Interactive Video Vignettes (IVVs) to Help Students Learn Genetics Concepts

any video resources exist to teach Mendelian genetics, but most consist of passive delivery of information rather than active construction of knowledge by users. We have created two interactive video vignettes (IVVs) that can be used together or separately to introduce students to core concepts of genetics, using principles of active learning (e.g., elicit-confront-resolve, directed feedback, reflection). These online resources are free and can be assigned as homework for students to complete outside of class. Each IVV features a realistic scenario of undergraduate students investigating genetic phenomena by collecting and analyzing data. During the IVVs, the user is integrated into the process, answers conceptual questions, receives feedback based on their answers, and reflects on the experience by comparing their original ideas to their new understandings. Marfamily is primarily designed to teach pedigree construction and analysis, while A Matter of Taste addresses common misconceptions about dominance. Both also demonstrate the scientific method. Users cannot advance without answering the questions, although they can review past scenes. Resources for both formative and summative assessment are provided. The IVV is easily integrated into any course where an introduction to or review of basic genetics is needed

An Online Interactive Video Vignette that Helps Students Learn Key Concepts of Fermentation and Respiration

Topics related to energy transformation and metabolism are important parts of an undergraduate biology curriculum, but these are also topics that students traditionally struggle with. To address this, we have created a short online Interactive Video Vignette (IVV) called To Ferment or Not to Ferment: That is the Question. This IVV is designed to help students learn important ideas related to cellular respiration and metabolism. Students in various courses across four institutions were assigned the IVV as an out-of-class preinstruction homework assignment. To test the effectiveness of this IVV on student learning, we collected and analyzed data from questions embedded in the IVV, open response reflection questions, and pre- and postassessments from IVV watchers and nonwatchers. Our analysis revealed that students who completed the IVV activity interacted productively with this online tool and made significant learning gains on important topics related to cellular respiration and metabolism. This IVV is freely available via https://www.rit.edu/cos/interactive/MINT for instructors to adopt for class use

Ewald Sums for One Dimension

We derive analytic solutions for the potential and field in a one-dimensional system of masses or charges with periodic boundary conditions, in other words Ewald sums for one dimension. We also provide a set of tools for exploring the system evolution and show that it's possible to construct an efficient algorithm for carrying out simulations. In the cosmological setting we show that two approaches for satisfying periodic boundary conditions, one overly specified and the other completely general, provide a nearly identical clustering evolution until the number of clusters becomes small, at which time the influence of any size-dependent boundary cannot be ignored. Finally we compare the results with other recent work with the hope of providing clarification over differences these issues have induced. We explain that modern formulations of physics require a well defined potential which is not available if the forces are screened directly.Comment: 2 figures added references expanded discussion of algorithm corrected figures added discussion of screened forc

Neuropsychological, academic, and adaptive functioning in children who survive inhospital cardiac arrest and resuscitation

Children suffering cardiac arrest (CA) are not uncommon in certain pediatric populations. Due to the increasing suruival rates of child CA patients, there is a growing interest in, and concern for, their long-term intellectual, academic, emotional, and adaptive functioning. This article describes the possible neurologic sequelae of CA in children and presents standardized assessment results on 25 children, 2 to 15 years of age, who suruived a CA while in the hospital. A majority of these children exhibited low-average to deficient levels of performance on neuropsychologic, achievement, and adaptive behavior measures. Duration of cardiac arrest and a medical risk score were significantly correlated with decreased functioning in child CA patients. Children who suffer a cardiac arrest are at high risk for academic struggles, and many may need special education seruices

Assessing a portable, real-time display handheld meter with UV-A and UV-B sensors for potential application in personal sun exposure studies

BACKGROUND : Observing accurate real-time measurements of solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) levels is important since personal excess sun exposure is associated with skin cancers. Handheld measurement devices may be helpful but their accuracy is unknown. We compare a portable, science-grade solar UVR monitoring device against two fixed, science-grade solar UVR instruments. METHODS : Instruments were (1) a fixed Solar Light 501 UV-B biometer to measure UV-B; (2) a fixed Kipp and Zonen radiometer used to measure UV-A and UV-B; and (3) Goldilux ultraviolet probes which are commercially available portable devices. Two different probes were used, one measured UV-A and the other UV-B radiation. The Goldilux probes were levelled and secured next to the UV-B biometer. Between 10:00 and 14:40 UTC+2, the UV-B biometer was set to record at 10-minute intervals and measurements by the Goldilux probes were manually taken simultaneously. Results were compared for all data and by solar zenith angle (SZA) ranges. RESULTS : The Goldilux UV-B probe measured UV-B relatively well in its diurnal pattern, however, its readings were ~77% higher than those made by the UV-B biometer. While UV-A measurements from the Goldilux UV-A probe and those from the radiometer were in relatively good agreement in pattern, the radiometer read ~47% higher than the Goldilux UV-A probe. UV-B data from Goldilux UV-B probe had a moderately strong correlation with UV-B biometer data for small SZAs; conversely, for UV-A, the Goldilux UV-A probe had a strong correlation with the UV-A radiometer data for large SZAs. CONCLUSION : Handheld devices may be useful to provide real-time readings of solar UVR patterns, however, to achieve synchronicity in the magnitude of readings to those made by science-grade fixed instruments, devices may need to be used during certain times of the day and in clear-sky conditions which may not be practical in personal exposure studies.Dr Wright receives funding support from the South African Medical Research Council and the National Research Foundation of South Africa.http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1600-08462019-11-01hj2019Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorolog

Web-based Interactive Video Vignettes Create a Personalized Active Learning Classroom for Introducing Big Ideas in Introductory Biology

The typical “flipped classroom” delivers lecture material in video format to students outside of class in order to make space for active learning in class. But why give students passive material at all? We are developing a set of high-quality online educational materials that promote active, hands-on science learning to aid in teaching of core concepts for introductory biology at the college level. Interactive video vignettes (IVVs) incorporate evidence based teaching strategies to address known areas of confusion for entering students. Each IVV includes a live action scenario with undergraduates investigating a biological problem with a realistic experiment that users participate in. Through the course of each 10-20 minute video, users are required to make predictions, answer questions, collect data and draw conclusions. Branching and reflection of previous answers allows each user to have a personalized experience. Research into how students learn with these tools is being used to develop entire modules that will incorporate the IVV as a priming activity to be done as homework, along with suggested activities to be done in class that take the introduced concepts deeper and/or broader

Bouncing trimer: a random self-propelled particle, chaos and periodical motions

A trimer is an object composed of three centimetrical stainless steel beads equally distant and is predestined to show richer behaviours than the bouncing ball or the bouncing dimer. The rigid trimer has been placed on a plate of a electromagnetic shaker and has been vertically vibrated according to a sinusoidal signal. The horizontal translational and rotational motions of the trimer have been recorded for a range of frequencies between 25 and 100 Hz while the amplitude of the forcing vibration was tuned for obtaining maximal acceleration of the plate up to 10 times the gravity. Several modes have been detected like e.g. rotational and pure translational motions. These modes are found at determined accelerations of the plate and do not depend on the frequency. By recording the time delays between two successive contacts when the frequency and the amplitude are fixed, a mapping of the bouncing regime has been constructed and compared to that of the dimer and the bouncing ball. Period-2 and period-3 orbits have been experimentally observed. In these modes, according to observations, the contact between the trimer and the plate is persistent between two successive jumps. This persistence erases the memory of the jump preceding the contact. A model is proposed and allows to explain the values of the particular accelerations for which period-2 and period-3 modes are observed. Finally, numerical simulations allow to reproduce the experimental results. That allows to conclude that the friction between the beads and the plate is the major dissipative process.Comment: 22 pages, 10 figure

The Circumnuclear Star Formation Environment of NGC 6946: Br γ and H_2 Results from Keck Integral Field Spectroscopy

We present a 3-dimensional data cube of the K band continuum and the Brγ, H_2 S(0) and S(1)lines within the central 18.”5 x 13.”8 (520 pc x 390 pc) region of NGC6946. Data were obtained using OSIRIS, a near-infrared Integral Field Unit at Keck Observatory, with Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics. The 0."3 resolution allows us to investigate the stellar bulge and the forming star clusters in the nuclear region on 10 pc scales. We detect giant H II regions associated with massive young star clusters in the nuclear spiral/ring (R~30 pc) and in the principal shocks along the nuclear bar. Comparisons of the Br γ fluxes with Pa α line emission and radio continuum indicate A_K ~ 3, A_V ~ 25 for the nuclear star forming regions. The most luminous H II regions are restricted to within 70 pc of the center, despite the presence of high gas columns at larger radii (R~200 pc). H_2 emission is restricted to clouds within R~60 pc of the center, and in this sense resembles the distribution of the HCN line emission. We propose that gas-assisted migration of the young star clusters is contributing to the buildup of the nuclear bar and nuclear star cluster (R<30 pc) in this galaxy

Comparative Conflict Resolution Procedures in Taxation: An Analytic Comparative Study

Tax administrators in well developed countries rarely have either occasion or opportunity to compare experiences or exchange opinions regarding procedures and practices utilized in administering complicated tax laws. Moreover, there is little comparative literature on the subject. Even the tax institutes which are internationally oriented usually focus on substantive tax principles, not procedures and practices. Hopefully, therefore, administrators in highly developed countries will find useful this analytic comparison of practices and procedures through which six of their number resolve disputable income tax questions -administratively and judicially. Concern for tax administrators in well developed countries, however, was not the prime motivation for this study. The initial conception grew out of the belief that administrators in countries just now developing would find especially useful an analytic comparison of diverse functioning models which had evolved out of long experience. Since these now developing countries differ from one another on many counts, it was imperative that there be equally wide dissimilarity among the several experienced countries selected as models. Thus, the choice of Belgium, France, West Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and the United States. These countries differ in their size and population, the complexity and precision of their tax statutes, the degree their legislative bodies provide additional guidance through pre-enactment materials, the assessment system used (self- versus non-self-assessment systems), the standards of construction to which their courts traditionally conform, the theoretical status assigned by each to the doctrine of precedent, and the types of persons available to handle tax disputes-both within and without the government. Consequently, it was possible to determine whether such basic differences were relevant or irrelevant when choosing, from among the alternative functioning models, the structural arrangement and practices most appropriate for each level involved in the conflict resolution process. Also, the analytic comparison contained in the first four chapters should enable any given country to determine the extent to which diverse parts of different wholes are adaptable to its situation. The third purpose of this study is a byproduct of the first two. Practitioners engaged in international tax practice may gain a useful insight into the conflict resolution process followed in each of the six countries covered.https://repository.law.umich.edu/michigan_legal_studies/1005/thumbnail.jp