Art across frontiers : cross-cultural encounters in America : introduction

This short introduction provides a brief overview of the collection, by addressing the main historiographical and theoretical concerns that unite the individual contributions and by placing the essays in comparative, inter-American and interdisciplinary perspective. What do comparative analyses tell us about patterns of cross-cultural exchange in the visual arts? More specifically, what do these analyses tell us about the role of ethnic agency and audience, and the complex relationship between artistic practice and the ‘mainstream’, the local and the global

Book review: creative research methods in the social sciences: a practical guide

Helen Kara’s new book explores the messy realities of research and emerging, creative opportunities. Sarah Lewthwaite finds Creative Research Methods in the Social Sciences a reflexive, dialogic book that demands active reading. As a creative text for students and teachers, the book is designed to enable and support, rather than prescribe. The book looks at the breadth of innovative research practices and is ideal for those seeking to gain a broad sense of this dynamic field

“Seeing in the dark”: the aesthetics of disappearance and remembrance in the work of Alberto Rey

This article examines how contemporary Cuban American artists have experimented with visual languages of trauma to construct an intergenerational memory about the losses of exile and migration. It considers the work of artist Alberto Rey, and his layering of individual loss onto other, traumatic episodes in the history of the Cuban diaspora. In the series Las Balsas (The Rafts, 1995-99), Rey explores the impact of the balsero (rafter) crisis of 1994 by transforming objects left behind by Cuban rafters on their sometimes ill-fated journeys to the United States into commemorative relics. By playing on a memory of absence and the misplacement of objects found along the migration route of the Florida Straits, Rey’s visual language transmits the memory of grief across time, space and generational divides. Rey’s visual strategies are part of an “extended memory” tied to the aesthetics of disappearance and remembrance in contemporary Cuban American art. His use of objects as powerful memory texts that serve to bring fragmented autobiographical, family, and intergenerational testimonies of loss together, suggests how visual artists can provide us with more collective, participatory and redemptive models of memory work

The NCRM quick start guide to: teaching advanced research methods

Teaching advanced research methods presents a number of distinct pedagogic challenges - from diverse learner groups and the practicalities of handling data, to the challenge of structuring and sequencing course content within an intensive period. This guide is the result of NCRM research involving interviewing and observing teachers, learners and strategic developers of advanced competence in social science research methods. The guidance is based on evidence and collective wisdom pertaining to methods teaching specifically and it is intended to stimulate the development of good practice

Book review: 100 activities for teaching research methods by Catherine Dawson

In 100 Activities for Teaching Research Methods, Catherine Dawson offers a sourcebook of 100 ready-to-use activities for teaching research methods from undergraduate to doctoral level. This is an important and welcome addition to the emerging literature on the practical aspects of teaching research methods that will be of particular use to early career teachers looking to expand or complement their existing pedagogic repertoire and teaching strategies, finds Sarah Lewthwaite

A study of effective evaluation models and practices for technology supported physical learning spaces (JELS)

The aim of the JELS project was to identify and review the tools, methods and frameworks used to evaluate technology supported or enhanced physical learning spaces. A key objective was to develop the sector knowledgebase on innovation and emerging practice in the evaluation of learning spaces, identifying innovative methods and approaches beyond traditional post-occupancy evaluations and surveys that have dominated this area to date. The intention was that the frameworks and guidelines discovered or developed from this study could inform all stages of the process of implementing a technology supported physical learning space. The study was primarily targeted at the UK HE sector and the FE sector where appropriate, and ran from September 2008 to March 2009

Exploring pedagogical culture for accessibility education in Computing Science

This paper identifies some of the challenges of teaching and learning accessibility through the lens of pedagogy (which deals with the theory and practice of education). We argue that accessibility education in computing science presents a set of unique and challenging characteristics for those engaged in accessibility capacity building. Significant moves are being made to embed accessibility within academic curricula and professional domains. However, through a qualitative thematic review of the accessibility pedagogic literature, we find that the field lacks the pedagogic culture necessary to support widespread excellence in teaching and learning. Nonetheless, our review identifies aspects of this small but important literature that indicate how a pedagogic culture for accessibility can be stimulated through research, debate and discussion, to promote a more pedagogically-grounded approach to the field as a whole

A service improvement ‘tool kit’ for effective heart failure management in primary care

Background: Heart failure (HF) is a complex and highly debilitating clinical syndrome. International guidelines identify the optimum clinical management of patients living with HF in primary care but translation of these into practice remains inadequate. The aim of this service evaluation is to measure standards of HF diagnosis and management, before and after the implementation of The Greater Manchester Heart Failure Investigation Tool (GM-HFIT), a facilitated ‘tool kit’ designed to optimise HF care. Methods: The GM-HFIT was developed as a means of assessing and improving care and was implemented as part of a facilitated service improvement and evaluation in primary care using a prospective, pre-test, post-test design. Results: Anonymised pre- and post-audit data were taken from a sample of 1130 cases entered on general practice HF registers. These cases were from two clinical commissioning groups (39 general practices) in the north west of England and were analysed to compare HF management and treatment parameters against clinical guidelines. Implementation of the GM-HFIT tool kit was associated with a reduction in the number of patients inappropriately placed on the HF register (p<0.001), an improvement in the recording and documentation of pulse rate and rhythm (p=0.005) and the proportion of patients receiving the target dose of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors and beta-blockers (p<0.001). There was no significant difference in the recording and documentation of blood pressure levels or in documented target blood pressure levels across the time points. Conclusion: The introduction of the GM-HFIT kit was associated with statistically significant improvements in the identification and clinical management of patients diagnosed with HF in primary care

The prevalence of intestinal parasites in hemodialysis patients in Bushehr, Iran

Hemodialysis patients, due to a dysfunction of the immune response, are prone to a variety of opportunistic infections. Studies of intestinal parasitic infections in these patients are limited. Therefore, the present study was performed to determine the prevalence of these infections in patients on hemodialysis in Bushehr. In this cross-sectional study, fecal samples have been collected from all hemodialysis patients who were continuously referred from September 2011 to September 2012 to the dialysis center at Bushehr and tested using routine parasitological methods. From a total of 88 patients studied, 25 patients (28.4%) were infected with one or more intestinal parasites. Blastocystis hominis and Entamoeba coli with 13.6% and 6.7% prevalence had the highest prevalence among the patients, respectively. The age group 51–70 years had the highest rates of infection. Statistical analysis showed no relationship between sex and the risk of intestinal parasites. Seventeen percent of infected patients showed up with diarrhea and this relationship was statistically significant. Considering the high prevalence of intestinal parasitic infection among hemodialysis patients in Bushehr and also the high probability of infection in these patients, it is recommended that periodic examinations and screening patients during dialysis and before kidney transplantation should be a part of routine medical care