Web-based experiments in physics and chemistry

Experiments are being developed which can be accessed remotely by students atschools and colleges. These experiments, which are interactive and allow users tocommunicate with real equipment (not simulations) through the Internet, are intended to enhance a range of courses in the physical sciences

Why Should On-line Experiments Form Part of University Science Courses?

Just as in government, it seems that there are always "buzz words" in teaching. In many Western countries the present favourites include "Lifelong Learning" and "Distance Education", reflecting the view that education should be universally available to students, irrespective of age and location. The importance of Lifelong Learning and Distance Education is apparent in an increasing number of articles published on these issues, and a bias in European Union funding devoted to research into them. Much progress has been made in recent years; one might (perhaps cynically) suggest that an increase in the number of published papers is an inevitable consequence of increased funding, but the growing interest in these areas is also a consequence of a widespread recognition that they are areas of genuine importance. The principle catalyst for the expansion of distance learning has been the evolution of the Internet. Internet-based learning can take place anywhere, provided that access is provided to a computer, telephone and modem, and such access is, of course, now common in the Western World. If learning is to be effective, there must be suitable teaching material available on-line, but most scientists are computer-literate, and many have been quick to develop web-based material. As a result, the quantity of on-line science tutorials, databases and auxiliary materials, such as interactive periodic tables, is now very considerable. Because of the ease with which subject matter can be "published" on the Web and the general lack of peer review, on-line material is not always of the highest quality. However, there is much which is accessible, authoritative and well-constructed, and the quantity of this in scientific areas is now such that one could study substantial portions of a chemistry degree course entirely on-line. It is inevitable that distance learning will continue to grow in importance as access to the Web broadens. Web-based material offers advantages in speed of delivery, flexibility and cost, and schools and universities will increase their use of electronic information because of this. However, a crucial ingredient is missing from on-line science: there is almost no opportunity for students to carry out experiments - as opposed to interact with simulations - through the Internet. In subjects such as physics and chemistry, which are inherently experimental, this is a serious limitation. To develop the broadest possible understanding of science, it is important that students can experience the practical side of the subject, even if they have no direct access to a laboratory. The Internet offers the chance for remote learners to study the principles of science on-line, but it can also provide the means by which they can carry out practical work. Similarly, the Internet will allow practical courses for those students who are taught in more traditional surroundings to be enhanced. The potential and practicalities of experiments conducted over the Internet form the topic of this article

THE ROLE OF TEST MAKING IN LEARNING PROCESS

Almost always with the word test a question comes to mind with four or fve possible answers. Students usually think of multiple-choice questions (MCQs) when they are told to get tested. Testing means testing students\u27 knowledge using different types of question forms. The proposed article examines the academic performance test, which was developed by the administration of the Uzbekistan English Teachers Association (UZTEA) for Year 2 students of lyceums and colleges. The purpose of this study is to discuss test constructs and propose a more reliable version of them if the reason for the unsatisfactory results depends on the evaluation criteria. Both formal and fnal tests were developed by the administration of the Uzbekistan English Teachers Association (UZTEA). There are specifc assessment criteria and objectives based on the curriculum, consisting of four types of questions, addressing the respective four competencies, that is, to test the ability of students in the four core skills. In our study, only criteria related to reading skills will be considered. Reading comprehension questions will be reviewed following relevant developments and recommendations from experts and testing requirements. The importance of the Test Modifcation Project for English teachers is that test scores tend to be directly related to the content of the tests. The differences between the tests involved in the study and their modifed versions will be considered by the specifcity of the tests, based on certain criteria and fve principles of test desig

msmsEval: tandem mass spectral quality assignment for high-throughput proteomics

Background: In proteomics experiments, database-search programs are the method of choice for protein identification from tandem mass spectra. As amino acid sequence databases grow however, computing resources required for these programs have become prohibitive, particularly in searches for modified proteins. Recently, methods to limit the number of spectra to be searched based on spectral quality have been proposed by different research groups, but rankings of spectral quality have thus far been based on arbitrary cut-off values. In this work, we develop a more readily interpretable spectral quality statistic by providing probability values for the likelihood that spectra will be identifiable. Results: We describe an application, msmsEval, that builds on previous work by statistically modeling the spectral quality discriminant function using a Gaussian mixture model. This allows a researcher to filter spectra based on the probability that a spectrum will ultimately be identified by database searching. We show that spectra that are predicted by msmsEval to be of high quality, yet remain unidentified in standard database searches, are candidates for more intensive search strategies. Using a well studied public dataset we also show that a high proportion (83.9%) of the spectra predicted by msmsEval to be of high quality but that elude standard search strategies, are in fact interpretable. Conclusion: msmsEval will be useful for high-throughput proteomics projects and is freely available for download from http://proteomics.ucd.ie/msmseval. Supports Windows, Mac OS X and Linux/Unix operating systems

Exploring the ecological feasibility of restoring Eurasian lynx to Great Britain using spatially explicit individual-based modelling

Highlights: • Great Britain lacks top carnivores, reintroduction may help ecosystem restoration. • Empirically derived habitat suitability models can provide crucial insights. • Spatially explicit demogenetic models offer a fuller picture of long-term viability. • Suitable release sites and key drivers of reintroduction success were identified. • In the best sites reintroduction could succeed under current habitat conditions. Abstract: Ecological restoration offers a multitude of benefits for the human-nature system, which has put it at the forefront of international initiatives opposing environmental degradation. In Great Britain, the reintroduction of Eurasian lynx has been proposed to help improve ecosystem health, raising the question; what is the ecological feasibility of lynx reintroduction in Great Britain? Combining a lynx-specific spatially explicit individual-based model and contemporary habitat suitability mapping would shed new light on this question. We hypothesised potential drivers of reintroduction success, including demographic parameters, behavioural responses in habitat selection, and management strategies. We further hypothesised that reintroductions may not be viable in some regions, therefore, we considered scenarios with improved habitat to understand the potential effect of national habitat creation policies. We aimed to provide evidence on practical and ecological conditions necessary for successful reintroduction to support stakeholder discussions. We found that the release site was critical to ensure low extinction probability and advantageous population expansion for demographic viability and maintenance of neutral genetic diversity. Specifically, Aberdeenshire, Galloway, and Kielder Forest had robust reintroduction success under diverse conditions, even without the hypothesised habitat improvements. Our simulations suggested a population of 240 individuals could emerge from a release in Aberdeenshire and population of 60 individuals from a release in either Kielder Forest or Galloway, all with allelic richness >2 and extinction probabilities ≤5 %. Our work suggests a well-planned, legal, lynx reintroduction in Great Britain could be feasible, provided there is acceptance in key stakeholder groups

EuroPhenome: a repository for high-throughput mouse phenotyping data.

The broad aim of biomedical science in the postgenomic era is to link genomic and phenotype information to allow deeper understanding of the processes leading from genomic changes to altered phenotype and disease. The EuroPhenome project (http://www.EuroPhenome.org) is a comprehensive resource for raw and annotated high-throughput phenotyping data arising from projects such as EUMODIC. EUMODIC is gathering data from the EMPReSSslim pipeline (http://www.empress.har.mrc.ac.uk/) which is performed on inbred mouse strains and knock-out lines arising from the EUCOMM project. The EuroPhenome interface allows the user to access the data via the phenotype or genotype. It also allows the user to access the data in a variety of ways, including graphical display, statistical analysis and access to the raw data via web services. The raw phenotyping data captured in EuroPhenome is annotated by an annotation pipeline which automatically identifies statistically different mutants from the appropriate baseline and assigns ontology terms for that specific test. Mutant phenotypes can be quickly identified using two EuroPhenome tools: PhenoMap, a graphical representation of statistically relevant phenotypes, and mining for a mutant using ontology terms. To assist with data definition and cross-database comparisons, phenotype data is annotated using combinations of terms from biological ontologies

The White Mountain Polarimeter Telescope and an Upper Limit on CMB Polarization

The White Mountain Polarimeter (WMPol) is a dedicated ground-based microwave telescope and receiver system for observing polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background. WMPol is located at an altitude of 3880 meters on a plateau in the White Mountains of Eastern California, USA, at the Barcroft Facility of the University of California White Mountain Research Station. Presented here is a description of the instrument and the data collected during April through October 2004. We set an upper limit on $E$-mode polarization of 14 $\mu\mathrm{K}$ (95% confidence limit) in the multipole range $170<\ell<240$. This result was obtained with 422 hours of observations of a 3 $\mathrm{deg}^2$ sky area about the North Celestial Pole, using a 42 GHz polarimeter. This upper limit is consistent with $EE$ polarization predicted from a standard $\Lambda$-CDM concordance model.Comment: 35 pages. 12 figures. To appear in ApJ

Humanity's Last Exam

Benchmarks are important tools for tracking the rapid advancements in large language model (LLM) capabilities. However, benchmarks are not keeping pace in difficulty: LLMs now achieve over 90\% accuracy on popular benchmarks like MMLU, limiting informed measurement of state-of-the-art LLM capabilities. In response, we introduce Humanity's Last Exam (HLE), a multi-modal benchmark at the frontier of human knowledge, designed to be the final closed-ended academic benchmark of its kind with broad subject coverage. HLE consists of 3,000 questions across dozens of subjects, including mathematics, humanities, and the natural sciences. HLE is developed globally by subject-matter experts and consists of multiple-choice and short-answer questions suitable for automated grading. Each question has a known solution that is unambiguous and easily verifiable, but cannot be quickly answered via internet retrieval. State-of-the-art LLMs demonstrate low accuracy and calibration on HLE, highlighting a significant gap between current LLM capabilities and the expert human frontier on closed-ended academic questions. To inform research and policymaking upon a clear understanding of model capabilities, we publicly release HLE at https://lastexam.ai

Collaborative Synthesis for Neglected Diseases through the Open Synthesis Network: Structure–Activity Relationships of Arylaminopyrazoles as Chagas Disease Treatments

Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) make up a diverse group of debilitating illnesses disproportionately affecting impoverished communities in tropical and subtropical regions. Despite their significant global health burden, they are often overshadowed by more prominent diseases, resulting in a critical lack of investment in the research and development of new treatments. A renewed focus on NTDs is, therefore, urgently needed, particularly in terms of novel therapeutic strategies. The Open Synthesis Network, launched by DNDi and partner institutions in 2016, is an innovation powerhouse that taps into the potential of students to help drive the discovery of new drugs for patients living with NTDs. We present the results of student-led work into the development of a series of aminopyrazoles for Chagas disease, a multisystemic disease caused by the Trypanosoma cruzi parasite. Seventy-four compounds were synthesized by undergraduate and postgraduate students from six universities from Brazil, Ghana, Germany, USA, and UK, illustrating that open innovation and collaboration for education can drive drug discovery forward. Early evaluation of the structure−activity relationships identified a range of potent hit compounds with selectivity for T. cruzi and no observable cytotoxicity. continued..