Search results for: human concept learning

Authors: Akanksha Bhatnagar, Sandhya Kortegare, Felice Elefant

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Context: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that is characterized by progressive cognitive decline and memory loss. The cause of AD is not fully understood, but it is thought to be caused by a combination of genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors. One of the hallmarks of AD is the loss of neurons in the hippocampus, a brain region that is important for memory and learning. This loss of neurons is thought to be caused by a decrease in histone acetylation, which is a process that regulates gene expression. Research Aim: The research aim of the study was to develop mall molecule compounds that can enhance the activity of Tip60, a histone acetyltransferase that is important for memory and learning. Methodology/Analysis: The researchers used in silico structural modeling and a pharmacophore-based virtual screening approach to design and synthesize small molecule compounds strongly predicted to target and enhance Tip60’s HAT activity. The compounds were then tested in vitro and in vivo to assess their ability to enhance Tip60 activity and rescue cognitive deficits in AD models. Findings: The researchers found that several of the compounds were able to enhance Tip60 activity and rescue cognitive deficits in AD models. The compounds were also developed to cross the blood-brain barrier, which is an important factor for the development of potential AD therapeutics. Theoretical Importance: The findings of this study suggest that Tip60 HAT activators have the potential to be developed as therapeutic agents for AD. The compounds are specific to Tip60, which suggests that they may have fewer side effects than other HDAC inhibitors. Additionally, the compounds are able to cross the blood-brain barrier, which is a major hurdle for the development of AD therapeutics. Data Collection: The study collected data from a variety of sources, including in vitro assays and animal models. The in vitro assays assessed the ability of compounds to enhance Tip60 activity using histone acetyltransferase (HAT) enzyme assays and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays. Animal models were used to assess the ability of the compounds to rescue cognitive deficits in AD models using a variety of behavioral tests, including locomotor ability, sensory learning, and recognition tasks. The human clinical trials will be used to assess the safety and efficacy of the compounds in humans. Questions: The question addressed by this study was whether Tip60 HAT activators could be developed as therapeutic agents for AD. Conclusions: The findings of this study suggest that Tip60 HAT activators have the potential to be developed as therapeutic agents for AD. The compounds are specific to Tip60, which suggests that they may have fewer side effects than other HDAC inhibitors. Additionally, the compounds are able to cross the blood-brain barrier, which is a major hurdle for the development of AD therapeutics. Further research is needed to confirm the safety and efficacy of these compounds in humans.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, cognition, neuroepigenetics, drug discovery

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Authors: E. J. Spamer, J. M. Van Zyl, MHA Combrinck

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The Unit for Open Distance Learning (UODL) at the North-West University (NWU), South Africa was established in 2013 with its main function to deliver open distance learning (ODL) programmes to approximately 30 000 students from the Faculties of Education Sciences, Health Sciences, Theology and Arts and Culture. Quality operational and administrative processes are key components in the delivery of these programmes and they need to function optimally for students to be successful in their studies. Operational and administrative processes include aspects such as applications, registration, dissemination of study material, availability of electronic platforms, the management of assessment, and the dissemination of important information. To be able to ensure and enhance quality during these processes, it is vital to determine students’ perceptions with regards to these mentioned processes. A questionnaire was available online and also distributed to the 63 tuition centres. The purpose of this research was to determine the perceptions of ODL students from NWU regarding operational and administrative processes. 1903 students completed and submitted the questionnaire. The data was quantitatively analysed and discussed. Results indicated that the majority of students are satisfied with the operational and administrative processes; however, the results also indicated some areas that need improvement. The data gathered is important to identify strengths and areas for improvement and form part of a bigger strategy of qualitative assurance at the UODL.

Keywords: administrative support, ODL programmes, quantitative study, students' perceptions

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Authors: Ivana Hrebickova, Maria Sevcikova, Romana Slamberova

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The present study was aimed at evaluation of cognitive changes following scheduled neonatal methamphetamine exposure in combination with long-term exposure in adulthood of female Wistar rats. Pregnant mothers were divided into two groups: group with indirect exposure (methamphetamine in dose 5 mg/ml/kg, saline in dose 1 ml/kg) during early lactation period (postnatal day 1–11) - progeny of these mothers were exposed to the effects of methamphetamine or saline indirectly via the breast milk; and the second group with direct exposure – all mothers were left intact for the entire lactation period, while progeny was treated with methamphetamine (5 mg/ml/kg) by injection or the control group, which was received needle pick (shame, not saline) at the same time each day of period of application (postnatal day 1–11). Learning ability and memory consolidation were tested in the Morris Water Maze, which consisted of three types of tests: ‘Place Navigation Test ‘; ‘Probe Test ‘; and ‘Memory Recall Test ‘. Adult female progeny were injected daily, after completion last trial with saline or methamphetamine (1 mg/ml/kg). We compared the effects of indirect/direct neonatal methamphetamine exposure and adult methamphetamine treatment on cognitive function of female rats. Statistical analyses showed that neonatal methamphetamine exposure worsened spatial learning and ability to remember the position of the platform. The present study demonstrated that direct methamphetamine exposure has more significant impact on process of learning and memory than indirect exposure. Analyses of search strategies (thigmotaxis, scanning) used by females during the Place Navigation Test and Memory Recall Test confirm all these results.

Keywords: methamphetamine, Morris water maze, neonatal exposure, strategies, Wistar rats

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Authors: Anjali Chouksey, Riya Nimje, Jahanvi Saraf

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Online transactions have increased dramatically in this new ‘social-distancing’ era. With online transactions, Fraud in online payments has also increased significantly. Frauds are a significant problem in various industries like insurance companies, baking, etc. These frauds include leaking sensitive information related to the credit card, which can be easily misused. Due to the government also pushing online transactions, E-commerce is on a boom. But due to increasing frauds in online payments, these E-commerce industries are suffering a great loss of trust from their customers. These companies are finding credit card fraud to be a big problem. People have started using online payment options and thus are becoming easy targets of credit card fraud. In this research paper, we will be discussing machine learning algorithms. We have used a decision tree, XGBOOST, k-nearest neighbour, logistic-regression, random forest, and SVM on a dataset in which there are transactions done online mode using credit cards. We will test all these algorithms for detecting fraud cases using the confusion matrix, F1 score, and calculating the accuracy score for each model to identify which algorithm can be used in detecting frauds.

Keywords: machine learning, fraud detection, artificial intelligence, decision tree, k nearest neighbour, random forest, XGBOOST, logistic regression, support vector machine

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Authors: Intan Abida Abu Bakar

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This paper investigates the effectiveness of anti-smoking campaign towards youth in Bandar Sunway institution. Based from the Ministry of Health, Malaysia and the national newspapers in the country reveal that the campaigns were not effective enough to curb smoking in Malaysia. In the past, from the year 2004 to 2014, the Malaysian Health Ministry were determined to curb the smoking issue that were arising in the country especially among the youths. “Tak Nak” smoking campaign was launched and broadcast on all forms of media in Malaysia. The campaigns are to educate and create an awareness to encourage people to quit smoking besides discourage non-smokers from starting to smoke. The main objective of this research is to investigate and study the concept, storyline and appeal of ‘Tak Nak Merokok’ advertisement campaigns from 2004 to 2014. Data from questionnaires and focus group discussions indicate that the advertisement contained fear and emotional appeal with good concept and storyline are more appealing and effective compared to the humour and informational rational appeal. This research could be a guideline for advertisers who want to come up with creative anti-smoking campaigns in Malaysia. In the future, the focus group can be expanded and more feedbacks and reviews could contribute to marketers and advertisers to determine the most suitable advertisements to tackle this smoking issue.

Keywords: effectiveness, anti-smoking campaign, young adults, smoking

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Authors: Nguyen J. M., Lucas G., Ruan S., Digonnet H., Antonioli D.

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Introduction: Deep Learning (DL) is a very powerful tool for analyzing image data. But for tabular data, it cannot compete with machine learning methods like XGBoost. The research question becomes: can tabular data be transformed into images that can be analyzed by simple CNNs (Convolutional Neuron Networks)? Will DL be the absolute tool for data classification? All current solutions consist in repositioning the variables in a 2x2 matrix using their correlation proximity. In doing so, it obtains an image whose pixels are the variables. We implement a technology, DeepNIC, that offers the possibility of obtaining an image for each variable, which can be analyzed by simple CNNs. Material and method: The 'ROP' (Regression OPtimized) model is a binary and atypical decision tree whose nodes are managed by a new artificial neuron, the Neurop. By positioning an artificial neuron in each node of the decision trees, it is possible to make an adjustment on a theoretically infinite number of variables at each node. From this new decision tree whose nodes are artificial neurons, we created the concept of a 'Random Forest of Perfect Trees' (RFPT), which disobeys Breiman's concepts by assembling very large numbers of small trees with no classification errors. From the results of the RFPT, we developed a family of 10 statistical information criteria, Nguyen Information Criterion (NICs), which evaluates in 3 dimensions the predictive quality of a variable: Performance, Complexity and Multiplicity of solution. A NIC is a probability that can be transformed into a grey level. The value of a NIC depends essentially on 2 super parameters used in Neurops. By varying these 2 super parameters, we obtain a 2x2 matrix of probabilities for each NIC. We can combine these 10 NICs with the functions AND, OR, and XOR. The total number of combinations is greater than 100,000. In total, we obtain for each variable an image of at least 1166x1167 pixels. The intensity of the pixels is proportional to the probability of the associated NIC. The color depends on the associated NIC. This image actually contains considerable information about the ability of the variable to make the prediction of Y, depending on the presence or absence of other variables. A basic CNNs model was trained for supervised classification. Results: The first results are impressive. Using the GSE22513 public data (Omic data set of markers of Taxane Sensitivity in Breast Cancer), DEEPNic outperformed other statistical methods, including XGBoost. We still need to generalize the comparison on several databases. Conclusion: The ability to transform any tabular variable into an image offers the possibility of merging image and tabular information in the same format. This opens up great perspectives in the analysis of metadata.

Keywords: tabular data, CNNs, NICs, DeepNICs, random forest of perfect trees, classification

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Authors: Yi-Ju Lee

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This study identified the hypothesised relationship between creative experience, and revisit intention of handmade oriental parasol umbrella in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. A face-to-face questionnaire survey was administered in Meinong town, Kaohsiung. The components of creative experience were found as “sense of achievement”, “unique learning” and “interaction with instructors” in creative tourism. The result also revealed significant positive relationships between creative experience and revisit intention in handmade activities. This paper provides additional suggestions for enhancing revisit intention and guidance regarding creative tourism.

Keywords: creative tourism, sense of achievement, unique learning, interaction with instructors, folk art

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Authors: Ana Campina, José Caramelo Gomes, Maria Emília Teixeira, Cristina Costa-Lobo

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In the pursuit of educational equity within Human Rights and European Fundamental Laws, the reality presents serious problems based on the psychologic, social understanding. Take into account the miscellaneous cultures in the global context and the nowadays numbers of Human mobilities, there are serious problems affecting the societies. This justifies the diagnosed need of a renew pedagogical and social education strategy to achieve the integration positive context preventing violence and discrimination, especially in Education systems. Consequently, it is important to have in mind the respect, acceptance, and integration of special needs students in all study degrees, as it is law but a complex reality. Despite the UN and International Human Rights, European Fundamental Chart, and all EU Treats, as the 28th EU State Member’s fundamental laws forecast the right of Education, the respect, the action and promotion of different cultures and the Education for ‘Difference’ integration – cultures; ideologies, Special Needs Students/Citizens – there are different and severe problems. Firstly, there are questions/contexts/problems not denounced by the lack of investments, political, social or ‘powers’ pressures, so, consequently, the authorities don’t have the action as laws demand and the transgressors haven´t any juridical or judicial punishment. Secondly, and our most important point: Governments, authorities and even victims hide these violations/violence/problems what disable the effective protection and law enforcement. Finally, the official and non-official strategies to get around the duties, break away the laws, failing the victims protection and consequently enable the problems increase dramatically. With this research, we observed that there are international Organizations/regions and States acting without respect to the Education right despite their democratic ideology and the generated external ‘image’ of law-abiding and Human Rights defenders. Nevertheless, it is urgent to develop a consistent Human Rights Education program aiming to protect, promote and implement the Right to be different and be respected by the law, the governments, institutions official and non-official, adapted to the needs in each society. The background of this research is the International and European laws, in accordance with the state’s legal systems. The approaches and the differences of the Education for Human and Fundamental Rights execution in the different EU countries, studying the pedagogy and social inclusion programs/strategies, with particular analysis of the Special Needs students. The results aim to construct a European Education profiling, with the governments and EU interventions need, as well as the panorama of the Special Needs Students effective integration achieving a renewed strategy to promote the respect of the Differences and an Inclusive School life.

Keywords: international human rights, culture, differences, European education profiling

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Authors: Joel S. Mtebe, Aron Kondoro, Mussa M. Kissaka, Elia Kibga

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Sub-Saharan Africa is described as the second fastest growing mobile phone penetration in the world more than in the United States or the European Union. Mobile phones have been used to provide a lot of opportunities to improve people’s lives in the region such as in banking, marketing, entertainment, and paying various bills such as water, TV, and electricity. However, the potential of using mobile phones to enhance teaching and learning has not been explored. This study presents an experience of developing and delivering SMS quizzes questions that were used to assess mastery of the subject content knowledge of science and mathematics secondary school teachers in Tanzania. The SMS quizzes were used as a follow up support mechanism to 500 teachers who participated in a project to upgrade subject content knowledge of science and mathematics subjects. Quizzes of 10-15 questions were sent to teachers each week for 8 weeks and the results were analyzed using SPSS. The results showed that chemistry and biology had better performance compared to mathematics and physics. Teachers reported some challenges that led to poor performance, invalid answers, and non-responses and they are presented. This research has several practical implications for those who are implementing or planning to use mobile phones for teaching and learning especially in rural secondary schools in sub-Saharan Africa.

Keywords: mobile learning, elearning, educational technolgies, SMS, secondary education, assessment

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Authors: Benniche Omar

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We are concerned with abstract fully nonlinear differential equations having the form y’(t)=Ay(t)+f(t,y(t)) where A is an m—dissipative operator (possibly multi—valued) defined on a subset D(A) of a Banach space X with values in X and f is a given function defined on I×X with values in X. We consider a graph K in I×X. We recall that K is said to be viable with respect to the above abstract differential equation if for each initial data in K there exists at least one trajectory starting from that initial data and remaining in K at least for a short time. The viability problem has been studied by many authors by using various techniques and frames. If K is closed, it is shown that a tangency condition, which is mainly linked to the dynamic, is crucial for viability. In the case when X is infinite dimensional, compactness and convexity assumptions are needed. In this paper, we are concerned with the notion of near viability for a given graph K with respect to y’(t)=Ay(t)+f(t,y(t)). Roughly speaking, the graph K is said to be near viable with respect to y’(t)=Ay(t)+f(t,y(t)), if for each initial data in K there exists at least one trajectory remaining arbitrary close to K at least for short time. It is interesting to note that the near viability is equivalent to an appropriate tangency condition under mild assumptions on the dynamic. Adding natural convexity and compactness assumptions on the dynamic, we may recover the (exact) viability. Here we investigate near viability for a graph K in I×X with respect to y’(t)=Ay(t)+f(t,y(t)) where A and f are as above. We emphasis that the t—dependence on the perturbation f leads us to introduce a new tangency concept. In the base of a tangency conditions expressed in terms of that tangency concept, we formulate criteria for K to be near viable with respect to y’(t)=Ay(t)+f(t,y(t)). As application, an abstract null—controllability theorem is given.

Keywords: abstract differential equation, graph, tangency condition, viability

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Authors: Ali Nabavi, Farimah Safari, Mohammad Kashkooli, Sara Sadat Nabavizadeh, Hossein Molavi Vardanjani

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Cognitive impairment presents a significant and increasing health concern as populations age. Environmental risk factors such as heavy metal exposure are suspected contributors, but their specific roles remain incompletely understood. Machine learning offers a promising approach to integrate multi-factorial data and improve the prediction of cognitive outcomes. This study aimed to develop and validate machine learning models to predict early risk of cognitive impairment by incorporating demographic, clinical, and biomarker data, including measures of heavy metal exposure. A retrospective analysis was conducted using 2011-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data. The dataset included participants aged 20 years and older who underwent cognitive testing. Variables encompassed demographic information, medical history, lifestyle factors, and biomarkers such as blood and urine levels of lead, cadmium, manganese, and other metals. Machine learning algorithms were trained on 90% of the data and evaluated on the remaining 10%, with performance assessed through metrics such as accuracy, area under curve (AUC), and sensitivity. Analysis included 2,933 participants. The stacking ensemble model demonstrated the highest predictive performance, achieving an AUC of 0.778 and a sensitivity of 0.879 on the test dataset. Key predictors included age, gender, hypertension, education level, urinary cadmium, and blood manganese levels. The findings indicate that machine learning can effectively predict the risk of cognitive impairment using a comprehensive set of clinical and environmental exposure data. Incorporating biomarkers of heavy metal exposure improved prediction accuracy and highlighted the role of environmental factors in cognitive decline. Further prospective studies are recommended to validate the models and assess their utility over time.

Keywords: cognitive impairment, heavy metal exposure, predictive models, aging

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Authors: Alejandra Yanez, Teresa Benavides, Zita Lopez

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Even before COVID-19, one of the most important challenges that Higher Education faces today is the need for innovative educational methodologies and flexibility. We could all agree that one of the objectives of Higher Education is to provide students with a variety of intellectual and practical skills that, at the same time, will help them develop competitive advantages such as adaptation and critical thinking. Among the strategic objectives of Universidad de Monterrey (UDEM) has been to provide flexibility and satisfaction to students in the delivery modes of the academic offer. UDEM implemented a methodology that combines face to face with synchronous and asynchronous as delivery modes. UDEM goal, in this case, was to implement new technologies and different teaching methodologies that will improve the students learning experience. In this study, the experience of students during courses implemented in new delivery mode was compared with students in courses with traditional delivery modes. Students chose openly either way freely. After everything students around the world lived in 2020 and 2021, one can think that the face to face (traditional) delivery mode would be the one chosen by students. The results obtained in this study reveal that both delivery modes satisfy students and favor their learning process. We will show how the combination of delivery modes provides flexibility, so the proposal is that universities can include them in their academic offer as a response to the current student's learning interests and needs.

Keywords: flexibility, new delivery modes, student satisfaction, academic offer

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Authors: Yolanda Ramírez, Ángel Tejada, Agustín Baidez

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The purpose of this paper is to examine the quality of voluntary intellectual capital disclosure by public Spanish universities on their websites. To this end, a content analysis was used to analyze the websites of 50 public Spanish universities i 2016. The results of this study show that human capital was the most disclosed category with relational capital being the least frequently disclosed in Spain. However, the quality of structural capital disclosures was higher than relational and human capital. Finally, most IC disclosures were narrative in nature.

Keywords: intellectual capital, quality disclosure, websites, universities, Spain

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Authors: Vikrant Gupta, Amrit Goswami

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The fixed income market forms the basis of the modern financial market. All other assets in financial markets derive their value from the bond market. Owing to its over-the-counter nature, corporate bonds have relatively less data publicly available and thus is researched upon far less compared to Equities. Bond price prediction is a complex financial time series forecasting problem and is considered very crucial in the domain of finance. The bond prices are highly volatile and full of noise which makes it very difficult for traditional statistical time-series models to capture the complexity in series patterns which leads to inefficient forecasts. To overcome the inefficiencies of statistical models, various machine learning techniques were initially used in the literature for more accurate forecasting of time-series. However, simple machine learning methods such as linear regression, support vectors, random forests fail to provide efficient results when tested on highly complex sequences such as stock prices and bond prices. hence to capture these intricate sequence patterns, various deep learning-based methodologies have been discussed in the literature. In this study, a recurrent neural network-based deep learning model using long short term networks for prediction of corporate bond prices has been discussed. Long Short Term networks (LSTM) have been widely used in the literature for various sequence learning tasks in various domains such as machine translation, speech recognition, etc. In recent years, various studies have discussed the effectiveness of LSTMs in forecasting complex time-series sequences and have shown promising results when compared to other methodologies. LSTMs are a special kind of recurrent neural networks which are capable of learning long term dependencies due to its memory function which traditional neural networks fail to capture. In this study, a simple LSTM, Stacked LSTM and a Masked LSTM based model has been discussed with respect to varying input sequences (three days, seven days and 14 days). In order to facilitate faster learning and to gradually decompose the complexity of bond price sequence, an Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) has been used, which has resulted in accuracy improvement of the standalone LSTM model. With a variety of Technical Indicators and EMD decomposed time series, Masked LSTM outperformed the other two counterparts in terms of prediction accuracy. To benchmark the proposed model, the results have been compared with traditional time series models (ARIMA), shallow neural networks and above discussed three different LSTM models. In summary, our results show that the use of LSTM models provide more accurate results and should be explored more within the asset management industry.

Keywords: bond prices, long short-term memory, time series forecasting, empirical mode decomposition

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Authors: Addisu Teshama

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The existing criminal procedure law which is the main determinant of the phenomena of pre-trial detention is under revision in Ethiopia. The drafting work is completed and submitted for approval to the House of Peoples Representatives. The drafters of the draft law claim that the existing law is not in harmony with the constitutionally and internationally recognized principles pertinent to pretrial detention regulation. Further, the drafters allege that the drafting process is dictated by human rights principles recognized in the FDRE constitution and international human rights instruments ratified by Ethiopia. This article aims to the asses the plausibility of the claims of the drafters. For that purpose, this article uses the standards and guidelines articulated by international human rights standard setters as bench marks to juxtapose and judge the existing law and the draft criminal procedure and evidence code (DCrimPEC). The study found that the many aspects of the pre-trial detention law of Ethiopia are not in compliance with international law standards in the existing criminal procedure law. The DCrimPEC is aimed to harmonize the existing law with the constitution and international law standards. In this regard, the study found that the DCrimPEC has made significant changes on pre-trial detention policies which are not in harmony the principle of presumption of innocence. However, there are still gaps.

Keywords: pre-trial detention, right to personal liberty, right to bail, Ethiopia

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Authors: Christopher Schwarz, Katrin Riegler, Erwin Zinser

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The management of outsourcing relationships between IT service providers and their customers proofs to be a critical issue that has to be stipulated by means of Service Level Agreements (SLAs). Since service requirements differ from customer to customer, SLA content and language structures vary largely, standardized SLA templates may not be used and an automated processing of SLA content is not possible. Hence, SLA management is usually a time-consuming and inefficient manual process. For overcoming these challenges, this paper presents an innovative and ITIL V3-conform approach for automated SLA design and management using controlled natural language in enterprise collaboration portals. The proposed novel concept is based on a self-developed controlled natural language that follows a subject-predicate-object approach to specify well-defined SLA content structures that act as templates for customized contracts and support automated SLA processing. The derived results eventually enable IT service providers to automate several SLA request, approval and negotiation processes by means of workflows and business rules within an enterprise collaboration portal. The illustrated prototypical realization gives evidence of the practical relevance in service-oriented scenarios as well as the high flexibility and adaptability of the presented model. Thus, the prototype enables the automated creation of well defined, customized SLA documents, providing a knowledge representation that is both human understandable and machine processable.

Keywords: automated processing, controlled natural language, knowledge representation, information technology outsourcing, service level management

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Authors: Lin Zou

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This paper explores how the development of science and technology in the recent decades has created new conditions for literature and aesthetics. These are epistemological conditions that not only offer empirical understandings of the human mentality, behavior, emotions, and humanity in general, but reshape how value and the ontological questions are understood and linked with humanity. This paper will discuss the implications of these epistemological conditions for the depiction and interpretation of human subjectivity in literature. The paper will first seek to present the argument that science and technology have created new conditions for literature and aesthetics. It then outlines the implications of these new conditions for literature and aesthetics. The main methodologies used are close reading and case studies.

Keywords: epistemological conditions, literature and aesthetics, science and technology, subjectivity

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Authors: Sanaa Rashed Abdallah, Yasser F. Hassan

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The paper will introduce an approach where a rough sets, gene expression programming and rough neural networks are used cooperatively for learning and classification support. The Objective of gene expression programming rough neural networks (GEP-RNN) approach is to obtain new classified data with minimum error in training and testing process. Starting point of gene expression programming rough neural networks (GEP-RNN) approach is an information system and the output from this approach is a structure of rough neural networks which is including the weights and thresholds with minimum classification error.

Keywords: rough sets, gene expression programming, rough neural networks, classification

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Authors: Johanna Gamboa-Kroesen

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School connectedness, or the sense of belonging at school, is a critical factor in adolescent health, academic achievement, and socioemotional well-being. In educational research, the construct of the psychological sense of school membership is often referred to as school engagement, school bonding, or school attachment. While current research recognizes school connectedness as integral to a child’s mental health and academic success, many schools have yet to develop adequate interventions to promote a child’s overall sense of belonging at school. However, prior researches in music education indicates that, among other benefits, music classrooms may provide an environment where students feel they belong. While studies indicates that music learning environments, specifically performing ensemble learning environments, instill a sense of school connectedness and, more broadly, contribute to a student’s socio-emotional development, there has been inadequate research on how the actions of music teachers contribute to this phenomenon. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between school connectedness and music learning environments with middle school music students enrolled in a school-based music ensemble. In addition, the study aimed to provide a descriptive analysis of the instructional practices that music teachers use to promote an inclusive environment in their classrooms and an overall sense of belonging in their students. Using 191 student surveys of school membership, student reflective writings, 5 teacher interviews, and 10 classroom observations, this study examined the relationship between 7th and 8th-grade student-reported levels of connectedness within their school-based music ensemble and teacher instructional practice. The study found that students reported high levels of positive school membership within their music classes. Students who participate in school-based orchestra ensembles reported a positive change in emotional state during music instruction. In addition, evidence in this study found that music teachers use instructional practices to build connectedness through de-emphasizing competition and strengthening a student’s sense of relational value within their music learning experience. The findings offer implications for future music teacher instruction to create environments of inclusion, strengthen student-teacher relationships, and promote strategies that enhance student connection to school.

Keywords: music education, belonging, instructional practice, school connectedness

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Authors: Shawndra Bowers, Allie Brandriet, Betsy Gilbertson

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This paper will highlight how Auburn Online’s instructional designers leveraged student and faculty data to update and improve online course design and instructional materials. When designing and revising online courses, it can be difficult for faculty to know what strategies are most likely to engage learners and improve educational outcomes in a specific discipline. It can also be difficult to identify which metrics are most useful for understanding and improving teaching, learning, and course design. At Auburn Online, the instructional designers use a suite of data based student’s performance, participation, satisfaction, and engagement, as well as faculty perceptions, to inform sound learning and design principles that guide growth-mindset consultations with faculty. The consultations allow the instructional designer, along with the faculty member, to co-create an actionable course improvement plan. Auburn Online gathers learning analytics from a variety of sources that any instructor or instructional design team may have access to at their own institutions. Participation and performance data, such as page: views, assignment submissions, and aggregate grade distributions, are collected from the learning management system. Engagement data is pulled from the video hosting platform, which includes unique viewers, views and downloads, the minutes delivered, and the average duration each video is viewed. Student satisfaction is also obtained through a short survey that is embedded at the end of each instructional module. This survey is included in each course every time it is taught. The survey data is then analyzed by an instructional designer for trends and pain points in order to identify areas that can be modified, such as course content and instructional strategies, to better support student learning. This analysis, along with the instructional designer’s recommendations, is presented in a comprehensive report to instructors in an hour-long consultation where instructional designers collaborate with the faculty member on how and when to implement improvements. Auburn Online has developed a triage strategy of priority 1 or 2 level changes that will be implemented in future course iterations. This data-informed decision-making process helps instructors focus on what will best work in their teaching environment while addressing which areas need additional attention. As a student-centered process, it has created improved learning environments for students and has been well received by faculty. It has also shown to be effective in addressing the need for improvement while removing the feeling the faculty’s teaching is being personally attacked. The process that Auburn Online uses is laid out, along with the three-tier maintenance and revision guide that will be used over a three-year implementation plan. This information can help others determine what components of the maintenance and revision plan they want to utilize, as well as guide them on how to create a similar approach. The data will be used to analyze, revise, and improve courses by providing recommendations and models of good practices through determining and disseminating best practices that demonstrate an impact on student success.

Keywords: data-driven, improvement, online courses, faculty development, analytics, course design

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Authors: Brahim Bellali, Fatima Bellali

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The integration of information technology systems (ITS) into a company's ‘human resources processes seems to be the appropriate solution to the problem of evolving and adapting its human resources management practices in order to be both more strategic and more efficient in terms of costs and service quality. In this context, the aim of this work is to study the impact of information technology systems (ITS) on the recruitment process. In this study, we targeted candidates who had recruited using IT tools. The target population consists of 34 candidates based in Casablanca, Morocco. In order to collect the data, a questionnaire had to be drawn up. The survey is based on a data sheet and a questionnaire that is divided into several sections to make it more structured and comprehensible. The results show that the majority of respondents say that companies are making greater use of online CV libraries and social networks as digital solutions during the recruitment process. The results also show that 50% of candidates say that the use of digital tools by companies would not slow them down when applying for a job and that these IT tools improve manual recruitment processes, while 44.1% think that they facilitate recruitment without any human intervention. The majority of respondents (52.9%) think that social networks are the digital solutions most often used by recruiters in the sourcing phase. The constraints of digital recruitment encountered are the dehumanization of human resources (44.1%) and the limited interaction during remote interviews (44.1%), which leaves no room for informal exchanges. Digital recruitment can be a highly effective strategy for finding qualified candidates in a variety of fields. Here are a few recommendations for optimizing your digital recruitment process: (1) Use online recruitment platforms: LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook ; (2) Use applicant tracking systems (ATS) ; (3) Develop a content marketing strategy.

Keywords: IT systems, recruitment, challenges, constraints

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Authors: Cassandra Seery

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During the twentieth century, the notion of child rights at the international level began with the League of Nations’ Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child 1924, culminating in the development and adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (‘the Convention’) in 1989. A key foundation of child rights lies in the development of the ‘best interests of the child’ principle and its subsequent incorporation into domestic legislation across the globe. This principle has become a key concept in child rights protection and has become a widely recognized principle in the protection of child rights. However, despite its status as the primary operating standard in child and family law and its ‘deepening hold in domestic and international instruments’, the meaning of the ‘best interests of the child’ principle has been criticised as open-ended and vague. This paper explores the evolution and development of the principle in the context of parental separation at international law throughout the 21st century and identifies opportunities for the Nation States to further improve legislative responses in associated child protection cases. An extensive review of relevant United Nations documentation (including instruments, resolutions and comments, jurisprudence, reports, guidelines and policies, training materials and so forth) explores: (i) what progress has been made to further develop the principle at the international level with regard to parental separation; and (ii) what developments participating the Nation States should consider as part of future legal and social policy reforms in this space. It will highlight opportunities for improvement and explore the benefit and relevance of international approaches for the Nation States moving forward.

Keywords: international human rights, best interests of the child, legal and social policy, child rights

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Authors: Bellali Brahim, Bellali Fatima

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The integration of information technology systems (ITS) into a company's ‘human resources processes seems to be the appropriate solution to the problem of evolving and adapting its human resources management practices in order to be both more strategic and more efficient in terms of costs and service quality. In this context, the aim of this work is to study the impact of nformation technology systems (ITS) on the recruitment process. In this study, we targeted candidates who had recruited using IT tools. The target population consists of 34 candidates based in Casablanca, Morocco. In order to collect the data, a questionnaire had to be drawn up. The survey is based on a data sheet and a questionnaire that is divided into several sections to make it more structured and comprehensible. The results show that the majority of respondents say that companies are making greater use of online CV libraries and social networks as digital solutions during the recruitment process. The results also show that 50% of candidates say that the use of digital tools by companies would not slow them down when applying for a job and that these IT tools improve manual recruitment processes, while 44.1% think that they facilitate recruitment without any human intervention. The majority of respondents (52.9%) think that social networks are the digital solutions most often used by recruiters in the sourcing phase. The constraints of digital recruitment encountered are the dehumanization of human resources (44.1%) and the limited interaction during remote interviews (44.1%), which leaves no room for informal exchanges. Digital recruitment can be a highly effective strategy for finding qualified candidates in a variety of fields. Here are a few recommendations for optimizing your digital recruitment process: (1) Use online recruitment platforms: LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook ; (2) Use applicant tracking systems (ATS) ; (3) Develop a content marketing strategy.

Keywords: IT systems, recruitment, challenges, constraints

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Authors: Marek Pawlikowski, Krzysztof Jankowski, Konstanty Skalski, Anna Makuch

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Nanoindentation or depth-sensing indentation (DSI) technique has proven to be very useful to measure mechanical properties of various tissues at a micro-scale. Bone tissue, both trabecular and cortical one, is one of the most commonly tested tissues by means of DSI. Most often such tests on bone samples are carried out to compare the mechanical properties of lamellar and interlamellar bone, osteonal bone as well as compact and cancellous bone. In the paper, a relation between stress and strain for human trabecular bone is presented. The relation is based on the results of nanoindentation tests. The formulation of a constitutive model for human trabecular bone is based on nanoindentation tests. In the study, the approach proposed by Olivier-Pharr is adapted. The tests were carried out on samples of trabecular tissue extracted from human femoral heads. The heads were harvested during surgeries of artificial hip joint implantation. Before samples preparation, the heads were kept in 95% alcohol in temperature 4 Celsius degrees. The cubic samples cut out of the heads were stored in the same conditions. The dimensions of the specimens were 25 mm x 25 mm x 20 mm. The number of 20 samples have been tested. The age range of donors was between 56 and 83 years old. The tests were conducted with the indenter spherical tip of the diameter 0.200 mm. The maximum load was P = 500 mN and the loading rate 500 mN/min. The data obtained from the DSI tests allows one only to determine bone behoviour in terms of nanoindentation force vs. nanoindentation depth. However, it is more interesting and useful to know the characteristics of trabecular bone in the stress-strain domain. This allows one to simulate trabecular bone behaviour in a more realistic way. The stress-strain curves obtained in the study show relation between the age and the mechanical behaviour of trabecular bone. It was also observed that the bone matrix of trabecular tissue indicates an ability of energy absorption.

Keywords: constitutive model, mechanical behaviour, nanoindentation, trabecular bone

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Authors: Adineh Tajmousavilangerudi, Ali Zein Alabiden Tlais, Raffaella Di Cagno

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The SARS-Cov-2 pandemic has exposed our vulnerability to new illnesses and novel viruses that attack our immune systems, particularly in the elderly. The vaccine is being gradually introduced over the world, but new strains of the virus and COVID-19 will emerge and continue to cause illness. Aging is associated with significant changes in intestinal physiology, which increases the production of inflammatory products, alters the gut microbiota, and consequently establish inadequate immune response to minimize symptoms and disease development. In this context, older people who followed a Mediterranean-style diet, rich in polyphenols and dietary fiber, performed better physically and mentally (1,2). This demonstrates the importance of the human gut microbiome in transforming complex dietary macromolecules into the most biologically available and active nutrients, which in turn help to regulate metabolism and both intestinal and systemic immune function (3,4). The role of lactic acid fermentation is prominent also as a powerful tool for improving the nutritional quality of the human diet by releasing nutrients and boosting the complex bioactive compounds and vitamin content. the PhD project aims to design fermented and functional foods/beverages capable of modulating human immune function via the gut microbiome.

Keywords: functional bevarage, fermented beverage, gut microbiota functionality, immun system

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Authors: Dimitrios Vlachopoulos, George Tsokkas

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Although it is not intended to identify distance education students as a homogeneous group, recent research has demonstrated that there are some demographic and personality common traits among most of them that provide the basis for the description of a typical distance learning student. The purpose of this paper is to describe these common traits and to facilitate their learning journey within a distance education program. The described research is an initiative of the Distance Education Unit at the European University Cyprus (Laureate International Universities) in the context of its action for the improvement of the students’ performance.

Keywords: distance education students, successful student performance, European University Cyprus, common traits

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Authors: Manolo Dulva Hina, Clement Thierry, Assia Soukane, Amar Ramdane-Cherif

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In this paper, we presented our innovative way of determining the driving context for a driving assistance system. We invoke the fusion of all parameters that describe the context of the environment, the vehicle and the driver to obtain the driving context. We created a training set that stores driving situation patterns and from which the system consults to determine the driving situation. A machine-learning algorithm predicts the driving situation. The driving situation is an input to the fission process that yields the action that must be implemented when the driver needs to be informed or assisted from the given the driving situation. The action may be directed towards the driver, the vehicle or both. This is an ongoing work whose goal is to offer an alternative driving assistance system for safe driving, green driving and comfortable driving. Here, ontologies are used for knowledge representation.

Keywords: cognitive driving, intelligent transportation system, multimodal system, ontology, machine learning

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Authors: Jianli Dong, Fangling Xu, Gengming Huang

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Human endogenous retroviral elements (HERVs) comprise approximately 8% of the human genome. They are thought to be germline-integrated genetic remnants of retroviral infections. Although HERV sequences are highly defective, some, especially the K type (HERV-K), have been shown to be expressed and may have biological activities in the pathogenesis of cancer, chronic inflammation and autoimmune diseases. We found that HERV-K GAG and ENV proteins were strongly expressed in pleomorphic melanoma cells. We also detected a critical role of HERV-K ENV in mediating intercellular fusion and colony formation of melanoma cells. Interestingly, we found that levels of HERV-K GAG and ENV expression correlated with the activation of ERK and loss of p16INK4A in melanoma cells, and inhibition of MEK or CDK4, especially in combination, reduced HERV-K expression in melanoma cells. We also performed a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay using DNase I digestion to remove “contaminating” HERV-K genomic DNA and examined HERV-K RNA expression in plasma samples from HIV-1 infected individuals. We found a covariation between HERV-K RNA expression and CD4 cell counts in HIV-1 positive samples. Although a causal link between HERV-K activation and melanoma development, and between HERV-K activation, HIV-1 infection and CD4 cell count have yet to be determined, existing data support the further research efforts in HERV-K.

Keywords: CD4 cell, HERV-K, HIV-1, melanoma

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Authors: Ralph Barnes

Abstract:

The internationalization and globalization of education are now a huge, multi-million dollar industry. The movement of international students across the globe has provided a rich vein of revenue for universities and institutions of higher learning to exploit and harvest. A concerted effort has been made by universities worldwide to court students from overseas, with some countries relying up to one-third of student fees, coming from international students. Australian universities and English Language Centres are coming under increased government scrutiny in respect to such areas as the academic progression of international students, management and understanding of student visa requirements and the design of higher education courses and effective assessment regimes. As such, universities and other higher education institutions are restructuring themselves more as service providers rather than as strictly education providers. In this paper, the high-touch, tailored academic model currently followed by some Australian educational institutions to support international students, is examined and challenged. Academic support services offered to international students need to be coordinated, sustained and reviewed regularly, in order to assess their effectiveness. Maintaining the delivery of high-quality educational programs and learning outcomes for this high income-generating student cohort is vital, in order to continue the successful academic and social engagement by international students across the Australian university and higher education landscape.

Keywords: ESL, engagement, tertiary, learning

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Authors: Angelis P. Barlampas

Abstract:

Target: The (SARS-CoV-2) is still a threat. AI software could be useful, categorizing the disease into different severities and indicate the extent of the lesions. Materials and methods: AI is a new revolutionary technique, which uses powered computerized systems, to do what a human being does more rapidly, more easily, as accurate and diagnostically safe as the original medical report and, in certain circumstances, even better, saving time and helping the health system to overcome problems, such as work overload and human fatigue. Results: It will be given an effort to describe to the inexperienced reader (see figures), as simple as possible, how an artificial intelligence system diagnoses computed tomography pictures. First, the computerized machine learns the physiologic motives of lung parenchyma by being feeded with normal structured images of the lung tissue. Having being used to recognizing normal structures, it can then easily indentify the pathologic ones, as their images do not fit to known normal picture motives. It is the same way as when someone spends his free time in reading magazines with quizzes, such as <> and <>. General conclusion: The AI mimics the physiological processes of the human mind, but it does that more efficiently and rapidly and provides results in a few seconds, whereas an experienced radiologist needs many days to do that, or even worse, he is unable to accomplish such a huge task.

Keywords: covid-19, artificial intelligence, automated imaging, CT, chest imaging

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