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1 – 6 of 6Camillia Matuk, Ralph Vacca, Anna Amato, Megan Silander, Kayla DesPortes, Peter J. Woods and Marian Tes
Arts-integration is a promising approach to building students’ abilities to create and critique arguments with data, also known as informal inferential reasoning (IIR). However…
Abstract
Purpose
Arts-integration is a promising approach to building students’ abilities to create and critique arguments with data, also known as informal inferential reasoning (IIR). However, differences in disciplinary practices and routines, as well as school organization and culture, can pose barriers to subject integration. The purpose of this study is to describe synergies and tensions between data science and the arts, and how these can create or constrain opportunities for learners to engage in IIR.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors co-designed and implemented four arts-integrated data literacy units with 10 teachers of arts and mathematics in middle school classrooms from four different schools in the USA. The data include student-generated artwork and their written rationales, and interviews with teachers and students. Through maximum variation sampling, the authors identified examples from the data to illustrate disciplinary synergies and tensions that appeared to support different IIR processes among students.
Findings
Aspects of artistic representation, including embodiment, narrative and visual image; and aspects of the culture of arts, including an emphasis on personal experience, the acknowledgement of subjectivity and considerations for the audience’s perspective, created synergies and tensions that both offered and hindered opportunities for IIR (i.e. going beyond data, using data as evidence and expressing uncertainty).
Originality/value
This study answers calls for humanistic approaches to data literacy education. It contributes an interdisciplinary perspective on data literacy that complements other context-oriented perspectives on data science. This study also offers recommendations for how designers and educators can capitalize on synergies and mitigate tensions between domains to promote successful IIR in arts-integrated data literacy education.
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I-Chin Wu, Pertti Vakkari and Bo-Xian Huang
Recent studies on search-as-learning (SAL) have recognized the significance of identifying users' learning needs as they evolve for acquiring knowledge during the search process…
Abstract
Purpose
Recent studies on search-as-learning (SAL) have recognized the significance of identifying users' learning needs as they evolve for acquiring knowledge during the search process. In this study, the authors clarify the extent to which search behaviors reflect the learning outcome and foster the users' knowledge of Chinese art.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted an exploratory-sequential mixed-methods approach using simulated work task situations to collect empirical data. The authors used two types of simulated learning tasks for topics related to painting and antique knowledge. A lot of 25 users participated in this evaluation of digital archives (DAs) at the National Palace Museum (NPM) in Taiwan. For each set of topics, a close-ended task related to lower-level learning goals and an open-ended task related to higher-level learning goals.
Findings
The learning criteria reflect changes in the users' knowledge structure, revealing the SAL process. Furthermore, users achieved better task performance on the higher-level creative-learning task, which suggests that they met more learning criteria, exhibited a greater variety of search patterns when exploring the topics via interaction with various sources. Finally, there is a close relationship between creative-learning tasks, prior knowledge, keyword search actions and learning outcomes.
Originality/value
The authors discuss implications with respect to the design of DAs in practice and contributions to the body of SAL knowledge in DAs of online museums. For future reference, the authors provide implications for the development of learning measures from the perspective of user search behavior with associated learning outcomes in the context of DAs.
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Georgy Sunny, S. Lalkrishna, Jerin James and Sreejith Suprasannan
Personal Protective Equipment plays an inevitable part in the current scenario of pandemics in the world. A novel coronavirus, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Corona Virus-2…
Abstract
Purpose
Personal Protective Equipment plays an inevitable part in the current scenario of pandemics in the world. A novel coronavirus, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Corona Virus-2 (SARS-Cov 2), began as an outbreak of pneumonia in Wuhan, China, in late December 2019, and quickly spread worldwide. It quickly escalated into an international public health crisis. This opened up the high demand for the innovation and research of new materials in the Personal Protective Equipment industry.
Design/methodology/approach
PubMed, Embase and Google Scholar were searched for relevant literature regarding personal protective equipment and the information was organized in a systematic way.
Findings
There are no adequate number of studies taken up in the field of use of textiles in medical applications especially with PPEs.
Research limitations/implications
This structured review will generate a sense of the significance of using PPE for controlling pandemics and also awaken need for additional research and innovations in this area.
Practical implications
The authorities of the management should take timely intervention in choosing the right material for their PPE in their hospitals. Hence health care professionals teams have an inevitable role in preventing the adverse environmental impact due to the inadvertent disposal of PPEs.
Social implications
There is a lack of systematic way of disposing contaminated single-use face masks in a safe, environmentally acceptable manner. The dumping of single-use PPE in domestic garbage has had an adverse effect on the environment. Mismanaged plastic waste endangers the health of ecosystems by polluting marine and terrestrial environments, posing a significant risk of ingestion or injury to animals and contaminating habitats.
Originality/value
This review article provides an in-depth review of the use of different materials in PPE and challenges regarding its long-term use and implications on the environment.
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Rameesh Lakshan Bulathsinghala, Serosha Mandika Wijeyaratne, Sandun Fernando, Thantirige Sanath Siroshana Jayawardana, Vishvanath Uthpala Indrajith Senadhipathi Mudiyanselage and Samith Lakshan Sunilsantha Kankanamalage
The purpose of this paper is to develop a prototype of a wearable medical device in the form of a bandage with a real-time data monitoring platform, which can be used domestically…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a prototype of a wearable medical device in the form of a bandage with a real-time data monitoring platform, which can be used domestically for diabetic patients to identify the possibility of foot ulceration at the early stage.
Design/methodology/approach
The prototype can measure blood volumetric change and temperature variation in the forefoot area simultaneously. The waveform extracted using a pulsatile-blood-flow signal was used to assess blood perfusion-related information, and hence, predict ischemic ulcers. The temperature difference between ulcerated and the reference was used to predict neuropathic ulcers. The medical device can be used as a bandage during the application wherein the sensory module is placed inside the hollow pocket of the bandage. A platform was developed through a mobile application where doctors can extract real-time information, and hence, determine the possibility of ulceration.
Findings
The height of the peaks in the pulsatile-blood-flow signal measured from the subject with foot ischemic ulcers is significantly less than that of the subject without ischemic ulcers. In the presence of ischemic ulcers, the captured waveform flattens. Therefore, the blood perfusion from arteries to the tissue of the forefoot is considerably low for the subject with ischemic ulcers. According to the temperature difference data measured over 25 consecutive days, the temperature difference of the subject with neuropathic ulcers occasionally exceeded the 4 °F range but mostly had higher values closer to the 4 °F range. However, the temperature difference of the subject who had no complications of neuropathic ulcers did not exceed the 4 °F range, and the majority of the measurements occupy a narrow range from −2°F to 2 °F.
Originality/value
The proposed prototype of wearable medical apparatus can monitor both temperature variation and pulsatile-blood-flow signal on the forefoot simultaneously and thereby predict both ischemic and neuropathic diabetes using a single device. Most importantly, the wearable medical device can be used domestically without clinical assistance with a real-time data monitoring platform to predict the possibility of ulceration and the course of action thereof.
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Creating suitable learning conditions in university classrooms continues to be a topical issue in higher education. The above means that a continued search for innovative teaching…
Abstract
Purpose
Creating suitable learning conditions in university classrooms continues to be a topical issue in higher education. The above means that a continued search for innovative teaching and learning strategies in universities remains a priority issue. The study therefore investigated conditions that facilitate the effective implementation of cooperative learning (CL) as well as how CL influences the academic performance of students in universities in Zimbabwe.
Design/methodology/approach
The research adopted a quantitative research approach located in the descriptive research design. A sample of 341 undergraduate students selected using a simple random sampling strategy from a sample frame of 701 undergraduate students participated in the study. The study first used a pre-test and later, a post-test to determine the initial and end of semester (EOS) academic performance levels of students, respectively, on a Calculus 1 course. A self-constructed structured questionnaire was also used for data collection on the views of students towards the use of CL with particular reference to the 5 dimensions of positive interdependence (PDI), promotive interaction (PI), individual and group accountability (IGA), social and interpersonal skills (SS) and group processing (GP). The questionnaire was validated using confirmatory factor analysis. Structural equation modelling was used to test proposed relationships. A total of 341 questionnaires were administered through an email survey. Of the total, 149 completed questionnaires were received from the students, giving a return rate of 43.7%.
Findings
The results showed that positive interdependence, promotive interaction, social and interpersonal skills, individual and group accountability as well as group processing were important antecedents to the effective implementation of CL in universities. The results further showed that CL plays a significant role in improving the academic performance of university students; hence, academic performance was viewed as a significant consequence of CL.
Research limitations/implications
This is the first study on the application of CL to enhance the academic performance of university students in the context of Zimbabwe. As a result, caution should be exercised when generalising the results as more studies to either confirm or disconfirm these results in the context of Zimbabwe may still be required.
Practical implications
These results have implications on policy and practice with regards to active teaching strategies in universities. With regards to practice, the results demonstrated that the use of group activities that allow students to share knowledge and support each other while the teacher plays a facilitating role is important for enhancing students' academic performance. With regards to policy, the results showed that universities can enhance the academic performance of students if policies that promote student-centered teaching and learning approaches to ensure that teaching in universities is more student-led than lecturer-led are developed.
Originality/value
While many studies have been conducted in other contexts, to establish the influence of CL on the academic performance of university students, there is no known study on the influence of CL that has been conducted in the context of Zimbabwean universities. The results of this study therefore are an eye opener on the role of CL in enhancing the academic performance of students in Zimbabwean universities.
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Britto Pari J., Mariammal K. and Vaithiyanathan D.
Filter design plays an essential role in most communication standards. The essential element of the software-defined radio is a channelizer that comprises several channel filters…
Abstract
Purpose
Filter design plays an essential role in most communication standards. The essential element of the software-defined radio is a channelizer that comprises several channel filters. Designing filters with lower complexity, minimized area and enhanced speed is a demanding task in currently prevailing communication standards. This study aims to propose an efficient reconfigurable residue number system (RNS)-based multiply-accumulate (MAC) channel filter for software radio receivers.
Design/methodology/approach
RNS-based pipelined MAC module for the realization of channel finite impulse response (FIR) filter architecture is considered in this work. Further, the use of a single adder and single multiplier for realizing the filter architecture regardless of the number of taps offers effective resource sharing. This design provides significant improvement in speed of operation as well as a reduction in area complexity.
Findings
In this paper, two major tasks have been considered: first, the RNS number conversion is performed in which the integer is converted into several residues. These residues are processed in parallel and are applied to the MAC-FIR filter architecture. Second, the MAC filter architecture involves pipelining, which enhances the speed of operation to a significant extent. Also, the time-sharing-based design incorporates a single partial product-based shift and add multiplier and single adder, which provide a low complex design. The results show that the proposed 16-tap RNS-based pipelined MAC sub-filter achieves significant improvement in speed as well as 89.87% area optimization when examined with the conventional RNS-based FIR filter structure.
Originality/value
The proposed MAC-FIR filter architecture provides good performance in terms of complexity and speed of operation because of the use of the RNS scheme with pipelining and partial product-based shift and adds multiplier and single adder when examining with the conventional designs. The reported architecture can be used in software radios.
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