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In this study, we propose a low-area multi-channel controlled dielectric breakdown (CDB) system that simultaneously produces several nanopore sensors. Conventionally, solid-state nanopores are prepared by etching or drilling openings in a silicon nitride (SiNx) substrate, which is expensive and requires a long processing time. To address these challenges, a CDB technique was introduced and used to fabricate nanopore channels in SiNx membranes. However, the nanopore sensors produced by the CDB result in a severe pore-to-pore diameter variation as a result of different fabrication conditions and processing times. Accordingly, it is indispensable to simultaneously fabricate nanopore sensors in the same environment to reduce the deleterious effects of pore-to-pore variation. In this study, we propose a four-channel CDB system that comprises an amplifier that boosts the command voltage, a 1-to-4 multiplexer, a level shifter, a low-noise transimpedance amplifier and a data acquisition device. To prove our design concept, we used the CDB system to fabricate four nanopore sensors with diameters of <10 nm, and its in vitro performance was verified using λ-DNA samples.

A multiple-baseline across-subjects design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of a video-modeling intervention delivered on an iPod Touch to teach three high school students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) or intellectual disability to complete workouts independently at the local community fitness center. Individualized workout routines including three strength-training machines and/or exercises were created for each participant. Exercises, weight used, and number of reps were selected with the guidance of fitness center trainers and staff. Data were collected on the percentage of total steps each participant was able to complete independently, without prompting, across baseline and intervention conditions. Findings indicated that the intervention was successful in increasing independent performance for all participants.

The aim of this study was to provide adaptive assistance to improve the listening comprehension of eleventh grade students. This study developed a video-based language learning system for handheld devices, using three levels of caption filtering adapted to student needs. Elementary level captioning excluded 220 English sight words (see Section 1 for definition), but provided captions and Chinese translations for the remaining words. Intermediate level excluded 1000 high frequency English words, but provided captions for the remaining words, and 2200 high frequency English words were excluded at the high intermediate caption filtering level. The result was that the viewers were provided with captions for words that were likely to be unfamiliar to them. Participants in the experimental group were assigned bilingual caption modes according to their pre-test results, while those in the control group were assigned standard caption modes. Our results indicate that students in the experimental group preferred adaptive captions, enjoyed the exercises more, and gained greater intrinsic motivation compared to those in the control group. The results confirm that different students require different quantities of information to balance listening comprehension and indicate that the proposed adaptive caption filtering approach may be an effective way to improve the skills required for listening proficiency.

Chatbots hold the promise of revolutionizing education by engaging learners, personalizing learning activities, supporting educators, and developing deep insight into learners’ behavior. However, there is a lack of studies that analyze the recent evidence-based chatbot-learner interaction design techniques applied in education. This study presents a systematic review of 36 papers to understand, compare, and reflect on recent attempts to utilize chatbots in education using seven dimensions: educational field, platform, design principles, the role of chatbots, interaction styles, evidence, and limitations. The results show that the chatbots were mainly designed on a web platform to teach computer science, language, general education, and a few other fields such as engineering and mathematics. Further, more than half of the chatbots were used as teaching agents, while more than a third were peer agents. Most of the chatbots used a predetermined conversational path, and more than a quarter utilized a personalized learning approach that catered to students’ learning needs, while other chatbots used experiential and collaborative learning besides other design principles. Moreover, more than a third of the chatbots were evaluated with experiments, and the results primarily point to improved learning and subjective satisfaction. Challenges and limitations include inadequate or insufficient dataset training and a lack of reliance on usability heuristics. Future studies should explore the effect of chatbot personality and localization on subjective satisfaction and learning effectiveness.

ObjectivesAn effective roster system is crucial for patient safety, clinician well-being, and professional development. The aim of this project was to implement a live rota that could be easily accessed on handheld devices, outside of hospital grounds. This new system would allow real-time changes to be viewed, making the rota more accessible and reducing the likelihood of errors.MethodsWe sent an online questionnaire to all paediatric clinicians to explore their satisfaction levels, perceived error rates, the types of errors that occurred, and the impact on their well-being. We also invited suggestions for changes they would like to see. Working alongside our rota coordinator, we created a live version of the rota using Microsoft Excel via nhs.net SharePoint. This was shared via a link with the team. We educated the team on rota accessibility. Computer access was via NHS email account. Handheld device access was via Microsoft Excel/Office App, once signed in with NHS email. We made ourselves available to provide support during the transition.Following the implementation of the live rota, we sent an online questionnaire to paediatric clinicians to assess its impact.ResultsWe had 30 and 17 respondents to the pre and post live rota questionnaire respectively from a variety of clinician grades. 96% of respondents felt a live rota would be beneficial. Adequate rota access improved from 20% to 88% post live rota implementation. We saw an improvement on perceived error rates. Prior to implementation, 86% of respondents reported multiple or few errors weekly. Following implementation, this improved to 29%. Graph 1 shows rota communication satisfaction increased from 6% to 94%. The team reported other benefits such as reduced levels of stress and improved work life planning with the live rota (figure 1).Abstract 6859 Figure 1ConclusionThe introduction of a live rota has had a positive impact on all clinicians, demonstrating how technology can help alleviate workplace stress. This technological solution is easily replicable across other Trusts in the UK. However, managing a live rota requires consistent administrative support. While our results have been positive, there is still room for improvement in terms of rota accuracy. It is pertinent to investigate the obstacles that hinder the achievement of this goal and work towards overcoming them.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly becoming the most popular topic in business and science. This book introduces AI concepts and their use cases with a hands-on and application-focused approach. We will cover a range of projects covering tasks such as automated reasoning, facial recognition, digital assistants, auto text generation, and more.

Learn how to solve blocking user experience and build event based reactive applications with Swift. Key Features Build fast and scalable apps with RxSwift Apply reactive programming to solve complex problems and build efficient programs with reactive user interfaces Take expressiveness, scalability, and maintainability of your Swift code to the next level with this practical guide Book Description RxSwift belongs to a large family of Rx implementations in different programming languages that share almost identical syntax and semantics. Reactive approach will help you to write clean, cohesive, resilient, scalable, and maintainable code with highly configurable behavior. This book will introduce you to the world of reactive programming, primarily focusing on mobile platforms. It will tell how you can benefit from using RxSwift in your projects, existing or new. Further on, the book will demonstrate the unbelievable ease of configuring asynchronous behavior and other aspects of the app that are traditionally considered to be hard to implement and maintain. It will explain what Rx is made of, and how to switch to reactive way of thinking to get the most out of it. Also, test production code using RxTest and the red/ green approach. Finally, the book will dive into real-world recipes and show you how to build a real-world app by applying the reactive paradigm. By the end of the book, you’ll be able to build a reactive swift application by leveraging all the concepts this book takes you through. What you will learn Understand the practical benefits of Rx on a mobile platform Explore the building blocks of Rx, and Rx data flows with marble diagrams Learn how to convert an existing code base into RxSwift code base Learn how to debug and test your Rx Code Work with Playgrounds to transform sequences by filtering them using map, flatmap and other operators Learn how to combine different operators to work with Events in a more controlled manner. Discover RxCocoa and convert your simple UI elements to Reactive components Build a complete RxSwift app using MVVM as design pattern Who this book is for This book is for the developers who are familiar with Swift and iOS application development and are looking out to reduce the complexity of their apps. Prior experience of reactive programming is not necessary.

Robotics is a fast-growing industry. Multiple surveys state that investment in the field has increased tenfold in the last 6 years, and is set to become a $100-billion sector by 2020. Robots are prevalent throughout all industries, and they are all set to be a part of our domestic lives. This book starts with the installation and basic steps in configuring a robotic controller. You'll then move on to setting up your environment to use Python with the robotic controller. You'll dive deep into building simple robotic projects, such as a pet-feeding robot, and more complicated projects, such as machine learning enabled home automation system (Jarvis), vision processing based robots and a self-driven robotic vehicle using Python. By the end of this book, you'll know how to build smart robots using Python.

Writing safe and correct parallel programs is tough. Reasoning about concurrent memory modification is tough; efficiently exploiting the modern computing environment (with its multi-layered caches and deep execution pipelines) is also tough. Most systems programming languages add a further complication: unsafe memory access. The burden on you,.

Competitive mobile apps depend strongly on the development team’s ability to deliver successful releases, consistently and often. Although continuous integration took a more mainstream priority among the development industry, companies are starting to realize the importance of continuity beyond integration and testing. This book starts off with a brief introduction to fastlane—a robust command-line tool that enables iOS and Android developers to automate their releasing workflow. The book then explores and guides you through all of its features and utilities; it provides the reader a comprehensive understanding of the tool and how to implement them. Themes include setting up and managing your certificates and provisioning and push notification profiles; automating the creation of apps and managing the app metadata on iTunes Connect and the Apple Developer Portal; and building, distributing and publishing your apps to the App Store. You will also learn how to automate the generation of localized screenshots and mesh your continuous delivery workflow into a continuous integration workflow for a more robust setup. By the end of the book, you will gain substantial knowledge on delivering bug free, developer-independent, and stable application release cycle.