Reciprocal Recommender System for Learners in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)

Massive open online courses (MOOC) describe platforms where users with completely different backgrounds subscribe to various courses on offer. MOOC forums and discussion boards offer learners a medium to communicate with each other and maximize their learning outcomes. However, oftentimes learners are hesitant to approach each other for different reasons (being shy, don't know the right match, etc.). In this paper, we propose a reciprocal recommender system which matches learners who are mutually interested in, and likely to communicate with each other based on their profile attributes like age, location, gender, qualification, interests, etc. We test our algorithm on data sampled using the publicly available MITx-Harvardx dataset and demonstrate that both attribute importance and reciprocity play an important role in forming the final recommendation list of learners. Our approach provides promising results for such a system to be implemented within an actual MOOC.Comment: 10 pages, accepted as full paper @ ICWL 201

Warmest Sea Surface Temperature Event in the South Eastern Arabian Sea over the Decade using Satellite and INS Sagardhwani Observations

South Eastern Arabian Sea is well known for its prolonged and warmer sea surface temperature (>30 °C) events generally known as Arabian Sea mini warm pool occurring during the pre-monsoon periods (March-May). To study the intensity and spatial extent of the warm pool, ten years (2007-2016) of satellite-derived weekly averaged SST and in-situ data measured from INS Sagardhwani are used. The analysis is done based on the precondition ‘sea surface temperature > 30 °C’ and lasts more than a week. These analysis demonstrate the existence of a strong inter-annual variability. It is also identified that the sea surface temperature in the year 2016 is the hottest over the decade with maximum spatial coverage and prolonged period of occurrence. These anomalous events are also explained in terms of variabilities of the atmospheric water vapour and wind at the sea surface

An Experimental Examination Of The Effects Of Goal Framing And Time Pressure On Auditors’ Professional Skepticism

Professional skepticism is a critical component of audit practice and current auditing standards direct auditors to remain skeptical throughout the duration of each audit engagement. Despite the importance and prevalence of an emphasis on professional skepticism throughout auditing standards, evidence indicates that auditors often fail to exercise an appropriate degree of professional skepticism. Prior accounting research suggests that auditors’ professionally skeptical behavior is affected by individual personality traits as well as situational (state) influences, whereby both factors contribute to auditor professional skepticism. Yet, prior research has primarily focused on trait skepticism; and little research to date has investigated the concept of state skepticism. The purpose if this research study is to experimentally investigate the impact of time pressure and trait skepticism on state skepticism, and to test a potential debiasing procedure on the impact of time pressure on state skepticism. In addition, this study examines the influence of both skepticism types on skeptical behavior.This research offers several contributions to accounting literature and practice. First, I contribute to the existing debate regarding the influences of professional skepticism by providing evidence that professional skepticism may be categorized as a temporary state, induced by situational aspects, in addition to being classified as an enduring trait. Second, I identify certain situational conditions which create differences in the level of state professional skepticism exhibited within an auditing context. Lastly, my findings may also be important to audit firms as they consider tools within their training arsenal equipped to promote an appropriate level of professional skepticism among employees. If auditor skepticism can be influenced by the frames they are provided, then audit firms may create an environment that promotes consistency in auditors’ application of professional skepticism, simply by engaging in goal framing

Experimental Study on the Impact of Seasonal Sound Speed Variability on Signal Detection Range in Arabian Sea

Temporal variability of Signal Detection Range (SDR) with respect to measured noise level and sound speed is examined. An N x 2D acoustic model which included bathymetric variations, was used to study detection ranges for an area in Arabian Sea. Azimuthal and seasonal SDR at octave bands within 500 Hz were determined at different receiver depths. Study shows that seasonal change in sound speed profile resulted in high SDR and noise level in winter at the location. Study also confirms the significant seasonal difference in detection range corresponds to the cut off frequency at 160 Hz. Detection range for a receiver at a depth 40 m is observed to be high across the azimuth and seasons of study

Low Frequency Broad Band Acoustic Propagation in Andaman Sea

During November 2017, an active source seismic survey was performed in Andaman sea to study the acoustic propagation characteristics. High power low frequency acoustic signals generated by 20-air gun array onboard ORV Samudra Ratnagar were recorded from INS Sagardhwani at four different depths within 8 km ranges in shallow and deep waters. Low frequency sound levels were estimated using root mean square and power spectral values. Amplitude levels were analysed with respect to arrival time variation with frequency and is presented

Effect of Environment on Underwater Acoustic Communication Data Rates

Underwater acoustic communication has several applications for civilians and defence. It is a challenging engineering problem, where large variability of ambient noise and highly variable channel characteristics limits the performance of communication system. In addition horizontal transmissions in shallow water is considered very challenging due to time varying delay spread and significant Doppler spread. An experiment was conducted to study the diurnal variability of underwater acoustic communication channel properties of the south west coast of India. Time spread and bit error rate for different ranges and depths are compared in this paper. Influence of prevailing sound speed profile on acoustic communication link is also discussed

Increased single-balloon Foley catheter volume for induction of labor and time to delivery: A systematic review and meta-analysis

INTRODUCTION: Induction of labor is a common intervention. The objective was to investigate whether larger Foley catheter volumes for labor induction decrease the total time from induction to delivery. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Randomized controlled trials comparing larger single-balloon volumes (60-80 mL) during Foley catheter cervical ripening with usual volume (30 mL) in women undergoing labor induction were identified by searching electronic databases (MEDLINE, Scopus, ClinicalTrials.gov, PROSPERO, EMBASE, Scielo and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials) from inception through 2017. The primary outcome was mean time from induction to delivery in hours. Secondary outcomes included time from induction to vaginal delivery, delivery within 24 h, time to Foley expulsion, cesarean section, chorioamnionitis, epidural use, hemorrhage, meconium staining, and neonatal intensive care unit admission. Meta-analysis was performed using the random effects model of DerSimonian and Laird (PROSPERO CRD42017058885). RESULTS: Seven randomized controlled trials including 1432 singleton gestations were included in the systematic review. Women randomized to larger volumes of balloon had a significantly shorter time from induction to delivery (mean difference 1.97 h, 95% CI -3.88 to -0.06). There was no difference in cesarean section between groups (16 vs. 18%, relative risk 0.84, 95% CI 0.6-1.17). A larger balloon volume was associated with a nonsignificant decrease in time from induction to delivery in multiparous (mean difference 2.67 h, 95% CI -6.1 to 0.76) and nulliparous women (mean difference 1.82 h, 95% CI -4.16 to 0.53). CONCLUSION: Balloon volumes larger than 30 mL during Foley catheter induction reduce total time to delivery by approximately 2 h

A Mobile-based Healthcare Utilization Assessment in Rural Ghana

AbstractBackgroundIdentifying the needs of disadvantaged populations is essential to addressing those needs. Investigations of healthcare access in rural sub-Saharan Africa rely on in-person interviews and SMS, which have distinct limitations.ObjectivesTo use interactive-voice-response (IVR) technology to survey healthcare utilization patterns in rural Ghana.MethodsThis project used IVR to survey healthcare behavior by mobile phone users in rural Ghana. Automated voice messages offered an 18-question survey in 5 local languages.ResultsOut of >64,000 placed calls, 8,601 proceeded to the survey. Survey completion rate was 1.3%, for 827 full respondents, at a total cost of 5 USD for each full survey response.ConclusionsIVR has limitations, but the ability to engage rural populations with low time and resource investment is valuable

A combined computational-experimental approach to define the structural origin of antibody recognition of sialyl-Tn, a tumor-associated carbohydrate antigen.

Anti-carbohydrate monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) hold great promise as cancer therapeutics and diagnostics. However, their specificity can be mixed, and detailed characterization is problematic, because antibody-glycan complexes are challenging to crystallize. Here, we developed a generalizable approach employing high-throughput techniques for characterizing the structure and specificity of such mAbs, and applied it to the mAb TKH2 developed against the tumor-associated carbohydrate antigen sialyl-Tn (STn). The mAb specificity was defined by apparent KD values determined by quantitative glycan microarray screening. Key residues in the antibody combining site were identified by site-directed mutagenesis, and the glycan-antigen contact surface was defined using saturation transfer difference NMR (STD-NMR). These features were then employed as metrics for selecting the optimal 3D-model of the antibody-glycan complex, out of thousands plausible options generated by automated docking and molecular dynamics simulation. STn-specificity was further validated by computationally screening of the selected antibody 3D-model against the human sialyl-Tn-glycome. This computational-experimental approach would allow rational design of potent antibodies targeting carbohydrates