Quality Management of Learning Management Systems: A User Experience Perspective

Learning Management Systems (LMS) have been the main vehicle for delivering and managing e-learning courses in educational, business, governmental and vocational learning settings. Since the mid-nineties there is a plethora of LMS in the market with a vast array of features. The increasing complexity of these platforms makes LMS evaluation a hard and demanding process that requires a lot of knowledge, time, and effort. Nearly 50% of respondents in recent surveys have indicated they seek to change their existing LMS primarily due to user experience issues. Yet the vast majority of the extant literature focuses only on LMS capabilities in relation to administration and management of teaching and learning processes. In this study the authors try to build a conceptual framework and evaluation model of LMS through the lens of User Experience (UX) research and practice, an epistemology that is quite important but currently neglected in the e-learning domain. They conducted an online survey with 446 learning professionals, and from the results, developed a new UX-oriented evaluation model with four dimensions: pragmatic quality, authentic learning, motivation and engagement, and autonomy and relatedness. Their discussion on findings includes some ideas for future research

A proposed framework of an interactive semi-virtual environment for enhanced education of children with autism spectrum disorders

Education of people with special needs has recently been considered as a key element in the field of medical education. Recent development in the area of information and communication technologies may enable development of collaborative interactive environments which facilitate early stage education and provide specialists with robust tools indicating the person's autism spectrum disorder level. Towards the goal of establishing an enhanced learning environment for children with autism this paper attempts to provide a framework of a semi-controlled real-world environment used for the daily education of an autistic person according to the scenarios selected by the specialists. The proposed framework employs both real-world objects and virtual environments equipped with humanoids able to provide emotional feedback and to demonstrate empathy. Potential examples and usage scenarios for such environments are also described

Band-gap tuning at the strong quantum confinement regime in magnetic semiconductor EuS thin films

Ultraviolet-visible absorption spectra of nanoscaled EuS thin films reveal a blue shift of the energy between the top-valence and bottom-conduction bands. This band-gap tuning changes smoothly with decreasing film thickness and becomes significant below the exciton Bohr diameter ~3.5nm indicating strong quantum confinement effects. The results are reproduced in the framework of the potential morphing method in Hartree Fock approximation. The large values of the effective mass of the holes, due to localization of the EuS ƒ-states, limit the blue shift to about 0.35eV. This controllable band-gap tuning of magnetic semiconductor EuS renders it useful for merging spintronics and optoelectronics

A Framework Combining Delta Event-Related Oscillations (EROs) and Synchronisation Effects (ERD/ERS) to Study Emotional Processing

Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) or Event-Related Oscillations (EROs) have been widely used to study emotional processing, mainly on the theta and gamma frequency bands. However, the role of the slow (delta) waves has been largely ignored. The aim of this study is to provide a framework that combines EROs with Event-Related Desynchronization (ERD)/Event-Related Synchronization (ERS), and peak amplitude analysis of delta activity, evoked by the passive viewing of emotionally evocative pictures. Results showed that this kind of approach is sensitive to the effects of gender, valence, and arousal, as well as, the study of interhemispherical disparity, as the two-brain hemispheres interplay roles in the detailed discrimination of gender. Valence effects are recovered in both the central electrodes as well as in the hemisphere interactions. These findings suggest that the temporal patterns of delta activity and the alterations of delta energy may contribute to the study of emotional processing. Finally the results depict the improved sensitivity of the proposed framework in comparison to the traditional ERP techniques, thereby delineating the need for further development of new methodologies to study slow brain frequencies

Alcohol Affects the Brain's Resting-State Network in Social Drinkers

Acute alcohol intake is known to enhance inhibition through facilitation of GABAA receptors, which are present in 40% of the synapses all over the brain. Evidence suggests that enhanced GABAergic transmission leads to increased large-scale brain connectivity. Our hypothesis is that acute alcohol intake would increase the functional connectivity of the human brain resting-state network (RSN). To test our hypothesis, electroencephalographic (EEG) measurements were recorded from healthy social drinkers at rest, during eyes-open and eyes-closed sessions, after administering to them an alcoholic beverage or placebo respectively. Salivary alcohol and cortisol served to measure the inebriation and stress levels. By calculating Magnitude Square Coherence (MSC) on standardized Low Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography (sLORETA) solutions, we formed cortical networks over several frequency bands, which were then analyzed in the context of functional connectivity and graph theory. MSC was increased (p<0.05, corrected with False Discovery Rate, FDR corrected) in alpha, beta (eyes-open) and theta bands (eyes-closed) following acute alcohol intake. Graph parameters were accordingly altered in these bands quantifying the effect of alcohol on the structure of brain networks; global efficiency and density were higher and path length was lower during alcohol (vs. placebo, p<0.05). Salivary alcohol concentration was positively correlated with the density of the network in beta band. The degree of specific nodes was elevated following alcohol (vs. placebo). Our findings support the hypothesis that short-term inebriation considerably increases large-scale connectivity in the RSN. The increased baseline functional connectivity can -at least partially- be attributed to the alcohol-induced disruption of the delicate balance between inhibitory and excitatory neurotransmission in favor of inhibitory influences. Thus, it is suggested that short-term inebriation is associated, as expected, to increased GABA transmission and functional connectivity, while long-term alcohol consumption may be linked to exactly the opposite effect

Sprint mechanical differences at maximal running speed: Effects of performance level

The aim of this study was to analyze footstrike patterns in elite marathon runners at the 2017 IAAF World Championships. Seventy-one men and 78 women were analyzed in their respective races. Athletes’ footstrike patterns were recorded (120 Hz) at approximately 8.5, 19, 29.5 and 40 km (“Laps 1 – 4”) and categorized as either rearfoot (RFS), midfoot or forefoot striking; the latter two were classified together as non-rearfoot striking (NRFS). The most common footstrike pattern was RFS, with proportions never less than 54% of men or 67% of women at any distance. There were no sex-based differences for proportion of footstrike patterns, and there were no differences between footstrike proportions when comparing the top and bottom 50% of men finishers, or between women during Laps 1 and 2. A greater proportion of the top 50% of women maintained NRFS than amongst the bottom 50%. The proportion of RFS increased with distance run in the men’s race, although more than 75% of athletes across both marathons had consistent footstrike patterns between laps (79 RFS and 36 NRFS). As most athletes were RFS (including the top four finishing men), there appears to be no clear advantage to NRFS in marathon running. Coaches should note that it is normal for elite marathon runners to be either RFS or NRFS; however, forefoot striking was rare. The high proportion of athletes who maintained their footstrike pattern reflected individualized preferences for a given footstrike pattern

A Rare Pancreatic Tail Metastasis from Squamous Cell Lung Carcinoma Diagnosed by EUS-FNB and a Small Review of the Literature

Differential diagnosis of pancreatic lesions is really challenging, especially when the patient is diagnosed with primary cancer at another site. In this case report, we managed to histologically confirm pancreatic metastasis from squamous cell lung carcinoma, which is a very rare entity, using endoscopic ultrasound fine needle biopsy

Mesoscopic modeling and experimental validation of thermal and mechanical properties of polypropylene nanocomposites reinforced by graphene-based fillers

The development of nanocomposites relies on structure-property relations, which necessitate multiscale modeling approaches. This study presents a modelling framework that exploits mesoscopic models to predict the thermal and mechanical properties of nanocomposites starting from their molecular structure. In detail, mesoscopic models of polypropylene (PP) and graphene based nanofillers (Graphene (Gr), Graphene Oxide (GO), and reduced Graphene Oxide (rGO)) are considered. The newly developed mesoscopic model for the PP/Gr nanocomposite provides mechanistic information on the thermal and mechanical properties at the filler-matrix interface, which can be then exploited to enhance the prediction accuracy of traditional continuum simulations by calibrating the thermal and mechanical properties of the filler-matrix interface. Once validated through a dedicated experimental campaign, this multiscale model demonstrates that with the modest addition of nanofillers (up to 2 wt.%), the Young's modulus and thermal conductivity show up to 35% and 25% enhancement, respectively, while the Poisson's ratio slightly decreases. Among the different combinations tested, PP/Gr nanocomposite shows the best mechanical properties, whereas PP/rGO demonstrates the best thermal conductivity. This validated mesoscopic model can contribute to the development of smart materials with enhanced mechanical and thermal properties based on polypropylene, especially for mechanical, energy storage, and sensing applications.Comment: Manuscript (37 pages) and Supplementary Information (8 pages