Bioinformatics is a fast-growing interdisciplinary field in which the demand for quality education exceeds the supply, especially in developing regions and countries. A massive open online course (MOOC) is a new model for education that delivers videotaped lectures and other course materials over the Internet for all interested persons around the globe to learn for free. Here we present our MOOC “Bioinformatics: Introduction and Methods,” which is the second bioinformatics MOOC in the world and one of the first batch of seven MOOCs from China. In the first two runs of this bilingual MOOC, more than 30,000 students with diverse backgrounds registered from 110 countries and regions. In this manuscript, we present the content design of the MOOC, the demographic profiles and learning patterns of the students, the requirement for English support, and feedback from on-campus students. We offer a few suggestions to other scientists who may be interested in creating a MOOC. We also remember the S* course, a successful open online bioinformatics course that ran from 2001 to 2007, long before the current wave of MOOCs. We believe that MOOC education has great potential to enhance global bioinformatics education.
Ambient volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were measured intensively using an online gas chromatography–mass spectrometry/flame ionization detector (GC–MS/FID) at Ziyang in the Chengdu–Chongqing Region (CCR) from 6 December 2012 to 4 January 2013. Alkanes contributed the most (59%) to mixing ratios of measured non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs), while aromatics contributed the least (7%). Methanol was the most abundant oxygenated VOC (OVOC), contributing 42% to the total amount of OVOCs. Significantly elevated VOC levels occurred during three pollution events, but the chemical composition of VOCs did not differ between polluted and clean days. The OH loss rates of VOCs were calculated to estimate their chemical reactivity. Alkenes played a predominant role in VOC reactivity, among which ethylene and propene were the largest contributors; the contributions of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde were also considerable. Biomass burning had a significant influence on ambient VOCs during our study. We chose acetonitrile as a tracer and used enhancement ratio to estimate the contribution of biomass burning to ambient VOCs. Biomass burning contributed 9.4%–36.8% to the mixing ratios of selected VOC species, and contributed most (>30% each) to aromatics, formaldehyde, and acetaldehyde.
Black carbon (BC) mass emission factors (EFBC; g BC (kg fuel)(-1)) from a variety of ocean-going vessels have been determined from measurements of BC and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in ship plumes intercepted by the R/V Atlantis during the 2010 California Nexus (CalNex) campaign. The ships encountered were all operating within 24 nautical miles of the California coast and were utilizing relatively low sulphur fuels (average fuel sulphur content of 0.4%, 0.09% and 0.03% for vessels operating slow-speed, medium-speed and high-speed diesel engines, respectively). Black carbon concentrations within the plumes, from which EFBC values are determined, were measured using four independent instruments: a photoacoustic spectrometer and a particle soot absorption photometer, which measure light absorption, and a single particle soot photometer and soot particle aerosol mass spectrometer, which measure the mass concentration of refractory BC directly. These measurements have been used to assess the level of agreement between these different techniques for the determination of BC emission factors from ship plumes. Also, these measurements greatly expand upon the number of individual ships for which BC emission factors have been determined during real-world operation. The measured EFBC's have been divided into vessel type categories and engine type categories, from which averages have been determined. The geometric average EFBC (excluding outliers) determined from over 71 vessels and 135 plumes encountered was 0.31 +/- 0.31 gBC (kg fuel)(-1), where the standard deviation represents the variability between individual vessels. The most frequent engine type encountered was the slow-speed diesel (SSD), and the most frequent SSD vessel type was the cargo ship sub-category. Average and median EFBC values from the SSD category are compared with previous observations from the Texas Air Quality Study (TexAQS) in 2006, during which the ships encountered were predominately operating on high-sulphur fuels (average fuel sulphur content of 1.6 %). There is a statistically significant difference between the EFBC values from CalNex and TexAQS for SSD vessels and for the cargo and tanker ship types within this engine category. The CalNex EFBC values are lower than those from TexAQS, suggesting that operation on lower sulphur fuels is associated with smaller EFBC values.
