1,490 research outputs found
Learning Design: reflections on a snapshot of the current landscape
The mounting wealth of open and readily available information and the swift evolution of social, mobile and creative technologies warrant a re-conceptualisation of the role of educators: from providers of knowledge to designers of learning. This need is being addressed by a growing trend of research in Learning Design. Responding to this trend, the Art and Science of Learning Design workshop brought together leading voices in the field and provided a forum for discussing its key issues. It focused on three thematic axes: practices and methods, tools and resources, and theoretical frameworks. This paper reviews some definitions of Learning Design and then summarises the main contributions to the workshop. Drawing upon these, we identify three key challenges for Learning Design that suggest directions for future research
Dynamics of diluted magnetic semiconductors from atomistic spin dynamics simulations: Mn doped GaAs as a case study
The dynamical behavior of the magnetism of diluted magnetic semiconductors
(DMS) has been investigated by means of atomistic spin dynamics simulations.
The conclusions drawn from the study are argued to be general for DMS systems
in the low concentration limit, although all simulations are done for 5%
Mn-doped GaAs with various concentrations of As antisite defects. The
magnetization curve, , and the Curie temperature have been
calculated, and are found to be in good correspondence to results from Monte
Carlo simulations and experiments. Furthermore, equilibrium and non-equilibrium
behavior of the magnetic pair correlation function have been extracted. The
dynamics of DMS systems reveals a substantial short ranged magnetic order even
at temperatures at or above the ordering temperature, with a non-vanishing pair
correlation function extending up to several atomic shells. For the high As
antisite concentrations the simulations show a short ranged anti-ferromagnetic
coupling, and a weakened long ranged ferromagnetic coupling. For sufficiently
large concentrations we do not observe any long ranged ferromagnetic
correlation. A typical dynamical response shows that starting from a random
orientation of moments, the spin-correlation develops very fast ( 1ps)
extending up to 15 atomic shells. Above 10 ps in the simulations, the
pair correlation is observed to extend over some 40 atomic shells. The
autocorrelation function has been calculated and compared with ferromagnets
like bcc Fe and spin-glass materials. We find no evidence in our simulations
for a spin-glass behaviour, for any concentration of As antisites. Instead the
magnetic response is better described as slow dynamics, at least when compared
to that of a regular ferromagnet like bcc Fe.Comment: 24 pages, 15 figure
UV Effects of Plant-Associated Pseudomonads
Concerns about dramatic changes in the Earth’s atmosphere, such as ozone depletion, make it imperative to study how microbial communities are responding to such changes that will increase UV irradiance. Ultraviolet A (UVA) and UVB irradiation on the plant pathogen, Pseudomonas syringae pv syringae (Pss), and a plant beneficial, saprophytic root-colonizer, Pseudomonas putida (Pp) impaired their survival. Stationary-phase cells of both Pss and Pp were more susceptible to fatal UV damage than logarithmic-phase cells. This observation suggests that an active metabolism is involved in responses to protect against UV. Mutants of Pss and Pp, with insertions in rpoS, catA, and sodA and B, were all more severely affected by UV than the wild-types. These findings lead us to speculate that mechanisms to protect against oxidative stress are important in cell survival against UVA/B irradiation
Estimated Avian Nest Loss Associated with Oil and Gas Exploration and Extraction in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin
Annual mortality within bird populations can be attributed to numerous sources; however, the extent to which anthropogenic sources of mortality contribute to avian demography is largely unknown. Quantifying the relative magnitude of human-related avian mortality could inform conservation efforts, particularly if multiple sources of human-related mortality can be contrasted. The unintentional destruction of nests and their contents by industrial activities conducted during the breeding season of resident and migratory birds presumably leads to one such source of human-caused avian mortality. As part of a broader effort to quantify major sources of human-related avian mortality, we estimated the magnitude of nest loss resulting from the terrestrial oil and gas sector in Canada, including: (1) seismic exploration, (2) pipeline right-of-way clearing, (3) well pad clearing, and (4) oil sands mining within the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB). We estimated nest losses as the product of estimated nest densities, the area disturbed annually, and the proportion of annual disturbance presumed to occur during the breeding season. The estimated number of nests disturbed annually by all oil and gas sectors combined ranged between 11,840 - 60,380. Interannual variation in exploration and extraction, and uncertainty in nest densities and the proportion of the disturbances occurring during the breeding season contributed to the variation. Accounting for natural mortality suggests an estimated loss of 10,200 - 41,150 (range) potential recruits into the migratory bird population in a subsequent year. Although nest destruction is only one small component of the potential impacts of the oil and gas industry upon avian populations, these estimates establish a baseline for comparison with other sources of human-caused avian mortality. Models are now needed to compare nest losses against the legacy effects of oil and gas sector habitat disturbances and associated cumulative effects so that mitigation efforts can be prioritized
Orchestrating learning activities using the CADMOS learning design tool
This paper gives an overview of CADMOS (CoursewAre Development Methodology for Open instructional Systems), a graphical IMS-LD Level A & B compliant learning design (LD) tool, which promotes the concept of “separation of concerns” during the design process, via the creation of two models: the conceptual model, which describes the learning activities and the corresponding learning resources, and the flow model, which describes the orchestration of these activities. According to the feedback from an evaluation case study with 36 participants, reported in this paper, CADMOS is a user-friendly tool that allows educational practitioners to design flows of learning activities using a layered approach
Serum sICAM, sVCAM and sE-selectin levels in colorectal cancer patients.
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common cancers of the gastrointestinal tract and the fourth cause of cancers death in the world. Soluble adhesion molecules (CAMs) are thought to have an important role in host defense against carcinogenesis. They are biomarkers of inflammation and indicators of the immune response to tumors. The study included 40 CRC patients without remote metastases and 24 control subjects. Serum concentrations of sE-selectin, sICAM and sVCAM in patients with CRC were investigated by ELISA method. The level of the sCAMs decreased significantly after radical tumor resection. Preoperative serum concentrations of sICAM and sVCAM in CRC patients were significantly higher compared to the control group, whereas there were no differences regarding serum sE-selectin. Serum levels of sE-selectin, sICAM and sVCAM correlated significantly with each other. There was a significant correlation of serum levels of sICAM-1 and sVCAM-1, but not sE-selectin, with TNM stage and lymph node involvement. No significant relationship was found between serum concentrations of sICAM-1, sVCAM-1 and sE-selectin in CRC patients and patients' age or gender. Our findings suggest that an improved understanding of the mechanisms of membrane shedding of sICAM, sVCAM and sE-selectin is required to delineate their role in tumor progression
A pilot study exploring the role of glucocorticoid receptor variants in primary billiary cirrhosis and primary sclerosing cholangitis.
A pilot study exploring the role of glucocorticoid receptor variants in primary billiary cirrhosis and primary sclerosing cholangitis.
Designing Contextualized Learning
Specht, M. (2008). Designing Contextualized Learning. In H. H. Adelsberger, Kinshuk, J. M. Pawlowski & D. Sampson (Eds.), Handbook on Information Technologies for Education and Training (2th ed., pp. 101-111). Springer, Berlin Heidelberg 2008: International Handbook on Information Systems Series.Contextualized and ubiquitous learning are relatively new research areas
that combine the latest developments in ubiquitous and context aware
computing with pedagogical approaches relevant to structure more situated
and context aware learning support. Searching for different backgrounds of
mobile and contextualized learning authors have identified the relations
between existing educational paradigms and new classes of mobile appli-
cations for education (Naismith, Lonsdale, Vavoula, & Sharples, 2004).
Furthermore best practices of mobile learning applications have been iden-
tified and discussed in focused workshops (Stone, Alsop, Briggs, & Tomp-
sett, 2002; Tatar, Roschelle, Vahey, & Peunel, 2002). Especially in the
area of educational field trips (Equator Project, 2003; RAFT, 2003) in the
last years innovative approaches for intuitive usage of contextualized mo-
bile interfaces have been developed. The following paper describes the motivation and background for con-
textualizing learning and illustrates the implementation of a service based
and flexible learning toolkit developed in the RAFT project for supporting
contextualized collaborative learning support
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