The present study examines the development of hypermedia comprehension of children in the upper grades of primary school. It will be explored how children go beyond their literacy skills in developing hypermedia comprehension abilities to enhance web-based learning. The present research includes a study which explores the strategies fifth-grade primary school children use in hypermedia comprehension (e.g. on the basis of eye-tracking data) (study 1), the learner characteristics which explain the individual variation in hypermedia comprehension (study 2), and an instructional design-based study which aims to develop and analyse an instructional sequence that supports hypermedia comprehension to enhance web-based learning (study 3). The scientific importance of the present project lies in the fact that the comprehension of hypermedia in children is not yet fully understood. It is by no means clear how children learn to understand the nonlinear structure of hypermedia.

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Place: Molecular Dynamics Group, University of Groningen
Promotor: Prof. S.J. Marrink
Duration: 4 years
Start: july-dec 2009
Applications: email CV to s.j.marrink@rug.nl
Requirements: solid background in biophysics

Abstract: In a collaborative project, pH-sensitive, light-modulated and redox switches will be conjugated into pore forming peptides, peptide mimics and channel proteins to engineer selectivity and to allow controlled opening and closing of the pore. Lipids will be designed and synthesized that form robust membranes which are suitable hosts for the peptides and proteins. The PhD student will apply multi-scale Molecular Dynamics simulations techniques to analyse the pore properties and help in the design of this promising class of bio-inspired nanopores.

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Place: Molecular Dynamics Group, University of Groningen
Promotor: Prof. S.J. Marrink
Duration: 4 years
Start: july-dec 2009
Applications: email CV to s.j.marrink@rug.nl
Requirements: a solid background in biophysics; expertise in programming is useful.

Aim: To develop multiscale force fields and methodology that extends the accessible time and length scale for simulations of biomolecular systems while retaining atomic detail.

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Hydrogen storage is a major bottleneck in the development of a future energy economy based on hydrogen as an energy carrier. Key to competitive hydrogen storage is the development of lightweight, cheap and safe materials that can be reversibly loaded under temperature and pressure conditions suitable for applications. Surface adsorption of hydrogen in porous, crystalline materials such as metal organic frameworks (MOFs) and covalent organic frameworks (COFs) provide materials with record specific surface areas per gram material, and are therefore proposed as potential hydrogen storage materials.

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