Pointing With Power Or Creating With Chalk

This study examines the attitudes of students on the use of PowerPoint and chalk/white boards in college science lecture classes.  Students were asked to complete a survey regarding their experiences with PowerPoint and chalk/white boards in their science classes.  Both multiple-choice and short answer questions were used.  The multiple-choice questions were analyzed quantitatively.  The short answer questions were coded into similar groups qualitatively and then recoded quantitatively in order to best compare data.  The students report that the majority of presentations in their college science classes use PowerPoint.  Their responses show that they clearly prefer the use of chalk/white boards and overwhelmingly say that PowerPoint does not keep their attention in comparison

Metabolic mechanisms connecting Alzheimer\u27s and Parkinson\u27s Diseases: Potential avenues for novel therapeutic approaches

Alzheimer\u27s (AD) and Parkinson\u27s Diseases (PD) are common neurodegenerative disorders growing in incidence and prevalence and for which there are no disease-modifying treatments. While there are considerable complexities in the presentations of these diseases, the histological pictures of these pathologies, as well as several rare genetic predispositions for each, point to the involvement of maladaptive protein processing and inflammation. Importantly, the common presentations of AD and PD are connected to aging and to dysmetabolism, including common co-diagnosis of metabolic syndrome or diabetes. Examination of anti-diabetic therapies in preclinical models and in some observational clinical studies have suggested effectiveness of the first generation insulin sensitizer pioglitazone in both AD and PD. Recently, the mitochondrial pyruvate carrier (MPC) was shown to be a previously unrecognized target of pioglitazone. New insulin sensitizers are in development that can be dosed to full engagement of this previously unappreciated mitochondrial target. Here we review molecular mechanisms that connect modification of pyruvate metabolism with known liabilities of AD and PD. The mechanisms involve modification of autophagy, inflammation, and cell differentiation in various cell types including neurons, glia, macrophages, and endothelium. These observations have implications for the understanding of the general pathology of neurodegeneration and suggest general therapeutic approaches to disease modification

The provenance of tills overlying the eastern part of the South Mountain Batholith, Nova Scotia

Happing of quarternary deposits on the South Mountain Batholitb (SMB) has resulted in a four-fold subdivision of tills, divided primarily on the basis of clast lithology, texture, stratigraphic position and morphology. Three tills have clast lithologies characterized by granites eroded from the South Mountain Batholih. The oldest granite till is a compact till of restricted distribution, mianly observed In drumlin cores. Two younger granite tills dominate the surficial deposits of portions of the SMB and have textural properties ascribed to melt-out tills. The fourth till represents a farther-travelled till with a variable clast provenance typified by pebbles derived from both the SMB and regions to the north. Clast dispersal evidence suggests that all tills were transported in a general southward direction. Detailed clast examinations allow reliable conclusions concerning direction of Ice flow and lithologic relationship between till and bedrock of the SMB. The SMB is an area of multiple glaciatlon where till prospecting cannot be successful unless the direction of till transport and source areas are established. RÉSUMÉ Dn levé cartographique des dépôts quaternaires recouvrant le Batholite de South Mountain à permis de mettre en évidence quatre varlétés de tills en fonctlon de la lithologie des clastes, la texture, la position stratlgraphlque et la morphologic Dana trola tills, les clastes nontrent des lithologles caractérisées par des granites arrachés au Batholite de South Mountain (BSM). Le plus vleux till de granite est un till tasse. de faible étendue, observe surtout dans les noyaux de drumlins. Dans certaines portions du BSM, les dépôts de surface sont dominés par deux tills de granite plus recents qui possedent des caractéristlques texturales rapportées aux tills d'ablation. Le quatriéme till a parcouru une plus grande distance; la source de ses clastes est variable et comprend typiquement des galets provenant tant du BSM que des régions plus au nord. La dispersion des blocaux suggère un direction générale de transport des tills vers le sud. Un exanen approfondi des clastes permet de tirer de solides conclusions à propos de la direction de l’écouleroent glacialre et de la relation lithologique entre le till et le socle du BSM. Le BSM a subi de multiples glaciatlons et la prospection du till n'y est done guère profitable à molns de déterminer la direction de transport et la source du till. [Traduit par le journal

Get In Rhythm Before Class

Music may be played before class to introduce material, to consider current events, or to reflect on historical happenings of that day.  The response from students is overwhelmingly positive

Area dependence of interlayer tunneling in strongly correlated bilayer two-dimensional electron systems at ν_T = 1

The area and perimeter dependence of the Josephson-like interlayer tunneling signature of the coherent ν_T = 1 quantum Hall phase in bilayer two-dimensional electron systems is examined. Electrostatic top gates of various sizes and shapes are used to locally define distinct ν_T = 1 regions in the same sample. Near the phase boundary with the incoherent ν_T = 1 state at large layer separation, our results demonstrate that the tunneling conductance in the coherent phase is closely proportional to the total area of the tunneling region. This implies that tunneling at ν_T = 1 is a bulk phenomenon in this regime

DHS National Technical Nuclear Forensics Program FY 10 Summary Report: Graduate Mentoring Assistance Program (GMAP)

This program provides practical training to DHS graduate fellows in the DOE laboratory complex. It involves coordinating students, their thesis advisors, and their laboratory project mentors in establishing a meaningful program of research which contributes to the graduate student's formation as a member of the nuclear forensics community. The summary report details the student/mentor experience and future plans after the first summer practicum. This program provides practical training to DHS graduate fellows in the DOE laboratory complex. It involves coordinating students, their thesis advisors, and their laboratory project mentors in establishing a meaningful program of research which contributes to the graduate student's formation as a member of the nuclear forensics community. This final written report includes information concerning the overall mentoring experience, including benefits (to the lab, the mentors, and the students), challenges, student research contributions, and lab mentor interactions with students home universities. Idaho National Laboratory hosted two DHS Nuclear Forensics graduate Fellows (nuclear engineering) in summer 2011. Two more Fellows (radiochemistry) are expected to conduct research at the INL under this program starting in 2012. An undergraduate Fellow (nuclear engineering) who worked in summer 2011 at the laboratory is keenly interested in applying for the NF Graduate Fellowship this winter with the aim of returning to INL. In summary, this program appears to have great potential for success in supporting graduate level students who pursue careers in nuclear forensics. This relatively specialized field may not have been an obvious choice for some who have already shown talent in the traditional areas of chemistry or nuclear engineering. The active recruiting for this scholarship program for candidates at universities across the U.S. brings needed visibility to this field. Not only does this program offer critical practical training to these students, it brings attention to a very attractive field of work where young professionals are urgently required in order for the future. The effectiveness of retaining such talent remains to be seen and may be primarily controlled by the availability of DOE laboratory research funding in this field in the years to come

Charge Imbalance and Bilayer 2D Electron Systems at νT=1\nu_T = 1

We use interlayer tunneling to study bilayer 2D electron systems at $\nu_T = 1$ over a wide range of charge density imbalance, $\Delta \nu =\nu_1-\nu_2$, between the two layers. We find that the strongly enhanced tunneling associated with the coherent excitonic $\nu_T = 1$ phase at small layer separation can survive at least up to an imbalance of $\Delta \nu$ = 0.5, i.e $(\nu_1, \nu_2)$ = (3/4, 1/4). Phase transitions between the excitonic $\nu_T = 1$ state and bilayer states which lack significant interlayer correlations can be induced in three different ways: by increasing the effective interlayer spacing $d/\ell$, the temperature $T$, or the charge imbalance, $\Delta \nu$. We observe that close to the phase boundary the coherent $\nu_T = 1$ phase can be absent at $\Delta \nu$ = 0, present at intermediate $\Delta \nu$, but then absent again at large $\Delta \nu$, thus indicating an intricate phase competition between it and incoherent quasi-independent layer states. At zero imbalance, the critical $d/\ell$ shifts linearly with temperature, while at $\Delta \nu$ = 1/3 the critical $d/\ell$ is only weakly dependent on $T$. At $\Delta \nu$ = 1/3 we report the first observation of a direct phase transition between the coherent excitonic $\nu_T = 1$ bilayer integer quantum Hall phase and the pair of single layer fractional quantized Hall states at $\nu_1$ = 2/3 and $\nu_2=1/3$.Comment: 13 pages, 8 postscript figures. Final published versio

Performance of the reconstruction algorithms of the FIRST experiment pixel sensors vertex detector

Hadrontherapy treatments use charged particles (e.g. protons and carbon ions) to treat tumors. During a therapeutic treatment with carbon ions, the beam undergoes nuclear fragmentation processes giving rise to significant yields of secondary charged particles. An accurate prediction of these production rates is necessary to estimate precisely the dose deposited into the tumours and the surrounding healthy tissues. Nowadays, a limited set of double differential carbon fragmentation cross-section is available. Experimental data are necessary to benchmark Monte Carlo simulations for their use in hadrontherapy. The purpose of the FIRST experiment is to study nuclear fragmentation processes of ions with kinetic energy in the range from 100 to 1000 MeV/u. Tracks are reconstructed using information from a pixel silicon detector based on the CMOS technology. The performances achieved using this device for hadrontherapy purpose are discussed. For each reconstruction step (clustering, tracking and vertexing), different methods are implemented. The algorithm performances and the accuracy on reconstructed observables are evaluated on the basis of simulated and experimental data