Predictors of the groupwork experience: generic skill development, peer appraisals, and country of residence

Humphrey et al. (1997) argued that a range of generic skills are important in enhancing the experience of groupwork for students. These skills include problem solving skills, leadership skills, research skills, study skills, and communication skills. However, little is known about the extent to which the development of such skills impact on the students' experience of groupwork, Students are also rarely given opportunities to develop their performance management skills in group assignments, despite often being expected to evaluate the performance of their peers. Those doing the appraisal may not learn how to provide feedback and justify their evaluations. It also means that those being appraised do not receive feedback regarding their strengths and whereimprovements are needed. As a consequence, students tend to report negative experiences of groupwork when they have to assess and be assessed by their peers. The current study aims to examine the effects of generic skill development and peerevaluation on the students' evaluation of their group experience, following their participation on a group assignment

On the molecules of numerical semigroups, Puiseux monoids, and Puiseux algebras

A molecule is a nonzero non-unit element of an integral domain (resp., commutative cancellative monoid) having a unique factorization into irreducibles (resp., atoms). Here we study the molecules of Puiseux monoids as well as the molecules of their corresponding semigroup algebras, which we call Puiseux algebras. We begin by presenting, in the context of numerical semigroups, some results on the possible cardinalities of the sets of molecules and the sets of reducible molecules (i.e., molecules that are not irreducibles/atoms). Then we study the molecules in the more general context of Puiseux monoids. We construct infinitely many non-isomorphic atomic Puiseux monoids all whose molecules are atoms. In addition, we characterize the molecules of Puiseux monoids generated by rationals with prime denominators. Finally, we turn to investigate the molecules of Puiseux algebras. We provide a characterization of the molecules of the Puiseux algebras corresponding to root-closed Puiseux monoids. Then we use such a characterization to find an infinite class of Puiseux algebras with infinitely many non-associated reducible molecules.Comment: 21 pages, 2 figure

Impact of proctoring on success rates for percutaneous revascularisation of coronary chronic total occlusions.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of proctoring for chronic total occlusion (CTO) percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in six UK centres. METHODS: We retrospectively analysed 587 CTO procedures from six UK centres and compared success rates of operators who had received proctorship with success rates of the same operators before proctorship (pre-proctored) and operators in the same institutions who had not been proctored (non-proctored). There were 232 patients in the pre-proctored/non-proctored group and 355 patients in the post-proctored group. Complexity was assessed by calculating the Japanese CTO (JCTO) score for each case. RESULTS: CTO PCI success was greater in the post-proctored compared with the pre-proctored/non-proctored group (77.5% vs 62.1%, p<0.0001). In more complex cases where JCTO≥2, the difference in success was greater (70.7% vs 49.5%, p=0.0003). After proctoring, there was an increase in CTO PCI activity in centres from 2.5% to 3.5%, p<0.0001 (as a proportion of total PCI), and the proportion of very difficult cases with JCTO score ≥3 increased from 15.3% (35/229) to 29.7% (105/354), p<0.0001. CONCLUSIONS: Proctoring resulted in an increase in procedural success for CTO PCI, an increase in complex CTO PCI and an increase in total CTO PCI activity. Proctoring may be a valuable way to improve access to CTO PCI and the likelihood of procedural success

A simple and robust method for connecting small-molecule drugs using gene-expression signatures

Interaction of a drug or chemical with a biological system can result in a gene-expression profile or signature characteristic of the event. Using a suitably robust algorithm these signatures can potentially be used to connect molecules with similar pharmacological or toxicological properties. The Connectivity Map was a novel concept and innovative tool first introduced by Lamb et al to connect small molecules, genes, and diseases using genomic signatures [Lamb et al (2006), Science 313, 1929-1935]. However, the Connectivity Map had some limitations, particularly there was no effective safeguard against false connections if the observed connections were considered on an individual-by-individual basis. Further when several connections to the same small-molecule compound were viewed as a set, the implicit null hypothesis tested was not the most relevant one for the discovery of real connections. Here we propose a simple and robust method for constructing the reference gene-expression profiles and a new connection scoring scheme, which importantly allows the valuation of statistical significance of all the connections observed. We tested the new method with the two example gene-signatures (HDAC inhibitors and Estrogens) used by Lamb et al and also a new gene signature of immunosuppressive drugs. Our testing with this new method shows that it achieves a higher level of specificity and sensitivity than the original method. For example, our method successfully identified raloxifene and tamoxifen as having significant anti-estrogen effects, while Lamb et al's Connectivity Map failed to identify these. With these properties our new method has potential use in drug development for the recognition of pharmacological and toxicological properties in new drug candidates.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, and 2 tables; supplementary data supplied as a ZIP fil

Coupling of marine and continental oxygen isotope records during the Eocene-Oligocene transition

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/148587/1/Sheldon_et_al_2016_GSA_Bulletin-EOT_marine-terrestrial_comparison.pd

Wound bed preparation: A novel approach using HydroTherapy

Wounds that fail to heal quickly are often encountered by community nursing staff. An important step in assisting these chronic or stalled wounds progress through healing is debridement to remove devitalised tissue, including slough and eschar, that can prevent the wound from healing. A unique wound treatment called HydroTherapy aims to provide an optimal healing environment. The first step of HydroTherapy involves HydroClean plus™, this dressing enables removal of devitalised tissue through autolytic debridement and absorption of wound fluid. Irrigation and cleansing provided by Ringer’s solution from the dressing further removes any necrotic tissue or eschar. Once effective wound bed preparation has been achieved a second dressing, HydroTac™, provides an ongoing hydrated wound environment that enables re-epithelialisation to occur in an unrestricted fashion. This paper presents 3 case studies of slow healing wounds treated with HydroClean plus™ which demonstrates effective wound debridement

Point-Spread-Function-Aware Slice-to-Volume Registration: Application to Upper Abdominal MRI Super-Resolution

MR image acquisition of moving organs remains challenging despite the advances in ultra-fast 2D MRI sequences. Post-acquisition techniques have been proposed to increase spatial resolution a posteriori by combining acquired orthogonal stacks into a single, high-resolution (HR) volume. Current super-resolution techniques classically rely on a two-step procedure. The volumetric reconstruction step leverages a physical slice acquisition model. However, the motion correction step typically neglects the point spread function (PSF) information. In this paper, we propose a PSF-aware slice-to-volume registration approach and, for the first time, demonstrate the potential benefit of Super-Resolution for upper abdominal imaging. Our novel reconstruction pipeline takes advantage of different MR acquisitions clinically used in routine MR cholangiopancreatography studies to guide the registration. On evaluation of clinically relevant image information, our approach outperforms state-of-the-art reconstruction toolkits in terms of visual clarity and preservation of raw data information. Overall, we achieve promising results towards replacing currently required CT scans

Fluctuations in granular gases

A driven granular material, e.g. a vibrated box full of sand, is a stationary system which may be very far from equilibrium. The standard equilibrium statistical mechanics is therefore inadequate to describe fluctuations in such a system. Here we present numerical and analytical results concerning energy and injected power fluctuations. In the first part we explain how the study of the probability density function (pdf) of the fluctuations of total energy is related to the characterization of velocity correlations. Two different regimes are addressed: the gas driven at the boundaries and the homogeneously driven gas. In a granular gas, due to non-Gaussianity of the velocity pdf or lack of homogeneity in hydrodynamics profiles, even in the absence of velocity correlations, the fluctuations of total energy are non-trivial and may lead to erroneous conclusions about the role of correlations. In the second part of the chapter we take into consideration the fluctuations of injected power in driven granular gas models. Recently, real and numerical experiments have been interpreted as evidence that the fluctuations of power injection seem to satisfy the Gallavotti-Cohen Fluctuation Relation. We will discuss an alternative interpretation of such results which invalidates the Gallavotti-Cohen symmetry. Moreover, starting from the Liouville equation and using techniques from large deviation theory, the general validity of a Fluctuation Relation for power injection in driven granular gases is questioned. Finally a functional is defined using the Lebowitz-Spohn approach for Markov processes applied to the linear inelastic Boltzmann equation relevant to describe the motion of a tracer particle. Such a functional results to be different from injected power and to satisfy a Fluctuation Relation.Comment: 40 pages, 18 figure