Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER) Annual Report from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020

Over the last ten years, the Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER) has been disseminating research that seeks to investigate, enhance, and transform pre-college engineering education and, ultimately, to create an engineering‐literate society. The 2020 annual report presents readership metrics and statistics of the decade, trends and metrics on J-PEER\u27s authorship in 2020, and our reflections on the last year

Corgi^2: A Hybrid Offline-Online Approach To Storage-Aware Data Shuffling For SGD

When using Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) for training machine learning models, it is often crucial to provide the model with examples sampled at random from the dataset. However, for large datasets stored in the cloud, random access to individual examples is often costly and inefficient. A recent work \cite{corgi}, proposed an online shuffling algorithm called CorgiPile, which greatly improves efficiency of data access, at the cost some performance loss, which is particularly apparent for large datasets stored in homogeneous shards (e.g., video datasets). In this paper, we introduce a novel two-step partial data shuffling strategy for SGD which combines an offline iteration of the CorgiPile method with a subsequent online iteration. Our approach enjoys the best of both worlds: it performs similarly to SGD with random access (even for homogenous data) without compromising the data access efficiency of CorgiPile. We provide a comprehensive theoretical analysis of the convergence properties of our method and demonstrate its practical advantages through experimental results.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figure

Schopenhauer e o possível rompimento com o antropocentrismo kantiano

A pesquisa que aqui se apresenta é uma tentativa de mostrar em que medida Schopenhauer é crítico ao antropocentrismo kantiano. Esse tema partiu de uma perspectiva ecofeminista sobre um aparente conflito entre alguns pontos da filosofia de Schopenhauer: 1) a influência de Kant sobre sua obra, 2) as evidências de machismos e, curiosamente, 3) a sua utilização por filósofos contemporâneos para pensar uma ética animal ou ambiental. O primeiro ponto, baseado em críticas à tradição moderna, sugere que Schopenhauer seja leitor de uma teoria antropocêntrica. O segundo não permite ignorar que a realização de sua filosofia produz pelo menos um tipo de desigualdade. E o terceiro sugere, no sentido de diminuir os sofrimentos político-ecológicos tão presentes na atualidade, uma ética que atribui um mesmo valor moral à toda natureza ou pelo menos a todos os animais, inclusive humanos. O objetivo deste artigo é, então, investigar se, de fato, Schopenhauer é crítico ao antropocentrismo kantiano e pode ser utilizado para pensar uma ética mais igualitária e abrangente, ou se as mesmas críticas feitas a Kant por algumas teóricas ecofeministas também se aplicam ao pensamento schopenhaueriano

Evaluation of blood plasma flow around 2D erythrocytes with the use of computational fluid dynamics / Avaliação do escoamento de plasma sanguíneo ao redor de eritrócitos 2D com o uso de fluidodinâmica computacional

 Hemodynamic forces, such as Wall Shear Stress, are known to be one of the factors behind atherosclerotic plaque formation in blood vessels. Such plaque formation may lead to clinical conditions such as aneurysms and stenosis. Given the importance of understanding the hemodynamics inside blood vessels, CFD-based (Computational Fluid Dynamics) tools can be applied with Medical imaging techniques, in order to assist physicians. Although CFD simulations try to simulate cases as close as possible to their real physics, simplifications are often required. Furthermore, blood is usually taken as being a single-phase fluid, despite it being a suspension of blood cells in plasma. This is due to the focus of computational hemodynamics often being the whole blood flow or pathologies within the blood vessel. However, blood cells can account to more than half of the blood volume, depending on the patient. Hence, the present work aimed to study the behavior of plasma, flowing around a single erythrocyte, as well as a cluster of erythrocytes immersed in a 2D domain. In the simulations, parameters such as the Reynolds number and velocity profiles were analyzed. Results showed that erythrocyte geometry had an influence in the velocity profiles. Moreover, Reynolds numbers were considerably low, due to the micro scale utilized in the simulations, which was in accordance with literature. 

Morbidity associated with "self-rated health" in epithelial ovarian cancer survivors

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Epithelial ovarian cancer survivors (EOCSs) frequently report multiple complaints after their treatment. The objective was to study somatic and mental morbidity in EOCSs associated with their Self- Rated Health (SRH) assessed by a single item.</p> <p>Findings were compared to age-matched controls from the general population.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In a cross -sectional follow-up design 189/287 (66%) EOCSs treated at The Norwegian Radiumhospital 1979–2003 responded to a mailed questionnaire on demographic data, and somatic and mental morbidity. SRH last week was rated on item #29 of the European Organization and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire in 84/189 (97%) of responding EOCSs. For comparisons "good" and "poor" SRH groups were defined by the median score on the SRH item.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>EOCSs with "poor SRH" had higher level of somatic symptoms, anxiety, depression and fatigue than those with "good SRH" (p < .001). In multivariate analyses somatic symptoms, age and fatigue, were significantly associated with the SRH score in EOCSs, but not the cancer-related variables (FIGO stage, recurrence in < 6 months or chemotherapy ever). The model explained 70% of the variance in SRH in linear and 77% in logistic regression analyses. The distribution of the SRH scores in EOCSs did not differ significantly from that of normative controls; however a higher proportion of controls recorded a high SRH score.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>SRH is strongly related to common somatic complaints, impairment and fatigue but not to cancer-related variables. A single question concerning SRH last week might be a quick screening method for collecting important information on symptoms in EOCSs, in addition to cancer – related questions.</p

Food choices and practices during pregnancy of immigrant women with high-risk pregnancies in Canada: a pilot study

Background: Immigrant women may be regarded as a vulnerable population with respect to access and navigation of maternity care services. They may encounter difficulties when accessing culturally safe and appropriate maternity care, which may be further exacerbated by language difficulties and discriminatory practices or attitudes. The project aimed to understand ethnocultural food and health practices and how these intersect in a particular social context of cultural adaptation and adjustment in order to improve the care-giving capacities of health practitioners working in multicultural perinatal clinics. Methods: This four-phase study employed a case study design allowing for multiple means of data collection and different units of analysis. Phase one consists of a scoping review of the literature. Phases two and three incorporate pictorial representations of food choices with semi-structured photo-elicited interviews. This study was undertaken at a Prenatal and Obstetric Clinic, in an urban Canadian city. In phase four, the research team will inform the development of culturally appropriate visual tools for health promotion. Results: Five themes were identified: (a) Perceptions of Health, (b) Social Support (c) Antenatal Foods (d) Postnatal Foods and (e) Role of Health Education. These themes provide practitioners with an understanding of the cultural differences that affect women’s dietary choices during pregnancy. The project identified building collaborations between practitioners and families of pregnant immigrant women to be of utmost importance in supporting healthy pregnancies, along with facilitating social support for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers. Conclusion: In a multicultural society that contemporary Canada is, it is challenging for health practitioners to understand various ethnocultural dietary norms and practices. Practitioners need to be aware of customary practices of the ethnocultural groups that they work with, while simultaneously recognizing the variation within—not everyone follows customary practices, individuals may pick and choose which customary guidelines they follow. What women choose to eat is also influenced by their own experiences, access to particular foods, socioeconomic status, family context, and so on. The pilot study demonstrated the efficacy of the employed research strategies and we subsequently acquired funding for a national study

Between China and South Asia: A Middle Asian corridor of crop dispersal and agricultural innovation in the Bronze Age

© The Author(s) 2016. The period from the late third millennium BC to the start of the first millennium AD witnesses the first steps towards food globalization in which a significant number of important crops and animals, independently domesticated within China, India, Africa and West Asia, traversed Central Asia greatly increasing Eurasian agricultural diversity. This paper utilizes an archaeobotanical database (AsCAD), to explore evidence for these crop translocations along southern and northern routes of interaction between east and west. To begin, crop translocations from the Near East across India and Central Asia are examined for wheat (Triticum aestivum) and barley (Hordeum vulgare) from the eighth to the second millennia BC when they reach China. The case of pulses and flax (Linum usitatissimum) that only complete this journey in Han times (206 BC–AD 220), often never fully adopted, is also addressed. The discussion then turns to the Chinese millets, Panicum miliaceum and Setaria italica, peaches (Amygdalus persica) and apricots (Armeniaca vulgaris), tracing their movement from the fifth millennium to the second millennium BC when the Panicum miliaceum reaches Europe and Setaria italica Northern India, with peaches and apricots present in Kashmir and Swat. Finally, the translocation of japonica rice from China to India that gave rise to indica rice is considered, possibly dating to the second millennium BC. The routes these crops travelled include those to the north via the Inner Asia Mountain Corridor, across Middle Asia, where there is good evidence for wheat, barley and the Chinese millets. The case for japonica rice, apricots and peaches is less clear, and the northern route is contrasted with that through northeast India, Tibet and west China. Not all these journeys were synchronous, and this paper highlights the selective long-distance transport of crops as an alternative to demic-diffusion of farmers with a defined crop package

Una guía al reglamento de arbitraje de la Cámara de Comercio Internacional

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