Evaluating factors affecting attitudes of IT-intensive and non-IT-intensive students towards e-assessment

Despite the significant shift to distance computer-based test as an inevitable outcome of Industry 4.0 and the public lockdown of COVID-19, little effort has been made to research this new testing mode. To address this issue, this study targets two groups of information technology (IT)-intensive and non-IT-intensive students with an aim of investigating factors that effectively encourage each group to adopt online assessment and whether their majors cause any differences in the students’ attitudes. Based on the student perception of e-assessment questionnaire (SPEAQ) with some slight modifications, a final 28-item survey was formed and distributed to 400 students. Results have shown that the factors of security, and affective factors were the top factors to impact both groups of students, while the impact of validity and practicality varied among the two groups and reliability and teaching-learning were at the bottom. Besides, there were no noticeable differences in the attitudes of students coming from different majors

EDMODO USE IN ESP WRITING: STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS

A growing body of literature has examined the nature of blended learning and its effects on language teaching and learning, including the use of Edmodo to promote student writing. However, this type of integration of face-to-face instruction and online learning remains relatively new for EFL contexts. Also, teaching writing at the Vietnamese contexts, particularly in the ESP tertiary education, is still largely dependent on conventional way. This paper therefore reports students’ perceptions about Edmodo use in writing classes at a Vietnamese university. This paper draws on data collected as part of a larger mixed methods project including tests and interviews over a fifteen-week semester of an ESP writing class. In this paper, the focus is the data from interviews, which explored how students perceived the effects of Edmodo use in their writing learning process. The findings indicate students’ positive perceptions about this supportive learning delivery method in writing classes. Implications for teachers and school administrators with regard to practical applications of Edmodo as a potential tool are also discussed.  Article visualizations

A Static condensation Reduced Basis Element method: approximation and a posteriori error estimation

We propose a new reduced basis element-cum-component mode synthesis approach for parametrized elliptic coercive partial differential equations. In the Offline stage we construct a Library of interoperable parametrized reference components relevant to some family of problems; in the Online stage we instantiate and connect reference components (at ports) to rapidly form and query parametric systems. The method is based on static condensation at the interdomain level, a conforming eigenfunction “port” representation at the interface level, and finally Reduced Basis (RB) approximation of Finite Element (FE) bubble functions at the intradomain level. We show under suitable hypotheses that the RB Schur complement is close to the FE Schur complement: we can thus demonstrate the stability of the discrete equations; furthermore, we can develop inexpensive and rigorous (system-level) a posteriori error bounds. We present numerical results for model many-parameter heat transfer and elasticity problems with particular emphasis on the Online stage; we discuss flexibility, accuracy, computational performance, and also the effectivity of the a posteriori error bounds.United States. Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (Grant FA9550-09-1-0613)MIT-Singapore International Design Cente

A Laplace transform certified reduced basis method; application to the heat equation and wave equation

We present a certified reduced basis (RB) method for the heat equation and wave equation. The critical ingredients are certified RB approximation of the Laplace transform; the inverse Laplace transform to develop the time-domain RB output approximation and rigorous error bound; a (Butterworth) filter in time to effect the necessary “modal” truncation; RB eigenfunction decomposition and contour integration for Offline–Online decomposition. We present numerical results to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the approach.United States. Air Force Office of Scientific Research (Grant FA9550-07-1-0425)United States. Air Force Office of Scientific Research (Grant FA9550-09-1-0613

Computation Offloading and Resource Allocation for Backhaul Limited Cooperative MEC Systems

In this paper, we jointly optimize computation offloading and resource allocation to minimize the weighted sum of energy consumption of all mobile users in a backhaul limited cooperative MEC system with multiple fog servers. Considering the partial offloading strategy and TDMA transmission at each base station, the underlying optimization problem with constraints on maximum task latency and limited computation resource at mobile users and fog servers is non-convex. We propose to convexify the problem exploiting the relationship among some optimization variables from which an optimal algorithm is proposed to solve the resulting problem. We then present numerical results to demonstrate the significant gains of our proposed design compared to conventional designs without exploiting cooperation among fog servers and a greedy algorithm

Trends in, projections of, and inequalities in non-communicable disease management indicators in Vietnam 2010–2030 and progress toward universal health coverage : a Bayesian analysis at national and sub-national levels

Background: Movement towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC) can improve health services, risk factor management, and inequality in non-communicable diseases (NCD); conversely, prioritizing and monitoring NCD management can support pathways to UHC in resource-limited settings. We aimed to estimate trends in NCD management indicators in Vietnam from 2010, and projections to 2030 at national and sub-national levels; compute the probability of reaching UHC targets; and measure inequalities in NCD management indicators at demographic, geographic, and socio-economic levels. Methods: We included data of 37,595 households from four nationally representative surveys from 2010. We selected and estimated the coverage of NCD health service and risk management indicators nationally and by six sub-national groups. Using Bayesian models, we provided trends and projections and calculated the probability of reaching UHC targets of 80% coverage by 2030. We estimated multiple inequality indices including the relative index of inequality, slope index of inequality, and concentration index of inequality, and provided an assessment of improvement in inequalities over the study period. Findings: Nationally, all indicators showed a low probability of achieving 2030 targets except sufficient use of fruit and vegetables (SUFV) and non-use of tobacco (NUT). We observed declining trends in national coverage of non-harmful use of alcohol (NHUA), sufficient physical activity (SPA), non-overweight (NOW), and treatment of diabetes (TOD). Except for SPA, no indicator showed the likelihood of achieving 2030 targets at any regional level. Our model suggested a non-achievement of 2030 targets for all indicators in any wealth quintile and educational level, except for SUFV and NUT. There were diversities in tendency and magnitude of inequalities with widening gaps between genders (SPA, TOD), ethnic groups (SUFV), urban-rural areas (TOH), wealth quintiles, and educational levels (TOD, NUT, NHUA). Interpretation: Our study suggested slow progress in NCD management at the national level and among key sub-populations in Vietnam, together with existing and increasing inequalities between genders, ethnicities, geographic areas, and socioeconomic groups. We emphasised the necessity of continuously improving the healthcare system and facilities, distributing resources between geographic areas, and simultaneously integrating economic, education, and gender intervention and programs. Funding: None. © 2022 The Author(s

Land use/land cover changes in the period of 2015–2020 in AngYai Village, Sikhottabong District, Vientiane Capital, Lao PDR

In this study, land use/land cover (LULC) changes were identified in AngYai Village, Sikhottabong District, Vientiane Capital, Laos, from 2015 to 2020 using the Geographic Information System (GIS) and remote sensing (RS). Topographic maps and Google Earth Pro satellite imagery data were used with ArcGIS 10.8 software to map land use fluctuations. The study area was classified into the six main types of LULC (agricultural, builtup, forest, main roads, waste land, and water bodies) based on field research, geographical conditions, and RS data. The results indicated sizeable increases in the built-up, main roads, and especially waste land areas over the study period. The forest and agricultural land areas decreased during the study period, possibly due to increased urbanization rates, nomadic cultivation, and indiscriminate deforestation in the study area. The river area was affected by the construction of hydroelectric dams and by the climate, leading to the drying up of water sources and causing water body areas to decrease to some extent

Reduced Basis Approximation and A Posteriori Error Estimation for Stress Intensity Factors: Application to Failure Analysis

This paper reports the development of reduced basis approximations, rigorous a posteriori error bounds, and offline-online computational procedures for the accurate, fast and reliable predictions of stress intensity factors or strain energy release rate for “Mode I” linear elastic crack problem. We demonstrate the efficiency and rigor of our numerical method in several examples. We apply our method to a practical failure design application.Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA