How to make the fourth revolution: Human factors in the adoption of electronic instructional aids

The prospects and problems of getting higher education in the United States (high school and above) to more fully utilize electronic technologies are examined. Sociological, psychological, and political factors are analyzed to determine the feasibility of adopting electronic instructional techniques. Differences in organizations, attitudes, and customs of different kinds of students, teachers, administrators, and publics are crucial factors in innovation

Study of the glass transition in the amorphous interlamellar phase of highly crystallized poly(ethylene terephthalate)

Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) is a semi--crystalline polymer that can be crystallized to different degrees heating from the amorphous state. Even when primary crystallization has been completed, secondary crystallization can take place with further annealing and modify the characteristics of the amorphous interlamellar phase. In this work we study the glass transition of highly crystallized PET and in which way it is modified by secondary crystallization. Amorphous PET samples were annealed for 4 hours at temperatures between 140C and 180C. The secondary crystallization process was monitored by differential scanning calorimetry and the glass transition of the remaining interllamelar amorphous phase was studied by Thermally Stimulated Depolarization Currents measurements. Non--isothermal window polarization is employed to resolve the relaxation in modes with a well--defined relaxation time that are subsequently adjusted to several standard models. Analysis of experimental results, show that cooperativity is reduced to a great extend in the interlamellar amorphous regions. The evolution of the modes on crystallization temperature reveals that large scale movements are progressively replaced by more localized ones, with higher frequency, as crystallization takes place at higher temperatures. As a consequence, the glass transition temperature of the amorphous interlamellar phase tends to lower values for higher annealing temperatures. Evolution of calorimetric scans of the glass transition are simulated from the obtained results and show the same behaviour. The interpretation of these results in terms of current views about secondary crystallization is discussed.Comment: 30 pages, 5 tables, 12 figures; figure 5 modifie

COMPARISON OF METHODS FOR CALCULATING VERTICAL JUMP HEIGHT IN SPORT

Problem Title: Comparison of methods for calculating vertical jump height in sport Course Level: Second-year undergraduate. Learning Outcomes: Describe the principles behind calculating jump height from impulse and from flight time Apply the impulse-momentum relationship and relevant equation of motion separately to calculate jump height from net impulse and from flight time Explain the potential limitations of each approach and their implications for the accuracy of the calculation

The provision of education and training for healthcare professionals through the medium of the internet

This paper describes a new initiative to provide Internet based courses to student and professional occupational therapists in four centres in the UK, Belgium the Netherlands and Sweden. The basis of this collaborative Occupational Therapy Internet School (OTIS) is the concept of the “Virtual College”. This comprises the design and implementation of a sophisticated Internet-based system through which courses can be managed, prepared and delivered online in an effective fashion, and where students can communicate both with the staff and their peers. The aim is to support and facilitate the whole range of educational activities within a remote electronic environment. A major feature of the course organisation is the adoption of a problem-based approach in which students will collaborate internationally to propose effective intervention in given case study scenarios. The paper outlines the rationale for OTIS, the content and structure of the courseware, the technical specification of the system and evaluation criteria. In addition to the more conventional web-based learning facilities generally offered, a number of agent-based approaches are being adopted to assist in the management of the course by ensuring the proper delivery of course materials and to assist the functioning of project groups. </p

Fluorescent visualization of a spreading surfactant

The spreading of surfactants on thin films is an industrially and medically important phenomenon, but the dynamics are highly nonlinear and visualization of the surfactant dynamics has been a long-standing experimental challenge. We perform the first quantitative, spatiotemporally-resolved measurements of the spreading of an insoluble surfactant on a thin fluid layer. During the spreading process, we directly observe both the radial height profile of the spreading droplet and the spatial distribution of the fluorescently-tagged surfactant. We find that the leading edge of spreading circular layer of surfactant forms a Marangoni ridge in the underlying fluid, with a trough trailing the ridge as expected. However, several novel features are observed using the fluorescence technique, including a peak in the surfactant concentration which trails the leading edge, and a flat, monolayer-scale spreading film which differs from concentration profiles predicted by current models. Both the Marangoni ridge and surfactant leading edge can be described to spread as $R \propto t^{\delta}$. We find spreading exponents, $\delta_H \approx 0.30$ and $\delta_\Gamma \approx 0.22$ for the ridge peak and surfactant leading edge, respectively, which are in good agreement with theoretical predictions of $\delta = 1/4$. In addition, we observe that the surfactant leading edge initially leads the peak of the Marangoni ridge, with the peak later catching up to the leading edge

Cloaked Facebook pages: Exploring fake Islamist propaganda in social media

This research analyses cloaked Facebook pages that are created to spread political propaganda by cloaking a user profile and imitating the identity of a political opponent in order to spark hateful and aggressive reactions. This inquiry is pursued through a multi-sited online ethnographic case study of Danish Facebook pages disguised as radical Islamist pages, which provoked racist and anti-Muslim reactions as well as negative sentiments towards refugees and immigrants in Denmark in general. Drawing on Jessie Daniels’ critical insights into cloaked websites, this research furthermore analyses the epistemological, methodological and conceptual challenges of online propaganda. It enhances our understanding of disinformation and propaganda in an increasingly interactive social media environment and contributes to a critical inquiry into social media and subversive politics

Benefits and Risks of Weight-Loss Treatment for Older, Obese Women

Background: A key issue in the treatment of obesity in older adults is whether the health benefits of weight loss outweigh the potential risks with respect to musculoskeletal injury. Objective: To compare change in weight, improvements in metabolic risk factors, and reported musculoskeletal adverse events in middle-aged (50-59 years) and older (65-74 years), obese women. Materials and methods: Participants completed an initial 6-month lifestyle intervention for weight loss, comprised of weekly group sessions, followed by 12 months of extended care with biweekly contacts. Weight and fasting blood samples were assessed at baseline, month 6, and month 18; data regarding adverse events were collected throughout the duration of the study. Results: Both middle-aged (n = 162) and older (n = 56) women achieved significant weight reductions from baseline to month 6 (10.1 +/- 0.68 kg and 9.3 +/- 0.76 kg, respectively) and maintained a large proportion of their losses at month 18 (7.6 +/- 0.87 kg and 7.6 +/- 1.3 kg, respectively); there were no significant differences between the two groups with respect to weight change. Older women further experienced significant reductions in systolic blood pressure, HbA(1c), and C-reactive protein from baseline to month 6 and maintained these improvements at month 18. Despite potential safety concerns, we found that older women were no more likely to experience musculoskeletal adverse events during the intervention as compared with their middle-aged counterparts. Conclusion: These results suggest that older, obese women can experience significant health benefits from lifestyle treatment for obesity, including weight loss and improvements in disease risk factors. Further investigation of the impact of weight loss on additional health-related parameters and risks (eg, body composition, muscular strength, physical functioning, and injuries) in older adults is needed.National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute R18HL73326University of FloridaDivision of Statistics and Scientific Computatio

Islands of conformational stability for Filopodia

Filopodia are long, thin protrusions formed when bundles of fibers grow outwardly from a cell surface while remaining closed in a membrane tube. We study the subtle issue of the mechanical stability of such filopodia and how this depends on the deformation of the membrane that arises when the fiber bundle adopts a helical configuration. We calculate the ground state conformation of such filopodia, taking into account the steric interaction between the membrane and the enclosed semiflexible fiber bundle. For typical filopodia we find that a minimum number of fibers is required for filopodium stability. Our calculation elucidates how experimentally observed filopodia can obviate the classical Euler buckling condition and remain stable up to several tens of . We briefly discuss how experimental observation of the results obtained in this work for the helical-like deformations of enclosing membrane tubes in filopodia could possibly be observed in the acrosomal reactions of the sea cucumber Thyone, and the horseshoe crab Limulus. Any realistic future theories for filopodium stability are likely to rely on an accurate treatment of such steric effects, as analysed in this work

Hysterectomy, endometrial ablation, and levonorgestrel releasing intrauterine system (Mirena) for treatment of heavy menstrual bleeding : cost effectiveness analysis

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