7,078 research outputs found
Implications of the Improvement of Teaching Quality for Professional Development (PD) of Academics at the Colleges of Applied Sciences (CASs) in the Sultanate of Oman
No full textThe Oman Accreditation Council (OAC), which is called later the Oman Academic Accreditation Authority (OAAA), designed a higher education institution (HEI) Quality Assurance (QA) framework for Omani public and private Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), starting with a quality audit process in 2008. The Colleges of Applied Sciences (CASs), as a public HEI, are required to ensure the quality of all services and activities to meet particular national standards (specified in the framework) in order to gain a HEI and programme certificate. In line with a quality audit scope, the quality of the fields of PD and related teaching quality should be ensured and enhanced by the promotion and contribution of the former field to the maintenance and improvement of the latter one.
The chief purpose of this study was to identify the uptake and implications of the growing requirement to improve teaching quality and the PD of academics at the CASs in the Sultanate of Oman especially in the context of the application of the QA framework. The study focused on examining the academics’ participation in professional development programmes (PDPs) and current perceptions of PD with respect to the improvement of teaching quality improvement at these colleges. The current study also dealt with a reorganization and prioritization of academics’ PD needs, barriers to effective PD, and factors to enhance PD of academics regarding teaching quality improvement in the colleges.
Based on the purpose and research objectives, the current study adopted both positivist (quantitative) and interpretive (qualitative) research paradigms. Because the study perused quantitative and qualitative data regarding certain variables, it chose a mixed-research design. The researcher designed survey questionnaire to collect quantitative data and a semi-structured interview and a focus group discussion to probe and interpret quantitative findings. After fulfillment of the validity and reliability measurements, a self-completion questionnaire was distributed to a stratified random sample of academics (170) over the six CASs. A total of 150 questionnaires (out of 170) were completed and returned and the response-rate reached 88.2%. The quantitative data was analyzed by appropriate analysis using the Statistical Package for Social sciences (SPSS), while the qualitative data was analyzed by appropriate qualitative analysis.
The findings of the study showed that the level of academics’ participation in PDPs to improve teaching quality in the last two years in the CASs seems to be unsatisfactorily low. The current perceptions of the PD situations in the colleges, relating to teaching quality improvement, signified a shortage in the number of available PDPs and/or a discouragement of academics’ participation in these programmes in the last two years. The study also revealed all the 22 PD needs of academics regarding the improvement of teaching quality are significantly demanded by participants; the higher rated needs focused on a development of ‘student centred’ skills, such as critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
Furthermore, the study illustrated that the highest significant perceived barriers to effective PD in the CASs, as related to teaching quality improvement, focus on a lack of a clear institutional PD policy and a lack of appropriately systematic PD plans. The study also revealed all 10 perceived factors to enhance PD regarding teaching quality improvement are very important. The most significant factors represented and stressed particular problematic issues (the high rated barriers) and a reduction of a heavy workload to enhance academics’ participation in PD regarding the improvement of teaching quality.
Conclusions drawn from the discussion of the findings of study include a lack of a clear PD policy at national and institutional levels and absence of a particular authority/unit concerning PD issues in Omani HEIs. The two problematic issues resulted in a lack of systematic and realistic PD plans in the CASs, involving a lack of academics’ involvement in PD plans, a misconnection of academics’ PD needs to PD, inappropriate facilities and resources allocation, and inappropriate evaluation processes of PD. In addition, the conclusions also include that PD of academics regarding the improvement of teaching quality in the colleges requires more attention and focus to manage particular significant issues perceived by participants as both barriers and potential facilitators relating to PD of academics.
Based on identified conclusions, particular implications for policy and practice to enhance PD to improve teaching quality were set at three levels: governmental, institutional, and individual. Moreover, achievements of the current study according to the research questions were identified and contributions of the study to the fields of PD, teaching quality, and the context of QA and quality audit in HE were addressed. Based on the findings and conclusions, particular directions and recommended issues were suggested to be studied by further research to benefit the enhancement of PD and related teaching quality improvement
PD-related changes in WNT signalling components.
No full textPanel (a) shows changes in nigral WNTs, panel (b) shows changes in soluble WNT signalling ligands while panels (c) and (d) show changes in frizzled receptors and cellular WNT-regulators or signal transduction components. Although data is shown as a ratio PD/control, the ΔCt values for matched control and PD transcript arrays analysed using Student’s paired t-tests. *, ** = P (TIF)</p
ONETEP: linear-scaling density-functional theory with plane-waves
No full textConventional methods for atomistic simulations based on density-functional theory (DFT), such as the plane-wave (PW) pseudopotential approach, have had an immense impact on the way in which material properties are studied. In spite of this success, the system-size accessible to such techniques is limited because the algorithms scale with the cube of the number of atoms. The quest to bring to bear the predictive power of DFT calculations on ever larger systems has resulted in much recent interest in linear-scaling methods for DFT simulations. To this end we present an overview of ONETEP (Order-N Total Energy Package), our linear-scaling method based on a PW basis set, which is able to achieve the same accuracy and convergence rate as the conventional PW DFT approach. The novel features of our method which result in its success are described and results of calculations on titanium oxide clusters from the ONETEP parallel code are presented
PD-related changes in expression of key markers of neuronal phenotype and dopaminergic neuronal development.
No full textThe initial group (red) shows transcripts whose loss is usually correlated with PD, for example TH and SLC6A3. The middle group (blue) shows how PD impacts upon developmental and mature neuron transcripts. The right-hand grouping (green) shows neuronal markers, rather than dopaminergic neuronal markers. The dotted line indicates the average loss of neuronal markers. The ΔCt values for each control and PD transcript were analysed using Student’s paired t-tests. *, ** = P<0.05, 0.01, respectively (n = 8–10 datasets).</p
Achieving plane wave accuracy in linear-scaling density functional theory applied to periodic systems: a case study on crystalline silicon
No full textLinear-scaling methods for density functional theory promise to revolutionize the scope and scale of
first-principles quantum mechanical calculations. Crystalline silicon has been the system of choice
for exploratory tests of such methods in the literature, yet attempts at quantitative comparisons
under linear-scaling conditions with traditional methods or experimental results have not been
forthcoming. A detailed study using the ONETEP code is reported here, demonstrating for the first
time that plane wave accuracy can be achieved in linear-scaling calculations on periodic systems
Fullerene-like WS<sub>2</sub> supported Pd catalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction
No full textHydrogen is the most desirable green energy carrier and electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) from water is a promising route for hydrogen production. The search for efficient, low-cost HER catalysts is a challenging and attracting topic. In this work, we report that inorganic fullerene-like WS2 supported Pd nanoparticles (Pd/WS2), with Pd loading of 0.76 wt%, are active for electrocatalytic HER conducted in 0.5 M H2SO4 solution, with overpotential at 10 mA cm−2 current density of ~130 mV and Tafel slope of 82.4 mV dec−1, which is comparable to that of Pt/WS2 (0.88 wt% Pt loading) with higher costs. Characteristic results indicate that WO3 impurities were in-situ produced on the WS2 surface and the Pd NPs are primarily located inside the WS2 nanocages. Contrasting experiments suggest that the WO3 impurities play a crucial role in generating Hads intermediate and the Pd NPs are active sites of H2 production, and a reaction mechanism is proposed. The Pd/WS2 catalyst also shows good long-term stability owing to the location of Pd NPs inside the WS2 cages. The high HER activity, low costs and good stability make the Pd catalyst a potential alternative to Pt catalyst for HER.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Micro and Nano Engineerin
Elimination of basis set superposition error in linear-scaling density-functional calculations with local orbitals optimised in situ
No full textBasis set superposition error (BSSE) in density-functional calculations occurs when the extended Kohn–Sham orbitals are expanded in localised basis sets, but is absent when a plane-wave basis is used. Elimination of BSSE is essential for the accurate description of intermolecular forces. Linear-scaling methods are formulated in terms of local orbitals, making plane-waves an inappropriate choice of basis. In this work the BSSE in linear-scaling methods is studied in the context of hydrogen bonds. In particular it is shown that BSSE is eliminated by optimizing the local orbitals in situ using a systematic basis set equivalent to a set of plane-waves
Anti-PD-1 antibody therapy potently enhances the eradication of established tumors by gene-modified T cells
No full textPurpose: To determine the antitumor efficacy and toxicity of a novel combination approach involving adoptive T-cell immunotherapy using chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells with an immunomodulatory reagent for blocking immunosuppression. Experimental Design:Weexamined whether administration of a PD-1 blocking antibody could increase the therapeutic activity of CAR T cells against two different Her-2+ tumors. The use of a self-antigen mouse model enabled investigation into the efficacy, mechanism, and toxicity of this combination approach. Results: In this study, we first showed a significant increase in the level of PD-1 expressed on transduced anti-Her-2 CD8+ T cells following antigen-specific stimulation with PD-L1+ tumor cells and that markers of activation and proliferation were increased in anti-Her-2 T cells in the presence of anti-PD-1 antibody. In adoptive transfer studies in Her-2 transgenic recipient mice, we showed a significant improvement in growth inhibition of two different Her-2+ tumors treated with anti-Her-2 T cells in combination with anti-PD-1 antibody. The therapeutic effects observed correlated with increased function of anti-Her-2 T cells following PD-1 blockade. Strikingly, a significant decrease in the percentage of Gr1+ CD11b+ myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) was observed in the tumor microenvironment of mice treated with the combination therapy. Importantly, increased antitumor effects were not associated with any autoimmune pathology in normal tissue expressing Her-2 antigen. Conclusion: This study shows that specifically blocking PD-1 immunosuppression can potently enhance CAR T-cell therapy that has significant implications for potentially improving therapeutic outcomes of this approach in patients with cancer. © 2013 AACR
Enhanced T-Cell Immunity to Osteosarcoma Through Antibody Blockade of PD-1/PD-L1 Interactions
No full textabstract: Osteosarcoma is the most common bone cancer in children and adolescents. Although 70% of patients with localized disease are cured with chemotherapy and surgical resection, patients with metastatic osteosarcoma are typically refractory to treatment. Numerous lines of evidence suggest that cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) limit the development of metastatic osteosarcoma. We have investigated the role of PD-1, an inhibitory TNFR family protein expressed on CTLs, in limiting the efficacy of immune-mediated control of metastatic osteosarcoma. We show that human metastatic, but not primary, osteosarcoma tumors express a ligand for PD-1 (PD-L1) and that tumor-infiltrating CTLs express PD-1, suggesting this pathway may limit CTLs control of metastatic osteosarcoma in patients. PD-L1 is also expressed on the K7M2 osteosarcoma tumor cell line that establishes metastases in mice, and PD-1 is expressed on tumor-infiltrating CTLs during disease progression. Blockade of PD-1/PD-L1 interactions dramatically improves the function of osteosarcoma-reactive CTLs in vitro and in vivo, and results in decreased tumor burden and increased survival in the K7M2 mouse model of metastatic osteosarcoma. Our results suggest that blockade of PD-1/PD-L1 interactions in patients with metastatic osteosarcoma should be pursued as a therapeutic strategy.This is a non-final version of an article published in final form as Lussier, Danielle M., O'Neill, Lauren, Nieves, Lizbeth M., McAfee, Megan S., Holechek, Susan A., Collins, Andrea W., Dickman, Paul, Jacobsen, Jeffrey, Hingorani, Pooja, & Blattman, Joseph N. (2015). Enhanced T-Cell Immunity to Osteosarcoma Through Antibody Blockade of PD-1/PD-L1 Interactions. JOURNAL OF IMMUNOTHERAPY, 38(3), 96-106. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/CJI.000000000000006
upplementary Figure 3 from Anti-PD-1 Antibody Therapy Potently Enhances the Eradication of Established Tumors By Gene-Modified T Cells
No full textupplementary Figure 3 - PDF file 17K, Gr1+ cells express PD-1 and PD-L1</p
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