Search

Today�s school students are faced with complex and harmful global challenges that they will need to address. The ability to think critically and creatively, to work in interdisciplinary teams and to understand the importance of a healthy planet for all life will be key to success. Education, including school education, has a major role in helping humanity achieve this. We argue that transformations in both the curriculum and teaching are required. We draw upon Young�s (2008) �powerful knowledge� and the rather different approach of an �aims-based curriculum� found in Reiss and White (2013) to propose curricula and associated pedagogies that can potentially address the global challenges of our times. We offer examples of what learning might look like to achieve these aims, paying particular attention to school science education, as science will need to play an important role if these global challenges are to be successfully met.

New teaching methods are designed and implemented to ensure student success and application of knowledge. One of these designs is the flipped classroom. Nursing programs are also integrating technology, including simulation, into nursing education in order to enhance student engagement. Although several research studies support flipped classroom methodology, no studies have compared traditional and flipped classroom teaching methods, as well as the use of a technology-enhanced classroom, in a baccalaureate nursing health assessment course. The purpose of this study was to compare learning outcomes and student satisfaction in an undergraduate health assessment course across three teaching methods: traditional lecture, flipped classroom, and a technology-enhanced interactive flipped classroom. All three methods incorporated virtual patient simulation. Using a quasi-experimental design, formative and summative assignment grades were compared. Student course evaluations were compared to assess satisfaction with each teaching method. Significant differences in mean grades were found in 12 of the 23 assignments. The technology-enhanced interactive flipped classroom section outperformed the traditional and flipped classroom sections on most of these assessments. Only one difference was noted in student satisfaction. The results showed that a technology-enhanced interactive flipped classroom design supported student learning. A longitudinal analysis of student performance is recommended.

abstract:Agnes Grey is a disregarded book by an overlooked author. Anne Brontë's first published novel has long been overshadowed by her sister Emily's Wuthering Heights, due to its joint publication in a three-decker. This essay examines various readings of Agnes Grey and proposes some alternatives. Dividing the novel into sections to show how each portion of Agnes' life suppresses different aspects of her sense of self-hood, it evaluates themes of erasure from a feminist perspective. Using Wolfgang Iser's reader-response theory, this reading is then measured against a small empirical research study to uncover a range of current-day reader responses demonstrating the subtleties and densities of a finely constructed novel.

Setting: The Inuit community of Rigolet experiences greater rates of self-reported acute gastrointestinal illness (AGI) compared to southern Canada. Intervention: A whiteboard video tool was collaboratively developed by Rigolet youth, community members, the research team and key regional stakeholders to share public health recommendations for reducing the risk of AGI. The video debuted in Rigolet at a community event in August 2016 and was later provided online for community members and local and regional health departments. Interviews and focus group discussions were used to evaluate the ability of the video to communicate public health information to community members in Rigolet. Outcomes: Community and government viewers reported that the whiteboard video was novel and engaging. Evaluation participants believed the video was suitable for promoting Inuit health because of the use of locally relevant visuals and narrative, which reflect Inuit art and storytelling traditions. Furthermore, participants indicated that the video co-development process was critical to ensuring community relevance of the video. Short-term outcome results suggest the video can reinforce health knowledge and potentially encourage behavioural change. Implications: The results suggest this whiteboard video was an effective tool to share information and could increase intention to change behaviours to reduce the risk of AGI in Rigolet. While tools like the whiteboard video are gaining popularity, the participatory approach was used to develop the video, and its use in an Inuit context illustrates its innovation and novelty. This tool may be a useful health promotion tool among Indigenous communities in Canada.

Climate sensitivity is a key metric used to assess the magnitude of global warming given increased CO2concentrations. The geological past can provide insights into climate sensitivity; however, on timescales of millions of years, factors other than CO2can drive climate, including paleogeographic forcing and solar luminosity. Here, through an ensemble of climate model simulations covering the period 150–35 million years ago, we show that climate sensitivity to CO2doubling varies between ∼3.5 and 5.5 °C through this time. These variations can be explained as a nonlinear response to solar luminosity, evolving surface albedo due to changes in ocean area, and changes in ocean circulation. The work shows that the modern climate sensitivity is relatively low in the context of the geological record, as a result of relatively weak feedbacks due to a relatively low CO2baseline, and the presence of ice and relatively small ocean area in the modern continental configuration. Climate sensitivity on geological timescales depends on continental configurationOcean area and ocean circulation nonlinearly determine climate and climate sensitivityPast climate sensitivity is not necessarily a good analogue for future climate sensitivity

Microencapsulation is being investigated as a means to avoid rejection of transplanted pancreatic islets. Monitoring bead distribution and stability in vivo is an important step toward improving microencapsulated islet transplantation strategies. Islet co-encapsulation with gadolinium-labeled mesoporous silica nanoparticles (Gd-MSNs) could allow bead visualization while immobilizing and limiting the potential internalization of the contrast agent. The porous nature of the MSNs could also be used to locally release anti-inflammatory, angiogenic, or anti-apoptotic factors. Mouse insulinoma 6 (MIN6) beta cells were co-encapsulated with Gd-MSNs in alginate beads produced by emulsification and internal gelation. Gd-MSN alginate beads appeared brighter in T1-weighted imaging sequences (detection threshold of 0.016 mM Gd; relaxometric ratio r2/r1= 1.45) than beads without Gd-MSNs. No leaching of Gd3+from the hydrogels was detected over the course of 3 months. MIN6 cells co-encapsulated with Gd-MSNs were viable without significant differences in cell growth rate compared to encapsulated controls without Gd-MSNs. This study paves the way for microencapsulated islet tracking via MRI using co-encapsulated paramagnetic nanomaterials.

Amide hydrogen/deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (HDXMS) of proteins has become extremely popular for identifying ligand-binding sites, protein-protein interactions, intrinsic disorder, and allosteric changes upon protein modification. Such phenomena are revealed when amide exchange is measured in the fast limit, that is, within a few minutes of exchange in deuterated buffer. The HDXMS data have a resolution of the length of peptides and are difficult to interpret because many different phenomena lead to changes in hydrogen/deuterium exchange. We present a quantitative analysis of accelerated molecular dynamics simulations that provides impressive agreement with peptide-length HDXMS data. Comparative analysis of thrombin and a single-point mutant reveals that the simulation analysis can distinguish the subtle differences in exchange due to mutation. In addition, the results provide a deeper understanding of the underlying changes in dynamics revealed by the HDXMS that extend far from the site of mutation.

ABSTRACT:Wuthering Heights is a northern writer's rebuttal of the colonizing tendencies of the south-east's metropolitan elite. Casting Wuthering Heights as the center and Thrushcross Grange the periphery, Emily Brontë presents the North as solid and without artifice, while the South represents imported and suspect values. Lockwood personifies all that is malign in the colonizing nexus, a subject Brontë had explored in her Gondal poems. But she was also a realist: Wuthering Heights both elegizes a way of life that is passing and unites the best of both worlds. Themselves the products of North / South parents, Hareton and Cathy, in their impending union, herald a new and stronger future, where Yorkshire values are invigorated by the influx of southern capital.

Thrombin normally cleaves fibrinogen to promote coagulation; however, binding of thrombomodulin to thrombin switches the specificity of thrombin toward protein C, triggering the anticoagulation pathway. The W215A thrombin mutant was reported to have decreased activity toward fibrinogen without significant loss of activity toward protein C. To understand how mutation of Trp215 may alter thrombin specificity, hydrogen–deuterium exchange experiments (HDXMS), accelerated molecular dynamics (AMD) simulations, and activity assays were carried out to compare the dynamics of Trp215 mutants with those of wild type (WT) thrombin. Variation in NaCl concentration had no detectable effect on the sodium-binding (220sCT) loop, but appeared to affect other surface loops. Trp215 mutants showed significant increases in amide exchange in the 170sCTloop consistent with a loss of H-bonding in this loop identified by the AMD simulations. The W215A thrombin showed increased amide exchange in the 220sCTloop and in the N-terminus of the heavy chain. The AMD simulations showed that a transient conformation of the W215A thrombin has a distorted catalytic triad. HDXMS experiments revealed that mutation of Phe227, which engages in a π-stacking interaction with Trp215, also caused significantly increased amide exchange in the 170sCTloop. Activity assays showed that only the F227V mutant had wild type catalytic activity, whereas all other mutants showed markedly lower activity. Taken together, the results explain the reduced pro-coagulant activity of the W215A mutant and demonstrate the allosteric connection between Trp215, the sodium-binding loop, and the active site.

We investigate the impact of different CO2levels and different subarctic gateway configurations on the surface temperatures during the latest Cretaceous using the Earth System Model COSMOS. The simulated temperatures are compared with the surface temperature reconstructions based on a recent compilation of the latest Cretaceous proxies. In our numerical experiments, the CO2level ranges from 1 to 6 times the preindustrial (PI) CO2level of 280 ppm. On a global scale, the most reasonable match between modeling and proxy data is obtained for the experiments with 3 to 5 × PI CO2concentrations. However, the simulated low‐ (high‐) latitude temperatures are too high (low) as compared to the proxy data. The moderate CO2levels scenarios might be more realistic, if we take into account proxy data and the dead zone effect criterion. Furthermore, we test if the model‐data discrepancies can be caused by too simplistic proxy‐data interpretations. This is distinctly seen at high latitudes, where most proxies are biased toward summer temperatures. Additional sensitivity experiments with different ocean gateway configurations and constant CO2level indicate only minor surface temperatures changes (<~1°C) on a global scale, with higher values (up to ~8°C) on a regional scale. These findings imply that modeled and reconstructed temperature gradients are to a large degree only qualitatively comparable, providing challenges for the interpretation of proxy data and/or model sensitivity. With respect to the latter, our results suggest that an assessment of greenhouse worlds is best constrained by temperatures in the midlatitudes. Simulated surface temperatures show best fit to proxy‐based temperature estimates in the midlatitudesIn the high latitudes the data‐model match can be improved by considering simulated summer rather than annual mean temperaturesGateway alterations improve the fit with the data only locally, at high altitudes in the North America

The prevailing paradigm for the climatic effects of large asteroid or comet impacts is a reduction in sunlight and significant short‐term cooling caused by atmospheric aerosol loading. Here we show, using global climate model experiments, that the large increases in stratospheric water vapor that can occur upon impact with the ocean cause radiative forcings of over +20 W m−2in the case of 10 km sized bolides. The result of such a positive forcing is rapid climatic warming, increased upper ocean stratification, and potentially disruption of upper ocean ecosystems. Since two thirds of the world's surface is ocean, we suggest that some bolide impacts may actually warm climate overall. For impacts producing both stratospheric water vapor and aerosol loading, radiative forcing by water vapor can reduce or even cancel out aerosol‐induced cooling, potentially causing 1–2 decades of increased temperatures in both the upper ocean and on the land surface. Such a response, which depends on the ratio of aerosol to water vapor radiative forcing, is distinct from many previous scenarios for the climatic effects of large bolide impacts, which mostly account for cooling from aerosol loading. Finally, we discuss how water vapor forcing from bolide impacts may have contributed to two well‐known phenomena: extinction across the Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary and the deglaciation of the Neoproterozoic snowball Earth. Large increases in stratospheric water vapor following large bolide impact events over the ocean cause positive radiative forcingsImpact events are capable of warming climate and stratifying upper ocean over 1‐2 decades even after initial surface coolingThe process could have significantly reduced or possibly even reversed decadal cooling following Chicxulub impact

DEPARTMENTS: VIEWPOINT INSIGHTS FROM THE FRONT LINES In recent years, the social sector and the communities it serves have called for deep structural change to address our most serious social injustices. Instead of providing rigid constraints, RFP issuers should focus an RFP on the challenges at hand. As community development advisor Dell Gines says, "In the short run, RFP reform may help mitigate [power asymmetries], but the fundamental system of consolidated wealth or consolidated power is the major problem.". [Extracted from the article]

Context.Low and intermediate mass stars lose a significant fraction of their mass through a dust-driven wind during the Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) phase. Recent studies show that winds from late-type stars are far from being smooth. Mass-loss variations occur on different time scales, from years to tens of thousands of years. The variations appear to be particularly prominent towards the end of the AGB evolution. The occurrence, amplitude and time scale of these variations are still not well understood.

Aims.We present a new version of the UMIST Database for Astrochemistry, the fourth such version to be released to the public. The current version contains some 4573 binary gas-phase reactions, an increase of 10% from the previous (1999) version, among 420 species, of which 23 are new to the database.

We investigate the composition and shape distribution of silicate dust grains in the interstellar medium. The effects of the amount of magnesium and iron in the silicate lattice are studied in detail. We fit the spectral shape of the interstellar 10$\,\mu$m extinction feature as observed towards the galactic center using various particle shapes and dust materials. We use very irregularly shaped coated and non-coated porous Gaussian Random Field particles as well as a statistical approach to model shape effects. For the dust materials we use amorphous and crystalline silicates with various composition as well as silicon carbide (SiC). The results of our analysis of the 10$\,\mu$m feature are used to compute the shape of the 20$\,\mu$m silicate feature and to compare this with observations of this feature towards the galactic center. By using realistic particle shapes to fit the interstellar extinction spectrum we are, for the first time, able to derive the magnesium fraction in interstellar silicates. We find that the interstellar silicates are highly magnesium rich (${\rm Mg/(Fe+Mg)}>0.9$) and that the stoichiometry lies between pyroxene and olivine type silicates (${\rm{O/Si}}\approx3.5$). This composition is not consistent with that of the glassy material found in GEMS in interplanetary dust particles indicating that the amorphous silicates found in the Solar system are, in general, not unprocessed remnants from the interstellar medium. Also, we find that a significant fraction of silicon carbide (~3%) is present in the interstellar dust grains. We discuss the implications of our results for the formation and evolutionary history of cometary and circumstellar dust. We argue that the fact that crystalline silicates in cometary and circumstellar grains are almost purely magnesium silicates is a natural consequence of our findings that the amorphous silicates from which they were formed were already magnesium rich.

We study the influence of mass transport processes on the chemical evolution in a protoplanetary accretion disk. Local transport processes by advection as well as global transport processes by diffusion are taken into account. Concerning the multi-component system only diffusion in the vertical direction was taken into account. Depending on the transport properties, different schemes are explored to couple/decouple the physical and chemical evolution. Our model is based on a simplified description of hydrodynamics in terms of a steady 1+1-D-α-disk model and includes the kinetics of an extended chemical network of about 250 species. We restrict our calculations to the inner planet formation zone within a distance to the central star of 10 AU. Vertical mixing does change the global chemical evolution as it is demonstrated in detail through a discussion of the chemistry of sulphur-bearing molecules. In addition, the influence of the local disk structure on the chemical evolution is analysed. Our results demonstrate that the chemical evolution is influenced globally by mass transport processes. However, in addition to mass transport processes, information about the local conditions, which determine the kinetics, is still needed in order to analyze the chemical evolution.

Transgender includes patients at various stages of their journey. It is important that providers care for transgender patients with a culturally sensitive approach, awareness, and competent skill. There are new terms to learn. There may be mental health issues or substance use issues. Hormone therapy can have an impact on a person’s health. As a primary care provider, it is important to be alert to these potential issues, addressing the patient’s individual needs. In this study we discuss the transgender patient and outline basic care and issues that can arise in a primary care setting.

Bifurcation diagrams for the steady-state chemical abundances of dense molecular gas have been computed in the region of parameter space where bistable solutions are known to occur. Despite the appearance of many exotic bifurcations, which could be interpreted as sections though higher dimensional catastrophes, we show that they are fundamentally projection effects of the same basic bifurcation, which is an hysteresis loop.

The distributions of molecules in the inner regions of a protostellar disk are presented. These were calculated using an uncoupled chemical/dynamical model, with a numerical integration of the vertical disk structure. A comparison between models with and without the effects of X-ray ionisation is made, and molecules are identified which are good tracers of the ionisation level in this part of the disk, notably CN and C2H. In the region considered in this paper ($r\leq 10$AU), the chemistry is dominated by the thermal desorption of species from grains. This shows that a critically important detail in this region of the disk, as far as molecular distributions are concerned, is the temperature profile. We find that not all of the gaseous material is frozen onto grain surfaces at 10 AU, and we identify species, including some organic molecules, which should exist in observable quantities in the inner regions of protostellar disks.

In this paper we present measurements of the ${\rm CH_2DCCH}/{\rm CH_3CCH}$ratio along the TMC-1 ridge. The level of deuterium fractionation in this molecule is found to be larger than previously thought, but more significantly, the fractionation increases as one moves from the cyanopolyyne peak to the ammonia peak, as is the case with measurements of other molecules in TMC-1. This confirms the prediction of our recent chemical/dynamical model of TMC-1 and supports the hypothesis that the chemical evolution of TMC-1 has been affected by Alfvén waves.

In this paper, we present a model to predict and explain the observed gradients in deuterium fractionation andmolecular abundance along the TMC-1 ridge. In TMC-1, gradients in the level of deuterium fractionation are observed for all the molecular species for which the measurement has been made; ${\rm HCO^+}$, ${\rm HC_3N}$, ${\rm C_3H_2}$and HNC. The model is based on the assumption that the chemical evolution of the TMC-1 ridge has been affected by Alfvén waves. The structure of the model and its comparison with observations are discussed. We find that the model qualitatively and somewhat quantitatively reproduces the observations of the aforementioned molecular species. We present predictions of the fractionation gradients along the TMC-1 ridge for other molecules of observational interest.

We report a new version of the UMIST database for astrochemistry. The previous (1995) version has been updated and its format has been revised. The database contains the rate coefficients, temperature ranges and – where available – the temperature dependence of 4113 gas-phase reactions important in astrophysical environments. The data involve 396 species and 12  elements. We have also tabulated permanent electric dipole moments of the neutral species and heats of formation. A new table lists the photo process cross sections (ionisation, dissociation, fragmentation) for a few species for which these quantities have been measured. Data for Deuterium fractionation are given in a separate table. Finally, a new online Java applet for data extraction has been created and its use is explained in detail. The detailed new datafiles and associated software are available on the World Wide Web at http://www.rate99.co.uk.

Lloyd Churchward, who died in 1998, was actively involved with the labour movement in various capacities for six decades. During this time he was a political activist and organiser, a member of the Communist Party of Australia (CPA), a labour historian, and a scholar of Soviet politics. This article uses Churchward’s political and intellectual odyssey as a case study of the labour intellectual, understood as somebody who shaped the organisations and ideas of the labour movement. It looks at the role he played in various political organisations, and the interplay between that involvement and his professional development as a scholar of the labour movement and of Soviet politics. Intensive interviews with Churchward, together with his publications, are the principal sources for this article. On this basis, the article provides a profile of a labour intellectual whose professional and political life in the context of the Cold War was a meeting ground between the university and the alternative public institutions of the CPA.