Tutor's role in online courses

The increased use of information and communication technologies in education demands a critical review of the approaches used for supporting teaching and learning activities in online environment. The paper discusses the special role of the tutor who guides and supports the learning process in the online course supplementing traditional face-to-face activities in the blended learning model. Students' evaluations of tutor's role were analyzed and underlay this study. The findings show that professional and successful tutoring helps students in improving their learning efficacy and having greater personal responsibility for their outcomes. Рост использования информационно-коммуникационных технологий в образовании требует критического анализа и пересмотра подходов, используемых для поддержки образовательной деятельности в онлайн среде. Данная работа рассматривает особую роль тьютора, который поддерживает и сопровождает учебный процесс в онлайн курсе, дополняющем традиционное контактное обучение в смешанной модели обучения. В основе данного исследования лежит анализ студенческого восприятия роли тьютора. Результаты исследования показывают, что профессиональная и успешная деятельность тьютора помогает повысить эффективность обучения и способствует пониманию личной ответственности студентов за результаты обучения

Cluster policy in agrarian sphere in implementation of concept of economic growth

The purpose of the article is to substantiate the necessity and compile recommendations for improvement of the process of development and conduct of cluster policy in agrarian sphere during realization of the concept of economic growth by the example of modern Russia. As methodological provision, the research uses the proprietary methodology of analysis of development of agrarian sphere of economy. As a result of the use of this methodology and analysis of development of agrarian sphere of modern Russian, the authors come to the conclusion that it has a lot of negative tendencies, which causes necessity for improvement of policy in this sphere. For this, the authors offer to use clustering. The authors develop the Pyramid of optimal economic growth and the Model of realization of the concept of economic growth on the basis of conduct of cluster policy in agrarian sphere.peer-reviewe

Wiki-based Collaborative Learning Experience in a Foreign Language Blended Course

The article emphasizes the educational potential of wikis for learning foreign languages. It focuses on students’ collaboration based on integration of different types of activities within a highly motivating blended learning environment where learners can interact and share their ideas. The study aims to understand if wikis could enhance online collaboration and positively affect students’ attitudes to group work. It tries to explore the level of participation and contribution of students in wiki-based activities, as well as their attitude to this type of online collaboration

The Naming of Food and Drink in the Ladder of John Climacus

The article is devoted to the analysis of the names of food and drink in the Ladder of John Climacus. The material for analysis is the published text of the work (Patrologia Graeca, vol. LXXXVIII) and three unpublished ancient Greek manuscripts of the Ladder. In total, 21 words were found in the work, included in the lexical-semantic group “Food”, and 6 words included in the lexical-semantic group “Drink”. In many cases, lexemes are used in pairs (salt and oil, milk and honey, bread and water, bread and mustard). This use is obviously due to the biblical tradition, on the basis of which the author of the Ladder built his book. For the general designation of food, nouns such as βρῶμα, τροφή, τρυφή, βρῶσις, ἔδεσμα, ἑστίασις, ὄψον, τράπεζα, ἐδώδιμον are used. In a collective sense, the lexemes καρπός and ὀπώρα are used to designate fruits. For the names of vegetables (herbs) in the Ladder, lexemes such as πικρίς and λάχανον are used. Of the specific types of food in the Ladder, there are names of baked goods (ἄρτος ‘bread’ and ἄζυμον ‘unleavened bread’), grapes (βότρυς and ῥάγας), spices (ἔλαιον ‘olive oil’ and ἅλας ‘salt’), honey (μέλι) and cheese (τυρός). To designate drink, in general, in the Ladder there are the lexemes πόμα, νάμα and ποτόν. Specific drinks are called ὕδωρ ‘water’, οἶνος ‘wine’ and γάλα ‘milk’. In the lexical-semantic groups “Food” and “Drink” hyperonyms clearly prevail over hyponyms. The small amount of specific vocabulary is explained by the fact that for a monk, as he moves up the ladder of virtues, it is less and less important what food he consumes. Monks who have reached the highest degrees of spiritual life (ἰσάγγελοι, equal to the angels) no longer feel the taste of food and forget to take it; for them the most important thing is spiritual food. In the lexico-semantic groups “Food” and “Drink” in the Ladder, as in the texts of the Holy Scriptures, direct (physical) and figurative (spiritual) meanings are masterfully connected. Almost all examples of the use of these words can be viewed both in the direct and in the symbolic sense. In the highest metaphorical meaning, all lexemes included in the thematic field “Nutrition” represent a symbol of participation in God’s salvation in Christ

Past centuries industrial architecture renovation methods

The problems of exploitation of industrial territories located in big city centers and their impact on architectural and space urban composition have been investigated in the paper. The question of refurbishing former industrial territories to residential or social purposes has been examined. The examples of industrial territories use in other countries as well as in Kyiv and Kharkiv have been shown. The term loft has been defined in the article for industrial buildings converted to residential purpose by preserving industrial design elements or new buildings in an industrial style including those that combine residential function with professional or social

Effect of RNA quality on transcript intensity levels in microarray analysis of human post-mortem brain tissues

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Large-scale gene expression analysis of post-mortem brain tissue offers unique opportunities for investigating genetic mechanisms of psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. On the other hand microarray data analysis associated with these studies is a challenging task. In this publication we address the issue of low RNA quality data and corresponding data analysis strategies.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A detailed analysis of effects of post chip RNA quality on the measured abundance of transcripts is presented. Overall Affymetrix GeneChip data (HG-U133_AB and HG-U133_Plus_2.0) derived from ten different brain regions was investigated. Post chip RNA quality being assessed by 5'/3' ratio of housekeeping genes was found to introduce a well pronounced systematic noise into the measured transcript expression levels. According to this study RNA quality effects have: 1) a "random" component which is introduced by the technology and 2) a systematic component which depends on the features of the transcripts and probes. Random components mainly account for numerous negative correlations of low-abundant transcripts. These negative correlations are not reproducible and are mainly introduced by an increased relative level of noise. Three major contributors to the systematic noise component were identified: the first is the probe set distribution, the second is the length of mRNA species, and the third is the stability of mRNA species. Positive correlations reflect the 5'-end to 3'-end direction of mRNA degradation whereas negative correlations result from the compensatory increase in stable and 3'-end probed transcripts. Systematic components affect the expressed transcripts by introducing irrelevant gene correlations and can strongly influence the results of the main experiment. A linear model correcting the effect of RNA quality on measured intensities was introduced.</p> <p>In addition the contribution of a number of pre-mortem and post-mortem attributes to the overall detected RNA quality effect was investigated. Brain pH, duration of agonal stage, post-mortem interval before sampling and donor's age of death within considered limits were found to have no significant contribution.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Basic conclusions for data analysis in expression profiling study are as follows: 1) testing for RNA quality dependency should be included in the preprocessing of the data; 2) investigating inter-gene correlation without regard to RNA quality effects could be misleading; 3) data normalization procedures relying on housekeeping genes either do not influence the correlation structure (if 3'-end intensities are used) or increase it for negatively correlated transcripts (if 5'-end or median intensities are included in normalization procedure); 4) sample sets should be matched with regard to RNA quality; 5) RMA preprocessing is more sensitive to RNA quality effect, than MAS 5.0.</p

La vida en la realidad híbrida: problemas de psicología y derecho

In this article, authors suggest considering features of hybrid reality, both in psychology and in law. Authors investigate the opportunities and dangers of the virtual world. Reveal the main psychological aspects provoking the person to plunge into Internet space. Also in article the main tendencies and the directions of transformation of the modern legislation connected with need to provide a condition of information security for the individual, societies, and the states, in general, are shown, difficulties of implementation of legal regulation and administrative control in digital space are analyzed, and the appeal of the virtual world to inhabitants, including, and in connection with his weak accountability from is at the same time proved out of.En este artículo, los autores sugieren considerar las características de la realidad híbrida, tanto en psicología como en derecho. Los autores investigan las oportunidades y los peligros del mundo virtual. Revele los principales aspectos psicológicos que provocan que la persona se sumerja en el espacio de Internet. También en el artículo se muestran las principales tendencias y las direcciones de transformación de la legislación moderna relacionada con la necesidad de proporcionar una condición de seguridad de la información para el individuo, las sociedades y los estados, en general, las dificultades de implementación de la regulación legal y el control administrativo en el espacio digital se analizan, y el atractivo del mundo virtual para los habitantes, incluidos, y en relación con su débil rendición de cuentas, se demuestra al mismo tiempo