Podcasting in education: Are students as ready and eager as we think they are?

Instructors in higher education are disseminating instructional content via podcasting, as many rally behind the technology’s potential benefits. Others have expressed concern about the risks of deleterious effects that might accompany the adoption of podcasting, such as lower class attendance. Yet, relatively few studies have investigated students’ perceptions of podcasting for educational purposes, especially in relation to different podcasting forms: repetitive and supplemental. The present study explored students’ readiness and attitudes towards these two forms of podcasting to provide fundamental information for future researchers and educators. The results indicated that students may not be as ready or eager to use podcasting for repetitive or supplemental educational purposes as much as we think they are, but they could be persuaded.     

Structure and Recognition of Graphs with No 6-wheel Subdivision

The subgraph homeomorphism problem has been shown by Robertson and Seymour to be polynomial-time solvable for any fixed pattern graph H. The result, however, is not practical, involving constants that are worse than exponential in |H|. Practical algorithms have only been developed for a few specific pattern graphs, the most recent of these being the wheels with four and five spokes. This paper looks at the subgraph homeomorphism problem where the pattern graph is a wheel with six spokes. The main result is a theorem characterizing graphs that do not contain subdivisions of W ₆. We give an efficient algorithm for solving the subgraph homeomorphism problem for W ₆. We also give a strengthening of the previous W ₅ result.     

Benchmarking stereo-derived DSMs to lidar by land cover and slope for resource development in northern Ontario,Canada

Topographic and elevation data are essential in the development of supporting infrastructure around mining sites. The de facto standard for acquiring elevation data is through light detection and ranging (lidar). The high labour and monetary cost of acquiring lidar has fostered more cost-effective approaches for creating elevation models that use stereo photogrammetry. To assess the accuracy of stereo-photogrammetry-derived elevation models and their potential application, we benchmark satellite (Worldview-2) and aircraft (South Central Ontario Orthoimagery Project; SCOOP) stereo-derived digital surface models (DSMs) against a lidar-derived DSM. Our results show that both stereo-derived DSMs have strong monotonic correlations with lidar across a range of land-cover types and slopes. The overall vertical accuracy of Worldview-2 and SCOOP DSMs are similar and do not meet the United States National Digital Elevation Program (NDEP) standards. However, accuracy assessment across land-cover types and slope categories show that specific land cover types (i.e. grass, row crops/pasture, sparse vegetation and marsh) on gently sloping terrain compare well to lidar data and meet NDEP accuracy standards. We situate the presented research in the context of northern resource development and discuss opportunities to improve the vertical accuracy of stereo-derived DSMs, for example, through unmanned aerial systems.     

An alternative objective function for fitting regression trees to functional response variables

Analyses of systems that can be represented by functional responses are becoming common in many scientific disciplines. Functional regression trees (FRT) provide a methodology for modelling such systems. Recent work has focused on fitting models where the response variable is a probability density function, using a splitting criterion that is based on the sum of dissimilarities between the densities. We suggest a different criterion based on deviations of the densities from their mean. We provide motivation and justification for this criterion, and demonstrate its superior performance using an extensive simulation exercise. We discuss the computational aspects of the FRT procedure and show that substantial speed gains can be made through use of a dissimilarity matrix. Our results show that the proposed splitting criterion outperforms both the original and a splitting criterion based on Euclidean distance. Pointwise standard error curves for a predicted functional response can be generated through the fitting procedure, which we demonstrate in a case study with a forestry data set. Supplementary materials are available.     

Neuroproteomics and systems biology-based discovery of protein biomarkers for traumatic brain injury and clinical validation

The rapidly growing field of neuroproteomics has expanded to track global proteomic changes underlying various neurological conditions such as traumatic brain injury (TBI), stroke, and Alzheimer's disease. TBI remains a major health problem with approximately 2?million incidents occurring annually in the United States, yet no affective treatment is available despite several clinical trials. The absence of brain injury diagnostic biomarkers was identified as a significant road-block to therapeutic development for brain injury. Recently, the field of neuroproteomics has undertaken major advances in the area of neurotrauma research, where several candidate markers have been identified and are being evaluated for their efficacy as biological biomarkers in the field of TBI. One scope of this review is to evaluate the current status of TBI biomarker discovery using neuroproteomics techniques, and at what stage we are at in their clinical validation. In addition, we will discuss the need for strengthening the role of systems biology and its application to the field of neuroproteomics due to its integral role in establishing a comprehensive understanding of specific brain disorder and brain function in general. Finally, to achieve true clinical input of these neuroproteomic findings, these putative biomarkers should be validated using preclinical and clinical samples and linked to clinical diagnostic assays including ELISA or other high-throughput assays.     

Analysis of factors contributing to success in a program of micromanipulation-assisted fertilization

OBJECTIVE: To determine factors important to clinical success in micromanipulation-assisted in vitro fertilization (IVF). DESIGN: Procedures invoked in two separate series of micromanipulation-assisted IVF cycles, one unsuccessful (series I) and the other successful (series II), were compared in an effort to identify changes that led to clinical success. SETTING: University-based IVF clinic. PATIENTS: In both IVF series involving micromanipulation, patients consisted of infertile couples who fit any of five categories of male-factor related infertility. The female patients underwent controlled hyperstimulation for oocyte retrieval and the oocytes were inseminated normally or were subjected either to partial zona dissection or subzonal sperm insertion to assist fertilization. Results in all groups were compared between the two patient series. RESULTS: In the successful series II, a noticeable improvement in fertilization rate and embryo quality was observed compared with series I. A significant increase in the percentage of patients reaching embryo transfer, the pregnancy rate per transfer, and the pregnancy rate per retrieval were noted in series II; a 25% ongoing pregnancy rate per retrieval was observed overall in this successful group, with "ongoing" defined as manifestation of at least a fetal sac on ultrasound with no detectable problems. Patients with a mixed transfer of embryos derived from manipulated and normally inseminated oocytes had a 75% rate of pregnancy per transfer in series II. Differences between the two series could not be attributed to patient selection or biases in selection of oocytes relegated to micromanipulation. However, oocyte handling, micromanipulation, and culture protocols differed significantly between the two series in that temperature and pH of oocytes was better controlled, and micromanipulation time was minimized in series II. CONCLUSION: Success in micromanipulation depends on maintenance of the oocyte in a stable and supportive environment throughout the micromanipulation procedure. It is also important to minimize trauma to the eggs by performing micromanipulation rapidly and with minimal distortion of the egg. Patients with a poor fertilization rate in standard IVF may experience a substantial increase in the likelihood of pregnancy when micromanipulation-assisted fertilization is performed on some eggs.     

Electrical reflection coefficient and velocity shift for groove gratings

The electrical reflection coefficient r(e) and velocity shift (Deltanu/nu)(e) for grooves has never been formulated. All previous calculations for r(e) and (Deltanu/nu)(e) have used formulas valid for the reflection of a surface acoustic wave (SAW) from an array of conducting strips. However, the discontinuity in electrical boundary conditions leading to these formulas does not exist in groove gratings. A new expression for the electrical reflection coefficient and velocity shift for some material overlays is derived from both the variational principle and perturbation theory. The results for various substrates are compared to show the agreement between the two approaches. The implications of this new formulation for the design of grooved arrays on various materials are discussed, effectively resolving the discrepancy between theory and experiment.     

Identifying Outliers in Correlated Water Quality Data

Evaluating water quality data for outliers is a good quality control/quality assessment procedure whether the data are used for monitoring or for modeling. Often water quality data are correlated, e.g., carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand (CBOD) has some correlation with NH3. Univariate methods for identifying outliers do not consider the correlation between variables and may identify too many data points as outliers or miss observations which have extreme ratios between variables, e.g., a raw wastewater sample with relatively low CBOD but high NH3. Testing for outliers using multivariate methods such as the Mahalanobis distance, Jackknife distance, p-values, or Hadi’s automatically incorporates the correlation or covariance between variables and is fundamentally more correct. Such multivariate methods can better identify potential outliers and avoid eliminating valid data.     

The Serotonergic Agonists Quipazine, CGS-12066A, and α-Methylserotonin Alter Motor Activity and Induce Hindlimb Stepping in the Intact and Spinal Rat Fetus.

The effects of serotonergic agonists were examined in intact and spinal fetuses, using an in vivo fetal rat preparation. On Gestational Day 20, fetuses were prepared with a midthoracic or sham spinal transection. Dose-response curves were obtained for quipazine (nonselective 5-hydroxytryptamine [5-HT] agonist; 1.0-10.0 mg/kg), CGS-12066A (5-HT1B agonist; 1.0-30.0 mg/kg), and α-methylserotonin (α-Me-5-HT; 5-HT? agonist; 0.2-15.0 mg/kg). During a 10-min test, each of the agonists (delivered via intraperitoneal injection) influenced fetal behavior: They increased the occurrence of head movements, mouthing, and hindlimb stepping. Quipazine and α-Me-5-HT also promoted hindlimb activity in spinal fetuses. Thus, stimulation of the fetal 5-HT system modulates motor activity at multiple levels of the developing central nervous system. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)