Comparing Online English Language Learning and Face-to-Face English Language Learning at El Bosque University in Colombia

Although there is significant research surrounding online foreign language education, there are still questions on whether the outcomes are comparable to those obtained in the traditional face-to-face classroom. This study examined four classes, two online and two face-to-face, where students took the second course of a 6-level program of English as a Second Language at El Bosque University in Colombia. The International Test of English Proficiency (iTEP) was administered to students before classes started in order to establish a baseline, and then again after the courses finished. This test evaluates English language proficiency per skill: speaking, listening, reading, writing and also presents an overall proficiency score and level. Variables such as socioeconomic strata, students’ age, instructors, previous experience with online courses, course completion, student satisfaction and attendance and time on course were also examined. Because not all online students completed all content of the course within the timeframe given, special attention was given to this variable. Results indicate that when comparing the scores of only the online students who completed all the content of the course with those of their face-to-face counterparts, there are no statistically significant differences in the outcomes of any of the four skills nor there is a difference in the overall scores; however this brings up the issue of time investment as it seems to vary based upon instructional method. A qualitative component was used to support the findings in this study. This component included instructors’ interviews, an end-of-course qualitative survey and class observations

Axiomatization and Measurement of Quasi-Hyperbolic Discounting

This article provides an axiomatic characterization of quasi-hyperbolic discounting and a more general class of semi-hyperbolic preferences. We impose consistency restrictions directly on the intertemporal trade-offs by relying on what we call “annuity compensations.” Our axiomatization leads naturally to an experimental design that disentangles discounting from the elasticity of intertemporal substitution. In a pilot experiment we use the partial identification approach to estimate bounds for the distributions of discount factors in the subject pool. Consistent with previous studies, we find evidence for both present and future bias.Economic

3D Real-Time Reconstruction using the Cloud

This work presents a 3D real-time reconstruction based on a visual SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) approach using a RGBD camera. The proposed system aims to create a 3D model of an environment using a low-power computer and Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) server for computation offloading

Aggregation of Robust Regularization with Dynamic Filtration for Enhanced Radar Imaging

The paper suggest a novel approach to the problem of high-resolution array radar/SAR imaging as an ill-conditioned inverse spatial spectrum pattern (SSP) estimation problem with model uncertainties. We explain the theory recently developed by the authors of this presentation that addresses a new fused Bayesian-regularization paradigm for radar/SAR image formation/reconstruction. We show how this theory leads to new adaptive and robustified computational methods that enable one to derive efficient and consistent estimates of the SSP via unifying the Bayesian minimum risk estimation strategy with the ME randomized a priori image model and other projection-type regularization constraints imposed on the solution. We detail such fused Bayesian-regularization (FBR) paradigm and analyze some efficient numerical schemes for computational implementation of the relevant FBR-based methods. Also, we present the results of extended simulation study of the family of the radar image (RI) formation algorithms that employ the proposed FBR paradigm for high-resolution reconstruction of the SSP of the wavefield sources distributed in the remotely sensed environment. The last issue that we address as a perspective innovation is a paradigm of incorporating the concept of dynamic computing into the FBR-based technique to enable the latter to reconstruct the desired environmental remote sensing signatures (RSS) extracted from the enhanced imagery taking into account their dynamical behaviour. This provides a background for understanding the future trends in development of intelligent dynamic RS imaging and resource management techniques. The advantages of the well designed RI experiments (that employ the FBR-based methods) over the cases of poorer designed experiments (that employ the matched spatial filtering as well as the constrained least squares estimators) are investigated trough the simulation study.ITESO, A.C

Remote Sensing Signature Fields Reconstruction via Robust Regularization of Bayesian Minimum Risk Technique

The robust numerical technique for high-resolution reconstructive imaging and scene analysis is developed as required for enhanced remote sensing with large scale sensor array radar/synthetic aperture radar. The problem- oriented modification of the previously proposed fused Bayesian-regularization (FBR) enhanced radar imaging method is performed to enable it to reconstruct remote sensing signatures (RSS) of interest alleviating problem ill- poseness due to system-level and model-level uncertainties. We report some simulation results of hydrological RSS reconstruction from enhanced real-world environmental images indicative of the efficiency of the developed method.Cinvesta

Unifying the Experiment Design and Constrained Regularization Paradigms for Reconstructive Imaging with Remote Sensing Data

In this paper, the problem of estimating from a finite set of measurements of the radar remotely sensed complex data signals, the power spatial spectrum pattern (SSP) of the wavefield sources distributed in the environment is cast in the framework of Bayesian minimum risk (MR) paradigm unified with the experiment design (ED) regularization technique. The fused MR-ED regularization of the ill-posed nonlinear inverse problem of the SSP reconstruction is performed via incorporating into the MR estimation strategy the projection-regularization ED constraints. The simulation examples are incorporated to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed unified MR-ED technique.CINVESTA

The speciation of Noctua atlantica (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae) occurred in the Azores as supported by a molecular clock based on mitochondrial COI sequences

The complete sequence of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene of Noctua atlantica (Warren, 1905) has been determined and deposited in the NCBI GenBank under the Accession number AY600452. Complete and partial COI sequences of other Lepidoptera have been collected and used to reconstruct a phylogeny with both the Neighbor-Joining and the Maximum Likelihood methods. A molecular clock calibrated for our models indicate a divergence time between Noctua atlantica and Noctua pronuba of 4.7-5.9 Million years, consistent with the geological age of the Azores and suggesting that the speciation process of N. atlantica occurred in this archipelago