Peer e-assessment and feedback for student self-regulation and strategic learning at university: Student perception

[EN] The implementation of successful assessment for learning practices requires a co-responsibility of students and teachers. Participative assessment practices and feedback are key elements in assessment for learning to enhance student’s self-regulation and strategic learning. More specifically, through peer-assessment students participate in a dialogic process where they assess their co-equals’ performances and tasks offering constructive feedback. In such cases, technologies can facilitate and enrich the whole process. This paper provides an insight of student perceptions about their participation in peer-assessment and peer-feedback practices using information and communication technologies (ICT). Nine lecturers from different studies and 195 students participated in the research. Data gathering was implemented with a questionnaire that questioned about the possibilities and difficulties of three main topics: peer-assessment and peer-feedback process, the assessment task and the use of technologies to support the process. Results show positive appraisal of students in all the categories. Participants seem to highlight that providing peer-assessment and feedback enhance their critical skills when assessing their own performance. Still, to improve the results there is a need to train students in assessment, communication and technologies. To conclude, some prospective research actions are drawn stressing the contributions to feedback that electronic and virtual resources can provide.[ES] En la evaluación para el aprendizaje la responsabilidad de la evaluación se comparte entre profesorado y alumnado. Mediante la participación del estudiante en los procesos evaluativos y la retroalimentación se pretende fomentar la autorregulación y el aprendizaje estratégico de los implicados. De forma concreta, a través de la evaluación entre iguales los estudiantes participan en un proceso dialógico donde evalúan el trabajo de sus compañeros y les ofrecen retroalimentación orientada a la mejora, siendo un facilitador del proceso la mediación tecnológica. Los beneficios de estas prácticas en la literatura son abundantes, sin embargo, se ha considerado importante indagar sobre qué piensan los propios estudiantes sobre su participación en la evaluación y retroalimentación electrónica entre iguales. De esta forma, se ha realizado una investigación que involucró a nueve docentes de distintas titulaciones y un total de 195 estudiantes universitarios. La recogida de información se realizó a través de un cuestionario que incluía preguntas sobre las posibilidades y dificultades de la evaluación y retroalimentación entre iguales, sobre la tarea diseñada y sobre el uso de herramientas tecnológicas. Los resultados revelan valoraciones positivas del alumnado en todas las dimensiones. Los participantes han destacado sobre todo que evaluar y retroalimentar a compañeros les ha permitido aumentar su capacidad crítica ante trabajos y ejecuciones propias. No obstante, para mejorar estos resultados se plantea la necesidad de mayor formación sobre evaluación, comunicación y tecnologías. Para finalizar se exponen futuras líneas de investigación destacando el papel predominante de los recursos virtuales en la aportación de retroalimentación.Gallego Noche, B.; Quesada Serra, V.; Gómez Ruiz, M.; Cubero Ibáñez, J. (2017). La evaluación y retroalimentación electrónica entre iguales para la autorregulación y el aprendizaje estratégico en la universidad: la percepción del alumnado. REDU. Revista de Docencia Universitaria. 15(1):127-146. doi:10.4995/redu.2017.5991.SWORD12714615

Towards a Synthetic Chloroplast

The evolution of eukaryotic cells is widely agreed to have proceeded through a series of endosymbiotic events between larger cells and proteobacteria or cyanobacteria, leading to the formation of mitochondria or chloroplasts, respectively. Engineered endosymbiotic relationships between different species of cells are a valuable tool for synthetic biology, where engineered pathways based on two species could take advantage of the unique abilities of each mutualistic partner.We explored the possibility of using the photosynthetic bacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 as a platform for studying evolutionary dynamics and for designing two-species synthetic biological systems. We observed that the cyanobacteria were relatively harmless to eukaryotic host cells compared to Escherichia coli when injected into the embryos of zebrafish, Danio rerio, or taken up by mammalian macrophages. In addition, when engineered with invasin from Yersinia pestis and listeriolysin O from Listeria monocytogenes, S. elongatus was able to invade cultured mammalian cells and divide inside macrophages.Our results show that it is possible to engineer photosynthetic bacteria to invade the cytoplasm of mammalian cells for further engineering and applications in synthetic biology. Engineered invasive but non-pathogenic or immunogenic photosynthetic bacteria have great potential as synthetic biological devices

Simulationsinstrumente in Produktion und Logistik - eine Marktübersicht

Die methodische Unterstützung von Anlagenplanung und -betrieb in Produktion und Logistik mittels Simulation gehört heute in vielen Unternehmen zum Tagesgeschäft. Der Simulationsmarkt in Deutschland hat sich nach Jahren der hektischen Werkzeugentwicklung konsolidiert; die Anzahl der angebotenen Simulationswerkzeuge ist überschaubar geworden. Der Beitrag beschreibt ausgehend von den Arbeiten zu Beginn der 90er Jahre den heutigen Simulationsmarkt in Produktion und Logistik. Hierbei steht nicht die detaillierte Vorstellung einzelner Simulationswerkzeuge im Vordergrund, der Beitrag soll vielmehr allgemeine Klassifikationskriterien zur Leistungsbeschreibung der verschiedenen Simulationswerkzeuge benennen. Die Darstellung der aktuellen Entwicklungstrends rundet den Beitrag ab

Portable non-invasive blood pressure measurement using pulse transmit time

The conventional method of blood pressure measurement in hospitals uses a cuff that inflates on an arm and causes slight pain on the patient. An alternate device that eliminates this consequence is proposed. Plethymography is the measure of change in blood volume due to blood pressure. Photoplethymography (PPG) uses optical sensors to measure this changes in volume. From PPG, we can derive pulse transit time (PTT), the time difference of two pulses from different sites. We can also directly derive from PPG the heart rate. PTT has been strongly correlated to blood pressure. A mathematical model has been derived and presented to show the relationship of blood pressure and PTT. After testing the device, heart rate and blood pressure data were gathered from the device and the same kind of data was gathered from a conventional blood pressure and heart rate measuring device to act as actual values. These sets of data were compared with each other using the T-test method. Upon applying the treatment, all three two-tail P values are greater than 0.05 which means that the null hypothesis that there is no difference in the results obtained from the two vital signs measuring systems fails to be rejected which means that the proposed system can used as an alternative to the conventional system. © 2017 IEEE

Simulationsinstrumente im Überblick

Die vorliegende Marktübersicht ist in vier Kapitel gegliedert: - Eine Einführung in die Thematik durch Auflistung der Intentionen bei der Erstellung der Übersicht, die Darstellung der Grenzen, die Abgrenzung des Teilnehmerfeldes sowie die Differenzierung zwischen Software und Dienstleistung. - Eine Klassifizierung der Simulationssysteme anhand von einfachen Merkmalen. Einerseits wird das Anwenderfeld sowie seine Grenzen erörtert, andererseits wird durch die Darstellung der Modellierungsansätze das Anforderungsprofil an den Anwender verdeutlicht. - Die eigentliche Produktübersicht mit der Zusammenstellung der verschiedenen Simulatoren, einzelnen Merkmalen und ihrem Wertebereich sowie kurzen Beschreibungen der Instrumente. - Einem Vorschlag zur Vorgehensweise bei der Auswahl von Simulationssoftware, wobei Kriterien zur weiteren Beachtung zusammengestellt sind

The impact of cost management on the effectiveness of the disaster recovery plan of selected group A public auditing firms in Metro Manila, Philippines

Disaster recovery planning has gained the attention of most companies, both foreign and local, due to the increasing number of natural hazards being experienced across the globe. It has enabled companies to continue operations despite the damages being caused by unforeseeable disasters. However, the amount of time needed by companies to resume operations or even to survive depends on the effectiveness of the emergency response being implemented. This, in turn, lead to probable costs to be incurred due to the continual effort to establish and maintain an effective disaster recovery plan. Studies, which are mostly foreign, have focused on the cost management of specific projects and disaster recovery plans of foreign companies, independently. In this study, the researchers will be presenting the impact of cost management on the effectiveness of the disaster recovery plan of local companies, specifically, the Group A classified public auditing firms in Metro Manila, Philippines. Thus, this study is driven to: a) determine the specific procedures being followed by companies in order to systematically organize and implement a suitable disaster recovery plan b) present the various strategies that companies use to address the unpredictability of disasters to the extent of resources being allocated by companies specifically for their respective disaster recovery plan and c) determine the impact of the companies’ planning, budgeting and controlling procedures related to cost on the effectiveness of their existing disaster recovery plans measured by recovery time objective, recovery point objective, level of protection as to assets, prior year financial losses due to calamities and operational downtime. In this study, the stratified random sampling technique was used wherein the population is divided into subpopulations called strata. Such technique was used because it reduces the risk of sampling error, which may occur when the sample is not representative of the population. Furthermore, a random sampling technique gives a reasonable assurance that the sample is unbiased. Originally, the researchers targeted a total of 24 public auditing firms. However, only 12 companies cooperated to answer the survey questionnaires which the researchers then divided into subpopulations in accordance with their location. With this population, the researchers have estimated a total respondent population of 355 employees and a corresponding respondent sample size of 130 employees, computed using Slovin’s sample formula with an error rate of seven (7) percent. Consequently, with the aid of the studies and literature gathered from various sources, the researchers were able to establish a survey questionnaire, which will be the primary data gathering procedure of this research study. This procedure was able to reach the objectives of this study and solve the problems stated