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Abstract The hierarchical equations of motion (HEOM) approach can describe the reduced dynamics of a system simultaneously coupled to multiple bosonic and fermionic environments. The complexity of exactly describing the system-environment interaction with the HEOM method usually results in time-consuming calculations and a large memory cost. Here, we introduce an open-source software package called HierarchicalEOM.jl: a Julia framework integrating the HEOM approach. HierarchicalEOM.jl features a collection of methods to compute bosonic and fermionic spectra, stationary states, and the full dynamics in the extended space of all auxiliary density operators (ADOs). The required handling of the ADOs multi-indexes is achieved through a user-friendly interface. We exemplify the functionalities of the package by analyzing a single impurity Anderson model, and an ultra-strongly coupled charge-cavity system interacting with bosonic and fermionic reservoirs. HierarchicalEOM.jl achieves a significant speedup with respect to the corresponding method in the Quantum Toolbox in Python (QuTiP), upon which this package is founded.

Many governments invest in digital education and deliver multi-faceted initiatives to develop the capacity of educational institutions and staff confidence in use of technology for enhanced learning and better student outcomes. However, the impact of these initiatives does not always result in improved technology-supported learning or successful digital educational products. Research shows many factors impede the achievement of such objectives. Yet, they are not well understood particularly in low-resourced educational settings. Thus, this paper as part of a larger study aimed to explore barriers to implementing TEL for higher education in low-resourced contexts and potential solutions from the perspective of educators, managers and support staff. The unique inclusion of support staff and management in this research provides a deeper understanding of current barriers to TEL, and the value of multi-stakeholder engagement to develop meaningful context-driven solutions. Using a qualitative oriented mixed-method approach underpinned by Beyond Prototypes conceptual model of TEL complex, the study found that most barriers and enablers of effective TEL implementation are related to the ecology in which it is practised, together with the influence of the salient communities. Findings also suggest that most stakeholders are aware and prioritise barriers related to their role, but have limited awareness of barriers faced by other stakeholders or how others perceived their role in supporting TEL. While the study supports findings of previous research, it adds further insight by considering the views of all implementing stakeholders and the relationships between them.

This paper reports findings from a research study at The Open University, UK into the quality of distance learners’ online exam experience and the differences in experience between online (pandemic) and in-person (pre-pandemic) modes of examination. Our research responds to the ongoing need for greater insight into the exam experience and is uniquely positioned in two ways. First, we made use of a robust reference dataset collected before the COVID-19 pandemic and compared this with a second survey administered a year after the pandemic started; second, we asked students about their experience preparing and revising for the exam as well as the exam itself. Exam revision represents an important transitional period for learners. Our results show that, overall, the shift to online remote exams did not impact the quality of distance learners’ experience of revising for exams or taking the exam itself. We found no significant change in the revision experience across six of eight measures, including the learning benefits of learning while revising, enjoyment, and support. However, students reported feeling less anxious when revising for online exams. The quality of the exam experience itself was largely unaffected by the move from in-person to online remote exams. No significant differences were found for seven of the nine measures of exam experience. However, we found satisfaction with the exam environment was significantly higher for online exams and that learners felt the online exam was harder than they expected. Age and gender differences are also explored.

OpenEssayist is an automated writing evaluation system (AWE) designed to provide immediate textual and graphical feedback to students to help them improve their academic writing. One of the graphical visualisations as part of OpenEssayist, (named a ‘rainbow diagram’), illustrates how well the key concepts within the writing are connected. The rainbow diagram element has been subjected to research by Whitelock et al., (2014), who determined that participants could identify patterns across the diagrams, identifications which corresponded to essays awarded low-grade or high-grade marks by tutors. The research reported as part of this paper is a follow-on study, developed to determine how participants might use the rainbow diagram to improve academic writing. Thirteen (n=13) PhD students were interviewed face-to-face whilst an eye-tracker recorded their gaze on a rainbow diagram produced from an example of their own writing. The current work confirms that students can use rainbow diagrams to identify content that corresponds to high-grade and low-grade work in essay writing. Building on Whitelock’s research, the study also shows that the rainbow diagram can be used further, to enable students to understand coherence and structure within academic writing, and to facilitate reflection on what actions should be taken to improve their writing.

The “hierarchical equations of motion” (HEOM) method is a powerful exact numerical approach to solve the dynamics and find the steady-state of a quantum system coupled to a non-Markovian and nonperturbative environment. Originally developed in the context of physical chemistry, it has also been extended and applied to problems in solid-state physics, optics, single-molecule electronics, and biological physics. Here we present a numerical library in Python, integrated with the powerful QuTiP platform, which implements the HEOM for both bosonic and fermionic environments. We demonstrate its utility with a series of examples consisting of benchmarks against important known results and examples demonstrating insights gained with this library for this article. For the bosonic case, our results include demonstrations of how to fit arbitrary spectral densities with different approaches, and a study of the dynamics of energy transfer in the Fenna-Matthews-Olson photosynthetic complex. For the latter, we both clarify how a suitable non-Markovian environment can protect against pure dephasing, and model recent experimental results demonstrating the suppression of electronic coherence. Importantly, we show that by combining the HEOM method with the reaction coordinate method we can observe nontrivial system-environment entanglement on timescales substantially longer than electronic coherence alone. We also demonstrate results showing how the HEOM can be used to benchmark different strategies for dynamical decoupling of a system from its environment, and show that the Uhrig pulse-spacing scheme is less optimal than equally spaced pulses when the environment's spectral density is very broad. For the fermionic case, we present an integrable single-impurity example, used as a benchmark of the code, and a more complex example of an impurity strongly coupled to a single vibronic mode, with applications to single-molecule electronics.

OpenEssayist is an automated writing evaluation system (AWE) designed to provide immediate textual and graphical feedback to students to help them improve their academic writing. One of the graphical visualisations as part of OpenEssayist, (named a ‘rainbow diagram’), illustrates how well the key concepts within the writing are connected. The rainbow diagram element has been subjected to research by Whitelock et al., (2014), who determined that participants could identify patterns across the diagrams, identifications which corresponded to essays awarded low-grade or high-grade marks by tutors. The research reported as part of this paper is a follow-on study, developed to determine how participants might use the rainbow diagram to improve academic writing. Thirteen (n=13) PhD students were interviewed face-to-face whilst an eye-tracker recorded their gaze on a rainbow diagram produced from an example of their own writing. The current work confirms that students can use rainbow diagrams to identify content that corresponds to high-grade and low-grade work in essay writing. Building on Whitelock’s research, the study also shows that the rainbow diagram can be used further, to enable students to understand coherence and structure within academic writing, and to facilitate reflection on what actions should be taken to improve their writing.

This case study concerns findings from a workshop with senior teacher educators from three Indian states as part of the TESS-India teacher professional development initiative. The workshop explored how open digital badges might be used to support, capture and validate changes in teachers’ classroom practice. Workshop participants drew on the TESS-India OER to design short online in-service teacher professional development courses to support movement towards the more participatory approach advocated in education policy. As part of this course design process, participants were encouraged to propose digital badges to recognise changes in teachers’ pedagogic practice. Analysis of the workshop discussions and outputs indicated enthusiasm for digital badges, while also revealing that the process of defining digital badges may be helpful in prompting disruption of deeply embedded cultural scripts about ways of being and knowing that shape teacher educators’ practice and helping them to recognise what the work of quality teaching entails.

This study investigates how and where distance learners use handheld devices and the impact this has on learning habits, access to learning content and quality of work. It analyses the spatial dimension of anytime-anywhere learning and, with a focus on anywhere learning, it explores students’ ongoing negotiation of the flow between and across study locations. The study concludes by proposing two new concepts: the flow of places and place of space. These should help direct the framing of future studies into the places, spaces, and mobility of formal and informal seamless learning. A dataset comprising 446 responses from undergraduate students enrolled at the UK’s largest distance learning university was analysed in respect to three research questions. All age groups, study levels, and disciplines were represented. Five key findings are: most students now use handheld devices for study-related learning; the distribution of study-related learning tasks was similar in all seven study places; there is a strong, statistically-significant correlation between the number of study places in which handheld devices are used and the number of study task types performed; two fifths of students using a handheld device for learning have noticed a change in study habit and benefit to learning; and multiple regression analysis shows three variables (number of study places, number of study tasks, and change in study habits) are predictors of finding it easier to access learning materials and improved quality of learners’ work.

Background: Research into online exams in higher education has grown significantly, especially as they became common practice during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, previous studies focused on understanding individual factors that relate to students' dispositions towards online exams in 'traditional' universities. Moreover, there is little knowledge on university distance learning students' experience of transitioning from in-person to online exams. Objectives: This study investigates the acceptance and satisfaction of university distance learning students in their transitioning from in-person to online exams, through multiple factors. Methods: We employed a mixed-methods study to understand the relationship between assessment and online exam factors (e.g., revision and online exam satisfaction, assessment competencies, invigilation acceptance, exam anxiety and workspace satisfaction). Cluster analysis and interview data contributed to our understanding of students who are 'strongly positive' and 'less positive' towards online exams. Results and Conclusions: Our findings highlight the overall importance of increasing student confidence by building their assessment competencies throughout their studies and familiarising them early with the technologies and formats to be used in the actual exam. We also shed light on particular student characteristics that relate to reduced online exam acceptance, such as students with disabilities, caring responsibilities and mental health issues, or students who lack access to the necessary technology. Implications: The findings and recommendations of this research contribute to the wider agenda of designing fair and trustworthy online assessment, including exams, for the future.

Since the late 2000s, the availability of high-quality cadmium zinc telluride (CdZnTe) has greatly increased. The excellent spectroscopic performance of this material has enabled the development of detectors with volumes exceeding 1 cm3 for use in the detection of nuclear materials. CdZnTe is also of great interest to the photon science community for applications in X-ray imaging cameras at synchrotron light sources and free electron lasers. Historically, spatial variations in the crystal properties and temporal instabilities under high-intensity irradiation has limited the use of CdZnTe detectors in these applications. Recently, Redlen Technologies have developed high-flux-capable CdZnTe material (HF-CdZnTe), which promises improved spatial and temporal stability. In this paper, the results of the characterization of 10 HF-CdZnTe detectors with dimensions of 20.35 mm × 20.45 mm × 2.00 mm are presented. Each sensor has 80 × 80 pixels on a 250-μm pitch and were flip-chip-bonded to the STFC HEXITEC ASIC. These devices show excellent spectroscopic performance at room temperature, with an average Full Width at Half Maximum (FWHM) of 0.83 keV measured at 59.54 keV. The effect of tellurium inclusions in these devices was found to be negligible; however, some detectors did show significant concentrations of scratches and dislocation walls. An investigation of the detector stability over 12 h of continuous operation showed negligible changes in performance.

Pathology departments must rise to new staffing challenges caused by the coronavirus disease-19 pandemic and may need to work more flexibly for the foreseeable future. In light of this, many pathologists and departments are considering the merits of remote or home reporting of digital cases. While some individuals have experience of this, little work has been done to determine optimum conditions for home reporting, including technical and training considerations. In this publication produced in response to the pandemic, we provide information regarding risk assessment of home reporting of digital slides, summarize available information on specifications for home reporting computing equipment, and share access to a novel point-of-use quality assurance tool for assessing the suitability of home reporting screens for digital slide diagnosis. We hope this study provides a useful starting point and some practical guidance in a difficult time. This study forms the basis of the guidance issued by the Royal College of Pathologists, available at:https://www.rcpath.org/uploads/assets/626ead77-d7dd-42e1-949988e43dc84c97/RCPath-guidance-for-remote-digital-pathology.pdf.

There is an urgent need to improve elementary and secondary school classroom practices across India and the scale of this challenge is argued to demand new approaches to teacher professional learning. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) represent one such approach and one that, in the context of this study, is considered to provide a means by which to transcend traditional training processes and disrupt conventional pedagogic practices. This paper offers a critical review of a large-scale MOOC deployed in English, and then in Hindi, to support targeted sustainable capacity building within an education development initiative (TESS-India) across seven states in India. The study draws on multiple sources of participant data to identify and examine features, which stimulated a buzz around the MOOCs, leading to over 40,000 registrations and a completion rate of approximately 50% for each of the two MOOCs.

The connection between song and politics is well documented, but in recent years is said to be severed. This is not the case. The relationship between politics and song endures, reflecting and revivifying a culture of political struggle. In this essay, I survey political song, outlining how it is approached, before arguing for a tighter definition after working through the claim that all song is political. In doing so, I build a platform for discussion of songs by English singer-songwriter Leon Rosselson. For over 50 years, Rosselson’s songwriting has illuminated historical and topical events from a left-wing perspective, but he is also clear a song converts no-one and changes nothing. To think otherwise misunderstands that songs are neither mobilisers or opiates, but an idiom for people to express their everyday lives and struggles. The essay concludes by assessing Rosselson’s insights on the power and limits of song.

As a result of the ring-into-ring conversion of nitrosoimidazole derivatives, we obtained a molecular scaffold that, when properly decorated, is able to decrease inotropy by blocking L-type calcium channels. Previously, we used this scaffold to develop a quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) model, and we used the most potent oxadiazolothiazinone as a template for ligand-based virtual screening. Here, we enlarge the diversity of chemical decorations, present the synthesis and in vitro data for 11 new derivatives, and develop a new 3D-QSAR model with recent in silico techniques. We observed a key role played by the oxadiazolone moiety: given the presence of positively charged calcium ions in the transmembrane channel protein, we hypothesize the formation of a ternary complex between the oxadiazolothiazinone, the Ca2+ ion and the protein. We have supported this hypothesis by means of pharmacophore generation and through the docking of the pharmacophore into a homology model of the protein. We also studied with docking experiments the interaction with a homology model of P-glycoprotein, which is inhibited by this series of molecules, and provided further evidence toward the relevance of this scaffold in biological interactions.

"OpenEssayist" is an automated writing evaluation system (AWE) designed to provide immediate textual and graphical feedback to students to help them improve their academic writing. One of the graphical visualisations as part of "OpenEssayist," (named a 'rainbow diagram'), illustrates how well the key concepts within the writing are connected. The rainbow diagram element has been subjected to research by Whitelock et al., (2014), who determined that participants could identify patterns across the diagrams, identifications which corresponded to essays awarded low-grade or high-grade marks by tutors. The research reported as part of this paper is a follow-on study, developed to determine "how" participants might use the rainbow diagram to improve academic writing. Thirteen (n=13) PhD students were interviewed face-to-face whilst an eye-tracker recorded their gaze on a rainbow diagram produced from an example of their own writing. The current work confirms that students can use rainbow diagrams to identify content that corresponds to high-grade and low-grade work in essay writing. Building on Whitelock's research, the study also shows that the rainbow diagram can be used further, to enable students to understand coherence and structure within academic writing, and to facilitate reflection on what actions should be taken to improve their writing.

There is an urgent need to develop an evidence-based framework for learning analytics whereby stakeholders can manage, evaluate, and make decisions about which types of interventions work well and under which conditions. In this article, we will work towards developing a foundation of an Analytics4Action Evaluation Framework (A4AEF) that is currently being tested and validated at the Open University UK. By working with 18 introductory large-scale modules for a period of two years across the five faculties and disciplines within the OU, Analytics4Action provides a bottom-up-approach for working together with key stakeholders within their respective contexts. A holistic A4AEF has been developed to unpack, understand and map the six key steps in the evidence-based intervention process. By means of an exemplar in health and social science, a practical illustration of A4AEF is provided. In the next 3–5 years, we hope that a rich, robust evidence-base will be presented to show how learning analytics can help teachers to make informed, timely and successful interventions that will help each learner to achieve the module’s learning outcomes.