Questions of quality in repositories of open educational resources: a literature review

Open educational resources (OER) are teaching and learning materials which are freely available and openly licensed. Repositories of OER (ROER) are platforms that host and facilitate access to these resources. ROER should not just be designed to store this content – in keeping with the aims of the OER movement, they should support educators in embracing open educational practices (OEP) such as searching for and retrieving content that they will reuse, adapt or modify as needed, without economic barriers or copyright restrictions. This paper reviews key literature on OER and ROER, in order to understand the roles ROER are said or supposed to fulfil in relation to furthering the aims of the OER movement. Four themes which should shape repository design are identified, and the following 10 quality indicators (QI) for ROER effectiveness are discussed: featured resources; user evaluation tools; peer review; authorship of the resources; keywords of the resources; use of standardised metadata; multilingualism of the repositories; inclusion of social media tools; specification of the creative commons license; availability of the source code or original files. These QI form the basis of a method for the evaluation of ROER initiatives which, in concert with considerations of achievability and long-term sustainability, should assist in enhancement and development. Keywords: open educational resources; open access; open educational practice; repositories; quality assuranc

Transcriptional profiling of colicin-induced cell death of Escherichia coli MG1655 identifies potential mechanisms by which bacteriocins promote bacterial diversity

We report the transcriptional response of Escherichia coli MG1655 to damage induced by colicins E3 and E9, bacteriocins that kill cells through inactivation of the ribosome and degradation of chromosomal DNA, respectively. Colicin E9 strongly induced the LexA-regulated SOS response, while colicin E3 elicited a broad response that included the induction of cold shock genes, symptomatic of translational arrest. Colicin E3 also increased the transcription of cryptic prophage genes and other laterally acquired mobile elements. The transcriptional responses to both these toxins suggest mechanisms that may promote genetic diversity in E. coli populations, pointing to a more general role for colicins in adaptive bacterial physiology than has hitherto been realized

Adapting to the digital age: a narrative approach

The article adopts a narrative inquiry approach to foreground informal learning and exposes a collection of stories from tutors about how they adapted comfortably to the digital age. We were concerned that despite substantial evidence that bringing about changes in pedagogic practices can be difficult, there is a gap in convincing approaches to help in this respect. In this context, this project takes a “bottom-up” approach and synthesises several life-stories into a single persuasive narrative to support the process of adapting to digital change. The project foregrounds the small, every-day motivating moments, cultural features and environmental factors in people's diverse lives which may have contributed to their positive dispositions towards change in relation to technology enhanced learning. We expect that such narrative approaches could serve to support colleagues in other institutions to warm up to ever-changing technological advances

Exact Kink Solitons in the Presence of Diffusion, Dispersion, and Polynomial Nonlinearity

We describe exact kink soliton solutions to nonlinear partial differential equations in the generic form u_{t} + P(u) u_{x} + \nu u_{xx} + \delta u_{xxx} = A(u), with polynomial functions P(u) and A(u) of u=u(x,t), whose generality allows the identification with a number of relevant equations in physics. We emphasize the study of chirality of the solutions, and its relation with diffusion, dispersion, and nonlinear effects, as well as its dependence on the parity of the polynomials $P(u)$ and $A(u)$ with respect to the discrete symmetry $u\to-u$. We analyze two types of kink soliton solutions, which are also solutions to 1+1 dimensional phi^{4} and phi^{6} field theories.Comment: 11 pages, Late

Sport psychology consulting in professional rugby union in the United Kingdom

This article describes my experiences of working within professional rugby union in South Wales, United Kingdom. Initially, I locate the context of professional rugby union in the country alongside how my various subcultural understandings of the sport were obtained. After outlining my consulting philosophy developed for working in a professional rugby union context, subsequent cultural challenges for practitioners working in the sport are then explored, together with example strategies used to account for such cultural considerations. I conclude by reflecting upon the importance of practitioners possessing and developing contextual intelligence and cultural competency to work effectively in high performance environments

Identification of new members of the Escherichia coli K-12 MG1655 SlyA regulon.

SlyA is a member of the MarR family of bacterial transcriptional regulators. Previously, SlyA has been shown to directly regulate only two operons in Escherichia coli K-12 MG1655, fimB and hlyE (clyA). In both cases SlyA activates gene expression by antagonizing repression by the nucleoid associated protein H-NS. Here the transcript profiles of aerobic glucose-limited steady-state chemostat cultures of E. coli K-12 MG1655, slyA mutant and slyA over-expression strains are reported. The transcript profile of the slyA mutant was not significantly different to that of the parent; however, that of the slyA expression strain was significantly different from that of the vector control. Transcripts representing 27 operons were increased in abundance, whereas 3 were decreased. Of the 30 differentially regulated operons, 24 have been previously associated with sites of H-NS binding, suggesting that antagonism of H-NS repression is a common feature of SlyA-mediated transcription regulation. Direct binding of SlyA to DNA located upstream of a selection of these targets permitted the identification of new operons likely to be directly regulated by SlyA. Transcripts of four operons coding for cryptic adhesins exhibited enhanced expression and this was consistent with enhanced biofilm formation associated with the SlyA over-producing strain

A model of superoutbursts in binaries of SU UMa type

A new mechanism explaining superoutbursts in binaries of SU UMa type is proposed. In the framework of this mechanism the accretion rate increase leading to the superoutburst is associated with formation of a spiral wave of a new "precessional" type in inner gasdynamically unperturbed parts of the accretion disc. The possibility of existence of this type of waves was suggested in our previous work (astro-ph/0403053). The features of the "precessional" spiral wave allow explaining both the energy release during the outburst and all its observational manifestations. The distinctive characteristic of a superoutburst in a SU UMa type star is the appearance of the superhump on the light curve. The proposed model reproduces well the formation of the superhump as well as its observational features, such as the period that is 3-7% longer than the orbital one and the detectability of superhumps regardless of the binary inclination.Comment: LaTeX, 20 pages, 4 figures, to be published in Astron. Z

Foundations of character: methodological aspects of a study of character development in three- to six-year-old children with a focus on sharing behaviours

This article focuses on methodological issues arising in a study of character development, using illustrations of ‘sharing behaviours.’ Based primarily in six early years settings in southeast England the research records naturalistic observations of peer interactions for 55 children aged three to six years. Applying grounded theory to the processes of observing, analysing and interpreting evidence required a cautious and collectively reflective approach. The methodology sought to moderate the influence of the researchers' prior knowledge of ‘grand theories’ of moral development and assumptions about relevance to the observation records. The study's originality lay in the exploration of moral development without reference to any particular grand theory as an explanatory framework; and in the reluctance to be drawn to potentially simplistic rationalisations of the children's intentions on the basis of their observed behaviours. Exploring young children's subjective experiences, this research provides insights into the intricacy of this process, steering away from ‘neat’ findings and attempting to reflect the sophistication of the children's skilful and sometimes surprising negotiations of moral dilemmas. Implications for practice relate to the complexities involved in attempts to unravel the developing moral characters of young children and the practice through which this may be nurtured