EFL teachers’ identity in self-directed learning: A work-from-home phenomenology

Major potential effects of abrupt changes in educational settings particularly for education stakeholders such as teachers have been somewhat interesting to examine. This study examines how teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in different schooling levels acclimatize their experiences due to the unanticipated Covid-19 outbreak, which forced them to pursue Online Distance Learning (ODL). Employing a phenomenological approach, eight teachers from various educational and psychometric backgrounds in three different provinces in Indonesia shared their experiences in coping with the changes. Before engaging in two semi-structured interviews, they were invited to complete an e-reflection to share their feelings, concerns, difficulties, and challenges. To get to the core of their experience, the data were scrutinized following an interpretive phenomenological analysis which includes an early focus on the lines of inquiry, central concerns and important themes, identification of shared meanings, final interpretations, and the dissemination of the interpretations. The findings demonstrated that the changes created an ambivalent experience of being challenged and bored, prompting teachers to reflect on their existing practice and respond appropriately by combining empathy, new roles, and technology paramount through their self-directed learning (SDL). Further implications on teacher agency and identity are discussed to shed light on the reshaping of teacher identities due to ODL and SDL.

Entropies and IPR as Markers for a Phase Transition in a Two-Level Model for Atom–Diatomic Molecule Coexistence

A quantum phase transition (QPT) in a simple model that describes the coexistence of atoms and diatomic molecules is studied. The model, which is briefly discussed, presents a second-order ground state phase transition in the thermodynamic (or large particle number) limit, changing from a molecular condensate in one phase to an equilibrium of diatomic molecules–atoms in coexistence in the other one. The usual markers for this phase transition are the ground state energy and the expected value of the number of atoms (alternatively, the number of molecules) in the ground state. In this work, other markers for the QPT, such as the inverse participation ratio (IPR), and particularly, the Rényi entropy, are analyzed and proposed as QPT markers. Both magnitudes present abrupt changes at the critical point of the QPT.

The Response of Black Hole Spark Gaps to External Changes: A Production Mechanism of Rapid TeV Flares?

We study the response of a starved Kerr black hole magnetosphere to abrupt changes in the intensity of disk emission and in the global magnetospheric current, by means of one-dimensional general relativistic particle-in-cell simulations. Such changes likely arise from the intermittency of the accretion process. We find that in cases where the pair-production opacity contributed by the soft disk photons is modest, as in, e.g., M87, such changes can give rise to delayed, strong teraelectronvolt (TeV) flares, dominated by curvature emission of particles accelerated in the gap. The flare rise time, and the delay between the external variation and the onset of the flare emitted from the outer gap boundary, are of the order of the light-crossing time of the gap. The rapid, large-amplitude TeV flares observed in M87, and perhaps, other active galactic nuclei may be produced by such a mechanism.

Virtualizing Project-Based Learning: An Abrupt Adaptation of Active Learning in the First Days of the COVID-19 Pandemic, with Promising Outcomes

Project-based learning (PBL) is renowned as an active learning practice that promotes the application of the accumulation of knowledge through real-world and often open-ended problems. This work assesses a case evaluation of an introductory PBL course in a typical industrial engineering curriculum in Brazil. This course is taken during the first semester, in which students must develop solutions for a single given problem through weekly meetings. The case presented herein highlights the forced abrupt virtualization of the learning process, which imposed an unprecedented scenario on the students and instructors, especially with regard to this course, which is based primarily on presented discussions and activities. The first weeks of class following the abrupt virtualization of activities encountered misinformation and a lack of clarity about the adaptation of the activities. Fortunately, through rapid iterations, the adjustment process resulted in time invested by the students and classes, with an active discussion, using the tools made available by the university. This work aims to present the forced abrupt changes applied to this first-semester course, highlighting the challenges faced, and the positive outcomes obtained and observed by both the students and the instructor, and to make a comparison to the evolution of the course over the past years.

Do nacionalismo cultural à culturalização da nação: a Revista do Livro / From cultural nationalism to the culturalization of the nation: Revista do Livro

Resumo: O projeto político, literário e cultural promulgado pela Revista do Livro mobiliza uma série significativa de conceituações complexas que surgem em diferentes momentos, com variações em suas significações e aplicações. Publicada entre os anos de 1956 e 1970, atravessando, portanto, diferentes regimes de governo e mudanças bruscas na condução do Estado brasileiro, a revista do Instituto Nacional do Livro (INL) maneja conceitos centrais para a compreensão de sua atuação e de sua relação com o seu tempo e o seu meio. Dentre eles, veremos neste artigo como a Revista do Livro ativa e constrói suas próprias noções de tradição, de nacional, de cultura no processo de construção do seu próprio cânone da literatura brasileira.Palavras-chave: Revista do Livro; Instituto Nacional do Livro; tradição; nacional; cultura; cânone.Abstract: The political, literary, and cultural project promulgated by the Revista do Livro mobilizes a significant series of complex conceptualizations that appear at different times, with variations in their meanings and applications. Published between 1956 and 1970, thus going through different governmental regimes and abrupt changes in the conduction of the Brazilian State, the magazine of the National Book Institute handles concepts that are central to the understanding of its performance and its relationship with its time and milieu. Among them, we will see in this article how the Revista do Livro activates and constructs its own notions of tradition, national, and culture in the process of building its own canon of Brazilian literature.Keywords: Revista do Livro; National Book Institute; tradition; national; culture; canon.

A Qualitative Look at the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on American College Students Studying Abroad

COVID-19 has impacted higher education greatly, with many colleges and universities being forced to quickly implement procedures for operation as closures and restrictions shifted many programs online. These abrupt changes amounted to uncertainty and challenges for students worldwide. Students who were studying abroad during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic faced unique challenges as programs shut down and many returned home from overseas. The current study investigated the impact of COVID-19 on U.S. study abroad students through a qualitative lens. Students reported unique stressors related to being abroad during the onset of the pandemic, such as missed experiences, financial loss, travel difficulties, and stressors related to academic programs. Additionally, many reported considerable and lasting impacts on emotional and behavioral health. This study provides preliminary evidence for the effects of COVID-19 on study abroad students, and highlights the importance of addressing the needs of this population during and after the pandemic.

Creepex-analysis of processes in focal zones of large earthquakes by means of GIS-ENDDB

The creepex (creep & explosion) parameter provides information on the relation between low- and high-frequency radiation components in the earthquake source and has become a physically meaningful tool for analyzing various aspects of seismogenesis, in particular, the diagnostics of the preparation processes and the its aftershocks activity of a strong event. This paper investigates the spatial-temporal dynamics of creepex in the focal zones of a number of the major earthquakes from the plate convergence regions, including continental Kashmir earthquake (08.10.2005, MS=7.6) and continental-oceanic Tohoku (11.03.2011, Mw=8.7). One of the goals of this work is to demonstrate the capabilities of the method in studying physically grounded patterns of focal zones development at the first hours after the main shock. Because of this study, the following regularities of the source relaxation process were revealed: the partiality of the aftershock process, positive values of the creepex at its first hours (explained by the influence of the dilatancy process), and abrupt changes in the creepex during deep transitions (explained by the thermodynamic effect and by the increase in pressure with depth).

Complex axial growth patterns in an early Cambrian trilobite from South Australia

The exceptional fossil record of trilobites provides our best window on developmental processes in early euarthropods, but data on growth dynamics are limited. Here, we analyse post-embryonic axial growth in the Cambrian trilobite Estaingia bilobata from the Emu Bay Shale, South Australia. Using threshold models, we show that abrupt changes in growth trajectories of different body sections occurred in two phases, closely associated with the anamorphic/epimorphic and meraspid/holaspid transitions. These changes are similar to the progression to sexual maturity seen in certain extant euarthropods and suggest that the onset of maturity coincided with the commencement of the holaspid period. We also conduct hypothesis testing to reveal the likely controls of observed axial growth gradients and suggest that size may better explain growth patterns than moult stage. The two phases of allometric change in E. bilobata , as well as probable differing growth regulation in the earliest post-embryonic stages, suggest that observed body segmentation patterns in this trilobite were the result of a complex series of changing growth controls that characterized different ontogenetic intervals. This indicates that trilobite development is more complex than previously thought, even in early members of the clade.

Item Pool Quality Control in Educational Testing: Change Point Model, Compound Risk, and Sequential Detection

In standardized educational testing, test items are reused in multiple test administrations. To ensure the validity of test scores, the psychometric properties of items should remain unchanged over time. In this article, we consider the sequential monitoring of test items, in particular, the detection of abrupt changes to their psychometric properties, where a change can be caused by, for example, leakage of the item or change of the corresponding curriculum. We propose a statistical framework for the detection of abrupt changes in individual items. This framework consists of (1) a multistream Bayesian change point model describing sequential changes in items, (2) a compound risk function quantifying the risk in sequential decisions, and (3) sequential decision rules that control the compound risk. Throughout the sequential decision process, the proposed decision rule balances the trade-off between two sources of errors, the false detection of prechange items, and the nondetection of postchange items. An item-specific monitoring statistic is proposed based on an item response theory model that eliminates the confounding from the examinee population which changes over time. Sequential decision rules and their theoretical properties are developed under two settings: the oracle setting where the Bayesian change point model is completely known and a more realistic setting where some parameters of the model are unknown. Simulation studies are conducted under settings that mimic real operational tests.