Intelligent student engagement management : applying business intelligence in higher education

Advances in emerging ICT have enabled organisations to develop innovative ways to intelligently collect data that may not be possible before. However, this leads to the explosion of data and unprecedented challenges in making strategic and effective use of available data. This research-in-progress paper presents an action research focusing on applying business intelligence (BI) in a UK higher education institution that has developed a student engagement tracking system (SES) for student engagement management. The current system serves merely as a data collection and processing system, which needs significant enhancement for better decision support. This action research aims to enhance the current SETS with BI solutions and explore its strategic use. The research attempts to follow socio-technical approach in its effort to make the BI application a success. Progress and experience so far has revealed interesting findings on advancing our understanding and research in organisation-wide BI for better decision-making

Big data in higher education: an action research on managing student engagement with business intelligence

This research aims to explore the value of Big Data in student engagement management. It presents an action research on applying BI in a UK higher education institution that has developed and implemented a student engagement tracking system (SES) for better student engagement management. The SES collects data from various sources, including RFID tracking devices across many locations in the campus and student online activities. This public funded research project has enhanced the current SES with BI solutions and raised awareness on the value of the Big Data in improving student experience. The action research concerns with the organizational wide development and deployment of Intelligent Student Engagement System involving a diverse range of stakeholders. The activities undertaken to date have revealed interesting findings and implications for advancing our understanding and research in leveraging the benefit of the Big Data in Higher Education from a socio-technical perspective

Three classes of inhibitory amino acid terminals in the cochlear nucleus of the guinea pig

Electron microscopic postembedding immunocytochemistry was used to analyze and assess the synaptic distribution of glycine (GLY) and γ-amino butyric acid (GABA) immunoreactivities in the guinea pig cochlear nucleus (CN). Three classes of endings were identified containing immunolabeling for glycine, GABA, or both glycine and GABA (GLY/GABA). All classes were similar in that the terminals contained pleomorphic vesicles and formed symmetric synapses with their postsynaptic targets. A fourth class, which labeled with neither antibody, contained round vesicles and formed asymmetric synapses. Glycine endings predominated in the ventral CN, while GLY/GABA endings were prevalent in the dorsal CN. GABA endings were the least common and smallest in size. Glycine, GLY/GABA, and GABA endings differed in their proportions and patterns of distribution on the different classes of projection neurons in the CN, including spherical bushy, type I stellate/multipolar, and octopus cells in the ventral CN and fusiform cells in the dorsal CN. The vast majority of anatomically-defined, putative inhibitory endings contain GLY, GABA, or both, suggesting that most of the inhibition in the cochlear nucleus is mediated by these three cytochemically and, probably, functionally distinct classes of endings. The results of this study also suggest that a large proportion of the GABA available for inhibition in the CN coexists in terminals with glycine. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/50069/1/2_ftp.pd

Using Games to Create Language Resources: Successes and Limitations of the Approach

Abstract One of the more novel approaches to collaboratively creating language resources in recent years is to use online games to collect and validate data. The most significant challenges collaborative systems face are how to train users with the necessary expertise and how to encourage participation on a scale required to produce high quality data comparable with data produced by “traditional ” experts. In this chapter we provide a brief overview of collaborative creation and the different approaches that have been used to create language resources, before analysing games used for this purpose. We discuss some key issues in using a gaming approach, including task design, player motivation and data quality, and compare the costs of each approach in terms of development, distribution and ongoing administration. In conclusion, we summarise the benefits and limitations of using a gaming approach to resource creation and suggest key considerations for evaluating its utility in different research scenarios

Putting Belonging into Place: Place Experience and Sense of Belonging among Ecuadorian Migrants in an Italian Alpine Region

This paper explores the meaning and mechanics of belonging with a particular focus onthe role of place and place-making. It explores the ways people come to achieve a senseof belonging with reference to recent theoretical treatments of place, territory, andmobility. We ground our discussion in analysis of an ethnographic case of Ecuadorianfamilies who have migrated to Trentino in northern Italy. Most families miss the socialrelationships and places they left behind, but have decided to stay permanently in Italy,giving up the “myth of return” (Anwar 1979). Trentino offers more opportunities interm of employment, education, and access to services than Ecuador. Yet the decisionto stay in Trentino is based on more than a simple assessment of economic advantage.Participants spoke of a slowly unfolding sense of belonging to Trentino, with strongaffective dimensions born of a specific attachment to the very materiality of place inTrentino. This attachment may be regarded as an assemblage of social, material andaffective resonances, experiences and resources, revealing something of the place andfeeling of belonging. Hence, the Ecuadorian sense of belonging does not rely on anabstract conception of cultural affiliation, nor is it a purely psychological response.Rather, belonging accrues in particular practices and material attachments.We unpackthese practices by documenting the work participants put into inhabiting an unfamiliarplace as “their” place, while at the same time questioning the ontological status of space

Modeling “psychosis” in vitro by inducing disordered neuronal network activity in cortical brain slices

# The Author(s) 2009. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Introduction Dysregulation of neuronal networks has been suggested to underlie the cognitive and perceptual abnor-malities observed schizophrenia. Discussions An in vitro model of psychosis is proposed based on the two different approaches to cause aberrant networ

Estrogen Receptor β-Selective Agonists Stimulate Calcium Oscillations in Human and Mouse Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Neurons

Estrogens are used extensively to treat hot flashes in menopausal women. Some of the beneficial effects of estrogens in hormone therapy on the brain might be due to nongenomic effects in neurons such as the rapid stimulation of calcium oscillations. Most studies have examined the nongenomic effects of estrogen receptors (ER) in primary neurons or brain slices from the rodent brain. However, these cells can not be maintained continuously in culture because neurons are post-mitotic. Neurons derived from embryonic stem cells could be a potential continuous, cell-based model to study nongenomic actions of estrogens in neurons if they are responsive to estrogens after differentiation. In this study ER-subtype specific estrogens were used to examine the role of ERα and ERβ on calcium oscillations in neurons derived from human (hES) and mouse embryonic stem cells. Unlike the undifferentiated hES cells the differentiated cells expressed neuronal markers, ERβ, but not ERα. The non-selective ER agonist 17β-estradiol (E2) rapidly increased [Ca2+]i oscillations and synchronizations within a few minutes. No change in calcium oscillations was observed with the selective ERα agonist 4,4′,4″-(4-Propyl-[1H]-pyrazole-1,3,5-triyl)trisphenol (PPT). In contrast, the selective ERβ agonists, 2,3-bis(4-Hydroxyphenyl)-propionitrile (DPN), MF101, and 2-(3-fluoro-4-hydroxyphenyl)-7-vinyl-1,3 benzoxazol-5-ol (ERB-041; WAY-202041) stimulated calcium oscillations similar to E2. The ERβ agonists also increased calcium oscillations and phosphorylated PKC, AKT and ERK1/2 in neurons derived from mouse ES cells, which was inhibited by nifedipine demonstrating that ERβ activates L-type voltage gated calcium channels to regulate neuronal activity. Our results demonstrate that ERβ signaling regulates nongenomic pathways in neurons derived from ES cells, and suggest that these cells might be useful to study the nongenomic mechanisms of estrogenic compounds

Defining Information Literacy for the UK

Information literacy (IL) was adopted as the theme for the Presidential year of Professor Sheila Corrall, the first President of CILIP, in April 2002. At the end of her year as President, she called a meeting of experts and practitioners at CILIP, which concluded that the term was not understood or used consistently across all sectors in the UK. A working party was formed, charged with producing a definition, as well as supporting material such as case studies demonstrating how IL can make a difference to individuals. A definition and lists of core skills were developed