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Review and 'Best-Fit' Framework for Universal Learning
Get PDFThe article processing charge was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) – 491192747 and the Open Access Publication Fund of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.The rise of Virtual Reality (VR) in educational contexts has highlighted the need to design Virtual Reality Learning Applications (VRLAs) that prioritize inclusivity, accommodating a spectrum of learner needs. Despite the surging interest, there is a noticeable gap in research that delves into the specifics of creating VRLAs that are rooted in inclusive educational theory. This research sought to extract insights and recommendations for the development of VRLAs tailored for diverse student populations. The intention was to scrutinize research focused on the inclusive design elements of VRLAs, leading to the establishment of preliminary Inclusion Guidelines for VR Learning (IGVRL). Adopting the "best-fit" framework synthesis technique, the research anchored its findings in the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework. UDL was developed to mold learning experiences to meet the requirements of heterogenous learners. Using UDL as a coding framework, a comprehensive literature review was undertaken, adhering to the SPIDER search strategy. The review of literature revealed distinct design recommendations that facilitate inclusive learning within VRLAs. Information was systematically categorized based on UDL's nine classifications and subsequently distilled into the preliminary IGVRL. It's pertinent to note that these guidelines, while offering a foundational perspective, necessitate further in-depth evaluations for validation. The analytical process brought to the fore several themes that UDL did not adequately encompass, such as the nuances of embodied learning, the focus on VR contents and their immersive properties, and the pivotal role of collaboration and cooperation in VRLAs. These insights underscore the further need for research in these areas. Although some facets of VR accessibility were discussed, a deeper exploration into this domain was identified as crucial, reiterating the importance of accessibility in underpinning inclusive education. The research underscores the potential of VRLAs in promoting inclusivity within educational settings and introduces the preliminary IGVRL for VRLA design, specifically targeting K-12 contexts. This paper emphasizes the continuum of research required to refine and validate these guidelines, ensuring their applicability and efficacy in diverse educational scenarios.Peer Reviewe
Behavioral economic essays on communication
Get PDFKapitel 1: Narrative persuasion (mit Kai Barron)
Anhand eines Experiments untersuchen wir die Verwendung von Narrativen in einem Kontext in dem Sender:innen möglicherweise andere Anreize haben als Empfänger:innen. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Sender:innen eigennützige Narrative konstruieren und sie auf objektive Informationen zuschneiden. Desweiteren finden wir, dass Sender:innen in der Lage sind, die Erwartungen von Empfänger:innen zu verändern. Drittens ermitteln wir, dass Empfänger:innen Narrative überzeugend finden, die gut zu den objektiven Informationen passen. Schließlich stellen wir fest, dass es schwierig ist, gegen narratives Überreden zu schützen.
Kapitel 2: Signaling motives in lying games
Dieses Kapitel untersucht ein Lügenspiel, in dem Agent:innen ihren moralischen Typ signalisieren. In der theoretischen Analyse zeigt sich ein Signalisierungsmotiv, bei dem es den Agent:innen missfällt, der Lüge verdächtigt zu werden, und bei dem einige Lügen stärker stigmatisiert werden als andere. Die Gleichgewichtsvorhersage des Modells kann experimentelle Daten aus früheren Studien erklären. Ich verdeutliche die Beziehung des untersuchten Modells zu Modellen in denen Agent:innen eine Abneigung haben, des Lügens verdächtigt zu werden und biete Anwendungen auf Narrative, Lernen und das Offenlegen von Lügen.
Kapitel 3: Because I don't deserve it: Entitlement and lying (mit Daniel Parra)
Wir untersuchen die Auswirkungen von Anspruchsdenken auf die Bereitschaft zu lügen. In einem Laborexperiment erhalten Teilnehmer:innen entweder ein hohes oder niedriges Einkommen. Das Einkommen wird entweder leistungsabhängig oder unabhängig gezahlt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen folgendes: Unter Teilnehmer:innen die ein leistungsabhängiges Einkommen erhalten haben, lügen diejenigen, die weniger Geld verdient haben, weniger als diejenigen, die mehr verdient haben. Wir finden keine Unterschiede bei denjenigen die lügen können, um leistungsunabhängiges Einkommen zu behalten.Chapter 1: Narrative persuasion (with Kai Barron)
Using an experiment, we examine the use of narratives as a persuasive tool in a context where senders may hold incentives that differ from those of receivers. Our results reveal several insights about the underlying mechanisms that govern narrative persuasion. First, we show that advisors construct self-interested narratives and make them persuasive by tailoring them to fit the objective information. Second, we demonstrate that advisors can shift investors' beliefs about the future performance of a company. Third, we identify the types of narratives that investors find convincing. Finally, we find that narrative persuasion is difficult to protect against.
Chapter 2: Signaling motives in lying games
This chapter studies the implications of agents signaling their moral type in a lying game. In the theoretical analysis, a signaling motive emerges where agents dislike being suspected of lying and where some lies are more stigmatized than others. The equilibrium prediction of the model can explain experimental data from previous studies, on partial lying, where individuals lie to gain a non-payoff-maximizing amount. I discuss the relationship with theoretical models of lying that conceptualize the image concern as an aversion to being suspected of lying and provide applications to narratives, learning, and the disclosure of lies.
Chapter 3: Because I don't deserve it: Entitlement and lying (with Daniel Parra)
We study the effect of entitlement on the willingness to lie. In a laboratory experiment, participants receive either a high or low endowment. In one treatment, the allocation depends on participants' performance, and in the other, it depends on random draw. Our study shows that entitlement influences lying in an intuitive direction: when performance determines income, those who earn less money lie less than those who earn more. We do not find differences in lying when participants lie to keep windfall endowments
Simulating net ecosystem exchange under seasonal snow cover at an Arctic tundra site
Get PDFEstimates of winter (snow-covered non-growing season) CO2 fluxes across the Arctic region vary by a factor of 3.5, with considerable variation between measured and simulated fluxes. Measurements of snow properties, soil temperatures, and net ecosystem exchange (NEE) at Trail Valley Creek, NWT, Canada, allowed for the evaluation of simulated winter NEE in a tundra environment with the Community Land Model (CLM5.0). Default CLM5.0 parameterisations did not adequately simulate winter NEE in this tundra environment, with near-zero NEE (< 0.01 gCm^-2d^-1) simulated between November and mid-May. In contrast, measured NEE was broadly positive (indicating net CO2 release) from snow-cover onset until late April. Changes to the parameterisation of snow thermal conductivity, required to correct for a cold soil temperature bias, reduced the duration for which no NEE was simulated. Parameter sensitivity analysis revealed the critical role of the minimum soil moisture threshold of decomposition (Ψmin) in regulating winter soil respiration. The default value of this parameter (Ψmin) was too high, preventing simulation of soil respiration for the vast majority of the snow-covered season. In addition, the default rate of change of soil respiration with temperature (Q10) was too low, further contributing to poor model performance during winter. As Ψmin and Q10 had opposing effects on the magnitude of simulated winter soil respiration, larger negative values of Ψmin and larger positive values of Q10 are required to simulate wintertime NEE more adequately.Natural Environment Research CouncilPeer Reviewe
Between independence and interference: a comparative study of funding agencies as intermediaries between politics and science in the UK an Germany
Get PDFDie Dissertation befasst sich mit der Forschungsförderung durch die britischen Research Councils AHRC und ESRC und die DFG. Sie analysiert, ob diese Förderorganisationen von ihren jeweiligen Regierungen gesteuert werden und ob dies in ihrer Arbeitspraxis und ihren Förderentscheidungen sichtbar ist. Darüber hinaus betrachtet die Dissertation die Perspektive der wissenschaftlichen Community sowohl als Empfänger von Fördermitteln als auch als Mitglieder der verschiedenen Gremien der Förder-organisationen. In der Arbeit wird ein vergleichender Ansatz angewandt, der die spezifischen Merkmale des AHRC, des ESRC und der DFG als intermediäre Organisationen untersucht. Das Konzept der Intermediäre basiert auf den Forschungsergebnissen von Braun (1993), Braun und Guston (2003) und van der Meulen (2003). Die Autorin führte Experteninterviews mit wissenschaftlichen Mitgliedern des AHRC, ESRC und der DFG und führte eine Delphi-Befragung unter Wissenschaftlern aus kunst-, geistes- und sozialwissenschaftlichen Fachbereichen an Hochschulen in GB und Deutschland durch.
Aus der Analyse der Daten lässt sich schließen, dass die Teilnahme an oder die Durchführung von Programmen und Initiativen, die Ausdruck einer Regierungspriorität sind, dem Image der Fördereinrichtung in der wissenschaftlichen Community schaden kann. Im Rahmen der Prinzipal-Agent-Theorie wurde den wissenschaftlichen Mitgliedern der Förderorganisation eine starke und einflussreiche Rolle zugeschrieben. Diese Hypothese wurde durch die Datenanalyse bestätigt. Die Dissertation bestätigt auch, dass Wissenschaftler ihre Forschung an Förderformate und Erfolgsaussichten anpassen und ausrichten. In ihrer Rolle als Intermediäre unterliegen Förderorganisationen Verpflichtungen gegenüber ihrem Prinzipal und gegenüber ihren Agenten. Die formellen (satzungsgemäßen) Verpflichtungen müssen mit den informellen Verpflichtungen (Vertrauen und Loyalität) in Einklang gebracht werden. Dies ist der Schlüssel zu ihrer Vermittlungsfunktion.The PhD thesis focusses on research funding by the British Research Councils AHRC and ESRC and the German DFG. It discusses whether these funding agencies are steered by their respective governments and whether this is visible in their working practice and their funding decisions. In addition, the PhD thesis addresses the perspective of the scientific community both as recipients of funding and as members of the different bodies of the funding agency. The thesis uses a comparative approach, examining the specific characteristics of the AHRC, ESRC and the DFG as intermediary organisations in order to uncover their differences and similarities. The concept of intermediaries is based on research by Braun (1993), Braun and Guston (2003), and van der Meulen (2003). The author conducted expert interviews with academic members of the AHRC, ESRC and the DFG and carried out a Delphi survey among scholars from arts, humanities and social science departments at HEIs in the UK and Germany.
Concluding from the data, the participation in or implementation of programmes and initiatives which are expressions of a government priority, can easily lead to the impression that the funding agency is being steered by government. For the DFG as well as the AHRC and the ESRC, one challenge was similar: that of finding a balance between short- term political considerations and long-term scientific priorities. Within the framework of principal-agent theory, a strong and influential role was ascribed to the academic members of the funding agency. This hypothesis was confirmed in the data analysis. The thesis also confirmed that scholars adapt and align their research to funding formats and the prospects of success. In their role as intermediaries, funding agencies are subject to commitments towards their principal and towards their agents. Formal (by Statutes) commitments need to be brought in line with informal commitments (trust and loyalty). This is key to their mediating function
Von Stadt, Land, Fluss zur Nachhaltigkeitskunde: (Irr-)Wege der Ausgestaltung des Fachwissens in den Berliner Geographielehrplänen der letzten drei Jahrzehnte
Get PDFSustainable development is of equal concern to Geography as an academic discipline and Geography Education. Given Geography's explicit conceptual and thematic affinity to sustainable development, various professional organizations developed normative documents proclaiming Geography to the main carrier subject of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). The aim of this paper is to explore what effects the special proximity of school Geography to the promotion of ESD has on the design of geographical specialist knowledge. Lower secondary Geography curricula (1992–2022) of the federal state of Berlin served as sample for content analysis. Viewed in light of work from the History of Education, Sociology of Education, and Subject Education, the results show a progressive loss of disciplinary identity accompanied by a concurrent shift in focus from factual judgments to value judgments.Peer Reviewe
A Discursive Tradition Analysis in the Field of Political Islam
Get PDFThe article processing charge was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) – 491192747 and the Open Access Publication Fund of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.This article explores the idea of political Islam as a discursive tradition within the context of Iranian Kurdistan. It challenges the prevailing essentialist and universalist approaches commonly used in the analysis of political Islam, advocating for a more adaptable and comprehensive interpretation. By conceptualizing political Islam as a discursive tradition, this study sheds light on the complex interconnections, configurations, and historical contingencies influencing Islamist discourses and movements. The paper argues that political Islam should be examined in relation to other phenomena and discourses, acknowledging its dynamic nature within specific temporal and spatial contexts. Focusing on an influential yet underexplored Islamist discursive tradition in Iranian Kurdistan during the 1970s and 1980s, the research acknowledges the hybrid nature of Islamist discourses, drawing from diverse traditions to fulfill particular objectives. In particular, it explores the perspectives of Ahmad Moftizadeh, a Sunni Kurdish Islamist and the founder of the Maktab Quran (MQ). This study investigates Moftizadeh’s views on the Islamic government, positioning it within the framework of discursive tradition. It analyzes his core categories and inquiries within Islamist thought, notably emphasizing Moftizadeh’s alignment of the Islamic government with the Islamic tradition of the Shura, highlighting its central role in the Islamist discursive tradition.Peer Reviewe
The Impact of Dormancy on the Ecological, Evolutionary and Pathogenic Properties of Microbial Populations
Get PDFDie vorliegende Arbeit behandelt das biologische Phänomen der Dormanz mit Hilfe mathematischer Modellierung. Dormanz beschreibt dabei einen reversiblen Zustand von Individuen, in dem die metabolische Aktivität reduziert wird und die Resistenz gegen Natureinflüsse erhöht ist.
Der erste Teil der Arbeit widmet sich den ökologischen Eigenschaften. Hier wird zunächst ein Moranmodell vorgestellt, welches verschiedene Modellierungsarten von Dormanz aus der Populationsgenetik vereint und unter verschiedenen Skalierungen den schwachen seed-bank Koaleszenten und den starken seed-bank Koaleszenten als anzestralen Prozess innehat. Dadurch werden die Parameter der Koaleszenten vergleichbar. Als Anwendung betrachten wir die sogenannte species abundance distribution, welche mithilfe von Koaleszenten beschrieben werden kann.
Der zweite Teil beschäftigt sich mit den Auswirkungen von Dormanz auf evolutionäre Eigenschaften und beginnt mit einer Einführung in die Theorie von adaptive dynamics. Dort werden auch verschiedene Möglichkeiten der Modellierung von Dormanz in individuenbasierten Modellen besprochen. Danach befassen wir uns mit der Erweiterung eines Modells für sympatrische Speziation um den Aspekt der Dormanz. Die canonical equation of adaptive dynamics wird - motiviert durch ein Modell mit Dormanz - für schnellere Mutationsraten aus dem sogenannten power-law Mutationsregime für einen Grenzfall hergeleitet.
Die Arbeit schließt mit dem dritten Teil, in welchem ein individuenbasiertes Modell für die Entwicklung von Krebs unter dem Einfluss von Chemotherapie und unter Berücksichtigung von Dormanz vorgestellt wird. In Simulationsstudien wird untersucht, inwiefern Dormanz zu Misserfolg einer Therapie beiträgt. Ein weiteres Ziel ist die Analyse von Kombinationsbehandlung mit einem Medikament welches mit dormanten Zellen interagieren kann insbesondere unter Betrachtung verschiedener Therapieansätze zur Behandlung von dormanten Krebszellen.The present thesis uses mathematical modelling to investigate the consequences of dormancy. Dormancy describes a reversible and protected state of reduced metabolic activity which enhances an individual's resilience to hazardous conditions. In this sense, dormancy acts as a protection mechanism against habitats with unfavourable environments. The thesis considers the impact of dormancy on ecological, evolutionary and in its broadest sense pathogenic properties of microbial populations.
The first part is concerned with studying the impact of dormancy on ecology. For this, a Moran model is presented which unifies different models of dormancy from population genetics and exhibits the weak seed-bank coalescent and the strong seed-bank coalescent as the scaling limit of the ancestral process. As an application we consider the species abundance distribution which can be described using coalescent theory.
In the second part we consider the influence of dormancy on evolutionary properties. The modelling framework for this is the theory of adaptive dynamics. We then show that competition-induced dormancy may favour sympatric speciation. A key aspect in the derivation of this result is the canonical equation of adaptive dynamics. We extend this equation - motivated by a model including dormancy - to power-law mutations in a limiting case.
We conclude the thesis with the third part where we provide an individual-based model for the treatment of cancer with chemotherapy under consideration of dormant cancer cells. Using simulation studies, we investigate how dormancy may contribute to treatment failure. Another goal of this chapter is to analyse combination treatment with a drug which directly targets dormant cancer cells and to formulate general observations regarding various strategies to counter cancer cell dormancy
Telemedicine in the age of the pandemics: The prospects of web-based remote patient monitoring systems for orthopaedic ambulatory care management in the developing economies
Get PDFObjective
The goal of this research was to demonstrate the efficacy of telemedicine via design, implementation and evaluation of a web-based remote patient monitoring system (WB-RPMS) across the tertiary/university teaching hospitals in a developing country Nigeria, as a tool to continue to expand access to an affordable and resilient tertiary healthcare system through the challenging times of the COVID-19 pandemic or any future disruptions.
Methods
This research employed an agile and human-centred design thinking philosophy, which saw the researchers iteratively collaborate with clinicians across the system development value chain. It also employed qualitative and quantitative research methods for new system evaluations. After the system's development, a 20-patient sample was randomly selected from members of the National Youth Service Corp to evaluate the WB-RPMS Patient Portal for usability and user experience through a survey based on the system usability scale. Again, the COREQ standards for reporting research result were adopted for this study.
Results
The evaluation of the WB-RPMS Patient Portal by a select patient sample showed that 95.0% of the respondents believed that they would like to use the system frequently. It was also discovered that 90.0% of all respondents also indicated that they found the Patient Portal to be simple; 85.0% of the respondents believed and indicated that the WB-RPMS Patient Portal was easy to use.
Conclusions
The result of the usability evaluation of the developed WB-RPMS Patient Portal showed that it was well received by the select patient sample and by the clinicians who participated in the development process. In fact, the performance of the system shows that it has the potential to remotely support and sustain improved access to affordable healthcare for outpatients in developing countries even during times of uncertainties and disruptions as recently occasioned by COVID-19 pandemic.Peer Reviewe
Going from bad to worse? Well-being of Syrian refugees in Turkey in the aftermath of the February 2023 earthquakes
Get PDFHas translation: https://doi.org/10.18452/30873 [Turkish]
Has translation: https://doi.org/10.18452/30874 [Arabic]Key points: (1) Social and economic disadvantages and poor living conditions of Syrians in Turkey prior to the earthquakes made them particularly vulnerable to the destructive force of the earthquakes. (2) Syrians have less social, financial and material resources to cope with the earthquake-related losses and damages, amplifying inequalities and vulnerabilities. (3) Rather than receiving the social and economic support that could help compensate for existing inequalities, some Syrians report experiences of discrimination and serious problems because of inadequate aid.Peer Reviewe
Literary Representations of ‘Racial Mixing’ in Czech Modernism
No full textThis paper aims to demonstrate that colonial discourses on ‘racial mixing’ and their taxonomic intricacies were far from limited to the Western colonial powers. By focusing on literary representations of racial mixing, it
offers an analytical overview of this motif in Czech context, while emphasising its function as a projection surface for colonial fantasies, aspirations of Europeanness and concerns about the integrity and homogeneity of
the ‘national body’, principally fears of the subaltern position associated with ‘blackness’. Attention is paid to translations of French and German literature (e.g. Eugene Sue, Wilhelm Bauberger) from the first half of the
nineteenth century, to Czech patriotic productions (Matěj Karas) and especially to representations of modernists and avant-gardists and their critical perspective (e.g. Jaroslav Hašek, Vítězslav Nezval, Vladimír Raffel).
Considering a longer period of time allows the author to point out some tendencies characteristic of the Czech cultural context, especially its oscillation between mixophobic and mixophilic approaches