12246 research outputs found
Sort by
Technology Competency Road Map in Rhode Island: reforming Professional Rules and Continuing Legal Education with Modern Educational Frameworks and Instructional Design Principles to Protect Clients
Full text link
Peptide-Coated Nanoparticles for Noninvasive Biomedical Imaging
No full textNanoparticles (NPs) are materials with overall dimensions ranging between 1 and 100 nm. The application of NPs in medicine has been extensively explored in recent years and had a significant impact on treatment of many diseases, especially cancer. NPs are used to overcome the limitations of standard therapies involving free drug molecules, and they are primarily used to shield or solubilize highly toxic or hydrophobic agents, increase their bioavailability, prolong blood circulation, and increase drug delivery to diseased cells. Also, NPs are highly sensitive contrast agents and were applied for diagnostic purposes using noninvasive imaging modalities, such as ultrasound, optical, or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Herein, we describe a novel synthesis method to formulate biodegradable polymeric NPs coated with short hexapeptides. This is a pioneering methodology, where the peptides serve a dual function: to stabilize the NP and target cancer cells. The peptide-coated NPs are stable in serum and do not induce oxidative stress in a biological setting. We outline the synthesis protocol for the NPs and demonstrate their applications as optical contrast agents in imaging of cancer cells
Post-COVID-19 Barriers and Attitudes Associated with Online College Course Selection
No full textDuring COVID-19 “lockdown” most high school and college students experienced a sudden ending of face-to-face classes and were forced into multiple, rapidly prepared online courses. These experiences produced students more knowledgeable about online education than ever before. With this came a degree of certainty regarding their future educational delivery preferences. This survey (2021–2024) examined the attitudes and barriers associated with online course selection at a university within the State University of New York (SUNY) system. Using an introductory nutrition course, 658 surveys were exclusively collected from the face-to-face sections of a Natural Science course. Only 30.2% of these students reported a preference for online courses. Respondents reported similar percentages on Course Difficulty (48.5% online vs. 51.5% face-to-face) and which course required more Work/Time (43.2% online vs. 56.8% face-to-face). Previous negative online experiences were affirmed by 27.4% of the students. Importantly, only 14.5% self-reported a better academic performance in online courses. Major online avoidance variables were boredom (53.1%), inferior learning (52.9%), and communication limitations (43.0%). Surprisingly, 67.7% stated they would consider taking future online courses. Understanding post-COVID-19 student attitudes and barriers provides useful information and should be part of any comprehensive approach to future online education design and implementation
AI as an accelerator for defining new problems that transcends boundaries
No full textInterdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, convergence, and No-Boundary Thinking (NBT) research are methodology and technology-agnostic approaches to problem solving. The focus is on defining problems informed by access to multiple knowledge sources and expert perspectives across different domains, with the goal of accessing all available knowledge sources and perspectives. While access to all available knowledge sources and perspectives could be seen as a difficult to attain objective, with the recent rise of AI we might be closer to approaching this goal. We review several examples of methodologies and technologies that have been used to put these strategies into action, but the primary focus of this paper is on how recent advances in AI now enable a quantum leap forward in defining new problems. By leveraging the capacity of AI to synthesize knowledge from multiple domains, these tools can be used to propose multiple candidate problem definitions. AI is uniquely able to draw upon many more knowledge sources than any individual-or even a very large team-could. Coupled with human intelligence, better problems can be defined to address complex scholarly or societal challenges
Ctenophores are a highly impactful predatory guild in open oceanic ecosystems
No full textThe emergence of optical plankton sampling techniques has revealed that gelatinous zooplankton predators are considerably more numerous than previously observed.1,2 This recognition of the widespread presence of gelatinous zooplankton challenges our understanding of oceanic food-web dynamics because gelatinous zooplankton have traditionally been viewed as only minor players in oceanic biogeochemical cycles, which are critical in regulating atmospheric carbon dioxide.3,4,5,6,7,8 Ctenophores (commonly called comb jellies) can be numerically dominant predators in these gelatinous communities but are severely under-sampled due to their extremely delicate gelatinous bodies.9,10,11,12 To better understand their trophic impact, we used novel, non-invasive SCUBA techniques to document prey ingestion patterns of four widespread oceanic ctenophore species. We found that these ctenophores, on average, ingested 32 prey/h and up to 50 prey/h. At these rates, lobate and cestid ctenophores consume prey at similar rates to their highly impactful coastal relative, Mnemiopsis leidyi, and are likely the most impactful planktonic predator in the open oceans. Further, we showed that although major dietary components overlapped, different oceanic ctenophore species appear to consume different members of the plankton. Since these oceanic ctenophore species frequently co-occur, they comprise a powerful predatory guild with synergistic impacts. Consequently, epipelagic ctenophores have much greater trophic effects on material cycles over broad areas of the open ocean than previously considered
Using Digital Devices for Fun: What are the Impacts on Academic Outcomes?
No full textHow does students’ time using digital devices on fun activities like gaming, social media, and watching videos for entertainment affect their academic outcomes? Data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s 2015 Programme for International Student Assessment test of students’ math, science, and reading knowledge for 43 countries is used to investigate these questions. Estimation results of three-level hierarchical linear models with random intercept and random slope show that marginal increases in social media use frequency are associated with increases in science, math, and reading PISA scores (3.915, 4.506, and 5.705 points, respectively, all at the 1% statistical significance level). Marginal increases in gaming are associated with increases in science and math scores (2.216 and 1.972 points respectively, both at the 1% statistical significance level). Marginal increases in digital device use frequency for entertainment raise science (1.371 points at the 5% level) and reading (1.997 points at the 1% level) scores. These findings suggest that in general using digital devices for various fun uses is positively associated with academic outcomes, which should mitigate some parental and policymaker concerns over screen time
