The role of social motivations in e-learning: How do they affect usage and success of ICT interactive tools?

There is an increasing interest among educational institutions and private organizations to understand the role of ICT interactive tools (e.g. forums, blogs, chats, blackboards, newsgroups) in the successful implementation of an e-learning system. In this study, we offer a social perspective in the study of e-learning, and posit that individuals’ actions are socially embedded. Therefore, we attempt to identify social motivations that underlie learners’ attitudes and usage behavior of ICT interactive tools. We propose a comprehensive conceptual framework that identifies two groups of social motivations: (1) anticipated reciprocal relationships and (2) anticipated extrinsic rewards. The empirical test of the framework in a university setting reveals that both types of social motivations significantly influence learners’ attitudes. Specifically, social influence and altruism, both of which relate to reciprocal relationships, and recognition by the instructor, which refers to extrinsic rewards and personal benefits, exert a strong positive effect on attitudes toward and usage of ICT interactive tools. The usage leads to improved intentions to continue using these technologies in the future.     

A general framework for dynamic and automatic I/O scheduling in hard and solid-state drives

The selection of the right I/O scheduler for a given workload can significantly improve the I/O performance. However, this is not an easy task because several factors should be considered, and even the “best” scheduler can change over the time, specially if the workload’s characteristics change too. To address this problem, we present a Dynamic and Automatic Disk Scheduling framework (DADS) that simultaneously compares two different Linux I/O schedulers, and dynamically selects that which achieves the best I/O performance for any workload at any time. The comparison is made by running two instances of a disk simulator inside the Linux kernel. Results show that, by using DADS, the performance achieved is always close to that obtained by the best scheduler. Thus, system administrators are exempted from selecting a suboptimal scheduler which can provide a good performance for some workloads, but may downgrade the system throughput when the workloads change.     

Oxidation-derived flavor compounds as quality indicators for packaged olive oil

Aroma compounds in packaged extra virgin olive oil can be present naturally or be derived through oxidative degradation under favorable conditions of temperature, light, and oxygen availability. In this study, the identity and quantity of flavor compounds were determined for extra virgin olive oil packaged in 0.5-L glass, poly(ethylene terephthalate), and poly(vinyl chloride) bottles and stored at 15,30, and 40°C under fluorescent light or in the dark for 1 yr. A set of mathematical equations concerning the rates of the most fundamental oxidation reactions in the oil was prepared and numerically solved, and the reaction constants were estimated for specific temperature values. Mainly, the presence of fluorescent light, followed by elevated temperature, stimulated oxidative alterations in the olive oil. Separated and identified flavor compounds were recorded for all the olive oil samples. Based on their abundance and evolution in the oil samples, those most clearly describing oxidation were hexanal, nonanal, (E)-2-decenal, (E)-2-heptenal, and 2-pentyl furan. These compounds could be used as markers of the oxidation process to monitor and describe the quality of packaged olive oil quantitatively.     

Functionalization of polypropylene film by radiation grafting of acryloyl chloride and subsequent esterification with Disperse Red 1

Polypropylene (PP) films were grafted with acryloyl chloride by γ‐irradiation, and the grafted films were reacted with an azo dye, Disperse Red 1. The films were characterized by X‐ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and differential scanning calorimetry. It was found that the grafting takes place first on the film surface, and with increase in the radiation dose the grafting penetrated inside of the film, decreasing the crystallinity of the PP film. The surface of the films was homogeneous, and a mesophase was observed for the film grafted with the dye through a polarized optical microscope. The dye underwent trans to cis photoreaction, whereby the red films became colorless by the irradiation of UV light at room temperature, although the color was recovered on standing, and more quickly when heated. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 93: 172–178, 2004     

Degradation of pesticides in water using solar advanced oxidation processes

Alachlor, atrazine and diuron dissolved in water at 50, 25 and 30 mg/L, respectively were photodegraded by Fe²⁺/H₂O₂, Fe³⁺/H₂O₂, TiO₂ and TiO₂/Na₂S₂O₈ treatments driven by solar energy at pilot-plant scale using a compound parabolic collector (CPC) photoreactor. All the advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) employed mainly compared the TOC mineralisation rate to evaluate treatment effectiveness. Parent compound disappearance, anion release and oxidant consumption are discussed as a function of treatment time. The use of Fe²⁺ or Fe³⁺ showed no influence on the reaction rate under illumination and the reaction using 10 or 55 mg/L of iron was quite similar. TiO₂/Na₂S₂O₈ showed a quicker reaction rate than TiO₂ and a similar rate compared to photo-Fenton. The main difference found was between TiO₂/Na₂S₂O₈ and photo-Fenton, detected during atrazine degradation, where pesticide transformation into cyanuric acid was confirmed only for TiO₂/Na₂S₂O₈.     

Temperature variations in the oxygen carrier particles during their reduction and oxidation in a chemical-looping combustion system

A particle reaction model including mass and heat transfer has been developed to know the temperature variations produced inside the oxygen carrier particles during the cyclic reduction and oxidation reactions taking place in a chemical-looping combustion (CLC) system. The reactions of the different oxygen carriers based on Cu, Co, Fe, Mn, and Ni during the reduction with fuel gas (CH₄, CO, and H₂) and oxidation (O₂) have been considered. In these systems, the oxidation reaction is always exothermic with subsequent heat release; however, the reduction reaction can be exothermic or endothermic depending on the metal oxide and the fuel gas. The heat generated inside the oxygen carriers during the exothermic reactions increases the particle temperature, and could affect the particle structure if the temperature increase is near to the melting point of the active materials. Several variables that affect the reaction rate and the heat transport process have been analyzed to know their effect on the internal particle temperature. For a given oxygen carrier and reaction, the maximum temperature of the particles depended mainly on the particle size, the reaction rate, and the external heat transfer resistance, being lower than the effect of the oxygen carrier porosity, type of inert material, and metal oxide content. The highest temperature variations were reached for the oxidation reactions, with the maximum corresponding to the Ni and Co oxygen carriers with values of for particles. The highest temperature increase observed during the reduction reactions corresponded to the reaction of CuO with CO, with values of for particles. For the rest of the reactions and metals, the variations in the particle temperature were below for particle sizes below . Under the typical operating conditions that exist in a CLC system, with particle sizes lower than , % of metal oxide content, and overall conversion times lower than , the increases of temperature with respect to the bulk conditions were lower than for any reaction of any oxygen carrier. Moreover, the temperature profiles inside the particles were near flat in most of the practical conditions, and no local points with high temperatures were found. Thus, changes in the solid porous structure of the carrier due to sintering during oxidation in fluidized bed reactors are not expected working at typical temperatures of CLC systems (1000-).     

SiO2/Nb2O5 sol–gel as a support for HRP immobilization in biosensor preparation for phenol detection

A SiO₂/Nb₂O₅ mixed oxide was prepared by a sol–gel processing method based on TEOS and NbCl₅ as precursors and HCl as catalysts. A material having a specific surface area of 703 m² g⁻¹, average pore diameter of 2.4 nm and 5 wt.% of Nb was obtained. An amperometric peroxidase-based biosensor for phenol was constructed by immobilizing the enzyme onto the SiO₂/Nb₂O₅ sol–gel matrix by adsorption and cross-linking with glutaraldehyde and mixing with graphite powder to make a modified carbon paste. The biosensor performance for phenol detection, investigated in a flow injection system, was based on mediated electron transfer of horseradish peroxidase (HRP), avoiding the direct electron transfer of HRP, which was blocked by the sol–gel matrix. With optimized conditions, a linear response range from 5 to 25 μmol dm⁻³ for phenol was obtained with a sensitivity of 3.2 nA dm³ μmol⁻¹. The detection limit of the biosensor for phenol was 0.5 μmol dm⁻³ and the analytical frequency was 27 samples h⁻¹. The biosensor response was tested for various phenol substrates and the highest response was observed for 2-amino-4-chlorophenol. During 200 determinations, the biosensor kept the same response for phenol. The modified carbon paste retained its activity during 6 months of storage under refrigeration.     

Fast Term Indexing with Coded Context Trees

Indexing data structures have a crucial impact on the performance of automated theorem provers. Examples are discrimination trees, which are like tries where terms are seen as strings and common prefixes are shared, and substitution trees, where terms keep their tree structure and all common contexts can be shared. Here we describe a new indexing data structure, called context trees, where, by means of a limited kind of context variables, common subterms also can be shared, even if they occur below different function symbols. Apart from introducing the concept, we also provide evidence for its practical value. We show how context trees can be implemented by means of abstract machine instructions. Experiments with benchmarks for forward matching show that our implementation is competitive with tightly coded current state-of-the-art implementations of the other main techniques. In particular, space consumption of context trees is significantly less than for other index structures.     

Tests of Long Memory: A Bootstrap Approach

Many time series in diverse fields have been found to exhibit long memory. This paper analyzes the behaviour of some of the most used tests of long memory: the R/S analysis, the modified R/S, the Geweke and Porter-Hudak (GPH) test and the detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA). Some of these tests exhibit size distortions in small samples. It is well known that the bootstrap procedure may correct this fact. Here I examine the size and power of those tests for finite samples and different distributions, such as the normal, uniform, and lognormal. In the short-memory processes such as AR, MA and ARCH and long memory ones such as ARFIMA, p-values are calculated using the post-blackening moving-block bootstrap. The Monte Carlo study suggests that the bootstrap critical values perform better. The results are applied to financial return time series.     

Relational spatial database and multi-criteria decision methods for selecting optimum locations for photovoltaic power plants in the province of Seville (southern Spain)

This work aims to develop a methodology for selecting optimum locations for the construction of photovoltaic power plants. In order to achieve this, a data model is defined and a multi-criteria decision methodology, based on an analytical hierarchy process, is applied. In contrast to the previous studies, in which the spatial analysis was undertaken by a GIS managing different layers of information (grids, shapefiles, etc.), in this work the spatial analysis is carried out by means of an open-code spatial database management system: PostgreSQL-PostGIS. This system uses Structure Query Language to manage different tables in the context of relational spatial databases. The case study is the province of Seville (southern Spain), where this sort of facility already exists. The empirical analysis concludes that a large percentage of the province of Seville has an excellent potential for the installation of photovoltaic plants. The methodology allows the dynamic updating of criteria and parameters, as well as the reproducibility, scalability and automating of analyses carried out in other fields.