Evaluating the use of lecture capture using a revealed preference approach

This article discusses the introduction of lecture capture technology on a large undergraduate module with diverse student cohorts. Literature has so far relied on surveying students to discover their use of the technology or attempted to quantify the impact of watching lecture recordings on assessment performance. Alternatively, the principal contribution of this article is an evaluation of the use of the recorded lectures using a revealed preference approach. Specifically we identify to what extent students watched lecture recordings, rather than simply claimed to watch them when asked to provide comments on the technology. Data indicates the number of distinct students who watched recordings, the frequency with which they watched recordings, the average length of viewings as well as the time of day when lectures were viewed. We monitored viewings over two academic years, identifying ‘spikes’ in the number of viewings in the days before tests, as well as regularities in the viewing patterns across the two years. We analyse the data to assess the extent to which students used the recordings, how and when they watched the recordings. We conclude that the students value lecture recordings, making more extensive use of the recordings than has been identified in the literature to date. Ultimately, lecture recordings are suggested to offer valuable support for students’ independent study

Ex-servicemen's organisations and the Weimar Republic

The history of the ex-servicemen's associations during the Weimar Republic is one of social and political disunity. Losing its monopoly, semi-establishment role in 1918, the KyffhHuserbund had to fight for its survival against the new more definitely political organisations of Right and Left, together with the new 'glitist' OffiziersverbHnde. The Bund retrenched its position between 1919 and 1923 and adhered closely to its statutory "Uberparteilichkeit", refraining from attacks on the Republic. No so with the OffiziersverbHnde, particularly the National- verband deutscher Offiziere, who joined the hostile "patriotic" opposition from the outset. Between 1923 and 1928 even the KyffhHuserbund "moved to the Right". Despite close links re-established with the government, especially in the fields of military training and militarist propaganda, contacts with "right radical" associations tended to blur the distinctions between them. General von Horn tried, albeit hesitantly, to redefine the Bund's ethical position after 1928, mainly by dropping ties with political societies, criticising the radical agitation of the NSDAP, and even by taking up contacts with the Evangelical Church. His opposition to Hitler in the 1932 presidential elections played an important part in deferring the Nazi "Machtergreifung". Nevertheless the bulk of the propaganda of the veterans' associations tended in the long run to serve the ends of the DNVP and NSDAP, and Horn failed to maintain his moderate policy in the face of strenuous opposition from within the Bund. In view of the size and prestige of the KyffhHuserbund it could well have made a more positive contribution to the cause of moderate conservatism, even to that of constitutional monarchy. Nevertheless, the Kriegervereine differed from the KampfbUnde in the important question of motivation: Ex-servicemen generally joined them looking for comradeship and economic security, NOT for political or military activity

Computer simulation of syringomyelia in dogs

Syringomyelia is a pathological condition in which fluid-filled cavities (syringes) form and expand in the spinal cord. Syringomyelia is often linked with obstruction of the craniocervical junction and a Chiari malformation, which is similar in both humans and animals. Some brachycephalic toy breed dogs such as Cavalier King Charles Spaniels (CKCS) are particularly predisposed. The exact mechanism of the formation of syringomyelia is undetermined and consequently with the lack of clinical explanation, engineers and mathematicians have resorted to computer models to identify possible physical mechanisms that can lead to syringes. We developed a computer model of the spinal cavity of a CKCS suffering from a large syrinx. The model was excited at the cranial end to simulate the movement of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and the spinal cord due to the shift of blood volume in the cranium related to the cardiac cycle. To simulate the normal condition, the movement was prescribed to the CSF. To simulate the pathological condition, the movement of CSF was blocked

Paraoxonase 2 protein is spatially expressed in the human placenta and selectively reduced in labour

Humans parturition involves interaction of hormonal, neurological, mechanical stretch and inflammatory pathways and the placenta plays a crucial role. The paraoxonases (PONs 1–3) protect against oxidative damage and lipid peroxidation, modulation of endoplasmic reticulum stress and regulation of apoptosis. Nothing is known about the role of PON2 in the placenta and labour. Since PON2 plays a role in oxidative stress and inflammation, both features of labour, we hypothesised that placental PON2 expression would alter during labour. PON2 was examined in placentas obtained from women who delivered by cesarean section and were not in labour and compared to the equivalent zone of placentas obtained from women who delivered vaginally following an uncomplicated labour. Samples were obtained from 12 sites within each placenta: 4 equally spaced apart pieces were sampled from the inner, middle and outer placental regions. PON2 expression was investigated by Western blotting and real time PCR. Two PON2 forms, one at 62 kDa and one at 43 kDa were found in all samples. No difference in protein expression of either isoform was found between the three sites in either the labour or non-labour group. At the middle site there was a highly significant decrease in PON2 expression in the labour group when compared to the non-labour group for both the 62 kDa form (p = 0.02) and the 43 kDa form (p = 0.006). No spatial differences were found within placentas at the mRNA level in either labour or non-labour. There was, paradoxically, an increase in PON2 mRNA in the labour group at the middle site only. This is the first report to describe changes in PON2 in the placenta in labour. The physiological and pathological significance of these remains to be elucidated but since PON2 is anti-inflammatory further studies are warranted to understand its role

Perinatal risk factors for neonatal encephalopathy: an unmatched case-control study

OBJECTIVE: Neonatal encephalopathy (NE) is the third leading cause of child mortality. Preclinical studies suggest infection and inflammation can sensitise or precondition the newborn brain to injury. This study examined perinatal risks factor for NE in Uganda. DESIGN: Unmatched case-control study. SETTING: Mulago National Referral Hospital, Kampala, Uganda. METHODS: 210 term infants with NE and 409 unaffected term infants as controls were recruited over 13 months. Data were collected on preconception, antepartum and intrapartum exposures. Blood culture, species-specific bacterial real-time PCR, C reactive protein and placental histology for chorioamnionitis and funisitis identified maternal and early newborn infection and inflammation. Multivariable logistic regression examined associations with NE. RESULTS: Neonatal bacteraemia (adjusted OR (aOR) 8.67 (95% CI 1.51 to 49.74), n=315) and histological funisitis (aOR 11.80 (95% CI 2.19 to 63.45), n=162) but not chorioamnionitis (aOR 3.20 (95% CI 0.66 to 15.52), n=162) were independent risk factors for NE. Among encephalopathic infants, neonatal case fatality was not significantly higher when exposed to early neonatal bacteraemia (OR 1.65 (95% CI 0.62 to 4.39), n=208). Intrapartum antibiotic use did not improve neonatal survival (p=0.826). After regression analysis, other identified perinatal risk factors (n=619) included hypertension in pregnancy (aOR 3.77), male infant (aOR 2.51), non-cephalic presentation (aOR 5.74), lack of fetal monitoring (aOR 2.75), augmentation (aOR 2.23), obstructed labour (aOR 3.8) and an acute intrapartum event (aOR 8.74). CONCLUSIONS: Perinatal infection and inflammation are independent risk factors for NE in this low-resource setting, supporting a role in the aetiological pathway of term brain injury. Intrapartum antibiotic administration did not mitigate against adverse outcomes. The importance of intrapartum risk factors in this sub-Saharan African setting is highlighted

Blow-up profile of rotating 2D focusing Bose gases

We consider the Gross-Pitaevskii equation describing an attractive Bose gas trapped to a quasi 2D layer by means of a purely harmonic potential, and which rotates at a fixed speed of rotation $\Omega$. First we study the behavior of the ground state when the coupling constant approaches $a\_*$ , the critical strength of the cubic nonlinearity for the focusing nonlinear Schr{\"o}dinger equation. We prove that blow-up always happens at the center of the trap, with the blow-up profile given by the Gagliardo-Nirenberg solution. In particular, the blow-up scenario is independent of $\Omega$, to leading order. This generalizes results obtained by Guo and Seiringer (Lett. Math. Phys., 2014, vol. 104, p. 141--156) in the non-rotating case. In a second part we consider the many-particle Hamiltonian for $N$ bosons, interacting with a potential rescaled in the mean-field manner $--a\_N N^{2\beta--1} w(N^{\beta} x), with$w$a positive function such that$\int\_{\mathbb{R}^2} w(x) dx = 1$. Assuming that$\beta < 1/2$and that$a\_N \to a\_*$sufficiently slowly, we prove that the many-body system is fully condensed on the Gross-Pitaevskii ground state in the limit$N \to \infty$

Managing uncertainty in data-derived densities to accelerate density functional theory

Faithful representations of atomic environments and general models for regression can be harnessed to learn electron densities that are close to the ground state. One of the applications of data-derived electron densities is to orbital-free density functional theory. However, extrapolations of densities learned from a training set to dissimilar structures could result in inaccurate results, which would limit the applicability of the method. Here, we show that a non-Bayesian approach can produce estimates of uncertainty which can successfully distinguish accurate from inaccurate predictions of electron density. We apply our approach to density functional theory where we initialise calculations with data-derived densities only when we are confident about their quality. This results in a guaranteed acceleration to self-consistency for configurations that are similar to those seen during training and could be useful for sampling based methods, where previous ground state densities cannot be used to initialise subsequent calculations

Treatment outcomes of new tuberculosis patients hospitalized in Kampala, Uganda: a prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: In most resource limited settings, new tuberculosis (TB) patients are usually treated as outpatients. We sought to investigate the reasons for hospitalisation and the predictors of poor treatment outcomes and mortality in a cohort of hospitalized new TB patients in Kampala, Uganda. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Ninety-six new TB patients hospitalised between 2003 and 2006 were enrolled and followed for two years. Thirty two were HIV-uninfected and 64 were HIV-infected. Among the HIV-uninfected, the commonest reasons for hospitalization were low Karnofsky score (47%) and need for diagnostic evaluation (25%). HIV-infected patients were commonly hospitalized due to low Karnofsky score (72%), concurrent illness (16%) and diagnostic evaluation (14%). Eleven HIV uninfected patients died (mortality rate 19.7 per 100 person-years) while 41 deaths occurred among the HIV-infected patients (mortality rate 46.9 per 100 person years). In all patients an unsuccessful treatment outcome (treatment failure, death during the treatment period or an unknown outcome) was associated with duration of TB symptoms, with the odds of an unsuccessful outcome decreasing with increasing duration. Among HIV-infected patients, an unsuccessful treatment outcome was also associated with male sex (P = 0.004) and age (P = 0.034). Low Karnofsky score (aHR = 8.93, 95% CI 1.88 - 42.40, P = 0.001) was the only factor significantly associated with mortality among the HIV-uninfected. Mortality among the HIV-infected was associated with the composite variable of CD4 and ART use, with patients with baseline CD4 below 200 cells/µL who were not on ART at a greater risk of death than those who were on ART, and low Karnofsky score (aHR = 2.02, 95% CI 1.02 - 4.01, P = 0.045). CONCLUSION: Poor health status is a common cause of hospitalisation for new TB patients. Mortality in this study was very high and associated with advanced HIV Disease and no use of ART

ADC Nonlinearity Correction for the Majorana Demonstrator

Imperfections in analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) cannot be ignored when signal digitization requirements demand both wide dynamic range and high resolution, as is the case for the Majorana Demonstrator 76Ge neutrinoless double-beta decay search. Enabling the experiment's high-resolution spectral analysis and efficient pulse shape discrimination required careful measurement and correction of ADC nonlinearities. A simple measurement protocol was developed that did not require sophisticated equipment or lengthy data-taking campaigns. A slope-dependent hysteresis was observed and characterized. A correction applied to digitized waveforms prior to signal processing reduced the differential and integral nonlinearities by an order of magnitude, eliminating these as dominant contributions to the systematic energy uncertainty at the double-beta decay Q value

Factors underlying age-related changes in discrete aiming

Age has a clear impact on one’s ability to make accurate goal-directed aiming movements. Older adults seem to plan slower and shorter-ranged initial pulses towards the target, and rely more on sensory feedback to ensure endpoint accuracy. Despite the fact that these age-related changes in manual aiming have been observed consistently, the underlying mechanism remains speculative. In an attempt to isolate four commonly suggested underlying factors, young and older adults were instructed to make discrete aiming movements under varying speed and accuracy constraints. Results showed that older adults were physically able to produce fast primary submovements and that they demonstrated similar movement-programming capacities as young adults. On the other hand, considerable evidence was found supporting a decreased visual feedback-processing efficiency and the implementation of a play-it-safe strategy in older age. In conclusion, a combination of the latter two factors seems to underlie the age-related changes in manual aiming behaviour