Proposal and Evaluation of Intermediate Content for the Transition from Visual to Text-Based Programming Languages

Beginners learning to program learn visual-based programming languages, such as Scratch, whereas experts use text-based programming languages, such as C and Java. However, no seamless transition from visual to text-based programming languages has been established. In this paper, a transition method was established between both language types. In particular, emphasis was placed on the features that an intermediate language between visual and text-based programming languages should have. Additionally, learning with the proposed intermediate content enhanced the subsequent comprehension of text-based languages. The proposed intermediate content was evaluated using questionnaires to ensure that it had intermediate characteristics between both language types

Structure and mechanism of oxalate transporter OxlT in an oxalate-degrading bacterium in the gut microbiota

In our gut, oxalate-degrading bacteria absorb oxalate, a causative substance for kidney stone formation, and reduce our health risk. In this work, the authors report the structure of the oxalate transporter responsible for this process and how the protein works