ConferenceXP-Powered I-MINDS: A Multiagent System for Intelligently Supporting Online Collaboration

In this paper, we describe a multiagent system designed for intelligently supporting online human collaboration, built on top of the ConferenceXP platform developed by Microsoft Research. Many current collaborative systems are passive in nature and do not provide active, intelligent support to users. A multiagent system can be used to track user behavior, perform automated tasks for humans, find optimal collaborative groups, and create and present helpful processed information based on data mining without detracting from the rest of the collaborative experience. Our ConferenceXP-powered I-MINDS application currently offers five different components for enhancing collaboration and sup-porting moderator decision making by giving each user a personal agent that works with other agents to further sup-port the entire system. These capabilities include two modes for group-based discussions, one for question/answer pairs between users and moderators, a search engine for retrieving tracked data, and a centralized classroom/team management system for quickly accessing user performance. CXP+I-MINDS has been successfully deployed to support an interactive business course where its intelligent activities assisted the professor in teaching, and we are working on delivering it to support a wireless classroom

Where to go and how to get there : goal clarification, process feedback and students’ need satisfaction and frustration from lesson to lesson

This study investigated to what degree lesson-to-lesson variability in teachers' goal clarification and process feedback explains variability in secondary students' motivational correlates. Students (N = 570, 24 classes) completed questionnaires at six occasions. Multilevel regression analyses showed that relations between perceived process feedback and experienced need satisfaction (i.e., competence, autonomy and relatedness) were conditional on perceived goal clarification. No such interaction effects between process feedback and goal clarification were found for need frustration (i.e., experiencing failure, feeling pushed to achieve goals, feeling rejected). In general, when students perceived more process feedback or goal clarification, students experienced more competence, autonomy and relatedness satisfaction. Yet, when perceiving very high levels of process feedback, additional benefits of goal clarification were no longer present (and vice versa). In lessons in which students perceived goals to be less clear, they experienced more need frustration. No associations were found between process feedback and need frustration

Performance grading and motivational functioning and fear in physical education : a self-determination theory perspective

Grounded in self-determination theory, the present study examines the explanatory role of students' perceived need satisfaction and need frustration in the relationship between performance grading (versus non-grading) and students' motivation and fear in a real-life educational physical education setting. Grading consisted of teacher judgments of students' performances through observations, based on pre-defined assessment criteria. Thirty-one classes with 409 students (M-age = 14.7) from twenty-seven Flemish (Belgian) secondary schools completed questionnaires measuring students' perceived motivation, fear and psychological need satisfaction and frustration, after two lessons: one with and one without performance grading. After lessons including performance grading, students reported less intrinsic motivation and identified regulation, and more external regulation, amotivation and fear. As expected, less need satisfaction accounted for (i.e., mediated) the relationship between performance grading and self-determined motivational outcomes. Need frustration explained the relationship between performance grading and intrinsic motivation, as well as less self-determined motivational outcomes. Theoretical and practical implications are discusse

The pitfalls and promise of liquid biopsies for diagnosing and treating solid tumors in children : a review

Cell-free DNA profiling using patient blood is emerging as a non-invasive complementary technique for cancer genomic characterization. Since these liquid biopsies will soon be integrated into clinical trial protocols for pediatric cancer treatment, clinicians should be informed about potential applications and advantages but also weaknesses and potential pitfalls. Small retrospective studies comparing genetic alterations detected in liquid biopsies with tumor biopsies for pediatric solid tumor types are encouraging. Molecular detection of tumor markers in cell-free DNA could be used for earlier therapy response monitoring and residual disease detection as well as enabling detection of pathognomonic and therapeutically relevant genomic alterations. Conclusion: Existing analyses of liquid biopsies from children with solid tumors increasingly suggest a potential relevance for molecular diagnostics, prognostic assessment, and therapeutic decision-making. Gaps remain in the types of tumors studied and value of detection methods applied. Here we review the current stand of liquid biopsy studies for pediatric solid tumors with a dedicated focus on cell-free DNA analysis. There is legitimate hope that integrating fully validated liquid biopsy-based innovations into the standard of care will advance patient monitoring and personalized treatment of children battling solid cancers

Do goal clarification and process feedback positively affect students’ need-based experiences? A quasi-experimental study grounded in Self-Determination Theory

Background: The importance of clarifying goals and providing process feedback for student learning has been widely acknowledged. From a Self-Determination Theory perspective, it is suggested that motivational and learning gains will be obtained because in well-structured learning environments, when goals and process feedback are provided, students will feel more effective (need for competence), more in charge over their own learning (need for autonomy) and experience a more positive classroom atmosphere (need for relatedness). Yet, in spite of the growing theoretical interest in goal clarification and process feedback in the context of physical education (PE), little experimental research is available about this topic. Purpose: The present study quasi-experimentally investigated whether the presence of goal clarification and process feedback positively affects students’ need satisfaction and frustration. Method: Twenty classes from five schools with 492 seventh grade PE students participated in this quasi-experimental study. Within each school, four classes were randomly assigned to one of the four experimental conditions (n = 121, n = 117, n = 126 and n = 128) in a 2 × 2 factorial design, in which goal clarification (absence vs. presence) and process feedback (absence vs. presence) were experimentally manipulated. The experimental lesson consisted of a PE lesson on handstand (a relatively new skill for seventh grade students), taught by one and the same teacher who went to the school of the students to teach the lesson. Depending on the experimental condition, the teacher either started the lesson explaining the goals, or refrained from explaining the goals. Throughout the lesson the teacher either provided process feedback, or refrained from providing process feedback. All other instructions were similar across conditions, with videos of exercises of differential levels of difficulty provided to the students. All experimental lessons were observed by a research-assistant to discern whether manipulations were provided according to a condition-specific script. One week prior to participating in the experimental lesson, data on students’ need-based experiences (i.e. quantitatively) were gathered. Directly after students’ participation in the experimental lesson, data on students’ perceptions of goal clarification and process feedback, need-based experiences (i.e. quantitatively) and experiences in general (i.e. qualitatively) were gathered. Results and discussion: The questionnaire data and observations revealed that manipulations were provided according to the lesson-scripts. Rejecting our hypothesis, quantitative analyses indicated no differences in need satisfaction across conditions, as students were equally satisfied in their need for competence, autonomy and relatedness regardless of whether the teacher provided goal clarification and process feedback, only goal clarification, only process feedback or none. Similar results were found for need frustration. Qualitative analyses indicated that, in all four conditions, aspects of the experimental lesson made students feel more effective, more in charge over their own learning and experience a more positive classroom atmosphere. Our results suggest that under certain conditions, lessons can be perceived as highly need-satisfying by students, even if the teacher does not verbally and explicitly clarify the goals and/ or provides process feedback. Perhaps, students were able to self-generate goals and feedback based on the instructional videos

Mast cells protect from post-traumatic spinal cord damage in mice by degrading inflammation-associated cytokines via mouse mast cell protease 4

AbstractMast cells (MCs) are found abundantly in the central nervous system and play a complex role in neuroinflammatory diseases such as multiple sclerosis and stroke. In the present study, we show that MC-deficient KitW-sh/W-sh mice display significantly increased astrogliosis and T cell infiltration as well as significantly reduced functional recovery after spinal cord injury compared to wildtype mice. In addition, MC-deficient mice show significantly increased levels of MCP-1, TNF-α, IL-10 and IL-13 protein levels in the spinal cord. Mice deficient in mouse mast cell protease 4 (mMCP4), an MC-specific chymase, also showed increased MCP-1, IL-6 and IL-13 protein levels in spinal cord samples and a decreased functional outcome after spinal cord injury. A degradation assay using supernatant from MCs derived from either mMCP4−/− mice or controls revealed that mMCP4 cleaves MCP-1, IL-6, and IL-13 suggesting a protective role for MC proteases in neuroinflammation. These data show for the first time that MCs may be protective after spinal cord injury and that they may reduce CNS damage by degrading inflammation-associated cytokines via the MC-specific chymase mMCP4