Innovation: A selection from the Bodleian’s Special Collections for the Vice Chancellor's Circle

Inventiveness in the sciences and humanities as shown in manuscripts, rare books, and archives in the Bodleian's Special Collections

Silicon carbide and other films and method of deposition

A method of depositing a ceramic film, particularly a silicon carbide film, on a substrate is disclosed in which the residual stress, residual stress gradient, and resistivity are controlled. Also disclosed are substrates having a deposited film with these controlled properties and devices, particularly MEMS and NEMS devices, having substrates with films having these properties

Composition Comprising Silicon Carbide

A method of depositing a ceramic film, particularly a silicon carbide film, on a substrate is disclosed in which the residual stress, residual stress gradient, and resistivity are controlled. Also disclosed are substrates having a deposited film with these controlled properties and devices, particularly MEMS and NEMS devices, having substrates with films having these properties

Repurposeable Learning Objects Based on Teaching and Learning Styles

Multimedia learning objects are an essential component of high quality, technology-mediated instruction. Learning objects allow the student to use the content learned in a particular part of a course and; 1. demonstrate mastery of the content, 2. apply that knowledge to solving a problem, and 3. use the content in a critical thinking exercise that both demonstrates mastery and allows the student to place the content within the context of the larger topic of the course. The difficulty associated with the use of learning objects on a broad scale is that they require programming skills most professors and instructors do not possess. Learning objects also tend to be custom productions and are defined in terms of the programming and code terminology, further limiting the professor’s ability to understand how they are created. Learning objects defined in terms of styles of learning and teaching allow professors and instructors to develop a deeper understanding of the learning objects and the design process. A set of learning objects has been created that are designed for some of the important styles of learning and teaching. They include; visual learning, writing skills, critical thinking, time-revealed scenarios, case studies and empirical observation. The learning objects are designed and described in terms that the average instructor can readily understand , redesign and incorporate into their own courses. They are also designed in such a way that they can readily be repurposed for new applications in other courses and subject areas, with little or no additional programming. (Authors' abstract

Fabrication on the microscale : a two-photon polymerized device for oocyte microinjection

Open Access funding enabled and organized by CAUL and its Member Institutions. KRD is supported by a Mid-Career Fellowship from the Hospital Research Foundation (C-MCF-58–2019). KD acknowledges funding from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (grant EP/P030017/1). This study was funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics (CE140100003).Purpose Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) addresses male sub-fertility by injecting a spermatozoon into the oocyte. This challenging procedure requires the use of dual micromanipulators, with success influenced by inter-operator expertise. We hypothesized that minimizing oocyte handling during ICSI will simplify the procedure. To address this, we designed and fabricated a micrometer scale device that houses the oocyte and requires only one micromanipulator for microinjection. Methods The device consisted of 2 components, each of sub-cubic millimeter volume: a Pod and a Garage. These were fabricated using 2-photon polymerization. Toxicity was evaluated by culturing single-mouse presumptive zygotes (PZs) to the blastocyst stage within a Pod, with several Pods (and embryos) docked in a Garage. The development was compared to standard culture. The level of DNA damage/repair in resultant blastocysts was quantified (γH2A.X immunohistochemistry). To demonstrate the capability to carry out ICSI within the device, PZs were microinjected with 4-μm fluorescent microspheres and cultured to the blastocyst stage. Finally, the device was assessed for oocyte traceability and high-throughput microinjection capabilities and compared to standard microinjection practice using key parameters (pipette setup, holding then injecting oocytes). Results Compared to standard culture, embryo culture within Pods and a Garage showed no differences in development to the blastocyst stage or levels of DNA damage in resultant blastocysts. Furthermore, microinjection within our device removes the need for a holding pipette, improves traceability, and facilitates high-throughput microinjection. Conclusion This novel device could improve embryo production following ICSI by simplifying the procedure and thus decreasing inter-operator variability.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Technology is too important to leave to technologists

The TALON/nPower learning object suite, developed by Arjuna Multimedia, is a set of 39 repurposeable learning object templates based on styles of teaching and learning that are designed to allow instructors and designers to create substantive learning objects without changing any of the source code. The instructor or designer can use the templates to design a new learning object without writing or changing any source code. The templates are simple enough that instructors with little or no programming experience can create their own learning objects. This paper examines the experiences of two professors’ use of the templates to create interactive exercises for their courses

A re-annotation pipeline for Illumina BeadArrays: improving the interpretation of gene expression data.

Illumina BeadArrays are among the most popular and reliable platforms for gene expression profiling. However, little external scrutiny has been given to the design, selection and annotation of BeadArray probes, which is a fundamental issue in data quality and interpretation. Here we present a pipeline for the complete genomic and transcriptomic re-annotation of Illumina probe sequences, also applicable to other platforms, with its output available through a Web interface and incorporated into Bioconductor packages. We have identified several problems with the design of individual probes and we show the benefits of probe re-annotation on the analysis of BeadArray gene expression data sets. We discuss the importance of aspects such as probe coverage of individual transcripts, alternative messenger RNA splicing, single-nucleotide polymorphisms, repeat sequences, RNA degradation biases and probes targeting genomic regions with no known transcription. We conclude that many of the Illumina probes have unreliable original annotation and that our re-annotation allows analyses to focus on the good quality probes, which form the majority, and also to expand the scope of biological information that can be extracted