A Pilot Evaluation Study Using LectureTools to Enhance Interactivity in Classroom-Based Teaching in a Project Management Course

With students’ ownership of laptops and mobile devices increasing, there exists an opportunity to harness their use to support interactivity within the traditional classroom. Two educators, motivated to enhance interactivity in a two-day project management course at a UK university, trialled LectureTools, a cloud-based audience-response system. To assess potential benefits to learning and teaching, as well as identifying accompanying challenges, an evaluation study was carried out comprising a range of data sources. These included observation of a LectureTools-based lecture and a student questionnaire followed by a focus group discussion with a subset of students about their experiences throughout the two days. Interviews with both teachers were also conducted, adding to the evaluation research data and giving them an opportunity to reflect on their teaching practice. All participants recognised the benefits of LectureTools in promoting student engagement, learning and discussion while students acknowledged the distractive potential of having laptops in the lecture theatre. Efforts are required by educators to ensure that the interactive potential of laptops in classrooms to enhance learning and teaching is supported while controlling the potential for distraction. Future research is needed to ascertain the impact of using LectureTools on approaches to learning and teaching

From state terrorism to state errorism: Post-pinochet Chile's long search for truth and justice

Patio 29 lies in the northern sector of Santiago's General Cemetery. To the naked eye, it is a grim unweeded field of some twelve hundred rusted tin crosses. But to the families of the 1,197 detained-disappeared during Augusto Pinochet's brutal dictatorship, Patio 29 is both a site of horror and a site of hope. Its story begins in September-December 1973 when 320 early victims of the repression were brought there in makeshift wooden crates that held as many as three bodies each, and buried in unmarked graves. A few years later, two hundred of those graves were exhumed by the military, and the remains presumably cremated. For another decade, the mass grave remained silent, yielding few of its secrets to the families' demands to know: Where are they? Today, nineteen years into the so-called transition to democracy, Patio 29-the most important single finding in relation to Chile's detained-disappeared-still refuses to reveal the identities of those victims, pressing upon the government of Michelle Bachelet a new question: Who are they? First state terror, now state error have conspired to make Patio 29 one of Chile's principal horror-cum-hopescapes. © 2010 by The Regents of the University of California and the National Council on Public History. All rights reserved

Reproducibility of a Titanium Plasma Vacuum Spark Discharge

The results of an extensive operation of a Vacuum Spark plasma using Titanium electrodes in a 120 ns 150 kA discharge are presented. The hot spots are found to form with a regular spacing in a zippering Z-pinch plasma, which forms close to the cathode and extends to approximately two thirds of the anode separation over a period of a few ns. The axis of the discharge is well defined by an initial plasma from a Nd:YAG laser focussed onto the cathode electrode surface. The statistics of the formation of the hot spots are given for the life of one anode electrode. Between one and three hotspots form and the favored positions are at 1.5 and 3.0 mm from the cathode and the strongest emission, as observed in a filtered X-ray pinhole camera, comes from the hot spot closest to the cathode. The emission spectra resolved between 50 and 350 \AA shows a wide range of Ti ionization which allows the temperatures of the anode blow off plasma, the Z-pinch and the hot spot plasma to be distinguished. These results are compared with filtered PIN diode signals and filtered pinhole images.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

A World Proof Life: Eleanor Dark, a writer in her times, 1901-1985

Eleanor Dark (1901-1985) is one of Australia's most celebrated writers of the inter-war years. Born with the twentieth century - a Federation baby - she published ten novels, amongst them one of the best loved Australian stories of all time, The Timeless Land. Her life spanned successive global crises - two world wars, the economic depression of the 1930s, the Cold War - each issuing its own challenges to the artist and the people's writer she thought herself to be. By far the most privileged writer of her generation, her ultimate challenge was a personal one: to unlock the gates of her world-proof life to a society and a world in crisis. The first cross-cultural biography of this famous Australian writer, Marivic Wyndham's rich and controversial portrait of Eleanor Dark is based on extensive research of the author's public and private lives

Chilean History and the Sine Wave

Continuing their studies of post-Pinochet memorials in Chile, the authors analyse a recent trend in the interpretation of trauma sites in Santiago which regards the need to resolve the tensions raised by the Pinochet years as more important than dwelling in detail on what was visited upon the victims. We argue that this significant shift from previous interpretations is carried by the younger generation of guides who did not undergo the repression personally. We note these changes with approbation, while noting that the desire not to discuss the worst excesses of the Pinochet regime has led to to a corresponding downplay of the highest points of human experience manifested by the victims themselves. We cite several instances that mark a peak of human experience in Chilean history, and suggest that several might well be used by the site interpreters to further instil a sense of pride among Chilean young people, rather than despair.</jats:p

Porous Silicon Nanoparticles Embedded in Poly(lactic‐ co ‐glycolic acid) Nanofiber Scaffolds Deliver Neurotrophic Payloads to Enhance Neuronal Growth

Scaffolds made from biocompatible polymers provide physical cues to direct the extension of neurites and to encourage repair of damaged nerves. The inclusion of neurotrophic payloads in these scaffolds can substantially enhance regrowth and repair processes. However, many promising neurotrophic candidates are excluded from this approach due to incompatibilities with the polymer or with the polymer processing conditions. This work provides one solution to this problem by incorporating porous silicon nanoparticles (pSiNPs) that are pre-loaded with the therapeutic into a polymer scaffold during fabrication. The nanoparticle-drug-polymer hybrids are prepared in the form of oriented poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) nanofiber scaffolds. We test three different therapeutic payloads: bpV(HOpic), a small molecule inhibitor of phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN); an RNA aptamer specific to tropomyosin-related kinase receptor type B (TrkB); and the protein nerve growth factor (NGF). Each therapeutic is loaded using a loading chemistry that is optimized to slow the rate of release of these water-soluble payloads. The drug-loaded pSiNP-nanofiber hybrids release approximately half of their TrkB aptamer, bpV(HOpic), or NGF payload in 2, 10, and >40 days, respectively. The nanofiber hybrids increase neurite extension relative to drug-free control nanofibers in a dorsal root ganglion explant assay

A population-based audit of ethnicity and breast cancer risk in one general practice catchment area in North London, UK: implications for practice

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Objectives</p> <p>To conduct a pilot population-based study within a general practice catchment area to determine whether the incidence of breast cancer was increased in the Ashkenazi population.</p> <p>Design</p> <p>Population-based cohort study.</p> <p>Setting</p> <p>A single general practice catchment area in North London.</p> <p>Participants</p> <p>1947 women over the age of 16 who responded to a questionnaire about ethnicity and breast cancer.</p> <p>Main outcome measures</p> <p>Incidence of breast cancer, ethnicity.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>This study showed a 1.5-fold (95% CI 0.93–2.39) increase in breast cancer risk in the Ashkenazim compared with the non-Ashkenazi white population. The increased incidence was for both premenopausal and postmenopausal breast cancer (expected incidence pre:post is 1:4 whereas in the Ashkenazim it was 1:1; 51 and 52% of cases respectively). This increase was not shown in the Sephardim. Asians had a reduction in incidence (OR = 0.44; 95% CI 0.10–1.89). Results were adjusted for other risk factors for breast cancer.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study showed a 1.5-fold increase in breast cancer rates in Ashkenazim compared with the non-Jewish white population when adjusted for age (i.e. corrections were made to allow comparison of age groups) and this is not observed in the Sephardic population. The proportion of premenopausal breast cancer was just over double that of the general population. This is the first general practice population-based study in the UK to address this issue and has implications for general practitioners who care for patients from the Ashkenazi community.</p

Establishment of early donor engraftment after reduced-intensity allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation to potentiate the graft-versus-lymphoma effect against refractory lymphomas

AbstractReduced-intensity allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (alloHSCT), which typically results in mixed chimerism initially after transplantation, has had limited efficacy in chemotherapy-refractory lymphomas. We hypothesized that the rapid establishment of complete donor chimerism would potentiate a graft-versus-lymphoma effect. Fifteen patients with chemotherapy-refractory lymphoma initially received induction with a conventional chemotherapy regimen (etoposide, prednisone, vincristine, cyclophosphamide, adriamycin, fludarabine [EPOCH-F]) to deplete host T cells and provide disease control prior to alloHSCT. Patients then received conditioning with fludarabine and cyclophosphamide followed by alloHSCT from HLA-matched siblings. Graft-versus-host disease prophylaxis consisted of cyclosporine alone. EPOCH-F resulted in 73% of patients having partial responses or stable disease. EPOCH-F depleted host CD4+ T cells from a median of 235 cells/μL to 56 cells/μL. Fourteen patients underwent alloHSCT, and all had >95% donor engraftment by day 14 after transplantation. The incidence of Grade II to III acute graft-versus-host disease was 71%. There were two therapy-related deaths. There were 8 partial responses and 3 complete responses (CRs) at day 28. Five additional CRs were observed at day 100 without withdrawal of cyclosporine or donor lymphocyte infusion. The rate of CRs for all 15 patients was 60%. The 1-year progression-free survival rate from time of study entry is 67% with only 1 relapse among 9 CRs. At a median potential follow-up of 28 months, the overall survival rate is 53%. These data demonstrate that a potent and durable graft-versus-lymphoma effect can occur against chemotherapy-refractory lymphomas and suggest that this effect may be associated with rapid, complete donor chimerism after reduced-intensity alloHSCT. © 2003 American Society for Blood and Marrow TransplantationBiology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation 9:162-169 (2003

Predicting avian distributions to evaluate spatiotemporal overlap with locust control operations in eastern Australia

Locusts and grasshoppers cause considerable economic damage to agriculture worldwide. The Australian Plague Locust Commission uses multiple pesticides to control locusts in eastern Australia. Avian exposure to agricultural pesticides is of conservation concern, especially in the case of rare and threatened species. The aim of this study was to evaluate the probability of pesticide exposure of native avian species during operational locust control based on knowledge of species occurrence in areas and times of application. Using presence-absence data provided by the Birds Australia Atlas for 1998 to 2002, we developed a series of generalized linear models to predict avian occurrences on a monthly basis in 0.5 degrees grid cells for 280 species over 2 million km 2 in eastern Australia. We constructed species-specific models relating occupancy patterns to survey date and location, rainfall, and derived habitat preference. Model complexity depended on the number of observations available. Model output was the probability of occurrence for each species at times and locations of past locust control operations within the 5-year study period. Given the high spatiotemporal variability of locust control events, the variability in predicted bird species presence was high, with 108 of the total 280 species being included at least once in the top 20 predicted species for individual space-time events. The models were evaluated using field surveys collected between 2000 and 2005, at sites with and without locust outbreaks. Model strength varied among species. Some species were under- or over-predicted as times and locations of interest typically did not correspond to those in the prediction data set and certain species were likely attracted to locusts as a food source. Field surveys demonstrated the utility of the spatially explicit species lists derived from the models but also identified the presence of a number of previously unanticipated species. These results also emphasize the need for special consideration of rare and threatened species that are poorly predicted by presence-absence models. This modeling exercise was a useful a priori approach in species risk assessments to identify species present at times and locations of locust control applications, and to discover gaps in our knowledge and need for further focused data collection Copyright 2009 by the Ecological Society ot America