The effect of direct instruction in story grammar using deep processing on the reading and writing achievement of second-graders

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of direct instruction in story grammar on the reading and writing achievement of second graders. Three aspects of story grammar (character, setting, and plot) were taught with direct instruction using the concept development technique of deep processing. Deep processing which included (a) visualization (the drawing of pictures), (b) verbalization (the writing of sentences), (c) the attachment of physical sensations, and (d) the attachment of emotions to concepts was used to help students make mental connections necessary for recall and application of character, setting, and plot when constructing meaning in reading and writing.^ Four existing classrooms consisting of seventy-seven second-grade students were randomly assigned to two treatments, experimental and comparison. Both groups were pretested and posttested for reading achievement using the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests. Pretest and posttest writing samples were collected and evaluated. Writing achievement was measured using (a) a primary trait scoring scale (an adapted version of the Glazer Narrative Composition Scale) and (b) an holistic scoring scale by R. J. Pritchard. ANCOVAs were performed on the posttests adjusted for the pretests to determine whether or not the methods differed. There was no significant improvement in reading after the eleven-day experimental period for either group; nor did the two groups differ. There was significant improvement in writing for the experimental group over the comparison group. Pretreatment and posttreatment interviews were selectively collected to evaluate qualitatively if the students were able to identify and manipulate elements of story grammar and to determine patterns in metacognitive processing. Interviews provided evidence that most students in the experimental group gained while most students in the comparison group did not gain in their ability to manipulate, with understanding, the concepts of character, setting, and plot. ^

Fostering deep and elaborative learning and generic(soft) skill development: the strategic use of case studies in accounting education

It is vital that accounting educators take responsibility for the development of students' generic (soft) skills in conjunction with, discipline-specific skills. Research indicates that the typical learning styles of accounting students are not suited to the acquisition of generic skills. In this paper learning theory is used to provide a framework to support the use of case studies as a tool to promote appropriate learning styles and thereby enhance generic skill development. The paper details a number of strategies that may be implemented with case studies to achieve these goals. The implications for accounting educators, which are significant, are discussed.

加工深度、记忆材料类型对FOK和FOnK判断的影响

Predecessors’ research found that feeling-of-knowing and feeling-of-not-knowing was two different cognitional processes. Processing depth had more good effects on FOK judgment, but it had little effects on FOnK judgment, furthermore, it perhaps decreased the accuracy of FOnK judgment. On the base of predecessors’ research the experiment discussed the different effects on FOK judgment and FOnK judgment by processing depth and memory materials of different kinds. The first purpose was to find that the effects of processing depth on FOK judgment and FOnK judgment were different or not. The second purpose was to reveal the two different memory materials of the Paired-Chinese-words and the Paired- Chinese-phonetic-alphabet would cause difference on the grade and accuracy of FOK judgment or not, and if the two different kinds of memory materials took different effects on FOK judgment and FOnK judgment. The third purpose was to search if there was interaction on processing depth and different kinds of memory materials. The experiment used the Paired-Chinese-words and the Paired- Chinese-phonetic-alphabet as the materials, and regarded processing depth in the time of encoding stage and different kinds of memory materials as the independent variable. The experiment regarded validity of memory; the grade of FOK judgment; the accuracy of FOK judgment; the accuracy of FOnK judgment as the dependent variable. The experiment adopted the “RJR” normal researching form of FOK judgment projected by Hart. The result of the researching proved that in the condition of deep processing in the time of encoding stage, the validity of memory; the grade of FOK judgment; the accuracy of FOK judgment were higher than in the condition of superficial processing, but processing depth had little effect on accuracy of FOnK judgment. FOK judgment and FOnK judgment were two different cognitional processes. Memory materials of different kinds led clear difference on the dependent variable of the validity of memory; the grade of FOK judgment; the accuracy of FOK judgment, and also had little effect on accuracy of FOnK judgment. Processing depth and different kinds of memory materials had interaction on their effects on FOK judgment. Regard the accuracy of recall, the percentage of “feeling of knowing”, the percentage of “feeling of not knowing”, and the grade of FOK judgment as the dependent variables, memory materials of different kinds make little effect in the condition of superficial processing in the time of encoding stage, but in the condition of deep processing in the time of encoding stage, Chinese characters was higher than Chinese phonetic alphabet.

A Pipeline Interleaved Heterogeneous SIMD Soft Processor Array Architecture for MIMO-OFDM Detection

The most promising way to maintain reliable data transfer across the rapidly fluctuating channels used by next generation multiple-input multiple-output communications schemes is to exploit run-time variable modulation and antenna configurations. This demands that the baseband signal processing architectures employed in the communications terminals must provide low cost and high performance with runtime reconfigurability. We present a softcore-processor based solution to this issue, and show for the first time, that such programmable architectures can enable real-time data operation for cutting-edge standards
such as 802.11n; furthermore, by exploiting deep processing pipelines and interleaved task execution, the cost and performance of these architectures is shown to be on a par with traditional dedicated circuit based solutions. We believe this to be the first such programmable architecture to achieve this, and the combination of implementation efficiency and programmability makes this implementation style the most promising approach for hosting such dynamic architectures.

A Kernel Interleaved Scheduling Method for Streaming Applications on Soft-core Vector Processors

Massively parallel networks of highly efficient, high performance Single Instruction Multiple Data (SIMD) processors have been shown to enable FPGA-based implementation of real-time signal processing applications with performance and
cost comparable to dedicated hardware architectures. This is achieved by exploiting simple datapath units with deep processing pipelines. However, these architectures are highly susceptible to pipeline bubbles resulting from data and control hazards; the only way to mitigate against these is manual interleaving of
application tasks on each datapath, since no suitable automated interleaving approach exists. In this paper we describe a new automated integrated mapping/scheduling approach to map algorithm tasks to processors and a new low-complexity list scheduling technique to generate the interleaved schedules. When applied to a spatial Fixed-Complexity Sphere Decoding (FSD) detector
for next-generation Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) systems, the resulting schedules achieve real-time performance for IEEE 802.11n systems on a network of 16-way SIMD processors on FPGA, enable better performance/complexity balance than current approaches and produce results comparable to handcrafted implementations.

Controlo cognitivo na memória episódica : dados de adolescentes e jovens adultos

Dissertação de mestrado, Ciência Cognitiva, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Psicologia, Faculdade de Medicina, Faculdade de Ciências, Faculdade de Letras, 2014

The influence of academic self-efficacy on academic performance: a systematic review

This review integrates 12 years of research on the relationship between academic self-efficacy and university student's academic performance, and known cognitive and motivational variables that explain this relationship. Previous reviews report moderate correlations between these variables, but few discuss mediating and moderating factors that impact this relationship. Systematic searches were conducted in April 2015 of psychological, educational, and relevant online databases for studies investigating academic self-efficacy and performance in university populations published between September 2003 and April 2015. Fifty-nine papers were eligible. Academic self-efficacy moderately correlated with academic performance. Several mediating and moderating factors were identified, including effort regulation, deep processing strategies and goal orientations. Given the paucity of longitudinal studies identified in this review, further research into how these variables relate over time is necessary in order to establish causality and uncover the complex interaction between academic self-efficacy, performance, and motivational and cognitive variables that impact it.

Robust handling of out-of-vocabulary words in deep language processing

Tese de doutoramento, Informática (Ciências da Computação), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, 2014

Are Deep Learning Approaches Suitable for Natural Language Processing?

In recent years, Deep Learning (DL) techniques have gained much at-tention from Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) research communities because these approaches can often learn features from data without the need for human design or engineering interventions. In addition, DL approaches have achieved some remarkable results. In this paper, we have surveyed major recent contributions that use DL techniques for NLP tasks. All these reviewed topics have been limited to show contributions to text understand-ing, such as sentence modelling, sentiment classification, semantic role labelling, question answering, etc. We provide an overview of deep learning architectures based on Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), and Recursive Neural Networks (RNNs).

A Comparison of Deep Drawing and Ironing of Metal Alloy Strip Produced conventionally and Non-conventionally via Semi Solid Material Processing

A semi solid thin strip continuous casting process was used to obtain 50%wt Pb/50%wtSn strip by single and twin roll processing at speed of 15 m/min. A 50%wt Pb/50%wtSn plate ingot was also cast for rolling conventionally into strips of 1.4 mm thickness and 45 mm width for comparison with those achieved non-conventionally. This hypoeutectic alloy has a solidification interval and fusion temperature of approximately 31 degrees C and 215 degrees C respectively. The casting alloy temperature was around 280 degrees C as measured by a type K immersion thermocouple prior to pouring into a tundish designed to maintain a constant melt flow on the cooling slope during semi solid material production. A nozzle with a weir ensures that the semi solid material is dragged smoothly by the lower roll, producing strip with minimum contamination of slag/oxide. The temperatures of the cooling slope and the lower roll were also monitored using K type thermocouples. The coiled semi solid strip, which has a thickness of 1.5 mm and 45 mm width, was rolled conventionally in order to obtain 1.2 mm thick strip. The coiled thixorolled strip had a thickness of 1.2 mm and achieved practically the same width as the conventional strips. Blanks of 40 mm diameter were cut from the strips in a mechanical press, ready for deep drawing and ironing for mechanical characterization. All the strips achieved from non-conventional processing had the same mechanical performance as those achieved conventionally. The limiting drawing ratio (LDR) achieved was approximately 2.0 for all strips. Microscopy examination was made in order to observe phase segregation during processing.