The medium is not the message: an action research project on the use of recorded audio feedback.

Feedback to students remains a contentious issue for both staff and learners: “the UK-wide National Student Survey has shown consistently that feedback is an area in which students are often least satisfied, irrespective of institution or discipline” (Rodway-Dyer et al, 2011) “Feedback on students’ work is, probably, one of the most important aspects of learning, yet students’ report, according to the National Union of Students (NUS) Survey of 2008, unhappiness with the feedback process” (Lunt & Curran, 2010) “... teaching staff complain about lack of student engagement with feedback and a loss of connection with students” (Cann, 2014) This paper presents a case study carried out with first year undergraduate students to compare and contrast the use of audio feedback and text-based feedback. (“Audio feedback may be defined as a digital sound file containing formative or summative verbal feedback given by the tutor”. Hennessy & Forrester, 2014). Shriver (1992) has suggested that recordings of spoken feedback can be used as “think-aloud reading” and help students to focus on the impressions their writing gives to the reader. This research was directed towards writing skills but other research e.g. Lunt & Curran (2010) indicated that audio feedback had been favourably tested by students in business and tourism. Rodway-Dyer et al (2011) tested similar ideas with geography students and met with a largely positive response. Other research has suggested that the issue is not so clear-cut: “some [students] found the richness of the audio feedback a precursor to even greater effort, some students pointing out forcefully that its pro-social nature created an affective relationship, whilst others found it at best, redundant in terms of its cognitive effects, and at worst, an intrusive and unwelcome intimate obstruction to understanding.” (Gleaves & Walker, 2013) The study carried out in BA(Hons) Photography suggests that not all students see a benefit in audio feedback but that it may have a role within the curriculum as part of a broader feedback strategy

A Langmuir approach on monolayer interactions to investigate surface active peptides

The Langmuir Blodgett apparatus provides a versatile system for studying the interfacial properties of peptides and peptide-membrane interactions under controlled conditions. Using amphiphilic α-helical peptides to highlight studies undertaken, here we discuss the use of this system to provide information on the surface activity of peptides and describe the insights these studies give into biological functio

Trumpet slices of the Schwarzschild-Tangherlini spacetime

We study families of time-independent maximal and 1+log foliations of the Schwarzschild-Tangherlini spacetime, the spherically-symmetric vacuum black hole solution in D spacetime dimensions, for D >= 4. We identify special members of these families for which the spatial slices display a trumpet geometry. Using a generalization of the 1+log slicing condition that is parametrized by a constant n we recover the results of Nakao, Abe, Yoshino and Shibata in the limit of maximal slicing. We also construct a numerical code that evolves the BSSN equations for D=5 in spherical symmetry using moving-puncture coordinates, and demonstrate that these simulations settle down to the trumpet solutions.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, submitted to PR

A theoretical analysis of secondary structural characteristics of anticancer peptides

Here, cluster analysis showed that a database of 158 peptides formed 21 clusters based on net positive charge, hydrophobicity and amphiphilicity. In general these clusters showed similar median toxicities (p = 0.176) against eukaryotic cell lines and no single combination of these properties was found optimal for efficacy. The database contained 14 peptides, which showed selectivity for tumour cell lines only (ACPCT), 123 peptides with general toxicity to eukaryotic cells (ACPGT) and 21 inactive peptides (ACPI). Hydrophobic arc size analysis showed that there was no significant difference across the datasets. Even though there was no correlation there was no correlation observed, peptides with wide hydrophobic arcs (> 270°) appeared less toxic. Extended hydrophobic moment plot analysis predicted that over 50% of ACPCT and ACPGT peptides would be surface active, which led to the suggestion that amphiphilicity is a key driver of the membrane interactions for these peptides but probably plays a role in their efficacy rather than their selectivity. This analysis also predicted that only 14% of ACPCT peptides compared to 45% of ACPGT peptides were candidates for tilted peptide formation. This implies that those peptides with non-specific activity may have a tendency towards the utilisation of membrane disruptive structures such as tilt peptides which led to the suggestion that the absence of this structure may support cancer cell selectivity. However, these analyses predicted that ACPI peptides, which possess no anticancer activity, would also form surface active and tilted a-helices, clearly showing that other factors are involved in determining the efficacy and selectivity of ACPs

Phycomyces

This monographic review on a fungus is not addressed to mycologists. None of the authors has been trained or has otherwise acquired a general proficiency in mycology. They are motivated by a common interest in the performances of signal handling exhibited by the sense organs of all organisms and by the desire to attack these as yet totally obscure aspects of molecular biology by the study of a microorganism with certain desirable properties. The sporangiophore of the fungus Phycomyces is a gigantic, single-celled, erect, cylindrical, aerial hypha. It is sensitive to at least four distinct stimuli: light, gravity, stretch, and some unknown stimulus by which it avoids solid objects. These stimuli control a common output, the growth rate, producing either temporal changes in growth rate or tropic responses. We are interested in the output because it gives us information about the reception of the various signals. In the absence of external stimuli, the growth rate is controlled by internal signals keeping the network of biochemical processes in balance. The external stimuli interact with the internal signals. We wish to inquire into the early steps of this interaction. For light, for instance, the cell must have a receptor pigment as the first mediator. What kind of a molecule is this pigment? Which organelle contains it? What chemical reaction happens after a light quantum has been absorbed? And how is the information introduced by this primary photochemical event amplified in a controlled manner and processed in the next step? How do a few quanta or a few molecules trigger macroscopic responses? Will we find ourselves confronted with devices wholly distinct from anything now known in biology

Interaction of Stress, Lead Burden, and Age on Cognition in Older Men: The VA Normative Aging Study

BACKGROUND. Low-level exposure to lead and to chronic stress may independently influence cognition. However, the modifying potential of psychosocial stress on the neurotoxicity of lead and their combined relationship to aging-associated decline have not been fully examined. OBJECTIVES. We examined the cross-sectional interaction between stress and lead exposure on Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores among 811 participants in the Normative Aging Study, a cohort of older U.S. men. METHODS. We used two self-reported measures of stress appraisal-a self-report of stress related to their most severe problem and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Indices of lead exposure were blood lead and bone (tibia and patella) lead. RESULTS. Participants with higher self-reported stress had lower MMSE scores, which were adjusted for age, education, computer experience, English as a first language, smoking, and alcohol intake. In multivariable-adjusted tests for interaction, those with higher PSS scores had a 0.57-point lower (95% confidence interval, -0.90 to 0.24) MMSE score for a 2-fold increase in blood lead than did those with lower PSS scores. In addition, the combination of high PSS scores and high blood lead categories on one or both was associated with a 0.05-0.08 reduction on the MMSE for each year of age compared with those with low PSS score and blood lead level (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS. Psychological stress had an independent inverse association with cognition and also modified the relationship between lead exposure and cognitive performance among older men. Furthermore, high stress and lead together modified the association between age and cognition.National Institutes of Health (R01ES07821, R01HL080674, R01HL080674-02S1, R01ES013744, ES05257-06A1, P20MD000501, P42ES05947, ES03918-02); National Center for Research Resources General Clinical Research Center (M01RR02635); Leaves of Grass Foundation; United States Department of Veterans Affair

Transforming growth factor-beta promotes rhinovirus replication in bronchial epithelial cells by suppressing the innate immune response

Rhinovirus (RV) infection is a major cause of asthma exacerbations which may be due to a deficient innate immune response in the bronchial epithelium. We hypothesized that the pleiotropic cytokine, TGF-?, influences interferon (IFN) production by primary bronchial epithelial cells (PBECs) following RV infection. Exogenous TGF-?(2) increased RV replication and decreased IFN protein secretion in response to RV or double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). Conversely, neutralizing TGF-? antibodies decreased RV replication and increased IFN expression in response to RV or dsRNA. Endogenous TGF-?(2) levels were higher in conditioned media of PBECs from asthmatic donors and the suppressive effect of anti-TGF-? on RV replication was significantly greater in these cells. Basal SMAD-2 activation was reduced when asthmatic PBECs were treated with anti-TGF-? and this was accompanied by suppression of SOCS-1 and SOCS-3 expression. Our results suggest that endogenous TGF-? contributes to a suppressed IFN response to RV infection possibly via SOCS-1 and SOCS-3

The Resonance of Colonial Era Customary Codes in Contemporary Uganda

Colonial era codifications of customary law – especially those codified in indigenous first languages – have a resilient capacity to form and inform living customary law. In the context of Mukono District, Uganda, modern conceptions of customary law are informed and shaped by colonial era codifications promulgated by the British Protectorate and the Kingdom of Buganda. This research insight offers practical benefits to those seeking to promote access to justice and human rights development in Mukono District. Such benefits speak to the potential vitality and relevance of colonial era customary codifications. Misgivings about the alien influences and exploitative purposes that distorted and corrupted colonial era codes do not warrant disregard of their active legacy within modern customary legal frameworks. The use of receptive research approaches such as those developed and modelled by Sally Falk Moore can help ensure the ongoing influence of colonial era codes are not hidden by contemporary orthodoxies and biases

Internet Use Policies in the Public Schools of Nebraska: Implications for Health Education

Nebraska school board presidents (n=604) were asked to respond to a 36-item questionnaire that addressed the issues of health education and the Internet use policy regulating Internet use in the public schools. The response rate was 22.3 percent (n=135). Nebraska school board presidents reported that health education was not an important item to take into consideration when developing an Internet use policy, but reported that that sexual content, drug content, violence-related material and commercial content, respectively were very important items the Internet use policy should regulate. Thus, this study revealed that the school board presidents of Nebraska were not aware that sexual content, drug content, violence-related material and commercial content were components of health education. Nebraska school board presidents also reported that sexual content, drug content, violence-related material and commercial content were important issues that the Internet use policy should control and each were significantly different in the reported regulation importance. Chi-square analyses found that large school districts of Nebraska perceived importance of Internet regulation and a written Internet use policy significantly more than small school districts of Nebraska

The Resonance of Colonial Era Customary Codes in Contemporary Uganda

Colonial era codifications of customary law – especially those codified in indigenous first languages – have a resilient capacity to form and inform living customary law. In the context of Mukono District, Uganda, modern conceptions of customary law are informed and shaped by colonial era codifications promulgated by the British Protectorate and the Kingdom of Buganda. This research insight offers practical benefits to those seeking to promote access to justice and human rights development in Mukono District. Such benefits speak to the potential vitality and relevance of colonial era customary codifications. Misgivings about the alien influences and exploitative purposes that distorted and corrupted colonial era codes do not warrant disregard of their active legacy within modern customary legal frameworks. The use of receptive research approaches such as those developed and modelled by Sally Falk Moore can help ensure the ongoing influence of colonial era codes are not hidden by contemporary orthodoxies and biases. &nbsp