Use of Mobile Phone Computing for Development of Student 21st Century Skills

Mobile phone computing enables immediate capture and transfer of data, images, notes and experiences from the field to a repository where retrieval, analysis, edits, aggregation, and further development are possible. Immediate findings and later results can be shared on the Web with local and global communities, and development of integrated service learning projects in concert with underserved communities is possible using this mode of information gathering and sharing. Mobile phone computing incorporates moments when participants build tomorrow\u27s skills while addressing today\u27s learning goals. Use of digital tools and supporting resources bring real world problems into focus. Mobile phone computing enables understanding of ‘real-time’ exploration and acquisition of “21st Century Skills.” To be effective in the 21st century, students must be able to exhibit a range of functional and critical thinking skills related to information, media and technology. The project, MOBILE PHONE COMPUTING FOR DEVELOPMENT of STUDENT 21ST CENTURY SKILLS, offers unique 21st Century Skills development through a combination of diverse and complementary classroom, field and experiential learning moments captured in ‘real-time.’ The mobile phone computing project uniquely enables and enhances acquisition of the 21st Century skills identified by Thinkfinity.org, Partnership for 21st Century Skills, and International Society for Technology in Education [4]. Through the use of such mobile tools and applications, students can, in fact, authentically work “from the field” to collect and share real-time data with each other, extend their learning to larger local and global communities, and develop integrated service learning projects with underserved populations

Non-classical light state transfer in su(2)su(2) resonator networks

We use a normal mode approach to show full and partial state transfer in a class of coupled resonator networks with underlying $su(2)$ symmetry that includes the so-called $J_{x}$ photonic lattice. Our approach defines an auxiliary Hermitian coupling matrix describing the network that yields the normal modes of the system and its time evolution in terms of orthogonal polynomials. These results provide insight on the full quantum state reconstruction time in a general $su(2)$ network of any size and the full quantum transfer time in the $J_{x}$ network of size $4 n + 1$ with $n=1,2,3,\ldots$ In the latter, our approach shows that the Fock state probability distribution of the initial state is conserved but the amplitudes suffer a phase shift proportional to $\pi/2$ that results in partial quantum state transfer for any other network size.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figur

Tailoring the surface charge of dextran-based polymer coated SPIONs for modulated stem cell uptake and MRI contrast

Tracking stem cells in vivo using non-invasive techniques is critical to evaluate the efficacy and safety of stem cell therapies. Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) enable cells to be tracked using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), but to obtain detectable signal cells need to be labelled with a sufficient amount of iron oxide. For the majority of SPIONs, this can only be obtained with the use of transfection agents, which can adversely affect cell health. Here, we have synthesised a library of dextran-based polymer coated SPIONs with varying surface charge from −1.5 mV to +18.2 mV via a co-precipitation approach and investigated their ability to be directly internalised by stem cells without the need for transfection agents. The SPIONs were colloidally stable in physiological solutions. The crystalline phase of the particles was confirmed with powder X-ray diffraction and their magnetic properties were characterised using SQUID magnetometry and magnetic resonance. Increased surface charge led to six-fold increase in uptake of particles into stem cells and higher MRI contrast, with negligible change in cell viability. Cell tracking velocimetry was shown to be a more accurate method for predicting MRI contrast of stem cells compared to measuring iron oxide uptake through conventional bulk iron quantification

The exact solution of generalized Dicke models via Susskind-Glogower operators

We show a right unitary transformation approach based on Susskind-Glogower operators that diagonalizes a generalized Dicke Hamiltonian in the field basis and delivers a tridiagonal Hamiltonian in the Dicke basis. This tridiagonal Hamiltonian is diagonalized by a set of orthogonal polynomials satisfying a three-term recurrence relation. Our result is used to deliver a closed form, analytic time evolution for the case of a Jaynes-Cummings-Kerr model and to study the time evolution of the population inversion, reduced field entropy, and Husimi's Q-function of the field for ensembles of interacting two-level systems under a Dicke-Kerr model.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure

Importance of low-relief nursery habitat for reef fishes

Coastal restoration projects to mitigate environmental impacts have increased global demand for sand resources. Unfortunately, these resources are often extracted from sand/shell banks on the inner continental shelf, resulting in significant alteration or loss of low-relief reefs in coastal oceans. Experimental reefs (oyster shell, limestone rubble, composite) were deployed in the western Gulf of Mexico to assess their potential value as nurseries for newly settled reef fishes. Occurrence, abundance, and species richness of juvenile fishes were significantly higher on all three types of low-relief reefs compared with unconsolidated sediment. Moreover, reefs served as nursery habitat for a range of reef fish taxa (angelfishes, grunts, sea basses, snappers, and triggerfishes). Red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) was the dominant species present on all experimental reefs (100% occurrence), and mean density of this species was markedly higher on each of the three low-relief reefs (\u3e40.0 individuals/reef) relative to comparable areas over unconsolidated sediment (0.2 individuals). Our results suggest creation or restoration of structurally complex habitat on the inner shelf has the potential to markedly increase early life survival and expedite the recovery of exploited reef fish populations, and therefore may represent a critical conservation tool for increasing recruitment and maintaining reef fish diversity

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) : the large-scale structure of galaxies and comparison to mock universes

MA acknowledges funding from the University of St Andrews and the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research. ASGR is supported by funding from a UWA Fellowship. PN acknowledges the support of the Royal Society through the award of a University Research Fellowship and the European Research Council, through receipt of a Starting Grant (DEGAS-259586). MJIB acknowledges the financial support of the Australian Research Council Future Fellowship 100100280. TMR acknowledges support from a European Research Council Starting Grant (DEGAS-259586).From a volume-limited sample of 45 542 galaxies and 6000 groups with z ≤ 0.213, we use an adapted minimal spanning tree algorithm to identify and classify large-scale structures within the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. Using galaxy groups, we identify 643 filaments across the three equatorial GAMA fields that span up to 200 h−1 Mpc in length, each with an average of eight groups within them. By analysing galaxies not belonging to groups, we identify a secondary population of smaller coherent structures composed entirely of galaxies, dubbed ‘tendrils’ that appear to link filaments together, or penetrate into voids, generally measuring around 10 h−1 Mpc in length and containing on average six galaxies. Finally, we are also able to identify a population of isolated void galaxies. By running this algorithm on GAMA mock galaxy catalogues, we compare the characteristics of large-scale structure between observed and mock data, finding that mock filaments reproduce observed ones extremely well. This provides a probe of higher order distribution statistics not captured by the popularly used two-point correlation function.Peer reviewe

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) : stellar mass functions by Hubble type

This work was supported by the Austrian Science Foundation FWF under grant P23946. AWG was supported under the Australian Research Council's funding scheme FT110100263.We present an estimate of the galaxy stellar mass function and its division by morphological type in the local (0.025 < z < 0.06) Universe. Adopting robust morphological classifications as previously presented (Kelvin et al.) for a sample of 3727 galaxies taken from the Galaxy And Mass Assembly survey, we define a local volume and stellar mass limited sub-sample of 2711 galaxies to a lower stellar mass limit of M = 109.0 MΘ. We confirm that the galaxy stellar mass function is well described by a double-Schechter function given by Μ* = 1010.64 MΘ, α1 = 0.43, φ1* = 4.18 dex-1 Mpc-3, α2 = −1.50 and φ2* = 0.74 dex-1 Mpc-3. The constituent morphological-type stellar mass functions are well sampled above our lower stellar mass limit, excepting the faint little blue spheroid population of galaxies. We find approximately 71-4+3 per cent of the stellar mass in the local Universe is found within spheroid-dominated galaxies; ellipticals and S0-Sas. The remaining 29-3+4 per cent falls predominantly within late-type disc-dominated systems, Sab-Scds and Sd-Irrs. Adopting reasonable bulge-to-total ratios implies that approximately half the stellar mass today resides in spheroidal structures, and half in disc structures. Within this local sample, we find approximate stellar mass proportions for E : S0-Sa : Sab-Scd : Sd-Irr of 34 : 37 : 24 :5.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

A Comparison of Theory-Based and Experimentally Determined Myocardial Signal Intensity Correction Methods in First-Pass Perfusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Objectives. To evaluate the impact of correcting myocardial signal saturation on the accuracy of absolute myocardial blood flow (MBF) measurements. Materials and Methods. We performed 15 dual bolus first-pass perfusion studies in 7 dogs during global coronary vasodilation and variable degrees of coronary artery stenosis. We compared microsphere MBF to MBF calculated from uncorrected and corrected MRI signal. Four correction methods were tested, two theoretical methods (Th1 and Th2) and two empirical methods (Em1 and Em2). Results. The correlations with microsphere MBF (n=90 segments) were: uncorrected (y=0.47x+1.1, r=0.70), Th1 (y=0.53x+1.0, r=0.71), Th2 (y=0.62x+0.86, r=0.73), Em1 (y=0.82x+0.86, r=0.77), and Em2 (y=0.72x+0.84, r=0.75). All corrected methods were not significantly different from microspheres, while uncorrected MBF values were significantly lower. For the top 50% of microsphere MBF values, flows were significantly underestimated by uncorrected SI (31%), Th1 (25%), and Th2 (19%), while Em1 (1%), and Em2 (9%) were similar to microsphere MBF. Conclusions. Myocardial signal saturation should be corrected prior to flow modeling to avoid underestimation of MBF by MR perfusion imaging