Growth Performance of Holstein Dairy Calves Supplemented with a Probiotic

Administration of antibiotics in both therapeutic and sub-therapeutic doses has been the standard practice for dealing with pathogenic bacteria problems in farm animals since the 1940s. Several types of antibiotics are currently used to promote weight gain and feed efficiency in domestic livestock. There is growing concern that the use of antibiotics as growth promoters may result in the development of resistant populations of pathogenic bacteria and, in turn, influence the therapeutic use of antibiotics. The indiscriminate and improper use of antibiotics in food-producing animals could result in the presence of residues in milk, meat, and other animal food products consumed by humans. One possible alternative to antibiotics is the use of probiotics. Probiotics can be defined as “live microbial feed supplements which beneficially affect the host animal by improving its intestinal microbial balance” (Fuller, 1989). Probiotics introduce beneficial microorganisms into the gut which act to maintain optimal conditions within the gastrointestinal tract and inhibit the growth of pathogenic or other undesirable bacteria

Towards a Strategy to Fight the Computer Science (Cs) Declining Phenomenon

International audienceEuropean students have give reasons why they reject computer science (CS) as a program of study in higher education [1]. The constant decrease in the number of students choosing to study this subject has had consequences in different European sectors, such as the economic sector or the education sector, among others [2]. Some of the reasons for this rejection are related to the degree of difficulty of the skills that are needed to master CS. This study aims to identify these skills by firstly comparing CS curricula across several European universities and then comparing these curricula with same level programs in other areas of study. It will highlight some misconceptions students have concerning CS programs and will demonstrate that Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) may have a major role to play in combating the decline of CS professionals by providing dynamic learning environments; where students can acquire the knowledge and skills which are unique to the field of CS

A quantum theory account of order effects and conjunction fallacies in political judgments

Are our everyday judgments about the world around us normative? Decades of research in the judgment and decision-making literature suggest the answer is no. If people's judgments do not follow normative rules, then what rules if any do they follow? Quantum probability theory is a promising new approach to modeling human behavior that is at odds with normative, classical rules. One key advantage of using quantum theory is that it explains multiple types of judgment errors using the same basic machinery, unifying what have previously been thought of as disparate phenomena. In this article, we test predictions from quantum theory related to the co-occurrence of two classic judgment phenomena, order effects and conjunction fallacies, using judgments about real-world events (related to the U.S. presidential primaries). We also show that our data obeys two a priori and parameter free constraints derived from quantum theory. Further, we examine two factors that moderate the effects, cognitive thinking style (as measured by the Cognitive Reflection Test) and political ideology

Evaluating a Modeling Curriculum by Using Heuristics for Productive Disciplinary Engagement

The BIO2010 report provided a compelling argument for the need to create learning experiences for undergraduate biology students that are more authentic to modern science. The report acknowledged the need for research that could help practitioners successfully create and reform biology curricula with this goal in mind. Our objective in this article was to explore how a set of six design heuristics could be used to evaluate the potential of curricula to support productive learning experiences for science students. We drew on data collected during a long-term study of an undergraduate traineeship that introduced students to mathematical modeling in the context of modern biological problems. We present illustrative examples from this curriculum that highlight the ways in which three heuristics—instructor role-modeling, holding students to scientific norms, and providing students with opportunities to practice these norms—consistently supported learning across the curriculum. We present a more detailed comparison of two different curricular modules and explain how differences in student authority, problem structure, and access to resources contributed to differences in productive engagement by students in these modules. We hope that our analysis will help practitioners think in more concrete terms about how to achieve the goals set forth by BIO2010

Long-Term Survivors of Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Treated with Systemic Chemotherapy Alone: A North Central Cancer Treatment Group Review of 3811 Patients, N0144

Although systemic chemotherapy in patients with unresectable metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) is palliative in nature, some patients experience long-term remission beyond 5 years consequent to treatment with chemotherapy alone

Epistemological framing and novice elementary teachers’ approaches to learning and teaching engineering design

As engineering learning experiences increasingly begin in elementary school, elementary teacher preparation programs are an important site for the study of teacher development in engineering education. In this article, we argue that the stances that novice teachers adopt toward engineering learning and knowledge are consequential for the opportunities they create for students. We present a comparative case study examining the epistemological framing dynamics of two novice urban teachers, Ana and Ben, as they learned and taught engineering design during a four‐week institute for new elementary teachers. Although the two teachers had very similar teacher preparation backgrounds, they interpreted the purposes of engineering design learning and teaching in meaningfully different ways. During her own engineering sessions, Ana took up the goal not only of meeting the needs of the client but also of making scientific sense of artifacts that might meet those needs. When facilitating students’ engineering, she prioritized their building knowledge collaboratively about how things work. By contrast, when Ben worked on his own engineering, he took up the goal of delivering a product. When teaching engineering to students, he offered them constrained prototyping tasks to serve as hands‐on contexts for reviewing scientific explanations. These findings call for teacher educators to support teachers’ framing of engineering design as a knowledge building enterprise through explicit conversations about epistemology, apprenticeship in sense‐making strategies, and tasks intentionally designed to encourage reasoning about design artifacts.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/151339/1/tea21541_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/151339/2/tea21541.pd

Relationships between students' conceptions of constructivist learning and their regulation and processing strategies

The present study investigated relationships between students' conceptions of constructivist learning on the one hand, and their regulation and processing strategies on the other hand. Students in a constructivist, problem-based learning curriculum were questioned about their conceptions of knowledge construction and self-regulated learning, as well as their beliefs regarding their own (in)ability to learn and motivation to learn. Two hypothesized models were tested within 98 psychology students, using a structural equation modelling approach: The first model implemented regulation and processing variables of the Inventory of Learning Styles [ILS, Vermunt (Learning styles and regulation of learning in higher education - towards process-oriented instruction in autonomous thinking, 1992)], the second model of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire [MSLQ, Pintrich and de Groot (Journal of Educational Psychology, 82, 33-40, 1990)]. Results showed that structural relations exist between conceptions of constructivist learning and regulation and processing strategies. Furthermore, students who express doubt with regard to their own learning capacities are at risk for adopting an inadequate regulation strategy. A three-tiered structure of conceptual, controlling, and operational level appeared valid for the MSLQ variables, but not entirely for those of the ILS