Le paradoxe de la qualité académique : implications pour les universités et les politiques publiques

Cet article traite de mécanismes d’assurance de la qualité dans le système d’enseignement supérieur et propose une interprétation du peu d’engagement des professeurs dans les processus d’analyse de la qualité des cursus universitaires et de l’expérience d’apprentissage des étudiants. L’institution universitaire valorise les performances individuelles en enseignement et en recherche et non les efforts coopératifs des départements universitaires pour assurer la qualité de l’offre de formation. C’est donc un paradoxe de la qualité académique que l’on compare à celui du célèbre roman Catch 22. À la suite des évaluations des mécanismes d’assurance de la qualité et pour résoudre le paradoxe de la qualité académique, on propose une démarche basée sur les principes de l’organisation apprenante.This article presents a discussion of mechanisms for assuring the quality of higher education and proposes one interpretation of the lack of commitment by professors in the process of quality analysis of university programs and of students’ learning experiences. As an institution, the university values individual performance in teaching and research and not the cooperative efforts of university departments in assuring the quality of the training program. This paradox of academic quality can be compared with that of the well-known novel Catch 22. Following an evaluation of the mechanisms used to assure quality and to respond to the paradox of academic quality, the author proposes a procedure based on the principles of the learning organization.Este artículo discute sobre los mecanismos para asegurar la calidad académica en el sistema de enseñanza superior y propone una interpretación sobre la poca implicación de los profesores en el proceso de análisis y en la calidad de los cursos universitarios tanto como en la experiencia de aprendizaje de los estudiantes. La institución universitaria valoriza los desempeños individuales en la enseñanza y en la investigación y no los esfuerzos cooperativos que llevan a cabo los departamentos universitarios afin de asegurar la calidad en la oferta de la formación. Hay, entonces, una paradoja en la calidad académica que puede compararse a aquella de la célebre novela Catch 22. Siguiendo con las evaluaciones de los mecanismos para asegurar la calidad académica y para resolver la paradoja de la calidad académica, se propone un proceso de evaluación basado en los principios de la organización aprendiente.In diesem Beitrag werden die Mechanismen aufzeigt, die der Qualitätskontinuität im Hochschulsystem zu Grunde liegen. Darüber hinaus wird die Frage diskutiert, warum die Lehrenden der Qualitätsanalyse von Universitätscurricula sowie dem Lernverhalten der Studenten so wenig Interesse entgegen-bringen. Die Institution valorisiert vor allem die individuellen Lehr- und Forschungsleistungen, nicht aber die gemeinschaftlichen Bemühungen der Fachbereiche um die Qualität der Studienprogramme. Diese Situation stellt einen Paradox dar, der mit einem berühmten literarischen Paradox, wie ihn der Roman Catch 22 thematisiert, verglichen wird. Im Anschluss an die kritische Auseinandersetzung mit den Qualitätsmechanismen und dem Paradox akademischer Lehrqualität wird eine Problemlösung vorgeschlagen, die auf dem Prinzip der Lernorganisation („l’organisation apprenante“) beruht

Market-Based Policies and Higher Education: Assuring and improving efficiency and academic quality in the university sector

The expansion of opportunity in higher education and the recognition of the influence of academic research on economic development have motivated policy reforms in many national systems of higher education including Japan. Many of these national reforms involve facilitating market forces in higher education, which is a new context for many universities. What has been learned about the impacts of these policies on the university sector? This paper will review research on the three primary policy instruments for creating market competition in a sector: policies altering the basic conditions of a market – the framework laws and values within which universities operate; policies affecting market structure – the number of buyers and sellers, the pricing of goods and services, freeing and simulating markets; and policies directly affecting the conduct of buyers and sellers – government regulation and the provision of information. Given the recent regulatory developments in Japanese higher education, the paper will particularly focus on the design of quality assurance policies in the university sector

Implementing a Planning Process: A Problem in Organizational Design

In their now classic study of academic organizations in the early 1970s Cohen and March (1986) asked college and university presidents whether their college had a "plan." The responses tended to fall into four alternatives: (1) Yes, we have a plan. It is used in capital project and physical location decisions. (2) Yes, we have a plan. Here it is. It was made during the administration of our last president. We are working on a new one. (3) No, we do not have a plan. We should. We are working on one. (4) I think there's a plan around here someplace. Miss Jones, do we have a copy of our comprehensive 10- year plan? (p. 113) Cohen and March concluded that, if planning is understood as specification of objectives, identification of alternative routes to objectives, and choice among alternatives, then there was little evidence of comprehensive planning in higher education. Rather planning was understood as a symbolic activity, creating institutional advertisements to attract the support of private and public donors

Uncovering the topology of configuration space networks

The configuration space network (CSN) of a dynamical system is an effective approach to represent the ensemble of configurations sampled during a simulation and their dynamic connectivity. To elucidate the connection between the CSN topology and the underlying free-energy landscape governing the system dynamics and thermodynamics, an analytical soluti on is provided to explain the heavy tail of the degree distribution, neighbor co nnectivity and clustering coefficient. This derivation allows to understand the universal CSN network topology observed in systems ranging from a simple quadratic well to the native state of the beta3s peptide and a 2D lattice heteropolymer. Moreover CSN are shown to fall in the general class of complex networks describe d by the fitness model.Comment: 6 figure

Appetite, energy intake, and PYY3-36 responses to energy-matched continuous exercise and submaximal high-intensity exercise.

High-intensity intermittent exercise induces physiological adaptations similar to energy-matched continuous exercise, but the comparative appetite and energy balance responses are unknown. Twelve healthy males (mean ± SD: age, 22 ± 3 years; body mass index, 23.7 ± 3.0 kg·m(-2); maximum oxygen uptake, 52.4 ± 7.1 mL·kg(-1)·min(-1)) completed three 8 h trials (control, steady-state exercise (SSE), high-intensity intermittent exercise (HIIE)) separated by 1 week. Trials commenced upon completion of a standardized breakfast. Exercise was performed from hour 2 to hour 3. In SSE, 60 min of cycling at 59.5% ± 1.6% of maximum oxygen uptake was performed. In HIIE, ten 4-min cycling intervals were completed at 85.8% ± 4.0% of maximum oxygen uptake, with a 2-min rest between each interval. A standardized lunch and an ad libitum afternoon meal were provided at hours 3.75 and 7, respectively. Appetite ratings and peptide YY3-36 concentrations were measured throughout each trial. Appetite was acutely suppressed during exercise, but more so during HIIE (p < 0.05). Peptide YY3-36 concentrations increased significantly upon cessation of exercise in SSE (p = 0.002), but were highest in the hours after exercise in HIIE (p = 0.05). Exercise energy expenditure was not different between HIIE and SSE (p = 0.649), but perceived exertion was higher in HIIE (p < 0.0005). Ad libitum energy intake did not differ between trials (p = 0.833). Therefore, relative energy intake (energy intake minus the net energy expenditure of exercise) was lower in the SSE and HIIE trials than in the control trial (control, 4759 ± 1268 kJ; SSE, 2362 ± 1224 kJ; HIIE, 2523 ± 1402 kJ; p < 0.0005). An acute bout of energy-matched continuous exercise and HIIE were equally effective at inducing an energy deficit without stimulating compensatory increases in appetite

Two State Behavior in a Solvable Model of β\beta-hairpin folding

Understanding the mechanism of protein secondary structure formation is an essential part of protein-folding puzzle. Here we describe a simple model for the formation of the $\beta$-hairpin, motivated by the fact that folding of a $\beta$-hairpin captures much of the basic physics of protein folding. We argue that the coupling of ``primary'' backbone stiffness and ``secondary'' contact formation (similar to the coupling between the ``secondary'' and ``tertiary'' structure in globular proteins), caused for example by side-chain packing regularities, is responsible for producing an all-or-none 2-state $\beta$-hairpin formation. We also develop a recursive relation to compute the phase diagram and single exponential folding/unfolding rate arising via a dominant transition state.Comment: Revised versio

Triggering MSR1 promotes JNK-mediated inflammation in IL-4 activated macrophages

Alternatively activated M2 macrophages play an important role in maintenance of tissue homeostasis by scavenging dead cells, cell debris and lipoprotein aggregates via phagocytosis. Using proteomics, we investigated how alternative activation, driven by IL-4, modulated the phagosomal proteome to control macrophage function. Our data indicate that alternative activation enhances homeostatic functions such as proteolysis, lipolysis and nutrient transport. Intriguingly, we identified the enhanced recruitment of the TAK1/MKK7/JNK signalling complex to phagosomes of IL-4-activated macrophages. The recruitment of this signalling complex was mediated through K63 polyubiquitylation of the macrophage scavenger receptor 1 (MSR1). Triggering of MSR1 in IL-4-activated macrophages leads to enhanced JNK activation, thereby promoting a phenotypic switch from an anti-inflammatory to a pro-inflammatory state, which was abolished upon MSR1 deletion or JNK inhibition. Moreover, MSR1 K63 polyubiquitylation correlated with the activation of JNK signalling in ovarian cancer tissue from human patients, suggesting that it may be relevant for macrophage phenotypic shift in vivo Altogether, we identified that MSR1 signals through JNK via K63 polyubiquitylation and provides evidence for the receptor's involvement in macrophage polarization

Internal and external cooling methods and their effect on body temperature, thermal perception and dexterity

© 2018 The Authors. Published by PLOS. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0191416© 2018 Maley et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Objective The present study aimed to compare a range of cooling methods possibly utilised by occupational workers, focusing on their effect on body temperature, perception and manual dexterity. Methods Ten male participants completed eight trials involving 30 min of seated rest followed by 30 min of cooling or control of no cooling (CON) (34C, 58% relative humidity). The cooling methods utilised were: ice cooling vest (CV0), phase change cooling vest melting at 14C (CV14), evaporative cooling vest (CVEV), arm immersion in 10C water (AI), portable water-perfused suit (WPS), heliox inhalation (HE) and ice slushy ingestion (SL). Immediately before and after cooling, participants were assessed for fine (Purdue pegboard task) and gross (grip and pinch strength) manual dexterity. Rectal and skin temperature, as well as thermal sensation and comfort, were monitored throughout. Results Compared with CON, SL was the only method to reduce rectal temperature (P = 0.012). All externally applied cooling methods reduced skin temperature (P0.05). Conclusion The present study observed that ice ingestion or ice applied to the skin produced the greatest effect on rectal and skin temperature, respectively. AI should not be utilised if workers require subsequent fine manual dexterity. These results will help inform future studies investigating appropriate pre-cooling methods for the occupational worker.This project is financially supported by the US Government through the Technical Support Working Group within the Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office.Published versio

Phosphoproteomic screening identifies Rab GTPases as novel downstream targets of PINK1

International audienceMutations in the PTEN-induced kinase 1 (PINK1) are causative of autosomal recessive Parkinson's disease (PD). We have previously reported that PINK1 is activated by mitochondrial depolarisation and phosphorylates serine 65 (Ser 65) of the ubiquitin ligase Parkin and ubiquitin to stimulate Parkin E3 ligase activity. Here, we have employed quantitative phosphoproteomics to search for novel PINK1-dependent phosphorylation targets in HEK (human embry-onic kidney) 293 cells stimulated by mitochondrial depolarisation. This led to the identification of 14,213 phosphosites from 4,499 gene products. Whilst most phosphosites were unaffected, we strikingly observed three members of a sub-family of Rab GTPases namely Rab8A, 8B and 13 that are all phosphorylated at the highly conserved residue of serine 111 (Ser 111) in response to PINK1 activation. Using phospho-specific antibodies raised against Ser 111 of each of the Rabs, we demonstrate that Rab Ser 111 phosphoryla-tion occurs specifically in response to PINK1 activation and is abolished in HeLa PINK1 knockout cells and mutant PINK1 PD patient-derived fibroblasts stimulated by mitochondrial depolari-sation. We provide evidence that Rab8A GTPase Ser 111 phosphory-lation is not directly regulated by PINK1 in vitro and demonstrate in cells the time course of Ser 111 phosphorylation of Rab8A, 8B and 13 is markedly delayed compared to phosphorylation of Parkin at Ser 65. We further show mechanistically that phosphorylation at Ser 111 significantly impairs Rab8A activation by its cognate guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF), Rabin8 (by using the Ser111Glu phosphorylation mimic). These findings provide the first evidence that PINK1 is able to regulate the phosphorylation of Rab GTPases and indicate that monitoring phosphorylation of Rab8A/ 8B/13 at Ser 111 may represent novel biomarkers of PINK1 activity in vivo. Our findings also suggest that disruption of Rab GTPase-mediated signalling may represent a major mechanism in the neurodegenerative cascade of Parkinson's disease