Extra Time Research Articles

Path planning in advance to help with agricultural emissions and time management

Regardless of the job, the saying 'well planned is half done' holds true. It is well known that in Finland, the agricultural season in spring and autumn is short and there is no extra time to spare. Therefore, it is good to prepare and plan the work in advance. Autopilot has been available for work machines for about ten years, but route planning programs are just making their entrance. Autopilot in itself does not save time unless it is more precise than a human or follows a faster route. With RTK correction, centimeter-accurate steering is achieved, which eliminates overlapping driving, but the routes can still be suboptimal. In the Smart Agriculture project in Tarvaala, we compared how much time is saved by pre-optimized driving routes compared to manually driven ones. The routes were created in the spring, outside the season, and on the conventional side, the same paths as always were driven, meaning the longest possible swath. The work phase was sowing and fertilization, and the plot was a rectangular 8-hectare block belonging to the project. The work phases were recorded in a task file, and from both halves, all breaks over 30 seconds, which we assumed were due to human reasons such as breaks and machine checks, were removed. The experiment revealed that the time saved by pre-created routes was 17% compared to the traditional way of driving. The field was familiar to the driver in advance. Even if one considers the time spent creating the routes, about 10 minutes, the savings are regained the following year when the routes do not change, as long as the field remains the same shape. Different routes can, of course, be created for different work phases, such as sowing routes at a 45-degree angle to the sowing tillage. Temporal savings also bring other benefits such as lower emissions through reduced total consumption and improved driver well-being through reduced working hours.

Volume and Surface Area of 3D Mesh Objects : A Matlab GUI

In many applications of science and engineering, the real physical related objects are usually modelled in terms of mesh objects, where, the mesh will be used during computation or simulation. For most cases, a good mesh is required in order to increase the accuracy of the results. As the mesh represents the original object, the mesh should have similar physical properties of the original object such as the surface area or the volume. However, finding the value of these parameters could require extra computational cost and increase overall time taken to solve the problem. Thus, it might be useful if these parameters can be determined separately to ensure good mesh is used before any simulation is performed. In this study, a Matlab GUI is developed to enable user for easily computing the volume and the surface area of three-dimensional mesh objects. In order to use the GUI, user will firstly need to import the Mesh that is generated by the software Netgen Mesh generator. Once any mesh is imported as an input to the GUI, the program will use the concepts in vectors, which includes dot and cross products, to compute both parameters. Apart from presenting briefly the steps in creating the GUI with Matlab, this paper will also provide some examples to demonstrate the use of the GUI.

Thoracic duct identification with indocyanine green fluorescence to prevent chyle leaks during minimally invasive esophagectomy.

Chylothorax (CT) is a rare yet serious complication after esophagectomy. Identification of the thoracic duct (TD) during esophagectomy is challenging due to its anatomical variation. Real-time identification of TD may help to prevent its injury. Near infra-red imaging with Indocyanine green (ICG) is a novel technique that recently has been used to overcome this issue. Patients who underwent minimally invasive esophagectomy for esophageal cancer were divided into two groups with and without ICG. We injected ICG into bilateral superficial inguinal lymph nodes. Identification of TD and its injuries during the operation was evaluated and compared with the non-ICG group. Eighteen patients received ICG, and 18 patients underwent surgery without ICG. Each group had one (5.5%) TD ligation. In the ICG group injury was detected intraoperative, and ligation was done at the site of injury. In all cases, the entire thoracic course of TD was visualized intraoperatively after a mean time of 81.39 min from ICG injection to visualization. The Mean extra time for ICG injection was 11.94 min. In the ICG group, no patient suffered from CT. One patient in the non-ICG group developed CT after surgery that was managed conservatively. According to Fisher's exact test, there was no significant association between CT development and ICG use, possibly due to the small sample size. This study confirms that ICG administration into bilateral superficial inguinal lymph nodes can highlight the TD and reduce its damage during esophagectomy. It can be a standard method for the prevention of postoperative CT.

Characterization of Physicochemical Properties of Annealed Corn Flour and Starch: A Verification of Meta‐Analysis

AbstractThis study examines the effects of annealing process (temperature 50 °C, moisture content of 80%, for 20 h) on physicochemical characteristics (proximate composition, content of resistant starch (RS) and amylose, degree of starch digestibility, shape and size of starch granules, crystallinity, and starch gelatinization profile) of corn flour and corn starch. Two stages of experiment are as follows: 1) verifying the results of the meta‐analysis of corn starch and flour modification by annealing method and 2) analyzing their physicochemical properties. As a result, annealing significantly improves RS content in both groups, reaching 14.18% in annealed corn flour (AF) (compared to 3.27% in native corn flour (NF)) and 21.87% in annealed corn starch (AS) (compared to 3.82% in native corn starch (NS)). The present work also confirms that the treatment unaltered birefringence properties of all samples. Moreover, pasting properties of corn starch and flour demonstrate remarkable changes. The peak viscosity of AS and NS is higher than AF and NF. In addition, gelatinization seems to occur at similar temperature, but needs extra time for starting gelatinization. XRD analysis reveals A‐type crystalline for all samples, while FTIR analysis evidenced that annealing process alters the regions of amorphous and crystalline.

The role of extra time in the performance of students with learning disabilities in time-constrained assessment

The role of extra time in the performance of students with learning disabilities in time-constrained assessment

Smart sensors/actuators based in amorphous nanostructures, according to enhance robotic arms energy transmission

This article mainly analyzes the correlation between the carrier energy in robotic arms, according to enhance its performance. This task is achieved because of the sensors/actuators based on nanostructures properties: short response time and high robustness, which proportionated the possibility to execute intricate instructions by the control subsystem of the robotic arm. Therefore, the instructions executed by the controller are supported by a polynomial design, this algorithm helped to evaluate every response signal as a consequence of the main control system, which was consequently by the short response time from the main sensors “flow (carrier energy) and speed of the robotic arm”, moreover, the advantage of the proposed system is given by the extra time obtained also to verify the stability of the robotic arm based in Lyapunov models correlated with Lagrange, as well as every equations were solved and organized by neural network.

Enhancing building energy consumption prediction introducing novel occupant behavior models with sparrow search optimization and attention mechanisms: A case study for forty-five buildings in a university community

The escalating energy and environmental crises underline the imperative for sustainable cities and societies. For effective and real-time energy management, this study proposes an enhanced building energy consumption prediction system. It introduces a novel concept named region-wide occupant energy-use behavior probability and incorporates it into the input system, which better reflects real-time and complex energy-occupant-environment interactions in buildings. In addition, it integrates the squeeze-and-excitation attention mechanism, sparrow search algorithm, and convolutional neural network processes for optimizing data processing and hyperparameter selection. Validation in seven sample buildings demonstrates the proposed prediction system has a better balance between time and accuracy, reducing 36.32% MAPE and 31.20% CV-RMSE on average compared to all other prediction systems, only with 118.354s of extra time consumption increase compared to the least time-consuming method. Furthermore, this study discusses methods for selecting suitable input systems and algorithms based on building type, data collection conditions, accuracy, and time consumption. Finally, the enhanced prediction is applied to forty-five buildings in a university community, yielding a 12.35% MAPE and a 0.1707 CV-RMSE on average, reaffirming its superiority and practicality.

Doing language testing: learner-initiated side sequences in a technology-mediated language learning environment

ABSTRACT We present doing language testing sequences; L2 learners decide for themselves to test themselves or each other explicitly on new linguistic items, outside the official task cycle with no professional present, investing extra time and energy. We examine how and why pairs of learners do this, and its impact on their learning. They use an App to learn Chinese language and culture whilst cooking in their university dormitory kitchens, receiving multimedia instructions and help from a tablet. Using a mixed-methods research design, we asked: How is the practice of doing language testing organised in interactional terms? Using multimodal CA we found: learners organised the interaction themselves and introduced their own learning interests. Some self-tested and some peer-tested; some consulted the system and some did not. To ascertain the reasons why the learners decided to do language testing, we used post-hoc interviews and found their major motivation was to have an improved learning experience. We then compared their vocabulary post-test score gains with those who did not do language testing and found they made significantly higher gains with a learning advantage. The study shows that some students are motivated to do language testing in order to enhance their task performance and learning experience, in which they succeed.

A novel model for transfer synchronization in transit networks and a Lagrangian-based heuristic solution method

To realize the benefits of network connectivity in transfer-based transit networks, it is critical to minimize transfer disutility for passengers by synchronizing timetables of intersecting routes. We propose a mixed-integer linear programming timetable synchronization model that incorporates new features, such as dwell time determination and vehicle capacity consideration, which have been largely overlooked in the literature at the scheduling stage. We introduce a new concept of pre-planned holding time, called transfer buffer time, to reduce the transfer waiting time, particularly for transfers to low-frequency routes, while taking into account the penalty of extra in-vehicle time for onboard passengers and the possible consequences on headway regularity of a route. We develop a Lagrangian relaxation-based heuristic to obtain high-quality solutions efficiently for large instances. Our experiments on instances with up to 12 transfer nodes in the City of Toronto, with a mixture of low- and high-frequency routes, illustrate the potential benefits of the proposed model over the state of the art. The results indicate that incorporating transfer buffer time, dwell time determination, and vehicle capacity consideration improves model outcomes considerably, also demonstrating the computational efficiency of our Lagrangian-based solution method.

High-Voltage Gain Ripple-Free Resonant DC–DC Converter Using Active Voltage-Quadrupler

This paper presents a high-voltage gain ripple-free resonant DC/DC converter using an active voltage-quadrupler. By incorporating an active voltage-quadrupler at the secondary side of the transformer, the circuit achieved a very high-voltage gain. Without using extra input inductors, the inherent dual transformer plus interleaved active-clamped circuit operating with a fixed duty-ratio of 0.5 generate a ripple-free input current, which extends the lifetime of the fuel cell and shrinks the size of the input capacitive filter. This asymmetric structure of the active-clamp circuit requires an extra dead time for one of the secondary-side switches to achieve zero-voltage switching (ZVS) turn-on. After the extra dead time for one of the secondary-side switches is applied, all power components of the active voltage quadrupler cell are turned on and off with soft switching. The resonant capacitor voltages are unbalanced due to the extra dead time, but they are compensated by applying different secondary-side duty ratios. The operating principle and steady-state characteristics of the proposed converter were analyzed in detail. We built a 1-kW/700-V prototype that copes with 48-72 V inputs, and tested to verify the theoretical analysis.

CAN EMPLOYEE TURNOVER INTENTION BE MINIMIZED THROUGH JOB SATISFACTION, ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIOR AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT?

The greater the rate of employee turnover, the more harm it causes the company. Furthermore, there is a direct correlation between worker turnover and the intention to leave. Since the purpose of this research was to investigate employee turnover, the urgency of the issue is the main area of focus because it will obstruct the accomplishment of organizational objective. The purpose of this study is to examine the mediating role of organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior on the effect of job satisfaction on turnover intention. The research falls within the explanatory research category and included validation. This study utilised a survey to collect data from a significant portion of the workforce, consisting of 254 employees. The study used a saturated sample of 254 employees. The statistical method known as partial least squares, or PLS, along with the WarpPLS software were used for data analysis. The participants in this study were workers at an Indonesian manufacturer of medical devices. The research findings of this study provide an empirical contribution indicating that organisational commitment and organisational citizenship behaviour are critical components that need to be addressed in the company's efforts to lower the degree of intention to leave. Incorporating employees into decision-making processes can also help to maintain job satisfaction, as evidenced by the fact that such activities lower the intention of employee turnover. Companies should also focus on other factors that contribute to employee job satisfaction, such as clear career paths, appropriate rewards, work support facilities, and one example of good organisational citizenship on the part of employees not taking extra time off.

Falsa positivización del antígeno de superficie del virus de la Hepatitis B (HBsAg) tras vacunación.

Introduction: The chronic hemodialysis population has a greater exposure and risk to the hepatitis B virus, which is why immunoprophylaxis using the double dose scheme (40mcg) on days 0-30-60-180, with application of this regimen for a second extra time in nonresponders, is common practice in this population. Clinical case: This is a 67-year-old male patient of Afro-Ecuatorian ethnicity who started hemodialysis (HD) in August 2023 for chronic kidney disease (CKD) secondary to diabetic nephropathy. When starting HD, he had negative serology for hepatitis and negativity for HBsAg. For this reason, he received his first vaccination dose on November 29, 2023, and on December 15, he had HBsAg positivity with values of 4.14 S/CO (≥1 positive), with Ac-ANTI-HBSAG levels < 2 IU/L. Management: Given the findings, it was decided to isolate the patient with control of liver function, which is normal, and a new test of HBsAg levels in 15 days, which were subsequently negative. Conclusion: In this case, we want to remember the false politicization of HBsAg after vaccination in hemodialysis patients, a situation associated with the vaccine being composed of live attenuated viruses or recombinant particles of surface proteins.

Comparing Cosmetic Outcomes of Straight-Line Versus W-Plasty Techniques for Linear Postauricular Wound Closure: A Randomized Evaluator Blind Split-Scar Trial.

Surgeons' opinions vary on the cosmetic outcome of straight-line (SL) versus broken-line (W-plasty) closure methods. To date, no studies have compared the 2 techniques in the split-scar design model that resolves the confounding individual patient factors that affects the scar outcome. Compare outcomes and wound cosmesis with SL versus W-plasty closure techniques. This clinical trial was conducted with 50 linear surgical wounds randomized to SL closure on half and W-plasty on the other half. At 3 months, patients and 2 masked observers evaluated each scar using the Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale (Patient Observer Scar Assessment Scale [POSAS]). The mean (SD) sum of the POSAS observer component scores were 16.6 (6.18) for the SL side and 15.5 (6.37) for the W-plasty side ( p = .49). The mean (SD) sum of the POSAS patient scores were 14.4 (6.8) in SL and 15.1 (8.2) in W-plasty ( p = .59). The mean (SD) complications were 0.08 (0.06) for SL and 0.02 (0.14) for W-plasty ( p = .18). No statistically significant difference in wound cosmesis or complications was noted between SL versus W-plasty closure techniques. Surgeons may want to consider whether the extra time involved in placing zigzag W-plasty lines is worthwhile.

Examining the impact of a change in maternity leave policy in Canada on maternal mental health care visits to the physician

PurposeMaternity leave is a critical employee benefit that allows mothers to recover from the stress of pregnancy and childbirth and bond with their new baby. We aimed to examine the association between the extension of a maternity leave policy and maternal use of mental health services and prescription drugs in a universal public healthcare system.MethodsThis study uses administrative medical records from 18,000 randomly selected women who gave birth three months before and after an extension of the maternity leave policy. More specifically, mothers who gave birth after January 1st 2001, were entitled to 50 weeks of paid maternity leave, while mothers who gave birth before that date were entitled to only 26 weeks of paid maternity leave. Medical records were analyzed over a seven-year period (i.e., from October 1998 to March 2006). We examined the number and costs of mothers’ medical visits for mental health care in the five years following delivery, as well as maternal use of prescribed medication for mental health problems.ResultsWe found that mothers with extended maternity leave had − 0.12 (95%CI=-0.21; -0.02) fewer medical visits than mothers without a more generous maternity leave and that the cost of mental health services was Can$5 less expensive per women. These differences were found specifically during the extended maternity leave period.ConclusionsThe extra time away from work may help mothers to balance new family dynamics which may result in less demand on the healthcare system.

Fostering student agency and motivation: co-creation of a rubric for self-evaluation in an ungraded course

No one enjoys grading, neither instructors nor students. The idea is that grades provide the required incentive to learn and act as an “objective” form of evaluation. This view is especially prevalent in STEM, where practitioners pride themselves in quantitative and objective measurements. However, the science of learning tells us that grades and ranking increase competition and stress, pushing learners to engage in tasks regardless of their effectiveness. Grades have been shown to suppress interest in learning, incentivize engagement in easier tasks, and produce shallower thinking. If wanting to learn is something students and faculty can agree on, how do we get there without grading? From psychology research, we know that feedback, separated from grades, along with opportunities to reattempt work without negative consequence, are powerful drivers of the intrinsic motivation to learn. In fact, feedback loops—trying something new, getting feedback, and making changes based on feedback - are a known developmental pathway to authentic learning. In this article, I describe an experiment with a form of ungrading that involves students in the co-creation of self-assessment criteria. The goal is to create learning feedback loops, incentivize learning for learning’s sake, and give students some agency in the process of evaluation. This was conducted in an upper division Immunology course at a small liberal arts college. This paper outlines an iterative and dialogical process between students and instructional staff to craft a holistic set of criteria for the evaluation of learning. These criteria became the foundation for regular one-on-one conversations with students and a means to track progress over the semester. End-of-semester student feedback was overwhelmingly positive, citing increased motivation to learn, lower levels of anxiety, a less competitive environment, and growth as a learner. Among the few disadvantages cited were anxieties from grade ambiguity, fears about the process, and extra time, especially for the instructor. This paper highlights the ways in which this system aligns with psychosocial theories of learning, fostering an intrinsic motivation to learn utilizing principles of critical pedagogy and students as partners. It concludes with lessons learned from both the student and instructor viewpoint.

Analysis of robot-specific operative time and surgical team anxiety level and its effect on alignment during robot-assisted TKA.

Adapting to robotic-assisted (RA) total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is hindered by the surgeon's fear of extra time. The main purpose of this study was to determine the robot's operative time, and the secondary goals were to assess the surgical team's anxiety, implant location and size, and limb alignment. From February to April 2022, 40 participants participated in prospective research. The study included primary Cuvis joint active RA-TKA patients for end-stage arthritis, but conversion of unicompartmental knee arthroplasty to TKA, and patients with prior knee surgery were excluded. The active RA-TKA surgical time included surgeon-dependent and surgeon-independent/active robot time. The surgeon's anxiety was measured using the state-trait anxiety inventory (STAI). The implant size/position and limb alignment were checked by post-operative weight-bearing lateral, anteroposterior, and full-length scanograms. Operative time specifically related to active RA-TKA was higher in the first 10 cases as against 10-20, 20-30 and 30-40 cases which was observed to lower from cohort 2. A similar trend was observed for the surgical team's anxiety levels which seem to lower from cohort 2 (case 10-20). Cumulative experience of active RA-TKA showed no effect on the precision of implant alignment/ size, limb alignment and complications. The study showed progressive improvement in the surgical anxiety scores and reduction in operating time indicating the proficiency gained by the surgical team. Further no learning curve was involved in achieving the implant positioning and sizing, limb alignment with the absence of complications.

"Good Care Is Slow Enough to Be Able to Pay Attention": Primary Care Time Scarcity and Patient Safety.

There is growing, widespread recognition that expectations of US primary care vastly exceed the time and resources allocated to it. Little research has directly examined how time scarcity contributes to harm or patient safety incidents not readily capturable by population-based quality metrics. To examine near-miss events identified by primary care physicians in which taking additional time improved patient care or prevented harm. Qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews. Twenty-five primary care physicians practicing in the USA. Participants completed a survey that included demographic questions, the Ballard Organizational Temporality Scale and the Mini-Z scale, followed by a one hour qualitative interview over video-conference (Zoom). Iterative thematic qualitative data analysis was conducted. Primary care physicians identified several types of near-miss events in which taking extra time during visits changed their clinical management. These were evident in five types of patient care episodes: high-risk social situations, high-risk medication regimens requiring patient education, high acuity conditions requiring immediate workup or treatment, interactions of physical and mental health, and investigating more subtle clinical suspicions. These near-miss events highlight the ways in which unreasonably large patient panels and packed schedules impede adequate responses to patient care episodes that are time sensitive and intensive or require flexibility. Primary care physicians identify and address patient safety issues and high-risk situations by spending more time than allotted for a given patient encounter. Current quality metrics do not account for this critical aspect of primary care work. Current healthcare policy and organization create time scarcity. Interventions to address time scarcity and to measure its prevalence and implications for care quality and safety are urgently needed.

An Enhanced Extreme Learning Machine Based on Square-Root Lasso Method

Extreme learning machine (ELM) is one of the most notable machine learning algorithms with many advantages, especially its training speed. However, ELM has some drawbacks such as instability, poor generalizability and overfitting in the case of multicollinearity in the linear model. This paper introduces square-root lasso ELM (SQRTL-ELM) as a novel regularized ELM algorithm to deal with these drawbacks of ELM. A modified version of the alternating minimization algorithm is used to obtain the estimates of the proposed method. Various techniques are presented to determine the tuning parameter of SQRTL-ELM. The method is compared with the basic ELM, RIDGE-ELM, LASSO-ELM and ENET-ELM on six benchmark data sets. Performance evaluation results show that the SQRTL-ELM exhibits satisfactory performance in terms of testing root mean squared error in benchmark data sets for the sake of slightly extra computation time. The superiority level of the method depends on the tuning parameter selection technique. As a result, the proposed method can be considered a powerful alternative to avoid performance loss in regression problems .

Development and validation of a semi-automated, scalable response to intervention framework in mathematics

Response to Intervention (RTI) has been shown to be better at identifying and addressing learning difficulties than other frameworks. However, only a few educational systems have implemented it, and it can be difficult for schools to implement RTI on their own without policies in place. One solution is to create semi-automated digital tools that can assist with RTI without requiring a lot of extra time from the teacher. This study describes the development and implementation of such tools in schools that were not previously familiar with RTI. The effectiveness of the tools was tested by comparing 5 schools (149 students) that used RTI with 8 schools (269 students) that did not. The results showed that the extra practice was effective and that students in the intervention group made significantly more progress in arithmetic fluency than their peers in the control group. These students were also more likely to leave the “low achievement” and “at risk of Mathematics Learning Difficulties” zones than students in the control group. This suggests that it is possible to develop a scalable RTI framework and implement it in educational systems without RTI-based policies.

Preface

Preface The present volume constitutes the proceedings of the First workshop on Soliton Theory, Nonlinear Dynamics and Machine Learning held in Varna (Bulgaria) from 12 to 17 August 2023 which is organized by the Institute for Advanced Physical Studies (Bulgaria) and the Institute for Physical and Mathematical Studies of the Varna Free University (VFU).The purpose of the workshop was to bring together qualified scientists, young researchers and students with expertise and interests in mathematics and physics. In this way the workshop was intended to offer an opportunity to discuss recent developments and achievements, as well as future perspectives in these modern and fast developing areas and their interface.Contemporary science, mainly due to its complexity, uses more and more elaborate techniques and methods, thus achieving sometimes amazing results. The numerous conferences often involve large number of scientists which should be able to explain their results in rather short time. Hence, only a limited number of participants, who already have mastered the relevant field, are able to understand these results. A beginner in the field has practically no chances to understand which are the main ideas and techniques in it. Our aim with this workshop was to avoid these difficulties and to help a group of beginners do their start in science. In order to achieve practical results with our Workshop to have more young people as participants. Every speaker had 45 minutes for presentation and 15 minutes for questions and discussions. This is an ample time to explain in detail the main ideas in the talk so that even a beginner could understand it. In addition there was extra time during the coffee and lunch breaks for contacts among the people on site. Of course for the online participants this was more difficult, though they were given optimal chances to ask questions during and after the reports.It is our belief that in such atmosphere the beginners will have the best chance to understand a certain subject and get introduced to a given scientific field. During the Workshop we had 28 reports (see the list of reports and the list of participants). Some of the younger participants were also given the chance to report on their results and to gain experience for their future participation in conferences.The workshop greatly benefited from the dedicated involvement of the renowned experts in their fields of science Vladimir Gerdjikov (Institute of Mathematics and Informatics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences), Peter Hristov (CERN), Radu Constantinescu (University of Craiova, Romania), Rossen Ivanov (Technological University Dublin, Ireland), Stoytcho Yazadjiev (St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia, Bulgaria) who were the scientific committee members.We would like to thank the President of VFU Dr. Krasimir Nedyalkov and the Rector of VFU Prof. Dr. Peter Hristov for the collaboration and continuous attention.The success of every conference is based on the activity and the competence of its participants. We are grateful to all participants for their efforts to produce high quality reports and for their activity in the discussions after every talk.The Workshop was held at the VFU campus, close to the Black Sea with the financial support of the Bulgarian National Science Fund contract BG-175467353-2023-02-0006 and Varna Free University.The Editors:R. Constantinescu, V. Gerdjikov, S. Mishev, S. YazadjievList of Scientific Committee, Local Organizing Committee are available in this pdf.