The Resolved Outer Population of NGC6822 with WFPC2

We present F336W (U), F439W (B), F555W (V), and F675W (R) Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) photometry of two outer regions of the Local Group dwarf irregular galaxy NGC6822. The NE region is ~13 arcmin from the galaxy centre, while the W region lies 10 arcmin out, and within the wispy low surface brightness outer regions of the galaxy. The fields are not crowded and contain few NGC 6822 stars. We discuss errors and uncertainties and find that the W region contains a main sequence that extends to stars of about 2 solar masses, with an age of about 200 Myr. The NE region has no main sequence or stars younger than 1 Gyr, but does contain some luminous red stars that are not matched in the W field. These stars are not clumped in the field. The results suggest that the W region may be a trace of a tidal event that triggered the current star-formation in this isolated galaxy.Comment: 12 pages including 2 tables, plus 4 figures (#1 omitted) To appear in PAS

Challenges and implications of routine depression screening for depression in chronic disease and multimorbidity: a cross sectional study

<b>Background</b> Depression screening in chronic disease is advocated but its impact on routine practice is uncertain. We examine the effects of a programme of incentivised depression screening in chronic disease within a UK primary care setting.<p></p> <b>Methods and Findings</b> Cross sectional analysis of anonymised, routinely collected data (for 2008-9) from family practices in Scotland serving a population of circa 1.8 million. Patients registered in primary care with at least one of three chronic diseases, coronary heart disease, diabetes and stroke, underwent incentivised depression screening using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Score (HADS). <p></p> 125143 patients were identified with at least one chronic disease. 10670 (8.5%) were under treatment for depression and exempt from screening. Of the remaining, HADS were recorded for 35537 (31.1%) patients. 7080 (19.9% of screened) had raised HADS (≥8); the majority had indications of mild depression with a HADS between 8 and 10. Over 6 months, 572 (8%) of those with a raised HADS (≥8) were initiated on antidepressants, while 696 (2.4%) patients with a normal HADS (<8) were also initiated on antidepressants (relative risk of antidepressant initiation with raised HADS 3.3 (CI 2.97-3.67), p value <0.0001). Of those with multimorbidity who were screened, 24.3% had a raised HADS (≥8). A raised HADS was more likely in females, socioeconomically deprived, multimorbid or younger (18-44) individuals. Females and 45-64 years old were more likely to receive antidepressants.<p></p> <b>Limitations</b> – retrospective study of routinely collected data.<p></p> <b>Conclusions </b> Despite incentivisation, only minority of patients underwent depression screening, suggesting that systematic depression screening in chronic disease can be difficult to achieve in routine practice. Targeting those at greatest risk such as the multimorbid or using simpler screening methods may be more effective. Raised HADS was associated with a higher number of new antidepressant prescriptions which has significant resource implications. The clinical benefits of such screening remain uncertain and merit investigation

Teaching Teachers for the Future (TTF) Project: Development of the TTF TPACK survey instrument

This paper presents a summary of the key findings of the TTF TPACK Survey developed and administered for the Teaching the Teachers for the Future (TTF) Project implemented in 2011. The TTF Project, funded by an Australian Government ICT Innovation Fund grant, involved all 39 Australian Higher Education Institutions which provide initial teacher education. TTF data collections were undertaken at the end of Semester 1 (T1) and at the end of Semester 2 (T2) in 2011. A total of 12881 participants completed the first survey (T1) and 5809 participants completed the second survey (T2). Groups of like-named items from the T1 survey were subject to a battery of complementary data analysis techniques. The psychometric properties of the four scales: Confidence - teacher items; Usefulness - teacher items; Confidence - student items; Usefulness- student items, were confirmed both at T1 and T2. Among the key findings summarised, at the national level, the scale: Confidence to use ICT as a teacher showed measurable growth across the whole scale from T1 to T2, and the scale: Confidence to facilitate student use of ICT also showed measurable growth across the whole scale from T1 to T2. Additional key TTF TPACK Survey findings are summarised

Cylindrical, periodic surface lattice — theory, dispersion analysis, and experiment

A two-dimensional surface lattice of cylindrical topology obtained via perturbing the inner surface of a cylinder is considered. Periodic perturbations of the surface lead to observation of high-impedance, dielectric-like media and resonant coupling of surface and non-propagating volume fields. This allows synthesis of tailored-for-purpose "coating" material with dispersion suitable, for instance, to mediate a Cherenkov type interaction. An analytical model of the lattice is discussed and coupled-wave equations are derived. Variations of the lattice dispersive properties with variation of parameters are shown, illustrating the tailoring of the structure's electromagnetic properties. Experimental results are presented showing agreement with the theoretical model

Neural correlates of weighted reward prediction error during reinforcement learning classify response to cognitive behavioral therapy in depression

While cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an effective treatment for major depressive disorder, only up to 45% of depressed patients will respond to it. At present, there is no clinically viable neuroimaging predictor of CBT response. Notably, the lack of a mechanistic understanding of treatment response has hindered identification of predictive biomarkers. To obtain mechanistically meaningful fMRI predictors of CBT response, we capitalize on pretreatment neural activity encoding a weighted reward prediction error (RPE), which is implicated in the acquisition and processing of feedback information during probabilistic learning. Using a conventional mass-univariate fMRI analysis, we demonstrate that, at the group level, responders exhibit greater pretreatment neural activity encoding a weighted RPE in the right striatum and right amygdala. Crucially, using multivariate methods, we show that this activity offers significant out-of-sample classification of treatment response. Our findings support the feasibility and validity of neurocomputational approaches to treatment prediction in psychiatry

Assessing Preservice Teachers’ Presentation Capabilities: Contrasting the Modes of Communication with the Constructed Impression

A research-based understanding of how to develop and assess classroom presentation skills is vital for the effective development of pre-service teacher communication capabilities. This paper identifies and compares two different models of assessing pre-service teachers’ presentation performance – one based on the Modes of Communication (voice, body language, words, and alignment between those elements) and another based on features of the Constructed Impression of the communication acts (confidence, clarity, engagement and appropriateness). The Modes of Communication and the Constructed Impression of 164 pre-service teacher presentations were rated. The Constructed Impression model provided a better fit to data, while averaging of Modes of Communication elements offered more accurate prediction of overall score. All elements in both models made a significant contribution to the overall perception of communication performance. The study also reports on the relative contribution of voice, body language, words and alignment to the perceived confidence, clarity, engagement and appropriateness of the pre-service teacher presentations. Implications for developing pre-service teachers’ presentation capabilities are also discussed