Enriching higher education with social media : development and evaluation of a social media toolkit

While ubiquitous in everyday use, in reality, social media usage within higher education teaching has expanded quite slowly. Analysis of social media usage of students and instructors for teaching, learning and research purposes across four countries (Russia, Turkey, Germany, and Switzerland) showed that many higher education instructors actively use social media for private purposes. However, although they understand that their students also use it for learning purposes, and instructors sense the potential of social media in teaching, they mostly refrain from doing so due to various barriers. In response, an openly accessible trilingual Social Media Toolkit was developed which analyses the teaching scenario with several questions, before suggesting, based on an algorithm, the best matching class of social media, complete with advice on how to use it for teaching purposes. This paper explains the rationale behind the toolkit, its development process, and examines instructors’ perceptions towards it

Dynamics and Hadronization at intermediate transverse momentum at RHIC

The ultra-relativistic heavy-ion program at RHIC has shown that at intermediate transverse momenta ($p_T \simeq 2$-6 GeV) standard (independent) parton fragmentation can neither describe the observed baryon-to-meson ratios nor the empirical scaling of the hadronic elliptic flow ($v_2$) according to the number of valence quarks. Both aspects find instead a natural explanation in a coalescence plus fragmentation approach to hadronization. After a brief review of the main results for light quarks, we focus on heavy quarks showing that a combined fragmentation and quark-coalescence framework is relevant also here. Moreover, within relativistic Langevin simulations we find evidence for the importance of heavy-light resonances in the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) to explain the strong energy loss and collective flow of heavy-quark spectra as inferred from non-photonic electron observables. Such heavy-light resonances can pave the way to a unified understanding of the microscopic structure of the QGP and its subsequent hadronization by coalescence.Comment: Proceedings of the International Workshop on QCD - Martina Franca (Italy), June 2007. To be published in AIP. 6 pages, 6 figure

pi^0 -> gamma gamma*, omega -> pi^0 gamma*, and rho -> pi gamma* decays in nuclear medium

We calculate the medium modification of the pi-omega-rho vertex and analyze its significance for the pi^0 -> gamma gamma*, omega -> pi^0 gamma*, and rho -> pi gamma* decays in nuclear matter. We use a relativistic hadronic approach at zero temperature and in the leading-density limit, and consider decays of particles at rest with respect to the medium. It is shown that for the pi^0 -> gamma gamma* the effects of the Delta isobar cancel almost exactly the effects of the nucleon ph excitations, such that the net medium effect is small. On the contrary, for the decays omega -> pi^0 gamma* and rho -> pi gamma* we find a sizeable increase of the partial widths at virtualities of the photon in the range 0.3-0.6 GeV. The effect has direct significance for the calculation of dilepton yields from the Dalitz decays in relativistic heavy-ion collisions.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

Hydrotreatment of Fast Pyrolysis Bio-oil Fractions Over Nickel-Based Catalyst

Residual biomass shows potential to be used as a feedstock for fast pyrolysis bio-oil production for energetic and chemical use. Although environmentally advantageous, further catalytic upgrading is required in order to increase the bio-oil stability, by reducing reactive compounds, functional oxygen-containing groups and water content. However, bio-oils may separate in fractions either spontaneously after ageing or by fractionated condensation. Therefore the effects of upgrading on different fast pyrolysis bio-oil (FPBO) fractions obtained from a commercially available FPBO were studied by elemental analysis, GC-MS and 1H-NMR. Not only the FPBO was upgraded by catalytic hydrotreatment, but also the heavy phase fraction formed after intentional aging and phase separation. The reactions were conducted between 175 and 325 °C and 80–100 bar by using a nickel–chromium catalyst in batch experiments. The influence of the hydrotreatment conditions correlated with the composition of the upgraded products. Higher oxygen removal was obtained at higher temperatures, whereas higher pressures resulted in higher hydrogen consumption with no significant influence on deoxygenation. At 325 °C and 80 bar 42% of the oxygen content was removed from the FPBO. Compounds attributed to pyrolysis oil instability, such as ketones and furfural were completely converted while the number of alcohols detected in the upgraded products increased. Coke formation was observed after all reactions, especially for the reaction with the fraction rich in lignin derivatives, likely formed by polymerization of phenolic compounds mainly concentrated in this phase. Independently of the feedstock used, the upgraded bio-oils were very similar in composition, with reduced oxygen and water content, higher energy density and higher carbon content

The Iowa Homemaker vol.5, no.7

Table of Contents The True Spirit of Christmas by Dr. O. H. Cessna, page 1 Something Different for Christmas Greetings by Elizabeth Johnson, page 2 The Purchase Price of Beauty by Dr, Elizabeth Hoyt, page 3 Can You Visualize Your Hat Problem by Florence Faust, page 4 Decorating the Christmas Tree by Margaret Ericson, page 5 Christmas – For Him by Dorothy Harp and Louise Corsaut, page 5 With Iowa State Home Economics Association, page 6 Preparing the Girl for Motherhood by Dr. Florence Brown Sherborn, page 7 Girls’ 4-H Clubs, page 10 Fuel Economy in the Kitchen by Miriam Rapp, page 11 When We Are Very Young by Anna Johnson, page 12 Editorial, page 13 Who’s There and Where, page 14 Eternal Question, page 16 If You Would Have Health by Margaret Whistler, page 1

Quasiparticle Description of the QCD Plasma, Comparison with Lattice Results at Finite T and Mu

We compare our 2+1 flavor, staggered QCD lattice results with a quasiparticle picture. We determine the pressure, the energy density, the baryon density, the speed of sound and the thermal masses as a function of T and $\mu_B$. For the available thermodynamic quantities the difference is a few percent between the results of the two approaches. We also give the phase diagram on the $\mu_B$--T plane and estimate the critical chemical potential at vanishing temperature.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figure

The genetics of cardiovascular disease

Recent advances in genotyping technology and insights into disease mechanisms have increased interest in the genetics of cardiovascular disease. Several candidate genes involved in cardiovascular diseases were identified from studies using animal models, and the translation of these findings to human disease is an exciting challenge. There is a trend towards large-scale genome-wide association studies that are subject to strict quality criteria with regard to both genotyping and phenotyping. Here, we review some of the strategies that have been developed to translate findings from experimental models to human disease and outline the need for optimizing global approaches to analyze such results. Findings from ongoing studies are interpreted in the context of disease pathways instead of the more traditional focus on single genetic variants

Duration of untreated psychosis/illness and brain volume changes in early psychosis

The time period during which patients manifest psychotic or unspecific symptoms prior to treatment (duration of untreated psychosis, DUP, and the duration of untreated illness, DUI) has been found to be moderately associated with poor clinical and social outcome. Equivocal evidence exists of an association between DUP/DUI and structural brain abnormalities, such as reduced hippocampus volume (HV), pituitary volume (PV) and grey matter volume (GMV). Thus, the goal of the present work was to examine if DUP and DUI are associated with abnormalities in HV, PV and GMV. Using a region of interest (ROI) based approach, we present data of 39 patients from the Basel FePsy (Früherkennung von Psychosen, early detection of psychosis) study for which information about DUP, DUI and HV, PV and GMV data could be obtained. Twenty-three of them were first episode psychosis (FEP) and 16 at-risk mental state (ARMS) patients who later made the transition to frank psychosis. In unadjusted analyses, we found a significant positive correlation between DUP and PV in FEP patients. However, when adjusted for covariates, we found no significant correlation between DUP or DUI and HV, PV or GMV anymore. There only was a trend for decreasing GMV with increasing DUI in FEP. Our results do not comprehensively support the hypothesis of a "toxic" effect of the pathogenic mechanism underlying untreated psychosis on brain structure. If there is any effect, it might rather occur very early in the disease process, during which patients experience only unspecific symptoms

A buprenorphine depot formulation provides effective sustained post-surgical analgesia for 72 h in mouse femoral fracture models

Adequate pain management is essential for ethical and scientific reasons in animal experiments and should completely cover the period of expected pain without the need for frequent re-application. However, current depot formulations of Buprenorphine are only available in the USA and have limited duration of action. Recently, a new microparticulate Buprenorphine formulation (BUP-Depot) for sustained release has been developed as a potential future alternative to standard formulations available in Europe. Pharmacokinetics indicate a possible effectiveness for about 72 h. Here, we investigated whether the administration of the BUP-Depot ensures continuous and sufficient analgesia in two mouse fracture models (femoral osteotomy) and could, therefore, serve as a potent alternative to the application of Tramadol via the drinking water. Both protocols were examined for analgesic effectiveness, side effects on experimental readout, and effects on fracture healing outcomes in male and female C57BL/6N mice. The BUP-Depot provided effective analgesia for 72 h, comparable to the effectiveness of Tramadol in the drinking water. Fracture healing outcome was not different between analgesic regimes. The availability of a Buprenorphine depot formulation for rodents in Europe would be a beneficial addition for extended pain relief in mice, thereby increasing animal welfare