Chapman Ambassador Tour Robot

Being a student ambassador improves a student\u27s confidence and leadership skills. With an increasing demand for technology skills, our project will display how the ambassador robot can assist student ambassadors while improving upon their efficiency, by discussing information during college campus tours and familiarizing students with robot applications and their technology. The ambassador robot can support students during tours by answering a question about specific knowledge that may have slipped an ambassador\u27s mind. The robot will also be able to create a group-focused atmosphere that will allow ambassadors to have the opportunity to lean on a dependable teammate for specific responses just as the robot depends on the ambassador for upkeep. With current technology it is nearly impossible for a robot to do a complete tour independently, but with our research, we want to see precisely how the ambassador robot can improve a university campus tour for prospective students and families while positively developing our student ambassadors\u27 skills and confidence with robot applications. The student ambassador robot is not a replacement for student leadership and their roles or campus tours. The student and robot ambassador are the future of leadership efficiency and a bold new campus experience for all students and families to enjoy

Undergraduate student experiences in remote lab courses during the COVID-19 pandemic

The 2020&ndash;2021 academic year was a unique time for many instructors who had to adapt their courses to be conducted remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This was especially challenging for physics lab courses, which usually emphasize hands-on experiments. Although many courses have now returned to in-person teaching, the possibility remains of future disasters necessitating similar remote courses. It is important to understand how undergraduate students experienced remote physics lab courses during the pandemic, including what aspects of the courses contributed to positive student outcomes. To investigate this, we surveyed over 5000 students from 24 different institutions, asking how the students engaged with their physics lab courses during the 2020&ndash;2021 academic year. Here, we describe the frequency with which the students performed various class activities, aspects of the course environment, challenges the students faced, aspects of the courses the students found enjoyable, and some student outcomes. We further study the impact of the course activities and course environment on four of the outcomes (self-reported learning of lab skills, self-reported learning of concepts, course enjoyment, and development of a sense of community). We find that students who were provided clear expectations, had enough time for their coursework, frequently worked in groups, and frequently had access to guidance from their instructors were more likely to report positive outcomes. This work demonstrates the importance of certain aspects of lab courses for several desirable outcomes in remote lab courses during a pandemic, with findings that may transfer to in-person or remote lab courses in the future. &nbsp;</p

A volumetric comparison of the insular cortex and its subregions in primates

The neuronal composition of the insula in primates displays a gradient, transitioning from granular neocortex in the posterior-dorsal insula to agranular neocortex in the anterior-ventral insula with an intermediate zone of dysgranularity. Additionally, apes and humans exhibit a distinctive subdomain in the agranular insula, the frontoinsular cortex (FI), defined by the presence of clusters of von Economo neurons (VENs). Studies in humans indicate that the ventral anterior insula, including agranular insular cortex and FI, is involved in social awareness, and that the posterodorsal insula, including granular and dysgranular cortices, produces an internal representation of the body's homeostatic state. We examined the volumes of these cytoarchitectural areas of insular cortex in 30 primate species, including the volume of FI in apes and humans. Results indicate that the whole insula scales hyperallometrically (exponent = 1.13) relative to total brain mass, and the agranular insula (including FI) scales against total brain mass with even greater positive allometry (exponent = 1.23), providing a potential neural basis for enhancement of social cognition in association with increased brain size. The relative volumes of the subdivisions of the insular cortex, after controlling for total brain volume, are not correlated with species typical social group size. Although its size is predicted by primate-wide allometric scaling patterns, we found that the absolute volume of the left and right agranular insula and left FI are among the most differentially expanded of the human cerebral cortex compared to our closest living relative, the chimpanzee

Assessing on-farm productivity of Miscanthus crops by combining soil mapping, yield modelling and remote sensing

Crown Copyright © 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Biomass from agricultural land is a key component of any sustainable bioenergy strategy, and 2nd generation, ligno-cellulosic feedstocks are part of the UK government policy to meet the target of reduced CO2 emission. Pre-harvest estimates of the biomass supply potential are usually based on experimental evidence and little is known about the yield gap between biologically obtainable and actual achievable on-farm biomass yields. We propose a systematic integration of mapped information fit for estimating obtainable yields using an empirical model, observed on-farm yields and remote sensing. Thereby, one can identify the sources of yield variation and supply uncertainty. Spatially explicit Miscanthus potential yields are compared with delivered on-farm yields from established crops ≥5 years after planting, surveyed among participants in the Energy Crop Scheme. Actual on-farm yield averaged at 8.94 Mg ha−1 and it varied greatly (coefficient of variation 34%), largely irrespective of soil type. The average yield gap on clay soils was much larger than that on sandy or loamy soils (37% vs 10%). Miscanthus is noticeably slower to establish on clay soils as shown by fitting a logistic Gompertz equation to yield time series. However, gaps in crop cover as identified by density counts, visual inspection (Google Earth) and remote sensing (Landsat-5) correlated with observed on-farm yields suggesting patchiness as causal for reduced yields. The analysis shows ways to improve the agronomy for these new crops to increase economic returns within the supply chain and the environmental benefits (reduced GHG emission, greater carbon sequestration) and reduce the land demand of bio-energy production.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Student experiences with authentic research in a remote, introductory course-based undergraduate research experience in physics

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Instructional labs: Improving traditions and new directions.] Participation in undergraduate research experiences (UREs) has been identified as an important way of increasing undergraduate retention, interest, and identity within the sciences. Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) have been shown to have similar outcomes to UREs but can reach a larger number of students at one time and are accessible to any student simply through enrollment in a course. One key component of a CURE is that students must participate in authentic scientific discovery in which they answer a question where the answer is initially unknown to both students and the scientific community. Here, we present student experiences with authentic research in a large, introductory physics CURE conducted remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. We use student responses to a closed ended survey question, as well as written responses to an open-ended end-of-course assignment to investigate what aspects of real research students felt that they participated in and the extent to which students felt that they participated in authentic research. Most students in the course felt like they engaged in real-world research during the course and a large number of students highlighted their experience with authentic research when asked to describe their experience in the course more broadly. We discuss which elements of the course may have contributed to the students’ experiences of authentic research

Known-item searches and search tactics in library search systems : Results from four transaction log analysis studies

© 2020 Elsevier Inc. A better understanding of users' search interactions in library search systems is key to improving the result ranking. By focusing on known-item searches (searches for an item already known) and search tactics, vast improvement can be made. To better understand user behaviour, we conducted four transaction-log studies, comprising more than 4.2 million search sessions from two German library search systems. Results show that most sessions are rather short; users tend to issue short queries and usually do not go beyond the first search engine result page (SERP). The most frequently used search tactic was the extension of a query (‘Exhaust’). Looking at the known-item searches, it becomes clear that this query type is of great importance. Between 38%–57% of all queries are known-item queries. Titles or title parts were the most frequent elements of these queries, either alone or in combination with the author's name. Unsuccessful known-item searches were often caused by items not available in the system. Results can be applied by libraries and library system vendors to improve their systems, as well as when designing new systems. Future research, in addition to log data, should also include background information on the usage, for example, through user surveys

Entwicklung und Anwendung einer Software zur automatisierten Kontrolle des Lebensmittelmarktes im Internet mit informationswissenschaftlichen Methoden

In diesem Artikel präsentieren wir die Durchführung und die Ergebnisse eines interdisziplinären Forschungsprojekts zum Thema automatisierte Lebensmittelkontrolle im Web. Es wurden Kompetenzen aus den Disziplinen Lebensmittelwissenschaft, Rechtswissenschaft, Informationswissenschaft und Informatik dazu genutzt, ein detailliertes Konzept und einen Software-Prototypen zu entwickeln, um das Internet nach Produktangeboten zu durchsuchen, die gegen das Lebensmittelrecht verstoßen. Dabei wird deutlich, wie ein solcher Anwendungsfall von den Methoden der Information-Retrieval-Evaluierung profitiert, und wie sich mit relativ geringem Aufwand eine flexible Software programmieren lässt, die auch für eine Vielzahl anderer Fragestellungen einsetzbar ist. Die Ergebnisse des Projekts zeigen, wie komplexe Arbeitsprozesse einer Behörde mit Hilfe der Methoden von Retrieval-Tests und gängigen Verfahren aus dem maschinellen Lernen effektiv und effizient unterstützt werden können

Bioavailability and potential carcinogenicity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from wood combustion particulate matter in vitro

Due to increasing energy demand and limited fossil fuels, renewable energy sources have gained in importance. Particulate matter (PM) in general, but also PM from the combustion of wood is known to exert adverse health effects in human. These are often related to specific toxic compounds adsorbed to the PM surface, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), of which some are known human carcinogens. This study focused on the bioavailability of PAHs and on the tumor initiation potential of wood combustion PM, using the PAH CALUX® reporter gene assay and the BALB/c 3T3 cell transformation assay, respectively. For this, both cell assays were exposed to PM and their respective organic extracts from varying degrees of combustion. The PAH CALUX® experiments demonstrated a concentration–response relationship matching the PAHs detected in the samples. Contrary to expectations, PM samples from complete (CC) and incomplete combustion (IC) provided for a stronger and weaker response, respectively, suggesting that PAH were more readily bioavailable in PM from CC. These findings were corroborated via PAH spiking experiments indicating that IC PM contains organic components that strongly adsorb PAH thereby reducing their bioavailability. The results obtained with organic extracts in the cell transformation assay presented the highest potential for carcinogenicity in samples with high PAH contents, albeit PM from CC also demonstrated a carcinogenic potential. In conclusion, the in vitro assays employed emphasize that CC produces PM with low PAH content however with a general higher bioavailability and thus with a nearly similar carcinogenic potential than IC PM