Journal Writing: Taking Math Instruction to the Next Level

In the last two decades literacy has been the focus across all content areas, including mathematics, allowing students to demonstrate their thinking processes and understanding. The purpose of this qualitative study was to discover if journal writing in math improves middle school students' ability to gain a greater understanding of the processes involved in mathematical reasoning. Students in an eighth grade math class in a suburban middle school in Western New York completed journal entries at the start of a new unit to discern knowledge of the topic. The conclusions imply that journal writing aids in student mathematical learning. Math journals not only help instructors in understanding students' feelings, but also help students demonstrate their mathematical thinking processes and understanding.SUNY BrockportEducation and Human DevelopmentMaster of Science in Education (MSEd)Education and Human Development Master's These

Journal Writing: Taking Math Instruction to the Next Level

In the last two decades literacy has been the focus across all content areas, including mathematics, allowing students to demonstrate their thinking processes and understanding. The purpose of this qualitative study was to discover if journal writing in math improves middle school students\u27 ability to gain a greater understanding of the processes involved in mathematical reasoning. Students in an eighth grade math class in a suburban middle school in Western New York completed journal entries at the start of a new unit to discern knowledge of the topic. The conclusions imply that journal writing aids in student mathematical learning. Math journals not only help instructors in understanding students\u27 feelings, but also help students demonstrate their mathematical thinking processes and understanding

Application of information theory and statistical learning to anomaly detection

In today\u27s highly networked world, computer intrusions and other attacks area constant threat. The detection of such attacks, especially attacks that are new or previously unknown, is important to secure networks and computers. A major focus of current research efforts in this area is on anomaly detection.;In this dissertation, we explore applications of information theory and statistical learning to anomaly detection. Specifically, we look at two difficult detection problems in network and system security, (1) detecting covert channels, and (2) determining if a user is a human or bot. We link both of these problems to entropy, a measure of randomness information content, or complexity, a concept that is central to information theory. The behavior of bots is low in entropy when tasks are rigidly repeated or high in entropy when behavior is pseudo-random. In contrast, human behavior is complex and medium in entropy. Similarly, covert channels either create regularity, resulting in low entropy, or encode extra information, resulting in high entropy. Meanwhile, legitimate traffic is characterized by complex interdependencies and moderate entropy. In addition, we utilize statistical learning algorithms, Bayesian learning, neural networks, and maximum likelihood estimation, in both modeling and detecting of covert channels and bots.;Our results using entropy and statistical learning techniques are excellent. By using entropy to detect covert channels, we detected three different covert timing channels that were not detected by previous detection methods. Then, using entropy and Bayesian learning to detect chat bots, we detected 100% of chat bots with a false positive rate of only 0.05% in over 1400 hours of chat traces. Lastly, using neural networks and the idea of human observational proofs to detect game bots, we detected 99.8% of game bots with no false positives in 95 hours of traces. Our work shows that a combination of entropy measures and statistical learning algorithms is a powerful and highly effective tool for anomaly detection

Towards efficient post-quantum signatures: parallelizing keccak in CROSS and contributing to open-source libraries

LAUREA MAGISTRALEL'emergere dell'informatica quantistica rappresenta una seria minaccia per i protocolli crittografici attuali, rendendo necessaria la creazione di soluzioni resistenti ai quantum computer. Questa tesi si concentra su CROSS (Codes and Restricted Objects Signature Scheme), un algoritmo di firma digitale post-quantum progettato per resistere ad attacchi quantistici e classici. CROSS sfrutta il problema della decodifica della sindrome ristretta (R-SDP) ed è costruito tramite un protocollo a conoscenza zero trasformato in uno schema di firma attraverso la trasformata di Fiat-Shamir. Questo lavoro presenta due principali contributi. In primo luogo, miglioriamo le prestazioni di CROSS parallelizzando le operazioni crittografiche basate su Keccak, che sono centrali per i processi di hashing e generazione di numeri pseudocasuali. Questa parallelizzazione, ottimizzata per le architetture delle moderne CPU, accelera sia la fase di firma che quella di verifica. In secondo luogo, integriamo CROSS in alcune librerie crittografiche, assicurandoci che rispetti le linee guida e sia accessibile per un uso pratico. Questa integrazione ci ha permesso di confrontare le prestazioni di CROSS con altri schemi di firma classici e post-quantum per valutarne l'applicabilità nel mondo reale.The emergence of quantum computing poses a serious threat to current cryptographic protocols, necessitating the creation of quantum-resistant solutions. This thesis focuses on CROSS (Codes and Restricted Objects Signature Scheme), a post-quantum digital signature algorithm designed to withstand quantum and classical attacks. CROSS leverages the Restricted Syndrome Decoding Problem and is derived from a zero-knowledge proof transformed into a signature scheme through the Fiat-Shamir heuristic. This work presents two main contributions. First, we enhance the performance of CROSS by parallelizing its Keccak-based cryptographic operations, which are central to the hashing and pseudorandom number generation processes. This parallelization, optimized for modern CPU architectures, accelerates both signing and verification. Second, we integrate CROSS into cryptographic libraries, ensuring that it meets coding standards and is accessible for practical use. This integration allowed us to benchmark CROSS against other classical and post-quantum signature schemes to assess its real-world applicability

Historical moment of a specialty

Os autores fazem um breve relato histórico da Medicina Legal ressaltando que é, como especialidade médica, uma das mais antigas e que vive um momento de grande relevância histórica: a fusão de duas sociedadesmédicas que disputavam o direito de emitir certificado de área de atuação para os médicos que a exercem. Os pontos principais dessa disputa são destacados, incluindo a alteração do nome da especialidade que passou a ser Medicina Legal e Perícia Médica, não se tratando de nova especialidade, apenas uma pequena mudança de denominação da antiga.  This article presents a brief history of Forensic Medicine in Brazil and emphasizes the current relevantmoment the specialty is facing: fusion of two medical societies which disputed the right to issue specialty certification for forensic medical doctors working in the area. The main dispute points are discussed, including the change in denomination of the specialty with the addition of Perícia Médica to the original name (Medicina Legal).  

Flight call response and energetics: two case studies analyzing migratory biology in select passerines on the south shore of Lake Ontario

Passerine migration is an energy-intensive behavior that occurs during spring and autumn, often between distant breeding and wintering grounds. Stopover sites provide places to rest and refuel. This two-part collaborative thesis studied extrinsic and intrinsic factors that affected the behavior and energetics of migratory passerines that visited Braddock Bay Bird Observatory (BBBO), located on the south shore of Lake Ontario. First, we compared the conspecific flight-call response of 2 parulid species captured spring 2018 and 2019 during the day and at dusk. Responsiveness was much lower at dusk, which suggests flight-call communication is likely not an important feature of dusk departure in parulids. Second, we constructed seasonal path models using BBBO bird banding data from 1999-2016 to examine the impacts of extrinsic (i.e., capture date and hour captured) and intrinsic (i.e., age and sex) factors on the energetic condition of 3 Catharus thrushes. Capture date was the most important predictor of condition followed by age and hour, except when sex was included in our models. However, analyses of sex were limited (and potentially inflated) because we could only determine the sex of the largest and smallest individuals in one species, the Swainson’s Thrush (C. ustulatus). Both studies showed that extrinsic and intrinsic factors have important implications on passerine migration behavior and physiology and that migratory behavior is complex and worthy of additional investigation.AMSUNY BrockportDepartment of Environmental Science and EcologyMSNorment, Christophe

Estruturação do problema de integração da cadeia de suprimentos de hortaliças no Distrito Federal

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Agronomia e Medicina Veterinária, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Agronegócios, 2019.A integração de uma cadeia de suprimentos é uma das buscas principais de grupos de agentes interessados em transformar insumos em produtos básicos e posteriormente em produtos acabados por meio de agregação de serviços e, principalmente, de valor, tudo isso de forma estrategicamente planejada para atender às necessidades e desejos dos clientes. As cadeias que conseguem constantemente se aprimorar para entregar tais valores buscam formar parcerias inovadoras a fim de conquistar vantagens competitivas, que carregam consigo ganhos para toda a cadeia, por meio de aumento de escala, aumento de produtividade, redução de custos de transação, entre outros. O propósito deste trabalho é estruturar a problemática da integração da cadeia de suprimentos de hortaliças no Distrito Federal, situada na região Centro-Oeste do Brasil, a fim de se encontrar problemas, objetivos, visões, alternativas e opções para orientar um possível tomador de decisões a entender, com mais facilidade, uma relação complexa e desconexa, que há tempos prejudica os ganhos de cada um dos atores diretamente envolvidos, seja o fornecedor de insumos agrícolas, produtores, cooperativas, atravessadores, atacadistas, varejistas, governos e sociedade. Para tanto, este estudo, de natureza aplicada, apresenta uma abordagem qualitativa que visa reunir as informações para mapear como a cadeia de suprimentos de hortaliças é gerida no mundo, no Brasil e no Distrito Federal. Em um primeiro momento, realizaram-se duas revisões sistemáticas de literatura. Ademais, desenvolveu-se um estudo de caso com a utilização de entrevistas semiestruturadas junto principais agentes vinculados à cadeia de suprimentos de hortaliças no DF, cujas perguntas foram direcionadas à compreensão dos fluxos de produtos, informações e finanças da cadeia. A partir das entrevistas, desenvolveu-se mapas cognitivos que, após validados pelos próprios entrevistados, foram unificados em um único mapa agregado. A análise do mapa agregado foi feita com base nos parâmetros determinados na metodologia Strategic Options Development Analisys (SODA). Constatou-se que, para se integrar, os atores precisam desenvolver mecanismos de organização e gestão, para que seja possível equilibrar o poder entre seus agentes e com isso, tornar o processo de negócios mais racional de maneira a torna-lo mais eficiente e lucrativo, especialmente ao se aplicar meios de combate às perdas e desperdícios ao longo da cadeia, que chega a 50% de tudo o que é produzido.The integration of a supply chain is one of the main purposes to generate synergy between agents interested in transforming inputs into outputs in order to generate value that meets the needs and desires of the customers. Supply chains seek to form innovative partnerships to gain competitive advantages, which carry gains for the entire chain, through increased scale, increased productivity, reduced transaction costs, and more. The purpose of this work is to structure the problems of the vegetable supply chain in the Federal District, located in the Center-West region of Brazil, in order to find gaps, objectives, visions, alternatives and options to orient a possible decision maker to understand a complex and disconnected relationship that has long harmed the gains of each of the actors directly involved, whether it be the supplier of agricultural inputs, producers, cooperatives, brokers, wholesalers, retailers, governments and society. To this end, this study, of an applied nature, presents a qualitative approach that aims to gather the most qualified information to map how the vegetable supply chain is managed in the world, in Brazil and in the Federal District. At first, two systematic reviews of literature were carried out. In addition, a case study was developed with the use of semi-structured interviews with the main agents linked to the vegetable supply chain in the DF, whose questions were directed to the understanding of the flows of products, information and finances of the chain. From the interviews, we developed cognitive maps that, after being validated by the interviewees themselves, were unified in a single aggregate map. The analysis of the aggregate map was made based on the parameters determined in the Strategic Options Development Analyzes (SODA) methodology. It was verified that, in order to be integrated, the actors need to develop mechanisms of organization and management, so that it is possible to balance the power between its agents and with that, to make the business process more rational in a way that makes it more efficient and profitable , especially in the application of means to combat losses and wastes along the chain, which amounts to 50% of all that is produced

Leave of absence for pregnant aircrew in Brazil: current scenario

Medical restrictions on the work of female aircrew during pregnancy are established worldwide. In Brazil, recent changes in the medico-legal assessment of these professionals caused conflict and attracted public attention to the matter. The purpose of this study is to present the current scenario of leaves of absence of pregnant aircrew in Brazil. Development: Aircrew in Brazil are subject to specific regulations, developed by the National Civic Aviation Agency (ANAC), which considers a pregnant woman unfit for work from the moment of the pregnancy diagnosis. The Joint Boards of the National Institute of Social Security (INSS) took this law into consideration when assessing these professionals, granting the benefit in such cases. However, as of May 2017, aircrew were assessed in the same way as the other professionals insured by the General Regime of Social Security (RGPS) and pregnant aircrew started having their benefits rejected, falling into the so-called social security limbo. After a court decision issued in November 2017, this situation changed and the benefits for the same requests were granted again, now only with administrative documentary evaluation and no medico-legal reports. Conclusion: There is a divergence between the laws regulating aviation and Social Security. It has been resolved to date by a court decision that followed a union's claim, granting pregnant aircrew paid sick leave for disability via an administrative process, a hitherto unprecedented decision.  Resumo: Restrições médicas ao trabalho das mulheres aeronautas no período gestacional são estabelecidas no mundo todo. No Brasil, mudanças recentes na avaliação médico pericial dessas profissionais geraram conflitos entre as partes envolvidas e colocaram o assunto em voga. O presente estudo tem por finalidade apresentar o cenário atual que envolve o afastamento laboral das gestantes aeronautas no Brasil. Desenvolvimento:   Os aeronautas no Brasil possuem uma regulamentação própria desenvolvida pela Agência Nacional da Aviação Civil (ANAC) que considera como inapta a gestante a partir do momento do diagnóstico da gravidez. Esta legislação era levada em conta nas perícias realizadas pelas Juntas Mistas do Instituto Nacional do Seguro Social (INSS), que deferiam benefício auxílio-doença nesses casos. Contudo, a partir de maio de 2017 esses profissionais passaram a ser avaliados como os demais segurados do Regime Geral de Previdência Social (RGPS), e, por isso, as gestantes começaram a ter seus benefícios indeferidos, ficando no chamado limbo trabalhista previdenciário. Após decisão judicial emitida em novembro de 2017, esta situação foi modificada e os mesmos pedidos voltaram a ser deferidos, mas agora somente com avaliação documental administrativa, ou seja, sem realização de perícia médica. Conclusão: Existe uma divergência entre as leis que regulamentam a aviação e as que regem a Previdência Social resolvida, até o momento, por decisão judicial após reivindicação do sindicato, a qual deferiu o pagamento de auxílio-doença por incapacidade para essas profissionais de forma administrativa, algo até então sem precedentes