45 research outputs found
The political economy of growing a rural university in the USA using online education: An examination of incentives for educational imperialism and academic capitalism
Rural colleges and universities in the USA struggle to recruit new students as their geographic region is depopulating and cost to attend classes on campus are increasing. Online education using the Internet is rapidly expanding as an effective growth strategy to reach new groups of students. In this paper we take the position that online education is a form of cultural imperialism and academic capitalism where curriculum developers and professors are motivated to enroll new students in order to maintain the credibility and strength of their programmes and host institutions. We argue that it is not our intent to be educational imperialists or capitalists. Rather these are unintended consequences of our actions. This argument is supported by political economy theory in that we are marketing a technical rational form of online education without awareness of its longβterm cultural, economic, or political ramifications. Even though we pride ourselves on developing a high quality programme that in our eyes meet the needs of our students, understanding the political economy of online education is essential if our programme that has access to the global market is to go beyond the individual needs of students and address social, cultural and political needs. We conclude that one way out of this malaise is to understand our role as instructors and course designers as a first step toward understanding the intended and unintended consequences of online education
A Phase-Field Model of Spiral Dendritic Growth
Domains of condensed-phase monolayers of chiral molecules exhibit a variety
of interesting nonequilibrium structures when formed via pressurization. To
model these domain patterns, we add a complex field describing the tilt degree
of freedom to an (anisotropic) complex-phase-field solidification model. The
resulting formalism allows for the inclusion of (in general, non-reflection
symmetric) interactions between the tilt, the solid-liquid interface, and the
bond orientation. Simulations demonstrate the ability of the model to exhibit
spiral dendritic growth.Comment: text plus Four postscript figure file
Designing Digital Engagements:Approaches to creative practice and adaptable programming for archaeological visualisation
Herpes Simplex Virus-Induced Epithelial Damage and Susceptibility to Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Infection in Human Cervical Organ Culture
Normal human premenopausal cervical tissue has been used to derive primary cell populations and to establish ex vivo organ culture systems to study infections with herpes simplex virus (HSV-1 or HSV-2) and human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). Infection with either HSV-1 or HSV-2 rapidly induced multinuclear giant cell formation and widespread damage in mucosal epithelial cells. Subsequent exposure of the damaged mucosal surfaces to HIV-1 revealed frequent co-localization of HSV and HIV-1 antigens. The short-term organ culture system provides direct experimental support for the epidemiological findings that pre-existing sexually transmitted infections, including primary and recurrent herpes virus infections at mucosal surfaces, represent major risk factors for acquisition of primary HIV-1 infection. Epithelial damage in combination with pre-existing inflammation, as described here for overtly normal human premenopausal cervix, creates a highly susceptible environment for the initiation and establishment of primary HIV-1 infection in the sub-mucosa of the cervical transformation zone
Setting the stage: host invasion by HIV.
For more than two decades, HIV has infected millions of people worldwide each year through mucosal transmission. Our knowledge of how HIV secures a foothold at both the molecular and cellular levels has been expanded by recent investigations that have applied new technologies and used improved techniques to isolate ex vivo human tissue and generate in vitro cellular models, as well as more relevant in vivo animal challenge systems. Here, we review the current concepts of the immediate events that follow viral exposure at genital mucosal sites where most documented transmissions occur. Furthermore, we discuss the gaps in our knowledge that are relevant to future studies, which will shape strategies for effective HIV prevention