Peer review of learning designs: Interdisciplinary SoTEL

For academics participating in graduate certificates of higher education, the advice and feedback of their teacher peers is a potentially powerful resource. This paper reports on an evaluation-in-progress of one subject in a graduate certificate for university teaching, a fully online unit on the scholarship of technology-enhanced learning (SoTEL). Two demands are made of participants in this unit: that they should develop a prototype activity using technology for learning and teaching, and that they should review and receive a review from a class peer to enhance these individual prototypes. The assumption at the heart of this unit design is that, by undertaking a review of a colleague’s learning design, the teacher learns from these additional perspectives and can then improve their own designs for learning. Challenging this assumption are multiple aspects of the context, including the relative value of design reviews from academic developers versus less experienced peers; the multiple criteria by which a design might be evaluated; and interdisciplinary work between peers. Artefacts from participants and the academic developers teaching them are analysed to probe this underlying assumption, and to consider the value of peer review in SoTEL

Microstructural constraints on magmatic mushes under Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai'i.

Distorted olivines of enigmatic origin are ubiquitous in erupted products from a wide range of volcanic systems (e.g., Hawai'i, Iceland, Andes). Investigation of these features at Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai'i, using an integrative crystallographic and chemical approach places quantitative constraints on mush pile thicknesses. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) reveals that the microstructural features of distorted olivines, whose chemical composition is distinct from undistorted olivines, are remarkably similar to olivines within deformed mantle peridotites, but inconsistent with an origin from dendritic growth. This, alongside the spatial distribution of distorted grains and the absence of adcumulate textures, suggests that olivines were deformed within melt-rich mush piles accumulating within the summit reservoir. Quantitative analysis of subgrain geometry reveals that olivines experienced differential stresses of ∼3-12 MPa, consistent with their storage in mush piles with thicknesses of a few hundred metres. Overall, our microstructural analysis of erupted crystals provides novel insights into mush-rich magmatic systems

Design-activity-sequence: A case study and polyphonic analysis of learning in a digital design thinking workshop

In this case study, we report on the outcomes of a one-day workshop on design thinking attended by participants from the Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning conference in Philadelphia in 2017. We highlight the interactions between the workshop design, structured as a design thinking process around the design of a digital environment for design thinking, and the diverse backgrounds and interests of its participants. Data from in-workshop reflections and post-workshop interviews were analyzed using a novel set of analytical approaches, a combination the facilitators made by possible by welcoming participants as coresearchers

Microstructural constraints on magmatic mushes under Kīlauea Volcano, Hawaiʻi

Distorted olivines of enigmatic origin are ubiquitous in erupted products from a wide range of volcanic systems (e.g., Hawaiʻi, Iceland, Andes). Investigation of these features at Kīlauea Volcano, Hawaiʻi, using an integrative crystallographic and chemical approach places quantitative constraints on mush pile thicknesses. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) reveals that the microstructural features of distorted olivines, whose chemical composition is distinct from undistorted olivines, are remarkably similar to olivines within deformed mantle peridotites, but inconsistent with an origin from dendritic growth. This, alongside the spatial distribution of distorted grains and the absence of adcumulate textures, suggests that olivines were deformed within melt-rich mush piles accumulating within the summit reservoir. Quantitative analysis of subgrain geometry reveals that olivines experienced differential stresses of ∼3–12 MPa, consistent with their storage in mush piles with thicknesses of a few hundred metres. Overall, our microstructural analysis of erupted crystals provides novel insights into mush-rich magmatic systems

Microstructural constraints on magmatic mushes under Kīlauea Volcano, Hawaiʻi

Abstract: Distorted olivines of enigmatic origin are ubiquitous in erupted products from a wide range of volcanic systems (e.g., Hawaiʻi, Iceland, Andes). Investigation of these features at Kīlauea Volcano, Hawaiʻi, using an integrative crystallographic and chemical approach places quantitative constraints on mush pile thicknesses. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) reveals that the microstructural features of distorted olivines, whose chemical composition is distinct from undistorted olivines, are remarkably similar to olivines within deformed mantle peridotites, but inconsistent with an origin from dendritic growth. This, alongside the spatial distribution of distorted grains and the absence of adcumulate textures, suggests that olivines were deformed within melt-rich mush piles accumulating within the summit reservoir. Quantitative analysis of subgrain geometry reveals that olivines experienced differential stresses of ∼3–12 MPa, consistent with their storage in mush piles with thicknesses of a few hundred metres. Overall, our microstructural analysis of erupted crystals provides novel insights into mush-rich magmatic systems

Implications of Elemental Abundances in Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies

Unusual elemental abundance patterns observed for stars belonging to nearby dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxies are discussed. Analysis of the [alpha/H] vs. [Fe/H] diagrams where alpha represents Mg or average of alpha-elements reveals that Fe from Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) does not contribute to the stellar abundances in the dSph galaxies where the member stars exhibit low alpha/Fe ratios except for the most massive dSph galaxy, the Sagitarrius. The more massive dwarf (irregular) galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, also have an SNe Ia signature in the stellar abundances. These findings suggest that the condition of whether SNe Ia contribute to chemical evolution in dwarf galaxies is likely to depend on the mass scale of galaxies. Unusual Mg abundances in some dSph stars are also found to be the origin of the large scatter in the [Mg/Fe] ratios and responsible for a seemingly decreasing [Mg/Fe] feature with increasing [Fe/H]. In addition, the lack of massive stars in the dSph galaxies does not satisfactorily account for the low-alpha signature. Considering the assemblage of deficient elements (O, Mg, Si, Ca, Ti, and Zn), all of which are synthesized in pre-SN massive stars and in SN explosions, the low-alpha signature appears to reflect the heavy-element yields of massive stars with smaller rotation compared to solar neighborhood stars.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, accepted by A&

Discovery of quantitative trait loci for resistance to parasitic nematode infection in sheep: I. Analysis of outcross pedigrees

BACKGROUND: Currently most pastoral farmers rely on anthelmintic drenches to control gastrointestinal parasitic nematodes in sheep. Resistance to anthelmintics is rapidly increasing in nematode populations such that on some farms none of the drench families are now completely effective. It is well established that host resistance to nematode infection is a moderately heritable trait. This study was undertaken to identify regions of the genome, quantitative trait loci (QTL) that contain genes affecting resistance to parasitic nematodes. RESULTS: Rams obtained from crossing nematode parasite resistant and susceptible selection lines were used to derive five large half-sib families comprising between 348 and 101 offspring per sire. Total offspring comprised 940 lambs. Extensive measurements for a range of parasite burden and immune function traits in all offspring allowed each lamb in each pedigree to be ranked for relative resistance to nematode parasites. Initially the 22 most resistant and 22 most susceptible progeny from each pedigree were used in a genome scan that used 203 microsatellite markers spread across all sheep autosomes. This study identified 9 chromosomes with regions showing sufficient linkage to warrant the genotyping of all offspring. After genotyping all offspring with markers covering Chromosomes 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 12, 13, 22 and 23, the telomeric end of chromosome 8 was identified as having a significant QTL for parasite resistance as measured by the number of Trichostrongylus spp. adults in the abomasum and small intestine at the end of the second parasite challenge. Two further QTL for associated immune function traits of total serum IgE and T. colubiformis specific serum IgG, at the end of the second parasite challenge, were identified on chromosome 23. CONCLUSION: Despite parasite resistance being a moderately heritable trait, this large study was able to identify only a single significant QTL associated with it. The QTL concerned adult parasite burdens at the end of the second parasite challenge when the lambs were approximately 6 months old. Our failure to discover more QTL suggests that most of the genes controlling this trait are of relatively small effect. The large number of suggestive QTL discovered (more than one per family per trait than would be expected by chance) also supports this conclusion

Expressions 1981

Expressions contains selected work from the 1981 Creative Writing Contest entrants, Campus Chronicle Photography Contest entrants, and Commercial Art students at Des Moines Area Community College. Design , typography and the layout was done by Journalism students .https://openspace.dmacc.edu/expressions/1003/thumbnail.jp

An Integrated TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource to Drive High-Quality Survival Outcome Analytics

For a decade, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) program collected clinicopathologic annotation data along with multi-platform molecular profiles of more than 11,000 human tumors across 33 different cancer types. TCGA clinical data contain key features representing the democratized nature of the data collection process. To ensure proper use of this large clinical dataset associated with genomic features, we developed a standardized dataset named the TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource (TCGA-CDR), which includes four major clinical outcome endpoints. In addition to detailing major challenges and statistical limitations encountered during the effort of integrating the acquired clinical data, we present a summary that includes endpoint usage recommendations for each cancer type. These TCGA-CDR findings appear to be consistent with cancer genomics studies independent of the TCGA effort and provide opportunities for investigating cancer biology using clinical correlates at an unprecedented scale. Analysis of clinicopathologic annotations for over 11,000 cancer patients in the TCGA program leads to the generation of TCGA Clinical Data Resource, which provides recommendations of clinical outcome endpoint usage for 33 cancer types

Pan-Cancer Analysis of lncRNA Regulation Supports Their Targeting of Cancer Genes in Each Tumor Context

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are commonly dys-regulated in tumors, but only a handful are known toplay pathophysiological roles in cancer. We inferredlncRNAs that dysregulate cancer pathways, onco-genes, and tumor suppressors (cancer genes) bymodeling their effects on the activity of transcriptionfactors, RNA-binding proteins, and microRNAs in5,185 TCGA tumors and 1,019 ENCODE assays.Our predictions included hundreds of candidateonco- and tumor-suppressor lncRNAs (cancerlncRNAs) whose somatic alterations account for thedysregulation of dozens of cancer genes and path-ways in each of 14 tumor contexts. To demonstrateproof of concept, we showed that perturbations tar-geting OIP5-AS1 (an inferred tumor suppressor) andTUG1 and WT1-AS (inferred onco-lncRNAs) dysre-gulated cancer genes and altered proliferation ofbreast and gynecologic cancer cells. Our analysis in-dicates that, although most lncRNAs are dysregu-lated in a tumor-specific manner, some, includingOIP5-AS1, TUG1, NEAT1, MEG3, and TSIX, synergis-tically dysregulate cancer pathways in multiple tumorcontexts