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The focus of this study is to implement multiple assessment methods in order to comprehensively assess the impact of a Project Based Learning (PrBL) application in construction project management course. The assessment methods include various direct (objective) and indirect (subjective) evaluations methods. These methods included a pre and post questionnaire of student opinions, homework grades, in-class "clicker" quiz grades, overall project grades, embedded test question grades, a video lecture project, and short answer case study questions on exams from the Fall 2017 to Fall 2019 semesters. The data for this study was taken from the past six offerings of the same course, which was compared to a similar course in the same department. The analysis demonstrated that the students preferred both the use of an actual real-world project and the PrBL delivery method. The particular assessment methods that provided the most beneficial assessment were the embedded test questions and the case study section of the exam. The overall grade assessment method demonstrated an average of four percentage point increase in grades from previous offerings of the course and a similar course that does not include the PrBL pedagogy.

The world's cultural heritage (customs, practices, places, objects, artistic expressions, and values that signify a legacy of the history of humanity) provides identity to communities. In Mexico, the case of the World Heritage City of Xochimilco involves a sustainable agroecological system designed by its ancient inhabitants more than 500 years ago. Currently, the biodiversity and the chinampas (floating agricultural gardens) are at risk due to inconsistent government oversight and the lack of incentives for communities to carry on with the culture of agricultural production on Lake Xochimilco. Through a Challenge-Based Learning, a culturally relevant academic experience for university students was designed to involve them in preserving biodiversity while developing research and problem-solving skills. Satisfaction surveys and course evaluations indicated that this didactic methodology encouraged students to consider their connection to social justice issues and prompted them to expand their knowledge in their different disciplines. Socially-oriented experiential learning is an effective pedagogy that fosters a sense of social responsibility in students.

Maternal exposure to environmental pollutants could affect fetal brain development and increase autism spectrum disorder (ASD) risk in conjunction with differential genetic susceptibility. Organohalogen congeners measured in maternal midpregnancy blood samples have recently shown significant, but negative associations with offspring ASD outcome. We report the first large-scale maternal and fetal genetic study of the midpregnancy serum levels of a set of 21 organohalogens in a subset of 790 genotyped women and 764 children collected in California by the Early Markers for Autism (EMA) Project. Levels of PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl) and PBDE (polybrominated diphenyl ether) congeners showed high maternal and fetal estimated SNP-based heritability (h2g ) accounting for 39-99% of the total variance. Genome-wide association analyses identified significant maternal loci for p,p'-DDE (P = 7.8 × 10-11) in the CYP2B6 gene and for BDE-28 (P = 3.2 × 10-8) near the SH3GL2 gene, both involved in xenobiotic and lipid metabolism. Fetal genetic loci contributed to the levels of BDE-100 (P = 4.6 × 10-8) and PCB187 (P = 2.8 × 10-8), near the potential metabolic genes LOXHD1 and PTPRD, previously implicated in neurodevelopment. Negative associations were observed for BDE-100, BDE153, and the sum of PBDEs with ASD, partly explained by genome-wide additive genetic effects that predicted PBDE levels. Our results support genetic control of midgestational biomarkers for environmental exposures by nonoverlapping maternal and fetal genetic determinants, suggesting that future studies of environmental risk factors should take genetic variation into consideration. The independent influence of fetal genetics supports previous hypotheses that fetal genotypes expressed in placenta can influence maternal physiology and the transplacental transfer of organohalogens.

Previous research indicates that infection, especially from viruses in the family Herpesviridae, may play a role in the etiology of some cases of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Using a case-control design and the polymerase chain reaction with site-specific primers, we screened newborn and childhood blood samples for the presence of eight human herpesviruses. Herpesvirus DNA was detected in 4 of 225 ASD individuals and 2 of 235 controls, with the most frequently detected virus being HHV-6B. Although this study does not detect a significant ASD-Herpesviridae association, it is limited by the use of site-specific primers. We suggest that new techniques using bioinformatics to search next-generation sequencing databases will be more revealing of possible ASD-virus associations.

BackgroundAn etiological role for immune factors operating during early brain development in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has not yet been established. A major obstacle has been the lack of early biologic specimens that can be linked to later diagnosis. In a prior study, we found lower risk of ASD associated with higher levels of maternally-derived total IgG and Toxoplasmosis gondii (Toxo) IgG in newborn blood spot specimens from children later diagnosed with ASD compared to population controls.MethodsWe obtained maternal mid-gestational serum specimens and newborn screening blood spots from the California Genetics Disease Screening Program (GDSP) for linked mother-baby pairs for 84 children with ASD and 49 children with developmental delay but not ASD (DD) identified from California Department of Developmental Services records and for 159 population controls sampled from birth certificates.Immunoglobulin levels in maternal and newborn specimens were measured by solid phase immunoassays and analyzed in logistic regression models for total IgG, total IgM, and Toxo IgG, and, for maternal specimens only, Toxo IgM. Correlations between maternal and newborn ranked values were evaluated.ResultsIn both maternal and newborn specimens, we found significantly lower risk of ASD associated with higher levels of Toxo IgG. In addition, point estimates for all comparisons were < 1.0 suggesting an overall pattern of lower immunoglobulin levels associated with higher ASD risk but most did not reach statistical significance. We did not find differences in maternal or newborn specimens comparing children with DD to controls.DiscussionThese results are consistent with evidence from our prior study and other published reports indicating that immune factors during early neurodevelopment may be etiologically relevant to ASD. Lowered immunoglobulin levels may represent suboptimal function of the maternal immune system or reduced maternal exposure to common infectious agents.ConclusionPatterns seen in these selected immunoglobulins may provide clues to mechanisms of early abnormalities in neurodevelopment contributing to ASD. We recommend further study of immunoglobulin profiles in larger samples of linked mother-baby pairs to evaluate possible etiologic relevance.

The objective of this study is to develop and implement a Project Based Learning (PBL) methodology to improve student comprehension of sustainability topics relating to the concrete industry. A milestone-based PBL methodology was implemented in a concrete technology course that emphasizes the project by creating individual milestones that are due throughout the semester. This intervention took place in an undergraduate program during six semesters, not including the control semester in which a conventional end-of-semester project was used to teach the same topic. The milestone-based PBL methodology was assessed indirectly using pre- and post-questionnaires to the participants and directly using quiz, homework, exam, project, and overall grades. Additionally, the participants provided feedback regarding the methodology. The results show that the students overwhelmingly preferred the milestone-based PBL over the standard project, which is complemented with an average increase of 16, 13, 17, 28, and 14 percentage points for the quiz, homework, exam, project, and overall grades respectively. This amounted to an overall average increase from 74% to 92%. These conclusions not only demonstrate a positive impact of PBL to the students in this course, but also provide further insight and evidence regarding the effectiveness of PBL methodologies for the engineering education community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cause of perinatal arterial ischemic stroke is unknown in most cases. We explored whether genetic polymorphisms modify the risk of perinatal arterial ischemic stroke. In a population-based case-control study of 1997-2002 births at Kaiser Permanente Northern California, we identified 13 white infants with perinatal arterial ischemic stroke. Control subjects included 86 randomly selected white infants. We genotyped polymorphisms in nine genes involved in inflammation, thrombosis, or lipid metabolism previously linked with stroke, and compared genotype frequencies in case and control individuals. We tested several polymorphisms: tumor necrosis factor-α -308, interleukin-6, lymphotoxin A, factor V Leiden, methyltetrahydrofolate reductase 1298 and 667, prothrombin 20210, and apolipoprotein E ε2 and ε4 alleles. Patients with perinatal arterial ischemic stroke were more likely than control subjects to demonstrate at least one apolipoprotein E ε4 allele (54% vs 25%, P = 0.03). More patients with perinatal arterial ischemic stroke carried two ε4 alleles than did control subjects (15% vs 2%, P = 0.09), although this finding lacked statistical significance. Proinflammatory and prothrombotic polymorphisms were not associated with perinatal arterial ischemic stroke. The apolipoprotein E polymorphism may confer genetic susceptibility for perinatal arterial ischemic stroke. Larger population-based studies are required to confirm this finding.

Two large peer-teaching groups were developed in a construction management course in order to self-learn and then subsequently teach two separate construction management software packages. One half of the class was asked to learn and teach Microsoft Project and the other was asked to learn and teach Primavera P6, which are very similar scheduling packages. Milestone deliverables were due throughout the semester, with a final presentation near the end of the 16-week semester. This intervention took place a total of five times and one addition control semester in which the instructor taught both packages in a traditional manner for comparison. Within each peer-teaching group, the teams were asked to nominate a leader and co-leader, who would be responsible for assigning responsibilities to the team and to facilitate learning. This methodology allowed for two layers of peer-teaching; one within the peer-teaching group, and the other from the peer-teaching group to the remaining students. The intervention was validated through in-course questionnaires, and homework, quiz, and exam grade comparisons from the student-led lecture versus the instructor-led lecture. The surveys indicated a preference to the peer-teaching and student-led learning, over instructor-led learning. The grade comparison demonstrated an average 13.2 percentage point improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a Quality Manager (QM) was embedded within a peer-teaching group. A QM is a student who is enrolled in a course and serves as an instructional and supportive extensions of their professor. The individual QM then worked with three other students to act as a peer-teaching group, with the objective of teaching one lesson at the end of the semester. The lesson topic was on using scheduling software. The QM had previous knowledge of the software and the goal was to have the remaining three students learn and prepare their lesson plan, strictly learning from the embedded QM. Then at the end of the semester, the group of four, taught the lesson to the remaining students. This methodology allowed for two layers of peer-teaching; one within the peer-teaching group, and the other from the peer-teaching group to the remaining students. The embedded peer-teaching implementation was validated through in-course surveys, and grade comparison from the student-led lecture versus an instructor-led lecture teaching a similar scheduling program. This methodology was implemented six times, using two different scheduling programs. The surveys indicated a preference to student-led learning, over instructor-led learning. The grade comparison demonstrated an average 12 percentage point improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this study is to assess the effectiveness of a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) pedagogy that was implemented in two different concrete construction courses. Both courses are a part of an industry focused four-year undergraduate concrete degree program. One of the classes focused on concrete problems, diagnosis, and repair of existing concrete, while the other class focused on handling and management methods of various concrete mixtures. In both courses, a PBL pedagogy was implemented such that students were self-learning and discovering the knowledge through an action-research case study. The actionresearch case study was specific to the course outcomes relevant to each course, but were assessed similarly. A total of eight different assessment methods were implemented across both courses' multiple times from 2012 - 2019. The results showed that the students are highly benefiting from the PBL pedagogy, which was indicated across all assessment methods. Each assessment technique provided a unique insight into student comprehension or benefits of the PBL pedagogy. The most beneficial assessment techniques were; pre- and post-student assessment, level of understanding and confidence, pre- and post-objective student assessment, and report assessment. These four assessment techniques provide both direct (objective) and indirect (subjective) assessment, while only requiring four total surveys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]