Back to basics- Are traditional teaching methods obsolete?

A survey requesting students to asses components of effective learning was presented in four forestry courses one at each undergraduate academic level. A total of 120 students received the survey and 118 returned it. Results clearly indicate that students rank instructor attitude and subject matter as the most significant factors to effective learning. Course style and format were much less important, although students have a clear preference for any format that provides hands-on experiences. While most students are familiar with some forms of teaching technology, they only rated it as somewhat effective to the learning process

Transferable ionic parameters for first-principles Poisson-Boltzmann solvation calculations: Neutral solutes in aqueous monovalent salt solutions

Implicit solvation calculations based on a Stern-layer corrected size-modified Poisson-Boltzmann (SMPB) model are an effective approach to capture electrolytic effects in first-principles electronic structure calculations. For a given salt solution, they require a range of ion-specific parameters, which describe the size of the dissolved ions as well as thickness and shape of the Stern layer. Out of this defined parameter space, we show that the Stern layer thickness expressed in terms of the solute’s electron density and the resulting ionic cavity volume completely determine ion effects on the stability of neutral solutes. Using the efficient SMPB functionality of the full-potential density-functional theory package FHI-aims, we derive optimized such Stern layer parameters for neutral solutes in various aqueous monovalent electrolytes. The parametrization protocol relies on fitting to reference Setschenow coefficients that describe solvation free energy changes with ionic strength at low to medium concentrations. The availability of such data for NaCl solutions yields a highly predictive SMPB model that allows to recover the measured Setschenow coefficients with an accuracy that is comparable to prevalent quantitative regression models. Correspondingly derived SMPB parameters for other salts suffer from a much scarcer experimental data base but lead to Stern layer properties that follow a physically reasonable trend with ionic hydration numbers

Keeping Your Friends Close and Your Enemies Closer: Information Networks in Legislative Politics

In this paper we examine information exchange networks in legislative politics and challenge the idea that legislators seek objective information prior to voting on bills. We make the intuitive claim that legislators establish contacts with each other that stand to maximize the value of the information they trade. Additionally, we make the counterintuitive claim that legislators seek information from sources that are predictably biased for or against their preferred outcomes. We test the propositions derived from this argument in the context of the European Parliament, using tools from social network analysis and modeling the network dependence using a multilevel approach. This research makes two primary contributions to the field of legislative politics. First, we demonstrate both theoretically and empirically how legislators use social contacts to their strategic advantage in their pursuit of legislative information. Second, our analytical approach demonstrates how to appropriately account for interdependence of observations in network data

Implicit Solvation Methods for Catalysis at Electrified Interfaces

Implicit solvation is an effective, highly coarse-grained approach in atomic-scale simulations to account for a surrounding liquid electrolyte on the level of a continuous polarizable medium. Originating in molecular chemistry with finite solutes, implicit solvation techniques are now increasingly used in the context of first-principles modeling of electrochemistry and electrocatalysis at extended (often metallic) electrodes. The prevalent ansatz to model the latter electrodes and the reactive surface chemistry at them through slabs in periodic boundary condition supercells brings its specific challenges. Foremost this concerns the difficulty of describing the entire double layer forming at the electrified solid–liquid interface (SLI) within supercell sizes tractable by commonly employed density functional theory (DFT). We review liquid solvation methodology from this specific application angle, highlighting in particular its use in the widespread ab initio thermodynamics approach to surface catalysis. Notably, implicit solvation can be employed to mimic a polarization of the electrode’s electronic density under the applied potential and the concomitant capacitive charging of the entire double layer beyond the limitations of the employed DFT supercell. Most critical for continuing advances of this effective methodology for the SLI context is the lack of pertinent (experimental or high-level theoretical) reference data needed for parametrization

Generalized molecular solvation in non-aqueous solutions by a single parameter implicit solvation scheme

In computer simulations of solvation effects on chemical reactions, continuum modeling techniques regain popularity as a way to efficiently circumvent an otherwise costly sampling of solvent degrees of freedom. As effective techniques, such implicit solvation models always depend on a number of parameters that need to be determined earlier. In the past, the focus lay mostly on an accurate parametrization of water models. Yet, non-aqueous solvents have recently attracted increasing atten- tion, in particular, for the design of battery materials. To this end, we present a systematic parametrization protocol for the Self-Consistent Continuum Solvation (SCCS) model resulting in optimized parameters for 67 non-aqueous solvents. Our parametrization is based on a collection of ≈6000 experimentally measured partition coefficients, which we collected in the Solv@TUM database presented here. The accuracy of our optimized SCCS model is comparable to the well-known universal continuum solvation model (SMx) family of methods, while relying on only a single fit parameter and thereby largely reducing sta- tistical noise. Furthermore, slightly modifying the non-electrostatic terms of the model, we present the SCCS-P solvation model as a more accurate alternative, in particular, for aromatic solutes. Finally, we show that SCCS parameters can, to a good degree of accuracy, also be predicted for solvents outside the database using merely the dielectric bulk permittivity of the solvent of choice

Aggregation and Representation in the European Parliament Party Groups

While members of the European Parliament are elected in national constituencies, their votes are determined by the aggregation of MEPs in multinational party groups. The uncoordinated aggregation of national party programmes in multinational EP party groups challenges theories of representation based on national parties and parliaments. This article provides a theoretical means of understanding representation by linking the aggregation of dozens of national party programmes in different EP party groups to the aggregation of groups to produce the parliamentary majority needed to enact policies. Drawing on an original data source of national party programmes, the EU Profiler, the article shows that the EP majorities created by aggregating MEP votes in party groups are best explained by cartel theories. These give priority to strengthening the EP’s collective capacity to enact policies rather than voting in accord with the programmes they were nationally elected to represent

Crystal structure of the DNA binding domain of the transcription factor T-bet suggests simultaneous recognition of distant genome sites

The transcription factor T-bet (Tbox protein expressed in T cells) is one of the master regulators of both the innate and adaptive immune responses. It plays a central role in T-cell lineage commitment, where it controls the T[subscript H]1 response, and in gene regulation in plasma B-cells and dendritic cells. T-bet is a member of the Tbox family of transcription factors; however, T-bet coordinately regulates the expression of many more genes than other Tbox proteins. A central unresolved question is how T-bet is able to simultaneously recognize distant Tbox binding sites, which may be located thousands of base pairs away. We have determined the crystal structure of the Tbox DNA binding domain (DBD) of T-bet in complex with a palindromic DNA. The structure shows a quaternary structure in which the T-bet dimer has its DNA binding regions splayed far apart, making it impossible for a single dimer to bind both sites of the DNA palindrome. In contrast to most other Tbox proteins, a single T-bet DBD dimer binds simultaneously to identical half-sites on two independent DNA. A fluorescence-based assay confirms that T-bet dimers are able to bring two independent DNA molecules into close juxtaposition. Furthermore, chromosome conformation capture assays confirm that T-bet functions in the direct formation of chromatin loops in vitro and in vivo. The data are consistent with a looping/synapsing model for transcriptional regulation by T-bet in which a single dimer of the transcription factor can recognize and coalesce distinct genetic elements, either a promoter plus a distant regulatory element, or promoters on two different genes.United States. National Institutes of Health (P01-AI056296

Crystal structure of the DNA binding domain of the transcription factor T-bet suggests simultaneous recognition of distant genome sites

The transcription factor T-bet (Tbox protein expressed in T cells) is one of the master regulators of both the innate and adaptive immune responses. It plays a central role in T-cell lineage commitment, where it controls the TH1 response, and in gene regulation in plasma B-cells and dendritic cells. T-bet is a member of the Tbox family of transcription factors; however, T-bet coordinately regulates the expression of many more genes than other Tbox proteins. A central unresolved question is how T-bet is able to simultaneously recognize distant Tbox binding sites, which may be located thousands of base pairs away. We have determined the crystal structure of the Tbox DNA binding domain (DBD) of T-bet in complex with a palindromic DNA. The structure shows a quaternary structure in which the T-bet dimer has its DNA binding regions splayed far apart, making it impossible for a single dimer to bind both sites of the DNA palindrome. In contrast to most other Tbox proteins, a single T-bet DBD dimer binds simultaneously to identical half-sites on two independent DNA. A fluorescence-based assay confirms that T-bet dimers are able to bring two independent DNA molecules into close juxtaposition. Furthermore, chromosome conformation capture assays confirm that T-bet functions in the direct formation of chromatin loops in vitro and in vivo. The data are consistent with a looping/synapsing model for transcriptional regulation by T-bet in which a single dimer of the transcription factor can recognize and coalesce distinct genetic elements, either a promoter plus a distant regulatory element, or promoters on two different genes