933 research outputs found
PeerWise - The Marmite of Veterinary Student Learning
PeerWise is a free online student-centred collaborative learning tool with which students anonymously
author, answer, and evaluate multiple choice questions (MCQs). Features such as commenting on questions,
rating questions and comments, and appearing on leaderboards, can encourage healthy competition, engage
students in reflection and debate, and enhance their communication skills. PeerWise has been used in diverse
subject areas but never previously in Veterinary Medicine. The Veterinary undergraduates at the University of
Glasgow are a distinct cohort; academically gifted and often highly strategic in their learning due to time
pressures and volume of course material. In 2010-11 we introduced PeerWise into 1st year Veterinary
Biomolecular Sciences in the Glasgow Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery programme. To scaffold
PeerWise use, a short interactive session introduced students to the tool and to the basic principles of good MCQ
authorship. Students were asked to author four and answer forty MCQs throughout the academic year.
Participation was encouraged by an allocation of up to 5% of the final year mark and inclusion of studentauthored
questions in the first summative examination. Our analysis focuses on engagement of the class with the\ud
tool and their perceptions of its use. All 141 students in the class engaged with PeerWise and the majority
contributed beyond that which was stipulated. Student engagement with PeerWise prior to a summative exam
was positively correlated to exam score, yielding a relationship that was highly significant (p<0.001). Student
perceptions of PeerWise were predominantly positive with explicit recognition of its value as a learning and
revision tool, and more than two thirds of the class in agreement that question authoring and answering
reinforced their learning. There was clear polarisation of views, however, and those students who did not like
PeerWise were vociferous in their dislike, the biggest criticism being lack of moderation by staff
BIM manager, coordinator, consultant, analyst…, what does a confused AEC industry need?
The rapid growth of Building Information Modelling (BIM) in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction industries since its introduction around 2002 has highlighted a skills shortage within the industry whilst also leading to some confusion over the roles involved with BIM, particularly the BIM Manager. These factors can make recruiting the perfect BIM Manager difficult; especially with evidence also suggesting retaining personnel is a problem with many averaging less than two years per post before moving on. These issues are down to the industry having poor awareness of the skills and expertise BIM Managers can provide. This paper seeks to investigate the requirements for becoming a BIM Manager in terms of experience, training, skills and knowledge, whilst also assessing the different responsibilities between the various BIM management roles currently being used within the UK Construction Industry in order to clarify the current confusion. The investigation employed two research techniques. First, a comprehensive literature review that reviewed BIM roles and responsibilities at both project and corporate levels, before examining the characteristics of what is required to work with BIM. Second, a quantitative research survey that involved extracting key information from 25 BIM related job adverts that were posted throughout this study. The extracted data was then analysed to determine what is expected of potential BIM Managers in terms of education, working experience and skills. By comparing the findings of the two research techniques, it was possible to define what it takes to become a BIM Manager, whilst also separating responsibilities between management levels. The findings of this research culminated in defining a Project BIM Manager Job description/advertisement that responds to industry requirements. This job descriptor features the optimised role responsibilities at an SME alongside improved academic, professional and competency requirements that should lead to a higher quality recruitment process for employers
An ethnographic study of support groups : The pain accounts of older members.
The government of the United Kingdom (UK) has signalled that people with long term conditions such as chronic pain should be supported to self manage their conditions. A review of the literature reports that self management of chronic pain can impact on the psychological and physical well being of those who are experiencing long term painful conditions. The UK government (DoH, 2001) suggests that support groups can help recruit participants to self management courses such as the Expert Patient Programme and Challenging Arthritis. The government (DoH, 2001) also recognises the importance of local access to self care information and support networks that support groups can offer. However review of the literature reveals that support groups can offer more and have an impact on the psychological as well as physical wellbeing of those experiencing chronic pain. The literature also revealed that there has been little research into the impact of support group memberships on the lives of older adults. Increasing the knowledge of the functions of support groups can be used to offer older adults choice and help motivate them to become members of support groups. The socially constructed definition of older adults defined in the National Service Framework (DoH, 2001) includes those who are aged 55 years or older and will be used in this current study. The aims of this study are: To identify the purpose of support groups from the perspective of older adults members. To determine the motivation and routes that are taken by older adults to join support groups. To explore the provision within support groups of the four elements of social support identified by Langford et al (1997) which include; informational, emotional, appraisal and instrumental. To examine the impact that support group membership has on the chronic pain self management activities of older adults. To identify the location within an individual's chronic pain trajectory of when they are likely to benefit from group membership group members.This ethnographic study used participant observation and semi-structured interviews to generate accounts of older adults' perspectives of support groups. To prevent authoritarianism a partial feminist approach was used. Purposive sampling was used to select older adult participants (=9) from three chronic illness support groups. Schema analysis (Ryan and Bernard, 2003) was used to collapse the data into thematic groups, schema analysis has similarities to grounded theory (Strauss and Corbin, 1998) in that it discovers links themes into theoretical models.The sampled support groups in this study had representation of older adults but this was limited to white Irish or white British despite being located in areas with diverse ethnic populations. There was also an identification of a core group of members in each of the sampled groups. The core group consisted of members who attended the meeting regularly and contributed to the voluntary activities of the group as well as the committees.The data analysis from the interviews revealed that participants were also experiencing co-morbid illnesses and these were not reported as being bothersome and were affectively self managed by the individual. The perceived dominant illness was one of the motivating factors for joining the support group. There was also evidence of perseverance, living life despite the chronic pain and locus of control. The motivation to join the support group had already been reported in the literature such as a response to an information deficit, social networking and starting the group and recommendations by healthcare professionals. However there was also evidence of philanthropy which has not previously been reported, this impacted positively on the participants quality of life because of their ability to contribute within society. The interviews also identified three selves within the chronic pain trajectory including; the past self, the chronic pain self and the present self The present self is identified as the location within the chronic pain trajectory which benefits from support group membership.The provision of social support offered by the groups consisted of four components (Langford et al, 1997) which are informational, emotional, instrumental and appraisal support. Previous support group studies have only focused on informational and social support which has been reported separately.This thesis adds to the body of knowledge about the activities of support groups for long term conditions and their contribution to the support of older adults experiencing painful conditions. New findings suggest that support groups can be affective at certain points within the chronic pain trajectory and that co-morbid illnesses are demonstrated to be effectively managed by the individual. The findings also identify the social support activities that have not been previously reported in the reviewed literature but are present within support groups
Modelling extreme concentration from a source in a turbulent flow over rough wall
The concentration fluctuations in passive plumes from an elevated and a groundlevel
source in a turbulent boundary layer over a rough wall were studied using
large eddy simulation and wind tunnel experiment. The predictions of statistics
up to second order moments were thereby validated. In addition, the trend of relative
fluctuations far downstream for a ground level source was estimated using
dimensional analysis. The techniques of extreme value theory were then applied
to predict extreme concentrations by modelling the upper tail of the probability
density function of the concentration time series by the Generalised Pareto Distribution.
Data obtained from both the simulations and experiments were analysed in
this manner. The predicted maximum concentration (?0) normalized by the local
mean concentration (Cm) or by the local r.m.s of concentration fluctuation (crms),
was extensively investigated. Values for ?0/Cm and ?0/crms as large as 50 and 20
respectively were found for the elevated source and 10 and 15 respectively for the
ground-level source
Conjectured Exact Percolation Thresholds of the Fortuin-Kasteleyn Cluster for the +-J Ising Spin Glass Model
The conjectured exact percolation thresholds of the Fortuin-Kasteleyn cluster
for the +-J Ising spin glass model are theoretically shown based on a
conjecture. It is pointed out that the percolation transition of the
Fortuin-Kasteleyn cluster for the spin glass model is related to a dynamical
transition for the freezing of spins. The present results are obtained as
locations of points on the so-called Nishimori line, which is a special line in
the phase diagram. We obtain TFK = 2 / ln [z / (z - 2)] and pFK = z / [2 (z -
1)] for the Bethe lattice, TFK -> infinity and pFK -> 1 / 2 for the
infinite-range model, TFK = 2 / ln 3 and pFK = 3 / 4 for the square lattice,
TFK ~ 3.9347 and pFK ~ 0.62441 for the simple cubic lattice, TFK ~ 6.191 and
pFK ~ 0.5801 for the 4-dimensional hypercubic lattice, and TFK = 2 / ln {[1 + 2
sin (pi / 18)] / [1 - 2 sin (pi / 18) ]} and pFK = [1 + 2 sin (pi / 18) ] / 2
for the triangular lattice, when J / kB = 1, where z is the coordination
number, J is the strength of the exchange interaction between spins, kB is the
Boltzmann constant, TFK is the temperature at the percolation transition point,
and pFK is the probability, that the interaction is ferromagnetic, at the
percolation transition point.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure. v8: this is the final versio
Efficient and Selective Carbon-Carbon Coupling on Coke-Resistant PdAu Single-Atom Alloys
We demonstrate that PdAu single-atom alloy model catalysts offer a heterogeneous route to selective Würtz-type C–C coupling. Specifically, when methyl iodide is exposed to an otherwise unreactive Au(111) surface, single Pd atoms in the surface layer promote C–I dissociation and C–C coupling, leading to the selective formation of ethane
Seismic hazard and risk in Shanghai and estimation of expected building damage
The People's Republic of China is in the process of rapid demographic, economic and urban change including nationwide engineering and building construction at an unprecedented scale. The mega-city of Shanghai is at the centre of China's modernisation. Rapid urbanisation and building growth have increased the exposure of people and property to natural disasters. The seismic hazard of Shanghai and its vicinity is presented from a seismogenic free-zone methodology. A PGA value of 49 cm s-2 and a maximum intensity value of VII for the Chinese Seismic Intensity Scale (a scale similar to the Modified Mercalli) for a 99% probability of non-exceedance in 50 years are determined for Shanghai city. The potential building damage for three independent districts of the city centre named Putuo, Nanjing Road and Pudong are calculated using damage vulnerability matrices. It is found that old civil houses of brick and timber are the most vulnerable buildings with potentially a mean probability value of 7.4% of this building structure type exhibiting the highest damage grade at intensity VII
Fitness for Fire & Rescue::Standards, Protocols and Policy.
The purpose of this document is to outline safe, accurate, reliable and cost effective methods of assessing Firefighter fitness levels and to identify the most suitable tests to use
Excisional treatment in women with cervical adenocarcinoma in situ (AIS): a prospective randomised controlled noninferiority trial to compare AIS persistence/recurrence after loop electrosurgical excision procedure with cold knife cone biopsy: protocol for a pilot study
Introduction: Adenocarcinoma in situ (AIS) of the uterine cervix is the precursor to invasive endocervical adenocarcinoma. An excisional biopsy such as a cold knife cone biopsy (CKC) should be performed to exclude invasive adenocarcinoma. Loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP) is an alternative modality to CKC but is controversial in AIS. There is a perception that there is a greater likelihood of incomplete excision of AIS with LEEP because the depth of excised tissue tends to be smaller and the tissue margins may show thermal artefact which can interfere with pathology assessment. In the USA, guidelines recommend that any treatment modality can be used to excise AIS, provided that the specimen remains intact with interpretable margins. However, there are no high-quality studies comparing LEEP with CKC and well-designed prospective studies are needed. If such a study were to show that LEEP was non-inferior to CKC for the outcomes of post-treatment persistence, recurrence and adenocarcinoma, LEEP could be recommended as an appropriate treatment option for AIS in selected patients. This would benefit women because, unlike CKC, LEEP does not require general anaesthesia and may be associated with reduced morbidity.
Methods and analysis: The proposed exploratory study is a parallel group trial with an allocation ratio of 2:1 in favour of the intervention (LEEP: CKC). Participants are women aged ≥18 to ≤45 years diagnosed with AIS on cervical screening and/or colposcopically directed biopsy in Australia and New Zealand, who are to receive excisional treatment in a tertiary level centre.
Ethics and dissemination: Ethical approval for the study has been granted by the St John of God Healthcare Human Research Ethics Committee (reference number #1137)
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