THE EFFICIENCY OF USING THREE-DIMENSIONAL MODELS TO TEACH LIFTING AND RIGGING CONCEPTS TO LEARNERS OF VARYING SPATIAL ABILITY

In the literature on instructional media and its effects on learning, there is debate regarding whether a particular choice of media is essential for any given learning task. However, most studies that show conflicting results have not accounted for a differentiating learner characteristic known as spatial ability and its impact on the learner’s cognitive load when visualization is required. In this study, the interaction between instructional media and the learner’s spatial ability (specifically, their spatial visualization ability) was examined when the learner was required to work out a rigging problem in one of three ways: by manipulating a physical 3D model, by drawing their own visualization using paper and pencil, and by working through the problem with no additional intervention beyond the instructional video that all participants viewed. Prior to exposure to the rigging problem, each participant was given the Purdue Visualization of Rotations Test to determine a low or high spatial ability. When tested on the material after the learning task was completed, participants with high spatial ability performed higher than participants with low spatial ability, regardless of the treatment type. Some participants with low spatial ability who manipulated the 3D models scored so high, however, that they had to be marked as outliers and removed from the statistical analysis. The results of high performance by participants with high spatial visualization ability are consistent with prior research on spatial ability, and the high performance of outliers with low spatial visualization ability suggest that further investigation beyond this pilot study is merited

The pipe organ in twentieth-century Great Britain, with specific focus on the development and effects of the neo-classical organ

From as early as the 1920s the romantic English organ became the target of much criticism, specifically amongst Europeans. Albert Schweitzer, for example, had questioned the organ's suitability for the performance of Bach's organ works, deploring its heaviness and crudity, and concluding that no organ in Britain, France, or Germany was suitable for Bach's organ works. Schweitzer's early writings, alongside the 1926 Freiberg Organ Conference resulted in the European organ reform movement, which in the successive years drifted across to Britain. The organ reform movement aimed at a return to historic practices in organ building. The technological advances made in the nineteenth century were rejected, and specific focus was placed upon mechanical key action and chorus structure. Initially, the British were highly defensive towards the nineteenth-century romantic organ. But in the 1950s, Ralph Downes became an important spokesperson for reform towards the British organ, and eventually his views became manifest in the design for the organ at The Royal Festival Hall, London. Many new and small neo-classical instruments were built to varying degrees of success as a result, following some, if not all, of the tenets of the organ reform movement. In Britain today, views are still mixed about the neo-classical organ. The rediscovery of mechanical key action has constituted an improvement in the general standard of organ playing. However, organists providing weekly music in our churches have found the neo-classical organ to be a brash, harsh, and unpleasant instrument, and are only favoured by a small number of organists. This thesis examines the context which informed these attitudes, by looking closely at an array of published sources, including journal articles from the 1950s, principle secondary sources in the field, and a questionnaire which has been sent out across Britain to institutions containing neo-classical instruments to ascertain their success (or otherwise)

Cancer immunology and canine malignant melanoma: a comparative review

Oral canine malignant melanoma (CMM) is a spontaneously occurring aggressive tumour with relatively few medical treatment options, which provides a suitable model for the disease in humans. Historically, multiple immunotherapeutic strategies aimed at provoking both innate and adaptive anti-tumour immune responses have been published with varying levels of activity against CMM. Recently, a plasmid DNA vaccine expressing human tyrosinase has been licensed for the adjunct treatment of oral CMM. This article reviews the immunological similarities between CMM and the human counterpart; mechanisms by which tumours evade the immune system; reasons why melanoma is an attractive target for immunotherapy; the premise of whole cell, dendritic cell (DC), viral and DNA vaccination strategies alongside preliminary clinical results in dogs. Current “gold standard” treatments for advanced human malignant melanoma are evolving quickly with remarkable results being achieved following the introduction of immune checkpoint blockade and adoptively transferred cell therapies. The rapidly expanding field of cancer immunology and immunotherapeutics means that rational targeting of this disease in both species should enhance treatment outcomes in veterinary and human clinics

A metastatic secretory gastric plasmacytoma with aberrant CD3 expression in a dog

A 10-year-old crossbred dog was presented with a 6-week history of hematemesis, melena, anorexia, and lethargy. Clinical evaluation revealed a gastric mass with a regional lymphadenomegaly as well as a monoclonal gammopathy manifesting as hyperglobulinemia. Cytologic and histopathologic analyses were consistent with a round cell neoplasm; neoplastic cells showed nuclear immunoreactivity for MUM1 and diffuse cytoplasmic reactivity for CD3. Polymerase chain reactions performed on fixed and fresh tissue identified a clonal rearrangement with an IgH primer set. An extramedullary plasmacytoma (EMP) was confirmed by cellular morphology and molecular diagnostics. Following an objective response to chemotherapy, the dog was euthanized 8 months after diagnosis, and a postmortem examination confirmed the clinical findings. This is the first reported case of a monoclonal gammopathy secondary to a gastric EMP coupled with aberrant expression of CD3 in an aggressive plasmacytic tumor, and highlights the utility of molecular diagnostics for classifying atypical hemolymphoid neoplasms

Changes in the serum proteome in canine lymphoma

One dimensional (1D) serum protein gel electrophoresis (SPE) on agarose gels is a frequently used diagnostic tool for canine diseases; however, little is known regarding the precise composition of the different protein fractions in normal or diseased animals. To analyse the canine serum proteome in more detail we combined conventional 1D SPE with second dimension (2D) polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and followed by tandem mass spectrometry (MS). One dimensional SPE was performed on the sera of 17 healthy dogs to establish normal reference ranges for the albumin and globulin sub-fractions. Two representative serum samples from the healthy dogs were further separated using a novel method of 2D PAGE, leading to the generation of 26 distinct bands across the six main sub-fractions, which were subjected to MS analysis. Thirty-two individual proteins were identified, most of which were found in both dogs. Twenty proteins belonged specifically to the species Canis lupus familiaris, with the remaining 12 proteins belonging to other mammalian species, likely reflecting incomplete sequencing knowledge of canine proteins. Two dimensional electrophoresis and MS allowed identification of canine serum albumin precursor, serpin peptidase inhibitor, kininogen-1, vitamin D binding protein, hemopexin, complement C4 and a variety of immunoglobulin class molecules and their localisation within their respective serum protein subfractions for the first time. Sera from twenty-one dogs with high grade multicentric lymphoma underwent identical analysis and had significantly elevated α2 globulins on 1D SPE. Further separation of the serum proteins was performed on three patients using a 2D PAGE system. Thirty-eight separate protein bands were submitted for MS and 36 different proteins were identified. Most of the proteins were the same as those previously identified in the serum of healthy dogs, showing reproducibility of this novel proteomic technique. Haptoglobin was found in all three of the lymphoma dogs, having not previously been identified in any of the healthy samples, and could account for the increased α2 globulins. Several other proteins, including α-2 HS glycoprotein, α2 macroglobulin, α1 antichymotrypsin and inter-α-trypsin inhibitor were also present in dogs suffering from lymphoma. Clusterin, an anti-apoptotic protein, was identified for the first time in the serum of one dog suffering from lymphoma. Kininogen, which is present in the serum of healthy dogs, was absent in all three dogs with lymphoma. This 2D electrophoresis technique has identified numerous changes in the serum proteome of dogs suffering from lymphoma and suggests a significant inflammatory component to the pathogenesis of this disease

Nutrient modulation in the management of disease-induced muscle wasting: evidence from human studies

Purpose of review: In addition to being essential for movement, skeletal muscles act as both a store and source of key macronutrients. As such, muscle is an important tissue for whole body homeostasis, undergoing muscle wasting in times of starvation, disease, and stress, for example, to provide energy substrates for other tissues. Yet, muscle wasting is also associated with disability, comorbidities, and mortality. As nutrition is so crucial to maintaining muscle homeostasis 'in health', it has been postulated that muscle wasting in cachexia syndromes may be alleviated by nutritional interventions. This review will highlight recent work in this area in relation to muscle kinetics, the acute metabolic (e.g. dietary protein), and longer-term effects of dietary interventions. Recent findings: Whole body and skeletal muscle protein synthesis invariably exhibit deranged kinetics (favouring catabolism) in wasting states; further, many of these conditions harbour blunted anabolic responses to protein nutrition compared with healthy controls. These derangements underlie muscle wasting. Recent trials of essential amino acid and protein-based nutrition have shown some potential for therapeutic benefit. Summary: Nutritional modulation, particularly of dietary amino acids, may have benefits to prevent or attenuate disease-induced muscle wasting. Nonetheless, there remains a lack of recent studies exploring these key concepts to make conclusive recommendations

Recent developments in deuterium oxide tracer approaches to measure rates of substrate turnover: implications for protein, lipid, and nucleic acid research

Purpose of review: Methods that inform on dynamic metabolism that can be applied to clinical populations to understand disease progression and responses to therapeutic interventions are of great importance. This review perspective will highlight recent advances, development, and applications of the multivalent stable isotope tracer deuterium oxide (D2O) to the study of substrate metabolism with particular reference to protein, lipids, and nucleic acids, and how these methods can be readily applied within clinical and pharmaceutical research. Recent findings: Advances in the application of D2O techniques now permit the simultaneous dynamic measurement of a range of substrates (i.e. protein, lipid, and nucleic acids, along with the potential for OMICs methodologies) with minimal invasiveness further creating opportunities for long-term ‘free living’ measures that can be used in clinical settings. These techniques have recently been applied to ageing populations and further in cancer patients revealing altered muscle protein metabolism. Additionally, the efficacy of numerous drugs in improving lipoprotein profiles and controlling cellular proliferation in leukaemia have been revealed. Summary: D2O provides opportunities to create a more holistic picture of in-vivo metabolic phenotypes, providing a unique platform for development in clinical applications, and the emerging field of personalized medicine

Experiences of Homelessness and Brain Injury

Keywords: brain injury, homelessness, co-productio

Gendered violence and sexualized representations in video games: (Lack of) effect on gender-related attitudes

This research explored how gender portrayals in video games affect gender-related attitudes. Two hundred participants from the United Kingdom and Malaysia participated across three experiments, where the appearance and behaviour of video game characters were manipulated with regard to target (enemy) gender (Study 1), sexually explicit attire (Study 2) and level of character agency (Study 3). We found minimal evidence that exposure to gender-stereotyped content resulted in differential gender-related attitudes (implicit associations, hostile and benevolent sexism, or rape myth acceptance). However, Study 1 findings showed that individuals who played a first-person shooter with male enemies showed lower endorsement of some (benevolent) sexist attitudes (cf. control) and showed difference in game behaviour (cf. female enemies). Together, our results suggest that short-term exposure to video games containing female characters (sexualised, passive, or otherwise) does not consistently lead to the endorsement of negative gender attitudes

Uncrewed aircraft system spherical photography for the vertical characterization of canopy structural traits

The plant area index (PAI) is a structural trait that succinctly parametrizes the foliage distribution of a canopy and is usually estimated using indirect optical techniques such as digital hemispherical photography. Critically, on-the-ground photographic measurements forgo the vertical variation of canopy structure which regulates the local light environment. Hence new approaches are sought for vertical sampling of traits. We present an uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) spherical photographic method to obtain structural traits throughout the depth of tree canopies. Our method explained 89% of the variation in PAI when compared with ground-based hemispherical photography. When comparing UAS vertical trait profiles with airborne laser scanning data, we found highest agreement in an open birch (Betula pendula/pubescens) canopy. Minor disagreement was found in dense spruce (Picea abies) stands, especially in the lower canopy. Our new method enables easy estimation of the vertical dimension of canopy structural traits in previously inaccessible spaces. The method is affordable and safe and therefore readily usable by plant scientists.Peer reviewe