178 research outputs found
Social media for student learning: enhancing the student experience and promoting deep learning
Traditional Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) was introduced as a retention-motivated initiative in the College of Science and Engineering 5 years ago. Despite a high level of interest from students, there were several practical barriers that prevented many students from attending these sessions. As an alternative, an online space for Virtual Peer Assisted Learning (VPAL) was trialled. VPAL was found to have not only all the benefits of traditional PAL but also more that had not been anticipated. In this paper we will discuss the practicalities involved and the design choices that had to be made. We will also showcase some anonymised examples of academic and social dialogue between peers and outline some of the unexpected advantages of using VPAL over traditional PAL
Workshop in Moodle: a tool for peer critiquing
This paper will begin with a brief discussion of the benefits of peer assessment and peer critiquing. In particular, it will examine how both can be beneficial in
helping to introduce, and reinforce, valuable graduate attributes in students throughout their university careers.
It will then examine the tools available at the University of Glasgow and evaluate them in terms of their strengths and weaknesses. In order to explain this in detail, a real life case study from a third year class in Nursing will be presented. The paper will conclude that, while there are obvious benefits to peer critiquing tools being used with a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), some modifications
are necessary in order to make them more easily usable by staff and students
Floquet Nonequilibrium Green's functions with Fluctuation-Exchange Approximation: Application to Periodically Driven Capacitively Coupled Quantum Dots
We study the dynamics of two capacitively coupled quantum dots, each coupled
to a lead. A Floquet Green's function approach described the system's dynamics,
with the electron-electron interactions handled with the fluctuation-exchange
approximation. While electrons cannot move between the separate sections of the
device, energy transfer occurs with the periodic driving of one of the leads.
This process was found to be explained with four stages. The energy transfer
was also found to be sensitive to the driving frequency of the leads, with an
optimal frequency corresponding to the optimal completion of the four stages of
the identified process.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure
Full counting statistics for electron transport in periodically driven quantum dots
Time-dependent driving influences the quantum and thermodynamic fluctuations
of a system, changing the familiar physical picture of electronic noise which
is an important source of information the about microscopic mechanism of
quantum transport. Giving access to all cumulants of the current, the full
counting statistics (FCS) is the powerful theoretical method to study
fluctuations in nonequilibrium quantum systems. In this paper, we propose the
application of FCS to consider periodic driven junctions. The combination of
Floquet theory for time dynamics and nonequilibrium counting-field Green's
functions enables the practical formulation of FCS for the system. The
counting-field Green's functions are used to compute the moment generating
function, allowing for the calculation of the time-averaged cumulants of the
electronic current. The theory is illustrated using different transport
scenarios in model systems.Comment: Typos were fixed within the pape
Emergence of negative viscosities and colored noise under current-driven Ehrenfest molecular dynamics
Molecules in molecular junctions are subject to current-induced forces that
can break chemical bonds, induce reactions, destabilize molecular geometry, and
halt the operation of the junction. Theories behind current-driven molecular
dynamics simulations rely on a perturbative time-scale separation within the
system with subsequent use of nonequilibrium Green's functions (NEGF) to
compute conservative, non-conservative, and stochastic forces exerted by
electrons on nuclear degrees of freedom. We analyze the effectiveness of this
approximation, paying particular attention to the phenomenon of negative
viscosities. The perturbative approximation is directly compared to the
nonequilibrium Ehrenfest approach. We introduce a novel time-stepping approach
to calculate the forces present in the Ehrenfest method via exact integration
of the equations of motion for the nonequilibrium Green's functions, which does
not necessitate a time-scale separation within the system and provides an exact
description for the corresponding classical dynamics. We observe that negative
viscosities are not artifacts of a perturbative treatment but also emerge in
Ehrenfest dynamics. However, the effects of negative viscosity have the
possibility of being overwhelmed by the predominantly positive dissipation due
to the higher-order forces unaccounted for by the perturbative approach.
Additionally, we assess the validity of the white-noise approximation for the
stochastic forces, finding that it is justifiable in the presence of a clear
time-scale separation and is more applicable when the current-carrying
molecular orbital is moved outside of the voltage window. Finally, we
demonstrate the method for molecular junction models consisting of one and two
classical degrees of freedom
Alpha-synuclein ferrireductase activity is detectible in vivo, is altered in Parkinson's disease and increases the neurotoxicity of DOPAL
© 2017 Elsevier Inc. The normal cellular role of α-synuclein is of potential importance in understanding diseases in which an aggregated form of the protein has been implicated. A potential loss or change in the normal function of α-synuclein could play a role in the aetiology of diseases such as Parkinson's disease. Recently, it has been suggested that α-synuclein could cause the enzymatic reduction of iron and a cellular increase in Fe(II) levels. Experiments were carried out to determine if such activity could be measured in vivo. Experiments with rats overexpressing human α-synuclein in nigral dopaminergic neurons demonstrated a correlation between α-synuclein expression and ferrireductase activity. Furthermore, studies on tissue from Parkinson's disease patient brains showed a significant decrease in ferrireductase activity, possibly due to deposition of large amounts of inactive protein. Cellular studies suggest that increase ferrireductase activity results in increased levels of dopamine metabolites and increased sensitivity to the toxicity of DOPAL. These findings demonstrate that α-synuclein ferrireductase activity is present in vivo and its alteration may play a role in neuron loss in disease
Speculative Futures on ChatGPT and Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI): A collective reflection from the educational landscape
While ChatGPT has recently become very popular, AI has a long history and philosophy. This paper intends to explore the promises and pitfalls of the Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) AI and potentially future technologies by adopting a speculative methodology. Speculative future narratives with a specific focus on educational contexts are provided in an attempt to identify emerging themes and discuss their implications for education in the 21st century. Affordances of (using) AI in Education (AIEd)and possible adverse effects are identified and discussed which emerge from the narratives. It is argued that now is the best of times to define human vs AI contribution to education because AI can accomplish more and more educational activities that used to be the prerogative of human educators. Therefore, it is imperative to rethink the respective roles of technology and human educators in education with a future-oriented mindset
Determination of Malachite Green in Aquaculture Water by Adsorptive Stripping Voltammetry
© 2016, Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. An adsorptive stripping voltammetric method for the determination of malachite green in aquaculture water has been developed. Initial studies were made using the cyclic voltammetry of malachite green at a glassy carbon electrode in 0.1M phosphate buffer from pH 2 to 10. The redox behavior observed for malachite green was verified by the characterization of malachite green and its reduction product, leucomalachite green. Furthermore, leucomalachite green was found not to interfere with the determination of malachite green at pH 7.4, the optimum pH for malachite green determination. As a result, further studies were performed using adsorptive stripping voltammetry for the determination of malachite green in aquaculture water. The voltammetric waveform, accumulation potential, and accumulation time were optimized. The calibration plot was linear from 0.2µM to 1.2µM for malachite green using differential pulse voltammetry with a sensitivity of 0.8311µA/µM. Using the method of multiple standard addition, aquaculture water fortified with 0.5µM and 0.75µM malachite green provided mean recoveries of 78.79% and 87.20% with coefficients of variation of 2.07% and 1.45%. Therefore, analytical figures of merit suggest that this method provides rapid, simple, economical, and precise determination of malachite green in aquaculture water
Updates on radiotherapy-immunotherapy combinations: Proceedings of 6th annual ImmunoRad conference.
Focal radiation therapy (RT) has attracted considerable attention as a combinatorial partner for immunotherapy (IT), largely reflecting a well-defined, predictable safety profile and at least some potential for immunostimulation. However, only a few RT-IT combinations have been tested successfully in patients with cancer, highlighting the urgent need for an improved understanding of the interaction between RT and IT in both preclinical and clinical scenarios. Every year since 2016, ImmunoRad gathers experts working at the interface between RT and IT to provide a forum for education and discussion, with the ultimate goal of fostering progress in the field at both preclinical and clinical levels. Here, we summarize the key concepts and findings presented at the Sixth Annual ImmunoRad conference
Peptide immobilisation on porous silicon surface for metal ions detection
In this work, a Glycyl-Histidyl-Glycyl-Histidine (GlyHisGlyHis) peptide is covalently anchored to the porous silicon PSi surface using a multi-step reaction scheme compatible with the mild conditions required for preserving the probe activity. In a first step, alkene precursors are grafted onto the hydrogenated PSi surface using the hydrosilylation route, allowing for the formation of a carboxyl-terminated monolayer which is activated by reaction with N-hydroxysuccinimide in the presence of a peptide-coupling carbodiimide N-ethyl-N'-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-carbodiimide and subsequently reacted with the amino linker of the peptide to form a covalent amide bond. Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy are used to investigate the different steps of functionalization
- …