Muscle Research and Human Space Exploration: Current Progress and Future Challenges

Since the beginning of human space flight, there has been serious concern over the exposure of human crewmembers to the microgravity of space due to the systemic effects on terrestrially-evolved creatures that are adapted to Earth gravity. Humans in the microgravity environment of space, within our currently developed space vehicles, are exposed to various periods of skeletal muscle unloading (unweighting). Unloading of skeletal muscle both on Earth and during spaceflight results in remodeling of muscle (atrophic response) as an adaptation to the reduced loads placed upon it. As a result, there are decrements in skeletal muscle strength, fatigue resistance, motor performance, and connective tissue integrity. This normal adaptive response to the microgravity environment is for the most part of little consequence within the space vehicle per se but may become a liability resulting in an increased risk of crewmember physical failure during extravehicular activities or abrupt transitions to environments of increased gravity (such as return to Earth or landing on another planetary body)

Feedback on feedback

Northumbria University hosts a Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) which specialises in the ‘Assessment for Learning’ Agenda (AfL). This agenda developed in response to the diverse needs and competencies of Northumbria’s learners. But are the issues addressed by AfL solely a concern in Northumbria? What challenges and possible solutions might other Higher Education institutions encounter or offer? This paper addresses such questions, by identifying, analysing, and reflecting upon an issue in student learning and support, relevant to the discipline of English Literature in another Higher Education teaching context: the attitudes of students and staff to feedback in the School of English, Queen’s University Belfast (2007). To do so, it references national statistical data, and general and subject-specific educational research and literature. As such, this paper offers 'feedback on feedback', exploring dialogue between teachers and learners

Urine Monitoring System

The Urine Monitoring System (UMS) is a system designed to collect an individual crewmember's void, gently separate urine from air, accurately measure void volume, allow for void sample acquisition, and discharge remaining urine into the Waste Collector Subsystem (WCS) onboard the International Space Station. The Urine Monitoring System (UMS) is a successor design to the existing Space Shuttle system and will resolve anomalies such as: liquid carry-over, inaccurate void volume measurements, and cross contamination in void samples. The crew will perform an evaluation of airflow at the ISS UMS urinal hose interface, a calibration evaluation, and a full user interface evaluation. o The UMS can be used to facilitate non-invasive methods for monitoring crew health, evaluation of countermeasures, and implementation of a variety of biomedical research protocols on future exploration missions

Patient Feedback

I accompanied my mother, Angela Domino, to Methodist Hospital last Friday for a breast surgery performed by Melissa Lazar, MD. I just wanted you to know how wonderful our experience was, and I place much of that credit on your employees’ personal efforts at keeping my mother calm, and supported. At 84, my mom was apprehensive about trusting a new surgeon AND a new hospital. Dr. Lazar is a fantastic combination of intelligence; skill and a fast and strong ability to form a bond that made my mother give way her fears. Mom went from great apprehension to complete trust, and I am so grateful for this. My experience at Methodist reminded me of my years in private practice, when I admitted patients to a suburban community hospital, where everyone knew and cared for each other. You have done a great job, and I thank you for running such a solid institution. Frank J. Domino, MD Professor Dept. Family Medicine & Community Health University of Massachusetts Medical Schoo

Written Corrective Feedback and Its Effects on English Department Students' Writing Drafts

This thesis investigates the teacher's Written Corrective Feedback (WCF) strategies used in the students' writing drafts and the effects analyzed from the comparison between the first and final drafts. It consists of fifty eight students' writing drafts as the source of data limited to language use (LU) and vocabulary. The theories applied were the WCF strategies by Ellis (2009a); the effects of written feedback to students by Hyland (2003), and supported by Ferris (2006). The qualitative approach was used in this study. The finding revealed that the strategies used in the class were Direct CF (430 times), and Indirect CF (329 times). The effects were Error corrected, Incorrect change, No change, and Deleted text. Moreover, it was revealed that LU problem was more noticed by the students to be corrected. In conclusion, WCF can guide the students to be more aware of their mistakes and to improve their writing