Teacher Responsibility in Distance Education

AbstractThis paper is focused on characteristics of education, including distance education and comparison of the extent of teacher responsibility. We are researching whether, and if so, how the scope and the content of teacher responsibility change in connection with the implementation of ICT into the educational process. The question is whether teachers in distance education bear greater responsibility. The issue of teacher responsibility is often addressed in declarative documents, codes of ethics, and legal regulations. The aim of this paper is to capture different levels of responsibility and the tendencies in the perception of teacher responsibility in connection with the changing concept of education and with the use of ICT in distance education. The paper primarily uses hermeneutic approach, the interpretation being based on a frequency analysis of motifs from studentś essays. Surveying teachers was used as a complementary method. our results are based on a frequency analysis of motifs from essays written by students of pedagogical faculties in 2013 and 2015, and their interpretation. They are complemented with ideas which occurred in a survey carried out among teachers at the Pedagogical Faculty and the Faculty of Informatics and Management in 2013

On Acquiring New Vocabulary of a Professional Text

AbstractThe paper is focused to teaching professional German. The introductory part of the paper shortly indicates the differences between the methods of acquiring vocabulary at secondary school and at university. A student́s personality, his interest and motivation, but also the schooĺs syllabus and its standard claims have an important significance here. The focus of the paper is in the description of the requiring process. Its method are mentioned and explained in detail. A component of this process is the choice of a suitable text. Such a text is a basis of further work in increasing vocabulary oriented to a certain science branch, to economics in this case. The texts are source materials for finding out new words, their looking up at a dictionary, for making notes of them, memorizing them and keeping in memory. The final part of the paper is devoted to testing new vocabulary and to the forms of such testing

Responsibilities and Competences of a University Teacher

AbstractActivities of university teachers are characterised with professional competences in the fields of their specialisation and research, in the areas of teaching and management. All these competences reflect not only theoretical and empirically acquired knowledge, but also the skills, personality features, willingness and desire to pursue constant self-education and to contribute to training and personal development of students. Requirements for university teachers are related to living in the varied world and to the changes occurring in tertiary education. One of the most significant motifs is the use of information and communication technologies in the process of education. Teachers are responsible for what they can influence through their activities in relation to students, to themselves, as well as to a particular community. The article does not only present the theoretical bases connected with the hermeneutic aspects of teaching and research activities, but also includes the results of partial empirical research which focused on studentś notion of the responsibilities, competences and features which are required from university teachers. It turns out that students consider specialist competence of teachers in the disciplines they teach as essential and that they take it for granted. However, they also evaluate the teacherś personal dispositions, features, approaches and skills which include communication, team work, creativity, critical thinking, problem solving and developing studentś independence, etc. Last but not least, they appreciate the teacherś ability to carry out reflection, self-reflection, fair assessment, their ability to take a detached view and to be helpful, which enhance positive motivation in students

Experience in foreign language teaching with ICT support

AbstractThe foreign language teaching using e-learning usually catches on more slowly than the teaching of sciences or technological subjects. We therefore consider the most suitable method of language teaching the blended learning; i.e. the combination of the traditional, face-to-face and on-line teaching.For the foreign language teaching we have prepared both the courses using the blended learning and the courses for a distance education. We also have some experience in the teaching of interuniversity studies, but only distance on-line teaching. At our faculty we have now prepared some on-line German and English courses for beginners and for advanced students. We also offer the courses of general, business and banking English and German. The foreign language on-line courses enable to practise individually, for example, some grammar phenomena with the use of a key as a feedback. Moreover, they help to enlarge the vocabulary, give the possibility of using the listening texts and working with a foreign language text. We consider the use of modern technologies very useful. The on-line courses are also useful in the foreign language teaching

Physical and structural properties and thermal behaviour of starch-poly(ɛ-caprolactone) blend films for food packaging

[EN] Structural and physical properties (barrier, mechanical, and optical properties) and thermal behaviour of corn starch-PCL blend films, containing glycerol as plasticizer, obtained by compression moulding, at 160 °C and 130 bars, were studied. The stability on the films properties was also evaluated. Blend films showed phase separation of the polymers in a heterogeneous matrix with starch rich regions and PCL rich regions. Nevertheless, a small miscibility of PCL in the starch phase was detected trough the shift in the glass transition temperature of the starch phase, which leads to a partial inhibition of amylose crystallization during film formation and storage. The lack of interfacial adhesion of PCL and starch phases promoted films fragility and reduced stretchability, although elastic modulus of the films with small PCL ratios increased. Water barrier properties of starch films were improved as the PCL increased in the blend, but oxygen permeability increased. Due to the food compatibility of this polymer blends (without any toxic compound) these could be an interesting alternative for food packaging, where some drawbacks of starch films has been overcome.The authors acknowledge the financial support from the Ministerio de Economi'a y Competitividad (Spain) throughout the project AGL2013-42989-R. Rodrigo Ortega-Toro thanks the Conselleria de Educacio de la Comunitat Valenciana for the Santiago Grisolia grant. Authors also thank to Electron Microscopy Service of the UPV for their technical assistance.Ortega Toro, R.; Contreras, J.; Talens Oliag, P.; Chiralt, A. (2015). Physical and structural properties and thermal behaviour of starch-poly(ɛ-caprolactone) blend films for food packaging. Food Packaging and Shelf Life. 5:10-20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fpsl.2015.04.001S1020

Paracrine cellular senescence exacerbates biliary injury and impairs regeneration

Senescence has been suggested as causing biliary cholangiopathies but how this is regulated is unclear. Here, the authors generate a mouse model of biliary senescence by deleting Mdm2 in bile ducts and show that inhibiting TGFβ limits senescence-dependent aggravation of cholangiopathies

Induction and transmission of oncogene-induced senescence

Senescence is a cellular stress response triggered by diverse stressors, including oncogene activation, where it serves as a bona-fide tumour suppressor mechanism. Senescence can be transmitted to neighbouring cells, known as paracrine secondary senescence. Secondary senescence was initially described as a paracrine mechanism, but recent evidence suggests a more complex scenario involving juxtacrine communication between cells. In addition, single-cell studies described differences between primary and secondary senescent end-points, which have thus far not been considered functionally distinct. Here we discuss emerging concepts in senescence transmission and heterogeneity in primary and secondary senescence on a cellular and organ level