Linguistic Changes across Different User Roles in MOOCs: What do they tell us?

In recent years, we have witnessed an increasing interest in online learning environments, particularly in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). However, prevailing studies show that lower percentage of students complete their courses successfully in online learning environment. The vast amount of student data available in MOOC platforms enables us to gain insight into student learning behaviours. In this paper, we explore the idea of ‘student roles’, identifying linguistic change associated with roles that will later help us to understand students’ learning process in MOOCs. As an initial stage of this research, the study aims to categorise student roles (e.g. information seeker, information giver) using discourse analysis, and to further analyse the linguistic change for each student role with time. A multi-class classifier has been built to identify user roles with 82.20% F-measure. Further, our study on linguistic changes demonstrates that distinctive behaviors can be observed across different user roles. Prominent observations include discourse complexity, lexical diversity, level of information embeddedness and lexical frequency profile being high in information giver in comparison to information seeker and other user roles.Lavendini Sivaneasharajah, Katrina Falkner, Thushari Atapatt

A 3D Bioprinter Specifically Designed for the High-Throughput Production of Matrix-Embedded Multicellular Spheroids

Biotechnology; Cell Biology; Biomaterial

The first documentation of the immune response to cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania donovani in Sri Lanka.

Introduction and Objectives: The predominant form of leishmaniasis seen in Sri Lanka is cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) caused by Leishmania donovani, a species commonly causing visceral disease. The objective of this study was to explore the human host immune response to CL in Sri Lanka. Methods: A descriptive comparative study was carried out on nine CL patients referred to the Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, during 2011-2013. mRNA was extracted from the skin biopsy samples and reverse transcribed to cDNA and tested for Th1 and Th2 cytokines by using specific primers for IFN-γ, IL-2 (Th1 cytokines) and IL-4, IL-10 (Th2 cytokines). The results were compared with different characteristics of the lesion (number, duration, size and type of lesion). Results: This study revealed that the majority of CL patients (5/9) elicited a Th1 response whereas a Th2 response was not detected in any of the patients. Of the Th1 cytokine positive patients, majority had single lesions, with a shorter duration and smaller sized lesions which were of the plaque type. Of those which exhibited a negative Th1 response, the majority were larger lesions with a longer duration and were of the papular-nodular type. Conclusions: The study suggests that the predominant immune response to CL caused by L. donovani in Sri Lanka, is a Th1 type of response which may explain the localization of L. donovani which is usually a viscerotropic species, to skin tissue. Limitations of study: This study was done only in nine patients due to resource limitations. A continuation of this study is indicated to validate these results.</p

Log-moment estimators of the Nakagami-lognormal distribution

[EN] In this paper, estimators of the Nakagami-lognormal (NL) distribution based on the method of log-moments have been derived and thoroughly analyzed. Unlike maximum likelihood (ML) estimators, the log-moment estimators of the NL distribution are obtained using straightforward equations with a unique solution. Also, their performance has been evaluated using the sample mean, confidence regions and normalized mean square error (NMSE). The NL distribution has been extensively used to model composite small-scale fading and shadowing in wireless communication channels. This distribution is of interest in scenarios where the small-scale fading and the shadowing processes cannot be easily separated such as the vehicular environment.This work has been funded in part by the Programa de Estancias de Movilidad de Profesores e Investigadores en Centros Extranjeros de Ensenanza Superior e Investigacion of the Ministerio de Educacion, Cultura y Deporte, Spain, PR2015-00151 and by the Ministerio de Economia, Industria y Competitividad of the Spanish Government under the national project TEC2017-86779-C2-2-R, through the Agencia Estatal de Investigacion (AEI) and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER).Reig, J.; Brennan, C.; Rodrigo Peñarrocha, VM.; Rubio Arjona, L. (2019). Log-moment estimators of the Nakagami-lognormal distribution. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking. 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13638-018-1328-6S110J. M. Ho, G. L. 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Mathiopoulos, in Adaptive M-QAM systems with diversity in correlated Nakagami-m fading and shadowing. IEEE Global Telecommunications Conference (GLOBECOM 2010) (IEEEMiami, 2010), pp. 1–5.Ö. Bulakci, A. B. Saleh, J. Hämäläinen, S. Redana, Performance analysis of relay site planning over composite fading/shadowing channels with cochannel interference. IEEE Trans. Veh. Technol.62(4), 1692–1706 (2013).W. Cheng, Y. Huang, On the performance of adaptive SC/MRC cooperative systems over composite fading channels. Chin. J. Electron.25(3), 533–540 (2016).M. G. Kibria, G. P. Villardi, W. Liao, K. Nguyen, K. Ishizu, F. Kojima, Outage analysis of offloading in heterogeneous networks: Composite fading channels. IEEE Trans. Veh. Technol.66(10), 8990–9004 (2017).K. Cho, J. Lee, C. G. Kang, Stochastic geometry-based coverage and rate analysis under Nakagami & log-normal composite fading channel for downlink cellular networks. IEEE Commun. Lett.21(6), 1437–1440 (2017).R. Singh, M. Rawat, Closed-form distribution and analysis of a combined Nakagami-lognormal shadowing and unshadowing fading channel. J Telecommun. Inf. Technol.4:, 81–87 (2016).J. Reig, L. Rubio, Estimation of the composite fast fading and shadowing distribution using the log-moments in wireless communications. IEEE Trans. Wireless. Commun.12(8), 3672–3681 (2013).S. Atapattu, C. Tellambura, H. Jiang, A mixture gamma distribution to model the SNR of wireless channels. IEEE Trans. Wireless Commun.10(12), 4193–4203 (2011).Q. Wang, H. Lin, P. Kam, Tight bounds and invertible average error probability expressions over composite fading channels. J. Commun. Netw.18(2), 182–189 (2016).J. M. Holtzmann, On using perturbation analysis to do sensitivity analysis: derivatives versus differences. IEEE Trans. Autom. Control. 37(2), 243–247 (1992).H. Suzuki, A statistical model for urban radio propagation. IEEE Trans. Commun.25(7), 673–680 (1977).M. D. Yacoub, The α- μ distribution: a physical fading model for the Stacy distribution. IEEE Trans. Veh. Technol.56(1), 122–124 (2007).P. M. Shankar, Error rates in generalized shadowed fading channels. Wirel. Pers. Commun.28(3), 233–238 (2004).J. -M. Nicolas, Introduction aux statistiques de deuxième espèce: applications des logs-moments et des logs-cumulants à l’analyse des lois d’images radar. Traitement du Signal. 19(3), 139–167 (2002). Translation to English by S. N. Anfinsen.C. Withers, S. Nadarajah, A generalized Suzuki distribution. Wirel. Pers. Commun.62(4), 807–830 (2012).M. Abramowitz, Handbook of Mathematical Functions, with Formulas, Graphs, and Mathematical Tables, 9th edn. (Dover, New York, NY, 1972).M. K. Simon, M. S. Alouini, Digital Communication over Fading Channels, 2nd edn. (Wiley, Hoboken, NY, 2005).Z. Sun, J. Du, in Proc. 10th International Conference, ICIC 2014, ed. by D. -S. Huang, V. Bevilacqua, and P. Premaratne. 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Climate change litigation: a review of research on courts and litigants in climate government

Studies of climate change litigation have proliferated over the past two decades, as lawsuits across the world increasingly bring policy debates about climate change mitigation and adaptation, as well as climate change‐related loss and damage to the attention of courts. We systematically identify 130 articles on climate change litigation published in English in the law and social sciences between 2000 and 2018 to identify research trajectories. In addition to a budding interdisciplinarity in scholarly interest in climate change litigation we also document a growing understanding of the full spectrum of actors involved and implicated in climate lawsuits and the range of motivations and/or strategic imperatives underpinning their engagement with the law. Situating this within the broader academic literature on the topic we then highlight a number of cutting edge trends and opportunities for future research. Four emerging themes are explored in detail: the relationship between litigation and governance; how time and scale feature in climate litigation; the role of science; and what has been coined the “human rights turn” in climate change litigation. We highlight the limits of existing work and the need for future research—not limited to legal scholarship—to evaluate the impact of both regulatory and anti‐regulatory climate‐related lawsuits, and to explore a wider set of jurisdictions, actors and themes. Addressing these issues and questions will help to develop a deeper understanding of the conditions under which litigation will strengthen or undermine climate governance. This article is categorized under: Policy and Governance > Multilevel and Transnational Climate Change Governanc

A community-based cluster randomised trial of safe storage to reduce pesticide self-poisoning in rural Sri Lanka: study protocol

BACKGROUND: The WHO recognises pesticide poisoning to be the single most important means of suicide globally. Pesticide self-poisoning is a major public health and clinical problem in rural Asia, where it has led to case fatality ratios 20-30 times higher than self-poisoning in the developed world. One approach to reducing access to pesticides is for households to store pesticides in lockable "safe-storage" containers. However, before this approach can be promoted, evidence is required on its effectiveness and safety. METHODS/DESIGN: A community-based cluster randomised controlled trial has been set up in 44,000 households in the North Central Province, Sri Lanka. A census is being performed, collecting baseline demographic data, socio-economic status, pesticide usage, self-harm and alcohol. Participating villages are then randomised and eligible households in the intervention arm given a lockable safe storage container for agrochemicals. The primary outcome will be incidence of pesticide self-poisoning over three years amongst individuals aged 14 years and over. 217,944 person years of follow-up are required in each arm to detect a 33% reduction in pesticide self-poisoning with 80% power at the 5% significance level. Secondary outcomes will include the incidence of all pesticide poisoning and total self-harm. DISCUSSION: This paper describes a large effectiveness study of a community intervention to reduce the burden of intentional poisoning in rural Sri Lanka. The study builds on a strong partnership between provincial health services, local and international researchers, and local communities. We discuss issues in relation to randomisation and contamination, engaging control villages, the intervention, and strategies to improve adherence

International practice of corticosteroid replacement therapy in congenital adrenal hyperplasia - data from the I-CAH registry.

OBJECTIVE: Despite published guidelines no unified approach to hormone replacement in congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) exists. We aimed to explore geographical and temporal variations in the treatment with glucocorticoids and mineralocorticoids in CAH. DESIGN: This retrospective multi-center study, including 31 centers (16 countries), analyzed data from the International-CAH Registry. METHODS: Data was collected from 461 patients aged 0-18 years with classic 21-hydroxylase deficiency (54.9% females) under follow-up between 1982 - 2018. Type, dose and timing of glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid replacement was analyzed from 4174 patient visits. RESULTS: The most frequently used glucocorticoid was hydrocortisone (87.6%). Overall, there were significant differences between age groups with regards to daily hydrocortisone-equivalent dose for body surface, with the lowest dose (median with interquartile range) of 12.0 (10.0 - 14.5) mg/ m2/ day at age 1 - 8 years and the highest dose of 14.0 (11.6 - 17.4) mg/ m2/ day at age 12-18 years. Glucocorticoid doses decreased after 2010 in patients 0-8 years (p<0.001) and remained unchanged in patients aged 8-18 years. Fludrocortisone was used in 92% of patients, with relative doses decreasing with age. A wide variation was observed among countries with regards to all aspects of steroid hormone replacement. CONCLUSIONS: Data from the I-CAH Registry suggests international variations in hormone replacement therapy, with a tendency to treatment with high doses in children

Adenylate Cyclase Toxin Promotes Internalisation of Integrins and Raft Components and Decreases Macrophage Adhesion Capacity

Bordetella pertussis, the bacterium that causes whooping cough, secretes an adenylate cyclase toxin (ACT) that must be post-translationally palmitoylated in the bacterium cytosol to be active. The toxin targets phagocytes expressing the CD11b/CD18 integrin receptor. It delivers a catalytic adenylate cyclase domain into the target cell cytosol producing a rapid increase of intracellular cAMP concentration that suppresses bactericidal functions of the phagocyte. ACT also induces calcium fluxes into target cells. Biochemical, biophysical and cell biology approaches have been applied here to show evidence that ACT and integrin molecules, along with other raft components, are rapidly internalized by the macrophages in a toxin-induced calcium rise-dependent process. The toxin-triggered internalisation events occur through two different routes of entry, chlorpromazine-sensitive receptor-mediated endocytosis and clathrin-independent internalisation, maybe acting in parallel. ACT locates into raft-like domains, and is internalised, also in cells devoid of receptor. Altogether our results suggest that adenylate cyclase toxin, and maybe other homologous pathogenic toxins from the RTX (Repeats in Toxin) family to which ACT belongs, may be endowed with an intrinsic capacity to, directly and efficiently, insert into raft-like domains, promoting there its multiple activities. One direct consequence of the integrin removal from the cell surface of the macrophages is the hampering of their adhesion ability, a fundamental property in the immune response of the leukocytes that could be instrumental in the pathogenesis of Bordetella pertussis