My students and other animals. Or, a vulture, an orb weaver spider, a giant panda and 900 undergraduate business students…

The article describes how the library team supporting the Faculty of Organisation and Management at Sheffield Hallam University (O&M Library team) developed and delivered a new information literacy initiative for the undergraduate Business and Management first year cohort. Research has shown that although the Net Generation confidently uses technology to acquire information, little care is taken to judge the quality and accuracy of the resources they find. In addition, there is little understanding of how shallow their information seeking behaviours actually are. This causes difficulties in their academic studies and in their professional lives. Further research suggested that an active learning approach would be the most appropriate for this initiative. Technological limitations imposed by the teaching space and time constraints imposed by the faculty led the O&M Library team to develop an initiative that comprised a modular, practical, active learning approach that could be delivered by any academic librarian, regardless of subject speciality, in any teaching space. This article details the initiative and its components, particularly the modular activities, including a Google based icebreaker, an information behaviour typology using animals, and examples of different types of business information. It also shares the positive feedback from lecturers and students and describes possible enhancements that the team will include in the next iteration of this programme

Audit on the use of radiological investigations in the management of rhinosinusitis

Objectives: The aim of this audit is to establish the cost to the Maltese health system from the use of radiological imaging in managing rhinosinusitis and to identify areas in which these costs can be minimised by following guidelines on the management of rhinosinusitis. Methods: All plain radiographs and computed tomography scans (CT) of the paranasal sinuses requested in the Mater Dei Hospital over a one year period were analysed. Data was collected regarding: the quantity of investigations ordered, age of the patients, cost and requesting department. Results: Over one year: 205 CT scans and 113 sets of plain radiographs of the paranasal sinuses were requested, costing a total of euro103,440. The majority (73%) were elective requests made by ENT consultants. Five percent of CT scans were requested for patients less than 10 years of age. Conclusion: Rhinosinusitis is diagnosed clinically, only requiring radiological investigation in more complex cases best managed by specialists in ENT. Plain radiographs have limited use in the management of rhinosinusitis. Judicious use of imaging requests whilst following clinical guidelines is required to save money and minimise patient exposure to ionising radiation.peer-reviewe

The FADE mass-stat:A technique for inserting or deleting particles in molecular dynamics simulations

The emergence of new applications of molecular dynamics (MD) simulation calls for the development of mass-statting procedures that insert or delete particles on-the-fly. In this paper we present a new mass-stat which we term FADE, because it gradually “fades-in” (inserts) or “fades-out” (deletes) molecules over a short relaxation period within a MD simulation. FADE applies a time-weighted relaxation to the intermolecular pair forces between the inserting/deleting molecule and any neighbouring molecules. The weighting function we propose in this paper is a piece-wise polynomial that can be described entirely by two parameters: the relaxation time scale and the order of the polynomial. FADE inherently conserves overall system momentum independent of the form of the weighting function. We demonstrate various simulations of insertions of atomic argon, polyatomic TIP4P water, polymer strands, and C60 Buckminsterfullerene molecules. We propose FADE parameters and a maximum density variation per insertion-instance that restricts spurious potential energy changes entering the system within desired tolerances. We also demonstrate in this paper that FADE compares very well to an existing insertion algorithm called USHER, in terms of accuracy, insertion rate (in dense fluids), and computational efficiency. The USHER algorithm is applicable to monatomic and water molecules only, but we demonstrate that FADE can be generally applied to various forms and sizes of molecules, such as polymeric molecules of long aspect ratio, and spherical carbon fullerenes with hollow interiors

A DSMC investigation of gas flows in micro-channels with bends

Pressure-driven, implicit boundary conditions are implemented in an open source direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) solver, and benchmarked against simple micro-channel flow cases found in the literature. DSMC simulations are then carried out of gas flows for varying degrees of rarefaction along micro-channels with both one and two ninety-degree bends. The results are compared to those from the equivalent straight micro-channel geometry. Away from the immediate bend regions, the pressure and Mach number profiles do not differ greatly from those in straight channels, indicating that there are no significant losses introduced when a bend is added to a micro-channel geometry. It is found that the inclusion of a bend in a micro-channel can increase the amount of mass that a channel can carry, and that adding a second bend produces a greater mass flux enhancement. This increase happens within a small range of Knudsen number (0.02 Knin 0.08). Velocity slip and shear stress profiles at the channel walls are presented for the Knudsen showing the largest mass flux enhancement

EPA\u27s Council for Regulatory Environmental Modeling : a case study of science policy implementation

As environmental problems became more complex, policy and regulatory decisions become far more difficult to make. The use of science has become an important practice in the decision making process of many federal agencies. Many different types of scientific information are used to make decisions within the EPA, with computer models becoming especially important. Environmental models are used throughout the EPA in a variety of contexts and their predictive capacity has become highly valued in decision making. The main focus of this research is to examine the EPA’s Council for Regulatory Modeling (CREM) as a case study in addressing science issues, particularly models, in government agencies. Specifically, the goal was to answer the following questions: What is the history of the CREM and how can this information shed light on the process of science policy implementation? What were the goals of implementing the CREM? Were these goals reached and how have they changed? What have been the impediments that the CREM has faced and why did these impediments occur? The three main sources of information for this research came from observations during summer employment with the CREM, document review and supplemental interviews with CREM participants and other members of the modeling community. Examining a history of modeling at the EPA, as well as a history of the CREM, provides insight into the many challenges that are faced when implementing science policy and science policy programs. After examining the many impediments that the CREM has faced in implementing modeling policies, it was clear that the impediments fall into two separate categories, classic and paradoxical. The classic impediments include the more standard impediments to science policy implementation that might be found in any regulatory environment, such as lack of resources and changes in administration. Paradoxical impediments are cyclical in nature, with no clear solution, such as balancing top-down versus bottom-up initiatives and coping with differing perceptions. These impediments, when not properly addressed, severely hinder the ability for organizations to successfully implement science policy

Scale Free Cluster Distributions from Conserving Merging-Fragmentation Processes

We propose a dynamical scheme for the combined processes of fragmentation and merging as a model system for cluster dynamics in nature and society displaying scale invariant properties. The clusters merge and fragment with rates proportional to their sizes, conserving the total mass. The total number of clusters grows continuously but the full time-dependent distribution can be rescaled over at least 15 decades onto a universal curve which we derive analytically. This curve includes a scale free solution with a scaling exponent of -3/2 for the cluster sizes.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Mean first passage time analysis reveals rate-limiting steps, parallel pathways and dead ends in a simple model of protein folding

We have analyzed dynamics on the complex free energy landscape of protein folding in the FOLD-X model, by calculating for each state of the system the mean first passage time to the folded state. The resulting kinetic map of the folding process shows that it proceeds in jumps between well-defined, local free energy minima. Closer analysis of the different local minima allows us to reveal secondary, parallel pathways as well as dead ends.Comment: 7 page

Transferring the Cost of Higher Education To Students and Families: Who Bears the Greatest Burden?

The statistical results of this study confirm what many in the popular media have been saying. The greatest burden of the increasing level of student debt is falling on middle class families. In addition to income differences, we also find that that there are gender, race and ethnic differences in the burden of student debt. Specifically, these results suggest that the rising burden of student debt will disproportionately fall on females and African Americans. We also find that non-traditional students (older, independent/not living with family of origin, and having their own children) had higher propensity to have debt after college than more traditional college students, although being married tends to neutralize this effect