Vpogled v pedagoško prakso tehniškega izobraževanja v slovenskih osnovnih šolah med pandemijo covida-19: model učenja na daljavo

When the Covid-19 pandemic started in March 2020, the educational process had to be redesigned to meet current needs. At the Faculty of Education of the University of Ljubljana, pre-service engineering and technology teachers (3rd and 4th years of undergraduate two-subject teachers’ study programme) are obliged to complete a teaching practice in educational institutions and submit a teaching practice diary. Due to the closure of primary schools, the teaching practice was transformed to distance/online practice. This empirical study examines a recently developed intuitive model for distance learning, which took place during the teaching practice. Teaching practice diaries served as an instrument for gathering data. The sample size encompasses 56 lesson plan activities for the compulsory primary school Design and Technology subject for students aged 12–15 years at 15 primary schools in different parts of Slovenia carried out during online teaching practice by 11 pre-service technology teachers in the 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 academic years. The research methodology is focused on lesson-type determination and model elements analysis in lesson plan making and implementation activity. Distance learning model elements are evaluated with regard to online/offline learning tools from e-learning platforms to engineering education field-specific tools (e.g., technical drawings and electric circuits). Online teaching practice was as new for pre-service technology teachers and teacher-mentors as online learning was new for students. The advantages and disadvantages are highlighted. Furthermore, the distance learning model from the first Covid-19 wave teaching practice was adapted to challenge the second Covid-19 wave. The pandemic has enabled the rise of blended learning, which has been gaining focus in secondary and higher education levels in recent years; however, it encountered obstacles when entering the primary school domain. How to encompass blended learning into the evolved distance learning model will be shown. (DIPF/Orig.

Security evaluation measures and user protection

Informacijska sigurnost podrazumijeva očuvanje povjerljivosti, tj. tajnosti i privatnosti podataka, te integriteta i raspoloživosti informacijskih sustava. Na temelju istraživanja dobiveni su konkretni rezultati sigurnosti informacijskog sustava, te njegova otpornost na napade i nepravilnosti. U istraživanju poslovnog korisnika pronađeni su nedostaci u sustavu te predložene smjernice za poboljšanje zatečenog stanja. Svrha istraživanja je prikazati na koji način je moguće očuvati podatke i cjelokupni sustav, te procjeniti rizike kojima se izlažu informacijski sustavi. Nadalje cilj istraživanja je na primjeru poslovnog korisnika pokušati što detaljnije i bolje prikazati način zaštite i prijedloge poboljšanja informacijskog sustava.Information safety means preservation of confidentiality as well as secreacy and privacy of data, integrity and availability of information system. Based on the research, concrete results were given on safety of information system, and it’s resiliance on attacks and irregulations. During the research of bussines users irregulations were found in the system and guidelines for improvements were suggested. Purpose of the research was to show the means of data preservation, preservation of the whole system and estimation of risks information systems were exposed. Furthermore, the goal of the research in bussines users was to show, in as much detail as possible, ways of protection and suggestions of improvements of information system

Security evaluation measures and user protection

Informacijska sigurnost podrazumijeva očuvanje povjerljivosti, tj. tajnosti i privatnosti podataka, te integriteta i raspoloživosti informacijskih sustava. Na temelju istraživanja dobiveni su konkretni rezultati sigurnosti informacijskog sustava, te njegova otpornost na napade i nepravilnosti. U istraživanju poslovnog korisnika pronađeni su nedostaci u sustavu te predložene smjernice za poboljšanje zatečenog stanja. Svrha istraživanja je prikazati na koji način je moguće očuvati podatke i cjelokupni sustav, te procjeniti rizike kojima se izlažu informacijski sustavi. Nadalje cilj istraživanja je na primjeru poslovnog korisnika pokušati što detaljnije i bolje prikazati način zaštite i prijedloge poboljšanja informacijskog sustava.Information safety means preservation of confidentiality as well as secreacy and privacy of data, integrity and availability of information system. Based on the research, concrete results were given on safety of information system, and it’s resiliance on attacks and irregulations. During the research of bussines users irregulations were found in the system and guidelines for improvements were suggested. Purpose of the research was to show the means of data preservation, preservation of the whole system and estimation of risks information systems were exposed. Furthermore, the goal of the research in bussines users was to show, in as much detail as possible, ways of protection and suggestions of improvements of information system

Web application for personal growth

The thesis presents the process of designing and producing a web application for personal growth. We live in an era where it is well taken care of our physical comfort, but our mind is in danger. People often feel worthless and do not understand their feelings so we have developed a web application that helps strenghten confidence and encourages understanding of emotions. We started development with the use of some newer technologies. On the server side, we used Node.js, Express.js and MongoDB technologies while we used AngularJS, HTML, CSS and JavaScript on the client side. Over the years we have accumulated a lot of ideas from psychological fields that inspire positive revelations. We included these ideas in the application and we also presented them in this work. They provide the basis for a positive environment that grows together with it's users. We also added conclusions, opinions of test users and objectives for future work into the thesis

Prepoznavanje tekočnosti branja pri učencih z disleksijo in brez nje z uporabo modela strojnega učenja na besedilih, ocenjenih z aplikacijo za berljivost

Measurement of readability is an important tool for assessing reading disorders such as dyslexia. Among the screening procedures for dyslexia is the reading fluency test, which is defined as the ability to read with speed, accuracy and proper expression. The reading fluency test often consists of a sequence of unrelated written texts ranging from simple short sentences to more difficult and longer paragraphs. In psychological testing instruments, subjective text assessment is often replaced by objective readability formulas, e.g., the Automated Readability Index. Readability formulas extract multiple features from a given text and output a score indicating the difficulty of the text. The aim of the present study is to build a machine learning model that discriminates between pupils identified with dyslexia and a control group without dyslexia based on fluency in oral reading of texts assessed with a readability application developed within the project For the Quality of Slovenian Textbooks. The authors focus on differentiation between both groups of pupils by analysing data obtained from transcriptions of audio recordings of oral reading. The empirical study was conducted with 27 pupils aged 8 and 9 with officially diagnosed dyslexia and a control group without identified dyslexia. (DIPF/Orig.

Prospective chemistry teachers' perceptions of their profession : the state of the art in Slovenia and Finland

The main purpose of this paper is to present Slovenian and Finnish prospective chemistry teachers' perceptions of their future profession, especially with regard to their understanding of the role of the triple nature of chemical concepts (macro, submicro and symbolic) and their representations in chemistry learning. A total of 19 prospective teachers (10 Slovenian, 9 Finnish) at master's level in chemical education participated in the research. The prospective teachers' opinions were gathered using an electronic questionnaire comprising six open-ended questions. The study revealed many parallels between Slovenian and Finnish prospective chemistry teachers' perceptions of their future profession and their understanding of the role of the triple nature of chemical concepts, especially particle representations, in chemistry learning. The majority of the prospective teachers from both countries believe that personal characteristics are the most important attribute of a successful chemistry teacher. Thus, they highly value teachers' enthusiasm for teaching and the use of contemporary teaching approaches in chemistry. The prospective teachers displayed an adequate understanding of the role of the triple nature of chemical concepts (i.e., particle representations) in the planning and implementation of a specific chemistry lesson.Peer reviewe

NOVEL NUCLEOLAR LOCALIZATION OF SYNAPTOPODIN-2 ISOFORM IN PROLIFERATING HT-29 CELLS

Members of the Synaptopodin family regulate α-actinin and actin-bundling activity, in an isoform specific manner (Asunama et al., 2005). The ability to affect actin polymerization and bundling highlights the critical role that synaptopodin members play in normal and pathologic cells. Synaptopodin-2 (Synpo2) is one member of the synaptopodin family that is capable of inducing actin polymerization (Chalovich & Schroeter, 2010), suggesting an important role in cell migration, adhesion, division, and development. Synpo2 has also been described as a valuable biomarker for several invasive cancers due to its ability to alter cell motility in response to external stimuli (Kai et al, 2015). Although most data support the Synpo2’s role as a tumor suppressor (Xia et al., 2018; Liu, et al., 2018; Kai et al, 2012; Cebrian et al., 2008; Sanchez-Carbayo et al., 2003; Jing et al., 2004; Lin et al., 2001), it has been reported that under certain conditions, the loss of Synpo2 expression led to decreased motility and invasiveness (De Ganck et al, 2009). These contradictory reports of the influence of the expression of Synpo2 in cell migration and tumor stimulation/suppression demonstrate the need for further research. Synpo2 exists as five isoforms, which are the result of alternative splicing and cause differences at the N-terminal end of the proteins (Chalovich & Schroeter, 2010). Each isoform has a unique response to different chemokinetic stimuli (Kai et al., 2012). To improve the understanding of individual roles that these isoforms play in human colorectal cancer cells, this study considers the difference in expression of specific Synpo2 isoforms in HT29 cells. We observed intense and irregular staining in areas within the nucleus, with a pattern that was 90% correlated with markers of nucleoli. Furthermore, transcriptional inhibition resulted in a loss of nuclear stain. Induction of differentiation in HT29 cells with sodium butyrate, resulted in a loss of nuclear expression detected by the synaptopodin 2 antibody, but showed an increase in previously undetected cytoplasmic expression. RT-PCR and Western blot analysis showed that HT29 cells lacked Synpo2 isoform B, but expressed its smaller truncated isoform, myopodin. Nuclear fractions detected the expression of a smaller cross-reactive protein at approximately 55 kDa. This unexpected protein recognized by our affinity purified antibody could potentially be a previously uncharacterized Synpo2 isoform. The nucleolar expression detected though immunofluorescence suggests a highly critical role in normal cell function

MODELING SURGICAL INTERVENTIONS IN THE MITRAL VALVE WITH THE FINITE ELEMENT METHOD

The behavior of mitral valve tissue is very complex because of its material composition, geometric layout and loading environment. Due to recent advances in the constitutive modeling of mitral valve material, particularly in the area of incorporating the collagen fibers with the continuum tissue matrix, we are able to now simulate the behavior of the mitral valve under various loading and surgical conditions. Further, advance in FEM computational formulation also enables us to accurately simulate the nature of the incompressible material as representative of the mitral valve tissue which was a difficult proposition only a few years ago.In this thesis, we first implemented a constitutive relation specifically developed for mitral valve tissue into a commercial finite element software - LSDYNA. The geometry of the mitral valve and it's chordae were modeled via previously published anatomical measurements and our observations during animal experiments. We first simulated the motion of a porcine mitral valve under normal conditions that enabled us to make inferences about the state of stress of the mitral valve, i.e. we indentified sites of high stress and consequently locations of high failure possibility. Having modeled a healthy mitral valve we then modeled a prolapsed leaflet by removing chordae attached to the anterior leaflet of the valve. Further we proceeded to simulate a novel surgical procedure used to repair prolapse. The effects of surgical repair in term of the stresses the valve were quantified in comparison to its natural state.In our constitutive equations we included the material fiber direction, i.e. the direction of the collagen fibers in the mitral valve tissue. In accordance with stress modulated growth laws, we assumed that the fiber direction will tend to align with the maximum principal direction of stress as the tissue remodels under the influence of new external forces after surgical alteration. This study shows the change in principal stress directions due to surgical alteration, and therefore is an indicator of remodeling to follow. Thus, the ability, as demonstrated by this study, to predict these alteration may be one way to devise a strategy for minimizing fiber reorientation and thereby prolong the effects of surgical intervention or even avoid future re-intervention

Aerosol and cloud feedbacks on surface energy balance over selected regions of the Indian subcontinent

We investigate aerosol and cloud forcing on the surface energy balance over selected regions in India. Four regions were selected with different surface characteristics and have considerable differences in the long-term trends and seasonal distribution of clouds and aerosols. These regions are described as (1) northern semiarid, (2) humid subtropical, (3) populated central peninsula, and (4) northeast monsoon impacted. Modern Era Retrospective-analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) data and Climate Forecast System Reanalysis version 2 (CFSR) data are used in this study. An intercomparison of cloud fractions from both data sets shows that CFSR systematically underestimates high-cloud fraction during premonsoon and monsoon seasons. However, there are fewer low-cloud fraction biases. The positive temporal trend over 31years (1979-2009) from MERRA in high clouds is greater than that of low clouds. This is due to positive anomalies in the cloud ice and supercooled liquid water content in MERRA. Biases in the radiative fluxes and surface fluxes show a strong relationship (correlations exceeding 0.8) with cloud fraction biases, more so for the high clouds. During the premonsoon season, aerosol forcing causes a change in surface shortwave radiation of -24.5, -25, -19, and -16Wm -2 over regions 1 -4, respectively. The corresponding longwave radiation decrease is -9.8, -6.8, -4.5, and -1.9Wm -2 over these same regions, respectively. The maximum surface shortwave reduction due to clouds, which is observed during the monsoon season, is -86, -113, -101, and -97Wm -2 for these same regions, respectively. A decreasing trend in the boundary layer height is noticed both in MERRA and CFSR. The variation in the Bowen ratio and its relation to aerosol and cloud effect anomalies are also discussed