Flexible delivery: A model for analysis and implementation of flexible programme delivery

The approach to quality and standards in Scotland is enhancement-led and learner-centred. It was developed through a partnership of the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), Universities Scotland, the National Union of Students in Scotland (NUS Scotland) and the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) Scotland. The Higher Education Academy has also joined that partnership. The Enhancement Themes are a key element of a five-part framework which has been designed to provide an integrated approach to quality assurance and enhancement, supporting learners and staff at all levels in enhancing higher education in Scotland drawing on developing, innovative practice within the UK and internationally. The five elements of the framework are: * a comprehensive programme of subject-level reviews undertaken by the higher education institutions themselves; guidance on internal reviews is published by SFC (www.sfc.ac.uk) * enhancement-led institutional review (ELIR) run by QAA Scotland (www.qaa.ac.uk/reviews/ELIR) * improved forms of public information about quality; guidance on the information to be published by higher education institutions is provided by SFC (www.sfc.ac.uk) * a greater voice for students in institutional quality systems, supported by a national development service - student participation in quality scotland (sparqs) (www.sparqs.org.uk) * a national programme of Enhancement Themes aimed at developing and sharing good practice to enhance the student learning experience, which are facilitated by QAA Scotland (www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk). The topics for the Themes are identified through consultation with the sector and implemented by steering committees whose members are drawn from the sector and the student body. The steering committees have the task of developing a programme of development activities, which draw upon national and international good practice. Publications emerging from each Theme are intended to provide important reference points for higher education institutions in the ongoing strategic enhancement of their teaching and learning provision. Full details of each Theme, its steering committee, the range of research and development activities, and the outcomes are published on the Enhancement Themes website (www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk). To further support the implementation and embedding of a quality enhancement culture within the sector, including taking forward the outcomes of the various Enhancement Themes, a new overarching committee has been established, chaired by Professor Kenneth Miller (Vice-Principal, University of Strathclyde). It has the important dual role of supporting the overall approach of the enhancement themes, including the five-year rolling plan, and of supporting institutional enhancement strategies and management of quality. We very much hope that the new committee, working with the individual topic-based Themes' steering committees, will provide a powerful vehicle for the progression of the enhancement-led approach to quality and standards in Scottish higher education

An Evaluation of the Teacher Advancement Program (TAP) in Chicago: Year One Impact Report

Based on test scores, teacher records, surveys, and interviews, examines the first-year impact of the TAP program, in which teachers delivering added value to student achievement and quality classroom performance earn extra pay and become mentors

Domesticity and the modernist aesthetic : F.T. Marinetti, Djuna Barnes, and Gertrude Stein

Literary modernism has been presented, in scholarship and critical histories, as a masculinized movement: a literature largely by men and concerned with issues of literary form rather than with everyday life. This critical tunnel vision has inevitably prevented a full accounting of many key aspects of modernist literature. One issue of modernism that has been persistently overlooked by scholars is the central role of domesticity in many modernist texts and the importance to modernists of reclaiming the domestic as a subject of high art. As this study demonstrates, modernist texts often focused on everyday life, and these modernist treatments of the domestic were rarely purely formal. Instead, modernist authors used formal experimentation to transform and recover, not obliterate, the material of everyday life. Three modernist authors-F.T. Marinetti, Djuna Barnes, and Gertrude Stein-provide particularly rich illustrations of modernism\u27s impulse to aesthetically transform the domestic. This study examines texts in which these authors critically engage domesticity: Marinetti\u27s The Futurist Cookbook (1932), Bames\u27s Ladies Almanack ( 1928) and Nightwood ( 1936), and Stein\u27s Tender Buttons ( 1914). Marinetti\u27s, Bames\u27s, and Stein\u27s transformations of the domestic rely on an aesthetics of desublimation, a recognition that threats, anxieties, and violences are concealed within the fabric of everyday life. In The Futurist Cookbook, Marinetti explores those conflicts inherent (but latent, contained) in nineteenth-century domesticity: conflicts which are racial, sexual, regional, national, and colonial in nature. Moreover, Marinetti appropriates domesticity\u27s potential for containment and uses this power to symbolically control those outside the Futurist aesthetic and social program. Like Marinetti, Barnes explodes traditional domesticity in her novels, and she calls into question traditional definitions of gender and sexuality, as these novels problematize domesticity\u27s traditional role as a site of the definition and maintenance of gender distinctions. However, these two novels have strikingly different tones and present very different images of the domestic: in Ladies Almanack, Barnes celebrates the grotesque excesses of domesticity, while in Nightwood, domesticity is a memento mori, a bellwether of the characters\u27 and their society\u27s steady disintegration. Stein\u27s Tender Buttons, like Barnes\u27s Ladies Almanack, privileges a domesticity which exceeds propriety, and Stein explores the nature of selfhood through the selfs interactions with its immediate surroundings: the domestic sphere. In addition, Stein brings out the most vibrant, uncontrollable aspects of domesticity-its excess-particularly the violent and the erotic, which are, of course, those facets of life most likely to be absent from Victorian representations of the domestic

Domesticity and the Modernist Aesthetic: F.T. Marinetti, Djuna Barnes, and Gertrude Stein

Literary modernism has been presented, in scholarship and critical histories, as a masculinized movement: a literature largely by men and concerned with issues of literary form rather than with everyday life. This critical tunnel vision has inevitably prevented a full accounting of many key aspects of modernist literature. One issue of modernism that has been persistently overlooked by scholars is the central role of domesticity in many modernist texts and the importance to modernists of reclaiming the domestic as a subject of high art. As this study demonstrates, modernist texts often focused on everyday life, and these modernist treatments of the domestic were rarely purely formal. Instead, modernist authors used formal experimentation to transform and recover, not obliterate, the material of everyday life. Three modernist authors - F.T. Marinetti, Djuna Barnes, and Gertrude Stein - provide particularly rich illustrations of modernism\u27s impulse to aesthetically transform the domestic. This study examines texts in which these authors critically engage domesticity: Marinetti\u27s The Futurist Cookbook (1932), Bames\u27s Ladies Almanack (1928) and Nightwood (1936), and Stein\u27s Tender Buttons (1914). Marinetti\u27s, Bames\u27s, and Stein\u27s transformations of the domestic rely on an aesthetics of desublimation, a recognition that threats, anxieties, and violences are concealed within the fabric of everyday life. In The Futurist Cookbook, Marinetti explores those conflicts inherent (but latent, contained) in nineteenth-century domesticity: conflicts which are racial, sexual, regional, national, and colonial in nature. Moreover, Marinetti appropriates domesticity\u27s potential for containment and uses this power to symbolically control those outside the Futurist aesthetic and social program. Like Marinetti, Barnes explodes traditional domesticity in her novels, and she calls into question traditional definitions of gender and sexuality, as these novels problematize domesticity\u27s traditional role as a site of the definition and maintenance of gender distinctions. However, these two novels have strikingly different tones and present very different images of the domestic: in Ladies Almanack, Barnes celebrates the grotesque excesses of domesticity, while in Nightwood, domesticity is a memento mori, a bellwether of the characters\u27 and their society\u27s steady disintegration. Stein\u27s Tender Buttons, like Barnes\u27s Ladies Almanack, privileges a domesticity which exceeds propriety, and Stein explores the nature of selfhood through the self\u27s interactions with its immediate surroundings: the domestic sphere. In addition, Stein brings out the most vibrant, uncontrollable aspects of domesticity - its excess - particularly the violent and the erotic, which are, of course, those facets of life most likely to be absent from Victorian representations of the domestic

SCALE MODELING OF STATIC FIRES IN A COMPLEX GEOMETRY FOR FORENSIC FIRE APPLICATIONS

Scale modeling can allow fire investigators to replicate specific fire dynamics at a dramatically reduced cost. A gas burner, liquid pool, wood crib, and polyurethane foam block are used to represent the wide range of fuels that investigators encounter. These fuels are classified into two groups: the burner and liquid pool that reach a semi-immediate steady state (static fires) and the crib and foam that have a fire spread and growth period (dynamic fires). This research examines the proposed scaling method for the static fires. The enclosure consists of a large corridor that provides an interesting challenge due to the presence of partitions at the ceiling. The design fires and the model enclosure are designed based on Froude scaling derived from conservation equations. The eight various sized fires demonstrate acceptable scaling results in the prediction of flame height and temperature at various elevations in the enclosure

Religion in the classroom

When most people hear that one wants to increase the study of religions in a public high school most think that it will infringe on the constitutional rights of the students, but this is not the case. Teaching about religion in the schools is often confused with the teaching of religion, or religious advocacy and indoctrination. This quotation describes why the study of religion has been left out, but it is imperative to understand why the study of religion is so important in a 21st century education. Diane L. Moore gave five main reasons why she felt students need to study religion. The first is that it is an important part of the human experience. Secondly, it gets students to identify and question normal cultural assumptions since it will give them a new perspective and ideas. This will help arouse critical thinking and reflection. The third reason is that ignorance of different religions promotes misunderstanding and decreases respect for those who are different. The fourth reason is that it makes understanding much of human history and culture very difficult, since they do not have such an important element to both. The last reason is that knowing about different religions is essential for the functioning of our democracy in an increasing pluralistic age. Students will also increase their intelligence, critical thinking skills, and multiculturalism since they will be given new views and understandings of the world. All of these reasons would help students increase their religious literacy and help them achieve success both inside and outside the classroom

Sherlock Holmes and James Moriarty: Victorian Genius in a Millennial World

In 1887, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published his first novel regarding the detective Sherlock Holmes. He would go on to publish another three novels and 56 short stories detailing the great detective’s endeavors. Today, 128 years later, Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes is as popular, as relevant, and as alive as ever. Adaptations continue to be made and achieve success, including the BBC’s mini-series, Sherlock. This modern adaptation and its interpretation of Conan Doyle’s characters, novels, stories, plots, and themes allow for a unique combination of Victorian and Modern England. It highlights the similarities and differences of a Victorian Holmes and a 21st Century Sherlock while also commenting on both eras overall. In particular, an increased focus on the relationship between Sherlock Holmes and his arch-nemesis, James Moriarty, generates new interest in these characters’ significance to the series’ legacy

When good bugs go bad: Epidemiology and antimicrobial resistance profiles of Corynebacterium striatum, an emerging multidrug-resistant, opportunistic pathogen

ABSTRACT Infections with Corynebacterium striatum have been described in the literature over the last 2 decades, with the majority being bacteremia, central line infections, and occasionally, endocarditis. In recent years, the frequency of C. striatum infections appears to be increasing; a factor likely contributing to this is the increased ease and accuracy of the identification of Corynebacterium spp., including C. striatum , from clinical cultures. The objective of this study was to retrospectively characterize C. striatum isolates recovered from specimens submitted as part of routine patient care at a 1,250-bed, tertiary-care academic medical center. Multiple strain types were recovered, as demonstrated by repetitive-sequence-based PCR. Most of the strains of C. striatum characterized were resistant to antimicrobials commonly used to treat Gram-positive organisms, such as penicillin, ceftriaxone, meropenem, clindamycin, and tetracycline. The MIC 50 for ceftaroline was &gt;32 μg/ml. Although there are no interpretive criteria for susceptibility with telavancin, it appeared to have potent in vitro efficacy against this species, with MIC 50 and MIC 90 values of 0.064 and 0.125 μg/ml, respectively. Finally, as previously reported in case studies, we demonstrated rapid in vitro development of daptomycin resistance in 100% of the isolates tested ( n = 50), indicating that caution should be exhibited when using daptomycin for the treatment of C. striatum infections. C. striatum is an emerging, multidrug-resistant pathogen that can be associated with a variety of infection types. </jats:p

Comparison of sample preparation methods, instrumentation platforms, and contemporary commercial databases for identification of clinically relevant mycobacteria by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization - Time of flight mass spectrometry

When mycobacteria are recovered in clinical specimens, timely species-level identification is required to establish the clinical significance of the isolate and facilitate optimization of antimicrobial therapy. Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization–time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) has recently been reported to be a reliable and expedited method for identification of mycobacteria, although various specimen preparation techniques and databases for analysis are reported across studies. Here we compared two MALDI-TOF MS instrumentation platforms and three databases: Bruker Biotyper Real Time Classification 3.1 (Biotyper), Vitek MS Plus Saramis Premium (Saramis), and Vitek MS v3.0. We evaluated two sample preparation techniques and demonstrate that extraction methods are not interchangeable across different platforms or databases. Once testing parameters were established, a panel of 157 mycobacterial isolates (including 16 Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates) was evaluated, demonstrating that with the appropriate specimen preparation, all three methods provide reliable identification for most species. Using a score cutoff value of ≥1.8, the Biotyper correctly identified 133 (84.7%) isolates with no misidentifications. Using a confidence value of ≥90%, Saramis correctly identified 134 (85.4%) isolates with one misidentification and Vitek MS v3.0 correctly identified 140 (89.2%) isolates with one misidentification. The levels of accuracy were not significantly different across the three platforms (P = 0.14). In addition, we show that Vitek MS v3.0 requires modestly fewer repeat analyses than the Biotyper and Saramis methods (P = 0.04), which may have implications for laboratory workflow