What makes a 'good group'? Exploring the characteristics and performance of undergraduate student groups

Group work forms the foundation for much of student learning within higher education, and has many educational, social and professional benefits. This study aimed to explore the determinants of success or failure for undergraduate student teams and to define a ‘good group’ through considering three aspects of group success: the task, the individuals, and the team. We employed a mixed methodology, combining demographic data with qualitative observations and task and peer evaluation scores. We determined associations between group dynamic and behaviour, demographic composition, member personalities and attitudes towards one another, and task success. We also employed a cluster analysis to create a model outlining the attributes of a good small group learning team in veterinary education. This model highlights that student groups differ in measures of their effectiveness as teams, independent of their task performance. On the basis of this, we suggest that groups who achieve high marks in tasks cannot be assumed to have acquired team working skills, and therefore if these are important as a learning outcome, they must be assessed directly alongside the task output

The Construction of Systems Thinking Pedagogy During a Professional Development Institute

The prevalence of systems thinking is growing in classrooms because of its inclusion in the Next Generation Science Standards and its potential as a tool for addressing complex, global problems (Capra & Luisi, 2014). While most of the research on systems thinking pedagogy targets the ways students develop system thinking skills (Cabrera & Cabrera, 2015; Curwen, Ardell, MacGillivray, & Lambert, 2018), this study explores teachers\u27 construction of systems thinking as a pedagogy. Using social constructionism, discourse analysis, and systems theory, I conducted an exploratory case study to analyze how teachers privileged certain language and ways of knowing during a professional development institute on systems thinking. I found that the teachers considered systems thinking as a catalyst for shifting their thinking, curriculum, and classroom dynamics, including how they understood their roles as teachers, their instructional goals, how they could both personalize and deepen their curriculum, and the ways they could connect their classrooms to the community and the environment. Imperative to this shift was the implementation of systems mapping as the central activity of the pedagogy. Their model of systems thinking pedagogy respected both teachers and students as capable academics; additionally, it privileged a professional development culture of becoming in which the power of the collective was a point of leverage for teachers to disrupt what can be perceived as low expectations for their students and themselves as professionals

Abnormalities of the ventilatory equivalent for carbon dioxide in patients with chronic heart failure

Introduction. The relation between minute ventilation (VE) and carbon dioxide production (VCO2) can be characterised by the instantaneous ratio of ventilation to carbon dioxide production, the ventilatory equivalent for CO2 (VEqCO2). We hypothesised that the time taken to achieve the lowest VEqCO2 (time to VEqCO2 nadir) may be a prognostic marker in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). Methods. Patients and healthy controls underwent a symptom-limited, cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) on a treadmill to volitional exhaustion. Results. 423 patients with CHF (mean age 63±12 years; 80% males) and 78 healthy controls (62% males; age 61±11 years) were recruited. Time to VEqCO2 nadir was shorter in patients than controls (327±204 s versus 514±187 s; P=0.0001). Univariable predictors of all-cause mortality included peak oxygen uptake (X 2 =53.0), VEqCO2 nadir (X 2 =47.9), and time to VEqCO2 nadir (X 2 =24.0). In an adjusted Cox multivariable proportional hazards model, peak oxygen uptake (X 2 =16.7) and VEqCO2 nadir (X 2 =17.9) were the most significant independent predictors of all-cause mortality. Conclusion. The time to VEqCO2 nadir was shorter in patients with CHF than in normal subjects and was a predictor of subsequent mortality. © 2012 Lee Ingle et al

General properties of cosmological models with an Isotropic Singularity

Much of the published work regarding the Isotropic Singularity is performed under the assumption that the matter source for the cosmological model is a barotropic perfect fluid, or even a perfect fluid with a $\gamma$-law equation of state. There are, however, some general properties of cosmological models which admit an Isotropic Singularity, irrespective of the matter source. In particular, we show that the Isotropic Singularity is a point-like singularity and that vacuum space-times cannot admit an Isotropic Singularity. The relationships between the Isotropic Singularity, and the energy conditions, and the Hubble parameter is explored. A review of work by the authors, regarding the Isotropic Singularity, is presented.Comment: 18 pages, 1 figur

Aeolia: textile enquiry and design

In this essay we introduce ongoing research in the field of technical textiles at Nottingham Trent University involving specialists from a range of disciplines. We will reflect on the roles and experiences of people as they worked within and across their usual boundaries of practice. In particular, the key aspects of risk, unfamiliarity, and criteria for success will be discussed. The project emerged from a strategic investment by the University in a number of interdisciplinary fellowships, in this case across Product Design and Textiles. A commercially available but under researched fibre had been identified as a starting point with the potential for contribution to the field. This carbonised rubber cord, 2mm in diameter, changes its electrical properties when stretched, meaning it may be used in conjunction with a circuit to drive outputs such as light, sound or movement

An algorithm for linearly constrained nonlinear programming problems

AbstractIn this paper an algorithm for solving a linearly constrained nonlinear programming problem is developed. Given a feasible point, a correction vector is computed by solving a least distance programming problem over a polyhedral cone defined in terms of the gradients of the “almost” binding constraints. Mukai's approximate scheme for computing the step size is generalized to handle the constraints. This scheme provides an estimate for the step size based on a quadratic approximation of the function. This estimate is used in conjunction with Armijo line search to calculate a new point. It is shown that each accumulation point is a Kuhn-Tucker point to a slight perturbation of the original problem. Furthermore, under suitable second order optimality conditions, it is shown that eventually only one trial is needed to compute the step size

A Phase Space Approach to Gravitational Enropy

We examine the definition S = ln Omega as a candidate "gravitational entropy" function. We calculate its behavior for gravitationl and density perturbations in closed, open and flat cosmologies and find that in all cases it increases monotonically. Using the formalism to calculate the gravitational entropy produced during inflation gives the canonical answer. We compare the behavior of S with the behavior of the square of the Weyl tensor. Applying the formalism to black holes has proven more problematical.Comment: Talk delivered at South African Relativistic Cosmology Symposium, Feb 1999. Some new results over Rothman and Anninos 97. To appear in GRG, 17 page

Development of a composite model derived from cardiopulmonary exercise tests to predict mortality risk in patients with mild-to-moderate heart failure

Objective: Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) is used to predict outcome in patients with mild-to-moderate heart failure (HF). Single CPET-derived variables are often used, but we wanted to see if a composite score achieved better predictive power. Methods: Retrospective analysis of patient records at the Department of Cardiology, Castle Hill Hospital, Kingston-upon-Hull. 387 patients [median (25th-75th percentile)] [age 65 (56-72) years; 79% males; LVEF 34 (31-37) %] were included. Patients underwent a symptomlimited, maximal CPET on a treadmill. During a median follow up of 8.6 ± 2.1 years in survivors, 107 patients died. Survival models were built and validated using a hybrid approach between the bootstrap and Cox regression. Nine CPET-derived variables were included. Z-score defined each variable's predictive strength. Model coefficients were converted to a risk score. Results: Four CPET-related variables were independent predictors of all-cause mortality in the survival model: the presence of exertional oscillatory ventilation (EOV), increasing slope of the relation between ventilation and carbon dioxide production (VE/VCO2 slope), decreasing oxygen uptake efficiency slope (OUES), and an increase in the lowest ventilatory equivalent for carbon dioxide (VEqCO2 nadir). Individual predictors of mortality ranged from 0.60 to 0.71 using Harrell’s C-statistic, but the optimal combination of EOV + VE/VCO2 slope + OUES + VEqCO2 nadir reached 0.75. The Hull CPET risk score had a significantly higher area under the curve (0.78) when compared to the Heart Failure Survival Score (AUC=0.70;

Gravitational Entropy and Quantum Cosmology

We investigate the evolution of different measures of ``Gravitational Entropy'' in Bianchi type I and Lema\^itre-Tolman universe models. A new quantity behaving in accordance with the second law of thermodynamics is introduced. We then go on and investigate whether a quantum calculation of initial conditions for the universe based upon the Wheeler-DeWitt equation supports Penrose's Weyl Curvature Conjecture, according to which the Ricci part of the curvature dominates over the Weyl part at the initial singularity of the universe. The theory is applied to the Bianchi type I universe models with dust and a cosmological constant and to the Lema\^itre-Tolman universe models. We investigate two different versions of the conjecture. First we investigate a local version which fails to support the conjecture. Thereafter we construct a non-local entity which shows more promising behaviour concerning the conjecture.Comment: 20 pages, 7 ps figure