ABSTRACT:
Dielectrophoresis has been tried to be applied to cell sorting technology in previous studies. In the present study, the movement of mouse myoblast cells flowing through the perpendicular electric field in a micro- channel has been analyzed in vitro. A pair of asymmetric surface electrodes of titanium was manufactured by the photolithography technique: a triangular electrode with the tip angle of 0.35 rad, and a rectangular electrode with the flat edge as the reference. The cyclic alternating electric current of the square wave with the period of 0.3 μs was introduced between the surface electrodes to induce the asymmetric electric field perpendicular to the main flow direction. The suspension of cells (C2C12: mouse myoblast cell line) was injected into the flow channel, and the flow rate was controlled by the pressure head between the inlet and outlet. The velocity of each cell related to the shape and alignment is measured. Experimental results show that the velocity change near the tip of the electrode is lower for a highly elongated cell. The maximum movement perpendicular to the main flow direction occurs when the major axis is perpendicular to the main flow direction.

ABSTRACT:
Free will is sometimes summarised in the philosophical literature as the subjective impression felt by an individual that he or she is the ultimate source or cause of his or her own choices. The two most common arguments for denying the existence of free will come from philosophy and neuroscience. The first argument is the Consequence Argument. The second asserts that our decisions are first made by the brain and only then become conscious to the subject, taking away the control of the decision. The purpose of these two arguments is to demonstrate that an individual cannot be the source or primary cause of his or her choices. It is shown in this work that the concepts of primary cause and primary source are not adequate to state a solid characterisation of free will. A new formulation of this property is proposed in which it is seen as a three-stage decision-making process implemented by an individual to escape his or her own real or supposed alienation. This decision-making process is represented in the form of a computer model called the Predictability - Suspension - Unpredictability (PSU) model. The compatibility of this new formulation of free will with the feeling it provides and the analysis of various situations are then discussed.

ABSTRACT:
Even prior to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, education presented some gaps in the didactic-pedagogical field. Due to the constant reinvention of didactic-pedagogical practices, it is of paramount importance to integrate active methodologies in educational spaces for improving the processes of action-reflection-action-reflection. We present an Articulating Methodology (AM), as a potentiator device, for intersectoral work between the health and education sectors. The goal of this paper is to systematize Articulating Methodology concepts with Permanent Health Education (PHE) principles. This is an exploratory study carried out in three steps: describing the authors' experiences; bibliographic research; and integrative review for a discussion about the contextualization of the active methodologies. We identified important elements that can be added to the AM using technology information. As conclusion, we highlight that it is essential the importance of the teacher’s role in the educational process. Nonetheless, it is necessary to develop such a sensitive reason for a more humanized practice. The AM stands out in this process, through the creation of Proactive Agendas, as well as ethical and moral principles, which reinforce social participation, didactic-pedagogical development, and technological information use, allowing the grown up of the narratives that emerge from the participants' experiences/voices/listening.

ABSTRACT:
In this paper, we present the life and the achievements of American blind mathematician Abraham Nemeth (1918-2013), with the main focus on his extraordinary contribution to mathematical culture. His inventions opened the doors of mathematics to blind and heavily visually impaired people and are still the starting point for many advanced assistive technologies. The paper is structured as follows: after a brief introduction on mathematics and blindness in Section 1, Section 2 explores the biography of Abraham Nemeth, highlighting some points of interest for the development of his scientific career. In Sections 3 and 4 we present his two most remarkable achievements; the inventions of the Nemeth Braille Code and of MathSpeak respectively. Finally, we draw some conclusions in Section 5.

ABSTRACT:
Cryptocurrency, which falls into the category of virtual currency, has become increasingly popular in recent years. There are zero or very minimal transaction fees and the transactions are anonymous. In this report, we will discuss the impact of adopting the virtual currency in our society. We will investigate virtual currency by analyzing and comparing some top cryptocurrency stocks to see the trend and try to predict their futures. Specifically, Python Jupyter Notebook will be the tool to analyze the data. Data will be preprocessed and explored. Machine learning modules will be used to learn the datasets and the moving trends will be predicted.

ABSTRACT:
Problem driven approach with customer engagement is argued to be one of the principal strategies of innovation opportunity identification. This paper analyzes the findings of a two-year-long research project conducted in Riga Technical University with the data collection from different countries of Europe, Asia and America (n=1050) to explore whether there are principal differences in the perception of innovation opportunities by males and females. The qualitative content analysis of the respondents’ texts revealed three groups of problems shared by males and females: 1) universal problems which are perceived similarly by both genders, 2) problems, which are perceived by males more, and 3) problems, which are perceived by females more. So, innovation opportunity identification is gender related.

ABSTRACT:
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represent in Europe up to 99% of all businesses and provide two-thirds of the total employment in private sector. However, business literature as well as training programs often tend to use large companies and corporations as best practice examples for setting up management practices.

This research review existing literature on governance and management system development in context of small and medium enterprises and compare findings with three small-medium-sized companies from different European countries.

Companies analyzed demonstrate different ways of setting up management system and processes to achieve positive financial and market results. This leads to conclusion that it is essential to achieve fit of management system elements to business circumstances, rather implementing selected good practices. For small and medium enterprises, this is even more important, as they are characterized by limited resources and competences. This paper enlighten challenges SMEs are facing and some possible solutions that will contribute to improving their management and sustainability.

ABSTRACT:
A very important branch of IoT is ad-hoc mobile networks, where sensor networks move in a given space and have been created to operate without a specialized infrastructure. However, there is a branch of this technology that involves unmanned vehicles, and can be divided into two sub-branches: Vehicle Ad-hoc Networks and Flying Vehicle Ad-hoc Networks. There, end node security becomes paramount. This paper´s objective proposes detection time as a metric to measure the impact that a Denial-of-Service, (DoS), attack could have, even with an Intrusion Detection System, (IDS), operating on the network. Furthermore, the importance of developing an IDS that revolves around false positives, and how this could affect the entire network system is emphasized. Likewise, a model is proposed and described to detect DoS attacks from the security approach of the end node, whereas, instead of starting to track the attack, the supposed node being attacked is secured, protecting it without interrupting its operations and subsequently confirming the attack to be identified. In the future, we intend to explain the correlation between time detection and security.

ABSTRACT:
We have engaged in a significant restructuring of our computer science curriculum. This paper describes the process that we followed and illustrates the generalizable approach through a case study. We also demonstrate that the revision had several positive outcomes that went beyond our expectations. The case study describes a computer science computer program revision that sets goals to ensure the program's long-term viability, content alignment with labor market expectations, reasonable alignment with accreditation standards, and student success, diversity, and retention. The study demonstrated an increased ability for students to personalize their educational experience, leading to a clearly identifiable program and an improved value proposition. It also documents how the process resulted in creating a one-credit orientation seminar that contributes to increased student retention and enhances diversity in the major.

ABSTRACT:
We present a novel approach to fuse the Radius Particle Swarm Optimization and Simulated Annealing (RPSO-SA) to solve the Knapsack Problems (KPs). The features RPSO-SA create an innovative approach, which can generate high-quality solutions in shorter times and more stable convergence characteristics. The RPSO takes advantage of group-swarm to keep the balance between the global exploration and the local exploitation. The SA gently improves the candidate solution by searching for optimal solutions within a local neighbourhood. The RPSO-SA combines the strong global search ability of RPSO and the strong local search ability of SA to reach faster optimal solution. In addition, there are two ways of accepting a new solution. The method has been tested against the knapsack problems. The results indicate that the combined approach outperforms individual implementations of radius particle swarm optimization and simulated annealing.

ABSTRACT:
The mission of the university goes beyond contributing to society with the results of its research and innovation. Its scope is prompting and supporting young people to gain new knowledge while encouraging them to consider/include forms of social engagement. Then, it is crucial for teachers to engage students in the learning process. Students use technology to communicate; thus, they are more likely and comfortable to participate in a technology-driven environment. This purpose could be pursued through the correct choice of educational technologies within the learning environments. Communication technologies have the potential to engage learners while also providing motivation and support for both teaching and learning. This paper focuses on the definition of educational technologies and on the description of a grid of 12 technologies that were chosen based on the research activities undertaken in doctoral research at the Politecnico di Milano. Subsequently, the technologies are classified through different mappings and methodologies to produce a description showing advantages, disadvantages, and contexts of use. Finally, it analyses the technologies from the point of view of 2 learning contexts, on-site and online, to help create new hybrid learning processes.

ABSTRACT:
Technology forecasting plays an important role in the research and development of products in any company or organization. A well-designed forecast study would help to get the maximum expected gains from future conditions while minimizing expected losses. This article focuses on forecasting of average satellite lifetimes. In this article, using data for the launch dates of satellites, we will analyze their failure (expiration) dates to better understand the curves most suitable for determining trends in satellite lifespans. This article also discusses the prediction of lifetimes of satellites currently in orbit, as well as those to be launched in the future.

One goal of this paper is to explain the importance of forecasting and to give a brief explanation of forecasting methods. Another objective is to develop a best fit curve from the available past performance data of satellites by using techniques such as regression analysis, general curve fitting and valuation methods.