Student Self-Assessment Re-Assessed

In a student-centered classroom, learners have to be actively involved both in learning and assessment, which in itself needs to become a learning tool. Therefore, students need to understand and be given the opportunity to apply assessment criteria themselves. Through self-assessment of their writing, they enhance their self-awareness and become autonomous learners capable of self-improvement and meta-cognition (Liang 2014, Nielsen 2012).Self- and peer assessment are helpful tools that have been discussed in the literature, but the reliability of self-assessment is still debated (see for example Birjandi and Tamjid 2012, Matsuno 2009, Poehner 2012). The present study adds to the existing research by offering data that is not based on observation, but stems from a comparison of self- and instructor assessment where both parties used the same specific assessment rubrics. Assigning numerical values to the rubrics allowed for quantitative results. The data was collected in four classes of students in a course called ‘Introduction to Academic Writing’ at Deree - The American College of Greece. The outcome of the study did not confirm expectations with regard to reliability of self-assessment, and recommendations for future rubric-based studies are included. Self-assessment should be used as a formative and diagnostic learning tool, especially for weaker students, to foster development of learner autonomy

Localization of the genes for tumor necrosis factor and lymphotoxin between the HLA classI and III regions by field inversion gel electrophoresis

To clarify the position of the TNFA and TNFB genes on the HLA map, we have assigned TNFA to large DNA restriction fragments separated by field inversion gel electrophoresis, which hybridize with either class III- or class I-specific probes as well. These results prove that the TNFA locus is localized between the HLA class III region and the HLA-B locus

A Physical Map Including a New Class I Gene (cda12) of the Human Major Histocompatibility Complex (A2/313 Haplotype) Derived from a Monosomy 6 Mutant Cell Line

To avoid interpretative problems due to restriction fragment length polymorphisms, the monosomy 6 mutant cell line BM19.7 was employed to establish a molecular map of the human major histocompatibility (HLA) complex in the A2,B13,Bw4,DRw6,DRw52,DQw1,DPw2 haplotype. Results were obtained mainly by field-inversion gel electrophoresis and Southern blotting techniques. The map extends to 4800 kb and includes the HLA complex with a length of 4200 kb. Five HTF islands could be positioned on the map. The class I region has a size of about 2000 kb and includes nonclassical HLA class I genes, some of which must be localized within 200 kb telomeric of HLA-A. A new class I gene, cda12, distinct from HLA-A, HLA-B, or HLA-C, has been localized within 50 kb from HLA-A. The class I region contains a gap of about 500 kb, just telomeric of HLA-C, in which further class I genes could not be detected. The class II region has a size of 1000 kb, which is separated from the class I region by about 1200 kb. The 5' end of the HLA-B gene is situated centromeric, giving an orientation opposite to that of the TNFA and TNFB loci. The estimated length of the HLA complex correlates well with its size determined cytogenetically using mutant cell lines with interstitial deletions

Zur Relevanz weicher Faktoren bei Akquisitionen - Einflussbereiche der Unternehmenskultur und Einflussfaktoren des Integrationsklimas

Akquisitionen bzw. Unternehmensübernahmen gehören zu den wiederkehrenden Meldungen der nationalen und internationalen Wirtschaftspresse, die auch regelmäßig über den Misserfolg von vergangenen Akquisitionen berichtet. In diesem Zusammenhang wird auf Seiten von Wissenschaft und Praxis vielfach die Erfolgsrelevanz der so genannten weichen Faktoren hervorgehoben, welche als emotionale, kognitive und konative intra- und interpersonale Phänomene charakterisiert werden können. Zu den weichen Faktoren gehören beispielsweise das Stresserleben oder das organisationale Commitment der Mitarbeiter, aber auch die Unternehmenskulturen der an der Akquisition beteiligten Unternehmen. Trotz der oftmals angeführten Erfolgsrelevanz der weichen Faktoren ist auf diesem Forschungsgebiet sowohl in der praxisorientierten als auch in der wissenschaftlichen Literatur ein erheblicher Mangel an theoretisch fundierten Untersuchungen zu verzeichnen. Vor diesem Hintergrund verfolgt die vorliegende Arbeit zwei wesentlich Zielsetzungen. Es wird erstens das wissenschaftliche Ziel angestrebt, unter Berücksichtigung der unterschiedlichen Machtverhältnisse der an der Akquisition beteiligten Unternehmen die Erfolgsrelevanz der weichen Faktoren durch die Übertragung systemtheoretischer und sozialpsychologischer Ansätze auf die Integrationsphase theoriegestützt zu ermitteln. Darüber hinaus wird die zweite Zielsetzung verfolgt, im Rahmen einer Fallstudie die Erfolgsrelevanz der weichen Faktoren empirisch zu begründen, um nachhaltige Implikationen für die Forschung und die Praxis der Integrationsarbeit von Akquisitionen ableiten zu können. Im Vordergrund der Untersuchung stehen die weichen Faktoren Unternehmenskultur, Partizipation, Information/Kommunikation, Integrationsklima, Commitment und die verzerrte Gruppenwahrnehmung auf Seiten der betroffenen Mitarbeiter. Für die empirische Überprüfung der Forschungsannahmen wurden im Rahmen der Fallstudie zwei Mitarbeiterbefragungen in der Integrationsphase einer internationalen Akquisition durch ein deutsches Unternehmen durchgeführt. Die Ergebnisse der vorliegenden Arbeit legen die Schlussfolgerung nahe, dass insbesondere die Bewertung der Unternehmenskultur des Käuferunternehmens einen nachhaltigen Einfluss auf die weichen Faktoren Information/Kommunikation, Integrationsklima und schließlich auch auf das Commitment sowohl der Mitarbeiter des Käuferunternehmens als auch der Mitarbeiter des akquirierten Unternehmens ausübt. Demgegenüber zeigt die Unternehmenskultur des akquirierten Unternehmens mit diesen Variablen bei beiden Mitarbeitergruppen vergleichsweise geringe Zusammenhänge. Das Phänomen einer verzerrten Gruppenwahrnehmung auf Seiten der betroffenen Mitarbeiter konnte im Rahmen der Fallstudie nicht nachgewiesen werden. Schließlich liegt ein weiteres zentrales Ergebnis der vorliegenden Arbeit darin, dass der weiche Faktor Information/Kommunikation als Determinante des Integrationsklimas identifiziert werden konnte. Integrationsklima wurde hierbei als Einstellung der Mitarbeiter gegenüber dem Integrationsprozess und die Zufriedenheit mit demselben definiert. Ferner zeigen sich große Zusammenhänge zwischen dem Integrationsklima und dem Ausmaß an Partizipation in der Integrationsphase. Insgesamt unterstützen die Ergebnisse der vorliegenden Arbeit die Annahme der Erfolgsrelevanz von weichen Faktoren bei Akquisitionen

Deus in Machina

Mit apokalyptischem Pathos geraten Mensch und Maschine in Battlestar Galactica (2004-2009) aneinander. Doch am Ende der TV-Serie ist der populäre Topos Mensch vs. Maschine infrage gestellt – und damit auch die menschliche Angst, durch Technologie ersetzt zu werden, wie sie sich im Antagonismus von Organik und Technik spiegelt. Battlestar Galactica, das Remake der gleichnamigen Kult-Serie aus den späten 1970er Jahren (1978-1980), eröffnet dazu einmal mehr die für Science-Fiction typischen Ster..

Autonomy Infused Teleoperation with Application to BCI Manipulation

Robot teleoperation systems face a common set of challenges including latency, low-dimensional user commands, and asymmetric control inputs. User control with Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) exacerbates these problems through especially noisy and erratic low-dimensional motion commands due to the difficulty in decoding neural activity. We introduce a general framework to address these challenges through a combination of computer vision, user intent inference, and arbitration between the human input and autonomous control schemes. Adjustable levels of assistance allow the system to balance the operator's capabilities and feelings of comfort and control while compensating for a task's difficulty. We present experimental results demonstrating significant performance improvement using the shared-control assistance framework on adapted rehabilitation benchmarks with two subjects implanted with intracortical brain-computer interfaces controlling a seven degree-of-freedom robotic manipulator as a prosthetic. Our results further indicate that shared assistance mitigates perceived user difficulty and even enables successful performance on previously infeasible tasks. We showcase the extensibility of our architecture with applications to quality-of-life tasks such as opening a door, pouring liquids from containers, and manipulation with novel objects in densely cluttered environments

IDO-Mediated Tryptophan Degradation in the Pathogenesis of Malignant Tumor Disease

Immune escape is a fundamental trait of cancer in which the Th1-type cytokine interferon- γ (IFN-γ) seems to play a key role. Among other tumoricidal biochemical pathways, IFN-γ induces the tryptophan-degrading enzyme indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) in a variety of cells including macrophages, dendritic cells (DCs) and tumor cells. IDO activity has been shown to reflect the extent and the course in a plethora of malignancies including prostate, colorectal, pancreatic, cervical, endometrial, gastric, lung, bladder, ovarian, esophageal and renal cell carcinomas, glioblastomas, mesotheliomas, and melanomas. Furthermore IDO activity during malignant tumor diseases seems to be part of the tumoricidal immune defense strategy, which in the long run is detrimental to the host, when tryptophan deprivation and production of pro-apoptotic tryptophan catabolites counteract T-cell responsiveness

Sexual selection and the evolution of male pheromone glands in philanthine wasps (Hymenoptera, Crabronidae)

Background: Sexual selection is thought to promote evolutionary changes and diversification. However, the impact of sexual selection in relation to other selective forces is difficult to evaluate. Male digger wasps of the tribe Philanthini (Hymenoptera, Philanthinae) scent mark territories to attract receptive females. Consequently, the organs for production and storage of the marking secretion, the mandibular gland (MG) and the postpharyngeal gland (PPG), are subject to sexual selection. In female Philanthini, these glands are most likely solely subject to natural selection and show very little morphological diversity. According to the hypothesis that sexual selection drives interspecific diversity, we predicted that the MG and PPG show higher interspecific variation in males than in females. Using histological methods, 3D-reconstructions, and multivariate statistical analysis of morphological characters, we conducted a comparative analysis of the MG and the PPG in males of 30 species of Philanthini and three species of the Cercerini and Aphilanthopsini, two related tribes within the Philanthinae. Results: We found substantial interspecific diversity in gland morphology with regard to gland incidence, size, shape and the type of associated secretory cells. Overall there was a phylogenetic trend: Ensuing from the large MGs and small PPGs of male Cercerini and Aphilanthopsini, the size and complexity of the MG was reduced in male Philanthini, while their PPG became considerably enlarged, substantially more complex, and associated with an apparently novel type of secretory cells. In some clades of the Philanthini the MG was even lost and entirely replaced by the PPG. However, several species showed reversals of and exceptions from this trend. Head gland morphology was significantly more diverse among male than among female Philanthinae. Conclusion: Our results show considerable variation in male head glands including the loss of an entire gland system and the evolution of a novel kind of secretory cells, confirming the prediction that interspecific diversity in head gland morphology is higher in male than in female Philanthini. We discuss possible causes for the remarkable evolutionary changes in males and we conclude that this high diversity has been caused by sexual selection

I don’t feel ya: How narcissism shapes empathy

Those who tend towards a self-absorbed personality are less likely to “feel others.” Indeed, subclinical narcissism has been linked to decreased empathy: Individuals high in narcissism seem to neglect what other people are thinking and feeling and are less likely to emotionally share others’ mental states. Three studies (N = 1,008) extend the literature on narcissism and empathy in some important ways. We suggest that the empathy deficit among narcissists does not make an exception for close friends, that it manifests not only in less, but also in discordant affect, and that it is mainly driven by the antagonistic dimension of narcissism (Studies 1 and 2). Moreover, employing an experimental manipulation, the present findings offer a novel way of attenuating this empathy deficit among narcissists: the experience of trust (Study 2). Finally, a pre-registered laboratory study documents a “bright” consequence of narcissists’ empathy deficit with respect to parochial altruism (Study 3). Hence, as unfortunate as narcissists’ empathy deficit might be, it is not set in stone. Additionally, a narcissistic spotlight that shines exclusively on the self can reduce some of the parochialism that empathy for specific, often close others entails