Have you ever considered a career in total revolution?: drama and the corporate reform of higher education.

This paper examines the corporate reform of UK higher education and its implications for drama. The paper first sets out the background to this reform and its ideological reference points. It then outlines the discourse surrounding the foundation of drama in British Universities and relates this to the discourse developed several decades later by performance studies. In mapping out these areas, the paper draws attention to drama academics’ professed emphasis on rejecting commodification in favour of multiple and/or wide-ranging practices, progressive and democratic principles and a concern with the complexity of human beings. The paper argues that corporate discourse cuts at the joints of drama’s identity as a discipline because what constitute many of the ‘professed’ principles and modes of practice within drama and performance studies are antithetical to the models of commodification promoted by corporate thinking. The paper also engages with the ethical issues raised by corporate reform. As a wide range of critics point out, allowing corporate discourse and practices to dominate higher education is problematic because of the extent to which these practices do violence to the human and promote antidemocratic, antisocial, dehumanising and alienating modes of governance. The paper notes that, while drama’s ‘old’ discourses may seem contradictory, problematic or even to collude with élitism/corporatism, they can nevertheless help us clarify our understanding of the institutional place of drama in contemporary higher education, as remembering the democratic and progressive in drama’s past - as well as acknowledging where it has colluded with the corporate agenda - provides us with a means both to contextualize policy reform and engage critically with its implications

Reflection on Hosting a Study Abroad Program at a Japanese College

This is a reflection by the administrators of a study abroad program hosting forty American students at a Japanese junior college for a week of cross cultural activities. Careful consideration of the main challenges of the program is conducted with suggestions on how to draw on lessons learned from experience and to be better prepared for similar programs in the

The Macroeconomic Impacts of a Universal Basic Income : An Application to Scotland

UBI is defined as a payment made to all citizens in a region/ nation that is unconditional, permanent and substantial. We explore the macroeconomic consequences of such a UBI proposal for a regional economy, introduced on a fiscally neutral basis. We use Scotland, a country where the First Minister has indicated her support for the principle behind the idea, to illustrate the application of our analytical approach. The implementation of such a UBI at scale represents a major societal shift that involves substantial rises in taxation as well as in payments. Much of the existing empirical evidence relates to schemes that are small and in which the beneficiaries bear none of the costs, so its applicability here is questionable. Our approach combines microsimulation, to identify the immediate impact of the UBI on the tax/benefit system and distribution of income, with macroeconomic modelling to identify and analyse the wider economic impact of potential behavioural responses. The macroeconomic impact of the UBI depends critically on workers’ and potential migrants’ behavioural responses to the increase in taxation as well as to increased benefits. However, it seems clear that any positive stimulus to productivity as a consequence, for example, of reduced precarity and increased training would need to be substantial to offset any adverse impact on the scale of economic activity, unless policymakers succeed in securing a social contract that dampens or eliminates workers’ pressure for higher wages in response to a reduction in take home pay

Predicted carcass meat yield and primal cut yields in cattle divergent in genetic merit for a terminal index

peer-reviewedSeveral studies have clearly demonstrated the favorable impact of genetic selection on increasing beef cattle performance within the farm gate. Few studies, however, have attempted to quantify the value of genetic selection to downstream sectors of the beef industry, such as the meat processing sector. The objective of the current study was to characterize detailed carcass attributes of animals divergent in genetic merit for a terminal index as well as individual measures of genetic merit for carcass weight, conformation, and fat. The data used consisted of 53,674 young bulls and steers slaughtered between the years 2010 and 2013 in multiple Irish processing plants. All animals had a genetic evaluation as well as phenotypic measures of carcass characteristics. A terminal index, based on pedigree index for calving performance, feed intake, and carcass traits, calculated from the Irish national genetic evaluations, was obtained for each animal. Animals were categorized into four terminal index groups based on genetic merit estimates derived prior to the expression of the carcass phenotype by the animal. The association between genetic merit for terminal index with predicted phenotypic carcass red meat yield, carcass fat, carcass bone, and carcass composition, as well as between genetic merit for carcass weight, conformation, and fat with predicted phenotypic carcass red meat yield and composition were all quantified using linear mixed models. A greater terminal index value was associated with, on average, heavier phenotypic weights of each wholesale cut category. A greater terminal index value was also associated with a greater weight of meat and bone, but reduced carcass fat. Relative to animals in the lowest 25% genetic merit group, animals in the highest 25% genetic merit group had, on average, a greater predicted yield of very high value cuts (4.52 kg), high value cuts (13.13 kg), medium value cuts (6.06 kg), low value cuts (13.25 kg) as well as more total meat yield (37 kg). The results from the present study clearly signify a benefit to meat processers from breeding programs for terminal characteristics; coupled with the previously documented benefits to the producer, the benefits of breeding programs across the entire food production chain are obvious

Repository Corticotropin Injection for Active Rheumatoid Arthritis Despite Aggressive Treatment: A Randomized Controlled Withdrawal Trial.

INTRODUCTION: The objective of this study was to assess efficacy and safety of repository corticotropin injection (RCI) in subjects with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) despite treatment with a corticosteroid and one or two disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). METHODS: All subjects received open-label RCI (80 U) twice weekly for 12 weeks (part 1); only those with low disease activity [LDA; i.e., Disease Activity Score 28 joint count and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (DAS28-ESR) \u3c 3.2] were randomly assigned to receive either RCI (80 U) or placebo twice weekly during the 12-week double-blind period (part 2). The primary efficacy endpoint was the proportion of subjects who achieved LDA at week 12. Secondary efficacy endpoints included proportions of subjects who maintained LDA during weeks 12 through 24 and achieved Clinical Disease Activity Index (CDAI) ≤ 10 at weeks 12 and 24. Safety was assessed via adverse event reports. RESULTS: Of the 259 enrolled subjects, 235 completed part 1; 154 subjects (n = 77 each for RCI and placebo) entered part 2, and 127 (RCI, n = 71; placebo, n = 56) completed. At week 12, 163 subjects (62.9%) achieved LDA and 169 (65.3%) achieved CDAI ≤ 10 (both p \u3c 0.0001). At week 24, 47 (61.0%) RCI-treated and 32 (42.1%) placebo-treated subjects maintained LDA (p = 0.019); 66 (85.7%) RCI-treated and 50 (65.8%) placebo-treated subjects maintained CDAI ≤ 10 (p = 0.004). No unexpected safety signals were observed. CONCLUSIONS: RCI was effective and generally safe in patients with active RA despite corticosteroid/DMARD therapy. By week 12, \u3e 60% of patients achieved LDA, which was maintained with 12 additional weeks of treatment. Most patients who achieved LDA maintained it for 3 months after RCI discontinuation. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials.gov identifier NCT02919761

Modelling the Economic Impact of a Citizen’s Basic Income in Scotland

The report, co-authored by researchers from the Fraser of Allander Institute, Manchester Metropolitan University and IPPR Scotland, looks at the costs and benefits of implementing a citizen’s basic income (CBI) in Scotland and the channels through which it may impact upon the economy

Toward a Closed Loop, Integrated Biocompatible Biopolymer Wound Dressing Patch for Detection and Prevention of Chronic Wound Infections

Chronic wound infections represent a significant burden to healthcare providers globally. Often, chronic wound healing is impeded by the presence of infection within the wound or wound bed. This can result in an increased healing time, healthcare cost and poor patient outcomes. Thus, there is a need for dressings that help the wound heal, in combination with early detection of wound infections to support prompt treatment. In this study, we demonstrate a novel, biocompatible wound dressing material, based on Polyhydroxyalkanoates, doped with graphene platelets, which can be used as an electrochemical sensing substrate for the detection of a common wound pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Through the detection of the redox active secondary metabolite, pyocyanin, we demonstrate that a dressing can be produced that will detect the presence of pyocyanin across clinically relevant concentrations. Furthermore, we show that this sensor can be used to identify the presence of pyocyanin in a culture of P. aeruginosa. Overall, the sensor substrate presented in this paper represents the first step toward a new dressing with the capacity to promote wound healing, detect the presence of infection and release antimicrobial drugs, on demand, to optimized healing

Reading and writing charge on graphene devices

We use a combination of charge writing and scanning gate microscopy to map and modify the local charge neutrality point of graphene field-effect devices. We give a demonstration of the technique by writing remote charge in a thin dielectric layer over the graphene-metal interface and detecting the resulting shift in local charge neutrality point. We perform electrostatic simulations to characterize the gating effect of a realistic scanning probe tip on a graphene bilayer and find a good agreement with the experimental results