Bar-Ilan University

About: Bar-Ilan University is a education organization based out in Ramat Gan, Israel. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 12835 authors who have published 34964 publications receiving 995648 citations. The organization is also known as: Bar Ilan University & BIU.

Interaction in distance-learning courses

Abstract: The article provides an in-depth analysis of previous literature that led to the understanding of the four interactive components of “e” learning and how we can utilize these components to maximize the positive and minimize the negative results of “e” learning. The four interactive dimensions of “e” learning are the following three originally described in Moore's editorial (1989): (1) interaction with the content, (2) interaction with the instructor, (3) interaction with the students, and an additional new fourth dimension, interaction with the system, which considered all of the new computer technology since his article. In our viewpoint we will highlight the impact that this fourth technological interactive dimension has on the results of “e” learning. The question then is not “to ‘e’ or not to ‘e’,” since “e” learning is already an essential factor of our contemporary learning environment. The question is how to “e”, based on the understanding of the four interactive components of “e” learning, and the understanding that these four types of interactions are different from the ones we are accustomed to in the traditional learning environment. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Constructing drug effects: A history of set and setting:

Abstract: Set and setting is a term which refers to the psychological, social, and cultural parameters which shape the response to psychedelic drugs. The concept is considered fundamental to psychedelic rese...

Electronic books versus adult readers: effects on children's emergent literacy as a function of social class

Abstract: We compared the effects of children’s reading of an educational electronic storybook on their emergent literacy with those of being read the same story in its printed version by an adult. We investigated 128 5- to 6-year-old kindergarteners; 64 children from each of two socio-economic status (SES) groups: low (LSES) and middle (MSES). In each group, children were randomly assigned to one of three subgroups. The two intervention groups included three book reading sessions each; children in one group individually read the electronic book; in the second group, the children were read the same printed book by an adult; children in the third group, which served as a control, received the regular kindergarten programme. Pre- and post-intervention emergent literacy measures included vocabulary, word recognition and phonological awareness. Compared with the control group, the children’s vocabulary scores in both intervention groups improved following reading activity. Children from both interventions groups and both SES groups showed a similarly good level of story comprehension. In both SES groups, compared with the control group, children’s phonological awareness and word recognition did not improve following both reading interventions. Implications for future research and for education are discussed.

Genius: an integrated environment for supporting the design of generic automated negotiators

Abstract: The design of automated negotiators has been the focus of abundant research in recent years. However, due to difficulties involved in creating generalized agents that can negotiate in several domains and against human counterparts, many automated negotiators are domain specific and their behavior cannot be generalized for other domains. Some of these difficulties arise from the differences inherent within the domains, the need to understand and learn negotiators' diverse preferences concerning issues of the domain, and the different strategies negotiators can undertake. In this paper we present a system that enables alleviation of the difficulties in the design process of general automated negotiators termed Genius, a General Environment for Negotiation with Intelligent multi-purpose Usage Simulation. With the constant introduction of new domains, e-commerce and other applications, which require automated negotiations, generic automated negotiators encompass many benefits and advantages over agents that are designed for a specific domain. Based on experiments conducted with automated agents designed by human subjects using Genius we provide both quantitative and qualitative results to illustrate its efficacy. Finally, we also analyze a recent automated bilateral negotiators competition that was based on Genius. Our results show the advantages and underlying benefits of using Genius and how it can facilitate the design of general automated negotiators.

Simultaneous remote extraction of multiple speech sources and heart beats from secondary speckles pattern.

Abstract: The ability of dynamic extraction of remote sounds is very appealing. In this manuscript we propose an optical approach allowing the extraction and the separation of remote sound sources. The approach is very modular and it does not apply any constraints regarding the relative position of the sound sources and the detection device. The optical setup doing the detection is very simple and versatile. The principle is to observe the movement of the secondary speckle patterns that are generated on top of the target when it is illuminated by a spot of laser beam. Proper adaption of the imaging optics allows following the temporal trajectories of those speckles and extracting the sound signals out of the processed trajectory. Various sound sources are imaged in different spatial pixels and thus blind source separation becomes a very simple task.