MOOCs in Higher Education

MOOCs have been the major issue in higher education worldwide since 2008. Frankly speaking, there are clear pros and cons of moving into MOOC-based education. This chapter deals with the pedagogical utilization and limitations of MOOCs in higher education. Through literature review and websites surfing related to MOOCs, expansion of MOOCs, instructional strategies in MOOCs, functions of platform for MOOCs, development of a MOOC, and future of MOOCs are summarized, analyzed, and discussed at the aspect of pedagogy. Based on the analysis, some recommendations are suggested for the success of MOOCs

Polymeric Gene Delivery for Diabetic Treatment

Several polymers were used to delivery genes to diabetic animals. Polyaminobutyl glycolic acid was utilized to deliver IL-10 plasmid DNA to prevent autoimmune insulitis of non-obese diabetic (NOD) mouse. Polyethylene glycol grafted polylysine was combined with antisense glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) MRNA to represent GAD autoantigene expression. GLP1 and TSTA (SP-EX4) were delivered by bioreducible polymer to stop diabetic progression. Fas siRNA delivery was carried out to treat diabetic NOD mice animal

Coalition Modeling In Humanitarian Assistance Operations

Multinational operations are carried out to achieve military and diplomatic objectives in various regions. Such operations derive a great deal of benefits from sharing budgets, political legitimacy, sharing each national experience and technological resources, and so forth. However, a coalition, one structure of multinational operations, often involves serious challenges in such areas as command and control, logistic support, communication and language, training, and intelligence and information due to its ad hoc characteristics. This research reviews general problems in a coalition operation, and develops the Coalition Operation Planning Model to assist coalition commanders or staff in producing an efficient operational plan. In this model, goal programming is employed to formulate the coalition problems with multiple objectives. The proposed model is composed of three sub-models: the Coalition Mission-Unit Allocation Model, the Coalition Mission-Support Model, and the Coalition Mission-Unit Grouping Model. The first sub-model is designed to find an optimized resource allocation by applying the shortest path problem and effectiveness functions. The second sub-model is developed to obtain an optimized logistics support plan by using the multi-commodity network flow. Finally, the third sub-model is designed to combine small units into one workable independent unit by using the quadratic assignment problem. The models are demonstrated with a notional humanitarian assistance operation

Effect of fibronectin on the binding of antithrombin III to immobilized heparin

An objective of this research is to verify the mechanism of anticoagulant activity of surface-immobilized heparin in the presence of plasma proteins. The competition and binding interaction between immobilized heparin and antithrombin III (ATIII)/thrombin have been described in vitro. However, the strong ionic character of heparin leads to its specific and nonspecific binding with many other plasma proteins. Most notably, fibronectin contains six active binding sites for heparin which may interfere with the subsequent binding of heparin with ATIII or thrombin. \ud Heparin was covalently immobilized through polyethylene oxide (PEO) hydrophilic spacer groups onto a model surface synthesized by random copolymerization of styrene and p-aminostyrene. The binding interaction of immobilized heparin with ATIII was then determined in the presence of different fibronectin concentrations. The binding interaction was studied by first binding immobilized heparin with ATIII, followed by the introduction of fibronectin; heparin binding with fibronectin, followed by incubation with ATIII, and simultaneous incubation of surface immobilized heparin with ATIII and fibronectin. The extent of ATIII binding to heparin in each experiment was assayed using a chromogenic substrate for ATIII, S-2238. \ud The results of this study demonstrate that the displacement of ATIII from immobilized heparin was proportional to the fibronectin concentration, and was reversible. Furthermore, the binding sequence did not play a role in the final concentration of ATIII bound to immobilized heparin