Comments on ＂How to repair the Hill cipher＂

A modification of the Hill cipher algorithm was recently proposed by Ismail et al.（2006）, who claimed that their new scheme could offer more security than the original one due to an extra non-linearity layer introduced via an elaborated key generation mechanism. That mechanism produces one different encryption key for each one of the plaintext blocks. Nevertheless, we show in this paper that their method still has severe security flaws whose weaknesses are essentially the same as that already found in the original Hill cipher scheme.     

Modified team‐based learning strategy to improve human anatomy learning: A pilot study at the Universidad del Norte in Barranquilla,Colombia

As part of an institutional program sponsored by the Centre for Teaching Excellence at the Universidad del Norte, Barranquilla, Colombia, we developed an educational research study on two sessions of human anatomy in which we combined team‐based learning (TBL) and the use of iPads. Study data included the TBL, assessments applied during the course, student's grades on mid‐term examinations and students' perceptions of their experiences. Students reported a positive attitude toward the use of the TBL sessions, and the results showed a significant improvement in their learning between the first and second sessions. Significantly positive correlations (P < 0.05) were obtained between (a) the individual students' readiness test performance 1 and mid‐term examination 1, (b) the individual readiness test performances from Session 1 to Session 2, and (c) the group readiness test performances from the first and second sessions. These results point to positive learning experiences for these students. Analyses of the students' reflections on their activities also pointed toward future challenges. Anat Sci Educ 7: 399–405. © 2014 American Association of Anatomists.     

Intellectual capital and the firm: some remaining questions and prospects

From the publication of seminal works in the 1990s until now, a great deal of theoretical proposals and empirical evidence has been published on intellectual capital (IC) and the firm. Nevertheless, several problems remain as important impediments to the advancement and consolidation of an ‘Intellectual Capital-based View of the Firm’. Most of these issues have to do with the conceptualization and typology of IC, its measurement, and the limitations of the most common statistical methods. This article highlights the most important of these issues as well as some possible directions for future development.     

School readiness losses during the COVID-19 outbreak. A comparison of two cohorts of young children

The COVID-19 context has created the most severe disruption to education systems in recent history. Its impact on child development was estimated comparing two cohorts of 4- to 6-year-old Uruguayan children: control (n = 34,355, 48.87% girls) and COVID cohort (n = 30,158, 48.95% girls) assessed between 2018 and 2020 in three waves, by a routinely administered school readiness instrument in public preschools. Ethnicity information is not available. For the COVID cohort, losses were observed in Motor and Cognitive development, Attitudes towards learning, and Internalizing behavior (range 0.13 – 0.27 SD). Losses were less pronounced among children from higher socioeconomic schools. These results extend the literature on the consequences of the pandemic on learning and early child development.     

The effect of efficient professional development on the teaching of code-focused skills in beginner readers: exploring the impact of professional development intensity and coaching on student outcomes

Reading and Writing - Professional development (PD) of teachers working with students in the first years of learning to read is a privileged way of preventing initial reading difficulties and its...     

Understanding and Engagement in Places of Science Experience: Science Museums,Science Centers,Zoos, and Aquariums

Science museums, science centers, zoos, and aquariums (MCZAs) constitute major settings of science learning with unique characteristics of informal science education. Emphasis will be given to the analysis of four specific characteristics of MCZAs that seem relevant for educational research and practice, namely, conditions of mixed motives and goals, staged popular science, and impact of physical layout, as well as the role of social exchange and participation. By doing so, we focus on the consequences of these characteristics for the learning processes and outcomes of visits of MCZAs. We show that outcomes encompass not only knowledge acquisition in a narrower sense but also changes in interest and beliefs.     

Developing game-like simulations to formalize tacit procedural knowledge: the ONT experience

The exceptional success achieved by the Spanish National Transplant Organization (ONT) in recent years has made other countries highly interested in following this organization’s methodologies. A good training program is one of the key elements of the ONT. Until 2012, the ONT training program was a paper-based case teaching method, and the small number of ONT experts limited the audience. In an attempt to improve and increase the attendees in this program, a game-like simulation was developed to represent transplant management procedural knowledge. To maximize the educational value, this game-like simulation was based on representative teaching cases to help students practice with different real situations and different levels of complexity in a risk-free environment. This study presents how an iterative game development methodology has been applied to evolve from a paper-based case teaching method to a game-like simulation, with a special focus on the efforts made to include the ONT experts’ tacit procedural knowledge in the simulation. Apart from increasing the number of students who can access the ONT training, this game-like simulation also helped to achieve a more detailed formalization of transplant management as well as a more comprehensive systematization of a set of relevant teaching cases.     

Prevalence of vulnerability and protective factors of sexual victimization

English language abstract not available at time of publication.