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The article discusses innovative approaches to education on the example of the introduction of distance learning in Russia, the main forms of its organization, the necessary means, areas of application, advantages, and disadvantages. The authors note that distance learning is becoming more in demand, has many advantages, and therefore, will develop. For its development, the modern education system in Russia has all the possibilities, both technically and intellectually. But we must not forget about the shortcomings of distance learning, which must be eliminated in the process of its development and improvement. Particular attention is paid to the legal regulation of distance education.
Operant chambers are small enclosures used to test animal behavior and cognition. While traditionally reliant on simple technologies for presenting stimuli (e.g., lights and sounds) and recording responses made to basic manipulanda (e.g., levers and buttons), an increasing number of researchers are beginning to use Touchscreen-equipped Operant Chambers (TOCs). These TOCs have obvious advantages, namely by allowing researchers to present a near infinite number of stimuli as well as increased flexibility in the types of responses that can be made and recorded. Here, we trained wild-caught adult and juvenile great-tailed grackles (Quiscalus mexicanus) to complete experiments using a TOC. We have learned much from these efforts, and outline the advantages and disadvantages of these two approaches. We report data from our training sessions and discuss important modifications we made to facilitate animal engagement and participation in various tasks. Finally, we provide a "training guide" for creating experiments using PsychoPy, a free and open-source software that we have found to be incredibly useful during these endeavors. This article, therefore, should serve as a useful resource to those interested in switching to or maintaining a TOC, or who similarly wish to use a TOC to test the cognitive abilities of non-model species or wild-caught individuals.
Background:
The Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) is a large-scale, multi-purpose longitudinal dataset providing information about babies born at the beginning of the 21st century, their progress through life, and the families who are bringing them up, for the four countries of the United Kingdom. The original objectives of the first MCS survey, as laid down in the proposal to the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) in March 2000, were:
Further information about the MCS can be found on the Centre for Longitudinal Studies web pages.
The content of MCS studies, including questions, topics and variables can be explored via the CLOSER Discovery website.
The first sweep (MCS1) interviewed both mothers and (where resident) fathers (or father-figures) of infants included in the sample when the babies were nine months old, and the second sweep (MCS2) was carried out with the same respondents when the children were three years of age. The third sweep (MCS3) was conducted in 2006, when the children were aged five years old, the fourth sweep (MCS4) in 2008, when they were seven years old, the fifth sweep (MCS5) in 2012-2013, when they were eleven years old, the sixth sweep (MCS6) in 2015, when they were fourteen years old, and the seventh sweep (MCS7) in 2018, when they were seventeen years old.The Millennium Cohort Study: Linked Health Administrative Data (Scottish Medical Records), Child Health Reviews, 2000-2015: Secure Access includes data files from the NHS Digital Hospital Episode Statistics database for those cohort members who provided consent to health data linkage in the Age 50 sweep, and had ever lived in Scotland. The Scottish Medical Records database contains information about all hospital admissions in Scotland. This study concerns the Child Health Reviews (CHR) from first visit to school reviews.
Other datasets are available from the Scottish Medical Records database, these include:
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The study provides a comprehensive review of OpenAI’s Generative Pre-trained Transformer 4 (GPT-4) technical report, with an emphasis on applications in high-risk settings like healthcare. A diverse team, including experts in artificial intelligence (AI), natural language processing, public health, law, policy, social science, healthcare research, and bioethics, analyzed the report against established peer review guidelines. The GPT-4 report shows a significant commitment to transparent AI research, particularly in creating a systems card for risk assessment and mitigation. However, it reveals limitations such as restricted access to training data, inadequate confidence and uncertainty estimations, and concerns over privacy and intellectual property rights. Key strengths identified include the considerable time and economic investment in transparent AI research and the creation of a comprehensive systems card. On the other hand, the lack of clarity in training processes and data raises concerns about encoded biases and interests in GPT-4. The report also lacks confidence and uncertainty estimations, crucial in high-risk areas like healthcare, and fails to address potential privacy and intellectual property issues. Furthermore, this study emphasizes the need for diverse, global involvement in developing and evaluating large language models (LLMs) to ensure broad societal benefits and mitigate risks. The paper presents recommendations such as improving data transparency, developing accountability frameworks, establishing confidence standards for LLM outputs in high-risk settings, and enhancing industry research review processes. It concludes that while GPT-4’s report is a step towards open discussions on LLMs, more extensive interdisciplinary reviews are essential for addressing bias, harm, and risk concerns, especially in high-risk domains. The review aims to expand the understanding of LLMs in general and highlights the need for new reflection forms on how LLMs are reviewed, the data required for effective evaluation, and addressing critical issues like bias and risk.
The quantitative data from the TEACh project allows us to identify the characteristics of children not learning, and factors associated with disparities in educational outcomes in India and Pakistan. Information was collected from households and schools, at the beginning of the school year (in April). Assessments were made in school again at the end of the school year to identify what learning gains have been made, and the role of teacher and other factors (such as related parental support) in these gains for children with different characteristics.
The first stage of the quantitative data collection required us to identify the children whose learning we want to assess. Cross-sectional data was collected from households to enumerate key household and individual characteristics. This included information such as household size and socio-economic status, as well as individual information on all of the children within the household (irrespective of their schooling participation). The household survey provides the first step towards quantifying whether children with different characteristics are in school. For those in school, it identifies the type of school they are attending (whether a mainstream or special school, and whether run by government, private sector, or NGOs). We also assessed learning of children aged 8-12 (approximately equivalent to grades 3-5) in the selected households.
The second stage was to identify primary schools within the vicinity that are accessed by a majority of the children in the sample community or village. Children in grades 3-5 were tested both at the beginning and end of the school year in order to identify learning gains, using the same instruments as used in the households. These classes contained some children from the sampled households which allows us to link them back to the household information that has been gathered. Some basic household level information was also collected from all sampled children in the school (such as parental education and household size) to ensure this information is available for all children.
Questionnaires were also administered to teachers to identify their background and other characteristics commonly associated with teacher effectiveness. Existing instruments such asSchoolTELLS in India and Pakistan, were adapted to draft the teacher surveys. The teacher instruments were designed to capture the extent to which teachers are aware of, and respond to, children’s diverse learning needs, their perceptions and attitudes towards these children, and the extent to which they feel prepared to teach children of different abilities, including related to training and other forms of support that they receive. As with SchoolTELLS, teachers were also asked to mark student tests to identify teachers’ content knowledge of subjects they are teaching.
Governments across the world recognize the importance of providing an education to all children within an inclusive education system. Yet, despite great progress in getting more children into school over the past decade, children from disadvantaged backgrounds are likely to experience poor quality of education limiting chances of fulfilling their learning potential. Children who face multiple disadvantages related to disability, poverty, gender, caste, religion or where they live, are amongst those least likely to be learning.
The project aims to identify strategies to raise learning outcomes for all children, regardless of their background. It is widely recognized that teachers are central to a child's educational experience. Yet, in low income countries, disadvantaged learners often face poor quality teaching: many teachers are recruited without having a basic subject knowledge themselves, receive inadequate training with limited attention to strategies to support children from diverse backgrounds, and weak incentives and poor teacher governance can lead to low motivation and high levels of teacher absenteeism. The research will, therefore identify which aspects of teaching are most important for improving all children's learning, and so inform governments on the strategies needed to support children who face multiple disadvantages.
The research will be conducted in India and Pakistan, countries characteristic of other poor countries in terms of wide learning inequalities. India shows some advances in identifying strategies to tackle disadvantage, while Pakistan is similar to many other low income countries in not yet having such strategies.
Recognising that limited information is available on learning levels of children facing different forms of disadvantages who are not in school, the research will assess children both in the household and in schools. The focus of these tests will be on achievement of foundation skills of reading, writing, reasoning and numeracy that children are expected to acquire in primary school. This will be followed up with a test a year later in order to identify what...
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Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are one of the most fatal disease groups worldwide. Electrocardiogram (ECG) is a widely used tool for automatically detecting cardiac abnormalities, thereby helping to control and manage CVDs. To encourage more multidisciplinary researches, PhysioNet/Computing in Cardiology Challenge 2020 (Challenge 2020) provided a public platform involving multi-center databases and automatic evaluations for ECG classification tasks. As a result, 41 teams successfully submitted their solutions and were qualified for rankings. Although Challenge 2020 was a success, there has been no in-depth methodological meta-analysis of these solutions, making it difficult for researchers to benefit from the solutions and results. In this study, we aim to systematically review the 41 solutions in terms of data processing, feature engineering, model architecture, and training strategy. For each perspective, we visualize and statistically analyze the effectiveness of the common techniques, and discuss the methodological advantages and disadvantages. Finally, we summarize five practical lessons based on the aforementioned analysis: (1) Data augmentation should be employed and adapted to specific scenarios; (2) Combining different features can improve performance; (3) A hybrid design of different types of deep neural networks (DNNs) is better than using a single type; (4) The use of end-to-end architectures should depend on the task being solved; (5) Multiple models are better than one. We expect that our meta-analysis will help accelerate the research related to ECG classification based on machine-learning models.
Background:
The Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) is a large-scale, multi-purpose longitudinal dataset providing information about babies born at the beginning of the 21st century, their progress through life, and the families who are bringing them up, for the four countries of the United Kingdom. The original objectives of the first MCS survey, as laid down in the proposal to the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) in March 2000, were:
Further information about the MCS can be found on the Centre for Longitudinal Studies web pages.
The content of MCS studies, including questions, topics and variables can be explored via the CLOSER Discovery website.
The seventh sweep of the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS7) was carried out when the cohort members were 17 years old. As 17 is a key transitional age, the sweep purposefully focused on engaging with the cohort members themselves (in addition to their parents). MCS7 marks an important transitional time in the cohort members' lives, where educational and occupational paths can diverge significantly. It is also an important age in data collection terms since it may be the last sweep at which parents are interviewed and it is an age when direct engagement with the cohort members themselves rather than their families is crucial to the long term viability of the study. To reflect this, face-to-face interviews with the cohort members have been conducted for the first time. Cohort members were also asked to do a range of other activities including filling in a self-completion questionnaire on the interviewer's tablet, completing a cognitive assessment (number activity) and having their height, weight and body fat measurements taken. In addition, they were asked to complete a short online questionnaire after the visit.
Parents were still interviewed at MCS7. Resident parents were asked to complete a household interview and a short online questionnaire, and one parent was asked to complete a Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) about the cohort member. Cohort members who were either unable or unwilling to complete the main survey were asked to complete a short follow up questionnaire online after the fieldwork finished. This contained some key questions and was designed to boost response and maintain engagement.
For the second edition (March 2021), two new
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Modernizing power systems into smart grids has introduced numerous benefits, including enhanced efficiency, reliability, and integration of renewable energy sources. However, this advancement has also increased vulnerability to cyber threats, particularly False Data Injection Attacks (FDIAs). Traditional Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) often fall short in identifying sophisticated FDIAs due to their reliance on predefined rules and signatures. This paper addresses this gap by proposing a novel IDS that utilizes hybrid feature selection and deep learning classifiers to detect FDIAs in smart grids. The main objective is to enhance the accuracy and robustness of IDS in smart grids. The proposed methodology combines Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Grey Wolf Optimization (GWO) for hybrid feature selection, ensuring the selection of the most relevant features for detecting FDIAs. Additionally, the IDS employs a hybrid deep learning classifier that integrates Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks to capture the smart grid data’s spatial and temporal features. The dataset used for evaluation, the Industrial Control System (ICS) Cyber Attack Dataset (Power System Dataset) consists of various FDIA scenarios simulated in a smart grid environment. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed IDS framework significantly outperforms traditional methods. The hybrid feature selection effectively reduces the dimensionality of the dataset, improving computational efficiency and detection performance. The hybrid deep learning classifier performs better in key metrics, including accuracy, recall, precision, and F-measure. Precisely, the proposed approach attains higher accuracy by accurately identifying true positives and minimizing false negatives, ensuring the reliable operation of smart grids. Recall is enhanced by capturing critical features relevant to all attack types, while precision is improved by reducing false positives, leading to fewer unnecessary interventions. The F-measure balances recall and precision, indicating a robust and reliable detection system. This study presents a practical dual-hybrid IDS framework for detecting FDIAs in smart grids, addressing the limitations of existing IDS techniques. Future research should focus on integrating real-world smart grid data for validation, developing adaptive learning mechanisms, exploring other bio-inspired optimization algorithms, and addressing real-time processing and scalability challenges in large-scale deployments.
Background:
The Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) is a large-scale, multi-purpose longitudinal dataset providing information about babies born at the beginning of the 21st century, their progress through life, and the families who are bringing them up, for the four countries of the United Kingdom. The original objectives of the first MCS survey, as laid down in the proposal to the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) in March 2000, were:
Further information about the MCS can be found on the Centre for Longitudinal Studies web pages.
The content of MCS studies, including questions, topics and variables can be explored via the CLOSER Discovery website.
The first sweep (MCS1) interviewed both mothers and (where resident) fathers (or father-figures) of infants included in the sample when the babies were nine months old, and the second sweep (MCS2) was carried out with the same respondents when the children were three years of age. The third sweep (MCS3) was conducted in 2006, when the children were aged five years old, the fourth sweep (MCS4) in 2008, when they were seven years old, the fifth sweep (MCS5) in 2012-2013, when they were eleven years old, the sixth sweep (MCS6) in 2015, when they were fourteen years old, and the seventh sweep (MCS7) in 2018, when they were seventeen years old.Millennium Cohort Study: Linked Education Administrative Datasets (KS1-KS4), Wales: Secure Access
These datasets include education administrative records for Wales up to age 16 to survey data for cohort members in the MCS. The main aim of this data linkage exercise is to enhance the research potential of the study, by combining administrative education records with the rich information collected in the surveys.
Datasets include anonymised Local Education Authorities (LEA) to allow comparison of results across LEA. The data were obtained only for children whose parents/carers gave consent to data linkage, and who were successfully matched.
Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
License information was derived automatically
Modernizing power systems into smart grids has introduced numerous benefits, including enhanced efficiency, reliability, and integration of renewable energy sources. However, this advancement has also increased vulnerability to cyber threats, particularly False Data Injection Attacks (FDIAs). Traditional Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) often fall short in identifying sophisticated FDIAs due to their reliance on predefined rules and signatures. This paper addresses this gap by proposing a novel IDS that utilizes hybrid feature selection and deep learning classifiers to detect FDIAs in smart grids. The main objective is to enhance the accuracy and robustness of IDS in smart grids. The proposed methodology combines Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Grey Wolf Optimization (GWO) for hybrid feature selection, ensuring the selection of the most relevant features for detecting FDIAs. Additionally, the IDS employs a hybrid deep learning classifier that integrates Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks to capture the smart grid data’s spatial and temporal features. The dataset used for evaluation, the Industrial Control System (ICS) Cyber Attack Dataset (Power System Dataset) consists of various FDIA scenarios simulated in a smart grid environment. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed IDS framework significantly outperforms traditional methods. The hybrid feature selection effectively reduces the dimensionality of the dataset, improving computational efficiency and detection performance. The hybrid deep learning classifier performs better in key metrics, including accuracy, recall, precision, and F-measure. Precisely, the proposed approach attains higher accuracy by accurately identifying true positives and minimizing false negatives, ensuring the reliable operation of smart grids. Recall is enhanced by capturing critical features relevant to all attack types, while precision is improved by reducing false positives, leading to fewer unnecessary interventions. The F-measure balances recall and precision, indicating a robust and reliable detection system. This study presents a practical dual-hybrid IDS framework for detecting FDIAs in smart grids, addressing the limitations of existing IDS techniques. Future research should focus on integrating real-world smart grid data for validation, developing adaptive learning mechanisms, exploring other bio-inspired optimization algorithms, and addressing real-time processing and scalability challenges in large-scale deployments.
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In the dynamic landscape of financial markets, accurate forecasting of stock indices remains a pivotal yet challenging task, essential for investors and policymakers alike. This study is motivated by the need to enhance the precision of predicting the Shanghai Composite Index’s opening price spread, a critical measure reflecting market volatility and investor sentiment. Traditional time series models like ARIMA have shown limitations in capturing the complex, nonlinear patterns inherent in stock price movements, prompting the exploration of advanced methodologies. The aim of this research is to bridge the gap in forecasting accuracy by developing a hybrid model that integrates the strengths of ARIMA with deep learning techniques, specifically Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) networks. This novel approach leverages the ARIMA model’s proficiency in linear trend analysis and the deep learning models’ capability in modeling nonlinear dependencies, aiming to provide a comprehensive tool for market prediction. Utilizing a comprehensive dataset covering the period from December 20, 1990, to June 2, 2023, the study develops and assesses the efficacy of ARIMA, LSTM, GRU, ARIMA-LSTM, and ARIMA-GRU models in forecasting the Shanghai Composite Index’s opening price spread. The evaluation of these models is based on key statistical metrics, including Mean Squared Error (MSE) and Mean Absolute Error (MAE), to gauge their predictive accuracy. The findings indicate that the hybrid models, ARIMA-LSTM and ARIMA-GRU, perform better in forecasting the opening price spread of the Shanghai Composite Index than their standalone counterparts. This outcome suggests that combining traditional statistical methods with advanced deep learning algorithms can enhance stock market prediction. The research contributes to the field by providing evidence of the potential benefits of integrating different modeling approaches for financial forecasting, offering insights that could inform investment strategies and financial decision-making.
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The importance of English debate in fostering critical thinking and the role of self-efficacy in enhancing confidence and performance in this domain are widely acknowledged. However, a significant gap exists in the literature regarding the measurement of self-efficacy specifically within English debate. This research seeks to fill this gap by developing and validating an English Debate Self-Efficacy Scale (EDSS). Using a sample of 1,259 participants from an independent college in Hebei Province, China, the study divided participants into two groups: 613 for exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and 646 for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), with convenience sampling as the chosen methodology. EFA revealed three core dimensions of debate-related self-efficacy: Language proficiency (Cronbach’s Alpha = .894), Debating skills (Cronbach’s Alpha = .861), and Team collaboration (Cronbach’s Alpha = .831). Subsequent CFA validation with an independent sample confirmed the scale’s structure, demonstrating strong structural, convergent, and discriminant validity. Additionally, significant correlations between the English Debate Self-Efficacy Scale and the English Proficiency Self-Efficacy Scale supported the scale’s criterion validity. These findings underscore the scale’s potential as a reliable tool for assessing self-efficacy in English debate contexts, offering valuable insights for research, teaching, and training in educational settings. Limitations related to sample representativeness and research design were also discussed, providing a foundation for future studies to expand upon. In conclusion, the English Debate Self-Efficacy Scale (EDSS) is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring self-efficacy in the context of English debate.
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Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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The article discusses innovative approaches to education on the example of the introduction of distance learning in Russia, the main forms of its organization, the necessary means, areas of application, advantages, and disadvantages. The authors note that distance learning is becoming more in demand, has many advantages, and therefore, will develop. For its development, the modern education system in Russia has all the possibilities, both technically and intellectually. But we must not forget about the shortcomings of distance learning, which must be eliminated in the process of its development and improvement. Particular attention is paid to the legal regulation of distance education.