Critical exploration of the language around “the student experience” of higher education in the UK

This thesis explores the language of Higher Education (HE) in the UK, with a particular focus on “the student experience”. Whilst research on the language of HE is plentiful, most of these studies have a discourse-oriented approach, which lacks an engagement with socio-historical and material contexts. The aim of this research is to investigate what the language surrounding “the student experience” reveals and conceals about HE and society. To this end, my thesis unravels the different dimensions of this concept to understand how it is conceptualised across three domains: a diverse group of students from a university in the south of England; the policies and observed practices of this institution; and relevant policies on HE promulgated by the UK government. With these objectives in mind, the research draws on three theoretical constructs – language, (higher) education, and critical exploration – bolstered by the work of Volosinov and Bakhtin, Ambedkar and Gramsci, and Marx and Engels. A key finding of this research is that the notion of “the student experience” encapsulates differing views on the role and purpose of HE. These differing views relate to the social positions of the text creators and reveal the social and economic relations between the addressers and their intended audience. I claim that a normative view of “the student experience” at the institutional and the state spheres is tied to a reluctance to concede that there may be flaws in the established norms and practices of HE. This refusal perpetuates a misconception that there is a singular, homogeneous student experience and fails to acknowledge a diversity of experiences. I contend that these acts of omission and commission suggest dysconscious elitism / racism (King 1991), with the apparently well-meaning and paternalistic interventions targeted at some groups of students stemming from misinformed assumptions about the academic ability of these students. More significantly, I argue that a focus on “the student experience” of diverse groups of students gives an illusion of inclusion, but seems designed instead to trap students into a long-term relationship of debt

A cephalometric assessment of the nasolabial angle of an adult Nigerian population

Objective: One of the most important components of orthodontic diagnosis and treatment planning is an evaluation of the patient\u27s soft tissue profile. An assessment of the nasolabial angle is a vital component of this evaluation. The purpose of this study was to establish norms for the nasolabial angle of an adult Nigerian population; compare the male and female values and to compare the values obtained for Nigerians with those reported for other populations. Method: Lateral cephalometric radiographs of one hundred students (44 males and 56 females) of the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, aged 18-25years were taken. Selected subjects were of Nigerian ancestry with normal occlusion. The radiographs were manual ly t raced and the nasolabial angle of each subject measured. Result: A mean value of 84.35° +13.71° was computed for the entire sample. No statistically significant difference was observed between the male and female values (p>0.05), although 0 0 the males recorded a lower nasolabial angle (83.70 ) than the females (85.28 ).The nasolabial angle recorded in this study was similar to that reported for South African blacks, but much lower than that reported for Caucasian populations.Conclusion: The mean nasolabial angle of 84.35 + 13.71 was observed in the Nigerian population studied. Sexual differences were not observed; however, the values observed in this study differ from that reported for Caucasians and other racial groups

Restorative and orthodontic interdisciplinary management of an adult patient using modified Hawley appliance: a case report

This report presents a case of an adult female patient who had undergone orthodontic treatment to correct her malocclusion was referred to the Restorative Dentistry Clinic at the time when her brackets were due for debonding. The patient had presented with spacing of the anterior segments of both upper and lower arches with the upper canines in crossbite. At the end of the orthodontic correction of the occlusion the patient was referred to the restorative dentist for replacement of missing molars in the upper and lower arches. Fixed bridge prosthesis, implant-retained crowns or removable dentures were the treatment options for tooth replacement. Due to financial challenges the first two options were unavailable to the patient. The need to wear retainers made it impractical for the patient to be provided the third option of removable dentures. A modified design of Hawley retainers was then made for the patient that had pink acrylic bases and acrylic stock teeth to replace missing teeth. Thus, the functions of retainer and removable denture were combined in one appliance. The modified Hawley appliance designed for the patient in this study is a typical example of interdisciplinary management by the restorative dentist and the orthodontist to give appropriate care to the adult orthodontic patient

Biometrics of the primary dentition in a Nigerian sample

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine normative values of crown dimensions, arch dimensions, and amount of interdental space in the primary dentition of Nigerian children. Method: Dental casts from alginate impressions obtained from 125 randomly selected nursery school children (65 boys, 60 girls) aged 3 to 5 years, were measured with electronic caliper. Independent tests were used to analyze sample differences between sexes. Result: There were significant gender differences in arch width, depth and length dimensions, with the exception of the left mandibular anterior length. The boys showed significantly larger mesiodistal crown dimensions, except in the maxillary and mandibular primary lateral incisors. Gender differences in buccolingual crown diameters were statistically significant for maxillary second primary molars. There was no significant gender difference in amount of interdental spaces. Conclusion: It can be concluded that males had larger tooth/arch dimensions than females in the primary dentition stage

Polymers in Curved Boxes

We apply results derived in other contexts for the spectrum of the Laplace operator in curved geometries to the study of an ideal polymer chain confined to a spherical annulus in arbitrary space dimension D and conclude that the free energy compared to its value for an uncurved box of the same thickness and volume, is lower when $D < 3$, stays the same when $D = 3$, and is higher when \mbox{$D > 3$}. Thus confining an ideal polymer chain to a cylindrical shell, lowers the effective bending elasticity of the walls, and might induce spontaneous symmetry breaking, i.e. bending. (Actually, the above mentioned results show that {\em {any}} shell in $D = 3$ induces this effect, except for a spherical shell). We compute the contribution of this effect to the bending rigidities in the Helfrich free energy expression.Comment: 20 pages RevTeX, epsf; 4 figures; submitted to Macromoledule

py4DSTEM: a software package for multimodal analysis of four-dimensional scanning transmission electron microscopy datasets

Scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) allows for imaging, diffraction, and spectroscopy of materials on length scales ranging from microns to atoms. By using a high-speed, direct electron detector, it is now possible to record a full 2D image of the diffracted electron beam at each probe position, typically a 2D grid of probe positions. These 4D-STEM datasets are rich in information, including signatures of the local structure, orientation, deformation, electromagnetic fields and other sample-dependent properties. However, extracting this information requires complex analysis pipelines, from data wrangling to calibration to analysis to visualization, all while maintaining robustness against imaging distortions and artifacts. In this paper, we present py4DSTEM, an analysis toolkit for measuring material properties from 4D-STEM datasets, written in the Python language and released with an open source license. We describe the algorithmic steps for dataset calibration and various 4D-STEM property measurements in detail, and present results from several experimental datasets. We have also implemented a simple and universal file format appropriate for electron microscopy data in py4DSTEM, which uses the open source HDF5 standard. We hope this tool will benefit the research community, helps to move the developing standards for data and computational methods in electron microscopy, and invite the community to contribute to this ongoing, fully open-source project

Combined effect of bumetanide, bromide, and GABAergic agonists: An alternative treatment for intractable seizures

Univ Fed Sao Joao del Rei, Lab Neurociencia Expt & Computac, Programa Inst Bioengn, Sao Joao Del Rei, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Escola Paulista Med, Dept Expt Neurol, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Escola Paulista Med, Dept Fisiol, São Paulo, BrazilPontificia Univ Catolica Rio Grande do Su, Inst Cerebro, Porto Alegre, RS, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Escola Paulista Med, Dept Expt Neurol, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Escola Paulista Med, Dept Fisiol, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Outcomes associated with antibiotic regimens for treatment of Mycobacterium abscessus in cystic fibrosis patients

Background Mycobacterium abscessus infection is associated with declining lung function in cystic fibrosis (CF), but there is little evidence on clinical efficacy to guide treatment. Methods Retrospective review of 37 CF patients treated for M. abscessus respiratory infection at a single center from 2006 to 2014. Outcomes included change in FEV1 at 30, 60, 90, 180, and 365 days after treatment and clearance of M. abscessus from sputum cultures. Results Lung function was significantly improved after 30 and 60 days of treatment, but not at later time points. Gains were inversely related to starting lung function. Antibiotic choices did not influence outcomes except for greater clearance with clarithromycin. Conclusions Treatment of M. abscessus resulted in short term improvement in lung function that is inversely related to pre-treatment FEV1