Developing Criteria of an English Textbook Evaluation for Indonesian Senior High School

The use of criteria of an English textbook is crucial to improve the quality of teaching. However, choosing the criteria is a challenging task for teachers and material developers. This recent study aims at developing criteria of an English textbook evaluation for Indonesian Senior High School. This research used Research and Development. Three phases were employed: exploration stage, development stage, and validation stage. At the exploration stage, 17 respondents of English teachers were asked about the need of developing the criteria of the English textbook. All respondents agreed that the textbook evaluation criteria were needed since there is no particular standardized textbook evaluation available. Therefore, they need to use the criteria as the basis to determine the quality of a particular textbook. At the development stage, 10 criteria to evaluate textbooks were constructed. Those cover (1) aims and approaches; (2) design and organization; (3); content; (4) skills; (5) vocabulary; (6) exercises and activities; (7) methodology; (8) attractiveness of the textbook and physical make-up; (9) teacher’s manual; and (10) practical consideration. At the validation stage, the textbook evaluation criteria were deemed valid by experts. Considering these facts, 10 designed criteria could be used as the principle to determine an evaluation of English textbooks, primarily in the teaching English at Indonesian Senior High school.

Review of Water Network Analysis and Validation of SCALER Hydraulic Simulator

The article intends to present the validation stage of a software to model and simulate hydraulic networks for water distribution, the SCALER, through its application to a real system, with many branches, with a model previously developed and verified using the EPANET software. SCALER was developed in 2020 and 2021 and, until then, had only been applied to networks with a relatively small number of branches. After discussing topics related to hydraulic modeling of distribution networks, techniques and applications, a brief review of the fundamentals of SCALER is carried out, passing on to its application to the case at hand, which is the Vila Joaniza community, in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro. Data from image, scheme and table are used to assist in the description of the local situation and respective distribution network, with the objective of assessing whether the nodal pressures obtained by SCALER are sufficiently similar to those obtained by EPANET, in order to ensure the proper functioning of the software. After this step, and the calculations have been made by the program, an operation screen, the generated graph of the local situation and a table with the comparison of absolute and percentage deviations between the nodal pressures resulting from the SCALER and those obtained with the EPANET are inserted, confirming that the deviation values are quite small, which validates SCALER as a software also applicable to networks with many branches.

Employing Artificial Neural Networks to Predict the Performance of Domestic Sewage Treatment Terminals in the Rural Region

Domestic sewage in rural regions is mainly treated by small-scale treatment terminals in China. The large quantities and high dispersion of these terminals render the chemical measurement of effluent to be a time and energy intensive work and further hinder the efficient surveillance of terminals’ performance. After a thorough investigation of 136 operating terminals, this study successfully employs two artificial neural network (ANN) models to predict effluent total nitrogen (TN) and COD (R2 both higher than 0.8) by setting some easily detectable parameters, e.g., pH and conductivity, as inputs. To prevent ANN models getting stuck on local optima and enhance the model performance, genetic algorithm (GA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) are introduced into ANN, respectively. By comparison, ANN-PSO excels in modelling both TN and COD. The root mean square error (RMSE) and R2 of ANN-PSO in modelling TN are 9.14 and 0.90, respectively, in the training stage, and 11.54 and 0.90, respectively, in the validation stage. The RMSE and R2 of ANN-PSO in modelling COD are 22.10 and 0.90, respectively, in the training stage, and 26.57 and 0.85, respectively, in the validation stage. This is the first study to provide performance prediction models that are available for different terminals. Two established ANN-PSO models show great practical significance in monitoring huge amounts of terminals despite the slight sacrifice of models’ accuracy caused by the great heterogeneity of different terminals.

Kelayakan Media Video Pembelajaran pada Submateri Sistem Endokrin

<p class="StyleAuthorBold"><strong>Abstrak</strong></p><p>Penelitian bertujuan mengetahui kelayakan video sebagai media pembelajaran pada submateri Sistem Endokrin kelas XI SMA. Penelitian menggunakan metode penelitian deskriptif. Tahapan penelitian meliputi tahap penyusunan materi isi media video dan validasi media video. Validasi dilakukan oleh lima validator. Instrumen penelitian menggunakan lembar validasi. Penilaian lembar validasi menggunakan skala Likert. Aspek yang dinilai yaitu aspek format, isi, dan bahasa. Data dianalisis menggunakan formula Lawshe. Hasil validasi menunjukkan rata-rata CVR pada aspek penilaian format, isi, dan bahasa lebih besar dari batas minimum Lawshe. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian, maka disimpulkan bahwa media video dapat digunakan sebagai media pembelajaran pada submateri Sistem Endokrin pada kelas XI SMA.</p><p> </p><p class="StyleAuthorBold"><strong><em>Abstract</em></strong></p><p><em>The research aimed to determine the feasibility of video as a learning medium in the Endocrine System submaterial in class XI senior high school. The research used descriptive method. The research stages include the stage of compiling the video media content material and the video media validation stage. Validation was carried out by five validators. The research instrument used a validation sheet. The validation sheet assessment used a Likert scale. The aspects that assessed were format, content, and language. Data were analyzed using Lawshe's formula. The validation results showed that the average CVR in the aspect of format, content, and language assessment was greater than the Lawshe minimum limit. Based on the results of the study, it can be concluded that video media can be used as a learning medium in the Endocrine System submaterial in class XI senior high school.</em></p>

The Development of E-Instrument to Test Students Mental Models on Electrolyte and Non-Electrolyte Solutions

The purpose of this study is to design an instrument that can be used to determine students mental models in electrolyte and non-electrolyte solutions. Students do not have complete understanding of electrolyte and non-electrolyte solutions topic. It takes an instrument that can measure students mental models, which can then be used to find out why students do not have complete understanding of electrolyte and non-electrolyte solutions topic. The research method used is the RnD method with a 4D model. The research steps consist of define, design and development. The results of this study are e-instruments that can be used to measure students mental models on electrolyte and non-electrolyte solutions. The average results of the instrument feasibility from material experts and teacher experts were 89 percent and 83 percent, namely worthy with very good predicate and good predicate. These results indicate that the designed instrument is feasible to use. The instrument designed only reached the validation stage due to lack of time in research.

Applying the LOT Methodology to a Public Bus Transport Ontology aligned with Transmodel: Challenges and Results

We present an ontology that describes the domain of Public Transport by bus, which is common in cities around the world. This ontology is aligned to Transmodel, a reference model which is available as a UML specification and which was developed to foster interoperability of data about transport systems across Europe. The alignment with this non-ontological resource required the adaptation of the Linked Open Terms (LOT) methodology, which has been used by our team as the methodological framework for the development of many ontologies used for the publication of open city data. The ontology is structured into three main modules: (1) agencies, operators and the lines that they manage, (2) lines, routes, stops and journey patterns, and (3) planned vehicle journeys with their timetables and service calendars. Besides reusing Transmodel concepts, the ontology also reuses common ontology design patterns from GeoSPARQL and the SOSA ontology. As part of the LOT data-driven validation stage, RDF data has been generated taking as input the GTFS feeds (General Transit Feed Specification) provided by the Madrid public bus transport provider (EMT). Mapping rules from structured data sources to RDF were developed using the RDF Mapping Language (RML) to generate RDF data, and queries corresponding to competency questions were tested.

Association of IL1R1 Coding Variant With Plasma-Level Soluble ST2 and Risk of Aortic Dissection

Objective: Aortic dissection (AD) is characterized by an acute onset, rapid progress, and high mortality. Levels of soluble ST2 (sST2) on presentation are elevated in patients with acute AD, which can be used to discriminate AD patients from patients with chest pain. sST2 concentrations were found to be highly heritable in the general population. The aim of this study was to investigate the associations of variations in ST2-related gene expression with sST2 concentrations and AD risk.Methods: This case-control study involving a total of 2,277 participants were conducted, including 435 AD patients and age- and sex-matched 435 controls in the discovery stage, and 464 patients and 943 controls in the validation stage. Eight ST2-related genes were selected by systematic review. Tag single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were screened out from the Chinese population of the 1,000 Genomes Database. Twenty-one ST2-related SNPs were genotyped, and plasma sST2 concentrations were measured.Results: In the discovery stage, rs13019803 located in IL1R1 was significantly associated with AD after Bonferroni correction (p = 0.0009) and was correlated with circulating sST2 levels in patients with type A AD(AAD) [log-sST2 per C allele increased by 0.180 (95%) CI: 0.002 – 0.357] but not in type B. Combining the two stages together, rs13019803C was associated with plasma sST2 level in AAD patients [log-sST2 increased by 0.141 (95% CI: 0.055–0.227) for per C allele]. Odds ratio of rs13019803 on the risk of AAD is 1.67 (95% CI: 1.33–2.09).Conclusions: The IL1R1 SNP rs13019803C is associated with higher sST2 levels and increased risk of AAD.

SWAT Model Adaptability to a Small Mountainous Forested Watershed in Central Romania

This study aims to build and test the adaptability and reliability of the Soil and Water Assessment Tool hydrological model in a small mountain forested watershed. This ungauged watershed covers 184 km2 and supplies 90% of blue water for the Brașov metropolitan area, the second largest metropolitan area of Romania. After building a custom database at the forest management compartment level, the SWAT model was run. Further, using the SWAT-CUP software under the SUFI2 algorithm, we identified the most sensitive parameters required in the calibration and validation stage. Moreover, the sensitivity analysis revealed that the surface runoff is mainly influenced by soil, groundwater and vegetation condition parameters. The calibration was carried out for 2001‒2010, while the 1996‒1999 period was used for model validation. Both procedures have indicated satisfactory performance and a lower uncertainty of model results in replicating river discharge compared with observed discharge. This research demonstrates that the SWAT model can be applied in small ungauged watersheds after an appropriate parameterisation of its databases. Furthermore, this tool is appropriate to support decision-makers in conceiving sustainable watershed management. It also guides prioritising the most suitable measures to increase the river basin resilience and ensure the water demand under climate change.

Development of snake ladder instructional media using STAD cooperative model for class VIII MTS students

This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of snake ladders learning media that was developed using the Student Teams Achievement Divisions (STAD) cooperative learning model in Physics learning with Sound material in class VIII MTs. This research was conducted at MTs Cendekia Muhammadiyah Kotamobagu in the 2018/2019 academic year. The research method used was the research and development (R&D) method consisted of seven stages, i.e.: planning, initial design media, development of media, validation of media, revision, test, and analysis and final revision. In the validation stage, the learning media is validated by media and material experts. The learning media was tried out to students in class VIII MTs as many as 28 students. The result showed that the learning media was viable with averages of 4.03 and 4.54 with percentages of 80.6 (good) and 90.8 (very good) from the material and media experts, respectively. The effectiveness of the learning model can be seen in students’ attractiveness to the snake ladder media with the percentage value above 61% (strongly agree). This means that the snake ladder media obtained an outstanding response on students’ completing the learning, which reached 89.29%. Hence, the snake ladder learning media was eligible for use in the learning process.

Abnormal upregulation of cardiovascular disease biomarker PLA2G7 induced by proinflammatory macrophages in COVID-19 patients

High rate of cardiovascular disease (CVD) has been reported among patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Importantly, CVD, as one of the comorbidities, could also increase the risks of the severity of COVID-19. Here we identified phospholipase A2 group VII (PLA2G7), a well-studied CVD biomarker, as a hub gene in COVID-19 though an integrated hypothesis-free genomic analysis on nasal swabs (n = 486) from patients with COVID-19. PLA2G7 was further found to be predominantly expressed by proinflammatory macrophages in lungs emerging with progression of COVID-19. In the validation stage, RNA level of PLA2G7 was identified in nasal swabs from both COVID-19 and pneumonia patients, other than health individuals. The positive rate of PLA2G7 were correlated with not only viral loads but also severity of pneumonia in non-COVID-19 patients. Serum protein levels of PLA2G7 were found to be elevated and beyond the normal limit in COVID-19 patients, especially among those re-positive patients. We identified and validated PLA2G7, a biomarker for CVD, was abnormally enhanced in COVID-19 at both nucleotide and protein aspects. These findings provided indications into the prevalence of cardiovascular involvements seen in patients with COVID-19. PLA2G7 could be a potential prognostic and therapeutic target in COVID-19.