Right or wrong? That is the 1uestion

Error is often treated in a paradoxical manner: it is always talked about but seldom analyzed; it is said to be useful and valuable, but counts negatively in evaluation; students are exhorted to find and point out their errors, but at the same time teachers hide their own. What we believe and intend to argue and support with examples in this paper is that errors are valuable allies that allow us to understand some elements regarding ways of thinking; these elements, however, remain hidden and thus cannot help us in the process of learning/teaching if we have (and transmit) the bad habit of erasing the errors. The other side of the coin is that error is instead of slight importance in terms of evaluation: in some cases there are no particular errors, but the context is such that the situation should still be evaluated negatively, and, vice versa, in other cases there may be a large number of errors, but the context is such that the situation still merits a positive evaluation

Mecanismes de financement des fournisseurs des noix d’anacarde aux unites de transformation dans le nord Benin

La filière anacarde figure parmi les filières à forte valeur ajoutée au Bénin. Cette valeur ajoutée est généralement créée par l’exportation des noix brutes et non leur transformation. Cette étude se propose d’analyser les mécanismes de financement des fournisseurs des noix d’anacarde aux unités de transformation dans le nord Bénin. Les données ont été collectées auprès de 243 acteurs soit 240 producteurs et 03 unités de transformation dans les communes de Tchaourou, Nikki et Bembéréké. Ces communes sont des zones où au moins deux unités s’approvisionnent ensemble en noix d’anacarde. L’échantillonnage a été raisonné. Une régression logistique a été réalisée pour déterminer les facteurs influençant l’accès aux crédits. La statistique descriptive a permis d’apprécier la perception des producteurs de noix par rapport aux conditions d’accès au financement. Les résultats révèlent que les producteurs ont accès à deux services de crédit: Agri Finance et PADME. La quantité de noix vendue par la coopérative à laquelle appartient le producteur, l’ethnie, la vente de noix à l’unité Gebana et la vente de noix à l’unité Afokantan déterminent l’accès au crédit. Les producteurs ont souvent des difficultés à rembourser le crédit octroyé auprès d’Agri Finance contrairement au crédit de PADME.Mots-clés : Financement Agricole, Unité de transformation, Noix d’anacarde, Nord Bénin Financing mechanisms of cashew nuts suppliers to processing units in northern BeninThe cashew nut sector is one of the high value-added sectors in Benin. This value is predominantly created by the export of raw nuts and not their processing on place. This study aims to analyze the financing mechanisms of suppliers of cashew nuts to processing units in northern Benin. Data were collected from 243 actors either 240 producers and 03 processing units in the cities of Tchaourou, Nikki and Bembereke. These cities are areas where at least two units are supplied with cashew nuts from the same providers. The sampling was reasoned. A logistic regression was performed to determine the factors influencing access to credit. The use of descriptive statistic allowed to assess the perception of nut producers with regard to the conditions of access to financing. The results reveal that cashew nuts providers have access to two services of credit: Agri Finance and PADME. Variables such as the quantity of nuts sold by the cooperative they belong to, the ethnic group, the sale of nuts to the ‘’Gebana» unit and the sale of nuts to the Afokantan unit determine access to credit. Producers often have difficulty repaying the credit granted to Agri Finance, unlike the PADME credit.Keywords: Agricultural financing, Processing unit, Cashew nuts, Northern Beni

School Psychologists’ Knowledge and Self-Efficacy in Working with Students with TBI

Approximately 145,000 U.S. children experience lasting effects of traumatic brain injury (TBI) that manifest in social, behavioural, physical, and cognitive challenges in the school setting. School psychologists have an essential role in identifying students who need support and in determining eligibility under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge and perception of abilities related to TBI in a sample of school psychologists currently working in public schools. We surveyed school psychologists and found persistently low levels of knowledge and of perceived preparedness to work with these students. School psychologists with more experience working with students with TBI rated themselves significantly higher on their perceived ability to perform nearly all key duties of a school psychologist. To meet the academic and behavioural needs of students with TBI, all school psychologists need effective training in working with and evaluating students with TBI

Relaxing the Irrevocability Requirement for Online Graph Algorithms

Online graph problems are considered in models where the irrevocability requirement is relaxed. Motivated by practical examples where, for example, there is a cost associated with building a facility and no extra cost associated with doing it later, we consider the Late Accept model, where a request can be accepted at a later point, but any acceptance is irrevocable. Similarly, we also consider a Late Reject model, where an accepted request can later be rejected, but any rejection is irrevocable (this is sometimes called preemption). Finally, we consider the Late Accept/Reject model, where late accepts and rejects are both allowed, but any late reject is irrevocable. For Independent Set, the Late Accept/Reject model is necessary to obtain a constant competitive ratio, but for Vertex Cover the Late Accept model is sufficient and for Minimum Spanning Forest the Late Reject model is sufficient. The Matching problem has a competitive ratio of 2, but in the Late Accept/Reject model, its competitive ratio is 3/2

A primer on quality indicators of distance education. Accepted for publication in Health Promotion Practice

Abstract: In the past decade, there has been an enormous growth of distance education courses and programs in higher education. The growth of distance education is particularly evident in the field of health education. However, the enormous potential of distance education is tempered by one overriding question: How does one ensure that distance education coursework and degrees are of high quality? To this end, the purpose of this study is twofold: to identify quality indicators of distance education and to provide implications of the identified quality indicators for health education researchers and practitioners. The results of the study reveal common benchmarks and quality indicators that all parties deem important in designing, implementing, and evaluating distance education courses and programs. Keywords: quality; quality indicators; distance education; health education; health promotion Article: In the past decade, there has been an enormous growth of distance education courses and programs in higher education Additionally, the American Association for Health Education, in concert with the Foundation for the Advancement of Health Education, is offering graduate-level courses in health education through distance education technology by partnering with university and instructional technology businesses (see www.hepnetwork .org). There are several reasons for this increased interest in distance education in higher education. Distance education programs: allow students easy access to courses, which has the potential to decrease time to graduation; provide opportunities for increased diversity and inter-nationalization in terms of attracting students from different parts of the country and world because they can access the materials for the course from anywhere; ease built environment constraints because classroom space is not needed in a distance education course; create a new market of time-and location-bound students; and increase revenue generation for the university or college. Questions, concerns, and opinions in academia regarding distance education and related instructional technology are emerging in the professional literature. Academic administrators and professors are seeking answers to questions about distance education, including how to determine quality. According to The issues surrounding quality of distance education have been discussed by stakeholders, including the federal government, state governments, accrediting associations, faculty, and even students BACKGROUND AND METHODS To generate a comprehensive list of quality indicators, a search of 10 electronic databases was conducted. The databases included EBSCO, ERIC, PsychINFO, Ovid, Gale, Medline, PubMed, Wilson, Cambridge, and CSA. Search engines such as Google Scholar were also used to identify distance education journal Web sites (e.g., American Journal of Distance Education) to access more articles and studies. Additionally, the resources available in Texas A&M University libraries (e.g., books, dissertations, conferences, bulletins) were accessed to gather information on quality indicators of distance education. Key terms that were used to identify relevant studies were distance education, quality indicators, quality of distance education, Web-based courses, quality Web-based programs, quality instructional technology, quality distance courses, and literature review. Every paper that was identified through this process was taken into consideration, regardless of the year of publication. The references of these initial papers were searched for more studies that could be included in the review

MAIA, Fc receptor–like 3, supersedes JUNO as IZUMO1 receptor during human fertilization

Gamete fusion is a critical event of mammalian fertilization. A random one-bead one-compound combinatorial peptide library represented synthetic human egg mimics and identified a previously unidentified ligand as Fc receptor–like 3, named MAIA after the mythological goddess intertwined with JUNO. This immunoglobulin super family receptor was expressed on human oolemma and played a major role during sperm-egg adhesion and fusion. MAIA forms a highly stable interaction with the known IZUMO1/JUNO sperm-egg complex, permitting specific gamete fusion. The complexity of the MAIA isotype may offer a cryptic sexual selection mechanism to avoid genetic incompatibility and achieve favorable fitness outcomes

A transcriptomal analysis of bovine oviductal epithelial cells collected during the follicular phase versus the luteal phase of the estrous cycle

BACKGROUND: Reproductive success depends on a functional oviduct for gamete storage, maturation, fertilization, and early embryonic development. The ovarian-derived steroids estrogen and progesterone are key regulators of oviductal function. The objective of this study was to investigate luteal and follicular phase-specific oviductal epithelial cell function by using microarray-based transcriptional profiling, to increase our understanding of mRNAs regulating epithelial cell processes, and to identify novel genes and biochemical pathways that may be found to affect fertility in the future. METHODS: Six normally cycling Angus heifers were assigned to either luteal phase (LP, n = 3) or follicular phase (FP, n = 3) treatment groups. Heifers in the LP group were killed between day 11 and 12 after estrus. Heifers in the FP group were treated with 25 mg PGF(2α) (Lutalyse, Pfizer, NY) at 8 pm on day 6 after estrus and killed 36 h later. Transcriptional profiling by microarray and confirmation of selected mRNAs by real-time RT-PCR analyses was performed using total RNA from epithelial cells isolated from sections of the ampulla and isthmus collected from LP and FP treatment groups. Differentially expressed genes were subjected to gene ontology classification and bioinformatic pathway analyses. RESULTS: Statistical one-way ANOVA using Benjamini-hochberg multiple testing correction for false discovery rate (FDR) and pairwise comparison of epithelial cells in the ampulla of FP versus LP groups revealed 972 and 597 transcripts up- and down-regulated, respectively (P < 0.05). Within epithelial cells of the isthmus in FP versus LP groups, 946 and 817 transcripts were up- and down-regulated, respectively (P < 0.05). Up-regulated genes from both ampulla and isthmus were found to be largely involved in cholesterol biosynthesis and cell cycle pathways, while down-regulated genes were found in numerous inflammatory response pathways. CONCLUSIONS: Microarray-based transcriptional profiling revealed phase of the cycle-dependent changes in the expression of mRNA within the epithelium of the oviducts’ ampulla and isthmus. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12958-015-0077-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Entrepreneurship in health education and health promotion: Five cardinal rules

Abstract: The nature of health education and health promotion (HE/HP) offers a fertile ground for entrepreneurial activity. As primary prevention of chronic diseases becomes a more central component of the health and/ or medical care continuum, entrepreneurial opportunities for health educators will continue to expand. The process used to design, implement, and evaluate health promotion and disease prevention has clear articulation with entrepreneurial, marketing management, and other business processes. Thus, entrepreneurs in HE/HP must be able to utilize business process to facilitate creative, new HE/HP business ideas, The purpose of this article is to weave theory and practical application into a primer on entrepreneurial applications in HE/HP. More specifically, the authors meld their prospective experiences and expertise to provide background thoughts on entrepreneurship in HE/HP and develop a framework for establishing an entrepreneurial venture in HE/HP. Five Cardinal Rules for Entrepreneurs in HE/HP are proposed