Constructivism in online learning : a literature review

The purpose of this paper is to look at the interaction of constructivist-based approaches, adult learning characteristics and six online learning issues. Constructivist learning environments allow learners to build their own meaning and understanding from learning resources and circumstances. Constructivists claim that learners accumulate new knowledge by themselves and use this to pile up previous knowledge and experiences. The learner is the learning focus, and the instructors act as facilitators or guides, which provide appropriate and enriching supplies. This theory supports well the adult style of learning. Based on constructivism, the online instructor is a facilitator to monitor and provide a safe, positive, and motivating online learning environment, and a tutor to provide the supporting skills and knowledge to each individual. Compared to traditional education, online learning has some outstanding features, such as the setting overcomes geographic problems and the learners could go to the virtual classroom anytime and anywhere if they have the accesses to the Internet. This paper focuses on the adult learning group, along with the online learning benefits and some issues that occur among the technologies and human subjects

Reclaiming Beercraft- A Sensory Experience

The senses are mainly a source of arousal, enjoyment and pain and are of vital importance for the human body. They are also important because sensory perception is typical of many cultural artifacts and is given unique intensities and extensions, shapes and meanings through them (Heywood, 2017). As Finnish architect Juhani Pallasmaa stated, “architecture is the art of reconciliation between ourselves and the world, and this mediation takes place through the senses” (Pallasmaa, 2012). To make architecture truly meaningful, it should be able to awaken all the senses. The way we feel, smell, and even taste is hard to capture. This difficulty points to the deep-rooted position of visual tyranny (Lupton & Lipps, 2018, p. 14). Sensory studies incorporate a sensory approach to culture, the challenge here being to give full weight to the role of the senses in cultural life. It also includes a cultural approach to the senses, where this suggests setting impacts and uses of the senses within their cultural context, especially in how they are given and contributing to shared meanings (Heywood, 2017, p. 1). Richmond’s history has been intertwined with beer culture going back more than 150 years (Visit Richmond, 2018). Nowadays, people have the opportunity to visit the brewhouse to see the brewing process and enjoy the finished brewed beer. However, they can only see the equipment and the repeated operation of the workers, and cannot participate in it to feel the charm of the craft beer culture. To utilize the interest in local craft beer culture, sensory design will be incorporated into the interior design. From the sense of the human body, sight, taste, smell and touch, it stimulates the sensory functions of beer lovers at multiple levels, enabling consumers to understand the brewing process of beer more realistically and deeply. The plan is to carefully dissect several precedent studies concerning breweries, wine museums, cellars, and roastery. Previous studies include The Therme Vals by Peter Zumthor, Antinori Winery by Archea Associati and Surly Brewing MSP by HGA. In-depth interviews with employees of Hardywood Park Craft Brewery and Stone Brewery, local beer lovers and local designers who have designed breweries will be included in my methods of research. Researching designers who focus on sensory design, including Juhani Pallasmaa, Steven Holl and Peter Zumthor, will also be key. Sensory design or consciously designing a full range of sensory experiences can better connect us to the physical world and help people find the right place. The multi-sensory design concept not only brings a tactile experience to consumers, but also makes people feel sublimated in their hearts, realizes the integration of information, and maximizes the expression of product information. The idea is to create a maker space of craft beer, which integrates education, production and entertainment. Here people can learn about the local craft beer history, participate in the beer brewing process through vision, smell, taste and sound, and absorb the knowledge of beer. During the process of experience and interaction, they could make their beer and even participate in the design of beer containers and packaging design, which allows people to experience a process from learning, production, designing to purchasing

Music Interventions for a Child with Developmental Disabilities

This capstone thesis project explores a musical intervention (Development Interaction Through Music, DITM) for a 9-year-old girl with neurodevelopmental disorders in a school setting. Although there was research on the application of music therapy in different populations, there are relatively few documentations on music therapy in the field of special education. Some case studies have found that music therapy has a positive effect on people with developmental disorders (Thompson & McFerran, 2015). Clinicians need to engage in more clinical practice and collect case data as strong evidence. Music therapists who work with children with severe disabilities are recommended to build a communication platform to learn from each other to promote the development of music therapy. The Intervention of DITM was designed to use a therapeutic relationship as a promoter in music therapy to support the development of children whose social, communicational, and visual abilities are impaired. There were multiple methods used when collecting data, the most important of which included field notes and reflective journals, and artistic responses regarding the participant. Through implementation, result analysis and self-reflection, I found that the therapeutic relationship naturally grew the music experience and ultimately contributed to the progress of the participant. The core of the work was to provide a supportive environment, concrete objectives, and structured interventions for the client according to her needs. Through interaction with therapists and music, the musical talents of the participant were constantly developed

System Dynamics Model of Shanghai Passenger Transportation Structure Evolution

AbstractBased on the data from a comprehensive transportation survey of Shanghai in 2004 and 2009, this paper analyzed the evolution of urban passenger transportation structure using the system dynamics approach. A system dynamics model of Shanghai passenger transportation structure evolution is proposed, which consists of setting modeling targets, establishing transportation system boundaries, causality analysis, establishing flow diagram, parameter estimation and model validation

Ethnomedicinal study of plants used to cure skin diseases and healing of wounds in Gulmarg Wildlife Sanctuary (GWLS), Jammu & Kashmir

Gulmarg Wildlife Sanctuary (GWLS) hosts large number of medicinal plants and is a rich repository of indigenous knowledge and practices. In present day scenario such indigenous knowledge is disappearing in new generations day by day with the advent of modernization. Therefore, an effort has been made to document the aboriginal uses and practices of plants utilized by the local inhabitants of Gulmarg Wildlife Sanctuary (GWLS), to treat skin relatedproblems and help in wound healing. A total of 33 plant species belonging to 31 genera and 26 families are used indigenously to cure various skin diseases/wound healing. 22 plant species are non-native and 11 species are native to the Himalayan region. Various plant parts of these species are used to cure aforesaid diseases. Further, such studies would assist in developing a comprehensive database of plant used in various traditional medicinal systems or strengthening the healthcare in the rural ecosystem and also help in conserving the traditional knowledge andpractices for posterity

Ethnomedicinal study of plants used to cure skin diseases and healing of wounds in Gulmarg Wildlife Sanctuary (GWLS), Jammu & Kashmir

327-334Gulmarg Wildlife Sanctuary (GWLS) hosts large number of medicinal plants and is a rich repository of indigenous knowledge and practices. In present day scenario such indigenous knowledge is disappearing in new generations day by day with the advent of modernization. Therefore, an effort has been made to document the aboriginal uses and practices of plants utilized by the local inhabitants of Gulmarg Wildlife Sanctuary (GWLS), to treat skin related problems and help in wound healing. A total of 33 plant species belonging to 31 genera and 26 families are used indigenously to cure various skin diseases/wound healing. 22 plant species are non-native and 11 species are native to the Himalayan region. Various plant parts of these species are used to cure aforesaid diseases. Further, such studies would assist in developing a comprehensive database of plant used in various traditional medicinal systems or strengthening the healthcare in the rural ecosystem and also help in conserving the traditional knowledge and practices for posterity

Elevating Code-mixed Text Handling through Auditory Information of Words

With the growing popularity of code-mixed data, there is an increasing need for better handling of this type of data, which poses a number of challenges, such as dealing with spelling variations, multiple languages, different scripts, and a lack of resources. Current language models face difficulty in effectively handling code-mixed data as they primarily focus on the semantic representation of words and ignore the auditory phonetic features. This leads to difficulties in handling spelling variations in code-mixed text. In this paper, we propose an effective approach for creating language models for handling code-mixed textual data using auditory information of words from SOUNDEX. Our approach includes a pre-training step based on masked-language-modelling, which includes SOUNDEX representations (SAMLM) and a new method of providing input data to the pre-trained model. Through experimentation on various code-mixed datasets (of different languages) for sentiment, offensive and aggression classification tasks, we establish that our novel language modeling approach (SAMLM) results in improved robustness towards adversarial attacks on code-mixed classification tasks. Additionally, our SAMLM based approach also results in better classification results over the popular baselines for code-mixed tasks. We use the explainability technique, SHAP (SHapley Additive exPlanations) to explain how the auditory features incorporated through SAMLM assist the model to handle the code-mixed text effectively and increase robustness against adversarial attacks \footnote{Source code has been made available on \url{https://github.com/20118/DefenseWithPhonetics}, \url{https://www.iitp.ac.in/~ai-nlp-ml/resources.html\#Phonetics}}.Comment: Accepted to EMNLP 202

Diagnostic accuracy of CT scan in staging resectable esophageal cancer

Abstract INTRODUCTION: CT scan is an important tool in staging of esophageal cancer. Survival can be improved by providing neoadjuvant treatment which depends on stage of esophageal cancer. So it is very important to stage the disease accurately. METHODS: The objective of this study is to determine diagnostic accuracy of CT scan to stage esophageal cancer. Ct scans of 62 patients included in the study were reviewed by a Consultant radiologist who was blinded to the final stage of tumour. Diagnosticaccuracy measured by comparing with histopathological staging. RESULTS: Accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of CT for T2 and T3 are 66%, 61%, 68% and 63%, 67%, 56% respectively. Accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of CT for presence of nodal disease are 65%, 59% and 75%. CONCLUSIONS: Ct scan alone has low diagnostic accuracy for staging Esophageal Cancer

Direct bandgap materials based on the thin films of SexTe100 - x nanoparticles

In this study, we fabricated thin films of Se(x)Te(100 − x) (x = 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, and 24) nanoparticles using thermal evaporation technique. The results obtained by X-ray diffraction show that the as-synthesized nanoparticles have polycrystalline structure, but their crystallinity decreases by increasing the concentration of Se. They were found to have direct bandgap (E(g)), whose value increases by increasing the Se content. These results are completely different than those obtained in the films of Se(x)Te(100 − x) microstructure counterparts. Photoluminescence and Raman spectra for these films were also demonstrated. The remarkable results obtained in these nanoparticles specially their controlled direct bandgap might be useful for the development of optical disks and other semiconductor devices

Investigating the Relationship Between Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator and Colorectal Cancer Under Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress

University of Minnesota M.S. thesis.April 2018. Major: Integrated Biosciences. Advisors: Patricia Scott, Robert Cormier. 1 computer file (PDF); vii, 64 pages.Our group has identified Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator (CFTR) as a tumor suppressor for colorectal cancer (CRC) (Than et al., 2016). However, the mechanism by which CFTR protects against CRC is unknown. Determining this mechanism may lead to new therapies for CRC. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) pathway analysis showed that CFTR-deficient normal and tumor tissues from mice and humans were enriched in genes involved in the unfolded protein response (UPR) to endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. Altered genes, environmental stress and increased protein synthesis induce UPR activation in cancer cells (Kaufman & Wang, 2014; Ma & Hendershot, 2004; Dejeans, Barroso, Fernandez-Zapico, Samali, Chevet, 2015). The UPR has two potentially opposing effects on cancer development: on the one hand, some cancer cells require a higher level of UPR to support their growth and survival (Corazzari, Gagliardi, Fimia & Piacentini, 2017); on the other hand, increased UPR leads to loss of stemness which could inhibit cancer development (Heijmans et al., 2013). To identify the correlation between UPR and cancer-supporting effects of CFTR-deficiency, a pair of CFTR knockout (KO) and wildtype (WT) Caco2 cell lines created by CRISPR-Cas9 engineering were utilized to test the working model that UPR activation might be enhanced in CFTR KO cells, and this activation might support CRC cell survival under ER stress. To test the working model, the Caco2 cell lines were treated with chemical inducers to trigger ER stress. To evaluate the UPR activities, we used Thapsigargin (TG) to induce ER stress in CFTR KO and WT cell lines and compared iii mRNA expression changes of key genes in the two cell lines by performing RT- qPCR. The heat shock protein A member 5 (HSPA5) gene encodes the protein that initiates all three UPR sub-pathways. Although the expression of HSPA5 increased after TG treatment in both CFTR WT and CFTR KO cell lines, the TG treatment had more of an effect on HSPA5 expression in CFTR KO cells, suggesting a trend that CFTR deficiency might enhance the effect of ER stress on the expression of UPR gatekeeper HSPA5, the common regulator for initiating three UPR sub-pathways. The ATF4 expression levels in both CFTR WT and CFTR KO cell lines increased to the same extent, which reflects that the loss of CFTR might not promote the activation of PERK signaling. The decreased total XBP1 mRNA expression levels in CFTR KO cells suggests that CFTR deficiency might not activate the specific IRE1α-XBP1 signaling pathway. The TXNIP, which is part of an apoptotic pathway, is down- regulated in CFTR KO cells, which might provide protection from apoptosis. These studies suggest that UPR activation might be enhanced in CFTR KO cells, but the specific pathway might not be the one detected. Additionally, the down regulation of TXNIP might offer protection for CRC cells from apoptosis. Although many cancer cells require an enhanced UPR (Corazzari, Gagliardi, Fimia & Piacentini, 2017), excessive, prolonged activation triggers a switch to an apoptotic pathway (Wang & Kaufman, 2016; Niederreiter, L. et al., 2013). To examine this possibility, TG and Tunicamycin (TM) were used to induce ER stress in cells, and cell viability in CFTR KO and WT cell lines over time was compared by conducting MTT assay. Although the results showed decreased cell viability after treatment in both iv CFTR WT and CFTR KO cell lines, the ratios of treated over untreated viability at each point after TG and TM treatment was higher in CFTR KO cells, indicating that the loss of CFTR might cause TG-induced ER stress to have less of an effect on cell viability. These data suggest that the loss of CFTR increases protection from ER stress, and that this protection supports the survival of CRC cells. Based on the fact that CFTR deficiency can activate the NF-κB signaling pathway (Crites et al., 2015), and that UPR can activate the NF-κB (Grootjans, Kaser, Kaufman & Blumberg, 2016), the NF-κB activity in CFTR KO cells in response to UPR was also examined. RT-qPCR analysis was performed to compare the gene expression changes relating to NF-κB signaling pathway in CFTR WT and CFTR KO Caco2 cell lines treated with TG to trigger UPR activation. Although the results showed enhanced expression of IL8 and TNF in both cell lines, the TG treatment had less of an effect on the expression of these genes in CFTR KO cells. This suggests that CFTR deficiency might cause TG to produce less of an effect on the expression of NF-κB signaling target genes IL8 and TNF. These data suggest that the loss of CFTR might cause TG-induced UPR to have less of an effect on NF-κB activation. The enhanced basal expression levels of the NF-κB target gene IL8 in CFTR KO cells might suggest an increased activation of NF-κB signaling in CFTR KO cells and this activation might support the growth of cancer cells. In conclusion, in Caco2 CRC cells, CFTR deficiency may alter the response to UPR in several pathways, which may promote cancer cell survival. Additional experiments v must be conducted to determine which pathways among those that are altered are vital for cancer development