Assessing students' conceptual understanding using an online three‐tier diagnostic test

When solving a mathematical problem, students who do not have sufficient conceptual understanding may perform poorly and exhibit misconceptions. This study was aimed to examine students' conceptual understanding and significant misconceptions when solving number sense‐related problems. An online three‐tier diagnostic test was administered to 125 fifth‐grade students with varied socio‐economic backgrounds in Hong Kong. Only 14.40% of the students exhibited high performance with high confidence, indicating that these students had a profound conceptual understanding of number sense. In addition, the majority of the students (66.40%) did not demonstrate number sense; these students exhibited several significant misconceptions and could solve the questions only by using a rule‐based method or guessing. Accordingly, most students performed unsatisfactorily on number sense‐related problems. This study is imperative in identifying early predictors and provides information for further compatible interventions in the teaching and learning of number sense in Hong Kong in particular and worldwide in general.     

An energy-efficient cloud system with novel dynamic resource allocation methods

The Journal of Supercomputing - In the last decade, cloud computing has brought enormous changes to people’s lives. Cloud computing gives a client-driven computational model. In this case,...     

Decorative near-infrared transmission filters featuring high-efficiency and angular-insensitivity employing 1D photonic crystals

We present a new scheme for visibly-opaque but near-infrared-transmitting filters involving 7 layers based on one-dimensional ternary photonic crystals, with capabilities in reaching nearly 100% transmission efficiency in the near-infrared region. Different decorative reflection colors can be created by adding additional three layers while maintaining the near-infrared transmission performance. In addition, our proposed structural colors show great angular insensitivity up to ±60° for both transverse electric and transverse magnetic polarizations, which are highly desired in various fields. The facile strategy described here involves a simple deposition method for the fabrication, thereby having great potential in diverse applications such as image sensors, anti-counterfeit tag, and optical measurement systems.

     

Association of solid fuel use with risk of stunting in children living in China

Stunting adversely affects physical and mental outcomes of children. It has not been examined whether household air pollution from solid fuel combustion is a risk factor for stunting in children. In a total of 41,439 children aged 6-17 across China, height was measured using a unified protocol. Multivariable linear regression models and logistic regression models were used to assess the associations of solid fuel use for cooking/heating with stunting in children. Adjusted for covariates, cooking/heating with solid fuel was significantly associated with a lower z-score for height for age and sex (β = −0.21 [−0.32 to −0.09] and −0.17 [−0.31 to −0.03], respectively) and an increased risk of stunting with an estimated ORs of 1.34 [1.07~1.68] and 1.37 [1.02~1.83], respectively. The risk of stunting associated with solid fuel use was statistically significant in high-age children. And the effect was greater on girls than on boys, though the difference was not statistically significant. Our study suggested that Chinese children living in households using solid fuel had a significantly higher risk of stunting than those living in households using cleaner fuel.     

致密油藏注天然气提高采收率研究现状

随着我国石油需求量不断增加,致密油藏的开发也愈发重要。如何高效开发致密油藏是一项重点难点,其中致密油藏注天然气提高采收率是一个极具潜力的研究方向。因此,本文着重介绍以天然气作为能量补充介质在国内外的研究现状和应用现状,并且从两相特征等方面总结了理论研究中的一些机理,对致密油藏注天然气提高采收率的发展前景进行了一定的展望。     

Oxide-Scale Evolution on a New Ni–Fe-Based Superalloy at High Temperature

Oxidation of Metals - The isothermal oxidation behavior and oxide-scale evolution on a newly developed Ni–Fe-based superalloy were investigated. Three oxidation stages were generally...