A little less conversation, a little more texting please - a blended learning model of using mobiles in the classroom

This paper reports on three case studies of use of the TxtTools Mobile phone texting system by lecturers in different subject disciplines: Business Studies, Computing and Sports Science. The lecturers were seeking to have a richer blend of technologies to support their students, and the mobile technology is combined within traditional student lectures and seminars as well as some interesting developmental uses outside the classroom. The findings show that there has been a very positive response from students, and that the system can be effective in a number of ways, including engaging more students within lectures. This blended learning approach has given a voice to a large number of students intimidated by a classroom or group environment, enabling them to ask questions, put forth an opinion and interact with fellow group members in a dynamically technological manner

Differing calcification processes in cultured vascular smooth muscle cells and osteoblasts

© 2019 Published by Elsevier Inc.Arterial medial calcification (AMC) is the deposition of calcium phosphate mineral, often as hydroxyapatite, inthe medial layer of the arteries. AMC shares some similarities to skeletal mineralisation and has been associatedwith the transdifferentiation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) towards an osteoblast-like phenotype. Thisstudy used primary mouse VSMCs and calvarial osteoblasts to directly compare the established and widely usedin vitromodels of AMC and bone formation. Significant differences were identified between osteoblasts andcalcifying VSMCs. First, osteoblasts formed large mineralised bone nodules that were associated with widespreaddeposition of an extracellular collagenous matrix. In contrast, VSMCs formed small discrete regions of calcifi-cation that were not associated with collagen deposition and did not resemble bone. Second, calcifying VSMCsdisplayed a progressive reduction in cell viability over time (≤7-fold), with a 50% increase in apoptosis,whereas osteoblast and control VSMCs viability remained unchanged. Third, osteoblasts expressed high levels ofalkaline phosphatase (TNAP) activity and TNAP inhibition reduced bone formation by to 90%. TNAP activity incalcifying VSMCs was∼100-fold lower than that of bone-forming osteoblasts and cultures treated withβ-gly-cerophosphate, a TNAP substrate, did not calcify. Furthermore, TNAP inhibition had no effect on VSMC calci-fication. Although, VSMC calcification was associated with increased mRNA expression of osteoblast-relatedgenes (e.g. Runx2, osterix, osteocalcin, osteopontin), the relative expression of these genes was up to 40-foldlower in calcifying VSMCs versus bone-forming osteoblasts. In summary, calcifying VSMCsin vitrodisplay somelimited osteoblast-like characteristics but also differ in several key respects: 1) their inability to form collagen-containing bone; 2) their lack of reliance on TNAP to promote mineral deposition; and, 3) the deleterious effectof calcification on their viability.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

A discrete choice experiment to explore carer preferences. Quality in Ageing and Older Adults.

© Emerald Publishing Limited. Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to describe a case study to test the applicability of the discrete choice experiment (DCE) method to assess the preferences of carers of people with dementia. The focus of enquiry was home care provision. Design/methodology/approach - A multi-method approach was adopted for this pilot study. A literature review identified key characteristics of home care for dementia. This informed consultations with lay representatives. Key attributes of home care for the DCE were identified and formed the basis for the schedule. In all, 28 carers were recruited by two voluntary organisations to complete the DCE. A multinomial logistic regression model was used to analyse the data. Findings - Seven attributes of home care for people with dementia were identified from the consultation. The use of the DCE approach permitted the identification of those most important to carers. Despite the modest sample, statistically significant findings were reported in relation to five of the attributes indicating their relevance. A lay involvement in the identification of attributes contributed to the ease of administration of the schedule and relevance of the findings. Originality/value - This study demonstrated the utility of a DCE to capture the preferences of carers of people with dementia and thereby gather information from carers to inform policy, practice and service development. Their involvement in the design of the schedule was critical to this process

Breastfeeding effects on DNA methylation in the offspring::A systematic literature review

BACKGROUND:Breastfeeding benefits both infants and mothers. Recent research shows long-term health and human capital benefits among individuals who were breastfed. Epigenetic mechanisms have been suggested as potential mediators of the effects of early-life exposures on later health outcomes. We reviewed the literature on the potential effects of breastfeeding on DNA methylation. METHODS:Studies reporting original results and evaluating DNA methylation differences according to breastfeeding/breast milk groups (e.g., ever vs. never comparisons, different categories of breastfeeding duration, etc) were eligible. Six databases were searched simultaneously using Ovid, and the resulting studies were evaluated independently by two reviewers. RESULTS:Seven eligible studies were identified. Five were conducted in humans. Studies were heterogeneous regarding sample selection, age, target methylation regions, methylation measurement and breastfeeding categorisation. Collectively, the studies suggest that breastfeeding might be negatively associated with promoter methylation of LEP (which encodes an anorexigenic hormone), CDKN2A (involved in tumour suppression) and Slc2a4 genes (which encodes an insulin-related glucose transporter) and positively with promoter methylation of the Nyp (which encodes an orexigenic neuropeptide) gene, as well as influence global methylation patterns and modulate epigenetic effects of some genetic variants. CONCLUSIONS:The findings from our systematic review are far from conclusive due to the small number of studies and their inherent limitations. Further studies are required to understand the actual potential role of epigenetics in the associations of breastfeeding with later health outcomes. Suggestions for future investigations, focusing on epigenome-wide association studies, are provided

Does descriptive text change how people look at art? A novel analysis of eye-movements using data-driven Units of Interest

Does reading a description of an artwork affect how a person subsequently views it? In a controlled study, we show that in most cases, textual description does not influence how people subsequently view paintings, contrary to participants’ self-report that they believed it did. To examine whether the description affected transition behaviour, we devised a novel analysis method that systematically determines Units of Interest (UOIs), and calculates transitions between these, to quantify the effect of an external factor (a descriptive text) on the viewing pattern of a naturalistic stimulus (a painting). UOIs are defined using a grid-based system, where the cell-size is determined by a clustering algorithm (DBSCAN). The Hellinger distance is computed for the distance between two Markov chains using a permutation test, constructed from the transition matrices (visual shifts between UOIs) of the two groups for each painting. Results show that the description does not affect the way in which people transition between UOIs for all but one of the paintings -- an abstract work -- suggesting that description may play more of a role in determining transition behaviour when a lack of semantic cues means it is unclear how the painting should be interpreted. The contribution is twofold: to the domain of art/curation, we provide evidence that descriptive texts do not effect how people view paintings, with the possible exception of some abstract paintings; to the domain of eye-movement research, we provide a method with the potential to answer questions across multiple research areas, where the goal is to determine whether a particular factor or condition consistently affects viewing behaviour of naturalistic stimuli

Numerical modelling of heat transfer and experimental validation in Powder-Bed Fusion with the Virtual Domain Approximation

Among metal additive manufacturing technologies, powder-bed fusion features very thin layers and rapid solidification rates, leading to long build jobs and a highly localized process. Many efforts are being devoted to accelerate simulation times for practical industrial applications. The new approach suggested here, the virtual domain approximation, is a physics-based rationale for spatial reduction of the domain in the thermal finite-element analysis at the part scale. Computational experiments address, among others, validation against a large physical experiment of 17.5 $\mathrm{[cm^3]}$ of deposited volume in 647 layers. For fast and automatic parameter estimation at such level of complexity, a high-performance computing framework is employed. It couples FEMPAR-AM, a specialized parallel finite-element software, with Dakota, for the parametric exploration. Compared to previous state-of-the-art, this formulation provides higher accuracy at the same computational cost. This sets the path to a fully virtualized model, considering an upwards-moving domain covering the last printed layers

‘Getting Back Into the Swing of Things’: A Qualitative Study Into Barriers and Facilitators to Golf Participation for Stroke Survivors

This paper draws on interviews with four stroke survivors (age range = 52–68 years), who participated in a six week ‘Get-into-Golf’ program and four coaches with experiences of delivering disability golf sessions, to examine the barriers and facilitators to golf participation. Findings indicate a positive response from participants, who referred to the social and physical benefits of the program that was perceived to promote independence. The results also highlight that considerations in regards to format, equipment, cost, access and overall awareness should be borne in mind for golf programs among people with disabilities. Golf clubs could employ this framework to help facilitate the participation of people with physical limitations. It is argued that opportunities to promote golf as a lifelong physical activity among people with disabilities may be missed in clubs where personnel are unsure of the barriers and facilitators to participation outlined here