Distinct Problems Research Articles

Mathematical skills classification through primary education

By the end of primary school, children are expected to acquire a range of mathematical skills that progressively develop. This study aimed to gain insight into how a large number of numerical and geometrical measures are grouped and whether the structures shift or remain invariant along child’s development based on the data obtained from a sample of 1346 s to sixth grade children. On the basis of correlation analyses and exploratory factor analyses, we came up with an invariant four-factor structure for each grade. The four factors obtained were the following: (a) early and retrieval skills (subitizing, enumeration, number facts) (b) transcoding and ordinality skills, (c) numerical advanced skills and (d) visual-spatial advanced skills. Confirmatory factor analyses showed that the four-factor model fits well to the data (RMSEA < 0.06, CFI > 0.95, GFI > 0.93, SRMR < 0.05) at all grades. The associations between the mathematical measures were captured in each factor and the revealed invariant structure is discussed and compared with previous classification models of mathematical skills. Given that the difficulties in learning mathematics is currently being viewed as a continuum of academic abilities instead of a distinct problem, the underlying invariant four-factor structure can facilitate experts and educators to better understand how a broad area of mathematical skills are related across the primary education, in order to carry our comprehensive assessment of both the mathematical strengths and weaknesses of their students and to apply the appropriate customized teaching strategies.

A Multi-Feature Fusion Approach for Dialect Identification using 1D CNN

The phonological variety of Kurdish, a language with several dialects, poses a distinct problem in automatically identifying dialects. This study examines and evaluates several sound criteria for identifying Kurdish dialects: Badini, Hawrami, and Sorani. We deployed a dataset including 6,000 samples and utilized a mix of 1D convolutional neural networks (CNN) and fully connected layers to conduct the identification job. Our study aimed to assess the efficacy of different sound characteristics in accurately identifying dialects. We employed the Mel-frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) and other features such as the Mel spectrogram, spectral contrast, and polynomial features to extract the sound characteristics. We conducted training and testing of our models utilizing both individual characteristics and a composite of all features. Our analysis revealed that the identification task achieved excellent accuracy rates, suggesting a promising potential for success. We achieved 95.75% accuracy using MFCC combined with a Mel spectrogram. The accuracy improved by including contrast in the MFCC feature extraction process to 91.42%. Similarly, using poly_features resulted in an accuracy of 90.83%. Remarkably, accuracy reached a maximum of 96.5% when all the attributes were combined.

Spurious Accelerations in Finite Element Analysis of Geotechnical Problems: Cause and Remedy

Present study investigates the response of the two distinct geotechnical problems under earthquake loading. These two problems are: 1) nailed soil slope and 2) 1-D site response analysis. The aim of the study is to understand the cause of spurious accelerations and suggest a remedy. Two distinct interface conditions were considered in modelling the nailed soil slope. In first, the soil nail interface was considered to be perfectly bonded. In second case, the sliding at the interface was allowed. The analysis resulted into the physically acceptable deformations. However, the dumbbell shaped spurious acceleration pattern was observed in perfect bonding case. Further, the maximum acceleration was found to span from 4 g to 13 g. Such extremely high accelerations are unphysical and hence, unacceptable. In case of 1-D site response analysis, misleading acceleration spike of magnitude twice that of true acceleration was noted. The introduction of the numerical damping successfully removed the spurious accelerations and resulted in physically acceptable response for both problems.

ICT Awareness Among the Higher Secondary Students, A Study

In the ongoing advancing digital era, emergence of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has instinctively refashioned the strategy of all demeanors of pursuits within business, society, governance and in education beyond expectance. Panoramic advancement depends heavily on qualified personnel which is doable through christian upbringing. It has progressively revamped education from traditional to noble and fervent teaching methodology, learning processes, scientific research and archiving information. This empirical study has made an attempt to assess ICT awareness among the selected higher secondary level students in the district of Purulia of West Bengal state, a region portrayed by its distinct societal problems and more, to explore the eventuality for implicit growth. By employing a structured survey methodology, data have been obtained from a representative sample of students over varied schools in the district. Findings are expected to provide crucial visions into the current state of ICT literacy among these students and underscore the need for tailored approach to traverse digital gap. This study will further the genesis of strategies quested after boosting ICT education, safeguarding equal opportunities to digital resources, and nurturing a more in-depth learning surround in Purulia.

Interplay Between Nucleation and Kinetics in Dynamic Twinning

Abstract In this work, we apply a phase-field modeling framework to elucidate the interplay between nucleation and kinetics in the dynamic evolution of twinning interfaces. The key feature of this phase-field approach is the ability to transparently and explicitly specify nucleation and kinetic behavior in the model, in contrast to other regularized interface models. We use this to study two distinct problems where it is essential to explicitly specify the kinetic and nucleation behavior governing twin evolution. First, we study twinning interfaces in 2D. When these interfaces are driven to move, we find that significant levels of twin nucleation occur ahead of the moving interface. Essentially, the finite interface velocity and the relaxation time of the stresses ahead of the interface allow for nucleation to occur before the interface is able to propagate to that point. Second, we study the growth of needle twins in antiplane elasticity. We show that both nucleation and anisotropic kinetics are essential to obtain predictions of needle twins. While standard regularized interface approaches do not permit the transparent specification of anisotropic kinetics, this is readily possible with the phase-field approach that we have used here.

Comparative study of optimization methods for building energy consumption and daylighting performance

When striving for sustainable development, designers encounter the formidable task of integrating the advantages of daylighting into energy-efficient designs. The process of investigating a multitude of design variables can be arduous and time-intensive. However, computational simulations provide indispensable insights into forecasting performance. A considerable number of these design challenges do not have explicit mathematical solutions; thus, black-box optimization techniques are favored for the purpose of determining the most effective design solutions. Popular meta-heuristic optimization algorithms, including the Genetic Algorithm (GA), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Whale Optimization Algorithm (WOA), Sine Cosine Algorithm (SCA), Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO), Ant Lion Optimizer (ALO), and Multi-Verse Optimizer (MVO), are described and thoroughly analyzed in this article. In addition, the present study run empirical studies to compare these optimization algorithms by applying them to tackle five distinct daylighting and energy optimization problems associated with enhancing building performance. In the test cases, the present study results demonstrate that the PSO and MVO algorithms exhibit better performance compared to the GA and WOA algorithms. The selection of the most suitable algorithm is contingent upon the distinctive attributes of the problem, and the intricacy of the optimization landscape.

THE ROLE OF AI IN HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY

This article analyses the present condition of technological applications based on artificial intelligence (AI) and their influence on the healthcare sector. This work conducted a comprehensive literature research and examined certain real-world instances of AI implementations in the healthcare sector. Undoubtedly, the fast progress of artificial intelligence (AI) and associated technologies will enable healthcare providers to provide fresh value for their patients and enhance the effectiveness of their internal operations. However, successful deployment of AI will always pose distinct problems and the adoption of specific approaches to revolutionize the whole care service and operations in order to fully utilize the advantages of future technology. The analysis is derived on an examination of several academic sources, encompassing research from ScienceDirect, MDPI, Elsevier, and the Journal of Consortium. These sources address studies and data published from recent years till 2024.

Agile Project Planning and Execution in Large-Scale IT Projects

Agile methods have changed project management, particularly for major IT projects. This abstract examines Agile project planning and execution in complex IT settings, where size and scope bring distinct problems. Traditional project management methods struggle to handle major IT projects' fast changes and complexity. Agile's focus on flexibility, collaboration, and customer-centricity makes it ideal for these situations due to its adaptability. Agile planning breaks complicated IT project needs into manageable components or iterations in large-scale initiatives. Iterative development keeps projects manageable and adaptable. Agile stresses frequent feedback loops, where each iteration is examined, to help teams change and realign their objectives. Large IT projects need ongoing feedback since mistakes may be costly and team alignment is essential. Cross-functional teams are crucial to Agile in big projects. Agile fosters cross-disciplinary cooperation, which is crucial in big IT environments where development, operations, security, and business teams must collaborate. Teams meet regularly, called'scrums,' to review progress, identify barriers, and plan future actions. With its focus on openness and responsibility, the scrum structure keeps team members aligned and the project on pace. Resource management is another important part of Agile project planning for big IT projects. Agile resource allocation is dynamic, unlike set schedules. Large IT projects, where resource demands vary fast, need this flexibility. Thus, agile techniques reduce waste and ensure teams have what they need at each project stage by optimizing resource utilization. Large Agile project execution involves risk management. Due to Agile's iterative structure, teams may regularly analyze risk and address problems before they become significant. Risks may be exacerbated in big IT projects, thus proactive risk management is crucial. Agile teams see risks as opportunities to improve, promoting continual learning and adaptability.

CMA-ES-based topology optimization accelerated by spectral level-set-boundary modeling

Topology optimization commonly encounters several challenges, such as ill-posedness, grayscale issues, interdependencies among design variables, multimodality, and the curse of dimensionality. Furthermore, addressing the latter two concurrently presents considerable difficulty. In this study, we introduce a framework aimed at mitigating all the above obstacles simultaneously. The objective is to achieve optimal configurations in a notably reduced timeframe eliminating the need for the initial trial-and-error iterations. The topology optimization approach we propose is implemented via precise structural boundary modeling utilizing a body-fitted mesh generated using a Fourier series expanded level-set method. This methodology expedites the exploration of optimal solutions. We employ the covariance matrix adaptation-evolution strategy to address multimodality, thereby enhancing the optimization process. The implementation of the Fourier-series-expanded level-set method reduces the number of design variables while maintaining accuracy in finite-element analyses by replacing design variables from discretized level-set functions with the coefficients of the Fourier series expansion. To facilitate the exploration of optimal solutions, a method is also introduced for handling box constraints through an adaptive penalty function. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme, we address three distinct problems: mean compliance minimization, heat flux manipulation, and the control of electromagnetic wave scattering. Despite each system being governed by different equations, topology optimization method consistently yields notable acceleration in computational efficiency across all scenarios, and remarkably without requiring initial guesses.

Supermarket-chain grocery delivery optimization through crowdshipping

Acknowledging the rising significance of online sales, the grocery business has embraced the challenge of fulfilling the consequently growing consumer expectations for the last-mile delivery efficiency. This paper investigates the grocery delivery optimisation for the supermarket chain based on the crowdshipping mechanism, which can be one of the viable strategies for establishing prompt and affordable delivery service for customers. Considering the deterministic optimisation setting, this study presents a characteristic routing model with crowdsourced couriers named supermarket-chain grocery delivery crowdshipping problem (SCGDCP), which is a variant of the pickup-and-delivery problem, and develops a corresponding mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model. The SCGDCP involves distinctive problem features including individual depots for couriers, multi-trip open routing, and dual time windows of courier operating and order arrival, which pose the computational challenge in problem solving. A bespoke solution procedure based on adaptive variable neighbourhood search (AVNS) strategy is thus designed for tackling the practical-size SCGDCP. The conducted numerical experiments demonstrate the computational efficiency of the proposed MILP model for the small-size instances with no more than 30 grocery orders and the superiority of the developed AVNS procedure for the Grubhub sampling test instances with up to 200 orders.

Assessing Opportunities and Barriers to Improving the Secondary Use of Health Care Data at the National Level: Multicase Study in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Estonia.

Digitization shall improve the secondary use of health care data. The Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ordered a project to compile the National Master Plan for Health Data Analytics, while the Government of Estonia ordered a project to compile the Person-Centered Integrated Hospital Master Plan. This study aims to map these 2 distinct projects' problems, approaches, and outcomes to find the matching elements for reuse in similar cases. We assessed both health care systems' abilities for secondary use of health data by exploratory case studies with purposive sampling and data collection via semistructured interviews and documentation review. The collected content was analyzed qualitatively and coded according to a predefined framework. The analytical framework consisted of data purpose, flow, and sharing. The Estonian project used the Health Information Sharing Maturity Model from the Mitre Corporation as an additional analytical framework. The data collection and analysis in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia took place in 2019 and covered health care facilities, public health institutions, and health care policy. The project in Estonia collected its inputs in 2020 and covered health care facilities, patient engagement, public health institutions, health care financing, health care policy, and health technology innovations. In both cases, the assessments resulted in a set of recommendations focusing on the governance of health care data. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the health care system consists of multiple isolated sectors, and there is a need for an overarching body coordinating data sets, indicators, and reports at the national level. The National Master Plan of Health Data Analytics proposed a set of organizational agreements for proper stewardship. Despite Estonia's national Digital Health Platform, the requirements remain uncoordinated between various data consumers. We recommended reconfiguring the stewardship of the national health data to include multipurpose data use into the scope of interoperability standardization. Proper data governance is the key to improving the secondary use of health data at the national level. The data flows from data providers to data consumers shall be coordinated by overarching stewardship structures and supported by interoperable data custodians.

Who owns their story: Career construction with gifted and talented students

Gifted and talented youth in the US have been struggling for recognition and appropriate educational opportunities for decades. Periodically, we are reminded of their unique needs. Time and again, those needs seem to be disregarded, including their need for career related planning and programming. Narratives of gifted students can be negatively impacted, as a result of action or inaction by young people themselves or of others in their lives. Three distinct problem saturated plots can emerge requiring career counselors to provide specific intervention to ensure narrative development in congruence with the hopes, dreams and desires of youth. Career construction theory, with its emphasis on authorship and agency is most suitable for increasing agency of the youth stuck in these narratives. My Career Story a group or individual intervention, rooted in career construction theory, offers assistance to both students and counselors, as students work to develop their own preferred narratives.

Future-proofing geotechnics workflows: accelerating problem-solving with large language models

ABSTRACT The integration of Large Language Models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, into the workflows of geotechnical engineering has a high potential to transform how the discipline approaches problem-solving and decision-making. This paper investigates the practical uses of LLMs in addressing geotechnical challenges based on opinions from a diverse group, including students, researchers, and professionals from academia, industry, and government sectors gathered from a workshop dedicated to this study. After introducing the key concepts of LLMs, we present preliminary LLM solutions for four distinct practical geotechnical problems as illustrative examples. In addition to the basic text generation ability, each problem is designed to cover different extended functionalities of LLMs that cannot be achieved by conventional machine learning tools, including multimodal modelling under a unified framework, programming ability, knowledge extraction, and text embedding. We also address the potentials and challenges in implementing LLMs, particularly in achieving high precision and accuracy in specialised tasks, and underscore the need for expert oversight. The findings demonstrate the effectiveness of LLMs in enhancing efficiency, data processing, and decision-making in geotechnical engineering, suggesting a paradigm shift towards more integrated, data-driven approaches in this field.

“I've lost my children to vaping”: A frame analysis of the Australian media's construction of the “Youth vaping crisis”

BackgroundYouth vaping has become an issue of extreme concern in the Australian public and political discourse, recently culminating in the announcement of further restrictions on the sale and use of nicotine vaping products (NVPs) by the Federal Government. We examine how youth vaping has been framed in the Australian news media in the six months leading up to the announcement of these new measures in May 2023. MethodsDrawing a sample from the Factiva database, we conducted a frame analysis on articles published during this six month period, identifying media framings that included the necessary components of a distinct Problem Definition, Causal Attribution, Moral Evaluation, and Treatment Recommendation. ResultsWe identified 123 relevant articles, and four dominant framings being applied. Most common was that of A Failure of Control, followed by A Poisonous Epidemic, A Health Behaviour Needing Regulation, and A Moral Failure. ConclusionThese findings are discussed in the context of moral panic theory and how framings are constructed by the media in collaboration with policy actors to support particular policy measures.

Robotic surgery: Consent and medico-legal aspect

Robotic surgery has rapidly evolving as a ground-breaking field in medicine, revolutionizing surgical practices across various specialties like oncology, urology, gynaecology, bariatric surgery.Despite its benefits, the adoption of surgery faces significant medicolegal challenges. This article develops into the underexplored legal implications of robotic surgery and identifies distinct medicolegal problems. The article highlights the need for comprehensive guidelines, regulations, and training programs to navigate the medico legal aspects of robotic surgery effectively, thereby unlocking its full potential for the future development.

Self-stigma mediates the relationships between childhood maltreatment and symptom levels of PTSD, depression, and anxiety

ABSTRACT Background: Childhood maltreatment is a risk factor for developing multiple forms of psychopathology, including depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and anxiety. Yet, the mechanisms linking childhood maltreatment and these psychopathologies remain less clear. Objective: Here we examined whether self-stigma, the internalization of negative stereotypes about one's experiences, mediates the relationship between childhood maltreatment and symptom severity of depression, PTSD, and anxiety. Methods: Childhood trauma survivors (N = 685, Mage = 36.8) were assessed for childhood maltreatment, self-stigma, and symptoms of depression, PTSD, and anxiety. We used mediation analyses with childhood maltreatment as the independent variable. We then repeated these mediation models separately for childhood abuse and neglect, as well as the different subtypes of childhood maltreatment. Results: Self-stigma significantly mediated the relationship between childhood maltreatment and depression, PTSD, and anxiety symptoms. For sexual abuse – but not physical or emotional abuse – a significant mediation effect of self-stigma emerged on all symptom types. For childhood neglect, self-stigma significantly mediated the relationship between both emotional and physical neglect and all symptom types. Conclusion: Our cross-sectional study suggests that different types of childhood maltreatment experiences may relate to distinct mental health problems, potentially linked to increased self-stigma. Self-stigma may serve as an important treatment target for survivors of childhood abuse and neglect.

TOURISM IN INDIA’S UTTAR PRADESH: POTENTIALS, CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

The place of impiccable charm with matchless heritage sites and enriched culture or the land of historic importance, which is also known for divinity and devotion, called popularly as “heaven of earth” is India and in no way nose-dive to amaze any of the visitors in any part of it. The Uttar Pradesh in the heart soul of India is an Interior state surrounded by other states, with its high diversity comprising multi faiths, culture and traditions and attractive distinct destinations. A large number of the visitors visit this sole part of the country not only from abroad but also from within the country from north to south or east to west. The presence of one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the grand, gracious and wandering monument – The Taj Mahal, fascinate every generation hence it becomes the heartland of India with top heritage sites. Tourists from across the world arrive Uttar Pradesh not only for its magnanimous monuments but also for its mythological significance for example Ayodhaya and Mathura, the birth place of Lord Rama and Lord Krishna respectively. In continuity the state has an advent of rich culture embedded with mythological recognition including the major rivers of the Indian sub-continent and their point of connation called as Sangam in Allahabad. In the exploration of these diverse and distinct paradigms, the complications or problems that creates some opportunity and agony both, the undertaken work aims to study the prevailing prospects and problems of tourism industry in Uttar Pradesh. The paper focuses both distinctiveness which attract the travellers to the state and the potential problems that they encounter during their visit. Beside the paper also pin points some prospective aspects to promote and strengthen the tourism in the state.

Peran pemerintah dalam mempromosikan alternatif penyelesaian sengketa di Indonesia

The Indonesian government has implemented diverse initiatives to foster a nonviolent approach to resolving family law conflicts. The study will examine the involvement of governments and their initiatives in advocating for conflict resolution as a viable method for addressing societal concerns. The aggregation of cases handled by multiple courts led to a prolonged resolution of the recorded concerns. This study will focus on two distinct problem formulations. Firstly, we will discuss the government's role in promoting alternative dispute resolution as a solution to difficulties. Secondly, we will examine why government techniques for implementing alternative conflict resolution are superior to resorting to court proceedings for dispute settlement. This research aims to enhance people's understanding of the government's provision of non-judicial or alternative dispute resolution. The report seeks to analyze the government's initiatives in addressing the issue of Islamic family law. This study will utilize library research and significant data regarding specific government initiatives. This will be accomplished using a legal and normative approach. The study findings indicate that the government is actively promoting alternative methods of resolving disputes, such as mediation. This is being done through the implementation of mediation in the courts, improving legal aid services, enacting laws on a large scale, and encouraging the utilization of information and communication technologies. The strategy is executed by promoting mediation and conciliation in all court proceedings, establishing dispute resolution centers, empowering women to reduce disputes related to women, promoting legal education and awareness, and maximizing the utilization of technology and information.

Cross-Linguistic Scientific Communication, Contemporary Digital Terminological Neologisms in English, and Translation Issues

The paper develops applied and theoretical results obtained by the author in a long-term, corpus-based research on the cross-linguistic scientific communication and on its most distinctive problem — translating modern scientific texts mainly on digital information processing from English into Russian (and vice versa). These texts are characterized primarily by the growing number of multi-word language-specific new terms. In this respect special attention is paid in the paper to modern authentic «digital» neologisms-clusters in English: to their cross-linguistic idiomatic character, their language-specific types and patterns, to their systematization as well as to their communicative and cognitive distinctions. The paper introduces their equivalent terminological counterparts in Russian and the way they are to be translated into Russian. Some important generalizations and proposals are also introduced concerning new trends in the formation of language-specific «digital» terminological clusters in English and the way they can be rendered into Russian. The paper concludes with outlining some further perspectives in studying cross-linguistic scientific communication, its new terminology and developing its cross-linguistic translation, particularly by digital resources.

A Case Study Investigating the Relational Well-Being of International Students at Hohai University Nanjing, Jiangsu Province of China.

This study acknowledges the growing importance of international student mobility and examines the relational well-being of international students at Hohai University in Nanjing, China. Understanding the complexities of interactions among international students is essential for their well-being and the university's overall success, since this tendency continues to increase. By examining the distinct possibilities and problems faced by international students at Hohai University and considering elements including cultural distinctiveness, the campus environment, interpersonal dynamics, and support networks, the study fills a research void. For this purpose, 150 international students at Hohai University participated in semi-structured interviews and 10 participants participated in unstructured interviews as part of the mixed-methods approach to obtain in-depth information. Hence, the descriptive data were analyzed using SPSS and qualitative analyses were performed using NVIVO. According to preliminary findings derived from quantitative data, important results emphasize the significant impact of homesickness (0.143, T value: 5.931) and the positive correlation of relational well-being (0.146), highlighting their significance. The effect of the language barrier is also significant (0.125, T value: 4.378), whereas loneliness has little bearing (0.011, T value: 0.847). Additionally, the highest concern of the international students (M = 8.35; SD = 1.43) was making connections with local students. Additionally, (M = 8.21; SD = 1.15) international students favored Hohai University, which provided a welcoming atmosphere for intercultural dialogue. The Foreign Student Office, social events, cultural exchange programs, counseling services, and peer support networks are just a few examples of the support structures and networks crucial to international students' general well-being. At the same time, the cultural hurdles, including the language barrier and loneliness, seemed to be the challenge. The study concludes by shedding light on the relational well-being of international students at Hohai University and highlighting the importance of community-building and supporting actions. The results provide insightful information that will help the institution better respond to the particular difficulties that international students encounter, creating a more welcoming and stimulating atmosphere. This study establishes the foundation for further research in comparable contexts and advances our understanding of relational well-being in the context of experiences for overseas students.