Applying the Electrochemical Deposition Technology to Construct the Hybrid Devices

Nanowires functionalized by special molecules can be used to as the candidates for biological application in many areas. In this paper, nickel nanowires, which were fabricated by electrochemical deposition and functionalized by biotinylated peptide, were applied to constructing the hybrid device powered by F-1-ATPase motors.

Hopwood Hall College: Touchscreen technology overtakes interactive whiteboards as interactive teaching tool of choice

Hopwood Hall is adopting the use of touch screen technology and gradually replacing its interactive whiteboards to improve access to interactive learning. The touch screen monitors connected to LCD TV’s provide a cheaper classroom build with technology that’s more user-friendly and better suited to classroom delivery. Until now, interactive boards had been the mainstay of classrooms but they created teaching barriers for staff including the additional software to learn and master. They are also expensive and often have usability issues with 'pens' not working or having a delay when used as the mouse tool.

Essex ACL - Broadening horizons with blended learning - technology toolkit for foreign language tutors

As part of an LSIS Regional Response Fund project, Essex Adult Community Learning (ACL) has created a toolkit. The toolkit provides training for foreign language tutors in producing digital resources which combine audio, video, text and communication activities. The toolkit which is now an integral part of a blended learning language course, has also developed tutors' skills in using technology for teaching and learning. The main aim has also been to provide an alternative and flexible method of delivery, especially where funding cuts have impacted on the cost of running taught courses.

Squaring the circle. Social and environmental implications of pre-pottery neolithic building technology at Tell Qarassa (South Syria)

We present the results of the microstratigraphic, phytolith and wood charcoal study of the remains of a 10.5 ka roof. The roof is part of a building excavated at Tell Qarassa (South Syria), assigned to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period (PPNB). The Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) period in the Levant coincides with the emergence of farming. This fundamental change in subsistence strategy implied the shift from mobile to settled aggregated life, and from tents and huts to hard buildings. As settled life spread across the Levant, a generalised transition from round to square buildings occurred, that is a trademark of the PPNB period. The study of these buildings is fundamental for the understanding of the ever-stronger reciprocal socio-ecological relationship humans developed with the local environment since the introduction of sedentism and domestication. Descriptions of buildings in PPN archaeological contexts are usually restricted to the macroscopic observation of wooden elements (posts and beams) and mineral components (daub, plaster and stone elements). Reconstructions of microscopic and organic components are frequently based on ethnographic analogy. The direct study of macroscopic and microscopic, organic and mineral, building components performed at Tell Qarassa provides new insights on building conception, maintenance, use and destruction. These elements reflect new emerging paradigms in the relationship between Neolithic societies and the environment. A square building was possibly covered here with a radial roof, providing a glance into a topologic shift in the conception and understanding of volumes, from round-based to square-based geometries. Macroscopic and microscopic roof components indicate buildings were conceived for year-round residence rather than seasonal mobility. This implied performing maintenance and restoration of partially damaged buildings, as well as their adaptation to seasonal variability