Putting Students in the Lecturers Shoes

Placing the students in the Lecturers' shoes aimed to develop and deepen the student learning through students' investigating planning, developing, and delivering supplementary instruction to support theirs and their peers learning, teaching and assessment in a module. The paper highlights the approach adopted and applied at level 4 nursing, 5 engineering, or 6 sports management students with a view to promote student learning autonomy. As previous research indicates that this style of higher educational teaching encourages students to discover and reflect on a subject. Nortcliffe (2005) suggests that when students have been given the opportunity to drive and deliver a module: the module assessment results indicate that a higher level of learning. In addition as indicated in this paper from feedback from staff and students this approach offers the students an opportunity to develop different key skills, autonomous learning and active learning styles. However, it should be noted that not all students are willing to engage and place the effort into such a formative learning exercise despite the evidence clearly shows a deeper level of learning and understanding by the students as result of engagement in supplementary instruction

Characterization of the spore surface and exosporium proteins of Clostridium sporogenes; implications for Clostridium botulinum group I strains.

Clostridium sporogenes is a non-pathogenic close relative and surrogate for Group I (proteolytic) neurotoxin-producing Clostridium botulinum strains. The exosporium, the sac-like outermost layer of spores of these species, is likely to contribute to adhesion, dissemination, and virulence. A paracrystalline array, hairy nap, and several appendages were detected in the exosporium of C. sporogenes strain NCIMB 701792 by EM and AFM. The protein composition of purified exosporium was explored by LC-MS/MS of tryptic peptides from major individual SDS-PAGE-separated protein bands, and from bulk exosporium. Two high molecular weight protein bands both contained the same protein with a collagen-like repeat domain, the probable constituent of the hairy nap, as well as cysteine-rich proteins CsxA and CsxB. A third cysteine-rich protein (CsxC) was also identified. These three proteins are also encoded in C. botulinum Prevot 594, and homologues (75-100% amino acid identity) are encoded in many other Group I strains. This work provides the first insight into the likely composition and organization of the exosporium of Group I C. botulinum spores

Multivariate Concentric Square Field unveils behavioral exploratory categories of locomotor activity in mouse model of Down syndrome

poster abstractDown Syndrome (DS), trisomy 21(Ts21), is a genetic condition in which a third copy of chromosome 21 is present, and results in neurodevelopmental deficits including intellectual disability. DS has been modeled in mice; Ts65Dn mouse model displays many of the phenotypes associated with DS, including cognitive deficits. We previously studied behavioral phenotypes of Ts65Dn mice and observed significantly increased locomotor activity in a novel arena (an “open field”). In those studies, treatment of the Ts65Dn mice with ~10 mg/kg/day of epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), a selective inhibitor of the DYRK1A kinase (one of the genes implicated in the neurodevelopmental deficits in DS and in Ts65Dn mice), failed to attenuate hyperactivity. Locomotor activity in an open field is a basic measure of general exploration in a simple environment, and was only moderately sensitive to the hyperactivity of the Ts65Dn mice. The aim of the current study was to use a more advanced analysis of behavioral patterns of exploration in a more complex, multi-partitioned arena, termed the Multivariate Concentric Square Field (MCSF). The advantage of MCSF is that it provides more elaborate measures of exploratory behavior by examining different categories of exploration: general activity, exploratory activity, risk assessment, risk taking and shelter seeking behavior. Trisomic mice and euploid littermates were treated with a continuous high dose (~100 mg/kg/day) of EGCG or water (controls) beginning at weaning. At seven weeks of age, they were tested in the MCSF on two consecutive days. Our current results indicate that Ts65Dn mice displayed more exploratory behavior compared to controls, and the EGCG treatment may have normalized exploratory behavior toward that of controls. Identifying altered patterns of exploratory behavior in the Ts65Dn mouse and the normalizing effects of EGCG treatment may help provide a therapeutic approach to DS

Safety for meat packers and processors : a manual for the meat packing and meat processing industries of Mimssouri incorportating pertinent material from the Williams-Steiger Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970

"2/75/1.5M""Prepared Under Special Contract To: The Task Force On Occupational Safety & Health Labor and Industrial Relations Commission Department of Labor and Industrial Relations State of Missouri "This manual is designed to assist management of meat packing establishments to develop a program of voluntary compliance with the standards set forth under the authority of the Williams-Steiger Occupational Safety and Health Act, 1970. This material covers the major specific standards under the Act that concern the meat packing industry. Our purpose is to point out situations in the work environment that are possible violations of the Act, and to refer the reader's attention to the section of the Federal Register that sets forth standards covering the possible violations. Management personnel of the meat packing industry are urged to keep informed of periodic changes in the standards of the Act. Information on these revisions may be obtained from UMC 1s Industrial and Technical Referral Center or from any of the industrial extension specialists located throughout Missouri.--Prefac

Hybrid Gear Preliminary Results-Application of Composites to Dynamic Mechanical Components

Composite spur gears were fabricated and then tested at NASA Glenn Research Center. The composite material served as the web of the gear between the gear teeth and a metallic hub for mounting to the torque-applying shaft. The composite web was bonded only to the inner and outer hexagonal features that were machined from an initially all-metallic aerospace quality spur gear. The Hybrid Gear was tested against an all-steel gear and against a mating Hybrid Gear. As a result of the composite to metal fabrication process used, the concentricity of the gears were reduced from their initial high-precision value. Regardless of the concentricity error, the hybrid gears operated successfully for over 300 million cycles at 10000 rpm and 490 in.*lbs torque. Although the design was not optimized for weight, the composite gears were found to be 20% lighter than the all-steel gears. Free vibration modes and vibration/noise tests were also conduct to compare the vibration and damping characteristic of the Hybrid Gear to all-steel gears. The initial results indicate that this type of hybrid design may have a dramatic effect on drive system weight without sacrificing strength