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Who makes better use of technology for learning in D&T? Schools or university?
University teacher training departments have many functions in their role as Schools for Initial Teacher Education (ITE), these include accrediting qualified teacher status, teaching subject knowledge and pedagogy, and influencing change in a school subject's content and pedagogy. This paper discusses this latter area. It can be easy for teacher training in universities to become ivory towers, modelling new ideas for curriculum delivery and content in a 'bubble' away from the real world of the school classroom. A centre of design and technology (D&T) education at an English university has undertaken research-led developments in the use of web 2.0 technologies and technology enhanced learning (TEL), modelling how they can be used in the classroom. The research examined in this paper is the next stage of the centre's curriculum development to ensure the relevance of the university curriculum content and practices. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the use of TEL in secondary schools is inconsistent and sporadic with D&T teachers using TEL, with minimal awareness of research available, which could inform their practice. This impacts on the centre's trainee teachers as they begin teaching in schools during their final year of the course, with a possible unrealistic expectation of how TEL is used in schools, based on their university experiences
First Principles Calculations of Ionic Vibrational Frequencies in PbMg1/3Nb2/3O3
Lattice dynamics for several ordered supercells with composition
PbMg1/3Nb2/3O (PMN) were calculated with first-principles frozen phonon
methods. Nominal symmetries of the supercells studied are reduced by lattice
instabilities. Lattice modes corresponding to these instabilities, equilibrium
ionic positions, and infrared (IR) reflectivity spectra are reported.Comment: 6 pages; Fundamental physics of Ferroelectrics 200
Correction and turn completion as collaborative repair strategies in conversations following Wernicke's aphasia
This study explores repair practices deployed by the interlocutor of a speaker with Wernickeās aphasia, their relationship to types of aphasic difficulty, and how mutual understanding and the progression of talk is maintained. A 75-year-old woman with Wernickeās aphasia of 16 months duration and her friend video recorded 36 minutes of conversation at home. Using conversation analytic methods two patterns of other-repair by the non-aphasic interlocutor were identified. The first practice was turn completion, which occurred in the context of self-initiated word search by the person with aphasia. The second was correction in the context of trouble with reference to person or place, manifested as an erroneous word, mis-selection of a gendered pronoun, or use of a pronoun where a personās name was expected. This correction was mainly overt, completed via a short side sequence dealing with the repair, although a few examples were embedded, where a word or phrase was replaced with a corrected form without overtly drawing attention to the correction. None of the examples included an account for the error. Unlike in typical talk, the person with aphasia did not repeat or use the corrected form in subsequent talk. For this dyad, correction and completion function as interactionally acceptable collaborative repair strategies, maintaining progressivity and a focus on topic development rather than on repair itself. There is no evidence that other-correction is dispreferred, which accords with recent findings for typical interaction but differs from other studies of aphasic talk. Correction should not be dismissed out of hand as a negative interactional practice when talking to someone with Wernickeās aphasia
Control of P2X2 Channel Permeability by the Cytosolic Domain
ATP-gated P2X channels are the simplest of the three families of transmitter-gated ion channels. Some P2X channels display a time- and activation-dependent change in permeability as they undergo the transition from the relatively Na+-selective I1 state to the I2 state, which is also permeable to organic cations. We report that the previously reported permeability change of rat P2X2 (rP2X2) channels does not occur at mouse P2X2 (mP2X2) channels expressed in oocytes. Domain swaps, species chimeras, and point mutations were employed to determine that two specific amino acid residues in the cytosolic tail domain govern this difference in behavior between the two orthologous channels. The change in pore diameter was characterized using reversal potential measurements and excluded field theory for several organic ions; both rP2X2 and mP2X2 channels have a pore diameter of ~11 Ć
in the I1 state, but the transition to the I2 state increases the rP2X2 diameter by at least 3 Ć
. The I1 to I2 transition occurs with a rate constant of ~0.5 s^-1. The data focus attention on specific residues of P2X2 channel cytoplasmic domains as determinants of permeation in a state-specific manner
3D APIs in Interactive Real-Time Systems: Comparison of OpenGL, Direct3D and Java3D.
Since the first display of a few computer-generated lines on a Cathode-ray tube (CRT) over 40 years ago, graphics has progressed rapidly towards the computer generation of detailed images and interactive environments in real time (Angel, 1997). In the last twenty years a number of Application Programmer's Interfaces (APIs) have been developed to provide access to three-dimensional graphics systems. Currently, there are numerous APIs used for many different types of applications. This paper will look at three of these: OpenGL, Direct3D, and one of the newest entrants, Java3D. They will be discussed in relation to their level of versatility, programability, and how innovative they are in introducing new features and furthering the development of 3D-interactive programming
Diffusion of Point Defects in Two-Dimensional Colloidal Crystals
We report the first study of the dynamics of point defects, mono and
di-vacancies, in a confined 2-D colloidal crystal in real space and time using
digital video microscopy. The defects are introduced by manipulating individual
particles with optical tweezers. The diffusion rates are measured to be
Hz for mono-vacancies and
Hz for di-vacancies. The elementary diffusion
processes are identified and it is found that the diffusion of di-vacancies is
enhanced by a \textit{dislocation dissociation-recombination} mechanism.
Furthermore, the defects do not follow a simple random walk but their hopping
exhibits memory effects, due to the reduced symmetry (compared to the
triangular lattice) of their stable configurations, and the slow relaxation
rates of the lattice modes.Comment: 6 pages (REVTEX), 5 figures (PS
Building effective models from sparse but precise data
A common approach in computational science is to use a set of of highly
precise but expensive calculations to parameterize a model that allows less
precise, but more rapid calculations on larger scale systems. Least-squares
fitting on a model that underfits the data is generally used for this purpose.
For arbitrarily precise data free from statistic noise, e.g. ab initio
calculations, we argue that it is more appropriate to begin with a ensemble of
models that overfit the data. Within a Bayesian framework, a most likely model
can be defined that incorporates physical knowledge, provides error estimates
for systems not included in the fit, and reproduces the original data exactly.
We apply this approach to obtain a cluster expansion model for the Ca[Zr,Ti]O3
solid solution.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letter
Enhancement of piezoelectricity in a mixed ferroelectric
We use first-principles density-functional total energy and polarization
calculations to calculate the piezoelectric tensor at zero temperature for both
cubic and simple tetragonal ordered supercells of Pb_3GeTe_4. The largest
piezoelectric coefficient for the tetragonal configuration is enhanced by a
factor of about three with respect to that of the cubic configuration. This can
be attributed to both the larger strain-induced motion of cations relative to
anions and higher Born effective charges in the tetragonal case. A normal mode
decomposition shows that both cation ordering and local relaxation weaken the
ferroelectric instability, enhancing piezoelectricity.Comment: 5 pages, revtex, 2 eps figure
Clusters, phason elasticity, and entropic stabilisation: a theory perspective
Personal comments are made about the title subjects, including: the relation
of Friedel oscillations to Hume-Rothery stabilisation; how calculations may
resolve the random-tiling versus ideal pictures of quasicrystals; and the role
of entropies apart from tile-configurational.Comment: IOP macros; 8pp, 1 figure. In press, Phil. Mag. A (Proc. Intl. Conf.
on Quasicrystals 9, Ames Iowa, May 2005
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