Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Teaching Mathematics: Italian Lessons From a Cross-Cultural Perspective

The video component of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) provided national-level descriptions of 8th-grade mathematics teaching in 3 countries: Germany, Japan, and the United States. Based on these data, Stigler and Hiebert (1999) argued that teaching is a cultural activity, varying more across cultures than within. This study extends their work, on a small scale, to investigate 8th-grade mathematics teaching in yet another country, Italy. Eleven Italian lessons, from urban and rural schools in northern Italy, were videotaped, translated, transcribed, and analyzed following the same procedures used in TIMSS. They were then compared with German, Japanese, and U.S. lessons videotaped in TIMSS. Analyses revealed Italian lessons to be relatively homogeneous among themselves, yet distinct from those in the other cultures. In particular, Italian lessons were found to include a unique activity, not observed in other countries, in which students and teachers interact at the blackboard, with the rest of the class as the audience. Interviews with Italian education professionals investigated the roots of this activity and supported the cultural nature of Italian teaching. Cross-cultural studies of teaching are useful for revealing practices hidden within a culture and for finding alternative ways of teaching.
Support-Free Thermally Insensitive Hollow Core Fiber Coil

Light traversing an optical fiber is subject to various local phase perturbations driven by temperature. This thermal phase sensitivity is undesirable in fiber interferometers and their applications which require that a fixed, stable phase be received after propagation. The use of hollow core fiber (HCF) has been shown to reduce this thermal phase sensitivity over solid core fibers and here we propose and demonstrate how coiling HCF to a prescribed geometry can further significantly reduce this sensitivity. Our proof-of-concept experiment shows reduction by a factor of ∼90 with respect to the uncoiled HCF, and over three orders of magnitude with respect to uncoiled solid core optical fiber. Our strategy exploits a nuance of the elastic properties of fiber coils whereby the constrained thermal expansion of the composite material (fiber + coating) can result in a coil having compressed inner layers and expanded outer layers. Thermal expansion is the dominant effect responsible for thermal phase sensitivity in HCFs, and in this scheme the compressed inner coil layers compensate the thermal expansion of the outer layers. In this study we design the coil parameters using finite element simulations, studying the relationship between coil performance and its key parameters. The proof-of-principle coil has 160 mm diameter and incorporates a 548 m length of HCF out of which a 230 m section shows almost zero (slightly negative) thermal phase sensitivity. Though the coil shows low thermal phase sensitivity over tens of hours, the long-time constant viscoelastic properties of the coating materials used in the HCF under study are shown to limit these benefits. To make this strategy practical for systems with fast temperature dynamics, a coating having more stable mechanical properties could be used. For precision timing systems in which long thermal time constants are already the norm, this scheme represents a low-cost and provides a significant reduction to thermal sensitivity which is immediately practicable.
Vital physical signals measurements using a webcam

Non-contact and remote measurements of vital physical signals are important for reliable and comfortable physiological self-assessment. In this paper, we provide a new video-based methodology for remote and fast measurements of vital physical signals such as cardiac pulse and breathing rate. A webcam is used to track color video of a human face or wrist, and a Photoplethysmography (PPG) technique is applied to perform the measurements of the vital signals. A novel sequential blind signal extraction methodology is applied to the color video under normal lighting conditions, based on correlation analysis between the green trace and the source signals. The approach is successfully applied in the measurement of vital signals under the condition of different illuminating in which the target signal can also be found out accurately. To assess the advantages, the measuring time of a large number of cases is recorded correctly. The experimental results show that it only takes less than 30 seconds to measure the vital physical signals using presented technique. The study indicates the proposed approach is feasible for PPG technique, which provides a way to study the relationship of the signal for different ROI in future research.
Why do individuals create posts on organizations’ social media pages? Identifications, functions, and audiences beyond the organizational boundary for social change

Previous research has centered on nonprofit organizations’ (NPOs’) roles in developing relationships with the public and leading collective action. However, individuals may also create posts on NPOs’ social media pages to generate relationships with audiences other than the organization, and to self-mobilize connective action to reach their own goals. Based on content analysis of 576 actual posts and survey responses about them, this study suggests that posters with high organizational identification respond to the focal organizations, while those with high issue identification use the organizational context for their own purposes, disseminating information related to the focal issue to the general population or promoting the issue to their personal networks. This study extends discussions of ramifications of multiple identifications in the social media environment and captures the transformed relationships between organizations and individuals who create posts on NPOs’ social media pages and their new roles in connective action.
Potential Oral Anticancer Therapeutic Agents of Hexahydrocurcumin-Encapsulated Chitosan Nanoparticles against MDA-MB-231 Breast Cancer Cells

Hexahydrocurcumin-encapsulated chitosan nanoparticles (HHC-CS-NPs) were formulated by oil-in-water emulsification and ionotropic gelation and optimized using the Box–Behnken design. The particle size, zeta potential, and encapsulation efficiency of the optimized HHC-CS-NPs were 256 ± 14 nm, 27.3 ± 0.7 mV, and 90.6 ± 1.7%, respectively. The TEM analysis showed a spherical shape and a dense structure with a narrow size distribution. The FT-IR analysis indicated no chemical interaction between the excipients and the drugs in the nanoparticles, but the existence of the drugs was molecularly dispersed in the nanoparticle matrices. The drug release profile showed a preliminary burst release followed by a sustained release under simulated gastrointestinal (GI) and physiological conditions. A stability study suggested that the HHC-CS-NPs were stable under UV light, simulated GI, and body fluids. The in vitro bioaccessibility and bioavailability of the HHC-CS-NPs were 2.2 and 6.1 times higher than those of the HHC solution, respectively. The in vitro evaluation of the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and cytotoxic effects of the optimized HHC-CS-NPs demonstrated that the CS-NPs significantly improved the biological activities of HHC in radical scavenging, hemolysis protection activity, anti-protein denaturation, and cytotoxicity against MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. Western blot analysis showed that the apoptotic protein expression of Bax, cytochrome C, caspase-3, and caspase-9, were significantly up-regulated, whereas the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 expression was down-regulated in the HHC-CS-NP-treated cells. Our findings suggest that the optimized HHC-CS-NPs can be further developed as an efficient oral treatment for breast cancer.
Are fem solutions of incompressible flows really incompressible? (or how simple flows can cause headaches!)

SUMMARY It is generally accepted that mixed and penalty finite element methods can routinely solve the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. This paper shows by means of simple examples that problems can arise even for the simpler Stokes equations. The causes of the problem fall in either of two categories: round-off and ill conditioning, or a poor choice of pressure discretization. Nonsensical solutions can be obtained. Computation of the discrete divergence of the flow field is a simple and powerful tool to diagnose such conditions. In the first part of the paper several simple techniques for minimizing the effect of round-off are reviewed. In the second part it is shown that, for coupled flow problems, care must be exercised in the choice of the pressure approximation. A unified treatment of various observations by different workers is presented. This should prove useful for general users of the finite element method.
Injection locking of high-power pulsed lasers. I. Monochromatic injection

The theory of injection locking is based on the realistic situation where the injected intensity is much larger than the spontaneous noise intensity and smaller than the saturation intensity. Wideband homogeneously broadened lasers with injection are analyzed in the small-signal regime, including diffraction effects. The relevant equation for the injection-driven field is an iterative equation solved in the time domain. Multimode behaviors can be predicted. Injection locking is the result of a competition between the injection- and noise-driven fields. The laser behaviour is fully characterized by locking curves in the 2-D space of the injection parameters and by locked mode distributions. >
Solving multi-objective supply chain management using non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm

Focusing on production processes is the decisive factor in managing an efficient supply chain that leads to the company's success. The objective constraints in the model include all the goals the company seeks to achieve and the level to achieve for each. In addition to clarifying the contribution of each decision variable in achieving the specified levels of the different goals, the conclusions reached are the results that prove the possibility of solving a problem. Applying the mathematical model according to the demand for parts (derived from the demand for the final product) contributed significantly to saving the stock of raw materials, as (100) refers to the quantity that is kept as a regular stock for the first week and varies from one week to another according to the change in demand. As a result of reducing the stock of materials, the costs associated with it will decrease, and the difference can be seen in the total costs of storing raw materials and semi-manufactured parts, which is estimated at (47929.1) Iraqi dinars) for the storage of materials and parts for all weeks, according to the planning periods established by the company. By applying the genetic algorithm, the total storage costs were calculated, and it was (13024.8) Iraqi dinars, which is the most critical indicator of success in improving the supply chain performance.
Local theory of rings of operators II.

In the previous paper [1] we introduced a generalization $\#$ of the natural supporter in of J. Dixmier [2] (cf. [1], Prop. 2.6-2.8) and studied the local theory concernining elements of $AW^{*}$-algebras (cf. [1], \S \S 1-3; especially Prop. 3.7). In this paper, we shall prove the following two theorems, as applications of these results. THEOREM I. Let $R$ be a semi-finite $AW^{*}$-algebra acting on a Hilbert space
Targeted Therapy for Glomerulonephritis Using Arterial Delivery of Encapsulated Etanercept

Complex immunosuppressive therapy is prescribed in medical practice to patients with glomerulonephritis to help them overcome symptoms and prevent chronic renal failure. Such an approach requires long-term systemic administration of strong medications, which causes severe side effects. This work shows the efficiency of polymer capsule accumulation (2.8 ± 0.4 µm) containing labeled etanercept (100 μg per dose) in the kidneys of mice. The comparison of injection into the renal artery and tail vein shows the significant superiority of the intra-arterial administration strategy. The etanercept retention rate of 18% and 8% ID in kidneys was found 1 min and 1 h after injection, respectively. The capsules were predominantly localized in the glomeruli after injection in mice using a model of acute glomerulonephritis. Histological analysis confirmed a significant therapeutic effect only in animals with intra-arterial administration of microcapsules with etanercept. The proposed strategy combines endovascular surgery and the use of polymer microcapsules containing a high molecular weight drug that can be successfully applied to treat a wide range of kidney diseases associated with glomerular pathology.
Passively modelocked VECSEL emitting 682 fs pulses with 5.1W of average output power

A quantum-well vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser in combination with a quantum-well SESAM is used to generate femtosecond pulses. The passively modelocked VECSEL operates at room temperature emitting an average output power of 5.1 W at 1030 nm. At a repetition rate of 1.71 GHz, the 682 fs pulses are nearly transform limited.
GaN-based light-emitting diodes with indium tin oxide texturing window layers using natural lithography

There is a significant gap between the internal and external efficiencies of conventional GaN light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The reason for this shortfall is the narrow escape cone for light in high refractive index semiconductors. In this letter, the p-side-up GaN∕sapphire LEDs with surface textured indium tin oxide (ITO) widow layers were investigated using natural lithography with polystyrene spheres as the etching mask. Under optimum etching conditions, the surface roughness of the ITO film can reach 140 nm while the polystyrene sphere on the textured ITO surface is maintained at about 250–300 nm in diameter. The output power of the ITO∕GaN LED with and without surface texturing is 10.9, and 8.5 mW at 20 mA, respectively. The LEDs fabricated using the surface-textured ITO produced an output power that exceeded that of the planar-surface LED by about 28% at 20 mA.
A genetic approach for the 2‐edge‐connected minimum branch vertices problem

This article addresses the 2‐edge‐connected minimum branch vertices problem, a variant of the minimum branch vertices problem in which the spanning subgraph is required to be 2‐edge‐connected for survivability reasons. The problem has been recently introduced and finds application in optical networks design scenarios, where branch vertices are associated to switch devices that allow to split the entering light signals and send them to several adjacent vertices. An exact approach to the problem has been proposed in the literature. In this paper, we formally prove its NP‐completeness and propose a genetic algorithm, which exploits some literature‐provided procedures for efficiently checking and restoring solutions feasibility, and makes use of novel ad‐hoc designed operators aiming to improve their values, reducing the number of branch vertices. The computational tests show that, on the benchmark instances, the genetic algorithm very often finds the optimal solution. Moreover, in order to further investigate the effectiveness and the performance of our algorithm, we generated a new set of random instances where the optimal solution is known a priori.
Refinement of Depth Estimation Method via Energy Minimization

t has been proposed in this paper an idea of refining depth map obtained according to local stereo matching. Energy was calculated based on the entire image, meanwhile, energy minimization concept was adopted, and the area obtained according to color segmentation algorithm was adopted too. The lower the energy of an image, the better depth quality will be generated. The color feature and depth value among different regions and their neighboring regions are used to define the relation between the smooth and occluded regions in the energy function. Then the region energy was calculated repeatedly until the change was insignificant or the number of iterations was reached. The corrected left and right view was used first to perform local stereo matching to get initial depth estimation. The color information of the left view was used to perform color segmentation, and then the segmented region and initial depth estimation were used to calculate the parameter of disparity plane for each region. This process was performed iteratively on the disparity plane, where a more reasonable depth map can be obtained while the energy cost is minimized. From the experimental result, it is proved that the depth map after refinement showed better object shape and smooth region density as compared to that of the initial depth map.
Research Progress of Resonance Optical Fiber Sensors Modified by Low‐Dimensional Materials

Resonance optical fiber sensors are widely studied for their high sensitivity, small size, and anti‐electromagnetic interference. However, traditional resonance optical fiber sensors have encountered bottlenecks in the trace detection due to limited localized field intensity and low molecules affinity. With the development of materials technology, low‐dimensional materials such as quantum dots, graphene, and transition metal sulfides have excellent properties such as high carrier mobility, large specific surface area, and flexible structure controllable artificial technologies that can also be used to synthesize new materials with desired characteristics, which can enhance the performance of sensors fundamentally. The introduction of low‐dimensional materials can not only achieve the performance optimization of sensors, but also make sensors functional to realize the diversification of detection objects. This paper reviews the research progress of resonance optical fiber sensors based on low‐dimensional materials. The detection principle and performance indexes related to resonance optical fiber sensing are elaborated, and resonance optical fiber sensors modified by low‐dimensional materials are introduced. Furthermore, the role of low‐dimensional materials in resonance fiber sensing is summarized, the direction of performance optimization in the production process of resonance fiber sensors is analyzed, and the future prospect of new resonance optical fiber sensors is given.
Molecular vibrational and rotational motion in static and dynamic electric fields

For many years the effects of a static or dynamic electric field upon electronic motion in a molecule have been studied. These effects have been described in terms of multipolar electronic polarizabilities and higher-order hyperpolarizabilities. Much less attention, however, has been paid to the effects of an electric field upon vibrational and rotational motion. It is the aim of this review to consider, in some detail, these effects. As in the electronic work, they too will be described in terms of polarizabilities and hyperpolarizabilities (the latter being particularly important for the study of nonlinear optics). The theory will be developed so as to bring together the different methods that have been used in various calculations. Examples drawn from the recent literature will be discussed and it will be seen that in many cases vibrational and rotational changes with an electric field are as important as electronic ones, if not more so. Examples of experimental work relevant to this review include research on the Kerr effect, electric-field-induced second-harmonic generation, and third-harmonic generation.
Organizations and migrant integration: Towards a multiparadigm narrative approach

This paper explores the potential of conducting multiparadigm research within and beyond cross-cultural management, using narratives to examine how organizations shape migrant integration experiences and trajectories. It highlights the strengths of paradigmatic multiplicity in research with examples of three illustrative studies respectively using functionalist, interpretive and critical perspectives, while also considering the boundaries of these individual approaches. The paper proceeds to explore the potential of adopting a multiparadigm approach within a research strategy that places narratives at the centre of enquiry. It identifies the scope and focus of future research for a socially and politically important area of enquiry; it evaluates the application of diverse paradigm-driven methodological perspectives including the challenges involved in using them alone and in combination; and it develops a transferable framework to guide research in cross-cultural management, organization and migration studies that helps to assure procedural and conceptual rigour, and to generate practicable insights that facilitate successful integration outcomes.
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey is an ambitious, multi–institutional project to create a huge digital imaging and spectroscopic data bank of 25% of the celestial sphere, approximately 10,000 degrees square centred on the north galactic polar cap. The photometric atlas will be in five specially chosen colours, covering the π sr of the Survey area to a limiting magnitude of r′ ∼ 23.1, on 0″. 4 pixels, resulting in a 1Tpixel map. This database will be automatically analysed to catalogue the photometric and astrometric properties of 108 stellar images, 108 galaxies, and 106 colour–selected QSO candidates; the galaxy data will, in addition, include detailed morphological data. The photometric data are used to autonomously and homogeneously select objects for the spectroscopic survey, which will include spectra of 106 galaxies, 105 QSOs, and 105 unusual stars. Although the project was originally motivated by the desire to study ‘large scale structure’, we anticipate that these data will impact on virtually every field of astronomy, from Earth–crossing asteroids to QSOs at z > 6. In particular, the ca. 12 TByte multi–colour precision–calibrated imaging archive should be a world resource for many decades of the next century.
Dynamic and static strain fiber Bragg grating sensor interrogation with a 1.3 µm Fourier domain mode-locked wavelength-swept laser

We demonstrate dynamic and static strain fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor array interrogation using a 1.3 µm Fourier-domain mode-locked (FDML) wavelength-swept laser. The FDML wavelength-swept laser provides a high speed scanning rate and wide scanning bandwidth. Using the FDML wavelength swept laser, we measure the performances of static strain sensor interrogation for both time and spectral domains. The slope coefficients for the measured relative wavelength difference and relative time delay from the static strain are 0.8 pm/µstrain and 0.086 ns/µstrain, respectively. We demonstrate the dynamic response of the FBG sensor array with a 100 Hz modulating strain based on the FDML wavelength-swept laser at a 40.6 kHz scanning rate. The FBG sensor interrogation system using the FDML wavelength-swept laser can be realized for high-speed and high-sensitivity monitoring systems.
Simulation of Long Microchannel Flow in Transitional Regime Using Lattice Boltzmann Method

Microscale flow simulation is considered in this paper for a microchannel flow geometry. Lattice Boltzmann Model (LBM) was used as the numerical method for flow simulation, in which an effective mean free path was used in relaxation time appeared in LBM. The effective mean-free-path makes it possible to investigate flow characteristics in transition flow regime, for which Knudsen number varies from 0.1 to 10. Such implementation does not change the computational efficiency of LBM significantly. Results are obtained for flow configuration in a long microchannel. The slip velocity was predicted in this flow configuration with good accuracy. Good correspondence with Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method was observed.Copyright © 2010 by ASME