Search

Previous research has produced mixed results related to online courses with selection often driven by their benefits. However, some students and instructors were avoiding this format because of their drawbacks. Given that the pandemic forced a shift to online education, those reluctant individuals gained experience with online courses. Being forced into a particular format could lead to acceptance because of the experience or resentment because of the lack of choice. Therefore, it is important to examine if the pandemic altered opinions of online courses. The current study was a replication of previous pre-pandemic work (Kelling et al., 2019) and examined opinions of students who are enrolled in online courses and the faculty who teach them. Results were similar but slightly more supportive of a preference for face-to-face courses. Questions were added to address reasons for withdrawal and failure, main challenges of online courses, and how the university could better support online teaching or enhance student success in online courses. Answers to these questions reflected struggles of pandemic teaching and learning along with high levels of self-awareness. As higher education continues to adapt based on the pandemic, research on opinions about course learning outcomes and satisfaction are important. It is essential to examine the challenges and needed support to enhance both student access and achievement are enhanced.

Enrollment in high school physics across the United States of America is notably lower than in other scientific disciplines. Given that physics serves as a prerequisite for admission into many STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) degree programs, the lack of completion of this course at the high school level can significantly hinder students' readiness for and interest in pursuing STEM majors. Alarmingly, data reveal that two out of five high schools in the US do not offer physics courses, posing a significant challenge in meeting the industry's growing demand for STEM graduates. In response to this gap, the Office of Inclusive Excellence and Community Engagement in the College of Engineering and Applied Science at University of Cincinnati has initiated a summer physics program for local high school students. This study utilizes a mixed methods research design as a research methodology to understand the factors shaping the students' persistence after participating in this course. In the quantitative phase of the study, the participants completed Force Concept Inventory (FCI) and Attitude and Persistence towards STEM (APT-STEM) Instruments, with results indicating enhanced understanding of force concepts and more positive attitudes towards STEM after completing this course. Contrarily, the findings also suggested a decline in persistence. The qualitative phase involved an open-ended survey aimed at identifying factors influencing student persistence. Students reported challenges in comprehending mathematical terminology within physics equations. The paper concludes with a discussion on further research recommendations to enhance the high school physics curriculum, addressing the identified educational gaps.

This study investigates claims that metaphor acquisition is rooted in the words’ concrete meanings: to be able to use metaphors and other non-literal languages, the child needs to ‘go beyond’ meanings that are conventional and so presumably concrete (e.g., Falkum, 2022: 97). To test if metaphor-related words emerge via their concrete senses and how this reflects child-directed speech, I examined 594 hours of interactional data for three English-speaking toddlers from urban middle-class England, whose speech was densely sampled between the ages of 2;00 and 3;01. The data show that 75%–82% conventional metaphors were acquired via their concrete senses and that the order of acquisition of concrete and abstract senses corresponded with their input frequencies. Overall, when hearing conventional metaphors, 81%–89% of the time children were exposed to their concrete meanings. Contrary to the generic argument that children’s pragmatic reasoning with non-literal uses is impeded by meaning conventionality (Falkum, 2022), my preliminary data suggest that it is influenced by the frequency of exposure to the concrete meanings of conventional metaphors, which leads to a generalised prediction that the most probable interpretation of any new metaphor is concrete (literal). Qualitative analyses further reveal that abstract meanings, when acquired first, were learned in highly emotive contexts.

Background: Studies on air pollution and outcomes of in vitro fertilization (IVF) have focused on couples undergoing autologous IVF, in which it is challenging to disentangle maternal and paternal exposures during gametogenesis. We sought to evaluate the independent associations between air pollution exposure during oogenesis and spermatogenesis on fertilization and embryo quality in non-identified donor oocyte IVF cycles. Methods: Our study included 500 oocyte donors and 915 male recipient partners who contributed 1,095 oocyte thaw cycles (2008–2019). Daily ambient air pollutant exposure was estimated using spatio-temporal models based on residential address and averaged over folliculogenesis (i.e., three months prior to initiation of controlled ovarian stimulation), controlled ovarian stimulation, and spermatogenesis (i.e., 72 days prior to oocyte thaw). We used multivariable generalized estimating equations to estimate the adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95 % confidence intervals (CI) for an interquartile range increase in pollutant exposure in relation to the proportion of oocytes surviving thaw, oocytes fertilized, and usable embryos. Results: Oocyte donors with higher exposure to organic carbon (OC) (aOR = 0.86 95 %CI 0.79,0.94) and particulate matter

Niniejsza aktualizacja i rewizja międzynarodowych wytycznych dotyczących pokrzywki została opracowana zgodnie z metodami zalecanymi przez Cochrane i grupę roboczą Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE). Jest to wspólna inicjatywa Dermatology Section of the European Academy of Allergology and Clinical Immunology (EAACI), Global Allergy and Asthma European Network (GA2LEN) i jej Urticaria and Angioedema Centers of Reference and Excellence (UCAREs i ACAREs), European Dermatology Forum (EDF; EuroGuiDerm) oraz Asia Pacific Association of Allergy, Asthma and Clinical Immunology z udziałem 64 delegatów z 50 towarzystw krajowych i międzynarodowych z 31 krajów. Konferencja uzgodnieniowa odbyła się 3 grudnia 2020 r. Niniejsze wytyczne zostały uznane i zaakceptowane przez European Union of Medical Specialist s (UEMS). Pokrzywka jest częstą chorobą, w której pośredniczą komórki tuczne, objawiającą się bąblami, obrzękiem naczynioruchowym lub obydwoma tymi objawami. Częstość występowania ostrej pokrzywki w ciągu życia wynosi około 20%. Przewlekła pokrzywka spontaniczna lub indukowalna powoduje niesprawność, pogarsza jakość życia oraz wpływa na aktywność w pracy i w szkole. Ta zaktualizowana wersja międzynarodowych wytycznych dotyczących pokrzywki obejmuje definicję i klasyfikację pokrzywki oraz przedstawia opracowane przez ekspertów i oparte na dowodach metody diagnostyki i leczenia w przypadku różnych podtypów pokrzywki.

This paper reviews algorithmic or artificial intelligence (AI) bias in education technology, especially through the lenses of speculative fiction, speculative and liberatory design. It discusses the causes of the bias and reviews literature on various ways that algorithmic/AI bias manifests in education and in communities that are underrepresented in EdTech software development. While other recent work has responded to mainstream or private sector technology development, this review looks elsewhere where practitioners, artists, and activists engage underrepresented communities in brainstorming processes to identify and solve tough challenges. Their creative work includes films, toolkits, applications, prototypes and other physical artifacts, and other future-facing ideas that can provide guideposts for private sector development. Acknowledging the gaps in what has been studied, this paper proposes a different approach that includes speculative and liberatory design thinking, which can help developers better understand the educational and personal contexts of underrepresented groups. Early efforts to advocate for fairness and equity in AI and EdTech by groups such as the Algorithmic Justice League, the EdTech Equity Project, and EdSAFE AI Alliance is also explored.

I A RADICAL REPORT [I]t is worth remembering that the apparent heresies of one generation become the orthodoxies of the next. (1) More than a half-century after publication of the [...], The radical principles behind the 1967 Woodhouse Report were eclipsed by shifting political styles--and gradually abandoned as heretical. We can now turn to Sir Owen's own notion, that "the apparent heresies of one generation become the orthodoxies of the next", to explore how core Woodhouse heresies might themselves perform this transition: providing fresh support for a generation grappling with headline challenges of climate change and pandemic control.

Purpose: This study aims to analyze the experiences of a closed cohort of aspiring leaders and connects the university and school district partnership relationship to building the leadership capacity of the cohort. This study builds on previous literature in district-university partnerships and leadership preparation. Powerful learning experiences (PLEs) and interpersonal-intrapersonal leadership development models serve as frames to examine how aspects of successful leadership preparation programs were present. Design/methodology/approach: This qualitative study was conducted with a team of researchers from the university and school district and relies on data from semi-structured interviews with students from the closed cohort. Findings: Researchers identified three major themes of aspiring leaders' preparation experience: confidence building, reflection and mindset change. Originality/value: This study contributes to the emerging literature on PLEs by illustrating how this type of partnership creates opportunities for powerful learning experiences for aspiring school leaders.

Children's development of executive function is a good candidate for studying cultural differences because it is a necessary capacity for becoming competent participants in cultural activities, and yet it is also likely to be shaped by culturally organized everyday experiences, with potential consequences for children's development and learning. An ethnographically grounded study with Yucatec Maya children was conducted to explore cultural bias in existing theoretical constructs and methods. Yucatec Maya children autonomously organize their daily activities within a dense web of family social connections and work responsibilities. Yet small pilot samples of 4- to 8-year-olds were uninterested in and performed poorly on many traditional measures of EF due to a number of cultural assumptions inherent in the tasks' logic and demands. Specific cultural road blocks were identified, including assumptions about motivation, task meaning, rules of social interaction, and specific cultural beliefs. Several novel tasks were then developed, comprised of contextually situated, goal-driven tasks, that children were more motivated to engage in. To check on the accuracy of our analysis we propose a design for a future comparative study consisting of a mix of traditional tasks (both culturally interpretable and culturally inappropriate for Yucatec Maya children), and novel, contextually embedded tasks that were engaging for Yucatec Maya children. We close with a cost/benefit analysis of using culturally meaningful research to study children's development.

Penicillium expansum is a ubiquitous pathogenic fungus that causes blue mold decay of apple fruit postharvest, and another member of the genus, Penicillium chrysogenum, is a well-studied saprophyte valued for antibiotic and small molecule production. While these two fungi have been investigated individually, a recent discovery revealed that P. chrysogenum can block P. expansum-mediated decay of apple fruit. To shed light on this observation, we conducted a comparative genomic, transcriptomic, and metabolomic study of two P. chrysogenum (404 and 413) and two P. expansum (Pe21 and R19) isolates. Global transcriptional and metabolomic outputs were disparate between the species, nearly identical for P. chrysogenum isolates, and different between P. expansum isolates. Further, the two P. chrysogenum genomes revealed secondary metabolite gene clusters that varied widely from P. expansum. This included the absence of an intact patulin gene cluster in P. chrysogenum, which corroborates the metabolomic data regarding its inability to produce patulin. Additionally, a core subset of P. expansum virulence gene homologues were identified in P. chrysogenum and were similarly transcriptionally regulated in vitro. Molecules with varying biological activities, and phytohormone-like compounds were detected for the first time in P. expansum while antibiotics like penicillin G and other biologically active molecules were discovered in P. chrysogenum culture supernatants. Our findings provide a solid omics-based foundation of small molecule production in these two fungal species with implications in postharvest context and expand the current knowledge of the Penicillium-derived chemical repertoire for broader fundamental and practical applications.

Abstract Aims Macrophages play an essential role in cancer development. Tumor‐associated macrophages (TAMs) have predominantly M2‐like attributes that are associated with tumor progression and poor patient survival. Numerous methods have been reported for differentiating and polarizing macrophages in vitro, but there is no standardized and validated model for creating TAMs. Primary cells show varying cytokine responses depending on their origin and functional studies utilizing these cells may lack generalization and validity. A distinct cell line‐derived TAM‐like M2 subtype is required to investigate the mechanisms mediated by anti‐inflammatory TAMs in vitro. Our previous work demonstrated a standardized protocol for creating an M2 subtype derived from a human THP‐1 cell line. The cell expression profile, however, has not been validated. The aim of this study was to characterize and validate the TAM‐like M2 subtype macrophage created based on our protocol to introduce them as a standardized model for cancer research. Methods and results Using qRT‐PCR and ELISA, we demonstrated that proinflammatory, anti‐inflammatory, and tumor‐associated marker expression changed during THP‐1‐derived marcrophage development in vitro, mimicking a TAM‐related profile (e.g., TNFα, IL‐1β). The anti‐inflammatory marker IL‐8/CXCL8, however, is most highly expressed in young M0 macrophages. Flow cytometry showed increased expression of CD206 in the final TAM‐like M2 macrophage. Single‐cell RNA‐sequencing analysis of primary human monocytes and colon cancer tissue macrophages demonstrated that cell line‐derived M2 macrophages resembled a TAM‐related gene profile. Conclusions The THP‐1‐derived M2 macrophage based on a standardized cell line model represents a distinct anti‐inflammatory TAM‐like phenotype with an M2a subtype profile. This model may provide a basis for in vitro investigation of functional mechanisms in a variety of anti‐inflammatory settings, particularly colon cancer development.