Academic research in vocationally-oriented highereducation: perspectives from teaching staff

Academics’ need to publish research output in order to succeed in tertiary education has been discussed extensively. Less is known about research and publication needs of staff working in vocationally-oriented higher institutes who, until recently, were judged primarily on their teaching contribution. However, there has been a noticeable trend across the world whereby career development of teaching staff in vocational institutes depends on their research and ability to publish in academic journals. This paper investigates the academic research challenges of teaching staff in a vocationally-oriented institute in Hong Kong. Mixed research methods were adopted to understand the prior experiences of the staff, challenges they may be facing when doing and publishing research, and ways in which their research and publication needs may be supported. Questionnaire data from 21 staff members reveal that most staff join the teaching profession after a career in the commercial sector and about half of the respondents do not have any research experience at all. These teaching staff hope to engage in research to enhance their future career prospects, engage in independent professional development and support their teaching. Most staff, however, feel that various constraints inhibit their ability to do research including lack of resources, insufficient time and limited experience with research. Three detailed case studies are used to further understand the personal and institutional contexts of the participants and develop recommendations that can be applied at the institutional policy and department levels

The Evolution of Light Stress Proteins in Photosynthetic Organisms

The Elip (early light-inducible protein) family in pro- and eukaryotic photosynthetic organisms consists of more than 100 different stress proteins. These proteins accumulate in photosynthetic membranes in response to light stress and have photoprotective functions. At the amino acid level, members of the Elip family are closely related to light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b-binding (Cab) antenna proteins of photosystem I and II, present in higher plants and some algae. Based on their predicted secondary structure, members of the Elip family are divided into three groups: (a) one-helix Hlips (high light-induced proteins), also called Scps (small Cab-like proteins) or Ohps (one-helix proteins); (b) two-helix Seps (stress-enhanced proteins); and (c) three-helix Elips and related proteins. Despite having different physiological functions it is believed that eukaryotic three-helix Cab proteins evolved from the prokaryotic Hlips through a series of duplications and fusions. In this review we analyse the occurrence of Elip family members in various photosynthetic prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms and discuss their evolutionary relationship with Cab proteins

Tasleḍt tasentalant n wungal n Faḍma AT MENṢUR ΣEMRUC: «Taqsiḍt n tudert-iw» i d-tessuqel tmarut Katia TOUAT seg tefṛansist γer teqbaylit

Tasleḍt tasentalant n wungal n Faḍma AT MENṢUR ΣEMRUC: «Taqsiḍt n tudert-iw» i d-tessuqel tmarut Katia TOUAT seg tefṛansist γer teqbaylitTasleḍt tasentalant n wungal n Faḍma AT MENṢUR ΣEMRUC: «Taqsiḍt n tudert-iw» i d-tessuqel tmarut Katia TOUAT seg tefṛansist γer teqbayli

Éditorial

Lors de l’éditorial d’avril, nous constations l’arrivée de la pandémie et le choc du confinement. Aujourd’hui, six mois après, nous vivons toujours sous la menace du covid19 qui bouscule l’organisation de nos vies personnelles et professionnelles. Dans ce contexte, l’actualité de la revue porte sur la co-organisation du congrès de la SELF « L’activité et ses frontières. Penser et agir sur les transformations de nos sociétés », du 11 au 13 janvier 2021. Sur le plan scientifique, 106 communicat..

Éditorial

La revue Activités contribue régulièrement à l’organisation de manifestations scientifiques. Ainsi, après de nombreux aléas dus à la pandémie, notre contribution à l’organisation du 55ème congrès de la SELF est terminée. Nous reprenons maintenant le cycle de nos journées d’étude. Nous vous annonçons dès à présent la tenue d’une prochaine journée d’étude, le 30 septembre 2021, sur le thème de "L’autonomie au prisme de l’activité" (voir l’annonce). Cette journée, nous l’espérons, se déroulera e..

Éditorial

Ce numéro d’avril 2024 est volumineux, signe de la vitalité des travaux théoriques et méthodologiques touchant à l’activité finalisée. Comme vous pouvez le constater, il est aussi mis en ligne sur un site qui présente la revue à la fois en français et en anglais, ouvrant la voie à de nouvelles perspectives d’indexation dans les bases de données, en particulier Scopus. Signalons également la prochaine journée d’étude de la revue, qui aura lieu le 26 septembre 2024 et qui portera sur la thémat..

Prediction of nuclear proteins using SVM and HMM models

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The nucleus, a highly organized organelle, plays important role in cellular homeostasis. The nuclear proteins are crucial for chromosomal maintenance/segregation, gene expression, RNA processing/export, and many other processes. Several methods have been developed for predicting the nuclear proteins in the past. The aim of the present study is to develop a new method for predicting nuclear proteins with higher accuracy.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>All modules were trained and tested on a non-redundant dataset and evaluated using five-fold cross-validation technique. Firstly, Support Vector Machines (SVM) based modules have been developed using amino acid and dipeptide compositions and achieved a Mathews correlation coefficient (MCC) of 0.59 and 0.61 respectively. Secondly, we have developed SVM modules using split amino acid compositions (SAAC) and achieved the maximum MCC of 0.66. Thirdly, a hidden Markov model (HMM) based module/profile was developed for searching exclusively nuclear and non-nuclear domains in a protein. Finally, a hybrid module was developed by combining SVM module and HMM profile and achieved a MCC of 0.87 with an accuracy of 94.61%. This method performs better than the existing methods when evaluated on blind/independent datasets. Our method estimated 31.51%, 21.89%, 26.31%, 25.72% and 24.95% of the proteins as nuclear proteins in <it>Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila melanogaster</it>, mouse and human proteomes respectively. Based on the above modules, we have developed a web server NpPred for predicting nuclear proteins <url>http://www.imtech.res.in/raghava/nppred/</url>.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study describes a highly accurate method for predicting nuclear proteins. SVM module has been developed for the first time using SAAC for predicting nuclear proteins, where amino acid composition of N-terminus and the remaining protein were computed separately. In addition, our study is a first documentation where exclusively nuclear and non-nuclear domains have been identified and used for predicting nuclear proteins. The performance of the method improved further by combining both approaches together.</p

Taxonomic distribution and origins of the extended LHC (light-harvesting complex) antenna protein superfamily

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The extended light-harvesting complex (LHC) protein superfamily is a centerpiece of eukaryotic photosynthesis, comprising the LHC family and several families involved in photoprotection, like the LHC-like and the photosystem II subunit S (PSBS). The evolution of this complex superfamily has long remained elusive, partially due to previously missing families.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study we present a meticulous search for LHC-like sequences in public genome and expressed sequence tag databases covering twelve representative photosynthetic eukaryotes from the three primary lineages of plants (Plantae): glaucophytes, red algae and green plants (Viridiplantae). By introducing a coherent classification of the different protein families based on both, hidden Markov model analyses and structural predictions, numerous new LHC-like sequences were identified and several new families were described, including the red lineage chlorophyll <it>a/b</it>-binding-like protein (RedCAP) family from red algae and diatoms. The test of alternative topologies of sequences of the highly conserved chlorophyll-binding core structure of LHC and PSBS proteins significantly supports the independent origins of LHC and PSBS families via two unrelated internal gene duplication events. This result was confirmed by the application of cluster likelihood mapping.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The independent evolution of LHC and PSBS families is supported by strong phylogenetic evidence. In addition, a possible origin of LHC and PSBS families from different homologous members of the stress-enhanced protein subfamily, a diverse and anciently paralogous group of two-helix proteins, seems likely. The new hypothesis for the evolution of the extended LHC protein superfamily proposed here is in agreement with the character evolution analysis that incorporates the distribution of families and subfamilies across taxonomic lineages. Intriguingly, stress-enhanced proteins, which are universally found in the genomes of green plants, red algae, glaucophytes and in diatoms with complex plastids, could represent an important and previously missing link in the evolution of the extended LHC protein superfamily.</p

Loss of chloroplast protease SPPA function alters high light acclimation processes in Arabidopsis thaliana L. (Heynh.)

SPPA1 is a protease in the plastids of plants, located in non-appressed thylakoid regions. In this study, T-DNA insertion mutants of the single-copy SPPA1 gene in Arabidopsis thaliana (At1g73990) were examined. Mutation of SPPA1 had no effect on the growth and development of plants under moderate, non-stressful conditions. It also did not affect the quantum efficiency of photosynthesis as measured by dark-adapted Fv/Fm and light-adapted ΦPSII. Chloroplasts from sppA mutants were indistinguishable from the wild type. Loss of SPPA appears to affect photoprotective mechanisms during high light acclimation: mutant plants maintained a higher level of non-photochemical quenching of Photosystem II chlorophyll (NPQ) than the wild type, while wild-type plants accumulated more anthocyanin than the mutants. The quantum efficiency of Photosystem II was the same in all genotypes grown under low light, but was higher in wild type than mutants during high light acclimation. Further, the mutants retained the stress-related Early Light Inducible Protein (ELIP) longer than wild-type leaves during the early recovery period after acute high light plus cold treatment. These results suggest that SPPA1 may function during high light acclimation in the plastid, but is non-essential for growth and development under non-stress conditions