Learning the concept of integral through the appropriation of the competence in Riemann sums

It is proposed that the difficulty of engineering students into understanding the concept of the integral, as a way for calculating the area under a curve, can be overcame if students are taught how to translate it into the problem of calculating a Riemann sum. A series of applied problems are proposed to provide a frame that required to calculate the area under a curve to two groups of students. For one of these groups, Geogebra was proposed as a tool that could be used to maintain the focus of students into the concepts, by providing ways to easily calculate and visualize the solutions, while the other group reached to the solutions by analytically making all the calculations. Evidence was found that, to a confidence level of 95%, Riemann sums calculated with Geogebra reduce the score difference in context problems requiring the calculation of integrals, helping students to reach a better understanding on the concept of the integral as the area under the curve of a given function

El Nanocirco: un diseño interdisciplinario para la divulgación y enseñanza de la Nanociencia y la Nanotecnología

Resumen: La nanociencia y la nanotecnología forman parte del desarrollo científico-tecnológico que contemplamos en la actualidad. Para educar en sus conceptos y diseminarlos en la sociedad se requiere de la creación de nuevas estrategias educativas. En este artículo describimos la investigación-acción realizada para la planificación, diseño y desarrollo de la obra el Nanocirco, en la que se integraron el circo y el teatro con la ciencia, para ofrecer una experiencia de comunicación científica no formal, motivar a las personas a la ciencia y enseñar cuatro conceptos de nanociencia y nanotecnología. Los hallazgos presentados son en su mayoría de carácter cualitativo, con algunos datos cuantitativos en términos de porcentajes. Estos fueron recopilados a partir de las reflexiones de los participantes del equipo de desarrollo Nanocirco, la evaluación de las funciones por parte de los espectadores y una preprueba y posprueba para evaluar el cambio en los estereotipos de los científicos. Los resultados sugieren el Nanocirco como un espectáculo interdisciplinario, motivador y generador de diversidad de instrumentos de enseñanza y comunicación, para los aprendizajes tanto del equipo desarrollador, como para los espectadores. Palabras clave: Comunicación de la ciencia; Artes escénicas; Interdisciplinariedad; Estereotipos del científico; Diversidad de aprendizajes. The Nanocircus: An interdisciplinary design for the dissemination and teaching of nanoscience and nanotechnology. Abstract: Nanoscience and nanotechnology are part of the scientific-technological development that we contemplate today. To educate in their concepts and disseminate them in society, it requires the creation of new educational strategies. In this article, we describe the action research carried out for the planning, design, and development of the play The Nanocircus (El Nanocirco) in which the disciplines of circus and the theater were integrated with science to offer a non-formal scientific communication experience, to motivate the people to Science and teach four concepts of nanoscience and nanotechnology. The findings presented are mostly of a qualitative nature, with some quantitative data in terms of percentages. These findings were compiled from the reflections of the participants of El Nanocirco development team, the evaluation of the functions by the spectators and a pre-test and post-test to evaluate the change in the stereotypes of the scientists. The results suggest El Nanocirco as an interdisciplinary show, motivating and generating a diversity of teaching and communication instruments for the learning of both, the development team and the audience. Keywords: Science communication; Scenic arts; Interdisciplinarity; Scientists stereotypes; Diversity of learnings

The Nanocircus: An interdisciplinary design for the dissemination and teaching of nanoscience and nanotechnology .

La n anociencia y la n anote cnología forman parte del desarrollo científico-tecnológico que contemplamos en la actualidad. Para educar en sus conceptos y diseminarlos en la sociedad se requiere de la creación de nuevas estrategias educativas. En este artículo describimos la investigación-acción realizada para la planificación, diseño y desarrollo de la obra el Nanocirco, en la que se integr aron e l c irco y el t eatro con la c iencia, para ofrecer una experiencia de comunicación científica no formal, motivar a las personas a la c iencia y enseñar cuatro conceptos de n anociencia y n anotecnología. Los hallazgos presentados son en su mayoría de carácter cualitativo, con algunos datos cuantitativos en términos de porcentajes. Esto s fueron recopilados a partir de las reflexiones de los participantes del equipo de desarrollo Nanocirco, la evaluación de las funciones por parte de los espectadores y una preprueba y posprueba para evaluar el cambio en los estereotipos de los científicos. Los resultados sugieren el Nanocirco como un espectáculo interdisciplinario, motivador y generador de diversidad de instrumentos de enseñanza y comunicación, para los aprendizajes tanto del equipo desarrollador, como para los espectadores.Nanoscience and n anotechnology are part of the scientific-technological development that we contemplate today. To educate in their concepts and disseminate them in society, it requires the creation of new educational strategies. In this article, we describe the action research carried out for the planning, design, and development of the play The Nanocircus ( El Nanocirco) in which t he disciplines of circus and the theater were integrated with science to offer a non-formal scientific communication experience, to motivate the people to Science and teach four concepts of n anoscience and n anotechnology. The findings presented are mostly of a qualitative nature, with some quantitative data in terms of percentages. These findings were compiled from the reflections of the participants of El Nanocirco development team, the evaluation of the functions by the spectators and a pre-test and post-test to evaluate the change in the stereotypes of the scientists. The results suggest El Nanocirco as an interdisciplinary show, motivating and generating a diversity of teaching and communication instruments for the learning of both, the development team and the audience

Rituximab in refractory Vogt–Koyanagi–Harada disease

IntroductionVogt–Koyanagi–Harada (VKH) prognosis depends on early recognition and treatment; chronic disease may be developed when either delayed or inadequate treatment is performed, whereas other cases despite correct treatment are refractory to different drugs and also become chronic. We report a case of refractory VKH controlled with rituximab treatment.Case reportA 41-year-old female with painful visual loss and headache was examined. (VA 0.4 in RE and hand movements (HM) in LE). Retinal examination demonstrated multiple serous retinal detachments in both eyes. High-dose oral steroids were started, followed by progressive tapering of prednisone. New acute anterior and posterior relapses were achieved, and other immunommodulators were progressively added—new high-dose steroid treatment, adalimumab, cyclosporine, and methotrexate—but patient had new anterior and posterior recurrences associated with tinnitus and headache. Thus, an infusion of 1 g of rituximab was administered after 15 months follow-up; the VA was 0.2 in RE and counting fingers in LE. Three additional doses of 1 g each were administered 1, 6, and 16 months later. We have achieved a final VA after 34 months follow-up of 0.2 in RE and HM in LE, with definitive control of inflammation, without acute relapses since rituximab was administered.ConclusionAfter searching PubMed/Medline, this is the first report of VKH disease treated with rituximab. Additional studies are warranted to confirm the efficacy of this new approach for inflammatory control in refractory cases of VKH disease

Reducing model bias in a deep learning classifier using domain adversarial neural networks in the MINERvA experiment

We present a simulation-based study using deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs) to identify neutrino interaction vertices in the MINERvA passive targets region, and illustrate the application of domain adversarial neural networks (DANNs) in this context. DANNs are designed to be trained in one domain (simulated data) but tested in a second domain (physics data) and utilize unlabeled data from the second domain so that during training only features which are unable to discriminate between the domains are promoted. MINERvA is a neutrino-nucleus scattering experiment using the NuMI beamline at Fermilab. $A$-dependent cross sections are an important part of the physics program, and these measurements require vertex finding in complicated events. To illustrate the impact of the DANN we used a modified set of simulation in place of physics data during the training of the DANN and then used the label of the modified simulation during the evaluation of the DANN. We find that deep learning based methods offer significant advantages over our prior track-based reconstruction for the task of vertex finding, and that DANNs are able to improve the performance of deep networks by leveraging available unlabeled data and by mitigating network performance degradation rooted in biases in the physics models used for training.Comment: 41 page

Frecuencia y tipo de actividades de laboratorio que realizan profesores/as primarios en el area de las ciencias, en Santiago de Chile

El presente estudio tuvo como objetivos principal indagar sobre las percepciones que tienen los profesores primarios que realizan clases de ciencias en dos comunas de Santiago de Chile, sobre las actividades de laboratorio. Para ello se desarrolló un cuestionario con 13 preguntas cerradas y 32 afirmaciones de escala likert. La encuesta fue respondida por un total de 70 profesores de quinto y sexto nivel de educación primaria durante el periodo final de clases en el año 2008. Los resultados más importantes de la investigación señalan que: la actividad de laboratorio mas realizada son los experimentos y las menos la resolución de problemas; más del 50% de los profesores señala realizar dos o menos actividades de laboratorio en el año escolar y aquellos que realizan más actividades son los que están más de acuerdo con que estas fomentan la motivación de los niños por la ciencia

Anti-mycobacterial activity of labdane and halimane diterpenes obtained from Plectranthus ornatus Codd

Natural products are a unique source of lead compounds for medicinal chemistry. Several diterpenes isolated from Plectranthus spp. have been reported to have interesting tuberculostatic activity and P. ornatus Codd. has been used in some regions of Brazil as an anti-infective. Previously, diterpenes with halimane and labdane skeletons were isolated in large quantities from P. ornatus Codd. We assessed the anti-mycobacterial activity of these compounds, performing a preliminar assay with the non-virulent strain Mycobacterium smegmatis. The cytotoxicity of the diterpenes with halimane and labdane skeletons was tested with the lactate dehydrogenase assay, where no considerable cytotoxic effects were found up to 25 µg.mL-1. Subsequently, the microdilution method was used to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against M. smegmatis. The MIC that inhibited the growth of the non-virulent mycobacteria by ≥99% was 100 µg.mL-1 for the diterpene with halimane skeleton, whereas for the diterpene with a labdane skeleton was >100 µg.mL-1. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on diterpenes with halimane and labdane skeletons isolated from P. ornatus in macrophages cytotoxicity, and in a preliminar assay for anti-mycobacterial activity. Further studies are suggested on M. tuberculosis, particularly for the diterpenes with halimane skeleton

The Traspena meteorite: heliocentric orbit, atmospheric trajectory, strewn field, and petrography of a new L5 ordinary chondrite

The Traspena meteorite fell on 2021 January 18 about 20 km south-east of the city of Lugo (Galiza, Spain), shortly after a huge and bright fireball crossed the sky for 4.84 s. Astrometric measurements obtained from the fireball cameras of the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (USC) as well as from many casual videos were used to determine the atmospheric trajectory of this meteoroid which penetrated the atmosphere and generated sound waves that were detected at three seismic stations. The original meteoroid had a diameter of about 1.15 m and a mass around 2620 kg. It impacted the Earth’s atmosphere with a steep entry angle of about 76∘.7 from a height of 75.10 km until fading away at 15.75 km with a velocity of 2.38 km s−1. Before the impact, this small asteroid was orbiting the Sun with a semimajor axis of 1.125 au, a moderate eccentricity of 0.386, and a low inclination of 4∘.55. A weak evidence of dynamic link with the PHA (Potential Hazardous Asteroid) Minos was investigated. During the atmospheric entry, two major fragmentation events occurred between heights of 35 and 29 km at aerodynamic pressures between 1 and 5 MPa. The strewn field was computed after calculating the individual dark flights of the main body along with two smaller fragments. Fortunately, 2 month after the superbolide, a 527-g meteorite was found. It was examined using several geochemical and petrographic analyses which allowed us to classify it as a moderately shocked (S3) L5 ordinary chondrite with a bulk density of 3.25 g cm−3This paper was supported by the Xunta de Galicia (Spain) under the ED431B 2020/38 grantS

ICT-enabled Refugee Integration: A Research Agenda

The recent phenomenon that has become known as the European refugee crisis is, in reality, a global problem. Accordingly, issues regarding refugee integration have become a central debate topic worldwide. In this paper, we examine how refugees use information and communication technology (ICT) in different regions across the world to understand how ICT supports their desperate journey to safety, their stay in temporary settlement camps, and their post-settlement inclusion in host countries. We conducted a series of interviews with Syrian refugees in Berlin, Germany, to collect preliminary insights. Then, we organized panel discussions at two key information systems conferences (ICIS 2016 and ECIS 2017) that involved participants from various countries. The panel discussions revealed seven key research themes: accessibility to information, availability of education and linguistic resources, admissibility to labor markets and entrepreneurship opportunities, communicability with home country, connectedness with local population, interactivity with host government, and volunteer coordination. We discuss how ICT might help to address issues related to each theme, present research questions relevant to each theme, and supply an illustration of how ICT has been employed to address an aspect of each theme. Insights gathered lead to theoretical implications and future opportunities for research in the information systems field, practical implications for different stakeholders interested in refugee integration to consider, and social implications related to refugee crisis that we cannot ignore