Improving students’ use of argumentation is front and center in the increasing emphasis on scientific practice in K-12 Science and STEM programs. We explore the construct validity of scenario-based assessments of claim-evidence-reasoning (CER) and the structure of the CER construct with respect to a learning progression framework. We also seek to understand how middle school students progress. Establishing the purpose of an argument is a competency that a majority of middle school students meet, whereas quantitative reasoning is the most difficult, and the Rasch model indicates that the competencies form a unidimensional hierarchy of skills. We also find no evidence of differential item functioning between different scenarios, suggesting

     Binary relations or interactions among bio-entities, such as proteins, set up the essential part of any living biological system. Protein-protein interactions are usually structured in a graph data structure called "protein-protein interaction networks" (PPINs). Analysis of PPINs into complexes tries to lay out the significant knowledge needed to answer many unresolved questions, including how cells are organized and how proteins work. However, complex detection problems fall under the category of non-deterministic polynomial-time hard (NP-Hard) problems due to their computational complexity. To accommodate such combinatorial explosions, evolutionary algorithms (EAs) are proven effective alternatives to heuristics in solvin

Face recognition is a crucial biometric technology used in various security and identification applications. Ensuring accuracy and reliability in facial recognition systems requires robust feature extraction and secure processing methods. This study presents an accurate facial recognition model using a feature extraction approach within a cloud environment. First, the facial images undergo preprocessing, including grayscale conversion, histogram equalization, Viola-Jones face detection, and resizing. Then, features are extracted using a hybrid approach that combines Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) and Gray-Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM). The extracted features are encrypted using the Data Encryption Standard (DES) for security

An Intelligent Internet of Things network based on an Artificial Intelligent System, can substantially control and reduce the congestion effects in the network. In this paper, an artificial intelligent system is proposed for eliminating the congestion effects in traffic load in an Intelligent Internet of Things network based on a deep learning Convolutional Recurrent Neural Network with a modified Element-wise Attention Gate. The invisible layer of the modified Element-wise Attention Gate structure has self-feedback to increase its long short-term memory. The artificial intelligent system is implemented for next step ahead traffic estimation and clustering the network. In the proposed architecture, each sensing node is adaptive and able to

Incorporating waste byproducts into concrete is an innovative and promising way to minimize the environmental impact of waste material while maintaining and/or improving concrete’s mechanical characteristics and strength. The proper application of sawdust as a pozzolan in the building industry remains a significant challenge. Consequently, this study conducted an experimental evaluation of sawdust as a fill material. In particular, sawdust as a fine aggregate in concrete offers a realistic structural and economical possibility for the construction of lightweight structural systems. Failure under four-point loads was investigated for six concrete-filled steel tube (CFST) specimens. The results indicated that recycled lightweight co

The present work folds two qualitative objectives; the first focuses on investigating the multiplicity of motivation-based human needs in Little Bee. The second objective involves examining the linguistic forms adopted to disclose such needs. Consequently, the researchers are to adapt eclectically Alderfer's Existence, Relatedness, and Growth Theory (1969) and Langacker’s theory of Domains (1987) together with his Active Zone Operation (1991). Such a study helps to embody the connectivity between the social and psychological aspects, and the way these two aspects are disclosed using particular linguistic The study has concluded that Bee needed Alderfer’s basic human needs: existence, relatedness, and growth. Besides, satisfying

Electromyogram (EMG)-based Pattern Recognition (PR) systems for upper-limb prosthesis control provide promising ways to enable an intuitive control of the prostheses with multiple degrees of freedom and fast reaction times. However, the lack of robustness of the PR systems may limit their usability. In this paper, a novel adaptive time windowing framework is proposed to enhance the performance of the PR systems by focusing on their windowing and classification steps. The proposed framework estimates the output probabilities of each class and outputs a movement only if a decision with a probability above a certain threshold is achieved. Otherwise (i.e., all probability values are below the threshold), the window size of the EMG signa

This article presents a new cascaded extended state observer (CESO)-based sliding-mode control (SMC) for an underactuated flexible joint robot (FJR). The control of the FJR has many challenges, including coupling, underactuation, nonlinearity, uncertainties and external disturbances, and the noise amplification especially in the high-order systems. The proposed control integrates the CESO and SMC, in which the CESO estimates the states and disturbances, and the SMC provides the system robustness to the uncertainty and disturbance estimation errors. First, a dynamic model of the FJR is derived and converted from an underactuated form to a canonical form via the Olfati transformation and a flatness approach, which reduces the complexity of th