scholarly journals Fostering Programming Practice through Games

Information ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 498
Author(s):  
José Carlos Paiva ◽  
José Paulo Leal ◽  
Ricardo Queirós
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Software Agent ◽  
Development Effort ◽  
Significant Development ◽  
Programming Education ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Graphical Feedback ◽  
Game Elements ◽  
Assessment Environment

Loss of motivation is one of the most prominent concerns in programming education as it negatively impacts time dedicated to practice, which is crucial for novice programmers. Of the distinct techniques introduced in the literature to engage students, gamification, is likely the most widely explored and fruitful. Game elements that intrinsically motivate students, such as graphical feedback and game-thinking, reveal more reliable long-term positive effects, but those involve significant development effort. This paper proposes a game-based assessment environment for programming challenges, built on top of a specialized framework, in which students develop a program to control the player, henceforth called Software Agent (SA). During the coding phase, students can resort to the graphical feedback demonstrating how the game unfolds to improve their programs and complete the proposed tasks. This environment also promotes competition through competitive evaluation and tournaments among SAs, optionally organized at the end by the teacher. Moreover, the validation of the effectiveness of Asura in increasing undergraduate students’ motivation and, consequently, the practice of programming is reported.

Physical activity and cognitive function in older persons

2016 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Clinical Studies ◽  
Older Persons ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Critical Challenge

Strategies to improve cognitive aging are highly needed. Among those, promotion of exercise and physical activity appears as one of the most attractive and beneficial intervention. Indeed, results from basic and clinical studies suggest that exercise and physical activity have positive effects on cognition in older persons without cognitive impairment, as well as in those with dementia. Despite inconsistent results, aerobic exercise appears to have the strongest potential to enhance cognition. However, even limited periods of walking (45 minutes, three times a week, over a 6-month period) have also been shown to enhance cognition, particularly executive functions. Changing long-term lifestyle habits in these older persons remains a critical challenge and attractive programs susceptible to gain adherence are needed to succeed in achieving improved cognitive aging.

Hallucinogen Use in College Students: Current Trends and Consequences of Use

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-127
Author(s):  
Lena S. Jia ◽  
Jessica A. Gold
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Drug Class ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Current Trends ◽  
College Population ◽  
Therapy Studies ◽  
Recreational Use ◽  
Perception Disorder ◽  
Review Current

Hallucinogens are a drug class that is growing in popularity with college students. Recent experimental trends, such as microdosing, have helped promote the use of hallucinogens on campus, and students may be tempted to use these substances due to their beliefs about the drugs’ positive effects on mood. Although hallucinogens are not currently an established form of medical therapy, studies have shown that they have significant benefits as adjunctive treatments for psychological disorders. However, the recreational use of these drugs in college students often occurs in uncontrolled doses or with drug mixing, which is often dangerous. Furthermore, students with mental health disorders may have their symptoms masked by hallucinogenic drug use, which could delay treatment and have serious consequences. Long-term use of these drugs may also result in tolerance or hallucinogen persisting perception disorder. This article attempts to review current information regarding hallucinogen use and how it applies to the college population.

scholarly journals The importance of maternal pregnancy vitamin D for offspring bone health: learnings from the MAVIDOS trial

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 1759720X2110069
Author(s):  
Rebecca J. Moon ◽  
Elizabeth M. Curtis ◽  
Stephen J. Woolford ◽  
Shanze Ashai ◽  
Cyrus Cooper ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Vitamin D ◽  
Bone Development ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Clinical Care ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Vitamin D Supplementation ◽  
Public Health Policies ◽  
Positive Effects

Optimisation of skeletal mineralisation in childhood is important to reduce childhood fracture and the long-term risk of osteoporosis and fracture in later life. One approach to achieving this is antenatal vitamin D supplementation. The Maternal Vitamin D Osteoporosis Study is a randomised placebo-controlled trial, the aim of which was to assess the effect of antenatal vitamin D supplementation (1000 IU/day cholecalciferol) on offspring bone mass at birth. The study has since extended the follow up into childhood and diversified to assess demographic, lifestyle and genetic factors that determine the biochemical response to antenatal vitamin D supplementation, and to understand the mechanisms underpinning the effects of vitamin D supplementation on offspring bone development, including epigenetics. The demonstration of positive effects of maternal pregnancy vitamin D supplementation on offspring bone development and the delineation of underlying biological mechanisms inform clinical care and future public-health policies.

Take it to the (public) bank: The efficiency of public bank loans to private firms

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders Kärnä
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Capital Markets ◽  
Firm Growth ◽  
Bank Loans ◽  
Government Interventions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Economic Output ◽  
Unique Dataset

AbstractIncomplete capital markets and credit constraints for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are often considered obstacles to economic growth, thus motivating government interventions in capital markets. While such policies are common, it is less clear to what extent these interventions result in firm growth or to which firms interventions should be targeted. Using a unique dataset with information about state bank loans targeting credit-constrained SMEs in Sweden with and without complementary private bank loans, this paper contributes to the literature by studying how these loans affect the targeted firms for several outcome variables. The results suggest that the loans create a one-off increase in investments, with long-term, positive effects for sales and labor productivity but only for firms with 10 or fewer employees. Increased access to capital by firms can therefore produce increases in economic output but only in a specific type of firm. This insight is of key importance in designing policy if the aim is to increase economic growth.

scholarly journals Paleolithic Diet—Effect on the Health Status and Performance of Athletes?

Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1019
Author(s):  
Barbara Frączek ◽  
Aleksandra Pięta ◽  
Adrian Burda ◽  
Paulina Mazur-Kurach ◽  
Florentyna Tyrała
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Model Assessment ◽  
Paleolithic Diet ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
The Impact

The aim of this meta-analysis was to review the impact of a Paleolithic diet (PD) on selected health indicators (body composition, lipid profile, blood pressure, and carbohydrate metabolism) in the short and long term of nutrition intervention in healthy and unhealthy adults. A systematic review of randomized controlled trials of 21 full-text original human studies was conducted. Both the PD and a variety of healthy diets (control diets (CDs)) caused reduction in anthropometric parameters, both in the short and long term. For many indicators, such as weight (body mass (BM)), body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference (WC), impact was stronger and especially found in the short term. All diets caused a decrease in total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and triglycerides (TG), albeit the impact of PD was stronger. Among long-term studies, only PD cased a decline in TC and LDL-C. Impact on blood pressure was observed mainly in the short term. PD caused a decrease in fasting plasma (fP) glucose, fP insulin, and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) in the short run, contrary to CD. In the long term, only PD caused a decrease in fP glucose and fP insulin. Lower positive impact of PD on performance was observed in the group without exercise. Positive effects of the PD on health and the lack of experiments among professional athletes require longer-term interventions to determine the effect of the Paleo diet on athletic performance.

scholarly journals Vegetation and microbes interact to preserve carbon in many wooded peatlands

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongjun Wang ◽  
Jianqing Tian ◽  
Huai Chen ◽  
Mengchi Ho ◽  
Rytas Vilgalys ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Composition ◽  
Ecological Traits ◽  
Low Latitude ◽  
Carbon Decomposition ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Recalcitrant Carbon ◽  
Effects Of Temperature ◽  
Abiotic Controls ◽  
Slow Growing

AbstractPeatlands have persisted as massive carbon sinks over millennia, even during past periods of climate change. The commonly accepted theory of abiotic controls (mainly anoxia and low temperature) over carbon decomposition cannot fully explain how vast low-latitude shrub/tree dominated (wooded) peatlands consistently accrete peat under warm and seasonally unsaturated conditions. Here we show, by comparing the composition and ecological traits of microbes between Sphagnum- and shrub-dominated peatlands, that slow-growing microbes decisively dominate the studied shrub-dominated peatlands, concomitant with plant-induced increases in highly recalcitrant carbon and phenolics. The slow-growing microbes metabolize organic matter thirty times slower than the fast-growing microbes that dominate our Sphagnum-dominated site. We suggest that the high-phenolic shrub/tree induced shifts in microbial composition may compensate for positive effects of temperature and/or drought on metabolism over time in peatlands. This biotic self-sustaining process that modulates abiotic controls on carbon cycling may improve projections of long-term, climate-carbon feedbacks in peatlands.

scholarly journals Routes to Research for Novice Undergraduate Neuroscientists

2006 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyle J. Frantz ◽  
Robert L. DeHaan ◽  
Melissa K. Demetrikopoulos ◽  
Laura L. Carruth
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Attitudes Toward Science ◽  
Laboratory Research ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Neuroscience Research ◽  
Long Term Follow Up ◽  
Apprenticeship Model ◽  
Design Experiments

Undergraduate students may be attracted to science and retained in science by engaging in laboratory research. Experience as an apprentice in a scientist's laboratory can be effective in this regard, but the pool of willing scientists is sometimes limited and sustained contact between students and faculty is sometimes minimal. We report outcomes from two different models of a summer neuroscience research program: an Apprenticeship Model (AM) in which individual students joined established research laboratories, and a Collaborative Learning Model (CLM) in which teams of students worked through a guided curriculum and then conducted independent experimentation. Assessed outcomes included attitudes toward science, attitudes toward neuroscience, confidence with neuroscience concepts, and confidence with science skills, measured via pre-, mid-, and postprogram surveys. Both models elevated attitudes toward neuroscience, confidence with neuroscience concepts, and confidence with science skills, but neither model altered attitudes toward science. Consistent with the CLM design emphasizing independent experimentation, only CLM participants reported elevated ability to design experiments. The present data comprise the first of five yearly analyses on this cohort of participants; long-term follow-up will determine whether the two program models are equally effective routes to research or other science-related careers for novice undergraduate neuroscientists.

The chicken and egg story of a call centre in Malaysia

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Alan Fun-Foo Chan ◽  
Keng-Kok Tee ◽  
Thanuja Rathakrishnan ◽  
Jo Ann Ho ◽  
Siew-Imm Ng
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Call Centre ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Security Technologies ◽  
Academic Level ◽  
Key Account ◽  
Substandard Performance ◽  
Alternative Solutions

Learning outcomes After attempting the case, users are able to: analyse issues and problems faced by a call centre in Malaysia. Determine the root causes of the problems faced by call centre employees and generate alternative solutions to solve the problems faced by the company and to ensure the sustainability of the business. Case overview/synopsis This case was about the challenges faced by Daniel, the General Manager of an integrated security protection system company, Secure First (SF). Despite investing in the latest security technologies, conducting a major overhaul of the procedures, introducing an enhanced digital system at the call centre and providing training to the call agents, it was on the verge of losing its important long-term client due to its substandard performance. The client experienced major losses due to break-ins. After a thorough investigation, the problem surfaced in their call centre. Most of the staff were not familiar with the newly adopted system. The circumstances worsened when many of the call centre’s senior employees were tendering their resignations. The case discusses the aspect of employee satisfaction, staff performance that led to the turnover issue amongst employees in a call centre. The case explores what short-term and long-term strategies could Daniel suggest to change the call centre’s course to retain SF’s key account in times of desperation. Complexity academic level This case has a moderate level of difficulty and may be used in undergraduate students. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 6: Human resource management.

Homework questions designed to require higher-order cognitive skills in an undergraduate animal physiology course did not produce desirable difficulties, testing effects, or improvements in information retention

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caitlin N Cadaret ◽  
Dustin T Yates
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Information Retention ◽  
Desirable Difficulties ◽  
Animal Physiology ◽  
Initial Learning ◽  
Retention Of Knowledge ◽  
Practical Exam

Abstract Studies show that retrieval practices such as homework assignments that are completed during the encoding phase of learning benefit knowledge acquisition and retention. In addition, desirable difficulties, which are strategies that intentionally create a greater challenge during initial learning to enhance encoding and retrieval pathways, also benefit learning long term. Our objective was to determine whether weekly homework questions intended to create desirable difficulties by requiring higher-order cognitive skills (HOCS) benefited students’ long-term retention of physiology concepts compared to questions designed to require lower-order cognitive skills (LOCS). Undergraduate students in a junior-level animal physiology course were presented information during weekly laboratory periods, and then required to complete retrieval practices in the form of online homework assignments 5 d after each lab. Homework questions were formatted per Bloom’s Taxonomy to require HOCS (i.e. level 4 or 5) or LOCS (i.e. level 1 or 2). Information retention was assessed the next week via performance on an in-class quiz and again at semesters’ end via performance on a final practical exam. We observed no differences in performance on the in-class quiz or final practical exam between students randomly assigned to complete homework with HOCS questions compared to LOCS questions. However, students that received homework with HOCS questions had decreased (P < 0.05) performance scores on 9 out of the 11 homework assignments compared to those receiving homework with LOCS questions. These findings indicate that desirable difficulties were not created by our HOCS homework questions because students receiving these more difficult retrieval practices did not achieve equal success on them. As a result, this attempt to create variations in cognitive demand did not enhance retention of knowledge in this study.

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