Aim: To investigate the application of anterior and posterior corneal higher order aberrations (HOAs) in detecting keratoconus (KC) and suspect keratoconus (SKC). Method: This is a retrospective, case-control study which evaluated non-ectatic (normal) eyes, SKC eyes, and KC eyes. The Sirius Scheimpfug (CSO, Italy) analyzer was used to measure HOAs of the anterior and posterior corneal surfaces. Sensitivity, specificity and area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) were calculated. Results: Two-hundred and twenty eyes were included in the analysis (normal n = 108, SKC n= 42, KC n= 70). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis revealed a high predictive ability for anterior corneal HOAs parameters: Root mean square (RMS) total corneal HOAs, RMS trefoil and RMS coma to detect keratoconus (AUC > 0.9 for all). RMS Coma (3, ±1) derived from the anterior corneal surface was the parameter with the highest ability to discriminate between suspect keratoconus and normal eyes (AUC = 0.922; cutoff > 0.2). All posterior corneal HOAs parameters were insufficient in discriminating between SKC and normal eyes (AUC < 0.8 for all). In contrast, their ability to detect KC was excellent with AUC of > 0.9 for all except RMS spherical aberrations (AUC = 0.846). Conclusion: Anterior and posterior corneal higher order aberrations can differentiate between keratoconus and normal eyes, with a high level of certainty. In suspect keratoconus disease however, only anterior corneal HOAs, and in particular coma-like aberrations, are of value. Corneal aberrometry may be of value in screening for keratoconus in populations with a high prevalence of the disease.

The experimental realization of twisted bilayer graphene strongly pushed the inspection of bilayer systems. In this context, it was recently shown that a two layer Haldane model with a thirty degree rotation angle between the layers represents a higher order topological insulator, with zero-dimensional states isolated in energy and localized at the physical vertices of the nanostructure. We show, within a numerical tight binding approach, that the energy of the zero dimensional states strongly depends on the geometrical structure of the vertices. In the most extreme cases, once a specific band gap is considered, these bound states can even disappear just by changing the vertex structure.

Reading is a complex cognitive task involving processes from different systems. The present work aims to identify some points of divergence reported in the reading literature and discuss them in a new experimental paradigm framework. Inspired by the paradigms of perceptual identification and rapid parallel presentation (RPVP), we emphasize that the originality of our experimental paradigm lies in the recruitment of multi-stable Arabic percepts within the region where low-level processing occurs (i.e., the visual span area). With good flexibility, the current paradigm has reached higher-order processing levels. In agreement with previous works highlighting the parafoveal-on-foveal effect, results suggest parallel word processing. Furthermore, they suggest a rapid extraction of syntactic and semantic information from words in sentences while attributing an advantage to semantic processing in the emergence of the sentence superiority effect.

Endoscopic medical images can suffer from uneven illumination, low contrast, and lack of texture information due to the use of point directional light sources and the presence of narrow tissue structures, posing diagnostic difficulties for physicians. In this paper, a deep learning-based su-pervised illumination enhancement network is designed for low-light endoscopic images, aiming to improve both global illumination and local details. Initially, a global illumination enhancement module is formulated utilizing a higher-order curve function to improve global illumination. Sec-ondly, a local feature extraction module incorporating dual attention is designed to capture local detailed features. Considering the significance of color fidelity in biomedical scenarios, the designed loss function prioritizes introducing color loss to alleviate image color distortion. Compared with seven state-of-the-art enhancement algorithms on Endo4IE endoscopic datasets, experimental re-sults show that the proposed method can better enhance low-light endoscopic images and avoid image color distortion. It provides an efficient method to enhance images captured by endoscopes which can effectively assist clinical diagnosis and treatment.

Data-Flow and Higher-Order Mutation are white-box testing techniques. To our knowledge, no work has been proposed to compare data flow and higher-order mutation. This paper compares all def-uses data-flow and second-order mutation criteria. This compassion investigates the subsumption relation between these two criteria and evaluates the effectiveness of test data developed for each. To compare the two criteria, a set of test data satisfying each criterion is generated, which is used to explore whether one criterion subsumes the other criterion and assess the effectiveness of the test set that was developed for one methodology in terms of the other. The results showed that the mean mutation coverage ratio of the all du-pairs adequate test cover is 80.9%, and the mean data flow coverage ratio of the 2nd-order mutant adequate test cover is 98.7%. Consequently, 2nd-order mutation “ProbSubsumes” the all du-pairs data flow. The failure detection efficiency of the mutation (98%) is significantly better than the failure detection efficiency of data flow (86%). Consequently, 2nd-order mutation testing is “ProbBetter” than all du-pairs data flow testing. In contrast, the size of the test suite of 2nd-order mutation is more significant than the size of the test suite of all du-pairs.

The higher-order interactions in complex systems are gaining attention. Extending the classic bounded confidence model where an agent’s opinion update is the average opinion of its peers, this paper proposes a higher-order version of the bounded confidence model. Each agent organizes a group opinion discussion among its peers. Then, the discussion’s result influences all participants’ opinions. Since an agent is also the peer of its peers, the agent actually participates in multiple group discussions. We assume the agent’s opinion update is the average over multiple group discussions. The opinion dynamics rules can be arbitrary in each discussion. In this work, we experiment with two discussion rules: centralized and decentralized. We show that the centralized rule is equivalent to the classic bounded confidence model. The decentralized rule, however, can promote opinion consensus. In need of modeling specific real-life scenarios, the higher-order bounded confidence is convenient to combine with other higher-order dynamics, from the contagion process to evolutionary dynamics.

Embracing innovative digital technologies within educational systems is essential for overcoming challenges in modern learning environments, especially in the post-COVID-19 era. Teaching sustainability management in higher education institutions with innovative digital tools plays a fundamental role in the transition toward sustainable societies. Suitable game design elements play a significant role in facilitating sustainable learning. This study explored the effectiveness of incorporating business simulation games with project-based learning (PBL) in a flipped classroom setting. This approach was adopted within the context of a university cross-border e-commerce course to prepare students for acquiring 21st -century skills as higher-order thinking skills in a rapidly changing educational landscape. A quasi-experimental method was employed, involving a total of 60 university students from China's Zhejiang Province. Participants completed an online questionnaire designed to assess their learning engagement across three dimensions (cognitive, emotional, and behavioral) as well as their higher-order thinking skills (problem-solving, critical thinking, and creativity). The results show that the business simulation games combined with flipped classroom learning had a significantly positive impact on students’ learning outcomes, enhancing their problem-solving, critical thinking, and creative capabilities. Importantly, this approach also improved student engagement and promoted sustainable practices by applying real-life scenarios in an interactive environment. We conclude that business simulation games integrated with project-based learning (PBL) in flipped classroom settings represent a valuable educational approach. This approach not only enhances learning engagement but also fosters the development of higher-order thinking skills, encouraging students to adopt sustainable learning practices.

In network analysis, links depict the connections between each pair of network nodes. However, such pairwise connections fail to consider the interactions among more agents, which may be indirectly connected. Such non-pairwise or higher-order connections can be signified by involving simplicial complexes. The higher-order connections become even more noteworthy when it comes to neuronal network synchronization, an emerging phenomenon responsible for the many biological processes in real-world phenomena. However, involving higher-order interactions may considerably increase the computational costs. To confound this issue, map-based models are more suitable since they are faster, simpler, more flexible, and computationally more optimal. Therefore, this paper addresses the impact of pairwise and non-pairwise neuronal interactions on the synchronization state of 10 coupled memristive Hindmarsh-Rose neuron maps. To this aim, electrical, inner linking, and chemical synaptic functions are considered as 2- and 3-body interactions in three homogenous and two non-homogenous cases. The results show that through chemical pairwise and non-pairwise synapses, the neurons achieve synchrony with the weakest coupling strengths.

As a manifestation of technological innovation achievements, patents reflect the frontier of technological development in the field. This paper constructs a multi-entity patent collaboration network and analyzes its evolution patterns to provide a reference for innovation organizations to grasp the general direction of innovation development and select partners. Based on the data of collaboration patents of two and three organizations in China's new energy vehicles (NEV) industry from 2008 to 2021, this paper constructs higher-order interaction collaboration innovation networks in different periods to analyze the spatial evolution of networks and patent cooperation activities. The results show that the generalized degree distribution of nodes and edges conforms to the power-law distribution. The two-dimensional simplex networks gradually form triangle groups centered on the core nodes, and the importance of key edges is beginning to emerge. Key organizations and partners, including State Grid Corporation of China, Tsinghua University, and China Electric Power Research Institute, will largely determine the direction for the future development of cooperation innovation. The study also reveals that Beijing, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangzhou, and Shanghai are in central positions in the cooperative innovation network, based on their cooperation breadth and depth measures. Additionally, key links formed by Beijing as hubs are not only the center of information exchange but also function as bridges that connect to other regions.

In the paper, the authors establish two identities, which can be regarded as nonlinear differential equations, for the generating function of Eulerian polynomials, find two identities for the Stirling numbers of the second kind, and present two identities for Eulerian polynomials and higher order Eulerian polynomials, pose two open problems about summability of two finite sums involving the Stirling numbers of the second kind. Some of these conclusions meaningfully and significantly simplify several known results.

Centromeres, the chromosomal loci where spindle fibers attach during cell division to segregate chromosomes, are typically found within satellite arrays in plants and animals. Satellite arrays have been difficult to analyze because they comprise megabases of tandem head-to-tail highly repeated DNA sequences. Much evidence suggests that centromeres are epigenetically defined by the location of nucleosomes containing the centromere-specific histone H3 variant cenH3, independently of the DNA sequences where they are located; however, the reason that cenH3 nucleosomes are generally found on rapidly evolving satellite arrays has remained unclear. Recently, long read sequencing technology has clarified the structures of satellite arrays and sparked rethinking of how they evolve, while new experiments and analyses have helped bring both understanding and further speculation about the role these highly repeated sequences play in centromere identification.

Higher-order topological insulators (HOTIs) are recently discovered topological phases, possessing symmetry-protected corner states with fractional charges. An unexpected connection between these states and the seemingly unrelated phenomenon of bound states in the continuum (BICs) was recently unveiled. When nonlinearity is added to a HOTI system, a number of fundamentally important questions arise. For example, how does nonlinearity couple higher-order topological BICs with the rest of the system, including continuum states? In fact, thus far BICs in nonlinear HOTIs have remained unexplored. Here, we unveil the interplay of nonlinearity, higher-order topology, and BICs in a photonic platform. We observe topological corner states which are also BICs in a laser-written second-order topological lattice, and further demonstrate their nonlinear coupling with edge (but not bulk) modes under the proper action of both self-focusing and defocusing nonlinearities. Theoretically, we calculate the eigenvalue spectrum and analog of the Zak phase in the nonlinear regime, illustrating that a topological BIC can be actively tuned by nonlinearity in such an HOTI. Our studies are applicable to other nonlinear HOTI systems, with promising applications in emerging topology-driven devices.

In the present study, a mathematical model of non-steady partial differential equation from the process of oxygen mass transport in the human pulmonary circulation is proposed. Mathematical modelling of this kind of problems lead to a non-steady partial differential equation and for its numerical simulation, we have used finite differences. The aim of the process is the exact numerical analysis of the study, wherein consistency, stability and convergence is proposed. The necessity of doing the process is that, we would like to increase the order of numerical solution to a higher order scheme. An increment in the order of numerical solution makes the numerical simulation more accurate, also makes the numerical simulation being more complicated. In addition, the process of numerical analysis of the study in this order of solution needs more research work.

We introduce poly-symplectic extension of Souriau Lie groups Thermodynamics based on higher-order model of statistical physics introduced by R.S. Ingarden. This extended model could be used for small data analytics and Machine Learning on Lie groups. Souriau Geometric Theory of Heat is well adapted to describe density of probability (Maximum Entropy Gibbs density) of data living on groups or on homogeneous manifolds. For Small Data Analytics (Rarified Gases , sparse statistical survey,…), density of maximum entropy should consider Higher Order Moments constraints (Gibbs density is not only defined by first moment but fluctuations request 2nd order and higher moments) as introduced by R.S. Ingarden. We use Poly-sympletic model introduced by Christian Günther, replacing the symplectic form by a vector-valued form. The poly-symplectic approach generalizes the Noether theorem, the existence of momentum mappings, the Lie algebra structure of the space of currents, the (non-)equivariant cohomology and the classification of G-homogeneous systems. The formalism is covariant, i.e. no special coordinates or coordinate systems on the parameter space are used to construct the Hamiltonian equations. We underline the contextures of these models, and the process to build these generic structures.

In the paper, the authors consider the generating functions of the Hermite polynomials and their squares, present explicit formulas for higher order derivatives of the generating functions of the Hermite polynomials and their squares, which can be viewed as ordinary differential equations or derivative polynomials, find differential equations that the generating functions of the Hermite polynomials and their squares satisfy, and derive explicit formulas and recurrence relations for the Hermite polynomials and their squares.

A reduced order model is developed to monitor aeroengines condition (defining their degradation from a baseline state) in real-time, by using data collected in specific sensors. This reduced model is constructed by applying higher order singular value decomposition plus interpolation to appropriate data, organized in tensor form. Such data are obtained using a detailed engine model that takes the engine physics into account. Thus, the method synergically combines the advantages of data-driven (fast online operation) and model-based (the engine physics is accounted for) condition monitoring methods. Using this reduced order model as surrogate of the engine model, two gradient-like condition monitoring tools are constructed. The first tool is extremely fast and able to precisely compute `on the fly’ the turbine inlet temperature, which is a paramount parameter for the engine performance, operation, and maintenance, and can only be roughly estimated by the engine instrumentation in civil aviation. The second tool is not so fast (but still reasonably inexpensive) and precisely computes both, the engine degradation and the turbine inlet temperature at which sensors data have been acquired. These tools are robust in connection with random noise added to the sensors data and can be straight forwardly applied to other mechanical systems.

The higher education act of 2013 with its amendment act of 2021 was enacted to guide and regulate the provision of higher education in Zambia. This conceptual paper sought to assess the impact of this act in the higher education sector. It was qualitative in design and data was collected using content analysis. In this regard, literature regarding the Zambia higher education act and higher education provisions were scrutinised. The findings show that the higher education act has resulted in the creation of the higher education authority (HEA) which has brought sanity to the higher education sector by compelling all higher education institutions to be registering themselves and programmes with HEA. Further, the HEA has developed a policy for the promotion of academic staff in the higher education sector. However, the higher education act (the amended act of 2021) has negatively impacted the higher education sector. The amended act outlawed the spirit of accountability in the running of universities by removing stakeholders such as unions from sitting on the university council. Further, the act has reduced the number of councillors to sit on the council to run public universities from 16 to 8, thereby limiting the diversity of membership to the council. Furthermore, the higher education act has opened higher education institutions' affiliations to even private universities with little or no capacity, thereby further compromising the quality of higher. The Act has also increased the cost of running universities by introducing additional administrative structures in universities. Based on the above findings, the paper recommends that the Act be amended to remove the retrogressive clauses highlighted in this paper.

In this paper, we investigate the new degenerate Daehee polynomials and numbers which are called the degenerate Daehee polynomials of the second kind, and derive some new and interesting identities and properties of those polynomials.

This paper discussed the concept of quality assurance (QA) in higher education and its implications to higher education institutions (HEIs) and the possible challenges. The study evaluated literature concerning QA in Zambia and elsewhere. The findings of the study show that QA is implemented through external and internal mechanisms such as accreditation, registration, institutional auditing, and the use of external examiners, self-evaluation, and peer reviews. The QA implications to HEIs in Zambia are that there is a need for accreditation of academic programmes with the Higher Education Authority (HEA) by HEIs. Further, HEIs should establish QA units to spearhead quality issues, reactive, and introduce the use of external examiners to ensure quality. The challenges identified in the implementation of QA in HEIs include inadequate funding, infrastructure, shortage of qualified academic staff, and lack of standalone QA units in some HEIs. In this regard, it has been recommended among other things, government improve funding in public HEIs, construct infrastructure, HEIs establish QA units, and recruit and retain qualified academic staff to ensure the quality of education.

This article presents a unique set of voltage and current data from a public building and acquired using a hybrid measurement solution that combines Python and Grafana. The transversal purpose consists of contributing to the community with a vision of the quality of the supply more oriented to the monitoring of the state of the network, providing a more realistic vision, which allows a better understanding, and the adoption of the best decisions to achieve the efficient energy management and thus optimize the operation and maintenance of power systems. The work focuses on higher order statistical estimators that, combined with exploratory data analysis techniques, improve the characterization of the shape of the stress signal. These techniques and data, together with the acquisition and monitoring system, present a unique combination in the line of low-cost measurement solutions. It also incorporates the underlying benefit of the contribution to industrial benchmarking. The paper also includes a computational comparison between Python and LabVIEW to elicit the performance of the measurement solution.

The present study aims to develop an efficient numerical method for computing the diffraction and radiation of water waves with horizontal long cylindrical structures, such as floating breakwaters. A higher-order scheme is used to discretize geometry of the structure as well as the relevant physical quantities. As the kernel of this method, Wehausen’s free-surface Green function is calculated by a newly-developed Gauss-Kronrod adaptive quadrature algorithm after elimination of its Cauchy-type singularities. To improve computational efficiency, a Chebyshev approximation approach is applied to a fast calculation of the Green function that needs evaluation thousands of times. In addition, OpenMP parallel technique is used to the formation of influence coefficient matrix, which significantly reduces CPU time. Finally, computations are performed on wave exciting forces and hydrodynamic coefficients for the long cylindrical structures, either floating or submerged. Comparison with other numerical and analytical methods demonstrates good performance of the present method.

Background: The university must take on the challenges that arise at all levels. Within this mechanism, university professors play an important role as facilitators of knowledge. Aim: To analyse the motivations that influence the professional performance of Spanish university professors. Methods: 102 university professors from 9 Spanish public universities participated in the study. [Male: 54 (52.9%); Female: 48 (47.1%)]. A questionnaire of 22 closed-ended Likert-type questions was designed, scoring from 0-10 (do not agree at all, strongly agree). Results: The questionnaire, finally composed of 17 items, showed good internal consistency. (Cronbach's alpha=0.858). The validity analysis showed a value of 0.822 (>0.5) ) in the sample adequacy measure KMO (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin) and Bartlett's sphericity test (p<0.0001). The exploratory factor analysis showed a clustering in 4 factors (2 for internal goods and 2 for external goods), explaining 64.33% of the total variance. Comparisons between each factor scores by gender (male and female) showed differences statistically significant by gender for factor F1 (higher for females) and F2 (higher for males). Finally, Q1 and Q13 showed a statistically significant correlation (p≤0.05) with years of teaching experience. Conclusions: The motivations of Spanish university professors seem to be associated with the age and gender of the teacher.

The aim of the paper is to provide an overview of the monastic houses operated on the northernmost periphery of Roman Catholic Europe during the Middle Ages. The intention is to debunk the long-held theory of Iceland and Norse Greenland’s supposed isolation from the rest of the world, as it is clear that medieval monasticism reached both of these societies, just as it reached their counterparts elsewhere in the North Atlantic. During the Middle Ages, fourteen monastic houses were opened in Iceland and two in Norse Greenland, all following the Benedictine or Augustinian Order.

This paper presents a numerical algorithm for solving high-order BVPs. We introduce the construction method of multiscale orthonormal basis in W^m[0; 1] by multiscale orthonormal basis in W¹[0; 1]. We define approximate solution, and obtain the approximate solution of high-order BVPs by using the approximate theory. Moreover, the convergence and stability of the algorithm are improved. At last, several numerical experiments show the feasibility of the proposed method.

In the paper, by virtue of the Fa`a di Bruno formula, some properties of the Bell polynomials of the second kind, and the inversion formulas of binomial numbers and the Stirling numbers of the first and second kinds, the authors simplify meaningfully and significantly coefficients in two families of ordinary differential equations associated with higher order Frobenius–Euler numbers.

Policies are adopted and implemented to achieve specific goals. In this regard, the Government of Zambia in 2019 adopted the higher education policy with many objectives which include, the expansion of access to higher education; reduction of gender and other forms of inequity in accessing higher education; the improvement of quality of higher education by increasing funding to higher education institutions, construction, and repair of infrastructure in higher and improvement in the provision of learning materials in higher education institutions (HEIs).This paper, therefore, sought to evaluate the higher education policy of 2019. The four criteria were used namely; effectiveness, equity, policy sustainability, and consistency. Other principles such as political and social acceptability of a policy were not used because the policy is already adopted and being implemented. Further, the principle of efficiency was not used because it would have been problematic to gauge the expenditure against the outcomes.The findings have revealed that the policy to some extent has been effective; some of the objectives such as increased access to higher education and reduction of inequality have been partially achieved. It has been established that the number of students pursuing higher education has been increased to 114,049 in 2020 from 91,969 in 2017. Further, in 2021, 48.5% of scholarships in public universities were awarded to female students while 51.5% were awarded to female students. Further, more students are encouraged to pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); and more women are pursuing studies in STEM-related fields. However, the policy has not helped to achieve the quality of higher education as funding in public HEIs has not improved. Further, infrastructure remains very poor and inadequate; and access to update and relevant learning materials also remains a challenge in HEIs. However, the policy seems to be duplicated by the recent re-launched Technical Education Vocation Entrepreneurship Training (TEVET) national policy.Given the above findings, it has been recommended that the government among other things improve funding and build infrastructure in public HEIs. There is also a need to harmonise the TEVET national policy with the higher education policy.

This research is part of the Doctoral thesis "Perceptions of university professors on Health Promotion and Sustainability: a research proposal based on Health Promoting Universities (HPU) / World Health Organization (WHO) ", University Fernando Pessoa (UFP) / Porto - Portugal, authored by Ivaní Nadir Carlotto: (1) Background: Universities are essential institutions for health promotion (HP). Bioethics, as a transversal discipline, seeks to analyse and systematise these values in an ethical way, strengthening the synergy between health and HP. Ecological models are a possibility to develop health actions in a holistic, sustainable and salutogenic way, stimulating positive aspects related to ethics, well-being and quality of life; (2) Methods: Exploratory-descriptive methodology and quantitative-qualitative approach. Sample: Teachers from 9 higher education institutions (HEI), random sample, probabilistic for convenience, CI = 95%, n = 1400 persons; (3) Results: Production of 6 main components through Factorial Analysis categorized and interpreted by Qualitative Content Analysis and MAXQDA® software; (4) Conclusions: Universities function as research and learning venues to strengthen HP's activities. Bioethics and HP aim to build qualified actions in health, to defend and promoting well-being, quality of life, equity, inclusion, sustainability and social justice, with the proper conceptual clarity that distinguishes it.

In recent years, it has become common for individuals to juggle employment and unpaid care work. This is just as true for the England-based academic workforce, our focus in this article. We discuss how, in the context of English HE, support for carers is enacted and negotiated through policies and practices of care. Our focus on academics with a diverse range of caring responsibilities is unusual insofar as the literature on care in academia is overwhelmingly concerned with parents, usually mothers. The article is informed primarily by critical and post-structuralist feminist perspectives. We draw on a corpus of 47 interviews conducted with academics representing a broad range of caring responsibilities, subjects, and positions. A thematic analysis reveals how carers’ relationship with the provision and policies of care support at institutional level is characterised by ambiguity. On the one hand, participants approve of societal and institutional policy support for carers. On the other hand, they are often reluctant to position themselves as the beneficiary of such policies, expressing instead a general preference for support from outside the workplace or for workplace-based inter-individual and informal care arrangements. This resistance is particularly noticeable in the case of participants with caring responsibilities other than the parenting of healthy, able-bodied children and of those whose gender, class, racial, or sexual identity do not conform with the figure of the ‘ideal academic’, contributing to their othering in the academic realm. These findings have significant implications for policies supporting carers, pointing to the need for greater visibility and recognition of caring responsibilities in academia, especially in terms of their diverse identities.

Recent years have seen organizations increasingly shift towards the development of a mentoring culture, as opposed to the imposition of formalized mentoring programs. This original research paper set out to explore the utility of fostering mentoring cultures within higher education settings with a particular emphasis placed on the ways in which a mentoring culture may support the nurturing of leadership potential and serve underrepresented minority faculty and staff members. Primary data was gathered using an open-ended qualitative survey, which was followed up by semi-structured interviews. One hundred faculty members in diverse academic and administrative leadership roles across the United States were sent online surveys, with 18 individuals expressing interest in participating in a semi-structured interview. Those who responded affirmatively were then contacted via telephone to follow up with further questions. Analysis of their insights, in conjunction with analysis of other literature, suggests that the cultivation of a mentoring culture offers diverse benefits for mentees advancing into leadership positions; for mentors; and for the institution as a whole. Overall, the development of a mentoring culture characterized by informal, spontaneous exchanges, and tailored to the needs of underrepresented minority faculty members, appears to be a useful tool in enhancing leadership potential in higher education contexts.

This paper discusses the concept of fractional derivative with complex order from the application point of view. It is shown that a fractional derivative is hermitian, if and only if the order is real. The hermitian part of complex order derivatives behave like allpass filters with almost logarithmic phase.

In this paper we consider a failed cold standby systems and obtain some stochastic bounds on the idle time of such systems. It is assumed that, at a time t the failure of a cold standby system is observed, but the actual time of the failure is a time before t. The idle time of the inactive cold standby system is measured as the time between the exact time of failure, which is a random variable, and time t. We use the idle times of the components of the system to obtain lower and upper bounds on the lifetime of the standby system to which they are assembled. We bring some examples to show that the results and the conditions imposed to get them are achievable.

In an increasingly changing world, critical thinking is one of the key skills that ensure organisations' competitive advantage. Thus, in higher education institutions there is an accelerating emphasis on developing critical thinking (CT) among students. This paper presents the results of three experimental courses (Pedagogy and didactics of financial accounting, Virtual Learning Environments in Economics, Business Communication), using a blended learning method, aimed at improving students' CT skills. The three courses were delivered by both higher education teachers and trainers from the labour market. After analysing the data from the three experimental courses, it will be possible to assess whether the intervention of labour market trainers contributed to the improvement of students' critical thinking skills, and, in particularly at the level of which components improvements have been identified.

The purpose of this study was to investigate trends in undergraduate enrollment, graduation, and employment in Ethiopia. It looked at data from the past 20 years of enrollment and graduation, as well as the 15 years of unemployment trends. For enrollment, we used the ARIMA(0,1,0) model, for graduation, the Holt-Winter model, and unemployment, the Simple model. Results showed that enrollment rates increased dramatically, but graduation rates remained constant. Besides, enrollment is expected to continue rising, while graduation rates are expected to fall. On the other hand, between 1999 and 2018, the overall unemployment trend declined. Yet, between 2009 and 2018 the unemployment trends stayed stable. According to the findings, for the next ten years, higher education enrollment and graduation will continue. Nevertheless, it is shown the diminishing demand for jobs in the labor market. As part of improving the existing realities of higher education, the study suggests reconsidering job-driven policy formulation, strengthening higher education-labor market alignment, controlling higher education expansion, and sustaining the development qualification systems.

This paper explores benefits of using VR technologies in higher education. Theoretical part investigates classical education system and its features in order to compare advantages of using VR systems in education. VR technologies and its current state in industry and in education were explored as well as which branches of higher education uses these systems. Survey was conducted through online questionnaire where respondents (N = 55) gave their opinion on VR and the implementation of VR technologies in education. Three hypotheses related to the use of VR technology, student interest, and learning outcomes as well as the effectiveness, immersiveness and the effect of VR systems on the users were tested through 27 questions.

The design, facilities and conditions inside a classroom play a significant role in the teaching and learning experience for both students and lecturers. Prior studies of primary schoolchildren indicate three design principles affecting student learning, namely: naturalness, individualisation and stimulation. The current study extends these investigations to Higher Education through a survey of undergraduate students and university lecturers aimed at determining the most critical factors in undergraduate classroom design. One-to-one interviews were conducted with students and lecturers (n. 31) at the University of Nottingham, Malaysia Campus. Interviewees were encouraged to express their opinions, comments, concerns and suggestions through open-ended questions. The interviews were recorded and then transcribed and coded using NVivo10. Results show a strong desire among lecturers and students for improved classroom equipment, greater flexibility in classroom arrangement, more attractive decoration and for the addition of natural elements to the classroom environment. Of the three design principles, individualisation and naturalness emerged most strongly from the interviews and appear to be more important factors for undergraduates than stimulation. These findings could make a novel and significant contribution to the physical aspects of classroom design in Higher Education settings. Educational institutions are increasingly employing non-traditional classroom designs, which are expected to provide for more flexible, collaborative, and active learning and teaching experiences. Taking into consideration the environmental psychology of teaching and learning, several of the reported design attributes can serve as benchmarks for upgrading current classroom design and facilities in the future, as institutions look to upgrade their physical infrastructures to meet the changing demands of teachers and learners arising from technological innovations and shifts in our understanding of the methods and purposes of Higher Education.

The theory of fractional calculus extends the order of classical integer calculus from integer to non-integer. As a new engineering application tool, it has made many important research achievements in many fields, including image processing. This paper mainly studies the application of fractional calculus theory in image enhancement and denoising, including the basic theory of fractional calculus and its amplitude frequency characteristics, the application of fractional differential operator in image enhancement, and the application of fractional integral operator in image denoising. The experimental results show that the fractional calculus theory has more special advantages in image enhancement and denoising. Compared with the existing integer order image enhancement operators, the fractional differential operator can more effectively enhance the "weak edge" and "strong texture" details of the image. The fractional order integral image denoising operator can not only improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the image compared to traditional denoising methods, but also better preserve detailed information such as edges and textures of the image.

W. L. Edge proved that the internal points of a conic in PG(2,5), together with the collinear triples on the non-secant lines, form the Desargues configuration. M. Saniga showed an intimate connection between Desargues configurations and the generalized quadrangles of order two, GQ(2,2), whose representation has been dubbed “the doily” by Stan Payne in 1973. In this paper we prove that the external points of a conic in PG(2,5), together with the collinear and non-collinear triples on the non-tangent lines, form the generalized quadrangle of order two.

In this paper, inspired by recent articles of G. Anatriello and G. Vincenzi (see \cite{Ana}), and G. Cerda-Morales (see \cite{Cer1,Cer2}), we will introduce the third-order $\overline{h}$-Jacobsthal and third-order $\overline{h}$-Jacobsthal--Lucas sequences and their associated quaternions. The new results that we have obtained extend most of those obtained in \cite{Cer2}.

In this paper, we identify several relative ordering properties of the modified proportional hazard rate and modified proportional reversed hazard rate models. For this purpose, we use two well-known relative orderings, namely the relative hazard rate ordering and the relative reversed hazard rate ordering. The investigation is to see how a relative ordering between two possible base distributions for the response distributions in these models is preserved when the parameters of the underlying models are changed. We will give some examples to illustrate the results and the conditions under which they are obtained.

In this paper, we first establish upper stochastic bounds on the lifetime of a used cold standby system with arbitrary age, using the likelihood ratio order and the usual stochastic order. Then, stochastic comparisons are made between the lifetime of a used cold standby system with age t and the lifetime of a cold standby system consisting of used components with age t using the likelihood ratio order and the usual stochastic order. We use illustrative examples to explore the results presented.

Nowadays, higher education students play an active role in the realization of sustainable development goals (SDGs) for global citizenship. However, some important issues such as how much students know about these goals can play a role in achieving these goals are not yet clear. The aim of this study is to establish a fundamental study for determining the level of knowledge on the higher education students about SDGs. An open-ended questionnaire was conducted with the qualitative research methods on 54 higher education students after pandemic of COVID-19. As a result of the research, the goals of quality education, gender equality, health and quality of life, reduction of inequalities and peace, justice and strong institutions are the most frequently mentioned by the students. In addition, the opinions of the students on the subject of “sustainable cities and communities” are sequentially; the themes include ensuring socio-economic development, preserving cultural heritage identity, safe environment and durable buildings, as well as modern irrigation and waste methods, and reducing air pollution. On the other hand, they agreed on the need for global citizenship to have universal qualifications. In conclusion, global citizenship contributes directly to the SDGs and human-oriented production should be given more importance.

Women's empowerment represents a process in which they are recognized as subjects of rights. Despite advances in women's rights, inequalities persist in various areas. This study aims to validate a psychometric scale of 31 items in seven factors: Participatory Empowerment, Temerity, External Influences, Independence, Social Satisfaction and Equality. The objective is to measure the empowerment of women in the university context. The research was carried out in a transversal and non-experimental manner, with the participants' voluntary collaboration, including the participation of 1,478 university students from four Higher Education Institutions in Zone 4 of Ecuador. The data was analyzed through inferential statistics, including exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The results indicated that the instrument for measuring empowerment can be made up of 24 items grouped into six factors, and this model showed a good fit.

In recent years, the use of gamified systems in education has increased due to the growing empirical evidence of their usefulness in improving motivation and participation in learning processes. In order to take advantage of the opportunities for improvement in education presented by gamification, plus the decision to create gamified systems in higher education, this article investigates the willingness of student teachers to learn with gamified systems. The research method is quantitative with validated instruments to measure: 1) student perception of gamification; 2) player profile; and 3) screen time, with an n=569 student teachers from the fifteen regions of Chile. The results show that students prefer to learn with gamified systems than in a traditional way with a significant difference (Wilcoxon z= -18.86, p < 0.01). There are significant positive and negative relationships in correspondence with the Gamer Profile. However, as a finding, a negative relationship was found between the number of hours spent playing video games and the perception of learning through gamified systems. In conclusion, Chilean student teachers present a favorable disposition to teacher training with gamified systems. However, the disposition varies in relation to the number of hours spent playing video games.

The aim of this paper is the evaluation of the success of graduating with distinction in higher education (SGDHE) using the fuzzy DEMATEL method. The observation has been done using cause and effect criteria. 11 cause and 14 effect clusters have been used in this study. The study result of this work shows that all the effects are connected to the given causes and a cause-effect graph has been generated for each connection. This proposed approach is demonstrated with the empirical case of Dire Dawa University students in Dire Dawa Ethiopia.

The great lockdown of the current COVID-19 pandemic has significant consequences on the global Higher Education Studies (HES).To find the relevance of eLearning in the HES, our study calculates the economic costs of higher education during Covid-19 in Bangladesh, which includes both stu-dents’ cost and institutional cost. The study used a purposive random sample survey conducted on 105 students enrolled in higher education in different categories of institutions to identify the stu-dents’ cost during this pandemic. The institutional cost of higher education is analyzed by breaking down the budget allocated in the education sector in Bangladesh and reviewing the literature. The result indicates that the HES of Bangladesh experiences a huge economic cost due to this pandemic and the study found eLearning can reduce the economic impact of HES. In the post-COVID-19 world, higher education will never be the similar because many institutions that already had experi-ence a huge advantage from online education. The findings of the study might be helpful for the policymakers to frame effective education policies during any bizarre situation that creates huge cost in higher education sector.

As a consequence of the global sanitary crisis in early 2020, universities had to tackle with a sudden shift in their teaching-learning strategies so that the preset competences could be fulfilled. This study presents the learning outcomes of the tasks implemented, student experiences and feedback, as well as some reflections from the instructors with a holistic perspective of the courses due to the measures and adaptations adopted. Six courses taught at Civil Engineering degrees of three universities, two from Spain and one from Peru, are analyzed. The teaching and evaluation strategies are described and some reflections are made by comparing the student’s performance with the previous course. Although the shift to online learning had to be made from day to day, with no time for preparation, the experience has proved that online learning can be beneficial in some aspects and have probably come to stay, although some others are difficult to replace with respect to face-to-face learning, especially students’ engagement and motivation.

In this work, we demonstrate that cutting diamond crystals with a laser (532 nm wavelength, 0.5 mJ energy, 200 ns pulse duration at 15 kHz) produces a ≲20nm thick surface layer with magnetic order at room temperature. We have measured the magnetic moment with a SQUID magnetometer of six natural and six CVD diamond crystals of different size, nitrogen content and surface orientations. A robust ferromagnetic response at 300 K is observed only for crystals that were cut with the laser along the (100) surface orientation. The magnetic signals are much weaker for the (110) and negligible for the (111) orientations. We attribute the magnetic order to the disordered graphite layer produced by the laser at the diamond surface. The ferromagnetic signal vanished after chemical etching or after moderate temperature annealing. The obtained results indicate that laser treatment of diamond may pave the way to create ferromagnetic spots at its surface.

I deal with perception and action (e.g. movements) using results from Synergetics, a comprehensive mathematical theory of the selforganized formation ("emergence“) of spatial, temporal, or functional structures in complex systems. I illustrate basic concepts such as order parameters (ops), enslavement, complexity reduction, circular causality first by examples of well known collective, spontaneous modes of human behavior such as rhythmic clapping of hands etc., and then by face recognition. The role played by ops depends on context. In the case of face (or pattern) recognition an op represents the concept of an individual face (action of mind) and it enslaves the action (firing rates) of neurons (body). This insight allows me to interpret syndroms as order parameters playing their mind/body double role. I present criteria for the identification of ops and discuss their general properties including error correction and "remedy“ of deficiencies. Contact is made with a recent paper by Sabine Koch on embodied aesthetics. My approach includes the saturation of attention at various time scales (ambiguous figures/fashion). Adopting a psychological perspective, I discuss some ingredients of beauty such as proportionality and symmetry, but also the importance of irregularities.

The portal website of a university or a college usually represents the cultural characteristics and teaching advantages and plays a vital role in higher education, showing the style of the university or college to society and improving the admission rate. Mississippi State (MS) is bounded by the Mississippi River in the west and the Gulf of Mexico in the south, with a population of 3.1 million. It has a rich cultural heritage, and many universities, especially historically black colleges and universities (HBCUS), have strong scientific research strength in agriculture, medicine, petrochemicals and papermaking. Therefore, this article will analyze the design of the portal websites of four HBCUs in Mississippi from two aspects: user experience (UE) and functional architecture (FA), determine their advantages, disadvantages, similarities and differences, and propose some optimization suggestions.

The Covid-19 pandemic that hit the world in early 2020 has had a major impact on social and economic life in every country, including Malaysia. Many socio-economic activities have been disrupted globally, leading to the closure of companies and the suspension of work activities, which have drastically increased the unemployment rate and narrowed employment opportunities. This study uses a qualitative method to explore the initiatives taken by Malaysia Ministry of Higher Education and university in improving the sustainability graduates’ employability at the post pandemic Covid-19 phase. The total sample of the study involved is ten officers who are experienced and responsible in organizing initiatives for university graduates’ employability programs and ten participant students who attended the programme were purposively selected. The study showed that Short -term training & placement programmes (MyStep), Career Advancement Programmes (Penjana CAP), Professional certification programmes (Penjana PACE), Career Advancement Programmes at State (Penjana KPT CAP@ State) were the major initiatives taken by Malaysia Ministry of Higher Education in improving graduate employability at the post Covid-19 phase. The findings also revealed upskilling and reskilling, gig economy, entrepreneur, finishing school programmes and online career fair were the important initiatives taken by university in improving graduate employability rate at the post Covid-19 phase. Interviews with student respondents showed that the initiative taken by the government and university to increase the marketability of graduates in the post-covid-19 era has given them the opportunity to learn and improve new skills that are very necessary to get new job opportunities in the post-covid 19 eras. The main contribution of this study is that upskilling and reskilling programs are essential to improve the sustainability of graduates’ employability in the post-covid 19 era.

IntroductionDiversity is known to be important but diversity of staff working in dental schools in the UK and Ireland is low in comparison with the dental profession and the overall population. AimsTo provide a detailed snapshot of the diversity of dental academic staff in 2021 including staff working in academic and clinical roles.MethodsAn online survey was circulated to dental schools by Dental Schools Council. Questions included dates of graduation and key career milestones, demographics and indicators of esteem. Free text questions were also included.ResultsThere was a high degree of variability in dental academic careers which made direct comparisons difficult. Neither gender nor race appeared to be associated with a faster career progression. Females and those of racialised minority were less represented at the most senior grades. For those who had completed specialty training, racialised minority staff were far less likely to be working at consultant grade than their White equivalents.ConclusionThere are differences in career progression between staff in dental schools. The high amount of individual variability makes these difficult to quantify except at the most senior positions. Qualitative information is needed to contextualise the results and provide additional information.

The manufacturing geometrical variability in axial compressors is a stochastic source of uncertainty, implying that the real geometry differs from the nominal design. This causes the real geometry to lose the ideal axial symmetry. Considering the aerofoils of a stator vane, the geometrical variability affects the flow traversing it. This impacts the downstream rotor, especially when considering the aeroelastic excitation forces. Optical surface scans coupled with a parametrization method allow for acquiring the information relative to the real aerofoils geometries. The measured data are included in a multi-passage and multi-stage CFD setup to represent the mistuned flow. In particular, low excitation harmonics on the rotor vane are introduced due to the geometrical deviations of the upstream stator. The introduced low engine orders as well as their amplitude depend on the stator geometries and their order. A method is proposed to represent the phenomena in a reduced CFD domain, limiting the size and number of solutions required to probabilistically describe the rotor excitation forces. The resulting rotor excitation forces are reconstructed as a superposition of disturbances due to individual stator aerofoils geometries. This indicates that the problem is linear in in the combination of disturbances from single passages.

This work is intended to lead a study of necessary and sufficient optimality conditions for scalar optimization problems on Hadamard manifolds. In the context of this geometry, we obtain and present new function types characterized by the property of having all their second-order stationary points to be global minimums. In order to do so, we extend the concept convexity in Euclidean space to a more general notion of invexity on Hadamard manifolds. This is done employing notions of second-order directional derivative, second-order pseudoinvexity functions and the second-order Karush-Kuhn-Tucker-pseudoinvexity problem. Thus, we prove that every second-order stationary point is a global minimum if and only if the problem is either second-order pseudoinvex or second-order KKT-pseudoinvex depending on whether the problem regards unconstrained or constrained scalar optimization respectively. This result has not been presented in the literature before. Finally, examples of these new characterizations are provided in the context of \textit{"Higgs Boson like"} potentials among others.

In the present study, nonlinear vibration of a nanobeam resting on fractional order viscoelastic Winkler-Pasternak foundaion is studied using nonlocal elasticity theory. D'Alembert principle is used to derive the governing equation and the associated boundary conditions. The approximate analytical solution is obtained by applying the multiple scales method. Detailled parametric study is conducted, the effects of variation in different parameters belonging to the application problems on the system are calculated numerically and depicted. We remark that the order and the coefficient of the fractional derivative have significant effect on the natural frequency and the amplitude of vibrations

This paper presents an overview of EREMI, a two-year project funded under ERASMUS+ KA203, and its results. The project team's main objective was to develop and validate an advanced interdisciplinary higher education curriculum, which includes lifelong learning components. The curriculum focuses on enhancing resource efficiency in manufacturing industries and optimizing poorly or non-digitized industrial physical infrastructure systems. The paper also discusses the results of the project, highlighting the successful achievement of its goals. EREMI effectively supports the transition to Industry 5.0 by preparing a common European pool of future experts. Through comprehensive research and collaboration, the project team has designed curriculum that equips students with the necessary skills and knowledge to thrive in the evolving manufacturing landscape. Furthermore, the paper explores the significance of EREMI's contributions to the field, emphasizing the importance of resource efficiency and system optimization in industrial settings. By addressing the challenges posed by under-digitized infrastructure, the project aims to drive sustainable and innovative practices in manufacturing. All five project partner organisations have been actively engaged in offering relevant educational content and framework for decentralised sustainable economic development in regional and national contexts through capacity building at local level. A crucial element of the added value is the new channel for feedback from students. The survey results, which are outlined in the paper, offer valuable insights gathered from students, contributing to the continuous improvement of the project.

With the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI), many aspects of our lives, from how we work to how we interact with each other and the world around us is showing dramatic changes. Education is one of the key areas that may be impacted by the rise of AI. Although a large number of studies have been conducted in recent years to shed light on how AI may influence various dimensions of education, a very little work has been carried out to consolidate and synthesis empirical studies on the application of AI in higher education. The present study reviewed empirical studies published between 2013 and 2022 to 1) examine the characteristics of published research in the field, and 2) to present thorough insights on the promises and challenges of this dramatic technology in higher and professional education. This review included 44 empirical studies published as peer-reviewed journal articles. The results indicated that there is rapid increase in the publications focusing on AI in higher education in last a few years. However, a big proportion of these publications are technically theoretical and conceptual proposals for AI intervention. The areas of AI applications in higher education that are supported by evidence based research are presented. Imperative implications are also highlighted for future research and implementation of AI based interventions in higher education.

The article concerns problems related to the assessment of reactive power in power networks with non-linear, fast-varying loads, such as electric arc furnaces, rolling mill drives, etc. The operation of this type of loads is characterized by the introduction of interharmonic currents (including higher harmonics) into the power supply network and a relatively low power factor. Rapid changes in the RMS value of the current also cause voltage fluctuations and the related phenomenon - flicker. Therefore, there is a need to evaluate the selection of power of compensating devices taking into account the random nature of load changes and the distortion of current and voltage waveforms, in particular interharmonic components, the impact of which has not been fully investigated so far. To analyze the random nature of load changes, autocorrelation functions were used, which allowed for the estimation of the expected values of the arc furnace current distortion coefficient (based on the recorded waveforms). In order to determine the parameters of reactive power compensating devices, and in particular capacitor banks, an autocorrelation function in the exponential-cosine-sine form was used, which meets the conditions of differentiation. The article contains comparative results of calculations of the reactive power of capacitor banks determined using different methods.

Geoethics is a field of knowledge currently in full development. Researchers in geoethics are pri-marily concerned with the anthropogenic interaction with the Earth system. Due to its nature, ge-oethics holds particular importance in sustainable development due to its nature as it aims to promote ethical human behaviour that does not negatively impact the Earth system. In the present research, we implemented an intervention program addressing various issues related to the sus-tainability of the Earth system, such as the exploitation of geological resources, the management of geological risks, and the conservation and promotion of geopatrimony. The intervention program was applied to higher education students in the geosciences field. A sample of 90 students from various geosciences courses completed an initial questionnaire, revealing limited knowledge about geoethics. This study resorted to mixed-method research involving interviews with some students who volunteered (n=52). The results showed that after applying the intervention programme most students had developed a deeper understanding of the topics addressed and recognised the con-tributions this scientific area can make to sustainable development. Additional research in geoethics education is essential to foster the integration of geoethics into the curricula of higher education institutions.

The goal of this narrative review was to identify, synthesize and summarize research providing both institutional and personal recommendations for female leaders who aspire to hold leadership roles in academia. Existing evidence regarding factors that influence females acquiring leadership positions was first gathered and examined, noting recurring issues that have been identified as inimical to women assuming leadership roles. Recent research studies and statistical trends were then investigated, tracking and reporting on the increase in female leadership in academia that has occurred over recent years. Quantitative and qualitative literature focusing on successful strategies to support females aspiring to academic leadership positions were then elaborated upon, with specific factors identified in order to deepen understanding of shifts that may help to account for the rise of females in academic leadership roles. The recommendations resulting from the findings of this narrative review could be used to scaffold female success in the pursuit of academic leadership roles and offer insights for university executives and administrators on methods of more effectively supporting an increase in female leaders in academia.

Educational institutions worldwide have adopted e-learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While this shift to online learning (OL) has presented challenges for students and teachers, it has also sparked innovative educational approaches. This study investigates college students' perceptions regarding OL, specifically focusing on gender differences in the experience with OL A quantitative survey gathered information from distinct college students in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations who experienced OL during the pandemic. The survey included questions related to satisfaction with OL and specific aspects such as course content delivery, interaction with instructors, behavioral changes, and challenges with OL. Male and female student OL experience was compared statistically. The results conclude that male students are more satisfied than female students. Students struggled with internet connection, OL adaptation, focus, and workload during OL. Understanding these gender differences in students' satisfaction with OL is crucial for educators and institutions as they strive to optimize the effectiveness of e-learning strategies. By recognizing and addressing male and female students' unique needs and challenges, educational institutions can enhance the overall educational experience during times of crisis and beyond.

Building sustainable campuses has become a priority for various higher education institutes (HEIs). Internalization is one of the important tasks in the progress. Therefore, attracting and maintaining international faculty has converted to action for various internationalized campuses. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it has impacted most of the citizens’ life, while the international faculty members’ life might be tight during this period. The purpose of this study is to explore the perspectives of international faculty members on their life in higher education institutes by using partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Using a self-compiled online survey, we invited 80 international faculty members of HEIs in Taiwan to investigate this issue. The survey covers career and professional status, teaching and research status, and demographics of the faculty. This study proposes a novel conceptual framework for addressing international faculty’s campus life, the design will examine the relationships among working conditions, views of institutions, views of government’s measures, and levels of satisfaction through PLS-SEM. The demographic profile of the participants revealed (a) most international faculty are employed full-time as lecturers or assistant professors in most public universities; (b) most international faculty members earned their first degree outside of Taiwan; however, 66% of them earned their post-doctoral degrees in Taiwan. The results of PLS-SEM suggest that the international faculty perspective of government is more directly related to their current work satisfaction and overall satisfaction. The designed model has shown work well to assess this issue. This can be extended to other higher education settings to tackle similar issues.

Many assumptions exist about online learning and its impact on college students. Hitherto, the views of those meant to be the beneficiaries of this technology have been given little consideration despite the fact that students use cyberspace for academic work and beyond. This qualitative case-study report is based on research conducted by college students at a private university in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. The aim was to examine the online learning experiences of their peers during the first wave of the coronavirus global pandemic, with a view to understand how prepared their university is for an academic genre located in cyberspace. The findings are based on the perspectives of 2,298 college students responding to a survey administered to the entire student population comprising around 9,000 individuals. They suggest that increasing opportunities for cyberlearning could have positive effects on students. Also provided is cautionary advice about the need to improve teaching pedagogies and combat academic dishonesty.

Teachers of English as a foreign language in Taiwan are challenged to organize multi-dimensional language activities for foreign students coming from ASEAN countries, including Japan, the Philippines, South Korea, and Vietnam. With different cultural backgrounds, these students have different prior knowledge of Taiwanese culture, and, because of the similarities and differences between Taiwan and these countries, it is meaningful to explore the development of globalization with the students, who are learning both English and Chinese. The different historical backgrounds, various cultural and religious differences, and social conditions, such as gender relationships in working places, are significant topics for class discussions. When teachers serve as discussion facilitators, they encourage students to express their own multi-identities and expectations for the exchange program. Most interesting of all is to find out about their own short-term and long-term career goals. 32 foreign students from the Philippines and Vietnam were recruited for research. Questionnaires were used to assess their foreign language learning motivation and strategies, as well as to discover the learning environment they prefer and their globalization prospects. It was found that multi-lingual language policies for promoting globalization in higher education are very likely to influence the success of foreign student study in Taiwan.

In an era characterized by a move towards a “knowledge society”, universities are central in fostering “knowledgeability”, that is the reflexive understanding of knowledge in knowledge societies. The objective of “knowledgeability” can be met through creating a stronger link between education and research. Furthermore, overall student performance, for example in critical thinking and problem solving, can be improved if research-related activities are incorporated into the curriculum. The aim of this paper is to use inter-national examples to discuss the research- education nexus from four different perspectives, namely context, policy, im- plementation and quality, with case studies from higher education institutions in Singapore and Sweden. We suggest that different integrative technologies can be used to enhance the links, but it will be essential to consider the inputs of training, service and support in using new technology. Interestingly, the act of evaluating the link between edu- cation and research will increase awareness of this linkage by stakeholders involved in both education and research. In turn the link can be strengthened, contributing to increased quality in both education and research.

In this study is developed an aerobic and anaerobic stoichiometric model for Saccharomyces cerevisiae, compartmentalized in mitochondria and cytosol. This model considers the central metabolism of S. cerevisiae and it possesses the peculiarity of having catabolic and anabolic biochemical reactions for the synthesis of the higher alcohols contained in tequila; involving 94 metabolites and 117 reactions; of which 93 correspond to biochemical internal reactions and 24 to transport fluxes between the medium and the cell. The model is validated under aerobic and anaerobic conditions for the main fermentation metabolites and it coincides with experimental results and those in silico reported in the literature. This model is used to obtain three different physiological states of S. cerevisiae through of estimation of its distributions of fluxes calculated from experimental data reported in literature of fermentation in continuous culture during the tequila production under different dilution rate (0.04-0.12 h^-1). The model developed constitutes a tool for the estimation of flux distribution maps during fermentation processes for the production of tequila, which could permit estimate yields and visualize different fermentation scenarios.

In this research article we solve the problem of synchronization and anti-synchronization of chaotic systems described by discrete and time-delayed variable fractional order differential equations. To guarantee the synchronization and anti-synchronization of these systems, we use the well-known PID control theory and the Lyapunov-Krasovskii stability theory for discrete systems of variable fractional order.We illustrate the results obtained through simulation with examples, in which it can be seen that our results are satisfactory, thus achieving synchronization and anti-synchronization of chaotic systems of variable fractional order with discrete time delay.

The beautiful structures of single and multi-domain proteins are clearly ordered in some fashion but cannot be readily classified using group theory methods that are successfully used to describe periodic crystals. For this reason, protein structures are considered to be aperiodic, and may have evolved this way for functional purposes, especially in instances that require a combination of softness and rigidity within the same molecule. By analyzing the solved protein structures, we show that orientational symmetry is broken in the aperiodic arrangement of the secondary structural elements (SSEs), which we deduce by calculating the nematic order parameter, $P_2$. We find that the folded structures are nematic droplets with a broad distribution of $P_2$. We argue that non-zero values of $P_2$, leads to an arrangement of the SSEs that can resist mechanical forces, which is a requirement for allosteric proteins. Such proteins, which resist mechanical forces in some regions while being flexible in others, transmit signals from one region of the protein to another (action at a distance) in response to binding of ligands (oxygen, ATP or other small molecules).

The Aβ cascade and alternations of biomarkers in neuro-inflammation, synaptic dysfunction and neuronal injury followed by Aβ have progressed. But the question is how to use the biomarkers. Here, we examine the evidence and pathogenic implications of protein interactions and the time order of alternation. After the deposition of Aβ, the change of tau, NfL and NG is the main alternation and connection to others. The neuro-inflammation, synaptic dysfunction and neuronal injury function is exhibited prior the structural and metabolic changes in the brain following Aβ deposition. The time order of such biomarkers compared to the tau protein is not clear. Despite the close relationship between biomarkers and plaque Aβ deposition, several factors favor one or the other. There is an interaction between the proteins that CSF SNAP-25, VILIP-1 and YKL-40 can predict the brain amyloid burden. The Aβ cascade hypothesis could be the pathway, but not all subjects are converted to AD, even with very high elevated Aβ. The interaction of biomarkers and the time order of change require further research to identify the right subjects and right molecular target for precision medicine therapies.

The study of order patterns of three equally spaced values $x_t,x_{t+d},x_{t+2d}$ in a time series is a powerful tool. The lag $d$ is changed in a wide range so that differences of frequencies of order patterns become autocorrelation functions. Similar to a spectrogram in speech analysis, four ordinal autocorrelation functions are used to visualize big data series, as for instance heart and brain activity over many hours. The method applies to real data without preprocessing, outliers and missing data do not matter. On the theoretical side, we study properties of order correlation functions and show that the four autocorrelation functions are orthogonal in a certain sense. An analysis of variance of a modified permutation entropy can be performed with four variance components associated with the functions.

The commonly quoted bistable Higgs potential is not a proper description of the Higgs field because, among other technical reasons, one of its stable states acquires a negative expectation value in vacuum. We rely on formal catastrophe theory to derive the form of the Higgs potential that admits only one positive mean value in vacuum. No symmetry is broken during the ensuing phase transition that assigns mass to the Higgs field; only gauge redundancy is “broken” by the appearance of phase in the massive state, but this redundancy is not a true symmetry of the massless field. Furthermore, a secondary, certainly amusing conclusion is that, in its high-energy state, the field oscillates about its potential minimum between positive and negative masses; but it is doubtful that such evanescent states can survive below the critical temperature of 159.5 GeV, where the known particles were actually created.

Pedagogic Conversational Agents (PCAs) are interactive systems that engage the student in a dialogue to teach some domain. They can have the role of teacher, student, or companion, and adopt several shapes. In our previous work, a significant increase of students’ performance when learning programming was found when using PCAs in the teacher role. However, it is not common to find PCAs used in the classrooms. In this paper, it is explored whether teachers would accept PCAs to teach programming better if co-designed with them. An experiment with 35 pre-service Primary Education teachers was carried out during the 2021/2022 academic year to co-design a robotic PCA to teach programming. The experience validates the idea that involving the teachers in the design of the PCA facilitates that they integrate this technology in their classrooms. 97% of the pre-service teachers answered in a survey that they believed that the robot PCA could help children to learn programming and 80% answered that they would like to use them in their classrooms.

Allocations of funding for higher education have typically focused on competition in neoliberal mechanisms. Surprisingly, much less attention has been paid to considering the effect of fund allocations for public goods purposes in neoliberal contexts. This study aims to examine specific funding schemes and determine the influential factors impacting the funding for teaching, research, and public goods intention. Taking Taiwan's Higher Education Sprout Project (HESP) as a unique example, we explored the effect of policy initiatives on public goods transformation. The data was collected from the Ministry of Education and Scopus database. First, the t-test and ANOVA were used to detect the differences between the system and sector; Second, regression analysis was used to determine influential factors for funding allocations; Final, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to explore the causal effects among the selected variables. The study found that only diversity was shown in private technology groups receiving less HESP funding. The findings suggest that the funding allocation may not affect teaching and research based on sectors and systems. In contrast, this study demonstrates that transforming the public good through special funding can play a critical role in policy intention in neoliberal higher education.

Domestic abuse and stalking in higher education (HE) have been overlooked in research in comparison to sexual harassment and sexual violence. This article reports on survey data from 725 students at a UK university using measures of ‘dating violence’ – physical and psychological violence from an intimate partner – and stalking from a US survey instrument (the Administrator Researcher Campus Climate Collaborative (ARC3) survey). According to this measure, 26% of respondents had been subjected to ‘dating violence’ and 16% to stalking behaviours. However, these findings need to be contextualised within a critical discussion of the use of the ARC3 survey tool in the UK context. The ARC3 questions on ‘dating violence’ focus on physical and ‘psychological violence’; the questions therefore omit further types of domestic abuse under UK definitions. In relation to stalking, US definitions – as captured in the ARC3 survey instrument – define specific behaviours. By contrast, in the UK stalking involves behaviours that engender fear or distress in a pattern of behaviour over time. These differences mean that the ARC3 modules on stalking and ‘dating violence’ would need to be significantly adapted to be suitable for use in the UK context.

To determine the ethical-attitudinal profile of university students in the education career during the pandemic with a tendency towards a new normality. University students of the education career were surveyed online, in an ethical key (axiological attitude, moral attitude and attitude towards new normality). The research was descriptive of univariate hypothesis, with non-probabilistic snowball sampling, reaching a sample of 480 participants. The Ethical-Attitudinal Profile Scale (EPEA) was designed, whose reliability was 0.93 in Lawshe's formula and 0.89 in Cronbach's Alpha. In the axiological attitude, values were obtained more frequently: respect with 79%, sincerity with 73%, prudence with 72%. In the moral attitude, a polar result is contrasted between laxity (67%) and kindness (45%); while, in the attitude towards new normality, there was no spike in frequencies, being distributed more homogeneously between indicators, with a low resilience index. There is an adequate evaluative profile of the university students of the education career despite the context of the pandemic and the trend towards a new normality; having a moral attitude of laxity inferred by the circumstances of uncertainty that are experienced in adverse contexts.

Utilising Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU) as a case example, this report will provide information about the strategic challenges that many modern universities in the UK face in creating a flexible delivery of education. Using strategic concepts and analysis, the current short report will examine the competitiveness within the higher education sector in the UK and explore key external and internal environmental factors of CCCU, gaining a greater understanding of their current position. From these analyses, strategic recommendations as to how universities such as CCCU can create a competitive advantage through a new form of flexible learning delivery.

Education 4.0 postulates the flexible combining of digital literacy, critical thinking, and problem-solving in training environments linked to real-world scenarios. Therefore, teachers are challenged to find or develop new methods and resources to integrate into their curricula to help students develop these desirable and necessary skills; hence, the question: What are the characteristics of a teacher to consider within the framework of Education 4.0? This article presents a study carried out in a higher education institution in Ecuador. The objective was to identify the teaching profile required in new careers within the framework of Education 4.0. The descriptive, exploratory methodology applied quantitative and qualitative instruments (surveys) to 337 undergraduate students in education careers and 313 graduates. It also included interviews with 20 experts in the educational field and five focus groups with 32 rectors, school principals, university professors and specialists in the educational area. The data was triangulated, and the results were categorized in (a) processes as facilitators (b), soft skills, (c) human sense and (d) use of technologies. This article may be of value to administrators, educational and social entrepreneurs, trainers, and decision-makers interested in implementing innovative training programs.

The management of a cultural change in higher education is becoming necessary and unavoidable: changes in teaching, changes in research and changes in governance. Digital transformation is an essential part of many countries’ modernisation agendas. The aim of this non-experimental, descriptive, survey-based study was to explore the perceptions of university students toward the digital transformation that took place in university teaching as a consequence of COVID-19. The specific objectives proposed were to: a) analyse the perceptions of students toward digital transformation in university teaching; b) determine the valuation of students about the digital transformation that occurred in university teaching as a result of COVID-19; and c) explore the resources (hardware-software), professional collaboration, digital pedagogy and student empowerment (motivation) with respect to digital education and the recent changes in university teaching due to the pandemic. The results show that a large number of items are positively correlated. In conclusion, further research should delve into motivation, collaboration, reflective experience sharing, self-learning and initiatives that promote the development of competences in future teachers.

The management of a cultural change in higher education is becoming necessary and unavoidable: changes in teaching, changes in research and changes in governance. Digital transformation is an essential part of many countries’ modernisation agendas. The aim of this non-experimental, descriptive, survey-based study was to explore the perceptions of university students toward the digital transformation that took place in university teaching as a consequence of COVID-19. The specific objectives proposed were to: a) analyse the perceptions of students toward digital transformation in university teaching; b) determine the valuation of students about the digital transformation that occurred in university teaching as a result of COVID-19; and c) explore the resources (hardware-software), professional collaboration, digital pedagogy and student empowerment (motivation) with respect to digital education and the recent changes in university teaching due to the pandemic. The results show that a large number of items are positively correlated. In conclusion, further research should delve into motivation, collaboration, reflective experience sharing, self-learning and initiatives that promote the development of competences in future teachers.

Cultivating research competencies facilitated by the use of technology in the university is crucial to boost acquisition of knowledge, educational innovation, and successful professional development. The objective of this article is to analyze the evolution and characteristics of scientific production that has had the greatest impact on the momentum of investigative competencies and their articulation within technological scenarios. Applying various selection criteria in the Scopus database, we utilized systematic, bibliometric mapping as a methodological strategy in which 250 articles related to the topic were identified, then analyzed with the semantic analysis software VOSViewer. The results indicate that there is an emerging line of research on the subject since 2016 and point to the underdevelopment of lines that associate research skills with digital literacy, information literacy, digital libraries databases, and the development of critical thinking.

Simulated crime scene investigation is an essential component of forensic science education, but its implementation poses challenges relating to cost, accessibility and breadth of experience. Virtual reality (VR) is an emerging technology which offers exciting prospects for teaching and learning, especially for imparting practical skills. We document here a multidisciplinary experimental study in which a bespoke VR crime scene app was designed and implemented, after which it was tested by both undergraduate student and staff/postgraduate student cohorts. Through both qualitative and quantitative analyses, we demonstrate that VR applications support learning of practical crime scene processing skills. VR-based practical sessions have the potential to add value to forensic science courses through offering cost-effective practical experience and the ability to work in isolation, in a variety of different scenarios. Both user groups reported high levels of satisfaction with the process and reports of adverse effects (motion sickness) were minimal. With reference to user feedback, we proceed to evaluate the scalability and development challenges associated with large-scale implementation of VR as an adjunct to forensic science education.

Teaching through English Medium Instruction (EMI) has been a strategic move in some European and Asian countries as part of their educational internationalisation. A large number of studies on EMI teaching have appeared in the last decade. The majority of these report on issues and concerns at macro-level including: the lack of structured policy guidance, EMI lecturers and students’ low level of English proficiency, and a shortfall of research informed training programs for EMI lecturers. Up to date, there is little research into EMI in-class teaching and learning. Lived experience in EMI in-class practice has been largely ignored. To fill this gap, this research explored a group of academics’ in-class EMI practice in a Chinese university. Their teaching process through EMI was observed and recorded, with data analysed through a multiple theoretical lens. Data reveal that EMI teaching is a complicated issue and can be neither standardised nor prescribed. It needs to be addressed as a pedagogy responding to and influenced by local context, driven by language, culture and education systems. This research is expected to provide insight for the development of localised institutional guidelines for EMI teaching and lecturers’ professional development in EMI teaching.

The objective of this paper is to analyze students’ assessments of the attainment of skills acquired by university graduates enrolled in a Training Programme (TP) to develop entrepreneurial skills and transversal employability competencies. Both of which are vital for the success of today's societies and play an important role in the sustainable development agenda. The TP was a twelve-week programme with six modules combining entrepreneurship training and traditional teaching methods. There were nine editions and 148 students worked in teams preparing business plans to present to consultants and potential investors. The Focal Group method was used to identify competencies and a survey was designed to identify the level to which skills were attained. The results suggest that the students attained both types of skills, acquiring a higher level of proficiency in entrepreneurial skills and those transversal competencies most connected to entrepreneurship. Additionally, different levels of attainment of entrepreneurial skills were found in different groups. We provide new evidence that TPs, as compulsory subjects in the core curriculum of degree programmes, will help accomplish both objectives: the acquisition of entrepreneurial skills and generic university educational competencies. The overall outcome of this research highlights the value added by the TPs.

Innovative teaching strategies are designing a new and promising landscape in education. They fill up the lessons with creativity and imagination either for the students and teachers. This article addresses an attempt to make easier the approach to science in a non-scientific environment: primary education at university level. Gamification methodologies were combined with flipped classroom in order to free up in-class time and engage the students with the taught courses. A qualitative study was merged with quantitative measures of emotional and motivational parameters. These results were improved with four semi-structured interviews. The results clearly showed a raise in the students' motivational level, an acknowledgment of good teaching practice and an evident enhancement of felt positive emotions toward science teaching and scientific issues.

The goal of this study is both to determine the opinion that professors and students at the University of (details removed for peer review) have of active methodologies and to describe the perception and opinion of the modes of organization, methodological focuses, and evaluation systems that define the teaching-learning process. On surveying the professors and the students in their classes, we found significant differences in 32 of the 92 variables in common. The content of these results shows that professors and students are believe they are making progress toward a learning-centered model, that implementation of active methodologies implies new functions in their teaching practice.

Sustainable development (SD) is essential to reduce and mitigate climate change impacts, environmental deterioration and to increase social sustainability. SD is therefore highly relevant for the engineering profession and is today found integrated with the higher education of specific engineering programs. This paper investigated the knowledge of SD for students entering the master’s program in Sustainable Building Information Management (BIM) by comparing levels of knowledge at the start and end of the first course Sustainability, Analyses and Simulations. The level of knowledge of SD was analyzed by classifying students’ conceptions of sustainability using SOLO taxonomy and the spectrum of liminality and the threshold concept. Students written responses to the question “What do you know about sustainability?” and written group project reports were used for analyzing levels of knowledge of SD. Levels of knowledge of SD was classified as pre (pre-liminal or pre-structural); uni-structural, multi-structural, relational and post-stages (extended abstract or post-liminal). In total, 68% of the students entering the master’s program in 2017 and 88% in 2018 showed a pre-structural, uni-structural and multi-structural SD knowledge. In general, few students entering the program showed relational and post-stages of SD knowledge, 32% and 12% of the students in 2017 and 2018, respectively. The students at the post-stage were able to express themselves more individually and creatively compared to previous levels in that they could connect the dimensions of SD to the context of SD of buildings, but also argue why SD of buildings was important and they could also suggest actions or tools for improved SD that engineers should use. Only one group of five (in 2017) showed a post-stage level of knowledge in the group project report. It is likely that the student’s general approach to the work with the reports was to mainly cope with the course requirements which is a sign of surface approach to learning. It, therefore, seems reasonable that future developments of the course should ensure that the students use the scientific literature in their group project reports to make it easier for them to understand the relationship between software use and the connection to green buildings certificate systems and SD of buildings. By making it mandatory to include scientific literature in the reports the students will be encouraged to read and think critically, and deeper, and to put the practical implementation of the software analysis results into a scientific context of SD and BIM.

The digital format opens up new possibilities for interaction with monographic publications. In particular, annotation tools make it possible to broaden the discussion on the content of a book, to suggest new ideas, to report errors or inaccuracies, and to conduct open peer reviews. However, this requires the support of the users who might not yet be familiar with the annotation of digital documents. This paper will give concrete examples and recommendations for exploiting the potential of annotation in academic research and teaching. After presenting the annotation tool of Hypothesis, the article focuses on its use in the context of HIRMEOS (High Integration of Research Monographs in the European Open Science Infrastructure), a project aimed to improve the Open Access digital monograph. The general line and the aims of a post-peer review experiment with the annotation tool, as well as its usage in didactic activities concerning monographic publications are presented and proposed as potential best practices for similar annotation activities.

On the termination of nearly twenty years since the beginning of commercialization of the Ukrainian higher education the intensity of discussion of its purposes, results and possible amendments don't decrease neither among experts, nor among the interested public. Supporters and opponents of commercialization note that education is that social branch which participates in the formation of prerequisites of economic growth. The main point of the article is to disclose the essence of the phenomena of economism and commercialization. Economism is seen as part of globalization of education, a global corporatization of education provides training for the global labour market, using human capital economic theories. As noted by George Spring, the human capital, economists argue that investments in education lead to economic growth, reducing income inequality and increasing employment. The article confirms that the state educational policy as a component of social policy is one of instruments of influence of the state on formation of social structure and is directed ​​ to the solution of problems of societal level. It does relevant sociological examination of transformational processes in education and, in particular, results of commercialization. Thus, it is possible to claim that the educational system tests the uncommon influence of globalization, forming and building a peculiar system of the relations and interaction.

Students who had been actively engaged in mediated collaborative activities, were asked for their perceptions about the sustainable peer feedback they had received and provided. Their views were then analyzed and categorized in terms of receiver and provider feedback, cognitive feedback and previously acquired feedback to further knowledge about sustainable education processes. A peer supported feedback questionnaire was created and validated, and its categories were correlated. The questionnaire was then aligned with the activities used to foster peer feedback between the pre-service students from the three bachelor’s degrees. The perceptions the students had of the feedback processes were analyzed using defined peer support feedback categories and the results showed a correlation between cognitive feedback and both provider and receiver self-efficacy feedback. In addition, there was a further correlation between both provider and receiver self-efficacy feedback as well as provider and receiver involvement and feedback structure. However, the results also revealed that neither receiver nor provider autonomy support were significant categories for supportive feedback.

On-chip integration of two-dimensional (2D) materials with unique structures and distinctive properties endow integrated devices with new functionalities and improved performance. With a high flexibility in modifying its properties and a strong compatibility with various integrated platforms, graphene oxide (GO) becomes an attractive 2D material for implementing functional hybrid integrated devices. Here, we demonstrate novel functionalities that go beyond the capabilities of conventional photonic integrated circuits, by harnessing the photo-thermal effects in 2D GO films integrated onto them. These include all-optical control and switching, optical power limiting, and non-reciprocal light transmission. The 2D layered GO films are on-chip integrated with precise control of their thicknesses and sizes. Benefitting from the broadband response of 2D GO films, all the three functionalities feature a very wide operational bandwidth. By fitting the experimental results with theory, we also extract the changes in material properties induced by the photo-thermal effects, which reveal interesting insights about 2D GO films. These results highlight the versatility of 2D GO films in implementing functional integrated photonic devices for a range of applications.

In this article, an iterative method of two step is proposed for finding all roots simultaneously of polynomial equations. The order of convergence of the proposed algorithm is 2m, by using any iterative scheme of order m. Numerical tests are performed to confirm the theoretical results and to compare the proposed scheme with existing methods for finding all roots simultaneously.

This article introduces a new fractional approach to the concept of information dimension of complex networks, based on a (q,q′)-entropy proposed in the literature. The q parameter measures how far is the number of subsystems (for a given size ε) from the mean number of overall sizes. The q′ (interaction index) measures when the interactions between subsystems are greater (q′&gt;1), lesser (q′&lt;1) or equal to the interactions into these subsystems. The computations of the proposed information dimension are carried out on several real-world and synthetic complex networks. The results from the proposed information dimension are compared with those from the information dimension based on the Shannon entropy.

As various services have been generating large scale graphs to represent multiple relationships between objects, studies have been conducted to obtain subgraphs with particular patterns. In this paper, we propose a distributed query processing method to efficiently search a subgraph for a large graph on Spark. To reduce unnecessary processing costs, the search order is determined by filtering scores using the probability distribution. The partitioned queries are searched in parallel in the distributed graph of each slave node according to the search order, and the local search results obtained from each slave node are combined and returned. The query is partitioned in triplets based on the determined search order. The performance of the proposed method is compared with the performance of existing methods to demonstrate its superiority.

All-optical signal processing based on nonlinear optical devices is promising for ultrafast information processing in optical communication systems. Recent advances in two-dimensional (2D) layered materials with unique structures and distinctive properties have opened up new avenues for nonlinear optics and the fabrication of related devices with high performance. This paper reviews the recent advances in research on third-order optical nonlinearities of 2D materials, focusing on all-optical processing applications in the optical telecommunications band near 1550 nm. First, we provide an overview of the material properties of different 2D materials. Next, we review different methods for characterizing the third-order optical nonlinearities of 2D materials, including the Z-scan technique, third-harmonic generation (THG) measurement, and hybrid device characterization, together with a summary of the measured n₂ values in the telecommunications band. Finally, the current challenges and future perspectives are discussed.

We make use of generalized iterations of the Sacks forcing to define cardinal-preserving generic extensions of the constructible universe L in which the axioms of ZF hold and in addition either 1) the parameter-free countable axiom of choice AC* fails, or 2) AC* holds but the full countable axiom of choice AC fails in the domain of reals. In another generic extension of L, we define a set X⊆P(ω), which is a model of the parameter-free part PA2* of the 2nd order Peano arithmetic PA2, in which CA(Σ21) (Comprehension for Σ21 formulas with parameters) holds, yet an instance of Comprehension CA for a more complex formula fails. Treating the iterated Sacks forcing as a class forcing over $L_{\omega_1}$, we infer the following consistency results as corollaries. If the 2nd order Peano arithmetic PA2 is formally consistent then so are the theories: 1) PA2 + negation of AC*, 2) PA2 + AC* + negation of AC, 3) PA2* + CA(Σ21) + negation of CA.

A novel phase-field method based numerical approach to modeling the compaction process of sedi- ments is presented. Water-logged rock or soil sediments are deposited on the water basins over time and the increasing volume of the sediment compacts under its own weight and external pressure. Coupled evolution of mass conservation, Darcy flow, and the viscoelastic constitutive response, in conjunction with the evolution of porosity and permeability, make this problem highly non-linear and involve moving boundaries. We adopt a phase-field approach to represent the moving sediment interface, and the underlying multiphasic model permits for studying compaction in dynamically evolving sediments. This approach does not necessitate a change of domain sizes as is the case of existing traditional models of sedimentation but rather treats sedimentation growth as a problem of interface motion. We first model a classical compaction problem in 1D to compare with existing results in the literature, and then extend the framework to 2D to model the compaction process taking place under the influence of gravity. The model is then extensively applied to understand the effect of the sediment initial state and the sediment material properties on the compaction process and its spatiotemporal evolution. Lastly, a strong validation of our phase-field treatment results against predictions from traditional methods of solving open boundary sediment compaction problems, and a good agreement between the conventional understanding and the numerical predictions of porosity dependence on the fluid pore pressure for various cases of geological interest, are used to demonstrate the applicability and scalability of this novel numerical framework to model more advanced sediment compaction problems and geometries.

COVID-19 outbreak started in the Chinese city of Wuhan and spread around the globe in months due to its high contagious level. Hence, this disease posed a great challenge to researchers and mathematicians. Numerous mathematical models have been suggested to visualize the spreading speed and trends of this pandemic. In this paper, a comparison of a widely established and accepted method, the Susceptible-Exposed-Infected-Quarantined-Recovered-Death-Insusceptible (SEIQRDP) model with a newly-proposed fractional-order SEIQRDP is studied. Densely populated Countries of Asia (Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh) have been chosen as data sets and both algorithms have been applied to their data. The same comparison technique has also been used on the data of two polar countries, New Zealand and Russia, that validated our findings. Error comparison of both algorithms has been recorded in a tabulated form which shows multi-fold erroneous trends over WHO data of selected countries.

This paper proposes a forecast-centric adaptive learning model that engages with the past studies on the order book and high-frequency data, with applications to hypothesis testing. In line with the past literature, we produce brackets of summaries of statistics from the high-frequency bid and ask data in the CSI 300 Index Futures market and aim to forecast the one-step-ahead prices. Traditional time series issues, e.g. ARIMA order selection, stationarity, together with potential financial applications are covered in the exploratory data analysis, which pave paths to the adaptive learning model. By designing and running the learning model, we found it to perform well compared to the top fixed models, and some could improve the forecasting accuracy by being more stable and resilient to non-stationarity. Applications to hypothesis testing are shown with a rolling window, and further potential applications to finance and statistics are outlined.

We discuss the role of the opposing principles of order and disorder in physical and biological systems in determining stability, growth and evolution and bring forth the potential role of a cosmic ordering agency. We analyze its role in decreasing entropy by coarse-graining and hence in determining the initial low entropy state of the big bang universe. Since all physical and biological systems have either cycles of order and disorder alternating, or may have chaotic evolution with non-linear laws, the same is expected of the dynamics of the whole universe as well. The entropy of the initial state of the universe could be low because of the reduction of degrees of freedom (DoF) as one moves from physical encoding to neural encoding and then on to psychic encoding of information in a nested manner by coarse-graining. It is by such encoding that this cosmic agency enables the universe to pass through the big crunch phase and then rolls it out as the big bang universe from the initial state of low entropy.

A classical origin for the Bohmian quantum potential, as that potential term arises in the quantum mechanical treatment of black holes and Einstein-Rosen (ER) bridges, can be based on 4th-order extensions of Einstein's equations. In Bohm's ontological interpretation, black hole radiation, and the analogous tunneling process of quantum transmission through an ER bridge, are classically allowed if the dynamics are modified to include such a quantum potential. The 4th-order extension of general relativity required to generate the quantum potential is given by adding quadratic curvature terms with coefficients that maintain a fixed ratio, as their magnitudes approach zero. Quantum transmission through the classically non-traversable bridge is replaced by classical transmission through a traversable wormhole. If entangled particles are connected by a Planck-width ER bridge, as conjectured by Maldacena and Susskind, then the classical wormhole transmission effect gives the ontological nonlocal connection between the particles posited in Bohm's interpretation of their entanglement. It is hypothesized that higher-derivative extensions of classical gravity can account for the nonlocal part of the quantum potential generally.

A probabilistic description is essential for understanding the dynamics of stochastic systems far from equilibrium, given uncertainty inherent in the systems. To compare different Probability Density Functions (PDFs), it is extremely useful to quantify the difference among different PDFs by assigning an appropriate metric to probability such that the distance increases with the difference between the two PDFs. This metric structure then provides a key link between stochastic systems and information geometry. For a non-equilibrium process, we define an infinitesimal distance at any time by comparing two PDFs at times infinitesimally apart and sum these distances in time. The total distance along the trajectory of the system quantifies the total number of different states that the system undergoes in time, and is called the information length. By using this concept, we investigate the information geometry of non-equilibrium processes involved in disorder-order transitions between the critical and subcritical states in a bistable system. Specifically, we compute time-dependent PDFs, information length, the rate of change in information length, entropy change and Fisher information in disorder-to-order and order-to-disorder transitions, and discuss similarities and disparities between the two transitions. In particular, we show that the total information length in order-to-disorder transition is much larger than that in disorder-to-order transition, and elucidate the link to the drastically different evolution of entropy in both transitions. We also provide the comparison of the results with those in the case of the transition between the subcritical and supercritical states and discuss implications for fitness.