A Diachronic Study of Introduction Sections

Author(s): Fatemeh Bagheri,Liming Deng / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2018

We analyzed the introduction sections of a hundred and eighty doctoral dissertations of L1 culture over the last fifty years to discover the change concerning the utilization of interactive markers. Interactive markers are employed by writers to guide the audience throughout the piece. More application of such markers makes the text reader friendly and easy to follow and the less application of them shows the respective writing is constructed to target a more specialized audience. Using Hyland (2005) model of meta discourse, we analyzed our 262,564 words corpus for hard and soft disciplines in the three time intervals of 1966, 1986, and 2016. Findings of the study confirm that due to the overall lower deployment of interactive markers in the introduction sections of our corpus, the genre is likely meant to be read by community members rather than a general audience of diverse disciplines.No evident disciplinary difference was found except for the overall trend change which is positive and negative respectively in the hard and soft disciplines.

A DIATRIBE IN FAVOR OF A PARADIGM SHIFT IN EDUCATION

Author(s): Silvia Osman / Language(s): English / Issue: 01/2017

We live in a day and age in which information and technology witness a huge leap of development. Entire generations of pupils and students are accustomed to using means and devices of the 21st Century in searching for information and general knowledge. Moreover, they are continuously bombarded with manipulative messages coming to them in an endless stream of data which pressures them to stay updated and connected to the source. Who is guiding them while surfing through this ocean of information and knowledge? Who is setting landmarks and guiding posts for them? Their rhythm and pace is alert and vivid and they expect nothing less from the schools and lectures they attend. Is education keeping up with the times? It is obvious that the good old ways don’t work anymore. The absolute need for a paradigm shift in education dawned a while back, while specialists in the field identified a deep fracture at the very core structure of a system in absolute need for deep reformation. Now is the time the paradigm shift in education becomes instrumental for the wellbeing of society at large, since the outcome of the obsolete educational processes affects generations of young, beautiful, restless minds, dependent on and glued to technology and modern virtual environments. We, educators, need to wake up and start changing and shifting things around or the future will vilify us. We need to realize that our job as education facilitators is to develop means to skillfully interact with these new generations, continuously bearing in mind that conveying information without building transformational relationships within the educational process, knowledge becomes void of valuable content. Boosting creativity through Blended Learning and Flipped Classroom, encouraging the use of Summative Intelligence and peer / self-evaluation within the learning environment are the building blocks of the Interactive Transformational Education method the present paper aims to briefly introduce and describe within the economy of this format.

A Gui for Computing Aneurysm Geometry, a Possible Tool to Predict the Risk of Rupture of Blood Vessels

Author(s): Mihai ILEA,Mariana ROTARIU,Andrei GHEORGHITA / Language(s): English / Issue: 14/2018

The aneurysm geometry is an important factor in analyze and predict the risk of rupture but also in selection of patients suitable for surgical intervention, e.g. endovascular Guglielmi detachable coiling. The most used actually technique for evaluation the risk for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) rupture is the maximum diameter (Dmax) of the aorta, but also other dimensions are used for assessment of risk for cerebral aneurysm. In most of the cases, the aneurysm geometry is measured manually using computed tomography (CT) or three-dimensional (3D) angiography. By this method, the accuracy and reproducibility can vary substantially from user to user and even in the case of the same user, during the repeatedly measurements. We propose software based on GUI for automatic and semi-automatic usage for processing of 2D images, containing aneurysm, useful in virtual education or e-learning process. The image is first segmented, and the user can select points to perform automatically extract of geometrical parameters using algorithms from computational geometry. The various parameters that describe the shape of reproducibility are statistically analyzed if the user selects this option. The software for intracranial aneurysm geometry quantification has a separate module used for prediction the risk of rupture. A specialized module is used for work with original image; the operations in this case are based on interactive selections made by user: points and polygons with option to extract different shape descriptor for feature selection. The prediction in this stage can be manually selected from two options related to a set of data: a liner one and a nonlinear one based of simple regressive nonlinear model. The results are very encouraging and the future developments are taken into account.

A ÎNVĂŢA CUM SA ÎNVEŢI

Author(s): Sorina-Mihaela Mardar / Language(s): Romanian / Issue: 02/2013

The goal of psychology of education is to optimize and increase the efficiency of educational activity through the study of actors involved in the learning process and the relationship established among them. The psychology of education helps us understand the content of the field of study (how it may be adapted to the age of the pupils/students/adults; how could it be better structured and made more accessible; how the frame could be created in which the „actors” could easily apply or transfer their information or skills to other fields of study), the organization of the learning process – how to adapt teaching methods to mental particularities of the pupils/students/adults (teaching style and learning style) – and human diversity that the teacher or trainer must work with (do the pupils/students/adults have the aptitudes and the motivation needed for learning?; can someone work with a group of unmotivated persons? what can be done to solve or change these kinds of situations?). Last but not least, through the study of psychology of education, the future teachers/trainers will find the arguments for their own methodological achievements.

A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT FOR BUILDING AND EVALUATING ONTOLOGIES: CASE STUDY OF 2013 ONTOLOGY BUILDING COMPETITION

Author(s): Mario VACCA,Bernadette Varga,Adrian Groza / Language(s): / Issue: 01/2014

Teaching ontologies is part of the most general problem of designing new learning environments. In this line, the Business Process Modeling For Education (BPM4ED) project for design of 21st century schools comprehends the creation of models of new schools with new learning environments but also the different organization and structure. Ontology Building Competition (BOC) is a competition for developing ontologies, where the evaluation and the final ranking are computed automatically, based on five dimensions of evaluation: i) structural, ii) semantic, iii) design patterns, iv) worst practices, and v) the ability of answering to a set of competency questions. Ontology Building Competition is part of the BPM4ED as a new learning environment is proposed which allows students to manage ontologies and to assess the results automatically. Both ontology and automatic assessment are two important sectors for the 21st century school, and therefore they are part of the design of the BPM4ED tools.The learning environment gradually assess the work of the students. Hence, during the semester students are aware of the strong and weak points of their practical work, and also on the current hierarchy in the designed class. The learning tool was developed in LISP and exploits the RacerPro reasoning capabilities. The rules of the competition are described in a formal language, as a reference ontology. BOC2013 represents the first edition of the competition, which had 25 teams participating. In this paper we present the formal specification of the competition, the evaluation metrics that were used, and an analysis of the results of the BOC 2013 edition.

A Look at the Muslim Community in Bulgaria

Integration and Risks

Author(s): Boriana Dimitrova / Language(s): English / Issue: 05-06/2018

The article discusses key aspects concerning the social profile of Bulgarian Muslims – the second largest traditional religious community in Bulgaria. Based on two representative studies (2011 and 2016), the main features and trends in their social status, values, religious practices as well as political attitudes are analyzed against the background of the new geopolitical situation in Europe and the world. The results show that tradition and modernity co-exist in the value system of Bulgarian Muslims. They demonstrate a high level of adherence to religious practices, but also clearly express attitudes in favour of the secular state system. Like in 2011, they maintain very good interpersonal relations with Christians. But in 2016 there was a considerable change towards a greater community encapsulation. Despite good relations between religious communities in the country, against the backdrop of rising nationalism in Europe three major risks – both for Bulgaria and for the Balkan region –can be highlighted: The revival of fears and increasing tension between the ethnic and religious communities, a growing ethno-partisan corrupt clientele, and the radicalization of ghetto communities.

A LOW-COST DEVICE FOR INVESTIGATING CHROMATIC VISION

Author(s): Daniela Mariana BARBU / Language(s): English / Issue: 01/2017

The retina is the light sensitive portion of the eye that contains cone cells responsible for color vision and cone cells responsible for order in darkness. When the rods and cones are stimulated, light signals are transmitted successively by neurons retina, optic nerve fibers then finally reaching the cerebral cortex. Normal eye retina shows three types of color light-sensitive cells; cone cells are sensitive to red light, green or blue. View color deficiency is the inability or decreased ability to see colors or the perception of differences between colors. Depending on the number of cells absent or impaired color vision impairment operation is called: monocromatism, when all the cones are missing or not working, dicromatism when one of three types of cells and tricromatism missing or when one of three cell types has a poor spectral sensitivity. In 1802, Thomas Young consider that all human sight is produced by combining sensitivity to red, green and blue. This theory, amended by Hermann von Helmholtz in 1852, it is known as Young-Helmholtz theory or trichromatic color vision. The fundamental idea was that the eye responds to the three primary colors and combining the three primary colors through additive synthesis of colors forms all other colors. These theories underlie the eye color deficiencies investigation. The paper aims to provide an inexpensive device necessary to investigate color vision in humans. This is achieved in the components recovered from the other old systems, reconditioned and assembled using a simple technology. Research presented the paper will refer both to the device and for tests with it. Studies will be made on different age groups in order to detect any abnormal chromatic vision.

A MATHEMATICAL METHOD TO VALIDATE NEW ROMANIAN SPEECH AUDIOMETRY MATERIALS FOR EVALUATION THE HEARING LEVEL IN YOUNG AND ADULTS

Author(s): Cristina Gena DASCALU,Sebastian Cozma,Gabriel DIMITRIU,Mihaela MOSCALU,Raluca Olariu / Language(s): English / Issue: 01/2017

The hearing assessment is an important step in detecting any possible hearing loss which leads to specific communication and speech pathologies. Different speech intelligibility tests have been developed for some languages, but calibrated materials for Romanian language were not validated until now. We used a new originally kit test containing monosyllabic and bisyllabic words from spoken language, corresponding to the normal speech. The words were filtered by special software in order to select the most common and frequency spectrum homogeneous word lists, and the audiological assessment was made in standard test conditions. The aim of the study was to mathematically assess and validate this material in Romanian language for speech audiometry. In order to do this we recorded for each list the percentage of words correctly identified by different subjects with normal hearing at different sound intensities (in dB) and we generated the corresponding curve, which was then compared with the ideal curve known from literature, corresponding to a normal hearing. The difference between these curves was calculated as a normalized root mean squared error (NRMSE), and a tested list was validated when this difference was small enough. The simulations were made in MATLAB, and we wrote a dedicated algorithm in order to generate the curves and to calculate the proposed error. We tested 260 lists, among them 85.4% were identified with a NRMSE error smaller than 15%; these lists were kept as valid, the others being reformulated. The behaviour of the valid lists was further statistically analysed, in order to prove its usefulness as a clinical tool for widely use in the evaluation of hearing loss or communication disorders.

A New Approach for the Synthesis of P-Anisyl Ethyl Fumarate: a C-9154 Antibiotic Analogue

Author(s): Maulidan Firdaus,Ahmad Ainurofiq,Aulia Vellarani / Language(s): English / Issue: 6/2016

A simple, energy-efficient, and relatively quick synthetic procedure for the synthesis of p-anisyl ethyl fumarate from p-anisaldehyde has been carried out. The synthesis was started by solvent-free reduction of the aldehyde using sodium borohydrate. The second step was solvent-free condensation of the resulting alcohol with maleic anhydride to be followed by esterification of the resulting acid with ethanol in the presence of benzenesulfonic acid as the catalyst. Satisfactorily isolated yields (65-98%) were achieved confirming that the preparation of the C-9154 antibiotic analogue is possible in sustainable fashion.

A New Beginning. The "Euro-Atlantic Studies" Journal at its 20th Anniversary

Author(s): Bogdan Antoniu / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2018

A NEW METHOD FOR PEER ASSESSMENT IN MOOCS

Author(s): Lynda HADDADI,Farida BOUARAB-DAHMANI,Tassadit BERKANE,Samia LAZIB / Language(s): English / Issue: 01/2017

The Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) is the most recent development in open online distance learning. The fundamental characteristics of MOOCs are: Massive, the courses are designed to support a huge number of participants; Open, the courses are not required to pay a fee to participate; Online, the learners can access to courses via the Internet, and Courses, to say that these are courses with pedagogical objectives. Thus, the most challenging is designing an accurate method to evaluate and provide feedbacks, especially for open questions (especially Problem Situation), since the high number of learners. To tackle this problem, MOOCs use peer assessment techniques (known as peer grading) that suffer from a lack of credibility. In this paper, we present a new method for peer assessment in the Massive Open Online Courses, in order to improve the accuracy of grading results. Our proposition is divided into three (3) steps: clustering unit, assessment and treatment of the results. The clustering unit is the task of grouping learners with similar profiles. Clustering unit aims to group learners based on the parameters stored on learners’ modeling within the MOOCs. After the clustering unit, the learners are required to grade a small number of their peers’ tasks as part of their own task.. Afterwards, the scores are dispatched for treatments where a synthesis is given for assessment. To assess the feasibility of the proposed peer assessment, we report here the results of the tests conducted on the developed prototype.

A Proposal for a Mixed Assessment of Students on Facilities Offered by Google and Moodle

Author(s): Adrian Buhu,Liliana Buhu / Language(s): English / Issue: 14/2018

Evaluating how the training is done online is essential because, in this way, we can measure the effectiveness of teaching methods chosen. At the same time is a great way to determine if the skills and abilities acquired by students in the course are aligned with the objectives and requirements of the course. When learning online first took off nearly two decades ago, one of the big attractions was paperless grading: students could send work to LMS and the teacher could provide feedback without exhausting their supply of pens or straining their back carrying weighty papers. Nowadays, even the smallest LMS includes assessment features, but Moodle still leads the way in both the wide-ranging options available and the sound educational basis behind them (Group assessment, Peer, and self-assessment, Automatic assessment, Anonymous assessment, like Quizzes, Workshops, Seminars, etc.). Since 1997 when the domain Google.com was first registered, it has become an omnipresent source of information. Google also provides a growing list of instruments that can make teachers and students’ day easier and more interesting. Google offers a wealth of tools that can bring information, collaboration and increased efficiency in the classroom. The most popular tools are: Google translate, Google images, Gmail, Google drive, Google maps, etc. Google Apps for Education is a core suite of productivity applications that Google offers to schools and educational institutions for free. These apps, that include Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, and Sites, are available when the teacher creates a Google account. The account unlocks access to dozens of other collaborative tools supported by Google. All of these applications exist completely online (or in the cloud), meaning that all creations can be accessed from any device with an Internet connection. In this paper is presented another approach to student’s evaluation, is a mixed evaluation based on online tools and combined with evaluation based on a quiz sustained in the exam period. After students complete all work that requires physical presence, evaluation is done online. For this purpose, they enroll on a Moodle cloud platform where you have to solve two types of tests. A laboratory test work, conducted using Google Forms, which based on add-ons allow quick scoring by the teacher. Another type of test is created based on the Moodle facilities, with which, starting from a certain date, they can assess students preparing for the exam. The final step of evaluation is made with a quiz, where students must be in person.

A Proposed System Architecture for ESP Classes for Accelerated e-Learning

Author(s): Irina BOCIANU / Language(s): English / Issue: 14/2018

The highly technologized present society allows students to easily access information and develop skills much easier than in the traditional education system. Besides using technology for teaching and evaluating purposes, it can also be converted in a means of self-assessment to evaluate students' personal progress. Thus, knowledge terminology appropriation can also be technology mediated with the purpose to review the already studied terminology in view of the final examination facilitated by accelerated learning strategies consisting of condensed exercises designed to review specific terminology in the fields of humanities and sciences. For the beginning, the software would be available for the students from the University of Bucharest whose study is oriented towards specialised English terminology. With this purpose in mind, the present paper proposes a system architecture designed with a simple interface to facilitate students' access to information. The platform interface should be simple and easy to use. Also, a mobile version would be desirable to design so that it become accessible from any device. The exercises proposed follow each unit studied during the semester with a strong focus on terminology and vary in range and form, all in reference to the unit studied at the seminar. When applying these learning strategies, the challenges are represented by the limited period of time necessary to complete each task - the newness of the platform is that the exercises are timed so that they simulate real-life exam situations, thus making the eLearning process more effective and efficient. The software will also indicate a progress bar and the mistaken answers will come with explanations. An important aspect worth mentioning is the fact that these exercises do not focus on building competition among students, therefore no forum or chat rooms will be designed. As a result, students develop learning skills, become more confident in their language appropriation and acquisition due to the real-life simulations and practice IT skills. The limited period of time for answers stimulates students to appropriate learning strategies by accelerating the process.

A reliable e-learning architecture based on fog-computing and smart devices

Author(s): Albeanu Grigore,Florin Popentiu -Vladicescu / Language(s): / Issue: 01/2014

Recently, ubiquitous approaches are more and more used during training/learning sessions. Based on smart and intelligent devices all kind of professions can benefit from the usage of e-learning models for partially mastering both scientific and engineering topics. Recent developments in augmented reality, Internet of Things technology, and the availability of smart devices useful in efficient mobile learning and for mobile virtual laboratories make possible the developments of reliable cloud or fog infrastructures for e-learning. This paper is based on [1] and [2] when claims about the increasing reliability of modern cloud/fog architectures. In authors' vision, smart devices are electronic devices, connectable to other devices or networks supporting autonomous or interactive operation, including sensors capable 'to feel' the physical world, as considered in [2]. Mobile laboratories can be used not only to measure/diagnose, maintain, or repair various entities, but also for training and/or examination. Virtual laboratories, based currently on cloud computing, could benefit of fog computing developments. The proposal is a service oriented architecture, as shown by [3] and [4], extended to support the fog computing paradigm [1, 2]. References: 1. Bonomi F., Milito R., Zhu J. & Addepalli S. "Fog Computing and its Role in the Internet of Things", Proceedings of MCC'12, August 17, 2012, Helsinki, Finland, pp. 13-15, 2012. 2. Madsen, Henrik; Burtschy, Bernard; Albeanu, G.; Popentiu-Vladicescu, Fl., Reliability in the utility computing era: Towards reliable Fog computing, 2013 20th International Conference on Systems, Signals and Image Processing (IWSSIP). IEEE, 2013. p. 43-46. 3. H. Madsen, G. Albenu, R.C. Tarca, Fl.Popentiu-Vladicescu, Service-Oriented Reliability Analysis For Collaborative Mechatronic Laboratories Involved In Virtual Training, ESREL 2010, Annual Conference, 5-9 September 2010, Rhodes, Greece. 4. R.D. Albu, R.C. Tarca, Fl.Popentiu-Vladicescu, Ildiko Margit Pasc, Designing Reliable Web-Based Virtual Laboratory Architectures, The 6th International Scientific Conference eLSE "eLearning and Software for Education", pp. 403-409, Bucharest, April 15-16 2010.

A REVIEW OF EDUCATIONAL INTERVENTIONS FOR ADULTS WITH CYSTIC FIBROSIS

Author(s): Tamara VAGG,Sabin TABÎRCA,Joe EUSTACE,Barry PLANT / Language(s): English / Issue: 01/2017

Cystic Fibrosis is the most common life limiting genetic disease affecting Caucasians. The life expectancy of this cohort has increased and is predicted to reach retirement age. As most CF patients are diagnosed from birth, they undergo educational and management programs throughout their lives. However numerous studies have identified various knowledge gaps. This paper presents a scoping literature review of the available educational interventions for adult CF patients. This review follows the framework as outlined by Arksey et al. [9]. A search string is entered into four databases and the resulting literature is downloaded into the academic reference manager software, Mendeley version 1.16.1. The manuscripts are then subjected to title, abstract, and introduction refinement. The remaining manuscripts are then reviewed under the following headings: 1) Aims/Objective, 2) Patient Demographic, 3) Educational Focus, 4) Research Type Conducted, 5) Methodologies, 6) Results, and 7) Author Noted Limitations. Of the 3649 manuscripts, only eight remained after the refinement stages. A significant amount of the papers that were excluded focused on CF pediatric patients only. Of the remaining papers, four manuscripts focused solely on CF adults. Seven of the papers identified a range of issues with CF education, including anxiety, knowledge gaps, and a lack of educational teams. Five papers introduced an educational intervention, only one was for CF adults only. Two of the interventions were ICT based. Of the manuscripts, one intervention that targeted both children and adults was reported as being implemented into the hospital services long term. From the final papers reviewed, it is apparent that there appears to be an issue with adult CF education and knowledge gaps. With CF survival rates rising and a new aging CF population emerging, there is a need for educational programs and interventions to meet the changing needs of the CF adult population.

A SERIOUS GAME FOR IMPROVING ELDERLY MOBILITY BASED ON USER EMOTIONAL STATE

Author(s): Irina Mocanu,Ovidiu Andrei SCHIPOR / Language(s): English / Issue: 01/2017

Many studies highlight the relationship between emotional state and behaviour. Emotions influence elderly people especially on physical activity and their mobility. It was shown that people with positive emotions perform more physical activity and have less difficulty in walking. Thus we can say that positive emotions can be associated with mobility in case of older people. Some older people may develop fear of moving, leading to reduce the outdoor mobility. An active lifestyle can maintain or improve everyday life, delaying different types of disabilities and mental health disease through elderly people. Also, emotions play a primary role into the structure and experience of Serious Games. The linkage between emotions and actions is extremely relevant in learning processes - learning is viewed as a process of participatory appropriation, where the learner acts and actively participates in doing within specific routinized contexts. The purpose of this paper is to present the development of an application as a serious game that aims to help elderly people to learn how to perform physical exercises in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle in their homes. A personalized program has as main advantage a higher flexibility, as it offers the patient the possibility of adjusting his training schedule according to his preferences and daily activities. In this sense, there is need for a sustainable platform designed specifically for performing physical exercises at home that would promote increasing mobility, especially for elderly people. An efficient method to accomplish this purpose is through the development of a cheap, accessible and easy to use a serious game, based on the motion capture technology. The exercises that need to be performed by the patient are automatically selected according to his profile, medical condition and acquired progress. By using the Kinect motion capture device, our application analyses the user's movements and compares them to those of a trainer character, by taking into account the performance and efficiency parameters. Also, the type of the exercise will be adjusted based on emotions, and the motivation of the user in performing physical exercises will be increased. Emotions are recognised using facial features (Facial Action Coding System) extracted from the user face using Microsft.Kinect and Microsoft.Kinect.Face libraries. Our system has been tested with several users who acquired a certain degree of progress. Therefore, we conclude that the presented solution can be successfully used for stimulating the physical activity and improving the mobility of elderly people, representing a great contribution to the field.

A Statical Approach to Data Collected at the Foot Map Level in Simulating the Evolution of Osteitis Pubis

Author(s): Andrei Catalin IONI?E,Mariana ROTARIU,Marius TURNEA / Language(s): English / Issue: 14/2018

According to specialized articles, the incidence of osteitis pubis among athletes is in a continuous growth. This condition has been creating problems for a long time, not only to the athletes, through the symptoms that they generate, but also to club teams, funders, sponsors, etc. Usually, it is confused with other ailments of the symphysis pubis, and thus, in order to be identified correctly, the practitioner must investigate all possible ways. Once that it is diagnosed correctly, the conservative treatment containing anti-inflammatory medication, physical therapy, alternative therapy and complementary therapies, may begin. According to specialized literature, there is no specific protocol in treating osteitis pubis and so a significant number of conservative treatments fail, finally leading to surgery. Due to the paricularities of the disease, by means of specific devices we can collect data at the foot map level, a map of pressures, the values obtained can be quantified and modeled. The results are used in comedones to determine certain mathematical correlations between various parameters specific to osteitis pubis. Through this mathematical model, a post-traumatic osteitis pubis evolution can be simulated, offering data necessary when deciding on a set of optimum parameters required in the treatment. Simulating and interpreting statistics using a graphical interface, easily maneuverable, educational type, gives the kinetotherapist the possibility to a better understanding of the disease and he can, thus, develop a treatment plan appropriate for the patient. A better understanding of osteitis pubis will lead to the development of a suitable protocol for its treatment and therefore, will reduce the number of surgical intervention,s as well as the costs associated with the process of recovery. All these issues may drive to the need for a program and a national strategy to prevent precocious occurrence of osteitis pubis, especially among athletes.

A Study on Initial Training and Competence Model for Teachers in Professional and Technical Education

Author(s): Maria Gratiela IANOS,Ana Voichita Tebeanu / Language(s): English / Issue: 14/2018

Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) plays an important role in economic development, due to is its main orientation towards the world of work (UNESCO TVET Strategy 2016-2021) and the emphasis of the curriculum on the acquisition of employable skills. It's considered to be a tool for productivity enhancement and poverty reduction, at a global level (Europe 2020 communication, EU 2010, 2014). The dynamics of change in TVET in recent years has generated new perspectives / approaches regarding the role of the teacher and his/her responsibilities, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, a request for increasing the quality of initial teacher training (Maclean R., Pavlova M., 2013; ET2020 Working Group on Schools Policy (2014-15)). These changes have led to a growing need to adapt the initial teacher training programs in TVET to the current labor market requirements. The quality of teachers in TVET is reflected in the quality of graduates' training and reflects on all stakeholders. Thus, the teachers' role in TVET is essential in achieving quality education and especially in supporting / coordinating students in the transition process- from school to the labor market. The low performances of TVET graduates (relative to basic skills) and the situation on the labor market (compared to the low level of achieved specialized competencies) cast doubt on the quality of TVET, in general, and on the skills of TVET teachers in particular. This paper presents a study on the initial training of TVET teachers worldwide, also taking into account some countries in Europe, among these Romania. The characteristics of the teaching profession in TVET (focusing on the specific competencies for TVET) are highlighted, as well as the specificity of TVET in common competences. Also, the paper presents the implications of new changes (new learning approaches, new technologies in hiring companies, etc.) on the role of TVET teachers and competency profiles. The paper aims at updating the competencies of TVET teachers and proposes an analysis of the assessment in the graduation exams of the training programs. The article is based on a documentary study of some specialized papers on the initial teacher education. The results of the study are reflected in the outline of an up-to-date competency model for TVET teachers, taking into account its rapid pace of development, and in making a critical analysis of how the final evaluation is achieved within the initial training programs.

A TRANSVERSAL ANALYSIS OF THE EVOLUTION OF TEACHING FORENSIC SCIENCE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF TECHNOLOGY

Author(s): Georgica PANFIL,Marius ANDRI?A,Viorel Coroiu,Marin Ruiu,Danu? NECHITA / Language(s): English / Issue: 01/2017

The paper is concentrated on an applied research, developed over the year 2016, using transversal methods, on the field of the perceptions of forensic science professionals related to the influence, in time, of the technology versus learning efficiency in the area of forensic science. It is well known that during last two decades, aspects related to the procedures of operational behavior related to crime scene, as well as the laboratory analysis have evolved. Furthermore, the learning process has changed, as it was determined by the evolution related to the usage of technology within practical situations. In this context, current paper was focused in evaluating the perception of few target groups, all of the originating from the field of forensic science. The research was focused on the questionnaire method (both "open" and "closed" questionnaire), and it tackled some key groups: first, a group of students from last year of studies (from "Forensic" profile), originating from Romanian Police Academy, as the only institution to train forensic scientists; second, a group of forensic operatives with no more than 5 years in the field of forensic science. Third, a group with 15 to 25 years in the field of operational work, and forth, a group of operatives close to retirement. All of these groups were subject to the study, which contained questions directly related to the use of technology in direct training - be there initial or continuous - related to the field of forensic science. As such, the graphics and the results are interpreted and are accompanied by a section of conclusions of the authors.

A User-Centered Software System for Admission Optimization and Education Process Management for Ph. D. Students

Author(s): Pavel ZLATAROV,Galina Ivanova,Elitsa IBRYAMOVA,Desislava Baeva / Language(s): English / Issue: 14/2018

The paper presents an information system aiming to optimize and streamline the process of Ph.D. students' admission and education, which significantly differs from the process of admitting undergraduate and graduate students. Designing user-centered software applications has been an ongoing trend for the past few years. Such application focus heavily on software usability and relies on well-defined goals that users need to achieve with the application's help. Often, agile methods are applied during development, as usage of traditional methods may lead to not being able to quickly respond to dynamic changes in the user's needs or requirements. As one of the basic forms of self-education and an important lifelong learning step, quality Ph. D. student education requires modern and innovative ways to manage the process. A user-centered software system puts the Ph. D. student, its main user, and other related users, such as scientific advisors in focus, greatly simplifying the process of the Ph. D. application, admission and education. Moreover, information and communication technology solutions have proven to lead to improvements in the quality of the education process itself and to its management. Usage of such solutions usually leads to an improvement in education quality, quality standards and educational institution competiveness among others. Ph. D. students are admitted in virtually every accredited higher education institution in Bulgaria. Thus, the presented software system can be used in any Bulgarian university in which Ph.D. students are educated. The paper also outlines the process and some ideas for its optimization. The system has been deployed in one of the Bulgarian universities and has been used since early 2017, during the 2017 admission of Ph. D. students, at first as a pilot to test the system with real data and in a real environment, subsequently receiving a positive response from all potential users. The creation and refinement of a web-based system allows not only for process automation in the field of document storage and student services, but also contributes to a higher quality of service of the Ph. D. students. The contribution includes providing of accurate information needed for evaluation, improvement of the administrative task planning and workflows, and providing more sources of feedback. The quick report generation allows the analysis and statistical processing, which is periodically required by reports at the university or at national levels. This inevitably leads to a rise in satisfaction of everyone involved in the process, from Ph.D. students to administrative staff members.