Subject comprehension and critical thinking in mixed academic ability university students

Developing subject comprehension and critical thinking are both key goals of higher education. However, whilst the former is, on the whole, successfully cultivated in undergraduate students, the latter is not. Few empirical studies have investigated the relationship between subject comprehension and critical thinking. In the present paper we suggest that supporting the development of subject comprehension is not at odds with developing critical thinking. In fact, we argue that subject comprehension plays a key role in developing critical thinking skills. Using an experimental design, we demonstrate differing effects of an intervention on subject comprehension, subject-specific and general critical thinking, as a function of students’ academic background. We discuss the implications of our results for teaching in higher education.Macat Ltd

The effect of local-global processing on contextual learning

Repeated contexts allow us to find relevant information more easily. The ability to use such information has been called contextual learning and has been investigated using the contextual cuing paradigm. In this task, participants search for and identify the orientation of a target letter T amongst rotated Ls. Over blocks, RTs become faster for repeated spatial configurations (old displays) compared with novel configurations (new displays). Learning such repeated contexts has been proposed to depend on either global processing of the repeated contexts, or alternatively processing of the local region surrounding the target. The present study takes a novel approach by measuring differences in participant’s attentional bias (i.e. local or global) in relation to the amount of contextual learning. Twenty participants completed a shape detection task followed by a contextual cueing task. In the shape detection task participants were presented with large shapes consisting of smaller shapes and they had to decide whether the target shape was present or absent. The presentation of the target shape could either be presented at the local level (i.e. the smaller shape) or the global level (i.e. the larger shape). In the contextual cuing task participants completed 16 blocks with 24 trials in each (12 old and 12 new displays). Participants were then split into two groups, depending on whether their local RT - global RT was below (local-bias group) or above (global-bias group) the median. Participants in the local-bias group showed significantly stronger contextual cueing effects than participants in the global-bias group (152 vs. 39 ms, respectively). Furthermore, there was a strong negative correlation between global bias and contextual cueing (r = -0.61, p<.005). In conclusion, this study suggests that contextual learning depends more on local information than on global information. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of observer variables in relation to contextual learning

Integrated deterministic and probabilistic safety assessment of a superconducting magnet cryogenic cooling circuit for nuclear fusion applications

The most promising configuration of a nuclear energy fusion system is the tokamak, the largest of which, called ITER, is under construction in Cadarache, France, which uses a complex system of superconducting magnets to generate a field of several tesla (T), aimed at confining the plasma in the toroidal chamber where nuclear fusion reactions occur. For industrial development, the safety of nuclear fusion systems has to be proved and verified by a systematic analysis of operational transients and accidental conditions. Although the final aim of fusion reactors is to reach steady state operation, present-day tokamaks present complex dynamic features, as their operation is based on the transformer principle with a subset of the superconducting magnets operating in a pulsed mode, to inductively generate plasma currents of the order of several MA. We adopt the framework of Integrated Deterministic and Probabilistic Safety Assessment (IDPSA), for identifying the component failures that may cause a Loss-Of-Flow-Accident (LOFA) in the cooling circuit of a superconducting magnet for fusion applications. Post-processing of the simulated scenarios for the identification of the abnormal transients is performed in an unsupervised manner resorting to a spectral clustering approach embedding a Fuzzy-C Means (FCM) that is compared with an Extended Symbolic Aggregate approximation (ESAX) from the literature that also resorts to the FCM for the classification. The proposed approach turns out to be more efficient than ESAX in the identification of clusters and “prototypical states” of abnormal system behavior. Results show that none of the identified scenarios (even those leading to a LOFA) are critical for the ITER central solenoid module integrity, in the mode of operation considered

Integrated deterministic and probabilistic safety assessment of the cooling circuit of a superconducting magnet for nuclear fusion applications

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in nuclear fusion as energy source due to its several principle advantages over fission, which include reduced radioactivity in operation and in waste, large fuel supplies, and increased safety. The most promising configuration of a nuclear fusion system is currently the tokamak, the largest of which, called the largest of which (ITER), is under construction in Cadarache, France. The safety of nuclear fusion systems has to be proved and verified by a systematic analysis of the system behavior under normal transient and accidental conditions. One challenge to the analysis is that the operation of tokamaks presents complex dynamic features as it is based on the transformer principle: in particular, they employ superconducting magnets, a subset of which operates with variable current to generate one of the components of the magnetic field needed to confine the plasma in the chamber where nuclear fusion reactions occur. In the present paper, we apply techniques of Integrated Deterministic and Probabilistic Safety Assessment (IDPSA), which combine phenomenological models of system dynamics with stochastic process models, taking for the first time as reference system the cooling circuit of a superconducting magnet for fusion applications, subject to a Loss-Of-Flow-Accident (LOFA)

The ongoing power struggle

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in nuclear fusion as energy source due to its several principle advantages over fission, which include reduced radioactivity in operation and in waste, large fuel supplies, and increased safety. The most promising configuration of a nuclear fusion system is currently the tokamak, the largest of which, called the largest of which (ITER), is under construction in Cadarache, France. The safety of nuclear fusion systems has to be proved and verified by a systematic analysis of the system behavior under normal transient and accidental conditions. One challenge to the analysis is that the operation of tokamaks presents complex dynamic features as it is based on the transformer principle: in particular, they employ superconducting magnets, a subset of which operates with variable current to generate one of the components of the magnetic field needed to confine the plasma in the chamber where nuclear fusion reactions occur. In the present paper, we apply techniques of Integrated Deterministic and Probabilistic Safety Assessment (IDPSA), which combine phenomenological models of system dynamics with stochastic process models, taking for the first time as reference system the cooling circuit of a superconducting magnet for fusion applications, subject to a Loss-Of-Flow-Accident (LOFA)

Integrated deterministic and probabilistic safety assessment of a superconducting magnet cryogenic cooling circuit for nuclear fusion applications

International audienc

Integrated deterministic and probabilistic safety assessment of the cooling circuit of a superconducting magnet for nuclear fusion applications

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in nuclear fusion as energy source due to its several principle advantages over fission, which include reduced radioactivity in operation and in waste, large fuel supplies, and increased safety. The most promising configuration of a nuclear fusion system is currently the tokamak, the largest of which, called the largest of which (ITER), is under construction in Cadarache, France. The safety of nuclear fusion systems has to be proved and verified by a systematic analysis of the system behavior under normal transient and accidental conditions. One challenge to the analysis is that the operation of tokamaks presents complex dynamic features as it is based on the transformer principle: in particular, they employ superconducting magnets, a subset of which operates with variable current to generate one of the components of the magnetic field needed to confine the plasma in the chamber where nuclear fusion reactions occur. In the present paper, we apply techniques of Integrated Deterministic and Probabilistic Safety Assessment (IDPSA), which combine phenomenological models of system dynamics with stochastic process models, taking for the first time as reference system the cooling circuit of a superconducting magnet for fusion applications, subject to a Loss-Of-Flow-Accident (LOFA)