Toward a Better Syllabus: Entropy-driven Introspection for Alternative Lesson Plans

Developing a lesson plan (or syllabus) for a course can be a very time consuming process. Once the instructor has a pool of topics to be taught in the course, the organization of those topics in a form that facilitates understandability by the students as well as efficiency with respect to the order of presentation can be an elusive task – many times considered to be an art that distinguishes good from exceptional teachers. In this paper we present a method that is helpful in the process of choosing a better lesson plan, among several alternative lesson plans. We do not imply that the presented method is a panacea for the formation of a best lesson plan, however, the method is useful in situations when several alternative complicated and lengthy lesson plans may be contemplated for the purpose of selecting the most viable option. Our method is based on the notion of entropy, borrowed from information theory. It provides a fairly simple and quick way to decide which one – among several alternative lesson plans, is a better choice for adoption

YUCSA: A CLIPS expert database system to monitor academic performance

The York University CLIPS Student Administrator (YUCSA), an expert database system implemented in C Language Integrated Processing System (CLIPS), for monitoring the academic performance of undergraduate students at York University, is discussed. The expert system component in the system has already been implemented for two major departments, and it is under testing and enhancement for more departments. Also, more elaborate user interfaces are under development. We describe the design and implementation of the system, problems encountered, and immediate future plans. The system has excellent maintainability and it is very efficient, taking less than one minute to complete an assessment of one student

The preferences of participants in small-scale sport events: A conjoint analysis case study from Taiwan

The primary objective of this study was an investigation of participants\u27 preferences for a cycling orientated sport tourism event using conjoint analysis. Respondents in a survey were presented with a range of different event alternatives related to the characteristics of proposed small-scale cycling events to draw out useful conclusions about the ideal scenario of such a sporting event that would be the most attractive and desirable for those who compete. A questionnaire, in two parts, was developed and distributed to 195 bicyclers during an event in Kaohsiung, Taiwan and the data was analysed using SPSS Conjoint at the aggregate level (pooled data). Based on the preferences expressed by the athletes the three most important factors were: "preferred season to organizing the event", "parallel organised trade shows & exhibitions" and "entertainment & awards". The findings of this study provide event coordinators and sport marketers with practical insights into event planning and possibility of development of effective marketing strategies designed to reach and attract more participants to these types of activities. This investigation is unique since is one of the first to use a full design of seven parameters in the conjoint analysis model to comprehensively examine athlete\u27s preferences

The effect of sport tourists\u27 travel style, destination and event choices, and motivation on their involvement in small-scale sports events

© 2018 Cognizant, LLC. This exploratory study investigates whether and in which way motivation and destination, travel, and event selection criteria influence sport tourists\u27 involvement in small-scale events. Thus, a model was developed and tested at a small-scale sport event in Sfendami, Greece. To test the six hypotheses of the proposed model a primary research study was conducted, which received responses from 181 participants. Implementation of the partial least square technique showed that changes in sport tourists\u27 travel style exert a direct and positive effect on involvement, as well as an indirect effect with motivation acting as a mediator; however, perception of destination and events characteristics does not exert a significant influence on participants\u27 involvement. Additionally, the model\u27s ability to predict the motivational aspects of sport tourists\u27 participation was demonstrated. Multidimensional scaling was employed to assist with event service design and improve organizers\u27 capabilities to develop effective promotional strategies

Ectopic spleen: An easily identifiable but commonly undiagnosed entity until manifestation of complications

AbstractINTRODUCTIONEctopic spleen is an uncommon clinical entity as splenectomy for treatment of ectopic spleens accounts for less than 0.25% of splenectomies. The most common age of presentation is childhood especially under 1 year of age followed by the third decade of life.PRESENTATION OF CASEThe present report refers to a patient with torsion of a pelvic spleen treated with splenectomy. The patient exhibited a period of vague intermittent lower abdominal pain lasted 65 days followed by a period of constant left lower quadrant pain of increasing severity lasted 6 days. On the first 65 days, vague pain was attributed to progressive torsion of the spleen which resulted in venous congestion. On the last 6 days, exacerbation of pain was attributed to irreducible torsion, infraction of the arterial supply, acute ischemia, strangulation and rupture of the gangrenous spleen. Diagnosis was made by CT which revealed absence of the spleen in its normal position, a homogeneous pelvic mass with no contrast enhancement, free blood in the peritoneal cavity, and confirmed by laparotomy.DISCUSSIONClinical manifestations of ectopic spleen vary from asymptomatic to abdominal emergency. Symptoms are most commonly attributed to complications related to torsion. Operative management, including splenopexy or splenectomy, is the treatment of choice in uncomplicated and complicated cases because conservative treatment of an asymptomatic ectopic spleen is associated with a complication rate of 65%.CONCLUSIONAlthough an ectopic spleen can be easily identified on clinical examination, it is commonly misdiagnosed until the manifestation of complications in adulthood

Efficacy and Selectivity of Pre- and Post-emergence Herbicides in Chia (Salvia hispanica L.) under Mediterranean Semi-arid Conditions

In the present study, the selectivity and efficacy of several post and pre-emergence herbicides in chia (Salvia hispanica L.) were examined. Field experiments were conducted at two locations with different soil types and environmental conditions. Our results showed that the pre-emergence application of pendimethalin, oxyfluorfen and linuron reduced total weed density by 71-74%, 74-82% and 53-55%, respectively. Despite their high effectiveness, the above-mentioned herbicides had a negative effect on plant density and biomass yield. In addition, herbicides bentazon and fluazifop-p-butyl which applied post-emergence did not affect significantly plant height and biomass yield. In conclusion, the herbicides linuron, pendimethalin and oyxfluorfen do not seem to be a viable option for weed control in chia crop, whereas the post-emergence applied herbicides did not affect significantly plants’ growth. Further evaluation of chia tolerance to herbicides is needed under different application rates in order to make safe suggestions for chemical control of weeds

How Distress Tolerance Mediates the Relationship Between Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide Constructs in a U.S. Military Sample

Objectives Despite the general suicide rate within the military being comparable to the general population when comparing peers, there are certain branches of the military that have elevated risk. Specifically, the U.S. National Guard has suicide rates that are constantly higher than other military branches and civilian peers. The National Guard are a unique military population in which they frequently transition between military and civilian life. With these unique experiences and heightened risk, military suicide prevention efforts may benefit from further research within this population. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is another concern amongst military personnel and has been linked to suicidal behavior. Methods The current study examined the indirect effects that distress tolerance, a protective factor against suicide, has on the relationship between PTSD and constructs within a well‐validated theory for suicide (the Interpersonal‐Psychological Theory for suicidal behaviors) in a sample of U.S. Army National Guard personnel. Results Results indicated that distress tolerance had a significant indirect effect on the relationship between PTSD and thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness, and capability for suicide. Conclusions These findings are consistent with previous literature examining the relationship between distress tolerance and our outcome variables. These results could have important clinical implications, mainly that intervention strategies targeting distress tolerance could have significant impacts on suicide‐relate thoughts

Metal foam recuperators on micro gas turbines: Multi-objective optimisation of efficiency, power and weight

Small size and high efficiency of micro gas turbines require a higher surface-to-volume ratio of recuperators. Conventional recuperators can achieve a range of 250–3600 m2/m3. Advances in materials and manufacturing, such as metal foams, can increase significantly the exchange surface and improve compactness ranging approximately from 500 to over 10,000 m2/m3, due to their exceptional micro geometry. The main advantage is that the increase of surface area does not impact the cost of the heat exchanger as much as conventional recuperators due to their easy manufacturing. This work addresses the optimisation of the recuperator using multiple objectives satisfying efficiency, power output and weight criteria, offering a holistic approach that takes into account the entire system rather than individual components or channels. A model is developed to represent the performance of a compact heat exchanger in micro gas turbines. The recuperator is an annular heat exchanger with involute profile filled with porous media in a counterflow arrangement on the hot and cold sides. The model allows the evaluation of the effect of the recuperator geometry features on the electrical efficiency, power output and weight savings in a micro gas turbine. Existing models for the global heat transfer coefficient, effective thermal conductivity, surface area and pressure drop of porous media are selected and implemented. The design variables of multi-objective are the pore density, porosity and number of channels, whilst the objectives are the overall electrical efficiency, power output and recuperator weight. The problem is solved using the Non-Dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA-II) to determine an approximation of the Pareto front, whilst the accuracy of the approximation is assessed against the solution obtained by an exhaustive search. The comparison shows that NSGA-II outperforms an exhaustive search by at least 90 % in terms of computational efficiency. These results allow the quantification of the impact of metal foam technology on performance metrics of the recuperator as well as the entire system. This quantitative analysis provides valuable insights into the behaviour of metal foam recuperators in micro gas turbines. An optimal design with 30 % efficiency and 28 kW power output appears in pore densities of approximately 10 and 20 pores per inch (PPI) for the air and gas side respectively, and a porosity of 85 %, which leads to a state-of-the-art recuperator weight of 48 kg. The efficiency improvement over the industry standard is 15 %, with only a 2.5 % reduction in power output