Convergent genetic and expression data implicate immunity in Alzheimer's disease

Background: Late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD) is heritable with 20 genes showing genome-wide association in the International Genomics of Alzheimer's Project (IGAP). To identify the biology underlying the disease, we extended these genetic data in a pathway analysis.

Methods: The ALIGATOR and GSEA algorithms were used in the IGAP data to identify associated functional pathways and correlated gene expression networks in human brain.

Results: ALIGATOR identified an excess of curated biological pathways showing enrichment of association. Enriched areas of biology included the immune response (P = 3.27 X 10(-12) after multiple testing correction for pathways), regulation of endocytosis (P = 1.31 X 10(-11)), cholesterol transport (P = 2.96 X 10(-9)), and proteasome-ubiquitin activity (P = 1.34 X 10(-6)). Correlated gene expression analysis identified four significant network modules, all related to the immune response (corrected P = .002-.05).

Conclusions: The immime response, regulation of endocytosis, cholesterol transport, and protein ubiquitination represent prime targets for AD therapeutics. (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of The Alzheimer's Association.

How Video Lecture Capture affects Student Engagement in a University Computer Programming Course: Attendance, Video Viewing Behaviours and Student Attitudes

Introduction
The use of video capture of lectures in Higher Education is not a recent occurrence with web based learning technologies including digital recording of live lectures becoming increasing commonly offered by universities throughout the world (Holliman and Scanlon, 2004). However in the past decade the increase in technical infrastructural provision including the availability of high speed broadband has increased the potential and use of videoed lecture capture. This had led to a variety of lecture capture formats including pod casting, live streaming or delayed broadcasting of whole or part of lectures.
Additionally in the past five years there has been a significant increase in the popularity of online learning, specifically via Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) (Vardi, 2014). One of the key aspects of MOOCs is the simulated recording of lecture like activities. There has been and continues to be much debate on the consequences of the popularity of MOOCs, especially in relation to its potential uses within established University programmes.
There have been a number of studies dedicated to the effects of videoing lectures.
The clustered areas of research in video lecture capture have the following main themes:
• Staff perceptions including attendance, performance of students and staff workload
• Reinforcement versus replacement of lectures
• Improved flexibility of learning
• Facilitating engaging and effective learning experiences
• Student usage, perception and satisfaction
• Facilitating students learning at their own pace
Most of the body of the research has concentrated on student and faculty perceptions, including academic achievement, student attendance and engagement (Johnston et al, 2012).
Generally the research has been positive in review of the benefits of lecture capture for both students and faculty. This perception coupled with technical infrastructure improvements and student demand may well mean that the use of video lecture capture will continue to increase in frequency in the next number of years in tertiary education. However there is a relatively limited amount of research in the effects of lecture capture specifically in the area of computer programming with Watkins 2007 being one of few studies . Video delivery of programming solutions is particularly useful for enabling a lecturer to illustrate the complex decision making processes and iterative nature of the actual code development process (Watkins et al 2007). As such research in this area would appear to be particularly appropriate to help inform debate and future decisions made by policy makers.
Research questions and objectives
The purpose of the research was to investigate how a series of lecture captures (in which the audio of lectures and video of on-screen projected content were recorded) impacted on the delivery and learning of a programme of study in an MSc Software Development course in Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland. The MSc is conversion programme, intended to take graduates from non-computing primary degrees and upskill them in this area. The research specifically targeted the Java programming module within the course. It also analyses and reports on the empirical data from attendances and various video viewing statistics. In addition, qualitative data was collected from staff and student feedback to help contextualise the quantitative results.
Methodology, Methods and Research Instruments Used
The study was conducted with a cohort of 85 post graduate students taking a compulsory module in Java programming in the first semester of a one year MSc in Software Development. A pre-course survey of students found that 58% preferred to have available videos of “key moments” of lectures rather than whole lectures. A large scale study carried out by Guo concluded that “shorter videos are much more engaging” (Guo 2013). Of concern was the potential for low audience retention for videos of whole lectures.
The lecturers recorded snippets of the lecture directly before or after the actual physical delivery of the lecture, in a quiet environment and then upload the video directly to a closed YouTube channel. These snippets generally concentrated on significant parts of the theory followed by theory related coding demonstration activities and were faithful in replication of the face to face lecture. Generally each lecture was supported by two to three videos of durations ranging from 20 – 30 minutes.
Attendance
The MSc programme has several attendance based modules of which Java Programming was one element. In order to assess the consequence on attendance for the Programming module a control was established. The control used was a Database module which is taken by the same students and runs in the same semester.
Access engagement
The videos were hosted on a closed YouTube channel made available only to the students in the class. The channel had enabled analytics which reported on the following areas for all and for each individual video; views (hits), audience retention, viewing devices / operating systems used and minutes watched.
Student attitudes
Three surveys were taken in regard to investigating student attitudes towards the videoing of lectures. The first was before the start of the programming module, then at the mid-point and subsequently after the programme was complete.
The questions in the first survey were targeted at eliciting student attitudes towards lecture capture before they had experienced it in the programme. The midpoint survey gathered data in relation to how the students were individually using the system up to that point. This included feedback on how many videos an individual had watched, viewing duration, primary reasons for watching and the result on attendance, in addition to probing for comments or suggestions. The final survey on course completion contained questions similar to the midpoint survey but in summative view of the whole video programme.
Conclusions and Outcomes
The study confirmed findings of other such investigations illustrating that there is little or no effect on attendance at lectures. The use of the videos appears to help promote continual learning but they are particularly accessed by students at assessment periods. Students respond positively to the ability to access lectures digitally, as a means of reinforcing learning experiences rather than replacing them. Feedback from students was overwhelmingly positive indicating that the videos benefited their learning. Also there are significant benefits to part recording of lectures rather than recording whole lectures. The behaviour viewing trends analytics suggest that despite the increase in the popularity of online learning via MOOCs and the promotion of video learning on mobile devices in fact in this study the vast majority of students accessed the online videos at home on laptops or desktops However, in part, this is likely due to the nature of the taught subject, that being programming.
The research involved prerecording the lecture in smaller timed units and then uploading for distribution to counteract existing quality issues with recording entire live lectures. However the advancement and consequential improvement in quality of in situ lecture capture equipment may well help negate the need to record elsewhere. The research has also highlighted an area of potentially very significant use for performance analysis and improvement that could have major implications for the quality of teaching. A study of the analytics of the viewings of the videos could well provide a quick response formative feedback mechanism for the lecturer. If a videoed lecture either recorded live or later is a true reflection of the face to face lecture an analysis of the viewing patterns for the video may well reveal trends that correspond with the live delivery.

The use of YouTube Analytics of Video Lecture Capture as a Teaching and Learning Performance Enhancer

Do patterns in the YouTube viewing analytics of Lecture Capture videos point to areas of potential teaching and learning performance enhancement? The goal of this action based research project was to capture and quantitatively analyse the viewing behaviours and patterns of a series of video lecture captures across several computing modules in Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland. The research sought to establish if a quantitative analysis of viewing behaviours coupled with a qualitative evaluation of the material provided from the students could be correlated to provide generalised patterns that could then be used to understand the learning experience of students during face to face lectures and, thereby, present opportunities to reflectively enhance lecturer performance and the students’ overall learning experience and, ultimately, their level of academic attainment.

Predictors of numeracy performance in undergraduate psychology, nursing and medical students

Psychology, nursing and medicine are undergraduate degrees that require students to attain a level of numerical competence for graduation. Yet, the numeracy aspect of these courses is often actively disliked and poorly performed. This study's aim was to identify what factors most strongly predict performance in such courses. Three hundred and twenty-five undergraduate students from these three disciplines were given measures of numeracy performance, maths anxiety, maths attitudes and various demographic and educational variables. From these data three separate path analysis models were formed, showing the predictive effects of affective, demographic and educational variables on numeracy performance. Maths anxiety was the strongest affective predictor for psychology and nursing students, with motivation being more important for medical students. Across participant groups, pre-university maths qualifications were the strongest demographic/educational predictor of performance. The results can be used to suggest ways to improve performance in students having difficulty with numeracy-based modules.

An siRNA-based functional genomics screen for the identification of regulators of ciliogenesis and ciliopathy genes

Defects in primary cilium biogenesis underlie the ciliopathies, a growing group of genetic disorders. We describe a whole-genome siRNA-based reverse genetics screen for defects in biogenesis and/or maintenance of the primary cilium, obtaining a global resource. We identify 112 candidate ciliogenesis and ciliopathy genes, including 44 components of the ubiquitin-proteasome system, 12 G-protein-coupled receptors, and 3 pre-mRNA processing factors (PRPF6, PRPF8 and PRPF31) mutated in autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa. The PRPFs localize to the connecting cilium, and PRPF8- and PRPF31-mutated cells have ciliary defects. Combining the screen with exome sequencing data identified recessive mutations in PIBF1, also known as CEP90, and C21orf2, also known as LRRC76, as causes of the ciliopathies Joubert and Jeune syndromes. Biochemical approaches place C21orf2 within key ciliopathy-associated protein modules, offering an explanation for the skeletal and retinal involvement observed in individuals with C21orf2 variants. Our global, unbiased approaches provide insights into ciliogenesis complexity and identify roles for unanticipated pathways in human genetic disease.

A further investigation of the kinetic demixing/decomposition of La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3- δ oxygen separation membranes

Kinetic demixing and decomposition were studied on three La_0.6Sr_0.4Co_0.2Fe_0.8O_{3- δ} oxygen-separation hollow fibre membrane modules, which were operated under a 0.21/0.009bar oxygen partial pressure difference at 950°C for 1128, 3672 and 5512h, respectively. The post-operation membranes were characterized by Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry, Scanning Electronic Microscope, Energy Dispersive Spectrum and X-ray Diffraction. The occurrence of kinetic demixing and decomposition was confirmed through the microstructural evolution of the membranes. Secondary-phase grains were found on the air-side surface of the membranes after the long-term operation and Co and Fe enrichment as well as La depletion was found on the surface and in the bulk at the air side. Cation diffusivities were found to be in the order Co>Fe>Sr>La. Kinetic demixing and decomposition rates of the membranes at the air side were found to be self-accelerating with time; the role of A-site deficiency in the perovskite lattice in the bulk near the air side surface is implicated in the mechanism. The oxygen permeability was not affected by the kinetic demixing and decomposition of the material during long-term operation (up to 5512h), however, we may expect permeability to be affected by secondary phase formation on the air-side surface at even longer operational times. © 2010 Elsevier B.V.

The impact of an integral student engagement approach on teaching Operations and Supply Chain Management

In this study we investigate the influence of the implementation of multidimensional engagement on students’ academic, social and emotional outcomes in the teaching of Operations and Supply Chain Management (OSCM) modules. Next to the academic and behavioural engagement dimensions, which are traditionally used to engage students in OSCM courses, we also incorporate a cognitive dimension to enhance integral student engagement. Up to know, integral student engagement is not reported in the OSCM literature. Cognitive engagement is based on implementation of summative self- and peer-assessment of weekly assignments. Our investigation is based on action research, conducted in an OSCM module over two consecutive years. We found that, in general, multidimensional engagement results in higher levels of academic performance, development of relationships with academic staff and their peers and emotional satisfaction. These findings are discussed in relation to several contextual factors: nature of the study material, gender, and the home location of students.

Reforming civil engineering studies in recession times

The recent global economic and financial crisis has led the economies of many countries into recession, in particular at the periphery of the European Union. These countries currently face a significant contraction of both public investment in infrastructure and private investment in buildings and, as a result, the unemployment is particularly noticeable in the civil engineering and building sectors. Consequently, in all countries in recession the professional development of fresh civil engineering graduates is disproportionate to their high study effort and qualifications, since they rarely have the opportunity to gain experience in practice and their knowledge gradually becomes obsolete. Under these circumstances, it is imperative for the technical universities in countries in recession to plan and implement a substantial reform of the civil engineering studies syllabus. The objective should be to enable graduates to broaden the scope of their professional activity and increase their employability. In this paper, the widening of civil engineering studies curricula is proposed, in particular in the light of the development of the graduates’ potential on project, programme and portfolio management. In this direction, after a thorough literature review, including ASCE's Body of Knowledge for the 21st century and IPMA's Competence Baseline, it is recommended among others: to increase significantly the offered modules on project management and add new modules on strategy management, leadership behavior, delivery management, organization and environment etc; to provide adequate professional training during the university studies five year period; and to promote fresh graduates’ certification by professional bodies. The proposals are exemplified by presenting a reformed syllabus for the civil engineering studies offered currently by the National Technical University of Athens.

Supervised Aggregative Feature Extraction for Big Data Time Series Regression

In many applications, and especially those where batch processes are involved, a target scalar output of interest is often dependent on one or more time series of data. With the exponential growth in data logging in modern industries such time series are increasingly available for statistical modeling in soft sensing applications. In order to exploit time series data for predictive modelling, it is necessary to summarise the information they contain as a set of features to use as model regressors. Typically this is done in an unsupervised fashion using simple techniques such as computing statistical moments, principal components or wavelet decompositions, often leading to significant information loss and hence suboptimal predictive models. In this paper, a functional learning paradigm is exploited in a supervised fashion to derive continuous, smooth estimates of time series data (yielding aggregated local information), while simultaneously estimating a continuous shape function yielding optimal predictions. The proposed Supervised Aggregative Feature Extraction (SAFE) methodology can be extended to support nonlinear predictive models by embedding the functional learning framework in a Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Spaces setting. SAFE has a number of attractive features including closed form solution and the ability to explicitly incorporate first and second order derivative information. Using simulation studies and a practical semiconductor manufacturing case study we highlight the strengths of the new methodology with respect to standard unsupervised feature extraction approaches.

Finite domination and Novikov rings. Laurent polynomial rings in several variables

We present a homological characterisation of those chain complexes of modules over a Laurent polynomial ring in several indeterminates which are finitely dominated over the ground ring (that is, are a retract up to homotopy of a bounded complex of finitely generated free modules). The main tools, which we develop in the paper, are a non-standard totalisation construction for multi-complexes based on truncated products, and a high-dimensional mapping torus construction employing a theory of cubical diagrams that commute up to specified coherent homotopies.

Teaching Programming - Understanding Lecture Capture YouTube Analytics

ABSTRACT
The proliferation in the use of video lecture capture in universities worldwide presents an opportunity to analyse video watching patterns in an attempt to quantify and qualify how students engage and learn with the videos. It also presents an opportunity to investigate if there are similar student learning patterns during the equivalent physical lecture. The goal of this action based research project was to capture and quantitatively analyse the viewing behaviours and patterns of a series of video lecture captures across several university Java programming modules. It sought to study if a quantitative analysis of viewing behaviours of Lecture Capture videos coupled with a qualitative evaluation from the students and lecturers could be correlated to provide generalised patterns that could then be used to understand the learning experience of students during videos and potentially face to face lectures and, thereby, present opportunities to reflectively enhance lecturer performance and the students’ overall learning experience. The report establishes a baseline understanding of the analytics of videos of several commonly used pedagogical teaching methods used in the delivery of programming courses. It reflects on possible concurrences within live lecture delivery with the potential to inform and improve lecturing performance.

Triangular Objects and Systematic K-Theory

We investigate modules over “systematic” rings. Such rings are “almost graded” and have appeared under various names in the literature; they are special cases of the G-systems of Grzeszczuk. We analyse their K-theory in the presence of conditions on the support, and explain how this generalises and unifies calculations of graded and filtered K-theory scattered in the literature. Our treatment makes systematic use of the formalism of idempotent completion and a theory of triangular objects in additive categories, leading to elementary and transparent proofs throughout.

An evaluation of the Socrative (personal response system) app for increasing student engagement and learning in an undergraduate psychology curriculum.

Personal response systems using hardware such as 'clickers' have been around for some time, however their use is often restricted to multiple choice questions (MCQs) and they are therefore used as a summative assessment tool for the individual student. More recent innovations such as 'Socrative' have removed the need for specialist hardware, instead utilising web-based technology and devices common to students, such as smartphones, tablets and laptops. While improving the potential for use in larger classrooms, this also creates the opportunity to pose more engaging open-response questions to students who can 'text in' their thoughts on questions posed in class. This poster will present two applications of the Socrative system in an undergraduate psychology curriculum which aimed to encourage interactive engagement with course content using real-time student responses and lecturer feedback. Data is currently being collected and result will be presented at the conference.
The first application used Socrative to pose MCQs at the end of two modules (a level one Statistics module and level two Individual Differences Psychology module, class size N≈100), with the intention of helping students assess their knowledge of the course. They were asked to rate their self-perceived knowledge of the course on a five-point Likert scale before and after completing the MCQs, as well as their views on the value of the revision session and any issues that had with using the app. The online MCQs remained open between the lecture and the exam, allowing students to revisit the questions at any time during their revision.
This poster will present data regarding the usefulness of the revision MCQs, the metacognitive effect of the MCQs on student's judgements of learning (pre vs post MCQ testing), as well as student engagement with the MCQs between the revision session and the examination. Student opinions on the use of the Socrative system in class will also be discussed.
The second application used Socrative to facilitate a flipped classroom lecture on a level two 'Conceptual Issues in Psychology' module, class size N≈100). The content of this module requires students to think critically about historical and contemporary conceptual issues in psychology and the philosophy of science. Students traditionally struggle with this module due to the emphasis on critical thinking skills, rather than simply the retention of concrete knowledge. To prepare students for the written examination, a flipped classroom lecture was held at the end of the semester. Students were asked to revise their knowledge of a particular area of Psychology by assigned reading, and were told that the flipped lecture would involve them thinking critically about the conceptual issues found in this area. They were informed that questions would be posed by the lecturer in class, and that they would be asked to post their thoughts using the Socrative app for a class discussion. The level of preparation students engaged in for the flipped lecture was measured, as well as qualitative opinions on the usefulness of the session. This poster will discuss the level of student engagement with the flipped lecture, both in terms of preparation for the lecture, and engagement with questions posed during the lecture, as well as the lecturer's experience in facilitating the flipped classroom using the Socrative platform.

Accidental release of hazardous gases: modelling and assessing risk

The renewed concern in assessing risks and consequences from technological hazards in industrial and urban areas continues emphasizing the development of local-scale consequence analysis (CA) modelling tools able to predict shortterm pollution episodes and exposure effects on humans and the environment in case of accident with hazardous gases (hazmat). In this context, the main objective of this thesis is the development and validation of the EFfects of Released Hazardous gAses (EFRHA) model. This modelling tool is designed to simulate the outflow and atmospheric dispersion of heavy and passive hazmat gases in complex and build-up areas, and to estimate the exposure consequences of short-term pollution episodes in accordance to regulatory/safety threshold limits. Five main modules comprising up-to-date methods constitute the model: meteorological, terrain, source term, dispersion, and effects modules. Different initial physical states accident scenarios can be examined. Considered the main core of the developed tool, the dispersion module comprises a shallow layer modelling approach capable to account the main influence of obstacles during the hazmat gas dispersion phenomena. Model validation includes qualitative and quantitative analyses of main outputs by the comparison of modelled results against measurements and/or modelled databases. The preliminary analysis of meteorological and source term modules against modelled outputs from extensively validated models shows the consistent description of ambient conditions and the variation of the hazmat gas release. Dispersion is compared against measurements observations in obstructed and unobstructed areas for different release and dispersion scenarios. From the performance validation exercise, acceptable agreement was obtained, showing the reasonable numerical representation of measured features. In general, quality metrics are within or close to the acceptance limits recommended for ‘non-CFD models’, demonstrating its capability to reasonably predict hazmat gases accidental release and atmospheric dispersion in industrial and urban areas. EFRHA model was also applied to a particular case study, the Estarreja Chemical Complex (ECC), for a set of accidental release scenarios within a CA scope. The results show the magnitude of potential effects on the surrounding populated area and influence of the type of accident and the environment on the main outputs. Overall the present thesis shows that EFRHA model can be used as a straightforward tool to support CA studies in the scope of training and planning, but also, to support decision and emergency response in case of hazmat gases accidental release in industrial and built-up areas.

Contributo das ferramentas da web social para a construção de conhecimento

O presente estudo foi realizado no âmbito do curso de formação pós-graduada em Multimédia em Educação da Universidade de Aveiro no ano letivo de 2007/08, mais concretamente num dos módulos curriculares que o compõem. Esta foi a segunda edição em que a utilização de ferramentas da web social foi adotada enquanto meio de distribuição do ambiente de aprendizagem de alguns dos módulos curriculares que compõem o curso. A partir desta utilização, analisamos os contributos que daí decorreram para a construção de conhecimento. O levantamento de tais contributos consubstanciou-se no estabelecimento de objetivos que incluíram: (i) a identificação das principais ferramentas utilizadas ao longo do módulo em estudo; (ii) a determinação do contributo dessas ferramentas para o incremento de práticas de interação (formais e informais) e (iii) para o desenvolvimento de competências e (iv) a análise das interações que ocorreram em dois dos espaços de discussão assíncrona criados no âmbito do módulo. Para alcançarmos os objetivos propostos, desenvolvemos um estudo de caso que envolveu dois professores, o coordenador do curso e os cinquenta e seis alunos que cursaram o módulo em questão. Os dados foram recolhidos através dos guiões orientadores do curso e do módulo em estudo, do questionário administrado aos alunos, da análise das interações ocorridas em dois espaços de discussão, das entrevistas realizadas aos professores e do focus group realizado com alguns alunos. A análise e o cruzamento dos dados recolhidos permitiu-nos identificar contributos que decorrem da utilização de ferramentas da web social e que relevam para o processo de construção de conhecimento. Permitiu-nos, também, contribuir para o estudo desta problemática, questionando as práticas de análise que lhe são aplicadas e sugerindo, à luz do panorama tecnológico e educativo atual, eventuais complementos.