Hit by a perfect storm? Art & Design in the National Student Survey

There has long been the suspicion amongst staff in Art & Design that the ratings given to their subject disciplines in the UK's National Student Survey are adversely affected by a combination of circumstances – a ‘perfect storm’. The ‘perfect storm’ proposition is tested by comparing ratings for Art & Design with those for a selection of other subjects chosen because they share some features that might lead to lower ratings on the survey. Data from a small-scale qualitative study are used to throw light on what might lie behind the sector-wide statistics. The comparisons suggest that there is some validity in the ‘perfect storm’ proposition. More broadly, the article points to the need for sophistication in interpreting findings from the survey, irrespective of the subject area

Perception interpretation impact ;an examination of the learning value of formative feedback to students through the design studio critique

The studio critique (crit) is a firmly established and fiercely defended part of undergraduate art and design education, both here in the UK and in many other parts of the western world. It is an established and important part of a studiobased culture, where teachers and students can discuss, experiment with and develop ideas and concepts within a 'supportive environment.' This thesis examines the role and nature of the formative feedback received by students and given by teachers and sometimes student peers at the crit, and examines the crit's contribution to design students' current and future learning. The data in this study is collected through a series of individual interviews with design students and teachers, together with interviewed student focus groups and crit observations in three UK Institutions. This data is analysed with reference to current literature on formative assessment and feedback and student learning. The thesis premises that how effectively students learn in the critique and the understanding and benefit gained from the formative feedback they receive is not just reliant on the quality and focus of the formative feedback, but could also be affected by other factors such as the power position (Devas, 2004, Sara and Parnell, 2004), the stress factor (Pope, 2005) and what Kluger and DeNisi (1996) call the self or meta factor, where the quality of feedback interventions together with students' prior learning experience or understanding (Prosser & Trigwell, 1999) can impact on students' persona of themselves. This can affect the cognitive resources applied to the activities of the critique. The thesis identifies four main learning activities in the crit and suggests that cognitive learning is often impacted on by four main categories of perception of self. This, the thesis argues, can result in impaired or surface student learning

How art and design students understand and interpret the National Student Survey

Since the introduction of the National Student Survey in 2005, it has been noted that the average satisfaction scores vary across different disciplines (see, for example, Vaughan and Yorke 2009, p.8). And for just as long, it has been noted that art and design graduates’ satisfaction is among the lowest scoring disciplines. As the influence and reach of the NSS has increased - most recently in its inclusion as a key component of the government’s Key Information Set initiative - the art and design community has become increasingly concerned to explain the satisfaction gap experienced by many students studying in this area. The community’s response is well articulated in the title of a study that explores this issue: “’I can’t believe it’s not better’: The Paradox of NSS scores for Art & Design” (Vaughan and Yorke 2009). This study was commissioned by GLAD to look at how art and design has experienced and responded to the NSS, especially in the two major areas of feedback and assessment and organisation and management. The report showed that institutions varied considerably in terms of the ratings students gave to NSS questions, implying that there had been differential success in addressing aspects of the student experience probed by the survey. What the report did not attempt to do was gain an understanding of the basis of the ratings given by students. It was therefore a logical extension to ask how art and design students understand and interpret the questions in the National Student Survey, and GLAD and HEA commissioned the authors to carry out a small research project which takes a snapshot of how a small group of art and design students interpreted the NSS questions in 2011. This report is an overview of this study, and it aims to help colleagues in art and design subjects to: • understand why art and design subjects receive the NSS ratings that they do; • illuminate and understand how art and design students interpret and understand this generic questionnaire; and • provide further information to assist staff and students to prepare for the NSS. The key aim of this study is not to explain the responses that students give in the NSS. Its focus is instead on seeking to understand the ways in which students understand the NSS questions. As a result this is a qualitative interview-based study. The NSS questionnaire comprises 22 questions, and before the interviews the researchers narrowed the focus of this study down to eight of these. The eight questions were selected because they were viewed as central to the survey (e.g. question 22), or because they were questions that are particularly interesting in relation to creative and studio-based pedagogy in art and design (e.g. question 1)

An Influenza Virus M2 Protein Specific Chimeric Antigen Receptor Modulates Influenza A/WSN/33 H1N1 Infection In Vivo

A potential target for the development of universal vaccine strategies against Influenza A is the M2 protein – a membrane protein with a highly conserved extracellular domain. In this study we developed engineered T-cell receptors, by fusing M2-specific antibody sequences with T-cell receptor transmembrane and signaling domains to target influenza infected cells. When expressed on T-cells, these novel T-cell receptors (chimeric antigen receptors - CARs) are able to recognize specific antigens on the surface of target cells via an MHC-independent mechanism. Using an existing monoclonal antibody (14C2) specific for the M2 ectodomain (M2e), we generated an M2-specific CAR. We tested the specificity of this M2 CAR in vitro by measuring the activation of T-cells in response to M2-specific peptides or M2-expressing cell lines. Both Jurkat T-cells and peripheral blood mononuclear cells expressing the M2-specific CAR responded to specific antigen stimulation by upregulating NFAT and producing γ-interferon. To test whether the M2-specific CAR are effective at recognizing influenza infected cells in vivo we used an established BALB/c murine infection model. At day 4 post-infection, when M2 CAR expressing splenocytes could be detected in the lung, the Influenza A/WSN/33 virus titre was around 50% of that in control mice. Although the lung virus titre later increased in the treated group, virus was cleared in both groups of mice by day 8. The results provide support for the development of M2e as a target for cell mediated immunotherapy

Development of Single-station Early Warning Lightning Alarm System

Lightning is one of the spectacular natural phenomena which happen on the earth. More than 2000 people are killed worldwide by lightning each year. The lightning monitoring system is important as the early warning alarm system. In this paper,lightning warning alarm system which can monitor and observe the lightning activity has been discussed. The system able to trigger the warning alarm whenever a lightning strikes at a particular area in 10 km radius from UMP Pekan, Pahang, Malaysia. The LabVIEW software was used as a data logger to measure, analyze and calculate the lightning distance. The accuracy of the system has been compared and validated by the Pekan Lightning Detection System (PLDS)

STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology – Molecular Epidemiology (STROBE-ME): An Extension of the STROBE Statement

Valentina Gallo and colleagues provide detailed guidance to authors to help more accurately report the findings of epidemiological studies involving biomarkers. Their guidance covers issues regarding collection, handling and storage of biological samples; laboratory methods, validity and reliability of biomarkers; specificities of study design; and ethical considerations

2021 Taxonomic update of phylum Negarnaviricota (Riboviria: Orthornavirae), including the large orders Bunyavirales and Mononegavirales.

Correction to: 2021 Taxonomic update of phylum Negarnaviricota (Riboviria: Orthornavirae), including the large orders Bunyavirales and Mononegavirales. Archives of Virology (2021) 166:3567–3579. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-021-05266-wIn March 2021, following the annual International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) ratification vote on newly proposed taxa, the phylum Negarnaviricota was amended and emended. The phylum was expanded by four families (Aliusviridae, Crepuscuviridae, Myriaviridae, and Natareviridae), three subfamilies (Alpharhabdovirinae, Betarhabdovirinae, and Gammarhabdovirinae), 42 genera, and 200 species. Thirty-nine species were renamed and/or moved and seven species were abolished. This article presents the updated taxonomy of Negarnaviricota as now accepted by the ICTV.This work was supported in part through Laulima Government Solutions, LLC prime contract with the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under Contract No. HHSN272201800013C. J.H.K. performed this work as an employee of Tunnell Government Services (TGS), a subcontractor of Laulima Government Solutions, LLC under Contract No. HHSN272201800013C. This work was also supported in part with federal funds from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), under Contract No. 75N91019D00024, Task Order No. 75N91019F00130 to I.C., who was supported by the Clinical Monitoring Research Program Directorate, Frederick National Lab for Cancer Research. This work was also funded in part by Contract No. HSHQDC-15-C-00064 awarded by DHS S&T for the management and operation of The National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center, a federally funded research and development center operated by the Battelle National Biodefense Institute (V.W.); and NIH contract HHSN272201000040I/HHSN27200004/D04 and grant R24AI120942 (N.V., R.B.T.). S.S. acknowledges partial support from the Special Research Initiative of Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station (MAFES), Mississippi State University, and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, US Department of Agriculture, Hatch Project 1021494. Part of this work was supported by the Francis Crick Institute which receives its core funding from Cancer Research UK (FC001030), the UK Medical Research Council (FC001030), and the Wellcome Trust (FC001030).S

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead