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Active Learning Curriculum Design: Insights through Teacher Educators’ Lens
Get PDFResearch has demonstrated the value of active learning, such as flipped classrooms and inquiry-based learning. In higher education, there is a growing investment in Active Learning Classrooms (ALCs) designed for supporting these approaches and maximizing their benefits. However, designing curriculum for these spaces poses challenges to instructors, beginning with their own understanding active learning, how to effectively use physical classroom space, and how to design and implement new teaching strategies. This study seeks to inform our understanding of how teacher educators design active learning curriculum for their own courses, with the ultimate goal of informing the development of a curriculum authoring environment to support instructors in their design. The research is centered around the interview of two experienced teacher educators at a Canadian University, who provide insight into their active learning course design processes. The findings highlight how educators integrate active learning into their pedagogy, revealing strong interest in spatial and technological elements, yet facing implementation barriers. This study aims to deepen our understanding of teacher educators’ curriculum design processes and provide a foundation for future support that empowers them to effectively utilize active learning classrooms.M.A
Effects of Stress Anisotropy on Dynamic Properties of Soils
Get PDFThis study investigates the effects of stress anisotropy on the dynamic properties of soils, with significant implications for the seismic response of structures. Site response analyses conducted for a Class D site in Adapazarı, Türkiye, where severe structural damage occurred during the 1999 Kocaeli earthquake, using global models for soil dynamic properties failed to provide the necessary amplification to explain the observed damage. In contrast, analyses utilizing a model calibrated to the local soil's dynamic properties, determined through Cyclic Direct Simple Shear tests with K0 consolidation, produced the expected amplification. This research emphasizes stress anisotropy as a critical factor influencing soil dynamic properties, demonstrating variations of up to 35%. By employing novel resonant column equipment alongside a comprehensive literature database, we propose a model that accurately reflects local soil behavior, integrating small-strain field data with large-strain laboratory results. This model effectively captures the impacts of stress anisotropy on both maximum shear modulus and damping ratio, providing essential empirical relationships for site-response analysis. The findings underscore the risks of relying solely on global models for soil dynamic properties in Class D sites and advocate for locally calibrated relationships that consider specific stress conditions to improve the reliability of seismic assessments.The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the pdf file of the accepted manuscript may differ slightly from what is displayed on the item page. The information in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript reflects the original submission by the author
Adaptive Multi-Element Stochastic Moving Least Squares for Uncertainty Quantification
Get PDFA moving least squares-based uncertainty quantification method has been developed and applied to a variety of stochastic differential equations. The focus of the approaches presented in this thesis is on resolving the long-term integration problem particularly resulting from the presence of a singularity or nonlinearity in the random space. While in stochastic moving least squares the long-term integration problem is resolved by increasing the number of nodes, in multi-element stochastic moving least squares this issue is dealt with by splitting the stochastic domain into smaller sub-domains around areas with larger error. There are three main challenges in establishing a robust approximation-based uncertainty quantification scheme. The first of these is related to defining a criterion for increasing the number of nodes in stochastic moving least squares or creating new elements in multi-element stochastic moving least squares. The residual of the stochastic differential equations, which is an explicit representation of error, is used for this purpose. The second challenge is about a new source of error arising from transferring the numerical solution onto a new set of nodes in stochastic moving least squares or new elements in multi-element stochastic moving least squares, which is solved by a new technique designed to renovate the transferred solution. Finally, an adaptive criterion is devised for finding the most efficient way of splitting elements in multi-element stochastic moving least squares for problems with multidimensional random inputs. Several cases have been studied which show improvements in the results compared to generalized polynomial chaos and multi-element generalized polynomial chaos, especially in the presence of nonlinearities or singularities. The novel approaches established in this research, also make it possible to use other non-interpolating approximations, which do not have the hierarchical structure of gPC, in a wide variety of stochastic methods. This creates a new category of techniques that capitalize on the unique properties of these approximations. This advancement significantly broadens the scope and applicability of these methods for tackling complex stochastic problems.M.A.S
Debate Prompting for Query-driven Contrastive Explanation for Recommendations
Get PDFThe rapid expansion of natural language processing (NLP) has increased interest in providing grounded explanations for recommendations, particularly in contrastive, query-driven contexts. This work investigates methods for generating explanations that use both user reviews and objective data sources. Inspired by existing literature and discourse theory, we explore various design choices to enhance the quality of these explanations. We introduce a debate-style prompting approach to generate contrastive explanations for recommendations. We find that debate-style prompting outperformed STRUM-LLM-like variants for contrastive summarization on two datasets, and for another dataset, either matches or beats the baselines on all criteria. We also examine whether the level of discourse aggressiveness influences explanation quality, finding no significant improvement. Additionally, we assess the reliability of large language models (LLMs) for pairwise Win Rate evaluation through a user study, showing that LLM-based pairwise evaluations align well with human judgment and can thus be considered trustworthy.M.A.S
Lung Nodule Malignancy Classification Integrating Deep and Radiomic Features in a Three-Way Attention-Based Fusion Module
Get PDFIn this study, we propose a novel hybrid framework for assessing the invasiveness of an in-house dataset of 114 pathologically proven lung adenocarcinomas presenting as subsolid nodules on Computed Tomography (CT). Nodules were classified into group 1 (G1), which included atypical adenomatous hyperplasia, adenocarcinoma in situ, and minimally invasive adenocarcinomas, and group 2 (G2), which included invasive adenocarcinomas. Our approach includes a three-way Integration of Visual, Spatial, and Temporal features with Attention, referred to as I-VISTA, obtained from three processing algorithms designed based on Deep Learning (DL) and radiomic models, leading to a more comprehensive analysis of nodule variations. The aforementioned processing algorithms are arranged in the following three parallel paths: (i) The Shifted Window (SWin) Transformer path, which is a hierarchical vision Transformer that extracts nodules’ related spatial features; (ii) The Convolutional Auto-Encoder (CAE) Transformer path, which captures informative features related to inter-slice relations via a modified Transformer encoder architecture; and (iii) a 3D Radiomic-based path that collects quantitative features based on texture analysis of each nodule. Extracted feature sets are then passed through the Criss-Cross attention fusion module to discover the most informative feature patterns and classify nodules type. The experiments were evaluated based on a ten-fold cross-validation scheme. I-VISTA framework achieved the best performance of overall accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity (mean ± std) of 93.93 ± 6.80%, 92.66 ± 9.04%, and 94.99 ± 7.63% with an Area under the ROC Curve (AUC) of 0.93 ± 0.08 for lung nodule classification among ten folds. The hybrid framework integrating DL and hand-crafted 3D Radiomic model outperformed the standalone DL and hand-crafted 3D Radiomic model in differentiating G1 from G2 subsolid nodules identified on CT
Standardized ileal digestible amino acid and metabolizable energy contents of ahiflower seed and ahiflower press cake for broiler chickens
Get PDFWe determined the nitrogen-corrected apparent metabolizable energy (AMEn), apparent ileal digestibility (AID) of Ca and P, and standardized ileal digestible (SID) amino acid contents in ahiflower seed (AS) and presscake (APC). From d14-21, broiler chicks were housed 5/cage in 32 cages, and assigned to 1 of 4 diets, in a completely randomized design. The diets were: 1) corn-soybean meal-based diet; 2) corn and soybean meal replaced by 30%AS; 3) corn and soybean meal replaced by 30%APC; and 4) a low-protein-casein-cornstarch-based diet to estimate basal ileal endogenous amino acid (AA) losses. All diets contained 1%celite as an indigestible marker. Excreta samples were collected on d19-21 and pooled/cage for AMEn determination. On d21, all birds were euthanized by cervical dislocation, and contents of distal ileum were obtained and pooled/cage to determine AA, P, and Ca digestibility. On as-is-basis(kcal/kg), AS had AME and AMEn of 1,707 and 1,640, respectively, while APC had AME and AMEn of 1,510 and 1,579, respectively. The SID (%) of Arg (88.3), Met (87.6), Ala(85.3), Glu(87.8), and Tyr(84.9) in APC were significantly higher (PThe presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the pdf file of the accepted manuscript may differ slightly from what is displayed on the item page. The information in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript reflects the original submission by the author
Onychomycosis in Diabetics: A Common Infection with Potentially Serious Complications
Get PDFOnychomycosis is a prevalent and clinically relevant complication among individuals with diabetes. It is associated with an elevated risk of secondary fungal and bacterial infections, foot ulceration, and, in advanced cases, amputation. Factors contributing to the increased prevalence of onychomycosis in this population include age, peripheral vascular disease, poor glycemic control, neuropathy, suboptimal foot hygiene, and nail trauma. While dermatophytes are the most common pathogens, diabetic patients are more prone to mixed infections involving Candida species with varying antifungal susceptibility profiles, necessitating accurate identification to guide therapy. Prompt diagnosis and early intervention are important to prevent complications. Systemic antifungals such as terbinafine and itraconazole are considered first-line therapies, particularly for moderate to severe onychomycosis. However, drug interactions, renal, hepatic, and metabolic comorbidities may necessitate individualized treatment plans. For patients with mild to moderate disease, or contraindications to oral therapy, topical agents such as efinaconazole or tavaborole offer viable alternatives. Adjunctive measures, including education on foot hygiene, prompt treatment of tinea pedis, and environmental sanitization, are important in preventing recurrence and reinfection. This review summarizes the epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment considerations for onychomycosis in diabetic patients, emphasizing the need for individualized care to improve outcomes in this high-risk population
The combined effects of low light and low water on seedling growth vary in their severity based upon tree species and seedling traits
Get PDFEnvironmental stresses rarely occur in isolation, in fact plants often combat multiple stresses at once. Moreover, while most studies examining the combined effect of different factors have focused on greenhouse experiments, comparing experimental results with field studies is necessary to validate results. Here, we examine the effect low water and light on the growth of Acer rubrum, A. saccharum, and Quercus rubra in a greenhouse and the field. We tested whether the combined effects were additive, synergistic, or antagonistic and studied if these responses were mediated by functional traits. In the greenhouse we found an additive effect of the two stresses across species, however individual species responded differently with A. rubrum showing additive, and A. saccharum and Q. rubra showing antagonistic effects. Species were unique in their trait responses, but species with antagonistic effects tended towards more acquisitive strategies belowground. Our field results partially matched our greenhouse findings, with water and light stress resulting in additive effects in all species except for A. saccharum. Our results suggest that A. saccharum and Q. rubra may be better equipped to cope with low light and water, and that studies should be careful to extrapolate from greenhouse studies on multiple stress response alone.The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the pdf file of the accepted manuscript may differ slightly from what is displayed on the item page. The information in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript reflects the original submission by the author
Resonant Auger, Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering and Resonant X-ray Emission Spectroscopy at the SXRMB of the Canadian Light Source – Recent commissioning results
Get PDFIn this contribution, we present recent commissioning results from the SXRMB@CLS on the L3M4,5M4,5 Auger as a function of excitation energy from below to above the L3 -edge of a Ru (0001) single crystal and a Nb metal foil, showing the RIXS (resonant inelastic X-ray scattering) like dispersion behavior as the excitation is approaching the threshold from below. The Auger lines exhibit a constant shift at excitation energy below the threshold with increasing excitation energy toward the threshold and become narrower at the threshold where RIXS and resonant X-ray emission (RXES) become a concerted process as Resonant Auger (also known as Auger Raman because of the constant shift) becomes normal Auger. We also present RIXS and RXES results at the Nb L3-edge of Nb metal and the P and S K-edge of P2S5 and ZnS, respectively. These results show that SXRMB is ready for users to embark on systematic studies on both the electron and photon channel following core hole de-excitation at resonance and related phenomena.The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the pdf file of the accepted manuscript may differ slightly from what is displayed on the item page. The information in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript reflects the original submission by the author
From Beatific Sanctuary to Besieged Stronghold: Syriac Monastic Conflicts and Early Islam
Get PDFThe Syrian Orthodox Church, a prominent Christian community in the late antique Middle East, experienced a schism in the eighth century due to differing views on its relationship with the Muslim caliphs. The Monastery of Mar Gabriel, also called the Qartmin monastery and located in Southeast Turkey, sought close ties with the caliphs, while the Qenneshre Monastery, located in Northern Syria, opposed such relations. This led to a seventeen-year schism that had lasting effects on the Church into the ninth century. This dissertation argues that the origins of this conflict can be found in the Church’s foundations in the sixth century. Miaphysites in Syria experienced repression from the pro-Chalcedonian faction, with their bishops and leaders being expelled from cities, imprisoned, or exiled to the rural frontier of Northern Mesopotamia. Without the cities, the Church came to rely on the monasteries to organize the rival Syrian Orthodox Church. This Church was governed by a diffuse network of monasteries rather than a singular authority. Following the Arab conquest in the seventh century, Church leaders sought to determine how they should interact with their new Muslim leaders. However, given the diffuse leadership structure, there was no way to enforce canons and rulings written by Jacob of Edessa in determining these relationships. Over the seventh and eighth centuries, the Qartmin monastery grew closer to the caliphate, and in turn, the caliphs began to patronize the monastery and appointed patriarchs directly from it. This created a rivalry with Qenneshre, and the schism occurred when a monk from each monastery was named patriarch, one by the Church and the other by the caliph. The factors that caused the schism were addressed in the ninth century by centralizing authority with the patriarch, diminishing the power of other bishops and monasteries, and aligning the patriarch with the caliph. These reforms were framed in the history of the Church’s experience of persecution and suffering in the sixth century, thus positioning ecclesiastical reforms in continuity with the Church’s past.Ph.D