Taking our learning and teaching strategy to the next level through technology enhanced campus development

Over the last three years Abertay University has radically evolved its strategy for teaching and supporting learning. This paper outlines Abertay’s journey over the last few years, including the key features of our new pedagogic approach and its impact so far. For example, in 2016 Abertay was the highest ranked modern Scottish University in the National Student Survey (NSS) and shortlisted for the prestigious Times Higher Education “University of the Year” award.In order to further enhance our students’ progression, attainment and employability we have recognized the need to invest further in two key (and related) areas: technology enhanced learning and estate development in order to create a so-called “sticky campus” i.e. somewhere our students will want to come and stay. This has included full implementation of electronic management of assessment (EMA); blended learning; new technology-rich collaborative learning environments and science laboratories which promote richer student-staff interactions and new ways of learning; and a planned complete refurbishment of the University library which will provide a variety of learning environments (formal and informal) from summer 2017.The paper will detail the drivers for these changes; the change management processes involving a staff-student partnership involving management, academic and professional services; successes;challenges; lessons learned and future plans

The Wow Factor? A Comparative Study of the Development of Student Music Teachers' Talents in Scotland and Australia

For some time there has been debate about differing perspectives on musical gift and musical intelligence. One view is that musical gift is innate: that it is present in certain individuals from birth and that the task of the teacher is to develop the potential which is there. A second view is that musical gift is a complex concept which includes responses from individuals to different environments and communities (Howe and Sloboda, 1997). This then raises the possibility that musical excellence can be taught. We have already explored this idea with practising musicians (Stollery and McPhee, 2002). Our research has now expanded to include music teachers in formation, and, in this paper, we look at the influences in their musical development which have either 'crystallised' or 'paralysed' the musical talent which they possess. Our research has a comparative dimension, being carried out in Scotland and in Australia. We conclude that there are several key influences in the musical development of the individual, including home and community support, school opportunities and teaching styles and that there may be education and culture-specific elements to these influences

The frequency distribution of presenting symptoms in children aged six months to six years to primary care.

Primary care providers and researchers wishing to estimate study recruitment rates need estimates of illness frequency in primary care. Previous studies of children's symptoms have found that presentations are most common for the symptoms: cough, fever, earache, rash, diarrhoea and vomiting. Since 2000, primary care provision in the United Kingdom has changed with the introduction of Walk-in-Centres (WICs) and new Out of Hours (OoHs) providers. To describe the type and frequency of parent-reported presenting symptoms at a range of primary care sites between 2005 and 2007. Parent-reported presenting symptoms, recorded in their own words, were extracted from data collected from all children aged six months to six years during recruitment to a randomised controlled trial. Presenting symptoms were coded and presented as frequency per 100 'consulting sessions' by type of primary care site. Results were evaluated from 2491 episodes of illness at 35 sites. When grouped by primary care site, respiratory symptoms were the most common at OoHs centres, the WIC and general practitioner (GP) surgeries. Trauma symptoms were common in the Emergency Department, but unexpectedly, diarrhoea and vomiting were more common in the Emergency Department and skin presenting symptoms more common at the WIC than at GP sites. We report the relative frequency of acute symptoms by type of primary care provider. These data may be useful to those planning recruitment to primary care paediatric studies and policy makers for planning primary care service provision

A unified ML framework for solubility prediction across organic solvents

We report a single machine learning (ML)-based model to predict the solubility of drug/drug-like compounds across 49 organic solvents, extensible to more. By adopting a cross-solvent data structure, we enable the exploitation of valuable relational information between systems. The effect is major, with even a single experimental measurement of a solute in a different solvent being enough to significantly improve predictions on it, and successive ones improving them further. Working with a sparse dataset of only 714 experimental data points spanning 75 solutes and 49 solvents (81% sparsity), a ML-based model with a prediction RMSE of 0.75 log S (g/100 g) for unseen solutes was produced. This compares favourably with conductor-like screening model for real solvents (COSMO-RS), an industry-standard model based on thermodynamic laws, which yielded a prediction RMSE of 0.97 for the same dataset. The error for our method reduced to a mean RMSE of 0.65 when one instance of the solute (in a different solvent) was included in the training data; this iteratively reduced further to 0.60, 0.57 and 0.56 when two, three and four instances were available, respectively. This standard of performance not only meets or exceeds those of alternative ML-based solubility models insofar as they can be compared but reaches the perceived ceiling for solubility prediction models of this type. In parallel, we assess the performance of the model with and without the addition of COSMO-RS output as an additional descriptor. We find that a significant benefit is gained from its addition, indicating that mechanistic methods can bring insight that simple molecular descriptors cannot and should be incorporated into a data-driven prediction of molecular properties where possible

Impact of paracetamol impurities on face properties : investigating the surface of single crystals using TOF-SIMS

Understanding the mechanism of interaction between pharmaceutical molecules (APIs) and impurities on crystal surfaces is a key concept in understanding purification and for the design of pharmaceutical crystallization processes. Several techniques may be used to study crystal surface properties, such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), which provide detailed imaging and elemental surface characterization. Time of flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) is valuable in determining molecular identity and distribution. By combining TOF-SIMS, SEM, and optical (OM) and Raman microscopies, we can evaluate the usefulness of TOF-SIMS as a surface characterization technique for pharmaceutical crystals. 4-Nitrophenol has been selected as an impurity that can be incorporated during crystallization of acetaminophen (paracetamol). This study explores the distribution of impurity and its concentration on the different crystal faces of samples obtained by crystallization over a range of impurity loadings and supersaturation conditions. Raman maps of paracetamol single crystal faces were analyzed using the characteristic Raman peak intensity of 4-nitrophenol to identify regions where it accumulated; Raman maps of three single crystals produced in the presence of 4-nitrophenol using different crystallization procedures highlight how it can be difficult to detect very low concentrations of similar chemical species. In contrast, the 4-nitrophenol monoisotopic mass obtained via TOF-SIMS was shown to be detectable in all the three single crystals produced. This indicates that TOF-SIMS can be a valuable technique for single crystal impurity distribution mapping even when the impurity concentration is very low

The behaviour of dark matter associated with four bright cluster galaxies in the 10kpc core of Abell 3827

Galaxy cluster Abell 3827 hosts the stellar remnants of four almost equally bright elliptical galaxies within a core of radius 10kpc. Such corrugation of the stellar distribution is very rare, and suggests recent formation by several simultaneous mergers. We map the distribution of associated dark matter, using new Hubble Space Telescope imaging andVery Large Telescope/Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer integral field spectroscopy of a gravitationally lensed system threaded through the cluster core. We find that each of the central galaxies retains a dark matter halo, but that (at least) one of these is spatially offset from its stars. The best-constrained offset is $1.62^{+0.47}_{-0.49}$kpc, where the 68 per cent confidence limit includes both statistical error and systematic biases in mass modelling. Such offsets are not seen in field galaxies, but are predicted during the long infall to a cluster, if dark matter self-interactions generate an extra drag force. With such a small physical separation, it is difficult to definitively rule out astrophysical effects operating exclusively in dense cluster core environments - but if interpreted solely as evidence for self-interacting dark matter, this offset implies a cross-section σDM/m∼(1.7±0.7)×10−4cm2g−1×(tinfall/109 yr)−2, where tinfall is the infall duratio

Depositional setting, provenance and tectonic-volcanic setting of Eocene-Recent deep-sea sediments of the oceanic Izu-Bonin forearc, NW Pacific (IODP Expedition 352)

New biostratigraphical, geochemical, and magnetic evidence is synthesized with IODP Expedition 352 shipboard results to understand the sedimentary and tectono-magmatic development of the Izu–Bonin outer forearc region. The oceanic basement of the Izu–Bonin forearc was created by supra-subduction zone seafloor spreading during early Eocene (c. 50–51 Ma). Seafloor spreading created an irregular seafloor topography on which talus locally accumulated. Oxide-rich sediments accumulated above the igneous basement by mixing of hydrothermal and pelagic sediment. Basaltic volcanism was followed by a hiatus of up to 15 million years as a result of topographic isolation or sediment bypassing. Variably tuffaceous deep-sea sediments were deposited during Oligocene to early Miocene and from mid-Miocene to Pleistocene. The sediments ponded into extensional fault-controlled basins, whereas condensed sediments accumulated on a local basement high. Oligocene nannofossil ooze accumulated together with felsic tuff that was mainly derived from the nearby Izu–Bonin arc. Accumulation of radiolarian-bearing mud, silty clay, and hydrogenous metal oxides beneath the carbonate compensation depth (CCD) characterized the early Miocene, followed by middle Miocene–Pleistocene increased carbonate preservation, deepened CCD and tephra input from both the oceanic Izu–Bonin arc and the continental margin Honshu arc. The Izu–Bonin forearc basement formed in a near-equatorial setting, with late Mesozoic arc remnants to the west. Subduction-initiation magmatism is likely to have taken place near a pre-existing continent–oceanic crust boundary. The Izu–Bonin arc migrated northward and clockwise to collide with Honshu by early Miocene, strongly influencing regional sedimentation

Palaeozoic-Recent geological development and uplift of the Amanos Mountains (S Turkey) in the critically located northwesternmost corner of the Arabian continent

<p>We have carried out a several-year-long study of the Amanos Mountains, on the basis of which we present new sedimentary and structural evidence, which we combine with existing data, to produce the first comprehensive synthesis in the regional geological setting. The ca. N-S-trending Amanos Mountains are located at the northwesternmost edge of the Arabian plate, near the intersection of the African and Eurasian plates. Mixed siliciclastic-carbonate sediments accumulated on the north-Gondwana margin during the Palaeozoic. Triassic rift-related sedimentation was followed by platform carbonate deposition during Jurassic-Cretaceous. Late Cretaceous was characterised by platform collapse and southward emplacement of melanges and a supra-subduction zone ophiolite. Latest Cretaceous transgressive shallow-water carbonates gave way to deeper-water deposits during Palaeocene-Eocene. Eocene southward compression, reflecting initial collision, resulted in open folding, reverse faulting and duplexing. Fluvial, lagoonal and shallow-marine carbonates accumulated during Late Oligocene(?)-Early Miocene, associated with basaltic magmatism. Intensifying collision during Mid-Miocene initiated a foreland basin that then infilled with deep-water siliciclastic gravity flows. Late Miocene-Early Pliocene compression created mountain-sized folds and thrusts, verging E in the north but SE in the south. The resulting surface uplift triggered deposition of huge alluvial outwash fans in the west. Smaller alluvial fans formed along both mountain flanks during the Pleistocene after major surface uplift ended. Pliocene-Pleistocene alluvium was tilted towards the mountain front in the west. Strike-slip/transtension along the East Anatolian Transform Fault and localised sub-horizontal Quaternary basaltic volcanism in the region reflect regional transtension during Late Pliocene-Pleistocene (<4 Ma).</p