•Three system-independent classifications of interaction data for LA are proposed.•They are based on agent type, frequency of use of activities and participation mode.•Indicators and performance are ...related in online courses, but not in F2F courses.•Interactions with peers and teachers predict students’ outcomes in online courses.•The same is true for evaluating students and active interactions.
Learning analytics is the analysis of electronic learning data which allows teachers, course designers and administrators of virtual learning environments to search for unobserved patterns and underlying information in learning processes. The main aim of learning analytics is to improve learning outcomes and the overall learning process in electronic learning virtual classrooms and computer-supported education. The most basic unit of learning data in virtual learning environments for learning analytics is the interaction, but there is no consensus yet on which interactions are relevant for effective learning. Drawing upon extant literature, this research defines three system-independent classifications of interactions and evaluates the relation of their components with academic performance across two different learning modalities: virtual learning environment (VLE) supported face-to-face (F2F) and online learning. In order to do so, we performed an empirical study with data from six online and two VLE-supported F2F courses. Data extraction and analysis required the development of an ad hoc tool based on the proposed interaction classification. The main finding from this research is that, for each classification, there is a relation between some type of interactions and academic performance in online courses, whereas this relation is non-significant in the case of VLE-supported F2F courses. Implications for theory and practice are discussed next.
Cell elongation during seedling development is antagonistically regulated by light and gibberellins (GAs). Light induces photomorphogenesis, leading to inhibition of hypocotyl growth, whereas GAs ...promote etiolated growth, characterized by increased hypocotyl elongation. The mechanism underlying this antagonistic interaction remains unclear. Here we report on the central role of the Arabidopsis thaliana nuclear transcription factor PIF4 (encoded by PHYTOCHROME INTERACTING FACTOR 4) in the positive control of genes mediating cell elongation and show that this factor is negatively regulated by the light photoreceptor phyB (ref. 4) and by DELLA proteins that have a key repressor function in GA signalling. Our results demonstrate that PIF4 is destabilized by phyB in the light and that DELLAs block PIF4 transcriptional activity by binding the DNA-recognition domain of this factor. We show that GAs abrogate such repression by promoting DELLA destabilization, and therefore cause a concomitant accumulation of free PIF4 in the nucleus. Consistent with this model, intermediate hypocotyl lengths were observed in transgenic plants over-accumulating both DELLAs and PIF4. Destabilization of this factor by phyB, together with its inactivation by DELLAs, constitutes a protein interaction framework that explains how plants integrate both light and GA signals to optimize growth and development in response to changing environments.
Frequent and highly prevalent as comorbidities in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients, both depression and anxiety seem to have an impact on COPD prognosis. However, they are ...underdiagnosed and rarely treated properly.
To establish the prevalence of depression and anxiety in patients admitted for Acute Exacerbation of COPD (AECOPD) and determine their influence on COPD prognosis.
Prospective observational study conducted from October 1, 2016 to October 1, 2018 at the following centers in Galicia, Spain: Salnés County Hospital, Arquitecto Marcide, and Clinic Hospital Complex of Santiago de Compostela. Patients admitted for AECOPD who agreed to participate and completed the anxiety and depression scale (HADS) were included in the study.
288 patients (46.8%) were included, mean age was 73.7 years (SD 10.9), 84.7% were male. 67.7% patients were diagnosed with probable depression, and depression was established in 41.7%; anxiety was probable in 68.2% and established in 35.4%. 60.4% of all patients showed symptoms of both anxiety and depression. Multivariate analysis relates established depression with a higher risk of late readmission (OR 2.06, 95% CI 1.28; 3.31) and a lower risk of mortality at 18 months (OR 0.57, 95% CI 0.37; 0.90).
The prevalence of anxiety and depression in COPD patients is high. Depression seems to be an independent factor for AECOPD, so early detection and a multidisciplinary approach could improve the prognosis of both entities. The study was approved by the Ethical Committee of Galicia (code 2016/460).
Defects in textured materials present a great variability, usually requiring ad-hoc solutions for each specific case. This research work proposes a solution that combines two machine learning-based ...approaches, convolutional autoencoders, CA; one class support vector machines, SVM. Both methods are trained using only defect free textured images for each type of analyzed texture, labeling the samples for the SVMs in an automatic way. This work is based on two image processing streams using image sensors: (1) the CA first processes the incoming image from the input to the output, producing a reconstructed image, from which a measurement of correct or defective image is obtained; (2) the second process uses the latent layer information as input to the SVM to produce a measurement of classification. Both measurements are effectively combined, making an additional research contribution. The results obtained achieve a percentage of success of 92% on average, outperforming results of previous works.
This work addresses the study of a sediment core retrieved in the estuary of the Grande-de-Xubia River (Ria of Ferrol), which is among the first industrialized areas in the Iberian Peninsula and has ...links to the shipbuilding industry since 1750. The chemical analysis of trace elements (i.e. As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, Mo, Ni, Pb, V, and Zn) was coupled with 210Pb dating. The results span a period of about 130 years and cover the whole of the 20th century. Trace element anthropogenic fluxes accumulating in the sediments were calculated and show that human inputs are the most important sources for Cu, Cd, Hg and Zn, being, on average, well over the natural loads. The temporal variation in the anthropogenic contaminants allows the identification of four main phases describing the human-natural input interactions, which in chronological order, are: (i) early industrialization, (ii) industrial acceleration or first industrial transition, (iii) industrial collapse, and (iv) an industrial maturity or a second industrial transition.
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•Trace element anthropogenic fluxes were calculated.•Copper, Cd, Hg and Zn are indicators of the historical human pressure in the area.•True industrialization in the study area begins around 1945.•The Great Acceleration in the industrial record was detected as between 1945 and 1973.
Identification of genes associated with hereditary cancers facilitates management of patients with family histories of cancer. We performed exome sequencing of DNA from 3 individuals from a family ...with colorectal cancer who met the Amsterdam criteria for risk of hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer. These individuals had mismatch repair-proficient tumors and each carried nonsense variant in the FANCD2/FANCI-associated nuclease 1 gene ( FAN1 ), which encodes a nuclease involved in DNA inter-strand cross-link repair. We sequenced FAN1 in 176 additional families with histories of colorectal cancer and performed in vitro functional analyses of the mutant forms of FAN1 identified. We detected FAN1 mutations in approximately 3% of families who met the Amsterdam criteria and had mismatch repair-proficient cancers with no previously associated mutations. These findings link colorectal cancer predisposition to the Fanconi anemia DNA repair pathway, supporting the connection between genome integrity and cancer risk.
Diabetes and obesity are two metabolic diseases characterized by insulin resistance and a low-grade inflammation. Seeking an inflammatory factor causative of the onset of insulin resistance, obesity, ...and diabetes, we have identified bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) as a triggering factor. We found that normal endotoxemia increased or decreased during the fed or fasted state, respectively, on a nutritional basis and that a 4-week high-fat diet chronically increased plasma LPS concentration two to three times, a threshold that we have defined as metabolic endotoxemia. Importantly, a high-fat diet increased the proportion of an LPS-containing microbiota in the gut. When metabolic endotoxemia was induced for 4 weeks in mice through continuous subcutaneous infusion of LPS, fasted glycemia and insulinemia and whole-body, liver, and adipose tissue weight gain were increased to a similar extent as in high-fat-fed mice. In addition, adipose tissue F4/80-positive cells and markers of inflammation, and liver triglyceride content, were increased. Furthermore, liver, but not whole-body, insulin resistance was detected in LPS-infused mice. CD14 mutant mice resisted most of the LPS and high-fat diet-induced features of metabolic diseases. This new finding demonstrates that metabolic endotoxemia dysregulates the inflammatory tone and triggers body weight gain and diabetes. We conclude that the LPS/CD14 system sets the tone of insulin sensitivity and the onset of diabetes and obesity. Lowering plasma LPS concentration could be a potent strategy for the control of metabolic diseases.
Purpose
To assess the functional outcome in school-age children shunted in the neonatal period due to post-hemorrhagic hydrocephalus (PHH), using the HOQ-Spanish version (HOQ-sv), and to analyze ...predictors of quality of life in this group.
Methods
A cross-sectional study was performed between 2015 and 2018. Parents of pediatric patients with PHH attending our neurosurgery outpatient clinic were invited to complete the HOQ-sv and to enroll in the study. Clinical variables regarding the patients’ neonatal course and surgical outcome were recorded. A descriptive analysis was done, and independent variables related to the HOQ scores were studied in univariate and multivariate analyses with regression trees.
Results
The study comprised a total of 52 patients. The mean overall HOQ score was 0.67 (on a scale from 0 worse to 1 best). The quality of life for the PHH children at school age was related to perinatal factors (gestational age at birth, time until shunt surgery, length of hospitalization at the time of shunt implantation, and comorbidity), shunt complications (symptomatic overdrainage, number of shunt revisions, and shunt revisions related to infection during the first year after treatment), and clinical background (seizures, spasticity, Gross Motor Function Classification System level or visual impairment).
Conclusion
HOQ dimension scores in school-age children shunted due to PHH in our center were similar to those of referral centers for other etiologies of pediatric hydrocephalus. Future goals should be the prevention of complications related to worse outcomes at the time of diagnosis and to try to improve shunt performance later.
In this contribution, the design and manufacturing of an all-metal coaxial-line X-band bandpass filter is discussed. The device is 3D-printed as a self-supported structure without any dielectric ...inside the coaxial. The mechanical support between the inner and outer coaxial-line conductors is provided by means of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\lambda /4 </tex-math></inline-formula> short-circuited stubs, which are also used in the bandpass filter design. The real transmission zeros (TZs) produced by the short-circuited stubs are responsible for a high filter selectivity. In order to enhance the filter performance, a second stage consisting in a coaxial-line stepped-impedance low-pass filter is integrated in the design to provide the rejection level required for the out-of-band behaviour. Following our design method, the bandpass and low-pass filters are designed separately, and a final matching step is performed to connect both and to achieve the aimed frequency specifications. In this way, a monoblock coaxial filter with very good in-band and out-of-band performance can by obtained by using an additive manufacturing (AM) procedure. Only the input/output (I/O) coaxial connectors will need to be assembled to the filter to perform the frequency measurements. The filters in this work can be seen as a first proposal towards more complex multi-functional monoblock structures using additively-manufactured coaxial technology, for highly-integrated RF chains. Other expected benefits beyond the compactness or lightweight are an increased RF shielding, electrostatic discharge risk reduction, and Passive Intermodulation (PIM) protection. In the paper, a prototype with a passband between 8 and 12 GHz is designed and manufactured, using a bandpass filter with three stubs and an integrated 15th-order low-pass filter, providing rejection for spurious frequencies up to 30 GHz. The filter is manufactured using Selective Laser Melting (SLM) and measurements show an excellent agreement with the simulations.
The Anthropocene has been proposed as a new geo-stratigraphic epoch where humans have become a global factor affecting the ecosystems. Estuarine sediments constitute a biogeochemical reservoir where ...trace elements (TEs) from natural sources mix with a fraction generated by human activities. This study assessed the natural lithogenic imprint of TEs from uncontaminated sedimentary records to study anthropogenic changes. Sediment cores were sampled in the estuarine part of the low populated and low industrialized rias of Ares (A), Betanzos (B) and Cedeira (C), which are located in the NW of the Iberian Peninsula. Cores were dated by the 210Pb method, covering up to the last century period. Sedimentation rates (in mm yr−1) were 3.4 ± 0.6 (older than 1961) and 8.2 ± 3.2 (younger than 1961) for core A, 0.9 ± 0.2 (<1940) and 4.2 ± 2.3 for core B, and 13.4 ± 1.4 for core C. The background fluxes of TEs were in the ranges of (in g m−2 yr−1) 50–560 for Al and Fe, 20–320 for POC and 8–100 for PS, and (in mg m−2 yr−1) 20–120 for As, 0.2–2.0 for Cd, 7–110 for Co, 40–870 for Cr, 20–230 for Cu, 0.1–0.6 for Hg, 290–2800 for Mn, 4–24 for Mo, 20–410 for Ni, 20–150 for Pb, 60–800 for V and 70–700 for Zn. The three cores showed an anthropogenic influence since the mid-20th century. The detected human impact during the Anthropocene was due to the Eume River damming and As-Pontes lignite mining (the largest mine open-pit in the Iberian Peninsula) in core A, by bridge/road constructions, vehicles emissions and river mouth urbanization in core B, and changes in land use in core C. Sediment accumulation rates increased 2.4 (core A) and 4.7 times (core B) while TEs fluxes increased 2.4 times in core A and between 3.6 and 5.1 times in core B. Pre-industrial sedimentary records showed the lithogenic differences of the drainage basins, mainly granitic watersheds for cores A and B and the prevalence of basic rocks of the Ortegal Geological Complex for core C. This explains the high concentrations and fluxes of Cr, Ni and V of core C. The different lithogenic imprints highlight the value of using local background references in contamination studies, such as those on the Anthropocene influence in estuaries, which occurred after the Spanish Civil War in the studied rias.
•Estuarine sediment cores in three Galician Rias were dated and background levels and TEs fluxes established by the first time.•During the Anthropocene the TEs fluxes to the sediment increased between 2.4 and 5.1 times in two of three studied estuaries.•Lithology, dam, mining, vehicles’ emissions and river mouth urbanization are the main reasons of TEs inputs to ria sediments.•Studied cores show that the Anthropocene influence took place after the Spanish Civil War, at the mid-20th century.
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