Using computer‐based tests for information science

Computer‐based tests have been used extensively in the Department of Information Science at the University of Portsmouth, both for end‐of‐course examinations and continuous assessment. This paper details the use of computer‐based objective testing as an innovative technique for traditional assessment, and the separate problems of continuous computer‐aided assessment. Results from three years of research have led to plans for future developments within the department, and the paper provides a checklist of considerations regarded as crucial

Designing intelligent computer‐based simulations: A pragmatic approach

This paper examines the design of intelligent multimedia simulations. A case study is presented which uses an approach based in part on intelligent tutoring system design to integrate formative assessment into the learning of clinical decision‐making skills for nursing students. The approach advocated uses a modular design with an integrated intelligent agent within a multimedia simulation. The application was created using an object‐orientated programming language for the multimedia interface (Delphi) and a logic‐based interpreted language (Prolog) to create an expert assessment system. Domain knowledge is also encoded in a Windows help file reducing some of the complexity of the expert system. This approach offers a method for simplifying the production of an intelligent simulation system. The problems developing intelligent tutoring systems are examined and an argument is made for a practical approach to developing intelligent multimedia simulation systems

Social dimensions of invasive plant management: an Alaska case study

Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2018Uncertainty pervades attempts to identify an efficient management response to the threat of invasive plants. Sources of uncertainty include the paucity of data, measurement errors, variable invasiveness, and unpredictable impacts of the control methods. Rather than relying on this uncertain evidence from the natural sciences, land managers are taking a more participatory approach to invasive plant management to help alleviate risk and share the responsibility of implementation of proactive control and eradication strategies. This research is intended to contribute to this process of social learning by revealing the beliefs that determine stakeholder management preferences in a case study involving an infestation of Vicia cracca (bird vetch) affecting public lands, north of the Arctic Circle, along the Dalton Highway in Alaska. Possible encroachment of this "highly invasive" species upon vulnerable areas of high conservation significance in this rapidly changing, boreal-arctic system has motivated some stakeholders to advocate an aggressive, early response aimed at eradication using herbicides. This case study applies social-psychological theory in the study of the interactions between human behavior and human outcomes. Interior Alaska stakeholders were engaged in a survey to measure support for a scenario involving the use of herbicides to control the highly-invasive species, Vicia cracca (bird vetch), which has spread north along a road corridor north of the Arctic Circle. Respondents were asked a series of questions about the "likelihood" and "acceptability" of the possible outcomes. The survey results aligned with the expectation that attitudes predict management preference, however the beliefs that influence these attitudes were more complicated than expected. The results address the feedbacks anticipated between the human outcomes and human behavior in the social template within the broader system context that are critical to management success. The purpose is to utilize the results of this specific case study to facilitate the development of ongoing research questions that are generalizable to other affected boreal-arctic ecosystems, regionally and globally.Chapter 1: Introduction -- Social-ecological system dynamics -- Chapter 2: Stakeholder beliefs and attitudes toward invasive plant management and herbicides: an Alaska public lands study -- Chapter 3: Conclusion

A course-oriented intelligent tutoring system with probability assessment

Most Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) in the past have concentrated on small domains and have been topic-oriented. They have tended to be non-extendable prototypes and have neglected the expertise of human teachers. It is argued here that a promising approach at this time is to design course-oriented ITS shells which are based on the human teacher. Courses using such shells could be used to take some of the load of first-time delivery and assessment from teachers and lecturers, and leave them more time for individual tutoring. [Continues.

Reducing Hopelessness in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease: Educational Intervention

Reducing Hopelessness in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease: Educational Intervention BACKGROUND: Parkinson’s disease (PD), features several non-motor manifestations, including cognitive dysfunction, which impacts patients and their families. Depression, hopelessness, and anxiety are all prevalent in the psychiatric conditions of PD. In fact, at least 50% of those diagnosed with PD will experience some sort of depression, hopelessness, or anxiety disorder after diagnosis (Ray & Agarwal, 2020). The specific purpose of this project was to help patients with PD diagnosis feel less hopeless and more resilient when coping with their symptoms of PD. LOCAL PROBLEM: The project setting was a rural integrated health clinic. Patients with PD within the patient population are approximately 10 patients. These patients attend a PD support group meeting. The patients with this diagnosis who come to the clinic for their primary care have expressed concerns about their feelings of hopelessness and lack of education on the disease process and symptom management. METHODS: Levin’s Evidence-Based Practice Improvement Model was the guiding framework for this project. The selection of a questionnaire and the final process for educational implementation and clinical decision-making were determined using PDSA (plan-do-study-act) cycles. Pre-education and post-education were measured, as were the use of the tool. INTERVENTIONS: The project leader educated the group on the use of movement therapies and the Mediterranean diet to increase symptom control. The 20-question Beck’s Hopelessness scale was used for data collection to assess the symptoms of hopelessness and to track improvement after education on the given topics. A pre-and post-questionnaire was given to each participant and compared to receive the project results. RESULTS: A paired-sample t-test was used to determine whether there was a statistically significant mean difference between the pre-education hopelessness scores and post-education hopelessness scores. Participants had lower hopelessness scores after the education (M = 3.85, SD = 4.34) as opposed to before the education (M = 5.77, SD = 4.76), a statistically significant mean decrease of 1.92, 95% CI [0.68, 3.17], t(12) = 3.366, p = .006. CONCLUSIONS: Participants had lower hopelessness scores after the education as opposed to before the education, a statistically significant mean decrease. Educational interventions made this patient population feel heard and understood. There needs to be an increase in the PD support groups and the number of times they can meet per month. The support group needs more professionals willing to come in and speak with the group on symptom control

On the atomic structure of cocaine in solution

Cocaine is an amphiphilic drug which has the ability to cross the blood–brain barrier (BBB). Here, a combination of neutron diffraction and computation has been used to investigate the atomic scale structure of cocaine in aqueous solutions. Both the observed conformation and hydration of cocaine appear to contribute to its ability to cross hydrophobic layers afforded by the BBB, as the average conformation yields a structure which might allow cocaine to shield its hydrophilic regions from a lipophilic environment. Specifically, the carbonyl oxygens and amine group on cocaine, on average, form ~5 bonds with the water molecules in the surrounding solvent, and the top 30% of water molecules within 4 Å of cocaine are localized in the cavity formed by an internal hydrogen bond within the cocaine molecule. This water mediated internal hydrogen bonding suggests a mechanism of interaction between cocaine and the BBB that negates the need for deprotonation prior to interaction with the lipophilic portions of this barrier. This finding also has important implications for understanding how neurologically active molecules are able to interact with both the blood stream and BBB and emphasizes the use of structural measurements in solution in order to understand important biological function.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Audiovisual particles: parameter mapping as a framework for audiovisual composition

This thesis investigates the role of cross-modal correspondence within audiovisual composition, presenting both a conceptual model and a methodological framework for the creation of abstract audiovisual art. While this research is specifically aimed at the field of abstract digital animation it is also intended to act as a platform for the future development of concurrent audiovisual synthesis techniques within the general field of audiovisual art. Referencing literature regarding the psychophysiological bases for audiovisual integration, it is argued that temporal congruence offers a mechanism for the manipulation of cross-modal correspondence within audiovisual media. Further to this, electroacoustic and formalist theory is discussed with specific reference to the interrelationship of medium structures to enable the identification of a conceptual model for audiovisual composition. Referencing theory from the fields of musical instrument design and algorithmic composition, parameter mapping is identified as a mechanism for the modulation of temporal congruence. Its implementation within audiovisual composition is then discussed. Derived from both this and a conceptual parallel between the organisational structures of audio grains and visual particles, the audiovisual particles framework is presented as a methodological basis for the creation of abstract audiovisual art. The presented theory is supported by a series of demonstrative studies exploring both the practical application of the audiovisual particles framework and the role of parameter mapping within the process of audiovisual media generation. Experiential observations are discussed for each to inform future praxis. In addition, two audiovisual compositions are presented as both implementations of developed theory and as artworks in their own right

Microstructures of negative and positive azeotropes

Azeotropes famously impose fundamental restrictions on distillation processes, yet their special thermodynamic properties make them highly desirable for a diverse range of industrial and technological applications. Using neutron diffraction, we investigate the structures of two prototypical azeotropes, the negative acetone–chloroform and the positive benzene–methanol azeotrope. C–H⋯O hydrogen bonding is the dominating interaction in the negative azeotrope but C–Cl⋯O halogen bonding contributes as well. Hydrogen-bonded chains of methanol molecules, which are on average longer than in pure methanol, are the defining structural feature of the positive azeotrope illustrating the fundamentally different local mixing in the two kinds of azeotropes. The emerging trend for both azeotropes is that the more volatile components experience the more pronounced structural changes in their local environments as the azeotropes form. The mixing of the acetone–chloroform azeotrope is essentially random above 20 Å, where the running Kirkwood–Buff integrals of our structural model converge closely to the ones expected from thermodynamic data. The benzene–methanol azeotrope on the other hand displays extended methanol-rich regions and consequently the running Kirkwood–Buff integrals oscillate up to at least 60 Å. Our study provides the first experimental insights into the microstructures of azeotropes and a direct link with their thermodynamic properties. Ultimately, this will provide a route for creating tailored molecular environments in azeotropes to improve and fine-tune their performances

Structural investigation of graphitic carbon nitride via XRD and neutron diffraction

We thank EPSRC for support through the EPSRC/NSF chemistry programme and the Royal Society for a Wolfson Merit award.Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) has, since 2009, attracted great attention for its activity as a visible-light-active photocatalyst for hydrogen evolution. Since it was synthesized in 1834, g-C3N4 has been extensively studied both catalytically and structurally. Although its 2D structure seems to have been solved, its 3D crystal structure has not yet been confirmed. This study attempts to solve the 3D structure of graphitic carbon nitride by means of X-ray diffraction and of neutron scattering. Initially, various structural models are considered and their XRD patterns compared to the measured one. After selecting possible candidates as g-C3N4 structure, neutron scattering is employed to identify the best model that describes the 3D structure of graphitic carbon nitride. Parallel chains of tri-s-triazine units organized in layers with an A–B stacking motif are found to describe the structure of the synthesized graphitic carbon nitride well. A misalignment of the layers is favorable because of the decreased π–π repulsive interlayer interactions.PostprintPostprintPeer reviewe