances, and orbital parameters - through dense, obscured regions across cosmic time. This talk will explore gravitational waves as cosmic messengers, highlighting key sources and opportunities for multi-messenger astronomy across the gravitational wave spectrum.

Kant's universal law formula revisited

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nyholm, S.

2015-01-01

Kantians are increasingly deserting the universal law formula in favor of the humanity formula. The former, they argue, is open to various decisive objections; the two are not equivalent; and it is only by appealing to the human- ity formula that Kant can reliably generate substantive implications

Institutional and pedagogical criteria for productive open source learning environments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svendsen, Brian Møller; Ryberg, Thomas; Semey, Ian Peter

2004-01-01

In this article we present some institutional and pedagogical criteria for making an informed decision in relation to identifying and choosing a productive open source learning environment. We argue that three concepts (implementation, maintainability and further development) are important when...... considering the sustainability and cost efficiency of an open source system, and we outline a set of key points for evaluating an open source software in terms of cost of system adoption. Furthermore we identify a range of pedagogical concepts and criteria to emphasize the importance of considering...... the relation between the local pedagogical practice and the pedagogical design of the open source learning environment. This we illustrate through an analysis of an open source system and our own pedagogical practice at Aalborg University, Denmark (POPP)....

Turning university professors into competent learners

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Stefanova, Eliza; Ilieva, Miroslava; Nikolova, Nikolina; Stefanov, Krassen

2008-01-01

Stefanova, E., Ilieva, M., Nikolova, N, & Stefanov, K. (2008). Turning university professors into competent learners. In H. W. Sligte & R. Koper (Eds.), Proceedings of the 4th TENCompetence Open Workshop. Empowering Learners for Lifelong Competence Development: pedagogical, organisational and

Institutional Repositories, Open Access, and Scholarly Communication: A Study of Conflicting Paradigms

Science.gov (United States)

Cullen, Rowena; Chawner, Brenda

2011-01-01

The Open Access movement of the past decade, and institutional repositories developed by universities and academic libraries as a part of that movement, have openly challenged the traditional scholarly communication system. This article examines the growth of repositories around the world, and summarizes a growing body of evidence of the response…

Birth Order and Openness to Experience: Brief communication

OpenAIRE

Silvio José Lemos Vasconcellos; Felipe Valentini; Nelson Hauck Filho; Claudio Simon Hutz

2014-01-01

Birth order is defined as a person’s rank by age among his or her siblings. Openness to experience is one of five major domains of personality. The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship between birth order and openness to experience in a sample of 472 university students (mean age = 24.6 years; SD = 8.8). Results showed distinct effects for men and women regarding the influence of birth order. Authors discuss the results in light of possible cultural features and of the...

Universal cell frame for high-pressure water electrolyzer and electrolyzer including the same

Science.gov (United States)

Schmitt, Edwin W.; Norman, Timothy J.

2013-01-08

Universal cell frame generic for use as an anode frame and as a cathode frame in a water electrolyzer. According to one embodiment, the universal cell frame includes a unitary annular member having a central opening. Four trios of transverse openings are provided in the annular member, each trio being spaced apart by about 90 degrees. A plurality of internal radial passageways fluidly interconnect the central opening and each of the transverse openings of two diametrically-opposed trios of openings, the other two trios of openings lacking corresponding radial passageways. Sealing ribs are provided on the top and bottom surfaces of the annular member. The present invention is also directed at a water electrolyzer that includes two such cell frames, one being used as the anode frame and the other being used as the cathode frame, the cathode frame being rotated 90 degrees relative to the anode frame.

Impact of OpenCourseWare Publication on Higher Education Participation and Student Recruitment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephen Carson

2012-10-01

Full Text Available The free and open publication of course materials (OpenCourseWare or OCW was initially undertaken by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT and other universities primarily to share educational resources among educators (Abelson, 2007. OCW, however, and more in general open educational resources (OER1, have also provided well-documented opportunities for all learners, including the so-called “informal learners” and “independent learners” (Carson, 2005; Mulder, 2006, p. 35. Universities have also increasingly documented clear benefits for specific target groups such as secondary education students and lifelong learners seeking to enter formal postsecondary education programs.In addition to benefitting learners, OCW publication has benefitted the publishing institutions themselves by providing recruiting advantages. Finally enrollment figures from some institutions indicate that even in the case of the free and open publication of materials from online programs, OCW does not negatively affect enrollment. This paper reviews evaluation conducted at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH, and Open Universiteit Nederland (OUNL concerning OCW effects on higher education participation and student recruitment.

Slow relaxation in weakly open rational polygons.

Science.gov (United States)

Kokshenev, Valery B; Vicentini, Eduardo

2003-07-01

The interplay between the regular (piecewise-linear) and irregular (vertex-angle) boundary effects in nonintegrable rational polygonal billiards (of m equal sides) is discussed. Decay dynamics in polygons (of perimeter P(m) and small opening Delta) is analyzed through the late-time survival probability S(m) approximately equal t(-delta). Two distinct slow relaxation channels are established. The primary universal channel exhibits relaxation of regular sliding orbits, with delta=1. The secondary channel is given by delta>1 and becomes open when m>P(m)/Delta. It originates from vertex order-disorder dual effects and is due to relaxation of chaoticlike excitations.

Opening up education - some pedagogical considerations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bang, Jørgen; Dalsgaard, Christian; Kjær, Arne

2016-01-01

would we need universities? Libraries could do the job!” In order to open up education, we need to develop a pedagogical framework for knowledge building to supplement the tradition for knowledge acquisition in higher education. In this article we present our strategic considerations for organising......In the “Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions” from September 25, 2013 the Commission advocated strongly to ‘Opening up Education’ through ‘Innovative teaching and learning for all...... through new Technologies and Open Educational Resources’. We strongly support this vision for the future and aim at realising it within a Danish context with a population of five million. However, we also retain a certain scepticism and remember the saying of David Wiley: “If content is all we need, why...

A swirl generator case study for OpenFOAM

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Petit, O; Nilsson, H; Bosioc, A I; Susan-Resiga, R F; Muntean, S

2010-01-01

This work presents numerical results, using OpenFOAM, of the flow in the swirl flow generator test rig developed at Politehnica University of Timisoara, Romania. The work shows results computed by solving the unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes equations. The unsteady method couples the rotating and stationary parts using a sliding grid interface based on a GGI formulation. Turbulence is modeled using the standard k-ε model, and block structured wall function ICEM-Hexa meshes are used. The numerical results are validated against experimental LDV results, and against designed velocity profiles. The investigation shows that OpenFOAM gives results that are comparable to the experimental and designed profiles. This case study was presented at the 5th OpenFOAM Workshop, held in Gothenburg, Sweden, as a tutorial on how to treat turbomachinery applications in OpenFOAM.

An Opening to Society: Chances and Prospects of Science, Research and Services.

Science.gov (United States)

Heckelmann, Dieter

1989-01-01

Describes how the Free University of Berlin (West Germany) has become more open to the public. The Free University has strengthened its cooperation with private companies in research and funding, promoted internal research, and increased its accelerated and continuing education programs in order to improve its image. (LS)

Exploring University Teacher Perceptions about Out-of-Class Teamwork

Science.gov (United States)

Ruiz-Esparza Barajas, Elizabeth; Medrano Vela, Cecilia Araceli; Zepeda Huerta, Jesús Helbert Karim

2016-01-01

This study reports on the first stage of a larger joint research project undertaken by five universities in Mexico to explore university teachers' thinking about out-of-class teamwork. Data from interviews were analyzed using open and axial coding. Although results suggest a positive perception towards teamwork, the study unveiled important…

Intercampus: sharing administration and teaching between Catalan universities via the Internet

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nati Cabrera Lanzo

2003-04-01

Full Text Available Intercampus is a project involving eight Catalan universities enjoying the backing of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia's Department of Universities, Research and the Information Society. It forms part of the Secretary for Telecommunications and Information Society's Digital University project. With Intercampus, via the use of information and communications technologies (ICT, shared online are university processes ranging from administration (Open Administration to the teaching of subjects (Shared Teaching between universities.

Revista ORL at Open Science Ecosystem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tránsito FERRERAS FERNÁNDEZ

2018-05-01

Full Text Available In October 2017 they were held at the University of Salamanca the congress Open Knowledge Ecosystems (ACE 2017 posed as an international meeting point for specialists in open access. The congress allowed to approach the open knowledge from the perspectives I + D + i, offering papers and communications on research related to Open Access, as well as experiences developed in repositories and institutions and approaches to innovative trends in any of the fields of open knowledge.The experience of Revista ORL was present in ECA 2017 through a joint communication of several authors titled Nuevas vías de publicación para revistas biomédicas. Proyecto Revista ORL de Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca, offering an overview of the history of the Revista as an open edition project. Although on that occasion it was called a project, now we should call it "reality" fully consolidated because the data on results obtained.Open Science represents a paradigm change in the way to make science. Although this doesn't change substantially with respect to its motivations and objectives, it changes its methods. The change lies in how it is done, not in what is done. It is an open science, collaborative and made with and for society.The concept of Open Science has been preceded by Open Access to academic content and this may have conditioned its understanding. Open Access has been assimilated only with open access to articles, while with Open Science it is considered that what must be open is any research result (articles + data as well as the auxiliary instruments used (for example, laboratory notebooks. However, the double meaning of "open" (free and free is the same for the two concepts.In this paper we pose questions such as What is Open Science? What are the motivations of governments for its promotion? What components does make up this ecosystem? What are the implications for agents of scientific research? What does represent all this for the edition of

Research into Open Educational Resources for Development | CRDI ...

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

Among them is the growing demand for postsecondary education when most ... thanks in part to greater access to the Internet and new flexible intellectual property licenses. ... While OERs are receiving considerable attention in universities, education ... develop researchers' capacity to analyze open educational resources; ...

Is Open Source the ERP Cure-All?

Science.gov (United States)

Panettieri, Joseph C.

2008-01-01

Conventional and hosted applications thrive, but open source ERP (enterprise resource planning) is coming on strong. In many ways, the evolution of the ERP market is littered with ironies. When Oracle began buying up customer relationship management (CRM) and ERP companies, some universities worried that they would be left with fewer choices and…

Open-Access Colleges Responsible for Greatest Gains in Graduation Rates. Policy Alert

Science.gov (United States)

Doyle, William R.

2010-01-01

The largest gains in graduation rates over the past decade have been accomplished at open-access or nearly open-access colleges and universities. In addition, states could see even bigger increases if they directed their policies and supports toward improving graduation rates at these nonselective institutions. These findings from the author's…

Open heart surgery in Ilorin: case report and experience with the first ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Open heart surgery is uncommonly done in Nigeria and restricted to few centres despite the burden of congenital heart disease. We present our first experience with open heart surgery at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital. A 15 years old female adolescent presented with a 2 years history of easy fatigability, ...

The Nature of the University

Science.gov (United States)

Lenartowicz, Marta

2015-01-01

Higher education research frequently refers to the complex external conditions that give our old-fashioned universities a good reason to change. The underlying theoretical assumption of such framing is that organizations are open systems. This paper presents an alternative view, derived from the theory of social systems autopoiesis. It proposes…

University Business Cooperation : Results of International Student Projects

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sonntag, T.R. (Tom); Schroten, B.S. (Bart); Verburg, F. (Frederique); Bazen, J.C. (Jacques)

2016-01-01

 http://dx.doi.org/10.14261/postit/5F1BA34B-4057-418E-96A87AD8B9F13A54 In 2015 and 2016, Saxion University of Applied Sciences organized the 2nd and 3rd edition of the Regional Innovation and Entrepreneurship Conference (RIEC).   Throughout Europe universities are opening up more and

Birth Order and Openness to Experience: Brief communication

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Silvio José Lemos Vasconcellos

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Birth order is defined as a person’s rank by age among his or her siblings. Openness to experience is one of five major domains of personality. The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship between birth order and openness to experience in a sample of 472 university students (mean age = 24.6 years; SD = 8.8. Results showed distinct effects for men and women regarding the influence of birth order. Authors discuss the results in light of possible cultural features and of the personality assessment method employed.

On the golden road : Open access publishing in particle physics

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva

2007-01-01

The particle physics community has over the last 15 years achieved so-called full green open access through the wide dissemination ofpreprints via arXiv, a central subject repository managed by Cornell University. However, green open access does not alleviate the economical difficulties of libraries as these still are expected to offer access to versions of record of the peer-reviewed literature. For this reason the particle physics community is now addressing the issue of gold open access by converting a set of the existing core journals to open access. A working party works now to bring together funding agencies, laboratories and libraries into a single consortium, called SCOAP3 (Sponsoring Consortium for Open access Publishing in Particle Physics). This consortium will engage with publishers towards building a sustainable model for open access publishing. In this model, subscription fees from multiple institutions are replaced with contracts with publishers of open access journals where the SCOAP3 consort...

On the golden road Open access publishing in particle physics

CERN Document Server

CERN. Geneva; Yeomans, Joanne

2007-01-01

The particle physics community has over the last 15 years achieved so-called full green open access through the wide dissemination ofpreprints via arXiv, a central subject repository managed by Cornell University. However, green open access does not alleviate the economical difficulties of libraries as these still are expected to offer access to versions of record of the peer-reviewed literature. For this reason the particle physics community is now addressing the issue of gold open access by converting a set of the existing core journals to open access. A working party works now to bring together funding agencies, laboratories and libraries into a single consortium, called SCOAP3 (Sponsoring Consortium for Open access Publishing in Particle Physics). This consortium will engage with publishers towards building a sustainable model for open access publishing. In this model, subscription fees from multiple institutions are replaced with contracts with publishers of open access journals where the SCOAP3 consorti...

A universal simulator for ecological models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Holst, Niels

2013-01-01

Software design is an often neglected issue in ecological models, even though bad software design often becomes a hindrance for re-using, sharing and even grasping an ecological model. In this paper, the methodology of agile software design was applied to the domain of ecological models. Thus...... the principles for a universal design of ecological models were arrived at. To exemplify this design, the open-source software Universal Simulator was constructed using C++ and XML and is provided as a resource for inspiration....

Examining Digital Literacy Competences and Learning Habits of Open and Distance Learners

Science.gov (United States)

Ozdamar-Keskin, Nilgun; Ozata, Fatma Zeynep; Banar, Kerim; Royle, Karl

2015-01-01

The purpose of the study is to examine digital literacy competences and learning habits of learners enrolled in the open and distance education system of Anadolu University in Turkey. Data were gathered from 20.172 open and distance learners through a survey which included four parts: demographic information, abilities to use digital technologies,…

Hopping models and ac universality

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dyre, Jeppe; Schrøder, Thomas

2002-01-01

Some general relations for hopping models are established. We proceed to discuss the universality of the ac conductivity which arises in the extreme disorder limit of the random barrier model. It is shown that the relevant dimension entering into the diffusion cluster approximation (DCA) is the h......Some general relations for hopping models are established. We proceed to discuss the universality of the ac conductivity which arises in the extreme disorder limit of the random barrier model. It is shown that the relevant dimension entering into the diffusion cluster approximation (DCA......) is the harmonic (fracton) dimension of the diffusion cluster. The temperature scaling of the dimensionless frequency entering into the DCA is discussed. Finally, some open problems regarding ac universality are listed....

Mina Shaughnessy and Open Admissions at New York's City College.

Science.gov (United States)

Reeves, LaVona L.

2002-01-01

Discusses basic writing pioneer Mina Shaughnessy, who advocated for a humanistic approach to writing instruction for disadvantaged students, within the context of the City University of New York's policy of open admissions. (EV)

Massive Open Online Courses for Africa by Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Benedict Oyo

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Africa is known for inadequate access to all sorts of human needs including health, education, food, shelter, transport, security, and energy. Before the emergence of massive open online courses (MOOCs, open access to higher education (HE was exclusive of Africa. However, as a generally affordable method of post-secondary education delivery, MOOCs place the developing countries at the centre of universal access to HE. This paper provides the strategy for MOOC implementation in the context of limited resources in Africa. The strategy is clustered under five baseline requirements: national accredited MOOC curriculum, electronic content development, development of an online and offline eLearning platform, establishment and funding of MOOC coordination units at public HEIs, and establishment of MOOC access hubs at strategic locations. Emerging from this paper is the insight that a new era of universal access to HE in Africa is achievable through MOOCs only if initial requirements are met by the respective governments.

Open innovation in early drug discovery: roadmaps and roadblocks.

Science.gov (United States)

Reichman, Melvin; Simpson, Peter B

2016-05-01

Open innovation in pharmaceutical R&D evolved from a triple helix of convergent paradigm shifts in academic, industrial and government research sectors. The birth of the biotechnology sector catalyzed shifts in location dynamics that led to the first wave of open innovation in pharmaceutical R&D between big pharma and startup companies. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Roadmap was a crucial inflection point that set the stage for a new wave of open innovation models between pharmaceutical companies and universities that have the potential to transform the pharmaceutical R&D landscape. We highlight the attributes of leading protected open innovation models that foster the sharing of proprietary small molecule collections by lowering the risk of premature escape of intellectual property, particularly structure-activity data. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Proinflammatory cytokines in open versus laparoscopic cholecystectomy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abu-Eshy, Saeed A.; Al-Rofaidi, Abdallah A.; Al-Faki, Ahmed S.; Ghalib, Hashim W.; Moosa, Riyadh A.; Sadik, Ali A.; Salati, Mohammad I.

2002-01-01

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy, a minimal access surgery, is fast replacing open cholecystectomy and is being associated with less trauma. The objective of this study was to compare the proinflammatory cytokine levels in both laparoscopic cholecystectomy and open cholecystectomy. This study was carried out at Aseer Central Hospital, Aseer region, Abha Private Hospital and the College of Medicine and Medical Sciences, King Khalid University, Abha, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, during the time period October 1998 through to November 2000. Sixty-one patients were included in the study, 27 of them had laparoscopic cholecystectomy and 34 had open cholecystectomy. Cytokines [Interleukin-6 Interleukin-1b, Tumor necrosis factor -a and Interleukin- 8] were measured in blood samples collected from the patients before, at and 24 hours post surgery, using commercially available kits. Interleukin-6 levels were significantly increased at 24 hours post surgery in the open cholecystectomy group of patients compared to the laparoscopic cholecystectomy group (P<0.04). No differences were found in the other cytokines levels (Interleukin-1b, tumor necrosis factor -a and Interleukin-8) between the open cholecystectomy and laparoscopic cholecystectomy groups. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy, a minimal access surgery, is associated with lower levels of the proinflammatory interleukin-6 cytokine compared to open cholecystectomy. (author)

ABOUT SYSTEM OF DISTANCE LEARNING IN OPEN ONLINE COURSE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V.М. Kukharenko

2012-03-01

Full Text Available This paper describes the first part of the open online course "E-Learning from A to Z", dedicated to the creation and development of system of distance learning (university or corporation. The results of the learning process and discussion on the workshop at NTU "KPI" in 2012 is shown the interest of teachers in a new form of online course and lack of development of personal learning environment. The open online courses can contribute to society practice.

Student Support at The Open University Of Tanzania (OUT) for the ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

According to lecturers and students the second decade has witnessed improvement in student support in terms of timely delivery of courses (through CDs and MOODLE LMS), access to learning resources (through OUT's website and Portals of other universities) and communication and interactions between lecturers and ...

The Physics of Open Ended Evolution

Science.gov (United States)

Adams, Alyssa M.

What makes living systems different than non-living ones? Unfortunately this question is impossible to answer, at least currently. Instead, we must face computationally tangible questions based on our current understanding of physics, computation, information, and biology. Yet we have few insights into how living systems might quantifiably differ from their non-living counterparts, as in a mathematical foundation to explain away our observations of biological evolution, emergence, innovation, and organization. The development of a theory of living systems, if at all possible, demands a mathematical understanding of how data generated by complex biological systems changes over time. In addition, this theory ought to be broad enough as to not be constrained to an Earth-based biochemistry. In this dissertation, the philosophy of studying living systems from the perspective of traditional physics is first explored as a motivating discussion for subsequent research. Traditionally, we have often thought of the physical world from a bottom-up approach: things happening on a smaller scale aggregate into things happening on a larger scale. In addition, the laws of physics are generally considered static over time. Research suggests that biological evolution may follow dynamic laws that (at least in part) change as a function of the state of the system. Of the three featured research projects, cellular automata (CA) are used as a model to study certain aspects of living systems in two of them. These aspects include self-reference, open-ended evolution, local physical universality, subjectivity, and information processing. Open-ended evolution and local physical universality are attributed to the vast amount of innovation observed throughout biological evolution. Biological systems may distinguish themselves in terms of information processing and storage, not outside the theory of computation. The final research project concretely explores real-world phenomenon by means of

Open Source, Open Access, Open Review, Open Data. Initiativen zu mehr Offenheit in der digitalen Welt

OpenAIRE

Herb, Ulrich

2011-01-01

The article discusses the principles of openess, open access and open availability of information based on the examples of open access to scientific information, open government data, open geographical data and open source software.

Chaotic flows in a universe with a negative quantum pressure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kandrup, H.E.

1983-01-01

Lockhart, Misra, and Prigogine have pointed out that geodesic flow in an open k = -1 Friedmann universe is unstable. The implications of this instability are considered for a universe whose energetics was dominated, at some early time, by the Lorentz-invariant expectation value of a quantum stress-energy tensor

Pushing Firm Boundaries through Research and Open Innovation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Borup Lynggaard, Aviaja

2011-01-01

provide into the company and bring forward the effect it has inside a company when performing open innovation together with research partners. We seek to bring forward how performing university-research collaboration can also change the practices inside a company and thus push the firm boundaries in new...

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) for Teaching Portuguese for Foreigners: A Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Zancanaro, Airton; Domingues, Maria Jose Carvalho de Souza

2018-01-01

Education is experiencing a period of change and the traditional models of education adopted by universities need to go through innovative processes to democratize knowledge, attract new learners and optimize resources. The use of Open Educational Resources (OERs) and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) can contribute to such changes. However,…

With eyes wide open

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Frølunde, Lisbeth; Pedersen, Chistina Hee

2013-01-01

and that vulnerability and discomfort are often overlooked as transformative forces. The analysis draws on data from a classroom context in which university students tested methods for facilitating creative thinking in a course on data production and creativity. The data stem from a session on the method “Lego Serious...... in constructions of group identity when an external facilitator disrupts a context. We argue that the facilitation of creative methods calls for keeping our eyes wide open for tensions, for they are the mulch that improves the soil....

Opening Up to the Ocean: The Changing Shape of Maritime East Asia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adam Clulow

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Xing Hang, Conflict and Commerce in Maritime East Asia: The Zheng Family and the Shaping of the Modern World, c. 1620-1720. Cambridge University Press, 2016. 344 pp. $100 (cloth. Gang Zhao, The Qing Opening to the Ocean: Chinese Maritime Policies, 1684-1757. Hawai'i University Press, 2013. 280 pp. $56 (cloth.

MOOCs to University: A Consumer Goal and Marketing Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Howarth, Jason; D'Alessandro, Steven; Johnson, Lester; White, Lesley

2017-01-01

In this paper we apply consumer goal theories to an educational context by examining how completion of a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) may motivate enrolment in a university course. We contend that individuals who finish a MOOC are more likely to establish a new goal intention for university than those who do not finish. This new goal…

Gravitational mass in an expanding universe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sannan, S.

1986-01-01

A test for the Hawking definition of mass is given in a Tolman--Bondi model that asymptotically approaches the open Friedmann universe. An expanding universe filled with dustlike matter of zero pressure is considered. The matter distribution is spherically symmetric but nonhomogeneous. With appropriate boundary conditions, the calculation yields a finite and nonzero value for the Hawking mass, measured as a deviation from a ''renormalized'' zero mass in the unperturbed Friedmann model. These boundary conditions are more restrictive than those found for a model with gravitational radiation

Open scientific communication urged

Science.gov (United States)

Richman, Barbara T.

In a report released last week the National Academy of Sciences' Panel on Scientific Communication and National Security concluded that the ‘limited and uncertain benefits’ of controls on the dissemination of scientific and technological research are ‘outweighed by the importance of scientific progress, which open communication accelerates, to the overall welfare of the nation.’ The 18-member panel, chaired by Dale R. Corson, president emeritus of Cornell University, was created last spring (Eos, April 20, 1982, p. 241) to examine the delicate balance between open dissemination of scientific and technical information and the U.S. government's desire to protect scientific and technological achievements from being translated into military advantages for our political adversaries.The panel dealt almost exclusively with the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union but noted that there are ‘clear problems in scientific communication and national security involving Third World countries.’ Further study of this matter is necessary.

Open access and the humanities contexts, controversies and the future

CERN Document Server

Eve, Martin Paul

2014-01-01

If you work in a university, you are almost certain to have heard the term 'open access' in the past couple of years. You may also have heard either that it is the utopian answer to all the problems of research dissemination or perhaps that it marks the beginning of an apocalyptic new era of 'pay-to-say' publishing. In this book, Martin Paul Eve sets out the histories, contexts and controversies for open access, specifically in the humanities. Broaching practical elements alongside economic histories, open licensing, monographs and funder policies, this book is a must-read for both those new to ideas about open-access scholarly communications and those with an already keen interest in the latest developments for the humanities.

Awareness and use of digital assistants by University of Ilorin ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Awareness and use of digital assistants by University of Ilorin postgraduate students. ... agents that help people with communication, information and time management. ... the use of DAs by postgraduate students of the University of Ilorin, Nigeria. ... By Country · List All Titles · Free To Read Titles This Journal is Open Access.

Issues and Challenges in Open and Distance e-Learning: Perspectives from the Philippines

Science.gov (United States)

Arinto, Patricia Brazil

2016-01-01

Rapid advances in information and communications technology in the digital age have brought about significant changes in the practice of distance education (DE) worldwide. DE practitioners in the Philippines' open university have coined the term "open and distance e-learning" (ODeL) to refer to the new forms of DE, which are…

Re-Thinking Sustainable Education Systems in Iceland: The Net-University Project

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Frank Rennie

2011-05-01

Full Text Available The recent economic crisis in Iceland has raised issues of the sustainability of Icelandic higher education to new levels of importance. A key strategy in relation to this economic crisis is to consider the merger of the four public universities in Iceland and to introduce a much higher enegagement with online and open delivery methods of higher education. The Net-University Project was an EU Leonardo-funded initiative to compare approaches to open and distance education in Iceland, Sweden, and Scotland, with additional lessons from Atlantic Canada. In particular, it sought to focus on the transfer of innovation in continuing university education, with particular emphasis on the development and delivery of online higher education courses throughout rural Iceland (i.e., outside of Reykjavik. The partners concentrated on how knowledge and experience about distributed and distance learning models could be transferred between the partner countries and how such models can be integrated into the education system to better support higher education and lifelong learning. There was a particular interest in the practical use of open educational resources (OER for course design and in the sharing of these course modules among university partners. Some good practice and lessons from OER use in course creation are listed.

The new multimedia educational technologies, used in open and distance learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dieter Penteliuc-Cotoşman

2006-01-01

Full Text Available This paper reviews and refers to the latest telematics technology that has turned the open system learning and helped it to become an institutional alternative to the face-to-face traditional one. Most technologies, briefly presented here, will be implemented in the ARTeFACt project - telematic system for vocational education system of open system learning, "system which will be officially launched at the end of 2006, in the institutional offer of the Faculty of Arts of the University West of Timisoara. The scientific coordination of the doctoral project "ARTeFACt" is done by Mr. Prof. Dr. Eng. Savi G. George, representing the Department of Mechatronics Faculty of Mechanical Engineering from the University "Politehnica" of Timişoara, Romania

OpenCL Implementation of NeuroIsing

Science.gov (United States)

Zapart, C. A.

Recent advances in graphics card hardware combined with anintroduction of the OpenCL standard promise to accelerate numerical simulations across diverse scientific disciplines. One such field benefiting from new hardware/software paradigms is econophysics. The paper describes an OpenCL implementation of a selected econophysics model: NeuroIsing, which has been designed to execute in parallel on a vendor-independent graphics card. Originally introduced in the paper [C.~A.~Zapart, ``Econophysics in Financial Time Series Prediction'', PhD thesis, Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Japan (2009)], at first it was implemented on a CELL processor running inside a SONY PS3 games console. The NeuroIsing framework can be applied to predicting and trading foreign exchange as well as stock market index futures.

Predicting Persistence and Withdrawal of Open Admissions Students at Virginia State University.

Science.gov (United States)

Tambe, Joseph T.

1984-01-01

A study of persistence/dropout among open admissions college students found: (1) accurate predictions cannot be made for individual students at the time of matriculation; and (2) it is possible to predict that about 80 percent of future groups will fall in the persist category after two semesters, 51 percent after four semesters. (CMG)

DIGITAL BROADCASTING and INTERACTIVE TELEVISION in DISTANCE EDUCATION: Digital And Interactive Television Infrastructure Proposol for Anadolu University Open Education Faculty

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Reha Recep ERGUL

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Rapid changes and improvements in the communication and information technologies beginning from the midst of the 20th Century and continuing today require new methods, constructions, and arrangements in the production and distribution of information. While television having the ability of presenting complex or difficult to comprehend concepts, subjects, and experimental studies to learners from different points of view, supported by 2D or 3D graphics and animations with audio visual stimulators replaces its technology from analog to digital and towards digital-interactive, it has also begun to convert the broadcasting technology in Turkey in this direction. Therefore, television broadcast infrastructure of Anadolu University Open Education Faculty needs to be replaced with a digital and interactive one. This study contains basic concepts of digital and interactive broadcasting and the new improvements. Furthermore, it includes the approaches in the basis of why and how a digital television broadcasting infrastructure should be stablished.

Open access to scientific publishing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Janne Beate Reitan

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Interest in open access (OA to scientific publications is steadily increasing, both in Norway and internationally. From the outset, FORMakademisk has been published as a digital journal, and it was one of the first to offer OA in Norway. We have since the beginning used Open Journal Systems (OJS as publishing software. OJS is part of the Public Knowledge Project (PKP, which was created by Canadian John Willinsky and colleagues at the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia in 1998. The first version of OJS came as an open source software in 2001. The programme is free for everyone to use and is part of a larger collective movement wherein knowledge is shared. When FORMakademisk started in 2008, we received much help from the journal Acta Didactic (n.d. at the University of Oslo, which had started the year before us. They had also translated the programme to Norwegian. From the start, we were able to publish in both Norwegian and English. Other journals have used FORMakademisk as a model and source of inspiration when starting or when converting from subscription-based print journals to electronic OA, including the Journal of Norwegian Media Researchers [Norsk medietidsskrift]. It is in this way that the movement around PKP works and continues to grow to provide free access to research. As the articles are OA, they are also easily accessible to non-scientists. We also emphasise that the language should be readily available, although it should maintain a high scientific quality. Often there may be two sides of the same coin. We on the editorial team are now looking forward to adopting the newly developed OJS 3 this spring, with many new features and an improved design for users, including authors, peer reviewers, editors and readers.

Application of Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) for assessment of occupational heat stress in open-pit mines.

Science.gov (United States)

Nassiri, Parvin; Monazzam, Mohammad Reza; Golbabaei, Farideh; Dehghan, Somayeh Farhang; Rafieepour, Athena; Mortezapour, Ali Reza; Asghari, Mehdi

2017-10-07

The purpose of this article is to examine the applicability of Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) index as an innovative index for evaluating of occupational heat stress in outdoor environments. 175 workers of 12 open-pit mines in Tehran, Iran were selected for this research study. First, the environmental variables such as air temperature, wet-bulb temperature, globe temperature, relative humidity and air flow rate were measured; then UTCI, wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) and heat stress index (HSI) indices were calculated. Simultaneously, physiological parameters including heart rate, oral temperature, tympanic temperature and skin temperature of workers were measured. UTCI and WBGT are positively significantly correlated with all environmental parameters (p0.05). Moreover, a strong significant relationship was found between UTCI and WBGT (r=0.95; p<0.001). The significant positive correlations exist between physiological parameters including oral temperature, tympanic and skin temperatures and heart rate and both the UTCI and WBGT indices (p<0.029). The highest correlation coefficient has been found between the UTCI and physiological parameters. Due to the low humidity and air velocity (~<1 m/s) in understudied mines, UTCI index appears to be appropriate to assess the occupational heat stress in these outdoor workplaces.

SemMat: Federated Semantic Services Platform for Open materials Science and Engineering

Science.gov (United States)

2017-01-01

SEMMAT: FEDERATED SEMANTIC SERVICES PLATFORM FOR OPEN MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING WRIGHT STATE UNIVERSITY JANUARY 2017 FINAL TECHNICAL...COVERED (From - To) JUL 2013 – JUN 2016 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE SemMat: FEDERATED SEMANTIC SERVICES PLATFORM FOR OPEN MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING...models to represent materials data. This provides a data exchange scheme for materials science , which also includes provenance information to promote

Language Policy in Puerto Rico's Higher Education: Opening the Door for Translanguaging Practices

Science.gov (United States)

Carroll, Kevin S.; Mazak, Catherine M.

2017-01-01

This paper investigates the relationship between meso university language policies in Puerto Rico and their micro instantiations in an undergraduate psychology classroom. We describe a typology of language policies used by 38 universities and campuses in Puerto Rico where their openness allows for flexible implementation of everyday micro policy.…

Open access, open education resources and open data in Uganda ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

As a follow up to OpenCon 2014, International Federation of Medical Students' Associations (IFMSA) students organized a 3 day workshop Open Access, Open Education Resources and Open Data in Kampala from 15-18 December 2014. One of the aims of the workshop was to engage the Open Access movement in ...

Something for Everyone? The Different Approaches of Academic Disciplines to Open Educational Resources and the Effect on Widening Participation

Science.gov (United States)

Coughlan, Tony; Perryman, Leigh-Anne

2011-01-01

This article explores the relationship between academic disciplines' representation in the United Kingdom Open University's (OU) OpenLearn open educational resources (OER) repository and in the OU's fee-paying curriculum. Becher's (1989) typology was used to subdivide the OpenLearn and OU fee-paying curriculum content into four disciplinary…

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1968-01-01

Human Rights Year, so designated by the United Nations, is now coming to an end. The full text of the Universal Declaration, proclaimed in 1946, is given as a reminder of its ideals. In 1966 Covenants for acceptance by States were drawn up and opened for signature. (author)

Exploring the Role of Distributed Learning in Distance Education at Allama Iqbal Open University: Academic Challenges at Postgraduate Level

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qadir BUKHSH

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Distributed learning is derived from the concept of distributed resources. Different institutions around the globe connected through network and the learners are diverse, located in the different cultures and communities. Distributed learning provides global standards of quality to all learners through synchronous and asynchronous communications and provides the opportunity of flexible and independent learning with equity, low cost educational services and has become the first choice of the dispersed learners around the globe. The present study was undertaken to investigate the challenges faced by the Faculty Members of Department of Business Administration and Computer Science at Allama Iqbal Open University Islamabad Pakistan. 25 Faculty Members were taken as sample of the study from both Departments (100% Sampling. The study was qualitative in nature and interview was the data collection tool. Data was analyzed by thematic analysis technique. The major challenges faced by the Faculty Members were as: bandwidth, synchronous learning activities, irregularity of the learners, feedback on individual work, designing and managing the learning activities, quality issues and training to use the network for teaching learning activities

Interpreting indigenous art in university collections

OpenAIRE

Tyler, Linda

2012-01-01

Debates on the representation of indigenous cultures in museums have come to the fore in the past thirty years. This paper examines the context for the opening of Waipapa Marae at the University of Auckland in 1988. It outlines a history of Māori meeting houses used for teaching and learning in a specifically Māori context in the New Zealand tertiary sector. The challenge for the university curator with a marae as part of the collection is how to interpret it for the 21st century. Facilitatin...

OER on the Asian Mega Universities: Developments, Motives, Openness, and Sustainability

Science.gov (United States)

Farisi, Mohammad Imam

2013-01-01

The OER movement originated and integrated into ODE developments. Mega Universities (MUs) are among the most important of ODE providers worldwide should be to be the primary organizations for providing access to OER. So far, however, in-depth studies on OER developments in the Asian MUs were very limited. This study focuses on the developments,…

Institutional services and altmetrics as drivers for a cultural transition to open scholarship

OpenAIRE

Walters, David

2015-01-01

Delivered at the 2:AM altmetrics conference (7th Oct 2015)http://www.altmetricsconference.com/schedule/details.html#open-science Video available:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZxcSmSdeMY The causal effect to the impact of scholarly outputs disseminated under an open model may be mirrored in the statistical analysis provided by Altmetrics. In the wake of technological developments and funder expectations, we at Brunel University London have a longstanding commitment for open access to ...

Quantum computing without wavefunctions: time-dependent density functional theory for universal quantum computation.

Science.gov (United States)

Tempel, David G; Aspuru-Guzik, Alán

2012-01-01

We prove that the theorems of TDDFT can be extended to a class of qubit Hamiltonians that are universal for quantum computation. The theorems of TDDFT applied to universal Hamiltonians imply that single-qubit expectation values can be used as the basic variables in quantum computation and information theory, rather than wavefunctions. From a practical standpoint this opens the possibility of approximating observables of interest in quantum computations directly in terms of single-qubit quantities (i.e. as density functionals). Additionally, we also demonstrate that TDDFT provides an exact prescription for simulating universal Hamiltonians with other universal Hamiltonians that have different, and possibly easier-to-realize two-qubit interactions. This establishes the foundations of TDDFT for quantum computation and opens the possibility of developing density functionals for use in quantum algorithms.

Measuring Confidence Levels of Male and Female Students in Open Access Enabling Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Atherton, Mirella

2015-01-01

The study of confidence was undertaken at the University of Newcastle with students selecting science courses at two campuses. The students were enrolled in open access programs and aimed to gain access to undergraduate studies in various disciplines at University. The "third person effect" was used to measure the confidence levels of…

An Examination of Goals of Potential and Actual Learners: University of Mid-America/State University of Nebraska. Working Paper No. 1 [and] Executive Summary.

Science.gov (United States)

Eggert, John D.

An examination is provided of University of Mid-America/State University of Nebraska (UMA/SUN) multimedia adult learners, based on market surveys in 1973 and 1974. One of the major responsibilities of SUN was to complete the planning of a two-year postsecondary open learning curriculum to be offered, including enumeration of courses in order of…

Continuing professional development of dentists through distant learning: An Indira Gandhi National Open University-Dental Council of India experiment a report

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ruchika Kuba

2014-01-01

Full Text Available To keep themselves updated with all the advancements in the field of dentistry, dentists should involve themselves in some kind of professional development. Distance learning is the most appropriate way to serve the growing demand due to technological advancements. Indira Gandhi National Open University in collaboration with Dental Council of India (DCI developed and launched two continuing professional development programs in Endodontics (postgraduate certificate in endodontics and postgraduate certificate in oral implantology and has trained over 400 and 280 BDS dentists respectively till date. The program package consists of self-instructional material, assignments, videos and practical training. The training is conducted in premiere dental colleges and institutions recognized by DCI. The certificate is awarded after a term end examination, both in theory and practical. The pass percentages of the theory courses ranged from around 63% to 98%, and 90% of the candidates cleared the practical exam.

Beyond Open Source Software: Solving Common Library Problems Using the Open Source Hardware Arduino Platform

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jonathan Younker

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Using open source hardware platforms like the Arduino, libraries have the ability to quickly and inexpensively prototype custom hardware solutions to common library problems. The authors present the Arduino environment, what it is, what it does, and how it was used at the James A. Gibson Library at Brock University to create a production portable barcode-scanning utility for in-house use statistics collection as well as a prototype for a service desk statistics tabulation program’s hardware interface.

EDUCATING THE PEOPLE AS A DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHER AND CAMERA OPERATOR VIA OPEN EDUCATION SYSTEM STUDIES FROM TURKEY: Anadolu University Open Education Faculty Case

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Huseyin ERYILMAZ

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Today, Photography and visual arts are very important in our modern life. Especially for the mass communication, the visual images and visual arts have very big importance. In modern societies, people must have knowledge about the visual things, such as photographs, cartoons, drawings, typography, etc. Briefly, the people need education on visual literacy.In today’s world, most of the people in the world have a digital camera for photography or video image. But it is not possible to give people, visual literacy education in classic school system. But the camera users need a teaching medium for using their cameras effectively. So they are trying to use internet opportunities, some internet websites and pages as an information source. But as the well known problem, not all the websites give the correct learning or know-how on internet. There are a lot of mistakes and false information. Because of the reasons given above, Anadolu University Open Education Faculty is starting a new education system to educate people as a digital photographer and camera person in 2009. This program has very importance as a case study. The language of photography and digital technology is in English. Of course, not all the camera users understand English language. So, owing to this program, most of the camera users and especially people who is working as an operator in studios will learn a lot of things on photography, digital technology and camera systems. On the other hand, these people will learn about composition, visual image's history etc. Because of these reasons, this program is very important especially for developing countries. This paper will try to discuss this subject.

An open-access endoscopy screen correctly and safely identifies patients for conscious sedation.

Science.gov (United States)

Kothari, Darshan; Feuerstein, Joseph D; Moss, Laureen; D'Souza, Julie; Montanaro, Kerri; Leffler, Daniel A; Sheth, Sunil G

2016-11-01

Open-access scheduling is highly utilized for facilitating generally low-risk endoscopies. Preprocedural screening addresses sedation requirements; however, procedural safety may be compromised if screening is inaccurate. We sought to determine the reliability of our open-access scheduling system for appropriate use of conscious sedation. We prospectively and consecutively enrolled outpatient procedures booked at an academic center by open-access using screening after in-office gastroenterology (GI) consultation. We collected the cases inappropriately booked for conscious sedation and compared the characteristics for significant differences. A total of 8063 outpatients were scheduled for procedures with conscious sedation, and 5959 were booked with open-access. Only 78 patients (0.97%, 78/8063) were identified as subsequently needing anesthesiologist-assisted sedation; 44 (56.4%, 44/78) were booked through open-access, of which chronic opioid (47.7%, 21/44) or benzodiazepine use (34.1%, 15/44) were the most common reasons for needing anesthesiologist-assisted sedation. Patients on chronic benzodiazepines required more midazolam than those not on chronic benzodiazepines (P = .03) of those patients who underwent conscious sedation. Similarly, patients with chronic opioid use required more fentanyl than those without chronic opioid use (P = .04). Advanced liver disease and alcohol use were common reasons for patients being booked after in-office consultation and were significantly higher than those booked with open-access (both P open-access scheduling. © The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press and Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University.

Geneva University

CERN Multimedia

2009-01-01

École de physique - Département de physique nucléaire et corspusculaire 24, quai Ernest-Ansermet 1211 GENÈVE 4 Tél: (022) 379 62 73 - Fax: (022) 379 69 92 Monday 9 March 2009 COLLOQUIUM at 17:00 – Stückelberg Auditorium Are We Descended From Heavy Neutrinos? Prof. Boris Kayser / Fermilab (Fermi National Accelerator Center, Geneva, Illinois, USA) Neutrinos are among the most abundant particles in the universe. The discovery that they have nonzero masses has raised a number of very interesting questions about them, and about their connections to other areas of physics and to cosmology. After briefly reviewing what has been learned about the neutrinos so far, we will identify the major open questions, explain why they are interesting, and discuss ideas and plans for answering them through future experiments. We will highlight a particularly intriguing question: Are neutrinos the key to understanding why the universe contains matter but almost no antimatter, making it s...

Distributed Services with OpenAFS For Enterprise and Education

CERN Document Server

Milicchio, Franco

2007-01-01

Shows in detail how to build enterprise-level secure, redundant, and highly scalable services from scratch on top of the open source Linux operating system, suitable for small companies as well as big universities. This book presents the core architecture, based on Kerberos, LDAP, AFS, and Samba.

Effects of Mathematics Innovation and Technology on Students Performance in Open and Distance Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Israel, Oginni 'Niyi

2016-01-01

This study investigated the effect of mathematics innovation and technology on students' academic performance in open and distance learning. Quasi -- experimental research design was adopted for the study. The population for the study consisted of all the 200 level primary education students at the National Open University of Nigeria (Ekiti and…

Open educational resources: staff attitudes and awareness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vivien Rolfe

2012-02-01

Full Text Available Attitudes are changing in education globally to promote the open sharing of educational courses and resources. The aim of this study was to explore staff awareness and attitudes toward ‘open educational resources’ (OER as a benchmark for monitoring future progress. Faculty staff (n=6 were invited to participate in semi-structured interviews which facilitated the development of a questionnaire. Staff respondents (n=50 were not familiar with the term OER but had a clear notion of what it meant. They were familiar with open content repositories within the university but not externally. A culture of borrowing and sharing of resources exists between close colleagues, but not further a field, and whilst staff would obtain resources from the Internet they were reticent to place materials there. Drivers for mobilising resources included a strong belief in open education, the ability of OER to enhance individual and institutional reputations, and economic factors. Barriers to OER included confusion over copyright and lack of IT support. To conclude, there is a positive collegiate culture within the faculty, and overcoming the lack of awareness and dismantling the barriers to sharing will help advance the open educational practices, benefiting both faculty staff and the global community.

MOOCs for Language Learning-Opportunities and Challenges: The Case of the Open University Italian Beginners' MOOCs

Science.gov (United States)

Motzo, Anna; Proudfoot, Anna

2017-01-01

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are a fairly recent development in online education. Language MOOCs (LMOOCs) have recently been added to the ever-growing list of open courses offered by various providers, including FutureLearn. For learners, MOOCs offer an innovative and inexpensive alternative to formal and traditional learning. For course…

A Survey Of Top 10 Open Source Learning Management Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohamed R. Elabnody

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Open Source LMSs are fully flexible and customizable so they can be designed in line with your schoolorganizations brand image. Open Source LMSs can also be converted to social learning platforms. You can create an online community through your LMS. This paper describes the most important features in learning management systems LMS that are critical to compare and contrast depend on your system requirements. Also represents a multiple LMS providers that are designed to use in university environment.

Integrating Free and Open Source Solutions into Geospatial Science Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vaclav Petras

2015-06-01

Full Text Available While free and open source software becomes increasingly important in geospatial research and industry, open science perspectives are generally less reflected in universities’ educational programs. We present an example of how free and open source software can be incorporated into geospatial education to promote open and reproducible science. Since 2008 graduate students at North Carolina State University have the opportunity to take a course on geospatial modeling and analysis that is taught with both proprietary and free and open source software. In this course, students perform geospatial tasks simultaneously in the proprietary package ArcGIS and the free and open source package GRASS GIS. By ensuring that students learn to distinguish between geospatial concepts and software specifics, students become more flexible and stronger spatial thinkers when choosing solutions for their independent work in the future. We also discuss ways to continually update and improve our publicly available teaching materials for reuse by teachers, self-learners and other members of the GIS community. Only when free and open source software is fully integrated into geospatial education, we will be able to encourage a culture of openness and, thus, enable greater reproducibility in research and development applications.

Open Days – The final countdown

CERN Multimedia

2008-01-01

In only a few days CERN will open its doors to everyone! Thousands of volunteers are working very hard so that your visit will be both mind-boggling and fun. Where is the coldest place in the Universe? How can you move 30 tonne magnets with sub-millimetre precision? Why do you need huge detectors to look at the infinitely small? There’s only one way to find the answers: Come to CERN!

2nd International Open and Distance Learning (IODL Symposium

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Reviewed by Murat BARKAN

2006-10-01

Full Text Available This closing remarks prepared and presented by Prof. Dr. Murat BARKAN Anadolu University, Eskisehir, TURKEY DEAR GUESTS, As the 2nd International Open and Distance Learning (IODL Symposium is now drawing to end, I would like to thank you all for your outstanding speeches, distinguished presentations, constructive roundtable and session discussions, and active participation during the last five days. I hope you all share my view that the whole symposium has been a very stimulating and successful experience. Also, on behalf of all the participants, I would like to take this opportunity to thank and congratulate the symposium organization committee for their excellent job in organizing and hosting our 2nd meeting. Throughout the symposium, five workshops, six keynote speeches and 66 papers, which were prepared by more than 150 academicians and practitioners from 23 different countries, reflected remarkable and various views and approaches about open and flexible learning. Besides, all these academic endeavors, 13 educational films were displayed during the symposium. The technology exhibition, hosted by seven companies, was very effective to showcase the current level of the technology and the success of applications of theory into practice. Now I would like to go over what our scholar workshop and keynote presenters shared with us: Prof. Marina McIsaac form Arizona State University dwelled on how to determine research topics worthwhile to be examined and how to choose appropriate research design and methods. She gave us clues on how to get articles published in professional journals. Prof. Colin Latchem from Australia and Prof. Dr. Ali Ekrem Ozkul from Anadolu University pointed to the importance of strategic planning for distance and flexible learning. They highlighted the advantages of strategic planning for policy-makers, planners, managers and staff. Dr. Wolfram Laaser from Fern University of Hagen, presented different multimedia clips and

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

Science.gov (United States)

Fredericks, Suzanne

2015-07-01

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

Speech Quality Measurement of GSM Infrastructure Built on USRP N210 and OpenBTS Project

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcel Fajkus

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The paper deals with the methodology for speech quality measuring in GSM networks using Perceptual Evaluation of Speech Quality (PESQ. The paper brings results of practical measurement of own GSM network build on the Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP N210 hardware and OpenBTS software. This OpenBTS station was installed in open terrain, and the speech quality was measured from different distances from the transmitter. The limit parameters of OpenBTS station with USRP N210 were obtained.

Distance Education at Conventional Universities in Germany

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hans-Henning Kappel

2002-01-01

Full Text Available Germany’s educational system has undergone a series of transformations during the last 40 years. In recent years, marked increases in enrolment have occurred. In response, admission requirements have been relaxed and new universities have been established.Academic distance education in the former Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany was ushered in by the educational radio broadcasts around the end of the 1960s. Aside from the formation of the FernUniversität (Open University in West Germany in 1975, there were significant developments in distance education occurring at the major universities in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany. After German reunification in 1990, the new unitary state launched programs to advance the development of distance education programs at conventional universities.Germany’s campus-based universities (Präsenzuniversitäten created various entities, including central units and consortia of universities to design and market distance education programs. Hybridisation provides the necessary prerequisites for dual mode delivery, such as basic and continuing education programs, as well as for the combination of distance and campus-based education (Präsenzstudium. Hybridisation also has also opened the door for the creation of new programs.Following an initial phase in which distance education research is expected to centralize a trend towards decentralisation is likely to follow. The German Association for Distance Education (AG-F offers a viable research network in distance education. Two dual mode case studies are also be surveyed: The Master of Arts degree, offered by the University of Koblenz-Landau, with Library Science as the second major, and the University of Kaiserslautern, where basic education will continue to be captured within the domain of the Präsenzstudium or campus-based education.The area in which distance education is flourishing most is within the field of academic continuing

Short- and long-term outcomes of laparoscopic surgery vs open surgery for transverse colon cancer: a retrospective multicenter study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kim JW

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Jong Wan Kim,1 Jeong Yeon Kim,1 Byung Mo Kang,2 Bong Hwa Lee,3 Byung Chun Kim,4 Jun Ho Park5 1Department of Surgery, Dongtan Sacred Heart Hospital, College of Medicine, Hallym University, Hwaseong Si, 2Department of Surgery, Chuncheon Sacred Heart Hospital, College of Medicine, Hallym University, Chuncheon Si, 3Department of Surgery, Hallym Sacred Heart Hospital, College of Medicine, Hallym University, Anyang Si, 4Department of Surgery, Kangnam Sacred Heart Hospital, College of Medicine, Hallym University, Seoul, 5Department of Surgery, Kangdong Sacred Heart Hospital, College of Medicine, Hallym University, Seoul, Republic of Korea Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to compare the perioperative and oncologic outcomes between laparoscopic surgery and open surgery for transverse colon cancer.Patients and methods: We conducted a retrospective review of patients who underwent surgery for transverse colon cancer at six Hallym University-affiliated hospitals between January 2005 and June 2015. The perioperative outcomes and oncologic outcomes were compared between laparoscopic and open surgery.Results: Of 226 patients with transverse colon cancer, 103 underwent laparoscopic surgery and 123 underwent open surgery. There were no differences in the patient characteristics between the two groups. Regarding perioperative outcomes, the operation time was significantly longer in the laparoscopic group than in the open group (267.3 vs 172.7 minutes, P<0.001, but the time to soft food intake (6.0 vs 6.6 days, P=0.036 and the postoperative hospital stay (13.7 vs 15.7 days, P=0.018 were shorter in the laparoscopic group. The number of harvested lymph nodes was lower in the laparoscopic group than in the open group (20.3 vs 24.3, P<0.001. The 5-year overall survival (90.8% vs 88.6%, P=0.540 and disease-free survival (86.1% vs 78.9%, P=0.201 rates were similar in both groups.Conclusion: The present study showed that laparoscopic surgery is associated

Current indications for open Kuntscher nailing of femoral shaft ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Current indications for open Kuntscher nailing of femoral shaft fractures. A S Bajwa FCS(SA)ORTH. E Schnaid FCS(SA)ORTH. M E B Sweet MD PhD(rned). University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Key Words: Kuntscher nail, intramedullary nail, femoral fracture. We retrospectively reviewed 32 patients with.

[Development of child neuropsychiatry at the Karl Marx University of Leipzig].

Science.gov (United States)

Gebelt, H

1978-05-01

The development of pedoneuropsychiatry at the University of Leipzig is marked by the opening in 1926 of the first "Department of Pedopsychiatric Observation", the establishment of the Clinic of Pedoneuropsychiatry as an independent unit of the Department of Medicine, Karl Marx University, and the setting up in 1976 of a Chair of Pedoneuropsychiatry. Paul Schröder's and R. A. Pfeifer's services to their university are particularly appreciated.

Gravitational-wave Astronomy: Opening a New Window on the Universe for Students, Educators and the Public

Science.gov (United States)

Cavaglià, M.; Hendry, M.; Ingram, D.; Milde, S.; Reitze, D.; Riles, K.; Schutz, B.; Stuver, A. L.; Summerscales, T.; Thacker, J.; Torres, C. V.; Ugolini, D.; Vallisneri, M.; Zermeno, A.

2008-11-01

The nascent field of gravitational-wave astronomy offers many opportunities for effective and inspirational astronomy outreach. Gravitational waves, the ``ripples in space-time'' predicted by Einstein's theory of General Relativity, are produced by some of the most energetic and dramatic phenomena in the cosmos, including black holes, neutron stars and supernovae. The detection of gravitational waves will help to address a number of fundamental questions in physics, from the evolution of stars and galaxies to the origin of dark energy and the nature of space-time itself. Moreover, the cutting-edge technology developed to search for gravitational waves is pushing back the frontiers of many fields, from lasers and materials science to high performance computing, and thus provides a powerful showcase for the attractions and challenges of a career in science and engineering. For several years a worldwide network of ground-based laser interferometric gravitational-wave detectors has been fully operational, including the two LIGO detectors in the United States. These detectors are already among the most sensitive scientific instruments on the planet and in the next few years their sensitivity will achieve further significant improvement. Those developments promise to open an exciting new window on the universe, heralding the arrival of gravitational-wave astronomy as a revolutionary, new observational field. In this paper we describe the extensive program of public outreach activities already undertaken by the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, and a number of special events which we are planning for IYA2009.

Huria: Journal of the Open University of Tanzania - Vol 21, No 1 (2016)

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Open Access DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT Subscription or Fee Access. Special Issue: Language Studies. Table of Contents. Articles. Editorial · EMAIL FULL TEXT EMAIL FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT. ESP Kigadye, v-ix. Assessment of Kivunjo as Second Language Learners' Competence ...

Huria: Journal of the Open University of Tanzania - Vol 19, No 1 (2015)

African Journals Online (AJOL)

DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT Open Access DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT Subscription or Fee Access. Table of Contents. Articles. Editorial · EMAIL FULL TEXT EMAIL FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT. ESP Kigadye, iv. Marker-assisted Screening of Cotton Cultivars for Bacterial Blight Resistance Gene ...

Positioning Your Library in an Open-Access Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Bhatt, Anjana H.

2010-01-01

This paper is a summary of the project that the author completed at Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) library for providing online access to 80 open access E-journals and digital collections. Although FGCU uses SerialsSolutions products to establish online access, any one can provide access to these collections as they are free for all. Paper…

Open life science research, open software and the open century

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Youhua Chen

2015-05-01

Full Text Available At the age of knowledge explosion and mass scientific information, I highlighted the importance of conducting open science in life and medical researches through the extensive usage of open software and documents. The proposal of conducting open science is to reduce the limited repeatability of researches in life science. I outlined the essential steps for conducting open life science and the necessary standards for creating, reusing and reproducing open materials. Different Creative Commons licenses were presented and compared of their usage scope and restriction. As a conclusion, I argued that open materials should be widely adopted in doing life and medical researches.

Logarithmic corrections from ferromagnetic impurity ending bonds of open antiferromagnetic host chains

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lou Jizhong; Qin Shaojin; Su Zhaobin; Dai Jianhui; Yu Lu

2000-06-01

We analyze the logarithmic corrections due to ferromagnetic impurity ending bonds of open spin 1/2 antiferromagnetic chains, using the density matrix renormalization group technique. A universal finite size scaling ∼ 1/L log L for impurity contributions in the quasi-degenerate ground state energy is demonstrated for a zigzag spin 1/2 chain at the critical next nearest neighbor coupling and the standard Heisenberg spin 1/2 chain, in the long chain limit. Using an exact solution for the latter case it is argued that one can extract the impurity contributions to the entropy and specific heat from the scaling analysis. It is also shown that a pure spin 3/2 open Heisenberg chain belongs to the same universality class. (author)

Weak openness and almost openness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David A. Rose

1984-01-01

Full Text Available Weak openness and almost openness for arbitrary functions between topological spaces are defined as duals to the weak continuity of Levine and the almost continuity of Husain respectively. Independence of these two openness conditions is noted and comparison is made between these and the almost openness of Singal and Singal. Some results dual to those known for weak continuity and almost continuity are obtained. Nearly almost openness is defined and used to obtain an improved link from weak continuity to almost continuity.

Project-based physics labs using low-cost open-source hardware

Science.gov (United States)

Bouquet, F.; Bobroff, J.; Fuchs-Gallezot, M.; Maurines, L.

2017-03-01

We describe a project-based physics lab, which we proposed to third-year university students. These labs are based on new open-source low-cost equipment (Arduino microcontrollers and compatible sensors). Students are given complete autonomy: they develop their own experimental setup and study the physics topic of their choice. The goal of these projects is to let students to discover the reality of experimental physics. Technical specifications of the acquisition material and case studies are presented for practical implementation in other universities.

Measuring Modularity in Open Source Code Bases

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roberto Milev

2009-03-01

Full Text Available Modularity of an open source software code base has been associated with growth of the software development community, the incentives for voluntary code contribution, and a reduction in the number of users who take code without contributing back to the community. As a theoretical construct, modularity links OSS to other domains of research, including organization theory, the economics of industry structure, and new product development. However, measuring the modularity of an OSS design has proven difficult, especially for large and complex systems. In this article, we describe some preliminary results of recent research at Carleton University that examines the evolving modularity of large-scale software systems. We describe a measurement method and a new modularity metric for comparing code bases of different size, introduce an open source toolkit that implements this method and metric, and provide an analysis of the evolution of the Apache Tomcat application server as an illustrative example of the insights gained from this approach. Although these results are preliminary, they open the door to further cross-discipline research that quantitatively links the concerns of business managers, entrepreneurs, policy-makers, and open source software developers.

Usage Trends of Open Access and Local Journals: A Korean Case Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Seo, Jeong-Wook; Chung, Hosik; Yun, Jungmin; Park, Jin Young; Park, Eunsun; Ahn, Yuri

2016-01-01

Articles from open access and local journals are important resources for research in Korea and the usage trends of these articles are important indicators for the assessment of the current research practice. We analyzed an institutional collection of published papers from 1998 to 2014 authored by researchers from Seoul National University, and their references from papers published between 1998 and 2011. The published papers were collected from Web of Science or Scopus and were analyzed according to the proportion of articles from open access journals. Their cited references from published papers in Web of Science were analyzed according to the proportion of local (South Korean) or open access journals. The proportion of open access papers was relatively stable until 2006 (2.5 ~ 5.2% in Web of Science and 2.7 ~ 4.2% in Scopus), but then increased to 15.9% (Web of Science) or 18.5% (Scopus) in 2014. We analyzed 2,750,485 cited references from 52,295 published papers. We found that the overall proportion of cited articles from local journals was 1.8% and that for open access journals was 3.0%. Citations of open access articles have increased since 2006 to 4.1% in 2011, although the increase in open access article citations was less than for open access publications. The proportion of citations from local journals was even lower. We think that the publishing / citing mismatch is a term to describe this difference, which is an issue at Seoul National University, where the number of published papers at open access or local journals is increasing but the number of citations is not. The cause of this discrepancy is multi-factorial but the governmental / institutional policies, social / cultural issues and authors' citing behaviors will explain the mismatch. However, additional measures are also necessary, such as the development of an institutional citation database and improved search capabilities with respect to local and open access documents.

Usage Trends of Open Access and Local Journals: A Korean Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Chung, Hosik; Yun, Jungmin; Park, Jin Young; Park, Eunsun; Ahn, Yuri

2016-01-01

Articles from open access and local journals are important resources for research in Korea and the usage trends of these articles are important indicators for the assessment of the current research practice. We analyzed an institutional collection of published papers from 1998 to 2014 authored by researchers from Seoul National University, and their references from papers published between 1998 and 2011. The published papers were collected from Web of Science or Scopus and were analyzed according to the proportion of articles from open access journals. Their cited references from published papers in Web of Science were analyzed according to the proportion of local (South Korean) or open access journals. The proportion of open access papers was relatively stable until 2006 (2.5 ~ 5.2% in Web of Science and 2.7 ~ 4.2% in Scopus), but then increased to 15.9% (Web of Science) or 18.5% (Scopus) in 2014. We analyzed 2,750,485 cited references from 52,295 published papers. We found that the overall proportion of cited articles from local journals was 1.8% and that for open access journals was 3.0%. Citations of open access articles have increased since 2006 to 4.1% in 2011, although the increase in open access article citations was less than for open access publications. The proportion of citations from local journals was even lower. We think that the publishing / citing mismatch is a term to describe this difference, which is an issue at Seoul National University, where the number of published papers at open access or local journals is increasing but the number of citations is not. The cause of this discrepancy is multi-factorial but the governmental / institutional policies, social / cultural issues and authors' citing behaviors will explain the mismatch. However, additional measures are also necessary, such as the development of an institutional citation database and improved search capabilities with respect to local and open access documents. PMID:27195948

Usage Trends of Open Access and Local Journals: A Korean Case Study.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jeong-Wook Seo

Full Text Available Articles from open access and local journals are important resources for research in Korea and the usage trends of these articles are important indicators for the assessment of the current research practice. We analyzed an institutional collection of published papers from 1998 to 2014 authored by researchers from Seoul National University, and their references from papers published between 1998 and 2011. The published papers were collected from Web of Science or Scopus and were analyzed according to the proportion of articles from open access journals. Their cited references from published papers in Web of Science were analyzed according to the proportion of local (South Korean or open access journals. The proportion of open access papers was relatively stable until 2006 (2.5 ~ 5.2% in Web of Science and 2.7 ~ 4.2% in Scopus, but then increased to 15.9% (Web of Science or 18.5% (Scopus in 2014. We analyzed 2,750,485 cited references from 52,295 published papers. We found that the overall proportion of cited articles from local journals was 1.8% and that for open access journals was 3.0%. Citations of open access articles have increased since 2006 to 4.1% in 2011, although the increase in open access article citations was less than for open access publications. The proportion of citations from local journals was even lower. We think that the publishing / citing mismatch is a term to describe this difference, which is an issue at Seoul National University, where the number of published papers at open access or local journals is increasing but the number of citations is not. The cause of this discrepancy is multi-factorial but the governmental / institutional policies, social / cultural issues and authors' citing behaviors will explain the mismatch. However, additional measures are also necessary, such as the development of an institutional citation database and improved search capabilities with respect to local and open access documents.

Learning Management Systems and E-Learning within Cyprus Universities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amirkhanpour, Monaliz

2011-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an extensive research study and results on the use of existing open-source Learning Management Systems, or LMS within the public and private universities of Cyprus. The most significant objective of this research is the identification of the different types of E-Learning, i.e. Computer-Based Training (CBT, Technology-Based Learning (TBL, and Web-Based Training (WBT within Cyprus universities. The paper identifies the benefits and limitations of the main learning approaches used in higher educational institutions, i.e. synchronous and asynchronous learning, investigates the open-source LMS used in the Cypriot universities and compares their features with regards to students’ preferences for a collaborative E-Learning environment. The required data for this research study were collected from undergraduate and graduate students, alumni, faculty members, and IT professionals who currently work and/or study at the public and private universities of Cyprus. The most noteworthy recommendation of this study is the clear indication that most of the undergraduate students that extensively use the specific E-Learning platform of their university do not have a clear picture of the differences between an LMS and a VLE. This gap has to be gradually diminished in order to make optimum use of the different features offered by the specific E-Learning platform.

Implementing an Open Access Policy – Modeling KAUST in the Region

KAUST Repository

Baessa, Mohamed A.; Vijayakumar, J.K.

2014-01-01

The presentation will discuss different open access approaches, and what can well-fit academic and governmental institutions. As a case study of KAUST, presenters will discuss how it can be initiated in a university set-up, how to get academic stakeholder engaged with support, and how the final stage is reached. Details about the KAUST Open Access Policy for research articles, theses and dissertations and the required tools and workflow to implement the policies will be highlighted.

Implementing an Open Access Policy – Modeling KAUST in the Region

KAUST Repository

Baessa, Mohamed A.

2014-11-12

The presentation will discuss different open access approaches, and what can well-fit academic and governmental institutions. As a case study of KAUST, presenters will discuss how it can be initiated in a university set-up, how to get academic stakeholder engaged with support, and how the final stage is reached. Details about the KAUST Open Access Policy for research articles, theses and dissertations and the required tools and workflow to implement the policies will be highlighted.

Part-Time Learners in Open and Distance Learning: Revisiting the Critical Importance of Choice, Flexibility and Employability

Science.gov (United States)

Butcher, John; Rose-Adams, John

2015-01-01

In this article, we argue that, if open learning seeks to (re)assert a social justice mission, issues of openness and flexibility are more critical than ever. Drawing on qualitative data from a National Union of Students Wales/Open University study, which explored, in the voices of Welsh students, the identity, motivation and barriers faced by…

Declining Symptom of Academic Productivity in the Japanese Research University Sector

Science.gov (United States)

Arimoto, Akira

2015-01-01

From a framework of this study, modern society may be explained by a paradigm transformation from ascription to achievement and also from particularism to universalism. According to this hypothesis, Japanese university society has not developed successfully for more than the closed society to the opened society. This paper intends to deal with the…

Epidemiology of open tibial fractures in a teaching hospital ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Methods: This is a prospective observational study of all open tibial fractures seen at the Accident and Emergency department of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) over a twelve- month period (July 2002- June 2003). Data from a pre-designed proforma for the study was analyzed and descriptive ...

Open Geodata Initiative for Romania

Science.gov (United States)

Craciunescu, Vasile; Iosifescu, Ionut; Ilie, Codrina Maria; Gaitanaru, Dragos; Radu Gogu, Constantin; Hurni, Lorenz

2013-04-01

The concept of open data access is a very important topic nowadays. The concept assumes that all data collected or generated by public sector bodies (excepting personal data and data protected under existing privacy protection or accessibility rules) is made publicly accessible in commonly-used, machine-readable formats and can be re-used for any purpose, commercial or non-commercial. Governmental agencies are considered to be the most significant data owners and providers in modern societies. The sheer volume and wealth of this data makes apparent the potential benefits of reusing, combining, and processing governmental data. Even though metadata (information about the data) is sometimes published, administrations typically express reluctance to making their data available, for various reasons, cultural, political, legal, institutional and technical. The governmental spatial information (also called geospatial data, georeferenced data or geodata) producers in Romania are no exception -with the additional situation that even metadata is not usually available. Starting from 2013 a joint program between a Swiss partner (The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH- Zurich - Institute of Cartography and Geoinformation) and a Romanian partner (Technical University of Civil Engineering - UTCB) is developed in order to establish a new approach on the open geodata topic. The main objective of the project GEOIDEA.RO (GEodata Openness Initiative for Development and Economic Advancement in ROmania) is to improve the scientific basis for open geodata model adoption in Romania. Is our believe that publishing government geodata in Romania over the Internet,under an open license and in a reusable format can strengthen citizen engagement and yield new innovative businesses, bringing substantial social and economic gains.

Digital curation and online resources: digital scanning of surgical tools at the royal college of physicians and surgeons of Glasgow for an open university learning resource.

Science.gov (United States)

Earley, Kirsty; Livingstone, Daniel; Rea, Paul M

2017-01-01

Collection preservation is essential for the cultural status of any city. However, presenting a collection publicly risks damage. Recently this drawback has been overcome by digital curation. Described here is a method of digitisation using photogrammetry and virtual reality software. Items were selected from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow archives, and implemented into an online learning module for the Open University. Images were processed via Agisoft Photoscan, Autodesk Memento, and Garden Gnome Object 2VR. Although problems arose due to specularity, 2VR digital models were developed for online viewing. Future research must minimise the difficulty of digitising specular objects.

Detecting topology in a nearly flat hyperbolic universe

OpenAIRE

Weeks, Jeffrey R.

2002-01-01

Cosmic microwave background data shows the observable universe to be nearly flat, but leaves open the question of whether it is simply or multiply connected. Several authors have investigated whether the topology of a multiply connect hyperbolic universe would be detectable when 0.9 < Omega < 1. However, the possibility of detecting a given topology varies depending on the location of the observer within the space. Recent studies have assumed the observer sits at a favorable location. The pre...

Transformation of University Organizations:Leadership and Managerial Implications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cemil ULUKAN

2005-10-01

Full Text Available Transformation of University Organizations:Leadership and Managerial Implications Cemil ULUKAN, Ph.D Anadolu UniversityOpen Education Faculty Eskisehir-TURKEYABSTRACT Technology and globalization are forcing higher education institutions to transform themselves. This paper aims to contribute to a better understanding the leadership and managerial implications of recent developments for higher education. Reviewing unique characteristics and the fundamental changes shaping higher education, the paper examines the need for organizational transformation and the major managerial implications.

Open Education and the Open Science Economy

Science.gov (United States)

Peters, Michael A.

2009-01-01

Openness as a complex code word for a variety of digital trends and movements has emerged as an alternative mode of "social production" based on the growing and overlapping complexities of open source, open access, open archiving, open publishing, and open science. This paper argues that the openness movement with its reinforcing structure of…

COBE DMR-normalized open inflation cold dark matter cosmogony

Science.gov (United States)

Gorski, Krzysztof M.; Ratra, Bharat; Sugiyama, Naoshi; Banday, Anthony J.

1995-01-01

A cut-sky orthogonal mode analysis of the 2 year COBE DMR 53 and 90 GHz sky maps (in Galactic coordinates) is used to determine the normalization of an open inflation model based on the cold dark matter (CDM) scenario. The normalized model is compared to measures of large-scale structure in the universe. Although the DMR data alone does not provide sufficient discriminative power to prefer a particular value of the mass density parameter, the open model appears to be reasonably consistent with observations when Omega(sub 0) is approximately 0.3-0.4 and merits further study.

A Case Study of MOOCs Design and Administration at Seoul National University

Science.gov (United States)

Lim, Cheolil; Kim, Sunyoung; Kim, Mihwa; Han, Songlee; Seo, Seungil

2014-01-01

This research, based on the case study of edX at Seoul National University, which is running Korea's first Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), discussed and proposed the roles of principal facilitators, the process, and the relationships among various facilitators in selecting, designing, opening and administrating MOOCs classes. Researches on…

Similarity and Difference in Fee-Paying and No-Fee Learner Expectations, Interaction and Reaction to Learning in a Massive Open Online Course

Science.gov (United States)

Cross, Simon; Whitelock, Denise

2017-01-01

The new pedagogical opportunities that massive open online course (MOOC) learning environments offer for the teaching of fee-paying students on university-accredited courses are of growing interest to educators. This paper presents a case study from a postgraduate-taught course at the Open University, UK, where a MOOC performed the dual role of a…

A Record Book of Open Heart Surgical Cases between 1959 and 1982, Hand-Written by a Cardiac Surgeon.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Won-Gon

2016-08-01

A book of brief records of open heart surgery underwent between 1959 and 1982 at Seoul National University Hospital was recently found. The book was hand-written by the late professor and cardiac surgeon Yung Kyoon Lee (1921-1994). This book contains valuable information about cardiac patients and surgery at the early stages of the establishment of open heart surgery in Korea, and at Seoul National University Hospital. This report is intended to analyze the content of the book.

Interdisciplinary research center devoted to molecular environmental science opens

Science.gov (United States)

Vaughan, David J.

In October, a new research center opened at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom. The center is the product of over a decade of ground-breaking interdisciplinary research in the Earth and related biological and chemical sciences at the university The center also responds to the British governments policy of investing in research infrastructure at key universities.The Williamson Research Centre, the first of its kind in Britain and among the first worldwide, is devoted to the emerging field of molecular environmental science. This field also aims to bring about a revolution in understanding of our environment. Though it may be a less violent revolution than some, perhaps, its potential is high for developments that could affect us all.

Using Open Educational Practices to Support Institutional Strategic Excellence in Teaching, Learning & Scholarship

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas Carey

2015-04-01

Full Text Available This paper explores the integration of Open Educational Practices (OEP into an institutional strategy to develop distinctive excellence in teaching, learning and scholarship. The institution in the case study is a public polytechnic university serving a metropolitan area in Canada. If emerging Open Educational Practices are to flourish at our university, support for OEP must integrate with and contribute to our broader efforts to clarify and enhance our strategic position. We have identified three focal points where our institution can focus attention in order to ensure that our use of emerging Open Educational Practices will best align with, contribute to, and benefit from our institutional strategy for distinctive excellence in teaching and learning: - Opening up the pedagogy underlying exemplary OER, to enable a deeper faculty engagement in integrating and mobilizing diverse sources of knowledge in teaching;- Opening up that process by which individual faculty improve teaching and learning, as a model for our students’ own engagements with knowledge;- Opening up our collective faculty work in innovation networks, as a model for students and as a signature institutional strength and outcome. We summarize the rationale and planned next steps for each of these focal points, which are intended to cumulatively build on each other as a value chain to support the development of distinctive graduate capabilities as signature outcomes of our teaching and learning. http://dx.doi.org/10.5944/openpraxis.7.2.201

Mechanisms for Quality Assurance of Universities in Cameroon

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joseph BESONG BESONG

2016-06-01

Full Text Available This paper takes a perspective look at the evolution of universities in Cameroon and the recent orientation of deregulation as it affects quality assurance in Cameroonian universities. The paper having identified these flaws attempted to elucidate the meaning of mechanism for Quality assurance in the face of deregulation. The regulatory mechanisms identified by this paper include inter- alia, appropriate scrutiny of new programmes, relying on impartial advise of examiners. Using the state law NO.98/004 of 1998 to compliment the efforts of internal school administration and above all opening linkages between universities and relating universities education in the World of science and technology. This paper does not only enhance quality assurance but also builds the idea of economic growth and development.

2017 Joint Universities Accelerator School (JUAS) - Registrations

CERN Multimedia

2016-01-01

The registrations for the 2017 session of the Joint Universities Accelerator School (JUAS) are now open.   Applications are welcome from staff, fellows and post-graduate students wishing to further their knowledge in the field. The deadline for submission of the full application form is 16 October 2016.

4 Massive Open Online Courses and How They Work

Science.gov (United States)

Gose, Ben

2012-01-01

Massive open online courses (MOOC's) are the latest development in online education. Over the past decade, millions of students have taken free online versions of existing courses at well-known universities like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but such courses often offered little more than reading lists and lecture notes. MOOC's are…

The inflationary universe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guth, A.; Steinhardt, P.

1989-01-01

The new inflationary cosmological model discussed here in terms of grand unified theories (GUTs) seems to offer solutions to all the problems associated with the big bang model, such as the existence of magnetic monopoles. Before the first 10 -30 s of the existence of the universe, a brief period of extraordinarily rapid expansion occurred according to the ''inflation'' model. Successes of the big bang model include the three standard testable predictions, but relate to time a second or two after the big bang, namely red-shifts of distant, receding galaxies, measured in the 1920s, the existence of a microwave background radiation, confirmed in 1964, and the abundance of light atomic nuclei such as Helium, Hydrogen and Lithium. Two problems posed by the big bang theory are the horizon problem which seeks an answer to the large-scale uniformity of the universe and the question of energy density which leads to questions about whether the universe is closed, open, or flat. In this new inflationary model the phase transition is driven by random fluctuations of the Higgs fields, thus overcoming the flaw in the original model. (U.K.)

Universality in driven-dissipative quantum many-body systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sieberer, L.M.

2015-01-01

Recent experimental investigations of condensation phenomena in driven-dissipative quantum many-body systems raise the question of what kind of novel universal behavior can emerge under non-equilibrium conditions. We explore various aspects of universality in this context. Our results are of relevance for a variety of open quantum systems on the interface of quantum optics and condensed matter physics, ranging from exciton-polariton condensates to cold atomic gases. In Part I we characterize the dynamical critical behavior at the Bose-Einstein condensation phase transition in driven open quantum systems in three spatial dimensions. Although thermodynamic equilibrium conditions are emergent at low frequencies, the approach to this thermalized low-frequency regime is described by a critical exponent which is specific to the non-equilibrium transition, and places the latter beyond the standard classification of equilibrium dynamical critical behavior. Our theoretical approach is based on the functional renormalization group within the framework of Keldysh non-equilibrium field theory, which is equivalent to a microscopic description of the open system dynamics in terms of a many-body quantum master equation. Universal behavior in the coherence properties of driven-dissipative condensates in reduced dimensions is investigated in Part II. We show that driven two-dimensional Bose systems cannot exhibit algebraic order as in thermodynamic equilibrium, unless they are sufficiently anisotropic. However, we find evidence that even isotropic systems may have a finite superfluidity fraction. In one-dimensional systems, non-equilibrium conditions are traceable in the behavior of the autocorrelation function. We obtain these results by mapping the long-wavelength condensate dynamics onto the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation. In Part III we show that systems in thermodynamic equilibrium have a specific symmetry, which makes them distinct from generic driven open systems. The novel

Welcome to the Universe an astrophysical tour

CERN Document Server

DeGrasse Tyson, Neil; Gott, Richard J

2016-01-01

Welcome to the Universe is a personal guided tour of the cosmos by three of today's leading astrophysicists. Inspired by the enormously popular introductory astronomy course that Neil deGrasse Tyson, Michael A. Strauss, and J. Richard Gott taught together at Princeton, this book covers it all--from planets, stars, and galaxies to black holes, wormholes, and time travel. Describing the latest discoveries in astrophysics, the informative and entertaining narrative propels you from our home solar system to the outermost frontiers of space. How do stars live and die? Why did Pluto lose its planetary status? What are the prospects of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe? How did the universe begin? Why is it expanding and why is its expansion accelerating? Is our universe alone or part of an infinite multiverse? Answering these and many other questions, the authors open your eyes to the wonders of the cosmos, sharing their knowledge of how the universe works. Breathtaking in scope and stunningly illustrate...

Academic e-learning experience in the enhancement of open access audiovisual and media education

OpenAIRE

Pacholak, Anna; Sidor, Dorota

2015-01-01

The paper presents how the academic e-learning experience and didactic methods of the Centre for Open and Multimedia Education (COME UW), University of Warsaw, enhance the open access to audiovisual and media education at various levels of education. The project is implemented within the Audiovisual and Media Education Programme (PEAM). It is funded by the Polish Film Institute (PISF). The aim of the project is to create a proposal of a comprehensive and open programme for the audiovisual (me...

Formal Definitions of Unbounded Evolution and Innovation Reveal Universal Mechanisms for Open-Ended Evolution in Dynamical Systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Adams, Alyssa; Zenil, Hector; Davies, Paul C W; Walker, Sara Imari

2017-04-20

Open-ended evolution (OEE) is relevant to a variety of biological, artificial and technological systems, but has been challenging to reproduce in silico. Most theoretical efforts focus on key aspects of open-ended evolution as it appears in biology. We recast the problem as a more general one in dynamical systems theory, providing simple criteria for open-ended evolution based on two hallmark features: unbounded evolution and innovation. We define unbounded evolution as patterns that are non-repeating within the expected Poincare recurrence time of an isolated system, and innovation as trajectories not observed in isolated systems. As a case study, we implement novel variants of cellular automata (CA) where the update rules are allowed to vary with time in three alternative ways. Each is capable of generating conditions for open-ended evolution, but vary in their ability to do so. We find that state-dependent dynamics, regarded as a hallmark of life, statistically out-performs other candidate mechanisms, and is the only mechanism to produce open-ended evolution in a scalable manner, essential to the notion of ongoing evolution. This analysis suggests a new framework for unifying mechanisms for generating OEE with features distinctive to life and its artifacts, with broad applicability to biological and artificial systems.

Community College Selective Enrollment and the Challenge to Open Access

Science.gov (United States)

Morris, David Brian

2012-01-01

The open access mission is central to the community college role and mission in higher education. Although initially implemented by four-year colleges and universities, adoption of formal enrollment management initiatives in community colleges is on the increase. Admission, matriculation, retention, and persistence are affected by enrollment…

University management nurse: a grounded theory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kamylla Santos da Cunha

2018-03-01

Full Text Available ABSTRACT Objective: to understand the meaning of the university management performed by nurses managers of the nursing undergraduate course of a public university. Method: this is a qualitative research, based on the grounded theory. Data collection took place between May and September 2016, with open interviews, in the scenario of a federal public university. The technique of constant comparative analysis of the data was followed, obtaining a theoretical sample with 19 nurses, in two sample groups. Results: there were three categories emerged that shaped the phenomenon: Articulating complex collectives through university management for the qualified training of new nurses. The categories included: a conditions, defined by perceiving the commitment to the collective, previous experiences, and training for health management, as motivations to be a teacher manager; b actions/interactions, delimited by Knowing and recognizing, in practice, the university management process, limits and possibilities in the coordination of complex collective subjects; and, c consequences, such as Improving teaching work and taking responsibility for university education. Conclusion: the nurses teaching managers to explain university management as a set of individual and collective actions that, articulated in a complex social environment, promote conditions for the training of critical and reflexive nurses with the demands of society.

Universal parity effects in the entanglement entropy of XX chains with open boundary conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fagotti, Maurizio; Calabrese, Pasquale

2011-01-01

We consider the Rényi entanglement entropies in the one-dimensional XX spin-chains with open boundary conditions in the presence of a magnetic field. In the case of a semi-infinite system and a block starting from the boundary, we derive rigorously the asymptotic behavior for large block sizes on the basis of a recent mathematical theorem for the determinant of Toeplitz plus Hankel matrices. We conjecture a generalized Fisher–Hartwig form for the corrections to the asymptotic behavior of this determinant that allows the exact characterization of the corrections to the scaling at order o(l -1 ) for any n. By combining these results with conformal field theory arguments, we derive exact expressions also in finite chains with open boundary conditions and in the case when the block is detached from the boundary

Entropy - Some Cosmological Questions Answered by Model of Expansive Nondecelerative Universe

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miroslav Sukenik

2003-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract: The paper summarizes the background of Expansive Nondecelerative Universe model and its potential to offer answers to some open cosmological questions related to entropy. Three problems are faced in more detail, namely that of Hawkings phenomenon of black holes evaporation, maximum entropy of the Universe during its evolution, and time evolution of specific entropy.

Open Access and its impact on the Knowledge Society: Latin American Case Studies Insights

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

María Soledad RAMÍREZ MONTOYA

2015-04-01

Full Text Available In a changing society, open access may represent an alternative growth and resources to the educational community, from the opportunities given to students, to teachers, researchers and administrators of educational institutions. The aim of this paper is to analyze the opportunities and challenges that gives open access to the educational community, through the presentation of a conceptual vision and practical cases in Latin America, on the issue of open educational resources, repositories, journals and open access policies –from universities and government agencies or financing– and its link to a knowledge society. The findings are presented on three key elements: opportunities, challenges and opportunities open to access the knowledge society.

A Preliminary Exploration of Operating Models of Second Cycle/Research Led Open Education Involving Industry Collaboration

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Olsson, Ulf

2014-01-01

Scientists from five Swedish universities were interviewed about open second cycle education. Research groups and scientists collaborate closely with industry, and the selection of scientists for the study was made in relation to an interest in developing technology-enhanced open education, indicated by applications for funding from the Knowledge…

The McDonaldization of Nigerian Universities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emeka W. Dumbili

2014-04-01

Full Text Available This article examines the extent to which the deregulation of Nigerian higher education (HE has facilitated the McDonaldization of the universities. University education in Nigeria commenced in 1948 with the establishment of the University College, Ibadan. After independence in 1960, subsequent governments expanded the number of universities, a policy based on a lack of quality manpower in leadership positions created by the exit of British officials and the need to grant access to an increasing number of prospective students. In the 1970s, the number of universities increased accompanied by a decline in infrastructure, funding, and working conditions. This resulted in several strikes and an exodus of academics to other countries. Instead of tackling the problems, the federal government shifted responsibilities by approving private ownership of universities in 1999 and by establishing the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN in 2001. Against this backdrop, this article critically analyzes how some of these reforms facilitated the McDonaldization of Nigerian universities. The article reveals how this has resulted in an overloading of responsibilities on the faculty, erosion of academic autonomy, a prioritization of quantity over quality of publications, and an assumption of “customer” status by students. The article uses evidence from McDonaldized HE in Western countries to discuss the implications of these developments and suggests some remedial measures.

Open hardware for open science

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CERN Bulletin

2011-01-01

Inspired by the open source software movement, the Open Hardware Repository was created to enable hardware developers to share the results of their R&D activities. The recently published CERN Open Hardware Licence offers the legal framework to support this knowledge and technology exchange.   Two years ago, a group of electronics designers led by Javier Serrano, a CERN engineer, working in experimental physics laboratories created the Open Hardware Repository (OHR). This project was initiated in order to facilitate the exchange of hardware designs across the community in line with the ideals of “open science”. The main objectives include avoiding duplication of effort by sharing results across different teams that might be working on the same need. “For hardware developers, the advantages of open hardware are numerous. For example, it is a great learning tool for technologies some developers would not otherwise master, and it avoids unnecessary work if someone ha...

The Relationship between Teacher Immediacy Behaviors and Learners' Perceptions of Social Presence and Satisfaction in Open and Distance Education: The Case of Anadolu University Open Education Faculty

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Bozkaya, Mujgan; Erdem Aydin, Irem

2007-01-01

A significant number of studies in the literature stress the important role of teacher immediacy behaviors on learners' perceptions of social presence and satisfaction in open and distance learning environments. Yet, those studies were conducted in different open and distance education institutions than the current example of which unique…

From Performativity to Aporia: Taking "Tremendous Responsibility" towards Feminism and the University

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Vrablikova, Lenka

2016-01-01

This paper seeks to contribute to the thinking on feminism's past and present entanglement with the university and strives to imagine its future. Through a close reading of the opening passage of Derrida's essay "Mochlos, or The Conflict of the Faculties," I trace "a university responsibility" which does not lead to a subject…

What to Expect from a Virtual University

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Vignare, Karen

2009-01-01

Virtual universities (VUs) were formed to open up access to higher education for new and existing students, and they continue to grow and thrive. They come in all sizes and organizational and business models, and most differ from their founding institutions. However, VUs face more rigorous requirements for accountability and reporting. Most of…

Building the Sustainable Library at Macquarie University

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Brodie, Maxine

2012-01-01

This article explores a number of current issues and challenges in sustainability, both of and in academic libraries of the future, using as a case study the new library opened at Macquarie University, Sydney in 2011. Issues covered include sustainable design and operation of library buildings, sustainability in relation to library collections,…

Next-Practise in University Research Based Open Innovation - From Push to Pull: Case Studies from Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rønnow Lønholdt, Jens; Wilken Bengtsson, Mille; Karlby, Lone Tolstrup

2013-01-01

-graduate education at DTU in design and management of projects in network. It supports competence development within efficient knowledge transfer. Finally conclusions and recommendations will be presented and discussed based on the above six cases within university research based knowledge transfer. © Springer......How do we ensure knowledge transfer from universities in the most effective and efficient way? What is the right balance between a push and a pull approach? These issues have been discussed at length and various methods of intermediary facilitating and ways to organise the transfer have been tried...... in different contextual settings at universities all over the world. Lessons learned are mixed and naturally varies from country to country. This paper presents a recently completed development project concerning the transfer facility at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). The project focused...

Delivery of Open, Distance, and E-Learning in Kenya

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Nyerere, Jackline Anyona; Gravenir, Frederick Q.; Mse, Godfrey S.

2012-01-01

The increased demand and need for continuous learning have led to the introduction of open, distance, and e-learning (ODeL) in Kenya. Provision of this mode of education has, however, been faced with various challenges, among them infrastructural ones. This study was a survey conducted in two public universities offering major components of ODeL,…

Does staff diversity imply openness to diversity?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lauring, Jakob; Selmer, Jan

2013-01-01

Purpose – Post-secondary educational organizations are currently some of the most diverse settings to be found. However, few educational studies have dealt with staff diversity and hardly any has looked outside the USA. The purpose of this paper is to present a study of members of international...... university departments in Denmark. The authors set out to investigate the relationship between different types of staff diversity and openness to diversity in terms of linguistic, visible, value, and informational heterogeneity. Design/methodology/approach – This study uses responses from 489 staff members......, was unrelated or negatively associated with positive diversity attitudes. Originality/value – Few studies deal with the role of staff diversity and no prior studies the authors know of have examined the link between diversity types and openness to diversity....

The Alphabet of the Universe

CERN Multimedia

Antonella Del Rosso

2015-01-01

One of the most culturally inspiring – yet unexpected – venues where you can find an exhibition about CERN and particle physics these days is the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt. Discover The Alphabet of the Universe: from CERN to North Africa and the Middle East in the cradle of knowledge par excellence.   The Alphabet of the Universe exhibition in Alexandria. (Image credit: Bibliotheca Alexandrina) With its 400 square metres surface area, about 40 exhibits and more than 50 people involved, The Alphabet of the Universe exhibition was inaugurated on 19 January in the Planetarium Science Centre (PSC), one of the main attractions of the New Library of Alexandria. “The exhibition has been designed to cover four main themes related to particle physics and CERN: what we know; open issues; accelerators and detectors; computing and applications,” explains Barbara Gallavotti, curator of the exhibition. “The exhibits were designed b...

University multi-user facility survey-2010.

Science.gov (United States)

Riley, Melissa B

2011-12-01

Multi-user facilities serve as a resource for many universities. In 2010, a survey was conducted investigating possible changes and successful characteristics of multi-user facilities, as well as identifying problems in facilities. Over 300 surveys were e-mailed to persons identified from university websites as being involved with multi-user facilities. Complete responses were received from 36 facilities with an average of 20 years of operation. Facilities were associated with specific departments (22%), colleges (22%), and university research centers (8.3%) or were not affiliated with any department or college within the university (47%). The five most important factors to succeed as a multi-user facility were: 1) maintaining an experienced, professional staff in an open atmosphere; 2) university-level support providing partial funding; 3) broad client base; 4) instrument training programs; and 5) an effective leader and engaged strategic advisory group. The most significant problems were: 1) inadequate university financial support and commitment; 2) problems recovering full service costs from university subsidies and user fees; 3) availability of funds to repair and upgrade equipment; 4) inability to retain highly qualified staff; and 5) unqualified users dirtying/damaging equipment. Further information related to these issues and to fee structure was solicited. Overall, there appeared to be a decline in university support for facilities and more emphasis on securing income by serving clients outside of the institution and by obtaining grants from entities outside of the university.