The Influence of E-Assessment on Students’ Cognitive Engagement in Higher Education

The electronic assessment, or e-assessment, is one of the most important topics to address, especially considering the transformations that higher education is undergoing in the digital age. In this study, we examine the effect of e-assessment on students’ cognitive engagement. By employing a quantitative approach, we conducted a survey using questionnaires to gather data from 41 students in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at Hassan II University in Casablanca and 105 students’ teachers from the El Jadida regional center for education and training. The main aim of this study is to demonstrate the influence of e-assessment on students’ cognitive engagement. The participants were divided into two groups: the first group included 41 students from the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, with 20 students participating in the traditional paper-based assessment and 21 students undergoing e-assessment through the Kahoot platform. The second group comprises 105 trainee teacher students from the regional center for education and training professions in El Jadida, with 65 students undergoing paper assessment and 40 students undergoing e-assessments. Our questionnaire assessed the impact of e-assessment on participants’ cognitive engagement. The Cronbach’s alpha value was 0.959 for the first group and 0.982 for the second group. According to the results of the study, e-assessment influences cognitive engagement. However, students subjected to traditional paper-based evaluations show less commitment and involvement in courses

Design and analysis of a Sub-6 GHz antenna array with high gain for 5G mobile phone applications

In this paper, we designed, analyzed, and simulated a 32-element antenna array for the sub-6 GHz band. Each radiating element is a square patch on a Rogers RT5880 substrate, featuring a relative dielectric permittivity of 2.2, a low-loss tangent of 0.0009, and a thickness of 0.508 mm, measuring 28.1×28.1 mm². Simulations were conducted using two electromagnetic solvers, advanced design system (ADS) and CST Microwave Studio, providing a comprehensive comparison of the results. To achieve a high balance between performance and antenna size, two 4×8 array antenna structures were designed. The simulations demonstrated excellent input impedance matching around 3.5 GHz for both configurations, with high gains of 20.5 dBi for the first and 18 dBi for the second configuration, along with directional radiation patterns. The dimensions were 315×576×0.578 mm³ for the first configuration and 170×961×0.578 mm³ for the second. These performance metrics make the proposed antenna arrays highly suitable for wireless communication technologies operating below 6 GHz, particularly for 5G mobile communications

Community-based health care is an essential component of a resilient health system: evidence from Ebola outbreak in Liberia

gCHV Community Register Data. This file provides the raw data and summary data of CHW community registers in the LNRCS MNCH project communities. (XLS 299 kb

Comparison of total column ozone obtained by the IASI-MetOp satellite with ground-based and OMI satellite observations in the southern tropics and subtropics

International audienceThis paper presents comparison results of the total column ozone (TCO) data product over 13 southern tropical and subtropical sites recorded from the Infrared Atmospheric Sounder Interferometer (IASI) onboard the EU-METSAT (European organization for the exploitation of METeorological SATellite) MetOp (Meteorological Operational satellite program) satellite. TCO monthly averages obtained from IASI between June 2008 and December 2012 are compared with collocated TCO measurements from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on the OMI/Aura satellite and the Dobson and SAOZ (Système d'Analyse par Observation Zénithale) ground-based instruments. The results show that IASI displays a positive bias with an average less than 2 % with respect to OMI and Dobson observations, but exhibits a negative bias compared to SAOZ over Bauru with a bias around 2.63 %. There is a good agreement between IASI and the other instruments, especially from 15 • S southward where a correlation coefficient higher than 0.87 is found. IASI exhibits a seasonal dependence, with an upward trend in autumn and a downward trend during spring, especially before September 2010. After September 2010, the autumn seasonal bias is considerably reduced due to changes made to the retrieval algorithm of the IASI level 2 (L2) product. The L2 product released after August (L2 O 3 version 5 (v5)) matches TCO from the other instruments better compared to version 4 (v4), which was released between June 2008 and August 2010. IASI bias error recorded from September 2010 is estimated to be at 1.5 % with respect to OMI and less than ±1 % with respect to the other ground-based instruments. Thus, the improvement made by O 3 L2 version 5 (v5) product compared with version 4 (v4), allows IASI TCO products to be used with confidence to study the distribution and interannual variability of total ozone in the southern tropics and subtropics. Keywords. Atmospheric composition and structure (middle atmosphere – composition and chemistry

Impact of synthetic space-borne NO2 observations from the Sentinel-4 and Sentinel-5P missions on tropospheric NO2 analyses

We present an Observing System Simulation Experiment (OSSE) dedicated to the evaluation of the added value of the Sentinel-4 and Sentinel-5P missions for tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Sentinel-4 is a geostationary (GEO) mission covering the European continent, providing observations with high temporal resolution (hourly). Sentinel-5P is a low Earth orbit (LEO) mission providing daily observations with a global coverage. The OSSE experiment has been carefully designed, with separate models for the simulation of observations and for the assimilation experiments and with conservative estimates of the total observation uncertainties. In the experiment we simulate Sentinel-4 and Sentinel-5P tropospheric NO2 columns and surface ozone concentrations at 7 by 7 km resolution over Europe for two 3-month summer and winter periods. The synthetic observations are based on a nature run (NR) from a chemistry transport model (MOCAGE) and error estimates using instrument characteristics. We assimilate the simulated observations into a chemistry transport model (LOTOS-EUROS) independent of the NR to evaluate their impact on modelled NO2 tropospheric columns and surface concentrations. The results are compared to an operational system where only ground-based ozone observations are ingested. Both instruments have an added value to analysed NO2 columns and surface values, reflected in decreased biases and improved correlations. The Sentinel-4 NO2 observations with hourly temporal resolution benefit modelled NO2 analyses throughout the entire day where the daily Sentinel-5P NO2 observations have a slightly lower impact that lasts up to 3–6 h after overpass. The evaluated benefits may be even higher in reality as the applied error estimates were shown to be higher than actual errors in the now operational Sentinel-5P NO2 products. We show that an accurate representation of the NO2 profile is crucial for the benefit of the column observations on surface values. The results support the need for having a combination of GEO and LEO missions for NO2 analyses in view of the complementary benefits of hourly temporal resolution (GEO, Sentinel-4) and global coverage (LEO, Sentinel-5P)

Activity of essential oils from Syzygium aromaticum and Rosmarinus officinalis against growth and ochratoxin A production by Aspergillus tubingensis and Aspergillus luchuensis from Moroccan grapes

Essential oils have been used since ancient times in traditional medicine and agri-food science to preserve food, and to combat human diseases. Essential oils (EOs) from clove and rosemary, obtained by hydro-distillation, were analyzed by GC/MS and evaluated for their antifungal activity against strains of Aspergillus tubingensis and A. luchuensis and their effect on ochratoxin A (OTA) production by these fungi. The major constituent of clove EO was eugenol (86.4%), and of rosemary EO was eucalyptol (35.9%). Mycelium growth inhibition assays showed that the EOs had dose-depend inhibition effects, which reached 36.6% for rosemary EO, and 100% for clove EO, at EO concentration of 200 μL L-1. These reductions were different for different Aspergillus strains, the essential oil type, and the strain/oil type interaction. Analyses of OTA in the culture medium extracts of Aspergillus strains was carried out using HPLC-FLD, and was confirmed by LC-MS/MS for positive controls of two OTA-producing strains of A. tubingensis. In general, OTA was reduced (from 45 to 100% reduction), except for two strains of A. tubingensis, where OTA production was stimulated

In-depth mesocrystal formation analysis of microwave-assisted synthesis of LiMnPO4nanostructures in organic solution

In the present work, we report on the preparation of LiMnPO4 (lithiophilite) nanorods and mesocrystals composed of self-assembled rod subunits employing microwave-assisted precipitation with processing times on the time scale of minutes. Starting from metal salt precursors and H3PO4 as phosphate source, single-phase LiMnPO4 powders with grain sizes of approx. 35 and 65 nm with varying morphologies were obtained by tailoring the synthesis conditions using rac-1-phenylethanol as solvent. The mesocrystal formation, microstructure and phase composition were determined by electron microscopy, nitrogen physisorption, X-ray diffraction (including Rietveld refinement), dynamic light scattering, X-ray absorption and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and other techniques. In addition, we investigated the formed organic matter by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry in order to gain a deeper understanding of the dissolution\u2013precipitation process. Also, we demonstrate that the obtained LiMnPO4 nanocrystals can be redispersed in polar solvents such as ethanol and dimethylformamide and are suitable as building blocks for the fabrication of nanofibers via electrospinning