The Effects of Cooperative and Collaborative Strategies on Student Achievement and Satisfaction in Blended and Online Learning Environments

The purpose of this study was to examine whether cooperative versus collaborative strategies used for a group project had differential effects on students\u27 achievement, process and solution satisfaction, value and preference for collaboration, and perceptions of community of inquiry in online and blended environments. The study sample consisted of teacher education students enrolled in a technology integration course. Students\u27 age, academic level, online experience, and teaching experience were used as covariates in an effort to identify differential effects associated with student characteristics. Cooperative and collaborative strategies were differentiated by the amount of structure imposed by the instructor as well as the design of the group-based and activity. Cooperative strategies were characterized as highly structured, with assigned roles and scaffolding of teamwork skills and group processing, Collaborative strategies were characterized as less structured, meaning that groups were be encouraged to take on specific roles or divide the task. Additionally, teamwork skills and group processing were scaffolded. Statistical procedures that were employed included a factorial ANCOVAs and factorial MANCOVAs. The findings show that cooperative and collaborative learning strategies are equally effective in online and blended environments in regard to individual achievement, but cooperative strategies are less effective with regard to group achievement. Student satisfaction with the group process and solution did not differ according to course delivery method or learning strategy. Student perceptions of social presence and cognitive presence did not differ according to course delivery method or learning strategy, but teaching presence differed significantly by course delivery method. Of particular note was the finding that blended cooperative students had lower perceptions of the design and organization of the instruction in comparison to the other treatment groups, a result that mirrors the results found for group project grades

Recognition of microbial viability via TLR8 drives TFH cell differentiation and vaccine responses

Live attenuated vaccines are generally highly efficacious and often superior to inactivated vaccines, yet the underlying mechanisms of this remain largely unclear. Here we identify recognition of microbial viability as a potent stimulus for follicular helper T cell (TFH cell) differentiation and vaccine responses. Antigen-presenting cells (APCs) distinguished viable bacteria from dead bacteria through Toll-like receptor 8 (TLR8)-dependent detection of bacterial RNA. In contrast to dead bacteria and other TLR ligands, live bacteria, bacterial RNA and synthetic TLR8 agonists induced a specific cytokine profile in human and porcine APCs, thereby promoting TFH cell differentiation. In domestic pigs, immunization with a live bacterial vaccine induced robust TFH cell and antibody responses, but immunization with its heat-killed counterpart did not. Finally, a hypermorphic TLR8 polymorphism was associated with protective immunity elicited by vaccination with bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) in a human cohort. We have thus identified TLR8 as an important driver of TFH cell differentiation and a promising target for TFH cell–skewing vaccine adjuvants

Chronic pain in primary care. German figures from 1991 and 2006

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Until now only limited research has been done on the prevalence of chronic pain in primary care. The aim of this investigation was to study the health care utilisation of patients suffering from pain. How many patients visit an outpatient clinic because of the symptom of pain? These data were compared with data from a similar study in 1991, to investigate whether improvements had been achieved.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 1201 consecutive patients visiting outpatient clinics were surveyed in six practices in the western part of Germany on randomly selected days by means of questionnaires. Topics were the point prevalence of pain and the period prevalence of chronic pain, its characteristics and its impact on daily life, as well as data on previous therapies for pain. A retrospective comparison was made with the data from a similar study with same design surveying 900 patients that took place in five practices during 1991.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In 2006, pain was the main reason for consulting a doctor in 42.5% of all patients (1991: 50.3%). Of all respondents, 62% suffered from pain on the particular day of the consultation, and 40% reported that they had been suffering from pain for more than six months (1991: 36.4%). As many as 88.3% of patients with chronic pain reported a negative impact on their daily life due to this pain (1991: 68%), and 88.1% reported impairment of their working life because of chronic pain (1991: 59.1%).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Pain, and chronic pain in particular, is a central problem in primary care. Over the last 15 years, the number of patients suffering from chronic pain has not decreased. In nearly half of all cases, pain is still the reason for health care utilisation in outpatient clinics. Pain represents a major primary health care problem with enormous impact on public health. Improvements can only be achieved by improving the quality of health care at the primary care level.</p

αB Crystallin Is Apically Secreted within Exosomes by Polarized Human Retinal Pigment Epithelium and Provides Neuroprotection to Adjacent Cells

αB Crystallin is a chaperone protein with anti-apoptotic and anti-inflammatory functions and has been identified as a biomarker in age-related macular degeneration. The purpose of this study was to determine whether αB crystallin is secreted from retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells, the mechanism of this secretory pathway and to determine whether extracellular αB crystallin can be taken up by adjacent retinal cells and provide protection from oxidant stress. We used human RPE cells to establish that αB crystallin is secreted by a non-classical pathway that involves exosomes. Evidence for the release of exosomes by RPE and localization of αB crystallin within the exosomes was achieved by immunoblot, immunofluorescence, and electron microscopic analyses. Inhibition of lipid rafts or exosomes significantly reduced αB crystallin secretion, while inhibitors of classic secretory pathways had no effect. In highly polarized RPE monolayers, αB crystallin was selectively secreted towards the apical, photoreceptor-facing side. In support, confocal microscopy established that αB crystallin was localized predominantly in the apical compartment of RPE monolayers, where it co-localized in part with exosomal marker CD63. Severe oxidative stress resulted in barrier breakdown and release of αB crystallin to the basolateral side. In normal mouse retinal sections, αB crystallin was identified in the interphotoreceptor matrix. An increased uptake of exogenous αB crystallin and protection from apoptosis by inhibition of caspase 3 and PARP activation were observed in stressed RPE cultures. αB Crystallin was taken up by photoreceptors in mouse retinal explants exposed to oxidative stress. These results demonstrate an important role for αB crystallin in maintaining and facilitating a neuroprotective outer retinal environment and may also explain the accumulation of αB crystallin in extracellular sub-RPE deposits in the stressed microenvironment in age-related macular degeneration. Thus evidence from our studies supports a neuroprotective role for αB crystallin in ocular diseases

The United States COVID-19 Forecast Hub dataset

Academic researchers, government agencies, industry groups, and individuals have produced forecasts at an unprecedented scale during the COVID-19 pandemic. To leverage these forecasts, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) partnered with an academic research lab at the University of Massachusetts Amherst to create the US COVID-19 Forecast Hub. Launched in April 2020, the Forecast Hub is a dataset with point and probabilistic forecasts of incident cases, incident hospitalizations, incident deaths, and cumulative deaths due to COVID-19 at county, state, and national, levels in the United States. Included forecasts represent a variety of modeling approaches, data sources, and assumptions regarding the spread of COVID-19. The goal of this dataset is to establish a standardized and comparable set of short-term forecasts from modeling teams. These data can be used to develop ensemble models, communicate forecasts to the public, create visualizations, compare models, and inform policies regarding COVID-19 mitigation. These open-source data are available via download from GitHub, through an online API, and through R packages

Search for new particles in events with energetic jets and large missing transverse momentum in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

A search is presented for new particles produced at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV, using events with energetic jets and large missing transverse momentum. The analysis is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 101 fb(-1), collected in 2017-2018 with the CMS detector. Machine learning techniques are used to define separate categories for events with narrow jets from initial-state radiation and events with large-radius jets consistent with a hadronic decay of a W or Z boson. A statistical combination is made with an earlier search based on a data sample of 36 fb(-1), collected in 2016. No significant excess of events is observed with respect to the standard model background expectation determined from control samples in data. The results are interpreted in terms of limits on the branching fraction of an invisible decay of the Higgs boson, as well as constraints on simplified models of dark matter, on first-generation scalar leptoquarks decaying to quarks and neutrinos, and on models with large extra dimensions. Several of the new limits, specifically for spin-1 dark matter mediators, pseudoscalar mediators, colored mediators, and leptoquarks, are the most restrictive to date.Peer reviewe

Combined searches for the production of supersymmetric top quark partners in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

A combination of searches for top squark pair production using proton-proton collision data at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV at the CERN LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb(-1) collected by the CMS experiment, is presented. Signatures with at least 2 jets and large missing transverse momentum are categorized into events with 0, 1, or 2 leptons. New results for regions of parameter space where the kinematical properties of top squark pair production and top quark pair production are very similar are presented. Depending on themodel, the combined result excludes a top squarkmass up to 1325 GeV for amassless neutralino, and a neutralinomass up to 700 GeV for a top squarkmass of 1150 GeV. Top squarks with masses from 145 to 295 GeV, for neutralino masses from 0 to 100 GeV, with a mass difference between the top squark and the neutralino in a window of 30 GeV around the mass of the top quark, are excluded for the first time with CMS data. The results of theses searches are also interpreted in an alternative signal model of dark matter production via a spin-0 mediator in association with a top quark pair. Upper limits are set on the cross section for mediator particle masses of up to 420 GeV

Probing effective field theory operators in the associated production of top quarks with a Z boson in multilepton final states at root s=13 TeV

Peer reviewe

Observation of tW production in the single-lepton channel in pp collisions at root s=13 TeV

A measurement of the cross section of the associated production of a single top quark and a W boson in final states with a muon or electron and jets in proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV is presented. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 36 fb(-1) collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC in 2016. A boosted decision tree is used to separate the tW signal from the dominant t (t) over bar background, whilst the subleading W+jets and multijet backgrounds are constrained using data-based estimates. This result is the first observation of the tW process in final states containing a muon or electron and jets, with a significance exceeding 5 standard deviations. The cross section is determined to be 89 +/- 4 (stat) +/- 12 (syst) pb, consistent with the standard model.Peer reviewe