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This paper presents a feature-centric strategy for predicting adsorption energies of key CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) adsorbates, CO and H species, utilizing density functional theory-based calculations for eight adsorption sites and considering alloying effects of nine transition metals at single-atom concentrations. Here, we explore a class of materials consisting of a majority host metal where individual atoms of a different element are dispersed called single-atom alloys (SAA). A total of eight feature selection methods are assessed within Gradient Boosting Regression and Linear Regression models. This study proposes a practical and effective two-stage approach that narrows down the initial 86 features to subsets of 10 and 7 for CO and H adsorption energy predictions, respectively, with the arithmetic mean of valence electrons (VE-am) feature consistently emerging as highly influential, validated through permutation and Shapley additive explanations-based feature importance analyses. The models exhibit robust performance on unseen data, indicating their generalization capability. The findings emphasize VE-am as a potential key machine learning feature for CO2RR on SAA surfaces and underline the effectiveness of the feature-centric approach in understanding feature impacts in machine learning models for CO2RR on SAA systems. Additionally, while other features based on structural, electronic and elemental properties may not individually impact the model significantly, their collective contribution plays a vital role in achieving more accurate adsorption energy predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essential component of case-based reasoning (CbR) is the similarity function. The existence of incorrect similarity values, one of the primary issues of similarity function, occurs when two cases seem to have a lot in similarity but actually differ greatly from one another. The aim of this study is to suggest a fuzzy similarity function that might be used with CbR, which has been executed in three primary phases. Firstly, a knowledge base is created. Secondly, the inference engines are created. To determine fuzzy similarity values, the proposed approach employs Graded Mean Integration Representation (GMIR), which takes into consideration the impact of each evidence on the case. Finally, model testing is determined by comparing GMIR with the additive function and additive weighting and using them as the sensitivity test. A comparison of similarity methods was carried out using the k-NN, Euclidean, and Pearson similarity. Expert evaluation carries out external validity checking. The degree of similarity between the CbR output solution and the expert solution is determined using the Intuitive Fuzzy Weighted Arithmetic Mean (IFWAM). The results demonstrate that the GMIR function applied with thresholds of 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, and 0.8 provides the fewest instances of similar cases when compared to the additive and additive weighting approaches. GMIR is able to provide a variety of alternatives using the threshold value. IFWAM performs 93.33% when used in 15 test scenarios, and only one of the solutions from the CbR output differs from that offered by the pshycologs. The main reason is the challenge of selecting keywords for every item of evidence provided. When CbR's validity was examined, it was also demonstrated that IFWAM was reliable in estimating the degree of similarity between CbR output and expert solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Chinese Journal of Inorganic Analytical Chemistry / Zhongguo Wuji Fenxi Huaxue is the property of Beijing Research Institute of Mining & Metallurgy Technology Group and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

We present Hermite–Hadamard–Fejér type inequalities for strongly MφMψ -convex functions. Some refinements of them and bounds for the integral mean of the product of two functions are also obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many sedimentary aquifers consist of small layers of coarser and finer material. When groundwater flow in these aquifers is modeled, the hydraulic conductivity may be simulated as homogeneous but anisotropic throughout the aquifer. In practice, the anisotropy factor, the ratio of the horizontal divided by the vertical hydraulic conductivity, is often set to 10. Here, numerical experiments are conducted to determine the effective anisotropy of an aquifer consisting of 400 horizontal layers of which the homogeneous and isotropic hydraulic conductivity varies over two orders of magnitude. Groundwater flow is simulated to a partially penetrating canal and a partially penetrating well. Numerical experiments are conducted for 1000 random realizations of the 400 layers, by varying the sequence of the layers, not their conductivity. It is demonstrated that the effective anisotropy of the homogeneous model is a model parameter that depends on the flow field. For example, the effective anisotropy for flow to a partially penetrating canal differs from the effective anisotropy for flow to a partially penetrating well in an aquifer consisting of the exact same 400 layers. The effective anisotropy also depends on the sequence of the layers. The effective anisotropy values of the 1000 realizations range from roughly 5 to 50 for the considered situations. A factor of 10 represents a median value (a reasonable value to start model calibration for the conductivity variations considered here). The median is similar to the equivalent anisotropy, defined as the arithmetic mean of the hydraulic conductivities divided by the harmonic mean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In some situations, square contingency tables with ordered categories are analyzed by considering collapsed tables where adjacent categories are combined. This study proposes measures to represent the degree of departure from symmetry using collapsed tables. The proposed measures are defined as the arithmetic mean of submeasures of each collapsed 3 × 3 table. Additionally, a theorem affirms that the value of the measure for symmetry is equal to the sum of the value of the proposed measures. Finally, examples are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We researched how the transition to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic affected the development of mathematical thinking and reading comprehension skills of high school students based on the analysis of the results of a standardized test for higher education admission. The total number of participants was N = 17,942, out of which N1 = 10,611 were pre-pandemic applicants and N2 = 7,331 were post-pandemic applicants. The pre-pandemic group took into consideration the exam results from September 2016 to June 2020. The post-pandemic group took into consideration the exam results from September 2020 up to May 2023. We conclude that emergency remote teaching decreased the average mathematical competence of incoming university students by 12.8%. Similarly, emergency remote teaching decreased the average reading achievement of students entering university by 8%. Therefore, the impact of emergency remote teaching was greater on mathematics skills than on reading achievements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the research was to identify the relationship between physical fitness elements and overall muscular balance, as well as their contributions among female students in the basic stage of proficiency academies and international schools in Jordan. The descriptive method was used on a sample of (139) female students aged (9-12) years, from proficiency academies and international schools in Jordan. A set of tests was applied to select physical fitness elements to determine their relationship with overall muscular balance, and their contribution among the basic stage female students (fourth, fifth and sixth grades). The following statistical tests were used: (arithmetic mean, standard deviation, percentage, Pearson correlation coefficient, regression analysis). The research concluded that physical fitness elements play an important role in providing overall muscle balance among female students in the basic education stage, which contributed to achieving balance with high percentages among the basic stage female students. Based on these results, the researchers recommend directing the attention of workers in the basic education stage to consider the physical fitness elements that have been identified, and achieved results in the process of overall muscular balance within the physical education curricula for the basic stage students. It is also necessary to conduct research on the same physical fitness elements for different age groups of female students the significant, as well as conducting research on male students and finding differences between them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Expanding the capacity of optimization algorithms for simultaneous optimization of multiple competing objectives is a crucial aspect of research. This study presents MnMOMFO, a novel non-dominated sorting (NDS) and crowding distance (CD)-based multi-objective variant of the moth-flame optimization (MFO) algorithm for multi-objective optimization problems. The algorithm incorporates arithmetic and geometric mean concepts to address MFO's limitations and to improve its performance. Subsequently, we extend this enhanced MFO into a multi-objective variant, leveraging NDS and CD strategies to achieve a well-distributed Pareto optimal front. The effectiveness of the proposed MnMOMFO algorithm is rigorously evaluated across three distinct phases. In the initial phase, we scrutinize its performance on four ZDT multi-objective optimization problems, employing four performance metrics—general distance, inverted general distance, spacing, and spread metric. Comparative analyses with select competitive multi-objective optimization algorithms comprehensively understand MnMOMFO's efficacy. Secondly, 24 complex multi-objective IEEE CEC 2020 test suits are considered on two performance metrics. Namely, Pareto sets proximity and the inverted generational distance in decision space. In the third phase, five real-world engineering problems are considered to measure the problem-solving ability of the MnMOMFO algorithm. The results from the experiments indicated that the MnMOMFO was the best candidate algorithm, achieving more than 95% superior results for multi-objective ZDT benchmark problems, IEEE CEC 2020 test functions, and real-life issues in contrast to several other algorithms. The experimental outcomes substantiate MnMOMFO's superiority, establishing it as a robust and efficient algorithm for multi-objective optimization challenges with broad applicability to real-world engineering problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Robot-assisted visits, as part of telemedicine, can offer doctors the opportunity to take care of patients. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in telemedicine. The use of teleconsultations, for example, has found its way into the German health care system. However, the practicability and the benefit of robot-assisted postoperative visits have not been systematically investigated in any study worldwide. Methods: Patients were enrolled in a prospective randomized study comparing the standard postoperative visit with the doctor on call and the digital visit through the Double robot between December 2019 and April 2022. All patients and doctors completed a survey after the visit. The primary outcome was patient satisfaction. Secondary outcomes included patients' pain, hospitalization time, and patients' opinions about the usefulness of the robot. Likert scales of arithmetic mean, standard deviation, and subgroup analyses with the Mann–Whitney U test and the Fisher's exact test were used to compare outcomes. Results: We enrolled a total of 106 patients: 54 (50.9%) of them underwent the robot visit and 52 (49.1%) underwent the conventional visit. Baseline demographic and clinical characteristics were similar between groups. Our primary outcome was the same in both arms. Similar results were obtained for the secondary endpoints. Conclusion: Robot-televisits were comparable with standard visits including satisfaction, usefulness, and time of hospitalization. Digitalization in medicine is an irreversible process, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. We hope that our study will provide concrete help to encourage the allocation of funds for telemedicine in Germany's health care system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research goal is to: A comparative study between the skill performance of some basic football skills using legal balls and the balls used in practical lectures. The researchers used the descriptive approach to suit it and the subject of the research. The research population was intentional from the first academic stage, where they were chosen intentionally because this stage teaches the basic skills of football. As for the research sample, it consisted of (15) male students only who were chosen randomly. The researchers presented a questionnaire to those with experience and specialization to find out the appropriate skills for the study. These skills were the skill of controlling and controlling the ball, the skill of scoring, and the skill of handling. The researchers used the following tests to measure the performance of the sample on the skills chosen by the experts. These tests are (the test of control and basic control of the ball, and the test of scoring balls. And the handling test towards a small target 20 meters away. The researchers used the following statistical methods: (arithmetic mean, standard deviation, ttest for non-independent samples, SPSS statistical package). The researchers concluded that there was a difference in the sample’s performance in the two tests, as the sample’s performance was better using legal balls. The researchers recommend the necessity of using balls that conform to the rules of the game and in all sporting events because they have a clear impact on the quality of performance and thus improve the learning process for students in the colleges of physical education and sports sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reason for the spread of this phenomenon is the lack of control over border crossings, so the research aimed to identify the reasons behind the spread of drug abuse through a field study on the inmates of the Anbar Rehabilitation Centre by identifying the aura that the user forms about the drug, as well as the role of psychological pressure suffered by the addict, in addition tothe role of psychological pressure suffered by the addict, in addition to identifying the role of media propaganda in pushing the user to addiction by answering the main question, What are the most important reasons and factors leading to drug abuse by identifying the social aura? A questionnaire was developed by reviewing the previous literature and was subjected to apparent honesty by presenting it to a number of specialists in the field of education and psychology, and the coefficient of honesty was calculated, where the coefficient of 80/0 of the research results were significant indicators that appeared through statistical analysis of the study sample for the three dimensions: aura, psychological pressure relief, and media propaganda in pushing the user to addiction. In the aura dimension, the paragraph I expect drugs to give the individual strength to face life difficulties ranked first with an arithmetic mean of 4.45, "I believe that drugs are a unique magical experience" came in second place, and "I expect drugs to contribute to increasing thinking" came in third place, while in the psychological pressure dimension, "I believe that drugs are the best way to eliminate worries" came in first place with a mean of 4. In the third dimension after media propaganda, the paragraph I think there is no harm in trying drugs once ranked first with a computational average of 4.33, [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precipitous Arctic sea-ice decline and the corresponding increase in Arctic open-water areas in summer months give more space for sea-ice growth in the subsequent cold seasons. Compared to the decline of the entire Arctic multiyear sea ice, changes in newly formed sea ice indicate more thermodynamic and dynamic information on Arctic atmosphere–ocean–ice interaction and northern mid–high latitude atmospheric teleconnections. Here, we use a large multimodel ensemble from phase 6 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) to investigate future changes in wintertime newly formed Arctic sea ice. The commonly used model-democracy approach that gives equal weight to each model essentially assumes that all models are independent and equally plausible, which contradicts with the fact that there are large interdependencies in the ensemble and discrepancies in models' performances in reproducing observations. Therefore, instead of using the arithmetic mean of well-performing models or all available models for projections like in previous studies, we employ a newly developed model weighting scheme that weights all models in the ensemble with consideration of their performance and independence to provide more reliable projections. Model democracy leads to evident bias and large intermodel spread in CMIP6 projections of newly formed Arctic sea ice. However, we show that both the bias and the intermodel spread can be effectively reduced by the weighting scheme. Projections from the weighted models indicate that wintertime newly formed Arctic sea ice is likely to increase dramatically until the middle of this century regardless of the emissions scenario. Thereafter, it may decrease (or remain stable) if the Arctic warming crosses a threshold (or is extensively constrained). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The key objectives of this research study are to construct a valid and reliable household-based Human Development Index (HDI) and to estimate human development disparities in 36 districts of Punjab (Pakistan) by analysing Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey microdata. The household-level HDI, a composite index, is constructed by applying the arithmetic mean of the household-level health, asset, and education indices. The district of Lahore, among all the 36 districts of Punjab, has the highest HDI score of 0.743, followed by districts Rawalpindi, Jhelum, and Gujrat. Four neighbouring districts from South Punjab: Rajanpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Muzzaffar Gar, and Rahim Yaar Khan, have the lowest HDI scores of 0.492, 0508, 0.531, and 0.566, respectively. This paper has used the Palma-ratio and Gini-coefficient to estimate human development disparities in Punjab. The highest human development disparities are observed in the Rajanpur district with a Gini-coefficient of 0.38 and a Palma Ratio of 1.55. Both the Gini and Palma Ratio methods produce similar district rank orderings of inequality. This research recommends that additional efforts be made to uplift the districts with the lowest human development in Southern Punjab through local government restructuring and devolution of relevant powers, including the formation of a separate province. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recycled moisture is an important indicator of the renewal capacity of regional water resources. Due to the existence of Yulong Snow Mountain, Lijiang in Yunnan Province, southeast of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China, is the closest ocean glacier area to the equator in Eurasia. Daily precipitation samples were collected from 2017 to 2018 in Lijiang to quantify the effect of sub-cloud evaporation and recycled moisture on precipitation combined with the d-excess model during monsoon and non-monsoon periods. The results indicated that the d-excess values of precipitation fluctuated between −35.6‰ and 16.0‰, with an arithmetic mean of 3.5‰. The local meteoric water line (LMWL) was δD = 7.91δ18O + 2.50, with a slope slightly lower than the global meteoric water line (GMWL). Sub-cloud evaporation was higher during the non-monsoon season than during the monsoon season. It tended to peak in March and was primarily influenced by the relative humidity. The source of the water vapour affected the proportion of recycled moisture. According to the results of the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model, the main sources of water vapour in Lijiang area during the monsoon period were the southwest and southeast monsoons. During the non-monsoon period, water vapour was transported by a southwesterly flow. The recycled moisture in Lijiang area between March and October 2017 was 10.62%. Large variations were observed between the monsoon and non-monsoon seasons, with values of 5.48% and 25.65%, respectively. These differences were primarily attributed to variations in the advection of water vapour. The recycled moisture has played a supplementary role in the precipitation of Lijiang area [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preventive maintenance is performed to sustain the safe and reliable operation of industrial equipments. In order to plan preventive maintenance or evaluate the existing maintenance plan, the failure behavior of the system must be modeled. The failure behavior of a repairable system is modeled utilizing counting processes. In this study failure behavior of propellers belonging to a small aircraft fleet is modeled. First non-parametric estimate of population mean cumulative function (MCF) is obtained. MCF helps discovering the special features of the maintenance data. The parametric model selection depends on the result of the trend analysis of the time between failures. In the second part of the study trend analysis is performed on propeller maintenance data. Based on the trend analysis two prospect parametric models are selected. Reliability measures are estimated using both models and results are compared to evaluate the existing preventive maintenance plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chub mackerel (Scomber japonicus) in Northwest Pacific Ocean holds significant economic value. It is important to better manage its resources by understanding its suitable habitat distribution. This study transformed acoustic data collected from the high seas fishery survey during the summer of 2021 into acoustic index suitable for habitat modeling. By integrating satellite remote sensing data on sea surface temperature (SST), sea surface salinity (SSS), sea surface height (SSH), and chlorophyll a mass concentration (Chl. a), this study analyzed the relationship between suitable habitat and marine environmental factors. The ranges of environmental factors corresponding to suitable habitat were analyzed. Habitat suitability index models were established using both arithmetic mean method and geometric mean method. Their performance was compared through 500 iterations of cross-validation, and the suitable habitat distribution map was developed. The results indicated that the suitable ranges for SST, SSS, SSH, and Chl. a were respectively 22.51-25.09 °C, 34.09-34.65, 0.48-1.14 m, and 0.13-0.23 mg/m³. The model developed using the arithmetic mean method performed superiorly in terms of regression slope, R² and AIC, proving more appropriate for modeling suitable habitat for Chub mackerel. Suitable habitat was primarily concentrated south of 38 N, near the Kuroshio current. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In our research aimed at determining the views of kitchen staff on organizational justice, the survey used quantitative methods at the data collection stage. Our study used descriptive analyses (frequency, arithmetic mean, standard deviation) on data obtained from 378 kitchen workers working in five-star hotels in Istanbul, Independent-Samples T test was applied to compare two groups, and One-Way ANOVA tests were applied to comparison of more than two groups. Statistical significance level was determined as p<0.05 in all analyses. When the findings were examined, statistically significant differences were found between the gender, age, education level, and belonging status of the kitchen staff and their views on the subject of organizational justice (p<0.05). Additionally, it was observed that there was no statistically significant difference between the views of kitchen staff about their working years in the sector and organizational justice (p>0.05). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The oilseed palm genus Acrocomia is suitable for sustainable oil production in South America. The high phenotypic diversity of wild populations poses a challenge for the delimitation of the genus. Comparing the inflorescence architecture, a first‐order panicle, and staminate and pistillate flower traits could be a valuable tool in resolving the taxonomic disarray. Thus, this study aims to characterize the differences in the inflorescence architecture and floral structures of three common and economically significant Acrocomia species: A. aculeata, A. totai, and A. intumescens. Biometric traits of the inflorescence architecture and floral structures of various Acrocomia accessions in an ex situ germplasm collection in Brazil were assessed. The unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) cluster analysis based on the Gower distance was used to measure dissimilarities between the individual plants of the accessions. To our best knowledge, this study provides the first evidence of the presence of second‐order rachillae in the genus Acrocomia. Evaluated traits showed a high level of variation within and between accessions, emphasizing the phenotypic diversity of the genus. The accessions of A. totai were distinguishable from those of the other two species by their inflorescence architecture and flower traits. The dissimilarities between A. aculeata and A. intumescens were not sufficient to differentiate both. In conclusion, the quantitative assessment of inflorescence and floral traits is a valuable tool for taxonomic resolution of the genus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The flowers of Peperomia (Piperaceae) are simple, minute, and unique structures within the angiosperms consisting of a rounded bract, two stamens and an ovary, but generally lack taxonomic value at species level. Because of this, morphological characters of vegetative parts have been mainly used for species level taxonomy. There is a need to supplement these vegetative characters with anatomical characters. We selected 17 native Thai species representatives of South East Asian Peperomia to investigate the utility of vegetative anatomical characters for species delimitation, taxon identification, and classification. Stem, petiole, and leaf anatomical characters were studied using standard microscopic techniques. The anatomical characters demonstrated high diversity and supported species identification. Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Mean (UPGMA) culstering, Principal Coordinates analysis (PCoA), and Principal Component Anaysis (PCA) were used to investigate patterns in the multivariate anatomical data and identify groupings of value to species classification. Four broad groupings were retrieved and some subgroupings identified. The most important characters that differentiated the species in the multivariate analysis included stem shape (roundness and ridges), petiole indumentum and trichome type, vascular bundle pattern and number, stem pith cavity, mucilage canals, and stem cortex sclerenchyma. These data were further used to prepare anatomical descriptions at generic and species levels and to provide a key to species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A functional Hilbert space is the Hilbert space ℋ of complex-valued functions on some set Θ ⊆ C such that the evaluation functionals φ τ (f) = f (τ) , τ ∈ Θ , are continuous on ℋ. The Berezin number of an operator X is defined by ber (X) = sup τ ∈ Θ | X ˜ (τ) | = sup τ ∈ Θ | 〈 X k ˆ τ , k ˆ τ 〉 | , where the operator X acts on the reproducing kernel Hilbert space H = H (Θ) over some (non-empty) set Θ . In this paper, we introduce a new family involving means ∥ ⋅ ∥ σ t between the Berezin radius and the Berezin norm. Among other results, it is shown that if X ∈ L (H) and f , g are two non-negative continuous functions defined on [ 0 , ∞) such that f (t) g (t) = t , (t ⩾ 0) , then ∥ X ∥ σ 2 ⩽ ber (1 4 (f 4 (| X |) + g 4 (| X ∗ |)) + 1 2 | X | 2) and ∥ X ∥ σ 2 ⩽ 1 2 ber (f 4 (| X |) + g 2 (| X | 2)) ber (f 2 (| X | 2) + g 4 (| X ∗ |)) , where σ is a mean dominated by the arithmetic mean ∇ . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Highlights Impaired numerosity perception in developmental dyscalculia (low “number acuity”) has been interpreted as evidence of reduced representational precision in the neurocognitive system supporting non‐symbolic number sense. However, recent studies suggest that poor numerosity judgments might stem from stronger interference from non‐numerical visual information, in line with alternative accounts that highlight impairments in executive functions and visuospatial abilities in the etiology of dyscalculia. To resolve this debate, we used a psychophysical method designed to disentangle the contribution of numerical and non‐numerical features to explicit numerosity judgments in a dot comparison task and we assessed the relative saliency of numerosity in a spontaneous categorization task. Children with dyscalculia were compared to control children with average mathematical skills matched for age, IQ, and visuospatial memory. In the comparison task, the lower accuracy of dyscalculics compared to controls was linked to weaker encoding of numerosity, but not to the strength of non‐numerical biases. Similarly, in the spontaneous categorization task, children with dyscalculia showed a weaker number‐based categorization compared to the control group, with no evidence of a stronger influence of non‐numerical information on category choice. Simulations with a neurocomputational model of numerosity perception showed that the reduction of representational resources affected the progressive refinement of number acuity, with little effect on non‐numerical bias in numerosity judgments. Together, these results suggest that impaired numerosity perception in dyscalculia cannot be explained by increased interference from non‐numerical visual cues, thereby supporting the hypothesis of a core number sense deficit. A strongly debated issue is whether impaired numerosity perception in dyscalculia stems from a deficit in number sense or from poor executive and visuospatial functions. Dyscalculic children show reduced precision in visual numerosity judgments and weaker number‐based spontaneous categorization, but no increasing reliance on continuous visual properties. Simulations with deep neural networks demonstrate that reduced neural/computational resources affect the developmental trajectory of number acuity and account for impaired numerosity judgments. Our findings show that weaker number acuity in developmental dyscalculia is not necessarily related to increased interference from non‐numerical visual cues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Interuniversitaria de Formación del Profesorado is the property of Asociacion Universitaria de Formacion del Profesorado (AUFOP) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Forty-two accessions of eggplant were screened against Ralstonia solanacearum in screen-house environments. This was followed by an assessment of the genetic diversity of the 42 eggplant successions originating from Bangladesh, China, Thailand and Malaysia, accomplished by exploring SSR markers for germplasm characterisation. Five selected resistant genotypes used as a rootstock were further assessed with UPMSE16 strain in a subsequent trial. The pathogenicity test based on area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) and disease severity index (DSI) at four weeks after inoculation indicated that genotypes TB3, TB6, TB7, MB16 and BB9 had the greatest degree of resistance. Also, the results of the second trial for grafted and control plants based on DSI and AUDPC at 4 WAI showed that grafted plants had resistance to UPMSE16 strain with no symptoms at 4 WAI. The 42 accessions were grouped into nine major clusters based on SSR markers using Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic mean. Hence, the phenotyping screening reveals that five eggplant accessions were resistant to R. solanacearum and can be used as potential rootstock. As a result, the discovered SSR markers may be effective in marker-assisted selection for future use in developing new rootstock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the use of separate and combined stratified random sampling to estimate population mean scores for two important courses in Statistics using their pre-requisites, by comparing two estimators (ratio and regression). For Probability Distribution, the separate ratio estimator emerged as the optimal choice, providing a mean score estimate of 31.66 with a variance of 6612.18. This indicates that using the pre-requisites course score as auxiliary information improved the estimation accuracy compared to the combined ratio estimator. In contrast, Statistical Inference, the combined ratio estimator proved to be more effective, yielding a mean score estimate of 33.99 with a variance of 84.54. The separate regression estimator was also evaluated, demonstrating its suitability for Probability Distribution with a mean score estimate of 32.18 and a variance of 7.22. However, for Statistical Inference, the combined regression estimator offered a more precise estimate (32.99) with a lower variance (17.59). The findings highlight the effectiveness of auxiliary information when selecting estimation methods in stratified sampling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal of Educational Psychological Studies (EPS) is the property of Refaad for Studies, Research & Development and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Espacios is the property of Talleres de Impresos Oma and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this meta syntheses paper, I explore gender as a social factor that interacts with both the cognitive and affective domains of education by explaining what it means for mathematics to be gendered and how we can use mathematics education to promote gender fairness as a form of social justice. I start by discussing gender as a dichotomy and how educational research transitioned from a physiological to a socio-cultural perspective. Guided by Ferguson’s and Bjerrun-Nielsen’s Four-Perspective Gender model, and Cohen and Martin’s Four Dimensional Model of Gender. I argue that mathematics education can be designed to promote gender equity only by considering these dimensions, and when there is a deliberate effort to examine how our exercise of education widens or narrows gender gap in terms of the four dimensions of gender equality: equality to access, learning experience, educational outcomes, and most importantly, external results. I discuss mathematics as an area perceived to embody a symbolic gender and what can be done through mathematics education to break that stereotype and contribute to the furthering equality to external results. I focus this discussion into the context of the Philippines and why it may be essential for educational reforms to zoom out to include other equally important dimensions of gender other than equality to access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study is carried out in 42 sampling sites for the measurement of background gamma dose rate in six tehsils of the Bageshwar district that comes under the Kumaun Himalaya, Uttarakhand. The annual effective dose in the pre-monsoon and post-monsoon seasons was estimated from the measured values of the Gamma dose rate. It is found that the minimum and maximum values ranged between 0.01–0.39 mSv per y (Arithmetic Mean = 0.19 mSv per y) in the pre-monsoon and 0.11–0.42 mSv per y (Arithmetic Mean = 0.20 mSv per y) in the post-monsoon season of the year. The finding of the present study shows that the annual effective dose equivalent is higher than the worldwide average value recommended by the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we introduce a generalized delta q-Mittag-Leffler function. Also, we solve some Caputo delta q-fractional dynamic equations and these solutions are expressed by means of the newly introduced delta q-Mittag-Leffler function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cell deformation and changes in mechanical properties, such as adhesion, elasticity modulus, and height, are some of the most significant signs of cancer. This paper investigates the mechanical parameters of normal and cancerous cells in the breast and lungs. The lung's normal cell studied is MRC-5, and the cancerous ones include A-549, COR-L105, and CALU-6. MCF-10A is the normal breast cell studied, and MDA-MB-468, MDA-MB-231, and ZR-75-1 are cancerous. The mechanical specifications and cellular topography were obtained using nanoindentation by the atomic force microscope (AFM). The elasticity modulus and adhesion amounts for at least 96 indents were computed by mathematical averaging for each cell line in two different modes. The results indicate that cancer decreases the cells' elasticity modulus by one-tenth in the lung and lower than one-third in breast cells. Cancer cells are up to several hundred times more adhesive than normal cells. In addition, a cancerous cell's height is greater than normal cells. This study's elastic modules are compared to the other references. Overall, the results are compatible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study is based on the measurement of the radon and thoron concentrations in the indoor environment of the tectonically active zone of the Garhwal Himalaya region using the portable SMART RnDuo monitor. The concentration of the indoor radon and thoron varies from 60 ± 17 to 213 ± 49 Bq m−3 (with an arithmetic mean of 100 ± 27 Bq m−3) and 33 ± 18 to 217 ± 94 Bq m−3 (with an arithmetic mean of 76 ± 33 Bq m−3), respectively. The significant contribution of thoron concentration was observed in the present study. The average values of indoor radon and thoron concentrations measured from the sampling sites are well below the recommended level of the World Health Organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bruinier, Funke, and Imamoglu have proved a formula for what can philosophically be called the "central L-value" of the modular j-invariant. Previously, this had been heuristically suggested by Zagier. Here, we interpret this "L-value" as the value of an actual L-series, and extend it to all integral arguments and to a large class of harmonic Maass forms which includes all weakly holomorphic cusp forms. The context and relation to previously defined L-series for weakly holomorphic and harmonic Maass forms are discussed. These formulas suggest possible arithmetic or geometric meaning of L-values in these situations. The key ingredient of the proof is to apply a recent theory of Lee, Raji, and the authors to describe harmonic Maass L-functions using test functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aggregate measures play an important role in the analysis of socio-economic phenomena. Various concepts for the construction of aggregate measures have been developed in the source literature. The relative taxonomy method proposed by Wydymus and its modification for the dynamic approach is the subject of interest in the presented article. Measures of central tendency are used in the construction of relative taxonomy method: in the classical version—the arithmetic mean, and in the positional version—the median. It was proposed to apply three robust measures of central tendency: trimmed mean, Winsorized mean, biweight mean. Robust location measures reduce the impact of extreme variable values on the aggregate measure values. The purpose of the article is to examine the usability of the measures of central tendency in ranking a set of objects based on the dynamic relative taxonomy. For this purpose, the degree of compatibility of the rankings of objects in terms of individual variables with the ranking based on the aggregate measure was assess. The rationale for this criterion is that the overall ranking is a resultant of rankings obtained for the individual variables. Kendall's tau correlation coefficient was applied as the measure of rankings compatibility. The empirical data on social cohesion and simulation data were used in the comparative analysis. For both the empirical data and all simulations, the findings collected with robust measures of central tendency are better than the ones obtained using the arithmetic mean. For the simulation data generated from the normal distribution, the highest degree of compatibility of the rankings of objects were achieved for the trimmed mean and the biweight mean. In turn, for the simulation data generated from three distributions (normal, lognormal, and Weibull), significantly better results in assessing the degree of compatibility of the rankings of objects were recorded for the median and the biweight mean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate estimation of design floods is necessary for developing effective flood‐management strategies. Climate change (CC) studies on floods generally consider alterations in mean runoff using ensembles compared to a base period. In this study, we examined the plausibility and implications of applying individual climate model‐generated flows versus their ensembles to estimate peak floods (magnitude and timing of occurrence), using Budhigandaki River Basin of Nepal as a case study. Annual maximum one‐day floods were derived for four future climate scenario projections (cold‐dry, cold‐wet, warm‐wet, and warm‐dry) from simulated daily flow series. Future floods of six return periods estimated for the individual climate scenarios were compared with their "Ensemble" (combiner for the ensemble series is the arithmetic mean of daily floods), "Average," and 'Baseline." Results showed that magnitudes of the flood peaks are such that those estimated using "Ensemble" < "Average" < individual series. We conclude that ensemble series should not be used for flood estimation because of the averaging effect. Designers should consider at the least the "Average" instead of the "Ensemble" series while designing climate‐resilient flood structures. Furthermore, the occurrences of flood peaks are likely to be confined within the monsoon season for the "Ensemble" but spread out in the other months for the individual climate scenarios. This could have direct implications on the availability and mobilization of resources as well as the need for a year‐round operational early warning system for flood risk management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Research in Reading & Writing Instruction is the property of Research in Reading & Writing Instruction and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Economics & Administrative Sciences is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper is dedicated to the analysis and detailed study of a procedure to generate both the weighted arithmetic and harmonic means of n positive real numbers. Together with this interpretation, we prove some relevant properties that will allow us to define numerical approximation methods in several dimensions adapted to discontinuities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Spinal deformations, except for acute injuries, are among the most frequent reasons for visiting an orthopaedic specialist and musculoskeletal treatment in adults and adolescents. Data on the morphology and anatomical structures of the spine are therefore of interest to orthopaedics, physicians, and medical scientists alike, in the broad field from diagnosis to therapy and in research. Methods: Along the course of developing supplementary methods that do not require the use of ionizing radiation in the assessment of scoliosis, twenty CT scans from females and males with various severity of spinal deformations and body shape have been analysed with respect to the transverse distances between the vertebral body and the spinous process end tip and the skin, respectively, at thoracic and lumbar vertebral levels. Further, the locations of the vertebral bodies have been analysed in relation to the patient's individual body shape and shown together with those from other patients by normalization to the area encompassed by the transverse body contour. Results: While the transverse distance from the vertebral body to the skin varies between patients, the distances from the vertebral body to the spinous processes end tips tend to be rather similar across different patients of the same gender. Tables list the arithmetic mean distances for all thoracic and lumbar vertebral levels and for different regions upon grouping into mild, medium, and strong spinal deformation and according to the range of spinal deformation. Conclusions: The distances, the clustering of the locations of the vertebral bodies as a function of the vertebral level, and the trends therein could in the future be used in context with biomechanical modeling of a patient's individual spinal deformation in scoliosis assessment using 3D body scanner images during follow-up examinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mountain snowpack has been declining and more precipitation has fallen as rainfall than snowfall, particularly in the western US. Isotopic composition in stream water, springs, groundwater, and precipitation was examined to understand the impact of declining snowpack on hydrologic processes in the mid Merced River catchment (1873 km 2), Sierra Nevada, California. Mean isotopic values in small tributaries (catchment area < 122 km 2), rock glacier outflows, and groundwater from 2005 to 2008 were strongly correlated with mean catchment elevation (R2= 0.96 for δ2 H, n= 16, p < 0.001), with an average isotopic lapse rate of - 1.9 ‰ per 100 m for δ2 H and - 0.22 ‰ per 100 m for δ18 O in meteoric water. The lapse rate did not change much over the seasons and was not strongly affected by isotopic fractionation. A catchment-characteristic isotopic value, representing the catchment arithmetic mean isotopic signature in meteoric water, was thus established for each sub-catchment based on the lapse rate to elucidate hydrometeorologic and hydrologic processes such as the duration and the magnitude of snowmelt events and elevational water sources of streamflow and groundwater for ungauged catchments. Compared to Tenaya Creek without water falls, the flow and flow duration of Yosemite Creek appear to be much more sensitive to seasonal temperature increases during the baseflow period due to a strong evaporation effect caused by waterfalls, suggesting a possible prolonged dry-up period of Yosemite Falls in the future. Groundwater in Yosemite Valley (∼ 900–1200 m) was recharged primarily from the upper snow–rain transition zone (2000–2500 m), suggesting its strong vulnerability to shifts in the snow–rain ratio. The information gained from this study helps advance our understanding of hydrologic responses to climate change in snowmelt-fed river systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stratification is an important design feature of many studies using complex sampling designs and it is often used in large-scale assessment (LSA) studies, such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), for two main reasons. First, stratification variables that achieve a high between and low within strata variance can improve the efficiency of a survey design. Second, stratification allows one to, explicitly or implicitly, control for sample sizes across subpopulations. It ensures that some parts of a population are in the sample in predetermined proportions. In this study, we determine through simulation which stratification scheme is best for PISA in Germany. For this, we consider the constraints imposed by the international sampling design, the available information about schools, and specific national characteristics of the German educational system. We examine seven different stratification designs selected based on scenarios used in past LSAs in Germany and theoretical considerations for future implementations. The chosen scenarios were compared with two reference scenarios: (1) an unstratified design and (2) a synthetic optimal stratification design. The simulation study reveals that the stratification design currently applied in PISA produces satisfactory results regarding sampling precision. The present stratification design is based on Germany's federal states and school types. However, this approach leads to small strata, which has been problematic for estimating sampling variance in previous cycles. Therefore, alternative stratification scenarios were considered and, in addition to overcoming the small-strata problem, also led to smaller standard errors for estimates of student mean performance in mathematics, science, and reading. As a result of this study, we recommend considering three different stratification designs for Germany in future cycles of PISA. These recommendations aim to: (1) improve the sampling efficiency while keeping the sample size constant, (2) follow a sound methodological approach, and (3) make conservative and cautious changes while maintaining a reflection of the structure of the German federal school system with different school types. These suggestions include a reinvented stratification of grouped German federal states and designs with school types as explicit stratifiers and federal states as implicit stratifiers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Vegetation condition metrics are often used as a surrogate of biodiversity to support management decisions, conservation regulations and biodiversity markets. Vegetation condition metrics, which aggregate multiple attributes, are often criticised for simplifying the complexity of biodiversity. A particular challenge is substitution when high‐scoring attributes compensate for those with low scores (e.g. high vegetation cover compensating for low growth from diversity). The geometric mean is often suggested for aggregation to reduce these effects. In New South Wales, Australia, the Vegetation Integrity metric, calculated as the geometric mean of Composition, Structure and Function sub‐indices, measures the losses and gains in biodiversity values within the NSW Biodiversity Offsets Scheme. However, concern has been raised that Vegetation Integrity underestimates conservation values of derived native grasslands when the Function sub‐index (primarily tree‐related attributes) approaches zero. We explore this issue using two datasets and compare the current Vegetation Integrity metric with aggregation using the arithmetic mean, adopting a minimum value of 10/100 for the Function sub‐index and use of a grassland benchmark for derived native grasslands. Our evaluation draws on a large‐scale expert elicitation of conservation values in Critically Endangered Box‐gum Grassy Woodlands and 4018 Vegetation Integrity estimates undertaken during development assessments. We find that Vegetation Integrity underestimates conservation values of derived native grasslands and that the problem is widespread. Although evidence most strongly supports aggregation using the arithmetic mean, this change could be disruptive to the Biodiversity Offsets Scheme. Alternatively, a sub‐index minimum of 10/100 eliminates underestimation of derived native grasslands without substantial impacts in other circumstances. We found little evidence to support the use of a grassland benchmark, which tended to overestimate conservation values. This study highlights the need for sufficient flexibility in biodiversity policies and regulations to accommodate ongoing metric evaluation and revision to support more robust biodiversity outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study measures territorial competitiveness at the municipal level in Italy, by proposing a robust composite indicator based on variables not yet used in the literature. The underlying theoretical framework is identified based on the literature on regional competitiveness. The proposed indicator consists of the following seven dimensions of competitiveness: Education, Job, Economic Wellbeing, Territory and Environment, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Infrastructures and Mobility. Data are retrieved mainly from administrative sources, for 2014 and 2015. In the building process, three aggregation methods are compared: a compensatory method, the arithmetic mean, and two partially compensatory methods, the geometric mean and the Adjusted Mazziotta-Pareto Index (AMPI). The arithmetic mean turns out to be the most robust method among the three considered, but the AMPI is the most robust method among the two partially compensatory methods. All the methods considered agree in identifying Innovation and Entrepreneurship as the most influential pillars in 2014 and 2015, respectively. The detailed geographical focus provides specific insights into territorial competitiveness in Italy. It emerges a rather heterogeneous picture of municipal competitiveness within the Italian regions. Highly competitive municipalities are present in every region, though with different concentration levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tropical cyclones (TCs) are characterized by robust vortical motion and intense thermodynamic processes, often causing damage in coastal cities as they result in landfall. Accurately estimating the ensemble mean of TC precipitation is critical for forecasting and remains a foremost global challenge. In this study, we develop an ensemble algorithm based on the feature-oriented mean (FM) suitable for spatially discrete variables in precipitation ensembles. This method can adjust the locations of ensemble precipitation fields to reduce the location-related deviations among ensemble members, ultimately enhancing the ensemble mean forecast skill for TC precipitation. To evaluate the feasibility of the FM in TC precipitation ensemble forecasting, 18 landing TC cases in China from 2019 to 2021 were selected for validation. For precipitation forecasts of the landing TCs with a varying leading time, we conducted a comprehensive quantitative evaluation and comparison of the precipitation forecast skills of the FM and arithmetic mean (AM) algorithms. The results indicate that the field adjustment algorithm in the FM can effectively align with the TC precipitation structure and the location of the ensemble mean, reducing the spatial divergence among precipitation fields. The FM method demonstrates superior performance in the equitable threat score, probability of detection, and false alarm ratio compared with the AM, exhibiting an overall improvement of around 10%. Furthermore, the FM ensemble mean shows a higher pattern of the correlation coefficient with observations and has a smaller root mean square error than the AM ensemble mean, signifying that the FM method can better preserve the characteristics of the precipitation structure. Additionally, an object-based diagnostic evaluation method was used to verify forecast results, and the results suggest that the attribute distribution of FM forecast objects more closely resembles that of observed precipitation objects (including the area, longitudinal and latitudinal centroid locations, axis angle, and aspect ratio). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines several papers to study inventory models with back orders to provide a simpler solution procedure for EOQ/EPQ inventory models by using Arithmetic Geometric Mean inequality or Cauchy Bunyakovsky Schwarz inequality. We will point out that a paper implicitly adopted the fill rate from a published article without proper citation to convert two-variable minimum problems into one-variable problems. Hence, his simpler solution procedure is standing on the shoulder of a giant. We also provide detailed examinations for other three related papers that was related to our studied article to point out their contributions and questionable results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aims to assess the accumulation of radon gas in the indoor environment of a test village in Tehri Garhwal, India. Radon gas accumulation was estimated from the radon exhalation rate, radium content in the soil, and radon concentration in indoor air. The measured and estimated radon concentrations in the indoor environment were observed to vary from 31 ± 25 to 177 ± 56 Bq/m3 (arithmetic mean = 69 Bq/m3) and 48 to 272 Bq/m3 (arithmetic mean = 108 Bq/m3), respectively. The results of this study may be helpful in understanding the behaviour of radon transport and its accumulation in enclosed spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We reveal the continuous change of information dynamics patterns in anyonic-PT symmetric systems that originates from the continuity of anyonic-PT symmetry. We find there are three information dynamics patterns for anyonic-PT symmetric systems: damped oscillations with an overall decrease (increase) and asymptotically stable damped oscillations, which are three-fold degenerate and are distorted using the Hermitian quantum Rényi entropy or distinguishability. It is the normalization of the non-unitary evolved density matrix that causes the degeneracy and distortion. We give a justification for non-Hermitian quantum Rényi entropy being negative. By exploring the mathematics and physical meaning of the negative entropy in open quantum systems, we connect negative non-Hermitian quantum Rényi entropy and negative quantum conditional entropy, paving the way to rigorously investigate negative entropy in open quantum systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]