Infographics or Graphics+Text: Which Material is Best for Robust Learning?

Infographic is a type of information visualization that uses graphic design to enhance human ability to identify patterns and trends. It is popularly used to support spread of information. Yet, there are few studies that investigate how infographics affect learning and how individual factors, such as learning styles and enjoyment of the information affect infographics perception. In this sense, this paper describes a case study performed in an online platform where 27 undergraduate students were randomly assigned to view infographics (n=14) and graphics+text (n=13) as learning materials about the same content. They also responded to questionnaires of enjoyment and learning styles. Our findings indicate that there is no correlation between learning styles and post-test scores. Furthermore, we did not find any difference regarding learning between students using graphics or infographics. Nevertheless, for learners using infographics, we found a significant and positive correlation between correct answers and the positive self-assessment of enjoyment/ pleasure. We also identified that students who used infographics keep their acquired information longer than students who only used graphics+text, indicating that infographics can better support robust learning.Comment: accepted as a full paper in the IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologie

Situação atual e demandas de pesquisa, desenvolvimento e inovação tecnológica em forrageiras e pastagens - Região Sul do Rio Grande do Sul.

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The Screen representation of spin networks. Images of 6j symbols and semiclassical features

This article presents and discusses in detail the results of extensive exact calculations of the most basic ingredients of spin networks, the Racah coefficients (or Wigner 6j symbols), exhibiting their salient features when considered as a function of two variables - a natural choice due to their origin as elements of a square orthogonal matrix - and illustrated by use of a projection on a square "screen" introduced recently. On these screens, shown are images which provide a systematic classification of features previously introduced to represent the caustic and ridge curves (which delimit the boundaries between oscillatory and evanescent behaviour according to the asymptotic analysis of semiclassical approaches). Particular relevance is given to the surprising role of the intriguing symmetries discovered long ago by Regge and recently revisited; from their use, together with other newly discovered properties and in conjunction with the traditional combinatorial ones, a picture emerges of the amplitudes and phases of these discrete wavefunctions, of interest in wide areas as building blocks of basic and applied quantum mechanics.Comment: 16 pages, 13 figures, presented at ICCSA 2013 13th International Conference on Computational Science and Applicatio

Structural-functional model to remote sensing of vegetation physiognomies seasonal variation based on life form

There are in the literature, many attempts to classify vegetation-using indices derived from orbital sensors. The relationship between remotely sensed data and the vegetation structure has been the object of study both for experts in environmental remote sensing and plant ecology. One difficulty to establish these relationships is due to the vegetation dynamics. In cases where the vegetation undergoes seasonal variation in its green biomass, as occurs in the Brazilian Cerrado, misclassification may take place. To minimize such effects, a semi-empirical model of NDVI seasonal Cerrado variation was developed. The objective of this study is to improve understanding of the seasonal variation of Cerrado vegetation indices derived from orbital sensors, using a model that couples reflectance with the proportional contribution of its life forms seasonally. The Cerrado tract used as a case study is located in São Paulo State (21°37'30" S, 47°37'30" W) and ranges from grassland to forest sub-types. Two approaches were conducted to model the Canopy: one was a simplified seasonally structure canopy and another a not temporal relatively complex canopy structural 3D model. The procedure followed an aggregation method, using the PROSPECT model to generate transmittance and reflectance of green leaves and the SAIL model to generate canopy reflectance. The results obtained were compared with 9 Landsat-TM images. The NDVI obtained from those Landsat-TM images show a high coincidence with the curves generated by the model, throughout the range of plant physiognomies. During the growing season, the grassland showed values smaller than those predicted by the model but the remaining subtypes had an encouraging level of coincidence with the model. On second approach, the SPRINT model was used to model a gradient of physiognomies sampled in the field over a 39 permanent plots (Leaf Area Index and phytossociological parameters). This method of analysis of seasonal variation by modeling NDVI derived from empirical models and meteorological data, and the relationship between spatial explicit structure of the vegetation and orbital remote sensing provide a measurable condition to quantify the relative seasonal variation of the Cerrado physiognomies by orbital sensor. (Résumé d'auteur

The Screen representation of spin networks: 2D recurrence, eigenvalue equation for 6j symbols, geometric interpretation and Hamiltonian dynamics

This paper treats 6j symbols or their orthonormal forms as a function of two variables spanning a square manifold which we call the "screen". We show that this approach gives important and interesting insight. This two dimensional perspective provides the most natural extension to exhibit the role of these discrete functions as matrix elements that appear at the very foundation of the modern theory of classical discrete orthogonal polynomials. Here we present 2D and 1D recursion relations that are useful for the direct computation of the orthonormal 6j, which we name U. We present a convention for the order of the arguments of the 6j that is based on their classical and Regge symmetries, and a detailed investigation of new geometrical aspects of the 6j symbols. Specifically we compare the geometric recursion analysis of Schulten and Gordon with the methods of this paper. The 1D recursion relation, written as a matrix diagonalization problem, permits an interpretation as a discrete Schr\"odinger-like equations and an asymptotic analysis illustrates semiclassical and classical limits in terms of Hamiltonian evolution.Comment: 14 pages,9 figures, presented at ICCSA 2013 13th International Conference on Computational Science and Applicatio

The screen representation of vector coupling coefficients or Wigner 3j symbols: exact computation and illustration of the asymptotic behavior

The Wigner $3j$ symbols of the quantum angular momentum theory are related to the vector coupling or Clebsch-Gordan coefficients and to the Hahn and dual Hahn polynomials of the discrete orthogonal hyperspherical family, of use in discretization approximations. We point out the important role of the Regge symmetries for defining the screen where images of the coefficients are projected, and for discussing their asymptotic properties and semiclassical behavior. Recursion relationships are formulated as eigenvalue equations, and exploited both for computational purposes and for physical interpretations.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, presented at ICCSA 2014, 14th International Conference on Computational Science and Application

Symmetric angular momentum coupling, the quantum volume operator and the 7-spin network: a computational perspective

A unified vision of the symmetric coupling of angular momenta and of the quantum mechanical volume operator is illustrated. The focus is on the quantum mechanical angular momentum theory of Wigner's 6j symbols and on the volume operator of the symmetric coupling in spin network approaches: here, crucial to our presentation are an appreciation of the role of the Racah sum rule and the simplification arising from the use of Regge symmetry. The projective geometry approach permits the introduction of a symmetric representation of a network of seven spins or angular momenta. Results of extensive computational investigations are summarized, presented and briefly discussed.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures, presented at ICCSA 2014, 14th International Conference on Computational Science and Application