bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Why Do We Fall? Using Experiences of Failure to Design Case Libraries
Authors: Tawfik Andrew A. , Jonassen David H. , Keene C. Wayne
Published: October 2017

Instructional designers can support ill-structured problem solving through case libraries that detail domain-specific principles. In this design project, case libraries were employed in an undergraduate sales management course to contextualize knowledge and describe the ill-structured nature of how solutions are derived to solve authentic problems. Whereas many learning environments employ examples of model behavior (Jonassen, 2011), this instructional design was innovative in that the case libraries consisted of sales management failure experiences as the means to facilitate learning. The failure cases embedded within the learning environment engendered design tensions on multiple levels throughout the instructional design. Specifically, this article discusses the issues of engaging the subject matter expert (SME) to talk about failure cases and subsequent challenges to translate the experiences into meaningful learning resources for ill-structured problem solving. Other challenges included how to strategically design the learning environment so that the case library was available at the optimal time for the learners. The design case concludes with a reflection upon the process.
The Digital Story: Designing Professional Development in Technology Integration for Teachers
Authors: Capo Berta Hayes
Published: October 2017

A series of three professional development lessons were produced to teach high school teachers how to create their own content specific digital stories for use in their classroom instruction. A systems design method was employed to design the original lesson and also to design the final three lessons. The teachers were local high school teachers of one South Florida high school. The design approach for the lessons was grounded in activity theory. According to a description of activity theory by Jonassen, Tessmer, and Hannum (1999) the subjects use tools to transform objects in order to reach a learning outcome.  School leadership and representative teachers expressed a need for technology integration in classroom instruction.  Important shortcomings of the original lesson design were that adult learning theory was overlooked. Additionally, the main goal of the lesson was sacrificed to accommodate time constraints, and some of the images provided to complete the lesson contained the wrong aspect ratio. Adults require “self-direction” (Knowles, 1998), and the original lesson design afforded the participating adults little control over the construction process of their digital story. These shortcomings resulted in a need for a redesign of the lesson into three lessons. Furthermore, the final product became a series of three print-based lessons, to be distributed via compact disc to teachers for the upcoming school year.
A Design Case Examining Learning in the d-lab
Authors: Leigh Katharine E. , Tremblay Kenneth , Miller Nancy , Huber Amy , Malinin Laura , Jackson Derrell
Published: October 2017

The design process described in this case emphasizes decisions made to guide and direct the creation of a unique classroom addressing the needs of millennial learners. The project, a research/learning partnership with Herman Miller, gained insights from participants in a design charrette, an advisory group focused on creativity, and the practice, teaching, and research experiences of the project leadership. The challenge was to create a learning space that encouraged behaviors and activities to enhance creativity for today’s millennial learners. Decisions made during the design process were shaped by the perspectives of faculty and student users, whose comments were documented in exit interviews and annual teaching evaluation questionnaires. Despite a minimal budget, the project demonstrates how careful planning through ideation, strategic partnerships, and implementation took the design from wishful thinking to full execution and implementation. The resulting classroom is the case’s outcome and the design processes’ response to the needs of academic spaces that invite millennial learning.
Designing for Virtual Learning Spaces: A Second Life Example
Authors: Tan Lindsay , Waxman Lisa K.
Published: October 2017

This case describes the design of a virtual campus learning space using the Second Life platform. Second Life allows users to create spaces in which avatars can move about and interact in various environments using text, voice, or gestures to communicate. Several universities have reported utilizing Second Life spaces to enhance collaborative learning and problem solving as an extension of traditional face-to-face learning, while others are teaching entirely within these Second Life environments. This project reports the process and outcomes of the design of a virtual campus for Florida State University and focuses on two aspects of the project: the design of a virtual library, and the design of a virtual retail space. The process can be described in four phases that summarize the progress of the design from ideation through execution: 1) pre-design, 2) design-build, 3) evaluation, and 4) occupancy. The resulting design solutions were carefully evaluated and modified prior to occupancy and the final designs successfully met client needs and supported student learning outcomes. This design project, conceived and developed by an interdisciplinary design team, addressed project planning in the design of a virtual environment.
REAL: The Technology-Enabled, Engaged, and Active Learning Classroom
Authors: Lee Young , Boatman Eric , Jowett Steven , Guenther Brendan
Published: October 2017

This design case highlights a new initiative, the technology-rich active learning classrooms at Michigan State University. The classrooms are intended to promote student engagement, collaborative active learning, and faculty-student interaction in a technology-rich environment that allows for digital information sharing and co-creation of content. The article describes the process of planning and design, integration of room features, and creation of user experiences.
Design as a Platform to Build Deep Sustainability: Reflections Around an Ideation Exercise with Portuguese Schools
Authors: Hickel Denis Kern
Published: October 2017

This design case describes an ideation process designed to be held with some of the schools of the Municipality of Torres Novas, Portugal, where the students were invited to imagine their school in relation to a future scenario. The initial objective of the exercise was to explore ways in which design could foster ecological literacy through participatory processes. The difficulties found along the way, however, have led me to reflect on the role of the designer as activator, integrator, and facilitator of design creative process in this context, using design as a platform to co-creatively construct ecological imaginaries and possible ways toward sustainability.
MPATI: The Midwest Program on Airborne Television Instruction (1959-1971)
Authors: Tracey Monica W. , Stefaniak Jill E.
Published: October 2017

It is 1964 and high in the sky, flying in a figure-eight formation over a 200-mile radius and six Midwestern states, is a plane with a large 24-foot antennae hanging from its belly. Transmitting 24 separate courses recorded ahead of time then played back to member schools in six states, the Midwest Program on Airborne Television Instruction (MPATI) was designed to meet the need of providing educational television to a wider audience. In the late 1950s, the FCC decided that certain channels would be allocated for non-commercial educational use. Schools were bursting with students; teachers were in high demand and educators wanted television classroom instruction to ease their burden. Offering simultaneous programs to schools across the country similar to commercial networks seemed impossible. Hence, the Midwest Program on Airborne Television Instruction, a not-for-profit consortium of educational institutions and television producers, was born.
SimCalc: Democratizing Access to Advanced Mathematics
Authors: Tatar Deborah , Roschelle Jeremy , Hegedus Stephen
Published: October 2017

Historically, what people can learn is co-determined by the representational infrastructure for knowledge building. When Latin was the required medium of knowledge building, few could engage in scholarly activities; without the change to the vernacular, nearly universal access to higher education would not be possible. The highly compact, abstract, and opaque symbolism of mathematics presents similar barriers to the necessary democratization of access to important mathematics. Over the course of a program of research lasting more than 20 years and involving contributors from institutions throughout the United States and worldwide (Hegedus & Roschelle, 2013), the representationally innovative design of SimCalc Mathworlds® has provided affordances for novel and effective approaches to teaching important algebraic and calculus-related ideas. When integrated with appropriate curricular workbooks, teacher professional development, and other instructional factors, dynamic representation has enabled diverse populations to learn more advanced mathematics. Research has included both design research as well as large-scale experiments involving hundreds of teachers and thousands of students; overall, the approach also has an unusually strong base of empirical support. We focus on lasting, essential design contributions of this body of work with a special emphasis on the dialectic relationship between affordances of technology and curricular progressions.
“Making Alcatraz Amazing”: The Alcatraz Cellhouse Tour
Authors: Boling Elizabeth
Published: October 2017

In 1987 the National Park Service and Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy launched the Alcatraz Cellhouse Tour as part of the interpretive program educating visitors about the island and its history. Using an existing format made possible several years previously by Sony Walkman™ technology, the designers framed this individual, and innovative, audio tour as a means for visitors to experience the cellhouse through the voices of people incarcerated there, or living and working there, during the years when it served as an active federal prison. Such a design called for different decisions about content, scripting and moving people through space than had been required for ranger-led tours or the lecture-type audio tours prevalent at the time. The original tour has been updated continuously since its launch, and experienced by millions of visitors in multiple languages. The author of this case experienced the tour in 1988 and interviewed key designers in 2014.
Diminishing the Dread: Exploring service learning and student motivation
Authors: Huber Amy M
Published: October 2017

Dread is an unfortunate, yet all too common occurrence in the classroom. It often arises when a student has little motivation toward a class or its content. As an instructor of a traditionally “dreaded” class (Design History I), my goal was to seek ways to increase student motivation for the topic of design history and historic preservation. To do so, I designed a service learning project that incorporated Deci and Ryan’s Self-Determination Theory (1985, 2000), and its constructs of: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. During the project students worked with the local City Planner on designing a series of informational placemats to be used in downtown restaurants during Historic Preservation Month. Students were tasked with searching the town for buildings that merited inclusion, then photographing, and documenting their history. To do this, they worked in groups and applied for specific roles on the project (i.e. Editor-in-Chief, Copy Editor, Graphic Editor, or Information Scout). Following project completion, I collected surveys and student reflections to understand the project’s successes, failures, and any resulting changes in student motivation. This article describes my process of designing the project, its implementation, and my student’s perceptions following its completion. It is hoped that this design case may provide instructors in “dreaded” courses tools to increase long-term student motivation.
Enacting Collective Design Intentions in an Online Graduate Level Introductory Instructional Technology Course
Authors: Yamagata-Lynch Lisa C , Paulus Trena M
Published: October 2017

This design case will introduce how collective design intentions shared by a group of three program faculty for an online Instructional Technology (IT) Master’s program at the University of Tennessee (UT) were collaboratively identified and further acted upon within the context of the first course in the program. The course that is the focus of this case is “IT521 Proseminar 1: Instructional Technology as a Profession” in which we explored collective design intentions. The article begins with an introduction of the collective design intentions that program faculty shared. Then the article introduces how the first author enacted those design intentions in IT521 while working closely with the second author. The purpose for sharing this case is to document critical decisions that were made by one faculty member about a course within the context of shared design intentions for the program. The article ends with a discussion of lessons learned about communicating collective and personal design intentions to future designers who may be involved in similar situations.
The Invention Coach: Integrating Data and Theory in the Design of an Exploratory Learning Environment
Authors: Marks Jenna , Bernett Deena , Chase Catherine C.
Published: October 2017

This design case describes the development of the Invention Coach, an intelligent exploratory learning environment (ELE) for the constructivist activity of Invention. The Invention Coach scaffolds students as they invent mathematical formulas to describe contrasting cases. In this paper, we detail our process and rationale for three key design decisions made with the goal of providing optimal guidance for Invention: (a) engaging in systematic analysis of teachers guiding students as a starting point for development; (b) developing a style of guidance that problematizes students’ work through constraints, contrasts, and prompts for explanation; and (c) structuring the space through a nonlinear, modular set of activities focused on problem subgoals. We revisit the age-old assistance dilemma, discussing the unique difficulties of designing guidance and support in a computer environment for exploratory learning. Throughout, we discuss the tensions between providing adequate guidance and encouraging student exploration. We end by considering the trade-offs and unforeseen challenges that have come out of our design.
Iteratively Refining a Science Explanation Tool Through Classroom Implementation and Stakeholder Partnerships
Authors: Matuk Camillia , McElhaney Kevin W. , Chen Jennifer King , Lim-Breitbart Jonathan , Kirkpatrick Douglas , Linn Marcia C.
Published: October 2017

Science inquiry challenges students to synthesize various ideas about complex phenomena into coherent explanations. It also challenges teachers, who must guide their diverse students’ developing understanding during student-paced investigations. We describe the Idea Manager, a suite of web-based, curriculum-integrated tools that (a) guides students’ knowledge integration as they generate, distinguish, and reconcile their ideas; and (b) provides means for teachers to monitor learning over the course of technology-enhanced science inquiry units. With the Idea Manager tool, students document short, text-based ideas, tag and sort them along various attributes, and exchange them with classmates. At culminating points of their investigations, students graphically organize their ideas to prepare written scientific explanations. Meanwhile, logs of idea entries, revisions, and meta-data inform teachers’ and researchers’ decisions about instruction and design.This paper offers an account of the design moves made in refining the Idea Manager, and highlights the importance of teacher-researcher partnerships and classroom implementations. Through designers’ artifacts, classroom research findings, and teachers’ and researchers’ reflections, we illustrate the tool’s origins; our strategies for testing new features and eliciting stakeholders’ feedback, and how middle and high school classroom implementations inform the tool’s continued iterations. Based on learning theory and on our own 40+ collective years of classroom teaching experience, we explain our design decisions and describe how new features and patterns for the tool’s use emerged from a community of researchers. Finally, we reflect on the process of iteration that advances both theory and design, and on the value of pedagogically-driven technology design.
Juries as Innovation in an Instructional Design and Technology Program: A Saga of Continuous Improvement Efforts
Authors: Knowlton Dave S. , Johnson Lynette , Thomeczek Melissa , Liu Yuliang , Lumsden Jody N.
Published: October 2017

Academic juries have a long tradition as a method of educating students and assessing their work. This tradition has been limited to a relatively narrow range of disciplines, such as architecture and various fine and performing arts. This article describes the case of an online graduate-level Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) program adopting and adapting a jury structure to support the development and assessment of students’ electronic portfolios. A key component of the adoption and adaptation is the continuous efforts to improve the impact of juries across their 10-year implementation (2005-2015) in the IDT program. Therefore, this paper explicates the history of jury establishment and development within the IDT program, reports two evaluations that provide students’ perspectives about juries, and details the IDT faculty members’ response to those evaluations in an effort to further improve juries as a program-wide innovation.
The App Farm: Engaging Design Process as a Means for French Learning
Authors: Howard Craig D. , Staples Cary , Dubreil Sébastien , Yamagata-Lynch Lisa C.
Published: October 2017

In this design case, we present an instructional design project that resulted in a French language learning game development system. What we describe here is not the game itself, but rather the pedagogical intervention that created what the design team termed a mobile “application farm,” which in turn produced the game. The term farm was used due to the perspective of the designers to create a sustainable system rather than a single design. This design case also has another purpose beyond presenting precedent in instructional design; we interrogate the interview process and the protocol we used while documenting this project. We present the outcome of our interrogation in reflection notes posted throughout this design case. We do this because we believe that there is a value and need for design cases created by someone outside of the design arena but with access to members of the design team, in order to elicit where precedents might be found within complex designs.
Special Issue on Makerspace Design Cases
Authors: Dondlinger Mary Jo , McLeod Julie , Bigenho Chris
Published: October 2017

According to the New Media Consortium (NMC), makerspaces are “informal workshop environments located in community facilities or education institutions where people gather to create prototypes or products in a collaborative, do-it-yourself setting.” The NMC Horizon Reports for K-12 Education and for Higher Education have listed makerspaces as “important developments” for the last 2-3 years (2014-2016). Also referred to as hackerspaces, hack labs, and fab labs, these community-oriented spaces provide tools and resources for innovators to carry out their ideas. Makerspaces have quickly risen to the forefront in educational conversations, and many community organizations, schools, and institutions of higher education have created makerspaces in their facilities and campuses. Additionally, many are on the verge of developing a makerspace for their organization. While lists of equipment and supplies for makerspaces are readily available to those seeking to develop a makerspace, resources documenting the design of a makerspace, the philosophy that informed the design, or the programs implemented within a makerspace are considerably less plentiful. This special issue of makerspace design cases is intended to fill that void.
An examination of the relationship between lifelong learning tendencies and physics of engineer candidates
Mühendis adaylarının yaşam boyu öğrenme eğilimleri ile fizik başarıları arasındaki ilişkinin incelenmesi
Authors: Güzel Hatice
Published: October 2017

In this study, it was investigated whether the points of the scale of “lifelong learning tendencies” of the engineer candidates who took physics course varied according to, variables such as "gender, physics success, duration of internet use and department of education". The population of the study consists from s a total of 225 engineer candidates who took Physics-1 course at Necmettin Erbakan University Engineering and Architecture Faculty in Fall in 2016-2017 academic year. Frequency, mean, independent t test, one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Pearson correlation analysis were used to analyze the data. According to the findings, the points taken from of the scale of “lifelong learning tendencies” do not show any significant difference according to departments and internet usage period. The mean scores of persistence and learning which are the subdimensions of the lifelong learning tendency scaleof do not show a significant difference according to gender, whereas the scores of lack of motivation and curiosity show significant differences according to gender. Female students' points are more higher in the dimension of lack of motivation, male students’ points are more higher in the dimension of curiosity. As the lifelong learning tendecies, perseverance and motivation of engineer candidates increase, physics course achievements also increase.Extended English abstract is in the end of PDF (TURKISH) file. ÖzetBu araştırmada, fizik dersini alan mühendis adaylarının, yaşam boyu öğrenme eğilimleri ölçeğinin genelinden alınan puanların “cinsiyet, fizik başarısı, internet kullanım süresi ve öğrenim görülen bölüm” değişkenlerine göre farklılaşıp farklılaşmadığı incelenmiştir. Araştırmanın çalışma grubunu, 2016-2017 Eğitim-öğretim yılı güz yarıyılında Necmettin Erbakan Üniversitesi Mühendislik-Mimarlık Fakültesinde Fizik -1 dersini alan toplam 225 mühendis adayı oluşturmaktadır. Verilerin çözümlenmesinde frekans, ortalama, bağımsız t testi, tek yönlü varyans analizi(Anova) ve Pearson korelasyon analizleri kullanılmıştır. Elde edilen bulgulara göre, yaşam boyu öğrenme eğilimleri ölçeğinin genelinden alınan puanlar, bölümlere ve internet kullanım süresine göre anlamlı bir farklılık göstermemektedir. Yaşam boyu öğrenme eğilimleri ölçeğinin alt boyutlarından sebat ve öğrenmeyi düzenlemede yoksunluk puan ortalamaları, cinsiyete göre anlamlı bir farklılık göstermezken, motivasyon ve merak yoksunluğu puan ortalamaları ise cinsiyete göre anlamlı bir farklılık göstermiştir. Kızların motivasyonları, erkeklerin ise merak yoksunlukları daha yüksek çıkmıştır. Mühendis adaylarının yaşam boyu öğrenme eğitimleri, sebat ve motivasyonları arttıkça fizik ders başarıları da artmaktadır.
Optimization of Pressure-Swing Distillation by Evolutionary Techniques: Separation of Ethanol-Water and Acetonitrile-Water Mixtures
Authors: Sagar S Adjay , Rahman Imran
Published: October 2017

Complete separation can be achieved in selective homogeneous azeotropic mixtures by exploiting the pressure sensitive nature of the system. In the present work the optimal number of trays, feed location and reflux ratio for sequential column systems encountered in continuous pressure swing distillation (PSD) have been determined by use of two evolutionary techniques. Two industrially relevant systems: ethanol-water and acetonitrile-water have been considered. The Napthali-Sandholm model is solved to obtain the concentration and temperature profiles. The objective is to minimize the total cost using Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Differential Evolution (DE) for the two azeotropic systems. The techniques offer attractive features like applicability to discontinuous and non-differentiable search spaces.
Biodesulphurization of thiophene as a sulphur model compound in crude oils by Pseudomonas aeruginosa supported on polyethylene
Authors: Karimi Amjad Mohammad , Sadeghi Soroor , Salimi Farhad
Published: October 2017

A new biodesulphurization method has been considered using Pseudomonas aeruginosa supported on polyethylene (PE) for biodesulphurization (BDS) of thiophene as an aromatic sulphur model compound of crude oils. Also the biodegradation of thiophene has been modified in the presence of potassium hexacyanoferrate(III) as a terminal electron acceptor to approach the maximum biodesulphurization efficiency. The obtaining results according to UV-Spectrophotometry at 240 nm, 83.3% of thiophene at the primary concentration of 50 mg/dm3, pH = 7, by 0.5 g of biocatalyst in 37°C after 4 h of contact time has been removed. The bacterial cells exhibited a greater and faster biodegradation in the presence of potassium hexacyanoferrate(III) and 94.8% of thiophene has been removed after 3 h of contact time. Kinetic study predicted chemisorption of thiophene on the surface of the biocatalyst, as it followed the pseudo-second-order rate equation. Morphology and surface functional groups of the biocatalyst have been investigated by SEM and FT-IR, respectively.
TiO2 immobilised on biopolymer nanofibers for the removal of bisphenol A and diclofenac from water
Authors: Kudlek Edyta , Silvestri Daniele , Wacławek Stanisław , Padil Vinod V.T. , Stuchlík Martin , Voleský Lukáš , Kejzlar Pavel , Černík Miroslav
Published: October 2017

Recently electrospinning has gained significant attention due to unique possibilities to produce novel natural nanofibers and fabrics with controllable pore structure. The present study focuses on the fabrication of electrospun fibres based on gum karaya (GK), a natural tree gum, with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and functionalization of the membrane with TiO2 nanoparticles with further methane plasma treatment. The GK/PVA/TiO2 membrane was analyzed with several techniques including: fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX), and water contact angle, in order to characterize its morphological and physicochemical properties. The GK/PVA/TiO2 membrane was further successfully used for the degradation (under UV irradiation) of bisphenol A and diclofenac from aqueous solution. It was also observed that the degradation kinetics of these compounds are faster in comparison to the UV treatment alone.
The effect of tropospheric ozone on flavonoids and pigments content in common buckwheat cotyledons
Authors: Dębski Henryk , Wiczkowski Wiesław , Szawara-Nowak Dorota , Bączek Natalia , Piechota Małgorzata , Horbowicz Marcin
Published: October 2017

Tropospheric ozone forms in photochemical reactions or by refuse burning and combustion of exhaust gases from engines, and during some industrial processes. The mean ambient ozone concentration doubled during the last century, and in many urban areas has reached the phytotoxic level. In the present study, there was determined the effect of ozone fumigation on levels of individual flavonoids, chlorophylls, carotenoids and total phenols in the cotyledons of four common buckwheat cultivars (Hruszowska, Panda, Kora and Red Corolla). Six-day-old buckwheat seedlings were grown in controlled conditions and treated with an elevated dose of ozone (391 μg · m−3) during 5 days for 1 h each day. After the experiment, the cotyledons of the seedlings were analysed for individual flavonoids, chlorophylls, carotenoids and total phenols. Shoot elongation was also measured. Individual types of flavonoids in buckwheat cotyledons were found to respond to an elevated ozone dose in various ways. The response was also dependent on the cultivar evaluated. In the cotyledons of ozonized buckwheat seedlings, contents of C-glucosides of luteolin and apigenin decreased or did not change depending on the cultivar examined. In the case of flavonols, the contents of quercetin-3-O-rhamnosyl-galactoside and rutin (quercetin-3-O-rhamnosyl-glucoside) were markedly reduced in most cultivars. O3 had no effect on the level of anthocyanins and chlorophylls but it decreased carotenoids, and tended to inhibit buckwheat growth. In conclusion, a thesis can be formulated that, due to high reduction in important flavonoids, an elevated level of ambient ozone decreases the nutritional value of common buckwheat seedlings.
Health and environmental applications of gut microbiome: a review
Authors: Chatterjee Soumya , Datta Sibnarayan , Sharma Sonika , Tiwari Sarika , Gupta Dharmendra K.
Published: October 2017

Life on Earth harbours an unimaginable diversity of microbial communities. Among these, gut microbiome, the ecological communities of commensal, symbionts (bacteria and bacteriophages) are a unique assemblage of microbes. This microbial population of animal gut helps in performing organism’s physiological processes to stay healthy and fit. The role of these microbial communities is immense. They continually maintain interrelation with the intestinal mucosa in a subtle equilibrium and help the gut for different functions ranging from metabolism to immunologic functions like upgradation of nutrient-poor diets, aid in digestion of recalcitrant food components, protection from pathogens, contribute to inter- and intra-specific communication, affecting the efficiency as disease vectors etc. The microbial diversity in the gut depends upon environmental competition between microbes, their sieving effects and subsequent elimination. Due to wide diversity of anatomy and physiology of the digestive tracts and food habits, the gut microbiome also differs broadly among animals. Stochastic factors through the history of colonization of the microbiome in a species andin situevolution are likely to establish interspecies diversity. Moreover, the microbes offer enormous opportunity to discover novel species for therapeutic and/or biotechnological applications. In this manuscript, we review the available knowledge on gut microbiome, emphasising their role in health and health related applications in human.
Distinct distances between points and lines in 𝔽
q

2
Authors: Pham Thang , Phuong Nguyen Duy , Sang Nguyen Minh , Valculescu Claudiu , Vinh Le Anh
Published: October 2017

We prove that if we are given a set of points

𝒫

{\mathcal{P}}

and set of lines

ℒ

{\mathcal{L}}

in

𝔽
q
2

{\mathbb{F}_{q}^{2}}

such that

|
𝒫
|

⁢

|
ℒ
|

≳

q

8
/
3

{|\mathcal{P}||\mathcal{L}|\gtrsim q^{8/3}}

, then the set of distinct distances between points from

𝒫

{\mathcal{P}}

and lines from

ℒ

{\mathcal{L}}

contains a positive proportion of all distances.
Using the same techniques, we also obtain a generalization of this result in higher dimensional cases.
Prevalence and Detection of Flaviviruses Occurring in Slovakia
Authors: Mojžišová Z. , Drzewnioková P. , Bocková E. , Vargová B. , Majláthová V. , Majláth I. , Csank T. , Pistl J.
Published: October 2017

The tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) and West Nile virus (WNV) are arboviruses of the genus Flavivirus in the family Flaviviridae. Their hosts are vertebratesof which rodents are the reservoirs of TBEV and birds are the reservoirs of WNV. Both viruses are transmitted from reservoirs to mammals by vectors. TBEV is transmitted by ticks (mostly Ixodes spp.) and WNV by mosquitoes (mostly Culex spp.). Both viruses are capable of infecting mammals, including man. TBEV and WNV are neurotropic, however infection is, in most cases, subclinical or accompanied by only moderate general signs. However, in some cases they can cause serious disturbances of the CNS. Our study focused on the detection of the genomes of TBEV and WNV in vectors by means of the reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The flavivirus genome was detected by means of oligonucleotides delineating the sequence in NS5 gene that encodes viral RNA-dependent RNA-polymerase. For the detection of TBEV, we used the oligonucleotide pair detecting the structural envelope protein. The positive samples were subjected to the sequence and phylogenetic analysis. The WNV was not detected in any of the pooled samples prepared from 616 mosquitoes captured in the vicinity of the village Drienovec, district Košice-surroundings. The investigation of 676 ticks demonstrated the presence of one strain of TBEV. One blood-fed I. ricinus female was obtained from a goat grazing in a pasture in the Dúbrava area close to Prešov. The genetic analysis revealed the presence of a strain close to the endemic strainsof TBEV Hypr and Neudörfl. The results of our study can become a motivation for additional studies in model locations oriented on ecology and circulation of these important zoonotic flaviviruses.
Organic Colouring Agents in the Pharmaceutical Industry
Authors: Šuleková M. , Smrčová M. , Hudák A. , Heželová M. , Fedorová M.
Published: October 2017

Food dyes are largely used in the process of manufacturing pharmaceutical products. The aim of such a procedure is not only to increase the attractiveness of products, but also to help patients distinguish between pharmaceuticals. Various dyes, especially organic colouring agents, may in some cases have a negative impact on the human body. They are incorporated into pharmaceutical products including tablets, hard gelatine capsules or soft gelatine capsules, lozenges, syrups, etc. This article provides an overview of the most widely used colouring agents in pharmaceuticals, their characteristics and the EU legislation which regulates their use.
In vitro Antibacterial Activity of Mentha Essential Oils Against Staphylococcus aureus
Authors: Horváth P. , Koščová J.
Published: October 2017

Plant extracts and essential oils (EOs) are characterized by their antibacterial properties against various bacterial pathogens, including staphylococci. Some strains of these bacteria are resistant against the adverse effects of the environment including antibiotics, e. g. methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). EOs alone cannot substitute for antibiotics but their treatment may be useful to intensify and strengthen the effects of antibiotics on pathogenic staphylococci. In this work, we tested the antibacterial effects of the essential oils of Mentha species with menthol as one of the effective substances against different strains of S. aureus. Two in vitro methods were used, the qualitative disc diffusion assay and the quantitative minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of selected essential oils. Peppermint oil from Mentha piperita, spearmint oil from Mentha spicata var. crispa and cornmint oil from Mentha arvensis were tested in this study against the various strains of Staphylococcus aureus, including methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The oils were dissolved in DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide) and diluted at the following ratios: 1 : 1, 1 : 2, 1 : 5, and 1 : 10. Based on the results determined by the agar disc diffusion test, the highest antibacterial properties were observed in spearmint oil against S. aureus CCM 4223 at 1 : 2 ratio where the inhibition zone varied at a range of 35.67 ± 6.81 mm. We determined also the MIC of all the oils where concentrations of the oils were as follows: 1 %; 0.5 %; 0.25 %; 0.125 % and 0.0625 %. The lowest concentrations of essential oils that possessed inhibitory effects on the growth of S. aureus varied between 0.125 % and 0.25 %.
Sexual behavior and pregnancy among adolescents in foster family homes
Authors: Zhan Weihai , Smith Susan R. , Warner Lynette C. , North Fred , Wilhelm Sara , Nowak Amanda
Published: October 2017

Objective

To examine the prevalence of and factors associated with sexual behavior and pregnancy involvement among adolescents in foster family homes.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted among a random sample of children living in foster family homes. Logistic regression with Firth’s correction was used to determine factors associated with sexual risk behavior and pregnancy involvement (i.e. having been pregnant or gotten someone pregnant).

Results

About half of adolescents (aged 13–18 years) in foster family homes ever had sex, of whom, one third had first sex before the age of 14 and one sixth had two or more sexual partners in the past 3 months. Of adolescents in the study, 9% had ever been pregnant or gotten someone pregnant. Although adolescents in foster family homes had higher rates of sex initiation and pregnancy involvement than those in the general population, the two groups had comparable rates of current sexual risk behavior. Being placed in kin/fictive kin foster homes [odds ratio (OR): 3.04; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.18–7.80] and number of placement settings (OR: 1.20; 95% CI: 1.02–1.42) were associated with multiple sexual partners, while a history of running away from a foster home (OR: 7.64; 95% CI: 1.87–31.18) was associated with pregnancy involvement.

Conclusions

Efforts targeting placement stability including prevention of running away may reduce sexual risk behavior and pregnancy involvement among adolescents in foster family homes.
Carrier Rotation Strategies for Equal Power Distributions in Cascaded H-Bridge Multilevel Inverters
Authors: Venkata Rao Jagilinki , Mahesh Aeidapu
Published: October 2017

Multicarrier pulse width modulation (MC-PWM) techniques such as Level-shifted PWM (LS-PWM) and Phase-shifted PWM (PS-PWM) are the popular methods to control the output voltage of Multilevel Inverters (MLIs). The advantage of LS-PWM techniques over PS-PWMs is that they produce better harmonic profile, but the un-equal power distribution problem of LS-PWMs imposes limitation to their usage in high power and medium voltage applications. For achieving the equal conduction periods and to evenly distribute the power among different cells, carrier rotation should be employed in LS-PWM. This paper proposes two rotation schemes introduced to LS-PWM for producing the collective benefit of equal power distribution from PS-PWM and better harmonic profile from LS-PWM. MATALB/Simulink has been used to create simulation models and the experimental validations are performed by a hardware setup using dSPACE-DS1104 R&D Controller board. Furthermore, experimental results of device conduction periods, conduction losses of individual cells, total harmonic distortions (THDs) and fundamental output voltages have been measured. The effectiveness of proposed methods are verified by comparing the obtained results with traditional MC-PWM techniques.
Simulation of SOFCs based power generation system using Aspen
Authors: Pianko-Oprych Paulina , Palus Mateusz
Published: October 2017

This study presents a thermodynamic Aspen simulation model for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells, SOFCs, based power generation system. In the first step, a steady-state SOFCs system model was developed. The model includes the electrochemistry and the diffusion phenomena. The electrochemical model gives good agreement with experimental data in a wide operating range. Then, a parametric study has been conducted to estimate effects of the oxygen to carbon ratio, O/C, on reformer temperature, fuel cell temperature, fuel utilization, overall fuel cell performance, and the results are discussed in this paper. In the second step, a dynamic analysis of SOFCs characteristic has been developed. The aim of dynamic modelling was to find the response of the system against the fuel utilization and the O/C ratio variations. From the simulations, it was concluded that both developed models in the steady and dynamic state were reasonably accurate and can be used for system level optimization studies of the SOFC based power generation system.
Preliminary Field Tests and Long-Term Monitoring as a Method of Design Risk Mitigation: A Case Study of Gdańsk Deepwater Container Terminal
Authors: Miśkiewicz Mikołaj , Mitrosz Oskar , Brzozowski Tadeusz
Published: October 2017

Appropriate risk assessment plays a fundamental role in the design. . The authors propose a possible method of design risk mitigation, which follows recommendations included in Eurocode 7. The so-called “Observational Method” (OM) can produce savings in costs and programmes on engineering projects without compromising safety. The case study presented is a complex design solution that deals with the heavy foundations of a gantry crane beam as one of the elements of a Deepwater Container Terminal extension. The paper presents a detailed process of the design of the rear crane beam being a part of the brand new berth, together with its static analysis, as well as the long-term results of observations, which have revealed the real performance of the marine structure. The case presented is based on excessive preliminary field tests and technical monitoring of the structure, and is an example of a successful OM implementation and design risk mitigation.
Modelling Oil Spill around Bay of Samsun, Turkey, with the Use of Oilmap and Adios Software Systems
Authors: Toz Ali Cemal
Published: October 2017

Bay of Samsun is one of the most important oil transport gateways in Black Sea. The region is surrounded with the coasts which have various levels of environmental sensitivity. The purpose of this study is to investigate the oil spill and predict the future accidents likely to be encountered around the Bay of Samsun. To be well informed about fate, this study makes the best possible use of two trajectory models. One of them, ADIOS (Automated Data Inquiry for Oil Spills), has been applied to natural degradation calculations, and the other one, OILMAP (oil spill model and response system), has been used for surface spread simulation. Hence in order to identify the risky areas three scenarios have been developed. Their results reveal that in case of oil spills, with average environmental conditions, there is a risk of contamination for the city of Samsun. Although the area under the risk is the same, contamination density is totally different depending upon the quantity and the type of spilt oil. The results gained through these efforts are hoped to be useful for many organizations dealing with oil spill response operations and contribute to an effective coordination among the relevant institutions.
Secondary Geodiversity and its Potential for Urban Geotourism: A Case Study from Brno City, Czech Republic
Authors: Kubalíková Lucie , Kirchner Karel , Bajer Aleš
Published: October 2017

Secondary geodiversity (represented by anthropogenic landforms, which can be considered a significant part of geoheritage of certain area) can be seen as an important resource for geotourism and geoeducational activities within urban areas. Brno city (Czech Republic) is rich in these landforms as well as numerous urban areas. Some of them (especially old quarries and underground spaces) are already used for recreation, tourism and leisure or they serve as excursion localities for the university students, some of them are unique from the geoscience point of view and they have also certain added values (historical, archaeological or ecological). However, in some cases, their potential is not fully recognised. The article describes the main anthropogenic landforms within Brno city and analyses their suitability for geotourism and geoeducational activities.
Geomorphosites and Geotourism in Bucharest City Center (Romania)
Authors: Comănescu Laura , Nedelea Alexandru , Stănoiu Gabriel
Published: October 2017

The present paper aims at inventorying the geomophosites in Bucharest as well as introducing geotouristic itineraries that take into account the long-time developed high value cultural heritage of the area. The process included several stages: studying Bucharest’s relief and cultural-historical elements with tourist value from existing bibliography, cartographic methods (aerial photos and different editions of topographic maps), as well as the information gathered from field investigations; identifying and inventorying geomorphosites, assessing the population’s opinion about geoheritage (geomorphosites) and its capitalization in tourism activities, 100 questionnaires were applied; creating geotouristic itineraries and later promoting them. The most valuable and representative geomorphosites identified are: on Colentina Valley (the Plumbuita, Ostrov, Dobroeşti and Pantelimon hills) (aren’t located in the study area), on Dâmboviței Valley (Cotroceni, Șerban Vodă, Mitropoliei, Spirii, Filaret and Arsenal hills, Țăcăliei, Procopoaiei, University terraces, Dâmbovița Meadow). The authors suggest two geotouristic itineraries that emphasize the relationship between the scientific, cultural, and historic elements as well as the human-nature report within the urban area.
Contribution for an Urban Geomorphoheritage Assessment Method: Proposal from Three Geomorphosites in Rome (Italy)
Authors: Pica Alessia , Luberti Gian Marco , Vergari Francesca , Fredi Paola , Del Monte Maurizio
Published: October 2017

Urban geomorphology has important implications in spatial planning of human activities, and it also has a geotouristic potential due to the relationship between cultural and geomorphological heritage. Despite the introduction of the term Anthropocene to describe the deep influence that human activities have had in recent times on Earth evolution, urban geomorphological heritage studies are relatively rare and limited and urban geotourism development is recent. The analysis of the complex urban landscape often need the integration of multidisciplinary data. This study aims to propose the first urban geomorphoheritage assessment method, which originates after long-lasting previous geomorphological and geotouristic studies on Rome city centre, it depict rare examples of the geomorphological mapping of a metropolis and, at the same time, of an inventory of urban geomorphosites. The proposal is applied to geomorphosites in the Esquilino neighbourhood of Rome, whose analysis confirm the need for an ad hoc method for assessing urban geomorphosites, as already highlighted in the most recent literature on the topic. The urban geomorphoheritage assessment method is based on: (i) the urban geomorphological analysis by means of multitemporal and multidisciplinary data; (ii) the geomorphosite inventory; and (iii) the geomorphoheritage assessment and enhancement. One challenge is to assess invisible geomorphosites that are widespread in urban context. To this aim, we reworked the attributes describing the Value of a site for Geotourism in order to build up a specific methodology for the analysis of the urban geomorphological heritage.
Existing and Proposed Urban Geosites Values Resulting from Geodiversity of Poznań City
Authors: Zwoliński Zbigniew , Hildebrandt-Radke Iwona , Mazurek Małgorzata , Makohonienko Mirosław
Published: October 2017

Poznań, a city in central-western Poland, is located in the lowland region but has no less attractive geomorphological and human history. It was here that Poland was born at the end of the tenth century. The city’s location is connected with the meridian course of the Warta River valley. In contrast, in the northern part of the city, there is a vast area of the frontal moraines of the Poznań Phase of the Weichselian Glaciation. Against the backdrop of the geomorphological development of the city, the article presents the existing geosites, classified as urban geosites. The present geosites include three lapidaries with Scandinavian postglacial erratics, one of them also with stoneware, a fragment of a frontal push moraine and impact craters. Besides, three locations of proposed geosites with rich geomorphological and/or human history were identified. These are as follows: the peat bog located in the northern part of the city, defence ramparts as exhumed anthropogenic forms, and the Warta River valley. The existing and proposed geosites in Poznań were evaluated in three ways. In general, it should be assumed that the proposed new geosites are higher ranked than the current ones.