Does higher education foster critical and creative learners? An exploration of two universities in South Korea and the USA

This paper describes two studies that explore students' beliefs about critical and creative learning at two universities, and considers the implications of those beliefs in comparison to the universities' stated education goals. One is a mixed method study of students at a top university in Korea, and the second is a comparative study between the Korean university and a United States (US) university. The first study found that both high-achievers and the general population at a top Korean university perceived their critical and creative abilities as lower than their receptive learning abilities, and that higher achievers were neither more critical nor creative than lower achievers. The second study finds that the Korean university students, compared to US students, were more likely to rate their receptive learning ability as higher than their critical and creative learning abilities. Comparisons across year of higher education (HE) suggest that Korean students' perceptions did not significantly change with respect to year in school, while US students' perceptions of critical learning abilities significantly increased across school years. Results are discussed with respect to the impact of culture, epistemological beliefs, and HE instruction on critical and creative learning

BFT Hamiltonian embedding for SU(3) Skyrmion

We newly apply the Batalin, Fradkin and Tyutin (BFT) formalism to the SU(3) flavor Skyrmion model to investigate the Weyl ordering correction to the structure of the hyperfine splittings of strange baryons. On the other hand, the Berry phases and Casimir effects are also discussed.Comment: 14 pages, modified titl

Unusual Effect of an Atrial Septal Aneurysm on Venous Drainage During Cardiopulmonary Bypass

Atrial septal aneurysm is an uncommon cardiac anomaly that is usually asymptomatic or occasionally associated with cardioembolic events. We present the unusual impeding effect of an atrial septal aneurysm on venous drainage during cardiopulmonary bypass in a 70-year-old man who underwent aortic valve replacement and coronary artery bypass graft surgery

Dual and opposing roles of primary cilia in medulloblastoma development.

Recent work has shown that primary cilia are essential for Hedgehog (Hh) signaling during mammalian development. It is also known that aberrant Hh signaling can lead to cancer, but the role of primary cilia in oncogenesis is not known. Cerebellar granule neuron precursors (GNPs) can give rise to medulloblastomas, the most common malignant brain tumor in children. The primary cilium and Hh signaling are required for GNP proliferation. We asked whether primary cilia in GNPs have a role in medulloblastoma growth in mice. Genetic ablation of primary cilia blocked medulloblastoma formation when this tumor was driven by a constitutively active Smoothened protein (Smo), an upstream activator of Hh signaling. In contrast, removal of cilia was required for medulloblastoma growth by a constitutively active glioma-associated oncogene family zinc finger-2 (GLI2), a downstream transcription factor. Thus, primary cilia are either required for or inhibit medulloblastoma formation, depending on the initiating oncogenic event. Remarkably, the presence or absence of cilia was associated with specific variants of human medulloblastomas; primary cilia were found in medulloblastomas with activation in HH or WNT signaling but not in most medulloblastomas in other distinct molecular subgroups. Primary cilia could serve as a diagnostic tool and provide new insights into the mechanism of tumorigenesis

Strong correlation effects in the doped Hubbard model in infinite dimensions

The density of states and the optical conductivity of the doped Hubbard model on a Bethe lattice with infinite connectivities have been studied using an analytic variant of the Lanczos continued fraction method. The spectral weight of the gap states and the position of the chemical potential upon hole or electron doping have been studied. We argue that the strong correlation effects such as gap states and midinfrared band shown in two dimensions also appear in infinite dimensions.Comment: 9 pages, revtex, 3 figures upon reques

Mechanical self-confinement to enhance energy storage density of antiferroelectric capacitors

The energy storage density of electrical capacitors utilizing antiferroelectric compositions Pb0.99Nb0.02[(Zr0.57Sn0.43)1−yTiy]0.98O3 as dielectrics is measured at a series of temperatures in a series of dielectric compositions with and without self-confinement. Under the applied electric field of 70 kV/cm, a maximum energy density of 1.3 J/cm3 is achieved. The mechanical self-confinement was introduced by partially electroding the central portion of thedielectric ceramic disk. A phase-field model was developed and it confirms the presence of compressive stresses ∼30 MPa in the electroded portion of the dielectric disk and the contribution to the increased energy density from the mechanical confinement

Computer-Aided Design in Subtractive and Additive Prototyping

This paper concerns the use of a commercially available computer-aided design software in designing and manipulating the complex-shaped models for subtractive and additive prototyping processes. In the subtractive prototyping approach, the computer-aided design software was used to create surface models. The models were section-cut into multiple cross sectional layers. Then, the section-cut models were converted from graphic files into non-graphic files (neutral format files). In the additive prototyping approach, the computer-aided design software was used to create solid models with internal cavities (parent model). Multiple smaller diameter solid models were then derived from the parent mode!. The various diameter solid models were converted into surface models. The surface models were then section-cut and later changed into neutral format files. The computer-aided design software used in the project was AutoSurf, a commercially available product of Autodesk, Inc. The hardware which was used ;n the above processes were a four degrees of freedom precision robotic manipulator (for manipulating raw material), a ball-nosed end milling device (in subtractive prototyping) and a semi-liquid deposition tool (for additive prototyping). This study revealed the possibility of using cheap and general computer-aided design software to accomplish the complex-shaped model design and manipulation work in the prototyping processes instead of using expensive rapid prototyping software