Decolonising the film curriculum through South–North collaborative online international learning (COIL) initiatives

Collaborative online international learning (COIL), also known as ‘telecollaboration’ or ‘virtual exchange’ among other terms, has been employed as a strategy for internationalisation of the curriculum in various disciplines for several years, but the COVID-19 pandemic has provided renewed impetus. This article argues that it can offer an effective means to decolonise approaches to teaching film studies through South–North collaborations. In brief, COIL is a pedagogical approach that holds that ‘learning takes place through a distributed network of connections to other people and their resources, and formal and informal educational assets in the public domain’ (Reo and Russell, 2015: 64). In this article, we argue that a COIL approach with a South–North focus, partnering with a higher education institution in Latin America, would provide unique opportunities to decolonise the film curriculum, given the features of COIL. In 2020, two universities in Mexico, one in Brazil and one in Colombia founded the Latin American Network for COIL. To date, it comprises 135 institutional members, some of which have students from Indigenous backgrounds and are already actively engaged in decolonising the curriculum. Our article proposes ways to take this forward

The environmental contaminant DDE fails to influence the outcome of sexual differentiation in the marine turtle Chelonia mydas.

In many turtles, the temperature experienced during the middle of egg incubation determines the sex of the offspring. The implication of steroid sex hormones as the proximate trigger for sex determination opens the possibility that endocrine-disrupting contaminants may also influence the outcome of sexual differentiation. In this study we investigate the potential effects of DDE (a common DDT metabolite) on sexual differentiation of Chelonia mydas (green sea turtle). Four clutches of eggs collected from Heron Island, Queensland, Australia, were treated with DDE at the beginning of the thermosensitive period for sexual determination. An incubation temperature of 28 degrees C or less produces male hatchlings in this species, whereas 30 degrees C or more produces female hatchlings. Dosed eggs were consequently incubated at two temperatures (27.6 degrees C and 30.4 degrees C) on the upper and lower boundaries of the sex determination threshold for this species. DDE, ranging from 3.3 to 66.5 microg, was dissolved in 5, 10, and 25 microl ethanol and applied to eggshells above the embryo. Less than 2.5 ng/g DDE was present in eggs prior to dosing. Approximately 34% of the applied DDE was absorbed in the eggs, but only approximately 8% of applied DDE was found in embryos. Thus, treated eggs, corrected for background DDE, had up to 543 ng/g DDE. The sex ratio at these doses did not differ from what would be expected on consideration of temperature alone. Incubation time, hatching success, incidence of body deformities, hatching size, and weight were also within the limits of healthy developed hatchlings. This indicates that the eggs of C. mydas in the wild with concentrations of DDE less than 543 ng/g should produce hatchlings with relatively high hatching success, survival rate, and normally differentiated gonads

Reducing the nitrate content of protected lettuce.

End of Project ReportA research project was carried out jointly between Teagasc, Kinsealy Research Centre and University College Dublin, Department of Crop Science, Horticulture and Forestry which studied the effects of cultivar, nitrogen fertilisation and light intensity on the nitrate content of protected butterhead lettuce. In a series of cultivar trials of winter and summer butterhead lettuce, significant differences in the nitrate content of the lettuce between cultivars were found only in one experiment. In this instance, the differences were not consistent between successive harvests. It was concluded that screening lettuce cultivars for tissue nitrate level is unlikely to contribute to an overall reduction of nitrate levels. The application of N in a liquid feed throughout the cropping period resulted in higher nitrate levels in lettuce plants grown in soil filled containers compared with a similar amount of N applied to the soil before planting. Withdrawing N for the final 10 days of the cropping period did not affect the nitrate content of the lettuce. In an experiment studying nitrogen source and rate on lettuce grown in containers, the use of calcium cyanamide as a N source resulted in lower nitrate levels in the lettuce and gave a reduced head weight compared with calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) or ammonium sulphate. Increasing the rate of CAN or ammonium sulphate gave higher lettuce nitrate levels. A nitrification inhibitor reduced the soil nitrate levels especially with sulphate of ammonia as the N source but did not affect the plant nitrate levels significantly. The addition of chloride to the soil reduced nitrate levels in the lettuce. In a further fertilisation study using containers, calcium cyanamide again resulted in lower plant nitrate levels than CAN. Increasing the rate of CAN increased soil nitrate levels, lettuce head weight and plant nitrate levels. The relationship between soil nitrate levels, lettuce head weight and plant nitrate level indicates that the level of 100-150 mg·L-1 of nitrate N in the soil, advocated in the Code of Good Practice, is a compromise between maximising plant growth and minimising lettuce nitrate content. A comparison between CAN and calcium cyanamide in a border soil experiment again showed that the latter N source resulted in lower lettuce nitrate levels. In this experiment the addition of chloride to the soil did not affect plant nitrate levels. Lettuce was grown, in late summer, in small tunnels using a range of polyethylene cladding materials. Head weight correlated well with the overall light transmission of the materials. In one of the materials that had a low light transmission, lettuce nitrate content was doubled compared with those grown under the materials with high light transmission. Under both winter and summer conditions, the nitrate content of lettuce heads was not influenced by the time of day at which harvest took place. In experiments in which multiple harvests were carried out there was no consistent trend in nitrate content as the heads developed and matured. Within individual heads of lettuce there was a steep concentration gradient with the older outer leaves having much higher concentrations of nitrate than the younger inner leaves. Herbicides commonly used in protected lettuce production did not influence the nitrate content of the lettuce

Effect of two behavioural 'nudging' interventions on management decisions for low back pain: A randomised vignette-based study in general practitioners

Objective €Nudges' are subtle cognitive cues thought to influence behaviour. We investigated whether embedding nudges in a general practitioner (GP) clinical decision support display can reduce low-value management decisions. Methods Australian GPs completed four clinical vignettes of patients with low back pain. Participants chose from three guideline-concordant and three guideline-discordant (low-value) management options for each vignette, on a computer screen. A 2×2 factorial design randomised participants to two possible nudge interventions: €partition display' nudge (low-value options presented horizontally, high-value options listed vertically) or €default option' nudge (high-value options presented as the default, low-value options presented only after clicking for more). The primary outcome was the proportion of scenarios where practitioners chose at least one of the low-value care options. Results 120 GPs (72% male, 28% female) completed the trial (n=480 vignettes). Participants using a conventional menu display without nudges chose at least one low-value care option in 42% of scenarios. Participants exposed to the default option nudge were 44% less likely to choose at least one low-value care option (OR 0.56, 95%CI 0.37 to 0.85; p=0.006) compared with those not exposed. The partition display nudge had no effect on choice of low-value care (OR 1.08, 95%CI 0.72 to 1.64; p=0.7). There was no interaction between the nudges (OR 0.94, 95% CI 0.41 to 2.15; p=0.89). Interpretation A default option nudge reduced the odds of choosing low-value options for low back pain in clinical vignettes. Embedding high value options as defaults in clinical decision support tools could improve quality of care. More research is needed into how nudges impact clinical decision-making in different contexts

Red flags presented in current low back pain guidelines: a review.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to identify and descriptively compare the red flags endorsed in guidelines for the detection of serious pathology in patients presenting with low back pain to primary care. METHOD: We searched databases, the World Wide Web and contacted experts aiming to find the multidisciplinary clinical guideline in low back pain in primary care, and selected the most recent one per country. We extracted data on the number and type of red flags for identifying patients with higher likelihood of serious pathology. Furthermore, we extracted data on whether or not accuracy data (sensitivity/specificity, predictive values, etc.) were presented to support the endorsement of specific red flags. RESULTS: We found 21 discrete guidelines all published between 2000 and 2015. One guideline could not be retrieved and after selecting one guideline per country we included 16 guidelines in our analysis from 15 different countries and one for Europe as a whole. All guidelines focused on the management of patients with low back pain in a primary care or multidisciplinary care setting. Five guidelines presented red flags in general, i.e., not related to any specific disease. Overall, we found 46 discrete red flags related to the four main categories of serious pathology: malignancy, fracture, cauda equina syndrome and infection. The majority of guidelines presented two red flags for fracture ('major or significant trauma' and 'use of steroids or immunosuppressors') and two for malignancy ('history of cancer' and 'unintentional weight loss'). Most often pain at night or at rest was also considered as a red flag for various underlying pathologies. Eight guidelines based their choice of red flags on consensus or previous guidelines; five did not provide any reference to support the choice of red flags, three guidelines presented a reference in general, and data on diagnostic accuracy was rarely provided. CONCLUSION: A wide variety of red flags was presented in guidelines for low back pain, with a lack of consensus between guidelines for which red flags to endorse. Evidence for the accuracy of recommended red flags was lacking

Implementing neural architectures using analog VLSI circuits

Analog very large-scale integrated (VLSI) technology can be used not only to study and simulate biological systems, but also to emulate them in designing artificial sensory systems. A methodology for building these systems in CMOS VLSI technology has been developed using analog micropower circuit elements that can be hierarchically combined. Using this methodology, experimental VLSI chips of visual and motor subsystems have been designed and fabricated. These chips exhibit behavior similar to that of biological systems, and perform computations useful for artificial sensory systems

Perturbations of a Universe Filled with Dust and Radiation

A first-order perturbation approach to $k=0$ Friedmann cosmologies filled with dust and radiation is developed. Adopting the coordinate gauge comoving with the perturbed matter, and neglecting the vorticity of the radiation, a pair of coupled equations is obtained for the trace $h$ of the metric perturbations and for the velocity potential $v$. A power series solution with upwards cutoff exists such that the leading terms for large values of the dimensionless time $\xi$ agree with the relatively growing terms of the dust solution of Sachs and Wolfe.Comment: 9 pp, typeset in late

Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) Support of User Spacecraft without TDRSS Transponders

NASA GSFC VNS TSG personnel have proposed the use of TDRSS to obtain telemetry and/or S-band one-way return Doppler tracking data for spacecraft which do not have TDRSS-compatible transponders and therefore were never considered candidates for TDRSS support. For spacecraft with less stable local oscillators (LO), one-way return Doppler tracking data is typically of poor quality. It has been demonstrated using UARS, WIND, and NOAA-J tracking data that the simultaneous use of two TDRSS spacecraft can yield differenced one-way return Doppler data of high quality which is usable for orbit determination by differencing away the effects of oscillator instability

A novel PCFT gene mutation (p.Cys66LeufsX99) causing hereditary folate malabsorption

Hereditary folate malabsorption (HFM) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder which is characterized by impaired intestinal folate malabsorption and impaired folate transport into the central nervous system. Mutations in the intestinal folate transporter PCFT have been reported previously in only 10 individuals with this disorder. The purpose of the current study was to describe the clinical phenotype and determine the molecular basis for this disorder in a family with four affected individuals. A consanguineous family of Pakistani origin with autosomal recessive HFM was ascertained and clinically phenotyped. After genetic linkage studies all coding exons of the PCFT gene were screened for mutations by direct sequencing. The clinical phenotype of four affected patients is described. Direct sequencing of PCFT revealed a novel homozygous frameshift mutation (c.194dupG) at a mononucleotide repeat in exon 1 predicted to result in a truncated protein (p.Cys66LeufsX99). This report extends current knowledge on the phenotypic manifestations of HFM and the PCFT mutation spectrum