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This essay is in response to the paper 'Being in the users' shoes: Anticipating experience while designing online courses' by Chrysi Rapanta and Lorenzo Cantoni (DOI: 10.1111/bjet.12102). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With considerable input from the student voice, the paper centres on a detailed account of the experiences of Western academic, tutoring Eastern students online to develop their critical thinking skills. From their online experiences together as tutor and students, the writers present a considered case for the main emphasis in facilitative online tutoring to be on building, and then building upon, congruent relationships and constructive feedforward. Initially, the Western tutor had followed as best he could the norms of a Confucian Heritage Culture, concentrating reactively on instructional feedback. He then took the considered risk of reverting to proactivity, following the advice of Rogers and Vygotsky and according to an explicit rationale. The ensuing changes in students' online discussions and their learning experiences were marked and were objectively analysed. The tutor and two of his students suggest that the nature of congruent tutor/student relationships, irrespective of culture, is more significant in effectively promoting development than the cognitive content that might feature in feedback in such interactions. For it seems possible from the reported experiences that learning dependent on technological links may benefit from meaningful tutor/student relationships. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A previous paper [Nave & Hill (2005), J. Synchrotron Rad. 12, 299-303] examined the possibility of reduced radiation damage for small crystals (10 µm and below in size) under conditions where the photoelectrons could escape from the sample. The conclusion of this paper was that higher-energy radiation (e.g. 40 keV) could offer an advantage as the photoelectron path length was greater and less energy would be deposited in the crystal. This paper refines these calculations further by including the effects of energy deposited owing to Compton scattering and the energy difference between the incident photon and the emitted photoelectron. An estimate is given for the optimum wavelength for collecting data from a protein crystal of a given size and composition. Another way of reducing radiation damage from a protein crystal is to collect data with a very short pulsed X-ray source where a single image can be obtained before subsequent radiation damage occurs. A comparison of this approach compared with the use of shorter wavelengths is made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The epidemiology of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) disease has been well described over the preceding 50 years. This disease primarily affects elderly males with smoking, hypertension, and a positive family history contributing to an increased risk of aneurysm formation. The aging population as well as increased screening in high-risk populations has led some to suggest that the incidence of AAAs is increasing. The National Inpatient Sample (1993–2003), a national representative database, was used in this study to determine trends in mortality following AAA repair in the United States. In addition, the impact of the introduction of less invasive endovascular AAA repair was assessed. Overall rates of treated unruptured and ruptured AAAs remained stable (unruptured 12 to 15/100,000; ruptured 1 to 3/100,000). In 2003, 42.7% of unruptured and 8.8% of ruptured AAAs were repaired through an endovascular approach. Inhospital mortality following unruptured AAA repair continues to decline for open repair (5.3% to 4.7%, P= 0.007). Mortality after elective endovascular AAA repair also has statistically decreased (2.1% to 1.0%, P= 0.024) and remains lower than open repair. Mortality rates for ruptured AAAs following repair remain high (open: 46.5% to 40.7%, P= 0.01; endovascular: 40.0% to 35.3%, P= 0.823). These data suggest that the numbers of patients undergoing elective AAA repair have remained relatively stable despite the introduction of less invasive technology. A shift in the treatment paradigm is occurring with a higher percentage of patients subjected to elective endovascular AAA repair compared to open repair. This shift, at least in the short term, appears justified as the mortality in patients undergoing elective endovascular AAA repair is significantly reduced compared to patients undergoing open AAA repair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article comments on the quality of educational research submitted to the "British Journal of Educational Technology." The acceptance rate of a paper is declining. The patterns of the submissions point towards systematic problems in a number of institutions in the quality of educational research and the evaluation of educational developments.

Pyridine-3,5-dicarboxylic acid has been studied by single-crystal neutron diffraction at 15 and 296 K. Pyridine-3,5-dicarboxylic acid, in which the carboxylic acid protons have been replaced by deuterons, has also been studied at 15, 150 and 296 K. The protonated structure contains a short N⋯H⋯O hydrogen bond [N⋯O 2.523 (2) Å at 15 K]. Temperature-dependent proton migration occurs where the N—H distance in the hydrogen bond changes from 1.213 (4) Å at 15 K to 1.308 (6) Å at 300 K. In the deuterated structure the overall hydrogen-bond length increased [N⋯O 2.538 (3) Å at 15 K] and the magnitude of the migration increased so that the N—D distance changes from 1.151 (3) Å at 15 K to 1.457 (4) Å at 300 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1:2 adduct of benzene-1,2,4,5-tetracarboxylic acid and 4,4'-bipyridyl at 100 K has been studied by single-crystal neutron diffraction at 20, 200 and 296 K. The structure contains two short, strong N···O hydrogen bonds: one OH···N hydrogen bond [O···N 2.6104 (17) Å at 20 K] and one short N-H···O hydrogen bond [N···O 2.5220 (17),Å at 20 K]. The N-H distance in the N-H···O hydrogen bond changes from 1.207 (3) Å at 20 K to 1.302 (4) Å at 296 K and the N···O distance increases to 2.5315 (16) Å at 296 K. At 200 K the H atom lies in an intermediate position 1.251 (6) Å from the N atom with an N···O separation of 2.520 (4) Å. The O-H···N hydrogen bond, on the other hand, does not change with temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The British Journal of Educational Technology ( BJET) uses a novel system for obtaining referees by e-mailing the abstracts of submissions to a panel of over 250 referees and allowing these individuals to choose which papers they would like to review. An analysis of 13 experienced referees showed that, of 473 reviews assessed, these referees were slightly more lenient than the editor and that electronic records provide useful data that can be mined in interesting ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study has been made of the effectiveness of various polycarboxylic acids and polyhydric alcohols in improving the stability of soybean oil. Certain observations have been made regarding the structural groups required and the possible mechanism of reaction. Since salts and esters of organic acids are inactive, free carboxyl groups are required. Among the four carbon atom dicarboxylic acids activity increases with the number of hydroxyl groups. Within the polyalcohols activity increases with the increase in number of hydroxyl groups. Steric immobility and loss of hydroxyl groups by dehydration reduces activity. Evidence is presented which attributes to citric acid and certain polyhydric alcohols the role of metal scavenger. For example, it has been demonstrated that the addition of citric acid and sorbitol to soybean oil containing prooxidant metallic salts effectively increases the oxidative and flavor stability of the oil. By using a sample of treated soybean oil with no detectable tocopherols, in order to eliminate synergistic effects of citric acid, it has been shown that the prooxidant effect of iron stearate is counteracted by the presence of citric acid. The demonstration that polyhydric alcohols increase the flavor and oxidative stability is compatible with their known metal complexing properties. Evidence is presented which indicates a relationship between flavor stability and oxidative stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The future of the soybean oil industry depends in part upon increasing the flavor stability of edible soybean oil. A procedure, which is reported to have been used by the German soybean oil refiners for combating flavor instability, has been tested on laboratory scale and appears to have distinct merit. Oils subjected to a particularly thorough degumming operation and to the subsequent addition of a small amount of citric acid during deodorization possessed a significantly higher flavor stability than did those subjected to a conventional type of refining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. Addition products of ethyl crotonate and crotononitrile with conjugated methyl linoleate, derived from soybean methyl esters conjugated with a nickelcarbon catalyst, were prepared. 2. The addition product of ethyl crotonate and nonconjugated methyl linoleate was prepared and compared with that from conjugated methyl linoleate. 3. The addition product of ethyl crotonate and conjugated methyl linoleate was saponified to a dibasic acid which was used to prepare a decamethylene glycol polyester and an ethylene diamine polyamide. 4. The compatibility of the addition product of ethyl crotonate and conjugated methyl linoleate with various synthetic resins was determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents two letters from contributors to the journal commenting on their shared experience of preparing one's article for publication. It is stated that the journal often pairs its potential contributors with an editor who offers critical correspondence throughout the revision process. Both individuals comment on the cultural understanding gained through this interaction, as the editor is a native of Scotland and the writer a native of China. They touch upon the rewards of the experience and point to the personal relationship they have developed.

The article relates on the author's strange effect of his electronic learning mistakes. The author reveals that he had been commenting facilitatively for several years on campus, on students' reflective learning. The author recalled that, when he moved into a virtual learning environment (VLE), where he usually never meet his students face to face. He formed an impression, from the repeated weaknesses in subsequent work, that the constructive suggestions he made in the VLE lacked the impact and effect of face to face comments.

Doping the perdeuterated ammonium copper Tutton salt (ND4)2[Cu(D2O)6](SO4)2 [perdeuterated diammonium hexaaquacopper(II) bis(sulfate)] with Zn leads to a change in the structure from dimorph A (low density) to dimorph B (high density). This change, which accompanies a switch in the direction of the Jahn-Teller distortion, had previously been observed to occur with substitution of Zn2+ at the Cu2+ site of between 1.3 (A) and 3.4% (B). In this study, the single-crystal neutron-diffraction analysis of (ND4)2[(Cu/Zn)(D2O)6](SO4)2 at 20 K, with 3.4% Zn doping and a deuterium substitution of 85% on the H-atom sites, reveals that the structure is entirely of type B, with the Cu/Zn site at an inversion centre and with no evidence of disorder or unusual atomic displacement parameters that might occur near a phase transition boundary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

4,4′-Bi­pyridine (BPY) and 2,3,5,6-tetra­hydroxy-1,4-benzo­quinone (THBQ) crystallize in a 3:2 ratio as a neutral molecular adduct, 3C10H8N2·2C6H4O6, in space group P. There are two independent and centrosymmetric THBQ mol­ecules and two different BPY mol­ecules in the asymmetric unit, one of which lies about an inversion centre. The molecules link together through O-H⃛O and O-H⃛N hydrogen bonds to form three interpenetrating networks which create a `superlattice' of three times the volume of the primitive cell. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Basic theory and principles of degumming, refining, bleaching, and deodorization are reviewed. Composition of crude oils, hydration of ions and molecules, neutralization of organic acid, and separation and modification of products by centrifugation, adsorption, and vacuum steam distillation are briefly summarized. Reactions of vegetable oils include hydration, neutralization, and oxidation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The writer sets out to provide a valuable resource for readers interested in teaching online, and for those already doing so. Her book features copious and current sources drawn from US writers and practice, much equally relevant to face‐to‐face situations. Its style ranges from comprehensive scholarly overviewing to basic instruction featuring writer‐directed activities. If the content of this book is likely to interest you, I recommend you arrange to borrow a copy. John Cowan [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contributions here display on-going work in the US on formative assessment in schools, over a variety of discipline areas and student ages. Considerable use is reported of innovative technology to obtain and present the data to which teachers, and sometimes students, then respond. Reading this book will provide rewarding stimulus for those who value supporting student learning: therefore, borrow a copy for a while, if its content is likely to be relevant. John Cowan [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As their title claims, the writers concentrate on clear advice about how and when to choose particular research methods. They do so in a scholarly and well-ordered coverage that is extensive, thorough, useful ... and, in this full detail, unusual in educational literature. Everyone contemplating research-whether undergraduate, postgraduate or experienced researcher-should obtain, consult and use their own personal copy. John Cowan [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on an information technology and education project that was developed at Glasgow Caledonian University which evaluates students' work in a diploma and degree program. College students submit their course work assignments to the college professors or external assessors in electronic form on compact discs (CD). The concern about the security of the course work, feedback, and module documentation that is recorded on the CD and the advantages of using CDs to lessen the workload of college teachers and external examiners are mentioned.

2,2′-Bi­pyridine (2BPY) and hexa­hydroxy­benzene (HHB) crystallize in a 2:1 ratio as a neutral molecular adduct, C6H6O6·2C10H8N2, in space group P with Z = 1 and with the HHB molecule lying on an inversion centre. HHB, of which this is the first single-crystal X-ray structure determination, forms O-H⃛O hydrogen-bonded chains parallel to the a axis, with O⃛O distances of 2.761 (1) and 2.782 (1) Å. O-H⃛N hydrogen bonds to the 2BPY molecules crosslink these chains, with O⃛N distances of 2.707 (1) and 2.735 (1) Å. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2,5-Di­hydroxy-1,4-benzo­quinone (DHBQ) and 4,4′-bi­pyridine (BPY) crystallize in a 1:1 ratio as a neutral molecular adduct, C6H4O4·C10H8N2, in space group C2/ c, with half of each mol­ecule in the asymmetric unit. The mol­ecules are linked by a strong O-H⃛N hydrogen bond [O⃛N 2.6323 (15) Å] and a weak C-H⃛O hydrogen bond [C⃛O 3.2082 (17) Å] to form infinite stacks of parallel one-dimensional hydrogen-bonded ribbons. The two rings of the bi­pyridine are twisted at 28.3° with respect to each other, and the benzo­quinone ring is inclined at an angle of 18.3° with respect to the plane of the neighbouring pyridine ring. The 4,4′-bi­pyridine mol­ecule lies on a twofold axis and the benzo­quinone mol­ecule lies across an inversion centre. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]