Using On-Line Quizzes to Help Students Learn Probability and Statistics

Online quizzes can be an effective and flexible means of helping learners develop key skills in probability and statistics. Quizzes give instant feedback, to help reinforce correct understanding and eliminate fundamental errors at an early stage in learning. We will describe our experience of designing and using quizzes with non-specialist and specialist students, on several different platforms including, most recently, Moodle. We describe Model Choice, a tool that helps students identify from a brief scenario the standard family of probability distributions they should work with to solve a problem. We will emphasize key design aspects of a successful quiz system, such as the importance of giving informative feedback to the learner. Using a standard platform, such as Moodle, is likely to require some compromise on design principles but building a stand-alone system to implement ideal design choices is very time-consuming

The Demystification of Non-formal Education: A Critique and Suggestions for a New Research Direction

The purpose of this paper is to initiate an inquiry into a currently fashionable educational phenomenon presently referred to as non-formal education. It is hoped that the paradigm resented will provide yet another interpretive perspective by which we can more fully understand the consequences of this educational phenomenon. It is a major contention of this paper that a more conceptually rigorous approach will enable us to understand better how non-formal education might contribute to or inhibit social change and development in societies undergoing rapid modernization

Spatial and Temporal Stability of Airglow Measured in the Meinel Band Window at 1191.3 nm

We report on the temporal and spatial fluctuations in the atmospheric brightness in the narrow band between Meinel emission lines at 1191.3 nm using an R=320 near-infrared instrument. We present the instrument design and implementation, followed by a detailed analysis of data taken over the course of a night from Table Mountain Observatory. The absolute sky brightness at this wavelength is found to be 5330 +/- 30 nW m^-2 sr^-1, consistent with previous measurements of the inter-band airglow at these wavelengths. This amplitude is larger than simple models of the continuum component of the airglow emission at these wavelengths, confirming that an extra emissive or scattering component is required to explain the observations. We perform a detailed investigation of the noise properties of the data and find no evidence for a noise component associated with temporal instability in the inter-line continuum. This result demonstrates that in several hours of ~100s integrations the noise performance of the instrument does not appear to significantly degrade from expectations, giving a proof of concept that near-IR line intensity mapping may be feasible from ground-based sites.Comment: 15 figures, submitted to PAS

IceSat 2 ATLAS Photon-Counting Receiver - Initial On-Orbit Performance

Photon-counting receivers are deployed on the NASA Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat2) Advance Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS). The ATLAS laser altimeter design has total six ground tracks with three strong and three weak tracks. The strong track has nominally 4 times more laser power than the weak track. The receiver is operated in photon counting mode. There are 16 photon-counting channels for each strong track and 4 photon-counting channels for each weak track. Hamamatsu photomultiplier with a 4x4-array anode was used as photon counting detector. This receiver design has high counting efficiency (>15%) at 532 nm, low dark count rate (<400 counts per second), low jitter (less than 285ps), short dead time (<3 ns), long lifetime under large solar background radiation, radiation harden for space operation, and ruggedized for survives the harsh vibration during the launch. In this paper, we will present the initial on-orbit performance of this photon-counting receiver

The connexin43 mimetic peptide Gap19 inhibits hemichannels without altering gap junctional communication in astrocytes

In the brain, astrocytes represent the cellular population that expresses the highest amount of connexins (Cxs). This family of membrane proteins is the molecular constituent of gap junction channels and hemichannels that provide pathways for direct cytoplasm-to-cytoplasm and inside-out exchange, respectively. Both types of Cx channels are permeable to ions and small signaling molecules allowing astrocytes to establish dynamic interactions with neurons. So far, most pharmacological approaches currently available do not distinguish between these two channel functions, stressing the need to develop new specific molecular tools. In astrocytes two major Cxs are expressed, Cx43 and Cx30, and there is now evidence indicating that at least Cx43 operates as a gap junction channel as well as a hemichannel in these cells. Based on studies in primary cultures as well as in acute hippocampal slices, we report here that Gap 19, a nonapeptide derived from the cytoplasmic loop of Cx43, inhibits astroglial Cx43 hemichannels in a dose-dependent manner, without affecting gap junction channels. This peptide, which not only selectively inhibits hemichannels but is also specific for Cx43, can be delivered in vivo in mice as TAT-Gap19, and displays penetration into the brain parenchyma. As a result, Gap 19 combined with other tools opens up new avenues to decipher the role of Cx43 hemichannels in interactions between astrocytes and neurons in physiological as well as pathological situations

Part II Farmers’ Experiences of the Farm Assessment: Interviews with Farmers

The objective of work package 463 was to test the implementation of the WQ assessment Scheme on regular broiler farms. We assessed the perception and attitudes of farmers towards animal welfare and on-farm assessment, the experience and evaluation of the assessment itself and the relevance and applicability of the results. at the same time animal scientists assessed the welfare of the animals by WQ monitoring instruments. In addition they scored foot pad lesions at the slaughterhouse by way of video imaging. Both studies proceeded in parallel; farmers told, hence, about their real-life experience. It is to be noted that the WQ monitoring instruments were not at their final state, and experiences and comments of the farmers are to be interpreted as reflection and discussion on work in progress. A team of sociologists carried out the study on farmers’ experiences, perception and attitude whereas the assessment of animal welfare was done by animal scientists. the study took place in three countries – Netherlands, Italy and the UK. We choose to focus on broilers for two main reasons. First of all the production cycle of broilers is relatively short and so it is possible to assess the welfare of different flocks within a short time-span and to check more easily any improvement of animal welfare as a result of farmers’ interventions. a second reason for focusing on broilers is that it allows us to link this project to another project where a new way of checking for foot-pad lesions is developed. this is, moreover, a relatively easy manner of checking animal welfare that allows us to lower the burden of three on-farm assessments considerably. In the following we report on the results of the welfare assessment (Part I) and the interviews with farmers about their perception and experience of animal welfare and the welfare assessment (Part II). In both parts we compare the results across the participating countries (Netherlands, Italy and United Kingdom). More in detail information on the national results of welfare assessment and interviews with farmers can be found in the deliverables 4.31.a (farmers’ interviews) and D4.31b (assessment results). as appendixes, we provide the technical and sociological questionnaires and the assessment reports that were sent to the farmers in the different countries. Bettina B. Bock Ingrid de Jon