Second language learning in the context of MOOCs

Massive Open Online Courses are becoming popular educational vehicles through which universities reach out to non-traditional audiences. Many enrolees hail from other countries and cultures, and struggle to cope with the English language in which these courses are invariably offered. Moreover, most such learners have a strong desire and motivation to extend their knowledge of academic English, particularly in the specific area addressed by the course. Online courses provide a compelling opportunity for domain-specific language learning. They supply a large corpus of interesting linguistic material relevant to a particular area, including supplementary images (slides), audio and video. We contend that this corpus can be automatically analysed, enriched, and transformed into a resource that learners can browse and query in order to extend their ability to understand the language used, and help them express themselves more fluently and eloquently in that domain. To illustrate this idea, an existing online corpus-based language learning tool (FLAX) is applied to a Coursera MOOC entitled Virology 1: How Viruses Work, offered by Columbia University

Neural signals encoding shifts in beliefs

Dopamine is implicated in a diverse range of cognitive functions including cognitive flexibility, task switching, signalling novel or unexpected stimuli as well as advance information. There is also longstanding line of thought that links dopamine with belief formation and, crucially, aberrant belief formation in psychosis. Integrating these strands of evidence would suggest that dopamine plays a central role in belief updating and more specifically in encoding of meaningful information content in observations. The precise nature of this relationship has remained unclear. To directly address this question we developed a paradigm that allowed us to decompose two distinct types of information content, information-theoretic surprise that reflects the unexpectedness of an observation, and epistemic value that induces shifts in beliefs or, more formally, Bayesian surprise. Using functional magnetic-resonance imaging in humans we show that dopamine-rich midbrain regions encode shifts in beliefs whereas surprise is encoded in prefrontal regions, including the pre-supplementary motor area and dorsal cingulate cortex. By linking putative dopaminergic activity to belief updating these data provide a link to false belief formation that characterises hyperdopaminergic states associated with idiopathic and drug induced psychosis

Development of nonflammable adhesives Final technical report, 17 Sep. 1968 - 20 Jan. 1970

Development of nonflammable fluorinated polyurethane adhesives for spacecraft system

Increasing persistence in undergraduate science majors: a model for institutional support of underrepresented students.

The 6-yr degree-completion rate of undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors at U.S. colleges and universities is less than 40%. Persistence among women and underrepresented minorities (URMs), including African-American, Latino/a, Native American, and Pacific Islander students, is even more troubling, as these students leave STEM majors at significantly higher rates than their non-URM peers. This study utilizes a matched comparison group design to examine the academic achievement and persistence of students enrolled in the Program for Excellence in Education and Research in the Sciences (PEERS), an academic support program at the University of California, Los Angeles, for first- and second-year science majors from underrepresented backgrounds. Results indicate that PEERS students, on average, earned higher grades in most "gatekeeper" chemistry and math courses, had a higher cumulative grade point average, completed more science courses, and persisted in a science major at significantly higher rates than the comparison group. With its holistic approach focused on academics, counseling, creating a supportive community, and exposure to research, the PEERS program serves as an excellent model for universities interested in and committed to improving persistence of underrepresented science majors and closing the achievement gap

"You Look So Well": The Multiple Facets of Hidden Disabilities

Produced by The Center on Disability Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa Honolulu, Hawaii and The School of Social Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas Richardson, Texas for The Society for Disability Studies

Optimizing multi-dimensional terahertz imaging analysis for colon cancer diagnosis

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The Dopaminergic Midbrain Encodes the Expected Certainty about Desired Outcomes

Dopamine plays a key role in learning; however, its exact function in decision making and choice remains unclear. Recently, we proposed a generic model based on active (Bayesian) inference wherein dopamine encodes the precision of beliefs about optimal policies. Put simply, dopamine discharges reflect the confidence that a chosen policy will lead to desired outcomes. We designed a novel task to test this hypothesis, where subjects played a "limited offer" game in a functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment. Subjects had to decide how long to wait for a high offer before accepting a low offer, with the risk of losing everything if they waited too long. Bayesian model comparison showed that behavior strongly supported active inference, based on surprise minimization, over classical utility maximization schemes. Furthermore, midbrain activity, encompassing dopamine projection neurons, was accurately predicted by trial-by-trial variations in model-based estimates of precision. Our findings demonstrate that human subjects infer both optimal policies and the precision of those inferences, and thus support the notion that humans perform hierarchical probabilistic Bayesian inference. In other words, subjects have to infer both what they should do as well as how confident they are in their choices, where confidence may be encoded by dopaminergic firing

Lay Ecclesial Ministry Formation: Catholic School Administrators

The study was designed with a goal of generating a template for Lay Ecclesial Ministry Formation for Catholic School Administrators, which would have flexibility to adapt to cultural differences in various Catholic dioceses in the United States. The focus of the data gathering was the Baltimore Province, inclusive of the dioceses of: Arlington, Virginia; Baltimore, Maryland; Richmond, Virginia; Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia; and Wilmington, Delaware. The need for such a template can be documented based on several recent studies by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate. These studies indicate that the personal perception of what it means to be Catholic is shifting. In many cases, people applying for administrative positions in Catholic schools today are less prepared in terms of knowledge of the faith, practice of the faith, and Catholic spirituality than those who came before them. To ascertain what the template for a formation program should look like, data was gathered to address three research questions: 1.Which statement more clearly reflects your understanding of lay ecclesial ministry? a. Lay ecclesial ministry is a privileged limited share in the ministry of the ordained. b. Lay ecclesial ministry is an intrinsic responsibility in the Church stemming from baptism. 2. How do our Lay Ecclesial Ministry Formation Programs provide a solid, on-going support for continued growth in human, intellectual, spiritual, theological, faith and moral development? How are participants properly prepared to apply this development specifically to the practicalities of leadership in Catholic education? 3. What needs to occur to ensure that our ecclesial catechesis of the baptismal commission effectively assists us in recruiting Spirit-filled enthusiastic candidates for positions in Catholic school leadership? How do we best market our programs in Lay Ecclesial Ministry Formation for Leadership in Catholic schools? What type of leadership succession plan do we put in place to pave the way for the Catholic schools of the next decade or next century

Poly/vinyl ethers/ synthesis for fundamental study of viscoelastic state Final report

Large scale synthesis of amorphous poly/vinyl ethers/ for viscoelastic state stud