The flipped classroom learning model as a means for acquiring the 21st century skills

In a knowledge based economy students are expected to acquire a certain set of skills that will enable them to have a positive impact in society. The 21st century skills are considered to be the answer to their social and professional inclusion and education plays a key role in providing students with the opportunity to develop these skills. To address the challenges of the future, educational frameworks need to be redesigned so that they can cultivate this set of skills. The advancement of technologies can contribute to the realization of an educational paradigm shift while the teachers’ role in the learning process remains fundamental. The flipped classroom is a new learning model where the learning activities inside and outside the classroom are rearranged. Several studies have indicated that flipping the classroom promotes the cultivation of the 21st century skills, such as critical thinking, creativity, metacognition, problem solving, collaboration, motivation, self-efficacy, conscientiousness, grit and perseverance. On the other hand this pedagogical approach could be quite challenging since it presents many barriers that need to be removed so that the method can deliver the desirable learning outcomes

Hierarchies and fractals: ecclesiastical revenues as indicator for the distribution of relative demographic and economic potential within the cities and regions of the Late Byzantine Empire in the early 14th century

Until now the source material has made it impossible to reconstruct the distribution of economic power and population within the Late Byzantine Empire on a large scale. Our new analysis of a list of financial contributions from 1324, which includes those from 33 bishoprics and the Patriarchate of Constantinople, connects this data with the economic performance of the respective town and its hinterland; we demonstrate that the distribution of contributions shows characteristics which are typical for settlement hierarchies and therefore can be used to create the first models for the relative distribution of demographic and economic potential in the Byzantine Empire at this time.Until now the source material has made it impossible to reconstruct the distribution of economic power and population within the Late Byzantine Empire on a large scale. Our new analysis of a list of financial contributions from 1324, which includes those from 33 bishoprics and the Patriarchate of Constantinople, connects this data with the economic performance of the respective town and its hinterland; we demonstrate that the distribution of contributions shows characteristics which are typical for settlement hierarchies and therefore can be used to create the first models for the relative distribution of demographic and economic potential in the Byzantine Empire at this time

Statistical and trend analysis of water quality and quantity data for the Strymon River in Greece

Strymon is a transboundary river of Greece, Bulgaria and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) in southeastern Europe. Water quality parameters and the discharge have been monitored each month just 10 km downstream of the river’s entry into Greece. The data of nine water quality variables (T, ECw, DO, SO₄^2-, Na⁺+K⁺, Mg²⁺ , Ca²⁺, NO₃^&#8254;, TP) and the discharge for the period 1980-1997 were selected for this analysis. In this paper a) the time series of monthly values of water quality parameters and the discharge were analysed using statistical methods, b) the existence of trends and the evaluation of the best fitted models were performed and c) the relationships between concentration and loads of constituents both with the discharge were also examined. Boxplots for summarising the distribution of a data set were used. The &#967²-test and the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test were used to select the theoretical distribution which best fitted the data. Simple regression was used to examine the concentration-discharge and the load-discharge relationships. According to the correlation coefficient (r) values the relation between concentrations and discharge is weak (r< 0.592) while the relation between loads and discharge is very strong (r > 0.902). Trends were detected using the nonparametric Spearman’s criterion upon the data for the variables: Q, ECw, DO, SO₄^2-, Na⁺+K⁺ and NO₃^&#8254; on which temporal trend analysis was performed.</p> <p style='line-height: 20px;'><b>Keywords: </b>Strymon river, water quality, discharge, concentration, load, statistics, trend

Οι γυναικείες μορφές της Τέταρτης διάστασης του Γιάννη Ρίτσου: οι διαστάσεις της επιθυμίας

ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΗ: Η Τέταρτη διάσταση του Γιάννη Ρίτσου, συντίθεται στο χρονικό διάστημα 1956-1974. Βασικό συστατικό στοιχείο της συλλογής αποτελεί ο αρχαίος ελληνικός μύθος από όπου εκκινεί ο ποιητής για να συνθέσει τους περισσότερους από τους μονολόγους που περιλαμβάνει ο τόμος. Σε οκτώ από τα δεκαεπτά ποιήματα, ο λόγος εκφωνείται από γυναίκα· σε έξι όμως από αυτά η ομιλήτρια είναι μυθική ηρωίδα· έτσι, τα έξι αυτά ποιήματα συγκροτούν μια διακριτή ενότητα της συλλογής. Αντικείμενο της παρούσας μελέτης αποτελούν οι ποιητικές συνθέσεις, «Περσεφόνη», «Χρυσόθεμις», «Η Ελένη», «Ισμήνη», «Η επιστροφή της Ιφιγένειας» και «Φαίδρα». Ποιο είναι το κίνητρο του ποιητή για την ανάπλαση των συγκεκριμένων μυθικών μορφών; και τι κομίζει με μια τέτοια ποιητική; Λειτουργούν οι γυναίκες αυτές ως προσωπεία του ποιητή και, αν ναι, γιατί τα χρησιμοποιεί; Καθώς οι ηρωίδες ανοίγουν στο πρόσωπο που τις ακούει (ή στον αναγνώστη) την ψυχή τους, τι είναι αυτό που αποτυπώνεται; Η γυναίκα, ερωτική και περιθωριοποιημένη, μέσα στη διαχρονία του μύθου και της Ιστορίας; Ο ίδιος ο ποιητής, ενταγμένος σε συγκεκριμένο χωροχρονικό πλαίσιο και αντιμέτωπος με συγκεκριμένα γεγονότα στην προσωπική του ζωή, αλλά και στο κοινωνικοϊστορικό γίγνεσθαι της εποχής του; Τι είναι αυτό που ζητά το καταπιεσμένο υποκείμενο για τον Ρίτσο; Ποιες είναι οι διαστάσεις της επιθυμίας του; Αυτά είναι τα ζητήματα που διερευνώνται στην παρούσα εργασία.ABSTRACT: The Fourth Dimension (Tetarti diastasi) was composed between 1956-1974. Most of the poems comprising the collection are inspired by ancient Greek myths. In eight out of the seventeen, the speakers are women, while in six out of those, the women are mythical heroines; these six poems consist, therefore, a cohesive unit. This dissertation deals with the monologues: “Persephone”, “Chrysothemis”, “Helen”, “Ismene”, “The Return of Iphigeneia”, and “Phaedra”. What is the motive of the poet in recreating these mythical figures? Do these women function as masks of the poet himself, and, if so, why? What is actually revealed as the speakers open themselves to the persons listening to them (or to the readers)? Woman, erotic and marginalised, throughout myth and history? The poet himself, dealing with issues pertaining to his personal life as well as to events of his time? What does the oppressed subject seek, according to Ritsos? What are the dimensions of her/his desire? This dissertation aims at exploring such question

Statistical and trend analysis of water quality and quantity data for the Strymon River in Greece

International audienceStrymon is a transboundary river of Greece, Bulgaria and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) in southeastern Europe. Water quality parameters and the discharge have been monitored each month just 10 km downstream of the river's entry into Greece. The data of nine water quality variables (T, ECw, DO, SO42-, Na++K+, Mg2+ , Ca2+, NO3?, TP) and the discharge for the period 1980-1997 were selected for this analysis. In this paper a) the time series of monthly values of water quality parameters and the discharge were analysed using statistical methods, b) the existence of trends and the evaluation of the best fitted models were performed and c) the relationships between concentration and loads of constituents both with the discharge were also examined. Boxplots for summarising the distribution of a data set were used. The &#9672-test and the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test were used to select the theoretical distribution which best fitted the data. Simple regression was used to examine the concentration-discharge and the load-discharge relationships. According to the correlation coefficient (r) values the relation between concentrations and discharge is weak (r 0.902). Trends were detected using the nonparametric Spearman's criterion upon the data for the variables: Q, ECw, DO, SO42-, Na++K+ and NO3? on which temporal trend analysis was performed. Keywords: Strymon river, water quality, discharge, concentration, load, statistics, trend

Hierarchies and fractals: ecclesiastical revenues as indicator for the distribution of relative demographic and economic potential within the cities and regions of the Late Byzantine Empire in the early 14th century

Until now the source material has made it impossible to reconstruct the distribution of economic power and population within the Late Byzantine Empire on a large scale. Our new analysis of a list of financial contributions from 1324, which includes those from 33 bishoprics and the Patriarchate of Constantinople, connects this data with the economic performance of the respective town and its hinterland; we demonstrate that the distribution of contributions shows characteristics which are typical for settlement hierarchies and therefore can be used to create the first models for the relative distribution of demographic and economic potential in the Byzantine Empire at this time.Until now the source material has made it impossible to reconstruct the distribution of economic power and population within the Late Byzantine Empire on a large scale. Our new analysis of a list of financial contributions from 1324, which includes those from 33 bishoprics and the Patriarchate of Constantinople, connects this data with the economic performance of the respective town and its hinterland; we demonstrate that the distribution of contributions shows characteristics which are typical for settlement hierarchies and therefore can be used to create the first models for the relative distribution of demographic and economic potential in the Byzantine Empire at this time

Accelerating Distributed Optimization via Over-the-Air Computing

Distributed optimization is ubiquitous in emerging applications, such as robust sensor network control, smart grid management, machine learning, resource slicing, and localization. However, the extensive data exchange among local and central nodes may cause a severe communication bottleneck. To overcome this challenge, over-the-air computing (AirComp) is a promising medium access technology, which exploits the superposition property of the wireless multiple access channel (MAC) and offers significant bandwidth savings. In this work, we propose an AirComp framework for general distributed convex optimization problems. Specifically, a distributed primaldual (DPD) subgradient method is utilized for the optimization procedure. Under general assumptions, we prove that DPDAirComp can asymptotically achieve zero expected constraint violation. Therefore, DPD-AirComp ensures the feasibility of the original problem, despite the presence of channel fading and additive noise. Moreover, with proper power control of the users' signals, the expected non-zero optimality gap can also be mitigated. Two practical applications of the proposed framework are presented, namely, smart grid management and wireless resource allocation. Finally, numerical results reconfirm DPDAirComp's excellent performance, while it is also shown that DPD-AirComp converges an order of magnitude faster compared to a digital orthogonal multiple access scheme, specifically, time division multiple access (TDMA)

Electrical Muscle Stimulation: An Effective Form of Exercise and Early Mobilization to Preserve Muscle Strength in Critically Ill Patients

Purpose. This is a secondary analysis of previously published data to investigate the effects of electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) on strength of various muscle groups in critically ill patients. Methods. One hundred forty-two consecutive patients, with APACHE II score ≥ 13, were randomly assigned to the EMS or the control group. EMS sessions were applied daily on vastus lateralis, vastus medialis, and peroneus longus of both lower extremities. Various muscle groups were evaluated with the Medical Research Council (MRC) scale for muscle strength. Handgrip strength assessment was also employed. Results. Twenty four patients in the EMS group and 28 patients in the control group were finally evaluated. EMS patients achieved higher MRC scores than controls (P ≤ 0.05) in wrist flexion, hip flexion, knee extension, and ankle dorsiflexion. Collectively, the EMS group performed higher (P < 0.01) in the legs and overall. Handgrip strength correlated (P ≤ 0.01) with the upper and lower extremities' muscle strength and the overall MRC scores. Conclusions. EMS has beneficial effects on the strength of critically ill patients mainly affecting muscle groups stimulated, while it may also affect muscle groups not involved presenting itself as a potential effective means of muscle strength preservation and early mobilization in this patient population