Abstract The advancement of computational techniques has greatly influenced artistic practices, especially in replicating traditional oil painting digitally. While conventional image processing methods have achieved moderate success in emulating painterly effects, challenges remain in accurately reproducing the depth, brushwork dynamics, and chromatic complexity of classical oil media. To address these limitations, this study proposes a hybrid computational framework that integrates both image processing techniques and deep learning to transform photographs into visually authentic digital oil paintings. The pipeline begins with preprocessing and color anchoring using K-means clustering in the CIELAB (International Commission on Illumination) color space to simplify color regions while maintaining structural coherence. Edge detection using Sobel and Canny operators identifies contours and gradient orientations, guiding brushstroke placement. Stylization is applied through bilateral and Kuwahara filters, producing texture-smoothened yet edge-preserving visuals. A gradient-based directional stroke filter introduces Gaussian-weighted, orientation-aligned strokes to emulate the natural fluidity of oil paint. To further refine the output, a Style-Conditional Generative Adversarial Network (Style-GAN) is employed. Trained on a curated dataset of traditional oil paintings, this GAN module enhances texture realism, global consistency, and brushstroke fidelity through adversarial learning. To evaluate effectiveness, a dual-assessment approach was employed: expert artists qualitatively reviewed the outputs against traditional works, while structured Likert-scale surveys captured user perceptions of expressiveness, innovation, and fidelity. Results demonstrate that the GAN-integrated model significantly outperforms baseline methods, producing visually convincing and stylistically rich digital paintings. This study highlights how combining traditional techniques with generative models can bridge the aesthetic gap between digital simulation and classical art, contributing meaningfully to computational creativity.
History of scholarship and learning. The humanities, Social Sciences
Radegund of Poitiers (520–587) was a princess of the Thuringian kingdom, wife to the Merovingian king Clothar I, and ultimately domina of the abbey of Sainte-Croix in Poitiers. The literary persona of Saint Radegund, as constructed by the poet-hagiographer Venantius Fortunatus and, a few years later, by the nun Baudonivia, underpins the historical figure. The saint exerted a significant cultural influence across Frankish territories, and over the ages her image has been continuously received, reinterpreted, and expanded. The purpose of this study is to provide a survey of the critical reception of Radegund’s character, in order to explore how modern scholarship has interpreted and reimagined her persona over time.
Although building social capital improves student learning and the effectiveness of schools in educating students, it still needs to be explored in the area of primary schools. Thus, this case study was undertaken to explore the practices of primary school principals to develop students' social capital by taking social capital theory as a theoretical lens. Five school principals were selected purposefully from primary schools in Ethiopia. Thematic analysis was used to narrate data gathered through semi-structured interviews. Five focus group discussions were held with teachers and students separately. Findings revealed that the principal formed various social groups, facilitated family and community engagement, created a caring school culture, worked with parent-student-teacher associations and other social networks, and created common school goals for developing the social capital of students. Lack of interest and commitment from parents, lack of willingness and trust from teachers, and giving poor value for information were challenges constraining principals from developing the social capital of students in primary schools. In a nutshell, this study is important because it provides educators, administrators, the Ministry of Education, and other pertinent school stakeholders with more knowledge and information on methods for helping students build their social capital. This also makes the principals transform their leadership behavior to be more ethical, focused, caring, democratic, and pedagogical in leading teaching and learning and enhances their ability to exercise empowering, effective social behaviors towards their students in their daily practices.
History of scholarship and learning. The humanities, Social sciences (General)
The main purpose of this paper, which takes the form of an essay, is an attempt to answer the question of the limits of artificial intelligence (AI). In the introductory section, we present the key milestones in AI development, both historical and future projections, in which two terms – Artificial Human (AH) and Artificial ‘god’ (AG) – play a special role. In the second section, we clarify the question of the limits of AI by indicating the hypothetical goal of AI development. The third section develops the argument proposed by C. F. Weizsäcker, originally formulated for cybernetics. The conclusion of this argument is optimistic about limitations to the possibilities of cybernetic simulations. We apply this argument to AI and subject it to a critique which ultimately undermines the legitimacy of its conclusion. We base the critique on two well-known results: the theorem of the unsolvability of the halting problem and Gödel’s first incompleteness theorem, and we formulate two objections interpreted without adopting Church’s thesis. In the crucial fourth section, we present a third objection in the form of a hypothesis for which we argue that AI (AH), understood as a subject, will always be solipsistic.
History of scholarship and learning. The humanities
Gifted young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are often overlooked for gifted programs due to their relatively lower financial, social and cultural capital. One promising area of research is the reflexive analysis of the enablers and barriers for these students once they have successfully progressed to university. This scoping review examines current research into factors that hinder or enable gifted students from disadvantaged backgrounds to develop their latent talent and complete higher education. It drew on four education databases and analysed ten peer reviewed studies at the junction of giftedness; disadvantage; and young adults. The conclusion is that there is little current research on gifted, disadvantaged, young adult learners. This paper offers a new conceptualization of talent development through a lens of poverty.
History of scholarship and learning. The humanities, Social sciences (General)
María José Ibáñez, Felipe Vásquez Lavin, Roberto D. Ponce Oliva
Comparison between the performance of female and male-managed firms has long been a subject of research interest. Although the argument is that firms run by women have lower performance than those run by men, there is no agreement on the effects of managerial gender on companies’ financial outcomes. This study conducts a methodological review of quantitative research on the relationship between female business leadership and firm performance from 2010 to 2020. This review identifies the most frequently used dependent and explanatory variables and econometric models in the literature. Most studies have not considered endogeneity bias in their model specifications; therefore, these results could be biased and unreliable. We select empirical models to test the female underperformance hypothesis using a sample of Chilean firms. Our findings suggest that managers’ gender does not significantly affect business performance when endogeneity is addressed. Our methodological review reveals a significant gap in the research on female managers and firm performance in the Latin American context, and the empirical test provides new evidence in this vein.
History of scholarship and learning. The humanities, Social Sciences
Este artículo analiza el auge de tráfico marítimo en el Pacífico mexicano durante la fiebre de oro. Durante la parte tardía de la década de 1840 y a principios de la de 1850, la cantidad de barcos que fondeaban en el litoral del oeste mexicano se incrementó como consecuencia de la masiva migración que se dio hacia el norte de California. Lo anterior trajo consigo un crecimiento comercial en puertos como Mazatlán, San Blas y Acapulco. El artículo argumenta, no obstante, que dicho auge distó de traer una bonanza permanente para esa zona de México. El empuje de las compañías comerciales de México y Estados Unidos y el rápido posicionamiento de San Francisco como eje comercial pronto inhibieron el incipiente crecimiento en la venta de bienes y las exportaciones.
History of scholarship and learning. The humanities, History (General) and history of Europe
O presente número de Biblos. Revista da Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra, que é o 7.º da 3.ª série, apresenta um conjunto de contributos dedicado ao tema Dissidências. Compreendendo a dissidência um larguíssimo espectro de atitudes, opiniões e comportamentos, vinculado a um desacordo de ordem conceptual, emocional ou de desempenho relativamente a uma norma estabelecida, os confrontos que dela decorrem propulsionam uma dinâmica que é tão instigante, pela acuidade das questões colocadas, como complexa, pela pluralidade dialética dos fatores envolvidos.
History of scholarship and learning. The humanities
Students should have the capability to argue about controversial science issues that are relevant to them and that impact society. These controversial issues, called socio-scientific issues (SSI), are influenced by social, ethical and moral norms. In current science education platforms, student-centred teaching strategies based on constructivism, are recommended to engage students in the construction of knowledge. Using a quantitative design, the present study sought to explore the efficacy of an argumentation-based teaching intervention about SSIs in an undergraduate classroom. It assessed students’ gains in the skill of argumentation. A one-group pre-test-post-test design was used. Data were generated through collection of students’ writing pre- and post-instruction, which was analysed using Toulmin’s Argumentation Pattern (TAP). Results reveal that almost half of the students reached a high level of argumentation. Findings show the importance of teaching content through learner-centred pedagogies. Introduction of various socio-scientific case studies and practicing argumentation has positively impacted on students’ argumentation skills. This study is significant for teachers as it provides an example to replicate in their classroom and can assist science teachers to enrich teaching and learning. The study recommends improving teachers’ competence in order to promote argumentation skills among students.
Keywords: Argumentation in science, Socio-scientific Issue, Toulmin Argumentation Pattern, Genetics, Argumentation-based teaching
How to cite this article:
Anwar, N.P. 2020. The effect of socio-scientific issue (SSI) based discussion: A student-centred approach to the teaching of argumentation. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in the South. 4(2): 35-62. https://doi.org/10.36615/sotls.v4i2.76.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Education, History of scholarship and learning. The humanities
Book review of Michael T. Westrate. Living Soviet in Ukraine from Stalin to Maidan: Under the Falling Red Star in Kharkiv. Rowman & Littlefield, 2016. xx, 232 pp. Illustrations. Appendices. Bibliography. Index. $85.00, cloth.
History of scholarship and learning. The humanities, Social sciences (General)
The article examines and analyses the image of Great Britain which at the beginning of the last century was formed by Russian journalists on the pages of the pro-government periodical “The Chronicle of the War against Japan”. Within this work the British Empire appears to be one of Russia's main competitors in the struggle for the leading positions in the international arena. This research analyses more than 60 issues of this periodical. In conclusion, in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century periodicals had a special role in informational impact on people's minds.
History of scholarship and learning. The humanities
Corpos Striped constitui-se em uma produção seriada de nove desenhos realizados pelo pesquisador e artista Rafael Scheibe Coutinho, a qual reflexiona aspectos devastadores presentes na sociedade contemporânea, sobretudo apregoando a figura da mulher como objeto de desejo e consumo de maneira abjeta. Para tanto, adiciona-se a esta figura uma relação insurgente com a criatura polvo, que se sobrepõe à mulher fazendo às vezes de uma vasta e repulsante cabeleira. O polvo assume metaforicamente o peso grotesco imposto pela sociedade como uma força que sufoca e transgride a feminilidade, envolvendo-a por meio de uma relação simbiótica e camuflando-se de forma capilar, transformando-a na representatividade da medusa contemporânea.
There is a friendly conflict between field broadcast journalists and broadcast journalism instructors. The conflict centers on the development of best instructional practices for the student journalists. This qualitative study is an attempt to bridge the gap between field journalists and journalism instructors. To accomplish this goal, first, a review of the academic literature was conducted to establish a research base. Then, interviews were conducted with field broadcast journalists ( n = 4) to answer the following guiding research question: According to field broadcast journalists, what knowledge, skills, and training are required when transitioning from MC student into professional broadcast journalist? This study presents the findings of these interviews. Areas of focus are technology, internships, and student motivation. The study concludes with a discussion of academic advisory groups. However, the ultimate goal of the study is to get the two groups talking rather than scowling at each other from across the news desk.
History of scholarship and learning. The humanities, Social Sciences
Christoph Randler, Konrad S. Jankowski, Arash Rahafar
et al.
Morningness–eveningness is the preference for different times of day for activity and sleep. Here, we addressed the effects of sleep behavior and morningness–eveningness on sociosexuality. Three hundred students ( M age = 22.75 years, with 95% between 18 and 28) participated online, answering questions about morningness–eveningness (rMEQ [Reduced Morningness–Eveningness Questionnaire]), midpoint of sleep on free days (MSF), sleep duration, and the Sociosexuality Orientation Inventory–Revised (SOI-R). The SOI-R contains three subscales, Behavior, Attitude, and Desire. Evening orientation and short sleep duration were related to a higher total SOI-R and to the three subscales. Based on the linear models, the strongest effect on sociosexuality was produced by gender (27% explained variance) while age accounted for 6% of variance. Nonadditive variance explained by sleep–wake behavior was 7% (MSF), 4% (sleep duration), and 4% (rMEQ scores; 3% rMEQ-based typology). Older age was related to less-restricted sociosexuality, and men were less restricted than women in Attitude and Desire. Sleep duration and rMEQ scores were associated with Attitude and Desire; but only MSF was significantly related to Behavior. The data show that sleep–wake variables are associated with sociosexuality, with evening orientation and shorter sleep duration being related to a less-restricted sociosexuality.
History of scholarship and learning. The humanities, Social Sciences
Alvaro Alfonso Acevedo, Jessica Alejandra Chaux Lizarazo, Ubaldo Enrique Rodríguez de Ávila
La presente investigación pretende comprender las dinámicas de las relaciones de pareja dentro de la virtualidad, en sujetos jugadores del videojuego de rol multijugador masivo en línea “Perfect World” del servidor no oficial latinoamericano Comunidad Zero. El objetivo principal del estudio radica en describir las dinámicas de la relación de pareja, analizándolas desde el contexto mismo del juego mediante el uso de la etnografía virtual, profundizando en la comprensión de las interacciones afectivas entre las parejas, a través de un estudio de caso. Durante el desarrollo de la investigación, se encontraron diversas categorías relacionadas con las interacciones afectivas del pre-apego, que se manifestaron dentro de los ambientes virtuales del videojuego y que en última instancia logran simular las dinámicas del noviazgo en contextos físicos.
History of scholarship and learning. The humanities, Social sciences (General)
Så gott som all samtida etnicitetsforskning utgår från att etnicitet, likt andra identitetskategorier, är socialt skapad. I denna studie visar jag hur ungdomar i en högstadieskola i utkanten av Stockholm använder den lokalt skapade benämningen import för att humoristiskt benämna människor som har migrerat. Trots att import till viss del syftar på en nylig territoriell förflyttning handlar benämningen framförallt om stil och beteenden. Det är en kategori som är öppen, flytande, rörlig och till viss del inkluderande då ungdomar på ett lekfullt sätt kan ta sig ut och in ur kategorin. Studien bygger på ett årslångt fältarbete i två åttondeklasser där samtliga ungdomar inom sina familjer har erfarenhet av migration.
History of scholarship and learning. The humanities, Social sciences (General)
Guglielmo Perfetti - Segnalazione di Silvia Casilio, Una generazione d’emergenza. L’Italia della controcultura (1965-1969), Firenze, Le Monnier, 2013, 376 p., ISBN: 9788800740265, €28,00.Franco Musarra - Ricordo di Titus Heydenreich (Amburgo 14 dicembre 1936 – 23 dicembre 2013 Hemhoven)Floris Meens - Roma Aeterna
History of scholarship and learning. The humanities, History of Italy
Recently, I was at CERN (the famous European centre for nuclear research) at a conference on the Big Bang. When I said to my teenage son that I was going to talk about the Big Bang, we had a moment of confusion. My mind was focused on quantum fluctuations leading to inflationary, then Hubble, expansion. His mind was somewhere else. He had an image of Dr Sheldon Cooper and the hit US sitcom about science nerds, and a theme tune by a group called the Barenaked Ladies. (Abstract taken from first paragraph of document)