The conundrum of categorising requirements: managing requirements for learning on the move

This paper reports on the experience of eliciting and managing requirements on a large European-based multinational project, whose purpose is to create a system to support learning using mobile technology. The project used the socio-cognitive engineering methodology for human-centered design and the Volere shell and template to document requirements. We provide details about the project below, describe the Volere tools, and explain how and why we used a flexible categorization scheme to manage the requirements. Finally, we discuss three lessons learned: (1) provide a flexible mechanism for organizing requirements, (2) plan ahead for the RE process, and (3) do not forget 'the waiting room

The Learning Grid and E-Assessment using Latent Semantic Analysis

E-assessment is an important component of e-learning and e-qualification. Formative and summative assessment serve different purposes and both types of evaluation are critical to the pedagogicalprocess. While students are studying, practicing, working, or revising, formative assessment provides direction, focus, and guidance. Summative assessment provides the means to evaluate a learner's achievement and communicate that achievement to interested parties. Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) is a statistical method for inferring meaning from a text. Applications based on LSA exist that provide both summative and formative assessment of a learner's work. However, the huge computational needs are a major problem with this promising technique. This paper explains how LSA works, describes the breadth of existing applications using LSA, explains how LSA is particularly suited to e-assessment, and proposes research to exploit the potential computational power of the Grid to overcome one of LSA's drawbacks

The Role Of Periodontal Disease In Lymphatic Function

Research poster addressing the question: Does periodontal disease affect lymphatic function? Gingival lymphatic vessels drain interstitial fluid and transport immune cells to lymph nodes but despite this, it is unknown how the lymphatic system impacts periodontal disease in humans. In light of this, studies have been observed on animals with the vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGFC), a growth factor known to be increased in periodontal patients. VEGFC is involved in lymphatic hyperplasia and lymphangiogenesis, the proliferation of lymphatic endothelial cells. This growth factor is believed to affect gingival lymphatic function in periodontitis patients. When reviewing the literature, it is evident that the VEGFC receptor is of main interest when investigating lymphatics and periodontitis. One study found that inducing the overexpression of VEGFC in mice infected with P. gingivalis resulted in lymphatic hyperplasia and reduced lymphatic flow, meaning the invasive bacteria is not being cleared out as it should. Another study found that mice lacking gingival lymphatics experienced greater bone loss in periodontitis than mice with functional lymphatic systems.https://dune.une.edu/dh_studpost/1007/thumbnail.jp

Introduction: Mapping Land Use Regulation in the Pacific Rim

This special issue of the Pacific Rim Law and Policy Journal assigned authors the ambitious task of analyzing the range of land use regimes around the Pacific Rim. As the authors and commentators met in October 1997, forest fires engulfed western Indonesia, sending thick smoke throughout Southeast Asia. When Sumatra and Kalimantan caught fire, Jakarta, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Brunei literally coughed and choked. Vast tracts of forest were destroyed, local and urban dwellers became ill, and lives were lost directly and in transport accidents caused by haze. The question underlying events was whether this environmental disaster was entirely natural, or resulted from forest clearance for logging-possibly illegal, certainly imprudent. Although apparently isolated and local, the forest fires played out in microcosm the ways in which policy choices about regulation of land use extend beyond national boundaries in the Pacific Rim

30 years of Deadly Hate and Bias Crimes

The Bias Homicide Database (BHDB) is an open-source, relational database housed in the Terrorism Research Center (TRC), which is located in the J.W. Fulbright college of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas. Created in 2003, the TRC harnesses science and data analytics to promote safer communities, inform evidence-based policies, and train the next generation of law enforcement and intelligence professionals. The TRC also hosts the Crime and Security Data Analytics Lab. This brief was prepared by Terrorism Research Center (TRC) staff. The TRC is a non-profit, nonpartisan research organization

Cross Cultural Issues in Village Administration: Observations on Water and Sanitation Operations and Management in Western Alaska

The villages of Western Alaska are in various stages of transition from hauling water and human waste by hand, to technologically sophisticated Arctic design piped systems. The transition involves not only technological change and adaptation, but also the development of new institutions and work relations appropriate to the administration and management of complex systems. The implicit norms of these new institutional relations and culture of work are based in Anglo-Saxon Protestant culture; in very many respects these norms are alien to traditional Yup'ik Eskimo people. Bi-cultural Natives are in a unique position to meet these challenges and facilitate the transition by modeling an adaptive synthesis of the two cultures, providing culturally sensitive leadership, and facilitating relations between villages and outside agencies

Whooping Cough: A Pharmacist\u27s Role in an Emerging Endemic

Pertussis is an acute infectious disease caused by the organism Bordetella pertussis and characterized by a whooping cough. Incidence of the disease had declined since the development of a vaccine, but is now increasing in reported cases. This increase has been attributed to both an increased awareness but also surmised to be related to a decrease in vaccinations. The pertussis vaccine is given in conjunction with tetanus and diphtheria vaccines to children before the age of 6 in five separate injections over the course of four to six years. A booster is now recommended for the older child and adults due to the declining protection of the vaccine over time. Pertussis is highly contagious and early treatment with a macrolide antibiotic is recommended to limit the severity and prevent transmission. It can be deadly in infants, which is why prevention via immunizations is so important. The pharmacist can assist with advising individuals of the importance of vaccination

Phonemic and Phonetic Errors in Conduction Aphasia

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to characterize the relationship between phonemic and phonetic errors in conduction aphasia (CA) as well as the quality of these errors. Background: CA is a type of fluent aphasia that is characterized by phonological difficulties and substantial repetition difficulties in the context of relatively spared language functions in other areas. The clinical diagnosis of CA is often based on the Western Aphasia Profile (WAB), which is one of the most popular aphasia batteries due to its ease of administration and relatively objective scoring. The most challenging subtest score for this instrument is the fluency rating. The scale takes into consideration multiple dimensions, including phrase length, grammatical competence, and paraphasias of spontaneous speech. A score of 5-10 means the patient has fluent aphasia while a score of 1-4 indicates nonfluent aphasia. Because CA is a fluent type of aphasia, it requires a fluency rating greater than 4. However, people who are recovering from other presentation profiles may also receive this rating and a WAB diagnosis of CA due to persistent repetition difficulties. This may happen even if their presentation profile is not qualitatively indicative of the CA syndrome. Further examination of phonological difficulties can help identify the subset of people who have a more classic CA profile as those who present a high frequency of phonemic errors and a low frequency of phonetic distortion errors. By definition, the relationship between distortion errors and phonemic errors should be low in this population. Methods: The speech samples for this study came from AphasiaBank (http://talkbank.org/AphasiaBank/). 41 individuals classified as having CA on the WAB were given the Boston Naming Test (BNT), which includes a list of 15 words. The author transcribed each of the 615 words using a narrow transcription protocol with 12 diacritic marks. The frequency of omissions, additions, and substitutions were then compiled and supplemented by calculation of the edit distance between broad transcription of the target and observed production. Additionally, distortion type and frequency was evaluated for the data compilation. Results The results were consistent both with the clinical characterization of and the prediction that the relationship between distortion errors and phonemic errors would be low. The mean proportion of segments with phonemic errors was 61.79% while the mean proportion of distortion errors was 5.28%. The correlation between the two was low (r=0.16). Other results to note were the mean frequency of distorted substitutions, which was very low at 1.74%, and the frequencies of substitutions (20.44%), additions (4.50%), and omissions (11.60%). Discussion: As a group, these participants produced relatively high frequencies of sound errors without the distortion quality that is considered typical of motor speech disorders, including apraxia of speech (AOS). We are currently examining the results to determine whether a subset of the 41 speakers had a classic CA profile, with high phonemic error rate and low distortion error rate, whereas others may have presented with more evidence of a motor speech disorder (especially AOS). Additionally, we anticipate that further analysis of the specific distortion qualities will advance our understanding of what is characteristic of the CA profile

Comparisons of the Metabolic Intensities at Heart Rate, Gas Exchange, and Ventilatory Thresholds

International Journal of Exercise Science 13(2): 455-469, 2020. PURPOSE: This study compared the O2corresponding to the critical heart rate (CHRO2) and the physical working capacity at the heart rate fatigue threshold (PWChrtO2) to the gas exchange threshold (GET), ventilatory threshold (VT), and respiratory compensation point (RCP). METHODS: Nine runners (mean ±SD, age 23 ±3 years) completed an incremental test on a treadmill to determine O2peak, GET, VT, and RCP. The CHRO2and PWChrtO2were determined from 4 separate constant velocity treadmill runs to exhaustion and HR and time to exhaustion were recorded. Differences among the thresholds were examined with a one-way repeated measures ANOVA (p≤ 0.05). RESULTS: The GET (38.44 mL×kg-1×min-1, 78%O2peak), VT (37.36 mL×kg-1×min-1, 76%O2peak), and PWChrtO2 (38.26 mL×kg-1×min-1, 77%O2peak) were not different, but were lower than the RCP (44.70 mL×kg-1×min-1, 90%O2peak;p= 0.010, p\u3c 0.001,p= 0.001, respectively). The CHRO2(40.09 mL×kg-1×min-1, 81%O2peak) was not different from the GET (p= 1.000), VT (p= 0.647), PWChrtO2(p =1.000), or RCP (p= 0.116). CONCLUSIONS: These results indicated that the initial metabolic intensities at CHR and PWChrtlie within the heavy and moderate intensity domains, respectively. Therefore, the PWChrtmay provide a relative intensity more appropriate for untrained populations, while the CHR may be more appropriate for more trained populations