A Campus-Wide Investigation of Clicker Implementation: The Status of Peer Discussion in STEM Classes

At the University of Maine, middle and high school teachers observed more than 250 university science, technology, engineering, and mathematics classes and collected information on the nature of instruction, including how clickers were being used. Comparisons of classes taught with (n = 80) and without (n = 184) clickers show that, while instructional behaviors differ, the use of clickers alone does not significantly impact the time instructors spend lecturing. One possible explanation stems from the observation of three distinct modes of clicker use: peer discussion, in which students had the opportunity to talk with one another during clicker questions; individual thinking, in which no peer discussion was observed; and alternative collaboration, in which students had time for discussion, but it was not paired with clicker questions. Investigation of these modes revealed differences in the range of behaviors, the amount of time instructors lecture, and how challenging the clicker questions were to answer. Because instructors can vary their instructional style from one clicker question to the next, we also explored differences in how individual instructors incorporated peer discussion during clicker questions. These findings provide new insights into the range of clicker implementation at a campus-wide level and how such findings can be used to inform targeted professional development for faculty.     

The Semiotics of Learning New Words

In several of his papers, Charles S. Peirce illustrates processes of interpreting and understanding signs by examples from second language vocabulary teaching and learning. The insights conveyed by means of these little pedagogical scenarios are not meant as contributions to the psychology of second language learning, but they aim at elucidating fundamental semiotic implications of knowledge acquisition in general. Peirce's semiotic premise that a well‐understood sign is one that represents an object and creates an interpretant is essential to the understanding of how new words and signs in general can be taught and learned. The article argues that Peirce's theory of the object of the sign, especially of the necessity of collateral experience of the object of a sign, can help to understand the riddle posed by of the Meno paradox of the impossibility of learning what we do not yet know. It examines the semiotic implications of the didactic methods of teaching and learning through translation, ostension, mental and real images, as well as metacognition, and it shows how icons, indices, and symbols are essential to learning new words.     

The University Experiences of Students with Learning Disabilities

To explore the university experiences of students with learning disabilities (LD), 63,802 responses to the 2014 Student Experience in the Research University Survey were analyzed. Compared to other students, those with self‐reported LD (5.96 percent) had difficulty with assignments and had more obstacles caused by nonacademic responsibilities and imposed by their skill levels. Students with self‐reported LD sensed more bias toward people with disabilities on campus, and they were less satisfied with their overall experience. Interactions between disability status and age suggested even more challenges for older students who self‐reported LD. Approximately one‐third of students who self‐reported LD received accommodations. The rate of accommodations was higher among individuals who were wealthy, who lived alone, and who were out‐of‐state students. Compared to students who self‐reported LD but reported no accommodations, those with accommodations had more contact with faculty and less difficulty with assignments.     

One step antibody-mediated isolation and patterning of multiple cell types in microfluidic devices

Cell-cell interactions play a key role in regeneration, differentiation, and basic tissue function taking place under physiological shear forces. However, current solutions to mimic such interactions by micro-patterning cells within microfluidic devices have low resolution, high fabrication complexity, and are limited to one or two cell types. Here, we present a microfluidic platform capable of laminar patterning of any biotin-labeled peptide using streptavidin-based surface chemistry. The design permits the generation of arbitrary cell patterns from heterogeneous mixtures in microfluidic devices. We demonstrate the robust co-patterning of α-CD24, α-ASGPR-1, and α-Tie2 antibodies for rapid isolation and co-patterning of mixtures of hepatocytes and endothelial cells. In addition to one-step isolation and patterning, our design permits step-wise patterning of multiple cell types and empty spaces to create complex cellular geometries in vitro. In conclusion, we developed a microfluidic device that permits the generation of perfusable tissue-like patterns in microfluidic devices by directly injecting complex cell mixtures such as differentiated stem cells or tissue digests with minimal sample preparation.     

Automatic path planning for an unmanned drone with constrained flight dynamics

In the article we solve path planning task for an agent being multirotor unmanned aerial vehicle (multicopter). We propose an approach of estimating path geometry constraints based on UAV flight dynamics model and control constraints. Than we introduce a new path finding method which takes into consideration those geometry constraints and study this method both theoretically and empirically.     

Comparing the magnitude and direction of asymmetry during the squat,countermovement and drop jump tests in elite youth female soccer players

ABSTRACT

The aims of the present study were to provide an in-depth comparison of inter-limb asymmetry and determine how consistently asymmetry favours the same limb during different vertical jump tests. Eighteen elite female under-17 soccer players conducted unilateral squat jumps (SJ), countermovement jumps (CMJ) and drop jumps (DJ) on a portable force platform, with jump height, peak force, concentric impulse and peak power as common metrics across tests. For the magnitude of asymmetry, concentric impulse was significantly greater during the SJ test compared to CMJ (p = 0.019) and DJ (p = 0.003). No other significant differences in magnitude were present. For the direction of asymmetry, Kappa coefficients revealed fair to substantial levels of agreement between the SJ and CMJ (Kappa = 0.35 to 0.61) tests, but only slight to fair levels of agreement between the SJ and DJ (Kappa = ?0.26 to 0.18) and CMJ and DJ (Kappa = ?0.13 to 0.26) tests. These results highlight that the mean asymmetry value may be a poor indicator of true variability of between-limb differences in healthy athletes. The direction of asymmetry may provide a useful monitoring tool for practitioners in healthy athletes, when no obvious between-limb deficit exists.