Ten Years in the Academic Integrity Trenches: Experiences and Issues

In 2016, our university launched its Academic Integrity Program (AIP) in order to promote and protect academic integrity. All commencing students must complete this online AIP within 14 days of starting their course. Satisfactory completion of this module with a test score of 80% is required before students can access their course materials. Interestingly, this university program mirrors a decade long effort in our IS discipline area to educate students regarding the importance of academic integrity and values through improvements in education, detection of misconduct, and procedures that deal with this. In this paper, we analyze four descriptive cases of academic misconduct involving plagiarism, collusion, and contract cheating. We then describe the role of academic culture and English language proficiency, noting how these contribute to academic integrity. Additionally, we analyze quantitative data from the faculty Plagiarism Recording System that reflect a decade of front-line experiences of IS academics in upholding and reinforcing academic integrity in both large (1,000 student) undergraduate and small (20 student) postgraduate courses. We describe the AIP that educated 15,000 new students commencing courses in 2016. Finally, we raise issues and make recommendations to deal with the next decade of efforts to improve academic integrity

The Health and Well-being of Service User and Carer Educators: a Narrative Enquiry into the Impact of Involvement in Healthcare Education

Service user and carer involvement is increasing in health and social care educationas a result of UK policy directives and Professional Statutory and Regulatory Body requirements. The study aimed to elicit the accounts of service user and carer educators' experiences in practice-based healthcare education in the UK. The overall aim was to illustrate the impact this has had on their health and well-being. A narrative inquiry approach was adopted in order to give a clearer and stronger voice to service users and carers by making their experience the primary focus of enquiry.Narratives were collected from five service users and carers who had extensive experience of involvement in healthcare education. The individual narrative material obtained was distilled into key points following a naturalistic perspective, ensuring that the findings and final story were a re-presentation of the narrator's experience.Participating in the research enabled the service users and carers to articulate specifically how involvement had positively affected their health and well-being. An additional outcome included the personal artefacts that can be utilised in teaching and learning in order to bring the service user and carer voice to life.This study contributes to the emerging knowledge and understanding that service user and carer involvement in health education can be a truly collaborative, enriching experience,producing profound personal change, with improvements in health and well-being. Effective involvement is dependent upon appropriate support networks whereby service users and carers develop connections with staff and other service users and carers that result in a sense of belonging

Menstrual Cycle and Facial Preferences Reconsidered

Two previous articles reported that women prefer less feminized male faces during the fertile phase of their menstrual cycle, supposedly reflecting an evolved mating strategy whereby women choose mates of maximum genetic quality when conception is likely. The current article contends this theory rests on several questionable assumptions about human ancestral mating systems. A new empirical test also was conducted: 853 adults, primarily from North America, evaluated facial attractiveness of photos. The study included more complete evaluation of ovulatory status and a greater number (n = 258) of target women than past research. The results did not suggest any greater preference for masculine faces when fertilization was likely. The article concludes with general comments about evolutionary theorizing and interpersonal relationships

A National Survey of Hereditary Angioedema and Acquired C1 Inhibitor Deficiency in the United Kingdom

Background: Detailed demographic data on people with hereditary angioedema (HAE) and acquired C1 inhibitor deficiency in the United Kingdom are relatively limited. Better demographic data would be beneficial in planning service provision, identifying areas of improvement, and improving care./ Objective: To obtain more accurate data on the demographics of HAE and acquired C1 inhibitor deficiency in the United Kingdom, including treatment modalities and services available to patients./ Methods: A survey was distributed to all centers in the United Kingdom that look after patients with HAE and acquired C1 inhibitor deficiency to collect these data./ Results: The survey identified 1152 patients with HAE-1/2 (58% female and 92% type 1), 22 patients with HAE with normal C1 inhibitor, and 91 patients with acquired C1 inhibitor deficiency. Data were provided by 37 centers across the United Kingdom. This gives a minimum prevalence of 1:59,000 for HAE-1/2 and 1:734,000 for acquired C1 inhibitor deficiency in the United Kingdom. A total of 45% of patients with HAE were on long-term prophylaxis (LTP) with the most used medication being danazol (55% of all patients on LTP). Eighty-two percent of patients with HAE had a home supply of acute treatment with C1 inhibitor or icatibant. A total of 45% of patients had a supply of icatibant and 56% had a supply of C1 inhibitor at home./ Conclusions: Data obtained from the survey provide useful information about the demographics and treatment modalities used in HAE and acquired C1 inhibitor deficiency in the United Kingdom. These data are useful for planning service provision and improving services for these patients

Acyl substrate preferences of an IAA-amido synthetase account for variations in grape (Vitis vinifera L.) berry ripening caused by different auxinic compounds indicating the importance of auxin conjugation in plant development

Nine Gretchen Hagen (GH3) genes were identified in grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) and six of these were predicted on the basis of protein sequence similarity to act as indole-3-acetic acid (IAA)-amido synthetases. The activity of these enzymes is thought to be important in controlling free IAA levels and one auxin-inducible grapevine GH3 protein, GH3-1, has previously been implicated in the berry ripening process. Ex planta assays showed that the expression of only one other GH3 gene, GH3-2, increased following the treatment of grape berries with auxinic compounds. One of these was the naturally occurring IAA and the other two were synthetic, α-naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) and benzothiazole-2-oxyacetic acid (BTOA). The determination of steady-state kinetic parameters for the recombinant GH3-1 and GH3-2 proteins revealed that both enzymes efficiently conjugated aspartic acid (Asp) to IAA and less well to NAA, while BTOA was a poor substrate. GH3-2 gene expression was induced by IAA treatment of pre-ripening berries with an associated increase in levels of IAA-Asp and a decrease in free IAA levels. This indicates that GH3-2 responded to excess auxin to maintain low levels of free IAA. Grape berry ripening was not affected by IAA application prior to veraison (ripening onset) but was considerably delayed by NAA and even more so by BTOA. The differential effects of the three auxinic compounds on berry ripening can therefore be explained by the induction and acyl substrate specificity of GH3-2. These results further indicate an important role for GH3 proteins in controlling auxin-related plant developmental processes

2015 Research & Innovation Day Program

A one day showcase of applied research, social innovation, scholarship projects and activities.https://first.fanshawec.ca/cri_cripublications/1002/thumbnail.jp