Encouraging and supporting electronic communication across the curriculum (ECAC) through a university and K–12 partnership

Critical, sustainable approaches to technology are difficult to develop and integrate within the constantly shifting and dynamic landscape of computers. This challenge is particularly pertinent for K–12 teachers, who often have limited access to computers, work with outdated equipment, or do not have time to tinker with the technology in ways that make it more readily applicable to their classrooms and curricula. In this article, we describe an approach to remedying the technological turbulence that both K–12 and university faculty face. We describe the Electronic Communication Across the Curriculum Summer Workshop,¹ a two-week long physical and virtual course offered to K–12 teachers and their middle and high school students in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We offer this workshop as a model approach for other workshop developers, for those interested in educational partnerships, and for those committed to professional development and technology.     

Analysis of stiffness and elastic deformation of a 2(SP+SPR+SPU) serial–parallel manipulator

A 2(SP+SPR+SPU) manipulator is a serial–parallel manipulator, which includes an upper manipulator and a lower manipulator. Its stiffness and elastic deformation are studied systematically in this paper. Firstly, a 2(SP+SPR+SPU) manipulator is constructed and its characteristics are analyzed. Secondly, the formulae for solving the elastic deformation and the compliance matrix of the active legs are derived and the elastic deformation and the total stiffness matrix of this manipulator are solved and analyzed. Finally, a finite element model of this manipulator is constructed and its elastic deformations are solved. The analytic solutions of elastic deformations of this manipulator are coincident with that of its finite element model.     

Expert system applications in business: A review and analysis of the literature (1977–1993)

A survey of expert system (ES) business application papers published between 1977 and 1993 indicates that an increasing amount of ES research is being conducted for a diverse range of business activities. The classification of literature by (1) year of publication, (2) application area, (3) generic problem area addressed, (4) problem domain, (5) level of management, (6) level of task interdependence, (7) means of development, (8) corporate/academic interaction in development, and (9) technology integration provides some insights in the trend. Implications to ES developers are discussed.     

Application of artificial neural network (ANN)–self-organizing map (SOM) for the categorization of water,soil and sediment quality in petrochemical regions

The utilization of mathematical and computational tools for pollutant assessment frameworks has become increasingly valuable due to the capability to interpret integrated variable measurements. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are considered as dependable and inexpensive techniques for data interpretation and prediction. The self-organizing map (SOM) is an unsupervised ANN used for data training to classify and effectively recognize patterns embedded in the input data space. Application of SOM–ANN is useful for recognizing spatial patterns in contaminated zones by integrating chemical, physical, ecotoxicological and toxicokinetic variables in the identification of pollution sources and similarities in the quality of the samples. Water (n = 11), soil (n = 38) and sediment (n = 54) samples from four areas in the Niger Delta (Nigeria) were classified based on their chemical, toxicological and physical variables applying the SOM. The results obtained in this study provided valuable assessment using the SOM visualization capabilities and highlighted zones of priority that might require additional investigations and also provide productive pathway for effective decision making and remedial actions.     

Assessment of the impact of coastal reclamation activities on seagrass meadows in Sungai Pulai estuary,Malaysia, using Landsat data (1994–2017)

Seagrass meadows play a critical role in supporting coastal biodiversity and in providing food and habitats for other marine organisms but are continuously threatened by human activities, such as coastal reclamation in the maritime countries. The Sungai Pulai estuary harbours mangroves, mudflats, and shoals with one of the Malaysia’s largest seagrass meadow (Merambong, Tanjung Adang, and Tanjung Laut) in Johor, Malaysia. This study assessed the environmental impact of coastal reclamation activities based on Landsat imagery (1994–2017) through mapping cover and distribution changes of those seagrass meadows by using a previously developed image enhancement technique with further improvement in the classification scheme (87% overall accuracy). The image-difference maps showed changes in seagrass meadows and mudflat cover with the extension of reclaimed land. Some seagrass meadows experienced large-scale changes, and coastal reclamation activities have been suggested as main factors responsible for habitat degradation, reduction in coverage, and total loss due to physical damage and excessive sedimentation. Sufficient protection of on-site construction materials is essential if coastal areas are to conserve seagrass meadows. This Landsat-based image classification approach should help the coastal manager to map seagrass meadows and to monitor the environmental impact of reclamation activities with a large spatio-temporal scale.     

Characterization of mesoscale spatio‐temporal patterns and variability of remotely sensed Chl a and SST in the Interior Sea of Chiloe (41.4–43.5° S)

This study characterizes the spatial and temporal distribution of chlorophyll a (Chl a) and sea surface temperature (SST) in the Interior Sea of Chiloe in Chile at a moderate spatial resolution using SeaWiFS and MODIS‐Aqua time series data from the Goddard Earth Science (GES) Data and Information Services Center (DISC) imported into the GES DISC Interactive Online Visualization and Analysis System (‘Giovanni’). The Interior Sea of Chiloe is home to Chile's salmon farming industry, the world's second largest salmonid producer. This study undertakes the characterization of the main patterns of spatial and temporal variability of Chl a and SST in the Interior Sea of Chiloe using a continuous set of time series ocean colour and SST data. Both Chl a and SST exhibit a marked spatial and temporal distribution, with values being significantly higher in the northern area (41.4–42.7° S; total area 41.4–43.5° S) and during the spring–summer period. Peak Chl a concentrations tend to occur in a temporal interval from October to April (austral spring–austral autumn), whereas monthly averaged peak SST values occur consistently in the month of February (austral summer). Chl a concentrations exhibit strong interannual variations, with monthly averaged peak Chl a concentrations experiencing a twofold increase between the year with the lowest and highest Chl a peak concentration in the time series. Results suggest that at the present scale of analysis two spatial domains can be distinguished, regarding the differential behaviour of SST and Chl a in the northern and southern areas of the Interior Sea of Chiloe. The concurrent analysis of Chl a time series data with accumulated rainfall time series data as a proxy of solar radiation, on the other hand, supports previous hypothesis suggesting solar radiation to be a limiting factor for phytoplankton development in the Interior Sea of Chiloe. The role of geomorphological factors on pattern formation and the results presented in this study in relation to results from seasonal oceanographic cruises in the area are briefly discussed.     

Reply to discussion by Alavi and Gandomi on “Models to predict the deformation modulus and the coefficient of subgrade reaction for earth filling structures” by Ismail Dinçer [Adv. Eng. Software 42 (2011) 160–171]

Alavi and Gandomi [1] indicated that there are some controversial points regarding the reliability and applicability of the presented ANN models proposed by Dinçer [2]. According to these criticisms, complementary explanations, tables and figures were given.     

On the Smallest Size of an Almost Complete Subset of a Conic in PG(2, <Emphasis Type="Italic">q</Emphasis>) and Extendability of Reed–Solomon Codes

Abstract—In the projective plane PG(2, q), a subset S of a conic C is said to be almost complete if it can be extended to a larger arc in PG(2, q) only by the points of C \ S and by the nucleus of C when q is even. We obtain new upper bounds on the smallest size t(q) of an almost complete subset of a conic, in particular,

$$t(q) < \sqrt {q(3lnq + lnlnq + ln3)} + \sqrt {\frac{q}{{3\ln q}}} + 4 \sim \sqrt {3q\ln q} ,t(q) < 1.835\sqrt {q\ln q.} $$

The new bounds are used to extend the set of pairs (N, q) for which it is proved that every normal rational curve in the projective space PG(N, q) is a complete (q+1)-arc, or equivalently, that no [q+1,N+1, q?N+1]_q generalized doubly-extended Reed–Solomon code can be extended to a [q + 2,N + 1, q ? N + 2]_q maximum distance separable code.