Blending for student engagement: lessons learned for the MOOCs and beyond

The purpose of this ongoing, three-year action research study is to explore the digital challenges of student engagement in higher education within the experimental platform of blended learning. Research questions examine the role of digital innovation in supporting diverse learners, as well as building meaningful connections with technology for undergraduate teacher education students. Results from qualitative data collected through instructor journals and field notes and student mid-term and exit surveys during year one, indicate blended learning can be effective for modelling how to use technology to shift learners towards more active agency. The immediacy of the localised university classroom delivered a viable research setting for digital experimentation, while providing a significant lived experience for undergraduates to springboard their future technological practices with K–12 students. Four pedagogical opportunities for digital intentionality in virtual spaces emerged during data analysis and are shared as considerations for future innovation: (1) designing digital resources, (2) scaffolding student learning, (3) learner customisation, and (4) promoting the lived experience. Lessons learned could be effective in helping develop higher quality educational experiences for on-campus students, as well as scaffolding greater engagement in online formats involving more global populations (e.g., massive online open courses – MOOCs)

ERIS: revitalising an adaptive optics instrument for the VLT

ERIS is an instrument that will both extend and enhance the fundamental diffraction limited imaging and spectroscopy capability for the VLT. It will replace two instruments that are now being maintained beyond their operational lifetimes, combine their functionality on a single focus, provide a new wavefront sensing module that makes use of the facility Adaptive Optics System, and considerably improve their performance. The instrument will be competitive with respect to JWST in several regimes, and has outstanding potential for studies of the Galactic Center, exoplanets, and high redshift galaxies. ERIS had its final design review in 2017, and is expected to be on sky in 2020. This contribution describes the instrument concept, outlines its expected performance, and highlights where it will most excel.Comment: 12 pages, Proc SPIE 10702 "Ground-Based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VII

Introductory programming: a systematic literature review

As computing becomes a mainstream discipline embedded in the school curriculum and acts as an enabler for an increasing range of academic disciplines in higher education, the literature on introductory programming is growing. Although there have been several reviews that focus on specific aspects of introductory programming, there has been no broad overview of the literature exploring recent trends across the breadth of introductory programming. This paper is the report of an ITiCSE working group that conducted a systematic review in order to gain an overview of the introductory programming literature. Partitioning the literature into papers addressing the student, teaching, the curriculum, and assessment, we explore trends, highlight advances in knowledge over the past 15 years, and indicate possible directions for future research

Effect of desferrioxamine B and Suwannee River fulvic acid on Fe(III) release and Cr(III) desorption from goethite

Siderophores are biogenic chelating ligands that facilitate the solubilization of Fe(III) and form stable complexes with a range of contaminant metals and therefore may significantly affect their biogeochemical cycling. Desferrioxamine B (DFOB) is a trihydroxamate siderophore that acts synergistically with fulvic acid and low molecular weight organic ligands to release Fe from Fe(III) oxides. We report the results of batch dissolution experiments in which we determine the rates of Cr(III) desorption and Fe(III) release from Cr(III)-treated synthetic goethite as influenced by DFOB, by fulvic acid, and by the two compounds in combination. We observed that adsorbed Cr(III) at 3% surface coverage significantly reduced Fe(III) release from goethite for all combinations of DFOB and fulvic acid. When DFOB (270 µM) was the only ligand present, dissolved Fe(III) and Cr(III) increased approximately 1000-fold and 16-fold, respectively, as compared to the ligand-free system, a difference we attribute to the slow rate of water exchange of Cr(III). Suwannee River fuvic acid (SRFA) acts synergistically with DFOB by (i) reducing the goethite surface charge leading to increased HDFOB+ surface excess and by (ii) forming aqueous Fe(III)-SRFA species whose Fe(III) is subsequently removed by DFOB to yield aqueous Fe(III)-DFOB complexes. These observations shed new light on the synergistic relationship between DFOB and fulvic acid and reveal the mechanisms of Fe(III) acquisition available to plants and micro-organisms in Cr(III) contaminated environments

The Giant Magellan Telescope adaptive optics program

The Giant Magellan Telescope adaptive optics system will be an integral part of the telescope, providing laser guide star generation, wavefront sensing, and wavefront correction to most of the currently envisioned instruments. The system will provide three observing modes: Natural Guidestar AO (NGSAO), Laser Tomography AO (LTAO), and Ground Layer AO (GLAO). Every AO observing mode will use the telescope's segmented adaptive secondary mirror to deliver a corrected beam directly to the instruments. High-order wavefront sensing for the NGSAO and LTAO modes is provided by a set of wavefront sensors replicated for each instrument and fed by visible light reflected off the cryostat window. An infrared natural guidestar wavefront sensor with open-loop AO correction is also required to sense tip-tilt, focus, segment piston, and dynamic calibration errors in the LTAO mode. GLAO mode wavefront sensing is provided by laser guidestars over a ∼5 arcminute field of view, and natural guidestars over wider fields. A laser guidestar facility will project 120 W of 589 nm laser light in 6 beacons from the periphery of the primary mirror. An off-axis phasing camera and primary and secondary mirror metrology systems will ensure that the telescope optics remain phased. We describe the system requirements, overall architecture, and innovative solutions found to the challenges presented by high-order AO on a segmented extremely large telescope. Further details may be found in specific papers on each of the observing modes and major subsystems

Antenatal suppression of il-1 protects against inflammation-induced fetal injury and improves neonatal and developmental outcomes in mice

Preterm birth (PTB) is commonly accompanied by in utero fetal inflammation, and existing tocolytic drugs do not target fetal inflammatory injury. Of the candidate proinflammatory mediators, IL-1 appears central and is sufficient to trigger fetal loss. Therefore, we elucidated the effects of antenatal IL-1 exposure on postnatal development and investigated two IL-1 receptor antagonists, the competitive inhibitor anakinra (Kineret) and a potent noncompetitive inhibitor 101.10, for efficacy in blocking IL-1 actions. Antenatal exposure to IL-1β induced Tnfa, Il6, Ccl2, Pghs2, and Mpges1 expression in placenta and fetal membranes, and it elevated amniotic fluid IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, and PGF2α, resulting in PTB and marked neonatal mortality. Surviving neonates had increased Il1b, Il6, Il8, Il10, Pghs2, Tnfa, and Crp expression in WBCs, elevated plasma levels of IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-8, increased IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-8 in fetal lung, intestine, and brain, and morphological abnormalities: e.g., disrupted lung alveolarization, atrophy of intestinal villus and colon-resident lymphoid follicle, and degeneration and atrophy of brain microvasculature with visual evoked potential anomalies. Late gestation treatment with 101.10 abolished these adverse outcomes, whereas Kineret exerted only modest effects and no benefit for gestation length, neonatal mortality, or placental inflammation. In a LPS-induced model of infection-associated PTB, 101.10 prevented PTB, neonatal mortality, and fetal brain inflammation. There was no substantive deviation in postnatal growth trajectory or adult body morphometry after antenatal 101.10 treatment. The results implicate IL-1 as an important driver of neonatal morbidity in PTB and identify 101.10 as a safe and effective candidate therapeutic.Mathieu Nadeau-Vallée, Peck-Yin Chin, Lydia Belarbi, Marie-Ève Brien, Sheetal Pundir, Martin H. Berryer, Alexandra Beaudry-Richard, Ankush Madaan, David J. Sharkey, Alexis Lupien-Meilleur, Xin Hou, Christiane Quiniou, Alexandre Beaulac, Ines Boufaied, Amarilys Boudreault, Adriana Carbonaro, Ngoc-Duc Doan, Jean-Sebastien Joyal, William D. Lubell, David M. Olson, Sarah A. Robertson, Sylvie Girard and Sylvain Chemto