Unleashing the power of Open Educational Practices (OEP) through Artificial Intelligence (AI): where to begin?

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Nanosilver impacts on aquatic microbial decomposers and litter decomposition assessed as pollution-induced community tolerance (PICT)

The growing proliferation of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) calls for detailed information on ecotoxicological effects, particularly on diverse communities and key ecosystem processes where impacts remain poorly known. This includes the decomposition of plant litter by fungi and bacteria in streams. Impacts are likely to depend on community composition, because species vary in their sensitivities to stressors. Therefore, our goal was to determine if shifts in microbial communities triggered by chronic exposure to low concentrations of nano (<200 μg L−1) and ionic (20 μg L−1) silver increase community tolerance to these contaminants, as described in the pollution-induced community tolerance (PICT) concept. We used stream microbial decomposers associated with leaf litter in microcosms to assess the applicability of this concept by determining tolerance acquisition towards AgNP and ionic Ag in short-term inhibition assays. Endpoints included fungal sporulation, bacterial production, microbial respiration and the potential activity of a protein-degrading enzyme, leucine aminopeptidase. Analyses of microbial communities showed that chronic exposure to the highest AgNP concentrations led to similar communities, and that these were distinct from the control communities. Most important, chronic exposure of fungi and bacteria to both AgNP and ionic Ag also increased tolerance of the microbes, as revealed by notably reduced adverse effects on bacterial production. Overall, our results demonstrate the usefulness of applying the PICT concept to litter decomposers and decomposition as an approach to assess the risks posed by nano and ionic silver to freshwater ecosystems.This work was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF, 200020_134750/1) as part of the National Research Programme NRP 64 on Opportunities and Risks of Nanomaterials, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD, 57036658), FEDER-POFC-COMPETE, the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (PTDC/BIA-BMA/ 30922/2017, FCT-DAAD 2013-2014), and a PhD fellowship to D. B. (SFRH/BD/88181/2012)

To Use or Not to Use: Impact of Personality on the Intention of Using Gamified Learning Environments

Technology acceptance is essential for technology success. However, individual users are known to differ in their tendency to adopt and interact with new technologies. Among the individual differences, personality has been shown to be a predictor of users' beliefs about technology acceptance. Gamification, on the other hand, has been shown to be a good solution to improve students' motivation and engagement while learning. Despite the growing interest in gamification, less research attention has been paid to the effect of personality, specifically based on the Five Factor model (FFM), on gamification acceptance in learning environments. Therefore, this study develops a model to elucidate how personality traits affect students' acceptance of gamified learning environments and their continuance intention to use these environments. In particular, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was used to examine the factors affecting students' intentions to use a gamified learning environment. To test the research hypotheses, eighty-three students participated in this study, where structural equation modeling via Partial Least Squares (PLS) was performed. The obtained results showed that the research model, based on TAM and FFM, provides a comprehensive understanding of the behaviors related to the acceptance and intention to use gamified learning environments, as follows: (1) usefulness is the most influential factor toward intention to use the gamified learning environment; (2) unexpectedly, perceived ease of use has no significant effect on perceived usefulness and behavioral attitudes toward the gamified learning environment; (3) extraversion affects students' perceived ease of use of the gamified learning environment; (4) neuroticism affects students' perceived usefulness of the gamified learning environment; and, (5) Openness affects students' behavioral attitudes toward using the gamified learning environment. This study can contribute to the Human-Computer Interaction field by providing researchers and practitioners with insights into how to motivate different students' personality characteristics to continue using gamified learning environments for each personality trait

Open educational resources and practices in China: a systematic literature review

The concepts of Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Educational Practices (OEP), regarded as two pillars of the broader open education movement, have been evolving since the concept of OER was first coined in the 2012 Paris Declaration. Several research studies have been conducted to investigate the impacts of OER and OEP adoption and implementation in universities. However, most of those studies have focused on western and developed countries, and little information is known about developing countries, especially Asian ones. Particularly, China was one of the first Asian countries to adopt open education and its related strategies following the MIT OpenCourseWare conference in Beijing in 2003. This study conducts a systematic literature review to investigate the current state of the art of OER and OEP in China. The findings show that several governmental, organizational, and institutional initiatives have been launched to facilitate OER adoption in China. They also show that while several OEPs have been implemented, there is still a continuous need to work on these practices and further investigate their impacts on learning outcomes and behaviors, as no current reviewed study has done so. Finally, a generic framework of OER and OEP challenges is presented along with recommendations to further enhance the adoption of OER and OEP in Chin

A Systematic Literature Review of Empirical Studies on Learning Analytics in Educational Games

Learning analytics (LA) in educational games is considered an emerging practice due to its potential of enhancing the learning process. Growing research on formative assessment has shed light on the ways in which students' meaningful and in-situ learning experiences can be supported through educational games. To understand learners' playful experiences during gameplay, researchers have applied LA, which focuses on understanding students' in-game behaviour trajectories and personal learning needs during play. However, there is a lack of studies exploring how further research on LA in educational games can be conducted. Only a few analyses have discussed how LA has been designed, integrated, and implemented in educational games. Accordingly, this systematic literature review examined how LA in educational games has evolved. The study findings suggest that: (1) there is an increasing need to consider factors such as student modelling, iterative game design and personalisation when designing and implementing LA through educational games; and (2) the use of LA creates several challenges from technical, data management and ethical perspectives. In addition to outlining these findings, this article offers important notes for practitioners, and discusses the implications of the study’s results

miR-623 Targets Metalloproteinase-1 and Attenuates Extravasation of Brain Metastatic Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells

BACKGROUND: Most breast cancer-related deaths result from metastasis. Understanding the molecular basis of metastasis is needed for the development of effective targeted and preventive strategies. Matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP1) plays an important role in brain metastasis (BM) of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) by promoting extravasation of cancer cells across the brain endothelium (BE). MMP1 expression is controlled by endogenous microRNAs. Preliminary bioinformatics analysis has revealed that miR-623, known to target the 3ʹUTR of MMP1, is significantly downregulated in brain metastatic tumors compared to primary BC tumors. However, the involvement of miR-623 in MMP1 upregulation in breast cancer brain metastatic cells (BCBMC) remains unexplored. Here, we investigated the role of miR-623 in MMP1 regulation and its impact on the extravasation of TNBC cells through the BE in vitro. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A loss-and-gain of function method was employed to address the effect of miR-623 modulation on MMP1 expression. MMP1 regulation by miR-623 was investigated by real-time PCR, western blot, luciferase and transwell migration assays using an in vitro human BE model. RESULTS: Our results confirmed that brain metastatic TNBC cells express lower levels of miR-623 compared with cells having low propensity to spread toward the brain. miR-623 binds to the 3′-untranslated region of MMP1 transcript and downregulates its expression. Restoring miR-623 expression significantly decreased MMP1 expression, preserved the endothelial barrier integrity, and attenuated transmigration of BCBMC through the BE. CONCLUSION: Our study elucidates, for the first time, the crucial role of miR-623 as MMP1 direct regulator in BCBMC and sheds light on miR-623 as a novel therapeutic target that can be exploited to predict and prevent brain metastasis in TNBC. Importantly, the presents study helps in unraveling a brain metastasis-specific microRNA signature in TNBC that can be used as a guide to personalized metastasis prediction and preventive approach with better therapeutic outcome

A Smart Collaborative Educational Game with Learning Analytics to Support English Vocabulary Teaching

Learning Analytics (LA) approaches have proved to be able to enhance learning process and learning performance. However, little is known about applying these approaches for second language acquisition using educational games. Therefore, this study applied LA approaches to design a smart collaborative educational game, to enhance primary school children learning English vocabularies. Specifically, the game provided dashboards to the teachers about their students in a real-time manner. A pilot experiment was conducted in a public primary school where the students’ data from experimental and control groups, namely learning and motivation test scores, interview and observation, were collected and analyzed. The obtained results showed that the experimental group (who used the smart game with LA) had significantly higher motivation and performance for learning English vocabularies than the control group (who used the smart game without LA). The findings of this study can help researchers and practitioners incorporate LA in their educational games to help students enhance language acquisition

Combined anti-ages and antioxidant activities of different solvent extracts of Solanum elaeagnifolium Cav (Solanacea) fruits during ripening and related to their phytochemical compositions

Oxidative stress and advanced glycation end products (AGEs) are known as key factors for the development of diabetic complications such as retinopathy, cataract as well as atherosclerosis and neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s diseases. In this context, natural products have been previously identified as promising sources for antioxidant and anti-glycation compounds. The current study focuses on the evaluation of antioxidant and glycation inhibitory activities of different solvent extracts of Solanum elaeagnifolium Cav (Solanaceae) fruits at different ripening stages. The results showed that antioxidant and anti-AGEs activities were significantly influenced by solvents polarities and ripening stages of S. elaeagnifolium Cav. With one exception, methanolic extract of overripe S. elaeagnifolium Cav fruit showed important protective effects against cellular oxidative stress. The aqueous extract showed the highest ABTS+ scavenging ability. Principal component analysis showed that total phenolic and flavonoid contents correlated well with observed antioxidants and anti-glycation activities. These results bring attention to the possible use of S. elaeagnifolium Cav as a valuable source of bioactive compounds exhibiting antioxidant effects and potentially alleviating diabetic complications

Wastewater constituents impact biofilm microbial community in receiving streams

Microbial life in natural biofilms is dominated by prokaryotes and microscopic eukaryotes living in dense association. In stream ecosystems, microbial biofilms influence primary production, elemental cycles, food web interactions as well as water quality. Understanding how biofilm communities respond to anthropogenic impacts, such as wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent, is important given the key role of biofilms in stream ecosystem function.Here, we implemented 16S and 18S rRNA gene sequencing of stream biofilms upstream (US) and downstream (DS) of WWTP effluents in four Swiss streams to test how bacterial and eukaryotic communities respond to wastewater constituents. Stream biofilm composition was strongly affected by geographic location – particularly for bacteria. However, the abundance of certain microbial community members was related to micropollutants in the wastewater – among bacteria, micropollutant-associated members were found e.g. in Alphaproteobacteria, and among eukaryotes e.g. in Bacillariophyta (algal diatoms). This study corroborates several previously characterized responses (e.g. as seen in diatoms), but also reveals previously unknown community responses – such as seen in Alphaproteobacteria. This study advances our understanding of the ecological impact of the current wastewater treatment practices and provides information about potential new marker organisms to assess ecological change in stream biofilms.</p

Exploring User Perspectives on ChatGPT: Applications, Perceptions, and Implications for AI-Integrated Education

Understanding user perspectives on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education is essential for creating pedagogically effective and ethically responsible AI-integrated learning environments. In this paper, we conduct an extensive qualitative content analysis of four major social media platforms (Twitter, Reddit, YouTube, and LinkedIn) to explore the user experience (UX) and perspectives of early adopters toward ChatGPT-an AI Chatbot technology-in various education sectors. We investigate the primary applications of ChatGPT in education (RQ1) and the various perceptions of the technology (RQ2). Our findings indicate that ChatGPT is most popularly used in the contexts of higher education (24.18%), K-12 education (22.09%), and practical-skills learning (15.28%). On social media platforms, the most frequently discussed topics about ChatGPT are productivity, efficiency, and ethics. While some early adopters lean toward seeing ChatGPT as a revolutionary technology with the potential to boost students' self-efficacy and motivation to learn, others express concern that overreliance on the AI system may promote superficial learning habits and erode students' social and critical thinking skills. Our study contributes to the broader discourse on Human-AI Interaction and offers recommendations based on crowd-sourced knowledge for educators and learners interested in incorporating ChatGPT into their educational settings. Furthermore, we propose a research agenda for future studies that sets the foundation for continued investigation into the application of ChatGPT in education.Comment: Preprint versio