On the Technological Acceptance of Moodle by Higher Education Faculty-A Nationwide Study Based on UTAUT2.

Moodle is an open-source learning management system that is widely used today, especially in higher education settings. Although its technological acceptance by undergraduate students has been extensively studied in the past, very little is known about its acceptance by university professors. In particular, as far as we know, the literature contains no previous experiences related to South American teachers. This paper aims to bridge this gap by quantifying and analyzing the drivers of Moodle's technological acceptance among Ecuadorian academic staff. Considering the responses of 538 teachers and taking a modified UTAUT2 model as a theoretical basis, we found that Ecuadorian teachers have high levels of acceptance of Moodle, regardless of their age, gender, ethnicity, or discipline. However, this acceptance is significantly higher in teachers with high levels of education and with considerable previous experience with e-learning systems. The main determinants of this acceptance are attitude strength, effort expectancy, performance expectancy, and facilitating conditions. We found no moderating effects in relation to the age, gender, or previous experience of the participants (including second- and third-order interactions derived from these variables). We conclude that, albeit moderately (e.g., adjusted R2=0.588), the model tested confirms the predictive power of the part of UTAUT2 that was inherited from UTAUT.

Scaled-up biodiesel synthesis from Chinese Tallow Kernel oil catalyzed by Burkholderia cepacia lipase through ultrasonic assisted technology: A non-edible and alternative source of bio energy.

In East Asia, for thousands of years, the fruit of Chinese tallow tree (Sapium sebiferum) has been used for multiple purposes because of its chemical composition; the presence of high amounts of lipids is remarkable, showing potential to be used as substrate for biodiesel synthesis. Previously have been reported the use of alkaline and enzymatic catalysts, microwave technology and the use of ionic liquids as co-solvents with the lipids of this tree species to produce biodiesel. This study shows the results of the use of Burkholderia cepacia lipase as enzymatic catalyst for transesterification of Chinese Tallow Kernel oil (CTK), extracted from the fruit of Chinese tallow tree, into biodiesel, with the use of ultrasonic assisted technology and without the usage of solvents. The optimal operational parameters were determined and the reactions were developed in a batch reactor with the use of ultrasonic irradiation and emulsification to enhance the mass transfer. The scaled-up experiments, in an especially designed 3 L capacity reactor, showed promising results, obtaining 55.20% biodiesel and a kinematic viscosity of 10.31 mm2.s-1 in only 4 h, in comparison with previously published (in vitro) methods. The valorization of this non-edible source of oil represents an opportunity to use as an alternative source for bioenergy and also to tackle the uncontrolled expansion of this oleaginous tree species in some ecologically fragile ecosystems.

MultiGeMS: detection of SNVs from multiple samples using model selection on high-throughput sequencing data.

MOTIVATION: Single nucleotide variant (SNV) detection procedures are being utilized as never before to analyze the recent abundance of high-throughput DNA sequencing data, both on single and multiple sample datasets. Building on previously published work with the single sample SNV caller genotype model selection (GeMS), a multiple sample version of GeMS (MultiGeMS) is introduced. Unlike other popular multiple sample SNV callers, the MultiGeMS statistical model accounts for enzymatic substitution sequencing errors. It also addresses the multiple testing problem endemic to multiple sample SNV calling and utilizes high performance computing (HPC) techniques. RESULTS: A simulation study demonstrates that MultiGeMS ranks highest in precision among a selection of popular multiple sample SNV callers, while showing exceptional recall in calling common SNVs. Further, both simulation studies and real data analyses indicate that MultiGeMS is robust to low-quality data. We also demonstrate that accounting for enzymatic substitution sequencing errors not only improves SNV call precision at low mapping quality regions, but also improves recall at reference allele-dominated sites with high mapping quality. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: The MultiGeMS package can be downloaded from https://github.com/cui-lab/multigems CONTACT: xinping.cui@ucr.edu SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

SNP calling using genotype model selection on high-throughput sequencing data.

MOTIVATION: A review of the available single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) calling procedures for Illumina high-throughput sequencing (HTS) platform data reveals that most rely mainly on base-calling and mapping qualities as sources of error when calling SNPs. Thus, errors not involved in base-calling or alignment, such as those in genomic sample preparation, are not accounted for. RESULTS: A novel method of consensus and SNP calling, Genotype Model Selection (GeMS), is given which accounts for the errors that occur during the preparation of the genomic sample. Simulations and real data analyses indicate that GeMS has the best performance balance of sensitivity and positive predictive value among the tested SNP callers. AVAILABILITY: The GeMS package can be downloaded from https://sites.google.com/a/bioinformatics.ucr.edu/xinping-cui/home/software or http://computationalbioenergy.org/software.html. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Estudio comparativo entre la lidocana con y sin vasoconstrictor sobre la toxicidad y regeneracóin de la fibra muscular comparado con solución salina e inyección en seco en ratones / Comparative study between the lidocaine and prilocaine with and without vasoconstrictor on the toxicity and regeneration of the muscular fiber comparared with saline solution and injection in dry in rats

En este estudio se describen y cuantifican los cambios musculosos de la fibra muscular luego de la aplicación de Lidocaina y prilocaina con y sin vasoconstrictor respectivamente; comparado con solución salina e inyección en seco. Para este objetivo se utilizaron 60 ratones de reza swiss de sexo masculino con peso de 30 a 35 gr. Y una edad de 23 días, los cuales fueron inyectados con 0.5 ml de solución anestésica en el msculo vasto lateral, utilizando como control el músculo de la otra extremidad. Las biopsias de dicho músculo fueron tenidas con hematoxilina-eosina y algúnas muestras de 24 360 horas se les realizó marcadores de desmina y vicentina con el fin de observar la microestructura muscular; éstas fueron analizadas con microscopio de luz. Los parámetros para el análisis histológico fueron: el dao de la fibra, el proceso de cicatrización, la respuesta inflamatoria y la hemorragia, las cuales fueron avaluadas mediante distribución de frecuencias. En el análisis de las muestras se observó un proceso de degeneración muscular seguido de un proceso de regeneración. Este proceso de regeneración fue más temprano para la inyección en seco y más tardo para la Lidocaina con epinefrina, el resto de las soluciones tienen una regeneración progresiva. Con respecto a la inflamación, la prilocaina y la prilocaina con felipresina presentaron una disminución progresiva de infiltrado inflamatorio, mientras que la Lidocaina y la Lidocaina con epinefrina presentaron una inflamación estable durante el estudio. Como conclusiones el dao que se produce en la fibra muscular causado por las soluciones anestésicas es un proceso irreversible y es más aun severo en las soluciones con vasocontrictor especialmente con la epinefrina. La regeneración ocurrió en un mayor periodo de tiempo de la fibra inyectada con lidocaina con epinefrina y al final de este estudio no hubo una regeneración completa para esta solución.