The Effectiveness of Gamification on Student Engagement, Learning Outcomes, and Learning Experiences

Gamification has been widely used in the higher education to enhance users' learning experiences through the integration of game-like elements into the course materials. This study explores whether and how different levels of gamification in the instructional methods will influence student engagement with the course, overall learning experiences with the course, and learning outcomes with the course materials. The findings suggest that, among four indices to measure the success of gamification, three out of four show the positive gamification effects with a highly gamified class leads to higher level of student engagement than no or lowly gamified classes. The same positive gamification effects can be found in students' overall learning experience. Highly gamified classes result in better student learning outcomes as measured by their grades at different data collection points. Limitations of this study include small class sizes and no statistically significant results and only two gamified elements used. Implications and discussions were presented.

Developing Musicianship through Chamber Ensembles: A Sequential Unit Design

Shifting school schedules, small class sizes, and unpredictable instrumentation resulting from the global pandemic necessitated a creative approach to teaching ensemble music classes this year. In response to that challenge, I constructed a curriculum for developing independent musicianship through chamber music. Part independence, self-evaluation, communication skills, and practice strategies were key focuses during the term. This sequential approach to introducing chamber music can be transferred beyond a “pandemic schedule” with any ensemble regardless of experience level or instrumentation.

The Greek portable sundial from Memphis rediscovered

Experts studying antique astronomic instruments are well aware of a small class of so-called portable sundials from the Roman Empire. Over the past few decades, they have been considered in several important publications, including a recent book by Richard J. A. Talbert, in which he systematized the available information. Talbert and earlier J. V. Field described eight portable sundials of a “geographical” type, dating from about 2nd–4th centuries. Five are inscribed in Greek, the other three in Latin. The list of Greek dials also contains a dial from Memphis, information about which has been very scarce so far. Some authors even considered it lost. Fortunately, this instrument is stored in the collection of the State Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg) and now we have an opportunity to study it more closely.

Clinical Evaluation of Flowable Composite Materials in Permanent Molars Small Class I Restorations: 3-Year Double Blind Clinical Study

This study evaluated the 3-year clinical performance of four different flowable composite materials used in Small Class I restorations in permanent molars. This double-blinded, clinical study analyzed 229 Small Class I restorations/103 children at baseline, 12, 24, and 36 months with modified United States Public Health Services (USPHS) criteria. The tested flowable materials were Voco Grandio Flow + Voco Solobond M, Vivadent Tetric EvoFlow + Vivadent Excite, Dentsply X-Flow + Dentsply Prime&Bond NT, and 3M ESPE Filtek Supreme XT Flow + 3M ESPE Scotchbond Universal. The retention and marginal adaptation rates were highest for Grandio Flow and X Flow materials after 36 months, resulting in the highest score of clinical acceptability at 95.3% and 97.6%, respectively. The Tetric EvoFlow and Filtek Supreme XT Flow had the same retention rate after 36 months at 88.1%. Statistical significance was found in Grandio flow material in postoperative sensitivity criteria (p = 0.021). Tetric EvoFlow showed statistical differences in retention (p = 0.01), color match (p = 0.004), and marginal adaptation (p = 0.042). Filtek Supreme showed statistical differences in retention (p = 0.01) and marginal adaptation (p < 0.001). The flowable composite materials showed excellent clinical efficacy after 36 months of their clinical usage. There was no difference among the tested flowable composite materials quality in Small Class I restorations over time.

Community Access to CHEOPS

&lt;p&gt;Launched on 18 December 2019, CHEOPS (CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite) is the first exoplanet mission dedicated to the search for transits of exoplanets by means of ultrahigh precision photometry of bright stars already known to host planets. It is the first S-(small) class mission in ESA&amp;#8217;s Cosmic Vision 2015-2025, and a partnership between Switzerland and ESA, with important contributions from 10 other member states.&lt;br class=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;br class=&quot;&quot; /&gt;CHEOPS will provide the unique capability of&amp;#160;determining accurate radii for a subset of planets in the super-Earth to&amp;#160;Neptune mass range, for which masses have&amp;#160;already been estimated from ground-&amp;#160;based spectroscopic surveys. It will also provide precision radii for new&amp;#160;planets discovered by ground- and space-based transit&amp;#160;surveys, including TESS.&amp;#160;By combining known masses with CHEOPS sizes, it will be possible to determine&amp;#160;accurate densities for these smaller planets, providing key&amp;#160;insight into their&amp;#160;composition and internal structure. By identifying transiting exoplanets with&amp;#160;high potential for in-depth characterisation &amp;#8211; e.g. those that are potentially&amp;#160;rocky and have thin atmospheres - CHEOPS will also provide prime targets for&amp;#160;future instruments suited to the spectroscopic characterisation of exoplanetary&amp;#160;atmospheres.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;In this poster we detail how the Community can access CHEOPS, with emphasis on the ESA-run Guest Observers Programme and the Annual Announcement of Opportunity for observing time Year 3 of CHEOPS, which is foreseen to come out in Quarter 4 2021.&lt;/p&gt;

DISTORY: PENGEMBANGAN KAMUS DIGITAL SEJARAH BERBASIS VISUAL BASIC PADA MATERI KERAJAAN TARUMANEGARA

The transformation of learning in the 21st century requires an adjustment between the development of science and technology. Learning sources are part of the learning system that is transformed from conventional learning sources into digital-based learning sources. Digital-based learning sources are considered more practical than conventional learning sources. Digital-based learning sources can be applied to history, which many students get bored easily when studying. Therefore, the aim of this study is to develop a digital-based learning source for history that makes it easier for students to study it. Digital History Dictionary (Distory) is an application of a digital-based learning source that has been developed based on learning requirement analysis. Distory also can make it easier for students to find and learn history. The main purpose of the development of Distory is an innovation of digital-based historical learning sources that is economical, practical, flexible, and appropriate with learning objectives. The research methodology used in the research and development of Distory, was based on Sugiyono’s research model, namely: (1) potential and problems; (2) data collection; (3) product design; (4) design validation; (5) design revision; (6) small class trials; (7) product revision; (8) large class trials; (9) product revision; and (10) mass production. Distory is validated by experts as a basis for product improvement before field trials are carried out. Small and large class trials were carried out on the students of Madrasah Aliyah Negeri (MAN) Batu. The results of the validation of media experts, small class trials, and large class trials were 85 percent, 88.75 percent, and 89 percent, respectively. Based on these results, the development of Distory can be categorized as very decent and ready to be implemented.

Mathematical Models for Some Aspects of Blood Microcirculation

Blood rheology is a challenging subject owing to the fact that blood is a mixture of a fluid (plasma) and of cells, among which red blood cells make about 50% of the total volume. It is precisely this circumstance that originates the peculiar behavior of blood flow in small vessels (i.e., roughly speaking, vessel with a diameter less than half a millimeter). In this class we find arteriolas, venules, and capillaries. The phenomena taking place in microcirculation are very important in supporting life. Everybody knows the importance of blood filtration in kidneys, but other phenomena, of not less importance, are known only to a small class of physicians. Overviewing such subjects reveals the fascinating complexity of microcirculation.

The impact of varying class sizes on epidemic spread in a university population

A common non-pharmaceutical intervention (NPI) during the COVID-19 pandemic has been group size limits. Furthermore, educational settings of schools and universities have either fully closed or reduced their class sizes. As countries begin to reopen classrooms, a key question will be how large classes can be while still preventing local outbreaks of disease. Here, we develop and analyse a simple, stochastic epidemiological model where individuals (considered as students) live in fixed households and are assigned to a fixed class for daily lessons. We compare key measures of the epidemic—the peak infected, the total infected by day 180 and the calculated R 0 —as the size of class is varied. We find that class sizes of 10 could largely restrict outbreaks and often had overlapping inter-quartile ranges with our most cautious case of classes of five. However, class sizes of 30 or more often result in large epidemics. Reducing the class size from 40 to 10 can reduce R 0 by over 30%, as well as significantly reducing the numbers infected. Intermediate class sizes show considerable variation, with the total infected varying by as much as from 10% to 80% for the same class size. We show that additional in-class NPIs can limit the epidemic still further, but that reducing class sizes appears to have a larger effect on the epidemic. We do not specifically tailor our model for COVID-19, but our results stress the importance of small class sizes for preventing large outbreaks of infectious disease.

Discovery of Potential Plant-derived Iradoides with COVID-19 Mpro in silico

Iradoides are a small class of plant derived natural products, which used in traditional system of medicine such as Unani, Tibetan, Ayurveda, Siddha, and Chinese medicine. The several diverse types of iradoides have been isolated from many parts of the plant such as root, leaves, flowers, stem, rhizomes, bark, and seed. Here, we used bioactive iradoides to know the potency against COVID-19 Mpro. The COVID-19 Mpro is a potential target of the drug, which identified by Chinese scientist (published manuscript in Nature on June 2020). From several studies, we found that many natural products such as flavonoids, saponins, steroids, terpenoids, and synthesized compounds have been used on this target (COVID-19 Mpro). We screened a series of iradoides against COVID-19 Mpro (PDB ID: 6LU7) by using many docking software as BIOVIA Discovery Studio 2017 R2, Chimera 1.13.1, Auto Dock Tools-1.5.6, AutoDock Vina to known best inhibitor against COVID-19 Mpro. According to obtained results, 6′-O-trans-feruloylnegundoside, p-hydroxybenzoyl-6′-O-trans-caffeoylgardoside, 2′-O-p-hydroxybenzoyl gardoside, 6-deoxyharpagide, reptoside show binding energies -8.1, -8.3, -8.2, -7.0, and -7.1 Kcal/mol, respectively. From this study, we found that all iradoides show more potency on COVID-19 Mpro when compared with Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine. The Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine used as standards for comparison. From the results of this study, we found that iradoides may be useful in the treatment of COVID-19 patients.