Designing an ELearning Portal for Developing Countries: An Action Design Approach

This paper presents the first phase of a study on using course design, including current eLearning and social trends, to overcome challenges in eLearning within developing countries, particularly for vocational/non-mainstream training. The paper outlines the research and development of an ICT artefact using the Action Design Research method. The artefact will later be deployed and evaluated. The paper discusses the previous research that has categorised challenges in eLearning in developing countries and explores how these can be overcome through course and element design. Course design includes training development, platform selection and platform hosting, particularly in the context of developing countries. Element design looks at the creation of content that should be available, practical and viable to both the user and developer through the exploitation of current eLearning and social trends. The paper concludes with the concept of the ICT artefact that has been designed for phase two of the study.Comment: Research-in-progress ISBN# 978-0-646-95337-3 Presented at the Australasian Conference on Information Systems 2015 (arXiv:1605.01032

“Exploring the Basement of Social Justice Issues”: A Graduate Upon Graduation

Photograph of rides building up, taken J. Stevens' Fair, 20 June 1961 whole general view, looking West. See Leeson's notebook 9, pages 92-95 for notes

lmmunocontraception in White-Tailed Deer

lmmunocontraception may have management application for white-tailed deer populations in parks and preserves. where hunting 1s illegal or impractical. This study examines physiological aspects of immunocontraception with porcine zonae pellucidae in 53 fertile white-tailed does. In separate studies, we employed protocols of three and two porcine zonae pellucidae (PZP) injections as well as two different protocols using one injection. Each one-injection vaccination consisted of one dose of porcine zonae pellucidae as in other protocols plus a second controlled-release dose of the material delivered via an osmotic minipump implant or injected, biodegradable polymer microspheres. We monitored fawn production for 1 to 3 years in all does and measured serum PZP antibody titers at various times after treatment in 15 randomly selected PZP does and in 2 control does. All three-injection PZP does were give a single PZP booster inoculation after 1 year. None of the two- or three-injection does and none of the one-injection does with a minipump produced fawns the first year after treatment, whereas two of seven does given a single injection with controlled-release microspheres produced fawns. In 49 control-doe breeding seasons, the pooled incidence of fawn production was 93.8 percent. Regarding reversibility of infertility, the incidence of fawn production was 75 % within 2 years after treatment was discontinued. Serum anti-PZP antibody titers were present only after PZP treatment, and highest titers occurred in does given two or three separate PZP injections. PZP-treated does showing \u3e50% of maximal antibody titers at the onset of a breeding season did not produce fawns; those showing \u3c33% of maximal titers did. These data demonstrate in white-tailed does that (1)multiple-injection PZP vaccination can produce complete contraception for at least one breeding season, (2) the contraceptive effect is reversible within 2 years in most does, (3) an elevated anti-PZP antibody titer occurs after PZP vaccination, and (4) multiple-injection PZP vaccination produces a sustained antibody response through at least one breeding season. In separate field studies of wild, free-roaming deer in three locations, we successfully lured does to within darting range using bait stations. In two locations, we attempted and achieved remote delivery PZP vaccination of 60-9- percent of does. In the one location for which we have data on fawn production, the fawning incidence was 0/10, 6/9, and 8/9 for two- and one-injection porcine zonae pellucidae and untreated controls, respectively. In the same location, we monitored seasonal aspects of activity, behavior, and physical condition. We also determined that there is a good potential for remote assessment of pregnancy in does using measurement of pregnancy-specific elevations of steroid metabolites in fecal samples

Enhance, Extend, Empower: Understanding Faculty Use of E-Learning Technologies

[EN] There has been scant nation-wide assessment of institutional use of learning technology in Canada (Grant, 2016) and where assessment has been done of student access to e-resources, considerable variability within and across institutions has been reported (Kaznowska, Rogers, & Usher, 2011). With a broad goal of improved and increased use of learning technologies, one university wanted to explore the use of e-learning technologies across campus. The purpose of this study was to identify instructors' needs and aspirations with respect to how learning technologies at the university could be designed, implemented, and supported. The 3E framework of Enhance, Extend, Empower, proposed by Smyth, Burce, Fotheringham, & Mainka (2011), was useful in examining the underlying purposes of using e-learning technologies. For this qualitative study, the research team engaged 32 instructors in individual interviews or in focus groups to discuss how they currently use e-learning technologies, how they hope to advance their uses of these technologies, and their perceived barriers or enablers to implementation. The study has implications for practice and policy at postsecondary institutions; additionally, this study suggests possibilities for further research into the scholarship of teaching and learning in the context of e-learning technologies.Squires, V.; Turner, N.; Bassendowski, S.; Wilson, J.; Bens, S. (2017). Enhance, Extend, Empower: Understanding Faculty Use of E-Learning Technologies. En Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Higher Education Advances. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 1033-1043. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAD17.2017.55081033104

lmmunocontraception in White-Tailed Deer

lmmunocontraception may have management application for white-tailed deer populations in parks and preserves. where hunting 1s illegal or impractical. This study examines physiological aspects of immunocontraception with porcine zonae pellucidae in 53 fertile white-tailed does. In separate studies, we employed protocols of three and two porcine zonae pellucidae (PZP) injections as well as two different protocols using one injection. Each one-injection vaccination consisted of one dose of porcine zonae pellucidae as in other protocols plus a second controlled-release dose of the material delivered via an osmotic minipump implant or injected, biodegradable polymer microspheres. We monitored fawn production for 1 to 3 years in all does and measured serum PZP antibody titers at various times after treatment in 15 randomly selected PZP does and in 2 control does. All three-injection PZP does were give a single PZP booster inoculation after 1 year. None of the two- or three-injection does and none of the one-injection does with a minipump produced fawns the first year after treatment, whereas two of seven does given a single injection with controlled-release microspheres produced fawns. In 49 control-doe breeding seasons, the pooled incidence of fawn production was 93.8 percent. Regarding reversibility of infertility, the incidence of fawn production was 75 % within 2 years after treatment was discontinued. Serum anti-PZP antibody titers were present only after PZP treatment, and highest titers occurred in does given two or three separate PZP injections. PZP-treated does showing \u3e50% of maximal antibody titers at the onset of a breeding season did not produce fawns; those showing \u3c33% of maximal titers did. These data demonstrate in white-tailed does that (1)multiple-injection PZP vaccination can produce complete contraception for at least one breeding season, (2) the contraceptive effect is reversible within 2 years in most does, (3) an elevated anti-PZP antibody titer occurs after PZP vaccination, and (4) multiple-injection PZP vaccination produces a sustained antibody response through at least one breeding season. In separate field studies of wild, free-roaming deer in three locations, we successfully lured does to within darting range using bait stations. In two locations, we attempted and achieved remote delivery PZP vaccination of 60-9- percent of does. In the one location for which we have data on fawn production, the fawning incidence was 0/10, 6/9, and 8/9 for two- and one-injection porcine zonae pellucidae and untreated controls, respectively. In the same location, we monitored seasonal aspects of activity, behavior, and physical condition. We also determined that there is a good potential for remote assessment of pregnancy in does using measurement of pregnancy-specific elevations of steroid metabolites in fecal samples

Factors influencing the occupational aspirations of low-income Southern youth : a longitudinal study

The present longitudinal study investigated the changing importance of factors influencing the occupational aspirations of low-income Southern youth over a 10-year span. Utilizing the status attainment modelling efforts of Blau and Duncan (1967) and Sewell et al. (1969), the present study attempted to determine the explanatory power of their model when applied to the occupational aspirations of a sample of youth over time as well as the changing influence of the designated independent variables. Subjects for the study consisted of a sample (N = 544) of low-income Southern youth from rural and urban settings, who had been followed for 10 years. The total group from six Southern states (Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia) included 91 black males, 97 black females, 150 white males, and 206 white females. The basic model was examined by race and sex for each period in the study (i.e., in the preadolescent, adolescent, and post-high-school years). The basic path model included three exogenous variables (sex, family background, and race) and five intervening variables (mental ability, significant others' influence, academic motivation, and educational goals). The dependent variable, occupational aspirations, was measured in terms of the NORC (National Opinion Research Center) status continuum rating

Modeling Radiation Belt Electrons With Information Theory Informed Neural Networks

An empirical model of radiation belt relativistic electrons (μ = 560–875 MeV G−1 and I = 0.088–0.14 RE G0.5) with average energy ∼1.3 MeV is developed. The model inputs solar wind parameters (velocity, density, interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) |B|, Bz, and By), magnetospheric state parameters (SYM-H and AL), and L*. The model outputs the radiation belt electron phase space density (PSD). The model is operational from L* = 3 to 6.5. The model is constructed with neural networks assisted by information theory. Information theory is used to select the most effective and relevant solar wind and magnetospheric input parameters plus their lag times based on their information transfer to the PSD. Based on the test set, the model prediction efficiency (PE) increases with increasing L*, ranging from −0.043 at L* = 3 to 0.76 at L* = 6.5. The model PE is near 0 at L* = 3–4 because at this L* range, the solar wind and magnetospheric parameters transfer little information to the PSD. Using solar wind observations at L1 and magnetospheric index (AL and SYM-H) models solely driven by solar wind, the radiation belt model can be used to forecast PSD 30–60 min ahead. This baseline model can potentially complement a class of empirical models that input data from low earth orbit (LEO)