Using an Open Software System (Sakai) to Develop Student Portfolios

E-portfolios are digital collections of artifacts that represent the achievements and reflections of individuals. They offer a unique view into student learning and allow educators and external accreditors to assess student progress towards established standards as well as reviewing their program’s performance in supporting that progress. Students benefit from assembling their e-portfolios through the process of reviewing their own work with a critical eye, choosing pieces of their work that best represent their abilities, and reflecting on the transformative nature of their University experience, both in class and through extra-curricular, service learning, internships and international activities. An e-portfolio provides a holistic view of a student’s personal growth and abilities that will serve them well in their career search or graduate school application. The challenge for an institution is to provide this learning and assessment resource in an accessible and affordable vehicle that is manageable for both faculty and students. Roger Williams University has crafted a strategy to utilize the Sakai open source course management system with its integrated e-portfolio tool set and a linked website to provide both e-portfolios and program assessment. This strategy will also be employed to propose a virtual accreditation of a professional program that will serve as a model throughout the University and the broader higher education community

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and inorganic elements in predatory bird livers and eggs 2007 to 2009: a Predatory Bird Monitoring Scheme (PBMS) Report

The Predatory Bird Monitoring Scheme (PBMS; http://pbms.ceh.ac.uk/) is the umbrella project that encompasses the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology’s National Capability contaminant monitoring and surveillance work on avian predators. By monitoring sentinel vertebrate species, the PBMS aims to detect and quantify current and emerging chemical threats to the environment and in particular to vertebrate wildlife. Sparrowhawk livers were analysed for a range of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and heavy metals. Sparrowhawks are studied because they have a wide distribution across the Britain and can be used as a sentinel species for the terrestrial environment. Mean PCB and mercury liver concentrations were below those thought to have an adverse effect on individual birds. Pollutants, such as mercury and PCBs, can affect development and hatchability. Therefore, the PBMS also monitors the levels of contaminants in the eggs of a range of species including those of conservation concern, such as golden eagle and the re-introduced white-tailed sea eagle. Other species that are monitored are the northern gannet, which is used as a monitor of the marine environment, and merlin that hunts in upland habitats. The residues measured in the eggs of golden eagle and gannets collected between 2007 and 2009 were below those thought to have an adverse effect, but some residues in individual merlin eggs were above concentrations suggested to be indicative of no effect concentrations for birds generally. Few white-tailed see eagle eggs are received for analysis by the PBMS but many of the eggs that have been analysed, including one of the eggs analysed for this report, have DDE, PCB and/or mercury concentrations above levels associated with adverse effects on bird embryos and hatching success. In terms of long-term trends, there has been a decline in congener sum PCB contamination in the eggs of most of the species that have been monitored, except for coastal nesting golden eagles. In contrast however, there has been no significant decline over time in PCB concentrations in sparrowhawk livers and concentrations of ‘Paris 10’ congener sum and PCB-TEQ concentrations have also largely remained unchanged in both livers and eggs since monitoring began in 1996. Evidence for changes over time in mercury concentrations in predatory birds or their eggs is inconsistent across the species monitored. Where a decline has been detected, it has occurred before approximately 1990 and remained largely unchanged since then

The application of parallel computer technology to the dynamic analysis of suspension bridges

This research is concerned with the application of distributed computer technology to the solution of non-linear structural dynamic problems, in particular the onset of aerodynamic instabilities in long span suspension bridge structures, such as flutter which is a catastrophic aeroelastic phenomena. The thesis is set out in two distinct parts:- Part I, presents the theoretical background of the main forms of aerodynamic instabilities, presenting in detail the main solution techniques used to solve the flutter problem. The previously written analysis package ANSUSP is presented which has been specifically developed to predict numerically the onset of flutter instability. The various solution techniques which were employed to predict the onset of flutter for the Severn Bridge are discussed. All the results presented in Part I were obtained using a 486DX2 66MHz serial personal computer. Part II, examines the main solution techniques in detail and goes on to apply them to a large distributed supercomputer, which allows the solution of the problem to be achieved considerably faster than is possible using the serial computer system. The solutions presented in Part II are represented as Performance Indices (PI) which quote the ratio of time to performing a specific calculation using a serial algorithm compared to a parallel algorithm running on the same computer system

Reflex control of human trunk muscles

Muscles of the human trunk are arranged in layers and attach either to the vertebral column or to the pelvis and thorax. Present understanding suggests the deeper muscles, attached to the vertebral column, stabilise the spine, whereas the more superficial muscles, attached to the thorax and pelvis, produce and control trunk movement. If so, the control of these two groups may differ, with deeper muscles working synergistically and those more superficially located acting antagonistically to one another. To this end the role that reflex connections between the different muscles may play in mediating either synergistic or antagonistic roles was investigated. Muscle afferent activity was evoked via a series of mechanical taps applied to individual muscle/tendon complexes of three abdominal and two paraspinal muscles by means of a mechanical tapping device. The resultant reflex responses were recorded by surface electromyography in the same five muscles, both ipsilateral and contralateral to the applied tap. This allowed analysis of the effect of muscle afferents from any one muscle to all the others. Short latency, (less than 25ms) heteronymous muscle afferent connections are excitatory and widespread between the abdominal muscles. They are also excitatory between ipsilateral paraspinal muscles, but inhibitory between these muscles contralaterally. Reflexes are mostly absent between abdominal and paraspinal muscles. Specifically, connections both to and from the internal oblique muscle (IO), the deepest abdominal muscle studied, were the most widespread and potent, with the connection from one IO to the other being of similar amplitude and minimal difference in latency. It is suggested that at least the earliest part of the short latency excitatory crossed reflexes observed here, are monosynaptically mediated. In addition, there is evidence of asymmetry in the presence and strength of these reflexes between the left and right sides. Longer latency reflexes with latencies of between 40 and 50ms were also observed between all muscle groups studied. These were excitatory within the abdominal and paraspinal groups, but inhibitory between them. However, whether these originate from muscle or cutaneous afferents is unclear

Entrainment to speech rhythm from perception to production

Human speech comprehension requires a highly coordinated engagement of linguistic processes. Speech contains complex layers of information to be decoded and often acted on just-in-time. This thesis explores the possible role of speech rhythm in connecting the speech we hear to the speech we produce. Two methodological chapters are presented. The first reviews and evaluates different approaches to creating rhythmic speech stimuli. The second highlights the challenges of collecting precise and accurate auditory response times in web-based experiments. These methods are then applied to a series of three experiments, each building on the last. In a new experimental paradigm, participants responded verbally to simple maths sums where tempo and rhythm were manipulated. Both time-domain and frequency-domain analyses found effects of stimulus tempo on the timing of responses

Effekte der transkraniellen Stromstimulation im Schlaf auf Befindlichkeit und prozedurales Gedächtnis bei Patienten mit Schizophrenie

Das Ziel dieser Studie war es, die Auswirkungen der transkraniellen Stromstimulation während des Schlafes bei Patienten mit Schizophrenie zu untersuchen. Ergebnisse an Gesunden lagen vor (Marshall et al 2006). Es ging vor allem um die Fragen, ob die Stimulation eine Verbesserung der prozeduralen Gedächtnisleistungen bringt, und ob sich die Stimmung der Patienten positiv verändert. Dazu wurden 14 stabil medizierte Patienten mit der Diagnose einer Schizophrenie nach ICD-10 nach dem Einschlafen 5 mal 5 Minuten mit einem Intervall von je einer Minute dazwischen mit niederintensem Strom stimuliert. Es gab eine Stimulations- und eine Scheinstimulationsnacht. Die Patienten wussten nicht, in welcher Nacht sie stimuliert wurden. Abends vor dem Schlafen und morgens nach dem Schlafen mussten die Patienten neuropsychologische Tests bewältigen. Dazu zählten die Erfassung der Zahlenspanne vorwärts und rückwärts und das Spiegelzeichnen, um das prozedurale Gedächtnis zu testen. Ausserdem füllten die Patienten morgens und abends das Abend- und Morgenprotokoll der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Schlafmedizin zur Auswertung der Stimmung und der Schlafgewohnheiten aus. Die Schlafparameter wurden anhand von polysomnographischen Ableitungen erhoben. Der Vergleich der Testleistungen zwischen den Stimulationsnächten und den Placebonächten ergaben keine signifikanten Unterschiede. Das heißt,dass die Stimulation unter den durchgeführten Bedingungen keine Verbesserung der prozeduralen Gedächtnisleistungen zeigte. Auch die verglichenen Schlafparameter wie z.B. die Tiefschlafdauer oder die Schlafeffizienz zeigten keine signifikanten Verbesserungen durch die Stimulation. Die Auswertung der Schlaffragebögen ergab ein signifikantes Ergebnis in Bezug auf die Stimmung der Patienten. Die Stimmung der Patienten am Morgen nach der Stimulationsnacht war signifikant besser als die Stimmung am Morgen nach der Placebonacht

LexOPS: An R package and user interface for the controlled generation of word stimuli

LexOPS is an R package and user interface designed to facilitate the generation of word stimuli for use in research. Notably, the tool permits the generation of suitably controlled word lists for any user-specified factorial design and can be adapted for use with any language. It features an intuitive graphical user interface, including the visualization of both the distributions within and relationships among variables of interest. An inbuilt database of English words is also provided, including a range of lexical variables commonly used in psycholinguistic research. This article introduces LexOPS, outlining the features of the package and detailing the sources of the inbuilt dataset. We also report a validation analysis, showing that, in comparison to stimuli of existing studies, stimuli optimized with LexOPS generally demonstrate greater constraint and consistency in variable manipulation and control. Current instructions for installing and using LexOPS are available at https://JackEdTaylor.github.io/LexOPSdocs/

The use of reflective material to enhance conspicuity of workers in the mining environment

The underground mining environment is one of the most hazardous in U.S. industry. One severe, often fatal, type of accident occurs when mobile equipment operators fail to see other workers and, as a result, hit them. This occurs largely because of the poor visibility in the mines. This study, consisting of two experiments, investigates the use of retroreflective material to increase worker conspicuity, as measured by both detection and form recognition accuracy scores. A one-fifth scale simulation of the perceptual task was created using dolls dressed as miners. In Experiment I, 12 participants viewed four dolls each wearing a different amount of 400 rep retroreflective material. Four configurations were used: Cap Only, reflective tape on the helmet; Armbands, tape on helmet, belt, and upper arms; Zebra Shirt, tape on the upper body (front and back), helmet and upper arms; and Full Suit, tape on helmet and entire body. In Experiment II, 9 participants viewed the Cap Only and Armbands, as in Experiment I, and a Belt Only configuration in which only the helmet and belt were reflectorized. Participants in both experiments viewed each doll in three body positions: Crawling Away, Kneeling to the Side, and Crawling to the Side at each of three Locations in the visual field: 10°, 25°, and 45° to the line-of-sight. Exposure durations were 200 msec. for each trial. Detection was better for all reflective configurations compared to the Cap Only configuration (improvements: Belt Only=17%; Armbands=21%, Zebra Shirt=22.5%; Full Suit=26%). Form recognition results were also better for all experimental configurations compared to the Cap Only configuration (improvements: Belt Only 39%; Armbands37%; Zebra Shirt=43%; Full Suit=140%). In both cases, improvements were most dramatic for the Crawling Away body position and at the 45° location in the visual field. The overall conclusion was that retroreflective material can significantly improve both detection and form recognition in the mines. It was also concluded that Armbands, overall, was the most cost-effective configuration for increasing the conspicuity of miners.Includes bibliographical references (pages 76-78)California State University, Northridge. Department of Psychology