Academic literature on the topic 'International Rice Research Institute. Information society Information technology'

To improve online learning pedagogy within the field of paralegal education, this study investigated how paralegal students and paralegal instructors perceived the effectiveness of synchronous and asynchronous online paralegal courses. This study intended to inform paralegal instructors and course developers how to better design, deliver, and evaluate effective online course instruction in the field of paralegal studies.Survey results were analyzed using independent samples t-test and correlational analysis, and indicated that overall, paralegal students and paralegal instructors positively perceived synchronous and asynchronous online paralegal courses. Paralegal instructors reported statistically significant higher perceptions than paralegal students: (1) of instructional design and course content in synchronous online paralegal courses; and (2) of technical assistance, communication, and course content in asynchronous online paralegal courses. Instructors also reported higher perceptions of the effectiveness of universal design, online instructional design, and course content in synchronous online paralegal courses than in asynchronous online paralegal courses. Paralegal students reported higher perceptions of asynchronous online paralegal course effectiveness regarding universal design than paralegal instructors. No statistically significant differences existed between paralegal students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of synchronous and asynchronous online paralegal courses. A strong, negative relationship existed between paralegal students’ age and their perceptions of effective synchronous paralegal courses, which were statistically and practically significant. Lastly, this study provided practical applicability and opportunities for future research. Akyol, Z., & Garrison, D. R. (2008). The development of a community of inquiry over time in an online course: Understanding the progression and integration of social, cognitive and teaching presence. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 12, 3-22. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ837483.pdf Akyol, Z., Garrison, D. R., & Ozden, M. Y. (2009). Online and blended communities of inquiry: Exploring the developmental and perceptional differences. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 10(6), 65-83. Retrieved from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/765/1436 Allen, I. E., & Seaman, J. (2014). Grade change: Tracking online education in the United States. Babson Park, MA: Babson Survey Research Group and Quahog Research Group, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.utc.edu/learn/pdfs/online/sloanc-report-2014.pdf Alreck, P. L., & Settle, R. B. (2004). The Survey Research Handbook (3rd ed.) New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin. American Association for Paralegal Education (2013, Oct.). AAfPE core competencies for paralegal programs. Retrieved from https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.aafpe.org/resource/resmgr/Docs/AAfPECoreCompetencies.pdf American Bar Association, Standing Committee on Paralegals. (2017). https://www.americanbar.org/groups/paralegals.html American Bar Association, Standing Committee on Paralegals (2013, September). Guidelines for the approval of paralegal education programs. Retrieved from https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/paralegals/ls_prlgs_2013_paralegal_guidelines.authcheckdam.pdf Astani, M., Ready, K. J., & Duplaga, E. A. (2010). Online course experience matters: Investigating students’ perceptions of online learning. Issues in Information Systems, 11(2), 14-21. Retrieved from http://iacis.org/iis/2010/14-21_LV2010_1526.pdf Bailey, C. J., & Card, K. A. (2009). Effective pedagogical practices for online teaching: Perception of experienced instructors. The Internet and Higher Education, 12, 152-155. doi: 10.1016/j.iheduc.2009.08.002 Bernard, R., Abrami, P., Borokhovski, E., Wade, C., Tamim , R., Surkes, M., & Bethel, E. (2009). A meta-analysis of three types of interaction treatments in distance education. Review of Educational Research, 79, 1243-1289. doi: 10.3102/0034654309333844 Cherry, S. J., & Flora, B. H. (2017). Radiography faculty engaged in online education: Perceptions of effectiveness, satisfaction, and technological self-efficacy. Radiologic Technology, 88(3), 249-262. http://www.radiologictechnology.org/ Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). New York: Taylor & Francis Group. Colorado, J. T., & Eberle, J. (2010). Student demographics and success in online learning environments. Emporia State Research Studies, 46(1), 4-10. Retrieved from https://esirc.emporia.edu/bitstream/handle/123456789/380/205.2.pdf?sequence=1 Dutcher, C. W., Epps, K. K., & Cleaveland, M. C. (2015). Comparing business law in online and face to face formats: A difference in student learning perception. Academy of Educational Leadership Journal, 19, 123-134. http://www.abacademies.org/journals/academy-of-educational-leadership-journal-home.html Faul, F., Erdfelder, E., Lang, A.-G., & Buchner, A. (2007). G*Power 3: A flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. Behavior Research Methods, 39, 175-191. Retrieved from http://www.gpower.hhu.de/fileadmin/redaktion/Fakultaeten/Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche_Fakultaet/Psychologie/AAP/gpower/GPower3-BRM-Paper.pdf Field, A. (2009). Discovery statistics using SPSS. (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Gall M., Borg, W., & Gall, J. (1996). Educational research: An introduction (6th ed.). White Plains, NY: Longman Press. Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2001). Critical thinking, cognitive presence, and computer conferencing in distance education. American Journal of distance education, 15(1), 7-23. Retrieved from http://cde.athabascau.ca/coi_site/documents/Garrison_Anderson_Archer_CogPres_Final.pdf Green, S. B., & Salkind, N. J. (2005). Using SPSS for Windows and Macintosh: Internal consistency estimates of reliability. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Harrell, I. L. (2008). Increasing the Success of Online Students. Inquiry, 13(1), 36-44. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ833911.pdf Horspool, A., & Lange, C. (2012). Applying the scholarship of teaching and learning: student perceptions, behaviours and success online and face-to-face. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 37, 73-88. doi: 10.1080/02602938.2010.496532 Inman, E., Kerwin, M., & Mayes, L. (1999). Instructor and student attitudes toward distance learning. Community College Journal of Research & Practice, 23, 581-591. doi:10.1080/106689299264594 Institute of Legal Executives (ILEX). https://www.cilexcareers.org.uk/ Johnson, J. & Taggart, G. (1996). Computer assisted instruction in paralegal education: Does it help? Journal of Paralegal Education and Practice, 12, 1-21. Johnstone, Q. & Flood, J. (1982). Paralegals in English and American law offices. Windsor YB Access to Justice 2, 152. Jones, S. J. (2012). Reading between the lines of online course evaluations: Identifiable actions that improve student perceptions of teaching effectiveness and course value. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 16(1), 49-58. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.24059/olj.v16i1.227 Krejcie, R. V., & Morgan, D. W. (1970). Determining sample size for research activities. Educational and psychological measurement, 30, 607-610. http://journals.sagepub.com/home/epm Liu, S., Gomez, J., Khan, B., & Yen, C. J. (2007). Toward a learner-oriented community college online course dropout framework. International Journal on ELearning, 6(4), 519-542. https://www.learntechlib.org/j/IJEL/ Lloyd, S. A., Byrne, M. M., & McCoy, T. S. (2012). Faculty-perceived barriers of online education. Journal of online learning and teaching, 8(1), 1-12. Retrieved from http://jolt.merlot.org/vol8no1/lloyd_0312.pdf Lockee, B., Burton, J., & Potter, K. (2010, March). Organizational perspectives on quality in distance learning. In D. Gibson & B. Dodge (Eds.), Proceedings of SITE 2010—Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (pp. 659-664). San Diego, CA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). https://www.learntechlib.org/p/33419/ Lowerison, G., Sclater, J., Schmid, R. F., & Abrami, P. C. (2006). Student perceived effectiveness of computer technology use in post-secondary classrooms. Computers & Education, 47(4), 465-489. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2004.10.014 Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/fc9c/13f0187d3967217aa82cc96c188427e29ec9.pdf Martins, L. L., & Kellermanns, F. W. (2004). A model of business school students' acceptance of a web-based course management system. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 3(1), 7-26. doi: 10.5465/AMLE.2004.12436815 Mayes, J. T. (2001). Quality in an e-University. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 26, 465-473. doi:10.1080/02602930120082032 McCabe, S. (2007). A brief history of the paralegal profession. Michigan Bar Journal, 86(7), 18-21. Retrieved from https://www.michbar.org/file/barjournal/article/documents/pdf4article1177.pdf McMillan, J. H. (2008). Educational Research: Fundamentals for the customer. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc. Myers, C. B., Bennett, D., Brown, G., & Henderson, T. (2004). Emerging online learning environments and student learning: An analysis of faculty perceptions. Educational Technology & Society, 7(1), 78-86. Retrieved from http://www.ifets.info/journals/7_1/9.pdf Myers, K. (2002). Distance education: A primer. Journal of Paralegal Education & Practice, 18, 57-64. Nunnaly, J. (1978). Psychometric theory. New York: McGraw-Hill. Otter, R. R., Seipel, S., Graeff, T., Alexander, B., Boraiko, C., Gray, J., Petersen, K., & Sadler, K. (2013). Comparing student and faculty perceptions of online and traditional courses. The Internet and Higher Education, 19, 27-35. doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2013.08.001 Popham, W. J. (2000). Modern educational measurement: Practical guidelines for educational leaders. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Rich, A. J., & Dereshiwsky, M. I. (2011). Assessing the comparative effectiveness of teaching undergraduate intermediate accounting in the online classroom format. Journal of College Teaching and Learning, 8(9), 19. https://www.cluteinstitute.com/ojs/index.php/TLC/ Robinson, C., & Hullinger, H. (2008). New benchmarks in higher education: Student engagement in online learning. The Journal of Education for Business, 84(2), 101-109. Retrieved from http://anitacrawley.net/Resources/Articles/New%20Benchmarks%20in%20Higher%20Education.pdf Salkind, N. J. (2008). Statistics for people who think they hate statistics. Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications. Santos, J. (1999, April). Cronbach's Alpha: A tool for assessing the reliability of scales. Journal of Extension, 37, 2. Retrieved from https://www.joe.org/joe/1999april/tt3.php Seok, S., DaCosta, B., Kinsell, C., & Tung, C. K. (2010). Comparison of instructors' and students' perceptions of the effectiveness of online courses. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 11(1), 25. Retrieved from http://online.nuc.edu/ctl_en/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Online-education-effectiviness.pdf Sheridan, K., & Kelly, M. A. (2010). The indicators of instructor presence that are important to students in online courses. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 6(4), 767-779. Retrieved from http://jolt.merlot.org/vol6no4/sheridan_1210.pdf Shook, B. L., Greer, M. J., & Campbell, S. (2013). Student perceptions of online instruction. International Journal of Arts & Sciences, 6(4), 337. Retrieved from https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/34496977/Ophoff.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A&Expires=1508119686&Signature=J1lJ8VO0xardd%2FwH35pGj14UeBg%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DStudent_Perceptions_of_Online_Learning.pdf Song, L., Singleton, E. S., Hill, J. R., & Koh, M. H. (2004). Improving online learning: Student perceptions of useful and challenging characteristics. The Internet and Higher Education, 7, 59-70. doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2003.11.003 Steiner, S. D., & Hyman, M. R. (2010). Improving the student experience: Allowing students enrolled in a required course to select online or face-to-face instruction. Marketing Education Review, 20, 29-34. doi:10.2753/MER1052-8008200105 Stoel, L., & Hye Lee, K. (2003). Modeling the effect of experience on student acceptance of web-based courseware. Internet Research, 13(5), 364-374. http://www.emeraldinsight.com/loi/intr Taggart, G., & Bodle, J. H. (2003). Example of assessment of student outcomes data from on-line paralegal courses: Lessons learned. Journal of Paralegal Education & Practice, 19, 29-36. Tanner, J. R., Noser, T. C., & Totaro, M. W. (2009). Business faculty and undergraduate students' perceptions of online learning: A comparative study. Journal of Information Systems Education, 20, 29-40. http://jise.org/ Tung, C.K. (2007). Perceptions of students and instructors of online and web-enhanced course effectiveness in community colleges (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database (Publication No. AAT 3284232). Vodanovich, S. J. & Piotrowski, C., & (2000). Are the reported barriers to Internet-based instruction warranted? A synthesis of recent research. Education, 121(1), 48-53. http://www.projectinnovation.com/education.html Ward, M. E., Peters, G., & Shelley, K. (2010). Student and faculty perceptions of the quality of online learning experiences. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 11, 57-77. Retrieved from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/867/1610? Wilkes, R. B., Simon, J. C., & Brooks, L. D. (2006). A comparison of faculty and undergraduate students' perceptions of online courses and degree programs. Journal of Information Systems Education, 17, 131-140. http://jise.org/

Investigation of genetic diversity and the relationships among varieties and breeding lines is of great importance to facilitate parental selection in the development of inbred and hybrid rice varieties and in the construction of heterotic groups. The technology of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) is being advanced for the assessment of population diversity and genetic structures. We characterized 215 widely cultivated indica rice varieties developed in southern China and at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) using IRRI-developed SNP oligonucleotide pooled assay (OPA) to provide grouping information of rice mega-varieties for further heterotic pool study. The results revealed that the Chinese varieties were more divergent than the IRRI varieties. Two major subpopulations were clustered for the varieties using a model-based grouping method. The IRRI varieties were closely grouped and separated clearly from the majority of the Chinese varieties. The Chinese varieties were subclustered into three subgroups, but there was no clear evidence to separate the Chinese varieties into subgroups geographically, indicating a great degree of genetic integration of alleles and shared ancestries among those high-yielding modern varieties.

One of the technology options that can help farmers cope with water scarcity at the field level is alternate wetting and drying (AWD). Limited information is available on the varietal responses to nitrogen, AWD, and their interactions. Field experiments were conducted at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) farm in 2009 dry season (DS), 2009 wet season (WS), and 2010 DS to determine genotypic responses and water use efficiency of rice under two N rates and two water management treatments. Grain yield was not significantly different between AWD and continuous flooding (CF) across the three seasons. Interactive effects among variety, water management, and N rate were not significant. The high yield was attributed to the significantly higher grain weight, which in turn was due to slower grain filling and high leaf N at the later stage of grain filling of CF. AWD treatments accelerated the grain filling rate, shortened grain filling period, and enhanced whole plant senescence. Under normal dry-season conditions, such as 2010 DS, AWD reduced water input by 24.5% than CF; however, it decreased grain yield by 6.9% due to accelerated leaf senescence. The study indicates that proper water management greatly contributes to grain yield in the late stage of grain filling, and it is critical for safe AWD technology.

Context This report presents the proceedings of the African Pathologists Summit, held under the auspices of the African Organization for Research and Training in Cancer. Objectives To deliberate on the challenges and constraints of the practice of pathology in Sub-Saharan Africa and the avenues for addressing them. Participants Collaborating organizations included the American Society for Clinical Pathology; Association of Pathologists of Nigeria; British Division of the International Academy of Pathology; College of Pathologists of East, Central and Southern Africa; East African Division of the International Academy of Pathology; Friends of Africa–United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology Initiative; International Academy of Pathology; International Network for Cancer Treatment and Research; National Cancer Institute; National Health and Laboratory Service of South Africa; Nigerian Postgraduate Medical College; Royal College of Pathologists; West African Division of the International Academy of Pathology; and Faculty of Laboratory Medicine of the West African College of Physicians. Evidence Information on the status of the practice of pathology was based on the experience of the participants, who are current or past practitioners of pathology or are involved in pathology education and research in Sub-Saharan Africa. Consensus Process The deliberations were carried out through presentations and working discussion groups. Conclusions The significant lack of professional and technical personnel, inadequate infrastructure, limited training opportunities, poor funding of pathology services in Sub-Saharan Africa, and their significant impact on patient care were noted. The urgency of addressing these issues was recognized, and the recommendations that were made are contained in this report.

IntroductionThe South African Pharmacoeconomic Submissions Guideline (SAPG) is currently voluntary for medicines in the private health sector but may become mandatory and more widely used under the proposed National Health Insurance system. To make recommendations on evidence generation and areas where the SAPG could be strengthened, the study compared the SAPG requirements with other African pharmacoeconomic guidelines and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Methods Guide (NICE MG).MethodsThe World Health Organisation, International Network of Agencies for Health Technology Assessment (INAHTA), HTA International, and the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research websites were consulted, and email requests sent to named individuals from retrieved source material. The European Network for HTA Core Model® (version 3.0) (the Model®) provided the evaluation and comparison framework, using three criteria: completely, partly or not completely requiring the same or similar information as the Model®.ResultsOf the forty-five countries identified, only Egypt had a publicly available pharmacoeconomic guideline (Egyptian Pharmacoeconomic Guideline (EPG)). The guidelines varied considerably in their intended audience, size and content. All three guidelines’ primary focus was the cost and economic evaluation, and health problem and current use domains. Safety, organisational, ethical and legal aspects were poorly covered by the SAPG and EPG guidelines (less than thirty percent of issues in each domain completely / partly covered). The SAPG completely or partly required the same or similar information in the Model® for thirty-nine percent of total issues, the EPG thirty-three percent and the NICE MG sixty-six percentConclusionsThe SAPG was not as comprehensive as the NICE MG and poorly covered some key aspects of HTAs, suggesting that the SAPG could be developed to be more informative for decision-makers. Evidence generation should focus on describing the health problem the technology is targeting and on evidence that can be synthesized into cost-effectiveness analyses.

The 10th International Symposium on Advanced Intelligent Systems 2009 (ISIS2009) held on August 17-19, 2009, at the Bumin Campus of Dong-A University (http://www.donga.ac.kr/) in Busan, Korea, was sponsored by the Korean Institute of Intelligent System Society (KIIS) and cosponsored technically by the Japan Society for Fuzzy Theory and Intelligent Informatics (SOFT) and the Taiwanese Association for Artificial Intelligence (TAAI). The international symposium focused on state-of-art accomplishments, innovations, and potential directions in intelligent systems. It also marked an epoch of innovation and the dissemination of research into many interesting fields. Its broad theme covered the latest in technical fields, including artificial intelligence, intelligent systems, Ambient Intelligence (AmI), bioinformatics, information technology, and their wide-ranging applications, from basic theoretical work to practical engineering applications. The 80 featured papers were presented by 120 participants. With so many papers submitted to JACIII, this special issue consists of just two strictly selected papers. The first, deals with emerging research trends in robotics, proposing a new trajectory generation using the univariate Dynamic Encoding Algorithm for Searches (uDEAS) in the turning of a biped walking robot. The second paper, presenting the latest findings in AmI, details a newly designed and implemented robust capacitive sensor with parasitic parameter modeling over a range of high 200 KHz frequencies based on an Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF) algorithm. I would like to thank Mr. Kunihiko Uchida, Mr. Shinya Wakai, Ms. Reiko Ohta, and Mr. Shinji Isokawa as editorial staff of Fuji Technology Press for editing these complex manuscripts into their final form. And I really thank to Prof. Kaoru Hirota, Editor-in-Chief of JACIII for inviting me to direct this special issue on ISIS

The article deals with the problems of designing and updating study programmes during the integration process of the Lithuanian education system into the European education space. After the substantial change of general programmes of Basic education(2008) and Secondary education (2011) and seeking to fully involve self-development of general cultural, subject specific, generic and specific competencies which are necessary for teachers, it is important to update the study programmes.The problem of the research: what content of technology teacher training programme should be from the innovations point of view in order to meet the expectations of the changing society.The object of the research: the innovative content of the technology teacher training programme.The aim of the research: to highlight the innovative aspects of the content of technology teacher training programmes, having performed content analysis of technology teacher training programmes of the universities of Lithuania and some European countries.Research methods:analysis of scientific literature, analysis of the programmes of universities of some European countries which provide training for technology teachers as well as the analysis of the legal acts and strategic education policy documents of the European Union and the Republic of Lithuania.Updating of the study programme of technological education is a permanent process, which is conditioned by the following factors: market economy and the needs of information society, the fact that higher education is becoming mass, penetration of humanistic ideas into the content of education as well as the valid unified study quality assessment policy in the European Union.Taking into account the recommendations of the international experts’ group and considering international changes of analogous study programmes, the Committee of Technology Pedagogics Study Programmes of Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences in cooperation with the social partners carried out a research of opinions of students, graduates, university lecturers and employers on the study quality.They also performed a comprehensive analysis of the Bachelor’s degree study programmes of some Western European universities. The analysis revealed that theoretical models of study programmes design of different European universities have similarities and differences, which are determined by the philosophical aspect, humanistic ideas and the context of the national education policy. In the research the experience of five universities from the innovations point of view was used: the University of Helsinki (Finland), Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh (Great Britain), the Polytechnic Institute of Tomar (Portugal), and the University of Iceland.The following elective subjects have been included in the study programme of technology pedagogics: pedagogical ethics, sustainable development and social welfare, educational creative projects, family health education, health promoting nutrition education, visualization of technology education, eco creations, national and global food culture, interior design, technology education for special needs students, art therapy, development of leadership competencies, formation of study archives. The hidden curriculum of the study programme of technology pedagogics is ethnic culture, ecology, project activities.

The amount of micronutrients in food is a key factor that determines the health status of a person. The concentrations of nine micronutrients, Sodium (Na), Magnesium (Mg), Chlorine (Cl), Potassium (K), Calcium (Ca), Vanadium (V), Manganese (Mn), Copper (Cu) and Iodine (I), in polished Jasmine 85 rice, locally cultivated in five rice farming areas in Ghana (Afienya, Afife, Dawhenya, Ashaiman and Aveyime), were determined using Neutron Activation Analysis. The standard materials used as reference were the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)-530 Tuna fish homogenate and the National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST) USA 1566b Oyster Tissue. Recoveries of the elemental concentrations ranged from 88% to 111% of the certified values. Relative standardization method was used in the quantification of the elements. The range of concentrations measured in the rice are: 142.3-188.1 mg/kg for Na, 483.2-875.7 mg/kg for Mg, 465.6-718.0 mg/kg for Cl, 514.6-2949.0 mg/kg for K, 2303.0-2622.0 mg/kg for Ca, 0.0698-0.1925 mg/kg for V, 9.956-14.460 mg/kg for Mn, 0.8728-1.6790 mg/kg for Cu and 0.1181-0.1447 mg/kg for I. Using Hierarchical clustering analysis and Principal Component Analysis to evaluate the intensities of measured concentrations, K was established to be the most abundant, and was used to categorize two distinct clusters; Group 1 farms (Ashaiman, Afienya, and Dawhenya) and Group 2 farms (Aveyime and Afife). Group 2 farms recorded elevated intensities of micronutrients. With Pearson's correlation coefficient, some noteworthy correlations realized were between Na and K (r = 0.951), Na and V (r = 0.842) and K and V (r = 0.812). This indicated the same or similar source inputs for each pair. The calculated mean daily intake of K exceeded the mean Recommended Dietary Allowable and Adequate Intake for all Life Stage Groups. Estimated health risk associated with the consumption of rice was only present for children between the ages of 1 and 3 for Mg. The information on these nine micronutrients content of the rice from these five farming areas would be valuable in rice consumption studies to evaluate the overall availability of micronutrients to the Ghanaian populace and age groups and also in nutrition planning for analysis of nationwide rice supplies, mainly for regions and countries known to be susceptible to deficiencies of these micronutrients. The techniques espoused in this research can be used to accurately determine the concentration of micronutrients in rice and also trace the area where the rice was produced.

This special issue of JDR features 18 papers and reports on an international 2010 to 2015 cooperative project entitled gEnhancement of Earthquake and Volcano Monitoring and Effective Utilization of Disaster Mitigation Information in the Philippines.h This project is being conducted under the SATREPS program (Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development), cosponsored by the JST (Japan Science and Technology Agency) and JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency). The Philippines is one of the worldfs most earthquake and volcano disaster-prone countries because it is located along the active boundary between the Philippine Sea Plate and Eurasian Plate. Collisions by the two plates generate plate subductions and crustal stress that generates earthquakes and volcanic activities on the archipelago. The Philippines has experienced numerous disastrous earthquakes, the most recent being the 1990 M7.8 Luzon earthquake, which killed over 1,000 local residents. A damaging earthquake also occurred during this 5-year project, in October 2013, on Bohol Island, causing about 200 deaths when houses and other buildings collapsed. Volcanoes are another major killer in the Philippines. The largest in the last century was when the Taal volcano erupted in 1911, killing 1,300 by a base surge. The 1991 Mt. Pinatubo eruption is known as the largest volcanic event in the 20th century. The Mayon volcano is also known to be a beautiful but dangerous volcano that frequently erupts, causing lahars ? steaming moving fluid masses of volcanic debris and water ? that damaged villages at the foot of the mountain. The PHIVOLCS (Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology), a governmental agency mandated to monitor earthquakes and volcanoes, provides earthquake and volcano information and alerts to the public. It also conducts research on the mechanisms behind such natural phenomena and on evaluating such hazards and risks. The PHIVOLCSfs other mission is educating people and society on being prepared for disasters. Earthquake and volcano bulletins and alerts, research output, and educational materials and training provided by PHIVOLCS have enriched knowledge and enhanced measures against disaster. The primary target of this SATREPS project is to enhance existing monitoring networks, whose equipment has been provided by Japanese ODA (Official Development Aid). Through the SATREPS project, we have introduced the latest technology to provide the public with more accurate information more quickly. This project also promotes research for deepening the understanding of earthquakes and volcano activities in better assessing hazard and risk. Project components, tasks, and main Japanese organizations are as follows: 1) Earthquake and tsunami monitoring, NIED 1-1) Advanced real-time earthquake source information, Nagoya University 1-2) Real-time seismic intensity network, NIED 1-3) Tsunami monitoring and forecasting, NIED, JMA 2) Evaluation of earthquake generation potential, Kyoto University 2-1) Campaign and continuous GPS observation, Kyoto University, GSI 2-2) Geological and geomorphological studies of earthquake faults, Kyoto University 3) Integrated real-time monitoring of the Taal and Mayon volcanoes, Nagoya University 3-1) Seismic and infrasonic observation, Nagoya University 3-2) Continuous GPS monitoring, Kyoto University 3-3) Electromagnetic monitoring, Tokai University 4) Provision of disaster mitigation information and promotion of utilization, NIED 4-1) Simple seismic diagnosis, NIED 4-2) Tsunami victims interview manga (comic book form) and DVD, NIED 4-3) Disaster information portal site, NIED <span style="font-size: xx-small;">*NIED: National Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention; JMA: Japan Meteorological Agency; GSI: Geospatial Information Authority of Japan</span> This issuefs first article by Melosantos et al., reports on results of installing a broadband seismometer network to provide seismic data used in the next two articles. Papers by Bonita and Punongbayan detail the results of SWIFT, a new earthquake source analysis system that automatically determines the location, size, and source mechanisms of moderate to large earthquakes. The report by Inoue et al. describes the development of the first instrumental intensity network system in the Philippines, followed by a report on its deployment and observation by Lasala et al. The article by Igarashi et al. describes the development of a tsunami simulation database for a local tsunami warning system in the Philippines. The next five papers represent the 2) Earthquake Generation Potential project component. Ohkura et al. detail the results of campaign GPS observations on Mindanao Island, which first delineated the detailed plate movement and internal deformation of Mindanao. Tobita et al. report the results of the first continuous GPS observations across the Philippine Fault. The next three papers describe the results of geological and geomorphological studies of the Philippine Fault on Mindanao Island by Perez et al., the 1973 Ragay Gulf Earthquake by Tsutsumi, and submarine mapping of the Philippine Fault by Yasuda et al.. These results provide insights on the recurrence and sizes of large damaging earthquakes in different areas. An electromagnetic study of the Taal volcano reported by Alanis et al. and the GPS monitoring of the Mayon volcano detailed by Takagi et al. are a part of intensive studies of these two volcanoes. Scientific research results were published in advance in other international journals by the research group concerning 3) Integrated Real-Time Volcano Monitoring of the Taal and Mayon Volcanoes. Real-time information on these volcanoes are telemetered to Manila and checked regularly as a part of standard operational procedures. Real-time earthquake and tsunami information by 1) Earthquake and Tsunami Monitoring has already been implemented in the monitoring system. The last five papers and reports cover results for 4) Provision of Disaster Mitigation Information and Promotion of Utilization. Imai et al. report on a full-scale shaking table test of typical residential Philippines houses made of hollow concrete blocks. They demonstrate the importance of following building codes. A paper by Imai et al. introduces simple seismic diagnosis for masonry houses as a practical tool for raising peoplefs awareness of housing vulnerability to earthquakes. Salcedo et al. report a dissemination strategy for the practical tools. The last two papers, by Villegas, report on video interviews made with Philippino tsunami survivors in the Tohoku area following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. The results are compiled and selected stories published in comic-book form as easy-to-understand educational materials on tsunami disaster awareness. Information on earthquakes and volcanoes provided by the enhanced monitoring system, research output, and educational materials obtained through the SATREPS project are provided to stakeholders to enhance measures against disasters at various levels and in different timeframes. Readers of this special issue can reference information through a newly established SATREPS project portal site, the PHIVOLCS Disaster Information Portal, at <a href="http://satreps.phivolcs.dost.gov.ph/">http://satreps.phivolcs.dost.gov.ph/</a>. It can also be accessed from the PHIVOLCS web page at <a href="http://www.phivolcs.dost.gov.ph/">http://www.phivolcs.dost.gov.ph/</a>. Finally, I extend my sincere thanks to all authors and reviewers involved in this special issue.

Background Although surgical resection has been considered the only curative option for colorectal liver metastases, thermal ablation has recently been suggested as an alternative curative treatment. There have been no adequately powered trials comparing surgery with thermal ablation. Objectives Main objective – to compare the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of thermal ablation versus liver resection surgery in high surgical risk patients who would be eligible for liver resection. Pilot study objectives – to assess the feasibility of recruitment (through qualitative study), to assess the quality of ablations and liver resection surgery to determine acceptable standards for the main trial and to centrally review the reporting of computed tomography scan findings relating to ablation and outcomes and recurrence rate in both arms. Design A prospective, international (UK and the Netherlands), multicentre, open, pragmatic, parallel-group, randomised controlled non-inferiority trial with a 1-year internal pilot study. Setting Tertiary liver, pancreatic and gallbladder (hepatopancreatobiliary) centres in the UK and the Netherlands. Participants Adults with a specialist multidisciplinary team diagnosis of colorectal liver metastases who are at high surgical risk because of their age, comorbidities or tumour burden and who would be suitable for liver resection or thermal ablation. Interventions Thermal ablation conducted as per local policy (but centres were encouraged to recruit within Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiological Society of Europe guidelines) versus surgical liver resection performed as per centre protocol. Main outcome measures Pilot study – patients’ and clinicians’ acceptability of the trial to assist in optimisation of recruitment. Primary outcome – disease-free survival at 2 years post randomisation. Secondary outcomes – overall survival, timing and site of recurrence, additional therapy after treatment failure, quality of life, complications, length of hospital stay, costs, trial acceptability, and disease-free survival measured from end of intervention. It was planned that 5-year survival data would be documented through record linkage. Randomisation was performed by minimisation incorporating a random element, and this was a non-blinded study. Results In the pilot study over 1 year, a total of 366 patients with colorectal liver metastases were screened and 59 were considered eligible. Only nine participants were randomised. The trial was stopped early and none of the planned statistical analyses was performed. The key issues inhibiting recruitment included fewer than anticipated patients eligible for both treatments, misconceptions about the eligibility criteria for the trial, surgeons’ preference for one of the treatments (‘lack of clinical equipoise’ among some of the surgeons in the centre) with unconscious bias towards surgery, patients’ preference for one of the treatments, and lack of dedicated research nurses for the trial. Conclusions Recruitment feasibility was not demonstrated during the pilot stage of the trial; therefore, the trial closed early. In future, comparisons involving two very different treatments may benefit from an initial feasibility study or a longer period of internal pilot study to resolve these difficulties. Sufficient time should be allowed to set up arrangements through National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Research Networks. Trial registration Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN52040363. Funding This project was funded by the NIHR Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 24, No. 21. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.

These Guidelines are one of the results of the four-year research project “Open Online Learning for Digital and Networked Society” (2017-2021). The project objective was to enable university teachers to design open and online learning through open and online learning curriculum and environment applying learning analytics as a metacognitive tool and creating open and online learning assessment and recognition practices, responding to the needs of digital and networked society. The research of the project resulted in 10 scientific publications and 2 studies prepared by Vytautas Magnus university Institute of Innovative Studies research team in collaboration with their international research partners from Germany, Spain and Portugal. The final stage of the research attempted creating open and online learning assessment and recognition practices, responding to the learner needs in contemporary digital and networked society. The need for open learning recognition has been increasing during the recent decade while the developments of open learning related to the Covid 19 pandemics have dramatically increased the need for systematic and high-quality assessment and recognition of learning acquired online. The given time also relates to the increased need to offer micro-credentials to learners, as well as a rising need for universities to prepare for micro-credentialization and issue new digital credentials to learners who are regular students, as well as adult learners joining for single courses. The increased need of all labour - market participants for frequent and fast renewal of competences requires a well working and easy to use system of open learning assessment and recognition. For learners, it is critical that the micro-credentials are well linked to national and European qualification frameworks, as well as European digital credential infrastructures (e.g., Europass and similar). For employers, it is important to receive requested quality information that is encrypted in the metadata of the credential. While for universities, there is the need to properly prepare institutional digital infrastructure, organizational procedures, descriptions of open learning opportunities and virtual learning environments to share, import and export the meta-data easily and seamlessly through European Digital Hub service infrastructures, as well as ensure that academic and administrative staff has digital competencies to design, issue and recognise open learning through digital and micro-credentials. The first chapter of the Guidelines provides a background view of the European Qualification Framework and National Qualification frameworks for the further system of gaining, stacking and modelling further qualifications through open online learning. The second chapter suggests the review of current European policy papers and consultations on the establishment of micro-credentials in European higher education. The findings of the report of micro-credentials higher education consultation group “European Approach to Micro-credentials” is shortly introduced, as well as important policy discussions taking place. Responding to the Rome Bologna Comunique 2020, where the ministers responsible for higher education agreed to support lifelong learning through issuing micro-credentials, a joint endeavour of DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion and DG Research and Innovation resulted in one of the most important political documents highlighting the potential of micro-credentials towards economic, social and education innovations. The consultation group of experts from the Member States defined the approach to micro-credentials to facilitate their validation, recognition and portability, as well as to foster a larger uptake to support individual learning in any subject area and at any stage of life or career. The Consultation Group also suggested further urgent topics to be discussed, including the storage, data exchange, portability, and data standards of micro-credentials and proposed EU Standard of constitutive elements of micro-credentials. The third chapter is devoted to the institutional readiness to issue and to recognize digital and micro-credentials. Universities need strategic decisions and procedures ready to be enacted for assessment of open learning and issuing micro-credentials. The administrative and academic staff needs to be aware and confident to follow these procedures while keeping the quality assurance procedures in place, as well. The process needs to include increasing teacher awareness in the processes of open learning assessment and the role of micro-credentials for the competitiveness of lifelong learners in general. When the strategic documents and procedures to assess open learning are in place and the staff is ready and well aware of the processes, the description of the courses and the virtual learning environment needs to be prepared to provide the necessary metadata for the assessment of open learning and issuing of micro-credentials. Different innovation-driven projects offer solutions: OEPass developed a pilot Learning Passport, based on European Diploma Supplement, MicroHE developed a portal Credentify for displaying, verifying and sharing micro-credential data. Credentify platform is using Blockchain technology and is developed to comply with European Qualifications Framework. Institutions, willing to join Credentify platform, should make strategic discussions to apply micro-credential metadata standards. The ECCOE project building on outcomes of OEPass and MicroHE offers an all-encompassing set of quality descriptors for credentials and the descriptions of learning opportunities in higher education. The third chapter also describes the requirements for university structures to interact with the Europass digital credentials infrastructure. In 2020, European Commission launched a new Europass platform with Digital Credential Infrastructure in place. Higher education institutions issuing micro-credentials linked to Europass digital credentials infrastructure may offer added value for the learners and can increase reliability and fraud-resistant information for the employers. However, before using Europass Digital Credentials, universities should fulfil the necessary preconditions that include obtaining a qualified electronic seal, installing additional software and preparing the necessary data templates. Moreover, the virtual learning environment needs to be prepared to export learning outcomes to a digital credential, maintaining and securing learner authentication. Open learning opportunity descriptions also need to be adjusted to transfer and match information for the credential meta-data. The Fourth chapter illustrates how digital badges as a type of micro-credentials in open online learning assessment may be used in higher education to create added value for the learners and employers. An adequately provided metadata allows using digital badges as a valuable tool for recognition in all learning settings, including formal, non-formal and informal.

On May 10–11, 2016, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) National Institute of Justice (NIJ), the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI; Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice of the Netherlands), the International Society for Forensic Radiology and Imaging (ISFRI), the International Association of Forensic Radiographers (IAFR), and NIJ’s Forensic Technology Center of Excellence (FTCoE) at RTI International organized and convened the International Forensic Radiology Research Summit (IFRRS) at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam. The summit assembled 40 international subject matter experts in forensic radiology, to include researchers, practitioners, government employees, and professional staff from 14 countries. The goal of this 2-day summit was to identify gaps, challenges, and research needs to produce a road map to success regarding the state of forensic radiology, including formulating a plan to address the obstacles to implementation of advanced imaging technologies in medicolegal investigations. These proceedings summarize the meeting’s important exchange of technical and operational information, ideas, and solutions for the community and other stakeholders of forensic radiology.