Examining the effectiveness of technology use in classrooms: A tertiary meta-analysis

Identifying effective literacy instruction programs has been a focal point for governments, educators and parents over the last few decades (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2004, 2006; Council of Ontario Directors of Education, 2011). Given the increasing use of computer technologies in the classroom and in the home, a variety of information communication technology (ICT) interventions for learning have been introduced. Meta-analyses comparing the impact of these programs on learning, however, have yielded inconsistent findings (Andrews et al., 2007, Torgerson and Zhu, 2003, Slavin et al., 2008, Slavin et al., 2009). The present tertiary meta-analytic review re-assesses outcomes presented in three previous meta-analyses. Four moderator variables assessed the impact of the systematic review from which they were retrieved, training and support, implementation fidelity and who delivered the intervention (teacher versus researcher). Significant results were found when training and support was entered as a moderator variable with the small overall effectiveness of the ICTs (ES = 0.18), similar to those found in previous research, increasing significantly (ES = 0.57). These findings indicate the importance of including implementation factors such as training and support, when considering the relative effectiveness of ICT interventions.     

Code OK1—Simulation of multi-beam irradiation on a spherical target in heavy ion fusion

Code OK1 is a fast and precise three-dimensional computer program designed for simulations of heavy ion beam (HIB) irradiation on a direct-driven spherical fuel pellet in heavy ion fusion (HIF). OK1 provides computational capabilities of a three-dimensional energy deposition profile on a spherical fuel pellet and the HIB irradiation non-uniformity evaluation, which are valuables for optimizations of the beam parameters and the fuel pellet structure, as well for further HIF experiment design. The code is open and complete, and can be easily modified or adapted for users' purposes in this field.

Program summary

Title of program: OK1Catalogue identifier: ADSTProgram summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/ADSTProgram obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University of Belfast, N. IrelandComputer: PC (Pentium 4, ∼1 GHz or more recommended)Operating system: Windows or UNIXProgram language used: C++Memory required to execute with typical data: 911 MBNo. of bits in a word: 32No. of processors used: 1 CPUHas the code been vectorized or parallelized: NoNo. of bytes in distributed program, including test data: 16 557Distribution format: tar gzip fileKeywords: Heavy ion beam, inertial confinement fusion, energy deposition, fuel pelletNature of physical problem: Nuclear fusion energy may have attractive features as one of our human energy resources. In this paper we focus on heavy ion inertial confinement fusion (HIF). Due to a favorable energy deposition behavior of heavy ions in matter [J.J. Barnard et al., UCRL-LR-108095, 1991; C. Deutsch et al., J. Plasma Fusion Res. 77 (2001) 33; T. Someya et al., Fusion Sci. Tech. (2003), submitted] it is expected that heavy ion beam (HIB) would be one of energy driver candidates to operate a future inertial confinement fusion power plant. For a successful fuel ignition and fusion energy release, a stringent requirement is imposed on the HIB irradiation non-uniformity, which should be less than a few percent [T. Someya et al., Fusion Sci. Tech. (2003), submitted; M.H. Emery et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 48 (1982) 253; S. Kawata et al., J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 53 (1984) 3416]. In order to meet this requirement we need to evaluate the non-uniformity of a realistic HIB irradiation and energy deposition pattern. The HIB irradiation and non-uniformity evaluations are sophisticated and difficult to calculate analytically. Based on our code one can numerically obtain a three-dimensional profile of energy deposition and evaluate the HIB irradiation non-uniformity onto a spherical target for a specific HIB parameter value set in HIF.Method of solution: OK1 code is based on the stopping power of ions in matter [J.J. Barnard et al., UCRL-LR-108095, 1991; C. Deutsch et al., J. Plasma Fusion Res. 77 (2001) 33; T. Someya et al., Fusion Sci. Tech. (2003), submitted; M.H. Emery et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 48 (1982) 253; S. Kawata et al., J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 53 (1984) 3416; T. Mehlhorn, SAND80-0038, 1980; H.H. Andersen, J.F. Ziegler, Pergamon Press, 1977, p. 3]. The code simulates a multi-beam irradiation, obtains the 3D energy deposition profile of the fuel pellet and evaluates the deposition non-uniformity.Restrictions on the complexity of the problem: NoTypical running time: The execution time depends on the number of beams in the simulated irradiation and its characteristics (beam radius on the pellet surface, beam subdivision, projectile particle energy and so on). In almost of the practical running tests performed, the typical running time for one beam deposition is less than 2 s on a PC with a CPU of Pentium 4, 2.2 GHz (e.g., in Test 2 when the number of beams is 600, the running time is about 18 minutes).Unusual features of the program: No     

Promoting reading comprehension with the use of technology

The research presented here explores the impact of two web-based applications (an interactive, multimedia literacy software and a digital process portfolio) on early elementary students' reading comprehension. Two studies were conducted during the 2010–2011 and the 2011–2012 school years, targeting 26 teachers from elementary schools (grades 1–2), and their students (N = 517) from six English school boards in Quebec, Canada. Analyses of covariance showed that students using both tools performed significantly better (p < .001) compared to controls in reading and written expression as measured by standardized tests.     

A cross-layer optimization based integrated routing and grooming algorithm for green multi-granularity transport networks

With the development of IP networks and intelligent optical switch networks, the backbone network tends to be a multi-granularity transport one. In a multi-granularity transport network (MTN), due to the rapid growth of various applications, the scale and complexity of network devices are significantly enhanced. Meanwhile, to deal with bursty IP traffic, the network devices need to provide continuous services along with excessive power consumption. It has attracted wide attention from both academic and industrial communities to build a power-efficient MTN. In this paper, we design an effective node structure for MTN. Considering the power savings on both IP and optical transport layers, we propose a mathematical model to achieve a cross-layer optimization objective for power-efficient MTN. Since this optimization problem is NP-hard (Hasan et al. (2010)  [11]) and heuristic or intelligent optimization algorithms have been successfully applied to solve such kinds of problems in many engineering domains (Huang et al. (2011)  [13], Li et al. (2011)  [17] and Dong et al. (2011)  [5]), a G  reen integrated R$R$outing and Grooming algorithm based on Biogeography-Based Optimization (Simon (2008)  [23]) (GRG_BBO) is also presented. The simulation results demonstrate that, compared with the other BBO based and state-of-the-art power saving approaches, GRG_BBO improves the power savings at a rate between 2%–15% whilst the high-level multi-user QoS (Quality of Services) satisfaction degree (MQSD) is guaranteed. GRG_BBO is therefore an effective technique to build a power-efficient MTN.     

Study of hardware transactional memory characteristics and serialization policies on Haswell

This paper presents an extensive performance study of the implementation of Hardware Transactional Memory (HTM) in the Haswell generation of Intel x86 core processors. It evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of this new architecture by exploring several dimensions in the space of Transactional Memory (TM) application characteristics using the Eigenbench (Hong et al., 2010 [1]) and the CLOMP-TM (Schindewolf et al., 2012 [2]), benchmarks. This paper also introduces a new tool, called htm-pBuilder that tailors fallback policies and allows independent exploration of its parameters.This detailed performance study provides insights on the constraints imposed by the Intel’s Transaction Synchronization Extension (Intel’s TSX) and introduces a simple, but efficient policy for guaranteeing forward progress on top of the best-effort Intel’s HTM which was critical to achieving performance. The evaluation also shows that there are a number of potential improvements for designers of TM applications and software systems that use Intel’s TM and provides recommendations to extract maximum benefit from the current TM support available in Haswell.     

Algorithmic applications of XPCR

An emerging trend in DNA computing consists of the algorithmic analysis of new molecular biology technologies, and in general of more effective tools to tackle computational biology problems. An algorithmic understanding of the interaction between DNA molecules becomes the focus of some research which was initially addressed to solve mathematical problems by processing data within biomolecules. In this paper a novel mechanism of DNA recombination is discussed, that turned out to be a good implementation key to develop new procedures for DNA manipulation (Franco et al., DNA extraction by cross pairing PCR, 2005; Franco et al., DNA recombination by XPCR, 2006; Manca and Franco, Math Biosci 211:282–298, 2008). It is called XPCR as it is a variant of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which was a revolution in molecular biology as a technique for cyclic amplification of DNA segments. A few DNA algorithms are proposed, that were experimentally proven in different contexts, such as, mutagenesis (Franco, Biomolecular computing—combinatorial algorithms and laboratory experiments, 2006), multiple concatenation, gene driven DNA extraction (Franco et al., DNA extraction by cross pairing PCR, 2005), and generation of DNA libraries (Franco et al., DNA recombination by XPCR, 2006), and some related ongoing work is outlined.     

Gaming-contingent self-worth,gaming motivation,and Internet Gaming Disorder

The relationship between problematic gaming behavior and self-esteem is well-documented (King & Delfabbro, 2014). Moreover, the basic needs component of Self-Determination Theory has also been proposed as an organizing framework to understand gaming motivation (Lafrenière et al., 2012, Ryan et al., 2006). Building on these ideas, the current study describes the development of a measure of contingent self-worth (Crocker et al., 2003, Crocker and Wolfe, 2001) specific to gaming experiences within Massively-Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs), and explores the association between Gaming-Contingent Self-Worth (GCSW) and symptoms of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD). A sample of MMORPG players was recruited through Amazon's Mechanical Turk (n = 600) to evaluate the reliability and validity of a GCSW scale. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was used to identify a 29-item measure comprised of four components, including validation seeking, reward orientation, competition focus, and detachment. Additional analyses supported the hypothesis that GCSW is a strong predictor of IGD symptoms, beyond the contribution of motivation based on behavioral activities within the game.     

Measuring critical components of digital literacy and their relationships with learning

The growing prominence of the Internet, and other digital environments, as educational tools requires research regarding learners' digital literacy. We argue that two critical aspects of digital literacy are the ability to effectively plan and monitor the efficacy of strategies used to search and manage the wealth of information available online, and the knowledge to appropriately vet and integrate those information sources. Therefore, digital literacy requires effective self-regulated learning (SRL) skills, and availing epistemic cognition (EC). Although numerous researchers and scholars have examined the role of SRL in online learning (e.g., Efklides, 2011; Lee and Tsai, 2010, Williams and Hellman, 2004, Winters et al., 2008), there is a need for additional empirical research on how SRL and EC interact, and relate to learning in digital environments. In this study, we used a powerful, but little-used data collection methodology, think-aloud protocol (TAP) analysis, to investigate the relations among SRL, EC, and learning gains with 20 college students who studied vitamins on the Internet. We also contributed to the literature by exploring alternative techniques for preparing, analyzing, and representing these data, accounting for the strengths and challenges of TAPs. We found that, on average, participants did increase their understanding as a result of learning with the Internet, and that a data-driven approach to understanding relations among SRL, EC, and learning yielded the most powerful representation of these phenomena. Our study has implications for future research on digital literacy using TAPs, as well as the relative contribution of SRL and EC, as aspects of digital literacy, to online learning.     

Qualitatively different cognitive processing during online reading primed by different study activities

This article uses eye-tracking technology to examine how study activities such as taking notes or filling in a graphic organizer affect cognitive processing during learning. College students read a computer-presented passage that compared the characteristics of eastern steamboats (top section) and western steamboats (bottom section), either by reading it twice (read-only group), typing notes into a textbox on the right side of the screen (note-taking group), or typing characteristics of the two types of steamboats into a compare-and-contrast graphic organizer on the right side of the screen (graphic organizer group). Compared to the note-taking group, the graphic organizer group displayed more eye movements between the top and bottom of the passage (i.e., integrative saccades, d = 1.03), more eye movements between the text and the type-in window on the right side (i.e., constructive saccades, d = 0.79), fewer constructive saccades during initial reading (d = −0.64), and less time looking to the right side during initial reading (d = −0.81); and scored higher on a comprehension test given afterwards (d = 1.17), although both study groups outscored the read-only group. Results suggest that students in the note-taking group (and read-only group) tended to use a linear learning strategy in which their eyes followed the text in the order presented whereas students in the graphic organizer group tended to use a generative learning strategy in which their eyes searched for connections between specific information across the passage required to make comparisons.     

Self-regulated learning through writing on computers: Consequences for reading comprehension

The overall aim for the present study was to analyze the consequences for reading ability among the children of a computer supported self-regulated learning environment in grade two. By means of a quasi-experimental design in a natural setting, an experimental group (n = 39) was compared to a control group from a national sample (n = 3409) on reading comprehension. The statistical analyses showed that the experimental group achieved better on reading comprehension both as a group (p < .001) as well as girls (p < .001) and boys (p < .05) separately. The proportion of high achievers was higher, and the proportion of low achievers was lower in the experimental group. In order to explain the level of reading comprehension in the experimental group Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used. The main explanatory factor for reading comprehension was writing with β = .44. As a tentative conclusion it was suggested that the extended writing in combination with the self-regulated learning environment can promote reading comprehension in grade two, whereas home literacy had no impact on reading comprehension in this context.     

Extending multimedia research: How do prerequisite knowledge and reading comprehension affect learning from text and pictures

The present study aimed at extending research on multimedia design principles by investigating their validity as a function of learners’ reading comprehension and scientific literacy. Students (N = 125; age: M = 15.11 years) learned about cell reproduction during their regular Biology lessons in one of six conditions resulting from cross-varying multimedia (text only vs. text plus animations) and text modality (spoken vs. written vs. spoken and written). Recall and transfer were assessed immediately after learning and again 1 week later. Overall, adding animations to text as well as using spoken rather than written text improved only immediate recall; in addition, a multimedia effect for delayed recall was observed for learners with higher levels of scientific literacy. A redundant presentation of text proved harmful especially for delayed performance measures. Reading comprehension did not moderate multimedia design effects. Students with more suitable cognitive prerequisites were better able to maintain performance from the immediate to the delayed tests. Future multimedia research should further investigate the boundary conditions that moderate multimedia effectiveness.     

On the reproducibility of experiments of indexing repetitive document collections

This work introduces a companion reproducible paper with the aim of allowing the exact replication of the methods, experiments, and results discussed in a previous work Claude et al., (2016). In that parent paper, we proposed many and varied techniques for compressing indexes which exploit that highly repetitive collections are formed mostly of documents that are near-copies of others. More concretely, we describe a replication framework, called uiHRDC (universal indexes for Highly Repetitive Document Collections), that allows our original experimental setup to be easily replicated using various document collections. The corresponding experimentation is carefully explained, providing precise details about the parameters that can be tuned for each indexing solution. Finally, note that we also provide uiHRDC as reproducibility package.     

Learning presence as a moderator in the community of inquiry model

This study of over 2000 US college students examines the Community of Inquiry framework (CoI) in its capacity to describe and explain differences in learning outcomes in hybrid and fully online learning environments. We hypothesize that the CoI model's theoretical constructs of presence reflect educational effectiveness in a variety of environments, and that online learner self-regulation, a construct that we label “learning presence” moderates relationships of the other components within the CoI model. Consistent with previous research (e.g., Means, Toyama, Murphy, Bakia, & Jones, 2009; Shea & Bidjerano, 2011) we found evidence that students in online and blended courses rank the modalities differently with regard to quality of teaching, social, and cognitive presence. Differences in help seeking behavior, an important component of self-regulated learning, were found as well. In addition, results suggest teaching presence and social presence have a differential effect on cognitive presence, depending upon learner's online self-regulatory cognitions and behaviors, i.e. their learning presence. These results also suggest a compensation effect in which greater self-regulation is required to attain cognitive presence in the absence of sufficient teaching and social presence. Recommendations for future research and practice are included.     

Succinct representation of dynamic trees

We study the problem of maintaining a dynamic ordered tree succinctly under updates of the following form: insertion or deletion of a leaf, insertion of a node on an edge (edge subdivision) or deletion of a node with only one child (the child becomes a child of its former grandparent). We allow satellite data of a fixed size to be associated to the nodes of the tree.We support update operations in constant amortized time and support access to satellite data and basic navigation operations in worst-case constant time; the basic navigation operations include parent, first/last-child, previous/next-child. These operations are moving from a node to its parent, leftmost/rightmost child, and its previous and next child respectively.We demonstrate that to efficiently support more extended operations, such as determining the i-th child of a node, rank of a child among its siblings, or size of the subtree rooted at a node, one requires a restrictive pattern for update strategy, for which we propose the finger-update model. In this model, updates are performed at the location of a finger that is only allowed to crawl on the tree between a child and a parent or between consecutive siblings. Under this model, we describe how the named extended operations are performed in worst-case constant time.Previous work on dynamic succinct trees (Munro et al., 2001 [17]; Raman and Rao, 2003 [19]) is mainly restricted to binary trees and achieves poly-logarithmic (Munro et al., 2001 [17]) or “poly-log-log” (Raman and Rao, 2003 [19]) update time under a more restricted model, where updates are performed in traversals starting at the root and ending at the root and queries can be answered when the traversal is completed. A previous result on ordinal trees achieves only sublinear amortized update time and “poly-log-log” query time (Gupta et al., 2007 [11]). More recently, the update time has been improved to O(logn/loglogn) while queries can be performed in O(logn/loglogn) time (Sadakane and Navarro, 2010 [20]).     

A Corrigendum to: “Sticky-ERfair: a task-processor affinity aware proportional fair scheduler”

This paper provides a corrigendum to resolve a couple of minor issues in the algorithm presented in Sarkar et al. (Real-Time Syst., 2011). The first issue relates to the postponement of execution of a task when its own ‘deadline of postponement’ have not been crossed. The second issue concerns the updation of certain scheduler data structures.     

Effects of interactivity and instructional scaffolding on learning: Self-regulation in online video-based environments

Online learning often requires learners to be self-directed and engaged. The present study examined students' self-regulatory behaviors in online video-based learning environments. Using an experimental design, this study investigated the effects of a newly designed enhanced video learning environment, which was designed to support or scaffold students' self-regulated or self-directed learning on students' learning behaviors and outcomes. In addition, correspondence between students' self-regulation strategies in traditional learning environments and observed self-regulated learning behaviors in the enhanced video environment were examined. A cross-sectional experimental research design with systematic random assignment of participants to either the control condition (common video) or the experimental condition (enhanced video) was utilized. Undergraduate and graduate students participated in the study (N = 80). Study results indicate that the newly designed enhanced video learning environment was a superior instructional tool than the common video learning environment in terms students' learning performance. In addition, there was correspondence between graduate students' self-reported self-regulation and observed self-regulation, with those high on seeking/learning information and managing their environment/behavior more likely to engage more in interactive note-taking.     

Testing for ellipsoidal symmetry: A comparison study

The focus of this paper is the methodology for testing ellipsoidal symmetry, which was recently proposed by Koltchinskii and Sakhanenko [Koltchinskii, V., Sakhanenko, L. 2000. Testing for ellipsoidal symmetry of a multivariate distribution. In: Giné, E., Mason, D., Wellner, J. (Eds.), High Dimensional Probability II. In: Progress in Probability, Birkhäuser, Boston, pp. 493–510]. It is a class of omnibus bootstrap tests that are affine invariant and consistent against any fixed alternative. First, we study their behavior under a sequence of local alternatives. Secondly, a finite sample comparison study of this new class of tests with other popular methods given by Beran, Manzotti et al., and Huffer et al. is carried out. We find that the new tests outperform other methods in preserving the level and have superior power for the most of the chosen alternatives. We also suggest a tool for identifying periods of financial instability and crises when these tests are applied to the distribution of the return rates of stock market indices. These tests can be used in place of tests for normality of asset return distributions since ellipsoidally symmetric distributions are the natural extensions of multivariate normal distributions, so that the capital asset pricing model holds.