Teaching Critical Thinking Using Understanding By Design

Academia is buzzing with the idea of teaching students to think critically and creatively. This article introduces the reader to the use of the Understanding by Design 5 methodology, also known as the “Backward Design Process”. This is an approach to develop technical courses that aim to cultivate higher-order skills in students. By incorporating recommended critical thinking design features, this article provides examples and a framework for the development of new courses or the revision of current courses. A list of websites devoted to critical thinking and Understanding by Design tools is included at the end of this article for additional information

Dislocations

`Dislocations' is a series of three textile works, created by Armando Chant in collaboration with Donna Sgro. The works were presented as part of Interwoven which is a curated selection of fashion and textile works of the Design Institute of Australia Textile Practice Group. `Dislocations' investigates the biological phenomena of patterning that is evident in butterfly wing growth, and the resulting structural distortion in the pattern that develops. The textile works were an investigation of this structural principle through their constructed methodology. The three works were hand-screenprinted in monochromatic half-tones, sliced and re-constructed through stitching, emphasizing the disruptive nature of the pattern. The works are an investigation into the creation of `constructed disruptive imagery' using a biomimetic methodology. Disruptive imagery has been developed in relation to textiles in the area of camouflage. Camouflage is a biomimetic adaptation where pattern is used to cloak what is seen. Using a different principle of disruptive imagery, this work investigates how other biomimetic adaptations may be used to disrupt the visual within a textiles context. Interwoven was exhibited at the Design Gallery of the DIA Head Office and promoted to members of the DIA nationally as part of LOOK.STOP.SHOP, a Melbourne Spring Fashion Week event

The effects of delay of reinforcement on subsequent running behavior under immediate reinforcement

In a variety of leaning situations, delay of reinforcement has been found to result in a lower level of responding. There is some question whether the asymptote of learning or only the rate of approach to asymptote is affected by delay. In addition, delay of reinforcement has been shown to increase resistance to extinction

Subacute thyroiditis after Sars-COV-2 infection

Context: Subacute thyroiditis (SAT) is a thyroid disease of viral or postviral origin. The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that began in Wuhan, China, has spread rapidly worldwide and Italy has been severely affected by this outbreak. Objectives: The objective of this work is to report the first case of SAT related to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: We describe the clinical, laboratory, and imaging features of an 18-year-old woman who came to our attention for fever, neck pain radiated to the jaw, and palpitations occurring 15 days after a SARS-CoV-2-positive oropharyngeal swab. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) had been mild and the patient had completely recovered in a few days. Results: At physical examination the patient presented with a slightly increased heart rate and a painful and enlarged thyroid on palpation. At laboratory exams free thyroxine and free triiodothyronine were high, thyrotropin undetectable, and inflammatory markers and white blood cell count elevated. Bilateral and diffuse hypoechoic areas were detected at neck ultrasound. One month earlier, thyroid function and imaging both were normal. We diagnosed SAT and the patient started prednisone. Neck pain and fever recovered within 2 days and the remaining symptoms within 1 week. Thyroid function and inflammatory markers normalized in 40 days. Conclusions: We report the first case of SAT after a SARS-CoV-2 infection. We alert clinicians to additional and unreported clinical manifestations associated with COVID-19

Point X-ray sources in the SNR G 315.4-2.30 (MSH 14-63, RCW 86)

We report the results of a search for a point X-ray source (stellar remnant) in the southwest protrusion of the supernova remnant G 315.4-2.30 (MSH 14-63, RCW 86) using the archival data of the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The search was motivated by a hypothesis that G 315.4-2.30 is the result of an off-centered cavity supernova explosion of a moving massive star, which ended its evolution just near the edge of the main-sequence wind-driven bubble. This hypothesis implies that the southwest protrusion in G 315.4-2.30 is the remainder of a pre-existing bow shock-like structure created by the interaction of the supernova progenitor's wind with the interstellar medium and that the actual location of the supernova blast center is near the center of this hemispherical structure. We have discovered two point X-ray sources in the "proper" place. One of the sources has an optical counterpart with the photographic magnitude $13.38\pm0.40$, while the spectrum of the source can be fitted with an optically thin plasma model. We interpret this source as a foreground active star of late spectral type. The second source has no optical counterpart to a limiting magnitude $\sim 21$. The spectrum of this source can be fitted almost equally well with several simple models (power law: photon index $=1.87$; two-temperature blackbody: $kT_1 =0.11$ keV, $R_1 =2.34$ km and $kT_2 =0.71$ keV, $R_2 =0.06$ km; blackbody plus power law: $kT =0.07$ keV, photon index $=2.3$). We interpret this source as a candidate stellar remnant (neutron star), while the photon index and non-thermal luminosity of the source (almost the same as those of the Vela pulsar and the recently discovered pulsar PSR J 0205+6449 in the supernova remnant 3C 58) suggest that it can be a young "ordinary" pulsar.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures,revised version accepted for publication in A&

Reading a GEM with a VLSI pixel ASIC used as a direct charge collecting anode

In MicroPattern Gas Detectors (MPGD) when the pixel size is below 100 micron and the number of pixels is large (above 1000) it is virtually impossible to use the conventional PCB read-out approach to bring the signal charge from the individual pixel to the external electronics chain. For this reason a custom CMOS array of 2101 active pixels with 80 micron pitch, directly used as the charge collecting anode of a GEM amplifying structure, has been developed and built. Each charge collecting pad, hexagonally shaped, realized using the top metal layer of a deep submicron VLSI technology is individually connected to a full electronics chain (pre-amplifier, shaping-amplifier, sample and hold, multiplexer) which is built immediately below it by using the remaining five active layers. The GEM and the drift electrode window are assembled directly over the chip so the ASIC itself becomes the pixelized anode of a MicroPattern Gas Detector. With this approach, for the first time, gas detectors have reached the level of integration and resolution typical of solid state pixel detectors. Results from the first tests of this new read-out concept are presented. An Astronomical X-Ray Polarimetry application is also discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 14 figures, presented at the Xth Vienna Conference on Instrumentation (Vienna, February 16-21 2004). For a higher resolution paper contact [email protected]

Sport, doping and male fertility

It is universally accepted that lifestyle interventions are the first step towards a good overall, reproductive and sexual health. Cessation of unhealthy habits, such as tobacco, alcohol and drug use, poor nutrition and sedentary behavior, is suggested in order to preserve/improve fertility in humans. However, the possible risks of physical exercise per se or sports on male fertility are less known. Being fit does not only improve the sense of well-being, but also has beneficial effects on general health: in fact physical exercise is by all means a low-cost, high-efficacy method for preventing or treating several conditions, ranging from purely physical (diabetes and obesity) to psychological (depression and anxiety), highly influencing male reproduction. If male sexual and reproductive health could be positively affected by a proper physical activity, inadequate bouts of strength - both excessive intensity and duration of exercise training - are more likely to have detrimental effects. In addition, the illicit use of prohibited drugs (i.e. doping) has reached pandemic proportions, and their actions, unfortunately very often underestimated by both amateur and professional athletes, are known to disrupt at different levels and throughout various mechanisms the male hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis, resulting in hypogonadism and infertility