Investigating the relations between motivation, tool use, participation, and performance in an e-learning course using web-videoconferencing

Web-videoconference systems offer several tools (like chat, audio, and webcam) that vary in the amount and type of information learners can share with each other and the teacher. It has been proposed that tools fostering more direct social interaction and feedback amongst learners and teachers would foster higher levels of engagement. If so, one would expect that the richer the tools used, the higher the levels of learner engagement. However, the actual use of tools and contributions to interactions in the learning situation may relate to students’ motivation. Therefore, we investigated the relationship between available tools used, student motivation, participation, and performance on a final exam in an online course in economics (N = 110). In line with our assumptions, we found some support for the expected association between autonomous motivation and participation in web-videoconferences as well as between autonomous motivation and the grade on the final exam. Students’ tool use and participation were significantly correlated with each other and with exam scores, but participation appeared to be a stronger predictor of the final exam score than tool use. This study adds to the knowledge base needed to develop guidelines on how synchronous communication in e-learning can be used

A multi-targeted approach to suppress tumor-promoting inflammation

Cancers harbor significant genetic heterogeneity and patterns of relapse following many therapies are due to evolved resistance to treatment. While efforts have been made to combine targeted therapies, significant levels of toxicity have stymied efforts to effectively treat cancer with multi-drug combinations using currently approved therapeutics. We discuss the relationship between tumor-promoting inflammation and cancer as part of a larger effort to develop a broad-spectrum therapeutic approach aimed at a wide range of targets to address this heterogeneity. Specifically, macrophage migration inhibitory factor, cyclooxygenase-2, transcription factor nuclear factor-κB, tumor necrosis factor alpha, inducible nitric oxide synthase, protein kinase B, and CXC chemokines are reviewed as important antiinflammatory targets while curcumin, resveratrol, epigallocatechin gallate, genistein, lycopene, and anthocyanins are reviewed as low-cost, low toxicity means by which these targets might all be reached simultaneously. Future translational work will need to assess the resulting synergies of rationally designed antiinflammatory mixtures (employing low-toxicity constituents), and then combine this with similar approaches targeting the most important pathways across the range of cancer hallmark phenotypes

Broad targeting of resistance to apoptosis in cancer

Apoptosis or programmed cell death is natural way of removing aged cells from the body. Most of the anti-cancer therapies trigger apoptosis induction and related cell death networks to eliminate malignant cells. However, in cancer, de-regulated apoptotic signaling, particularly the activation of an anti-apoptotic systems, allows cancer cells to escape this program leading to uncontrolled proliferation resulting in tumor survival, therapeutic resistance and recurrence of cancer. This resistance is a complicated phenomenon that emanates from the interactions of various molecules and signaling pathways. In this comprehensive review we discuss the various factors contributing to apoptosis resistance in cancers. The key resistance targets that are discussed include (1) Bcl-2 and Mcl-1 proteins; (2) autophagy processes; (3) necrosis and necroptosis; (4) heat shock protein signaling; (5) the proteasome pathway; (6) epigenetic mechanisms; and (7) aberrant nuclear export signaling. The shortcomings of current therapeutic modalities are highlighted and a broad spectrum strategy using approaches including (a) gossypol; (b) epigallocatechin-3-gallate; (c) UMI-77 (d) triptolide and (e) selinexor that can be used to overcome cell death resistance is presented. This review provides a roadmap for the design of successful anti-cancer strategies that overcome resistance to apoptosis for better therapeutic outcome in patients with cancer

Impact of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions on the thermal stability factor of heavy metal/magnetic metal/oxide based nano-pillars

open7openGastaldo, Daniele; Strelkov, Nikita; Buda-Prejbeanu, Liliana D.; Dieny, Bernard; Boulle, Olivier; Allia, Paolo; Tiberto, PaolaGastaldo, Daniele; Strelkov, Nikita; Buda-Prejbeanu, Liliana D.; Dieny, Bernard; Boulle, Olivier; Allia, Paolo; Tiberto, Paol

Proceedings of 2012 Annual Meeting of the Academy of International Business-US North East Chapter: Business Without Borders

Proceedings of the 2012 Academy of International Business-US North East Chapter Fairfield, Connecticut, October 11-13, 2012. Business Without Borders. Host, John F. Welch College of Business, Sacred Heart University. Editor, Jang\u27an Tang. AIB-NE 2012 Conference Co-Chairs, Khawaja Mamun, Ph.D. and Jang\u27an Tang

The Conditioning Effects Of Religiosity On The Relationship Between Strain, Negative Emotions, And Delinquency: A Longitudinal Assessment Of General Strain Theory

Robert Agnew’s (1992) General Strain Theory significantly revitalized traditional scholarship in the anomie/strain tradition by offering a general theory of crime; purported to account for both criminal and analogous behaviors. GST specifically extends anomie/strain theory by introducing new sources of strain (i.e. loss of positively valued stimuli, presentation of noxious stimuli) into the theoretical framework, as well as elucidating the causal pathways (including mediating and moderating effects) leading from the experience of strain to deviant coping mechanisms. An emerging trend within GST is the identification of previously untapped sources of strain (e.g. victimization, discrimination) that ostensibly have deviancegenerating properties. Concerning the latter trend, recent empirical iterations of GST have also introduced internal (e.g. self-esteem) and external conditioning factors (e.g. social control) that have been found to exert a mediating effect on the relationship between strain-generated negative emotions and deviant coping responses. Jang and Johnson-in a recent series of studies (2003, 2005)-offered a crucial extension to the General Strain Theory (GST) literature by finding that religiosity at least partially moderates the deviance-generating effects of strain-induced negative affect among a sample of African Americans. The current study offers a key extension to the Jang and Johnson thesis by offering the most comprehensive examination of the central tenets of their research to a nationally-representative, longitudinal sample of adolescents. Results from Waves I and II of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health reveal support for GST in general, and qualified support for the Jang/Johnson thesis in particular. Strain was found to be a significant, positive predictor of depression and anger. With regard to the fundamental hypothesis of the current research, partial support was garnered for the Jang and Johnson hypothesis. In particular, religiosity only offered direct protective effects when predicting drug use, and failed to condition the relationship of strain on deviance across any of the deviance measures. Consequently, religiosity failed to moderate the effects of strain on deviant coping strategies among the full sample, although significant conditioning effects were observed for female deviance. Consequently, these results largely attribute the Jang and Johnson findings to elevated levels of religiosity in their sample