Who Are the Students of MOOCs? Experience from Learning Analytics Clustering Techniques

Clustering in education is important in identifying groups of objects in order to find linked patterns of correlations in educational datasets. As such, MOOCs provide a rich source of educational datasets which enable a wide selection of options to carry out clustering and an opportunity for cohort analyses. In this experience paper, five research studies on clustering in MOOCs are reviewed, drawing out several reasonings, methods, and students’ clusters that reflect certain kinds of learning behaviours. The collection of the varied clusters shows that each study identifies and defines clusters according to distinctive engagement patterns. Implications and a summary are provided at the end of the paper.publishedVersio

Nitrous Oxide Emission from an Upland Cropping System in the Humid Tropics

Nitrous oxide (N20) emission to the atmosphere has a great implication on global climate change. Agricultural soils seem to be its major source, though little attention is given to the soils and upland cropping systems of the humid tropics. Thus, laboratory experiments were carried out to study the impact of N sources, moisture regimes and soil types on N20 production A field experiment was conducted to measure N20 emissions from a maize-groundnut cropping system managed with different N sources. The laboratory incubation study using an Ultisol showed a maximum N20 flux of 2379 ug N20-N kg-1 soil d-1 with chicken manure application at 60010 water-filled pore space (WFPS). Application of potassium nitrate, groundnut residue and urea resulted in smaller production rates (61 5 - 699 ug N20-N kg-l soil d-1). Addition of ammonium sulfate and maize residue produced the lowest rates, 229 and 246 ug N20-N kg-1 soil d-1, respectively. In general, the total N20 production in 25 days increased with decrease in C/N ratio of the organic N sources

Multimodal Transport in Jordan according to the Multimodal International Transport Law No. 29 of 2018 (Comparative Study)

This research aims to evaluate the provisions of Multimodal International Transport Law No. 29 of 2018 in comparison with the latest international conventions in this field (Rotterdam Convention of 2008 and Multimodal Arabic Transport Convention of 2009). The problem of the research was concerned with answering the following question: did the national legislations and international or regional conventions succeed in achieving the unity of the legislative regulation of multimodal transport contracts at the international level? Or are we still in need of a binding, unified, international convention under the lack of enforcement of United Nations Convention of 1980? To answer these questions, the study was divided into two parts. The first part discussed the establishment of Multimodal International Transport Law by stating its concept, parties, and form. The second part was concerned with the implementation of multimodal international transport contract according to the provisions of Law No. 29 of 2018, where the contract parties’ responsibility and the claims and suits were explained. After analyzing the Law of (2018), the researcher came to believe that it is beneficiary to conclude a developed and balanced international convention which regulates multimodal transport in hope that it will be more effective than the United Nations Convention of 1980 to bridge the legislative gap in multimodal transport contracts at the international level

Evaluation of the electronic bill of lading as an alternative to the traditional bill of lading in proving the maritime transport contract in the light of Jordanian legislation, a comparative study with modern international agreements

This research aims to evaluate the electronic bill of lading as an alternative to the traditional bill of lading in proving the contract of sea carriage of goods. The problem of our research revolved around knowing the extent to which the electronic bill of lading serves as a guide to the traditional bill of lading in proving the contract of maritime transport of goods in the light of Jordanian legislation. In order to answer this problem, we divided this study into two sections: The first topic dealt with the nature of the traditional bill of lading and its role in proving the maritime transport contract. The second topic is devoted to presenting the electronic bill of lading and its role in proving the electronic shipping contract Returning to the answer to the problem of our research, it became clear to us the need for the Jordanian legislator to intervene, whether in the Maritime Trade Law No. 12 of 1972 or in the International Multimodal Transport of Goods Law No. 29 of 2018 by establishing a direct legislative regulation of the electronic bill of lading, as such direct regulation will help to Apply unified legal rules to the transfers that take place with the electronic bill of lading, without referring to the Electronic Transactions Law No. 15 of 2015 as the general law that regulates electronic transactions in general. Consequently, the door will remain open for the implementation of the Hamburg Agreement in force in the Kingdom without any complications

Identification of Cladosporium sp. Fungi by in- silico RFLP-PCR

يلعب الفطر Cladosporium  دورا مهما في صحة الانسان فهو احد الفطريات المسببة لامراض الحساسية والربو ومن اكثر الابواغ المحموله في الهواء ، ولاهمية هذه الفطر شملت هذه الدراسة تصميم بادئ عام لتشخيص 25 نوعا تعود للفطر  Cladosporium  طبقا للمناطق المحفوظة في تسلسل القواعد النتروجينية في مواقع وحدات الرايبوسوم 5.8S و 18S و 28S في هذه الانواع. استخدمت طريقة تغاير قطع التقييد لتفاعل البلمرة المتسلسل RFLP) ) لتشخيص 24 نوعا من انواع الفطر التي تم تشخيصها باستخدام البادئ العام  . اجريت جميع التجارب باستخدام برامج البايولوجي الجزيئي على جهاز الحاسوب والتي اظهرت نتائجها فعالية البادئ المصمم في تشخيص 24 نوعا من اصل 25 نوع وايضا امكانية تشخيص والتمييز لثلاثة انواع من الفطريات باستخدام الانزيمات القاطعة المتخصصة على مستوى النوع وهي Cl. halotorenas باستخدام ثلاثة انزيمات متخصصة و Cl. colrandse  باستخدام انزيمين  و Cl. aciculare بانزيم واحد. توفر هذه التقنية طريقة فعالة في فحص مدى كفاءة البادئات المصصمة والمختارة لاجراء تجارب الـ PCR  افتراضيا قبل استخدامها في المختبر وكذلك استخدام طريقة RFLP عن طريق ايجاد الانزيمات القاطعة الخاصة على مستوى النوع لللاجناس المهمة صحيا لاستخدامها في المختبر لاختصار الوقت والجهد ونجاح عمليات تضخيم وتفاعل انزيم البلمرة PCR . Cladosporium sp. plays an important role in human health, it is one of the pathogenic fungi which cause allergy and asthma and most frequently isolated from airborne spores.  In this study, a couple of universal PCR primers were designed to identify the pathogenic fungi Cladosporium sp. according to conserved region 5.8S, 18S and 28S subunit ribosomal RNA gene in Cladosporium species. In silico RFLP-PCR were used to identify twenty-four Cladosporium strains. The results showed that the universal primer has the specificity to amplify the conserved region in 24 species as a band in virtual agarose gel. They also showed that the RFLP method is able to identify three Cladosporium species by specific and unique restriction enzymes for each one. These species are Cl. halotorenas by the two unique enzymes BsaXI and MobII, the other species is Cl. colrandse by two enzymes BccI and BtsCI, while the third species is Cl. aciculare by one enzyme BceAI. Each enzyme forms two bands in virtual agarose gel as a results of cutting the DNA by the enzyme, where the rest twenty – two species share more than one restriction enzymes. This method is active and rapid for identifying Cladosporium genus and three species by computational bases methods before applying it in the lab for more accuracy, efficiency, and specificity of designed primer to get good results in a short time

キャピタル、情報の非対称性、そして預金保険での銀行の行動の影響:アジアの銀行のパネルデータからの実証的証拠

要約のみTohoku University西山慎一課