Category: Independent Learning Assignment

This essay was written by Lower Sixth Form student Rohan McCauley as an Independent Learning Assignment (ILA). It was shortlisted for the 2023 ILA/ ORIS award. The following provides a short abstract of the full report:

Obesity is a huge problem in both the developed and developing world. Rapidly rising levels of obesity mean that every year, a greater proportion of the population is at risk from diseases such as type II diabetes and various cardiovascular disorders. My ILA aims to explore the role of obesogens, endocrine-disrupting chemicals that contribute to obesity, by examining their impact on factors such as adipocyte differentiation and appetite control which lead to weight gain. Understanding obesogens is crucial for effective policy-making and prevention strategies, although it is evident that factors such as diet and exercise are ultimately more significant, and that tackling the obesity epidemic is an incredibly complex issue which requires the consideration of a broad variety of contributing factors.

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This essay was written by Lower Sixth Form student Finlay Sanders as an Original Research in Science (ORIS) project. It was shortlisted for the 2023 ILA/ ORIS award. The following provides a short introduction to the full report:

Many natural phenomena display properties or behaviours more than the mere aggregation of their parts. Humans, for instance, are capable of language, cognition and intricate social behaviours, none of which are properties of individual cells. Similarly, each cell’s functionality arises from the interactions between molecules, even though none possess the cell’s capabilities independently. This pattern, where macroscopic properties arise from interactions between microscopic components, termed ’emergence’, is a hallmark of complex systems. Emergence creates layers of abstraction within a system, where each behaves according to its own physical laws. Formal theories of emergence have already been introduced using information theory, such as in. The contribution of this paper is a novel method of identifying emergence using machine learning. By approximating the dynamics of a complex system at different spatiotemporal scales, I confirm numerically that these layers of abstraction exist, and that the dynamics of each can be learned by a data-driven approach. I evaluate this method using the Classical XY model, a lattice model of statistical mechanics relevant to phenomena such as the melting of crystals, magnetism and superconductivity, as an example. At the microscopic scale, the model consists of a collection of spins on a lattice that can point in any direction in the plane, which operate according to the dynamics of equation 4. At the macroscopic scale, the model is characterised by emergent structures termed ’vortices’ and ’anti-vortices’, which describe topological flaws where groups of spins make a 2π rotation either clockwise or anticlockwise, that follow Coulomb dynamics. To this end, I propose a dual pathway approach to predicting the trajectories of spins and vortices using graph neural networks. First, I trained a model to predict spin dynamics, from which the vortices could be extracted. Second, I trained a model that bypasses spins, instead directly predicting vortex movements. By drawing parallels to commutativity diagrams, I demonstrate that both pathways converge to accurate vortex predictions, even over extended rollouts.

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This essay was written by Lower Sixth Form student Shrey Bijlani as an Original Research in Science (ORIS) project. It was the winning submission in the STEM category of the 2023 ILA/ ORIS award. The following provides a short abstract of the full report:

The N13 potential is a response in the spinal cord in humans that is thought to reflect post-synaptic activation of neurons. Recordings from rats show the N13 potential has an analogous N1 potential in the rat and might be useful for developing new drugs, however the precise location this potential originates from remains uncorroborated. Electrophysiological experiments were performed to analyse this, and subsequently, tissue was extracted from rats and stained accordingly. The results show that the probe was positioned approximately 1.2mm deep and 0.5mm laterally with the tip of the probe ending in lamina V. When compared to electrophysiological data, this confirms that the origin of the N13 potential is located within lamina V, supporting the conclusion that the initial response was mediated here.

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This essay was written by Lower Sixth Form student Ben Tabberner as an Independent Learning Assignment (ILA). It was shortlisted for the 2023 ILA/ ORIS award. The following provides a short introduction to the full essay:

“It’s a high time for Hypersonic Missiles”¹ is a line from one of Sam Fender’s best-selling songs. Looking at the line in the context of the song, it is a plea to society to do something meaningful with their lives because hypersonic missiles have the potential to destroy life as we know it. For example, a hypersonic missile launched from Moscow now could strike London with a nuclear warhead in under 10 minutes.  Such missiles are disrupting the relative security that the world has felt since the end of the Cold War.  Since ex-United States Secretary of Defence Robert McNamara’s suggestion of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) in the 1960s the world has been living in relative comfort in the belief that no superpower will strike another for fear of ‘Mutual Destruction’.  Hypersonic missiles may allow any country who has them to make a nuclear strike with more success. Mutual Assured Destruction relies on different countries’ military forces being equal – hypersonic missiles disrupt this balance because of the reduced response time and difficulty of defending against them. They have put the world in a precarious position; the ‘Destruction’ in Mutual Assured Destruction may not be ‘Mutual’ at all.  Is it therefore time to look for a new way forward which will give the world a new era of relative peace?

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