bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Math-Related Problems in Russian Engineering Education
Authors: Soldatenko Ilia , Zakharova Irina , Kuzenkov Oleg , Yazenin Alexander
Published: July 2018

Engineering education tends to be more and more attractive to Russian students in response to the growing demands of the labor market in this area. However, there is a serious problem of high percentage of drop-outs during first year of study in STEM courses (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) and mathematical disciplines are the most typical reason for that. This problem is addressed by international TEMPUS project MetaMath whose aim is modernization of the Russian education system in accordance with international trends and Russia's cultural and educational traditions as well as needs of business and industry. The purpose of this chapter is to describe research results and analysis of modernization experience of educational programs based on the produced methodology.
The Educational and Academic Innovation of the Avionics Engineering Center
Authors: Proletarsky Andrey V. , Neusypin Konstantin A. , Shen Kai
Published: July 2018

Research directions for carrying out scientific works are presented within the Avionics Engineering Center at Bauman Moscow State Technical University. The structure of Avionics Engineering Center is illustrated and prospective areas of working are highlighted. Methods on implementation of perspective scientific research and educational programs are developed for innovative development of the Avionics Engineering Center. Symbiosis of new developed programs allows training and getting a set of better quality specialists and innovative technologies in the defense and aerospace industry.
The Use of Active Learning in Biotechnical Engineering Education
Authors: Suyatinov Sergey I.
Published: July 2018

This chapter presents information-computing complex of modular type to perform interdisciplinary laboratory work. The object of the study is a complex biosystem – the human body. Feature of information-computing complex is the developed hardware and software for identification and study of systems and processes. Unique biosignal sensors allow to record electrocardiograms and sphygmograms in the process of laboratory work, to realize various algorithms of digital processing of signals and to use them in the process of structural and parametrical identification of cardiovascular system. Other sensors estimate an individual's psychophysiological state in different conditions. Thus, the student becomes the object of the research. This, undoubtedly, increases their motivation to assimilate new knowledge.
The Significance of Interdisciplinary Projects in Becoming a Research Engineer
Authors: Buldakova Tatyana I. , Suyatinov Sergey I.
Published: July 2018

The chapter presents the importance of interdisciplinary projects for modern engineer education. The components of the educational process influencing the quality of engineer education are allocated. The importance of the “learning through research” principle is noted. Examples of projects centered on the creation of information-analytical systems in various subject domains, and also, professional tasks which were solved by students are given. The conclusion is drawn that experience in the development of systems in one area can effectively be used in the development of systems in another area. The features of the project centered on the creation of a remote monitoring system of the human state, and the protection of the transferred physiological data are considered.
Development of Digital Game Environments Stimulating Creativity in Engineering Education
Authors: Alimov Alexander , Shabalina Olga , Moffat David C.
Published: July 2018

Teaching for creativity is one of the most challenging problems in engineering education. Two approaches are mostly applied in teaching creative skills: using creative problem-solving exercises and emerging people into a creative environment for stimulating their creativity. One of the most important requirements to creative digital environment is creativity of its non-player characters (NPC). The chapter discusses the advantages of applying a multi-agent (MA) approach to achieve creative behavior of the NPCs. The agent architecture is based on a behavior tree model, extended with three additional classes of nodes, implementing agent reactions and adaptive action planning according to agent priorities. The proposed agent architecture is implemented in a typical survival action game where all players, represented as agents, should explore the world to find resources. The assessment of the quality of agents' behavior shows that all the agents successfully demonstrate rational and adaptive behavior in the complex dynamical environment.
Special Role of the Entrepreneurial Education for the Development of Innovation Potential of Regions Through Small and Medium Enterprises
Authors: Borisov Sergey
Published: July 2018

The specificity of the situation in global economy is that the speed of technological development is very high, so it is necessary to adapt quickly to changes. The share of small and medium-sized enterprises to gross domestic product is 20% in the Russian Federation and 60-70% in Western countries. This chapter presents the results of the assessment and monitoring of the status of small and medium-sized enterprises, which has been conducted by the business community. The chapter describes the mechanism of increasing the interest of the local government in the development of small and medium-sized enterprises. Also, it highlights the special importance of relations between enterprises and universities for training, in order to meet the challenges of innovation development in the regions. The opening of the Department of Innovative Entrepreneurship at the Bauman Moscow State Technical University is a logical and actual sphere of development. Finally, the chapter introduces the concept of the School of Technological Entrepreneurship.
Sensing Techniques for Next Generation Cognitive Radio Networks
Authors: Dhaya R.  , Rajeswari A.  , Kanthavel R.
Published: July 2018

Cognitive radio is the technology used to solve the problem of spectrum underutilization by performing spectrum sensing, spectrum management, spectrum sharing, and spectrum mobility. The primary goal of cognitive radio is open spectrum sharing. Spectrum is a scarce and valuable natural resource that has to be used very effectively. The static allocation of spectrum to the licensed users will lead to wastage of resources when the spectrum is unused by the licensed user. Spectrum sensing methodology helps in detecting the spectrum holes and enables the unlicensed users to access the unused bands in the licensed spectrum effectively without interfering the licensed users. Cognitive thinking takes wireless communication to the next level by sensing the electromagnetic environment and dynamically adjusts its operating parameters in order to achieve maximum throughput, mitigate interference, facilitate interoperability, etc. The chapter presents the basics of cognitive radio networks, its architecture, its application, and advantages of cognitive radio networks.
Improved Spectrum Sensing Based on Polar Codes for Cognitive Radio Networks
Authors: Chana Idriss , Benkhouya Reda , Rhattoy Abdallah , Hadi Youssef
Published: July 2018

One challenge of a sensing technique is reducing sensing time while ensuring good effective data rate. In fact, once compressive sensing based on sub-Nyquist sampling is adopted, sensing time can be reduced by saving number of samples. This increases the probability of missed detection which causes collisions with primary service and worsens channel imperfections. In such case erasures occur in addition to errors. In this chapter, the authors propose a new technique to correct erasures while keeping sensing time at a desired level. Based on polar code and low complexity decoding algorithm, the proposed technique exhibits for high code rates better performance in terms of bit error rate (BER) compared to two existing techniques based on other codes, namely low-density parity check (LDPC) and BCH.
Personnel Selection Criteria in Tourism Business
Authors: Yildirim Burcu Ilgaz , Bahar Ozan , Ilal Nur Çelik
Published: July 2018

Being one of the driving forces of social, economic, and cultural development, the tourism sector is of great importance in terms of developing countries in particular. In that regard, countries that want to get more shares from tourism movements have to follow the rapid developments in the sectorial sense and respond to changing customer expectations. In order to ensure high-quality service and guest satisfaction in tourism and therefore the continuity of the business, the qualifications of the people employed in the sector are extremely significant. There are many criteria and sub-criteria when employing the employees. Some of the main criteria discussed in the literature are communication skills, leadership skills, flexibility, decision making, communication skills, analytical skills, and consistency. The important thing is to evaluate and decide about which skill could be more important in which department. Within the scope of this research, personnel selection criteria in tourism business are evaluated. In the study, firstly the conceptual framework about personnel selection criteria is established and personnel selection criteria in tourism are determined in the light of this framework. Then, multi-criteria decision-making method ARAS is used to evaluate the alternatives in line with personnel selection criteria. As a result of the study, the findings obtained by the ARAS method are interpreted.
Gender Discrimination in Tourism Industry
Authors: Albayrak Aslı
Published: July 2018

Compared to the past, business life has considerably developed in any area in the last century. All of the goods and services producing enterprises have made very important developments by taking advantage of science and technology at every stage of consumption and post-consumption processes starting from production. However, it can be said that the most important of these developments is the entry of the female workforce into the business life in the twenty-first century. The involvement of women in business life has not only changed the forms of production and presentation of the enterprises but also led businesses to achieve a completely different perspective.
Smart Communities
Authors: Oliveira Nuno Ricardo
Published: July 2018

This chapter presents the ways in which researchers can promote their publications through academic social networks. In the academic world, the visibility of the scientific activity and the impact factor of the publications are extremely important, a challenging and difficult reality that researchers face when they start academic writing. In order to have greater visibility and notoriety in the academic and scientific world, it is necessary to have publications in journals with impact factor. Sharing publications through academic social networks also contributes to a wider recognition and visibility as a researcher. In a society where researchers are dismayed by the need for publications with impact factor, it is important to highlight the concern for an efficient use of academic social networks. Sharing articles through these networks will result in larger visibility of the scientific work of the researcher, projection of his or her scientific writing, and in a higher possibility of being cited by peers, thus enabling an h-index or i10.
An Intelligent Multi-Objective Framework of Pervasive Information Computing
Authors: Tiwari Basant , Tiwari Vivek
Published: July 2018

This article describes how electronic healthcare has been the key application of pervasive computing innovations to enhance healthcare quality and protect human lives. Specific patients of constant sicknesses and elderly individuals, by and large, may oblige continuous observing of their wellbeing status wherever they are. In this regard, remote patient monitoring technology plays the various important role through wearable devices to monitor patient's physiological figures. But, this must ensure some broad issues like, wearability, adaptability, interoperability, integration, security, and network efficiency. This article proposes a data-driven multi-layer architecture for pervasively remote patient monitoring that incorporates aforesaid issues. It enables the patient's care at the real time and supports anywhere and anytime requirement with using network infrastructure efficiently.
Causal Analysis of Software Development Attributes for Cloud Applications
Authors: Hasteer Nitasha , Bansal Abhay , Murthy B. K.
Published: July 2018

Cloud computing provides organizations the dynamic capability to deploy applications quickly on self-provision development platforms. In adopting a cloud-computing paradigm, the software development process leverages the use of cloud native features. This article highlights a cloud-based health insurance solution that enables consumers to purchase packages online with the objective of identifying attributes in the context of the development process while analyzing the association among the attributes. Exploratory factor analysis is used to identify the latent attributes. Their associations, in terms of causal relationship analysis, are investigated via DEMATEL. Results of factor analysis imply that agility, availability and adaptability are the underlying factors for cloud application development. The findings of the DEMATEL reveal that co-creative and collaborative development process, which embrace quick discovery and assembly of services in the cloud, are significant attributes that influence other attributes within the context of the cloud-based software development process.
An Investigation of the Return Risk and Liquidity Measure for Chinese Open-Ended Funds
Authors: Zhang Jingqi
Published: July 2018

So far, the fund industry has become one of the four backbones of the Chinese financial system, together with the banking industry, the security industry and the insurance industry. In addition, open-ended fund shares are the mainstream of the fund industry, and the product characteristics and operational characteristics of open-ended funds will lead to an unavoidable risk of return with liquidity measure. Therefore, based on the theories of financial investment, this research profile the risk return and liquidity characteristics of three different open-ended funds in China, which are helpful to making rational investments. This article selects three different kinds of funds with the relevant data from 2012to 2017 from the Huaxia Fund Management Co. Ltd., for each fund, the authors report the beta, Sharp Ratio, Information ratio and illiquidity. These risk-return features are discussed in the context of the different asset classes that each fund has invested, thus eventually obtaining a fund which has smaller relative liquidity risk and higher return after comparing. Hence, the investor can make the rational investment from the analysis of empirical results.
Unsupervised Estimation of Facial Expression Intensity for Emotional Scene Retrieval in Lifelog Videos
Authors: Sakaue Shota , Nomiya Hiroki , Hochin Teruhisa
Published: July 2018

This article describes how in order to facilitate the retrieval of impressive scenes from lifelog videos, a method to estimate the intensity of a facial expression of a person in a lifelog video is proposed. The previous work made it possible to estimate the facial expression intensity, but the previous method requires some training samples which should be manually and carefully selected. This makes the previous method quite inconvenient. This article attempts to solve this problem by introducing an unsupervised learning method. The proposed method estimates the facial expression intensity via a clustering on the basis of several facial features computed from the positional relationship of a number of facial feature points. For the evaluation of the proposed method, an experiment to estimate the facial expression intensity is performed using a lifelog video data set. The estimation performance of the proposed method is compared with that of the previous method.
PRISM
Authors: Kagawa Takuhiro , Saiki Sachio , Nakamura Masahide
Published: July 2018

This article describes how local governments in Japan recently provide security information services for residents, which deliver regional incident information using Email or Web. However, since the conventional services usually provide “one-for-all” information. users tend to miss important incidents within the flood of information. This article proposes a new security information service, called PRISM (Personalized Real-time Information with Security Map). For given incident information and user's living area, PRISM first computes severity of the incident, based on distance, time, and type of the incident. It then visualizes the incidents with the severity on a heat map. Thus, PRISM provides real-time personalized information adapted to individual situation of users. To illustrate the feasibility, we implement PRISM as a Web application using Hyogo Bouhan Net, and Kobe city facility open data.
Privacy Preserving Data Mining Using Time Series Data Aggregation
Authors: Reddi Sivaranjani
Published: July 2018

This article proposes a mechanism to provide privacy to mined results by assuming that the data is distributed across many nodes. The first objective includes mining the query results by the node in a cluster, communicating it to the cluster head, aggregating the data collected from all the cluster nodes and then communicating it to the group controller. The second objective is to incorporate privacy at each level of the clusters node: cluster head and the group controller level. The final objective is to provide a dynamic network feature, where the nodes can join or leave the distributed network without disturbing the network functionality. The proposed algorithm was implemented and validated in Java for its performance in terms of communication costs computational complexity.
Dynamic Data Replication Based on Tasks scheduling for Cloud Computing Environment
Authors: Kouidri Siham , Yagoubi Belabbas
Published: July 2018

Cloud computing provides IT resources (e.g., CPU, memory, network, storage, etc.) based on virtualization concepts and a pay-as-you-go principle. It comprises an accumulation of inter-related plus virtualized calculating resources which are managed by one or more amalgamated calculating resources. With the development of a computerized scientific workflow, the amount of data is increasing exponentially. Workflow scheduling and data replication have been considered the major challenges in cloud computing. Nevertheless, many researchers focus on scheduling or data replication separately. In this article, a combination of workflow scheduling based on the clustering of data and dynamic data replication strategies, has been introduced together and evaluates several performance metrics using a Cloudsim simulator. The aim of this proposed algorithm is to minimize the completion time and transfer time. The performance of this proposed algorithm has been evaluated using the CloudSim toolkit.
Implementing tablets to teach Reading in Grade 5
Authors: Maboe Ethel , Smith Cornelia G.A. , Banoobhai Mumthaz , Makgato Moses
Published: July 2018

Literacy is regarded as a fundamental skill for people to communicate successfully in all areas of life. In the light of the poor performance of learners, an investigation concerning reading is imperative to enhance literacy in South Africa. This study explores the use of tablets to enhance English reading among learners in Grade 5 from selected primary schools in Atteridgeville. The sample consisted of 12 learners, six teachers and six parents. Tablets form part of connectivity because modern technology is used to draw the learners into listening and reading English. Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge focuses on the use of modern technology to enhance teaching and learning in education. The study followed a qualitative approach involving a case study. Focus group interviews and observations were used as research instruments. The findings of the investigation reveal that learners using tablets have an advantage, because modern digital natives enjoy the use of technology to communicate and learn, which enhances their reading and learning. Tablets provide learners with the opportunity to experience technology physically and independently. Audiobooks used on tablets were a great help to facilitate reading development in English, especially with regard to vocabulary branching and correct pronunciation. Funds are still a problem because the use of technology does not happen in all educational environments.
Evaluación numérico-experimental del comportamiento histérico del coeficiente de rugosidad de los macrófitos
Authors: Sanz-Ramos M. , Bladé E. , Niñerola D. , Palau-Ibars A.
Published: July 2018

La problemática asociada al crecimiento masivo de macrófitos en el Bajo Ebro ha llevado a autoridades y gestores a examinar la posibilidad de paliar los efectos negativos que producen sobre el sistema hídrico, y los usos del agua, mediante la realización de avenidas controladas periódicas que provoquen su remoción. El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo principal evaluar el comportamiento hidráulico de los macrófitos mediante simulación numérica (modelo Iber) y su comparación con datos de campo, con el fin de explorar las mejores opciones posibles para diseñar avenidas controladas más eficaces. Para ello se han empleado diferentes relaciones entre el coeficiente de rugosidad y la altura de agua bajo tres enfoques distintos (constante, variable y variable con histéresis) a fin de calibrar el modelo numérico con los datos de campo. Se ha podido observar que el mejor ajuste se produce cuando dichas curvas son de tipo variable con histéresis (diferente rama de subida que de bajada).
Análisis numérico 3D de una rotura de presa utilizando el método VOF y el modelo de turbulencia LES
Authors: Sánchez-Cordero E. , Boix J. , Gómez M. , Bladé E.
Published: July 2018

El presente trabajo muestra un análisis numérico 3D del comportamiento del flujo de agua en una rotura de presa a escala de laboratorio. La simulación se realizó utilizando el software de dinámica de fluidos computacional (CFD) basado en el método de volúmenes finitos (FVM) – OpenFOAM. En el modelo numérico la turbulencia es tratada con la metodología LES (Large Eddy Simulation) y el método VOF (Volume of Fluid) es usado para la captura de la superficie libre del agua. Los resultados numéricos obtenidos se comparan con datos experimentales publicados haciendo uso de las variables de calado y presión. Los resultados muestran que la configuración del código numérico 3D es capaz de reproducir satisfactoriamente la variación temporal de las variables en estudio, con tendencias correctas y una alta correlación con los valores experimentales.
Barack Obama
Authors: Sarson Steven
Published: July 2018

Barack Obama’s politics are deeply informed by his profound knowledge and understanding of his country’s history. His articles, books, and speeches are replete with references to America’s past and how that relates to the present he sees and the future he envisions.

Exploring Obama’s own words, Steven Sarson examines his interpretation of American history from colonial times to the present, showing how Obama sees American history as beginning with the “common creed” of equality and liberty proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence and the “more perfect union” created by the Constitution. He analyses Obama’s understanding of the colonies, revolution, and early nation, slavery and the civil war, segregation and civil rights, economy and society, Native Americans and foreign policy. An epilogue explores how Obama personifies the American dream through the stories of individuals, including his own.

A unique and fascinating take on the past and how we interpret it, this book will appeal to all students and scholars of American history, as well as anyone interested in Obama’s presidency.
Aerosol hygroscopic growth, contributing factors and impact on haze events in a severely polluted region in northern China
Authors: Chen Jun , Li Zhanqing , Lv Min , Wang Yuying , Wang Wei , Zhang Yingjie , Wang Haofei , Yan Xing , Sun Yele , Cribb Maureen
Published: July 2018

Abstract. The hygroscopic growth of aerosol particles is a key factor of air pollution because it can significantly reduce visibility. In order to better understand the impact of the hygroscopic growth effect on haze events and contributing factors, we made use of rich measurements during an intensive field campaign conducted in Xingtai, Hebei province of China that has suffered from the most serious pollution in the Northern China Plain. Key measurements are from Raman lidar and ground-based instruments such as a GrayWolf 6-channel handheld particle/mass meter for atmospheric particulate matter that have diameters less than 1 μm and 2.5 μm (PM1 and PM2.5, respectively), aerosol chemical speciation monitor (ACSM), and a hygroscopic tandem differential mobility analyzer (H-TDMA). The evolution of PM1 and PM2.5 agreed well with that of the water vapor content due to the aerosol hygroscopic growth effect. Two cases were selected to further analyze the effects of aerosol particle hygroscopic growth on haze events. The lidar-estimated aerosol hygroscopic enhancement factor during a pollution event (Case II) was greater than that during a relatively clean period (Case I) with similar relative humidity (RH): 80–91 %. The hygroscopic growth was fitted by the Kasten model whose parameter b differ considerably: 0.9346 vs. 0.1000 for cases II and I respectively. The aerosol acidity value of Case II (1.50) was greater than that of Case I (1.35) due to different amounts of inorganics such as NH4NO3, NH4HSO4, and (NH4)2SO4, consistent with the difference in the aerosol hygroscopicity parameter κ calculated from the chemical species of PM1 obtained by the ACSM. Data from the H-TDMA showed that all of the aerosol particle size hygroscopic growth factors in each particle size category (40, 80, 110, 150, and 200 nm) at different RH (80–91 %) during Case II were higher than those during Case I. Under the same water vapor conditions, aerosol hygroscopic growth was one of the major factors contributing to heavy haze pollution. Concerning aerosol chemical composition, nitrate was the primary component contributing to aerosol hygroscopicity over Xingtai.
An evaluation of SMOS L-band vegetation optical depth (L-VOD) data sets: high sensitivity of L-VOD to above-ground biomass in Africa
Authors: Rodríguez-Fernández Nemesio J. , Mialon Arnaud , Mermoz Stephane , Bouvet Alexandre , Richaume Philippe , Al Bitar Ahmad , Al-Yaari Amen , Brandt Martin , Kaminski Thomas , Le Toan Thuy , Kerr Yann H. , Wigneron Jean-Pierre
Published: July 2018

Abstract. The vegetation optical depth (VOD) measured at microwave frequencies is related to the vegetation water content and provides information complementary to visible/infrared vegetation indices. This study is devoted to the characterization of a new VOD data set obtained from SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) satellite observations at L-band (1.4 GHz). Three different SMOS L-band VOD (L-VOD) data sets (SMOS level 2, level 3 and SMOS-IC) were compared with data sets on tree height, visible/infrared indexes (NDVI, EVI), mean annual precipitation and above-ground biomass (AGB) for the African continent. For all relationships, SMOS-IC showed the lowest dispersion and highest correlation. Overall, we found a strong (R > 0.85) correlation with no clear sign of saturation between L-VOD and four AGB data sets. The relationships between L-VOD and the AGB data sets were linear per land cover class but with a changing slope depending on the class type, which makes it a global non-linear relationship. In contrast, the relationship linking L-VOD to tree height (R = 0.87) was close to linear. For vegetation classes other than evergreen broadleaf forest, the annual mean of L-VOD spans a range from 0 to 0.7 and it is linearly correlated with the average annual precipitation. SMOS L-VOD showed higher sensitivity to AGB compared to NDVI and K/X/C-VOD (VOD measured at 19, 10.7 and 6.9 GHz). The results showed that, although the spatial resolution of L-VOD is coarse ( ∼ 40 km), the high temporal frequency and sensitivity to AGB makes SMOS L-VOD a very promising indicator for large-scale monitoring of the vegetation status, in particular biomass.
ESM-SnowMIP: Assessing models and quantifying snow-related
climate feedbacks
Authors: Krinner Gerhard , Derksen Chris , Essery Richard , Flanner Mark , Hagemann Stefan , Clark Martyn , Hall Alex , Rott Helmut , Brutel-Vuilmet Claire , Kim Hyungjun , Ménard Cécile B. , Mudryk Lawrence , Thackeray Chad , Wang Libo , Arduini Gabriele , Balsamo Gianpaolo , Bartlett Paul , Boike Julia , Boone Aaron , Chéruy Frédérique , Colin Jeanne , Cuntz Matthias , Dai Yongjiu , Decharme Bertrand , Derry Jeff , Ducharne Agnès , Dutra Emanuel , Fang Xing , Fierz Charles , Ghattas Josephine , Gusev Yeugeniy , Haverd Vanessa , Kontu Anna , Lafaysse Matthieu , Law Rachel , Lawrence Dave , Li Weiping , Marke Thomas , Marks Danny , Nasonova Olga , Nitta Tomoko , Niwano Masahi , Pomeroy John , Raleigh Mark S. , Schaedler Gerd , Semenov Vladimir , Smirnova Tanya , Stacke Tobias , Strasser Ulrich , Svenson Sean , Turkov Dmitry , Wang Tao , Wever Nander , Yuan Hua , Zhou Wenyan
Published: July 2018

Abstract. This paper describes ESM-SnowMIP, an international coordinated modelling effort to evaluate current snow schemes against local and global observations in a wide variety of settings, including snow schemes that are included in Earth System Models. The project aims at identifying crucial processes and snow characteristics that need to be improved in snow models in the context of local- and global-scale modeling. A further objective of ESM-SnowMIP is to better quantify snow-related feedbacks in the Earth system. ESM-SnowMIP is tightly linked to the Land Surface, Snow and Soil Moisture Model Intercomparison Project, which in turn is part of the 6th phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6).
Testing an optimality-based model of rooting zone water storage capacity in temperate forests
Authors: Speich Matthias J. R. , Lischke Heike , Zappa Massimiliano
Published: July 2018

Abstract. Rooting zone water storage capacity Sr is a crucial parameter for
modeling hydrology, ecosystem gas exchange and vegetation dynamics. Despite
its importance, this parameter is still poorly constrained and subject to
high uncertainty. We tested the analytical, optimality-based model of
effective rooting depth proposed by Guswa (2008, 2010) with regard to its
applicability for parameterizing Sr in temperate forests. The
model assumes that plants dimension their rooting systems to maximize net
carbon gain. Results from this model were compared against values obtained by
calibrating a local water balance model against latent heat flux and soil
moisture observations from 15 eddy covariance sites. Then, the effect of
optimality-based Sr estimates on the performance of local water
balance predictions was assessed during model validation. The agreement between calibrated and optimality-based Sr varied
greatly across climates and forest types. At a majority of cold and temperate
sites, the Sr estimates were similar for both methods, and the
water balance model performed equally well when parameterized with calibrated
and with optimality-based Sr. At spruce-dominated sites,
optimality-based Sr were much larger than calibrated values.
However, this did not affect the performance of the water balance model. On
the other hand, at the Mediterranean sites considered in this study,
optimality-based Sr were consistently much smaller than
calibrated values. The same was the case at pine-dominated sites on sandy
soils. Accordingly, performance of the water balance model was much worse at
these sites when optimality-based Sr were used. This rooting
depth parameterization might be used in dynamic (eco)hydrological models
under cold and temperate conditions, either to estimate Sr
without calibration or as a model component. This could greatly increase the
reliability of transient climate-impact assessment studies. On the other
hand, the results from this study do not warrant the application of this
model to Mediterranean climates or on very coarse soils. While the cause of
these mismatches cannot be determined with certainty, it is possible that
trees under these conditions follow rooting strategies that differ from the
carbon budget optimization assumed by the model.
Assessing Variability of Wind Speed: Comparison and Validation of 27 Methodologies
Authors: Lee Joseph C. Y. , Fields M. Jason , Lundquist Julie K.
Published: July 2018

Abstract. Because wind resources vary from year to year, the inter-monthly and inter-annual variability (IAV) of wind speed is a key component of the overall uncertainty in the wind resource assessment process thereby causing challenges to wind-farm operators and owners. We present a critical assessment of several common approaches for calculating variability by applying each of the methods to the same 37-year monthly wind-speed and energy-production time series to highlight the differences between these methods. We then assess the accuracy of the variability calculations by correlating the wind-speed variability estimates to the variabilities of actual wind-farm energy production. We recommend the Robust Coefficient of Variation (RCoV) for systematically estimating variability, and we underscore its advantages as well as the importance of using a statistically robust and resistant method. Using normalized spread metrics, including RCoV, high variability of monthly mean wind speeds at a location effectively denotes strong fluctuations of monthly total energy generations, and vice versa. Meanwhile, the wind-speed IAVs computed with annual-mean data fail to adequately represent energy-production IAVs of wind farms. Finally, we find that estimates of energy-generation variability require 10 ± 3 years of monthly mean wind-speed records to achieve 90 % statistical confidence. This paper also provides guidance on the spatial distribution of wind-speed RCoV.
Developing a Cryptocurrency Assessment Framework: Function over Form
Authors: Burnie Andrew , Burnie James , Henderson Andrew
Published: July 2018

The rise of cryptocurrency as a new sui generis asset class creates a need for a new classification scheme to cover the wide range of functionality for which tokens can be used. By differentiating tokens based on their functional attributes, cryptocurrency tokens can be categorised into crypto-transaction tokens (which act as a cash substitute); crypto-fuel tokens (which underpin generic blockchain applications); and crypto-voucher tokens (which can be exchanged for a predefined asset). This classification is applied to identify important issues when considering whether to participate in a cryptocurrency system, such as the impact of potential forks, token supply expectations and the level of dependence on a few operators (entity-dependence). For crypto-transaction tokens (and crypto-fuel tokens if used in a similar or overlapping role) it shows the importance of the token being seen as a “better” form of money. For crypto-fuel tokens, the popularity of blockchain applications and the utility of the crypto-fuel system in application development is vital. For crypto-voucher tokens, the value of the underlying asset, the token’s exchangeability for that asset and the importance of a digital representation should be considered by participants. The interplay between fundamentals and speculation as drivers of price is considered.An erratum to this article has been published at as DOI: https://doi.org/10.5195/ledger.2018.151.
Refusing to Wait: Just-in-Time Teaching
Authors: Cahill Ann J. , Mould Tom
Published: July 2018

Shortly after the presidential election of 2016, a group of faculty and staff at Elon University committed to developing and offering a one-credit course  designed to provide students with intellectual and practical skills that would be useful in facing contemporary social and political challenges. This article describes the process of developing the course, its structure and content, and its effects on the students, faculty, and staff who participated in it. The article also discusses strengths and weaknesses of the course design as a means of helping to ensure the success of any future endeavors. The course, which eventually came to be titled “Refusing to Wait: Intellectual and Practical Resources for Troubled Times,” is an example of how institutions of higher education can respond quickly and effectively to political developments, while keeping student learning at the center of their mission.
Teaching 'Trump Feminists'
Authors: Josephson Tristan
Published: July 2018

This article takes up the question of how to develop effective strategies for engaging conservative students who feel under attack in feminist classrooms. Every semester I teach a Women’s Studies course that introduces students to the history and breadth of contemporary feminist social movements, with a focus on feminist struggles that center anti-racist, queer, and economic justice analytical frameworks. As a general education course, listed in the university course catalog under the rather generic title of “Introduction to Women’s Movements,” this class attracts students with a range of political perspectives from a variety of academic majors. While the majority of the students tend to enter the class with relatively liberal analyses of gender and racial oppression, a significant minority of students have more conservative views. Dealing with resistant and conservative students in women and gender studies is not a new phenomenon, especially in my position teaching at a regional comprehensive public university in northern California. While the university administration is supportive of students of color and undocumented students, it is also heavily invested in discourses of civility and ‘free speech.’ The recent election cycle and the current Trump presidency have empowered the more conservative students in my classes to mobilize this language to claim that they feel ‘unsafe’ in class and on campus. The appropriation of feminist and queer discourses of ‘safe space’ by students on the right to position themselves as being under attack and vulnerable presents a series of pedagogical challenges. I challenge explicit racist, misogynist, homophobic, and transphobic comments in class and my course readings rigorously challenge these forms of bias. Personally and politically I am committed to making sure that my students who are actually under threat – undocumented students, students of color, queer and trans students – are receiving the support that they need. However, I am also invested in challenging all of my students and trying to make my classrooms into spaces of transformational learning. I explore the question of dissent in feminist classrooms through the problem of conservative students who deploy rhetorics of safety in ways that flatten out power relations and systemic oppression. How to respond to students who proudly proclaim they voted for Trump and consider themselves feminists, or to students who tearfully confess they feel unsafe on campus because of their political views? What pedagogical strategies actively engage conservative students rather than silence and alienate them? How can instructors problematize the notion of ‘safety’ for conservative students to help them develop more critical understandings of structural violence and precarity?
Educating Educators in the Age of Trump
Authors: Kitzmiller Erika
Published: July 2018

This essay will outline what we did in the 15-week course, Education in the Age of Trump, and will document the ways in which it made us all vulnerable. It will analyze the possibilities and perils of creating an overtly political classroom in an era of political polarization and widespread fear.
Trump, J.K. Rowling, and Confirmation Bias: An Experiential Lesson in Fake News
Authors: Fisch Audrey
Published: July 2018

This articles explores ways to incorporate the issue of fake news into my teaching.
Preaching to the Choir: Turning Anger Into Engagement at Urban Community Colleges
Authors: Schwartz Jesse W.
Published: July 2018

In the wake of the election, I attempt to channel my students' understandable anger, fear, and rage into activism (broadly concieved) outside the classroom.
The ABCs of Socialism by Bhaskar Sunkara
Authors: Szetela Adam
Published: July 2018

Book Review of The ABC's of Socialism by Bhaskar Sunkara
Podcasts in an Alternative High School
Authors: Murphy Jack
Published: July 2018

Teaching note on creating a podcast as a fresh final project for writing classes.
Teaching High School Cultural Studies in the Age of Trump
Authors: Cashmere DJ
Published: July 2018

In the fall of 2016, I began my third year teaching Cultural Studies Seminar at Chicago Bulls College Prep (CBCP), where I’d been working as a teacher since 2010. CBCP is a campus of the Noble Network of Charter Schools and is located on Chicago’s Near West Side. The school serves a population of students that is roughly 2/3 Latino and 1/3 African American, and about 90% of CBCP’s students receive free or reduced-price lunch. Every year, 100% of seniors are accepted to college. I had first devised the course in the fall of 2014, when my principal and assistant principal gave me permission to re-focus the 11th-grade literacy class I was teaching. I wanted to specifically study racism, classism, sexism, and heterosexism in America, with an eye toward how those systems operate and how they can be—and have been—resisted. We put our heads together and came up with the name “Cultural Studies Seminar.” The essay describes teaching the course during the semester of the 2016 U.S. Presidential election.
Fasces Americae and Walt Whitman’s House
Authors: Marchant Fred
Published: July 2018

Poetry by Fred Marchant
Kill and Drill
Authors: Hernandez Jennifer
Published: July 2018

Poetry by Jennifer Hernandez
Review of The Well-Ordered Universe: The Philosophy of Margaret Cavendish by Deborah Boyle
Authors: Cunning David
Published: July 2018

A review of Deborah Boyle's recent book The Well-Ordered Universe: The Philosophy of Margaret Cavendish (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2017).
La gestión represiva de la violencia en el año 2015 en El Salvador
Authors: Reyes Nohel M.
Published: July 2018

En el año 2015 se registró en El Salvador una tasa de 103 homicidios intencionales por cada 100,000 habitantes, posicionándose como el país más violento de América Latina. En este contexto, el objetivo del presente artículo es analizar la estrategia de represión implementada por las organizaciones públicas para combatir la violencia criminal. Para esto, fue realizado un levantamiento de datos cualitativos y cuantitativos a través de fuentes secundarias, entre las cuales destacan trabajos de periodismo investigativo. Identificando que las agencias cometidas por el Ejecutivo Salvadoreño, así como por dos organizaciones centrales dentro del sistema de justicia penal, la Sala de lo Constitucional de la Corte Suprema de Justicia y la Policía Nacional Civil, parecen apuntar a una misma estrategia.

Realidad y Reflexión Año 18, No 47, 48 Enero-Junio 2018; pp.92-107
Financiamiento de la educación en El Salvador: un análisis más allá del porcentaje del PIB. Período 2000-2018
Authors: Candray Jeser C.
Published: July 2018

El objetivo de este artículo es actualizar algunos indicadores relacionados al financiamiento de la educación en El Salvador. Esta necesidad surge debido a que el Banco Central de Reserva de El Salvador presentó el año 2018 un nuevo Sistema de Cuentas Nacionales (SCN) que modificó la medición del Producto Interno Bruto (PIB) de El Salvador. Para tal situación se presenta en primer lugar los datos actualizados en porcentajes según el Presupuesto General de la Nación (PGN) y del PIB del presupuesto del Ministerio de Educación (MINED) desde el año 2000 hasta el año 2018; en segundo lugar, se presenta a mayor detalle los presupuestos del MINED de los años 2004, 2009, 2014 y 2018 con el objetivo de verificar su estructura de gastos; y por último, este artículo presenta los datos de inversión en educación según el PGN y PIB de la República de Costa Rica en los años 2005, 2010 y 2015 con el objetivo de traer otros datos que ayuden al entendimiento de ésta temática.

Realidad y Reflexión Año 18, No 47, 48 Enero-Junio 2018; pp.122-146
Macroeconomic Drivers of Stock Market Development: Evidence From Jordan
Authors: Al-Tarawneh Alaaeddin , Al-Assaf Ghazi
Published: July 2018

This paper investigates the macroeconomic drivers of the stock market development in Jordan during the period 1978-2016. The macroeconomic variables are represented by remittance inflows, investment, banking sector development, and level of income. The paper employs the ARDL bounds testing procedure to estimate the potential short run and long run relationships between the stock market development indicator and macroeconomic variables. The empirical results show that the macroeconomic variables positively and significantly affect the development of stock market in Jordan, except remittances which has a negative effect on the stock market development indicator. All signs and magnitudes are consistent with the literature.
Investigation of Smartphone Addiction Effect on Recreational and Physical Activity and Educational Success
Authors: Gumusgul Osman
Published: July 2018

The aim of the study was to investigate smartphone addiction effect on physical activity, recreational sportsparticipation and educational success. In total, 255 students studying at Dumlupinar University and using smartphone(136 male and 119 female) voluntarily participated to the study. Within the scope of this study, SmartphoneAddiction Scale-Short Version (SAS-SV) (Noyan, Darcin, Nurmedov, Yilmaz & Dilbaz, 2015) was applied to theparticipants. To the data gathered from the participants, parametric tests as Independent Sample T-Test and ANOVAwere applied (p<0.05). According to the results there is significant difference between smartphone addiction ofparticipants and gender, age and recreational sports (p<0,05); but there is no significant difference betweensmartphone addiction and academic success and recreational activities practiced (p>0,05). It is considered thatparticipants with higher academic grades may have higher smartphone addiction score because of using smartphonesas teaching tool in classrooms. Participants practicing physical and recreational sports have less smartphoneaddiction score and it can give a clue that smartphones are constraints for physical activities and this may be a reasonand taking precaution subject for a sedentary lifestyle and unhealthy individuals.
Correlation Between Thinking Styles and Teaching Styles of Prospective Mathematics Teachers
Authors: Apaydin Beyza Balamir , Cenberci Selin
Published: July 2018

Increasing the quality of education is based on changes thinking and teaching styles. Considering variance ofthinking styles and teaching styles person to person, identifying thinking styles and teaching styles of prospectivemathematics teachers is very important. So, the aim of this study is to determine the correlation between thinking andteaching styles of prospective mathematics teachers and to examine thinking styles and teaching styles of theprospective mathematics teachers by considering some demographic characteristics. The sample of the researchconsisted of 80 prospective mathematics teachers who studied at the Mathematics Education Department of AhmetKeleşoğlu Education Faculty at Necmettin Erbakan University. Relational screening model was used in analysis ofthe data. “Thinking Styles Scale” which was developed by Sternberg and Wagner (1992) and adapted to Turkish byBuluş (2006) and “Teaching Style Inventory” developed by Grasha (1994) and adapted to Turkish by Uredi (2006)were used as data collection tool in the research. According to the conclusion of the research, a positive moderatecorrelation was found between thinking styles and teaching styles of prospective mathematics teachers.