Chatbots have been around for years and have been used in many areas such as medicine or commerce. Our focus is on the development and current uses of chatbots in the field of education, where they ...can function as service assistants or as educational agents. In this research paper, we attempt to make a systematic review of the literature on educational chatbots that address various issues. From 485 sources, 80 studies on chatbots and their application in education were selected through a step‐by‐step procedure based on the guidelines of the PRISMA framework, using a set of predefined criteria. The results obtained demonstrate the existence of different types of educational chatbots currently in use that affect student learning or improve services in various areas. This paper also examines the type of technology used to unravel the learning outcome that can be obtained from each type of chatbots. Finally, our results identify instances where a chatbot can assist in learning under conditions similar to those of a human tutor, while exploring other possibilities and techniques for assessing the quality of chatbots. Our analysis details these findings and can provide a solid framework for research and development of chatbots for the educational field.
Summary
Acromegaly is a chronic disorder usually diagnosed late in the disease evolution. Such delayed diagnosis, together with the inability to achieve the treatment goals of normalizing biochemical ...disease markers and controlling tumour mass may result in substantial morbidity and mortality. Somatostatin analogues (SSA) are accepted as first‐line medical therapy or as second‐line therapy in patients undergoing unsuccessful surgery and are considered a cornerstone in the treatment of acromegaly. However, because a high percentage of patients experience SSA medical treatment failure, the identification of biomarkers associated with a successful or unsuccessful response to all classes of medical therapy would help in the choice of treatment and potentially allow for a quicker normalization of biochemical parameters. The current treatment algorithms for acromegaly are based upon a “trial‐and‐error” approach with additional treatment options provided when disease is not controlled. In many other diseases, therapeutic algorithms have been evolving towards personalized treatment with the medication that best matches individual disease characteristics, using biomarkers that identify therapeutic response. Additionally, a personalized approach to complementary treatment of comorbidities present in the acromegalic patient is also required. This review will discuss the development of a potential treatment algorithm for acromegaly addressing the biochemical control of the disease as well of its associated comorbidities, under a personalized approach based upon markers of prognostic and predictive significance, such as tumour size, MRI adenoma signal, GH value after acute octreotide test, granular adenoma pattern, Ki‐67, somatostatin receptor phenotype, aryl hydrocarbon‐interacting protein expression, gsp mutations, RAF kinase activity, E‐cadherin and beta‐arrestin‐1.
The present post hoc analysis of two 30‐week clinical trials compared efficacy and hypoglycaemia outcomes at early study visits with iGlarLixi (insulin glargine U100 iGlar and lixisenatide) vs iGlar ...alone in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) uncontrolled on oral antidiabetic drugs (OADs; LixiLan‐O trial) or basal insulin (LixiLan‐L trial). Time to control, defined as days to achieve glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) <53 mmol/mol (<7%) or fasting plasma glucose (FPG) ≤7.2 mmol/L, was estimated using the Kaplan–Meier method. In the LixiLan‐O and LixiLan‐L trials, 60% and 46% of patients, respectively, reached HbA1c <53 mmol/mol (<7%) with iGlarLixi at 12 weeks, vs 45% and 24%, respectively, with iGlar. In the LixiLan‐O trial, the median time to target HbA1c was approximately half with iGlarLixi vs iGlar (85.0 vs 166.0 days; P < .0001). In the LixiLan‐L trial, the median time to target HbA1c was 153.0 days with iGlarLixi, while target HbA1c was never reached by 50% of patients with iGlar (P < .0001). Time‐to‐target FPG and hypoglycaemia outcomes were similar between treatments. In T2D uncontrolled on OADs or basal insulin, iGlarLixi resulted in glycaemic control in more patients than did iGlar at early treatment time points.
This paper proposes an instrument to assess social entrepreneurship competency in higher education (SECS). 19 Features of social entrepreneurship competency were identified. The pilot test (n = 497) ...confirmed the validity and reliability of the SECS. Exploratory factor analysis proposed a set of categories consistent with the initial approach. Confirmatory factor analysis showed acceptable relationships among the scale categories and items, while the fit indices suggested that the data fit adequately to the default model. Pearson's test verified significant, positive correlations among the revised categories in all cases. Therefore, the scale carries the potential to contribute to social entrepreneurship research.
Background
Recent research in online settings reports that supporting self‐regulated learning (SRL) strategy use could lead to greater online academic success. A growing number of studies have ...started to investigate SRL supports in online environments recently, which indicates a great interest in this matter. Though several systems for automatic assessment of programming have been developed, there is hardly any study that has investigated how an automated assessment tool for distributed programming could facilitate students' SRL strategies.
Objectives
This study examined the ways our online Distributed Systems Laboratory (DSLab) tried to enhance students' SRL strategies in an authentic long‐term online educational experience.
Methods
We applied an experimental research design, involving 111 university students who performed a programming assignment using DSLab. A customized questionnaire was used to collect data from all students.
Results and Conclusions
The statistical analyses revealed that DSLab tool managed to facilitate students' cognitive and meta‐cognitive strategy use to a certain extent and critical thinking strategy use to a fairly large extent.
Implications
Though more experimental results are needed to delve more deeply into these findings, this study provides relevant implications for online distributed (or general) programming course teachers who seek to increase students' SRL strategies in this field.
Lay Description
What is currently known about the this topic
Facilitating students SRL in programming learning and assessment was hardly studied.
A variety of studies have started to investigate SRL supports in online environments.
Employing SRL and metacognitive strategies leads to good programming skills.
Critical thinking strategies correlate positively with academic outcomes.
What this paper adds
It examines how to enhance SRL through Distributed Systems Laboratory (DSLab).
DSLab facilitates students' cognitive and metacognitive strategies to a certain extent.
DSLab encourages critical thinking strategy use to a fairly large extent.
Implications for practitioners
DSLab is a valuable support to teachers and students in complex programming tasks.
Our study guides programming course teachers who seek to increase students' SRL.
Automated assessment tools designers are given useful insights for better design.
The development of new therapies to induce self-tolerance has been an important medical health challenge in type 1 diabetes. An ideal immunotherapy should inhibit the autoimmune attack, avoid ...systemic side effects and allow β-cell regeneration. Based on the immunomodulatory effects of apoptosis, we hypothesized that apoptotic mimicry can help to restore tolerance lost in autoimmune diabetes.
To generate a synthetic antigen-specific immunotherapy based on apoptosis features to specifically reestablish tolerance to β-cells in type 1 diabetes.
A central event on the surface of apoptotic cells is the exposure of phosphatidylserine, which provides the main signal for efferocytosis. Therefore, phosphatidylserine-liposomes loaded with insulin peptides were generated to simulate apoptotic cells recognition by antigen presenting cells. The effect of antigen-specific phosphatidylserine-liposomes in the reestablishment of peripheral tolerance was assessed in NOD mice, the spontaneous model of autoimmune diabetes. MHC class II-peptide tetramers were used to analyze the T cell specific response after treatment with phosphatidylserine-liposomes loaded with peptides.
We have shown that phosphatidylserine-liposomes loaded with insulin peptides induce tolerogenic dendritic cells and impair autoreactive T cell proliferation. When administered to NOD mice, liposome signal was detected in the pancreas and draining lymph nodes. This immunotherapy arrests the autoimmune aggression, reduces the severity of insulitis and prevents type 1 diabetes by apoptotic mimicry. MHC class II tetramer analysis showed that peptide-loaded phosphatidylserine-liposomes expand antigen-specific CD4+ T cells in vivo. The administration of phosphatidylserine-free liposomes emphasizes the importance of phosphatidylserine in the modulation of antigen-specific CD4+ T cell expansion.
We conclude that this innovative immunotherapy based on the use of liposomes constitutes a promising strategy for autoimmune diseases.
This paper discusses the effects of the use of service learning in pre-service teachers (PSTs). This methodology has been applied for two academic years at a Spanish university, providing a direct ...service for children with special educational needs (SEN) through motor and expressive games. We used Butin's model for the analysis of data collected through written reflections. The results show significant academic and personal learning, especially in areas useful for future teachers. The paper also proposes an extension (subcategories) of the original explanatory model. Verf.-Referat.
Recent research has shown a great interest in supporting self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies in online learning. However, there is hardly any study that has investigated how students’ ...self-regulation of behavior could be promoted in online environments for programming learning and assessment, despite the proliferation of automated programming evaluation systems. This study examined the ways our online Distributed Systems Laboratory (DSLab) tried to enhance students’ self-regulation of behavior in a real long-term online educational experience. Participants were a sample of 111 university students who performed a programming assignment using DSLab. A customized questionnaire was used to collect data from all students. Our results revealed that DSLab tool managed to enhance students’ self-regulation of behavior to a large extent. Moreover, our study explored the correlation between students’ cognitive, metacognitive and critical thinking strategy use and their self-regulation of behavior. Since more and more programming course teachers seek to increase students’ SRL in general or distributed programming settings, our study provides significant insights into the evolution of automated assessment tools for supporting the development of students' SRL and behavior.
This work presents an automated assessment tool for online distributed programming, called DSLab. It is a web‐based environment that provides a transparent deployment and execution of assignments in ...remote computers, a transparent initialization and the possibility to add new logs by the students. DSLab has been evaluated in a real distributed learning environment by analysing students' own perceptions on their learning improvement and exploring whether students' interactions with the tool yielded a fruitful learning experience. Current research provides no evidence that the effects of such a tool have been investigated in the field of online distributed programming. Two types of analysis were performed: a quantitative analysis of data coming from students answering a questionnaire and an analysis of the log files of students' interactions with the tool. Our results showed that students perceived substantial learning improvement from the use of the automated assessment tool. Moreover, students produced fruitful interaction with the tool as soon as they achieved high familiarization and constant activity with it, which ultimately helped them improve their academic performance. Finally, the limitations of the current study and directions for future research are presented.
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