The Road to LEED Certification: Human Sciences South

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Existing Buildings a set number of voluntary standards. LEED EB focuses on the performance of a building rather than it’s design

Bounds on probability of state transfer with respect to readout time and edge weight

We analyze the sensitivity of a spin chain modeled by an undirected weighted connected graph exhibiting perfect state transfer to small perturbations in readout time and edge weight in order to obtain physically relevant bounds on the probability of state transfer. At the heart of our analysis is the concept of the numerical range of a matrix; our analysis of edge weight errors additionally makes use of the spectral and Frobenius norms

Deformation-enhanced recrystallization of titanite drives decoupling between U-Pb and trace elements

Titanite is a common accessory mineral that is useful in determining both age (U-Pb isotopes) and pressure-temperature (P–T) conditions (trace-element composition: Zr, rare earth elements (REE)). However, titanite has a propensity to recrystallize during metamorphism, fluid flow, and deformation, which can result in modifications to its isotopic and trace-element compositions. This modification has implications for the interpretation of titanite dates and the evaluation of pressure–temperature–time paths. The impact of deformation and recrystallization on trace-element mobility in titanite is investigated through microstructural and compositional mapping of titanite crystals from a sheared orthogneiss within an ultrahigh-pressure domain of the Western Gneiss Region (WGR), Norway. Results show that optically coherent titanite single crystals deformed in the dislocation creep regime and recrystallized by the process of grain-boundary migration, forming aggregates of titanite grains. Some of the aggregate grains record Caledonian-exhumation dates, whereas others have an inherited isotopic composition. Individual grains within the aggregate, regardless of their U-Pb isotopic composition, contain patchy zoning that formed during syn- to post-recrystallization fluid alteration and that is characterized by generally decreasing Ca and Ti and increasing Al and Fe from cores to rims. However, Zr and Sr concentrations are broadly zoned with respect to the long axis of the host crystal, without regard for the aggregate grain boundaries. REE do not show any obvious correlation with microstructure or age. These results indicate that many trace elements in titanite are unaffected by multi-stage, deformation-driven recrystallization; in contrast, Pb is variably mobile in these deformed titanite crystals. The combination of microstructural and high-spatial resolution geochemical and isotopic data reveals the potential extent of decoupling between the U-Pb isotopic system and the behavior of trace elements as pressure–temperature conditions change through time

Constraints on the timing and conditions of high-grade metamorphism, charnockite formation and fluid-rock interaction in the Trivandrum Block, southern India

Incipient charnockites have been widely used as evidence for the infiltration of CO2-rich fluids driving dehydration of the lower crust. Rocks exposed at Kakkod quarry in the Trivandrum Block of southern India allow for a thorough investigation of the metamorphic evolution by preserving not only orthopyroxene-bearing charnockite patches in a host garnet-biotite felsic gneiss, but also layers of garnet-sillimanite metapelite gneiss. Thermodynamic phase equilibria modelling of all three bulk compositions indicates consistent peak-metamorphic conditions of 830-925 °C and 6-9 kbar with retrograde evolution involving suprasolidus decompression at high temperature. These models suggest that orthopyroxene was most likely stabilized close to the metamorphic peak as a result of small compositional heterogeneities in the host garnet-biotite gneiss. There is insufficient evidence to determine whether the heterogeneities were inherited from the protolith or introduced during syn-metamorphic fluid flow. U-Pb geochronology of monazite and zircon from all three rock types constrains the peak of metamorphism and orthopyroxene growth to have occurred between the onset of high-grade metamorphism at c. 590 Ma and the onset of melt crystallization at c. 540 Ma. The majority of metamorphic zircon growth occurred during protracted melt crystallization between c. 540 and 510 Ma. Melt crystallization was followed by the influx of aqueous, alkali-rich fluids likely derived from melts crystallizing at depth. This late fluid flow led to retrogression of orthopyroxene, the observed outcrop pattern and to the textural and isotopic modification of monazite grains at c. 525-490 Ma

Exploring UK medical school differences: the MedDifs study of selection, teaching, student and F1 perceptions, postgraduate outcomes and fitness to practise.

BACKGROUND: Medical schools differ, particularly in their teaching, but it is unclear whether such differences matter, although influential claims are often made. The Medical School Differences (MedDifs) study brings together a wide range of measures of UK medical schools, including postgraduate performance, fitness to practise issues, specialty choice, preparedness, satisfaction, teaching styles, entry criteria and institutional factors. METHOD: Aggregated data were collected for 50 measures across 29 UK medical schools. Data include institutional history (e.g. rate of production of hospital and GP specialists in the past), curricular influences (e.g. PBL schools, spend per student, staff-student ratio), selection measures (e.g. entry grades), teaching and assessment (e.g. traditional vs PBL, specialty teaching, self-regulated learning), student satisfaction, Foundation selection scores, Foundation satisfaction, postgraduate examination performance and fitness to practise (postgraduate progression, GMC sanctions). Six specialties (General Practice, Psychiatry, Anaesthetics, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Internal Medicine, Surgery) were examined in more detail. RESULTS: Medical school differences are stable across time (median alpha = 0.835). The 50 measures were highly correlated, 395 (32.2%) of 1225 correlations being significant with p < 0.05, and 201 (16.4%) reached a Tukey-adjusted criterion of p < 0.0025. Problem-based learning (PBL) schools differ on many measures, including lower performance on postgraduate assessments. While these are in part explained by lower entry grades, a surprising finding is that schools such as PBL schools which reported greater student satisfaction with feedback also showed lower performance at postgraduate examinations. More medical school teaching of psychiatry, surgery and anaesthetics did not result in more specialist trainees. Schools that taught more general practice did have more graduates entering GP training, but those graduates performed less well in MRCGP examinations, the negative correlation resulting from numbers of GP trainees and exam outcomes being affected both by non-traditional teaching and by greater historical production of GPs. Postgraduate exam outcomes were also higher in schools with more self-regulated learning, but lower in larger medical schools. A path model for 29 measures found a complex causal nexus, most measures causing or being caused by other measures. Postgraduate exam performance was influenced by earlier attainment, at entry to Foundation and entry to medical school (the so-called academic backbone), and by self-regulated learning. Foundation measures of satisfaction, including preparedness, had no subsequent influence on outcomes. Fitness to practise issues were more frequent in schools producing more male graduates and more GPs. CONCLUSIONS: Medical schools differ in large numbers of ways that are causally interconnected. Differences between schools in postgraduate examination performance, training problems and GMC sanctions have important implications for the quality of patient care and patient safety

The Analysis of Teaching of Medical Schools (AToMS) survey: an analysis of 47,258 timetabled teaching events in 25 UK medical schools relating to timing, duration, teaching formats, teaching content, and problem-based learning.

BACKGROUND: What subjects UK medical schools teach, what ways they teach subjects, and how much they teach those subjects is unclear. Whether teaching differences matter is a separate, important question. This study provides a detailed picture of timetabled undergraduate teaching activity at 25 UK medical schools, particularly in relation to problem-based learning (PBL). METHOD: The Analysis of Teaching of Medical Schools (AToMS) survey used detailed timetables provided by 25 schools with standard 5-year courses. Timetabled teaching events were coded in terms of course year, duration, teaching format, and teaching content. Ten schools used PBL. Teaching times from timetables were validated against two other studies that had assessed GP teaching and lecture, seminar, and tutorial times. RESULTS: A total of 47,258 timetabled teaching events in the academic year 2014/2015 were analysed, including SSCs (student-selected components) and elective studies. A typical UK medical student receives 3960 timetabled hours of teaching during their 5-year course. There was a clear difference between the initial 2 years which mostly contained basic medical science content and the later 3 years which mostly consisted of clinical teaching, although some clinical teaching occurs in the first 2 years. Medical schools differed in duration, format, and content of teaching. Two main factors underlay most of the variation between schools, Traditional vs PBL teaching and Structured vs Unstructured teaching. A curriculum map comparing medical schools was constructed using those factors. PBL schools differed on a number of measures, having more PBL teaching time, fewer lectures, more GP teaching, less surgery, less formal teaching of basic science, and more sessions with unspecified content. DISCUSSION: UK medical schools differ in both format and content of teaching. PBL and non-PBL schools clearly differ, albeit with substantial variation within groups, and overlap in the middle. The important question of whether differences in teaching matter in terms of outcomes is analysed in a companion study (MedDifs) which examines how teaching differences relate to university infrastructure, entry requirements, student perceptions, and outcomes in Foundation Programme and postgraduate training