Distance mathematics education in Flanders, Germany, and the Netherlands during the COVID 19 lockdown: —the student perspective

In March 2020, many schools worldwide were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This closure confronted mathematics teachers with the challenging transition to emergency remote teaching (ERT). How did students experience ERT, and how did these experiences relate to context variables and to their teachers’ beliefs and practices? In particular, what didactic approaches and formative assessment practices did secondary mathematics students experience, and which beliefs did they hold concerning digital mathematics education? How were these student experiences and beliefs related to student context variables (gender, need to support family, personal home equipment), teacher beliefs, delivery modes, and student appreciation of mathematics? To investigate these issues, we set out online questionnaires for mathematics teachers and their students in Flanders—the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium—, Germany, and the Netherlands. Data consisted of completed questionnaires by 323 mathematics teachers and 2126 of their students. Results show that even though students preferred regular face-to-face teaching, they were content with the quality of their teachers’ distance mathematics teaching. Students reported that they were taught new topics often, but did not experience teachers initiating peer feedback. High student appreciation of mathematics, good home environment, and more synchronous delivery of ERT were related to ERT experiences and more positive beliefs concerning digital mathematics education. These findings have implications for ERT teaching strategies in future, as well as for hybrid teaching practices

A strong conditional mutualism limits and enhances seed dispersal and germination of a tropical palm

Seed predation and seed dispersal can have strong effects on early life history stages of plants. These processes have often been studied as individual effects, but the degree to which their relative importance co-varies with seed predator abundance and how this influences seed germination rates is poorly understood. Therefore, we used a combination of observations and field experiments to determine the degree to which germination rates of the palm Astrocaryum mexicanum varied with abundance of a small mammal seed predator/disperser, Heteromysdesmarestianus, in a lowland tropical forest. Patterns of abundance of the two species were strongly related; density of H. desmarestianus was low in sites with low density of A. mexicanum and vice versa. Rates of predation and dispersal of A. mexicanum seeds depended on abundance of H. desmarestianus; sites with high densities of H. desmarestianus had the highest rates of seed predation and lowest rates of seed germination, but a greater total number of seeds were dispersed and there was greater density of seedlings, saplings, and adults of A. mexicanum in these sites. When abundance of H. desmarestianus was experimentally reduced, rates of seed predation decreased, but so did dispersal of A. mexicanum seeds. Critically, rates of germination of dispersed seeds were 5 times greater than undispersed seeds. The results suggest that the relationship between A. mexicanum and H. desmarestianus is a conditional mutualism that results in a strong local effect on the abundance of each species. However, the magnitude and direction of these effects are determined by the relative strength of opposing, but related, mechanisms. A. mexicanum nuts provide H. desmarestianus with a critical food resource, and while seed predation on A. mexicanum nuts by H. desmarestianus is very intense, A. mexicanum ultimately benefits because of the relatively high germination rates of its seeds that are dispersed by H. desmarestianus

ANALISIS QOS VIDEO STREAMING DAN VOIP DENGAN METODE PCQ MENGGUNAKAN ROUTER MIKROTIK RB952Ui-5ac2Nd

Masalah yang sering kali dihadapi ketika mengakses video streaming dan VOIP adalah ketersediaan bandwidth untuk masing-masing pengguna. Keterbatasan ini disebabkan karna kurangnya manajemen bandwidth untuk dibagikan kepada pengguna. Untuk mengatasi masalah tersebut, maka akan dilakukan manajemen bandwidth menggunakan metode Per Connection Queue (PCQ). PCQ adalah metode yang berfungsi untuk membagi bandwidth secara merata kepada setiap pengguna. Kemudian akan dilakukan pengukuran berdasarkan parameter yang dimiliki QOS (Quality of Service) antara lain delay, throughput, packet loss dan jitter. Penelitian ini juga menggunakan metode Study Literature sebagai metode pengumpulan data dan metode Action Research sebagai metode yang digunakan untuk pengerjaan penelitian ini. Hasil yang didapatkan dari penelitian ini adalah lebih meratanya pembagian bandwidth kepada setiap pengguna. Pengaruh yang dibawa oleh PCQ berdampak sesuai dengan fungsi asli dari PCQ itu sendiri. Kemudian packet loss dapat ditekan dapat dilihat dari perbandingan 1 dan 4, packet loss tertinggi sebelum diterapkan PCQ mencapai 81.6% dan mencapai persentase terendah mencapai 73%. Pengukuran jitter meraih hasil terbaik yaitu 0ms. Bandwidth 1 Mbps dapat menampung 32 pengguna dengan baik ketika menjalankan VOIP. Butuh lebih dari 4 Mbps untuk menjalankan video streaming untuk 32 pengguna dengan baik