Student Partnership in E-learning: the Development of Online Resources for Students by Students in Dentistry

Dentistry is a dynamic and ever changing specialty that has been strongly influenced by developments in technology and therefore our teaching strategies must evolve to keep pace with these changes. E-learning has become an integral part of the dental curriculum, with a marked increase in use over recent years. However dental students have up until now been the recipients rather than active participants in the development of dental e-learning resources. Bovill et al (2011) conclude that it is incumbent upon us to reconsider students' roles in their education and reposition students to take a more active part - as co- creators of teaching approaches, course design and curricula. In this paper the presenters will outline the design and product of a self- selected study module (SSM) offered to year five dental students in e-learning. The SSM offers the opportunity for students to work as small teams with the school learning technologist and academic staff to identify, design, develop and evaluate quality-assured e-learning objects. Each group (n=2) with the guidance and quality assurance of academic staff will create a resource that can be integrated within the current University of Glasgow BDS curriculum for future years. It will become a useful revision resource that will supplement the learning and teaching received elsewhere within the course and will be accessible to all dental students in Scotland via the Scottish Dental Education Online (SDEO) programme. The SSM provides the opportunity of student participation in learning with technology and designing aspects of the curriculum, and aligns with the University's Learning and Teaching strategic objective of building staff-student partnerships to promote student engagement with learning

Women\u27s studies is a vital, useful pursuit

We write in response to George Will\u27s May 21 column, The sad state of women\u27s studies. Women\u27s studies is thriving at the University of Nebraska. On the Lincoln campus, a major in this field has been offered for 25 years. In Kearney, students have been able to earn a minor in women\u27s studies since 1989; a recent student conference there drew nearly 100 participants. Just 15 months after its approval at UNO, 11 students are pursuing the major in women\u27s studies.This discipline helps students answer questions and prepare for careers as no other field can. Among women\u27s studies majors at UNO are students planning careers where they\u27ll work to end domestic violence and sexual assault. Others will go into business, the public sector or graduate school

Potential for Carbon-Neutral Advanced Biofuels in UK Road Transport

As a result of anthropocentric climate change, there is an urgent need to decarbonize the supply of energy. Organic biomass, referred to as feedstock, can be converted into biofuels that have the potential to decarbonize transport. However, biofuels are typically not carbon neutral because the preparation of feedstocks and the production of biofuels require energy currently supplied by fossil fuels, which involve carbon emissions. This work aimed to bring biofuel research up to date with current UK policy of net zero carbon emissions by examining the volume of carbon-neutral advanced biofuels that could be produced from sustainable feedstocks generated in the UK. By analyzing relevant data, it is estimated that between 667 and 1,791 million litres (Mltr) of carbon-neutral biodiesel equivalent could be produced with the energy content of 22.7–60.9 PJ, corresponding to 8.1%–21.7% of current diesel consumption by heavy goods vehicles in the UK

Coping Strategies of Jordanian Adolescents With Cancer: An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis Study

Interpretive phenomenological analysis methodology was used to explore coping strategies used by hospitalized Jordanian adolescents with cancer. In-depth face-to-face interviews were conducted with 10 Jordanian adolescents, aged 13 to18 years, who were receiving chemotherapy for cancer. During treatment, participants were confronted with physical, psychosocial, and emotional distresses resulting from the disease process, the treatment, and its associated side-effects. To cope with the impact of their illness, participants utilized 4 coping strategies: "Strengthening spiritual convictions," "Being optimistic and rebuilding hope," "Enhancing appearance," and "Finding self again." The findings of this study can assist health team members to promote positive psychological care to Arab Muslim adolescents with cancer in a supportive and therapeutic treatment environment

Teacher Reform in Indonesia: The Role of Politics and Evidence in Policy Making

Teacher Reform in Indonesia: The Role of Politics and Evidence in Policy Making is the result of seven years of collaborative effort between the Human Development Sector of the World Bank Indonesia country office and the Government of Indonesia. The Human Development Sector, led by Mae Chu Chang, produced over 50 independent background papers by Bank staff, government researchers, and international consultants, as well several major research projects including an impact evaluation and in-depth classroom observations. This synthesis report was prepared under the team leadership of Mae Chu Chang and included as mem- bers Samer Al-Samarrai, Andrew Ragatz, Joppe de Ree, Sheldon Shaeffer, and Ritchie Stevenson (co-authors) as well as Rina Arlianti, Susiana Iskandar, and Titie Hadiyati (contributors). Research assistance was provided by Shahnaz Arina, Megha Kapoor, Imam Setiawan, and Susie Sugiarti. Mary Anderson provided editorial support, and the graphic designer was Yvonne Armanto Ramali. \ud The production of this report, as well as the variety of research studies con- ducted over the past seven years on which the book is based, was generously supported by the Dutch Education Support Program (DESP) funded by the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The team is indebted to Arnold Vander Zanden (First Secretary Education, Royal Netherlands Embassy, Indonesia) for his strong support throughout the years for demand-driven and “just-in-time” policy work that has been carried out under DESP. Technical con- tributions from AusAID-supported consultants, Graham Dawson and John Bladen, are also acknowledged. \ud It should be noted that although inputs of various officials have been incorpo- rated into the report, the policy recommendations in this document do not necessarily reflect the policies of the Government of Indonesia, the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, or the World Bank. \ud The team of authors who produced this report is grateful to the officials and staff of the Ministry of Education and Culture for their overall support. Special thanks are in order to Fasli Jalal, former Vice Minister of Education, who was the visionary behind the Teacher Law that inspired this report and a key supporter of many of the teacher management studies that contributed to it. The current Minister of Education and Culture, Mohammad Nuh; Vice Minister of Education, Musliar Kasim; the Special Advisor to the Minister, Taufik Hanafi; the Head of \ud the Board of Education and Culture, Human Resources Development and Quality Assurance for Education, Syawal Gultom; and the former Director General for Quality Improvement of Teacher and Education Personnel, Baedhowi, played major roles in using the evidence produced to improve the teacher regula- tions. The report also benefited greatly from the inputs of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the National Development Planning Agency, the Ministry of State Administration Reform, the Ministry of Finance, and the Civil Service Agency, together with inputs of donor agencies that were received during various consultation meetings and policy forum discussions. Key government support came from the directors, the head of centers, and senior key staff of the Ministry responsible for teacher management, quality assurance, and teacher-related stud- ies: Sumarna Suryapranata, Surya Dharma, Hendarman, Unifah Rosyidi, Abi Sujak, Muchlas Samani, Anah Suhaenah, Gogot Suharwoto, Maria Widiani, Poppy Puspitawati, Dian Wahyuni, Santi Ambarukmi, E. Nurzaman, Giri Suryaatmana, Ahmad Dasuki, Bambang Indriyanto, Nugaan Yulia Wardhani Siregar, Hari Setiadi, Burhanudin Tola, Yendri Wirda Burhan, Simon Sili Sabon, Rahmawati, Handayani Sumarno, Rumtini, Yaya Zakaria, and M.S. Sembiring. \ud Insightful comments from stakeholders were provided by Lilian Rahman (Gorontalo district), Sulistiyo (Chair of the Teacher Association of Republic of Indonesia, PGRI), Sahiri Hermawan (PGRI), Arief Rahman (Chair of the Indonesian National Commission for UNESCO), Heri Akhmadi (a member of Parliament), Anies Baswedan (Rector of Paramadina University and Chair of Indonesia Mengajar), Hetty Herawati (Principal of SD Taruna Bangsa), Sudarwan Danim and Anthony Crocker (consultants at the Board of Education and Culture, Human Resources Development and Quality Assurance for Education), Agus Supriatman (Head of the Education Office, Karawang District), Nanda Suhanda (a member of the Karawang District Parliament), Obang Nurbayu (Head of PGRI, Karawang District), and Nanang Muchlis (Chair, Board of Education, Karawang District). \ud The report was improved by detailed feedback from the following principal reviewers: F. Halsey Rogers, Venkatesh Sundararaman, and Helen J. Craig (World Bank); Molly Lee (formerly UNESCO); and Tom Lowrie (Charles Sturt University). Helpful comments were also received from William Wallace, James A. Brumby, and Yasuhiko Matsuda (World Bank). The report was prepared under the guidance of Luis Benveniste, Sector Manager, East Asia and Pacific Region, and the support of Stefan Koeberle (Country Director for Indonesia)

A Survey on Routing Protocols for Large-Scale Wireless Sensor Networks

With the advances in micro-electronics, wireless sensor devices have been made much smaller and more integrated, and large-scale wireless sensor networks (WSNs) based the cooperation among the significant amount of nodes have become a hot topic. “Large-scale” means mainly large area or high density of a network. Accordingly the routing protocols must scale well to the network scope extension and node density increases. A sensor node is normally energy-limited and cannot be recharged, and thus its energy consumption has a quite significant effect on the scalability of the protocol. To the best of our knowledge, currently the mainstream methods to solve the energy problem in large-scale WSNs are the hierarchical routing protocols. In a hierarchical routing protocol, all the nodes are divided into several groups with different assignment levels. The nodes within the high level are responsible for data aggregation and management work, and the low level nodes for sensing their surroundings and collecting information. The hierarchical routing protocols are proved to be more energy-efficient than flat ones in which all the nodes play the same role, especially in terms of the data aggregation and the flooding of the control packets. With focus on the hierarchical structure, in this paper we provide an insight into routing protocols designed specifically for large-scale WSNs. According to the different objectives, the protocols are generally classified based on different criteria such as control overhead reduction, energy consumption mitigation and energy balance. In order to gain a comprehensive understanding of each protocol, we highlight their innovative ideas, describe the underlying principles in detail and analyze their advantages and disadvantages. Moreover a comparison of each routing protocol is conducted to demonstrate the differences between the protocols in terms of message complexity, memory requirements, localization, data aggregation, clustering manner and other metrics. Finally some open issues in routing protocol design in large-scale wireless sensor networks and conclusions are proposed

Single-electron population and depopulation of an isolated quantum dot using a surface-acoustic-wave pulse

We use a pulse of surface acoustic waves (SAWs) to control the electron population and depopulation of a quantum dot. The barriers between the dot and reservoirs are set high to isolate the dot. Within a time scale of similar to 100 s the dot can be set to a nonequilibrium charge state, where an empty (occupied) level stays below (above) the Fermi energy. A pulse containing a fixed number of SAW periods is sent through the dot, controllably changing the potential, and hence the tunneling probability, to add (remove) an electron to (from) the dot

Assisted extraction of the energy level spacings and lever arms in direct current bias measurements of one-dimensional quantum wires, using an image recognition routine

A multiplexer technique is used to individually measure an array of 256 split gates on a single GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure. This results in the generation of large volumes of data, which requires the development of automated data analysis routines. An algorithm is developed to find the spacing between discrete energy levels, which form due to transverse confinement from the split gate. The lever arm, which relates split gate voltage to energy, is also found from the measured data. This reduces the time spent on the analysis. Comparison with estimates obtained visually show that the algorithm returns reliable results for subband spacing of split gates measured at 1:4 K. The routine is also used to assess DC bias spectroscopy measurements at lower temperatures (50 mK). This technique is versatile and can be extended to other types of measurements. For example, it is used to extract the magnetic field at which Zeeman-split 1D subbands cross one another.This work was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council grant No. EP/IO14268/1.This is the accepted manuscript. The final version is available from AIP at http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/jap/117/1/10.1063/1.4905484

Multiplexed charge-locking device for large arrays of quantum devices

We present a method of forming and controlling large arrays of gate-defined quantum devices. The method uses an on-chip, multiplexed charge-locking system and helps to overcome the restraints imposed by the number of wires available in cryostat measurement systems. The device architecture that we describe here utilises a multiplexer-type scheme to lock charge onto gate electrodes. The design allows access to and control of gates whose total number exceeds that of the available electrical contacts and enables the formation, modulation and measurement of large arrays of quantum devices. We fabricate such devices on n-type GaAs/AlGaAs substrates and investigate the stability of the charge locked on to the gates. Proof-of-concept is shown by measurement of the Coulomb blockade peaks of a single quantum dot formed by a floating gate in the device. The floating gate is seen to drift by approximately one Coulomb oscillation per hour.This work was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Grant No. EP/K004077/1.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from AIP via http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.493201