An information and communications technology (ICT)-enabled method for collecting and collating information about pre-service teachers' pedagogical beliefs regarding the integration of ICT

This paper describes a method that utilized technology to collect and collate quantitative and qualitative data about pre‐service teachers’ use of networked technologies during a 12‐week undergraduate course, and the impact of this use on their pedagogical beliefs regarding the integration of information and communications technology (ICT). The technologies used captured and analysed students’ spoken and written communication while engaging in four synchronous online tasks, and also collected evaluation data from online interviews, surveys and diaries. The richness of data afforded by this ICT‐enabled method enabled the research to produce a rich narrative of how the students used the technology and provided evidence of a change in pre‐service teachers’ pedagogical beliefs during the course

The impact of synchronous inter-networked teacher training in ICT integration.

This research aimed to provide fresh perspectives and experiences in technology-based learning, in an endeavour to produce new knowledge that would further inform the literature on the utilisation of technology in education. The Case Study research (Merriam, 1988) attempted to develop an understanding of the change in pre-service teacher trainees' pedagogical practices in the integration of ICT in learning environments during a 12-week undergraduate course where synchronous networked tasks were developed and implemented. The contributions by the trainees (n=16) to the process of the iterative task design, post-task discussions, and commentaries on a Bulletin Board System, provided insights to the research question regarding changing beliefs and the impact of synchronous networking in affecting such change. This qualitative data was supported by quantitative data in the form of weekly surveys that situated synchronous and asynchronous task activities and cognitive outcomes (Knipe & Lee, 2002). In summary, the research highlighted a development of academic competencies (Morrison & Collins, 1996) considered appropriate for informed ICT integration; namely, generic, epistemic and declarative competencies. In addition, after taking into consideration the competencies developed during this Case Study, a framework consisting of four key elements, namely, the communication, the task, the learning and the technology, was drawn. It is thus anticipated that the competencies and the framework contribute new knowledge to the literature on technology in education on how best facilitate the 'informed' integration of ICT (Towndrow & Vallance, 2004) by teachers to support 'good' learning (Goodyear, 2001)

A situation that we had never imagined: Post-Fukushima virtual collaborations for determining robot task metrics

There is no consensus regarding a common set of metrics for robot task complexity in associated human-robot interactions. This paper is an attempt to address this issue by proposing a new metric so that the educational potential when using robots can be further developed. Tasks in which students in Japan and UK interact in a 3D virtual space to collaboratively program robots to navigate mazes have resulted in quantitative data of immersion, circuit task complexity and robot task complexity. The data has subsequently been collated to create a proposed new metric for tasks involving robots, which we have termed task fidelity. The paper proposes that task fidelity is a quantitative measure of a set robot task in relation to a learner's solution. By quantifying task fidelity educators utilising robots in schools and in higher education will be able to provide tasks commensurate with the expected successful outcomes achieved by the learners

Fragmentation dynamics of the ethyl bromide and ethyl iodide cations: a velocity-map imaging study

The photodissociation dynamics of ethyl bromide and ethyl iodide cations (C2H5Br+ and C2H5I+) have been studied. Ethyl halide cations were formed through vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photoionization of the respective neutral parent molecules at 118.2 nm, and were photolysed at a number of ultraviolet (UV) photolysis wavelengths, including 355 nm and wavelengths in the range from 236 to 266 nm. Time-of-flight mass spectra and velocity-map images have been acquired for all fragment ions and for ground (Br) and spin–orbit excited (Br*) bromine atom products, allowing multiple fragmentation pathways to be investigated. The experimental studies are complemented by spin–orbit resolved ab initio calculations of cuts through the potential energy surfaces (along the RC–Br/I stretch coordinate) for the ground and first few excited states of the respective cations. Analysis of the velocity-map images indicates that photoexcited C2H5Br+ cations undergo prompt C–Br bond fission to form predominantly C2H5+ + Br* products with a near-limiting ‘parallel’ recoil velocity distribution. The observed C2H3+ + H2 + Br product channel is thought to arise via unimolecular decay of highly internally excited C2H5+ products formed following radiationless transfer from the initial excited state populated by photon absorption. Broadly similar behaviour is observed in the case of C2H5I+, along with an additional energetically accessible C–I bond fission channel to form C2H5 + I+ products. HX (X = Br, I) elimination from the highly internally excited C2H5X+ cation is deemed the most probable route to forming the C2H4+ fragment ions observed from both cations. Finally, both ethyl halide cations also show evidence of a minor C–C bond fission process to form CH2X+ + CH3 products

Role of bacterial lipopolysaccharides in the modulation of platelet and megakaryocyte function

Cardiovascular disease is a group of inflammatory diseases that is responsible for the plurality of deaths in the world. In ischaemic diseases, aberrant platelet activation leads to thrombus formation and occlusion of key arteries. Furthermore, platelets are critically involved in sepsis, where thrombocytopaenia is correlated with worse patient outcomes. Therefore, immune receptors, such as Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), have been identified as potential targets for reducing platelet activation by decoupling immune functions from haemostasis. Multiple experimental techniques were used to determine the impact of ultrapure lipopolysaccharide (LPS) chemotypes on platelet and megakaryocyte function as LPS is a specific ligand for TLR4. To determine whether LPS modulates platelet activity, LPS and platelets were co-incubated under different conditions. We determined that ultrapure LPS derived from various species of Gram-negative bacteria cannot significantly modulate platelet activity, as measured by aggregation, fibrinogen binding, and P-selectin exposure, except under specific conditions. This is potentially due to activation dependent cell�surface expression of TLR4. Subsequently, to investigate whether LPS induces inflammatory signalling in megakaryocytes, a novel megakaryocyte reporter cell line, Meg-01R, was developed and used to determine that ultrapure LPS is not sufficient on its own to modulate megakaryocyte function. Characterisation of this cell line suggests that MyD88-dependent signalling pathways are active in Meg-01R cells but TLR4 is not present in sufficient quantities at the cell surface. As LL37 directly binds to LPS and is also a strong platelet agonist, we investigated the impact of LPS on LL37- induced platelet activation. Here, we discovered a TLR4-independent cell-independent formation of LL37-LPS micelles that prevents LL37-induced platelet activation. Based on these results, LPS and TLR4 are not sufficient, in vitro, to decouple the immune function of platelets from haemostasis or induce changes in megakaryocyte function however it may still play an important role in conjunction with other immune receptors

Galvanostatic Intermittent Titration Study of the Positive Electrode of a Na|Ni(Fe)-Chloride Cell

The response to open-circuit interrupts of porous mixed iron-nickel cathodes operating in NaCl-buffered, molten NaAlCl4 electrolyte has been characterized as a function of state of charge (SOC) for different iron loadings and different charge and discharge rates. After discharge, the open-circuit potential (OCP) can evolve in time from the iron plateau to the nickel plateau, and this behavior can be explained by galvanic interactions between iron metal and Ni2+. Characteristic times of the OCP transients depend on SOC and can be large. When the OCP has converged on a steady state during discharge, its value may provide an estimate of the mole fraction of NiCl2 at the interface of the triclinic (Ni,Fe)Cl2 film that resulted from metal oxidation. Detailed analyses of the experiment require modeling of the galvanic conversion rates, which depend on both charge-transfer and mass-transfer phenomena

Galvanostatic Intermittent Titration Study of the Positive Electrode of a Na|Ni(Fe)-Chloride Cell

The response to open-circuit interrupts of porous mixed iron-nickel cathodes operating in NaCl-buffered, molten NaAlCl4 electrolyte has been characterized as a function of state of charge (SOC) for different iron loadings and different charge and discharge rates. After discharge, the open-circuit potential (OCP) can evolve in time from the iron plateau to the nickel plateau, and this behavior can be explained by galvanic interactions between iron metal and Ni2+. Characteristic times of the OCP transients depend on SOC and can be large. When the OCP has converged on a steady state during discharge, its value may provide an estimate of the mole fraction of NiCl2 at the interface of the triclinic (Ni,Fe)Cl2 film that resulted from metal oxidation. Detailed analyses of the experiment require modeling of the galvanic conversion rates, which depend on both charge-transfer and mass-transfer phenomena

Time-resolved multi-mass ion imaging: femtosecond UV-VUV pump-probe spectroscopy with the PImMS camera

The Pixel-Imaging Mass Spectrometry (PImMS) camera allows for 3D charged particle imaging measurements, in which the particle time-of-flight is recorded along with $(x,y)$ position. Coupling the PImMS camera to an ultrafast pump-probe velocity-map imaging spectroscopy apparatus therefore provides a route to time-resolved multi-mass ion imaging, with both high count rates and large dynamic range, thus allowing for rapid measurements of complex photofragmentation dynamics. Furthermore, the use of vacuum ultraviolet wavelengths for the probe pulse allows for an enhanced observation window for the study of excited state molecular dynamics in small polyatomic molecules having relatively high ionization potentials. Herein, preliminary time-resolved multi-mass imaging results from C$_2$F$_3$I photolysis are presented. The experiments utilized femtosecond UV and VUV (160.8~nm and 267~nm) pump and probe laser pulses in order to demonstrate and explore this new time-resolved experimental ion imaging configuration. The data indicates the depth and power of this measurement modality, with a range of photofragments readily observed, and many indications of complex underlying wavepacket dynamics on the excited state(s) prepared