A pedagogical framework for embedding C&IT into the curriculum

This paper proposes a methodology for effectively embedding communication and information technologies (C&IT) into the curriculum. This builds on existing frameworks for designing courses involving C&IT. A hypothetical illustration of this process is provided, and issues relating to the adoption and application of the methodology are identified

Constrained structure of ancient Chinese poetry facilitates speech content grouping

Ancient Chinese poetry is constituted by structured language that deviates from ordinary language usage [1, 2]; its poetic genres impose unique combinatory constraints on linguistic elements [3]. How does the constrained poetic structure facilitate speech segmentation when common linguistic [4, 5, 6, 7, 8] and statistical cues [5, 9] are unreliable to listeners in poems? We generated artificial Jueju, which arguably has the most constrained structure in ancient Chinese poetry, and presented each poem twice as an isochronous sequence of syllables to native Mandarin speakers while conducting magnetoencephalography (MEG) recording. We found that listeners deployed their prior knowledge of Jueju to build the line structure and to establish the conceptual flow of Jueju. Unprecedentedly, we found a phase precession phenomenon indicating predictive processes of speech segmentation—the neural phase advanced faster after listeners acquired knowledge of incoming speech. The statistical co-occurrence of monosyllabic words in Jueju negatively correlated with speech segmentation, which provides an alternative perspective on how statistical cues facilitate speech segmentation. Our findings suggest that constrained poetic structures serve as a temporal map for listeners to group speech contents and to predict incoming speech signals. Listeners can parse speech streams by using not only grammatical and statistical cues but also their prior knowledge of the form of language

Developing high-fidelity health care simulation scenarios : a guide for educators and professionals

“The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Simulation & Gaming, 42 (1), 2011, copyright SAGE Publications Ltd on SAGE Journals Online: http://online.sagepub.com/ "The development of appropriate scenarios is critical in high-fidelity simulation training. They need to be developed to address specific learning objectives, while not preventing other learning points from emerging. Buying a patient simulator, finding a volunteertoact as the patient, or even obtaining ready-made scenarios from another simulation center are rarely insurmountable challenges. The issue often lies in how to use or adapt these for your own purpose: with your team, facilities, and resources but primarily for your learners. Published information is limited in the area of scenario preparation for health care education and continuing medical education or continuing professional development. This article is a guide for clinical tutors, standardized patient trainers, and patient simulator operators on how to script scenarios and proposes a new detailed and reusable template for writing scenarios. It contains practical sections such as how to decide on the learning objectives to be addressed, how to script and organize your scenarios, and how to pitch the suitable level of details to make the scenarios appropriately realistic.Peer reviewe

Peptide exchange on MHC-I by TAPBPR is driven by a negative allostery release cycle.

Chaperones TAPBPR and tapasin associate with class I major histocompatibility complexes (MHC-I) to promote optimization (editing) of peptide cargo. Here, we use solution NMR to investigate the mechanism of peptide exchange. We identify TAPBPR-induced conformational changes on conserved MHC-I molecular surfaces, consistent with our independently determined X-ray structure of the complex. Dynamics present in the empty MHC-I are stabilized by TAPBPR and become progressively dampened with increasing peptide occupancy. Incoming peptides are recognized according to the global stability of the final pMHC-I product and anneal in a native-like conformation to be edited by TAPBPR. Our results demonstrate an inverse relationship between MHC-I peptide occupancy and TAPBPR binding affinity, wherein the lifetime and structural features of transiently bound peptides control the regulation of a conformational switch located near the TAPBPR binding site, which triggers TAPBPR release. These results suggest a similar mechanism for the function of tapasin in the peptide-loading complex

Shared teaching with multimedia‐enhanced video‐conferencing

Video‐conferencing was used to share a short series of lectures between several universities. A high bandwidth network (155Mbit/s) permitted near broadcast TV quality video to be combined with fully mixed, high‐quality audio. The lectures were supported by visual aids made available using Microsoft NetMeeting to provide multipoint, shared applications. NetMeeting is shown to be a stable and effective platform for distributing multimedia material at a much higher resolution than is possible using the video signals common in most video‐conference lectures, although care must be taken when constructing animated material

Toward a first-principles integrated simulation of tokamak edge plasmas

Performance of the ITER is anticipated to be highly sensitive to the edge plasma condition. The edge pedestal in ITER needs to be predicted from an integrated simulation of the necessary first-principles, multi-scale physics codes. The mission of the SciDAC Fusion Simulation Project (FSP) Prototype Center for Plasma Edge Simulation (CPES) is to deliver such a code integration framework by (1) building new kinetic codes XGC0 and XGC1, which can simulate the edge pedestal buildup; (2) using and improving the existing MHD codes ELITE, M3D-OMP, M3D-MPP and NIMROD, for study of large-scale edge instabilities called Edge Localized Modes (ELMs); and (3) integrating the codes into a framework using cutting-edge computer science technology. Collaborative effort among physics, computer science, and applied mathematics within CPES has created the first working version of the End-to-end Framework for Fusion Integrated Simulation (EFFIS), which can be used to study the pedestal-ELM cycles

A Visual Stack Based Paradigm for Visualization Environments

We present a new visual paradigm for Visualization Systems, inspired by stack-based programming. Most current implementations of Visualization systems are based on directional graphs. However directional graphs as a visual representation of execution, though initially quite intuitive, quickly grow cumbersome and difficult to follow under complex examples. Our system presents the user with a simple and compact methodology of visually stacking actions directly on top of data objects as a way of creating filter scripts. We explore and address extensions to the basic paradigm to allow for: multiple data input or data output objects to and from execution action modules, execution thread jumps and loops, encapsulation, and overall execution control. We exploit the dynamic nature of current computer graphic interfaces by utilizing features such as drag-and-drop, color emphasis and object animation to indicate action, looping, message/parameter passing; to furnish an overall better understanding of the resulting laid out execution scripts

Numerical simulation of electric signal in the cyber-physical immunosensor system on rectangular lattice in R package

Проведено чисельне моделювання електричного сигналу з перетворювача в кіберфізичній імуносенсорній системі на прямокутній решітці з використанням диференціальних рівнянь із запізненням за допомогою пакета R. Описано функціональні можливості пакета R як середовища програмування для статистичного аналізу даних, наведено корисні сайти, списки посилань і документація пакета R. У вигляді таблиці представлено назви параметрів моделі імуносенсора на прямокутній решітці з використанням диференціальних рівнянь із запізненням та їх числові значення в пакеті R. Реалізовано комп’ютерну програму «Чисельний аналіз електричного сигналу з перетворювача, який характеризує кількість флуоресціюючих пікселів в імуносенсорі на прямокутній решітці з використанням диференціальних рівнянь із запізненням». Розроблена комп’ютерна програма дає змогу провести дослідження стійкості імуносенсорних систем, які широко використовуються для отримання діагностичної інформації з метою оцінювання критичних станів при серцево-судинних захворюваннях, величини інсуліну при вимірюванні величини глюкози в крові та виявлення кількісних показників у деяких фармацевтичних сполуках. Наведено фрагмент лістингу комп’ютерної програми в пакеті R для отримання електричного сигналу з перетворювача, який характеризує кількість флуоресціюючих пікселів у кіберфізичній імуносенсорній системі на прямокутній решітці з використанням диференціальних рівнянь із запізненням. Проведено чисельне моделювання для електричного сигналу з перетворювача в імуносенсорі на прямокутній решітці з використанням диференціальних рівнянь із запізненням. Проаналізовано зміни отриманого електричного сигналу, які відповідають кількості флуоресціюючих пікселів у кіберфізичній імуносенсорній системі. Обгрунтовано використання пакета R як вільнопоширюваного програмного забезпечення з графічною візуалізацією результатів аналізу.The numerical simulation of electric signal from the converter in the cyber-physical immunosensor system on rectangular lattice using differential equations with delay by means of R package is carried out in this paper. The functional features of R package as a programming environment for statistical data analysis are described, useful sites, references lists and documentation of R package are given. The names of parameters of the immunosensor model on rectangular lattice using the differential equations with delay and their numerical values in the package R are presented in the form of the table. The computer program «Numerical analysis of the electrical signal from the converter that characterizes the number of fluorescing pixels in the immunosensor on rectangular lattice using delayed differential equations» is implemented. The developed computer program makes it possible to carry out the investigation of the stability of immunosensory systems, which are widely used to obtain diagnostic information in order to evaluate critical states of cardiovascular disease, insulin values while measuring blood glucose values and identify quantitative indicators in some рharmaceutics compounds. The fragment of computer program listing in R package for obtaining the electrical signal from converter characterizing the number of fluorescent pixels in cyber-physical immunosensor system on rectangular lattice using delayed differential equations is presented. Numerical simulation for the electric signal from the converter in the immunosensor on rectangular lattice using the delayed differential equations is carried out. The changes of the received electrical signal corresponding to the number of fluorescent pixels in the cyber-physical immunosensory system are analyzed. The use of R package as a freely distributed software with graphical visualization of the analysis results is substantiated