An integrated approach to encourage student-centered learning: A first course in dynamics

One of the most significant challenges facing Higher Education today is getting students to take responsibility for their own learning. In Science and Engineering this is complicated by the decline in the mathematical and problem solving skills of students entering university. Several techniques for addressing these issues have been applied to the Dynamics module on the first year Physics course at the University of Manchester over the last two years. These include the use of Just-in-Time Teaching, e-learning and e-assessment, interactive voting systems and peer instruction. We first encourage students to start to construct their own understanding via e-learning and then challenge their understanding during a lecture-based session using an interactive voting system. This is followed by more e-learning, which features formative e-assessment, and by a staff-supervised problem session using the Just-in-Time Teaching approach. Thus we have been able to improve student engagement with the course material and have achieved a significant improvement in examination performance. This paper will describe the implementation of the various new techniques and discuss their advantages and disadvantages

The use of breast screening services in NSW: Are we moving towards greater equity? [Draft - not for quotation or citation], CHERE Working Paper 2007/7

Introduction: Since 1991 State and Federal Governments, under the auspices of BreastScreen Australia, have been providing mammography services free at the point of delivery to women aged 40 and over. One of the stated aims of the program is to provide equitable access to all women in the target group. Methods: Data on self-reported utilisation of breast screening services came from the 1997/98 and 2002/04 NSW Health Surveys. Probit regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between income and breast screening behaviour of women in NSW aged 50 to 69. Results: The results for 2002 and 2004 show that income has a positive and significant impact on the likelihood that a woman chooses to screen for breast cancer at regular intervals. The role of income was consistent across most regions. Women born overseas have a lower likelihood of screening regularly. Results from the pooled dataset show that the income gradient appears to be steeper in 2002/04 compared to 1997/98. Conclusions: These results indicate that the current program has not ensured equitable take-up of mammography services and that further research and investment is needed to meet program objectives.breast screening, Australia

Breast screening in NSW, Australia: predictors of non-attendance and irregular attendance

BreastScreen Australia provides free mammography services to women in the target age group of 50 to 69 years. The program uses a variety of measures to recruit women to the service and, subsequently, encourage them to screen at two year intervals. One of the stated aims of the program is to provide equitable access to all women in the target age group. This paper analyses the extent to which systematic variation can be observed amongst women in terms of their screening behaviour, focusing on those who have never screened or are irregular screeners. Data on self reported utilisation of breast screening services was obtained from the 2002/04 NSW Health Surveys. A multinomial logit (MNL) model was used to examine the role of socioeconomic status, cultural background, education and region of residence on breast screening behaviour. The results show that lower income is associated with a woman never screening or screening irregularly. Region of residence is an important predictor of screening behaviour, although the degree of remoteness was not influential in determining participation. A higher number of hours worked was associated with women being more likely to screen irregularly. These results provide evidence of persistent and systematic variation in screening uptake and regular participation. The results also point towards targeted recruitment and retainment strategies that may provide the greatest potential benefits.breast screening, mammography, NSW, Australia

Gender differences in conceptual understanding of Newtonian mechanics: a UK cross-institution comparison

We present results of a combined study from three UK universities where we investigate the existence and persistence of a performance gender gap in conceptual understanding of Newtonian mechanics. Using the Force Concept Inventory, we find that students at all three universities exhibit a statistically significant gender gap, with males outperforming females. This gap is narrowed but not eliminated after instruction, using a variety of instructional approaches. Furthermore, we find that before instruction the quartile with the lowest performance on the diagnostic instrument comprises a disproportionately high fraction (~50%) of the total female cohort. The majority of these students remain in the lowest-performing quartile post-instruction. Analysis of responses to individual items shows that male students outperform female students on practically all items on the instrument. Comparing the performance of the same group of students on end-of-course examinations, we find no statistically significant gender gaps.Comment: 17 page

Targeting services to reduce social inequalities in utilisation: an analysis of breast cancer screening in New South Wales

Many jurisdictions have used public funding of health care to reduce or remove price at the point of delivery of services. Whilst this reduces an important barrier to accessing care, it does nothing to discriminate between groups considered to have greater or fewer needs. In this paper, we consider whether active targeted recruitment, in addition to offering a 'free' service, is associated with a reduction in social inequalities in self-reported utilization of the breast screening services in NSW, Australia

Behavioral and Social Influences on Food Choice

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75438/1/j.1753-4887.1998.tb01732.x.pd

Learning to Eat Vegetables in Early Life: The Role of Timing, Age and Individual Eating Traits

Vegetable intake is generally low among children, who appear to be especially fussy during the pre-school years. Repeated exposure is known to enhance intake of a novel vegetable in early life but individual differences in response to familiarisation have emerged from recent studies. In order to understand the factors which predict different responses to repeated exposure, data from the same experiment conducted in three groups of children from three countries (n = 332) aged 4–38 m (18.9±9.9 m) were combined and modelled. During the intervention period each child was given between 5 and 10 exposures to a novel vegetable (artichoke puree) in one of three versions (basic, sweet or added energy). Intake of basic artichoke puree was measured both before and after the exposure period. Overall, younger children consumed more artichoke than older children. Four distinct patterns of eating behaviour during the exposure period were defined. Most children were “learners” (40%) who increased intake over time. 21% consumed more than 75% of what was offered each time and were labelled “plate-clearers”. 16% were considered “non-eaters” eating less than 10 g by the 5th exposure and the remainder were classified as “others” (23%) since their pattern was highly variable. Age was a significant predictor of eating pattern, with older pre-school children more likely to be non-eaters. Plate-clearers had higher enjoyment of food and lower satiety responsiveness than non-eaters who scored highest on food fussiness. Children in the added energy condition showed the smallest change in intake over time, compared to those in the basic or sweetened artichoke condition. Clearly whilst repeated exposure familiarises children with a novel food, alternative strategies that focus on encouraging initial tastes of the target food might be needed for the fussier and older pre-school children

Sensitivity to Gravitational Waves from Compact Binary Coalescences Achieved during LIGO's Fifth and Virgo's First Science Run

We summarize the sensitivity achieved by the LIGO and Virgo gravitational wave detectors for compact binary coalescence (CBC) searches during LIGO's fifth science run and Virgo's first science run. We present noise spectral density curves for each of the four detectors that operated during these science runs which are representative of the typical performance achieved by the detectors for CBC searches. These spectra are intended for release to the public as a summary of detector performance for CBC searches during these science runs.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure

Gravitational Waves From Known Pulsars: Results From The Initial Detector Era

We present the results of searches for gravitational waves from a large selection of pulsars using data from the most recent science runs (S6, VSR2 and VSR4) of the initial generation of interferometric gravitational wave detectors LIGO (Laser Interferometric Gravitational-wave Observatory) and Virgo. We do not see evidence for gravitational wave emission from any of the targeted sources but produce upper limits on the emission amplitude. We highlight the results from seven young pulsars with large spin-down luminosities. We reach within a factor of five of the canonical spin-down limit for all seven of these, whilst for the Crab and Vela pulsars we further surpass their spin-down limits. We present new or updated limits for 172 other pulsars (including both young and millisecond pulsars). Now that the detectors are undergoing major upgrades, and, for completeness, we bring together all of the most up-to-date results from all pulsars searched for during the operations of the first-generation LIGO, Virgo and GEO600 detectors. This gives a total of 195 pulsars including the most recent results described in this paper.United States National Science FoundationScience and Technology Facilities Council of the United KingdomMax-Planck-SocietyState of Niedersachsen/GermanyAustralian Research CouncilInternational Science Linkages program of the Commonwealth of AustraliaCouncil of Scientific and Industrial Research of IndiaIstituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare of ItalySpanish Ministerio de Economia y CompetitividadConselleria d'Economia Hisenda i Innovacio of the Govern de les Illes BalearsNetherlands Organisation for Scientific ResearchPolish Ministry of Science and Higher EducationFOCUS Programme of Foundation for Polish ScienceRoyal SocietyScottish Funding CouncilScottish Universities Physics AllianceNational Aeronautics and Space AdministrationOTKA of HungaryLyon Institute of Origins (LIO)National Research Foundation of KoreaIndustry CanadaProvince of Ontario through the Ministry of Economic Development and InnovationNational Science and Engineering Research Council CanadaCarnegie TrustLeverhulme TrustDavid and Lucile Packard FoundationResearch CorporationAlfred P. Sloan FoundationAstronom

Search for gravitational waves associated with the InterPlanetary Network short gamma ray bursts

We outline the scientific motivation behind a search for gravitational waves associated with short gamma ray bursts detected by the InterPlanetary Network (IPN) during LIGO's fifth science run and Virgo's first science run. The IPN localisation of short gamma ray bursts is limited to extended error boxes of different shapes and sizes and a search on these error boxes poses a series of challenges for data analysis. We will discuss these challenges and outline the methods to optimise the search over these error boxes.Comment: Methods paper; Proceedings for Eduardo Amaldi 9 Conference on Gravitational Waves, July 2011, Cardiff, U