Using Challenge Episodes to Identify Social Regulation in Collaborative Groupwork

In recent years, researchers have shown increased interest in the question of how groups regulate their collaborative work and how this in turn affects their learning experience. There is a lack of empirical studies that explore social regulation in student group work. This study in progress attempts to identify instances of social regulation of learning in group work through examining challenges that students experience throughout interdisciplinary group projects. Building on existing conceptual work, we target different dimensions of social regulation – Planning, Monitoring/Performance and Evaluation. Data is collected from four courses within Tracks – a ten-year educational initiative, aiming to respond to the changing educational needs of future engineers. Within Tracks, students meet and learn collaboratively across programme boundaries and take on relevant challenges with a basis in real-world problems together. Students were asked to self-report in form of reflective writings about challenges and coping strategies. First results indicate that groups employed different forms of social regulation though their affiliation with different study programs made it difficult to schedule collaborative, synchronous meetings. Our findings further highlight the role of motivation in collaborative group work and stimulate a discussion about ‘desirable challenges’ that act as catalysts for learning in group work

Tracking social regulation of learning in interdisciplinary group work

Recent years have seen a growing interest in how student groups regulate their learning when taking part in collaborative and interdisciplinary project-courses that are increasingly becoming popular in Engineering Education programs. While there is a rich research landscape on self-regulated learning, more empirical studies are needed on social regulation of peer-learning in collaborative group work. This study addresses this gap by conducting a narrative comparative case study to document shared regulation in three student groups from three project-based courses. Qualitative data was collected through interviews with members from those interdisciplinary groups working on real world challenges. The interviews were analysed for regulation episodes and synthesised into narratives representing key aspects of the groups regulative behaviours. The results are expected to highlight numerous instances of social regulation of learning within the various groups’ at different stages of the project. Preliminary results presented here demonstrate challenges faced by a group when attempting to socially regulate their learning, underlining the importance of scaffolding for collaborative learning. Findings from the full study will highlight the important role that social regulation processes play in group learning and add to the current understanding of the interplay between different modes of social regulation in groups

What opportunities do the New EU international investment agreements offer for developing countries?

Purpose: Cancer chemotherapy, although based on body surface area, often causes unpredictable myelosuppression, especially severe neutropenia. The aim of this study was to evaluate qualitatively and quantitatively the influence of patient-specific characteristics on the neutrophil concentration-time course, to identify patient subgroups, and to compare covariates on system-related pharmacodynamic variable between drugs. Experimental Design: Drug and neutrophil concentration, demographic, and clinical chemistry data of several trials with docetaxel (637 patients), paclitaxel (45 patients), etoposide (71 patients), or topotecan (191 patients) were included in the covariate analysis of a physiology-based pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic neutropenia model. Comparisons of covariate relations across drugs were made. Results: A population model incorporating four to five relevant patient factors for each drug to explain variability in the degree and duration of neutropenia has been developed. Sex, previous anticancer therapy, performance status, height, binding partners, or liver enzymes influenced system-related variables and alpha(1)-acid glycoprotein, albumin, bilirubin, concomitant cytotoxic agents, or administration route changed drug-specific variables. Overall, female and pretreated patients had a lower baseline neutrophil concentration. Across-drug comparison revealed that several covariates (e.g., age) had minor (clinically irrelevant) influences but consistently shifted the pharmacodynamic variable in the same direction. Conclusions: These mechanistic models, including patient characteristics that influence drug-specific parameters, form the rationale basis for more tailored dosing of individual patients or subgroups to minimize the risk of infection and thus might contribute to a more successful therapy. In addition, nonsignificant or clinically irrelevant relations on system-related parameters suggest that these covariates could be negligible in clinical trails and daily use

Landscape Pattern Response to Changes in the Pattern Generation Rules: Land-use Legacies in Forestry

The Pacific Northwest of the United States is currently embroiled in an acrimonious debate over the management of federal forest lands. Constructive resolution of this debate will require better information on a broad range of forest management issues. This study focuses on one such issue: the development of landscape pattern in response to alternative forest cutting plans and the degree to which established landscape patterns can be changed. Dispersed cutting has been conducted on federal lands in the western United States for \u3e40 yr, but alternative cutting plans are now being considered. To assess the effects of different disturbance processes on the development of landscape pattern, we compare dispersed- and aggregated-cutting plans using a simple, rule-based simulation model that incorporates realistic regulatory and logistic constraints. Our results indicate that, once established, the landscape pattern created by dispersed disturbances is difficult to erase without a substantial reduction in the disturbance rate or a reduction in the minimum stand age eligible for disturbance. Change in landscape pattern can lag substan­tially behind change in the rules governing pattern generation

Multi Scale Habitat Relationships of Martes americana in Northern Idaho, U.S.A

We used bivariate scaling and logistic regression to investigate multiple-scale habitat selection by American marten (Martes americana). Bivariate scaling reveals dramatic differences in the apparent nature and strength of relationships between marten occupancy and a number of habitat variables across a range of spatial scales. These differences include reversals in the direction of an observed association from positive to negative and frequent dramatic changes in the apparent importance of a habitat variable as a predictor of marten occurrence. Logistic regression on the optimally scaled input variables suggests that at the scale of home ranges, marten select landscapes with high average canopy closure and low fragmentation. Within these low fragmented landscapes, marten select foraging habitat at a fine scale within late-seral, middle-elevation mesic forests. In northern Idaho, optimum American marten habitat, therefore, consists of landscapes with low road density, low density of non-forest patches with high canopy closure, and large areas of middle-elevation, late successional mesic forest. Comparison of current landscape conditions to those expected under the historic range of variability indicates that road building and timber harvest in the past century may have substantially reduced the amount of suitable marten habitat in northern Idaho. Our results are generally consistent with previous research in the Rocky Mountains, with additional insights related to the relative importance, functional form, and scale at which each habitat variable has the largest influence on marten occurrence

Preliminary design study of a baseline MIUS

Results of a conceptual design study to establish a baseline design for a modular integrated utility system (MIUS) are presented. The system concept developed a basis for evaluating possible projects to demonstrate an MIUS. For the baseline study, climate conditions for the Washington, D.C., area were used. The baseline design is for a high density apartment complex of 496 dwelling units with a planned full occupancy of approximately 1200 residents. Environmental considerations and regulations for the MIUS installation are discussed. Detailed cost data for the baseline MIUS are given together with those for design and operating variations under climate conditions typified by Las Vegas, Nevada, Houston, Texas, and Minneapolis, Minnesota. In addition, results of an investigation of size variation effects, for 300 and 1000 unit apartment complexes, are presented. Only conceptual aspects of the design are discussed. Results regarding energy savings and costs are intended only as trend information and for use in relative comparisons. Alternate heating, ventilation, and air conditioning concepts are considered in the appendix

A complicated pregnancy in an adult with HNF4A p.R63W-associated fanconi syndrome

Renal Fanconi syndrome (RFS) is characterised by generalised dysfunction of the proximal renal tubules, resulting in excessive urinary loss of solutes, most notably bicarbonate, and type II (proximal) renal tubular acidosis. It is a rare condition, and literature around its management through pregnancy is limited. We present the management of a 37-year-old woman with RFS secondary to the HNF4A p.R63W mutation, through her third pregnancy. She presented at 28 + 5 weeks with dehydration, low serum bicarbonate, and profound metabolic acidosis. Daily infusions of sodium bicarbonate were necessary, and the requirements increased throughout the pregnancy. She also demonstrated both fasting hypoglycaemia and episodes of postprandial hyperglycaemia which required complex management. Due to concerns around fetal health, an elective caesarean section was performed at 34 weeks, delivering a healthy baby girl. This case highlights the potential complexity of pregnancy in patients with RFS and the need for a multidisciplinary approach to its management

A Memetic Analysis of a Phrase by Beethoven: Calvinian Perspectives on Similarity and Lexicon-Abstraction

This article discusses some general issues arising from the study of similarity in music, both human-conducted and computer-aided, and then progresses to a consideration of similarity relationships between patterns in a phrase by Beethoven, from the first movement of the Piano Sonata in A flat major op. 110 (1821), and various potential memetic precursors. This analysis is followed by a consideration of how the kinds of similarity identified in the Beethoven phrase might be understood in psychological/conceptual and then neurobiological terms, the latter by means of William Calvin’s Hexagonal Cloning Theory. This theory offers a mechanism for the operation of David Cope’s concept of the lexicon, conceived here as a museme allele-class. I conclude by attempting to correlate and map the various spaces within which memetic replication occurs