Teaching legal research subversively

This article presents a novel approach to teaching the compulsory law subject Legal Research. It considers that while Legal Research is traditionally a non-substantive subject that does not explain the law, let alone question or critique the law, it can in fact be taught in a way that encourages law students to think critically about legal institutions and the broader social context that gives rise to them. The article explores ways to pursue such legal instruction, with reference to activities administered in a legal research subject at the Law and Justice Faculty of the University of [withheld for peer review], Australia. It concludes that the discipline of legal research presents valuable opportunities for providing law students with a deeper social education in the law

The Impact of Quality Teachers on Student Achievement

Various research studies reveal that factors, such as teachers’ cognitive ability, subject matter knowledge, knowledge of teaching and learning, licensure, and teaching behaviors in the classroom, are related to teacher quality and increased student achievement. Through a literature review these five major themes emerged that support the research that quality teachers do matter

Progressive Failure Analysis on Textile Composites

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/140707/1/6.2014-0157.pd

Computational Mechanistic Study of the Reactivity of Metal Oxide Catalyst towards Olefins

Two heterogeneous catalysts, the Phillips ethylene polymerization catalyst and supported rhenium olefin-metathesis catalyst, are computationally investigated.The mechanism of ethylene polymerization by the Phillips catalyst remains unknown despite numerous hypotheses and studies since its discovery sixty years ago. This work uses density functional and small chromasiloxane cluster models to compare initiation, propagation, and termination pathways for several previously proposed mechanisms and for two newly proposed mechanisms. Where possible, complete catalytic cycles and predicted kinetics, molecular weights, and site abundances are compared to properties of the Phillips catalyst. Prohibitively high activation barriers for propagation rule out chromacycle ring expansion and Green-Rooney mechanisms (alternating alkylidene/chromacycle). A new oxachromacycle ring expansion mechanism has a favorable plausible propagation barrier, but initiation for the oxachromacycle expansion is prohibitively slow. Chain growth is fast on a recently proposed bridging hydroxyl Si(OH)CrIII-alkyl site that is initiated by proton transfer from ethylene. However, the initiation step is extremely slow and uphill, and termination is even faster than propagation, so essentially all sites remain trapped in a dormant state. A new Si(OH)CrII-alkyl site also has a small barrier for Cossee-Arlman type chain growth, but it forms only oligomers because termination by proton transfer back to the alkyl chain is faster than propagation, and initiation is slow. Only the monoalkylchromium(III) site (≡SiO)2Cr-alkyl is viable as an active site for polymerization, however the nature of the initiation mechanism remains unknown.CH3ReO3 (MTO) interacting with the surface of extensively chlorinated γ-Al2O3 is a highly active catalyst for olefin metathesis. Its activity, selectivity and stability exceed that of any other reported MTO-based catalyst as measured in propene metathesis at 0 °C, including MTO/SiO2-Al2O3 and MTO/ZnCl2/-Al2O3, and are far higher than MTO/-Al2O3. DFT calculations support facile Cl-O ligand exchange between MTO and Cl-Al2O3. The calculations further suggest that chlorination at Re promotes active site formation via tautomerization

Extreme Thermal Sensitivity and Pain-Induced Sensitization in a Fibromyalgia Patient

During the course of a psychophysical study of fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS), one of the subjects with a long history of headache and facial pain displayed an extraordinarily severe thermal allodynia. Her stimulus-response function for ratings of cutaneous heat pain revealed a sensitivity clearly beyond that of normal controls and most FMS subjects. Specially designed psychophysical methods showed that heat sensitivity sometimes increased dramatically within a series of stimuli. Prior exposure to moderate heat pain served as a trigger for allodynic ratings of series of normally neutral thermal stimulation. These observations document a case of breakthrough pain sensitivity with implications for mechanisms of FMS pain

Suppression of Exosomal PD-L1 Induces Systemic Anti-tumor Immunity and Memory.

PD-L1 on the surface of tumor cells binds its receptor PD-1 on effector T cells, thereby suppressing their activity. Antibody blockade of PD-L1 can activate an anti-tumor immune response leading to durable remissions in a subset of cancer patients. Here, we describe an alternative mechanism of PD-L1 activity involving its secretion in tumor-derived exosomes. Removal of exosomal PD-L1 inhibits tumor growth, even in models resistant to anti-PD-L1 antibodies. Exosomal PD-L1 from the tumor suppresses T cell activation in the draining lymph node. Systemically introduced exosomal PD-L1 rescues growth of tumors unable to secrete their own. Exposure to exosomal PD-L1-deficient tumor cells suppresses growth of wild-type tumor cells injected at a distant site, simultaneously or months later. Anti-PD-L1 antibodies work additively, not redundantly, with exosomal PD-L1 blockade to suppress tumor growth. Together, these findings show that exosomal PD-L1 represents an unexplored therapeutic target, which could overcome resistance to current antibody approaches

Human-Assisted Continual Robot Learning with Foundation Models

Large Language Models (LLMs) have been shown to act like planners that can decompose high-level instructions into a sequence of executable instructions. However, current LLM-based planners are only able to operate with a fixed set of skills. We overcome this critical limitation and present a method for using LLM-based planners to query new skills and teach robots these skills in a data and time-efficient manner for rigid object manipulation. Our system can re-use newly acquired skills for future tasks, demonstrating the potential of open world and lifelong learning. We evaluate the proposed framework on multiple tasks in simulation and the real world. Videos are available at: https://sites.google.com/mit.edu/halp-robot-learning

Feasibility and Definition of a Lunar Polar Volatiles Prospecting Mission

The recent Lunar Crater Observing and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission has provided evidence for significant amounts of cold trapped volatiles in Cabeus crater near the Moon's south pole. Moreover, LRO/Diviner measurements of extremely cold lunar polar surface temperatures imply that volatiles can be stable outside or areas of strict permanent shadows. These discoveries suggest that orbital neutron spectrometer data point to extensive deposits at both lunar poles. The physical state, composition and distribution of these volatiles are key scientific issues that relate to source and emplacement mechanisms. These issues are also important for enabling lunar in situ resource utilization (ISRU). An assessment of the feasibility of cold-trapped volatile ISRU requires a priori information regarding the location, form, quantity, and potential for extraction of available resources. A robotic mission to a mostly shadowed but briefly .unlit location with suitable environmental conditions (e.g. short periods of oblique sunlight and subsurface cryogenic temperatures which permit volatile trapping) can help answer these scientific and exploration questions. Key parameters must be defined in order to identify suitable landing sites, plan surface operations, and achieve mission success. To address this need, we have conducted an initial study for a lunar polar volatile prospecting mission, assuming the use of a solar-powered robotic lander and rover. Here we present the mission concept, goals and objectives, and landing site selection analysis for a short-duration, landed, solar-powered mission to a potential hydrogen volatile-rich site

Antiquark Polarization inside the Proton is Small

Quark contributions to the proton spin as deduced from polarized DIS of leptons off a nucleon target, and the octet baryon magnetic moments, can be used to deduce the antiquark polarizations $\Delta_{\overline{q}}$ inside the proton. In this way, the 1992 analysis by Karl is shown to imply $\Delta_{\overline{q}}\simeq 0.$ Such a spin structure fits nicely into the chiral quark interpretation of the proton spin and flavor puzzles.Comment: LaTex and RevTex, 7 pages, sub for pub in the Phys. Lett. B Corrected an equation number error, and revised the Author/Abstract field in the original E-preprint submission. Latex and Revtex. Sub to Phys. Lett.