Since the introduction of the e-learning electrocardiogram (ECG) course 'ECG Online' into the curriculum at the University of Ulm, a small but relatively constant number of students have decided not ...to participate in the online course but to attend the face-to-face course, although the content of both courses is identical. The present study examined why students prefer one format or the other.
In a qualitative research approach, ten medical students were questioned in a guided interview. At the time of the survey the interviewees were enrolled in the 7th to 10th semesters. Among the respondents, 2 had participated only in the face-to-face ECG course, 4 only in the online version and 4 in both the face-to-face and the online course.
Interestingly, the very factors associated with e-learning - and always praised as advantages of it - are viewed critically by the students. Thus, although the 24-h access to learning content was consistently evaluated positively, the unlimited availability (lack of expiry date) was not seen as conducive to learning. The lack of fixed time constraints and the attendant lack of pressure were important reasons why some of the students had discontinued the online course prematurely. A similar distinction was seen in the flexibility of location for e-learning, because the very obligation to be physically present on a particular day at a fixed time led to a higher degree of commitment to courses and a willingness to actually attend the course until the end. In addition, if the content has a high degree of perceived professional relevance face-to-face courses are preferred because they offer the possibility of direct interaction.
Even though the small sample size limits the generalisability of the results, our findings indicate that when developing online courses students' needs could be better met if measures were included to strengthen extrinsic and intrinsic motivation and formats were favoured that enable students to have a minimum level of personal interaction with the lecturer.
The habitats of polyploid species are generally distinct from their parental species. Stebbins described polyploids as ‘general purpose genotypes’, which can tolerate a wide range of environmental ...conditions. However, little is known about its molecular basis because of the complexity of polyploid genomes. We hypothesized that allopolyploid species might utilize the expression patterns of both parents depending on environments (polyploid plasticity hypothesis). We focused on hydrological niche segregation along fine‐scale soil moisture and waterlogging gradients. Two diploid species, Cardamine amara and Cardamine hirsuta, grew best in submerged and unsubmerged conditions, respectively, consistent with their natural habitats. Interestingly, the allotetraploid Cardamine flexuosa derived from them grew similarly in fluctuating as well as submerged and unsubmerged conditions, consistent with its wide environmental tolerance. A similar pattern was found in another species trio: allotetraploid Cardamine scutata and its parents. Using the close relatedness of Cardamine and Arabidopsis, we quantified genomewide expression patterns following dry and wet treatments using an Arabidopsis microarray. Hierarchical clustering analysis revealed that the expression pattern of C. flexuosa clustered with C. hirsuta in the dry condition and with C. amara in the wet condition, supporting our hypothesis. Furthermore, the induction levels of most genes in the allopolyploid were lower than in a specialist diploid species. This reflects a disadvantage of being allopolyploid arising from fixed heterozygosity. We propose that recurrent allopolyploid speciation along soil moisture and waterlogging gradients confers niche differentiation and reproductive isolation simultaneously and serves as a model for studying the molecular basis of ecological speciation and adaptive radiation.
•Antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) is an invaluable task for selecting appropriate drugs.•Constant evolution is being observed in methods pertaining to AST in both clinical and research ...laboratories.•Conventional phenotypic AST methods have long turnaround time and labour-intensive.•Genetic and micro/nanotechnology-based AST methods hold optimism but need further validation.•Novel, faster and point-of-care AST method for routine clinical laboratory use still remains a challenge.
Antimicrobial susceptibility testing is an essential task for selecting appropriate antimicrobial agents to treat infectious diseases. Constant evolution has been observed in methods used in the diagnostic microbiology laboratories. Disc diffusion or broth microdilution are classical and conventional phenotypic methods with long turnaround time and labour-intensive but still widely practiced as gold-standard. Scientists are striving to develop innovative, novel and faster methods of antimicrobial susceptibility testing to be applicable for routine microbiological laboratory practice and research. To meet the requirements, there is an increasing trend towards automation, genotypic and micro/nano technology-based innovations. Automation in detection systems and integration of computers for online data analysis and data sharing are giant leaps towards versatile nature of automated methods currently in use. Genotypic methods detect a specific genetic marker associated with resistant phenotypes using molecular amplification techniques and genome sequencing. Microfluidics and microdroplets are recent addition in the continuous advancement of methods that show great promises with regards to safety and speed and have the prospect to identify and monitor resistance mechanisms. Although genotypic and microfluidics methods have many exciting features, however, their applications into routine clinical laboratory practice warrant extensive validation. The main impetus behind the evolution of methods in antimicrobial susceptibility testing is to shorten the overall turnaround time in obtaining the results and to enhance the ease of sample processing. This comprehensive narrative review summarises major conventional phenotypic methods and automated systems currently in use, and highlights principles of some of the emerging genotypic and micro/nanotechnology-based methods in antimicrobial susceptibility testing.
•2.0μm superficially porous particles (SPP) show advantages of sub-2μm particles with fewer disadvantages.•Sub-2μm column performance reduced by instrument and column packing limitations.•2.0μm SPP ...columns exhibit reduced plate heights equivalent to larger particles.•2.0μm SPP UHPLC columns are stable to 1000bar.•2.0μm SPP have a favorable efficiency to back pressure ratio compared to sub-2μm particles.
Superficially porous particles (SPP) in the 2.5–2.7μm range provide almost the same efficiency and resolution of sub-2μm totally porous particles (TPP), but at one-half to one-third of the operating pressure. The advantage of SPP has led to the introduction of sub-2μm SPP as a natural extension of this technology. While short columns of both SPP and TPP sub-2μm particles allow very fast separations, the efficiency advantages of these very small particles often are not realized nor sufficient to overcome some of the practical limitations and disadvantages of such small particles. Advantages and disadvantages of columns packed with sub-2μm particles are described for comparison with the characteristics of larger particles. The authors conclude that while sub-2μm particles have utility in research studies, columns of larger particles are often better suited for most applications. A suggested 2.0μm superficially porous particle diameter retains many of the advantages of sub-2μm particles, but minimizes some of the disadvantages. The characteristics of these new 2.0μm SPP are described in studies comparing some present sub-2μm SPP commercial columns for efficiency, column bed homogeneity and stability.
Adopting conventional content analysis, our article seeks to address advantages and disadvantages of online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic from perspectives of 186 social work students in an ...educational institution in Vietnam. Accordingly, though being appreciated mainly for its convenience in terms of travelling, time schedule and learning venue, online learning shows significant shortcomings regarding technical operation, interaction and learning effectiveness. From which, we discuss the opportunities and challenges for online social work education in Vietnam post-COVID-19.
Abstract
Blockchain originated in 2009, it was the underlying “ledger” recording technology of Bitcoin. After several years of development and improvement, it has gradually become a distributed, ...decentralized, and trustless technical solution. In the past two years, blockchain has become a new decentralized distributed computing paradigm. We apply blockchain technology into cloud computing, using the former’s security mechanism to improve the latter’s secure storage and secure computing performance. This is a promising research topic. The paper mainly discusses the design and implementation of blockchain from a technical prospect, it summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of the blockchain, and it also analyzes the possible application scenarios.
Cilj istraživanja je prikazati prednosti i nedostatke rada od kuće te njegova utjecaja na psihičko i fizičko zdravlje zaposlenika kako bi se razvile preporuke koje bi pridonosile očuvanju zdravlja ...zaposlenika te pomogle poslodavcu da poduzme mjere koje su u njegovom području, a koje se mogu provoditi s ciljem očuvanja zdravlja zaposlenika kao i njegova zadovoljstva radom. U istraživanju je sudjelovalo 63 ispitanika; 22 muškarca i 41 žena, radno aktivnih. Korišten je anketni upitnik sastavljen od 30 pitanja. U upitniku su praćene varijable koje opisuju opće podatke o zaposlenicima: veličinu i tip tvrtke zaposlenika, organizaciju radnog mjesta, opremu za rad od kuće i financiranju iste, zakonsku regulativu o radu od kuće, psihološke posljedice rada od kuće, prednosti i nedostatke rada od kuće, pojavnosti bolnih sindroma pri radu od kuće, promjene funkcija i navika pri radu od kuće te opće zadovoljstvo radom od kuće.
Rezultati su pokazali da su fleksibilnost i mogućnost usklađivanja privatnog i poslovnog života jedna od prednosti rada od kuće, a nedovoljno socijalnih kontakata i otežana komunikacija s kolegama na poslu, ometanje ukućana u radu, za sada još uvijek nedovoljna stimulacija tvrtki te zastarjelost zakonske regulative; nedostatci rada od kuće. Prednosti i nedostatke ovog rada autori su koristili kao preporuke za zaposlenike i poslodavce pri radu od kuće.
Stoga rad od kuće u budućnosti neće biti samo bijeg od pandemije korona virusa, već i produktivan način rada koji će zaposlenicima i poslodavcima uštedjeti vrijeme putovanja na mjesto rada, smanjiti broj ozljeda na radu, smanjiti stres i negativne posljedice rada te unaprijediti sadašnje mogućnosti rada mnogih tvrtki.
The aim of the research is to show the advantages and disadvantages of working from home and its impact on the mental and physical health of employees in order to develop recommendations that would contribute to preserving the health of employees and help the employer to take measures in its domain that can be implemented to preserve health of the employee and his job satisfaction. The study involved 63 respondents, 22 men and 41 women, working. We used a survey questionnaire composed of 30 questions. In the questionnaire, we followed the variables that describe: general information about employees: size and type of employee company, workplace organization, equipment for work from home and its financing, legislation on work from home, psychological consequences of work from home, advantages and disadvantages of at home, the incidence of painful syndromes at work from home, changes in functions and habits at work from home and general satisfaction with working from home.
The results showed that flexibility and the possibility of reconciling private and business life are one of the advantages of working from home, and insufficient social contacts and difficult communication with colleagues at work, disruption of family members, insufficient stimulation of companies and obsolescence of labor regulations from home. We used the advantages and disadvantages of this work as recommendations for employees and employers when working from home.
Therefore, we hope that working from home in the future will not only be an escape from the coronavirus pandemic but also a productive way of working that will save employees and employers time to travel to work, reduce injuries at work, reduce stress and negative consequences and improve current opportunities work of many companies.
The aim of the article is to present an empirical analysis of startups perception by Gen Z representatives in Poland. The research was conducted in May-December 2021 via the Internet, and the ...questionnaire was completed by 500 people. It has become important to identify how Poles perceive startups by assessing their individual advantages and disadvantages. The achievement of the goal was made possible by literature studies and a questionnaire survey. In the work, particular attention was paid to defining the concept of a startup, identifying its advantages and disadvantages. An attempt was also made to define the attitude of Generation Z to their startups. The survey allows us to learn about the opinions of the new generation entering the labor market, and in 3 years' time it will constitute a significant part of it in Poland.
Organizational culture - a system of rules, values and behaviors of an organization's – is a key factor of the functionality, performance and quality of the services it provides. Organizational ...culture is the personality of the organization. It is a structured set of key assumptions that have been invented, discovered or developed by a team of the organization in order to cope with problems of external adaptation or internal integration. Organizational culture creates a sense of identity for every health
formation, while it is serving as a reference frame for decisions and actions. The purpose of this review is to present the conceptual framework of organizational culture in the light of its existence in health organizations. Additionally, the development of its special characteristics as well as its positive and/ or negative contribution (advantages and disadvantages) to the way the health services operate are examined. Organizational culture is characterized by difficulty in identifying its components in regards to every environment, it is facing resistance in change and needs time to be implemented.
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