The effect of case based learning on 10th grade students&rsquo / academic achievement in the unit of human reproductive system and their perceived motivation (Intrinsic Goal Orientation, Extrinsic Goal Orientation and Task Value) was investigated in this study. The study was conducted during 2007-2008 spring semester in a private high school in Ankara, Turkey. A total of 80 (48 males and 32 females) tenth grade students from four biology classes of two teachers were involved in the study. One class of each individual teacher was assigned as control group and the other class of the same teacher was assigned as experimental group to sustain randomization. Two of the classes assigned as experimental group were instructed with case based learning, while two classes of the control group were received traditionally designed biology instruction. In the experimental group, two cases that are divided into several parts were assigned in an interrupted manner. Students learned the human reproductive system via cases in experimental group without any additional method. The cases include incomplete data and students were needed to search for and discuss to answer the questions posed in the cases and by themselves and to complete the data. When the students completed a part of the case, next part was distributed. While dealing with the dilemma presented in cases, students did independent study as well as group work. In the control group, instruction was based on teacher explanations and web based notes prepared by the biology department of the high school. Human Reproductive System Achievement Test, Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire were administered as pre-test and post-test to the students in both groups to measure the students&rsquo / academic achievement in the unit of human reproductive system / and their perceived motivation / specifically, task value, intrinsic goal orientation, and extrinsic goal orientation. Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was used to investigate the effect of case based learning on the students&rsquo / academic achievement in the unit of human reproductive system and their perceived motivation. Results revealed that case based learning improved students&rsquo / academic achievement and task value.

Software development is no longer a task limited to professionally trained computer programmers. Increasing support for software customization through scripting, the opening of application programmer interfaces on the Web, and a growing need for domain specific application support have all contributed to an increase in end-user programming. Unfortunately, learning to program remains a challenging task, and the majority of end-user programmers lack any formal education in software development. Instead, these users must piece together their understanding of programming through trial and error, examples found online, and help from peers and colleagues. While current approaches to address the difficulties facing end-user programmers seek to change the nature of the programming task, I argue that these challenges often mirror those faced by all novice programmers. Thus, pedagogical solutions must also be explored. This dissertation work investigates the challenges that end-user programmers face from a computer science education perspective. I have engaged in a cycle of learner-centered design to answer the high-level questions: What do users know; what might they need to know; how are they learning; and how might we help users discover and learn what they need or want to know? In so doing, I uniquely frame end-user programming challenges as issues related to knowledge and understanding about computer science. Rather than building new languages or programming tools, I address these difficulties through new types of instructional materials and opportunities for felicitous engagement with them. This work is contextualized within a specific domain of non-traditional programmers: graphic and web designers who write scripts as part of their careers. Through an in-depth, learner-centered investigation of this user population, this dissertation makes five specific contributions: (1) A detailed characterization of graphic and web design end-user programmers and their knowledge of fundamental computing concepts. (2) An analysis of the existing information space that graphic and web designers rely on for help. (3) The implementation of a novel case-based learning aid named ScriptABLE that is explicitly designed to leverage existing user practices while conveying conceptual knowledge about programming. (4) Initial confirmatory evidence supporting case-based learning aids for the informal computing education of web and graphic design end-user programmers. (5) An argument in support of the value of normative computing knowledge among informally trained programmers.

老人居家照護是近來愈趨重視的議題，過去ㄧ直以來主要著重在老人生理狀態的偵測及相關居家醫療儀器的研究，但除了生理上訊號所顯現的不適之外，尚有其它的問題困擾著老人的生活。對於在老人身上所產生的許多不適，最直接的就是反映在老人的情緒上，若是能針對老人目前所處的環境狀態分析出造成老人情緒狀態轉變的因素，將有助於提升老人的生活品質。本研究所採用的替換調適模式之案例式推理，有別於一般案例式推理的應用，一般案例式推理需要對於應用領域的知識有相當了解才能達到有效地案例調適，因此在發展案例式推理的應用時，需要經過相當長的資訊收集，而替換調適模式運用一些已經存在的案例，從中萃取出案例間的關聯性，並藉由案例的不斷累積來自動化的調適案例庫中的知識，因此將使得推理的結果更符合老人過去的生活習性，因此能針對老人的情緒狀態找出形成的因素，而找出改變情緒的形成因素之後，將有機會的進一步解決老人目前所遭遇的生活難題，最終本研究期望能藉此達成提升老人生活品質的目的。 / e-Care for aging has become an increasingly important research topic in recent years. Most research focus on the detection of Physiological state or the study of the e-Care medical devices. Nevertheless, there are still other problems tormenting an aging’s life besides physiological discomfort detected from physiological signals. For instance, it is often the case that the discomfort comes from the aging's atypical mood status. In other words, causes behind the change of the aging’s mood status would help improve the quality of the aging’s life. Accordingly, this paper presents a substitution-based case adaptation CBR to analyze the causes of effecting the change of the aging’s mood status. Substitution-based case adaptation CBR differs from general CBR in lean adaptation knowledge required. Most existing CBR systems rely on an enormous amount of built-in adaptation knowledge in the form of adaptation rules (that require a deep analysis of the domain). Substitution-based case adaptation can make use of a limited number of cases to extract the relations between the cases and reach automatic adaptation. With the accumulation of cases in the case library, the result of inference fit in line with the habit of the aging’s life would be improved based on this automatic adaptation. The contribution of our method aims at reaching the e-Care goal of improving the aging’s life quality from the mental perspective.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

In 1998 the Institutes of Nursing in the United Arab Emirates adopted a new approach of Case-Based learning in their three year nursing program. This categorical change created a need to examine the development of nursing students' self-efficacy and motivation under this new curriculum. The aims of this study were to investigate whether the students in the final year of the program will evidence higher levels of motivation and self-efficacy compared to those in the second and first year of the program, and to demonstrate that the higher the level of self-efficacy, the more internal, unstable and controllable the attributions for success and/or failure. This study was based on Bandura's theory of self-efficacy. A randomly selected cross-sectional survey involving nursing students in the three-year diploma nursing program of Abu-Dhabi and AI Ain Institutes was studied (N=178). The participants of this study involved a total of 86 (48.3%) enrolled in year one diploma, 51 (28.7%) enrolled in year two and 41 (23.0%) in year three diploma. On the whole the participants' levels of motivation and self-efficacy were high, but both ANOVA and Kruskall Wallis tests did not support any level increase by year of education as was expected. However, the Spearman's rho (r) test yielded low but positive and significant correlations between the levels of self-efficacy and students attribution for success and/or failure. / Thesis (M.Cur.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

This study describes the perceptions of 110 diploma nursing students regarding the learning environment in case based and traditional classrooms. The study was conducted in Sharjah and Abu Dhabi Institutes ofNursing in UAE. Sixty Level I and fifty Level II students were randomly selected from the two institutes to participate in this study. The purpose of this study was to examine nursing students' perceptions regarding the classroom learning environment in courses that are taught by case studies and those that are taught by traditional method, and to compare their perceptions toward conventional and CBL learning environments. The questionnaire used was the College and University Classroom Environment Inventory (CUCEI). The students in the CBL class had more positive perceptions toward their learning environment on the subscales Involvement , Innovation , and Individualization. A significant difference emerged favoring traditional classroom environment on the Task orientation subscale. There was no significant difference between the participants' ratings for the case-based and traditional classroom learning environments on the subscales of Personalization, Cohesiveness, and Satisfaction. Thus, the study results support the superiority ofCBL environment regarding the students' perception of Involvement, Innovation, and individualization. Moreover, the study results indicated that students perceived class activities to be more task oriented in traditional than in case based classroom environments. / Thesis (M.Cur.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

Background: Case-based learning (CBL) is one approach which is gaining popularity. The selected School of Nursing adopted this approach to learning in 2000. The school reviewed all the old case studies and introduced new ones in 2010. These new case studies were used for the first time with the 2011 Decentralised PHC programme. Hence, the need for a study that explored students perceptions towards case-based learning. Research Methodology: A quantitative approach and descriptive exploratory design were adopted in this study. A total number of 101 students were from the three Decentralised Primary health care (PHC) programme participated in this study. Data was collected from three decentralised sites used to offer PHC programme to students; Durban, Port Shepstone and Pietermaritzburg. Data was collected by means of a questionnaire – a self-reporting instrument which included 62 structured questions. Data was analysed statistically for frequency distributions and the relationship between the results from three sites were explored using a Chi Square Pearson Test, with a p value set at .005. Results: The results of this study show that, overall, students view case-based learning in a positive light. Although the majority reported that cases were distributed in case study booklet form (n=66) 65.3%, other modes such as cases presented to students in each class session using transparencies (n=52) 51.5% as well as through emails was reported. Regarding benefits about (n=90) 90.1% of the respondents stated that cases presented added a lot of realism. The researcher also explored to see if there were any variations of results across the three delivery centres. The findings of this study demonstrated that there was a significant difference for seven items, some of these items included teachers feedback and advise after class was relevant for students to cope on their own p<.000; case studies preparing student for working in PHC institutions in South Africa p<.042; preferred lectures more than CBL p<.003 and CBL was too demanding in terms of preparation and the content p<.004. Discussion: Students enjoyed the experience but also identified their own limitations and mistakes. They were able to plan their own learning needs. The students experienced personal and professional growth using cases which represented the real-life challenges. They had the opportunity to apply the theory, their experiences and their newly developed skills from the use of CBL in there clinical practice. The end product was visible and of benefit to the clinical settings as students was now competent in analyzing cases and solving practical problems systematically. Providing a real-life challenge to students in CBL instead of teaching a predominantly theoretical course proved to be beneficial. Recommendations: The researcher felt that a follow-up study, taking into account all six sites where students are placed could result in a difference in the students’ perceptions of CBL as a teaching methodology, as the students in the other three sites are in the more rural areas which limits their resources. There was some inconsistency with presentation and distribution of cases also feedback to students, staff may require development with teaching skills to co-ordinate all centres in a similar way. Port Shepstone and Pietermaritzburg struggle with CBL, maybe they are not incline with Self directed learning (SDL), therefore a follow up study in these centres would assess in students are inclined with SDL. / Thesis (M.N.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.

Magistriniame darbe nagrinėjamas pakartotinis informacijos ir žinių panaudojimas IT pagalbos tarnybose. Trumpai apžvelgti svarbiausi tokio tipo organizacijų veiklos principai, kurie standartizuojami taikant ITIL metodologiją. Darbo tikslas – sukurti IT trikčių registravimo sistemą, kuri panaudodama sukauptą informaciją apie praeityje įvykusias IT triktis spręstų dabartines problemas. Siekiant šio tikslo pasirinkta taikyti neraiškiąją logiką ir atveju paremtą samprotavimą. Darbe pateikiama neraiškiosios logikos ir atveju paremto samprotavimo teorinė apžvalga ir praktinės pritaikymo galimybės, apžvelgiamos intelektualios IT trikčių registravimo sistemos. Atlikus tyrimą ir įvertinus anksčiau sukurtas intelektualias IT trikčių registravimo sistemas, formuojamas naujosios modelis. Nauja sistema, pritaikiusi atveju paremtą samprotavimą ir neraiškiąją logiką, pateikia galimus IT trikčių sprendimus jos naudotojui, tai yra IT pagalbos tarnybos darbuotojui. Sistema yra nepriklausoma nuo kalbos, nes atskirų atvejų paieška vykdoma taikant neraiškiąją logiką. Darbą sudaro 4 dalys: įvadas, IT organizacijos pagal ITIL samprata, teorinė neraiškiosios logikos ir atveju paremto samprotavimo apžvalga, praktinis neraiškiosios logikos pritaikymas IT trikčių registravime bei išvados ir siūlymai, literatūros sąrašas. Darbo apimtis – 75 p. teksto be priedų, 26 iliustr., 5 lent., 60 bibliografiniai šaltiniai. Atskirai pridedami darbo priedai. / The final Master thesis analyses the reuse of information and knowledge in IT helpdesk organizations. Briefly are discussed most important activities of such companies, that are standardized according ITIL. The main goal of the Master thesis is development of IT help-desk ticketing tool, which would reuse past information and knowledge in order to resolve current problems. Adaptation of fuzzy logic and case based reasoning is chosen to accomplish this goal. The second part of work contains theoretical information about fuzzy logic and cased based reasoning, practical application of these sciences; also discusses intelligent IT help-desk incident ticketing systems. After the research of scientific articles about intelligent IT help-desk systems and application of fuzzy logic and case based reasoning, the new model of IT trouble tickets system is created. The new system suggests possible solutions of an IT incident. The solution is found among previous incidents using fuzzy logic. Volume of the thesis – 75 p. of text without appendices, 26 figures, 5 tables, 60 bibliographic sources.

Companies struggle against complex and dynamic conditions in order to survive in their business settings. Being in the knowledge era, learning has been accepted as one of the main sources of sustainable competitive advantage. Organizational learning (OL) is a set of activities to obtain organizational memory (OM) by acquiring, sharing, interpreting, integrating and institutionalizing knowledge. OM is exploited by the companies in strategic decision-making process, which makes OL a critical concept. The major objective of this study is to explore how construction companies create OM and how they exploit this asset in strategic decision-making process. In this context, an interview study is conducted with eight large Turkish construction companies and OM perceptions of each company are presented as case studies. This survey revealed the strengths and weaknesses in terms of OL competence. One of the key outputs is that companies are successful at acquiring and storing knowledge but they are not familiar with decision support systems (DSSs) that benefit from OM. Such systems enable OL by assisting decision makers in processing, assessing, integrating and organizing knowledge. To meet the requirements of the industry, a DSS is proposed to aid construction companies in international market entry decisions. This tool is generated under a software package by adopting case-based reasoning (CBR) as the problem solving approach, which finds solutions to new problems based on the past experiences. The model is developed by the acquisition of past real international project data as input information. The model produces two outputs that are indicators of attractiveness of a project and competitiveness of a company, which are the key decision criteria in international market entry problem.

La recerca presentada en aquesta dissertació glossa sobre transformacions de tempo de gravacions monofòniques de saxo jazz preservant l'expressivitat musical. Es una contribució al processament d'audio basat en el contingut, un camp de recerca que ha emergit recentment com a resposta a la necessitat creixent de gestionar intel&#903;ligentment la creixent quantitat d'informació digital multimedia disponible actualment. S'ha investigat com una execució musical, tocada a un tempo concret, es pot reproduir automàticament a un altre tempo mantenint l'expressivitat. Aquest problema no es pot reduir a aplicar una transformació uniforme a totes les notes de la melodia, operació que degradaria la qualitat de l'execució. Proposem un sistema de raonament basat en casos per a transformacions de tempo preservant l'expressivitat. La validació del sistema mostra un comportament superior a la transformació uniforme. A m'es, s'han fet contribucions a l'anàlisi de gravacions expressives, CBR, recuperació de melodies i metodologires d'evaluació de models d'expressivitat. / The research presented in this dissertation focuses on expressivity-aware tempo transformations of monophonic audio recordings of saxophone jazz performances. It is a contribution to content-based audio processing, a field of technology that has recently emerged as an answer to the increased need to deal intelligently with the evergrowing amount of digital multimedia information available nowadays. We have investigated the problem of how a musical performance played at a particular tempo can be rendered automatically at another tempo, while preserving naturally sounding expressivity. This problem cannot be reduced to just applying a uniform transformation to all notes of the melody, since it often degrades the musical quality of the performance. We present a case-based reasoning system for expressivity aware tempo transformations. A validation of the system showed superior results compared to uniform transformation. Furthermore, contributions have been made to expressive performance analysis, CBR, melody retrieval, and evaluation methodologies of expressive models.