Big data for monitoring educational systems

This report considers “how advances in big data are likely to transform the context and methodology of monitoring educational systems within a long-term perspective (10-30 years) and impact the evidence based policy development in the sector”, big data are “large amounts of different types of data produced with high velocity from a high number of various types of sources.” Five independent experts were commissioned by Ecorys, responding to themes of: students' privacy, educational equity and efficiency, student tracking, assessment and skills. The experts were asked to consider the “macro perspective on governance on educational systems at all levels from primary, secondary education and tertiary – the latter covering all aspects of tertiary from further, to higher, and to VET”, prioritising primary and secondary levels of education

Optical gap in herringbone and pi-stacked crystals of 1]benzothieno3,2-b]benzothiophene and its brominated derivative

The optical gap of the organic semiconductor 1]benzothieno3,2-b]benzothiophene and its 2,7-dibrominated analogue is measured in solution and in the crystalline state by means of UV-vis and emission spectroscopy. Bromination leads to a change in molecular packing from herringbone to pi-stacked, resulting in a marked shift in the absorption and emission spectra which is found to be in accordance with TDDFT calculations

Exploring Causal Relationships Among Emotional and Topical Trajectories in Political Text Data

We explore relationships between dynamics of emotion (arousal and valence) and topical stability in political discourse in two diachronic corpora of Austrian German. In doing so, we assess interactions among emotional and topical dynamics related to political parties as well as interactions between two different domains of discourse: debates in the parliament and journalistic media. Methodologically, we employ unsupervised techniques, time-series clustering and Granger-causal modeling to detect potential interactions. We find that emotional and topical dynamics in the media are only rarely a reflex of dynamics in parliamentary discourse

Selected human rights indicators in the context of current EU regulation: Towards more social sustainability in the financial and economic system. Part II: Substantial Contribution

In March 2018, the European Commission published its Action Plan on Financing Sustainable Growth. Part of the plan calls for the EU to develop classification systems for environmentally and socially sustainable activities to help direct private sector financing to such activities. This is the second briefing paper of a research project aimed at discussing and developing concepts and indicators for the standardised measurement of socially sustainable activities in alignment with international human rights

Short‐Range Structural Correlations in Amorphous 2D Polymers

Many 2D covalent polymers synthesized as single layers on surfaces show inherent disorder, expressed for example in their ring‐size distribution. Systems which are expected to form the thermodynamically favored hexagonal lattice usually deviate from crystallinity and include high numbers of pentagons, heptagons, and rings of other sizes. The amorphous structure of two different covalent polymers in real space using scanning tunneling microscopy is investigated. Molecular dynamics simulations are employed to extract additional information. We show that short‐range correlations exist in the structure of one polymer, i. e. that polygons are not tessellating the surface randomly but that ring neighborhoods have preferential compositions. The correlation is dictated by the energy of formation of the ring neighborhoods

Enhancing hydrogen evolution activity of Au(111) in alkaline media through molecular engineering of a 2D polymer

The electrochemical splitting of water holds promise for the storage of energy produced intermittently by renewable energy sources. The evolution of hydrogen currently relies on the use of platinum as a catalyst—which is scarce and expensive—and ongoing research is focused towards finding cheaper alternatives. In this context, 2D polymers grown as single layers on surfaces have emerged as porous materials with tunable chemical and electronic structures that can be used for improving the catalytic activity of metal surfaces. Here, we use designed organic molecules to fabricate covalent 2D architectures by an Ullmann-type coupling reaction on Au(111). The polymer-patterned gold electrode exhibits a hydrogen evolution reaction activity up to three times higher than that of bare gold. Through rational design of the polymer on the molecular level we engineered hydrogen evolution activity by an approach that can be easily extended to other electrocatalytic reactions.Fil: Alexa, Patrick. Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research; AlemaniaFil: Lombardi, Juan Manuel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Física de Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Instituto de Física de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Abufager, Paula Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Física de Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Instituto de Física de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Busnengo, Heriberto Fabio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Física de Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Instituto de Física de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Grumelli, Doris Elda. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicadas. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicadas; ArgentinaFil: Vyas, Vijay S.. Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research; Alemania. Marquette University; Estados UnidosFil: Haase, Frederik. Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research; Alemania. Kyoto University. Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences; JapónFil: Lotsch, Bettina V.. Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research; Alemania. University of Munich. Department of Chemistry; AlemaniaFil: Gutzler, Rico. Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research; AlemaniaFil: Kern, Klaus. Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research; Alemania. École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne; Suiz

Clonal karyotype evolution involving ring chromosome 1 with myelodysplastic syndrome subtype RAEB-t progressing into acute leukemia

s Karyotypic evolution is a well-known phenomenon in patients with malignant hernatological disorders during disease progression. We describe a 50-year-old male patient who had originally presented with pancytopenia in October 1992. The diagnosis of a myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) FAB subtype RAEB-t was established in April 1993 by histological bone marrow (BM) examination, and therapy with low-dose cytosine arabinoside was initiated. In a phase of partial hernatological remission, cytogenetic assessment in August 1993 revealed a ring chromosome 1 in 13 of 21 metaphases beside BM cells with normal karyotypes {[}46,XY,r(1)(p35q31)/46,XY]. One month later, the patient progressed to an acute myeloid leukemia (AML), subtype M4 with 40% BM blasts and cytogenetic examination showed clonal evolution by the appearance of additional numerical aberrations in addition to the ring chromosome{[}46,XY,r(1),+8,-21/45,XY,r(1),+8,-21,-22/46, XY]. Intensive chemotherapy and radiotherapy was applied to induce remission in preparation for allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) from the patient's HLA-compatible son. After BMT, complete remission was clinically, hematologically and cytogenetically (normal male karyotype) confirmed. A complete hematopoietic chimerism was demonstrated. A relapse in January 1997 was successfully treated using donor lymphocyte infusion and donor peripheral blood stem cells (PB-SC) in combination with GM-CSF as immunostimulating agent in April 1997, and the patient's clinical condition remained stable as of January 2005. This is an interesting case of a patient with AML secondary to MDS. With the ring chromosome 1 we also describe a rare cytogenetic abnormality that predicted the poor prognosis of the patient, but the patient could be cured by adoptive immunotherapy and the application of donor's PB-SC. This case confirms the value of cytogenetic analysis in characterizing the malignant clone in hernatological neoplasias, the importance of controlling the quality of an induced remission and of the detection of a progress of the disease. Copyright (c) 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel

Metabolic and Hormonal Changes After Laparoscopic Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass and Sleeve Gastrectomy: a Randomized, Prospective Trial

BACKGROUND: The mechanisms of amelioration of glycemic control early after laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (LRYGB) or laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) are not fully understood. METHODS: In this prospective, randomized 1-year trial, outcomes of LRYGB and LSG patients were compared, focusing on possibly responsible mechanisms. Twelve patients were randomized to LRYGB and 11 to LSG. These non-diabetic patients were investigated before and 1 week, 3 months, and 12 months after surgery. A standard test meal was given after an overnight fast, and blood samples were collected before, during, and after food intake for hormone profiles (cholecystokinin (CCK), ghrelin, glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), peptide YY (PYY)). RESULTS: In both groups, body weight and BMI decreased markedly and comparably leading to an identical improvement of abnormal glycemic control (HOMA index). Post-surgery, patients had markedly increased postprandial plasma GLP-1 and PYY levels (p > 0.05) with ensuing improvement in glucose homeostasis. At 12 months, LRYGB ghrelin levels approached preoperative values. The postprandial, physiologic fluctuation returned, however, while LSG ghrelin levels were still markedly attenuated. One year postoperatively, CCK concentrations after test meals increased less in the LRYGB group than they did in the LSG group, with the latter showing significantly higher maximal CCK concentrations (p > 0.012 vs. LRYGB). CONCLUSIONS: Bypassing the foregut is not the only mechanism responsible for improved glucose homeostasis. The balance between foregut (ghrelin, CCK) and hindgut (GLP-1, PYY) hormones is a key to understanding the underlying mechanisms