Universities and Epistemology: From a Dissolution of Knowledge to the Emergence of a New Thinking

This paper examines the relation between epistemology and higher education. We shall start by briefly examining three classical texts on the understanding of knowledge at universities, as well as noting some others, and go on to sketch a version of our own. Our argument is as follows: the world is such that the relationship between the university and knowledge remains fundamental but that it needs to be reconceptualised. In particular, the 21st century is seeing the emergence of digital reason, which could be said to be a form of non-reason. It may appear, therefore, that we are witnessing the dissolution or severing of the relationship between the university, on the one hand, and knowledge and truth on the other hand. To the contrary, we argue for what we term an ecological perspective on knowledge, with the concept of ecology being treated in the most generous way, partly as a way of rethinking the university into the future. The idea of knowledge as a defining concept of the university still has mileage in it

Researching online supervision: The need for a “torn” methodology

Online supervision and the use of digital media in supervisory dialogues is a fast increasing practice in higher education today. However, the concepts in our pedagogical repertoire often reflect the digital tools used for supervision purposes as either a prolongation of the face-to-face contact, or a poor substitution of such. This one-sidedness on the conceptual level makes it challenging to empirically study the deeper implications digital tools have for the supervisory dialogue. Drawing on phenomenology and systems theory we argue that we need new concepts in qualitative methodology that allow us to research the digital tools on their own premises as autonomous things in themselves, possessing an ontological creativity of their own. In order for qualitative research to match the ontological nature of digital tools we conclude the article by formulating three criteria of a ‘torn’ methodology that makes room for new approaches to researching online supervision at the university

Dose-response of myofibrillar protein synthesis to ingested whey protein during energy restriction in overweight postmenopausal women: a randomized, controlled trial

BackgroundDiet-induced weight loss is associated with a decline in lean body mass, as mediated by an impaired response of muscle protein synthesis (MPS). The dose-response of MPS to ingested protein, with or without resistance exercise, is well characterized during energy balance but limited data exist under conditions of energy restriction in clinical populations.ObjectiveTo determine the dose-response of MPS to ingested whey protein following short-term diet-induced energy restriction in overweight, postmenopausal, women at rest and postexercise.DesignForty middle-aged (58.6±0.4 y), overweight (BMI: 28.6±0.4), postmenopausal women were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 groups: Three groups underwent 5 d of energy restriction (∼800 kcal/d). On day 6, participants performed a unilateral leg resistance exercise bout before ingesting either a bolus of 15g (ERW15, n = 10), 35g (ERW35, n = 10) or 60g (ERW60, n = 10) of whey protein. The fourth group (n = 10) ingested a 35g whey protein bolus after 5 d of an energy balanced diet (EBW35, n = 10). Myofibrillar fractional synthetic rate (FSR) was calculated under basal, fed (FED) and postexercise (FED-EX) conditions by combining an L-[ring-13C6] phenylalanine tracer infusion with the collection of bilateral muscle biopsies.ResultsMyofibrillar FSR was greater in ERW35 (0.043±0.003%/h, P = 0.013) and ERW60 (0.042±0.003%/h, P = 0.026) than ERW15 (0.032 ± 0.003%/h), with no differences between ERW35 and ERW60 (P = 1.000). Myofibrillar FSR was greater in FED (0.044 ± 0.003%/h, P < 0.001) and FED-EX (0.048 ± 0.003%/h, P < 0.001) than BASAL (0.027 ± 0.003%/h), but no differences were detected between FED and FED-EX (P = 0.732) conditions. No differences in myofibrillar FSR were observed between EBW35 (0.042 ± 0.003%/h) and ERW35 (0.043 ± 0.003%/h, P = 0.744).ConclusionA 35 g dose of whey protein, ingested with or without resistance exercise, is sufficient to stimulate a maximal acute response of MPS following short-term energy restriction in overweight, postmenopausal women, and thus may provide a per serving protein recommendation to mitigate muscle loss during a weight loss program.Trial registryclinicaltrials.gov (ID: NCT03326284)

Public art today. How public art sheds light on the future of the theory of commons

Public art and common goods, although belonging to apparently distant realms of inquiry, share a long history and, inevitably, an evolving meaning. This chapter investigates the evolution of the practice of public art with the objective to obtain a viable understanding of how the value of public art is produced today. With a focus on the future of public art, this chapter investigates three public art cases. The results of the qualitative analysis of these public art experiences are interpreted from an institutional economics perspective. The combination of public art and the theory of commons sheds light on what seems to be the most important attributes of common goods in the current debate, that is the social practices that constitute the act of making the commons.</p

Selling Streetness as Experience. The Role of Street Art Tours in Branding the Creative City

This article looks at the street art tours industry in London, and its function in constructing the geographic, economic and symbolic value of street art. The street art world of the capital has reached a substantial level of institutional endorsement as a proper urban creative practice, through backing such as by local councils and private developers, art galleries and book publishers. This article examines the role of walking tours in holding up street art as a cultural product of the creative city. It argues that London’s street art scene is constructed and legitimated by these tours through the strategic deployment of an authoritative discourse. Street art tours’ routes and locations are then integrated into a longer lineage of endorsements for the cultural field of street art, and interpreted as branding strategies for the creative city. In the conclusion, the role of walking tours in gentrification and urban change is discussed, with a focus on how street art works and murals contribute to performing Shoreditch as a hub of vibrancy and urban creativity

Transcription factor motif quality assessment requires systematic comparative analysis [version 2; referees: 2 approved]

Transcription factor (TF) binding site prediction remains a challenge in gene regulatory research due to degeneracy and potential variability in binding sites in the genome. Dozens of algorithms designed to learn binding models (motifs) have generated many motifs available in research papers with a subset making it to databases like JASPAR, UniPROBE and Transfac. The presence of many versions of motifs from the various databases for a single TF and the lack of a standardized assessment technique makes it difficult for biologists to make an appropriate choice of binding model and for algorithm developers to benchmark, test and improve on their models. In this study, we review and evaluate the approaches in use, highlight differences and demonstrate the difficulty of defining a standardized motif assessment approach. We review scoring functions, motif length, test data and the type of performance metrics used in prior studies as some of the factors that influence the outcome of a motif assessment. We show that the scoring functions and statistics used in motif assessment influence ranking of motifs in a TF-specific manner. We also show that TF binding specificity can vary by source of genomic binding data. We also demonstrate that information content of a motif is not in isolation a measure of motif quality but is influenced by TF binding behaviour. We conclude that there is a need for an easy-to-use tool that presents all available evidence for a comparative analysis

Fra løsninger til nye spørgsmål. Kandidatspecialet som forskningsfelt

I denne artikel argumenterer vi for, at der er et behov for flere og varierede metoder og tilgange indenfor universitetspædagogisk forskning i kandidatspecialer. Ønsket er at udvide forskningsfeltet, så der kommer et supplement til den overvejende problemorienterede og pragmatiske tilgang, som dominerer på feltet i dag. Vi forsøger at optegne feltets allerede<br />eksisterende tilgange til forskning i kandidatspecialet samt at udpege, hvorledes andre tilgange kan være givende som supplement til feltet. Vores sigte er at påpege vigtigheden af, at<br />specialet ikke blot ses som noget, man gør, eller noget, man ved noget om, men i høj grad også har at gøre med noget, man er eller bliver til