The impact of curriculum content in fostering inclusive engineering: data from a national evaluation of the use of EWB projects in first year engineering

The year of Humanitarian Engineering draws our attention to the need to develop engineers who are not just technically competent but who can effectively address the needs of communities, maintain their ethical responsibilities, and take sustainability into consideration. This is what we understand by inclusive engineering. One approach to introducing such considerations into the curriculum has been the widespread use of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) projects in development settings as first year learning opportunities. We are evaluating different uses of these projects in 13 universities around Australia and New Zealand using a program logic data gathering methodology and a critical realist analytic approach to answer the research question 'what works for whom under what circumstances?' In this paper we will concentrate mainly on one of these sites The University of Queensland. Data reveals that the EWB projects have great potential for raising issues of community involvement, ethics and sustainability but that the content of projects alone cannot guarantee that such objectives are addressed. Contextual factors, including: the focus of the course (e.g. professional development versus design), the attitudes of staff, and the pedagogy used all contribute to the successful pursuit of non-technical objectives. Projects with little obvious humanitarian or inclusive content such as one for long-wall supports in mining were found to foster context-sensitive approaches. In addition to project content, educators who are seeking to develop humanitarian and inclusive engineers need to pay attention to consistently expressed goals and values amongst the teaching team and the alignment of assessment (in style and weighting) with clearly stated learning goals

La censure, perverse supposée polymorphe

L’enfance, supposée fragile et sans défense, est l’objet de toutes les attentions. Et de tous les fantasmes. Toutes les bonnes intentions du monde conspirent autour d’elle et, de l’autocensure rampante à la censure militante, les actes trahissent parfois les discours. L’enfance, enjeu ou prétexte

Improving teaching with research: the role for theory-driven evaluation

For the last five years universities in Australia and New Zealand have experimented with the use of the Engineers Without Borders (EWB) Challenge in their first-year engineering courses. In evaluating the initiative we asked 'What works for whom under what circumstances?' Here we report specifically on the third phase of the project which examined three attempts to embed the findings of the evaluation in the next year's teaching: one concerned adjustments to assessment to improve alignment; another concerned the use of the EWB Challenge projects in a multidisciplinary subject outside of engineering; and the third set of changes revolved around attempts to make sure a large teaching team was implementing the projects in a consistent way. In all of these cases it emerged that maintaining communication and collaboration amongst stakeholders was critically important and practically difficult. We conclude that embedding the results of research may require as much time and attention as actually doing the research and reflect on how practical strategies may be developed

Analysis of biofilm-nanoparticles interaction using microscopy (fluorescence, MEB, STEM, MET, EDS)

International audienceAmong biofilm's properties, the ability to interact with/catch pollutants can have applications in bioremediation. Here, biofilm interactions with metals (as iron nanoparticles (NanoFer 25S)) was evaluated using various approaches in microscopy. For this, biofilm growth, sampling, labelling and treatment were developed for each type of microscopy to access the surface or inside of the biofilm, biofilm composition, and metal location. Multispecies biofilms were grown on sand or in PVC tubes inoculated with aquifer water spiked with a nutritive solution to enhance denitrification, and then put in contact with nanoparticles. According to the targeted microscopy, biofilms were (i) sampled as flocs or attached biofilm, (ii) submitted to cells (DAPI) and/or lectins (PNA and ConA coupled to FITC or Au nanoparticles) labelling, and (iii) prepared for observation (fixation, cross-section, freezing…). Fluorescent microscopy revealed that nanoparticles were embedded in the biofilm structure as 0.5-5µm size aggregates. SEM observations also showed NP aggregates closed to microorganisms but it was not possible to conclude a potential interaction between nanoparticles and the biological membranes. STEM-in-SEM analysis showed NP aggregates could enter inside the biofilm over a depth of 7-11µm. Moreover, microorganisms were circled by an EPS ring that prevented the direct interaction between NP and membrane. TEM(STEM)/EDS revealed that NP aggregates were co-localized with lectins suggesting a potential role of exopolysaccharides in NP embedding. The combination of several approaches in microscopy is thus a good tool to better understandi and characterize biofilm/pollutant interaction

Stress-induced transcription of satellite III repeats

Exposure of mammalian cells to stress induces the activation of heat shock transcription factor 1 (HSF1) and the subsequent transcription of heat shock genes. Activation of the heat shock response also correlates with a rapid relocalization of HSF1 within a few nuclear structures termed nuclear stress granules. These stress-induced structures, which form primarily on the 9q12 region in humans through direct binding of HSF1 to satellite III repeats, do not colocalize with transcription sites of known hsp genes. In this paper, we show that nuclear stress granules correspond to RNA polymerase II transcription factories where satellite III repeats are transcribed into large and stable RNAs that remain associated with the 9q12 region, even throughout mitosis. This work not only reveals the existence of a new major heat-induced transcript in human cells that may play a role in chromatin structure, but also provides evidence for a transcriptional activity within a locus considered so far as heterochromatic and silent

In vivo binding of active heat shock transcription factor 1 to human chromosome 9 heterochromatin during stress

Activation of the mammalian heat shock transcription factor (HSF)1 by stress is a multistep process resulting in the transcription of heat shock genes. Coincident with these events is the rapid and reversible redistribution of HSF1 to discrete nuclear structures termed HSF1 granules, whose function is still unknown. Key features are that the number of granules correlates with cell ploidy, suggesting the existence of a chromosomal target. Here we show that in humans, HSF1 granules localize to the 9q11-q12 heterochromatic region. Within this locus, HSF1 binds through direct DNA–protein interaction with a nucleosome-containing subclass of satellite III repeats. HSF1 granule formation only requires the DNA binding competence and the trimerization of the factor. This is the first example of a transcriptional activator that accumulates transiently and reversibly on a chromosome-specific heterochromatic locus

Women’s experiences of exercise as a treatment for their postnatal depression:a nested qualitative study

Women with postnatal depression are often reluctant to take medication postnatally and access to psychological therapies is limited. Exercise offers a freely available treatment option but depressed mothers’ experience of exercise has not been investigated. We conducted a qualitative study nested within a randomised trial of an exercise intervention for women with postnatal depression. Women described deterioration in their sense of identity postnatally and through experiencing depression and described the positive impact exercise had on their sense of self. Views of exercise as treatment for postnatal depression ranged from doubts about its practicality to positive comparisons with other traditional treatments and to improved recovery

Item response theory and factor analysis as a mean to characterize occurrence of response shift in a longitudinal quality of life study in breast cancer patients.

International audienceBACKGROUND: The occurrence of response shift (RS) in longitudinal health-related quality of life (HRQoL) studies, reflecting patient adaptation to disease, has already been demonstrated. Several methods have been developed to detect the three different types of response shift (RS), i.e. recalibration RS, 2) reprioritization RS, and 3) reconceptualization RS. We investigated two complementary methods that characterize the occurrence of RS: factor analysis, comprising Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA), and a method of Item Response Theory (IRT). METHODS: Breast cancer patients (n = 381) completed the EORTC QLQ-C30 and EORTC QLQ-BR23 questionnaires at baseline, immediately following surgery, and three and six months after surgery, according to the "then-test/post-test" design. Recalibration was explored using MCA and a model of IRT, called the Linear Logistic Model with Relaxed Assumptions (LLRA) using the then-test method. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to explore reconceptualization and reprioritization. RESULTS: MCA highlighted the main profiles of recalibration: patients with high HRQoL level report a slightly worse HRQoL level retrospectively and vice versa. The LLRA model indicated a downward or upward recalibration for each dimension. At six months, the recalibration effect was statistically significant for 11/22 dimensions of the QLQ-C30 and BR23 according to the LLRA model (p ≤ 0.001). Regarding the QLQ-C30, PCA indicated a reprioritization of symptom scales and reconceptualization via an increased correlation between functional scales. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrate the usefulness of these analyses in characterizing the occurrence of RS. MCA and IRT model had convergent results with then-test method to characterize recalibration component of RS. PCA is an indirect method in investigating the reprioritization and reconceptualization components of RS