The sky is the limit:Reconstructing physical geography from an aerial perspective

In an era of rapid geographical data acquisition, interpretations of remote sensing products are an integral part of many undergraduate geography degree schemes but there are fewer opportunities for collection and processing of primary remote sensing data. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) provide a relatively inexpensive opportunity to introduce the principles and practice of airborne remote sensing into fieldcourses, enabling students to learn about image acquisition, data processing and interpretation of derived products. Two case studies illustrate how a low cost “DJI Phantom Vision+” UAV can be used by students to acquire images that can be processed using Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry software. Results from a student questionnaire and analysis of assessed student reports showed that using UAVs enhanced student engagement and equipped them with data processing skills. The derivation of bespoke orthophotos and Digital Elevation Models has the potential to provide students with opportunities to gain insight into various remote sensing data quality issues, although additional training is required to maximise this potential. Recognition of the successes and limitations of this teaching intervention provides scope for improving future UAV exercises. UAVs are enabling both a reconstruction of how we measure the Earth’s surface and a reconstruction of how students do fieldwork

A Two Stage Algorithm for Guiding Data Collection Towards Minimising Input Uncertainty

In stochastic simulation the input models used to drive the simulation are often estimated by collecting data from the real-world system. This can be an expensive and time consuming process so it would therefore be useful to have some guidance on how much data to collect for each input model. Estimating the input models via data introduces a source of variance in the simulation response known as input uncertainty. In this paper we propose a two stage algorithm that guides the initial data collection procedure for a simulation experiment that has a fixed data collection budget, with the objective of minimising input uncertainty in the simulation response. Results show that the algorithm is able to allocate data in a close to optimal manner and compared to two alternative data collection approaches returns a reduced level of input uncertainty

Student empathy levels across 12 medical and health professions: an interventional study

BackgroundEmpathy is a difficult characteristic to define, teach and assess; the &lsquo;nebulous&rsquo; properties of empathic behaviour often means that educators fail to incorporate the explicit teaching and assessment of empathy within the curriculum. One solution suggested is that teaching empathy in an interprofessional education setting is an effective educational approach in developing empathic behaviours.MethodStudent participants from Monash University, Deakin University, University of South Australia, and Edith Cowan University completed a self-reporting survey package pre and post two-hour empathy workshop consisting of the Jefferson Scale of Empathy &ndash; Health Profession &ndash; Student version (JSE-HP-S).ResultsA total of 293 students from 12 different medical and health care professions participated in the empathy workshops. The majority of participants were from Monash University n&thinsp;=&thinsp;230 (78 %), the nursing profession n&thinsp;=&thinsp;59 (20 %), &lt; 26 years of age n&thinsp;=&thinsp;215 (73 %) and enrolled in first year studies n&thinsp;=&thinsp;123 (42 %). Using a paired t-test repeated measure self-reported empathy levels improved at p&thinsp;&lt;&thinsp;0.0001, mean 114.34 vs. 120.32 (d&thinsp;=&thinsp;0.22).ConclusionThis project has shown that self-reported empathy levels have been shown to statistically improve following DVD simulation-based workshops.<br /

Genes in the postgenomic era

We outline three very different concepts of the gene - 'instrumental', 'nominal', and 'postgenomic'. The instrumental gene has a critical role in the construction and interpretation of experiments in which the relationship between genotype and phenotype is explored via hybridization between organisms or directly between nucleic acid molecules. It also plays an important theoretical role in the foundations of disciplines such as quantitative genetics and population genetics. The nominal gene is a critical practical tool, allowing stable communication between bioscientists in a wide range of fields grounded in well-defined sequences of nucleotides, but this concept does not embody major theoretical insights into genome structure or function. The post-genomic gene embodies the continuing project of understanding how genome structure supports genome function, but with a deflationary picture of the gene as a structural unit. This final concept of the gene poses a significant challenge to conventional assumptions about the relationship between genome structure and function, and between genotype and phenotype

Mapping our Universe in 3D with MITEoR

Mapping our universe in 3D by imaging the redshifted 21 cm line from neutral hydrogen has the potential to overtake the cosmic microwave background as our most powerful cosmological probe, because it can map a much larger volume of our Universe, shedding new light on the epoch of reionization, inflation, dark matter, dark energy, and neutrino masses. We report on MITEoR, a pathfinder low-frequency radio interferometer whose goal is to test technologies that greatly reduce the cost of such 3D mapping for a given sensitivity. MITEoR accomplishes this by using massive baseline redundancy both to enable automated precision calibration and to cut the correlator cost scaling from N^2 to NlogN, where N is the number of antennas. The success of MITEoR with its 64 dual-polarization elements bodes well for the more ambitious HERA project, which would incorporate many identical or similar technologies using an order of magnitude more antennas, each with dramatically larger collecting area.Comment: To be published in proceedings of 2013 IEEE International Symposium on Phased Array Systems & Technolog

LEF-1 drives aberrant β-catenin nuclear localization in myeloid leukemia cells

Canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling is frequently dysregulated in myeloid leukemias and is implicated in leukemogenesis. Nuclear-localized β-catenin is indicative of active Wnt signaling and is frequently observed in acute myeloid leukemia patients; however, some patients exhibit little or no nuclear β-catenin even where cytosolic β-catenin is abundant. Control of the subcellular localization of β-catenin therefore represents an additional mechanism regulating Wnt signaling in hematopoietic cells. To investigate the factors mediating the nuclear-localization of β-catenin we carried out the first nuclear/cytoplasmic proteomic analysis of the β-catenin interactome in myeloid leukemia cells and identified putative novel β-catenin interactors. Comparison of interacting factors between Wnt-responsive cells (high nuclear β-catenin) versus Wnt-unresponsive cells (low nuclear β-catenin) suggested the transcriptional partner, LEF-1, could direct the nuclear-localization of β-catenin. The relative levels of nuclear LEF-1 and β-catenin were tightly correlated in both cell lines and in primary AML blasts. Furthermore, LEF-1 knockdown perturbed β-catenin nuclear-localization and transcriptional activation in Wnt-responsive cells. Conversely, LEF-1 overexpression was able to promote both nuclear-localization and β-catenin-dependent transcriptional responses in previously Wnt-unresponsive cells. This is the first β-catenin interactome study in hematopoietic cells and reveals LEF-1 as a mediator of nuclear β-catenin level human myeloid leukemia