2,517 research outputs found

    Researcher-led teaching:embodiment of academic practice

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    This paper explores the embodied practices of leading researchers(and/or leading scholars/practitioners), suggesting that distinctive‘researcher-led teaching’ depends on educators who are willing and able to be their research in the teaching setting. We advocate an approach to the development of higher education pedagogy which makes lead-researchers the objects of inquiry and we summarise case study analyses (in neuroscience and humanities) where the knowledge-making‘signatures’ of academic leaders are used to exhibit the otherwise hidden identities of research. We distinguish between learning readymade knowledge and the process of knowledge in the making and point towards the importance of inquiry in the flesh. We develop a view of higher education teaching that depends upon academic status a priori, but we argue that this stance is inclusive because it has the propensity to locate students as participants in academic culture

    Capturing Dynamics in Online Public Discourse: A Case Study of Universal Basic Income Discussions on Reddit

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    Societal change is often driven by shifts in public opinion. As citizens evolve in their norms, beliefs, and values, public policies change too. While traditional opinion polling and surveys can outline the broad strokes of whether public opinion on a particular topic is changing, they usually cannot capture the full multi-dimensional richness and diversity of opinion present in a large heterogeneous population. However, an increasing fraction of public discourse about public policy issues is now occurring on online platforms, which presents an opportunity to measure public opinion change at a qualitatively different scale of resolution and context. In this paper, we present a conceptual model of observed opinion change on online platforms and apply it to study public discourse on Universal Basic Income (UBI) on Reddit throughout its history. UBI is a periodic, no-strings-attached cash payment given to every citizen of a population. We study UBI as it is a clearly-defined policy proposal that has recently experienced a surge of interest through trends like automation and events like the COVID-19 pandemic. We find that overall stance towards UBI on Reddit significantly declined until mid-2019, when this historical trend suddenly reversed and Reddit became substantially more supportive. Using our model, we find the most significant drivers of this overall stance change were shifts within different user cohorts, within communities that represented similar affluence levels, and within communities that represented similar partisan leanings. Our method identifies nuanced social drivers of opinion change in the large-scale public discourse that now regularly occurs online, and could be applied to a broad set of other important issues and policies

    Histological techniques for marine bivalve molluscs: update

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    This chapter describes the procedures for determining the reproductive stage of oysters, mytilid mussels, and dreissenid mussels collected for NOAA’s National Status and Trends Mussel Watch Project. Analyses are conducted on paraffin-embedded tissues sectioned at a 5-μm thickness and stained using a pentachrome staining procedure. Each slide is examined microscopically to determine the animal’s sex and stage of gonadal development. A semi-quantitative ranking is assigned

    Regulation of stanniocalcin-1 secretion by BeWo cells and first trimester human placental tissue from normal pregnancies and those at increased risk of developing preeclampsia.

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    Stanniocalcin-1 (STC-1) is a multi-functional glycosylated peptide present in the plasma of healthy women postpartum and increased further in pregnancies complicated by preeclampsia. Although the STC-1 gene is expressed by the placenta what regulates its secretion and from which cells at the feto-maternal interface is unknown. Here, we demonstrate for the first time that the syncytiotrophoblast and cytotrophoblast are a major site of STC-1 protein expression in first trimester placental tissue. Further, in response to low oxygen, first trimester chorionic villous tissue from pregnancies at increased risk of developing preeclampsia secreted significantly more STC-1 than normal tissue under the same conditions. Using the human trophoblast cell line BeWo we have shown that low oxygen increased the secretion of STC-1 but it required co-stimulation with the Adenosine-3', 5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) analogue, 8-Bromo adenosine-3', 5'-cyclic monophosphate cAMP (8 Br-cAMP) to reach significance. Inhibition of Hypoxia inducible factor 2α (HIF-2α) and the Phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI3 -Kinase)/AKT/Serum and glucocorticoid-induced kinase-1(SGK-1) pathway resulted in significant inhibition of STC-1 secretion. As both low oxygen and cAMP are known to play a central role in placental function, their regulation of STC-1 points to a potentially important role in the maintenance of a normal healthy pregnancy and we would hypothesize that it may act to protect against prolonged placental hypoxia seen in preeclampsia

    Poster 194: Biomechanical Analysis of a Novel Clinical Measure of Reaction Time

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    Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147091/1/pmr2s188a.pd

    Statistical analysis of magnetic divertor configuration influence on H-mode transitions

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    DIII-D plasmas are compared for two upper divertor configurations: with the outer strike point on the small angle slot (SAS) divertor target and with the outer strike point on the horizontal divertor target (HT). Scanning the vertical distance between the magnetic null point and the divertor target over a range 0.10–0.16 m is shown to increase the threshold power, Pth , and edge plasma power, PLoss , for the low-to-high confinement (L–H) and H–L transitions respectively, by up to a factor of 1.4. The X-point height scans were performed at three L-mode core plasma line average electron densities, n¯e= 1.2, 2.2 and 3.6 ×1019m−3 , to investigate the density dependence of divertor magnetic configuration influence on Pth . The X-point height, Zx-pt , was further extended across the range 0.16–0.22 m with the more open HT divertor configuration, for which a clear decrease in Pth with increasing Zx-pt is observed. The dependence of Pth on divertor magnetic geometry is further investigated using a time-dependent probability density function (PDF) model and information geometry to elucidate the roles played by pedestal plasma turbulence and perpendicular velocity flows. The degree of stochasticity of the plasma turbulence is observed to be sensitive to the plasma heating rate. The calculated square of the information rate shows changes in the relative density fluctuations and perpendicular velocity PDFs begin 2–5 ms prior to the L–H transition for three plasmas; providing a crucial measurement of the dynamic timescale of external transport barrier formation. Additionally, both information length and rate provide potential predictors of the L–H transition for these plasmas

    Accuracy of Clinical Techniques for Evaluating Lower Limb Sensorimotor Functions Associated With Increased Fall Risk

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    BackgroundIn prior work, laboratoryâ based measures of hip motor function and ankle proprioceptive precision were critical to maintaining unipedal stance and fall/fallâ related injury risk. However, the optimal clinical evaluation techniques for predicting these measures are unknown.ObjectiveTo evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of common clinical maneuvers in predicting laboratoryâ based measures of frontal plane hip rate of torque development (HipRTD) and ankle proprioceptive thresholds (AnkPRO) associated with increased fall risk.DesignProspective, observational study.SettingBiomechanical research laboratory.ParticipantsA total of 41 older subjects (aged 69.1 ± 8.3 years), 25 with varying degrees of diabetic distal symmetric polyneuropathy and 16 without.AssessmentsClinical hip strength was evaluated by manual muscle testing (MMT) and lateral plank time, defined as the number of seconds that the laterally lying subject could lift the hips from the support surface. Foot/ankle evaluation included Achilles reflex and vibratory, proprioceptive, monofilament, and pinprick sensations at the great toe.Main Outcome MeasuresHipRTD, abduction and adduction, using a custom wholeâ body dynamometer. AnkPRO determined with subjects standing using a foot cradle system and a staircase series of 100 frontal plane rotational stimuli.ResultsPearson correlation coefficients (r) and receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves revealed that LPT correlated more strongly with HipRTD (r/P = 0.61/1.0°.ConclusionsLPT is a more effective measure of HipRTD than MMT. Similarly, clinical vibratory sense and monofilament testing are effective measures of AnkPRO, whereas clinical proprioceptive sense is not.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146801/1/pmrj331.pd

    Metabolic reprogramming of oncogene-addicted cancer cells to OXPHOS as a mechanism of drug resistance

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    The ability to selectively eradicate oncogene-addicted tumors while reducing systemic toxicity has endeared targeted therapies as a treatment strategy. Nevertheless, development of acquired resistance limits the benefits and durability of such a regime. Here we report evidence of enhanced reliance on mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) in oncogene-addicted cancers manifesting acquired resistance to targeted therapies. To that effect, we describe a novel OXPHOS targeting activity of the small molecule compound, OPB-51602 (OPB). Of note, a priori treatment with OPB restored sensitivity to targeted therapies. Furthermore, cancer cells exhibiting stemness markers also showed selective reliance on OXPHOS and enhanced sensitivity to OPB. Importantly, in a subset of patients who developed secondary resistance to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), OPB treatment resulted in decrease in metabolic activity and reduction in tumor size. Collectively, we show here a switch to mitochondrial OXPHOS as a key driver of targeted drug resistance in oncogene-addicted cancers. This metabolic vulnerability is exploited by a novel OXPHOS inhibitor, which also shows promise in the clinical setting
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