Infusing Problem-Based Learning (PBL) Into Science Methods Courses Across Virginia

This article outlines the results of a collaborative study of the effects of infusing problem-based learning (PBL) into K-12 science methods courses across four universities in Virginia. Changes in pre-service teachers\u27 attitudes surrounding science teaching were measured before and after completing a science methods course in which they experienced PBL first-hand as participants, and then practiced designing their own PBL units for use in their future classrooms. The results indicate that exposure to PBL enhances pre-service teachers\u27 knowledge of inquiry methods and self-efficacy in teaching science

"Webcomics Archive? Now I'm Interested": Comics Readers Seeking Information in Web Archives (Poster)

There is a longstanding tradition of understanding information needs and interaction behavior across different user groups to inform the design of digital products and services. There is a gap in such research of comics readers, specifically how they seek and interact with the information and interfaces of web-based archives provided by cultural institutions. For example, while information interaction research has now recognized that information-seeking for leisure and pleasure are important domains of study - consuming information based in fiction can help us escape to exciting worlds by captivating narratives - and while there have been studies of how people find fiction to read, there have to our knowledge been no user-centered studies on how people find and consume digital comics. This exploratory study provides an enriched understanding of the information needs and interaction behaviors of digital comics readers and how that understanding can inform the design of digital platforms to better support them

“Moving with the story”: the haptics of reader experience and response to digital comics

The experience of reading digital comics differs from that of other reading in that it involves the interplay between text and art, both “on the page”, for example, as with the traditional comic book format, or “off the page” in interaction with devices, apps and “extras” the Alt Text in the webcomic, xkcd. This interplay and placement can communicate movement, stillness, suspense, bringing the reader along not only through content or story arc but also through the material affordances, the physical reality of the comic in combination with the technology. The findings of this exploratory study reveal both the varied reading experiences of digital comics as well as the shared experiences of haptic interactions and emotional perception and reaction through the use of devices, comics platforms and apps, and social media. Although webcomics, one type of digital comics, have long been a part of the evolution of hypertext, their place has not always been acknowledged in the scholarship. This research not only contributes towards an empirical, qualitative understanding of reader response to and experience of a range of digital comics including webcomics, but also addresses their role as an example of the haptics of hypertext fiction

“Webcomics Archive? Now I’m Interested”: Comics Readers Seeking Information in Web Archives

There is a longstanding tradition of understanding information needs and interaction behavior across different user groups to inform the design of digital products and services. There is a gap in such research of comics readers, specifically how they seek and interact with the information and interfaces of web-based archives provided by cultural institutions. For example, while information interaction research has now recognized that information-seeking for leisure and pleasure are important domains of study - consuming information based in fiction can help us escape to exciting worlds by captivating narratives - and while there have been studies of how people find fiction to read, there have to our knowledge been no user-centered studies on how people find and consume digital comics. This exploratory study provides an enriched understanding of the information needs and interaction behaviors of digital comics readers and how that understanding can inform the design of digital platforms to better support them

The effects of particle-induced oxidative damage from exposure to airborne fine particulate matter components in the vicinity of landfill sites on Hong Kong

The physical, chemical and bioreactivity characteristics of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) collected near (<1 km) two landfill sites and downwind urban sites were investigated. The PM2.5 concentrations were significantly higher in winter than summer. Diurnal variations of PM2.5 were recorded at both landfill sites. Soot aggregate particles were identified near the landfill sites, which indicated that combustion pollution due to landfill activities was a significant source. High correlation coefficients (r) implied several inorganic elements and water-soluble inorganic ions (vanadium (V), copper (Cu), chloride (Cl−), nitrate (NO3−), sodium (Na) and potassium (K)) were positively associated with wind flow from the landfill sites. Nevertheless, no significant correlations were also identified between these components against DNA damage. Significant associations were observed between DNA damage and some heavy metals such as cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb), and total Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) during the summer. The insignificant associations of DNA damage under increased wind frequency from landfills suggested that the PM2.5 loading from sources such as regional sources was possibly an important contributing factor for DNA damage. This outcome warrants the further development of effective and source-specific landfill management regulations for particulate matter production control to the city

Dietary calcium and vitamin D intakes in childhood and throughout adulthood and mammographic density in a British birth cohort

We examined the role of dietary calcium and vitamin D intakes in childhood and throughout adulthood in relation to mammographic density using data from a nationally representative cohort of 1161 women followed up since their birth in 1946. Dietary intakes at the age of 4 years were determined by 24-h recalls and at the ages of 36, 43 and 53 years by 5-day food records. After adjusting for known risk factors and confounders, no evidence of a relationship between dietary calcium or vitamin D intakes and mammographic density approximately at the age of 50 years was found, except for a cross-sectional relationship between dietary calcium intake at the age of 53 years and breast density in women who were post-menopausal at the time of mammography, with those in the top fifth of the distribution of calcium intake having a 0.53 s.d. lower percent breast density than those in the lowest fifth (P-value <0.01 for linear trend)

A New Approach to Online Thickness Measurement of Thermal Spray Coatings

Peer reviewed: NoNRC publication: Ye

Analytical in vitro approach for studying cyto- and genotoxic effects of particulate airborne material

In the field of inhalation toxicology, progress in the development of in vitro methods and efficient exposure strategies now offers the implementation of cellular-based systems. These can be used to analyze the hazardous potency of airborne substances like gases, particles, and complex mixtures (combustion products). In addition, the regulatory authorities require the integration of such approaches to reduce or replace animal experiments. Although the animal experiment currently still has to provide the last proof of the toxicological potency and classification of a certain compound, in vitro testing is gaining more and more importance in toxicological considerations. This paper gives a brief characterization of the CULTEX® Radial Flow System exposure device, which allows the exposure of cultivated cells as well as bacteria under reproducible and stable conditions for studying cellular and genotoxic effects after the exposure at the air–liquid or air–agar interface, respectively. A commercial bronchial epithelial cell line (16HBE14o-) as well as Salmonella typhimurium tester strains were exposed to smoke of different research and commercial available cigarettes. A dose-dependent reduction of cell viability was found in the case of 16HBE14o- cells; S. typhimurium responded with a dose-dependent induction of revertants. The promising results recommend the integration of cellular studies in the field of inhalation toxicology and their regulatory acceptance by advancing appropriate validation studies