What's in It for Me? Incentives,Learning, and Completion in Massive Open Online Courses

This study investigated the distribution of incentives (e.g., certificates, badges) for massive open online course (MOOC) completion, and relationships between incentives and MOOC outcomes. Participants were 779 MOOC students internationally who participated in at least 303 different MOOCs offered by at least 12 providers. MOOC participants most commonly intended to receive, and in actuality received, free and paid course certificates of completion; other incentives (e.g., digital badges, postsecondary credits) were far less common. In addition, MOOC participants' intentions to receive both free and paid certificates were consistently and positively related to perceived learning and course completion, net other factors. (Keywords: massive open online courses, MOOCs, motivation, incentives, microcredentials, certificates of completion)     

A comparison between two different automated total 25-hydroxyvitamin D immunoassay methods using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Introduction

Total 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] is the most reliable indicator of vitamin D status. In this study, we compared two automated immunoassay methods, the Abbott Architect 25-OH Vitamin D assay and the Roche Cobas Vitamin D total assay, with the liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).

Materials and methods

One hundred venous blood samples were randomly selected from routine vitamin D tests. Two of the serum aliquots were analyzed at the Abbott Architect i2000 and the Roche Cobas 6000’s module e601 in our laboratory within the same day. The other serum aliquots were analyzed at the LC-MS/MS in different laboratory. Passing-Bablok regression analysis and Bland-Altman plot were used to compare methods. Inter-rater agreement was analyzed using kappa (κ) analysis.

Results

The Roche assay showed acceptable agreement with the LC-MS/MS based on Passing-Bablok analysis (intercept: -5.23 nmol/L, 95% CI: -8.73 to 0.19; slope: 0.97, 95% CI: 0.77 to 1.15). The Abbott assay showed proportional (slope: 0.77, 95% CI: 0.67 to 0.85) and constant differences (intercept: 17.08 nmol/L; 95% CI: 12.98 to 21.39). A mean bias of 15.1% was observed for the Abbott and a mean bias of -14.1% was observed for the Roche based on the Bland-Altman plots. We found strong to nearly perfect agreement in vitamin D status between the immunoassays and LC-MS/MS. (κ: 0.83 for Abbott, κ: 0.93 for Roche) using kappa analysis.

Conclusion

Both immunoassays demonstrated acceptable performance, but the Roche Cobas assay demonstrated better performance than the Abbott Architect in the studied samples.Key words: 25-Hydroxyvitamin D, chromatography, immunoassay, methods, tandem mass spectrometry     

Language and reading impairments are associated with increased prevalence of non-right-handedness

Handedness has been studied for association with language-related disorders because of its link with language hemispheric dominance. No clear pattern has emerged, possibly because of small samples, publication bias, and heterogeneous criteria across studies. Non-right-handedness (NRH) frequency was assessed in N = 2503 cases with reading and/or language impairment and N = 4316 sex-matched controls identified from 10 distinct cohorts (age range 6–19 years old; European ethnicity) using a priori set criteria. A meta-analysis (N_cases = 1994) showed elevated NRH % in individuals with language/reading impairment compared with controls (OR = 1.21, CI = 1.06–1.39, p = .01). The association between reading/language impairments and NRH could result from shared pathways underlying brain lateralization, handedness, and cognitive functions.     

Characterization of two-dimensional cellular automata over ternary fields

The set of papers [3], [4], [6] and [7] (Chattopadhyay et al., 1999; Dihidar and Choudhury, 2004; Khan et al., 1997, 1999) deals with the behavior of the uniform two-dimensional cellular automata over binary fields (Z₂). Some structural properties and precise mathematical models using matrix algebra over the field Z₂ are reported for characterizing the behavior of two-dimensional nearest neighborhood linear cellular automata with null and periodic boundary conditions [3], [4], [6] and [7] (Chattopadhyay et al., 1999; Dihidar and Choudhury, 2004; Khan et al., 1997, 1999). In this paper, we characterize two-dimensional linear cellular automata transformations by using matrix algebra built on Z₃. We analyze some results for two-dimensional CA with rule numbers 2460N and 2460P. Finally, we investigate the dimension of the kernel of two-dimensional cellular automata defined by the rule number 2460N.     

Technology Usage for Education： Comparative Analysis Between Open and Distance Learning and Regular Students

Education is the backbone for the development of society. With the advent of technology, it is becoming necessary and being used for the advancement of society. Technology is being used for education as being used in other important fields of life. Usage of technology for education can play a big part in bringing improvement in education For this purpose, this research aims to explore the usage and effects of technology for education. While using the survey method, a questionnaire was constructed for data collection. The sample of the study consists of graduate and postgraduate students from both ODL and regular universities and the sample size would be of 300 respondents （150 from each type of university） who were selected by using simple random sampling. The present study concluded that technology is widely used by both regular and ODL students. This study further concluded that ODL students are more dependent on technology as compared to regular students.     

Quantum-Inspired Blockchain-Based Cybersecurity: Securing Smart Edge Utilities in IoT-Based Smart Cities

Blockchain plays a vital task in cybersecurity. With the exerted efforts for realising large-scale quantum computers, most current cryptographic mechanisms may be hacked. Accordingly, we need a quantum tool utilised for designing blockchain frameworks to have the ability to be executed in the level of digital computers and resist the probable attacks from both digital and quantum computers. Quantum walks may be utilised as a quantum-inspired model for designing new cryptographic algorithms. In this paper, we present a new authentication and encryption protocol based on quantum-inspired quantum walks (QIQW). The proposed protocol is utilized to build a blockchain framework for secure data transmission among IoT devices. Instead of using classical cryptographic hash functions, quantum hash functions based on QIQW are employed for linking blocks of the chain. The main advantages of the presented framework are helping IoT nodes to effectively share their data with other nodes and full control of their records. Security analysis demonstrates that our proposed protocol can defend against message attack and impersonation attacks, thus ensuring secure transmission of data among IoT devices.