Baseline For Further Development Research Articles

GradeAid: a framework for automatic short answers grading in educational contexts—design, implementation and evaluation

Automatic short answer grading (ASAG), a hot field of natural language understanding, is a research area within learning analytics. ASAG solutions are conceived to offload teachers and instructors, especially those in higher education, where classes with hundreds of students are the norm and the task of grading (short)answers to open-ended questionnaires becomes tougher. Their outcomes are precious both for the very grading and for providing students with “ad hoc” feedback. ASAG proposals have also enabled different intelligent tutoring systems. Over the years, a variety of ASAG solutions have been proposed, still there are a series of gaps in the literature that we fill in this paper. The present work proposes GradeAid, a framework for ASAG. It is based on the joint analysis of lexical and semantic features of the students’ answers through state-of-the-art regressors; differently from any other previous work, (i) it copes with non-English datasets, (ii) it has undergone a robust validation and benchmarking phase, and (iii) it has been tested on every dataset publicly available and on a new dataset (now available for researchers). GradeAid obtains performance comparable to the systems presented in the literature (root-mean-squared errors down to 0.25 based on the specific tuple langle dataset-questionrangle ). We argue it represents a strong baseline for further developments in the field.

Diversity of Mammalian Fauna and Conservation Issues of Dhankuta Municipality of Dhankuta District, Nepal

Dhankuta municipality is a mid-hill town in Dhankuta district, Province 1, Nepal. The municipality consists of 10 wards scattered across 111.6 square kilometers of geographical area and is situated between 26°59’59’’ and 27°02’55’’ north latitude and 87°17’52’’ and 87°23’09’’ east longitudes. Mammalian diversity in the municipality has not been so far recorded. The present study was conducted from August 2021 to July 2022 with a view to bridging this knowledge deficit and presenting an up-to-date account of the mammalian species in the agricultural fields and forests of the municipality based on questionnaire survey, direct sightings and indirect evidence. A total of 19 mammal species belonging to 7 orders and 13 families were registered. Among 19 species, 6 species belonged to Carnivora, 2 species to Cetartiodactyla, 3 species of Primate, 5 species to Rodentia and 1 each to Chiroptera, Eulipotypha, Lagomorpha. The major threats to mammalian fauna of the municipality include habitat loss and degradation, persecution, human-wildlife conflict and poaching. For long-term conservation of wild mammals more research is needed on their population genetics, habitat ecology, food web and climate change vulnerability. The information contained in the present study is expected to form the baseline for further development and research in the field of mammalian conservation in the municipality.

Audiometric Findings in Senior Adults of 80 Years and Older

ObjectiveTo examine hearing thresholds in senior adults of 80 years and older and compare this data to the current ISO 7029 reference values.DesignA descriptive, prospective study testing pure-tone and speech audiometry in senior adults participating in the BUTTERFLY study or the BrUssels sTudy on The Early pRedictors of FraiLtY. A Gerontological study to identify determinants for active aging and for early stages of frailty in the oldest population. Using the formula given by ISO 7028:2017 the median value of hearing was calculated based on the sex and age of the participant and compared to the measured hearing thresholds.Results151 senior adults were included. The prevalence of hearing loss was 90.7% (PTA > 20 dB HL). The results were compared to the mean ISO values, calculated for every participant. Both males and females in our study population had worse hearing thresholds than could be expected based on the ISO reference values. In our study population with moderate hearing loss (PTA > 40 dB HL), 38% is underserved in term of hearing restoration healthcare and yet another 38% is unsatisfied with the result of the hearing aids. Given the vast impact on the individual and society, this is a problem in need of our attention.ConclusionThe ISO 7029 reference values may be an underestimation of hearing loss in senior adults of 80 years and older. Therefore we present a statistical distribution of hearing thresholds on different frequencies related to age and sex that can be used as a baseline for further development of the reference values.

Active rotor coning for a 25 MW downwind offshore wind turbine

A two-bladed downwind turbine system was upscaled from 13.2 MW to 25 MW by redesigning aerodynamics, structures, and controls. In particular, three 25-MW rotors were developed, and the final version is a fully redesigned model of the original rotor. Despite their radically large sizes, it was found that these 25-MW turbine rotors satisfy this limited set of structural design drivers at the rated condition and that larger blade lengths are possible with conewise load-alignment. In addition, flapwise morphing (varying the cone angle with a wind-speed schedule) was investigated to minimize mean and fluctuating blade root bending loads using steady inflow proxies for the maximum and lifetime damage equivalent load moments. Compared to the fixed coned rotor case, morphing can provide an Annual Energy Production (AEP) increase of 6%, and the maximum blade root flapwise bending moment increases 21% (still under the constraint, i.e., 10% of the ultimate moments) as a trade-off. The resulting series of 25-MW rotors can be a valuable baseline for further development and assessment of ultra-large-scale wind turbines.

CRISPR-Cas9 System for Plant Genome Editing: Current Approaches and Emerging Developments

Targeted genome editing using CRISPR-Cas9 has been widely adopted as a genetic engineering tool in various biological systems. This editing technology has been in the limelight due to its simplicity and versatility compared to other previously known genome editing platforms. Several modifications of this editing system have been established for adoption in a variety of plants, as well as for its improved efficiency and portability, bringing new opportunities for the development of transgene-free improved varieties of economically important crops. This review presents an overview of CRISPR-Cas9 and its application in plant genome editing. A catalog of the current and emerging approaches for the implementation of the system in plants is also presented with details on the existing gaps and limitations. Strategies for the establishment of the CRISPR-Cas9 molecular construct such as the selection of sgRNAs, PAM compatibility, choice of promoters, vector architecture, and multiplexing approaches are emphasized. Progress in the delivery and transgene detection methods, together with optimization approaches for improved on-target efficiency are also detailed in this review. The information laid out here will provide options useful for the effective and efficient exploitation of the system for plant genome editing and will serve as a baseline for further developments of the system. Future combinations and fine-tuning of the known parameters or factors that contribute to the editing efficiency, fidelity, and portability of CRISPR-Cas9 will indeed open avenues for new technological advancements of the system for targeted gene editing in plants.

Downwind coning concept rotor for a 25 MW offshore wind turbine

The size of offshore wind turbines over the next decade is expected to continually increase due to reduced balance of station costs per MW and also the higher wind energy at increased altitudes that can lead to higher capacity factors. However, there are challenges that may limit the degree of upscaling which is possible. In this paper, a two-bladed downwind turbine system is upscaled from 13.2 MW to 25 MW, by redesigning aerodynamics, structures, and controls. In particular, three 25 MW rotors have been developed: V1 is the upscaled model, V2 is a partial redesigned model, and V3 is a fully redesigned model. Despite their radically large sizes, it is found that these 25 MW turbine rotors satisfy this limited set of design drivers at the rated condition and that larger blade lengths are possible with cone-wise load-alignment. In addition, flapwise morphing (varying the cone angle with a wind-speed schedule) is investigated in terms of minimizing mean and fluctuating root bending loads using steady inflow proxies for the maximum and damage equivalent load moments. The resulting series of 25 MW rotors, which are the largest ever designed, can be a useful baseline for further development and assessment.

Concept for a Gossamer solar power array using thin-film photovoltaics

In recent years, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) developed Gossamer deployment systems in different projects. As power requirements of spacecraft are getting more and more demanding, DLR recently focused on the development of new deployable photovoltaic (PV) technologies that are suitable for generating 10’s of kW per array. Possible space applications that may also require high power supply are missions using electric propulsion such as interplanetary missions, placing of geostationary (GEO) satellites in their orbit or even more future oriented as space tugs or lightweight power generation on extra-terrestrial infrastructures. The paper gives an overview about a feasibility study for flexible solar arrays based on new thin-film photovoltaics. It is expected that the combination of new thin-film PV technologies, e.g., copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) cells or gallium–arsenide (GaAs) cells, together with Gossamer deployment technologies, could significantly increase the power availability for spacecraft. Based on a requirement, analysis system concepts were evaluated. A focus is on the potential of CIGS PV combined with a two-dimensional deployment of the array and DLR’s coilable carbon fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP) booms. Therefore, a concept based on crossed booms with a foldable PV membrane is considered as baseline for further developments. The array consists of rectangular PV generators that are interconnected by flexible printed circuit board (PCB) harness. By a double-folding technique, these generators are laid on top of each other in such that the membrane can be extracted from its stowing box during the deployment in a controlled manner. Considering constantly increasing efficiencies of the CIGS PV combined with Gossamer structures, there is clear potential of reaching a very high specific power value exceeding that of conventional PV systems. Furthermore, the CIGS PV appears to be more radiation resistant and has already reached more than 21% efficiency in laboratories. Such efficiencies are expected to be achieved in the near future in a standard manufacturing process. However, flexible, thin-film GaAs cells are also subject of consideration within GoSolAr. With this prospect, DLR’s research has the goal to develop a Gossamer Solar Array (GoSolAr) to exploit the described potential.

Biologically informed ecological niche models for an example pelagic, highly mobile species

AbstractBackground: Although pelagic seabirds are broadly recognised as indicators of the health of marine systems, numerous gaps exist in knowledge of their at-sea distributions at the species level. These gaps have profound negative impacts on the robustness of marine conservation policies. Correlative modelling techniques have provided some information, but few studies have explored model development for non-breeding pelagic seabirds. Here, I present a first phase in developing robust niche models for highly mobile species as a baseline for further development. Methodology: Using observational data from a 12-year time period, 217 unique model parameterisations across three correlative modelling algorithms (boosted regression trees, Maxent and minimum volume ellipsoids) were tested in a time-averaged approach for their ability to recreate the at-sea distribution of non-breeding Wandering Albatrosses (Diomedea exulans) to provide a baseline for further development. Principle Findings/Results: Overall, minimum volume ellipsoids outperformed both boosted regression trees and Maxent. However, whilst the latter two algorithms generally overfit the data, minimum volume ellipsoids tended to underfit the data. Conclusions: The results of this exercise suggest a necessary evolution in how correlative modelling for highly mobile species such as pelagic seabirds should be approached. These insights are crucial for understanding seabird-environment interactions at macroscales, which can facilitate the ability to address population declines and inform effective marine conservation policy in the wake of rapid global change.

Commentary on “The Sounds of Intent project: modelling musical development in children with learning difficulties”

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to reflect on how developments in evidence-based intervention and assessment frameworks are centrally important in implementing assessment structures for non-accredited learning of students with special educational needs. It brings together two projects which have developed taxonomies of learning, seeking ways in which to provide evidence of progress against pre-determined scales and prioritising the importance of measuring small steps of achievement. Design/methodology/approach – In both cases, this was accomplished by trialling assessment descriptors and criteria, developing a robust assessment continuum and identifying the continuous developmental process, with achievement acting as a baseline for further development. Findings – The assessment strategies employed by both projects allowed for the evaluation of learner progress where standardised forms of assessment were inappropriate, offering approaches for raising aspirations in an individualised and relevant way. Increased availability and use of toolkits offering constructive approaches to assessment are needed not only to evidence learner progress but also to guide future learning interventions. Ways of enabling achievements to be plotted against measures of success are of vital importance to learners with special educational needs, who require support in evidencing what they can do, rather than what they cannot. Originality/value – Whilst these projects will be of particular interest to those working in the field of special education, they are of relevance to anyone seeking positive ways of performing assessment.

Individually distinctive parameters in the upcall of the North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis)

According to the source-filter hypothesis proposed for human speech, physical attributes of the vocal production mechanism combine independently to result in individually distinctive vocalizations. In the case of stereotyped calls with all individuals producing a similar frequency contour, the filtering of the signal resulting from the shape and size of the vocal tract may be more likely to contain individually distinctive information than parameters measured from the fundamental frequency resulting from the vibrating source. However, the formant structure resulting from such filtering has been historically undervalued in the majority of studies addressing individual distinctiveness in non-human species. The upcall of the North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) is characterized as a stereotyped contact call, and visual inspection of upcall spectrograms confirms presence of a robust formant structure. Here we present preliminary results testing individual distinctiveness of upcalls recorded from archival, suction cup mounted tags (Dtags). Parameters measured from the fundamental frequency contours as well as the formant structure of the calls are used in assigning upcalls to individual whales. These results provide a baseline for further development of acoustic detection techniques that could be used to noninvasively track movements of individual whales across habitats.

Business and IT Alignment in Dutch Vocational Education and Training Organizations

The alignment of information technology (IT) and business process and strategy is still a relevant area of concern in many organizations. Educational institutions are no expection to this, with low alignment maturity being reported (Lufman & Kempaiah, 2007). This paper reports a study into the business of IT alignment maturity of the Dutch Vocational Education and Training sector. A survey was undertaken to assess the alignment maturity levels in these organizations, as a baseline for further development.

Development of a Mexican Spanish Synthetic Voice Using Synthesizer Modules of Festival Speech and HTSStraight

 Abstract—A new Mexican Spanish voice was created using 4 festival modules (Clunits, Clustergen,Multisyn and HTS), as well as an additional database was created with Straight processing. All voices were created using the same database to allow for consistency and for easier comparison of the output. Once these voices have been created they can be used as a baseline for further development in Mexican Spanish speech synthesis. Except for the Multisyn module, which has some problems due to coverage, results are acceptable, with the HMM designed voices having the best quality.

Free energy estimation of short DNA duplex hybridizations

BackgroundEstimation of DNA duplex hybridization free energy is widely used for predicting cross-hybridizations in DNA computing and microarray experiments. A number of software programs based on different methods and parametrizations are available for the theoretical estimation of duplex free energies. However, significant differences in free energy values are sometimes observed among estimations obtained with various methods, thus being difficult to decide what value is the accurate one.ResultsWe present in this study a quantitative comparison of the similarities and differences among four published DNA/DNA duplex free energy calculation methods and an extended Nearest-Neighbour Model for perfect matches based on triplet interactions. The comparison was performed on a benchmark data set with 695 pairs of short oligos that we collected and manually curated from 29 publications. Sequence lengths range from 4 to 30 nucleotides and span a large GC-content percentage range. For perfect matches, we propose an extension of the Nearest-Neighbour Model that matches or exceeds the performance of the existing ones, both in terms of correlations and root mean squared errors. The proposed model was trained on experimental data with temperature, sodium and sequence concentration characteristics that span a wide range of values, thus conferring the model a higher power of generalization when used for free energy estimations of DNA duplexes under non-standard experimental conditions.ConclusionsBased on our preliminary results, we conclude that no statistically significant differences exist among free energy approximations obtained with 4 publicly available and widely used programs, when benchmarked against a collection of 695 pairs of short oligos collected and curated by the authors of this work based on 29 publications. The extended Nearest-Neighbour Model based on triplet interactions presented in this work is capable of performing accurate estimations of free energies for perfect match duplexes under both standard and non-standard experimental conditions and may serve as a baseline for further developments in this area of research.

Evaluation of ECPCs seasonal forecasts over the BALTEX region and Europe

Since Sept. 26, 1997, the Scripps Experimental Climate Prediction Center (ECPC) has been making experimental, near real-time seasonal global forecasts with the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) global spectral model used for the reanalysis. Images of these forecasts, at seasonal time scales. and for regional areas, are provided on the world wide web, and digital experimental forecast products are made available to interested researchers. Are these forecasts useful for Europe? The purpose of this paper is to briefly describe the global forecast and analysis system, various biases and errors in the forecasts for BALTEX region and Europe, as well as the significant skill of seasonal forecasts. In particular, near-surface meteorological parameters, including temperature, precipitation, relative humidity, wind speed and soil moisture are skillful at weekly to seasonal time scales over much of Europe. Still, there are many improvements that can be made and the purpose of this paper is to provide a baseline for further development of the global model as well as various regional models.

Seasonal Forecasts for Asia: Global Model Experiments

Since Sept. 26,1997, the Scripps Experimental Climate Prediction Center (ECPC) has been making experimental, near real-time seasonal global forecasts with the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) global spectral model used for the reanalysis. Images of these forecasts at seasonal time scales – are provided on the World Wide Web, and digital experimental forecast products are made available to interested researchers. In particular, these forecasts are now being used to drive a regional prediction model and various application models at National Taiwan University (NTU). Are these forecasts useful for Asia? What improvements could be made? The purpose of this paper is to describe briefly the global forecast and validating analysis system, various biases and errors in the forecasts for the Asia region, and the significance of the seasonal forecast over Asia, using two years of forecasts from October 1997 through October 1999. In particular, near-surface meteorological parameters, including temperature, precipitation, soil moisture, relative humidity, wind speed, and a fire weather index (a nonlinear combination of temperature, wind speed, and relative humidity) are skillful at weekly to seasonal time scales over much of the Asia region. Still, there are many improvements that can be made. The purpose of this paper is to provide a baseline for further development of the global model as well as various regional and specialized application models.