Situating Vocational Learning and Teaching Using Digital Technologies - A Mapping Review of Current Research Literature

Context: The ongoing change of work life by digital technologies requires vocational education and training (VET) to adapt constantly. This "digital transformation" of work life gives therefore rise to the question how to advance the use of digital technologies in VET. A possible answer may be found by considering that VET should be transferable to work life. This goal may be achieved by coupling educational activities with examples of work situations. Such situated education may be accomplished by using digital technologies. Until five years ago this mainly consisted in using digital photos, videos, and the internet for educational scaffolding or learning tasks. In research this situated digital VET taxonomy is currently expanding. Hence, the use of digital technologies in VET may be advanced by considering current research literature on situated digital VET.Method: Here, we have searched and reviewed scientific publications on situated digital VET published in the past five years. In the peer-reviewed publications that we had selected, we first identified which digital technologies were used for situated VET and which educational activities were coupled with work situation examples. Subsequently, we identified the categories to which the publications could be grouped together by analyzing the content of their full texts. Results: Situated digital VET was accomplished in about half of the reviewed publications by a digital video on a work situation, and in almost half of the publications by a work situation presented in a 3D virtual environment. Digital videos on work situations mostly served all types of learning tasks and rather rarely educational scaffolding. Work situations presented in 3D virtual environments mostly served cognitive or behavioral learning tasks and never educational scaffolding. Situated digital VET was moreover accomplished by using the digital representation of a work situation that either had occurred previously or that was immediately taking place. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that retrospectively and immediately situated digital VET may be the two categories of an up-to-date basic taxonomy of situated digital VET. Hence, an important question to investigate for advancing the use of digital technologies in VET is the following: Which of the two identified types of situated digital VET can facilitate which kind of vocational learning? Based on the reviewed publications we are not able to give any answers to this. Hence, there is a massive need to investigate which kind of vocational learning can be facilitated by retrospectively, and which by immediately situated digital VET.

improving the efficiency of copper dye sensitized solar cells by manipulating the electrolyte solution

The crucial role of tert-butylpyridine and lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide in the performance of sustainable "full-copper" DSSCs

Sequential double second-order nonlinear optical switch by an acido-triggered photochromic cyclometallated platinum(ii) complex.

International audienceAn unprecedented DTE-based Pt(II) complex, 2(o), which stands as the first example of a sequential double nonlinear optical switch, induced first by protonation and next upon irradiation with UV light is presented

Video-based collaborative learning:evidence for a pedagogical model

The educational potential of video is a long-lasting, multi-faceted topic, and the affordances of technological advancement have recently revitalized this discussion. However, teachers are still far from competently integrating or becoming accustomed to video-based pedagogy, especially in combination with collaborative pedagogy. To provide teachers and teacher educators with sound principles for implementing video-supported collaborative learning (VSCL), this symposium fosters a teacher experiment, a cross-over analysis on a pedagogical model for effective VSCL, and student feedback in relation with VSCL. The experiment shows students’ growing lexical richness and cohesion by working peer feedback on student’s video recorded teaching practice. The cross-over analysis shows the evidence for the VSCL-pedagogical model based on data from many other experiments in the European ViSuAL-project. The same holds for the student-feedback analysis. In this symposium we interact about practical experiences in relation with the effective principles of the developed pedagogical model and the experiences of the students

Functionalized styryl iridium(III) complexes as active second-order NLO chromophores and building blocks for SHG polymeric films

International audienceWe studied the second-order NLO properties in solution of various Ir(III) acetylacetonate complexes bearing a substituted cyclometallated 4-styryl-2-phenylpyridine (ppy-4-styryl-R, with R = NEt2, OMe, H, NO2) with the EFISH technique. The dipole moments were evaluated by Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations. We have also investigated the Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) of composite films based on the various cyclometallated Ir(III) complexes dispersed and oriented in a polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) matrix

Introduction of a mesityl substituent on pyridyl rings as a facile strategy for improving the performance of luminescent 1,3-bis-(2-pyridyl)benzene platinum(ii) complexes: a springboard for blue OLEDs

While the development of red and green phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) has seen rapid progress, that of efficient blue phosphorescent OLEDs remains a challenge. In the present report, the introduction of a bulky substituent on the pyridyl rings of a cycloplatinated 1,3-bis(pyridine-2-yl)-4,6-difluoro-benzene appears as a facile strategy to hinder strong Pt⋯Pt interactions, allowing the fabrication of efficient blue OLEDs. Thus, the preparation and characterization of a chlorido platinum(II) complex bearing a well-designed new N^C^N-cyclometalating ligand, namely 1,3-bis(4-mesityl-pyridin-2-yl)-4,6-difluoro-benzene, are reported. Its structure, along with that of the related pro-ligand, is determined by X-ray diffraction studies on a single crystal. The shortest Pt⋯Pt distance is much longer (8.59 Å) than that observed for other N^C^N-platinum(II) chlorido complexes including one with the bulky mesityl group on the cyclometalated benzene ring (4.4 Å). This new complex exhibits intense blue phosphorescence (470–471 nm) in dichloromethane solution (Φlum = 0.97) and in the PMMA film (1 wt% complex, Φlum = 0.95) whereas red phosphorescence (672 nm) is observed in a neat film (Φlum = 0.72). Even in the solid state, the novel complex is highly luminescent suggesting that the introduction of mesityl groups on the pyridine rings is a way to inhibit self-quenching both in the PMMA matrix and in neat films. It represents a useful tool for the fabrication of efficient blue OLEDs (8% wt complex) with CIE coordinates (0.13, 0.29) approaching true blue. The molecular geometry, ground state, electronic structure, and excited electronic states of the complex, both as a monomer and dimer aggregate in solution, are calculated using density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent (TD) DFT approaches, giving insight into the electronic origin of the absorption spectra

MicroRNAs as Regulators of Neo-Angiogenesis in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a highly vascularized neoplasm. In the tumor niche, abundant angiogenesis is fundamental in providing nutrients for tumor growth and represents the first escape route for metastatic cells. Active angiogenesis, together with metastasis, are responsible for the reduction of recurrence-free survival of HCC. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that have recently drawn attention in molecular targeted therapy or as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers. MiRNA expression in HCC has been widely studied in the last decade. Some miRNAs have been found to be up- or down-regulated, besides association with apoptosis, metastasis progression and drug resistance have been found. This review article aims to summarize the angiogenetic process in tumor diseases and to update on what has been found in the vast world of HCC-related-miRNAs and, eventually, to report the latest finding on several miRNAs involved in HCC angiogenesis. We searched the state of the arts for the 12 miRNAs found to be involved with angiogenesis in HCC (miR-29b, miR-126-3p, miR-144-3p, miR-146a, miR-195, miR-199a-3p, miR-210-3p, miR-338- 3p, mir-491, mir-497, mir-638, mir-1301) and reported their main molecular targets and their overall effect in the sprouting of new vessels

Persistent immune stimulation exacerbates genetically driven myeloproliferative disorders via stromal remodeling

Systemic immune stimulation has been associated with increased risk of myeloid malignancies, but the pathogenic link is unknown. We demonstrate in animal models that experimental systemic immune activation alters the bone marrow stromal microenvironment, disarranging extracellular matrix (ECM) microarchitecture, with downregulation of secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine (SPARC) and collagen-I and induction of complement activation. These changes were accompanied by a decrease in Treg frequency and by an increase in activated effector T cells. Under these conditions, hematopoietic precursors harboring nucleophosmin-1 (NPM1) mutation generated myeloid cells unfit for normal hematopoiesis but prone to immunogenic death, leading to neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation. NET fostered the progression of the indolent NPM1-driven myeloproliferation toward an exacerbated and proliferative dysplastic phenotype. Enrichment in NET structures was found in the bone marrow of patients with autoimmune disorders and in NPM1-mutated acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) patients. Genes involved in NET formation in the animal model were used to design a NET-related inflammatory gene signature for human myeloid malignancies. This signature identified two AML subsets with different genetic complexity and different enrichment in NPM1 mutation and predicted the response to immunomodulatory drugs. Our results indicate that stromal/ECM changes and priming of bone marrow NETosis by systemic inflammatory conditions can complement genetic and epigenetic events towards the development and progression of myeloid malignancy