Learner experiences of a blended course incorporating a MOOC on Haskell functional programming

There is an increasing move in higher education to blend university courses to include a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). This article reports on the learner experiences of such a course, which incorporated a purposely designed MOOC as part of the blend, to teach Haskell functional programming. A survey revealed that students most valued the programming exercises, quizzes and instructional videos, while the follow-up focus group highlighted the flexibility of the MOOC, usefulness of the videos, drop-in sessions and programming exercises. The overall mix of activities was regarded as particularly useful. While discussions were not rated as highly in the survey, students in the focus group commented on their value, particularly for getting support from external learners. The perceived lack of face-to-face contact was the biggest issue; however, this reflected a lack of awareness of lab sessions which could have been better signposted. There was perceived to be a gap between the MOOC and the rest of the course in terms of level of difficulty and authenticity of learning tasks. These issues were positively addressed in subsequent runs of the course. The outcomes of this study are relevant to educators seeking to incorporate MOOCs into blended courses

Transport across nanogaps using semiclassically consistent boundary conditions

Charge particle transport across nanogaps is studied theoretically within the Schrodinger-Poisson mean field framework and the existence of limiting current investigated. It is shown that the choice of a first order WKB wavefunction as the transmitted wave leads to self consistent boundary conditions and gives results that are significantly different in the non-classical regime from those obtained using a plane transmitted wave. At zero injection energies, the quantum limiting current density, J_c, is found to obey the local scaling law J_c ~ (V_g)^alpha/(D)^{5-2alpha} with the gap separation D and voltage V_g. The exponent alpha > 1.1 with alpha --> 3/2 in the classical regime of small de Broglie wavelengths. These results are consistent with recent experiments using nanogaps most of which are found to be in a parameter regime where classical space charge limited scaling holds away from the emission dominated regime.Comment: 4 pages, 4 ps figure

Melting of Single Lipid Components in Binary Lipid Mixtures: A Comparison between FTIR Spectroscopy, DSC and Monte Carlo Simulations

Monte Carlo (MC) Simulations, Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Fourier Transform InfraRed (FTIR) spectroscopy were used to study the melting behavior of single lipid components in two-component membranes of 1,2-Dimyristoyl-D54-sn-Glycero-3-Phosphocholine (DMPC-d54) and 1,2-Distearoyl-sn-Glycero-3-Phosphocholine (DSPC). Microscopic information on the temperature dependent melting of the single lipid species could be investigated using FTIR. The microscopic behavior measured could be well described by the results from the MC simulations. These simulations also allowed to calculate heat capacity profiles as determined with DSC. These ones provide macroscopic information about melting enthalpies and entropy changes which are not accessible with FTIR. Therefore, the MC simulations allowed us to link the two different experimental approaches of FTIR and DSC.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, corrected typo in table 1 in which previously it said Tm,1 instead of Tm,

Actors and networks or agents and structures: towards a realist view of information systems

Actor-network theory (ANT) has achieved a measure of popularity in the analysis of information systems. This paper looks at ANT from the perspective of the social realism of Margaret Archer. It argues that the main issue with ANT from a realist perspective is its adoption of a `flat' ontology, particularly with regard to human beings. It explores the value of incorporating concepts from ANT into a social realist approach, but argues that the latter offers a more productive way of approaching information systems

Vector meson production and nucleon resonance analysis in a coupled-channel approach for energies m_N < sqrt(s) < 2 GeV II: photon-induced results

We present a nucleon resonance analysis by simultaneously considering all pion- and photon-induced experimental data on the final states gamma N, pi N, 2 pi N, eta N, K Lambda, K Sigma, and omega N for energies from the nucleon mass up to sqrt(s) = 2 GeV. In this analysis we find strong evidence for the resonances P_{31}(1750), P_{13}(1900), P_{33}(1920), and D_{13}(1950). The omega N production mechanism is dominated by large P_{11}(1710) and P_{13}(1900) contributions. In this second part we present the results on the photoproduction reactions and the electromagnetic properties of the resonances. The inclusion of all important final states up to sqrt(s) = 2 GeV allows for estimates on the importance of the individual states for the GDH sum rule.Comment: 41 pages, 26 figures, discussion extended, typos corrected, references updated, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Four-nucleon scattering with a correlated Gaussian basis method

Elastic-scattering phase shifts for four-nucleon systems are studied in an $ab$-$initio$ type cluster model in order to clarify the role of the tensor force and to investigate cluster distortions in low energy $d+d$ and $t+p$ scattering. In the present method, the description of the cluster wave function is extended from a simple (0$s$) harmonic-oscillator shell model to a few-body model with a realistic interaction, in which the wave function of the subsystems are determined with the Stochastic Variational Method. In order to calculate the matrix elements of the four-body system, we have developed a Triple Global Vector Representation method for the correlated Gaussian basis functions. To compare effects of the cluster distortion with realistic and effective interactions, we employ the AV8$^{\prime}$ potential as a realistic interaction and the Minnesota potential as an effective interaction. Especially for $^1S_0$, the calculated phase shifts show that the $t+p$ and $h+n$ channels are strongly coupled to the $d+d$ channel for the case of the realistic interaction. On the contrary, the coupling of these channels plays a relatively minor role for the case of the effective interaction. This difference between both potentials originates from the tensor term in the realistic interaction. Furthermore, the tensor interaction makes the energy splitting of the negative parity states of $^4$He consistent with experiments. No such splitting is however reproduced with the effective interaction

The underlying causes of military outsourcing in the USA and UK: bridging the persistent gap between ends, ways and means since the beginning of the Cold War

This article reappraises the two most-studied country cases of military outsourcing: the USA and the UK. It argues that the contemporary wave of military contracting stretches back to the beginning of the cold war and not only to the demobilisation of armies in the 1990s or the neoliberal reforms introduced since the 1980s. It traces the political, technological and ideational developments that laid the groundwork for these reforms and practices since the early cold war and account for its endurance today. Importantly, it argues that a persistent gap between strategic objectives and resources, i.e. the challenge to reconcile ends and means, is an underlying driver of military contracting in both countries. Contemporary contracting is thus most closely tied to military support functions in support of wider foreign and defence political objectives. Security services in either state may not have been outsourced so swiftly, if at all, without decades of experience in outsourcing military logistics functions and the resultant vehicles, processes and familiarities with public-private partnerships. The article thus provides a wider and deeper understanding of the drivers of contractualisation, thereby improving our understanding of both its historical trajectory and the determinants of its present and potential futures

Consistent treatment of spin-1 mesons in the light-front formalism

We analyze the matrix element of the electroweak current between q \qb vector meson states in the framework of a covariant extension of the light-front formalism. The light-front matrix element of a one-body current is naturally associated with zero modes, which affect some of the form factors that are necessary to represent the Lorentz structure of the light-front integral. The angular condition contains some information on zero modes, i.e., only if the effect of zero modes is accounted for correctly, is it satisfied. With plausible assumptions we derive from the angular condition several consistency conditions which can be used quite generally to determine the zero mode contribution of form factors. The correctness of this method is tested by the phenomenological success of the derived form factors. We compare the predictions of our formalism with those of the standard light-front approach and with available data. As examples we discuss the magnetic moment of the $\rho$, the coupling constant $g_{D^\ast D \pi}$, and the coupling constants of the pseudoscalar density, $g_\pi$ and $g_K$, which provide a phenomenological link between constituent and current quark masses.Comment: 36 pages, figure 1 is include

Comprehensive lung injury pathology induced by mTOR inhibitors

Molecular Targets in Oncology[Abstract] Interstitial lung disease is a rare side effect of temsirolimus treatment in renal cancer patients. Pulmonary fibrosis is characterised by the accumulation of extracellular matrix collagen, fibroblast proliferation and migration, and loss of alveolar gas exchange units. Previous studies of pulmonary fibrosis have mainly focused on the fibro-proliferative process in the lungs. However, the molecular mechanism by which sirolimus promotes lung fibrosis remains elusive. Here, we propose an overall cascade hypothesis of interstitial lung diseases that represents a common, partly underlying synergism among them as well as the lung pathogenesis side effects of mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitors