Observed Quality of Formative Peer and Self-Assessment in Everyday Mathematics Teaching and its Effects on Student Performance

<p style="text-align: justify;">The positive effect of peer assessment and self-assessment strategies on learners' performance has been widely confirmed in experimental or quasi-experimental studies. However, whether peer and self-assessment within everyday mathematics teaching affect student learning and achievement, has rarely been studied. This study aimed to determine with what quality peer and self-assessment occur in everyday mathematics instruction and whether and which students benefit from it in terms of achievement and the learning process. Two lessons on division were video-recorded and rated to determine the quality of peer and self-assessment. Six hundred thirty-four students of fourth-grade primary school classes in German-speaking Switzerland participated in the study and completed a performance test on division. Multilevel analyses showed no general effect of the quality of peer or self-assessment on performance. However, high-quality self-assessment was beneficial for lower-performing students, who used a larger repertoire of calculation strategies, which helped them perform better. In conclusion, peer and self-assessment in real-life settings only have a small effect on the student performance in this Swiss study.</p>

Beyond the beauty of occlusion: medical masks increase facial attractiveness more than other face coverings

The sanitary-mask effect (Miyazaki and Kawahara in Jpn Psychol Res 58(3):261–272, 2016) is the finding that medical face masks prompt an image of disease and thus result in lower ratings of facial attractiveness of the wearer. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, medical masks have been found to increase attractiveness (Patel et al. in Plast Reconstruct Surg Glob Open 8(8), 2020) although this could have been a general effect of occlusion. To further explore this issue, female participants were presented with a series of male faces of low or high attractiveness that were occluded with a medical mask, cloth mask, book or not occluded and asked to rate them on attractiveness. The results show that faces were considered as most attractive when covered by medical masks and significantly more attractive when occluded with cloth masks than when not occluded. Contrary to expectation, base attractiveness did not interact with the type of occlusion, suggesting that this is not simply due to occlusion of negative features. The present findings are contrary to the sanitary-mask effect and explanations in terms of social desirability, and the association of medical masks with caregiving professions is explored.

Visual Duration but Not Numerosity Is Distorted While Running

There is increasing evidence that action and perception interact in the processing of magnitudes such as duration and numerosity. Sustained physical exercise (such as running or cycling) increases the apparent duration of visual stimuli presented during the activity. However, the effect of exercise on numerosity perception has not yet been investigated. Here, we asked participants to make either a temporal or a numerical judgment by comparing the duration or numerosity of standard stimuli displayed at rest with those presented while running. The results support previous reports in showing that physical activity significantly expands perceived duration; however, it had no effect on perceived numerosity. Furthermore, the distortions of the perceived durations vanished soon after the running session, making it unlikely that physiological factors such as heart rate underlie the temporal distortion. Taken together, these results suggest a domain-selective influence of the motor system on the perception of time, rather than a general effect on magnitude.

Clinical-Homeopathic Profile in the Pediatric Ward at the University Hospital - Brazil

Background: In 2004, the deployment of Homeopathy in the pediatric ward at the University Hospital of Gaffrée Guinle – UNIRIO (HUGG at the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro) was initiated in conjunction with both the Pediatric and Homeopathy Service. A research project approved by the HUGG Ethics and Research Committee was prepared to survey the most prevalent diseases. A team composed of medical students and doctors participating in the homeopathy course was formed and underwent training, enabling them to use the established protocols of action. A partnership was established with the Fluminense Federal University(Universidade Federal Fluminense – UFF), for the supply of drugs. In early 2009, the research project started, followed by homeopathic treatment in the pediatric ward. Aim: To demonstrate the diseases and treatment using homeopathic therapy on patients in the pediatric ward at the HUGG-UNIRIO-Brazil. Methodology: A sectional clinical study was carried out on patients participating in a research approved and registered by the Brazilian Research Ethics Committee, named,"The study of the effect of Homeopathic Treatment as an Adjunct Therapy on patients Hospitalized in the Pediatric Ward of HUGG". Criteria of Inclusion: Newborns up to the age of 16 of both sexes were admitted to the pediatric ward of HUGG, from May to October 2009. The diagnosis for admission being: respiratory, gastrointestinal and/or dermatologic diseases. A consent form had to be accepted and signed by the person responsible. Inclusion depended on the availability of having the appropriate homeopathic medicine in stock. Criteria of Exclusion: Cases of discontinuation of the homeopathic treatment or medical records not completed correctly. The medical records were analyzed individually. Microsoft Office Excel 2007 was used for data collection and analysis. Results: 32 patients admitted: 80% treated with Homeopathy; Diagnosis for admission: 73% respiratory, 11.5% dermatological, 4% gastrointestinal and 11.5% other diseases (malnutrition, adenomegaly, eyelid edema); 37% had secondary diseases. An average of 4.7 medicaments (min 01-max09) was used per patient, 31% repeated the medication in two different dinamizations. “Diagnosis for admission and medication used”: a) respiratory: 79% Pulmao histaminum, 32% Antimonium tartaricum, 21% Natrum sulfuricum, 21% Sambucus nigra, 16% Ipecacuanha, 16% Nux vomica, 16% Medorrhinum; b) dermatological: 100% Apis mellifica, 33% Dulcamara, 33% Mezereum, 33% Psorinum, 33% Rhus toxicodendron, 33% Alumina; c) gastrointestinal: 100% Ipecacuanha, 50% Gambogia, 50% Alumina. Dinamizations used: 5, 6, 12, 30 and 200CH, and 200FC. 55.5% of the medication used were only local effect medicines, 45.5% of the medication used were in association with the general effect medicines. Conclusion: The need to use several homeopathic medicines was obseved. The practice of inpatients was shown to be similar to the emergency outpatient when using medicine for local effect and medicine for general effect. Due to the positive results obtained with homeopathy, patients not initially foreseen in the research were included in this study on demand from parents or persons responsible for the children. This study demonstrates the need for a greater number of patients to allow the creation of prescription protocols and case-control studies to identify the most effective homeopathic prescription techniques.

Altered HIV-1 mRNA Splicing Due to Drug-Resistance-Associated Mutations in Exon 2/2b

The underlying molecular mechanism and their general effect on the replication capacity of HIV 1 drug-resistance-associated mutations is often poorly understood. To elucidate the effect of two such mutations located in a region with a high density of spicing regulatory elements on the HIV-1-splicing outcome, bioinformatic predictions were combined with transfection and infection experiments. Results show that the previously described R263K drug-resistance-associated integrase mutation has additionally a severe effect on the ESE2b splicing regulatory element (SRE) in exon 2b, which causes loss of SD2b recognition. This was confirmed by an R263R silent mutation with a similar predicted effect on the exon 2b SRE. In contrast, a V260I mutation and its silent counterpart with a lower effect on ESS2b did not exhibit any differences in the splicing pattern. Since HIV-1 highly relies on a balanced splicing reaction, changes in the splicing outcome can contribute to changes in viral replication and might add to the effect of escape mutations toward antiviral drugs. Thus, a classification of mutations purely addressing proteins is insufficient.

THE STUDY ON UTILIZATION WASTE TIRE SEEDS AS AMIXTURE OF AC-WC ASPHALT ON ROAD PAVEMENT

The purpose of this study are to find out the process of making AC-WC asphalt by using waste tire ore as an additives to hot mix asphalt and also to find out the general effect of waste tire ore as additives in the asphalt mixture to the characteristics of AC-WC asphalt. [2].In this study, the variation of the mixture added with tire ore starting from 0%, 3%, 6% and 8% addition of tire ore waste for the highest variation value is 3%, stability value is 494.99 kg, Voids Filled With Asphalt’s value is 68,40%, value of Voids in Mix is 3.65%, flow value is 3,21 %, value of Marshall Quotient is 154,61 kg/mm, Density’s value is 2,29 gr/cc. Finally, it was concluded that the addition of waste tire ore is not in accordance with SNI 06-2489-1991 because the higher percentage value in the mixture will decrease the value of Marshall Stability.

Androgens in SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus Infections

Recent molecular biology findings have shown that for the penetration of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus into host cells, a key role is played by protease serine 2, the activity of which is dependent on androgens. The important role of androgens is also evidenced by clinical observations that men in some age categories are infected by this novel coronavirus up to two times more frequently than women. In addition, men with androgenic alopecia tend to have more serious clinical courses, while men with androgen deprivation as a result of prostate cancer treatments tend to have milder courses. This is in line with the fact that preadolescent children are only rarely sickened with serious forms of SARS-CoV-2 infections. Even though these observations may be explained by other factors, many authors have hypothesized that lowered androgen levels and blocking their activity using anti-androgen medication may moderate the course of the viral infection in intermediately- to critically-affected cases. Clearly, it would be important for androgen deprivation to block not just gonadal androgens, but also adrenal androgens. On the other hand, low androgen levels are considered to be a risk factor for the course of SARS-CoV-2 infections, either because low androgen levels have a general effect on anabolic-catabolic equilibrium and energy metabolism, or because of the ability of testosterone to modify the immune system. It is not yet clear if infection with this novel coronavirus might induce hypogonadism, leading to undesirable side effects on male fertility.

Az Európai Unió és a tagállamok válasza a COVID–19 pandémiára – a szabad mozgás jogának közegészségügyi korlátozásai

Összefoglalás. A szabad mozgás és tartózkodás joga az uniós polgárság alapintézményének egyik leglényegesebb eleme. A 2020-ban kirobbant koronavírus világjárvány következtében az Európai Unió tagállamai az Európai Unió történetében először kénytelenek voltak radikális, korábban nem alkalmazott eszközökkel korlátozni a szabad mozgás és tartózkodás jogát annak érdekében, hogy megakadályozzák a vírus terjedését. A tanulmány keretében a COVID–19 világjárvány miatt bevezetett korlátozások alapulvételével annak vizsgálatára kerül sor, hogy a szabad mozgás joga közegészségügyi okból történő korlátozása milyen sajátosságokkal bír más, az Európai Unió alapszerződéseiben ugyancsak nevesített kivételekhez (közrend, közbiztonság) képest. A tanulmány ugyancsak vizsgálja azt a kérdést, hogy az Európai Unió által kibocsátott digitális zöldútlevél (vakcinaigazolvány) a Sinopharm és Szputynik-V vakcinával beoltott uniós polgárok számára is biztosítandó-e az uniós jog rendelkezései alapján. Summary. The right of free movement of EU citizens is the cornerstone of Union citizenship. To control the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) and to protect the health and well-being of all Europeans, Member States gave a surprisingly quick response, taking unilateral restrictive measures affecting the operation of the internal market in an unprecedented way. On the one hand they have implemented serious travel restrictions at internal borders of the EU. On the other hand, several States have coupled travel bans/restrictions with a temporary reintroduction of border controls at their borders with other Members of the Schengen Area. During the first wave of the pandemic, altogether 17 Schengen States sent notifications regarding the reintroduction of border controls, which is particularly disheartening given that the lifting of EU internal border controls in the Schengen Area is one of the integration’s greatest achievements. There is no doubt that the Member States’ restrictions on free movement detailed in the paper are well-founded from the point of view of both public international law and European law. As to how they should be put into practice: that is another issue. Still, it is the preferential role of free movement as a part of integration that requires a deeper examination of controversial measures to ascertain whether these are in compliance with EU legal principles. Among the elements to be reviewed are proportionality and the prohibition on discrimination. It is beyond doubt that COVID-19 can definitely be regarded as a ‘disease with epidemic potential’ that can justify restrictions on free movement. However, the question arises whether Article 29 TFEU provides for the introduction of public health restrictions with general effect. In other words, does it allow for restrictions not based on individual assessment, as opposed to individual threats to public policy and public security? In answering the above question the paper puts a special emphasis on the delimitation of Member States’ public health and public policy/security justifications. At the time of writing (June 2021) several Member States have already started to issue EU Covid-19 passports. The article also seeks answer to the question whether the Digital Green Certificate could (or, at least, should) be provided for Union citizens vaccinated with Sinopharm or Sputnik-V (vaccines approved by Hungary as a Member State, under European Union law).

Comparison on effect mechanism of continuance usage between entertainment and knowledge apps: a qualitative analysis of online reviews

Purpose Continuance usage of mobile applications (apps) has attracted much attention from scholars and enterprises, while the extant research mainly focuses on continuance intention. The inner effect mechanism of the characteristics of apps is still unclear. Under the tenet of continuance usage behaviour, through analysis of characteristics derived from online reviews, this paper aims to establish an effective model and discloses the commonalities and differences between two mainstream apps, which are entertainment and knowledge apps. Design/methodology/approach The authors collected reviews of TikTok and Zhihu, which are typical representatives of entertainment and knowledge apps, respectively, from 2018 to 2020. They then derive effect factors and establish the effect model using grounded theory. A deep comparison is then conducted. They analysed the similarities and differences in the general effect model, internal effect mechanism and detailed characteristics of the two types of apps. Findings Entertainment app and knowledge apps share the same general effect mechanism; that is, the effect chain of characteristics to perceived value then finally to continuance usage behaviour. However, obvious differences also exist in detailed and specific effects between the two apps. Originality/value The present research is among the first to have a deep analysis of the comparison of entertainment apps and knowledge apps under the context of continuance usage behaviour. The findings contribute to understanding continuance usage behaviours. Suggestions are proposed on how to promote apps, which may benefit app managers.

Incidental exposure to hedonic and healthy food features affects food preferences one day later

Memories acquired incidentally from exposure to food information in the environment may often become active to later affect food preferences. Because conscious use of these memories is not requested or required, these incidental learning effects constitute a form of indirect memory. In an experiment using a novel food preference paradigm (n = 617), we found that brief incidental exposure to hedonic versus healthy food features indirectly affected food preferences a day later, explaining approximately 10% of the variance in preferences for tasty versus healthy foods. It follows that brief incidental exposure to food information can affect food preferences indirectly for at least a day. When hedonic and health exposure were each compared to a no-exposure baseline, a general effect of hedonic exposure emerged across individuals, whereas health exposure only affected food preferences for high-BMI individuals. This pattern suggests that focusing attention on hedonic food features engages common affective processes across the general population, whereas focusing attention on healthy food features engages eating restraint goals associated with high BMI. Additionally, incidental exposure to food features primarily changed preferences for infrequently consumed foods, having less impact on habitually consumed foods. These findings offer insight into how hedonic information in the obesogenic food environment contributes to unhealthy eating behavior that leads to overweight and obesity. These findings further motivate the development of interventions that counteract the effects of exposure to hedonic food information and that broaden the effects of exposure to healthy food information.