Reflection on-line or off-line: the role of learning technologies in encouraging students to reflect

This paper presents case studies that describe the experiences of the two authors in trying to use learning technologies to facilitate reflective thinking in their students. At the University of Leicester, a Web-based biology tutorial called ‘How Now Mad Cow’, which covers the topics of bovine spongiform encephalopathy and a new variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (nvCJD). At the University of Southampton, a web-based hyper-mail discussion list to support teaching on a first year psychosocial science module for occupational therapy and physiotherapy students has been established. In both examples, the tutors had attempted to create a learning environment that would engage students in the learning experience and facilitate reflection by helping them to create meaning from the learning experience and see things in a different way. The evaluation data from both case studies provides some evidence that the learning technologies helped to facilitate reflection for some students. However, the evidence for reflection is not overwhelming and the data provides some evidence that four key factors may have influenced how successful the use of learning technologies were in facilitating reflection. These factors are the way the learning technology is used, the nature of the student groups, the role of the tutor and student preferences for ‘off-line reflection’. These are discussed and ways forward are identified

Transformation of Haemophilus influenzae by plasmid RSF0885

Plasmid RSF0885, which conferred ampicillin resistance, transformed competent Haemophilus influenzae cells with low efficiency (maximum, less than 0.01%). As judged by competition experiments and uptake of radioactivity, plasmid RSF0885 deoxyribonucleic acid was taken up into competent H. influenzae cells several orders of magnitude less efficiently than H. influenzae chromosomal deoxyribonucleic acid. Plasmid RSF0885 transformed cells with even lower efficiency than could be accounted for by the low uptake. Transformation was not affected by rec-1 and rec-2 mutations in the recipient, and strains cured of the plasmid did not show increased transformation. Plasmid molecules cut once with a restriction enzyme that made blunt ends did not transform. Transformation was favored by the closed circular form of the plasmid

Has Affirmative Action Been Negated? A Closer Look at Public Employment

First, this Article argues that affirmative action is right and necessary in certain circumstances. Second, it examines whether affirmative action has survived under current case law. Part II.A reviews the Supreme Court decisions that define the test of strict scrutiny in the public employment context. Part II.B discusses the current focus of the Court\u27s debate on affirmative action. Part III looks at how strict scrutiny analysis and the Supreme Court\u27s precedents are being applied by the lower federal courts. Part IV concludes that more guidance is needed from the Supreme Court on the first prong of the strict scrutiny analysis as to when a compelling government interest exists. Last, this Article suggests that the Supreme Court firmly establish an inferential standard for proving past discrimination by a public employer sufficient to warrant current affirmative action

Making and Breaking Trust in Forest Collaborative Groups

There has been a recent increase in use of an organized, forest ‘collaborative’ group approach for multi-stakeholder input on federal forestlands in the U.S. West. This approach relies on the creation of shared trust to achieve social agreement. Yet growing critiques suggest a lack of trust in the U.S. Forest Service [Forest Service], between stakeholders, and the collaborative process itself. We conducted three comparative case studies of established forest collaborative groups in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho to ask how trust is created and damaged or broken in this context. We found multiple, interlinked dimensions to trust, including significant reliance on procedural trust, trust of ‘in-groups’ who shared norms for conduct, and distrust of new participants. We also found that trust or distrust in the Forest Service affected other trust and process dynamics within groups. Our research offers new insights into the functions and limitations of a collaborative approach that is increasingly central to federal forest governance; and new empirical knowledge toward recent theoretical developments about trust in natural resource collaboration

The Sino-US Confrontation in the South China Sea: Insights from International Order Perspective

Conventional accounts of the South China Sea territorial disputes identify China’s assertive behaviour as the primary cause of the rising tension since the early 2010s. This paper goes beyond this traditional view of the disputes by arguing that the territorial disputes are an expression of the broader contestation between two order-building projects by China and the US. China’s assertive behaviour originates in its desire to promote a ‘historical’ and ‘post-colonial’ maritime order that is premised on its Sino-centric historical narrative of the Sea and on its emphasis on the historical legitimacy of the regional order of 1943-1945. The US-led ‘liberal’ maritime order is underpinned by a post-war legal framework built on the San Francisco Peace Treaty and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and the notion and practice of freedom of navigation. Since October 2015 the US has enhanced its Freedom of Navigation Operations to challenge China’s ‘excessive’ maritime or territorial claims. We conclude that as a result of the uneasy co-existence of these two order-building projects, which fundamentally disagree over the foundations of maritime order in the South China Sea, the disputes have reached an open-ended impasse

Zyklophin, a short-acting kappa opioid antagonist, induces scratching in mice

It has been shown previously that norbinaltorphimine (norBNI) and 5΄-guanidinonaltrindole (5΄-GNTI), long-acting kappa opioid receptor (KOPR) antagonists, cause frenzied scratching in mice [1;2]. In the current study, we examined if zyklophin, a short-acting cyclic peptide KOPR antagonist, also elicited scratching behavior. When injected s.c. in the nape of the neck of male Swiss-Webster mice, zyklophin at doses of 0.1, 0.3 and 1 mg/kg induced dose-related hindleg scratching of the neck between 3 and 15 min after injection. Pretreating mice with norBNI (20 mg/kg, i.p.) at 18–20 hr before challenge with zyklophin (0.3 mg/kg) did not markedly affect scratching. Additionally, KOPR −/− mice given 0.3 mg/kg of zyklophin displayed similar levels of scratching as wild-type animals. The absence of KOPR in KOPR −/− mice was confirmed with ex vivo radioligand binding using [3H]U69,593. Taken together, our data suggest that the presence of kappa receptors is not required for the excessive scratching caused by zyklophin. Thus, zyklophin, similar to the structurally different KOPR antagonist 5΄-GNTI, appears to act at other targets to elicit scratching and potentially the sensation of itch

Epithelial cell–derived secreted and transmembrane 1a signals to activated neutrophils during pneumococcal pneumonia

Airway epithelial cell responses are critical to the outcome of lung infection. In this study, we aimed to identify unique contributions of epithelial cells during lung infection. To differentiate genes induced selectively in epithelial cells during pneumonia, we compared genome-wide expression profiles from three sorted cell populations: epithelial cells from uninfected mouse lungs, epithelial cells from mouse lungs with pneumococcal pneumonia, and nonepithelial cells from those same infected lungs. Of 1,166 transcripts that were more abundant in epithelial cells from infected lungs compared with nonepithelial cells from the same lungs or from epithelial cells of uninfected lungs, 32 genes were identified as highly expressed secreted products. Especially strong signals included two related secreted and transmembrane (Sectm) 1 genes, Sectm1a and Sectm1b. Refinement of sorting strategies suggested that both Sectm1 products were induced predominantly in conducting airway epithelial cells. Sectm1 was induced during the early stages of pneumococcal pneumonia, and mutation of NF-kB RelA in epithelial cells did not diminish its expression. Instead, type I IFN signaling was necessary and sufficient for Sectm1 induction in lung epithelial cells, mediated by signal transducer and activator of transcription 1. For target cells, Sectm1a bound to myeloid cells preferentially, in particular Ly6GbrightCD11bbright neutrophils in the infected lung. In contrast, Sectm1a did not bind to neutrophils from uninfected lungs. Sectm1a increased expression of the neutrophil-attracting chemokine CXCL2 by neutrophils from the infected lung. We propose that Sectm1a is an epithelial product that sustains a positive feedback loop amplifying neutrophilic inflammation during pneumococcal pneumonia

Image Retrieval with Mixed Initiative and Multimodal Feedback

How would you search for a unique, fashionable shoe that a friend wore and you want to buy, but you didn't take a picture? Existing approaches propose interactive image search as a promising venue. However, they either entrust the user with taking the initiative to provide informative feedback, or give all control to the system which determines informative questions to ask. Instead, we propose a mixed-initiative framework where both the user and system can be active participants, depending on whose initiative will be more beneficial for obtaining high-quality search results. We develop a reinforcement learning approach which dynamically decides which of three interaction opportunities to give to the user: drawing a sketch, providing free-form attribute feedback, or answering attribute-based questions. By allowing these three options, our system optimizes both the informativeness and exploration capabilities allowing faster image retrieval. We outperform three baselines on three datasets and extensive experimental settings.Comment: In submission to BMVC 201