Comparing Traditional and Integrative Learning Methods in Organizational Training Programs

Previous research and anecdotal reports have suggested that when certain teaching approaches are utilized, students not only learn more, but also experience greater satisfaction with the training process. This study examined the effects of Integrative Learning-based (IL) training relative to lecture-based training. Employees enrolled in a three-day Manufacturing Resource Planning training course were randomly assigned to either IL or traditional training. Subjects reacted more favorably to IL-based training. Trained subjects performed significantly better than those in a no-treatment control group but no differences were noted between training interventions

The Persistence of Religious Iconography in the Secular Imagery of Filmic Culture - A Study of an Artist's Source Material

This text exists to feed my practice. I intend it to help me to compile and understand effects and devices that I can use to make my paintings of real events epic, seductive and moving. In a sense it constitutes a personal archive. The powerful effects and devices that I examine here come from both cinema and from 'proto-cinematic' European painting. The text is organised to allow me to explore three archetypal atmospheric set pieces from Hollywood movies, and to analyse the way that they are constructed from individual effects and ideas which come originally from the canon of great paintings from European history. The Psychological Interior, The Nightmarish Urban Spectacle and The Infinite Black Void are the subjects of my three chapters. Each set piece triggers an emotional response in the viewer, be it empathy, disorientation, fear or awe. The styling that overlays the motif solicits the emotional response and is made up of specific colour, spatial and light and dark effects. Although these Hollywood set pieces are largely dismissed as being manipulative and populist, I will claim that they are worthy of critical attention, being both visually sophisticated and extremely powerful. These set pieces move us despite our current facility to debunk their seductive and emotionally manipulative appeal. I will show how these enduring set pieces have their origins in 'Old Master' religious paintings where they were part of a persuasive visual language intended to 'sell' religion to an often illiterate audience. In the late twentieth century cinema has claimed them and kept them alive so that a new generation of artists, myself included, are able to reappropriate them via the 'wash-cycle' of popular culture. I have used analytical means drawn from semioticians' study of images to dissect complex images and filmic sequences and to identity the visual elements which convey certain atmospheres. Having isolated these elements, I can begin to analyse them and to sift through art history to find painterly predecessors

Understanding the role of promoters in catalysis: operando XAFS/DRIFTS study of CeO_x/Pt/Al₂O₃ during CO oxidation

A combined operando XAFS/DRIFTS study on CeOx/Pt/Al2O3 catalysts has been performed during CO oxidation and provides insights into the changes in nanoparticle structure and adsorbed species during the reaction profile. The onset of CO2 formation is shown to be concurrent with a rapid re-oxidation of the Pt nanoparticles, evidenced by XAFS spectroscopy, and the loss of bridge bonded CO adsorbed on Pt, as shown by simultaneous DRIFTS acquisition. The continued appearance of linear bound CO on the catalyst surface is shown to remain long after catalytic light off. The interaction of Pt and CeOx is evidenced by the improved performance towards CO oxidation, compared to the non-CeOx modified Pt/Al2O3, and changes in the CO adsorption properties on Pt previously linked to Pt-CeO2 interfaces

Solution Structure of CopC

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Ethanol-induced G-protein subunit expression changes in D2 receptor deficient Drosophila

Alcohol abuse and addiction impact on users’ quality of life and have substantial implications for health services. Understanding the mechanisms by which alcohol modifies cellular and molecular mechanisms associated with chronic abuse, could lead to improved pharmaceutical interventions to overcome alcohol addiction. Alcohol acts through multiple receptor systems and, like other addictive drugs, causes prolonged or permanent changes in gene expression. Dopamine release and changes in gene expression of elements of the cAMP-CREB-DeltaFosB pathways have been associated to addictive behaviours. However, the mechanisms linking ethanol with long-term changes in the reward pathways are not fully understood. In this work, we have focused on measuring changes in G-protein gene expression in a Drosophila melanogaster ethanol tolerance model. Exposure of Drosophila to ethanol vapour causes sedation in the flies, but multiple exposure increases the sedation time, which is considered a manifestation of ethanol tolerance. Using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), we have measured G-protein mRNA in flies that have experienced zero, one or three ethanol exposures at 24 hours intervals. When measured in a wild type population, changes in G-protein levels were variable. However in a sub-population of Drosophila that we selected for high ethanol sensitivity we observed a non-statistically significant decrease of two Gα-protein subunits: Gi and Gq. These same changes were observed at a statistically significant level in two Drosophila mutant lines characterised by a deletion of Dopamine D2 receptor and a non-functional of Gq subunit respectively. These two Drosophila lines also displayed an altered sensitivity to ethanol while retaining the tolerance response to alcohol. These data indicate that when measured in genetically homogeneous populations ethanol induced G-proteins gene expression changes can be detected, but the persistence of this effect in flies lacking D2 receptors suggests that these G-proteins subunits changes do not utilise the previously described D2 receptor dependant mechanisms associated with addictive drugs

Pre-hybridisation: an efficient way of suppressing endogenous biotin-binding activity inherent to biotin–streptavidin detection system

Endogenous biotin or biotinylated protein binding activity is a major drawback to biotin-avidin/streptavidin detection system. The avidin/streptavidin conjugate used to detect the complex of the biotinylated secondary antibody and the primary antibody binds to endogenous biotin or biotinylated proteins leading to non-specific signals. In Western blot, the endogenous biotin or biotinylated protein binding activity is usually manifested in the form of ~72kDa, ~75kDa and ~150kDa protein bands, which often mask the signals of interest. To overcome this problem, a method based on prior hybridisation of the biotinylated secondary antibody and the streptavidin conjugate was developed. The method was tested alongside the conventional biotin-streptavidin method on proteins extracted from zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos. Results showed that the newly developed method efficiently suppresses the endogenous biotin or biotinylated protein binding activity inherent to the biotin-streptavidin detection system

Incorporation of Sb5+ into CeO2 : local structural distortion of the fluorite structure from a pentavalent substituent

Hydrothermal crystallisation of CeO2 from aqueous sodium hydroxide solution at 240oC using CeCl3·7H2O in the presence of hydrogen peroxide with addition of either SbCl3 or SbCl5 yields polycrystalline samples of antimony-containing ceria directly from solution. Powder X-ray diffraction shows a contraction of the cubic lattice parameter with increasing Sb content, and also a broadening of Bragg peaks, from which Scherrer analysis yields crystallite domain sizes of 5 - 20 nm. Scanning transmission electron microscopy provides consistent results with observation of highly crystalline particles of a few nm in diameter. X-ray absorption near edge structure spectroscopy at the Ce LIII and Sb K edges reveals the presence of Ce4+ and Sb5+ in the solids. To balance charge the presence of co-included Na is proposed, corroborated by elemental analysis. The general chemical formula of the materials can thus be written as (Ce1 xSbx)1 yNayO2-δ (where x < 0.4 and y ≥ x/3). Sb K-edge extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy of the substituted ceria samples shows that the local structure of Sb resembles that in NaSbO3, where six-coordinate metal sites are found, but with evidence of a longer interatomic correlation due to surrounding Ce/Sb atoms in the fluorite structure; this implies that the Sb is displaced from the ideal eight-coordinate site of the fluorite structure. This structural distortion gives materials that are unstable under reducing conditions, coupled by the ease of reduction to elemental antimony, which is extruded leading to phase separation

Hydrostability and Scaling Up Molecular Sieve Silica (MSS) Membranes for H2/CO Separation in Fuel Cell Systems

MSS membranes are a good candidate for CO cleanup in fuel cell fuel processing systems due to their ability to selectively permeate H2 over CO via molecular sieving. Successfully scaled up tubular membranes were stable under dry conditions to 400°C with H2 permeance as high as 2 x 10-6 mol.m-2.s^-1.Pa^-1 at 200 degrees C and H2/CO selectivity up to 6.4, indicating molecular sieving was the dominant mechanism. A novel carbonised template molecular sieve silica (CTMSS) technology gave the scaled up membranes resilience in hydrothermal conditions up to 400 degrees C in 34% steam and synthetic reformate, which is required for use in fuel cell CO cleanup systems

Ce(OH)2Cl and lanthanide-substituted variants as precursors to redox-active CeO2 materials

The cerium(III) hydroxide chloride Ce(OH)2Cl crystallises directly as a polycrystalline powder from a solution of CeCl3·7H2O in poly(ethylene) glycol (Mn = 400) heated at 240 °C and is found to be isostructural with La(OH)2Cl, as determined from high-resolution synchrotron powder X-ray diffraction (P21/m, a = 6.2868(2) Å, b = 3.94950(3) Å, c = 6.8740(3) Å, β = 113.5120(5)°). Replacement of a proportion of the cerium chloride in synthesis by a second lanthanide chloride yields a set of materials Ce1−xLnx(OH)2Cl for Ln = La, Pr, Gd, Tb. For La the maximum value of x is 0.2, with an isotropic expansion of the unit cell, but for the other lanthanides a wider composition range is possible, and the lattice parameters show an isotropic contraction with increasing x. Thermal decomposition of the hydroxide chlorides at 700 °C yields mixed-oxides Ce1−xLnxO2−δ that all have cubic fluorite structures with either expanded (Ln = La, Gd) or contracted (Ln = Pr, Tb) unit cells compared to CeO2. Scanning electron microscopy shows a shape memory effect in crystal morphology upon decomposition, with clusters of anisotropic sub-micron crystallites being seen in the precursor and oxide products. The Pr- and Tb-substituted oxides contain the substituent in a mixture of +3 and +4 oxidation states, as seen by X-ray absorption near edge structure spectroscopy at the lanthanide LIII edges. The mixed oxide materials are examined using temperature programmed reduction in 10%H2 in N2, which reveals redox properties suitable for heterogeneous catalysis, with the Pr-substituted materials showing the greatest reducibility at lower temperature