John Abbott College

BACKGROUND: With the new pandemic reality that has beset us, teaching and learning activities have been thrust online. While much research has explored student perceptions of online and distance learning, none has had a social laboratory to study the effects of an enforced transition on student perceptions of online learning. PURPOSE: We surveyed students about their perceptions of online learning before and after the transition to online learning. As student perceptions are influenced by a range of contextual and institutional factors beyond the classroom, we expected that students would be overall sanguine to the project given that access, technology integration, and family and government support during the pandemic shutdown would mitigate the negative consequences. RESULTS: Students overall reported positive academic outcomes. However, students reported increased stress and anxiety and difficulties concentrating, suggesting that the obstacles to fully online learning were not only technological and instructional challenges but also social and affective challenges of isolation and social distancing. CONCLUSION: Our analysis shows that the specific context of the pandemic disrupted more than normal teaching and learning activities. Whereas students generally responded positively to the transition, their reluctance to continue learning online and the added stress and workload show the limits of this large scale social experiment. In addition to the technical and pedagogical dimensions, successfully supporting students in online learning environments will require that teachers and educational technologists attend to the social and affective dimensions of online learning as well.

We compare the effectiveness of a first implementation of peer instruction (PI) in a two-year college with the first PI implementation at a top-tier four-year research institution. We show how effective PI is for students with less background knowledge and what the impact of PI methodology is on student attrition in the course. Results concerning the effectiveness of PI in the college setting replicate earlier findings: PI-taught students demonstrate better conceptual learning and similar problem-solving abilities than traditionally taught students. However, not previously reported are the following two findings: First, although students with more background knowledge benefit most from either type of instruction, PI students with less background knowledge gain as much as students with more background knowledge in traditional instruction. Second, PI methodology is found to decrease student attrition in introductory physics courses at both four-year and two-year institutions.

The current version of the androgen receptor (AR) gene mutations database is described. The total number of reported mutations has risen from 374 to 605, and the number of AR-interacting proteins described has increased from 23 to 70, both over the past 3 years. A 3D model of the AR ligand-binding domain (AR LBD) has been added to give a better understanding of gene structure-function relationships. In addition, silent mutations have now been reported in both androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) and prostate cancer (CaP) cases. The database also now incorporates information on the exon 1 CAG repeat expansion disease, spinobulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA), as well as CAG repeat length variations associated with risk for female breast, uterine endometrial, colorectal, and prostate cancer, as well as for male infertility. The possible implications of somatic mutations, as opposed to germline mutations, in the development of future locus-specific mutation databases (LSDBs) is discussed. The database is available on the Internet (http://www.mcgill.ca/androgendb/).

It is well known that for much of the mathematics of topos theory, it is in fact sufficient to use a category C whose slice categories C/ A are cartesian closed. In such a category, the notion of a ‘generalized set’, for example an ‘ A -indexed set’, is represented by a morphism B → A of C, i.e. by an object of C/ A . The point about such a category C is that C is a C-indexed category, and more, is a hyper-doctrine, so that it has a full first order logic associated with it. This logic has some peculiar aspects. For instance, the types are the objects of C and the terms are the morphisms of C. For a given type A , the predicates with a free variable of type A are morphisms into A , and ‘proofs’ are morphisms over A . We see here a certain ‘ambiguity’ between the notions of type, predicate, and term, of object and proof: a term of type A is a morphism into A , which is a predicate over A ; a morphism 1 → A can be viewed either as an object of type A or as a proof of the proposition A .

Over the last two decades, urban researchers have investigated how gender shapes gay and lesbian geographies in major post-industrial cities. These studies demonstrated that while gay men have often produced highly visible territorial enclaves in inner-city areas, lesbian forms of territoriality at the urban scale have been relatively ‘invisible’ since their communities are constituted through social networks rather than commercial sites. Contrasting the patterns produced by these two populations in the inner-city areas of post-industrial cities during the ‘queer’ 1990s has created a gender-polarized and historically specific interpretation of their patterns of territoriality and visibility that may differ significantly from those of earlier periods. This paper, therefore, provides a long-range historical geography of lesbians in a major metropolitan area through a case study of Montréal's lesbian bar cultures since 1950. The focus of the analysis is on the preconditions that led to the establishment of the city's lesbian commercial enclave in the 1980s and the factors that led to its decline in the 1990s. This case study, therefore, outlines the shifting character of lesbian territorial practices at the urban scale in Montréal since 1950. It illustrates that in Montréal lesbian territoriality and visibility have been strongly impacted by local neighbourhood dynamics, internal ideologies, and political and spatial relationships with gay men. Ultimately, these findings suggest that contemporary lesbian visibility at the urban scale may have been undermined by an increased identification with the ‘queer’ forms of community and their territorialization in Montréal's gay Village.

Background: Ambulatory hemodynamic monitoring with an implantable pulmonary artery (PA) sensor is approved for patients with New York Heart Association Class III heart failure (HF) and a prior HF hospitalization (HFH) within 12 months. The objective of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety of PA pressure-guided therapy in routine clinical practice with special focus on subgroups defined by sex, race, and ejection fraction. Methods: This multi-center, prospective, open-label, observational, single-arm trial of 1200 patients across 104 centers within the United States with New York Heart Association class III HF and a prior HFH within 12 months evaluated patients undergoing PA pressure sensor implantation between September 1, 2014, and October 11, 2017. The primary efficacy outcome was the difference between rates of adjudicated HFH 1 year after compared with the 1 year before sensor implantation. Safety end points were freedom from device- or system-related complications at 2 years and freedom from pressure sensor failure at 2 years. Results: Mean age for the population was 69 years, 37.7% were women, 17.2% were non-White, and 46.8% had preserved ejection fraction. During the year after sensor implantation, the mean rate of daily pressure transmission was 76±24% and PA pressures declined significantly. The rate of HFH was significantly lower at 1 year compared with the year before implantation (0.54 versus 1.25 events/patient-years, hazard ratio 0.43 [95% CI, 0.39–0.47], P <0.0001). The rate of all-cause hospitalization was also lower following sensor implantation (1.67 versus 2.28 events/patient-years, hazard ratio 0.73 [95% CI, 0.68–0.78], P <0.0001). Results were consistent across subgroups defined by ejection fraction, sex, race, cause of cardiomyopathy, presence/absence of implantable cardiac defibrillator or cardiac resynchronization therapy and ejection fraction. Freedom from device- or system-related complications was 99.6%, and freedom from pressure sensor failure was 99.9% at 1 year. Conclusions: In routine clinical practice as in clinical trials, PA pressure-guided therapy for HF was associated with lower PA pressures, lower rates of HFH and all-cause hospitalization, and low rates of adverse events across a broad range of patients with symptomatic HF and prior HFH. Registration: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov . Unique identifier: NCT02279888.

A growing number of physics teachers are currently turning to instructional technologies such as wireless handheld response systems—colloquially called clickers. Two possible rationales may explain the growing interest in these devices. The first is the presumption that clickers are more effective instructional instruments. The second rationale is somewhat reminiscent of Martin Davis' declaration when purchasing the Oakland Athletics: “As men get older, the toys get more expensive.” Although personally motivated by both of these rationales, the effectiveness of clickers over inexpensive low-tech flashcards remains questionable. Thus, the first half of this paper presents findings of a classroom study comparing the differences in student learning between a Peer Instruction group using clickers and a Peer Instruction group using flashcards. Having assessed student learning differences, the second half of the paper describes differences in teaching effectiveness between clickers and flashcards.

The current version of the androgen receptor (AR) gene mutations database is described. The total number of reported mutations has risen from 272 to 309 in the past year. We have expanded the database: (i) by giving each entry an accession number; (ii) by adding information on the length of polymorphic polyglutamine (polyGln) and polyglycine (polyGly) tracts in exon 1; (iii) by adding information on large gene deletions; (iv) by providing a direct link with a completely searchable database (courtesy EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute). The addition of the exon 1 polymorphisms is discussed in light of their possible relevance as markers for predisposition to prostate or breast cancer. The database is also available on the internet (http://www.

The current version of the androgen receptor (AR) gene mutations database is described. The total number of reported mutations has risen from 309 to 374 during the past year. We have expanded the database by adding information on AR-interacting proteins; and we have improved the database by identifying those mutation entries that have been updated. Mutations of unknown significance have now been reported in both the 5' and 3' untranslated regions of the AR gene, and in individuals who are somatic mosaics constitutionally. In addition, single nucleotide polymorphisms, including silent mutations, have been discovered in normal individuals and in individuals with male infertility. A mutation hotspot associated with prostatic cancer has been identified in exon 5. The database is available on the internet (http://www.mcgill.ca/androgendb/), from EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute (ftp.ebi.ac.uk/pub/databases/androgen), or as a Macintosh FilemakerPro or Word file (MC33@musica.mcgill.ca).

Microbial life permeates Earth's critical zone and has likely inhabited nearly all our planet's surface and near subsurface since before the beginning of the sedimentary rock record. Given the vast time that Earth has been teeming with life, do astrobiologists truly understand what geological features untouched by biological processes would look like? In the search for extraterrestrial life in the Universe, it is critical to determine what constitutes a biosignature across multiple scales, and how this compares with “abiosignatures” formed by nonliving processes. Developing standards for abiotic and biotic characteristics would provide quantitative metrics for comparison across different data types and observational time frames. The evidence for life detection falls into three categories of biosignatures: (1) substances, such as elemental abundances, isotopes, molecules, allotropes, enantiomers, minerals, and their associated properties; (2) objects that are physical features such as mats, fossils including trace-fossils and microbialites (stromatolites), and concretions; and (3) patterns, such as physical three-dimensional or conceptual n -dimensional relationships of physical or chemical phenomena, including patterns of intermolecular abundances of organic homologues, and patterns of stable isotopic abundances between and within compounds. Five key challenges that warrant future exploration by the astrobiology community include the following: (1) examining phenomena at the “right” spatial scales because biosignatures may elude us if not examined with the appropriate instrumentation or modeling approach at that specific scale; (2) identifying the precise context across multiple spatial and temporal scales to understand how tangible biosignatures may or may not be preserved; (3) increasing capability to mine big data sets to reveal relationships, for example, how Earth's mineral diversity may have evolved in conjunction with life; (4) leveraging cyberinfrastructure for data management of biosignature types, characteristics, and classifications; and (5) using three-dimensional to n -D representations of biotic and abiotic models overlain on multiple overlapping spatial and temporal relationships to provide new insights.

Abstract A categorical structure suitable for interpreting polymorphic lambda calculus (PLC) is defined, providing an algebraic semantics for PLC which is sound and complete. In fact, there is an equivalence between the theories and the categories. Also presented is a definitional extension of PLC including “subtypes”, for example, equality subtypes, together with a construction providing models of the extended language, and a context for Girard's extension of the Dialectica interpretation.

The use and misuse of digital technologies among adolescents has been the focus of fiery debates among parents, educators, policy-makers and in the media. Recently, these debates have become shaped by emerging data from cognitive neuroscience on the development of the adolescent brain and cognition. "Neuroplasticity" has functioned as a powerful metaphor in arguments both for and against the pervasiveness of digital media cultures that increasingly characterize teenage life. In this paper, we propose that the debates concerning adolescents are the meeting point of two major social anxieties both of which are characterized by the threat of "abnormal" (social) behaviour: existing moral panics about adolescent behaviour in general and the growing alarm about intense, addictive, and widespread media consumption in modern societies. Neuroscience supports these fears but the same kinds of evidence are used to challenge these fears and reframe them in positive terms. Here, we analyze discourses about digital media, the Internet, and the adolescent brain in the scientific and lay literature. We argue that while the evidential basis is thin and ambiguous, it has immense social influence. We conclude by suggesting how we might move beyond the poles of neuro-alarmism and neuro-enthusiasm. By analyzing the neurological adolescent in the digital age as a socially extended mind, firstly, in the sense that adolescent cognition is distributed across the brain, body, and digital media tools and secondly, by viewing adolescent cognition as enabled and transformed by the institution of neuroscience, we aim to displace the normative terms of current debates.

Black Caribbean parents often immigrate in order to increase their fortune and improve opportunities for themselves and their families. Frequently, they leave their children in their country of origin, to be raised by family members. Reunification with their children often occurs at the time of adolescence and, for a multitude of reasons, is often fraught with conflict which sometimes necessitates the involvement of social services and other agencies. Some reasons for these difficulties are presented and are illustrated through the use of case histories. Mental health professionals are advised to take societal and cultural factors into consideration when creating treatment plans for this population.

A summary is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.

The bacterial flora in the intestines of farmed Dover sole ( Solea solea L.) was investigated at different stages of fish development in relation to different diets fed under farming conditions. The flora of water and diets were also analyzed. The dominant generic group isolated from all water samples examined was Pseudomonas Gp IV/ Alcaligenes. The same generic group was dominant in homogenized pelagic larvae indicating a relationship between the microflora of those young fish and that of tank water. In older fish a steady increase in the percentage incidence of Vibrio / anaerogenic Aeromonas was observed in the intestines as fish grew and diets changed. The Vibrio /anaerogenic Aeromonas group was dominant in Lumbricillus rivalis used as an intermediate diet and the increased incidence of this group in fish intestines occurred after fish were fed this diet. The composite pellet used for ongrowing carried a high percentage of Gram positive micro‐organisms and there was no relationship between the pellet microflora and that found in the fish intestines.

Previous research suggests that students' prior knowledge can interfere with how they observe and remember lecture demonstrations. We measured students' prior knowledge in introductory mechanics and electricity and magnetism at two large universities. Students were then asked to predict the outcome of lecture demonstrations. We compare students' predictions before having seen the demonstration to what they report having seen both right after the demonstration and several weeks later. We report four main findings. First, roughly one out of every five observations of a demonstration is inconsistent with the actual outcome. Second, students who understand the underlying concepts before observing the demonstration are more likely to observe it and remember it correctly. Third, students are roughly 20% (23%) more likely to observe a demonstration correctly if they predict the outcome first, regardless of whether the prediction is correct or not. Last, conceptual learning is contingent on the student making a correct observation. This study represents an initial step towards understanding the disconnect reported between demonstrations and student learning.

The Force Concept Inventory (FCI) has influenced the development of many research-based pedagogies. However, no data exists on the FCI’s internal consistency or test-retest reliability. The FCI was administered twice to one hundred students during the first week of classes in an electricity and magnetism course with no review of mechanics between test administrations. High Kuder–Richardson reliability coefficient values, which estimate the average correlation of scores obtained on all possible halves of the test, suggest strong internal consistency. However, 31% of the responses changed from test to retest, suggesting weak reliability for individual questions. A chi-square analysis shows that change in responses was neither consistent nor completely random. The puzzling conclusion is that although individual FCI responses are not reliable, the FCI total score is highly reliable.

BACKGROUND: Activation of brain insulin receptors modulates reward sensitivity, inhibitory control and memory. Variations in the functioning of this mechanism likely associate with individual differences in the risk for related mental disorders (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD, addiction, dementia), in agreement with the high co-morbidity between insulin resistance and psychopathology. These neurobiological mechanisms can be explored using genetic studies. We propose a novel, biologically informed genetic score reflecting the mesocorticolimbic and hippocampal insulin receptor-related gene networks, and investigate if it predicts endophenotypes (impulsivity, cognitive ability) in community samples of children, and psychopathology (addiction, dementia) in adults. METHODS: Lists of genes co-expressed with the insulin receptor in the mesocorticolimbic system or hippocampus were created. SNPs from these genes (post-clumping) were compiled in a polygenic score using the association betas described in a conventional GWAS (ADHD in the mesocorticolimbic score and Alzheimer in the hippocampal score). Across multiple samples (n = 4502), the biologically informed, mesocorticolimbic or hippocampal specific insulin receptor polygenic scores were calculated, and their ability to predict impulsivity, risk for addiction, cognitive performance and presence of Alzheimer's disease was investigated. FINDINGS: The biologically-informed ePRS-IR score showed better prediction of child impulsivity and cognitive performance, as well as risk for addiction and Alzheimer's disease in comparison to conventional polygenic scores for ADHD, addiction and dementia. INTERPRETATION: This novel, biologically-informed approach enables the use of genomic datasets to probe relevant biological processes involved in neural function and disorders. FUND: Toxic Stress Research network of the JPB Foundation, Jacobs Foundation (Switzerland), Sackler Foundation.

With advocates like Sal Khan and Bill Gates,1 flipped classrooms are attracting an increasing amount of media and research attention.2 We had heard Khan's TED talk and were aware of the concept of inverted pedagogies in general. Yet it really hit home when we accidentally flipped our classroom. Our objective was to better prepare our students for class. We set out to effectively move some of our course content outside of class and decided to tweak the Just-in-Time Teaching approach (JiTT).3 To our surprise, this tweak—which we like to call the flip-JiTT—ended up completely flipping our classroom. What follows is narrative of our experience and a procedure that any teacher can use to extend JiTT to a flipped classroom.

This article examines the role of trust between military officers and opposition forces in fostering mass defections of military personnel during pro-democracy uprisings. The current literature on military defection emphasizes the role of either opposition characteristics, or government control policies. Combining the two, however, takes better account of defection as an interaction between officers and the opposition. Through an analysis of civil–military relations during mass uprisings in Benin (1989–1990) and Togo (1990–1993), this article finds that loyalist stacking creates a core of military personnel with a strong stake in regime preservation, while counterbalancing leaves open the possibility for a military-opposition alliance. Alliance also depends on civic resistance campaign characteristics (the unity of the movement, its nonviolent character, the presence of opposition leaders with social ties to military personnel) and promises to military personnel that acknowledge the latter groups’ interests. These findings provide a new theoretical framework for understanding military actions during regime crises.