20,211 research outputs found
The International Stroke Trial (IST): a randomised trial of aspiri, subcutaneous heparin, both or neither among 19435 patients with acute ischaemic stroke.
No full textExploratory talk within collaborative small groups in mathematics
No full textThis report describes one aspect of a wider research study on exploratory talk within collaborative small groups in secondary mathematics lessons. It outlines students’ views of using collaborative activity to learn mathematics. The fuller research study explores the extent to which exploratory talk occurs in collaborative peer groups in secondary mathematics classrooms
Intelligent support for group work in collaborative learning environments
No full textThe delivery of intelligent support for group work is a complex issue in
collaborative learning environments. This particularly pertains to the construction
of effective groups and assessment of collaboration problems. This is because the
composition of groups can be affected by several variables, and various methods
are desirable for ascertaining the existence of different collaboration problems.
Literature has shown that current collaborative learning environments provide
limited or no support for teachers to cope with these tasks. Considering this and the
increasing use of online collaboration, this research aims to explore solutions for
improving the delivery of support for group work in collaborative learning
environments, and thus to simplify how teachers manage collaborative group work.
In this thesis, three aspects were investigated to achieve this goal. The first
aspect emphasises on proposing a novel approach for group formation based on
students‘ learning styles. The novelty and importance of this approach is the
provision of an automatic grouping method that can tailor to individual students‘
characteristics and fit well into the existing collaborative learning environments.
The evaluation activities comprise the development of an add-on tool and an
undergraduate student experiment, which indicate the feasibility and strength of the
proposed approach — being capable of forming diverse groups that tend to perform
more effectively and efficiently than similar groups for conducting group
discussion tasks.
The second focus of this research relates to the identification of major
group collaboration problems and their causes. A nationwide survey was conducted
that reveals a student perspective on the issue, which current literature fails to
adequately address. Based on the findings from the survey, an XML-based
representation was created that provides a unique perspective on the linkages
between the problems and causes identified.
Finally, the focus was then shifted to the proposal of a novel approach for
diagnosing the major collaboration problems identified. The originality and
significance of this approach lies in the provision of various methods for ascertaining the existence of different collaboration problems identified, based on
student interaction data that result from the group work examined. The evaluation
procedure focused on the development of a supporting tool and several
experiments with a test dataset. The results of the evaluation show that the
feasibility and effectiveness are sustained, to a great extent, for the diagnostic
methods addressed.
Besides these main proposals, this research has explored a multi-agent
architecture to unify all the components derived for intelligently managing online
collaborative learning, which suggests an overarching framework providing
context for other parts of this thesis
Developing Collaborative XML Editing Systems
No full textIn many areas the eXtensible Mark-up Language (XML) is becoming the standard exchange and data format. More and more applications not only support XML as an exchange format but also use it as their data model or default file format for graphic, text and database (such as spreadsheet) applications. Computer Supported Cooperative Work is an interdisciplinary field of research dealing with group work, cooperation and their supporting information and communication technologies. One part of it is Real-Time Collaborative Editing, which investigates the design of systems which allow several persons to work simultaneously in real-time on the same document, without the risk of inconsistencies.
Existing collaborative editing research applications specialize in one or at best, only a small number of document types; for example graphic, text or spreadsheet documents. This research investigates the development of a software framework which allows collaborative editing of any XML document type in real-time. This presents a more versatile solution to the problems of real-time collaborative editing.
This research contributes a new software framework model which will assist software engineers in the development of new collaborative XML editing applications. The devised framework is flexible in the sense that it is easily adaptable to different workflow requirements covering concurrency control, awareness mechanisms and optional locking of document parts. Additionally this thesis contributes a new framework integration strategy that enables enhancements of existing single-user editing
applications with real-time collaborative editing features without changing their source code
The International Stroke Trial (IST): a randomized trial of aspirin, subcutaneous heparin, both, or neither among 19435 patients with acute ischaemic stroke
No full textBACKGROUND:
Only a few small trials have compared antithrombotic therapy (antiplatelet or anticoagulant agents) versus control in acute ischaemic stroke, and none has been large enough to provide reliable evidence on safety or efficacy.
METHODS:
The International Stroke Trial (IST) was a large, randomised, open trial of up to 14 days of antithrombotic therapy started as soon as possible after stroke onset. The aim was to provide reliable evidence on the safety and efficacy of aspirin and of subcutaneous heparin. Half the patients were allocated unfractionated heparin (5000 or 12,500 IU bd [twice daily]), and half were allocated "avoid heparin"; and, in a factorial design, half were allocated aspirin 300 mg daily and half "avoid aspirin". The primary outcomes were death within 14 days and death or dependency at 6 months. 19,435 patients with suspected acute ischaemic stroke entering 467 hospitals in 36 countries were randomised within 48 hours of symptom onset.
RESULTS:
Among heparin-allocated patients, there were non-significantly fewer deaths within 14 days (876 [9.0%] heparin vs 905 [9.3%] no heparin), corresponding to 3 (SD 4) fewer deaths per 1000 patients. At 6 months the percentage dead or dependent was identical in both groups (62.9%). Patients allocated to heparin had significantly fewer recurrent ischaemic strokes within 14 days (2.9% vs 3.8%) but this was offset by a similar-sized increase in haemorrhagic strokes (1.2% vs 0.4%), so the difference in death or non-fatal recurrent stroke (11.7% vs 12.0%) was not significant. Heparin was associated with a significant excess of 9 (SD 1) transfused or fatal extracranial bleeds per 1000. Compared with 5000 IU bd heparin, 12,500 IU bd heparin was associated with significantly more transfused or fatal extracranial bleeds, more haemorrhagic strokes, and more deaths or non-fatal strokes within 14 days (12.6% vs 10.8%). Among aspirin-allocated patients there were non-significantly fewer deaths within 14 days (872 [9.0%] vs 909 [9.4%]), corresponding to 4 (SD 4) fewer deaths per 1000 patients. At 6 months there was a non-significant trend towards a smaller percentage of the aspirin group being dead or dependent (62.2% vs 63.5%, 2p = 0.07), a difference of 13 (SD 7) per 1000; after adjustment for baseline prognosis the benefit from aspirin was significant (14 [SD 6] per 1000, 2p = 0.03). Aspirin-allocated patients had significantly fewer recurrent ischaemic strokes within 14 days (2.8% vs 3.9%) with no significant excess of haemorrhagic strokes (0.9% vs 0.8%), so the reduction in death or non-fatal recurrent stroke with aspirin (11.3% vs 12.4%) was significant. Aspirin was associated with a significant excess of 5 (SD 1) transfused or fatal extracranial bleeds per 1000; in the absence of heparin the excess was 2 (SD 1) and was not significant. There was no interaction between aspirin and heparin in the main outcomes.
INTERPRETATION:
Neither heparin regimen offered any clinical advantage at 6 months. The results suggest that if heparin is given in routine clinical practice, the dose should not exceed 5000 IU subcutaneously twice daily. For aspirin, the IST suggests a small but worthwhile improvement at 6 months. Taking the IST together with the comparably large Chinese Acute Stroke Trial, aspirin produces a small but real reduction of about 10 deaths or recurrent strokes per 1000 during the first few weeks. Both trials suggest that aspirin should be started as soon as possible after the onset of ischaemic stroke; previous trials have already shown that continuation of low-dose aspirin gives protection in the longer term
The Collaborative Semantic Grid
No full textGrid and Semantic Web technologies both enable heterogeneous resources to be joined up to achieve new functionality and capability, and their combined effectiveness has been demonstrated through a number of ‘Semantic Grid’ projects. These typically apply Semantic Web technologies in Grid applications, in a datagrid or within the Grid middleware. In this paper we suggest how both approaches also support distributed collaborative endeavours, and explore their combined role. We illustrate this ‘Collaborative Semantic Grid’ through a number of case studies, and contemplate the changing nature of collaboration as these technologies evolve
Culture, role and group work : a social network analysis perspective on an online collaborative course
No full textThis paper discusses the patterns of network dynamics within a multicultural online collaborative learning environment. It analyses the interaction of participants (both students and facilitators) within a discussion board that was established as part of a 3-month online collaborative course. The study employs longitudinal probabilistic social network analysis (SNA) to identify the patterns and trends within the network. It conjectures and tests a set of hypotheses concerning the tendencies towards homophily/heterophily and preferential attachment. The paper presents identified interaction network patterns in relation to cultural differences. It also evaluates network dynamics by considering participant roles and group work in the course under study. Results of social network analyses are reported along with measures of statistical confidence in findings. The potential for extending exploratory SNA methods and visualisation techniques in educational research are discussed here
Effects of blood pressure lowering on intracranial and extracranial bleeding in patients on antithrombotic therapy: The PROGRESS trial
No full textAn Exploration of Communication Strategies for Effectively Organizing and Managing Collaborative Grant Writing Groups
No full textThe present research explored approaches to collaborative grant writing, as little is known about the details or range of variation in the processes that are currently deployed by professionals working within this context. Findings were used to build a typology of the roles specific to collaborative grant writing groups, provide a discussion of ideal group composition and leadership, and to identify and suggest ten best practice strategies for organizing and managing group dynamics and tasks during the phases of the collaborative writing process
Assessment of (computer-supported) collaborative learning
No full textWithin the Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CS)CL research community there has been an extensive dialogue on theories and perspectives on learning from collaboration, approaches to scaffold (script) the collaborative process, and most recently research methodology. In contrast, the issue of assessment of collaborative learning has received much less attention. This article discusses how assessment of collaborative learning has been addressed, provides a perspective on what could be assessed, and highlights limitations of current approaches. Since assessment of collaborative learning is a demanding experience for teachers and students alike, they require adequate computer-supported and intelligent tools for monitoring and assessment. A roadmap for the role and application of intelligent tools for assessment of (CS)CL is presented
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