The complexities of failing (Social Work) students - a workshop for practice educators of Social Work students held at the University of Lincoln on Thursday 27th November 2014

This workshop for practice educators teaching social work students whilst on placement explored issues relating to failing students. Reasons why students might experience difficulties whilst on placement, early identification of problems, barriers to making a fail decision and resolution of concerns were discussed. The session considered how to evidence and articulate concerns in relation to HCPC Guidance on Conduct and Ethics for Students and the appropriate PCF levels and how to develop appropriate intervention plans, using the University's concerns process or Fitness to Practise procedures where necessary

Broken Partnership: The Impact of Increased Education Debt

The high level of borrowing to pay the cost of higher education is a grave concern. This article is divided into four sections. The first will review the past and examine today\u27s baseline. The second part examines college cost and aid trends. The third part explores the implications for the future if college students continue to borrow in greater and greater amounts, and partners continue to step back from their commitments to financing higher education. The fourth part of the article offers a proposal to create a new generation of loan forgiveness programs through a public-private partnership-as one solution to help repair the broken partnership in higher education funding. The involvement of business as a partner with the government to offer student loan repayment assistance as an employee benefit is only one solution to a serious issue. It is the hope of the author that readers approach this proposal with an open mind, and use it as a prompt for developing new solutions to the problem of growing student loan debt

Life After Debt: Results of the National Student Loan Survey Selected Text From the Final Report

Popular opinion holds that education debt significantly affects borrower decisions. The assumption is that indebtedness may cause borrowers to drop out of college, cancel plans for graduate school, or change career plans. Former students might delay the purchase of a home or car, postpone plans for marriage or a family, or live with parents after graduating because of their repayment options. To test this hypothesis, Nellie Mae, a student loan originator and secondary market for federal and private education loans, conducted the National Student Loan Survey (NASLS). The objective of the NASLS was to determine both indebtedness levels for all education loans (federal and private) and the effect that debt has on decision making, lifestyles and consumer behavior. Because Nellie Mae also conducted similar surveys in 1987 and 1991, there are comparative data that track changes in both borrower attitudes and behavior. While the 1997 study shows significant increases in borrowers reporting that they delayed decisions and activities, the evidence does not support the idea that debt levels affect major life decisions. Rather, these decisions are determined by age, income, marital status, or possibly factors not gathered through this type of survey. Nonetheless, average student debt levels have risen dramatically, and some students are using greater proportions of their incomes for the monthly student loan payment than is considered reasonable by most financial standards. A majority of borrowers report that student loans provided critical access to higher education. For the most part, borrowers are satisfied with the education they received and feel that their investment, through loans, was worth it both for personal growth and for career preparation

Cell cycle-mediated regulation of plant infection by the rice blast fungus.

Final published article deposited in accordance with SHERPA RoMEO guidelinesTo gain entry to plants, many pathogenic fungi develop specialized infection structures called appressoria. Here, we demonstrate that appressorium morphogenesis in the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae is tightly regulated by the cell cycle. Shortly after a fungus spore lands on the rice (Oryza sativa) leaf surface, a single round of mitosis always occurs in the germ tube. We found that initiation of infection structure development is regulated by a DNA replication-dependent checkpoint. Genetic intervention in DNA synthesis, by conditional mutation of the Never-in-Mitosis 1 gene, prevented germ tubes from developing nascent infection structures. Cellular differentiation of appressoria, however, required entry into mitosis because nimA temperature-sensitive mutants, blocked at mitotic entry, were unable to develop functional appressoria. Arresting the cell cycle after mitotic entry, by conditional inactivation of the Blocked-in-Mitosis 1 gene or expression of stabilized cyclinB-encoding alleles, did not impair appressorium differentiation, but instead prevented these cells from invading plant tissue. When considered together, these data suggest that appressorium-mediated plant infection is coordinated by three distinct cell cycle checkpoints that are necessary for establishment of plant disease

Banishing barberry:The history of Berberis vulgaris prevalence and wheat stem rust incidence across Britain

Wheat stem rust, caused by the fungus Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici (Pgt), is a notoriously damaging disease of wheat and barley. Pgt requires two hosts to complete its lifecycle; undergoing asexual reproduction on cereal crops and completing sexual reproduction on Berberis spp. The latter stage of its lifecycle is of particular importance in temperate regions such as western Europe, where asexual urediniospores are unable to survive cold winter weather. In the past, the crucial role of Berberis in the lifecycle of stem rust led to intensive eradication campaigns, initially carried out by farmers in the face of hostile scientific opinion. In the United Kingdom, common barberry (Berberis vulgaris) is today a relatively rare plant. Stem rust is, however, currently experiencing a resurgence; at the same time, there has been a general increase in the prevalence of barberry and an upsurge in its planting which, in the United Kingdom, is associated with attempts to encourage the endangered barberry carpet moth (Pareulype berberata). This article situates current developments within a broader chronological framework, examining changing attitudes towards barberry and rust in England in the past and the history of the plant's use and cultivation. It assesses how widespread B. vulgaris really was in the environment historically, and thus the scale of its eradication. We suggest that Berberis was never widely established as an archaeophyte in the United Kingdom. Current attempts to re-establish it are based on a misunderstanding of the plant's historical status and could potentially pose a serious threat to food security

From potential to reality: the development and use of an e-portfolio in social work education

Students studying for a degree in social work are required to undertake one hundred and seventy days of direct practice with service users in social care settings (TCSW, 2011). Traditionally students on practice placements have produced a hard copy portfolio which compiles evidence to meet a range of educational and professional requirements, as well as demonstrating key attributes such as critical thinking and reflection. Following a scoping exercise which demonstrated that there were significant advantages to using an electronic portfolio, the School of Health and Social Care at the University of Lincoln developed, piloted and introduced an eportfolio on both its’ undergraduate and Master’s social work degree programmes. This paper provides a rationale and contextualisation for the introduction of this type of innovative digital technology and reviews the pedagogical and practical opportunities and limitations presented by the e-portfolio. This presentation will also provide an opportunity for participants to view the e-portfolio in operation

The genome sequence and effector complement of the flax rust pathogen Melampsora lini

Rust fungi cause serious yield reductions on crops, including wheat, barley, soybean, coffee, and represent real threats to global food security. Of these fungi, the flax rust pathogen Melampsora lini has been developed most extensively over the past 80 years as a model to understand the molecular mechanisms that underpin pathogenesis. During infection, M. lini secretes virulence effectors to promote disease. The number of these effectors, their function and their degree of conservation across rust fungal species is unknown. To assess this, we sequenced and assembled de novo the genome of M. lini isolate CH5 into 21,130 scaffolds spanning 189 Mbp (scaffold N50 of 31 kbp). Global analysis of the DNA sequence revealed that repetitive elements, primarily retrotransposons, make up at least 45% of the genome. Using ab initio predictions, transcriptome data and homology searches, we identified 16,271 putative protein-coding genes. An analysis pipeline was then implemented to predict the effector complement of M. lini and compare it to that of the poplar rust, wheat stem rust and wheat stripe rust pathogens to identify conserved and species-specific effector candidates. Previous knowledge of four cloned M. lini avirulence effector proteins and two basidiomycete effectors was used to optimize parameters of the effector prediction pipeline. Markov clustering based on sequence similarity was performed to group effector candidates from all four rust pathogens. Clusters containing at least one member from M. lini were further analyzed and prioritized based on features including expression in isolated haustoria and infected leaf tissue and conservation across rust species. Herein, we describe 200 of 940 clusters that ranked highest on our priority list, representing 725 flax rust candidate effectors. Our findings on this important model rust species provide insight into how effectors of rust fungi are conserved across species and how they may act to promote infection on their hosts.This work was funded by a grant from the CSIRO Transformational Biology Capability Platform to Adnane Nemri. Claire Anderson was supported by an ARC Discovery Grant (DP120104044) awarded to David A. Jones and Peter N. Dodds

Hand Written Notes of Thomas Stanton, from Interview of Margot Saunders and Diane Thompson

Linked is the audiotape to this intervie

Strong population structure deduced from genetics, otolith chemistry and parasite abundances explains vulnerability to localized fishery collapse in a large Sciaenid fish, Protonibea diacanthus

As pressure on coastal marine resources is increasing globally, the need to quantitatively assess vulnerable fish stocks is crucial in order to avoid the ecological consequences of stock depletions. Species of Sciaenidae (croakers, drums) are important components of tropical and temperate fisheries and are especially vulnerable to exploitation. The black-spotted croaker, Protonibea diacanthus, is the only large sciaenid in coastal waters of northern Australia where it is targeted by commercial, recreational and indigenous fishers due to its food value and predictable aggregating behaviour. Localised declines in the abundance of this species have been observed, highlighting the urgent requirement by managers for information on fine and broad-scale population connectivity. This study examined the population structure of P. diacanthus across northwestern Australia using three complementary methods: genetic variation in microsatellite markers, otolith elemental composition and parasite assemblage composition. The genetic analyses demonstrated that there were at least five genetically distinct populations across the study region, with gene flow most likely restricted by inshore biogeographic barriers such as the Dampier Peninsula. The otolith chemistry and parasite analyses also revealed strong spatial variation among locations within broad-scale regions, suggesting fine-scale location fidelity within the lifetimes of individual fish. The complementarity of the three techniques elucidated patterns of connectivity over a range of spatial and temporal scales. We conclude that fisheries stock assessments and management are required at fine scales (100's km) to account for the restricted exchange among populations (stocks) and to prevent localised extirpations of this species. Realistic management arrangements may involve the successive closure and opening of fishing areas to reduce fishing pressure

The genome sequence and effector complement of the flax rust pathogen Melampsora lini

Rust fungi cause serious yield reductions on crops, including wheat, barley, soybean, coffee, and represent real threats to global food security. Of these fungi, the flax rust pathogen Melampsora lini has been developed most extensively over the past 80 years as a model to understand the molecular mechanisms that underpin pathogenesis. During infection, M. lini secretes virulence effectors to promote disease. The number of these effectors, their function and their degree of conservation across rust fungal species is unknown. To assess this, we sequenced and assembled de novo the genome of M. lini isolate CH5 into 21, 130 scaffolds spanning 189 Mbp (scaffold N50 of 31 kbp). Global analysis of the DNA sequence revealed that repetitive elements, primarily retrotransposons, make up at least 45% of the genome. Using ab initio predictions, transcriptome data and homology searches, we identified 16, 271 putative protein-coding genes. An analysis pipeline was then implemented to predict the effector complement of M. lini and compare it to that of the poplar rust, wheat stem rust and wheat stripe rust pathogens to identify conserved and species-specific effector candidates. Previous knowledge of four cloned M. lini avirulence effector proteins and two basidiomycete effectors was used to optimize parameters of the effector prediction pipeline. Markov clustering based on sequence similarity was performed to group effector candidates from all four rust pathogens. Clusters containing at least one member from M. lini were further analyzed and prioritized based on features including expression in isolated haustoria and infected leaf tissue and conservation across rust species. Herein, we describe 200 of 940 clusters that ranked highest on our priority list, representing 725 flax rust candidate effectors. Our findings on this important model rust species provide insight into how effectors of rust fungi are conserved across species and how they may act to promote infection on their hosts