Analysis and design for continuous-time string-connected Takagi–Sugeno systems     

Zsófia Lendek  Paula Raica  Bart De Schutter  Robert Babuška 《Journal of The Franklin Institute》2014

Distributed systems consist of interconnected, lower-dimensional subsystems. For such systems, distributed analysis and design present several advantages, such as modularity, easier analysis and design, and reduced computational complexity. A special case of distributed systems is when the subsystems are connected in a string. Applications include distributed process control, traffic and communication networks, irrigation systems, hydropower valleys, etc. By exploiting such a structure, in this paper, we propose conditions for the distributed stability analysis of Takagi–Sugeno fuzzy systems connected in a string. These conditions are also extended to observer and controller design and illustrated on numerical examples.  相似文献   

The Teacher and School Administration by Jefferson N. Eastmond. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1959. 522 pp. $6.50     

Robert D. Price 《The Educational forum》2013,77(2)

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A Theoretical Model for Preparing Incarcerated Youth for Careers in an Increasingly Technological World: Computational Logic as a Vehicle for Improving Human Decision-making Skills     

Karen Burstein  Craig J. Forsyth  Raymond W. Biggar  Sonya Hsu  Steven Dick  Paula Zeanah 《Journal of Criminal Justice Education》2017,28(3):411-427

Most youth in juvenile delinquent systems end up incarcerated due in part to poor decision-making skills. This study describes a theoretical framework undergirding the relationships across delinquency, learning climate, decision-making, and computational logic. This framework will inform a team of educators, criminologists, and psychologists, and their peers in computer science and mathematics, instructional software design, and content experts as they build and test an innovative instructional model for youth in secure care settings. The goal of the system is to improve human decision-making skills, while preparing youth for further education potentially leading to careers in STEM fields.  相似文献   

Getting a foot in the door: how organisational characteristics shape recruitment decisions in the dual apprenticeship system     

Paula Protsch 《Journal of Education & Work》2017,30(6):585-598

Employers’ recruitment behaviour in entry labour markets is central for young people’s transitions from school to work. Whereas previous research has focused on the effects of specific applicant characteristics, I concentrate on how organisational characteristics, namely organisation size and private or public sector affiliation, relate to selection decisions in the dual apprenticeship system in Germany which is a major entry labour market. Following organisational and institutional theory, I expect early selection stages to be more open at larger and public organisations in contrast to smaller private organisations. I also investigate how different organisations respond to school grades as applicants’ signals of skills. I use field experiment data combining organisational-level and applicant-level data to analyse how actual employer responses to written applications by fictitious young people vary with organisation type. The results indicate that, net of applicant characteristics and occupation-specific practices, applications are more likely to receive an invitation to a follow-up selection stage if submitted to larger organisations, and especially larger public organisations, rather than to smaller private organisations. This finding extends to applicants with poorer school grades. Public sector affiliation, however, did not seem to matter much within the group of smaller organisations.  相似文献   

Children's disclosures of sexual abuse: learning from direct inquiry     

Schaeffer P  Leventhal JM  Asnes AG 《Child abuse & neglect》2011,35(5):343-352

Objectives

Published protocols for forensic interviewing for child sexual abuse do not include specific questions about what prompted children to tell about sexual abuse or what made them wait to tell. We, therefore, aimed to: (1) add direct inquiry about the process of a child's disclosure to a forensic interview protocol; (2) determine if children will, in fact, discuss the process that led them to tell about sexual abuse; and (3) describe the factors that children identify as either having led them to tell about sexual abuse or caused them to delay a disclosure.

Methods

Forensic interviewers were asked to incorporate questions about telling into an existing forensic interview protocol. Over a 1-year period, 191 consecutive forensic interviews of child sexual abuse victims aged 3-18 years old in which children spoke about the reasons they told about abuse or waited to tell about abuse were reviewed. Interview content related to the children's reasons for telling or for waiting to tell about abuse was extracted and analyzed using a qualitative methodology in order to capture themes directly from the children's words.

Results

Forensic interviewers asked children about how they came to tell about sexual abuse and if children waited to tell about abuse, and the children gave specific answers to these questions. The reasons children identified for why they chose to tell were classified into three domains: (1) disclosure as a result of internal stimuli (e.g., the child had nightmares), (2) disclosure facilitated by outside influences (e.g., the child was questioned), and (3) disclosure due to direct evidence of abuse (e.g., the child's abuse was witnessed). The barriers to disclosure identified by the children were categorized into five groups: (1) threats made by the perpetrator (e.g., the child was told (s)he would get in trouble if (s)he told), (2) fears (e.g., the child was afraid something bad would happen if (s)he told), (3) lack of opportunity (e.g., the child felt the opportunity to disclose never presented), (4) lack of understanding (e.g., the child failed to recognize abusive behavior as unacceptable), and (5) relationship with the perpetrator (e.g., the child thought the perpetrator was a friend).

Conclusions

Specific reasons that individual children identify for why they told and why they waited to tell about sexual abuse can be obtained by direct inquiry during forensic interviews for suspected child sexual abuse.

Practice implications

When asked, children identified the first person they told and offered varied and specific reasons for why they told and why they waited to tell about sexual abuse. Understanding why children disclose their abuse and why they wait to disclose will assist both professionals and families. Investigators and those who care for sexually abused children will gain insight into the specific barrier that the sexually abused child overcame to disclose. Prosecutors will be able to use this information to explain to juries why the child may have delayed his or her disclosure. Parents who struggle to understand why their child disclosed to someone else or waited to disclose will have a better understanding of their child's decisions.  相似文献   

Educational gaps in medical care and health behavior: Evidence from US Natality data     

Joseph Price  Joshua PriceKosali Simon 《Economics of Education Review》2011,30(5):838-849

The US Natality files provide information on medical procedures and health related behavior during pregnancy and childbirth. The data set represents nearly the universe of mothers who give birth in the US, providing the most complete coverage possible of medical care and health behavior among a specific patient population. We document gaps in outcomes by education of the mother and the changes in these educational gaps during 1989-2002.  相似文献   

Conveying quality and value in emerging industries: Star scientists and the role of signals in biotechnology     

Matthew J. Higgins  Paula E. StephanJerry G. Thursby 《Research Policy》2011,40(4):605-617

This paper addresses the role that scientific status plays in initial public offerings of technology focused firms. The paper builds on the literature of the sociology of science as well as the work of Spence (1974) and Podolny (1993) and argues that the presence of a Nobel laureate affiliated with a firm making an IPO provides a signal of firm quality to potential investors. Moreover, and building on the work of Podolny and Scott Morton (1999) and Stuart et al. (1999) we hypothesize that the importance of status diminishes as other measures of firm quality become available. We test our hypothesis for two periods of initial public offerings in biotechnology. We document that there is a clear difference in “maturity” of the firms across the two windows on a number of metrics. Consistent with our hypothesis that Nobel laureates play an important role as a non-financial signal of firm quality, we find that first-window firms with a Nobel laureate affiliate realize greater IPO proceeds in the amount of $24 million. In the second window the amount of money raised is not significantly different between Nobel and non-Nobel firms. This finding is consistent with the signaling literature that argues that the importance of a signal is inversely related to the availability of cogent information on firm quality. Consistent with this view, we also find a change between the two windows in the importance of other non-financial metrics used to convey value. Our research is one of the first to examine the dynamic nature of signals. Because we are unable to distinguish the extent to which the reduction in uncertainty at the firm level is correlated with the reduction of uncertainty at the industry level, the question remains as to the extent to which the diminished importance of signals in our second period is due to a change in market uncertainty versus a change in firm uncertainty.  相似文献   

The trust continuum in the information age: a Canadian perspective     

Dara M. Price  Johanna J. Smith 《Archival Science》2011,11(3-4):253-276

This paper examines the role of trust in the information continuum. It argues that in the context of Canadian federal government records, an analogous ??trust continuum?? is a useful model for analysing the relationships that exist between creator, archives and user in the information-abundant environment. The paper borrows from sociological theory to posit that creator, archives and user are bound together in a complex expert system that facilitates trust and mitigates risk in a broad societal context and contends that these interactions are shaped at the macro level by a dominant public discourse of accountability. These points are illustrated through three recent examples at Library and Archives Canada. First, the relationship between Canadian society and the archives is explored by interrogating the concept of relevance and assessing the feasibility of managing a pan-Canadian collection via a national network of knowledge institutions. Then, the role of trust between the archives and the creator in the management of government digital information resources is examined in light of the recently issued Directive on Recordkeeping, and in the context of LAC??s Trusted Digital Repository. Finally, Commissions of Inquiry??and the Indian Specific Claims Commission in particular??demonstrate both the power of archival records in repairing trust between a society and its government and the iterative nature of the relationship between the user and the archives.  相似文献   

A validated search assessment tool: assessing practice-based learning and improvement in a residency program     

Gurpreet K Rana  Doreen R Bradley  Stanley J Hamstra  Paula T Ross  Robert E Schumacher  John G Frohna  Hilary M Haftel  Monica L Lypson 《Journal of the Medical Library Association》2011,99(1):77-81

Objective:

The objective of this study was to validate an assessment instrument for MEDLINE search strategies at an academic medical center.

Method:

Two approaches were used to investigate if the search assessment tool could capture performance differences in search strategy construction. First, data from an evaluation of MEDLINE searches from a pediatric resident''s longitudinal assessment were investigated. Second, a cross-section of search strategies from residents in one incoming class was compared with strategies of residents graduating a year later. MEDLINE search strategies formulated by faculty who had been identified as having search expertise were used as a gold standard comparison. Participants were presented with a clinical scenario and asked to identify the search question and conduct a MEDLINE search. Two librarians rated the blinded search strategies.

Results:

Search strategy scores were significantly higher for residents who received training than the comparison group with no training. There was no significant difference in search strategy scores between senior residents who received training and faculty experts.

Conclusion:

The results provide evidence for the validity of the instrument to evaluate MEDLINE search strategies. This assessment tool can measure improvements in information-seeking skills and provide data to fulfill Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education competencies.

Highlights

• The University of Michigan MEDLINE Search Assessment tool can be used to assess search skills in residency education.
• Five elements were identified as critical elements in the development of an effective MEDLINE search strategy: inclusion of all search concepts, appropriate use of Medical Subject Headings, appropriate use of search limits, successful combination of all concepts, and search efficiency.

Implications

• This validated assessment tool can serve as an effective means to measure improvements in residents'' information-seeking skills and provide data to fulfill Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education competencies.

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The Dominance Concept Inventory: A Tool for Assessing Undergraduate Student Alternative Conceptions about Dominance in Mendelian and Population Genetics     

Joel K. Abraham  Kathryn E. Perez  Rebecca M. Price 《CBE life sciences education》2014,13(2):349-358

Despite the impact of genetics on daily life, biology undergraduates understand some key genetics concepts poorly. One concept requiring attention is dominance, which many students understand as a fixed property of an allele or trait and regularly conflate with frequency in a population or selective advantage. We present the Dominance Concept Inventory (DCI), an instrument to gather data on selected alternative conceptions about dominance. During development of the 16-item test, we used expert surveys (n = 12), student interviews (n = 42), and field tests (n = 1763) from introductory and advanced biology undergraduates at public and private, majority- and minority-serving, 2- and 4-yr institutions in the United States. In the final field test across all subject populations (n = 709), item difficulty ranged from 0.08 to 0.84 (0.51 ± 0.049 SEM), while item discrimination ranged from 0.11 to 0.82 (0.50 ± 0.048 SEM). Internal reliability (Cronbach''s alpha) was 0.77, while test–retest reliability values were 0.74 (product moment correlation) and 0.77 (intraclass correlation). The prevalence of alternative conceptions in the field tests shows that introductory and advanced students retain confusion about dominance after instruction. All measures support the DCI as a useful instrument for measuring undergraduate biology student understanding and alternative conceptions about dominance.  相似文献