Initial Experiences Gained and Initiatives employed in the Teaching of Java Programming in the Institute of Technology Tallaght

This paper describes recent experiences gained and initiatives employed in the teaching of Java programming to first and second year students in the Institute of Technology Tallaght from September 2000 to March 2002. It outlines some elearning, technological and pedagogical initiatives that were undertaken within the department and the resultant preliminary outcomes. The outcomes have been determined after detailed analysis of the results of a survey which was commissioned to determine the effectiveness of the initiatives and also to identify those parts of the Java language which were causing students particular difficulty. The students surveyed are currently completing their fourth and final Java programming module. The Java programming modules make up the software development stream of a 2- year National Certificate in Computing (Information Systems). The typical profile of a first year computing student in IT Tallaght is someone who has achieved a reasonable but not exceptional level of academic attainment in the Leaving Certificate and who has had little or no previous exposure to software development. The design of the Java programming modules, while geared towards novices, is ambitious in an institutional learning context

Experiences gained from the Deployment of an E-Learning Java Arrays Prototype for Novice Java Programmers in the Institute of Technology Tallaght, 2002/2003

This paper describes recent experiences gained from the deployment of an E-learning Java Arrays prototype for novice first year students within the Computing department at the Institute of Technology, Tallaght. It attempts to determine what contributions, if any, the E-Learning prototype made to novice students learning to declare, create, initialise and manipulate one-dimensional and two-dimensional arrays within the Java Programming language. Tentative conclusions from this process are presented and a charter for progressing this research further is outlined

Leptin modifies the prosecretory and prokinetic effects of the inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 on colonic function in Sprague–Dawley rats

Leptin ameliorates the prosecretory and prokinetic effects of the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 on rat colon. Leptin also suppresses the neurostimulatory effects of irritable bowel syndrome plasma, which has elevated concentrations of interleukin-6, on enteric neurons. This may indicate a regulatory role for leptin in immune-mediated bowel dysfunction. In addition to its role in regulating energy homeostasis, the adipokine leptin modifies gastrointestinal (GI) function. Indeed, leptin-resistant obese humans and leptin-deficient obese mice exhibit altered GI motility. In the functional GI disorder irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), circulating leptin concentrations are reported to differ from those of healthy control subjects. Additionally, IBS patients display altered cytokine profiles, including elevated circulating concentrations of the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6), which bears structural homology and similarities in intracellular signalling to leptin. This study aimed to investigate interactions between leptin and IL-6 in colonic neurons and their possible contribution to IBS pathophysiology. The functional effects of leptin and IL-6 on colonic contractility and absorptosecretory function were assessed in organ baths and Ussing chambers in Sprague–Dawley rat colon. Calcium imaging and immunohistochemical techniques were used to investigate the neural regulation of GI function by these signalling molecules. Our findings provide a neuromodulatory role for leptin in submucosal neurons, where it inhibited the stimulatory effects of IL-6. Functionally, this translated to suppression of IL-6-evoked potentiation of veratridine-induced secretory currents. Leptin also attenuated IL-6-induced colonic contractions, although it had little direct effect on myenteric neurons. Calcium responses evoked by IBS plasma in both myenteric and submucosal neurons were also suppressed by leptin, possibly through interactions with IL-6, which is elevated in IBS plasma. As leptin has the capacity to ameliorate the neurostimulatory effects of soluble mediators in IBS plasma and modulated IL-6-evoked changes in bowel function, leptin may have a role in immune-mediated bowel dysfunction in IBS patients