Plagiarism in e-learning systems: Identifying and solving the problem for practical assignments

A big part of life long learning is the move from residential lectures to distance education. Distance education falls under the multi-modal policy of the teaching institution and thereby a change in student contact. The lecturer facilitating the distance education course is also faced with a problem where the quality and originality of submitted assignments need to be checked. This has always been a difficult task, as going through practical assignments and looking for similarities is a tedious job. Software checkers are available, but as yet, have not been integrated into popular online e-learning systems. If closer contact and warning to students are given at an early stage the problem is minimized as they know they are being closely monitored. As will be shown in this article, plagiarism is a current problem with online practical submissions. We will also show how this problem can be minimized through the integration of plagiarism checking tools and other checking methods into e-learning systems

Pterodactylus scolopaciceps Meyer, 1860 (Pterosauria, Pterodactyloidea) from the Upper Jurassic of Bavaria, Germany:the problem of Cryptic Pterosaur Taxa in early ontogeny

The taxonomy of the Late Jurassic pterodactyloid pterosaur Pterodactylus scolopaciceps Meyer, 1860 from the Solnhofen Limestone Formation of Bavaria, Germany is reviewed. Its nomenclatural history is long and complex, having been synonymised with both P. kochi (Wagner, 1837), and P. antiquus (Sömmerring, 1812). The majority of pterosaur species from the Solnhofen Limestone, including P. scolopaciceps are represented by juveniles. Consequently, specimens can appear remarkably similar due to juvenile characteristics detracting from taxonomic differences that are exaggerated in later ontogeny. Previous morphological and morphometric analyses have failed to separate species or even genera due to this problem, and as a result many species have been subsumed into a single taxon. A hypodigm for P. scolopaciceps, comprising of the holotype (BSP AS V 29 a/b) and material Broili referred to the taxon is described. P. scolopaciceps is found to be a valid taxon, but placement within Pterodactylus is inappropriate. Consequently, the new genus Aerodactylus is erected to accommodate it. Aerodactylus can be diagnosed on account of a unique suite of characters including jaws containing 16 teeth per-jaw, per-side, which are more sparsely distributed caudally and terminate rostral to the nasoantorbital fenestra; dorsal surface of the skull is subtly depressed rostral of the cranial table; rostrum very elongate (RI = ∼7), terminating in a point; orbits correspondingly low and elongate; elongate cervical vertebrae (approximately three times the length of their width); wing-metacarpal elongate, but still shorter than the ulna and first wing-phalanx; and pteroid approximately 65% of the total length of the ulna, straight and extremely thin (less than one third the width of the ulna). A cladistic analysis demonstrates that Aerodactylus is distinct from Pterodactylus, but close to Cycnorhamphus Seeley, 1870, Ardeadactylus Bennett, 2013a and Aurorazhdarcho Frey, Meyer and Tischlinger, 2011, consequently we erect the inclusive taxon Aurorazhdarchidae for their reception

Transient Accelerated Expansion and Double Quintessence

We consider Double Quintessence models for which the Dark Energy sector consists of two coupled scalar fields. We study in particular the possibility to have a transient acceleration in these models. In both Double Quintessence models studied here, it is shown that if acceleration occurs, it is necessarily transient. We consider also the possibility to have transient acceleration in two one-field models, the Albrecht-Skordis model and the pure exponential. Using separate conservative constraints (marginalizing over the other parameters) on the effective equation of state $w_{eff}$, the relative density of the Dark Energy $\Omega_{Q,0}$ and the present age of the universe, we construct scenarios with a transient acceleration that has already ended at the present time, and even with no acceleration at all, but a less conservative analysis using the CMB data rules out the last possibility. The scenario with a transient acceleration ended by today, can be implemented for the range of cosmological parameters $\Omega_{m,0}\gtrsim 0.35$ and $h\lesssim 0.68$.Comment: Version accepted in Phys. Rev. D, 22 pages, 10 figures, 4 table

Repair of Aberrant Splicing in Growth Hormone Receptor by Antisense Oligonucleotides Targeting the Splice Sites of a Pseudoexon

Context: The GH receptor (GHR) pseudoexon 6 Psi defect is a frequent cause of GH insensitivity (GHI) resulting from a non-functioning GH receptor (GHR). It results in a broad range of phenotypes and may also be present in patients diagnosed as idiopathic short stature.Objective: Our objective was to correct aberrant GHR splicing and inclusion of 6 Psi using exon-skipping antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs).Design and Setting: Three ASOs binding the 5' (ASO-5), 3' (ASO-3), and branch site (ASO-Br) of 6 Psi were tested in an in vitro splicing assay and a cell transfection system. The wild-type (wt) and mutant (mt) DNA minigenes (wt- and mtL1-GHR6 Psi-L2, respectively) were created by inserting the GHR 6 Psi in a well-characterized splice reporter (Adml-par). For the in vitro splicing assay, the wt- and mtL1-GHR6 Psi-L2 were transcribed into pre-mRNA in the presence of [alpha P-32]GTP and incubated with ASOs in HeLa nuclear extracts. For the cell transfection studies, wt-and mtL1-GHR6 Psi-L2 cloned into pcDNA 3.1 were transfected with ASOs into HEK293 cells. After 48 h, RNA was extracted and radiolabeled RT-PCR products quantified.Results: ASO-3 induced an almost complete pseudoexon skipping in vitro and in HEK293 cells. This effect was dose dependent and maximal at 125-250 nM. ASO-5 produced modest pseudoexon skipping, whereas ASO-Br had no effect. Targeting of two splice elements simultaneously was less effective than targeting one. ASO-Br was tested on the wtL1-GHR6 Psi-L2 and did not act as an enhancer of 6 Psi inclusion.Conclusions: The exon-skipping ASO approach was effective in correcting aberrant GHR splicing and may be a promising therapeutic tool. (J Clin Endocrinol Metab 95: 3542-3546, 2010

Dissipation peak as an indicator of sample inhomogeneity in solid 4^4He oscillator experiments

A simple phenomenological model is developed for the recent torsional oscillator experiments on solid $^4$He. Within this model, for a homogeneous sample there is a specific quantitative relation between the change in the oscillator's frequency and its maximum damping at the apparent supersolid transition. Much of the published data do not satisfy this relation, indicating that the dissipation peaks in those samples are strongly inhomogeneously broadened.Comment: 2 page

Single hole transistor in a p-Si/SiGe quantum well

A single hole transistor is patterned in a p-Si/SiGe quantum well by applying voltages to nanostructured top gate electrodes. Gating is achieved by oxidizing the etched semiconductor surface and the mesa walls before evaporation of the top gates. Pronounced Coulomb blockade effects are observed at small coupling of the transistor island to source and drain.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figure

Bragg-induced orbital angular-momentum mixing in paraxial high-finesse cavities

Numerical calculation of vector electromagnetic modes of plano-concave microcavities reveals that the polarization-dependent reflectivity of a flat Bragg mirror can lead to unexpected cavity field distributions for nominally paraxial modes. Even in a rotationally symmetric resonator, certain pairs of orbital angular momenta are necessarily mixed in an excitation-independent way to form doublets. A characteristic mixing angle is identified, which even in the paraxial limit can be designed to have large values. This correction to Gaussian theory is zeroth-order in deviations from paraxiality. We discuss the resulting nonuniform polarization fields. Observation will require small cavities with sufficiently high Q. Possible applications are proposed.Comment: Corrected typos in Fig. 2 and text. Added Journal Ref. For higher-quality figures, see http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~noeckel/papers.php#xref3

Agglomeration mechanism during the preparation of nickel(0) and iron(0) zeolites

Magnetization measurements have been used to study the reduction process of Ni - zeolites and the thermal decomposition of iron pentacarbonyl adsorbed on NaY zeolites . The Ni(0) particle size distribution in H2»reduced NiNaA, Ni NaX, Ni NaY and NiNaM is bidisperse. The amount and the volume of particles exceeding the cage dimensions increases in the sequence Μ,Υ,Χ,Α zeolites. Particle fusion is found to be the rate determining step. With decomposition of Fe(C0)5/NaY adducts, up to 97 wt.% of the iron particles produced are smaller than 1.3 nm. Fluidized sample bed, inert gas atmosphere and fast heating up to 440 Κ are essential to reach mononodal dispersion