Peer Rating for Feedback in Group Projects

The National Student Survey (NSS) in the UK has since 2005 questioned final year
undergraduate students on a broad range of issues relating to their university experience.
Across disciplines and universities students have expressed least satisfaction in the areas of
assessment and feedback. In response to these results many educational practitioners have
reviewed and revised their procedures and the UK Higher Education Academy (HEA) has
produced guidelines of best practice to assist academics in improving these specific areas.
The Product Design and Development (PDD) degree at Queen’s University Belfast is
structured with an integrated curriculum with group Design Build Test (DBT) projects as the
core of each year of the undergraduate programme. Based on the CDIO syllabus and
standards the overall learning outcomes for the programme are defined and developed in a
staged manner, guided by Bloom’s taxonomy of learning domains.
Feedback in group DBT projects, especially in relation to the development of personal and
professional skills, represents a different challenge to that of individual assignment feedback.
A review of best practice was carried out to establish techniques which could be applied to
the particular context of the PDD degree without modification and also to identify areas
where a different approach would need to be applied.
A revised procedure was then developed which utilised the structure of the PDD degree to
provide a mechanism for enhanced feedback in group project work, while at the same time
increasing student development of self and peer evaluation skills. Key to this improvement
was the separation of peer ratings from assessment in the perception of the students and the
introduction of more frequent face to face feedback interviews.
This paper details the new procedures developed and additional issues which have been
raised and addressed, with reference to the published literature, during 3 years of operation.

Impact of operator experience on information feedback and reusability

Keeping a record of operator experience remains a challenge to operation management and a major source of inefficiency in information management. The objective is to develop a framework that enables an explicit presentation of experience based on information use. A purposive sampling method is used to select four small and medium-sized enterprises as case studies. The unit of analysis is the production process in the machine shop. Data collection is by structured interview, observation and documentation. A comparative case analysis is applied. The findings suggest experience is an accumulation of tacit information feedback, which can be made explicit in information use interoperatability matrix. The matrix is conditioned upon information use typology, which is strategic in waste reduction. The limitations include difficulty of participant anonymity where the organisation nominates a participant. Areas for further research include application of the concepts to knowledge management and shop floor resource management.

Wind generation output during cold weather-driven electricity demand peaks in Ireland

Recent cold winters and prolonged periods of low wind speeds have prompted concerns about the increasing penetration of wind generation in the Irish and other northern European power systems. On the combined Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland system there was in excess of 1.5 GW of installed wind power in January 2010. As the penetration of these variable, non-dispatchable generators increases, power systems are becoming more sensitive to weather events on the supply side as well as on the demand side. In the temperate climate of Ireland, sensitivity of supply to weather is mainly due to wind variability while demand sensitivity is driven by space heating or cooling loads. The interplay of these two weather-driven effects is of particular concern if demand spikes driven by low temperatures coincide with periods of low winds. In December 2009 and January 2010 Ireland experienced a prolonged spell of unusually cold conditions. During much of this time, wind generation output was low due to low wind speeds. The impacts of this event are presented as a case study of the effects of weather extremes on power systems with high penetrations of variable renewable generation.

Feedback via Ca²⁺-activated ion channels modulates endothelin 1 signaling in retinal arteriolar smooth muscle

PURPOSE: To investigate the role of feedback by Ca²?-sensitive plasma-membrane ion channels in endothelin 1 (Et1) signaling in vitro and in vivo. Methods. Et1 responses were imaged from Fluo-4-loaded smooth muscle in isolated segments of rat retinal arteriole using two-dimensional (2-D) confocal laser microscopy. Vasoconstrictor responses to intravitreal injections of Et1 were recorded in the absence and presence of appropriate ion channel blockers using fluorescein angiograms imaged using a confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope. Results. Et1 (10 nM) increased both basal [Ca²?](i) and the amplitude and frequency of Ca²?-waves in retinal arterioles. The Ca²?-activated Cl?-channel blockers DIDS and 9-anthracene carboxylic acid (9AC) blocked Et1-induced increases in wave frequency, and 9AC also inhibited the increase in amplitude. Iberiotoxin, an inhibitor of large conductance (BK) Ca²?-activated K?-channels, increased wave amplitude in the presence of Et1 but had no effect on frequency. None of these drugs affected basal [Ca²?](i). The voltage-operated Ca²?-channel inhibitor nimodipine inhibited wave frequency and amplitude and also lowered basal [Ca²?](i) in the presence of Et1. Intravitreal injection of Et1 caused retinal arteriolar vasoconstriction. This was inhibited by DIDS but not by iberiotoxin or penitrem A, another BK-channel inhibitor. Conclusions. Et1 evokes increases in the frequency of arteriolar Ca²?-waves in vitro, resulting in vasoconstriction in vivo. These responses, initiated by release of stored Ca²?, also require positive feedback via Ca²?-activated Cl?-channels and L-type Ca²?-channels.

AND Logic Gates Based on Small Molecules with Chemical Inputs and Luminescence Output

AND logic gate behaviour can be recognized in chemical-responsive luminescence phenomena concerning small molecules. Though initial developments concerned separate and distinguishable chemical species as inputs, consideration of other types of input sets allows substantial expansion of the sub-field. Dissection of these molecular devices into modules, where possible, enables analysis of their logic behaviour according to supramolecular photochemical mechanisms.

An Examination of Volunteer Motivation in Credit Unions: Informing Volunteer Resource Management

Volunteer recruitment and retention is a problem that most credit unions experience. Research suggests that knowledge of volunteer motivation can inform volunteer management strategies. This paper uses a survey approach to determine whether current volunteers in credit unions in Northern Ireland are more motivated by the actual act of volunteering, by the output from the volunteering activity (including altruism) or because the volunteering activity increases their human capital value. Altruistic reasons are found to be the most influential, with the act of volunteering also scoring highly. This knowledge should inform volunteer recruitment programmes and internal appraisal processes as management can reinforce messages that provide positive feedback to volunteers on the social benefits being achieved by the credit union. This will further motivate current volunteers, ensuring retention. When motivation was analyzed by volunteer characteristics we found that older volunteers, retired volunteers and volunteers who are less educated are more motivated in their role. There was little evidence that individuals volunteer to improve their human capital worth.

The influence of prepulse level on the 3p-3s XUV laser output from Ne-like ions of Zn, Cu and Ni

We have studied the effect of prepulses in enhancing the efficiency of generating ASE beams in soft X-ray laser plasma amplifiers based on pumping Ne-like ions, Slab targets were irradiated with a weak prepulse followed by a main plasma heating pulse of nanosecond duration, Time-integrated; time and spectrally resolved and time and angularly resolved lasing emissions on the 3p-3s (J=0-1) XUV lasing lines of Ne-like Ni, Cu and Zn at wavelengths 232 Angstrom 221 Angstrom and 212 Angstrom respectively have been monitored. Measurements were made for pre-pulse/main-pulse intensity ratios from 10(-5)-10(-1) and for pump delay times of 2 ns and 4.5 ns. Zinc is shown to exhibit a peak in output intensity at similar to 2x10(-3) pre-pulse fraction for a 4.5 ns pump delay, with a main pulse pump intensity of similar to 1.3x10(13) W cm(-2) on a 20 mm target. The Zn lasing emission had a duration of similar to 240 ps and this was insensitive to prepulse fraction. The J=0-1 XUV laser output for nickel and copper increased monotonically with prepulse fraction, with copper targets showing least sensitivity to either prepulse level or prepulse to main pulse delay. Under the conditions of the study, the pre-pulse level was observed to haveno significant influence on the output intensity of the 3p-3s (J=2-1) lines of any of the elements investigated.

Saturated output of a Ge XXIII x-ray laser at 19.6 nm

We report on measurements of the saturated single frequency output of a Ge XXIII x-ray laser on the J=0-->1 transition at 19.6 nm from a refraction compensating double target driven by 150 J of energy from 75-ps Nd-glass laser pulses. The 19.6-nm line completely dominated the laser output. The output energy was measured to be 0.9 mJ in a beam of 6.6x30 mrad(2) divergence, corresponding to a conversion efficiency of 6 x 10(-6).

SATURATED AND NEAR DIFFRACTION-LIMITED ASE OUTPUT AT 23.6 NM

Amplification of spontaneous emission at 23.6 nm has been studied in a Ge plasma heated by a 1 TW, 1.06 mum wavelength, laser pulse. The exponent of the axial gain reached 21 in a geometry with Fresnel number less-than-or-equal-to 1. Two plasma columns were produced by irradiation of slab targets up to a combined length of 3.6 cm. A narrow band XUV mirror allowed double pass amplification. Saturation of ASE output at 23.6 nm was observed as a change from exponential to linear growth of the output with plasma length. Further evidence of the effect was provided by a decline in the ratio of the output at 23.6 nm to that at 23.2 nm from approximately 1.6: 1 to approximately 0.5: 1, the latter being the theoretically predicted value for saturated operation. The onset of saturation at gL almost-equal-to 15 is consistent with model calculations. The beam divergence was about 8x diffraction limited with a brightness estimated at almost-equal-to 10(14) W/cm2/ster.

SATURATED AND NEAR-DIFFRACTION-LIMITED OPERATION OF AN XUV LASER AT 23.6 NM

Amplification of spontaneous emission (ASE) at 23.6 nm has been studied in a Ge plasma heated by a 1 TW infrared laser pulse. The exponent of the axial gain reached 21 in a geometry with Fresnel number less-than-or-equal-to 1. Two plasma columns of combined length up to 36 mm were used with an extreme ultraviolet mirror giving double-pass amplification. Saturation of the ASE output was observed. The beam divergence was about 8 x diffraction limited with a brightness estimated at 10(14) W cm-2 sr-1. The feedback from the mirror was significantly reduced probably by radiation damage from the plasma.