La retroalimentación (feedback) y éxito comunicativo de los estudiantes de en inglés LE

This study aims to explore the relationship between feedback expectancy of Iranian learners of English and their level of education, achievement in English, and attitude toward peer and teacher feedback. To fulfil the purpose of this study, a sixtyitem questionnaire focusing on issues related to feedback expectancy, peer feedback, teacher feedback, and cultural factors was developed. 533 junior and high school students participated in the study. The results showed that (1) feedback expectancy in higher levels of education is stronger; (2) a positive and moderate correlation exists between feedback expectancy and learners’ English achievements; high achievers of English expect more feedback; (3) feedback received from teachers is more expected than from peers; (4) female learners sought more feedback from their peers and teachers than male learners. As providing language learners with clear feedback plays a crucial role in developing learners’ language abilities and helping them direct their learning, this study suggests language program developers and teachers to motivate learners to seek feedback from several sources.La retroalimentación (feedback) es considerada como una de las formas de colaboración más importantes entre el profesor y el estudiante en el aula. En este estudio ha sido tratada y enfocada la retroalimentación (feedback) en las aulas del Curso de Idioma Inglés, nivel 2 y su relación con «el filtro afectivo del estudiante» (¿a qué se refieren con esta frase?) en los niveles secundario y bachillerato. Las investigaciones realizadas indican una alta retroalimentación (feedback) y una relación directa y positiva entre las vertientes retroalimentación (feedback) y «el filtro afectivo». El porcentaje de éxito y el nivel educativo son proporcionales a la retroalimentación (feedback) y le añaden un efecto positivo. Los estudios y análisis realizados a las pruebas muestran que la retroalimentación (feedback) en los estudiantes del 3º grado de la escuela secundaria y del bachillerato es más notable, comparada con los de otros niveles. Por otra parte, uno de los objetivos de este estudio es analizar la perspectiva y la retroalimentación (feedback) de los maestros y sus respectivos condiscípulos. Según estos estudios los estudiantes están más adaptados a recibir la retroalimentación (feedback) a través de sus propios maestros que de otros. El análisis de las variantes multivertientes es una muestra de la efectividad del plan curricular educativo y es una mirada hacia la retroalimentación (feedback). También ha sido observada la necesidad de recibir más retroalimentación (feedback) por parte de los maestros en el caso de los exámenes finales. Por último, en esta investigación fueron estudiados los factores culturales actuantes en este tipo de enfoque, así como fue propuesto el método de Enseñanza por Grupo, para modificar tales enfoques

Combination of Q-Switched Nd:YAG and Fractional Erbium:YAG Lasers in Treatment of Melasma: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Introduction: Ablative and nonablative lasers have been used to treat melasma. We aimed to assess and compare the combining Q-switched Nd:YAG laser (QSNYL) and fractional erbium:YAG laser (FEYL) with QSNYL alone in treatment of melasma.Methods: This randomized controlled clinical trial was performed in our Research Center during 2013-2014. Women with melasma and without a history of keloid formation, hypersensitivity to hydroquinone, or pigmentary changes due to laser therapy were randomly allocated to receive four sessions of either QSNYL-FEYL combination or QSNYL alone. All patients received topical treatment with Kligman’s formula. Before laser therapy and 4 weeks after the last treatment session, patients’ skin was assessed for changes in skin color, melanin content, and erythema intensity of melasma lesions quantitatively.Results: Finally, 21 patients in QSNYL-FEYL and 20 in QSNYL group (mean age, 38.57 [5.60] and 42.60 [8.44] years, respectively) completed study. The skin color had become lighter in both groups (mean [SD] percentage change of 56.95 [40.29] and 29.25 [13.20] in QSNYL-FEYL and QSNYL groups, respectively) with significantly better results in QSNYL-FEYL group (P = 0.006). Percentage of decrease of melanin content was significantly higher in QSNYL-FEYL group (22.01 [10.67] vs. 7.69 [4.75]; P < 0.001). After adjustment for baseline values, the post treatment intensity of erythema was significantly lower in QSNYL-FEYL group (P < 0.001). The patients reported no adverse events.Conclusion: QSNYL-FEYL was significantly more effective in decreasing melanin content of lesions than QSNYL and led to a lighter skin.

A Comparative Study of Writing Assessment Using Activity Theory-Based Assessment Model (ATBAM) and a Traditional Approach

Assessment of writing skill is generally believed to be judged by a rater subjectively and qualitatively or by using analytic scoring rubrics which can potentially result in somehow not very reliable assessment. It seems that an evaluation of writing based on a model can result in a valid and reliable writing assessment. To achieve such an objective, this study firstly aimed to develop an assessment model based on Activity Theory (AT), i. e., Activity Theory-Based Assessment Model (ATBAM), and then to employ it in the assessment of writing performances of Iranian language learners in a private language college. And finally, to achieve the concurrent validity of ATBAM, its results were compared with those of a traditional approach. Three groups of participants took part in this study: a group of upper intermediate English learners (N=29) who submitted one writing sample per week in four successive weeks, teachers (N=6) who provided learners with feedback and assigned holistic scores and course supervisors (N=2) who reassessed the writing samples on the basis of an analytic rubric of writing assessment.  The results showed that using ATBAM in writing assessment results in an exploration of not only learners’ but also teachers’ engagement in the development of learners’ writing ability. The role of teachers’ feedback and teachers’ and learners’ social interaction in the development of learners’ writing ability could potentially provide comprehensive, fair, reliable, and valid scores in this model

L2 Writers’ Processing of Teacher vs. Computer-generated Feedback

Writing is thought as the most complicated skill in second language acquisition; therefore, L2 researchers have always been in pursuit of discovering an effective approach to improve it. One of the most debated ways is feedback which has a key role in improving the quality of writing. Much of the previous research on feedback has focused on analyzing different types of feedback and their effect on the learners’ writings and few studies have examined the effectiveness of computer feedback. Therefore, the present study was conducted to 1) determine what aspects of students’ writings receive computer feedback, 2) examine the difference in the effect of computer-generatedfeedback (CBF) and Teacher-based feedback (TBF) on improving the students’ writing quality and 3) compare the differences in Depth of Processing (DOP) in processing computer and teacher feedback. The results indicated that content, style and organization of their essays received feedback from the teacher and the computer. Teacher feedback was more effective in terms of its impact on improving the quality of the writing of the students than computer-generatedfeedback and it resulted in deeper processing of lexical items, whereas computer-generated feedback invoked medium processing on grammar

Dietary habits and nutrient intake in adolescent girls living in Northern Iran

Rapid changes in lifestyle and industrialization of communities have an important effect on food intake pattern of society. Regarding the lack of enough data about dietary habits and nutrient intake of adolescents in our society, this study was performed in a group of adolescent girls in Lahijan, North of Iran. In this cross-sectional study, 400 high school girls aged 14-17 years selected by random stratified sampling. Nutritional data were collected by 24-hour dietary recall, food habits and food frequency questionnaires for all samples. The mean energy intake was 2338±611 kcal/d. The contributions of carbohydrate, protein and fat to the total energy intake were 59.3, 11.9 and 28.8%, respectively. The daily intake of energy obtained from breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks were 16.3, 23.5, 25.9 and 34.3%, respectively. The mean intakes of vitamin A, vitamin D, calcium, phosphorous and zinc were below the Recommended Daily Allowances. The consumption of fresh vegetables and fruit was generally low. Twelve percent in total did not drink milk at all. Almost all the subjects had a prepared meal, most often in the evening, at least four times a week. Regarding the undesirable food pattern and proportions of nutrient intakes, it is necessary to development means of motivating adolescents to eat nutritionally rich foods, good for health and well-being

Prevalence of antibiotic resistance and blaIMP-1 gene among Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains isolated from burn and urinary tract infections in Isfahan, central Iran

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the most important opportunistic pathogens responsible for various types of hospital infections. High prevalence of antibiotic resistance in P. aeruginosa strains of human clinical samples cause more severe diseases for a longer period of time. The current research was done in order to study the distribution of blaIMP-1 gene among the imipenem-resistant P. aeruginosa strains isolated from burn and urinary tract infections of hospitalized patients. Two-hundred and forty-three P. aeruginosa isolates recovered from the cases of burn and urinary tract infections of inpatients and outpatients were analysis for antibiotic resistance pattern using the disk diffusion method. Then, imipenem-resistant isolates were further analyzed for distribution of blaIMP-1 gene using the PCR. Of 243 P. aeruginosa isolates, 146 strains (60.08%) were taken from outpatients and 97 strains (39.91%) were taken from inpatients. P. aeruginosa isolates harbored the highest levels of resistance against streptomycin (100%), nalidixic acid (100%), aztreonam (100%), cotrimoxazole (95.47%), ciprofloxacin (88.47%), cefotaxime (84.36%) and gentamycin (83.95%). Inpatients had a relatively higher levels of antibiotic resistance. One-hundred and twenty-one out of 126 (96.03%) imipenem-resistant P. aeruginosa isolates harbored the blaIMP-1 gene. Inpatients also had a relatively higher prevalence of blaIMP-1 gene. High prevalence of blaIMP-1 gene and also imipenemresistant P. aeruginosa are important public health issue. Clinical laboratories should consider the detection of the blaIMP-1 gene among the P. aeruginosa isolates of clinical samples

An in vitro assessment of the mechanical characteristics of nickel-titanium orthodontic wires in Fluoride solutions with different acidities

Objectives: The aim was to evaluate the in vitro effects of fluoride solutions with different acidities on load-deflection characteristics of nickel-titanium (NiTi) orthodontic wires. Materials and Methods: In this study, which lasted 30 days, 36 (3 cm long, 0.016 × 0.022 inches, SENT 1622, G & H wire Company, Greenwood, Indiana, USA) NiTi wires, were divided into three experimental groups of 12 each. Two groups were subjected to 0.05 topical fluoride mouthwash with different acidities (G1, pH 4; G2, pH 6.6) for 90 s, twice a day, and kept in normal saline after that. The third group (G3, the control group) was kept in normal saline only. Load and unload forces were measured with three bracket bending test in a universal testing machine (Testometric Co, Rochdale, UK). Loading and unloading plateaus and hysteresis were also recorded. Data were then analyzed using analysis of variance and honestly significant difference Tukey at P < 0.05. Results: During the loading phase, there was a significant difference between deflections (P < 0.001); but there was no interaction effect (P = 0.191) and no significant difference among three groups (P = 0.268). In the unloading phase, there was a significant difference between deflections (P < 0.001) and an interaction effect was also observed (P = 0.008). Further, significant differences noted among three groups (P = 0.037). Only in the unloading phase, at deflections of 2.2 through 0.2 mm, significant differences between the mean force values of the G1 and G3 groups were observed (P = 0.037). Conclusion: Based on this in-vitro study, compared to neutral fluoride solution, daily mouthwash with a fluoride solution with more acidic pH of 4 affected the NiTi wires load-deflection characteristics during the unloading phase. This finding may have clinical implications and can be further validated by in-vivo studies

Effect of electrical spot welding on load deflection rate of orthodontic wires

Background: One of the methods used for joining metals together is welding, which can be carried out using different techniques such as electric spot welding. This study evaluated the effect of electric spot welding on the load deflection rate of stainless steel and chromium-cobalt orthodontic wires. Materials and Methods: In this experimental-laboratory study, load deflection rate of 0.016 × 0.022 inch stainless steel and chromium cobalt wires were evaluated in five groups (n =18): group one: Stainless steel wires, group two: chromium-cobalt wires, group three: stainless steel wires welded to stainless steel wires, group four: Stainless steel wires welded to chromium-cobalt wires, group five: chromium-cobalt wire welded to chromium-cobalt wires. Afterward, the forces induced by the samples in 0.5 mm, 1 mm, 1.5 mm deflection were measured using a universal testing machine. Then mean force measured for each group was compared with other groups. The data were analyzed using repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA), one-way ANOVA, and paired t-test by the SPSS software. The significance level was set as 0.05. Results: The Tukey test showed that there were significant differences between the load deflection rates of welded groups compared to control ones (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Considering the limitation of this study, the electric spot welding process performed on stainless steel and chromium-cobalt wires increased their load deflection rates

Effect of fluoride on friction between bracket and wire

Background: Friction is usually encountered during sliding technique for orthodontic space closure. This study aims to investigate the effect of fluoride on frictional resistance between stainless steel orthodontic brackets and steel and NiTi arch wires. Materials and Methods: A total of 144 standard 022 stainless steel brackets were used in this experimental study. 0.016 and 0.019 × 0.025 inch steel and NiTi arch wires were tested. The frictional resistance between wires and brackets immersed in the following three solutions were measured: Sultan fluoride gel containing 1.23% acidulated phosphate fluoride at pH 3.5 for 4 minutes, aquafresh mouth wash containing 0.05% sodium fluoride at pH of 5.1 for 1 minute twice a day for 8 weeks and physiologic serum (pH=7) as the control group. Static and dynamic frictional forces were measured using Testometric machine. Surface topography of wires and brackets was qualitatively assessed using electron microscopy. Three-way and two-way variance analysis and complementary Tuckey analysis were applied to compare the groups for any significant differences (P<0.05). Results: The average static and dynamic frictional forces for all bracket-wire combinations immersed in Sultan fluoride gel were higher than those immersed in NAF and control groups (P<0.001).The forces measured for rectangular wires were higher than round wires (P<0.001). Frictional resistance of 0.016 inch NiTi wire was more than that of the steel one but the difference between steel and NiTi 0.019 × 0.25 arch wires was not significant. Conclusion: Friction between steel brackets and nickel titanium and steel wires is affected by prophylactic agents containing high doses of fluoride and acidity