89 research outputs found
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Students as change partners in the School of Literature and Languages at the University of Reading
The pedagogic landscape in Higher Education (HE) has certainly witnessed change in recent years, and involving students as partners in aspects of degree programme development is part of that change (Lowe and Dunne, 2017). Darling-Hammond (2009) described how educational systems internationally are changing priorities to enable students to ‘cope with complexity, use new technologies, and work cooperatively to frame and solve novel problems’ (p. 45). Zhao (2011) asserts that it is vital to engage students as partners in change, giving them an active hand in programme design, to enable students to develop into creative individuals who leave education with much more than just an academic qualification; it is an ‘authentic way to develop professional skills’ (Giles, Martin, Bryce & Hendry, 2004, p. 681) as well as an opportunity to develop a positive and autonomous approach to learning that will be long lasting and productive The case study which follows involved students working cooperatively with each other and with staff in a School of Literature and Languages. Together, we re-designed a new module aimed at developing students’ understanding of the demands of university level study and writing and supporting them in their transition from sixth form to Higher Education
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By design: engaging Graphic Communication students in curriculum development
Graphic Communication students face the challenge of acquiring a range of technical skills in addition to their creative, historical, professional and theoretical learning within a design degree. The range of software they are required to learn, in order to design across multiple genres and platforms in today’s rapidly-evolving media industry, is also increasing. Design students are often reported to be inclined to focus on developing their technical skills rather than the “critical thinking and reflective learning” skills that their tutors focus on (Park and Kastanis, 2009, p. 12). Similarly, within our BA Graphic Communication programme based in the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication at the University of Reading, student feedback highlights that students would like more support for developing their technical learning. We have been working with our students to respond to this issue in various ways. One of our initiatives has been to introduce a new optional module that supports first-year students’ technical learning. The case study presented in this video submission highlights how Graphic Communication students from different year groups worked with staff to develop the new module
A standardised sampling protocol for robust assessment of reach-scale fish community diversity in wadeable New Zealand streams
The New Zealand fish fauna contains species that are affected not only by river system connectivity, but also by catchment and local-scale changes in landcover, water quality and habitat quality. Consequently, native fish have potential as multi-scale bioindicators of human pressure on stream ecosystems, yet no standardised, repeatable and scientifically defensible methods currently exist for effectively quantifying their abundance or diversity in New Zealand stream reaches. Here we report on the testing of a back-pack electrofishing method, modified from that used by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, on a wide variety of wadeable stream reaches throughout New Zealand. Seventy-three first- to third-order stream reaches were fished with a single pass over 150-345 m length. Time taken to sample a reach using single-pass electrofishing ranged from 1-8 h. Species accumulation curves indicated that, irrespective of location, continuous sampling of 150 stream metres is required to accurately describe reach-scale fish species richness using this approach. Additional species detection beyond 150 m was rare (<10%) with a single additional species detected at only two out of the 17 reaches sampled beyond this distance. A positive relationship was also evident between species detection and area fished, although stream length rather than area appeared to be the better predictor. The method tested provides a standardised and repeatable approach for regional and/or national reporting on the state of New Zealand's freshwater fish communities and trends in richness and abundance over time
Factors Affecting the Radii of Close-in Transiting Exoplanets
The radius of an exoplanet may be affected by various factors, including
irradiation, planet mass and heavy element content. A significant number of
transiting exoplanets have now been discovered for which the mass, radius,
semi-major axis, host star metallicity and stellar effective temperature are
known. We use multivariate regression models to determine the dependence of
planetary radius on planetary equilibrium temperature T_eq, planetary mass M_p,
stellar metallicity [Fe/H], orbital semi-major axis a, and tidal heating rate
H_tidal, for 119 transiting planets in three distinct mass regimes. We
determine that heating leads to larger planet radii, as expected, increasing
mass leads to increased or decreased radii of low-mass (<0.5R_J) and high-mass
(>2.0R_J) planets, respectively (with no mass effect on Jupiter-mass planets),
and increased host-star metallicity leads to smaller planetary radii,
indicating a relationship between host-star metallicity and planet heavy
element content. For Saturn-mass planets, a good fit to the radii may be
obtained from log(R_p/R_J)=-0.077+0.450 log(M_p/M_J)-0.314[Fe/H]+0.671
log(a/AU)+0.398 log(T_eq/K). The radii of Jupiter-mass planets may be fit by
log(R_p/R_J)=-2.217+0.856 log(T_eq/K)+0.291 log(a/AU). High-mass planets' radii
are best fit by log(R_p/R_J)=-1.067+0.380 log(T_eq/K)-0.093
log(M_p/M_J)-0.057[Fe/H]+0.019 log(H_tidal/1x10^{20}). These equations produce
a very good fit to the observed radii, with a mean absolute difference between
fitted and observed radius of 0.11R_J. A clear distinction is seen between the
core-dominated Saturn-mass (0.1-0.5M_J) planets, whose radii are determined
almost exclusively by their mass and heavy element content, and the gaseous
envelope-dominated Jupiter-mass (0.5-2.0M_J) planets, whose radii increase
strongly with irradiating flux, partially offset by a power-law dependence on
orbital separation.Comment: 14 pages, 14 figures, accepted in A&
Finding the most variable stars in the Orion Belt with the All Sky Automated Survey
We look for high-amplitude variable young stars in the open clusters and
associations of the Orion Belt. We use public data from the ASAS-3 Photometric
V-band Catalogue of the All Sky Automated Survey, infrared photometry from the
2MASS and IRAS catalogues, proper motions, and the Aladin sky atlas to obtain a
list of the most variable stars in a survey area of side 5 deg centred on the
bright star Alnilam (eps Ori) in the centre of the Orion Belt. We identify 32
highly-variable stars, of which 16 had not been reported to vary before. They
are mostly variable young stars and candidates (16) and background giants (8),
but there are also field cataclysmic variables, contact binaries, and eclipsing
binary candidates. Of the young stars, which typically are active Herbig Ae/Be
and T Tauri stars with Halpha emission and infrared flux excess, we discover
four new variables and confirm the variability status of another two. Some of
them belong to the well known sigma Orionis cluster. Besides, six of the eight
giants are new variables, and three are new periodic variables.Comment: Astronomische Nachrichten, in pres
MESSENGER observations of magnetopause structure and dynamics at Mercury
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/97516/1/jgra50123.pd
Reading between the lines:Disk emission, wind, and accretion during the Z CMa NW outburst
(Abridged) We use optical spectroscopy to investigate the disk, wind, and
accretion during the 2008 ZCMa NW outburst. Over 1000 optical emission lines
reveal accretion, a variable, multi-component wind, and double-peaked lines of
disk origin. The variable, non-axisymmetric, accretion-powered wind has slow
(0 km s), intermediate (100 km s) and fast (400 km s) components. The fast components are of stellar origin and
disappear in quiescence, while the slow component is less variable and could be
related to a disk wind. The changes in the optical depth of the lines between
outburst and quiescence are consistent with increased accretion being
responsible for the observed outburst. We derive an accretion rate of 10
M/yr in outburst. The Fe I and weak Fe II lines arise from an
irradiated, flared disk at 0.5-3 M/16M au with
asymmetric upper layers, revealing that the energy from the accretion burst is
deposited at scales below 0.5 au. Some line profiles have redshifted
asymmetries, but the system is unlikely sustained by magnetospheric accretion,
especially in outburst. The accretion-related structures extend over several
stellar radii and, like the wind, are likely non-axisymmetric. The stellar mass
may be 6-8 M, lower than previously thought (16 M).
Emission line analysis is found to be a powerful tool to study the innermost
regions and accretion in stars within a very large range of effective
temperatures. The density ranges in the disk and accretion structures are
higher than in late-type stars, but the overall behavior, including the
innermost disk emission and variable wind, is very similar independently of the
spectral type. Our work suggests a common outburst behavior for stars with
spectral types ranging from M-type to intermediate-mass stars.Comment: Accepted by A&A, 21 pages plus online appendix. Version 2: Minor
typos corrected. Version 3: Note on DIBs added, typos correcte
Combined point of care nucleic acid and antibody testing for SARS-CoV-2 following emergence of D614G Spike Variant
Rapid COVID-19 diagnosis in hospital is essential, though complicated by 30-50% of nose/throat swabs being negative by SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid amplification testing (NAAT). Furthermore, the D614G spike mutant now dominates the pandemic and it is unclear how serological tests designed to detect anti-Spike antibodies perform against this variant. We assess the diagnostic accuracy of combined rapid antibody point of care (POC) and nucleic acid assays for suspected COVID-19 disease due to either wild type or the D614G spike mutant SARS-CoV-2. The overall detection rate for COVID-19 is 79.2% (95CI 57.8-92.9%) by rapid NAAT alone. Combined point of care antibody test and rapid NAAT is not impacted by D614G and results in very high sensitivity for COVID-19 diagnosis with very high specificity
Erratum to: Methods for evaluating medical tests and biomarkers
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s41512-016-0001-y.]
International genome-wide meta-analysis identifies new primary biliary cirrhosis risk loci and targetable pathogenic pathways.
Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is a classical autoimmune liver disease for which effective immunomodulatory therapy is lacking. Here we perform meta-analyses of discovery data sets from genome-wide association studies of European subjects (n=2,764 cases and 10,475 controls) followed by validation genotyping in an independent cohort (n=3,716 cases and 4,261 controls). We discover and validate six previously unknown risk loci for PBC (Pcombined<5 × 10(-8)) and used pathway analysis to identify JAK-STAT/IL12/IL27 signalling and cytokine-cytokine pathways, for which relevant therapies exist
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