The Pulsed Neutron Beam EDM Experiment

We report on the Beam EDM experiment, which aims to employ a pulsed cold neutron beam to search for an electric dipole moment instead of the established use of storable ultracold neutrons. We present a brief overview of the basic measurement concept and the current status of our proof-of-principle Ramsey apparatus

Safety-Aware Apprenticeship Learning

Apprenticeship learning (AL) is a kind of Learning from Demonstration techniques where the reward function of a Markov Decision Process (MDP) is unknown to the learning agent and the agent has to derive a good policy by observing an expert's demonstrations. In this paper, we study the problem of how to make AL algorithms inherently safe while still meeting its learning objective. We consider a setting where the unknown reward function is assumed to be a linear combination of a set of state features, and the safety property is specified in Probabilistic Computation Tree Logic (PCTL). By embedding probabilistic model checking inside AL, we propose a novel counterexample-guided approach that can ensure safety while retaining performance of the learnt policy. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach on several challenging AL scenarios where safety is essential.Comment: Accepted by International Conference on Computer Aided Verification (CAV) 201

Geographical interdependence, international trade and economic dynamics: the Chinese and German solar energy industries

The trajectories of the German and Chinese photovoltaic industries differ significantly yet are strongly interdependent. Germany has seen a rapid growth in market demand and a strong increase in production, especially in the less developed eastern half of the country. Chinese growth has been export driven. These contrasting trajectories reflect the roles of market creation, investment and credit and the drivers of innovation and competitiveness. Consequent differences in competiveness have generated major trade disputes

A Rapid and Quantitative Assay to Estimate Gene Transfer into Retrovirally Transduced Hematopoietic Stem/Progenitor Cells Using a 96-Well Format PCR and Fluorescent Detection System Universal for MMLV-Based Proviruses

Overview summary The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis of colonies of clonogenic cells growing in methylcellulose medium is a routine procedure to estimate the frequency of retroviral transduction into hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells. This study describes a sensitive assay system that takes advantage of the standard 96-well format to expedite the processing of single methylcellulose colonies. Assay sensitivity is dependent on a PCR primer pair which amplifies a region of the ψ packaging sequence of all Moloney-based retroviruses tested. Using this primer pair, we present the optimized PCR conditions for the analysis of single colonies of clonogenic cells growing in methylcellulose medium as well as the conditions for a semiquantitative bulk PCR assay to estimate the transduction frequency immediately following the transduction protocol. This PCR primer pair, along with the capability for more rapid screening of hematopoietic stem/progenitor colonies, is especially useful for the laboratory that is screening a number of different retroviral constructions for their transduction efficiency.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/63170/1/hum.1996.7.3-343.pd

Pedagogical Practices and Collaborative Conversations: Teacher Candidates’ Approaches for Supporting Students’ Motivation in Writing

Writing is a multi-layered endeavor that calls on the writer to use their technical skills and rely on their emotional investment to realize a desired outcome. New practitioners need approaches for supporting students’ motivation and as well as skill development in writing. However, explicit attention to supporting students’ motivation to write has not been largely addressed in teacher preparation programs. The Motivation to Write Profile – College (MWP-C) instrument was developed to assess teacher candidates’ self-concept as a writer and value of writing. This qualitative study analyzed the open-ended responses of 96 teacher candidates to prompts related to self-concept as a writer and value in writing. The findings indicate that teacher candidates were more likely to use pedagogical practices to support students’ self-concept as a writer. Conversely, they expressed a greater reliance on collaborative conversations as a means of developing students’ value in writing. Based on the distinct approaches revealed in the findings, teacher preparation programs need to provide modeling, guidance, and encouragement in writing that will foster their teacher candidates’ understanding of motivation in writing. Furthermore, methods courses need to guide teacher candidates in their exploration of approaches for factors of motivation, value of writing and self-concept as a writer