Representations of a high-quality system of undergraduate education in English higher education policy documents

This article examines the ways in which a high-quality system of undergraduate education is represented in recent policy documents from a range of actors interested in higher education. Drawing on Basil Bernstein's ideas, the authors conceptualise the policy documents as reflecting a struggle over competing views of quality that are expressed through pedagogic discourses. They identify two pedagogic discourses: a dominant market-oriented generic discourse and an alternative discourse that focuses on transformation. They argue that the market-oriented generic discourse is dominant because it is more coherent and more consistently presented than the alternative discourse, which is much more fractured. In conclusion, they argue that refocusing the alternative discourse of quality around students' relations to academic knowledge may offer a way in which to bring the different actors from the higher education field together in order to form a stronger, more cohesive voice

Analytical method to measure three-dimensional strain patterns in the left ventricle from single slice displacement data

Background: Displacement encoded Cardiovascular MR (CMR) can provide high spatial resolution measurements of three-dimensional (3D) Lagrangian displacement. Spatial gradients of the Lagrangian displacement field are used to measure regional myocardial strain. In general, adjacent parallel slices are needed in order to calculate the spatial gradient in the through-slice direction. This necessitates the acquisition of additional data and prolongs the scan time. The goal of this study is to define an analytic solution that supports the reconstruction of the out-of-plane components of the Lagrangian strain tensor in addition to the in-plane components from a single-slice displacement CMR dataset with high spatio-temporal resolution. The technique assumes incompressibility of the myocardium as a physical constraint. Results: The feasibility of the method is demonstrated in a healthy human subject and the results are compared to those of other studies. The proposed method was validated with simulated data and strain estimates from experimentally measured DENSE data, which were compared to the strain calculation from a conventional two-slice acquisition. Conclusion: This analytical method reduces the need to acquire data from adjacent slices when calculating regional Lagrangian strains and can effectively reduce the long scan time by a factor of two

Nucleosomal composition at the centromere: a numbers game

The Centromere is a unique chromosomal locus where the kinetochore is formed to mediate faithful chromosome partitioning, thus maintaining ploidy during cell division. Centromere identity is inherited via an epigenetic mechanism involving a histone H3 variant, called centromere protein A (CENP-A) which replaces H3 in centromeric chromatin. In spite of extensive efforts in field of centromere biology during the past decade, controversy persists over the structural nature of the CENP-A-containing epigenetic mark, both at nucleosomal and chromatin levels. Here, we review recent findings and hypotheses regarding the structure of CENP-A-containing complexes

Microfluidic devices for cell cultivation and proliferation

Microfluidic technology provides precise, controlled-environment, cost-effective, compact, integrated, and high-throughput microsystems that are promising substitutes for conventional biological laboratory methods. In recent years, microfluidic cell culture devices have been used for applications such as tissue engineering, diagnostics, drug screening, immunology, cancer studies, stem cell proliferation and differentiation, and neurite guidance. Microfluidic technology allows dynamic cell culture in microperfusion systems to deliver continuous nutrient supplies for long term cell culture. It offers many opportunities to mimic the cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix interactions of tissues by creating gradient concentrations of biochemical signals such as growth factors, chemokines, and hormones. Other applications of cell cultivation in microfluidic systems include high resolution cell patterning on a modified substrate with adhesive patterns and the reconstruction of complicated tissue architectures. In this review, recent advances in microfluidic platforms for cell culturing and proliferation, for both simple monolayer (2D) cell seeding processes and 3D configurations as accurate models of in vivo conditions, are examined

Association Between Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Following Myocardial Infarction and Liver Enzyme Levels: A Prospective Study

Background: Research in rodents demonstrated that psychological stress increases circulating levels of alanine transaminase, aspartate transaminase, and alkaline phosphatase reflecting liver injury. Moreover, chronic posttraumatic stress disorder and transaminases predicted coronary heart disease. Aims: To investigate the hypothesis that severity of posttraumatic stress disorder following myocardial infarction would prospectively relate to liver enzymes. Methods: Study participants were 24 patients (mean 59±7years, 79% men) with an interviewer-rated diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder caused by an index myocardial infarction 3±3months before. After a mean follow-up of 26±6months, patients had a clinical interview to reassess posttraumatic stress disorder severity, a medical history, and blood collected to determine liver enzymes. Results: Total posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms assessed at study entry prospectively predicted plasma levels of alanine transaminase (r=.47, p=.031) and alkaline phosphatase (r=.57, p=.004), but not of aspartate transaminase (p=.15), controlling for follow-up duration and antidepressant use. Total posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms assessed at follow-up were associated with alanine transaminase (r=.72, p=.004), aspartate transaminase (r=.60, p=.018), and alkaline phosphatase (r=.64, p=.001) in the 16 patients who had maintained diagnostic posttraumatic stress disorder, but not in all 24 patients. Conclusions: The severity of posttraumatic stress disorder following myocardial infarction was associated with mild increase in liver enzyme levels, suggesting that chronic psychological stress relates to hepatic damage in humans. This might help to explain the previously observed increased cardiovascular risk in chronically traumatized individual

Radiation exposure in dental radiology: a 1998 nationwide survey in Switzerland

OBJECTIVES: To measure the frequencies of dental radiological examinations in Switzerland and to determine the associated collective radiation doses. METHODS: To evaluate the frequencies, a sample of 376 dental practitioners and other institutions performing dental radiology were requested to fill in questionnaires designed to measure, amongst others, frequencies of dental radiodiagnoses according to type of examination, patient age and gender, dental specialty and type of surgery. The associated collective radiation doses were determined by multiplying the relevant frequencies with dose estimates obtained from recent measurements and calculations. RESULTS: The total number of dental examinations performed in Switzerland in 1998 was 4.1 million (581 per 1000 population). Periapical, bitewing and panoramic radiographs were the most frequent types of dental examinations. The collective dose associated with dental radiology was 71 person.Sv. This amounts to an annual average effective dose to the population of 10 muSv per caput, which is in agreement with the figures reported for countries of similar healthcare level. Various features such as the age distribution of the radiographed patients, the forms of collimators used, film consumption and the use of digital imaging systems are presented. CONCLUSIONS: Several recommendations for dose reduction are made. These include the re-evaluation of the patterns and justification for prescribing some particular types of dental examinations as well as the avoidance of unnecessary irradiation by the use of rectangular collimation and high sensitivity F-speed films. [Authors]]]> Radiation Dosage; Radiography, Dental eng oai:serval.unil.ch:BIB_D2DF3BCD7DC7 2022-05-07T01:27:40Z openaire documents urnserval <oai_dc:dc xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:oai_dc="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/ http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc.xsd"> https://serval.unil.ch/notice/serval:BIB_D2DF3BCD7DC7 Immigrants: A forgotten minority info:doi:10.1111/iops.12019 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1111/iops.12019 Binggeli, S. Dietz, J. Krings, F. info:eu-repo/semantics/article article 2013 Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 107-113 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pissn/1754-9426 eng https://serval.unil.ch/resource/serval:BIB_D2DF3BCD7DC7.P001/REF.pdf http://nbn-resolving.org/urn/resolver.pl?urn=urn:nbn:ch:serval-BIB_D2DF3BCD7DC75 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/urn/urn:nbn:ch:serval-BIB_D2DF3BCD7DC75 info:eu-repo/semantics/submittedVersion info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Copying allowed only for non-profit organizations https://serval.unil.ch/disclaimer application/pdf oai:serval.unil.ch:BIB_D2E0004859CE 2022-05-07T01:27:40Z <oai_dc:dc xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:oai_dc="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/ http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc.xsd"> https://serval.unil.ch/notice/serval:BIB_D2E0004859CE Personality and career interventions http://www.apa.org/pubs/books/4311514.aspx?tab=2 Rossier, J. info:eu-repo/semantics/bookPart incollection 2015 APA handbook of career intervention. Vol. 1 : Foundations, vol. 1, pp. 327-350 Hartung, P. J. (ed.) Savickas, M. L. (ed.) Walsh, W. B. (ed.) info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/isbn/978-1-4338-1753-3 <![CDATA[Career interventions for adults frequently include personality assessment. Personality in career counseling contexts should no longer be considered as vocational personality associated with personality interests but, rather, as a set of dispositions that has an impact on several vocational and career-related outcomes, such as work engagement, work satisfaction, job performance, etc. Although the relationship between personality and the vocational and career related outcomes is not direct, it might certainly be mediated by several regulatory processes, such as work adaptability, and moderated by contextual and environmental factors. Personality assessment initiates an individual's self-regulatory process and contributes to the overall effectiveness of career interventions when feedback is individualized and stimulates a deconstruction, reconstruction, and co-construction of the vocational or multiple self-concept. Personality assessments can also promote the reconstruction of a self-concept more aligned with the perception of the environment about the personality of the counselee, strengthening the reality principle allowing more rational and controlled choices. In addition, some specific personality profiles, such as having high levels of neuroticism and low levels of conscientiousness, can be considered as risk factors frequently leading to career decision-making difficulties. Moreover, people with low conscientiousness benefit less from career interventions, so special attention should be devoted to counselees having that characteristic. Two case studies are provided to illustrate these important aspects of personality assessment in career interventions

The challenge of Jihadist radicalisation. In Europe and beyond. 2017

Today Europe finds itself on the frontline in the fight against terrorism and jihadist radicalisation. Over the past fourteen months, the horrendous terrorist attacks that have taken place in France, Germany and Belgium, as well as in Turkey, Tunisia, and elsewhere around the world, have claimed hundreds of lives. As a Belgian national, the three bombs that were detonated in my country, in the departure hall of the Brussels International Airport in Zaventem, and at the Maelbeek Metro station, a few hundred metres from key EU institutions, was a particularly traumatic moment for me. In many ways, the attacks of 22 March were Belgium’s own 9/11, representing the worst terrorist attacks committed on Belgian territory in the country’s modern history. The attacks demonstrate a clear shift in the resolve and ability of jihadist terrorists to inflict mass casualties on urban populations, and are devised to induce a high state of well-publicised terro