Search Results (1,458)

The Hyakuzahōdan Kikigakishō (百座法談聞書抄, hereafter Hyakuza 百座), compiled in the late Heian period, is an important Buddhist document that records a hundred-day lecture series on the Lotus Sutra (法華経). While previous scholarship has recognized the constructed nature of the text as a kikigaki (聞書), it has predominantly focused on content analysis, implicitly treating the text as a transparent window into the actual preaching event. To move beyond this limitation, this study proposes the analytical framework of dual performativity and, drawing on Diana Taylor’s theory of the archive and the repertoire, reexamines the text’s generative logic and political implications. This study argues that the Hyakuza embodies two interrelated forms of performance: first, the performativity of the hōdan (法談) as a live ritual, understood as a repertoire performance that constructs immediate authority through body, voice, and situational dynamics; second, the performativity of the kikigaki as textual construction, understood as an archival performance that transforms the ephemeral oral event into an authoritative, transmissible text through formulaic rhetoric, localized adaptation, and systematic arrangement. Integrating methodologies from textual history, rhetorical analysis, ritual theory, and intellectual history, this study demonstrates that the Hyakuza is not a neutral transcript of sermons but a meticulous, intentional act of writing with two fundamental aims: on a cultural level, to hierarchically integrate shinbutsu shūgō (神仏習合) through narrative appropriation; on a social level, to symbolically bind Buddhist merit with the institutional identities of aristocrats such as naishinnō (内親王), ultimately serving the self-affirmation internal cohesion, and cultural demarcation of the elite community from the masses, while simultaneously contributing to the state’s project of constructing a unified ideology in the late Heian period. By examining both cross-civilizational universal logic and specific historical context, this study reveals how the Hyakuza’s dual performativity produces and categorizes knowledge narratives while embedding political power dynamics, offering a critical path for the study of kikigaki-genre literature from discourse analysis to politics of textuality. Full article

The integration of immersive educational technologies into medical education has attracted growing attention owing to their potential to improve the learning of complex anatomical structures and specialized terminology. This study investigates the use of zSpace technology as an interactive, learner-centered instructional tool for teaching the human respiratory system to undergraduate students in Nursing, Midwifery, and Physician Assistant programs. A structured pedagogical framework combined prior theoretical instruction in anatomy and Latin medical terminology with a zSpace-based practical learning activity was used. After the workshop, the students completed a survey evaluating perceived learning effectiveness, student engagement, and the quality of three-dimensional (3D) visualization. Data from 34 participants were analyzed using descriptive statistics and reliability analysis. The results indicated high levels of student satisfaction regarding the clarity, anatomical detail, and educational value of the immersive 3D models, along with higher levels of engagement compared with traditional methods. Despite challenges related to technical infrastructure, lecturer readiness, and students’ digital competencies, the findings support the pedagogical relevance of immersive 3D technologies in medical education. Overall, the findings suggest that students perceive zSpace technology as supporting anatomical understanding and enhancing engagement within the studied context. Full article

In the classical non-life insurance models, the capital reserve of an insurance company increases at a constant rate and decreases by downward jumps. We consider a generalization of this model by supposing that a fixed portion of the capital reserve is continuously invested in a risky asset whose price follows a geometric Brownian motion, while the complementary part is placed in a bank account with a constant rate of return. The quantity of interest is the ruin probability on the infinite time horizon as a function of the initial capital. In the present note, we assume only the continuity of the distribution of claims together with a standard moment restriction called “light tails.” Our main contribution is that we reveal, under such “minimalistic” hypotheses, that the ruin probability is smooth and satisfies a second-order integro-differential equation in the classical sense. We obtain the exact asymptotics for large values of the initial capital with “computable” constants and present results of numerical experiments. In contrast with other methods used in the theory, we rely upon only standard mathematics, allowing implementation in lecture courses for master’s students. Full article

This study explores the design and implementation of active learning strategies in a Digital Logic Design (DLD) course offered at Sultan Qaboos University. By shifting away from traditional lecture formats and incorporating tools such as interactive quizzes, collaborative whiteboard sessions, and real-time feedback mechanisms, the course aimed to increase student engagement and deepen conceptual understanding. A mixed-methods approach was used, including classroom observation, visual documentation, and post-course satisfaction surveys (n = 49). Inferential statistical analyses and effect sizes were calculated on key survey items. Findings indicate that these strategies significantly enhanced both cognitive and affective aspects of learning. This paper offers insights for educators in STEM disciplines seeking to cultivate active learning environments that align with contemporary pedagogical frameworks. Full article

Background: Dental students need to qualify with a clear understanding of the continuum of biological development from the molecular (genetic, epigenetic and environmental interactions) to the cellular (morphogenesis and differentiation) to the emergence of the mature tissue or organ. Histogenetics provides a core component for this understanding. The aim of this study is to investigate whether a merged approach, combining traditional and recent methods, can enhance the teaching of histogenetics to dental students. Methods: This study blended traditional (lectures, drawings, microscopy) and recent approaches (flipped classroom elements, virtual microscopy, group-based poster construction, and interactive quiz-based discussion) to enhance student engagement and perceived learning in oral histogenetics. The intervention was delivered to master-level dental students across six core oral histogenetics topics. Teaching followed a structured three-phase model: Prepare (digital lectures and short microscopy-introduction videos); Engage (microscopy session and group-based poster creation); and Test and Discuss (teacher-led quizzing and discussion). Student perceptions were evaluated through an electronically distributed 17-item questionnaire at the end of the course. Items were grouped into self-evaluation, resources, and teaching method domains and rated on a five-point Likert scale. Results: A total of 45 of 51 students responded (88%). Across all domains, positive perceptions (Agree/Strongly Agree) predominated (p < 0.001). Self-evaluation items showed strong agreement for attendance and group contribution, with more variability in preparation time and motivation. Resources were rated highly, although the accessibility of physical guidance showed more mixed responses. The merged teaching method received strong endorsement, with students reporting engagement, enjoyment, ease of understanding, and clear emphasis on clinical relevance. Conclusions: The merged approach was perceived as pedagogically valuable and clinically meaningful by the students and appears to enhance perceived engagement, clarity, and relevance in oral histogenetics teaching. These findings support the adoption of blended, student-active methodologies to strengthen comprehension and promote clinically meaningful learning in oral histology. Full article

Active learning has increasingly been adopted as an evidence-aligned approach to improving learning quality in university physics—a domain characterized by high conceptual abstraction, persistent misconceptions, and substantial variability in student performance. Evidence from physics education research indicates that active-learning designs can outperform lecture-dominant instruction in conceptual learning and student engagement; however, reported effects vary substantially across instructional settings and implementation models. Here, empirical studies and review-level syntheses are integrated to delineate (i) the instructional components that most reliably underpin successful active learning, (ii) the mechanisms through which these components influence learning processes and outcomes, and (iii) the boundary conditions that moderate effectiveness across higher-education contexts. The synthesis is further situated within sustainability-oriented higher education by linking physics active-learning designs to competence development relevant to quality education, climate literacy, and collaborative problem solving. Evidence spanning flipped classroom implementations, peer instruction, collaborative problem solving, inquiry- and project-based approaches, and technology-enhanced formats is organized into a component–mechanism–outcome framework structured along cognitive, affective, and behavioral pathways. Two deliverables are advanced: an integrative mechanism model connecting instructional components to mediating processes, learning outcomes, and sustainability-aligned competencies, and an operational toolbox that translates the evidence into actionable design heuristics, measurement options, and scaling considerations. By redirecting attention from “which strategy works” to “which components work, how, and under what conditions,” the review aims to support instructors, departments, and institutions seeking scalable, evidence-aligned active learning in university physics. Full article

The French Society for Toxinology (SFET) held its 31st annual meeting (RT31) on 1–2 December 2025 at Hôtel Le Saint Paul in Nice, France, on the famous French Riviera. The meeting, which gathered 75 participants from around the world, was organised there for the second consecutive year, while previous editions were all held in Paris. The RT31 main theme, “Toxins: Playing with and fighting them”, explored recent, cutting-edge research in the field of animal venoms and of toxins from algal, animal, bacterial, fungal, plant and microbial origins, in emphasizing the evolution of the toxins, their modes of action and roles, and ways of counteracting intoxinations. These key topics were largely covered through 26 oral and 18 poster communications, organized into three main thematic areas covering three specific aspects of toxinology, along with a traditional fourth, more general session enabling participants to present recent data outside of these themes but nevertheless providing valuable information to the field. This report presents the abstracts of nine of the invited lectures, 14 of the selected lectures, and 16 of the posters, in accordance with the authors’ agreement to publish them. Also, we announce the winners of the “Best Oral Communication” and “Best Poster Communication” awards, which recognize the outstanding contributions of young researchers and their inventive work in toxinology. Full article

Solar Radiation Modification (SRM) is increasingly discussed as a potential supplement to climate-change mitigation, yet public and stakeholder judgments remain sensitive to knowledge, framing, and perceived risks. We examined how a structured university classroom module on SRM reshaped student perceptions using a matched pre–post survey design. Participants were students enrolled in an English-taught global climate change course (N = 106); 103 students provided valid matched responses after applying pre-specified exclusion rules. Self-rated SRM knowledge increased substantially after the module (mean change +0.47 on a 1–3 scale; Wilcoxon signed-rank p (Holm-adjusted) < 1 × 10⁻⁷; Cohen’s dz = 0.67). Support for SRM research remained moderately positive but did not increase (pre mean 3.76 to post mean 3.54 on a 1–5 scale). In contrast, support for stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) deployment declined (pre mean 3.42 to post mean 2.95; p (Holm-adjusted) = 0.0084; dz = −0.33), and preferences shifted away from prioritizing climate intervention toward low-carbon development (mean change −0.68 on a 1–5 priority scale; p (Holm-adjusted) = 0.0001; dz = −0.45). Post-lecture models indicated that perceived benefits versus risks was the most consistent correlate of support across outcomes. Open-ended responses most frequently emphasized feasibility, unintended consequences, governance, and moral hazard. Overall, students largely endorsed SRM research as valuable while becoming more cautious about deployment and political prioritization, suggesting that balanced, structured instruction can sharpen sensitivity to evidence, uncertainty, and potential trade-offs that students also weighed in the survey. Full article

The distinction between signs and expressions is essential to unlock Deleuze’s interpretation of Spinoza. However, during a lecture delivered on 13 January 1981, Deleuze makes a passing remark that complicates this distinction. For Spinoza, Christ’s religion, like political society, is a systems of signs pertaining to the collective imagination that nevertheless is meant to facilitate the transition towards the domain of expressions, that is, to the domain of reason and philosophy. The aim of this paper is to shed light on this ambiguity between signs and expressions in Deleuze’s work on Spinoza. First, I discuss the scattered passages in Spinoza’s oeuvre dealing with the figure of Christ. I then go on to reconstruct Deleuze’s Spinozistic taxonomy of signs. Third, I reconstruct Deleuze’s comparison between Spinoza and Hobbes regarding the emergence of political society from the state of nature. I then propose a close reading of chapter 7 of the Theological-Political Treatise to argue that Christ’s religion, according to Spinoza, should be seen as fulfilling the function of political society in times of crisis. I end with an extensive analysis of Spinoza’s formula “the Spirit of Christ, that is, the idea of God” in light of Deleuze’s reading of the first half of Ethics V. To conclude, I suggest we look at Christ as the conceptual persona of Spinozism. Full article

As Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) becomes integrated into professional and educational contexts, understanding its role in self-regulated learning (SRL) is essential. This study examined the engagement of 1265 adults from seven occupational sectors with GenAI for SRL, focusing on personal skills, cognitive perceptions, motivation, and contextual factors. The results indicated that the metacognitive application of GenAI is shaped by individual and contextual variables rather than solely on professional affiliation, with distinct patterns emerging across groups. Lecturers and high-tech professionals tend to use GenAI metacognitively when strong self-regulation skills are aligned with high perceived usefulness. Educators, despite high motivation, avoid GenAI unless its advantages are clear. Among healthcare professionals, concerns can either hinder or promote their use, depending on metacognitive readiness. For the general public, its use remains largely functional. This study extends the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) by identifying perceived usefulness as a mediator between motivation and meaningful engagement, underscoring the need to address both skills and perceptions to foster equitable, informed, and strategic adoption of GenAI in diverse learning environments. Full article

Engineering education requires pedagogical approaches that integrate sustainability with the development of core technical competencies. This study develops, implements, and evaluates a Sustainability-Integrated Problem-Based Learning (SI-PBL) approach in an undergraduate mechanical vibration course. The approach anchors the learning process in the inherent sustainability characteristics of an engineering problem, requiring students to explicitly negotiate trade-offs between technical performance and sustainability objectives. A quasi-experimental study with 121 mechanical engineering students compared the SI-PBL approach to traditional lecture-based instruction through a compressor redesign project in which students redesigned the balancing system of a single-stage air compressor. Analysis of covariance showed that the SI-PBL cohort achieved significantly larger gains in conceptual understanding ($d=0.74$, $p<0.001$), mathematical proficiency ($d=0.77$, $p<0.001$), complex problem-solving ($d=0.56$, $p<0.001$), and sustainability-oriented decision-making ($d=0.61$, $p<0.001$). A positive correlation between gains in complex problem-solving and sustainability reasoning within the SI-PBL group ($r=0.41$, $p=0.001$) indicated related competency development. The study provides empirical evidence for using sustainability as an integrating context for developing both technical and sustainability competencies in engineering education. Full article

Reliable evaluation of large language models (LLMs) for educational use requires benchmarks that reflect exam constraints, instructor grading practices, and the operational consequences of thresholded decisions. This paper introduces ExamQ-Gen, an instructor-in-the-loop benchmark that couples two tasks: (i) an LLM answering university-style exam questions and (ii) decision-support grading aligned with an instructor reference. Automatic grading is used for triage and feedback; in practice, ExamQ-Gen supports instructor-led exam authoring and provides grading recommendations, while the instructor issues the final grade and pass/fail decision. ExamQ-Gen is constructed from the course content by using an LLM to generate exam-style questions directly from the lecture materials, producing a course-derived question set suitable for controlled experimentation. The benchmark then instantiates contrasting exam conditions, including instructor-authored (HUMAN) versus pipeline-generated (PIPELINE) artifacts, to evaluate robustness under distribution shifts that can occur when exam questions and answers are produced through different generation workflows. Using two LLM “students” (Llama3-8B-Instruct and Mistral-7B-Instruct) and an LLM-based grader, we compare automatic grading against an instructor reference on a 1–10 score scale and at the decision level induced by the operational pass policy (pass if score ≥ 9). Accordingly, our conclusions are conditioned on the two evaluated student models. Score-level agreement is strong under HUMAN conditions but degrades substantially under PIPELINE conditions, indicating condition-dependent stability. At the pass threshold, decision errors are highly asymmetric, with false fails dominating false passes, meaning that conservative grading may appear safe while producing credit denial. A severity-focused analysis isolates a high-stakes failure mode—denial of instructor-perfect answers—and shows that, in the most affected PIPELINE condition, the perfect-pass miss rate reaches 0.926 (50/54), consistent with systematic conservatism rather than borderline noise. Overall, the results highlight that aggregate score agreement and accuracy are insufficient for instructor-controlled exam deployment and motivate reporting practices that combine disaggregated score agreement, threshold-based error asymmetry with uncertainty, and severity-aware diagnostics under exam-relevant condition shifts. Full article

Background/Objectives: Nutritional medicine remains underrepresented in medical education despite its relevance across specialties. Online learning offers a resource-efficient option to address this gap, yet evidence on the effectiveness and acceptability of online learning modules (OLMs) is limited. Methods: In this exploratory randomized controlled single post-test trial, medical students were assigned to either an OLM or an in-person lecture (IPL) on nutritional medicine (n = 91, no a priori sample size calculation performed). After course completion, students took a knowledge test and completed a questionnaire on their learning experience. Group differences were analyzed using permutation Welch t-tests, Wilcoxon–Mann–Whitney tests, or Fisher’s exact tests, depending on variable characteristics, with α = 0.05. Results: OLM students achieved significantly higher test scores than IPL students (mean difference: 2.4 points on a 0–40 scale), resulting in differences in grade classification (p < 0.05). OLM was further rated more favorably regarding content delivery, overall course evaluation, and exam preparation (all p < 0.05), while self-reported attention, concentration, and involvement did not differ between groups. Flexibility, time savings, and convenience were the most frequently reported advantages of OLM over IPL. Conclusions: This study suggests that OLM in nutritional medicine may be associated with higher test performance and more favorable student evaluations compared to IPL. These findings highlight the potential of online learning as a scalable, resource-efficient approach that may help address persistent gaps in nutritional medicine education. Building on this evidence, future work should examine how such modules can be optimally integrated into medical curricula to complement existing teaching structures. Full article

Background: Digitalisation and gamification are increasingly integrated into higher education, often accompanied by claims of enhanced engagement but also concerns regarding the erosion of student–teacher interaction. While prior research has focused on the effectiveness of tools or learning outcomes, less attention has been paid to how digitally mediated teaching reconfigures the interactional relations between participants. This study examined a hybrid, gamified learning setting in the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) domain, with a particular focus on the interactional dynamics between teachers and students. Methods: The study employed a CyberSystemic interaction-observation framework to examine a four-week pilot course that combines synchronous online teaching, digital self-learning materials, and group project work. Observations were conducted by participating teachers during planning, execution, and immediate follow-up. Student perspectives were captured through a post-course survey using a 5-point Likert scale, complemented by qualitative follow-up interviews focused on prospective adaptations in future interaction cycles. Results: Interaction observations revealed high levels of student activation during time-bounded, task-oriented phases, particularly in group work and gamified activities, alongside periods of passivity during lecture-heavy phases. Survey results indicate generally positive evaluations of interactive and reflective course elements, though substantial variance exists across participants. Interaction density between teachers and students increased during execution and declined sharply afterwards, suggesting situational rather than sustained relational coupling. Conclusions: The findings indicate that gamified and digitally supported learning environments can enhance short-term engagement and operational coordination, but do not automatically stabilise student–teacher relations or learning processes over time. Within the observed timeframe, gamification appeared most effective when embedded within structured interaction and human facilitation rather than treated as a substitute for them. The study emphasises the significance of temporality and interaction design in assessing collective intelligence while highlighting how immediate feedback can inform future operational and managerial adaptation in hybrid educational systems. Full article

Integration of computer-based testing (CBT) in higher education has gained momentum globally, particularly in response to increasing demands for efficiency, scalability, and technological innovation in assessments. However, limited research explores how lecturers experience and make sense of CBT adoption, especially within resource-constrained educational systems. Grounded in the technology acceptance model (TAM), we employed a phenomenological approach to investigate lecturers’ perceptions of CBT. Eight lecturers from the largest university in Sub-Saharan Africa were purposively selected and individually interviewed. Thematic analysis, supported by human-AI collaboration, revealed diverse perspectives. The results show that lecturers perceived CBT as useful for improving efficiency, feedback speed, and assessment management, though concerns remained about infrastructure, authenticity, and equity. Ease of use strongly shaped these perceptions, with digitally skilled lecturers reporting a more positive experience. Attitudes toward CBT varied by discipline and pedagogical beliefs while influencing lecturers’ intention to adopt CBT. Thus, lecturers showed cautious but positive behavioural intention, particularly where CBT aligned with assessment needs and institutional support was adequate. The study contributes theoretically by extending the applicability of TAM to qualitative inquiry and practically by informing institutional strategies for improvement. Full article