Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Critical Exploration of Flexible Delivery

This work-in-progress research article presents an introductory qualitative study on students' perceptions of a flexibly delivered, modular computer science course. Many contemporary approaches to education rely in various ways on flexible delivery of course content. This is often done to capitalize on modern technology and the web, and to put the student ‘in the center. ' However, it is becoming manifest that these approaches may challenge both the students and the equity between them, making it important to understand the effects of flexible delivery in terms of the students. In the voice of our students, flexible delivery was seen as a largely positive approach, reducing stress, promoting true learning, and allowing students to better manage their workloads. We also see the effect of the learning environment (teacher, LMS, materials, activities) on a flexible course. Although this qualitative study cannot foreground the extent of typical self-regulation challenges with flexibility, we argue that the observations made precipitate discussion on flexible delivery in curriculum planning from the students' perspective.
Implementing Sure Start Local Programmes: An Integrated Overview of the First Four Years

This report provides an overview of the quantitative and qualitative data around implementation issues collected, between 2001 and 2004, on the first 260 SSLPs in Rounds 1-4. This includes surveys of programme managers, case study analysis and information from specific issue based ‘thematic’ studies. The purpose of this report is to integrate and synthesise these data on programme activity and achievements in three key areas:
A Polynomial Time Algorithm for the k-Disjoint Shortest Paths Problem

The disjoint paths problem is a fundamental problem in algorithmic graph theory and combinatorial optimization. For a given graph G and a set of k pairs of terminals in G , it asks for the existence of k vertex-disjoint paths connecting each pair of terminals. The proof of Robertson and Seymour [JCTB 1995] of the existence of an n 3 algorithm for any ﬁxed k is one of the highlights of their Graph Minors project. In this paper, we focus on the version of the problem where all the paths are required to be shortest paths. This problem, called the disjoint shortest paths problem, was introduced by Eilam-Tzoreﬀ [DAM 1998] where she proved that the case k = 2 admits a polynomial time algorithm. This problem has received some attention lately, especially since the proof of the existence of a polynomial time algorithm in the directed case when k = 2 by B´erczi and Kobayashi [ESA 2017]. However, the existence of a polynomial algorithm when k = 3 in the undirected version remained open since 1998. In this paper we show that for any ﬁxed k , the disjoint shortest paths problem admits a polynomial time algorithm. In fact for any ﬁxed C , the algorithm can be extended to treat the case where each path connecting the pair ( s, t ) has length at most d ( s, t ) + C .
A Proposal for Source Code Assessment Through Static Analysis

This Research to Practice Work in Progress paper presents a proposal for source code assessment through static analysis. The presence of computation is constantly growing in the contemporaneous world, and in that way, the demand for professionals capable to develop and maintain software is also in constant growth. The present work aims to develop a model where teachers can identify potentially weakness on student’s set of skills for programming, and therefore be able to work on solutions for their educational development. Preliminary results show that it is possible to identify prominent skills used to solve a given problem, but also that it is possible to compensate the lack of those skills with others.
Characterization of Aerobic Chemical Processes in Reservoirs: Problem Description and Model Formulation.

Abstract : Destratification of hypolimnetic waters produces circulation that moves dissolved oxygen into the anoxic hypolimnion of reservoirs. Destratification increases the dissolved oxygen content of anoxic water and results in decreased concentrations of the dissolved forms of iron, manganese, ammonium, phosphorus, and hydrogen sulfide. Aeration also affects water pH and temperature and redox potential, which change the transformation rate of various chemicals in reservior ecosystems. A thorough review of existing literature indicates that the factors affecting oxidation of nutrients and metals are highly site specific. This report discusses oxidation pathways of chemicals and important environmental parameters that affect the transformation rate of selected nutrients and metals in lakes and reserviors and presents a model for predicting the transition from anaerobic to aerobic conditions.
Plate Tectonics and Net Lithosphere Rotation over the past 150 My 1

10 We have developed an improved model of global digital palaeo-plate boundaries and plate 11 motion to describe the distribution and history of plates since the Late Jurassic. From this 12 history we computed net lithospheric rotation (NR) through time confirming the so-called 13 westward, but only for the past 30 Myrs. The NR has significantly smaller magnitudes 14 (0.13/My, past 5 My) than for some other plate models; it averages to 0.11 ± 0.03/My for 15 the past 50 My with a small but systematic increase toward the present. The westward drift, 16 seen only for the past 30 My, is attributed to the increased dominance of a steadily growing 17 and accelerating Pacific plate. NR shows peaks with time but only an Early Tertiary peak of 18 0.33/My (when the Indian plate was undergoing the largest known acceleration/deceleration) 19 can be interpreted with some confidence. We find a linear decreasing trend in net rotation 20 over the past 150 My, but attribute this trend to increasing reconstruction uncertainties back 21 in time, as subduction consumed more than half of the oceanic crust since the Jurassic. After 22 removing a linear time-trend, we find a NR average of about 0.12/My for the past 150 My. 23 24
The Learning Office Approach to Modern 21st Century Education: Third Evaluation of a Self-Driven Concept for Student-Centered Engineering Education

This Research to Practice Full Paper presents the results of the third evaluation of the learning office approach, an alternative, self-driven branch introduced at the information technology department of an Austrian higher vocational upper secondary school encompassing grades 9 to 13 (K9-13). Learning office students benefit from a flexible class schedule, which allows them to choose time and depth for most school subjects and helps students develop valuable 21st century skills.The results revealed a highly significantly lower variance of the grade point average in the learning office at grade 12 and a ratio of sample variances of 3.534. Expert interviews held with ten teachers showed that the most mentioned advantages of the learning office approach were an improved self-reliance of the students, enabling individualization, and supporting weaker students. Furthermore, the teachers rated the learning office as the most promising approach of a set of 14 selected methods of learning. A course evaluation conducted with one learning office cohort showed that the structure of the chosen learning office subject was rated significantly better than the structure of the selected traditional subject. Finally, students of the learning office revealed a significantly lower number of absent lab days at grade 12 and a significant correlation between absent lab days and the grade point average was discovered. The findings confirm the learning office as viable approach to 21st century education.
CRC Handbook of Viruses: Mass-Molecular Weight Values and Related Properties

Introduction Viruses As Macromolecules The Macromolecule Concept Proteins Protein Structure Nucleic Acids Nucleic Acid Structure Viruses As Nucleoproteins Physical Properties in the Construction of Regular Viruses Purification Considerations Crystallography - Basic Aspects Molecular Weight Determinations from Sedimentation Experiments Analytical Ultracentrifugation Density Gradient Centrifugation Supplementary Procedures for Obtaining M from Values of Density, the Partial Specific Volume, Viscosity, and the Frictional Coefficient Mass-Molecular Weight Determinations from Scattering Studies Small Angle X-Ray Scattering Small Angle Neutron Scattering Classical Light Scattering Electron Microscopy Hydrodynamic Sizing and Solvation Laser Light Scattering High Flux X-Ray and Neutron Scattering Resistive Pulse Technique Hydrodynamic Radii and Solvation Resources Instrument Use Computer Programs Databases
Development of Synthetic Soils for Sorption Mass Transfer Model Validation.

Abstract : Existing sorption models often fail to describe grain scale sorption because of an inability to define the diffusion domain. A proposed improved model required testing to determine model validity. The testing method used a synthetic media of known geometry such that the distribution of sorption sites was known. Sorption rate data was obtained using batch experiments with the media. Data was used in comparison against model predicted rates. Fined sorption site distributions were compared to real distributions obtained by controlling sorbent geometries. Comparison determined model performance in fitting known distributions. The focus of this study was to (1) determine what protocols are necessary to ensure consistent chemical and physical properties of a synthetic media for sorption studies, (2) determine if the proposed model can predict the known shape parameters describing the frequency distribution of sorption sites by using the rate data obtained from sorption studies, and (3) validate the model. Model performance was encouraging for simultaneous fitting of two shape parameters. Simulations resulted in sorption site distributions similar to the known distributions. This model is an improvement over other diffusion models where geometries are assumed to be spherical. Prediction of real soil sorption site distributions may be possible.
Analysis of optical fibe r mode

This Paper has described how to compute the mode power distribution in step-index and parabolicindex fibres for any mode combination. It was shown that the entire leaky mode set of a graded-index fibre falls within the meridional numerical aperture for a graded-index fibre, and that leaky modes may cause distortion of the intensity profile. The use of the mode overlap integral to compute mode coupling between dissimilar fibres has been demonstrated and it was found that coupling efficiency between the modes in step and graded-index fibres of differing azimuthal mode number, was negligible. LP2, 1 Bessel Mode Laguerre-Gauss modes.
Jordan symmetry reduction for conic optimization over the doubly nonnegative cone: theory and software

A common computational approach for polynomial optimization problems (POPs) is to use (hierarchies of) semidefinite programming (SDP) relaxations. When the variables in the POP are required to be nonnegative – as is the case for combinatorial optimization problems, for example – these SDP problems typically involve nonnegative matrices, i.e. they are conic optimization problems over the doubly nonnegative cone. The Jordan reduction, a symmetry reduction method for conic optimization, was recently introduced for symmetric cones by Parrilo and Permenter [Mathematical Programming 181(1), 2020]. We extend this method to the doubly nonnegative cone, and investigate its application to known relaxations of the quadratic assignment and maximum stable set problems. We also introduce new Julia software where the symmetry reduction is implemented.
Learning Social Learning

Social learning is a key component of human and animal intelligence. By taking cues from the behavior of experts in their environment, social learners can acquire sophisticated behavior and rapidly adapt to new circumstances. This paper investigates whether independent reinforcement learning (RL) agents in a multi-agent environment can use social learning to improve their performance using cues from other agents. We find that in most circumstances, vanilla model-free RL agents do not use social learning, even in environments in which individual exploration is expensive. We analyze the reasons for this deficiency, and show that by introducing a model-based auxiliary loss we are able to train agents to lever-age cues from experts to solve hard exploration tasks. The generalized social learning policy learned by these agents allows them to not only outperform the experts with which they trained, but also achieve better zero-shot transfer performance than solo learners when deployed to novel environments with experts. In contrast, agents that have not learned to rely on social learning generalize poorly and do not succeed in the transfer task. Further,we find that by mixing multi-agent and solo training, we can obtain agents that use social learning to out-perform agents trained alone, even when experts are not avail-able. This demonstrates that social learning has helped improve agents' representation of the task itself. Our results indicate that social learning can enable RL agents to not only improve performance on the task at hand, but improve generalization to novel environments.
MM-COVID: A Multilingual and Multimodal Data Repository for Combating COVID-19 Disinformation

The COVID-19 epidemic is considered as the global health crisis of the whole society and the greatest challenge mankind faced since World War Two. Unfortunately, the fake news about COVID-19 is spreading as fast as the virus itself. The incorrect health measurements, anxiety, and hate speeches will have bad consequences on people's physical health, as well as their mental health in the whole world. To help better combat the COVID-19 fake news, we propose a new fake news detection dataset MM-COVID(Multilingual and Multidimensional COVID-19 Fake News Data Repository). This dataset provides the multilingual fake news and the relevant social context. We collect 3981 pieces of fake news content and 7192 trustworthy information from English, Spanish, Portuguese, Hindi, French and Italian, 6 different languages. We present a detailed and exploratory analysis of MM-COVID from different perspectives and demonstrate the utility of MM-COVID in several potential applications of COVID-19 fake news study on multilingual and social media.
GeoBlocks: A Query-Cache Accelerated Data Structure for Spatial Aggregation over Polygons

As individual traffic and public transport in cities are changing, city authorities need to analyze urban geospatial data to improve transportation and infrastructure. To that end, they highly rely on spatial aggregation queries that extract summarized information from point data (e.g., Uber rides) contained in a given region (e.g., a city neighborhood). To support such queries, current analysis tools either allow only predefined aggregates on predefined regions and are thus unsuitable for exploratory analyses, or access the raw data to compute aggregate results on-the-fly, which severely limits the interactivity. At the same time, existing pre-aggregation techniques are inadequate since they maintain aggregates over rectangular regions. As a result, when applied over arbitrary polygonal regions, they induce an approximation error that cannot be bounded. In this paper, we introduce GeoBlocks, a novel pre-aggregating data structure that supports spatial aggregation over arbitrary polygons. GeoBlocks closely approximate polygons using a set of fine-grained grid cells and, in contrast to prior work, allow to bound the approximation error by adjusting the cell size. Furthermore, GeoBlocks employ a trie-like cache that caches aggregate results of frequently queried regions, thereby dynamically adapting to the skew inherently present in query workloads and improving performance over time. In summary, GeoBlocks outperform on-the-fly aggregation by up to three orders of magnitude, achieving the sub-second query latencies required for interactive exploratory analytics.
Papel do exercício físico na isquemia/reperfusão pulmonar e resposta inflamatória

Advances in new technologies associated with improvement of knowledge in medicine have promoted important development in therapeutic and preventive approaches in an attempt to diminish complications following cardiothoracic process involving ischemia/ reperfusion (IR). Nevertheless, postoperative pulmonary injuries remain high and are considered one of the most frequent complications after cardiothoracic surgery. Thus, new strategies with prophylactic actions are crucial in cardiovascular area in an attempt to reduce complications and to improve patient life. It is well documented that exercise training is a non-pharmacological tool to prevent and/or treat cardiovascular and endocrine-metabolic diseases. The aim of this review was to provide an update of several studies pulmonary IR process and its local and systemic complications and the role of inflammatory response. Furthermore, this review focused on the effects of exercise training on the pulmonary IR as an important strategy to diminish its complications. This review shows that few studies exist regarding the health-promoting physical exercise in cardiothoracic surgery and how important is necessary to increase studies in this area. Recently, studies from our laboratory showed beneficial effects of exercise training in experimental model of pulmonary IR. Collectively, data show that physical preconditioning for patients is very important approach to reduce postsurgical complications as well as diminish the time of hospitalization which includes a specialized personal trainer in the health team. Moreover, this preventive strategy might improve patient recovery and would lead to consuming less resources of the health care system. This review included experimental studies in English and Portuguese found in SciELO and MEDLINE (from 1987 to 2008) and also classics texts related to the title.
Caractérisation des propriétés anti-inflammatoires de souches commensales de Streptococcus salivarius

Les bacteries commensales digestives jouent un role primordial dans l’homeostasie epitheliale et la sante de l’hote, avec notamment un role modulateur du systeme immunitaire. Des effets benefiques dans le traitement des pathologies inflammatoires intestinales ont ete caracterises chez certaines souches de bacteries commensales. La comprehension de ces effets dans le maintien de l’homeostasie intestinale repose sur la connaissance des interactions entre les bacteries, l’epithelium intestinal et le systeme immunitaire muqueux. Streptococcus salivarius est l’un des premiers colonisateurs de la cavite buccale et du tractus digestif de l’homme. Cette bacterie a ete utilisee comme modele pour rechercher des mecanismes impliquee dans l’homeostasie.La recherche d’interactions entre des souches de l’espece S. salivarius et les cellules humaines a ete realisee pour caracteriser leurs eventuelles proprietes immunomodulatrices. Nous avons montre que les bacteries vivantes et les surnageants de cultures des souches de cette espece modulent la reponse inflammatoire in vitro via un effet inhibiteur sur l’activation de la voie NF-B dans les cellules epitheliales intestinales (HT-29 et Caco-2) et les monocytes (THP-1). Cette modulation de l’inflammation a ete confirmee par la capacite des surnageants bacteriens a inhiber la secretion d’IL-8 par les cellules epitheliales. Ces surnageants agissent via une etape impliquant IB-, un inhibiteur du facteur NF-B. Ils inhibent la degradation de la proteine IB- phosphorylee et diminuent ainsi la translocation nucleaire des composants NF-B. Nous avons egalement identifie et caracterise un metabolite bacterien present dans ces surnageants exercant cette activite anti-inflammatoire. L’utilisation de ce metabolite et son isomere miment in vitro l’effet inhibiteur des surnageants sur l’activation de la voie NF-B dans les cellules epitheliales et les monocytes. Nous avons ainsi caracterise un metabolite secrete par la bacterie commensale S. salivarius qui est capable d’inhiber une des voies centrales de signalisation impliquee dans la reponse inflammatoire intestinale. Enfin, une capacite anti-inflammatoire de S. salivarius a egalement ete montree dans un modele murin d’inflammation digestive dans lequel les bacteries metaboliquement actives ont protege les animaux de colites induites avec du TNBS. Ces travaux ouvrent la voie pour le developpement d’applications therapeutiques dans le traitement de pathologies inflammatoires de l’intestin basees sur ce compose actif ou l’utilisation de S. salivarius comme probiotique.
An Estimation of the Climatic Effects of Stratospheric Ozone Losses during the 1980s. Appendix K

Abstract In order to study the potential climatic effects of the ozone hole more directly and to assess the validity of previous lower resolution model results, the latest high spatial resolution version of the Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc., seasonal radiative dynamical climate model is used to simulate the climatic effects of ozone changes relative to the other greenhouse gases. The steady-state climatic effect of a sustained decrease in lower stratospheric ozone, similar in magnitude to the observed 1979–90 decrease, is estimated by comparing three steady-state climate simulations: I) 1979 greenhouse gas concentrations and 1979 ozone, II) 1990 greenhouse gas concentrations with 1979 ozone, and III) 1990 greenhouse gas concentrations with 1990 ozone. The simulated increase in surface air temperature resulting from nonozone greenhouse gases is 0.272 K. When changes in lower stratospheric ozone are included, the greenhouse warming is 0.165 K, which is approximately 39% lower than when ozone .
Ligga till last : fattigdom och utsatthet - socialpolitik och socialt arbete under 100 år

Ligga till last ar bade en historiebeskrivning och en samtidsskildring om svensk socialpolitik och socialt arbete. I bokprojektet har tre grupper arbetat med texterna; forskare, journalister och samtidskommentatorer, var och en med sin uppfattning om den historia som varit och den samtid vi befinner oss i, vad fattigdom och utsatthet ar och vad som borde galla for ett professionellt socialt arbete. Bokens utgangspunkt ar ”Kongressen for fattigvard och folkforsakring” som arrangerades av Centralforbundet for Socialt Arbete (CSA) i Stockholm den 4, 5 och 6 oktober 1906. Bokens redaktorer ar Hans Sward, professor i socialt arbete vid Lunds universitet och Marie-Anne Egero, socionom och magister i socialt arbete. Ovriga forfattare ar valkanda, forskare vid hogskolor och universitet i Sverige.
Revaluation of tumor response evaluation criteria in solid tumors

Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumors (RECIST) and WHO Criteria are the most in portant ones.There are some differences between them,in one word,RECIST is better than WHO Criteria when implemented in clinic.However,there are some shortcomings in RECIST.Improvement is needed to make the criteria more and more Derfect and scientific. Key words: Neoplasms; Evaluation studies; Treatment outcome
Partially nanowire-structured TiO2 electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells

Partially nanowire-structured TiO2 was prepared by a hydrothermal processing followed by calcination in air. The hydrogen titanate powder as-synthesized was calcined at 300 °C for 4 h to obtain the partially nanowire-structured TiO2. A dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) with a film thickness of 5.6 μm, fabricated using the partially nanowire-structured TiO2 showed better performance than using a fully nanowire-structured TiO2 or a conventional equi-axed TiO2 nanopowder. The short-circuit current density (JSC), the open-circuit voltage (VOC), the fill factor (FF) and the overall efficiency (η) are 11.9 mA/cm2, 0.754 V, 0.673 and 6.01 %, respectively. The effects of one-dimensional nanostructure and electron expressway concept are discussed.