cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Structure in Community College Career-Technical Programs: A Qualitative Analysis
Creators: name: Van Noy, Michelle
name: Trimble, Madeline Joy
name: Jenkins, Paul Davis
name: Barnett, Elisabeth
name: Wachen, John
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2012
Subjects: Community college students--Education
Community colleges
Education--Administration
School management and organization

description: Using data obtained from interviews and program websites at Washington community and technical colleges, the authors of this study examine the structure of community college career-technical programs in allied health, business and marketing, computer and information studies, and mechanics and repair. A framework for structure with four dimensions—program alignment, program prescription, information quality, and active program advising and support—is used to evaluate the practices of relatively high- and low-performing colleges within each field of study. The authors reviewed the websites of all programs at high- and low-performing colleges in each of these fields of study and conducted case studies on individual programs from these fields, interviewing faculty, administrators, and counselors to learn more about the dimensions of structure in the programs. The allied health, computer and information science, and mechanics and repair programs were all found to be highly structured; the business and marketing programs were found to have a moderate level of structure. Overall, given that all of the programs were at least moderately structured, there was limited evidence of a connection between program structure and program performance.
Higher D or Li: Probes of Physics beyond the Standard Model
Creators: name: Olive, Keith A.
name: Petitjean, Patrick
name: Vangioni, Elisabeth
name: Silk, Joseph
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Standard Big Bang Nucleosynthesis at the baryon density determined by the microwave anisotropy spectrum predicts an excess of \li7 compared to observations by a factor of 4-5. In contrast, BBN predictions for D/H are somewhat below (but within ~2 σ) of the weighted mean of observationally determined values from quasar absorption systems. Solutions to the \li7 problem which alter the nuclear processes during or subsequent to BBN, often lead to a significant increase in the deuterium abundance consistent with the highest values of D/H seen in absorption systems. Furthermore, the observed D/H abundances show considerable dispersion. Here, we argue that those systems with D/H \simeq 4 \times 10^{-5} may be more representative of the primordial abundance and as a consequence, those systems with lower D/H would necessarily have been subject to local processes of deuterium destruction. This can be accounted for by models of cosmic chemical evolution able to destroy in situ Deuterium due to the fragility of this isotope.
description: 22 pages, 8 figures
Additional file 1 of Genome-wide identification, characterization and expression profiling of gibberellin metabolism genes in jute
Creators: name: Honi, Ummay
name: Amin, Md. Ruhul
name: Kabir, Shah Md Tamim
name: Bashar, Kazi Khayrul
name: Moniruzzaman, Md.
name: Jahan, Rownak
name: Jahan, Sharmin
name: Haque, Md. Samiul
name: Islam, Shahidul
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Genetics
subject: FOS: Biological sciences

description: Additional file 1: Table S1. Accession numbers of GA metabolism genes used in this paper. Table S2. Multilevel consensus sequences for the MEME defined motifs observed among early steps GA biosynthesis genes from rice, Arabidopsis, banana and jute. Table S3. Multilevel consensus sequences for the MEME defined motifs observed among GA oxidases from rice, Arabidopsis, banana and jute. Table S4. Activities of cis-acting elements in the promoter region of GA biosynthesis genes. Table S5. Primer sequences of the reference gene and GA metabolism genes for qRT-PCR in this study.
Examining the Effects of a Knowledge-Based Intervention about Autism Spectrum Disorder on the Knowledge, Empathy, and Conative Attitudes of Typically Developing Students
Creators: name: Johnson, Sarah Emily
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2018
Subjects: subject: Autism Spectrum Disorder
subject: ASD
subject: empathy
subject: Conative Attitudes
subject: Intervention
subject: Educational Psychology

description: Few studies to date have attempted to improve the social standing of students with ASD by designing interventions that affect the perceptions of typically developing peers. The purpose of this study was to determine if a brief, knowledge-based intervention about Autism Spectrum Disorder improved typically developing students’ general empathy, knowledge of ASD, and conative attitudes toward peers with ASD. Forty 6th-grade students from two charter schools formed the waitlist control and experimental groups. Measures of knowledge, empathy, and conative attitudes were administered pre-test, posttest, and post-posttest. Post-intervention, the means of the three questionnaires for the experimental group were not greater than the waitlist control group. The means of the experimental group did not significantly increase from pre- to posttest; although knowledge of ASD for the experimental group increased, the difference was not significant. Conative attitudes toward peers with ASD decreased significantly for the experimental group. These findings and future implications for research will be discussed.
A Review of Process Innovations in the Cell Finishing of Lithium-Ion Batteries in Large-Scale Production
Creators: name: Plumeyer, Jan Felix
name: Menebröker, Nils
name: Clever, Henning
name: Kokozinski, Lukas
name: Wessel, Saskia
name: Heimes, Heiner Hans
name: Kampker, Achim
Publisher: name: Hannover : publish-Ing.
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Konferenzschrift
subject: Lithium-Ion Battery Cell Production
subject: Cell Finishing
subject: Cell Conditioning
subject: Formation
subject: Soaking
subject: 2nd Filling
subject: Aging
subject: Process Innovations
subject: Large Scale Production
subject: Dewey Decimal Classification::600 | Technik::620 | Ingenieurwissenschaften und Maschinenbau

description: The European Union's ambitious climate targets will make climate-friendly storage technologies essential. More than any other, this decade could be marked by battery technology, especially the lithium-ion battery (LIB). In addition, various trends in mobility and consumer electronics are spurring the cross-industry use of this secondary storage device. As a result, the need for additional production capacities is rising, and the need for vertical integration of the value chain of LIB in Europe. In current forecasts, Europe has a considerable deficit between battery cell demand and production capacities. The deficit highlights the need for additional capacities and effort to develop new production systems. Furthermore, production technologies remain challenging, as high reject rates are expected initially, and a reduction of costs at the battery cell level is mandatory. Formation and aging as part of the cell finishing are the production steps with the highest processing time and space requirements. The formation can take up to 24 hours, and the subsequent aging between 8 to 36 days. It thus represents the biggest bottleneck. In large-scale production, various process innovations are being worked on, depending on the degree of automation. However, a systematic study of the impact of these process innovations is hardly ever carried out. Various approaches are conceivable here: Innovative formation protocols, optimized plant technology, flexible goods carrier systems and other process-related innovations. This paper provides researchers and industry experts with meaningful insights into the status quo and future developments in the cell finishing of battery cells through a comprehensive research approach. These trends will be presented and systematically evaluated to identify the most significant levers to reduce costs and time. It reviews process innovations in cell finishing to approach this research gap and aims to answer how these innovations will benefit and shape the large-scale production of lithium-ion battery cells.
Stackable Credentials: Awards for the Future?
Creators: name: Bailey, Thomas R.
name: Belfield, Clive
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2017
Subjects: College students--Employment
Community colleges
Education, Higher
Degrees, Academic--Economic aspects

description: Stackable credentials—sequential postsecondary awards that allow individuals to progress on a career path—can enhance the labor market prospects of middle-skill workers. In light of recent labor market changes, these credentials may represent an important buffer against job displacement. However, very little evidence exists as to what constitutes a stackable credential and how many persons have obtained them. The authors distinguish three types of stacking—progression, supplemental, and independent. Using national, survey, and college-system-level datasets, the authors estimate that between 3 and 5 percent of the college-educated population have stackable credentials. However, there are several substantial empirical challenges in identifying stackable credentials related to the ordering of awards and to the degree of skill complementarity across awards. Significantly, the authors find that general vocational awards—earned at any institution and typically not credit-bearing—are often conflated with stackable certificates. The incidence of these awards is far greater than of stackable credentials. A review of the evidence shows that certificates convey modestly positive gains in earnings, but there is no evidence that stacking yields earnings gains. Finally, despite frequent changes in skills needs across the economy, the authors identify barriers to the expansion of stackable credentials.
Evaluating the inhibitory effect of eight compounds from Daphne papyracea against the NS3/4A protease of hepatitis C virus
Creators: name: Wei, Ying
name: Yang, Jian
name: Sakharkar, Meena Kishore
name: Wang, Xia
name: Liu, Qin
name: Du, Jiang
name: Zhang, Jing-Jie
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Biochemistry
subject: Microbiology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Pharmacology
subject: Biotechnology
subject: Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Sociology
subject: FOS: Sociology
subject: Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Information Systems not elsewhere classified
subject: Infectious Diseases
subject: FOS: Health sciences
subject: Virology

description: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a global threat to human health with an estimated 1.75 million new cases in 2015. Our previous studies showed that the ethyl acetate extraction of Daphne papyracea exhibited an inhibitory effect towards the HCV NS3/4A protease and eight compounds were identified from the extract. In this study, we investigated which of the eight compounds was responsible for the inhibitory effect of the extract against the HCV NS3/4A protease. From both molecular docking and enzyme inhibition studies, (+)-usnic acid was shown to be the most active compound and could be used as a lead compound in developing novel anti-HCV agents.
Intensity Mapping of the [CII] Fine Structure Line during the Epoch of Reionization
Creators: name: Gong, Yan
name: Cooray, Asantha
name: Silva, Marta
name: Santos, Mario G.
name: Bock, James
name: Bradford, C. Matt
name: Zemcov, Michael
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The atomic CII fine-structure line is one of the brightest lines in a typical star-forming galaxy spectrum with a luminosity ~ 0.1% to 1% of the bolometric luminosity. It is potentially a reliable tracer of the dense gas distribution at high redshifts and could provide an additional probe to the era of reionization. By taking into account of the spontaneous, stimulated and collisional emission of the CII line, we calculate the spin temperature and the mean intensity as a function of the redshift. When averaged over a cosmologically large volume, we find that the CII emission from ionized carbon in individual galaxies is larger than the signal generated by carbon in the intergalactic medium (IGM). Assuming that the CII luminosity is proportional to the carbon mass in dark matter halos, we also compute the power spectrum of the CII line intensity at various redshifts. In order to avoid the contamination from CO rotational lines at low redshift when targeting a CII survey at high redshifts, we propose the cross-correlation of CII and 21-cm line emission from high redshifts. To explore the detectability of the CII signal from reionization, we also evaluate the expected errors on the CII power spectrum and CII-21 cm cross power spectrum based on the design of the future milimeter surveys. We note that the CII-21 cm cross power spectrum contains interesting features that captures physics during reionization, including the ionized bubble sizes and the mean ionization fraction, which are challenging to measure from 21-cm data alone. We propose an instrumental concept for the reionization CII experiment targeting the frequency range of $\sim$ 200 to 300 GHz with 1, 3 and 10 meter apertures and a bolometric spectrometer array with 64 independent spectral pixels with about 20,000 bolometers.
description: 17 pages, 13 figures, 2 tables. Version accepted for publication in ApJ. Includes an Appendix outlining the three-dimensional noise power spectrum relevant for spectral intensity fluctuation experiments
Stepping Stones to a Degree: The Impact of Enrollment Pathways and Milestones on Community College Student Outcomes
Creators: name: Calcagno, Juan Carlos
name: Crosta, Peter Michael
name: Bailey, Thomas R.
name: Jenkins, Paul Davis
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2006
Subjects: Community college students--Education
Community colleges

description: This paper presents findings from a study of the experiences and outcomes of older and younger community college students. We developed a discrete-time hazard model using longitudinal transcript data on a cohort of first-time community college students in Florida to compare the impact of enrollment pathways (such as remediation) and enrollment milestones (such as attaining a certain number of credits) on educational outcomes of older students—those who entered college for the first time at age 25 or later—with those of traditional-age students. Results suggest that reaching milestones such as obtaining 20 credits or completing 50 percent of a program is a more important positive factor affecting graduation probabilities for younger students than it is for older students. We also found that although enrollment in remedial courses decreases the odds of graduating for all students, older students who enroll in remediation are less negatively affected than are younger ones who do the same.
Bounded Width Dichotomies in Constraint Satisfaction Problems
Creators: name: Liprandi, Maximiliano
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2018
Subjects: subject: Education--Mathematics

description: In this thesis we examine the connection between structures with bounded width, polymorphisms and pebble games. There has been extensive work on trying to prove the dichotomy conjecture for finite structures, namely, the Constraint Satisfaction Problem (CSP) of a finite structure is either in P or NP-complete. We are interested in finding classes in which a stronger dichotomy exists; namely, where every structure has either bounded width or a hard CSP. We call this kind of dichotomy a bounded width dichotomy. We will investigate properties of polymorphisms of structures with bounded width, and use this to look at classes of directed graphs with a bounded width dichotomy.
Transition Mean Values of Shifted Convolution Sums
Creators: name: Petrow, Ian
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Number Theory (math.NT)
subject: FOS: Mathematics

description: Let f be a classical holomorphic cusp form for SL_2(Z) of weight k which is a normalized eigenfunction for the Hecke algebra, and let λ(n) be its eigenvalues. In this paper we study "shifted convolution sums" of the eigenvalues λ(n) after averaging over many shifts h and obtain asymptotic estimates. The result is somewhat surprising: one encounters a transition region depending on the ratio of the square of the length of the average over h to the length of the shifted convolution sum. The phenomenon is similar to that encountered by Conrey, Farmer and Soundararajan in their 2000 paper Transition Mean Values of Real Characters, and the connection of both results to Eisenstein series and multiple Dirichlet series is discussed.
description: 14 pages
Additional file 2 of Genome-wide identification, characterization and expression profiling of gibberellin metabolism genes in jute
Creators: name: Honi, Ummay
name: Amin, Md. Ruhul
name: Kabir, Shah Md Tamim
name: Bashar, Kazi Khayrul
name: Moniruzzaman, Md.
name: Jahan, Rownak
name: Jahan, Sharmin
name: Haque, Md. Samiul
name: Islam, Shahidul
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Genetics
subject: FOS: Biological sciences

description: Additional file 2: Figure S1. Multiple alignments of GA20 oxidases from jute. (Green colored box shows GA substrate binding site, brown colored shows 2-oxoglutarate-binding motif (LPWKET), black colored boxes show Fe2+-binding motif). Figure S2. Multiple alignments of GA3 oxidases from jute. (Black colored boxes show the Fe2+-binding motif). Figure S3. Multiple alignments of C-19 GA2 oxidases from jute. (Black colored boxes show the Fe2+-binding motif). Figure S4. Multiple alignments of C-20 GA2 oxidases from jute. (Black colored boxes show the Fe2+-binding motif). Figure S5.Cis-acting elements present in the promoter region of GA biosynthetic genes. Cis-acting elements responsible for plant hormone regulation (a) for plant growth and development (b) for biotic and abiotic stress response (c) for promoter function (d). 1000 bp upstream sequence from the start point was considered. Figure S6. Heat map showing relative expression of genes involved in GA biosynthesis. Samples were taken from 4-day-old seedlings, fiber cells, very young seedlings before bolting and fiber cells. The heat map of normalized RNA-seq data was prepared from three biological replicates from fiber cells and whole seedlings of C. olitorius and C. capsularis. Gene expression was measured by quantified transcription levels (fragments per kilobase of exon model per million mapped reads, FPKM) derived from RNA-seq analysis. Heat scale, log2 (FPKM). In order to calculate the log2 (FPKM) values of individual genes, all of the original FPKM values were added by a pseudo-count of 1.
Operational concepts for the deployment of AI-supported maintenance strategies at Distribution System Operators to enable the energy and mobility transition
Creators: name: Kandiah, Kajan
name: Frehen, Lars
name: Stroh, Max-Ferdinand
name: Stich, Volker
Publisher: name: Hannover : publish-Ing.
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Konferenzschrift
subject: Predictive Maintenance
subject: Artificial Intelligence
subject: Distribution System Operator
subject: Operating concepts
subject: Energy transition
subject: Mobility transition
subject: Dewey Decimal Classification::600 | Technik::620 | Ingenieurwissenschaften und Maschinenbau

description: Climate change is leading to massive changes, especially in the areas of energy and mobility. As a connecting element of the energy and mobility transition, electricity grids will play a key role. Bidirectional energy flows and massive fluctuation in generation and consumption patterns lead to high stresses on components and systems, especially in the distribution grid. This confronts Distribution System Operators (DSOs) with new challenges to continue to ensure security of supply in an economical and resource-efficient manner. New maintenance strategies can enable operators to address these challenges. Novel sensors and artificial intelligence enable the technical use of methods such as Predictive Maintenance to detect and predict the probability of failure of critical components based on current condition data. Whereas Predictive Maintenance is already being used in many areas of the manufacturing industry today, the procedures are still new in operating medium-voltage switchgear in the distribution grid, which are critical for ensuring the security of supply. Today's maintenance processes are not automated and are based on Preventive Maintenance strategies and differ very much from those of production environments. For example, the used IT-systems differ as well as the level of involvement of service contractors and regulative requirements and limitations. The use of Predictive Maintenance in the operation of critical infrastructures therefore places special demands on existing maintenance strategies at DSOs to economically ensure security of supply. This paper proposes an operational concept consisting of a process model, IT-system landscape and information logistics model compatible with the current process and system architecture to deploy new maintenance strategies at DSOs.
Stackable Credentials: Do They Have Labor Market Value?
Creators: name: Bailey, Thomas R.
name: Belfield, Clive
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2017
Subjects: Community colleges
Education, Higher
Degrees, Academic--Economic aspects
College students--Employment

description: Stackable credentials—sequential postsecondary awards that allow individuals to progress on a career path—have been suggested as a way to enhance the labor market prospects of middle-skill workers. Yet, thus far, little evidence has been provided on the economic value of these credentials. In this paper, the authors report a series of estimates on the association between stackable credentials and earnings. They use national, survey, and college-system-level datasets. A significant body of evidence indicates that the labor market returns to certificates—along with those to college degrees—are positive. But the authors' estimates of stackable credentials show only weakly positive and inconsistent gains from these award combinations. Generally, these estimates are indistinguishable from the returns to only one postsecondary credential. There is no clear evidence of how earnings vary across types of stack—progressive, supplemental, or independent—or student characteristics. However, estimated earnings gains from stackable credentials may be imprecise. Few college students stack awards, the motives for stacking are unknown, and notably, the number of stacked awards depends on whether general vocational awards are included. Future research should examine why students stack awards and how they can choose combinations of awards that maximize their earnings gains from stacking.
Ayahuasca, entheogenic education & public policy
Creators: name: Tupper, Kenneth William
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2011

description: Ayahuasca is an entheogenic decoction prepared from two Amazonian plants containing controlled substances, including dimethyltryptamine. Traditionally drunk ritually (and revered as a healing “plant teacher”) by Amazonian indigenous and mestizo peoples, in the 20th century ayahuasca became a sacrament for several new Brazilian religions. One of these, the Santo Daime, has expanded into Canada, where in 2001 a Montreal-based chapter applied for a federal legal exemption to allow drinking of the brew in its rituals. This dissertation undertakes a critical policy analysis of Health Canada’s decision on the Santo Daime request, using government documents obtained through an Access to Information request as data. My goals are to illustrate how modern stereotypes about “drugs” and “drug abuse” in dominant public and political discourses may hinder well-informed policy decision making about ayahuasca, and to consider how entheogenic practices such as ayahuasca drinking are traditional indigenous ways of knowing that should be valued, rather than reflexively demonized and criminalized. My research method is a critical discourse analysis approach to policy analysis, an eclectic means of demonstrating how language contributes to conceptual frames and political responses to public policy issues. I combine insights from recent research on language, discourse and public policy to show how ayahuasca has become an unexpected policy conundrum for liberal democratic states attempting to balance competing interests of criminal justice, public health, and human rights such as religious freedom. I trace ayahuasca’s trajectory as a contemporary policy concern by sketching histories of psychoactive substance use, today’s international drug control regime, and the discursive foundations of its underlying drug war paradigm. Regarding Health Canada’s 2006 decision “in principle” to recommend exemption for the Daime brew, I critique how the government defined ayahuasca as a policy problem, what policy stakeholders it considered in its decision making, and what knowledge about ayahuasca it used. To conclude, I explore modern schooling’s systemic antipathy to wonder and awe, and propose that policy reforms allowing circumspect use of entheogens such as ayahuasca as cognitive tools may help stimulate re-enchantment and appreciation of the need to address human and planetary ecological predicaments of the 21st century.
Securing Stella: A Platform for Real-Time Data Monitoring and Code Generation
Creators: name: Pitout, Etienne Kyle
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2018
Subjects: subject: Monitoring
subject: Code Generation
subject: Memory Events
subject: Data Generation
subject: Real-Time
subject: Computer Science

description: The main objective of this thesis was to design, develop, and test a framework capable of real-time memory event monitoring and code generation in a pre-existing computer system. Conventional event monitoring strategies function after a program finishes or slow down the system. How can we create a solution that can monitor memory events on an already existing system while it is running? We adapted hardware solutions to create Remora, a framework that relies on separate hardware to facilitate code monitoring and generation with no performance impact to the host. To illustrate the viability of Remora, we implemented a dictionary search algorithm, behaviour monitoring algorithm, and a de-compressor for both code and data and adapted them all to work in real-time. In addition, these algorithms were tested on real hardware. These demonstrations show that a real-time approach to event monitoring and code generation has numerous practical applications beyond what is discussed in this thesis.
UV Properties of Galactic Globular Clusters with GALEX I. The Color-Magnitude Diagrams
Creators: name: Schiavon, Ricardo P.
name: Dalessandro, Emanuele
name: Sohn, Sangmo T.
name: Rood, Robert T.
name: O'Connell, Robert W.
name: Ferraro, Francesco R.
name: Lanzoni, Barbara
name: Beccari, Giacomo
name: Rey, Soo-Chang
name: Rhee, Jaehyon
name: Rich, R. Michael
name: Yoon, Suk-Jin
name: Lee, Young-Wook
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA)
subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We present GALEX data for 44 Galactic globular clusters obtained during 3 GALEX observing cycles between 2004 and 2008. This is the largest homogeneous data set on the UV photometric properties of Galactic globular clusters ever collected. The sample selection and photometric analysis are discussed, and color-magnitude diagrams are presented. The blue and intermediate-blue horizontal branch is the dominant feature of the UV color-magnitude diagrams of old Galactic globular clusters. Our sample is large enough to display the remarkable variety of horizontal branch shapes found in old stellar populations. Other stellar types that are obviously detected are blue stragglers and post core-He burning stars. The main features of UV color-magnitude diagrams of Galactic globular clusters are briefly discussed. We establish the locus of post-core He burning stars in the UV color-magnitude diagram and present a catalog of candidate AGB-manqu é, post early-AGB, and post-AGB stars within our cluster sample.
description: Accepted for publication by The Astronomical Journal. 46 pages, including 21 Figures and 3 tables. All data will be made publicly available by the time the article is published. In the meantime, please contact the authors for data requests. Revised version fixed error with figure numbers and captions
Artificial Neural Network Modeling for Organic and Total Nitrogen Removal of Aerobic Granulation
Creators: name: Gong, Heli
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2018
Subjects: subject: Engineering--Civil
subject: Engineering--Environmental

description: Aerobic granulation is a recent technology with high level of complexity and sensitivity to environmental and operational conditions. To understand this technology properly, mathematical modeling would be an invaluable tool. In this study, Artificial neural network (ANN), a computational tool capable of describing complex nonlinear systems, was selected to simulate the treatment performance of aerobic granulation technology. The model capability in predicting chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total nitrogen (TN) removal efficiencies of aerobic granular reactors under start-up and steady-state condition was thoroughly investigated. The capability of ANN has been examined and compared to a novel and a traditional modeling approach, namely Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Multiple Linear Regression (MLR), respectively. The models were fed with vast datasets collected from laboratory-, pilot, and fullscale studies on aerobic granulation reported in the literature. Statistical error analysis demonstrated that the ANN method yielded comparable or superior prediction accuracy, compared to other methods. The results of this study showed that ANN-based models were capable simulation approach to predict a complicated process like aerobic granulation.
"Building Peace" through quiltmaking : the role of participatory artistic quiltmaking in supporting peacebuilding among grade 4-7 youth
Creators: name: Verwoord, Roselynn Eileen Marie
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2011

description: This thesis explored how participatory artistic quiltmaking contributed to peacebuilding as defined by Bickmore (2004) among grade 4, 5, 6, and 7 students in one classroom at an inner-city elementary school in Vancouver, BC. Using Bickmore’s (2004) frame, the following questions were explored: 1. What makes participatory artistic quiltmaking an effective vehicle for grade 4, 5, 6, and 7 students to engage in peacebuilding? 2. How are peacekeeping, peacemaking, and peacebuilding evident in the experiences, processes, and interactions among the participants involved in the project? 3. How does Bickmore’s frame provide an adequate theorization for understanding the experiences and processes among the participants involved in the project? 4. How does the data gathered in this project challenge and extend Bickmore’s frame? This study was composed of three parts: (1) ethnographic observations to understand issues in the school from a social justice perspective; (2) participatory artistic quiltmaking on the theme of inclusion and exclusion with one class of participants including students, the classroom teacher, educational assistant, volunteer quiltmaker, and me; (3) interviews with participants and parents. Analysis of the data revealed several themes. The artistic component of the quiltmaking process contributed to three outcomes: (1) the fostering of individuality and collectivity among participants; (2) the fostering of self expression; and (3) the fostering of creativity. The participatory component contributed to three outcomes: (1) the fostering of group development; (2) the fostering of a sense of inclusion; and (3) the connecting of personal experiences and stories to the theme of inclusion and exclusion. The quiltmaking process contributed to three outcomes: (1) it promoted a shift in perspective about others, which fostered new and deeper relationships; (2) it fostered confidence and pride; and (3) it fostered a sense of hope and hope for peace while sending a larger message or statement. These outcomes demonstrate peacemaking and peacebuilding, as defined by Bickmore. The findings from this study have implications for administrators involved in curriculum development, particularly in peace education; teachers involved in supporting social justice; policy makers involved in developing school policies; and individuals who conduct community-based participatory research in school-based settings with youth.
Towards Finding Optimal Solutions For Constrained Warehouse Layouts Using Answer Set Programming
Creators: name: Kaiser, Pascal
name: Thevapalan, Andre
name: Roidl, Moritz
name: Kern-Isberner, Gabriele
name: Wilhelm, Marco
Publisher: name: Hannover : publish-Ing.
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Konferenzschrift
subject: Warehousing
subject: Layout Planning
subject: Order Picking
subject: Optimization
subject: Answer Set Programming
subject: Dewey Decimal Classification::600 | Technik::620 | Ingenieurwissenschaften und Maschinenbau

description: A minimum requirement of feasible order picking layouts is the accessibility of every storage location. Obeying only this requirement typically leads to a vast amount of different layouts that are theoretically possible. Being able to generate all of these layouts automatically opens the door for new layouts and is valuable training data for reinforcement learning, e.g., for operating strategies of automated guided vehicles. We propose an approach using answer set programming that is able to generate and select optimal order picking layouts with regards to a defined objective function for given warehouse structures in a short amount of time. This constitutes a significant step towards reliable artificial intelligence. In a first step all feasible layout solutions are generated and in a second step an objective function is applied to get an optimal layout with regards to a defined layout problem. In brownfield projects this can lead to non-traditional layouts that are manually hard to find. The implementation can be customized for different use cases in the field of order picking layout generation, while the core logic stays the same.
Student Evaluations and the Effect of Timely Feedback on Course Quality and Faculty Development in Saudi Arabia: A Mixed Methods Approach
Creators: name: Alhassan, Abdulaziz Ibrahim
Publisher: name: Cumming School of Medicine
Year: 2018
Subjects: subject: Education
subject: Health Sciences

description: Feedback from students is one of the most frequently used tools for evaluating/improving university instructors’ performance, assessing teaching quality, and improving learning outcomes. However, few studies have fully examined the effect of instructors receiving timely feedback from students, or student and instructor perceptions about feedback to instructors. This study’s first goal was to determine whether timely student feedback to Problem-Based Learning (PBL) instructors affects teaching styles and teaching quality in a Saudi Arabian university. The second goal was to explore whether student feedback in general and timely student feedback in particular to PBL instructors would contribute to faculty professional development. An embedded mixed methods design was used, whereby a qualitative method was embedded within a quantitative experimental major design. Quantitative data were first collected via a survey administered twice during a study block to 329 first-year, male and female medical students in novice and advanced streams. Students and instructors were divided into an experimental (E) and a control (C) group where students evaluated 22 PBL instructors on instructor performance and PBL session organization. However, only E group instructors received timely student feedback. Qualitative data were then collected from 61 of these students and 13 instructors through one-on-one semi-structured interviews. The quantitative results showed significant differences in student scores between the E and C groups. Then, student results were analyzed separately for differences based on gender and novice and advanced streams. The results showed differences in student scores between the E and C groups for the male and novice stream students, and no significant difference in student scores for the female and advanced stream students. Qualitative data for the instructors and students revealed three major overarching themes concerning the importance, process, and use of student feedback. The mixed methods’ results showed the effectiveness of timely student feedback on instructors’ performance and PBL session organization items. Additionally, the effectiveness of timely student feedback was shown for both men and women and for novice students, but not for advanced students.
Strengthening Transfer Paths to a Bachelor’s Degree: Identifying Effective Two-Year to Four-Year College Partnerships
Creators: name: Xu, Di
name: Ran, Xiaotao
name: Fink, John
name: Jenkins, Paul Davis
name: Dundar, Afet
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2017
Subjects: Community college students--Transfer
Community colleges
College students--Transfer
Community college students--Services for
College students--Services for

description: While the academic preparation of students for vertical transfer from two- to four-year colleges has traditionally been viewed as the major responsibility of the home institutions, there is a growing consensus that the receiving institutions play a critical role in facilitating the transfer process and in supporting students’ academic success after transfer. The goal of improving transfer outcomes cannot be fully achieved until colleges nationwide are provided with commonly accepted metrics and methods for measuring the effectiveness of transfer partnerships. Using the individual term-by-term college enrollment records from the National Student Clearinghouse for the entire 2007 fall cohort of first-time-in-college community college students nationwide, this paper introduces a two-stage, input-adjusted, value-added analytic framework for identifying partnerships of two- and four-year institutions that are more effective than expected in enabling community college students to transfer to a four-year institution and earn a bachelor’s degree in a timely fashion. In doing so, the authors provide a description of transfer patterns nationwide, broken out by key institutional characteristics. Recommendations and cautions for using this framework to evaluate and benchmark institutional performance in terms of supporting the academic success of vertical transfer students for baccalaureate attainment are also discussed.
Reforming the American Community College: Promising Changes and Their Challenges
Creators: name: Dougherty, Kevin J.
name: Lahr, Hana Elizabeth
name: Morest, Vanessa Smith
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2017
Subjects: Community colleges
Community colleges--Evaluation
Community colleges--Sociological aspects

description: Enrolling more than 6 million students each fall, community colleges carry out a crucial function in higher education by providing access to college, including baccalaureate opportunities, occupational education, remedial education, and other educational services. At the same time, community colleges face great challenges that have elicited calls for major reforms. This paper begins by discussing the social roles and organization of community colleges in the United States, their main social contributions, and the challenges they face. It then describes and evaluates the sweeping policy proposals that have been made to address these challenges.
An Approach Towards Securing Future Viability Of SMEs In A VUCA World Using Artificial Intelligence To Increase Resilience
Creators: name: Wecken, Lena
name: Heinen, Tobias
name: Nyhuis, Peter
Publisher: name: Hannover : publish-Ing.
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Konferenzschrift
subject: VUCA
subject: Resilience
subject: Resilience Measurements
subject: Future Viability
subject: SME
subject: Dewey Decimal Classification::600 | Technik::620 | Ingenieurwissenschaften und Maschinenbau

description: Global crises pose major challenges for production companies: Rising material and energy costs, supply bottlenecks and the lack of planning certainty due to the dynamics of a pandemic or war weaken the planning stability. In this volatile, uncertain, complex and ambivalent environment (VUCA world), companies need responsible employees who recognise the individual need for action and initiate concrete measures early to increase a company's resilience. These measures affect multiple divisions. For example, disruptions in the supply chain are mitigated by various configuration elements such as expanding the supplier network or increasing stock in the company's own production. Therefore, measures encompass every element of the value network, whether in production or logistics. The example also shows that measures to increase resilience can influence other target characteristics of a company: Inventory increases can buy resilience at the expense of resource efficiency. Thus, measures must be defined for each design element depending on individual requirements in terms of resilience and must consider the scope for action of the respective company. This poses a great challenge, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Here, decision-making is done by generalists who often do not have the detailed knowledge for this specific problem or the capacity for this additional task. The danger is that SMEs will take insufficient measures that do not secure their future viability in a VUCA world. In this paper, a solution approach for a methodology is presented, that allows to derive influences on production companies from the developments in a VUCA world and measures to increase resilience can be identified depending on individual company characteristics. Furthermore, a possible conceptualisation of the methodology in an AI-based software product is presented, which supports SMEs in the outlined complex problem by enabling them to apply the methodology. Both will be realised in a research project.
A Data-Based Approach to Social Influence Maximization
Creators: name: Goyal, Amit
name: Bonchi, Francesco
name: Lakshmanan, Laks V. S.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Databases (cs.DB)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: Influence maximization is the problem of finding a set of users in a social network, such that by targeting this set, one maximizes the expected spread of influence in the network. Most of the literature on this topic has focused exclusively on the social graph, overlooking historical data, i.e., traces of past action propagations. In this paper, we study influence maximization from a novel data-based perspective. In particular, we introduce a new model, which we call credit distribution, that directly leverages available propagation traces to learn how influence flows in the network and uses this to estimate expected influence spread. Our approach also learns the different levels of influenceability of users, and it is time-aware in the sense that it takes the temporal nature of influence into account. We show that influence maximization under the credit distribution model is NP-hard and that the function that defines expected spread under our model is submodular. Based on these, we develop an approximation algorithm for solving the influence maximization problem that at once enjoys high accuracy compared to the standard approach, while being several orders of magnitude faster and more scalable.
description: VLDB2012
Numerical Schemes for the Fractional Calculus and their Application to Image Feature Detection
Creators: name: Adams, Matthew Paul
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2018
Subjects: subject: Fractional Calculus
subject: applied mathematics
subject: Numerical Methods
subject: mathematical software
subject: image processing
subject: Mathematics
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: Applied Sciences

description: Fractional calculus is an extension of integer-order differentiation and integration which explains many natural physical processes. New applications of the fractional calculus are in constant development. The current thesis introduces fractional differentiation to feature detection in digital images. The Harris-Laplace feature detector is adapted to use the non-local properties of the fractional derivative to include more information about image pixel perturbations when quantifying features. Numerical schemes for the computation of fractional derivatives and integrals are also presented, and methods for increasing their computational efficiency are discussed. An implementation of some numerical algorithms is introduced in this thesis as the Python software package differint. The geometric and physical interpretations of fractional derivatives are also included. The work in this thesis shows that the use of fractional derivatives in the Harris-Laplace detector leads to higher repeatability when detecting features in grayscale images. Applications of this development are suggested.
Remediation in the Community College: An Evaluator's Perspective
Creators: name: Levin, Henry M.
name: Calcagno, Juan Carlos
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2007
Subjects: Educational evaluation

description: Remediation is the most common policy designed to prepare students academically and socially during their early stages of college. But despite its profound importance and its significant costs, there is very little rigorous research analyzing its effectiveness. The goal of this paper is to provide a conceptual framework for evaluation of remedial education programs. Based on previous literature, we review a list of ingredients for successful interventions, present a number of approaches to remediation that make use of these ingredients, discuss alternative research designs for systematic evaluations, and enumerate basic data requirements.
Reforming Mathematics Classroom Pedagogy: Evidence-Based Findings and Recommendations for the Developmental Math Classroom (Assessment of Evidence Series)
Creators: name: Hodara, Michelle
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2011
Subjects: Mathematics--Study and teaching

description: For developmental education students, rates of developmental math course completion and persistence into required college-level math courses are particularly low. This literature review examines the evidence base on reforming mathematics classroom pedagogy, which may be a potential means for improving the course completion and learning outcomes of developmental mathematics students. Each study examined for this review was classified into one of six sets: student collaboration, metacognition, problem representation, application, understanding student thinking, and computer-based learning. Because most of the studies across the sets did not employ rigorous methods, the evidence regarding the impact of these instructional practices on student outcomes is inconclusive. Nevertheless, analysis of the studies that did employ rigorous designs suggests that structured forms of student collaboration and instructional approaches that focus on problem representation may improve math learning and understanding. This paper concludes by making a number of methodological recommendations, proposing several needed areas of research, and suggesting instructional practices that may improve the outcomes of developmental math students.