Tales from the coalface: From tragedy to triumph in a blended learning approach to the teaching of 1st year biology

In 2004 we made a significant move to blended course delivery in 1st year Biology at the University of Newcastle. Innovations included electronic delivery of course notes, laboratory instructions and other support material including interactive templates, instructional and background videos, step by step guides for data analysis and some online laboratories. Students also submitted reports electronically and used email along with peer review to provide guided feedback to each other. Online discussion boards were used to interact with students and to assist students outside of class time. We also used some automatically marked online assessment. Feedback on the implementation of a blended learning approach in Semester 1 during and after the completion of the semester showed that, although grades were strong, student and staff satisfaction levels were the lowest on record. Key issues identified were workload, quality and quantity of feedback and collusion. In the light of this feedback changes were made to the delivery in Semester 2 to reduce workload, improve feedback and minimise collusion. At the conclusion of Semester 2 overall course grades and the results of student surveys showed that grades and satisfaction were the highest on record. All this with a 40% reduction in part time teaching costs for Semester 2. We believe that our experience shows that the blended learning environment can produce an improved quality learning environment at reduced cost, although only when that environment is matched with skilled and motivated teaching staff

Transcriptomic profiling of neonatal mouse granulosa cells reveals new insights into primordial follicle activation

The dormant population of ovarian primordial follicles is determined at birth and serves as the reservoir for future female fertility. Yet our understanding of the molecular, biochemical, and cellular processes underpinning primordial follicle activation remains limited. The survival of primordial follicles relies on the correct complement and morphology of granulosa cells, which provide signaling factors essential for oocyte and follicular survival. To investigate the contribution of granulosa cells in the primordial-to-primary follicle transition, gene expression profiles of granulosa cells undergoing early differentiation were assessed in a murine model. Ovaries from C57Bl/6 mice were enzymatically dissociated at time-points spanning the initial wave of primordial follicle activation. Post-natal day (PND) 1 ovaries yielded primordial granulosa cells, and PND4 ovaries yielded a mixed population of primordial and primary granulosa cells. The comparative transcriptome of granulosa cells at these time-points was generated via Illumina NextSeq 500 system, which identified 131 significantly differentially expressed transcripts. The differential expression of eight of the transcripts was confirmed by RT-qPCR. Following biological network mapping via Ingenuity Pathway Analysis, the functional expression of the protein products of three of the differentially expressed genes, namely FRZB, POD1, and ZFX, was investigated with in-situ immunolocalization in PND4 mouse ovaries was investigated. Finally, evidence was provided that Wnt pathway antagonist, secreted frizzled-related protein 3 (FRZB), interacts with a suppressor of primordial follicle activation WNT3A and may be involved in promoting primordial follicle activation. This study highlights the dynamic changes in gene expression of granulosa cells during primordial follicle activation and provides evidence for a renewed focus into the Wnt signaling pathway's role in primordial follicle activation

Design of an enquiry-based ‘Practical Only’ course for the teaching of basis skills in first year Biology

First year Biology teaching at the Callaghan Campus of the University of Newcastle has undergone a significant reorganisation in 2006. The rearrangement was conducted with the aims of increasing flexible delivery, improving student learning, reducing overall teaching effort, targeting teaching effort to biology majors and standardising course delivery throughout the university campuses. Key to the reorganisation has been the separation of the practical and lecture components of first year into distinctly separate courses. The practical course runs only in semester 2 and is compulsory for students that intend to graduate with a major in biology. Students that do not intend to continue their biology studies past 1st year are not required nor expected to enrol in the course. Separation of the courses has allowed a renewed focus on basis skills including laboratory and field techniques, the scientific method and practice, report writing and personal interaction. In this paper we present the design of this practical course and explain the process and logic we have used in its construction. Skill acquisition is situated in authentic learning contexts, employing the University campus as a unifying theme. Through an enquiry- based approach, students learn how to think as scientists, posing and testing questions rather than ‘doing the experiment’. The process of building and reinforcing skills (scaffolded learning) and the use of assessment & peer interaction to facilitate the learning process is discussed

On Dark Matter Annihilation in the Local Group

Under the hypothesis of a Dark Matter composed by supersymmetric particles like neutralinos, we investigate the possibility that their annihilation in the haloes of nearby galaxies could produce detectable fluxes of $\gamma$-photons. Expected fluxes depend on several, poorly known quantities such as the density profiles of Dark Matter haloes, the existence and prominence of central density cusps and the presence of a population of sub-haloes. We find that, for all reasonable choices of Dark Matter halo models, the intensity of the $\gamma$-ray flux from some of the nearest extragalactic objects, like M31, is comparable or higher than the diffuse Galactic foreground. We show that next generation ground-based experiments could have the sensitivity to reveal such fluxes which could help us unveiling the nature of Dark Matter particles.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D.; added a new paragraph on the detectability of Galactic sub-halos in our Galaxy; added a discussion on their model dependence. The relation of our results with the "CDM crisis" issue has also been adde

Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay from Singlet Neutrinos in Extra Dimensions

We study the model-building conditions under which a sizeable $0\nu\beta\beta$-decay signal to the recently reported level of~0.4 eV is due to Kaluza--Klein singlet neutrinos in theories with large extra dimensions. Our analysis is based on 5-dimensional singlet-neutrino models compactified on an $S^1/Z_2$ orbifold, where the Standard--Model fields are localized on a 3-brane. We show that a successful interpretation of a positive signal within the above minimal 5-dimensional framework would require a non-vanishing shift of the 3-brane from the orbifold fixed points by an amount smaller than the typical scale (100 MeV)$^{-1}$ characterizing the Fermi nuclear momentum. The resulting 5-dimensional models predict a sizeable effective Majorana-neutrino mass that could be several orders of magnitude larger than the light neutrino masses. Most interestingly, the brane-shifted models with only one bulk sterile neutrino also predict novel trigonometric textures leading to mass scenarios with hierarchical active neutrinos and large $\nu_\mu$-$\nu_\tau$ and $\nu_e$-$\nu_\mu$ mixings that can fully explain the current atmospheric and solar neutrino data.Comment: 33 pages, LaTeX, minor rewordings, references adde

The Boundary-spanning Role of Democratic Learning Communities: Implementing the IDEALS

This multi-case study investigates characteristics and practices in schools that expand the traditional boundaries of school leadership and transform schools into democratic learning communities based on the level of implementation of the IDEALS framework. This investigation serves as a modus to illuminate democratic processes that change schools and address the needs of the students, not the needs of the adults in the system. A sample of five purposefully selected high schools, from the Midwest USA, was utilized. The schools serve Grade 9—12 students, but vary in size, residential area and socioeconomic status of the students. This study illuminates some of the challenges and strategies that facilitate or impede the process of creating more democratic schools that expand the boundaries of inquiry and discourse to include a broader range of community stakeholders and that respect and embrace issues of equity.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

Constraints on dark matter-nucleon effective couplings in the presence of kinematically distinct halo substructures using the DEAP-3600 detector

DEAP-3600 is a single-phase liquid argon detector aiming to directly detect weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), located at SNOLAB (Sudbury, Canada). After analyzing data taken during the first year of operation, a null result was used to place an upper bound on the WIMP-nucleon, spin-independent, isoscalar cross section. This study reinterprets this result within a nonrelativistic effective field theory framework and further examines how various possible substructures in the local dark matter halo may affect these constraints. Such substructures are hinted at by kinematic structures in the local stellar distribution observed by the Gaia satellite and other recent astronomical surveys. These include the Gaia Sausage (or Enceladus), as well as a number of distinct streams identified in recent studies. Limits are presented for the coupling strength of the effective contact interaction operators O1, O3, O5, O8, and O11, considering isoscalar, isovector, and xenonphobic scenarios, as well as the specific operators corresponding to millicharge, magnetic dipole, electric dipole, and anapole interactions. The effects of halo substructures on each of these operators are explored as well, showing that the O5 and O8 operators are particularly sensitive to the velocity distribution, even at dark matter masses above 100 GeV=c

Altered white matter microstructural organization in posttraumatic stress disorder across 3047 adults: results from the PGC-ENIGMA PTSD consortium

A growing number of studies have examined alterations in white matter organization in people with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) using diffusion MRI (dMRI), but the results have been mixed which may be partially due to relatively small sample sizes among studies. Altered structural connectivity may be both a neurobiological vulnerability for, and a result of, PTSD. In an effort to find reliable effects, we present a multi-cohort analysis of dMRI metrics across 3047 individuals from 28 cohorts currently participating in the PGC-ENIGMA PTSD working group (a joint partnership between the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium and the Enhancing NeuroImaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis consortium). Comparing regional white matter metrics across the full brain in 1426 individuals with PTSD and 1621 controls (2174 males/873 females) between ages 18-83, 92% of whom were trauma-exposed, we report associations between PTSD and disrupted white matter organization measured by lower fractional anisotropy (FA) in the tapetum region of the corpus callosum (Cohen's d = -0.11, p = 0.0055). The tapetum connects the left and right hippocampus, for which structure and function have been consistently implicated in PTSD. Results were consistent even after accounting for the effects of multiple potentially confounding variables: childhood trauma exposure, comorbid depression, history of traumatic brain injury, current alcohol abuse or dependence, and current use of psychotropic medications. Our results show that PTSD may be associated with alterations in the broader hippocampal network.New methods for child psychiatric diagnosis and treatment outcome evaluatio

Measurement of the gamma ray background in the Davis Cavern at the Sanford Underground Research Facility

Deep underground environments are ideal for low background searches due to the attenuation of cosmic rays by passage through the earth. However, they are affected by backgrounds from γ-rays emitted by 40K and the 238U and 232Th decay chains in the surrounding rock. The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment will search for dark matter particle interactions with a liquid xenon TPC located within the Davis campus at the Sanford Underground Research Facility, Lead, South Dakota, at the 4,850-foot level. In order to characterise the cavern background, in-situ γ-ray measurements were taken with a sodium iodide detector in various locations and with lead shielding. The integral count rates (0--3300~keV) varied from 596~Hz to 1355~Hz for unshielded measurements, corresponding to a total flux in the cavern of 1.9±0.4~γ cm−2s−1. The resulting activity in the walls of the cavern can be characterised as 220±60~Bq/kg of 40K, 29±15~Bq/kg of 238U, and 13±3~Bq/kg of 232Th

Study of Z → llγ decays at √s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents a study of Z → llγ decays with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The analysis uses a proton–proton data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.2 fb−1 collected at a centre-ofmass energy √s = 8 TeV. Integrated fiducial cross-sections together with normalised differential fiducial cross-sections, sensitive to the kinematics of final-state QED radiation, are obtained. The results are found to be in agreement with stateof-the-art predictions for final-state QED radiation. First measurements of Z → llγ γ decays are also reported