Integrated Assessment: A Learning Adventure And Growth Opportunity For Adult Learners

The Bachelor in Management and Leadership (BML) is a programme specifically designed for working adult learners in the field of management leadership. As part of their assessment, students have to complete a small research project, called the Major Piece of Work (MPW). The aim of this paper is to discuss the Major Piece of Work as a real example of integrated assessment in order to highlight the value of integrated assessment for adult learners. The first part of the paper comprises an explanation of the Major Piece of Work as an integrated assessment instrument, whilst the second part will focus on the results of a survey regarding the value of the Major Piece of Work highlighted by BML students

Magnetoplasmon excitations in an array of periodically modulated quantum wires

Motivated by the recent experiment of Hochgraefe et al., we have investigated the magnetoplasmon excitations in a periodic array of quantum wires with a periodic modulation along the wire direction. The equilibrium and dynamic properties of the system are treated self-consistently within the Thomas-Fermi-Dirac-von Weizsaecker approximation. A calculation of the dynamical response of the system to a far-infrared radiation field reveals a resonant anticrossing between the Kohn mode and a finite-wavevector longitudinal excitation which is induced by the density modulation along the wires. Our theoretical calculations are found to be in excellent agreement with experiment.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure

The Effect of Various Supplementary Irrigation Treatments on Plant and Soil Moisture Relationships in a Vineyard (Vitis Vinif era var. Chenin Blanc)

In a field plot trial with grape vines planted on a high potential soil, the soil moisture status on different irrigation treatment plots was compared with that of a dryland control. Soil moisture budgeting was based on physical soil properties and root distribution patterns before treatments commenced. A maximum concentration of roots occurred at the 300-450 mm depth zone, while approximately 90 per cent of the total number of roots was found above 900 mm. Tensiometric readings of soil moisture potential, supplemented by electrometric resistance readings from gypsum blocks, indicated complete depletion between veraison and harvesting of the total available moisture on dryland plots. Despite this severe moisture stress as illustrated by chrono-isopletes, a reasonably good grape yield was still produced by the dryland vines, indicating either exceptional drought resistance or the uptake of water from extraneous sources. Supplementary irrigations greatly improved soil moisture conditions during the important growth stages of (a) flowering and fruit set, (b) green berry stage and (c) veraison. Moisture depletion patterns changed markedly as the season progressed from November to January, and as naturally stored rain water became depleted. In contrast to the absorption pattern in November, the fastest rate of water loss occurred in the deepest root zones during January, because of unsaturated moisture flow into the dry partly decomposed parent material. The apparently unproductive subsoil might act as a large natural reservoir for superfluous winter rain, which in summer becomes available to the vines through unsaturated upward flow into the root zone. Determination of leaf water potential showed unexpectedly high values at night (minima of -283kPa) in plants growing in soil of which the major part was dried below wilting point. Vines were thus able to regain turgidity at night. Crop factors for use with the American Class A-pan for scheduling irrigations were calculated. Crop factors were low (November to February = 0,20-0,30), and again emphasised the ability of vines to use water frugally. Crop factors were strongly dependent upon soil moisture conditions. Empirical coefficients for use in the Blaney-Criddle formula are also presented

Geometric scaling in the spectrum of an electron captured by a stationary finite dipole

We examine the energy spectrum of a charged particle in the presence of a {\it non-rotating} finite electric dipole. For {\emph{any}} value of the dipole moment $p$ above a certain critical value p_{\mathrm{c}}$ an infinite series of bound states arises of which the energy eigenvalues obey an Efimov-like geometric scaling law with an accumulation point at zero energy. These properties are largely destroyed in a realistic situation when rotations are included. Nevertheless, our analysis of the idealised case is of interest because it may possibly be realised using quantum dots as artificial atoms.Comment: 5 figures; references added, outlook section reduce

Metabolomic Alterations Do Not Induce Metabolic Burden in the Industrial Yeast M2n[pBKD2-Pccbgl1]-C1 Engineered by Multiple \u3b4-Integration of a Fungal \u3b2-Glucosidase Gene

In the lignocellulosic yeast development, metabolic burden relates to redirection of resources from regular cellular activities toward the needs created by recombinant protein production. As a result, growth parameters may be greatly affected. Noteworthy, Saccharomyces cerevisiae M2n[pBKD2-Pccbgl1]-C1, previously developed by multiple d-integration of the b-glucosidase BGL3, did not show any detectable metabolic burden. This work aims to test the hypothesis that the metabolic burden and the metabolomic perturbation induced by the d-integration of a yeast strain, could differ significantly. The engineered strain was evaluated in terms of metabolic performances and metabolomic alterations in different conditions typical of the bioethanol industry. Results indicate that the multiple d-integration did not affect the ability of the engineered strain to grow on different carbon sources and to tolerate increasing concentrations of ethanol and inhibitory compounds. Conversely, metabolomic profiles were significantly altered both under growing and stressing conditions, indicating a large extent of metabolic reshuffling involved in the maintenance of the metabolic homeostasis. Considering that four copies of BGL3 gene have been integrated without affecting any parental genes or promoter sequences, deeper studies are needed to unveil the mechanisms implied in these metabolomic changes, thus supporting the optimization of protein production in engineered strains

Simple Analytical Particle and Kinetic Energy Densities for a Dilute Fermionic Gas in a d-Dimensional Harmonic Trap

We derive simple analytical expressions for the particle density $\rho(r)$ and the kinetic energy density $\tau(r)$ for a system of noninteracting fermions in a $d-$dimensional isotropic harmonic oscillator potential. We test the Thomas-Fermi (TF, or local-density) approximation for the functional relation $\tau[\rho]$ using the exact $\rho(r)$ and show that it locally reproduces the exact kinetic energy density $\tau(r)$, {\it including the shell oscillations,} surprisingly well everywhere except near the classical turning point. For the special case of two dimensions (2D), we obtain the unexpected analytical result that the integral of $\tau_{TF}[\rho(r)]$ yields the {\it exact} total kinetic energy.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; corrected versio

A case control study of breast cancer risk and exposure to injectable progestogen contraceptives

No Abstract

Analytical treatment of interacting Fermi gas in arbitrary dimensional harmonic trap

We study normal state properties of an interacting Fermi gas in an isotropic harmonic trap of arbitrary dimensions. We exactly calculate the first-order perturbation terms in the ground state energy and chemical potential, and obtain simple analytic expressions of the total energy and chemical potential. At zero temperature, we find that Thomas-Fermi approximation agrees well with exact results for any dimension even though system is dilute and small, i.e. when the Thomas-Fermi approximation is generally expected to fail. In the high temperature (classical) region, we find interaction energy decreases in proportion to T^(-d/2), where T is temperature and d is dimension of the system. Effect of interaction in the ground state in two and three-dimensional systems is also discussed.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure

Number Fluctuation in an interacting trapped gas in one and two dimensions

It is well-known that the number fluctuation in the grand canonical ensemble, which is directly proportional to the compressibility, diverges for an ideal bose gas as T -> 0. We show that this divergence is removed when the atoms interact in one dimension through an inverse square two-body interaction. In two dimensions, similar results are obtained using a self-consistent Thomas-Fermi (TF) model for a repulsive zero-range interaction. Both models may be mapped on to a system of non-interacting particles obeying the Haldane-Wu exclusion statistics. We also calculate the number fluctuation from the ground state of the gas in these interacting models, and compare the grand canonical results with those obtained from the canonical ensemble.Comment: 11 pages, 1 appendix, 3 figures. Submitted to J. Phys. B: Atomic, Molecular & Optica