Adult education in small states : the case of Malta

A small state faces several challenges with regard to adult continuing education and training. The paper discusses some of these challenges with specific reference to the Mediterranean small island state of Malta. It starts with a general discussion of some of the issues affecting adult education in a small state such as Malta that paves the way for the more focused analyses in the second and third sections. These sections focus on a selection of just two topics from among the many that affect adult education in Malta, namely those of adult education and work and adult education for sustainable development. These analyses are tackled from the perspective of the small state condition.peer-reviewe

High pressure studies of hydrogen-chalcogen systems

Binary element-hydride systems have become a pertinent topic for high pressure research, following the measurement of record high temperature superconductivity in the dense hydrogen-sulfur system. The experimental study followed predictions of superconductivity with high transition temperature (Tc) in (H2S)2H2 at high pressures, leading to the current consensus that the high Tc phase is H3S, produced from the decomposition and recombination of H2S at high pressures. However, conjecture over the behaviour of hydrogen sulfide upon compression, and experimental limitations, cast significant ambiguity over interpretations of the structure and mechanism of the superconducting phase. Nonetheless, theory also predicts high Tc superconductivity in the dense hydrogen selenide and telenide systems; both experimentally uncharted at high pressures prior to this study. This thesis explores and maps the phase diagrams of hydrogen-chalcogen (S, Se, Te) systems using a combination of high pressure Raman spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction techniques. Gaining a comprehensive understanding of the behaviour of these systems under pressure is crucial to the eventual elucidation of the true nature of high Tc superconductivity. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and hydrogen selenide (H2Se) are appreciably toxic. A simple in situ synthesis technique is reported for producing hydrogen-chalcogenides directly from their constituent elements within diamond anvil cells, circumventing the need to condense toxic gases. This technique is also utilised to provide excess hydrogen, in order to produce the hydrogen-rich cocrystals thought to be vital to the formation of the high Tc phase. The hydrogen-sulfur system is most thoroughly investigated, and first presented. High quality Raman spectroscopic data provides an experimental review of pure H2S. Studies of (H2S)2H2 evaluate the current known ambient temperature phases and reveal three novel low temperature phases. Phase II0 is identified on cooling of phase I to 173 K (10 GPa), via splitting of both the single S-H stretching mode and low-frequency H2 vibron; sharp stretching modes indicate a significant reduction in orientational disorder. Successive splitting of the low-frequency H2 vibrons indicates two additional phase changes at 29 GPa (phase III0) and 53 GPa (phase- IV0) respectively, at 80 K. Phase IV0 is associated with an overall increase in symmetry. Evidence is also presented for a tentative fourth novel low temperature phase at ~160 GPa (20 K) and for the formation of an exceptionally stable hydrogen-sulfur compound with potentially novel stoichiometry. The behaviour of the H2S and (H2S)2H2 mixed molecular system is also reported; demonstrating that the coexistence of (H2S)2H2 and H2S can influence the hydrogen-bonding within both systems at high pressures. The first high pressure studies of the hydrogen-selenium system at ambient temperature are reported. The high pressure phase sequence of H2Se (I { I0 - IV) is identified by Raman spectroscopy, mirroring that of H2S. The isothermal boundaries for phases I0 and IV are found at 7 and 12 GPa respectively, at 300 K. Phase IV may have higher symmetry than phase IV H2S. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy demonstrate that the H2Se:H2 mixtures form cocrystals of (H2Se)2H2 from 4.2 GPa, with tetragonal space group I4=mcm, analogous to (H2S)2H2. Both H2Se and (H2Se)2H2 are shown to decompose into their constituent elements above 24 GPa. Attempts to synthesise the elusive H2Te directly from hydrogen and tellurium are reported. No reaction occurs upon heating Te in H2 at 0.2 GPa to 573 K. No visible reaction occurs between H2 and the high-pressure phases of Te, upon laser-heating. No photoreaction occurs upon exposure of tellurium in hydrogen to intense laser light (532 nm) at 0.2 GPa and 300 K, but formation may be stabilised at lower temperatures

Editorial: How does sleep help regulate negative emotion?

In this volume, 15 scientific reports give a snapshot of some of the most exciting current research on how sleep helps regulate negative emotion. Articles illustrate state-of-the-art research paradigms from the cognitive, affective, and behavioral neurosciences, sleep medicine, biological psychiatry, and dream research

1990 Convocation

Opening Selections: First Class Brass: Fats Waller, Strauss, Irving Berlin Processional: Jean Joseph Mouret Welcome: Dr. Ken Stanfield, Deputy Director, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory; Dr. Stephanie Pace Marshall, Executive Director; Mark Wu, Student Council President Introductions: Dr. Stephanie Pace Marshall Musical Selection: D. Gillis Keynote Speaker: Dr. Edward W. Kolb, Head, Theoretical Astrophysics Group, FermiNational Accelerator Laboratory; Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Enrico Fermi Institute, and the College, The University of Chicago Recessional: Rimsky-Korsako

Green luxury student housing : a real estate feasibility study

Thesis (S.M. in Real Estate Development)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2007.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 71-74).The primary purpose of this thesis is to estimate the demand for student housing that focuses on upperclass undergraduate and graduate students who typically shy away from dormitory housing. The initial chapters provide a brief introduction to conventional student housing, explain why the market is growing, review the growing sustainability trend and introduce the idea of green luxury student housing. Chicago serves as the test market where more than forty universities currently operate. Methods for financing, demand drivers, and overall feasibility are discussed for relevance to the market. Two examples of recently built student housing projects in Chicago and Boston are reviewed for current trends and components to their success. Research conducted includes interviews with student housing developers, a student housing consultant, academic staff and other project participants. Site visits, available online data and reviews of project documentation supplement this research. The thesis concludes with the expected demand believed to support the newly defined market niche and its potential feasibility.by Matthew E. Pace.S.M.in Real Estate Developmen

A Conditioned Behavioral Paradigm for Assessing Onset and Lasting Tinnitus in Rats

Numerous behavioral paradigms have been developed to assess tinnitus-like behavior in animals. Nevertheless, they are often limited by prolonged training requirements, as well as an inability to simultaneously assess onset and lasting tinnitus behavior, tinnitus pitch or duration, or tinnitus presence without grouping data from multiple animals or testing sessions. To enhance behavioral testing of tinnitus, we developed a conditioned licking suppression paradigm to determine the pitch(s) of both onset and lasting tinnitus-like behavior within individual animals. Rats learned to lick water during broadband or narrowband noises, and to suppress licking to avoid footshocks during silence. After noise exposure, rats significantly increased licking during silent trials, suggesting onset tinnitus-like behavior. Lasting tinnitus-behavior, however, was exhibited in about half of noise-exposed rats through 7 weeks post-exposure tested. Licking activity during narrowband sound trials remained unchanged following noise exposure, while ABR hearing thresholds fully recovered and were comparable between tinnitus(+) and tinnitus(-) rats. To assess another tinnitus inducer, rats were injected with sodium salicylate. They demonstrated high pitch tinnitus-like behavior, but later recovered by 5 days post-injection. Further control studies showed that 1): sham noise-exposed rats tested with footshock did not exhibit tinnitus-like behavior, and 2): noise-exposed or sham rats tested without footshocks showed no fundamental changes in behavior compared to those tested with shocks. Together, these results demonstrate that this paradigm can efficiently test the development of noise- and salicylate-induced tinnitus behavior. The ability to assess tinnitus individually, over time, and without averaging data enables us to realistically address tinnitus in a clinically relevant way. Thus, we believe that this optimized behavioral paradigm will facilitate investigations into the mechanisms of tinnitus and development of effective treatments

Assessing the Dream-Lag Effect for REM and NREM Stage 2 Dreams

This study investigates evidence, from dream reports, for memory consolidation during sleep. It is well-known that events andmemories from waking life can be incorporated into dreams. These incorporations can be a literal replication of what occurredin waking life, or, more often, they can be partial or indirect. Two types of temporal relationship have been found tocharacterize the time of occurrence of a daytime event and the reappearance or incorporation of its features in a dream. Thesetemporal relationships are referred to as the day-residue or immediate incorporation effect, where there is the reappearance offeatures from events occurring on the immediately preceding day, and the dream-lag effect, where there is the reappearanceof features from events occurring 5–7 days prior to the dream. Previous work on the dream-lag effect has used spontaneoushome recalled dream reports, which can be from Rapid Eye Movement Sleep (REM) and from non-Rapid Eye Movement Sleep(NREM). This study addresses whether the dream-lag effect occurs only for REM sleep dreams, or for both REM and NREM stage2 (N2) dreams. 20 participants kept a daily diary for over a week before sleeping in the sleep laboratory for 2 nights. REM andN2 dreams collected in the laboratory were transcribed and each participant rated the level of correspondence between everydream report and every diary record. The dream-lag effect was found for REM but not N2 dreams. Further analysis indicatedthat this result was not due to N2 dream reports being shorter, in terms of number of words, than the REM dream reports.These results provide evidence for a 7-day sleep-dependent non-linear memory consolidation process that is specific to REMsleep, and accord with proposals for the importance of REM sleep to emotional memory consolidation