Digital communities: context for leading learning into the future?

In 2011, a robust, on-campus, three-element Community of Practice model consisting of growing community, sharing of practice and building domain knowledge was piloted in a digital learning environment. An interim evaluation of the pilot study revealed that the three-element framework, when used in a digital environment, required a fourth element. This element, which appears to happen incidentally in the face-to-face context, is that of reflecting, reporting and revising. This paper outlines the extension of the pilot study to the national tertiary education context in order to explore the implications for the design, leadership roles, and selection of appropriate technologies to support and sustain digital communities using the four-element model

Technology assessment of advanced automation for space missions

Six general classes of technology requirements derived during the mission definition phase of the study were identified as having maximum importance and urgency, including autonomous world model based information systems, learning and hypothesis formation, natural language and other man-machine communication, space manufacturing, teleoperators and robot systems, and computer science and technology

How can I encourage multi-stakeholder narrative and reflection on the use of ICT in Teacher Professional Development programmes in Rwanda?

This is an action research enquiry into how I can improve my practice to encourage multi-stakeholder narrative and reflection on the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Teacher Professional Development (TPD) programmes in Rwanda. I examine the complexity of the ICT-TPD landscape in the Africa Region. I describe two action research cycles in which I attempt to encourage reflection on ICT in professional development in Rwanda. In each cycle I explore the potential of an Activity Theory lens for probing the issues and examining the perspectives of the stakeholder community of teachers, teacher educators, curriculum developers and researchers affiliated to national ICT in TPD programmes and initiatives. I integrate a “Most Significant Change” narrative technique to engage participants in telling stories of significant change in their practice with technology integration. Through the rigour of the action research living theory approach I come to a number of conclusions about my own values and how I actually live my values in practice as I engage with partners in discourse and reflection for mutual learning on the issues of ICT integration in Teacher Professional Development

Aplicación de la tecnología CRISPR-CAS9 para corregir defectos genéticos en embriones

ABSTRACT: The use of CRISPR has been a revolution in the field of the bioengineering. Not only is it allowing us to edit the human genome, but it also allows us to influence into the environment. In this paper we will focus on one of its most controversial applications, such as genetic edition in embryos. We will propose the possibility of treating Huntington's disease through this technique and we will briefly describe the problems that this type of approach faces.Grado en Medicin

Computational aerodynamics and artificial intelligence

The general principles of artificial intelligence are reviewed and speculations are made concerning how knowledge based systems can accelerate the process of acquiring new knowledge in aerodynamics, how computational fluid dynamics may use expert systems, and how expert systems may speed the design and development process. In addition, the anatomy of an idealized expert system called AERODYNAMICIST is discussed. Resource requirements for using artificial intelligence in computational fluid dynamics and aerodynamics are examined. Three main conclusions are presented. First, there are two related aspects of computational aerodynamics: reasoning and calculating. Second, a substantial portion of reasoning can be achieved with artificial intelligence. It offers the opportunity of using computers as reasoning machines to set the stage for efficient calculating. Third, expert systems are likely to be new assets of institutions involved in aeronautics for various tasks of computational aerodynamics

Involvement of the endogenous opioid and cannabinoid systems in addictive like behaviours

Grau académico estrangeiro - BiomedicinaABSTRACT: The increase incidence of obesity and eating disorders represents a major health problem in developed countries. The low rate of success of treatments to prevent or reverse obesity, and overeating that causes it, highlights the important behavioural alterations that are associated to this disease. These alterations seem to be mediated by modifications in the reward circuits that mimic changes occurring during addictive behaviour. Moreover, like drugs of abuse, obesity is associated with abnormal intake habits when maintaining diet that can endure vulnerability to relapse. In the present thesis, we have first investigated the involvement of the endogenous opioid system in the neurobiological mechanism underlying drug and food reinstatement, as a potential therapeutic target in these behavioural disorders. Moreover, we have investigated the relationships between overeating and behavioural addiction. Indeed, we have demonstrated that repeated operant training with palatable food promotes behavioural alterations, as well as epigenetic, proteomic and structural plasticity changes in the reward circuit reminiscent to those observed with drugs of abuse. Finally, we identified the cannabinoid receptor 1 and the delta opioid receptor as common neurobiological substrates underlying these alterations.RESUMEN: El aumento de la incidencia de la obesidad y de los trastornos de la alimentación representa un importante problema de salud en los países desarrollados. La baja tasa de éxito de los tratamientos disponibles para prevenir o revertir la obesidad y el fácil acceso a la comida obesogenica que lo causa, destacan la necesidad de encentrar dianas terapéuticas eficaces. Las importantes alteraciones conductuales que se asocian a esta enfermedad parecen estar mediadas por modificaciones en los circuitos de recompensa que imitan los cambios que ocurren durante el comportamiento adictivo. Por otra parte, al igual que las drogas de abuso, la obesidad se asocia con hábitos de ingesta anormales que pueden incrementar la vulnerabilidad a la recaída de búsqueda de comida. En la presente tesis, hemos investigado primero la implicación del sistema opioide endógeno en el mecanismo neurobiológico que subyace a la recaída del comportamiento de búsqueda de drogas y comida como una posible diana terapéutica en estos trastornos del comportamiento. En segundo lugar, hemos investigado las relaciones entre la sobre ingesta de comida palatable y la adicción conductual. De hecho, hemos demostrado que el entrenamiento operante repetido con comida palatable promueve alteraciones de la conducta, así como cambios epigenéticos, proteómicos y de plasticidad estructural en el circuito de la recompensa que recuerdan a los observados con las drogas de abuso. Es destacable señalar que hemos identificado el receptor cannabinoide 1 y el receptor delta opioide como sustratos neurobiológicos comunes que subyacen a estas alteraciones

Investigation of behavioral and cellular changes in the Maternal Immune Activation model of autism spectrum disorders

Maternal infection during pregnancy, which leads to maternal immune activation (MIA), is an environmental risk factor for autism spectrum disorders (ASD). MIA can be induced in mice and their offspring exhibit behaviors that model the core symptoms of ASD. One of the core behavioral symptoms in ASD patients is presence of increased repetitive behavior, which is modeled by an increase in marble burying in MIA mice. It has been shown that the deficits seen in MIA mice are associated with the dysregulation of cytokine levels in the developing brain, specifically an increase in pro-inflammatory cytokines. In this thesis, I tested whether a reversal of this inflammatory state in the brains of MIA mice by administration of an anti-inflammatory drug, Ibudilast, can ameliorate the behavioral deficit. The results indicated that MIA mice exhibit increased marble burying which is normalized by prenatal administration of Ibudilast without significant effects on control mice. I also tried to establish an additional paradigm of repetitive behavior in the MIA mice, using the rotarod and found that MIA mice have a trend towards increased stereotyped motor routine as measured by an accelerating rotarod test. Altered behaviors in MIA mice are thought to be mediated by impaired synaptic connectivity. Our lab recently showed structural and functional alterations in synapses in the MIA offspring. An important component of the synapse are astrocytes, a type of glial cell, that regulate synapse formation and function. Whether astrocytic development and function are impaired in MIA offspring is not known. Because cytokines have been shown to modulate the release of transmitters from astrocytes it is possible that increase in inflammatory state in MIA offspring can affect the signaling in astrocytes. Based on these observations, I hypothesized that astrocytic calcium activity is altered in the brains of MIA offspring and proposed to study the same using in-vivo astrocytic calcium imaging