The (Re) adaptability of Research Methodologies in the Instructional Design & Technology Field

In its revolutionary piece, On The Origin of Species, Darwin (1859) provided compelling evidence for the existence of the natural selection process. He described how species interact with their environments to cause variations in traits. Just like the species that Darwin explored in his research, the methodologies used in investigations related to the instructional design and technology (IDT) field have (re)adapted. This (re)adaptability serves to help us better inquire and explore the landscape of formal and informal educational learning environments available today

Engaging Students With Course Content Using Scheduled and Unscheduled Emails and Text Messages

This study addressed college students’ acceptance of push communication (i.e., email and SMS messaging) as a means of receiving course-related content, and modified the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology by including Scheduled Message as an independent variable. Surveys of 301 students’ perceptions of instructor-sent email and SMS texts directing them to materials in six instructors’ 10 courses were analyzed by PLS-PM for their impact on the students’ intention to use these push communication technologies. In contrast to previous studies on technology acceptance, we evaluated actual usage patterns for both the scheduled and unscheduled push communication. Scheduled emails did not yield higher average duration times or unique visitors than unscheduled ones, yet click-through rates and return visits were higher. Scheduled SMS messages did yield higher average duration times, unique visitors, and click-through rates than unscheduled SMS messages, yet unscheduled SMS messages yielded more return visits. We argue that the differences in the results for email vs. SMS may have been due to email’s slower delivery time. We also consider implications for faculty wishing to facilitate distributed learning among students via push communication

Engaging Students With Course Content Using Scheduled and Unscheduled Emails and Text Messages

This study addressed college students’ acceptance of push communication (i.e., email and SMS messaging) as a means of receiving course-related content, and modified the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology by including Scheduled Message as an independent variable. Surveys of 301 students’ perceptions of instructor-sent email and SMS texts directing them to materials in six instructors’ 10 courses were analyzed by PLS-PM for their impact on the students’ intention to use these push communication technologies. In contrast to previous studies on technology acceptance, we evaluated actual usage patterns for both the scheduled and unscheduled push communication. Scheduled emails did not yield higher average duration times or unique visitors than unscheduled ones, yet click-through rates and return visits were higher. Scheduled SMS messages did yield higher average duration times, unique visitors, and click-through rates than unscheduled SMS messages, yet unscheduled SMS messages yielded more return visits. We argue that the differences in the results for email vs. SMS may have been due to email’s slower delivery time. We also consider implications for faculty wishing to facilitate distributed learning among students via push communication

Authoritarianism in the Living Room: Everyday Disciplines, Senses, and Morality in Taiwan’s Military Villages

With the nationalist government – Kuomintang (KMT) – retreating from mainland China in 1949, some 600,000 military personnel relocated to Taiwan. The military seized former Japanese colonial properties and built its own settlements, establishing temporary military dependents’ villages called juancun (眷村). When the prospect of counter-attacking the mainland vanished, the KMT had to face the reality of settling permanently in Taiwan. How, then, did the KMT’s authoritarian power enter the everyday lives of its own support group? In this article I will focus on the coercive elements of KMT authoritarianism, which permeated these military villages in Taiwan. I will look at the coercive mechanisms through the analytical lens of Foucauldian discipline. I argue that disciplinary techniques such as surveillance, disciplining of the body and the senses, as well as the creation of morality regimes played an important role in the cooptation of village residents into KMT authoritarianism by normalising and naturalising it

Subcellular localization of Mitf in monocytic cells

Microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (Mitf) is a transcription factor that plays an important role in regulating the development of several cell lineages. The subcellular localization of Mitf is dynamic and is associated with its transcription activity. In this study, we examined factors that affect its subcellular localization in cells derived from the monocytic lineage since Mitf is present abundantly in these cells. We identified a domain encoded by Mitf exon 1B1b to be important for Mitf to commute between the cytoplasm and the nucleus. Deletion of this domain disrupts the shuttling of Mitf to the cytoplasm and results in its retention in the nucleus. M-CSF and RANKL both induce nuclear translocation of Mitf. We showed that Mitf nuclear transport is greatly influenced by ratio of M-CSF/Mitf protein expression. In addition, cell attachment to a solid surface also is needed for the nuclear transport of Mitf

Hearing Loss Prevents the Maturation of GABAergic Transmission in the Auditory Cortex

Inhibitory neurotransmission is a critical determinant of neuronal network gain and dynamic range, suggesting that network properties are shaped by activity during development. A previous study demonstrated that sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) in gerbils leads to smaller inhibitory potentials in L2/3 pyramidal neurons in the thalamorecipient auditory cortex, ACx. Here, we explored the mechanisms that account for proper maturation of γ-amino butyric acid (GABA)ergic transmission. SNHL was induced at postnatal day (P) 10, and whole-cell voltage-clamp recordings were obtained from layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons in thalamocortical slices at P16–19. SNHL led to an increase in the frequency of GABAzine-sensitive (antagonist) spontaneous (s) and miniature (m) inhibitory postsynaptic currents (IPSCs), accompanied by diminished amplitudes and longer durations. Consistent with this, the amplitudes of minimum-evoked IPSCs were also reduced while their durations were longer. The α1- and β2/3 subunit–specific agonists zolpidem and loreclezole increased control but not SNHL sIPSC durations. To test whether SNHL affected the maturation of GABAergic transmission, sIPSCs were recorded at P10. These sIPSCs resembled the long SNHL sIPSCs. Furthermore, zolpidem and loreclezole were ineffective in increasing their durations. Together, these data strongly suggest that the presynaptic release properties and expression of key postsynaptic GABAA receptor subunits are coregulated by hearing

Details of a scientific approach to information systems, Courant Symp. in Data Base Systems

are the optimal strategy for the usage considered. If it is assumed now that all q s = 0 (i.e. there is no querying to the IPS) then it is clear that no indexing path is profitable. Rule 4 If only queries and no maintenance are performed then all the candidate indexing paths are included in the optimal strategy whereas if maintenance only is done, no indexing path appears in the IPS. Conclusions A file designer who cannot determine the effects of each alternative decision is bound to make subjective or intuitive design judgements instead of objective ones. The properties and rules stated (a) provide the means to improve the performance of IPS by expanding the current spectrum of alternative indexing paths examined prior to making any implementation decision, and (b) provide for increased confidence in the decision made. In Book review A Programming Metholodology in Compiler Construction Part I: Concepts by J. Lewi, K. De Vlaminck, J. Huens and M. Huybrechts, 1979; 308 pages. (North-Holland, $41.50) In the late 1950s the task of compiler construction was considered a major undertaking. The first FORTRAN compiler, for example, took 18 man-years to implement (Backus et al, 1957). Now, in the late 1970s, such a task is considered a reasonable computer science student project. The factors that have led to this over the last twenty years are (a) the comprehension of the organisation and modular design of the compilation process, (b) the development of systematic techniques for handling the majority of the important tasks that occur during compilation and (c) the construction of software tools that assist in the implementation of compilers and compiler components. Implicit in all these three developments is the closing of the gap between theory and practice. This book is the first part of a twopart description of an environment utilising a completely closed gap. Part I introduces the basic theoretical models whilst part 2 will consider the more practical aspects of the engineering of the environment (namely the language implementation laboratory [LILA] [transducer] programs from the associated syntax. As such, each section is the logical progression of the previous and the methodology used in each section is a reflection of the methodology of the previous section. Hence the book is structurally pleasing and easy to read. In conclusion, the book is ideally suited to the software engineer who is actively involved in the application of language theory to compiler construction (or the construction of any systems softwar

Aerosolized Human Extracellular Superoxide Dismutase Prevents Hyperoxia-Induced Lung Injury

An important issue in critical care medicine is the identification of ways to protect the lungs from oxygen toxicity and reduce systemic oxidative stress in conditions requiring mechanical ventilation and high levels of oxygen. One way to prevent oxygen toxicity is to augment antioxidant enzyme activity in the respiratory system. The current study investigated the ability of aerosolized extracellular superoxide dismutase (EC-SOD) to protect the lungs from hyperoxic injury. Recombinant human EC-SOD (rhEC-SOD) was produced from a synthetic cassette constructed in the methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris. Female CD-1 mice were exposed in hyperoxia (FiO2>95%) to induce lung injury. The therapeutic effects of EC-SOD and copper-zinc SOD (CuZn-SOD) via an aerosol delivery system for lung injury and systemic oxidative stress at 24, 48, 72 and 96 h of hyperoxia were measured by bronchoalveolar lavage, wet/dry ratio, lung histology, and 8-oxo-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-oxo-dG) in lung and liver tissues. After exposure to hyperoxia, the wet/dry weight ratio remained stable before day 2 but increased significantly after day 3. The levels of oxidative biomarker 8-oxo-dG in the lung and liver were significantly decreased on day 2 (P<0.01) but the marker in the liver increased abruptly after day 3 of hyperoxia when the mortality increased. Treatment with aerosolized rhEC-SOD increased the survival rate at day 3 under hyperoxia to 95.8%, which was significantly higher than that of the control group (57.1%), albumin treated group (33.3%), and CuZn-SOD treated group (75%). The protective effects of EC-SOD against hyperoxia were further confirmed by reduced lung edema and systemic oxidative stress. Aerosolized EC-SOD protected mice against oxygen toxicity and reduced mortality in a hyperoxic model. The results encourage the use of an aerosol therapy with EC-SOD in intensive care units to reduce oxidative injury in patients with severe hypoxemic respiratory failure, including acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)

Characterizing blood metabolomics profiles associated with self-reported food intakes in female twins

Using dietary biomarkers in nutritional epidemiological studies may better capture exposure and improve the level at which diet-disease associations can be established and explored. Here, we aimed to identify and evaluate reproducibility of novel biomarkers of reported habitual food intake using targeted and non-targeted metabolomic blood profiling in a large twin cohort. Reported intakes of 71 food groups, determined by FFQ, were assessed against 601 fasting blood metabolites in over 3500 adult female twins from the TwinsUK cohort. For each metabolite, linear regression analysis was undertaken in the discovery group (excluding MZ twin pairs discordant [≥1 SD apart] for food group intake) with each food group as a predictor adjusting for age, batch effects, BMI, family relatedness and multiple testing (1.17x10-6 = 0.05/[71 food groups x 601 detected metabolites]). Significant results were then replicated (non-targeted: P<0.05; targeted: same direction) in the MZ discordant twin group and results from both analyses meta-analyzed. We identified and replicated 180 significant associations with 39 food groups (P<1.17x10-6), overall consisting of 106 different metabolites (74 known and 32 unknown), including 73 novel associations. In particular we identified trans-4-hydroxyproline as a potential marker of red meat intake (0.075[0.009]; P = 1.08x10-17), ergothioneine as a marker of mushroom consumption (0.181[0.019]; P = 5.93x10-22), and three potential markers of fruit consumption (top association: apple and pears): including metabolites derived from gut bacterial transformation of phenolic compounds, 3-phenylpropionate (0.024[0.004]; P = 1.24x10-8) and indolepropionate (0.026[0.004]; P = 2.39x10-9), and threitol (0.033[0.003]; P = 1.69x10-21). With the largest nutritional metabolomics dataset to date, we have identified 73 novel candidate biomarkers of food intake for potential use in nutritional epidemiological studies. We compiled our findings into the DietMetab database (http://www.twinsuk.ac.uk/dietmetab-data/), an online tool to investigate our top associations