WWII: Die Suche nach dem alten Freund

Article for general public (2017)

The article treats a friendship between a Soviet POW and a Luxemburger in 1944, both working at the Reichsbahn under the German occupation in Luxembourg.

Ontologically stepping-up: A model for refugee entrepreneurship

Scientific Conference (2017, December 01)

This paper is a first attempt at proposing an integrated conceptual model that would bridge this gap in our knowledge of refugee entrepreneurship. Such a model might then enable for the understanding of ... [more ▼]

This paper is a first attempt at proposing an integrated conceptual model that would bridge this gap in our knowledge of refugee entrepreneurship. Such a model might then enable for the understanding of the super-diverse entrepreneurial strategies being employed by super-diverse refugees, within complex and super-diverse socio-economic and political settings – thereby, ontologically stepping-up our theoretical approaches and empirical insights into the phenomenon. [less ▲]

Preparing Future Teachers for Strategic Uses of Educational Technology: A Project-Based Approach

Scientific Conference (2017, December 01)

Given (1) the need for teachers who are willing and able to design, implement and reflect meaningful and successful educational technology practices in schools and (2) the current rarity of strategic uses ... [more ▼]

Given (1) the need for teachers who are willing and able to design, implement and reflect meaningful and successful educational technology practices in schools and (2) the current rarity of strategic uses of ICT in education in Luxembourgish schools, the self-declared lack of competencies and the low confidence of teachers when it comes to teaching with ICT (Reuter, Busana & Linckels, 2016), we have designed, implemented and tested a project-based approach to the development of practice- oriented TPACK in pre-service teachers. Future teacher students are instructed to define an educational problem they want to solve, to explore existing pedagogical and technological solutions and to design an original solution that involves the strategic use of ICT (theoretically grounded and practically meaningful). They then have to implement the designed learning & teaching scenario in a classroom, to document the teaching & learning processes, to analyse, evaluate and to critically reflect them. Finally, they are required to write a structured report about their project and to present it to their peers and to interested teachers from schools. Overall, we observe that while most students become able to design and implement relatively meaningful educational technology practices, they still tend to feel that they are not ready to teach with technology in a more general sense, because their work was focused on one or two tools and does not give them access to a broader range of meaningful ICT-enriched teaching scenarios for their later professional career. [less ▲]

Fast Discretized Gaussian Sampling and Post-quantum TLS Ciphersuite

in The 13th International Conference on Information Security Practice and Experience - ISPEC 2017 (2017, December 01)

Value-Added Modelling in Primary and Secondary School: An Integrative Review of 674 Publications

Scientific Conference (2017, December)

Value-added (VA) modelling aims to quantify the effect of pedagogical actions on students’ achievement, independent of students’ backgrounds (e.g., [1]); in other words, VA strives to model the added ... [more ▼]

Value-added (VA) modelling aims to quantify the effect of pedagogical actions on students’ achievement, independent of students’ backgrounds (e.g., [1]); in other words, VA strives to model the added value of teaching. VA is typically used for teacher and/or school accountability (e.g., [2]). Although, VA models have gained popularity in recent years—a substantial increase of publications is to be observed over the last decade—, there is no consensus on how to calculate VA, nor is there a consensus whether and which covariates should be included in the statistical models (e.g., [3]). The aim of the present study is to conduct a to date non-existent integrative review on VA modelling in primary and secondary education. Starting with an exhaustive literature research in the ERIC, Scopus, PsycINFO, and Psyndex databases, we reviewed and thoroughly classified 674 VA publications from 32 different countries. Half of the studies investigated VA models at teacher level; the remaining looked at school or principal level. 370 studies used empirical data to calculate VA models. Most of these studies explained their covariates, but approximately 15% did not specify the model. Most studies used prior achievement as a covariate, but cognitive and/or motivational student data were almost never taken into consideration. Moreover, most of the studies did not adjust for methodological issues such as missing data or measurement error. To conclude, given the high relevance of VA—it is primarily used for high-stakes decisions— more transparency, rigor and consensus are needed, especially concerning methodological details. References [1] Braun, H. I. (2005). Using student progress to evaluate teachers: A primer on value-added models. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service. [2] Sanders, W. L. (2000). Value-added assessment from student achievement data: Opportunities and hurdles. Journal of Personnel Evaluation in Education, 14(4), 329–339. [3] Newton, X., Darling-Hammond, L., Haertel, E., & Thomas, E. (2010). Value-added modeling of teacher effectiveness: An exploration of stability across models and contexts. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 18(23). [less ▲]

Neuro-Inspired Reward-Based Tracking Control for Robotic Manipulators with Unknown Dynamics

in Proceedings of the 2017 2nd International Conference on Robotics and Automation Engineering (ICRAE) (2017, December)

Tracking control for robotic manipulators is required for numerous automation tasks in manufacturing engineering. For this purpose, model-free PD-controllers are largely implemented by default in ... [more ▼]

Tracking control for robotic manipulators is required for numerous automation tasks in manufacturing engineering. For this purpose, model-free PD-controllers are largely implemented by default in commercially available robot arms and provide satisfactory performance for simple path following applications. Ever more complex automation tasks however ask for novel intelligent and adaptive tracking control strategies. In surface finishing processes, discontinuous freeform paths as well as changing constraints between the robotic end-effector and its surrounding environment affect the tracking control by undermining the stable system performance. The lacking knowledge of industrial robot dynamic parameters presents an additional challenge for the tracking control algorithms. In this paper the control problem of robotic manipulators with unknown dynamics and varying constraints is addressed. A robust sliding mode controller is combined with an RBF (Radial Basis Function) Neural Network-estimator and an intelligent, biomimetic BELBIC (Brain Emotional Learning-Based Intelligent Control) term to approximate the nonlinear robot dynamics function and achieve a robust and adaptive tracking performance. [less ▲]

Facing the Safety-Security Gap in RTES: the Challenge of Timeliness

Scientific Conference (2017, December)

Safety-critical real-time systems, including real-time cyber-physical and industrial control systems, need not be solely correct but also timely. Untimely (stale) results may have severe consequences that ... [more ▼]

Safety-critical real-time systems, including real-time cyber-physical and industrial control systems, need not be solely correct but also timely. Untimely (stale) results may have severe consequences that could render the control system’s behaviour hazardous to the physical world. To ensure predictability and timeliness, developers follow a rigorous process, which essentially ensures real-time properties a priori, in all but the most unlikely combinations of circumstances. However, we have seen the complexity of both real-time applications, and the environments they run on, increase. If this is matched with the also increasing sophistication of attacks mounted to RTES systems, the case for ensuring both safety and security through aprioristic predictability loses traction, and presents an opportunity, which we take in this paper, for discussing current practices of critical realtime system design. To this end, with a slant on low-level task scheduling, we first investigate the challenges and opportunities for anticipating successful attacks on real-time systems. Then, we propose ways for adapting traditional fault- and intrusiontolerant mechanisms to tolerate such hazards. We found that tasks which typically execute as analyzed under accidental faults, may exhibit fundamentally different behavior when compromised by malicious attacks, even with interference enforcement in place. [less ▲]

Cellular models as tools for the study of the role of alpha-synuclein in Parkinson's disease

in Experimental Neurology (2017)

Neurodegenerative diseases are highly debilitating conditions characterised primarily by progressive neuronal loss and impairment of the nervous system. Parkinson's disease (PD) is one of the most common ... [more ▼]

Neurodegenerative diseases are highly debilitating conditions characterised primarily by progressive neuronal loss and impairment of the nervous system. Parkinson's disease (PD) is one of the most common of these disorders, affecting 1-2% of the population above the age of 65. Although the underlying mechanisms of PD have been extensively studied, we still lack a full understanding of the molecular underpinnings of the disease. Thus, the in vitro and in vivo models currently used are able to only partially recapitulate the typical phenotypes of the disease. Here, we review various cell culture models currently used to study the molecular basis of PD, with a focus on alpha-synuclein-associated molecular pathologies. We also discuss how different cell models may constitute powerful tools for high-throughput screening of molecules capable of modulating alpha-synuclein toxicity. [less ▲]

Surface and subsurface continuous gravimetric monitoring of groundwater recharge processes through the karst vadose zone at Rochefort Cave (Belgium)

Scientific Conference (2017, December)

The Time-Varying Risk of Macroeconomic Disasters

Scientific Conference (2017, December)