Classroom dialogue and digital technologies: A scoping review

AbstractThis article presents a systematic scoping review of the literature focusing on interactions between classroom dialogue and digital technology. The first review of its type in this area, it both maps extant research and, through a process of thematic synthesis, investigates the role of technology in supporting classroom dialogue. In total, 72 studies (published 2000–2016) are analysed to establish the characteristics of existing evidence and to identify themes. The central intention is to enable researchers and others to access an extensive base of studies, thematically analysed, when developing insights and interpretations in a rapidly changing field of study. The discussion illustrates the interconnectedness of key themes, placing the studies in a methodological and theoretical context and examining challenges for the future.</jats:p

A comparative study on safety and efficacy of travoprost and brimonidine/timolol fixed combination in patients of primary open angle glaucoma

Background: The purpose of this study was to compare and evaluate the clinical efficacy of topically applied travoprost 0.004% eye drops versus brimonidine/timolol fixed combination eye drops in the management of primary open-angle glaucoma.Methods: In this prospective, randomized study, 65 patients received either travoprost eye drops once daily in the morning (n=33) or brimonidine/timolol fixed combination eye drops twice daily (n=32). Intra ocular pressure (IOP) was assessed at 2, 4, 8, and 12 weeks. The primary outcome measure was mean reduction in IOP.Results: Thebaseline mean IOP values were similar between two groups. Mean reduction of IOP in the right eye for brimonidine/timolol fixed combination group was 9±2.9 mmHg, whereas in the left eye it was 10.9±2.8 mmHg. In the travoprost group, the reduction in IOP of the right eye was 7.8±2.9 mmHg (p=0.0002) and 7.5±3.4 mmHg (p=0.0001) in the left eye. The mean reduction of IOP for the brimonidine/timolol group was 9.95 mmHg and for the travoprost group it was 7.6 mmHg (p<0.0001) in both the eyes.Conclusions: The fixed combination brimonidine/timolol twice daily demonstrated superior mean IOP lowering efficacy compared to travoprost 0.004% in patients with open-angle glaucoma

Vegetation mapping of Žumberak – Samoborsko gorje Nature Park, Croatia, using Landsat 7 and field data

A vegetation map of @umberak – Samoborsko gorje Nature Park with a minimum mapping unit of 2.25 ha (22500m2) was created during 2003. ALandsat ETM+ satellite image (acquired in the year 2000) and the results of field sampling were combined as mapping method. Given the constraints of the minimum mapping unit chosen, 17 classes were identified in the field and designated to corresponding polygons created by the classification of satellite image. Thirteen classes were plant communities or their combinations, while remaining four denoted various types of land cover (coniferous plantations, mixed rural landscapes, settlements and quarries). In the overall area of the Nature Park (344 km2), the most frequent type of cover was Lamio orvalae – Fagetum forest (38.4%of total area), while the most frequent non-forest community was Bromo – Plantaginetum mediae (7.9%). According to this research, as much as 77.3%of Park area is covered with forest, which is a significant increase compared to the old data of 61 % of forests. Analyses of mapped polygons showed that almost a quarter of all polygons has an area equal to, or just little bigger than the minimum mapping unit, while more than three quarters of all polygons have their area smaller or equal to 9 ha (corresponds to 300 x 300 meters square). Such an extreme mosaic landscape structure in conjunction with the constant depopulation of Park area causes further natural forestation of park and hence decreases in biodiversity. The overall accuracy of map was 65%, forest vegetation being mapped with higher accuracy (70%) than non-forest vegetation (61%)

Spatial Hypersurfaces in Causal Set Cosmology

Within the causal set approach to quantum gravity, a discrete analog of a spacelike region is a set of unrelated elements, or an antichain. In the continuum approximation of the theory, a moment-of-time hypersurface is well represented by an inextendible antichain. We construct a richer structure corresponding to a thickening of this antichain containing non-trivial geometric and topological information. We find that covariant observables can be associated with such thickened antichains and transitions between them, in classical stochastic growth models of causal sets. This construction highlights the difference between the covariant measure on causal set cosmology and the standard sum-over-histories approach: the measure is assigned to completed histories rather than to histories on a restricted spacetime region. The resulting re-phrasing of the sum-over-histories may be fruitful in other approaches to quantum gravity.Comment: Revtex, 12 pages, 2 figure

Cosmological Histories for the New Variables

Histories and measures for quantum cosmology are investigated through a quantization of the Bianchi IX cosmology using path integral techniques. The result, derived in the context of Ashtekar variables, is compared with earlier work. A non-trivial correction to the measure is found, which may dominate the classical potential for universes on the Planck scale.Comment: 14, CGPG-94/2-

An integrated genomic analysis of lung cancer reveals loss of DUSP4 in EGFR-mutant tumors.

To address the biological heterogeneity of lung cancer, we studied 199 lung adenocarcinomas by integrating genome-wide data on copy number alterations and gene expression with full annotation for major known somatic mutations in this cancer. This showed non-random patterns of copy number alterations significantly linked to EGFR and KRAS mutation status and to distinct clinical outcomes, and led to the discovery of a striking association of EGFR mutations with underexpression of DUSP4, a gene within a broad region of frequent single-copy loss on 8p. DUSP4 is involved in negative feedback control of EGFR signaling, and we provide functional validation for its role as a growth suppressor in EGFR-mutant lung adenocarcinoma. DUSP4 loss also associates with p16/CDKN2A deletion and defines a distinct clinical subset of lung cancer patients. Another novel observation is that of a reciprocal relationship between EGFR and LKB1 mutations. These results highlight the power of integrated genomics to identify candidate driver genes within recurrent broad regions of copy number alteration and to delineate distinct oncogenetic pathways in genetically complex common epithelial cancers

Experimental Determination of the Characteristics of a Positron Source Using Channeling

Numerical simulations and `proof of principle' experiments showed clearly the interest of using crystals as photon generators dedicated to intense positron sources for linear colliders. An experimental investigation, using a 10 GeV secondary electron beam, of the SPS-CERN, impinging on an axially oriented thick tungsten crystal, has been prepared and operated between May and August 2000. After a short recall on the main features of positron sources using channeling in oriented crystals, the experimental set-up is described. A particular emphasis is put on the positron detector made of a drift chamber, partially immersed in a magnetic field. The enhancement in photon and positron production in the aligned crystal have been observed in the energy range 5 to 40 GeV, for the incident electrons, in crystals of 4 and 8 mm as in an hybrid target. The first results concerning this experiment are presented hereafter.Comment: 3 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Linac200

Well-Posedness and Symmetries of Strongly Coupled Network Equations

We consider a diffusion process on the edges of a finite network and allow for feedback effects between different, possibly non-adjacent edges. This generalizes the setting that is common in the literature, where the only considered interactions take place at the boundary, i. e., in the nodes of the network. We discuss well-posedness of the associated initial value problem as well as contractivity and positivity properties of its solutions. Finally, we discuss qualitative properties that can be formulated in terms of invariance of linear subspaces of the state space, i. e., of symmetries of the associated physical system. Applications to a neurobiological model as well as to a system of linear Schroedinger equations on a quantum graph are discussed.Comment: 25 pages. Corrected typos and minor change