Search results

The Braun and Simpson’s (2004) study indicates that the Pause method is an effective teaching approach for auditing based on four sets of hypotheses in developing students’ oral, written and interpersonal communication skills. In addition, it is more beneficial to the learning process and more enjoyable than the lecture-only method. The extent of achieving both of these is dependent on the type of activity that is consistent with the student’s preferred Pause method activity. Students will achieve higher examination scores when following their preferred Pause activity. Our study replicates the Braun and Simpson’s study in Greater China using one university in Hong Kong and one in mainland China as students in these jurisdictions are more passive learners and their value of learning more extrinsic than intrinsic. The results are similar to the Braun and Simpson’s study, thus enhancing the universality of the “Pause” method.

Additive manufacturing (AM) technologies have recently turned into a mainstream production method in many industries. The adoption of new manufacturing scenarios led to the necessity of cross-disciplinary developments by combining several fields such as materials, robotics and computer programming. This paper aims to describe an innovative solution for implementing robotic simulation for AM experiments using a robot cell, which is controlled through a system control application (SCA).

For this purpose, the emulation of the AM tasks was executed by creating a robot working station in RoboDK software, which is responsible for the automatic administration of additive tasks. This is done by interpreting gcode from the Slic3r software environment. Posteriorly, all the SCA and relevant graphical user interface (GUI) were developed in Python to control the AM tasks from the RoboDK software environment. As an extra feature, Slic3r was embedded in the SCA to enable the generation of gcode automatically, without using the original user interface of the software. To sum up, this paper adds a new insight in the field of AM as it demonstrates the possibility of simulating and controlling AM tasks into a robot station.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the AM field by introducing and implementing an SCA capable of executing/simulating robotic AM tasks. It also shows how an advanced user can integrate advanced simulation technologies with a real AM system, creating in this way a powerful system for R&D and operational manufacturing tasks. As demonstrated, the creation of the AM environment was only possible by using the RoboDk software that allows the creation of a robot working station and its main operations.

Although the AM simulation was satisfactory, it was necessary to develop an SCA capable of controlling the whole simulation through simple commands instructed by users. As described in this work, the development of SCA was entirely implemented in Python by using official libraries. The solution was presented in the form of an application capable of controlling the AM operation through a server/client socket connection. In summary, a system architecture that is capable of controlling an AM simulation was presented. Moreover, implementation of commands in a simple GUI was shown as a step forward in implementation of modern AM process controls.

Research consultations are a long-established means of providing support to students undertaking research activities (Stapleton et al., 2020). The literature on research consultations consistently reports high levels of satisfaction and that students value the individual, bespoke advice received via one-on-one librarian tuition. However, research consultations are resource-intensive and maximising the learning potential of consultations is a priority to justify the expenditure of time and ensure the sustainability of services. This study reports on the outcomes of a service development where students attending research consultations were offered a screencast recording of their appointment to support retention and application of information literacy skills and research processes covered in the research consultation. The study explored student use and perceptions of the service and how the recording of the appointment was integrated into research practices.

The study used a mixed-method approach including a questionnaire and interviews. Quantitative elements explored if and how students engaged with recordings made during research consultations while qualitative elements investigated students' perceptions of the service and how content from the recordings was used to complete research activities.

Findings indicated a high degree of positive feedback on the service and reveal complex user behaviours when using appointment recordings. The study demonstrates that the addition of multimedia recording during individual research consultations (IRCs) may offer significant benefits to students by improving knowledge retention and application and for librarians by reducing follow-up enquiries and increased engagement with the service.

The findings of this study give an evidential basis for library and reference services interesting in incorporating synchronous recording into a research consultation service.

This study is believed to be the first to investigate the perceptions and use of synchronous recording of research consultations between librarians and students.

This paper aims to present Long4Cloud (long-running workflows execution environment for cloud), a distributed and adaptive LRW execution environment delivered “as a service” solution.

LRWs last for hours, days or even months and their duration open the possibility of changes in business rules, service interruptions or even alterations of formal regulations of the business before the workflow completion. These events can lead to problems such as loss of intermediary results or exhaustion of computational resources used to manage the workflow execution. Existing solutions face those problems by merely allowing the replacement (at runtime) of services associated with activities of the LRW.

LONG4Cloud extends the previous works in two main aspects, namely, the inclusion of dynamic reconfiguration capabilities and the adoption of an “as a service” delivery mode. The reconfiguration mechanism uses quiescence principles, data and state management and provides multiple adaptive strategies. Long4Cloud also adopts a scenario-based analysis to decide the adaptation to be performed. Events such as changes in business rules or service failures trigger reconfigurations supported by the environment. These features have been put together in a solution delivered “as a service” that takes advantage of cloud elasticity and allows to better allocate cloud resources to fit into the demands of LRWs.

The original contribution of Long4Cloud is to incorporate adaptive capabilities into the LRW execution environment as an effective way to handle the specificities of this kind of workflow. Experiments using current data of a Brazilian health insurance company were carried out to evaluate Long4Cloud and show performance gains in the execution of LRWs submitted to the proposed environment.

The purpose of this paper is to examine an Iranian mathematics lesson through the eyes of Japanese educators, and the critiques of Iranian teachers for raising the quality of teaching. In this paper, the Japanese lesson study process is considered as an approach to raising the quality of teaching.

Qualitative methods including pre-lesson planning, peer observation of the lesson, post-lesson discussion, and semi-structured interviews with the participants of the post-lesson discussion meetings in Iran and Japan were employed for data collection. A detailed description and analysis of the lesson is provided for deep understanding of students’ mathematical communication in the class and teachers’ points of view in the post-lesson discussions about raising the quality of teaching.

The findings are intended to clarify the significant influence that cross-cultural analysis has exerted on raising the quality of teaching and developing a culture of transnational learning that supports teachers to design appropriate learning tasks, to conceptualize mathematical phenomena, and to provide mathematical communication which encourage students to participate more in classroom activities.

This study provides a transnational learning opportunity for Iranian teachers to learn from Japanese educators how to deliver evidence-based analysis of a lesson for raising the quality of teaching in practice, look culturally and differently at what actually goes on in the classroom, and localize lesson study as a global approach to the “science of improvement.” However, issues to be considered in future studies include how such “small changes” can be linked together in local communities to expand the improvement from bottom up, and how to facilitate collaboration with the global community to expand transnational learning.

Traditionally in Iran, there are a variety of teacher training programs but there are no examples of lesson study like those that take place in Japan as a model of practitioner inquiry for raising quality of teaching. Hence, it can be said that Japanese lesson study may provide a new approach of transnational learning in the Iranian education context for building a “science of improvement.”

In the case of Iran, especially at the elementary school level, teachers do not have enough preparation or experience. Therefore, raising the quality of teaching through lesson study that has an actual impact on teacher and teaching quality and developing a “science of improvement” has become a pressing concern in national and international contexts.

The case study shows that the transfer of the Japanese model of lesson study plays a significant role in harnessing the potential of students and teachers as well as teachers themselves by improving teaching. Efforts by teachers to communicate and learn from each other’s strengths, in fact lead to the realizing of the students potential and thinking process. In particular, it helps supply more open-end and in-depth task learning, which anticipates student thinking, understanding, recognizing and questioning.

The purpose of this paper is to examine learning.

The paper reviews an article in learning and effective training, which identifies and debunks myths about tried and tested approaches for more sustained learning. It then offers a number of alternative methods.

The paper finds that the trainer/teacher should not just preach to his/her audience, but instead watch, respond and encourage his/her pupils.

The paper provides useful information on the practice of effective training.