BOHMs AWAY! Lessons from a Collection Survey

VCU James Branch Cabell Library underwent a major renovation and expansion from 2014 to 2016, necessitating a move of all special collections and archives materials. After the move we surveyed our collections to help us regain intellectual and physical control. In addition, the survey allowed us to assess whether collections were in need of additional processing or reprocessing to make them more accessible physically and intellectually, identify special formats, and address conservation issues. To conduct the survey, we created a form and used this in conjunction with the assessment tool in Archivists’ Toolkit. The form included checklists to note information such as material formats other than paper, specific condition and preservation issues, as well as a general notes field. For brevity and consistency, we created a list of abbreviations to use. Collections were ranked using an agreed upon set of criteria in multiple categories. The rankings have helped determine which collections are in most need of attention. During the course of the survey we discovered that not all collections were processed equally, meaning that they didn’t always conform to best practices and standards. This poster will expand upon what we learned and what we’re doing with the information we obtained

An integrated theory of language production and comprehension

Currently, production and comprehension are regarded as quite distinct in accounts of language processing. In rejecting this dichotomy, we instead assert that producing and understanding are interwoven, and that this interweaving is what enables people to predict themselves and each other. We start by noting that production and comprehension are forms of action and action perception. We then consider the evidence for interweaving in action, action perception, and joint action, and explain such evidence in terms of prediction. Specifically, we assume that actors construct forward models of their actions before they execute those actions, and that perceivers of others' actions covertly imitate those actions, then construct forward models of those actions. We use these accounts of action, action perception, and joint action to develop accounts of production, comprehension, and interactive language. Importantly, they incorporate well-defined levels of linguistic representation (such as semantics, syntax, and phonology). We show (a) how speakers and comprehenders use covert imitation and forward modeling to make predictions at these levels of representation, (b) how they interweave production and comprehension processes, and (c) how they use these predictions to monitor the upcoming utterances. We show how these accounts explain a range of behavioral and neuroscientific data on language processing and discuss some of the implications of our proposal

Virtual patient design : exploring what works and why : a grounded theory study

Objectives: Virtual patients (VPs) are online representations of clinical cases used in medical education. Widely adopted, they are well placed to teach clinical reasoning skills. International technology standards mean VPs can be created, shared and repurposed between institutions. A systematic review has highlighted the lack of evidence to support which of the numerous VP designs may be effective, and why. We set out to research the influence of VP design on medical undergraduates. Methods: This is a grounded theory study into the influence of VP design on undergraduate medical students. Following a review of the literature and publicly available VP cases, we identified important design properties. We integrated them into two substantial VPs produced for this research. Using purposeful iterative sampling, 46 medical undergraduates were recruited to participate in six focus groups. Participants completed both VPs, an evaluation and a 1-hour focus group discussion. These were digitally recorded, transcribed and analysed using grounded theory, supported by computer-assisted analysis. Following open, axial and selective coding, we produced a theoretical model describing how students learn from VPs. Results: We identified a central core phenomenon designated ‘learning from the VP’. This had four categories: VP Construction; External Preconditions; Student–VP Interaction, and Consequences. From these, we constructed a three-layer model describing the interactions of students with VPs. The inner layer consists of the student's cognitive and behavioural preconditions prior to sitting a case. The middle layer considers the VP as an ‘encoded object’, an e-learning artefact and as a ‘constructed activity’, with associated pedagogic and organisational elements. The outer layer describes cognitive and behavioural change. Conclusions: This is the first grounded theory study to explore VP design. This original research has produced a model which enhances understanding of how and why the delivery and design of VPs influence learning. The model may be of practical use to authors, institutions and researchers

Genetics of Severe Obesity

Purpose of Review This review aims to present current information on genes underlying severe obesity, with the main emphasis on the three genes LEP, LEPR and MC4R. Recent Findings There is a substantial amount of evidence that variants in at least ten different genes are the cause of severe monogenic obesity. The majority of these are involved in the leptin-melanocortin signalling pathway. Due to the frequency of some of the identified variants, it is clear that monogenic variants also make a significant contribution to common obesity. Summary The artificial distinction between rare monogenic obesity and common polygenic obesity is now obsolete with the identification of MC4R variants of strong effect in the general population. Keywords Obesity Leptin Melanocortin-4 receptor GWAS BM

High-energy kink in high-temperature superconductors

In conventional metals, electron-phonon coupling, or the phonon-mediated interaction between electrons, has long been known to be the pairing interaction responsible for the superconductivity. The strength of this interaction essentially determines the superconducting transition temperature TC. One manifestation of electron-phonon coupling is a mass renormalization of the electronic dispersion at the energy scale associated with the phonons. This renormalization is directly observable in photoemission experiments. In contrast, there remains little consensus on the pairing mechanism in cuprate high temperature superconductors. The recent observation of similar renormalization effects in cuprates has raised the hope that the mechanism of high temperature superconductivity may finally be resolved. The focus has been on the low energy renormalization and associated "kink" in the dispersion at around 50 meV. However at that energy scale, there are multiple candidates including phonon branches, structure in the spin-fluctuation spectrum, and the superconducting gap itself, making the unique identification of the excitation responsible for the kink difficult. Here we show that the low-energy renormalization at ~50 meV is only a small component of the total renormalization, the majority of which occurs at an order of magnitude higher energy (~350 meV). This high energy kink poses a new challenge for the physics of the cuprates. Its role in superconductivity and relation to the low-energy kink remains to be determined.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

Fine Details of the Nodal Electronic Excitations in Bi2_2Sr2_2CaCu2_2O8+δ_{8+\delta}

Very high energy resolution photoemission experiments on high quality samples of optimally doped Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+\delta}$ show new features in the low-energy electronic excitations. A marked change in the binding energy and temperature dependence of the near-nodal scattering rates is observed near the superconducting transition temperature, $T_C$. The temperature slope of the scattering rate measured at low energy shows a discontinuity at ~$T_C$. In the superconducting state, coherent excitations are found with the scattering rates showing a cubic dependence on frequency and temperature. The superconducting gap has a d-wave magnitude with negligible contribution from higher harmonics. Further, the bi-layer splitting has been found to be finite at the nodal point.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Evaluation of selected chemical processes for production of low-cost silicon phase 2. silicon material task, low-cost silicon solar array project

Progress from October 1, 1977, through December 31, 1977, is reported in the design of the 50 MT/year experimental facility for the preparation of high purity silicon by the zinc vapor reduction of silicon tetrachloride in a fluidized bed of seed particles to form a free flowing granular product

Using transfer entropy to study synaptic integration in Purkinje cells

Peer reviewe