No abstract

Recently, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have become a major online learning methodology for millions of people worldwide. However, the dropout rates from several current MOOCs are high. Usually, dropout prediction aims to predict whether a learner will exhibit learning behaviors during several consecutive days in the future. Therefore, the information related to the learning behaviors of a learner in several consecutive days should be considered. After in-depth analysis of the learning behavior patterns of the MOOC learners, this study reports that learners often exhibit similar learning behaviors on several consecutive days, i.e., the learning status of a learner for the subsequent day is likely to be similar to that for the previous day. Based on this characteristic of MOOC learning, this study proposes a new simple feature matrix for keeping information related to the local correlation of learning behaviors and a new Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model for predicting the dropout. Extensive experimental validations illustrate that the local correlation of learning behaviors should not be neglected. The proposed CNN model considers this characteristic and improves the dropout prediction accuracy. Furthermore, the proposed model can be used to predict dropout temporally and early when sufficient data are collected.

Determination of trace elements in soils with laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy is significantly affected by the matrix effect, due to large variations in chemical composition and physical property of different soils. Spectroscopic data treatment with univariate models often leads to poor analytical performances. We have developed in this work a multivariate model using machine learning algorithms based on a back-propagation neural network (BPNN). Beyond the classical chemometry approach, machine learning, with tremendous progresses the last years especially for image processing, is offering an ensemble of powerful and constantly renewed algorithms and tools efficient for the different steps in the construction of a spectroscopic data treatment model, including feature selection and neural network training. Considering the matrix effect as the focus of this work, we have developed the concept of generalized spectrum, where the information about the soil matrix is explicitly included in the input vector of the model as an additional dimension. After a brief presentation of the experimental procedure and the results of regression with a univariate model, the development of the multivariate model will be described in detail together with its analytical performances, showing average relative errors of calibration ( REC ) and of prediction ( REP ) within the range of 5–6%.

The influences of laser focusing geometry on laser-induced plasma and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) in bulk water are investigated by using fast imaging and spectroscopic techniques.

No abstract

Laser focusing geometry effects on plasma emissions in bulk water were investigated with five focusing angles ranging from 11.9° to 35.4°. Fast imaging and space-resolved spectroscopy techniques were used to observe the plasma emission distributions and fluctuations. We demonstrated that by increasing the focusing angle, discrete and irregular plasma formed in multiple sites could be turned into continuous and stable plasma with single core fixed at the laser focal point. This indicates the key role of laser focusing angle in the stabilization of plasma positions, which is crucial to the improvement of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy repeatability in bulk water.

No abstract

No abstract