Progress in Recommender Systems Research: Crisis? What Crisis?

Scholars in algorithmic recommender systems research have developed a largely standardized scientific method, where progress is claimed by showing that a new algorithm outperforms existing ones on or more accuracy measures. In theory, reproducing and thereby verifying such improvements is easy, as it merely involves the execution of the experiment code on the same data. However, as recent work shows, the reported progress is often only virtual, because of a number of issues related to (i) a lack of reproducibility, (ii) technical and theoretical flaws, and (iii) scholarship practices that are strongly prone to researcher biases. As a result, several recent works could show that the latest published algorithms actually do not outperform existing methods when evaluated independently. Despite these issues, we currently see no signs of a crisis, where researchers re-think their scientific method, but rather a situation of stagnation, where researchers continue to focus on the same topics. In this paper, we discuss these issues, analyze their potential underlying reasons, and outline a set of guidelines to ensure progress in recommender systems research.

CAṄKA ILAKKIYATTIL VĀṈIYAL [ASTRONOMY IN SANGAM LITERATURE]

Tamil science is the knowledge that has traditionally been developed, used and explained scientifically by Tamils. It also refers to the contribution that Tamil is making to science today. Tamil science is found in many fields such as linguistics, medicine, architecture, agriculture, biology, mathematics and astronomy. It is noteworthy that the Tamils ​​who had various technologies also had the basic science for it. Sangam literature is interspersed with versatile messages. Admired as world literature, it contains news from a variety of disciplines. It is known that the Sangam periodicals became versatile due to this. Many world scholars have studied and praised the astronomical news found by the Tamils. Tamils ​​refer to those who know astronomy as 'virgins'. Literary evidence also suggests that the computer predicts time with the motions of a planet orbiting in the sky. The literature is a testament to the fact that Tamils ​​are the ones who know the scientific method of measuring the planets and atmospheres of the sky, their movements and time scales. The Sangam poets knew that there were various planets and galaxies in the sky. News about the Sun, Earth, Jupiter, Mercury, Venus, Saturn, and the satellite Moon is found in the association songs. News about dental galaxies has also been reported in Sangam literature. It is also possible to know that the Tamils ​​who guided the polar fish at night knew the four directions during the day with the help of the sun.

The Reality of Distance Assessment, in the Shadow of Corona Pandemic, from the Point of View of Teachers

This study sheds light on The Reality of Distance Assessment, in the Shadow of Corona Pandemic, from the Point of View of Teachers. The study sought to identify the criteria of assessing the distance learning, their requirements, and the steps of designing the distance assessment; in addition to identifying the tools and methods of distance assessment, and the characteristics of each tool. Finally, the study presented a suggested model for assessment, in the shadow of the emergent circumstances. This model depends on the philosophy of the modern educational theories and the givens of the twenty-first century and its skills. The researcher adopted the explanatory scientific method that uses knowledge to explain the phenomena and things via a group of connected concepts that are called theories. Then, adopting the descriptive method, as the researcher has designed a questionnaire that consists of (20) points, distributed on (120) male and female teachers in Lewaa Marka to know the opinions and approaches of the teaching staff about the methods and strategies of distance assessment. The responses of the study sample on the point of "to what extent the study sample knows about the methods and strategies of distance assessment" were average, while the responses of the study sample on the point of "the practical application of the distance assessment process" were weak and low.

Impact of COVID-19 on the economic-financial health of the company REIPROACERO S. A., during the periods 2019-2020

This research article focused on evaluating the economic-financial situation of the company REIPROACERO SA, through the application of financial analysis methods and financial ratios, in order to determine the impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. On the other hand, within the investigative process the scientific method is applied, since it allowed to have an approach to the fact of interest, having contact with the data and information and real facts, which provided clues for the formulation of hypotheses and antecedents, building knowledge and leading to the verification of the same. Likewise, the qualitative descriptive approach was used, since the Financial Statements of the company, obtained from the Superintendencia de Compañias, Valores y Seguros, were analyzed; with a documentary design because information was obtained from scientifically recognized sources such as journals, articles in order to scientifically strengthen research. Where the results obtained showed excessive liquidity, low profitability and poor portfolio rotation.

Forensic Analysis and Identification Processes in Mass Disasters: Explosion of Gun Powder in the Fireworks Factory

A mass disaster is a situation that involves criticality between the number of victims and resources, in terms of both men and means, present on the site of an event that is mostly unexpected and sudden. In the multidisciplinary teams that intervene, the role of forensic pathologists, who are responsible for the direction and coordination of post-mortem operations, is central, and must remain so. The authors report the case of an explosion of a pyrotechnic artifice factory, as a result of which numerous victims and injuries are recorded. So, the team completed the autopsies and created a protocol to obtain biological samples (bones, blood, teeth, muscles), while the forensic pathologists contacted the families of the alleged victims and each provided a blood sample that was collected for the DNA. The geneticist, using the method of gene extraction and amplification, obtained the DNA from each bone, tooth, and muscle of blood taken from the victims and then compared it with that extracted from the blood samples of the relatives; the electropherograms showed at least one allele for each genetic marker of the “Combined DNA Index System” in common between the victims and the families, thus allowing to establish the identity of all the subjects involved in the event. Having established the identity of all workers, it was possible to determine their whereabouts in the environment at the time of the location of fires and explosions. The results of the various forensic analyzes (autopsies, genetic investigations and even traumatological investigations) have allowed us to validate a scientific method useful in all mass disasters even when any type of anthropological or forensic dental research is difficult.

Pierre des Noyers, a scholar and scientific intermediary at the court of Louise-Marie Gonzaga

Pierre des Noyers, secretary of Queen of Poland Louise-Marie Gonzaga, is known for his role as a messenger, envoy, court journalist and sometimes propagandist. His work as an unofficial diplomat for the Queen and ambassador for France is less famous though no less interesting. Even though he was already quite involved in these time-consuming tasks, Pierre des Noyers also acted as a scientific intermediary for the quite curious Queen Louise-Marie of Poland. He maintained contacts with many scholars from France and Italy. He could nurture this network thanks to his position as an informal diplomat at the court of the Queen and his dedication to science in general. Even by discarding his most official and political letters, his known correspondence amounts to several hundred letters written in a period of around 50 years to various friends and scholars. Roberval, Gassendi, Boulliau, Hevelius or Pascal are among these contacts and he plays for most of them the role of a scientific intermediary sharing with them observations, books and anecdotes. His letters are filled with astronomical observations, prodigies and prophecies. Des Noyers was also a practitioner of science. Having possessed a rather large collection of scientific instruments he always sought the improved ones and his daily life was marked by scientific studies. He wrote meteorological bulletins for Academia del Cimento in Florence, studied the measurement of time, observed the sun and showed interest in the inner workings of the human body. This article will delve further into more scientific aspects of Pierre des Noyers’s life, both at the court of Louise-Marie and outside. The first part presents a rough overview of the secretary’s contacts in the scientific environment of 17th Century France and how they were used to connect scholars from Poland with this environment. The second part of this work presents Pierre des Noyers’s practice of science as a tool to understand the world and for which utmost diligence in measurement and practice is required. The last part focuses on des Noyers’s application of this scientific method in two, now pseudo-scientific fields: astrology and divination.

The impact of oriental studies on the methods of writing the biography of the Prophet: أثر الدراسات الاستشراقية على مناهج كتابة السيرة النبوية

The study aimed at identify the most prominent similarities raised by orientalists against the Prophet’s biography, and to shed light on the most prominent Muslim scholars who responded to these suspicions. The study used the critical inductive approach, and the study reached many results, most notably: that intolerance and prejudice were dominating the writings of the ancient Orientalists due to their being affected by the spirit of religious fanaticism that was dominant and crystallized by the impact of the Crusades, and due to their weak knowledge of the Arabic language, and the lack of resources available to them. However, since the early modern times, the West has not been free of moderate thinkers who have praised Islam, but since the nineteenth century interest began to study and print Arabic manuscripts, and Orientalists began studying the history of the East for itself, following the scientific method that had made great progress in the West.