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Geographical Fairness in Multi-RIS-Assisted Networks in Smart Cities: A Robust Design
No full textpeer reviewedIn this work, we consider a typical scenario in a harsh urban propagation environment which is typical for a smart city scenario where multiple reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) are deployed in different hotspot areas to overcome signal blockage between the base station and users. Our goal is to ensure uninterrupted service availability to users in different hotspot areas regardless of their location. Consistent service availability can be achieved by guaranteeing that each RIS deployed in a hotspot area can support a certain number of users. This plays a critical role in smart city applications in the context of emergency communications and ubiquitous connectivity since the design ensures service availability to as many users as possible in all relevant locations. Taking into consideration the challenges in obtaining channel state information (CSI) given the passive nature of RIS and dynamic environments, we formulate a robust fairness problem to maximize the minimum expected number of served users in proximity to each RIS while considering the available transmit power and the worst-case quality of service (QoS) constraints within the bounded CSI error model framework. The resulting problem is a mixed integer non-convex program which is highly coupled and challenging to solve in polynomial time. Thus, we resort to binary variable relaxation, convex approximation techniques, and alternating optimization to tackle the problem. Additionally, we handle the semi-infinite uncertainty constraints by employing the S-procedure and general sign-definiteness. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed design in obtaining consistent and reliable service in different hotspot areas compared to the relevant benchmark schemes. In addition, the proposed design shows flexibility in serving users with their target QoS given different channel uncertainty levels
Is ESG a Sideshow? ESG Perceptions, Investment, and Firms' Financing Decisions
No full textWe study the effects of market ESG perceptions, as proxied by ESG ratings, on public firms’ security issuance and asset accumulation decisions. Higher ESG scores are followed by capital structure adjustments, specifically increases in equity issuance and decreases in net debt issuance of similar magnitude. These are driven completely by the “E” component of ESG. There are no effects of ESG assessments on capital expenditures or non-cash asset accumulation, supporting the hypothesis that ESG perceptions are a sideshow for capital investment. To address the endogeneity of firms' decisions to raise equity, we consider industry-wide rating changes and decompose the ESG ratings into an industry- and a firm-specific component. The response to the industry component of equity and debt issuance is highly significant, indicating that our findings are not explained by firms' decisions. As many ratings products use restated or backfilled ratings, our results focus on a point-in-time (PIT) ratings panel that we develop. We document that if using a standard ratings product instead of PIT data, researchers might falsely infer that higher ESG ratings lead to asset accumulation, due in particular to the use of restated ESG scores in standard ratings data products.U-AGR-7100 - C21/SC/16141291/GREEN - STEFANOVA Denits
An international systematic review of the ICF in education: cross-language comparisons from Chinese, German, Italian, and Portuguese publications
Full text linkpeer reviewedThe International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF), established by the World Health Organization (WHO), provides a biopsychosocial framework for understanding and addressing human functioning and disability. This systematic review examines the application of the ICF in educational contexts across four non-English languages: Chinese, German, Italian, and Portuguese. The findings reveal significant cross-cultural and linguistic variations in interpretation and implementation, shaped by each country’s socio-political, historical, and educational landscape. By analyzing 54 peer-reviewed publications, this review identifies key practical applications of the ICF in fostering inclusive educational practices. The study highlights how the ICF has influenced a shift from medicalized models of disability toward holistic, participation-centered approaches. Specifically, the ICF is used in Chinese literature to guide activity-based assessments in special education, in German studies as a broad theoretical framework, and in Italian and Portuguese research as a practical tool for inclusive education in mainstream settings. Despite its potential, challenges remain in cross-cultural integration, including inconsistencies in adoption and the need for deeper application beyond theoretical references. To enhance the ICF’s impact in education, this review underscores the necessity for training, cross-cultural collaboration, and policy refinement. Strengthening educators’ and policymakers’ understanding of ICF principles can facilitate its integration into mainstream education, ensuring a more inclusive and supportive learning environment for students with disabilities and those requiring additional support
Preparing future teachers for the strategic use of ICT: A project-based approach
Full text linkIn response to the need for teachers capable of integrating ICT effectively into teaching, and the limited strategic use of technology in Luxembourg schools (Reuter, Busana & Linckels, 2016), we developed a project-based course to enhance educational technology integration competencies among future primary school teachers.
In the course “Educational Technology”, students of the BSCE collaboratively engage in a multi-step process: (1) actively explore a different real pedagogical challenge, (2) review existing educational solutions and relevant pedagogical technologies (analog and digital), (3) design an original educational technology integration scenario that is grounded in state of the art socio-constructivist learning theories and guided by the Triple E Framework (Kolb, 2017). They do this process for 3 different issues and for each one they produce a teacher hand-out and a teaser video. For one of the 3 scenarios they do a test-run in an educational setting, where they document, analyze, and evaluate the teaching and learning activities. At the end of the semester, they present their products to an audience of peers and school community members. Selected projects are published on a website for teachers to find inspiration.
Our teaching approach aims to immerse students in authentic, practice-oriented learning while promoting collaboration, self-directed project work, and practical application of theoretical frameworks and models, such as Bloom’s taxonomy of learning objectives (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001), technology integration strategies (Roblyer & Doering, 2012), learning & teaching events (Leclercq & Poumay, 2005). As students design and implement their own solutions, they are encouraged to think critically about the added value that ICT can bring to education, fostering a deeper understanding of how to use digital tools in effective, context-driven ways. Moreover, they learn how to produce videos to convey a strategic message and to think about how to convincingly “sell” an educational practice to others.4. Quality educatio
Quantifier-free formulas and quantifier alternation depth in doctrines
Full text linkpeer reviewedThis paper aims to incorporate the notion of quantifier-free formulas modulo
a first-order theory and the stratification of formulas by quantifier
alternation depth modulo a first-order theory into the algebraic treatment of
classical first-order logic.
The set of quantifier-free formulas modulo a theory is axiomatized by what we
call a quantifier-free fragment of a Boolean doctrine with quantifiers. Rather
than being an intrinsic notion, a quantifier-free fragment is an additional
structure on a Boolean doctrine with quantifiers. Under a smallness assumption,
the structures occurring as quantifier-free fragments of some Boolean doctrine
with quantifiers are precisely the Boolean doctrines (without quantifiers). In
particular, every Boolean doctrine over a small category is a quantifier-free
fragment of its quantifier completion.
Furthermore, the sequences obtained by stratifying an algebra of formulas by
quantifier alternation depth modulo a theory are axiomatized by what we call
QA-stratified Boolean doctrines. While quantifier-free fragments are defined in
relation to an "ambient" Boolean doctrine with quantifiers, a QA-stratified
Boolean doctrine requires no such ambient doctrine, and it consists of a
sequence of Boolean doctrines (without quantifiers) with connecting axioms.
QA-stratified Boolean doctrines are in one-to-one correspondence with pairs
consisting of a Boolean doctrine with quantifiers and a quantifier-free
fragment of it
Des groupes de rédaction académique pour favoriser la professionnalisation scientifique des doctorants
Full text linkpeer reviewedLe doctorat implique des exigences grandissantes en termes de professionnalisation scientifique. Il est notamment attendu des doctorants qu’ils contribuent à la communauté scientifique, un défi majeur pour ces derniers qui éprouvent un manque de soutien résultant en une faible santé psychologique. En réponse à cette problématique, divers dispositifs d’accompagnement doctoral sous forme de groupes de rédaction académique ont récemment été conçus au Canada et en Europe, dont les retraites de rédaction Thèsez-vous canadiennes et les séminaires de rédaction de l’Université du Luxembourg. La présente étude visait à comparer comment ces deux dispositifs d’accompagnement doctoral peuvent influencer le sentiment de communauté scientifique et la santé psychologique de doctorants. Pour ce faire, une méthodologie mixte a été utilisée. Le volet quantitatif a permis d’analyser l’évolution des réponses entre un prétest (deux semaines avant le dispositif) et un post-test (au terme du dispositif). Puis, le volet qualitatif a visé à explorer les aspects pédagogiques des dispositifs responsables de l’amélioration du bien-être doctoral. Les résultats ont révélé que les retraites de rédaction sont efficaces pour améliorer à la fois la santé psychologique et le sentiment de communauté scientifique, alors que les séminaires n’amélioreraient que le sentiment de communauté scientifique. Néanmoins, selon les participants, les différents aspects pédagogiques des deux dispositifs ont tous été favorables au bien-être.The doctorate implies growing demands in terms of scientific professionalization. In particular, doctoral students are expected to contribute to the scientific community, a major challenge for those who experience lack of support resulting in poor psychological health. In response to this problem, various doctoral support programs in the form of academic writing groups have recently been developed in Canada and Europe, including the Canadian Thèsez-vous writing retreats and the Luxembourg University writing seminars. The aim of this study was to compare how these two doctoral writing support programs can influence doctoral students’ sense of scientific community and psychological health. To this end, a mixed methodology was used. The quantitative part of the study analysed changes in responses between a pre-test (two weeks before the program) and a post-test (at the end of the program). Then, the qualitative part of the study aimed to explore the pedagogical aspects of the programs responsible for improving doctoral well-being. The results showed that the writing retreats were effective in improving both psychological health and the sense of scientific community, whereas the seminars only improved the sense of scientific community. Nevertheless, according to the participants, the different pedagogical aspects of the two programs were all conducive to well-being.3. Good health and well-bein
Impaired somatosensory habituation in older adults with chronic pain during an affective oddball task.
Full text linkpeer reviewed[en] BACKGROUND: Chronic pain is one of the most common health conditions among older adults, triggering various disruptions in information processing across attentional, emotional, and somatosensory domains. However, there is insufficient information about how these aspects interact and their potential contribution to the vulnerability of older adults to chronic pain. This study aimed to investigate potential alterations induced by chronic pain during aging in attentional aspects of tactile stimulation and to observe the influence of affective context.
METHOD: Twenty-six older adults with chronic pain (70.00 ± 5.07 years; 11 males), 28 pain-free older adults (69.57 ± 3.96 years; 13 males) and 27 healthy younger adults (21.48 ± 1.80 years; 14 males) participated in the study. We compared the somatosensory evoked potentials elicited by frequent and deviant stimulation (probability 14%) applied when participants were viewing blocks of pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral images from the International Affective Picture System.
RESULTS: During frequent stimulation, older adults with chronic pain showed higher P50 and N100 amplitudes compared to pain-free older adults and younger individuals. Furthermore, the older group with pain exhibited higher P300 amplitude during emotional contexts compared to neutral scenarios. During deviant stimulation, older adults with chronic pain exhibited higher P50 and N100 amplitudes compared to pain-free older adults but displayed typical age-related flattening during P300.
CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that chronic pain leads to a decline in the ability to habituate to non-painful irrelevant somatosensory stimuli, especially when it is presented in an emotional context.
SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: In the present study, we have observed how older individuals suffering from chronic pain exhibit a decline in the habituation capacity of irrelevant somatosensory information. Furthermore, we have observed how the affective context in which these individuals are situated leads to an exacerbation of this deficit. Enhancing our comprehension of how aging and chronic pain interact to impact somatosensory processing could facilitate the tailoring of novel intervention strategies
Energy efficient LEO satellite communications: Traffic-aware payload switch-off techniques
Full text linkpeer reviewedU-AGR-7045 - C20/IS/14767486/MegaLeo - CHATZINOTAS Symeo
The unintended effects of a large minimum wage increase on health: Evidence from South Korea
Full text linkpeer reviewedR-AGR-3517 - H2020-ERC StG - CRISP - part UL - LEIST Anj