Development and evaluation of an intervention to improve further education students' understanding of higher education assessment criteria: three studies

Three studies about helping Further Education students prepare for study at universityThis paper reports three studies about preparing Further Education (FE) students for the transition to Higher Education (HE) by improving their understanding of HE assessment criteria. In study 1, students and tutors in both FE and HE were interviewed for a qualitative analysis of their understandings and expectations about assessment criteria. In study 2, students in FE and HE completed questionnaires measuring self-rated understanding and ability about assessment criteria, and beliefs about essay writing. Studies 1 and 2 both showed that FE students were more confident than HE students about their understanding and ability in relation to assessment criteria, but FE students’ understandings suggested more surface approaches to learning and more naïve epistemological beliefs. In study 3, a workshop intervention to improve FE students’ understandings of HE assessment criteria was evaluated in a comparative longitudinal trial. The intervention reduced FE students’ self-rated understanding and ability, and promoted more sophisticated beliefs about essay writing, by comparison with students who received standard tuition. We concluded that interventions to develop more realistic understandings of what is required in academic writing could be used to prepare FE students more effectively for the transition to HE

Automated Mars surface sample return mission concepts for achievement of essential scientific objectives

Mission concepts were investigated for automated return to Earth of a Mars surface sample adequate for detailed analyses in scientific laboratories. The minimum sample mass sufficient to meet scientific requirements was determined. Types of materials and supporting measurements for essential analyses are reported. A baseline trajectory profile was selected for its low energy requirements and relatively simple implementation, and trajectory profile design data were developed for 1979 and 1981 launch opportunities. Efficient spacecraft systems were conceived by utilizing existing technology where possible. Systems concepts emphasized the 1979 launch opportunity, and the applicability of results to other opportunities was assessed. It was shown that the baseline missions (return through Mars parking orbit) and some comparison missions (return after sample transfer in Mars orbit) can be accomplished by using a single Titan III E/Centaur as the launch vehicle. All missions investigated can be accomplished by use of Space Shuttle/Centaur vehicles

Testing and analyses of electrochemical cells using frequency response

The feasibility of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy as a method for analyzing battery state of health and state of charge was investigated. Porous silver, zinc, nickel, and cadmium electrodes as well as silver/zinc cells were studied. State of charge could be correlated with impedance data for all but the nickel electrodes. State of health was correlated with impedance data for two silver/zinc cells, one apparently good and the other dead. The experimental data were fit to equivalent circuit models

Change in "Self-as-Context" ("Perspective-taking") occurs in acceptance and commitment therapy for people with chronic pain and is associated with improved functioning

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is based on the psychological flexibility model, which includes a therapeutic process referred to as ‘‘self-as-context’’ (SAC). This study investigates whether ACT is associated with an effect on SAC and whether this effect is linked to treatment outcomes in people with chronic pain. Four hundred twelve adults referred to a pain management center participated in the study. Participants completed measures of treatment processes (SAC, pain acceptance) and outcomes (pain-related interference, work and social adjustment, depression) before treatment, upon completion of treatment, and at 9-month follow-up. Paired sample t-tests and analyses of meaningful change were conducted to examine changes in processes and outcomes. Regression analyses with residualized change scores from process and outcome variables, and bivariate growth curve modeling were used to examine the association between change in SAC and change in outcomes. Participants significantly improved on all process and outcome variables at post-treatment (d = .38–.98) and 9-month follow-up (d = .24–.75). Forty-two to 67.5% of participants showed meaningful improvements on each outcome at post-treatment and follow-up. Change in SAC was associated with change in outcomes (b = –.21 to –.31; r = –.16 to –.46). Results support a role for change in SAC in treatment as the psychological flexibility model suggested

Evolutionary conservation of conduction velocity through NF-M microsatellite expansion [abstract]

Abstract only availableMyelination results in rapid conduction velocities due to myelin-dependent radial axonal growth and axonal insulation. As larger mammals evolved, the resulting increase in axonal length would require a compensatory mechanism to maintain rapid conduction velocity. The main cytoskeletal component of myelinated axons is neurofilaments. Additionally, neurofilaments medium (NF-M) and heavy (NF-H) are more heavily phosphorylated on serine residues of the lysine-serine-proline (KSP) microsatellite than in non-myelinated areas of the same axon. In mouse, evidence suggests that the loss of the NF-M microsatellite strongly inhibits radial-axonal growth resulting in decreased conduction velocity. My preliminary results suggest a direct relationship between the axonal length and the number of KSP repeats in the NF-M microsatellite. Using degenerate primers, I have amplified exon 3 of the NF-M gene from genomic DNA of phylogenically diverse mammals. Gel electrophoresis data indicates an increase in the length of exon 3 with an increase in species size. Through DNA sequence analysis, we are in the process of determining if the increase in length of exon 3 is due to an increase in the number of KSP repeats in the NF-M microsatellite. This evidence suggests that the expansion of the KSP repeats of the NF-M microsatellite may be a possible mechanism through which evolution increased axonal diameter as larger animals evolved. As axonal diameter is one of the key determinants of conduction velocity, larger axonal diameters may allow for conservation of conduction rates in mammals of differing sizes as is observed in mouse and humans (both conduct at ~50m/s)

Toward the Community of True Individuals

Paper by David L. Norto

Comparative Analysis of the Major Polypeptides from Liver Gap Junctions and Lens Fiber Junctions

Gap junctions from rat liver and fiber junctions from bovine lens have similar septilaminar profiles when examined by thin-section electron microscopy and differ only slightly with respect to the packing of intramembrane particles in freeze-fracture images. These similarities have often led to lens fiber junctions being referred to as gap junctions. Junctions from both sources were isolated as enriched subcellular fractions and their major polypeptide components compared biochemically and immunochemically. The major liver gap junction polypeptide has an apparent molecular weight of 27,000, while a 25,000-dalton polypeptide is the major component of lens fiber junctions. The two polypeptides are not homologous when compared by partial peptide mapping in SDS. In addition, there is not detectable antigenic similarity between the two polypeptides by immunochemical criteria using antibodies to the 25,000-dalton lens fiber junction polypeptide. Thus, in spite of the ultrastructural similarities, the gap junction and the lens fiber junction are comprised of distinctly different polypeptides, suggesting that the lens fiber junction contains a unique gene product and potentially different physiological properties

Soils Developed from the Kope Geologic Formation

Author Institution: Department of Agronomy, Ohio State UniversitySoils formed from the Kope formation of Ordovician Age limestone and soft calcareous shales which occur in southwestern Ohio, southeastern Indiana and northern Kentucky were studied to see whether a new soil series should be established. These soils were developed in different geologic formations which previously were mapped as one series. The 2 areas of concern were the amount of coarse fragments in the soils and the type of clay minerals in the clay fraction. These soils contained less than 35% by volume of coarse fragments in the control section, therefore would not belong in a skeletal family as previously classified. Clay mineralogy was mixed, with no one clay mineral dominant in the clay fraction. Kope formation soils classify as members of the fine, mixed, mesic Typic Hapludalfs and are now mapped as the Pate series

Magnetic Cataclysmic Variable Accretion Flows

We have used a magnetic accretion model to investigate the accretion flows of magnetic cataclysmic variables (mCVs) throughout a range of parameter space. The results of our numerical simulations demonstrate that broadly four types of flow are possible: discs, streams, rings and propellers. We show that the equilibrium spin periods in asynchronous mCVs, for a given orbital period and magnetic moment, occur where the flow changes from a type characterised by spin-up (i.e. disc or stream) to one characterised by spin-down (i.e. propeller or ring). 'Triple points' occur in the plane of spin-to-orbital period ratio versus magnetic moment, at which stream-disc-propeller flows or stream-ring-propeller flows can co-exist. The first of these is identified as corresponding to when the corotation radius is equal to the circularisation radius, and the second as where the corotation radius is equal to the distance from white dwarf to the L1 point. If mCVs are accreting at their equilibrium spin rates, then for a mass ratio of 0.5, those with Pspin/Porb < 0.1 will be disc-like, those with 0.1 < Pspin/Porb < 0.5 will be stream-like, and those with Pspin/Porb ~ 0.5 will be ring-like. In each case, some material is also lost from the binary in order to maintain angular momentum balance. The spin to orbital period ratio at which the systems transition between these flow types decreases as the mass ratio of the stellar components increases, and vice versa