Valuing Curriculum Evaluation as Scholarship: A Process of Developing a Community of Scholars (Valoriser l’évaluation de programmes d’études comme forme de scholarship : un processus de création d’une communauté de chercheuses)

Curriculum evaluation is an essential and complex activity intended to foster understanding of how teaching-learning practices serve to meet educational goals. This position paper provides a retrospective from the authors\u27 lived experience of one multi-institutional collaborative nursing programs\u27 history of curriculum evaluation and scholarship growth over twenty-five years. Key themes include an overview of collaborative curriculum evaluation underpinned by three philosophical perspectives, the influence of accreditation and re-mandated post-secondary institutions on scholarship development, an affirmation of curriculum evaluation as a form of knowledge development as supported by Boyer’s model of scholarship, and the development of scholarship expertise across collaborative partners through a focus on curriculum evaluation. Examples of curriculum evaluation practices are integrated throughout the paper. This retrospective review supports the contention that collaborative curriculum evaluation provides a strong foundation upon which to develop nursing education scholarship. Résumé L’évaluation de programmes d’études est une activité cruciale et complexe visant à favoriser la compréhension du rôle des approches d’enseignement/apprentissage dans l’atteinte des visées de formation. Notre énoncé de position présente une rétrospective de l’expérience vécue par les auteures, soit 25 années de collaboration inter-établissements dans l’évaluation de programmes d’études et le développement de professeurs-chercheurs. Les principaux thèmes abordés comprennent un aperçu de l’évaluation collaborative des programmes d’études fondée sur trois perspectives philosophiques, l’influence de l’agrément sur le nouveau mandat des établissements postsecondaires vers le développement de la mission professorale, l’affirmation que l’évaluation de programmes d’études constitue une forme d’avancée des connaissances, comme le soutient le modèle de scholarship de Boyer, et le développement d’une expertise de scholarship parmi les partenaires de l’évaluation des programmes d’études. Cet énoncé comprend des exemples de pratiques d’évaluation de programmes d’études. Cette rétrospective appuie la théorie selon laquelle l’évaluation collaborative des programmes d’études fournit des bases solides au développement du scholarship en sciences infirmières

The Brain Basis for Misophonia.

Misophonia is an affective sound-processing disorder characterized by the experience of strong negative emotions (anger and anxiety) in response to everyday sounds, such as those generated by other people eating, drinking, chewing, and breathing [1-8]. The commonplace nature of these sounds (often referred to as "trigger sounds") makes misophonia a devastating disorder for sufferers and their families, and yet nothing is known about the underlying mechanism. Using functional and structural MRI coupled with physiological measurements, we demonstrate that misophonic subjects show specific trigger-sound-related responses in brain and body. Specifically, fMRI showed that in misophonic subjects, trigger sounds elicit greatly exaggerated blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) responses in the anterior insular cortex (AIC), a core hub of the "salience network" that is critical for perception of interoceptive signals and emotion processing. Trigger sounds in misophonics were associated with abnormal functional connectivity between AIC and a network of regions responsible for the processing and regulation of emotions, including ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), posteromedial cortex (PMC), hippocampus, and amygdala. Trigger sounds elicited heightened heart rate (HR) and galvanic skin response (GSR) in misophonic subjects, which were mediated by AIC activity. Questionnaire analysis showed that misophonic subjects perceived their bodies differently: they scored higher on interoceptive sensibility than controls, consistent with abnormal functioning of AIC. Finally, brain structural measurements implied greater myelination within vmPFC in misophonic individuals. Overall, our results show that misophonia is a disorder in which abnormal salience is attributed to particular sounds based on the abnormal activation and functional connectivity of AIC

Reviewing the scope and thematic focus of 100,000 publications on energy consumption, services and social aspects of climate change: a big data approach to demand-side mitigation

As current action remains insufficient to meet the goals of the Paris agreement let alone to stabilize the climate, there is increasing hope that solutions related to demand, services and social aspects of climate change mitigation can close the gap. However, given these topics are not investigated by a single epistemic community, the literature base underpinning the associated research continues to be undefined. Here, we aim to delineate a plausible body of literature capturing a comprehensive spectrum of demand, services and social aspects of climate change mitigation. As method we use a novel double-stacked expert—machine learning research architecture and expert evaluation to develop a typology and map key messages relevant for climate change mitigation within this body of literature. First, relying on the official key words provided to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change by governments (across 17 queries), and on specific investigations of domain experts (27 queries), we identify 121 165 non-unique and 99 065 unique academic publications covering issues relevant for demand-side mitigation. Second, we identify a literature typology with four key clusters: policy, housing, mobility, and food/consumption. Third, we systematically extract key content-based insights finding that the housing literature emphasizes social and collective action, whereas the food/consumption literatures highlight behavioral change, but insights also demonstrate the dynamic relationship between behavioral change and social norms. All clusters point to the possibility of improved public health as a result of demand-side solutions. The centrality of the policy cluster suggests that political actions are what bring the different specific approaches together. Fourth, by mapping the underlying epistemic communities we find that researchers are already highly interconnected, glued together by common interests in sustainability and energy demand. We conclude by outlining avenues for interdisciplinary collaboration, synthetic analysis, community building, and by suggesting next steps for evaluating this body of literature

A review of undergraduate university tobacco control policy process in Canada

The college years occur during the stage of life when many people develop permanent smoking habits, and approximately one-third go on to become addicted smokers. The 18–24 year demographic that makes up the majority of undergraduate attendees represents the earliest years that the tobacco industry now can legally attempt to lure new customers into smoking. This research investigated the ways in which university tobacco control policies are developed, introduced to students, faculty and staff and how they are implemented and enforced. Findings show that tobacco control initiatives at Canadian undergraduate universities face a wide range of challenges including a lack of dedicated and consistent tobacco control personnel, ownership issues, funding, enforcement and monitoring dilemmas. Participants also reported that the layout and geographic location of the campus can result in difficulties in implementation. Consequently, it appears that there may be a growing, although inadvertent, tolerance for smoking on Canadian campuses

Enacting a framework for community development: Engagement and outcomes for students and faculty co-researchers

Healthy community development in cities, workplaces and educational settings has been the focus of considerable research, policy and practice activity. Healthy community development emphasizes changing health determinants. While the theory is appealing, engaging community members to translate theory into action is challenging. This paper outlines a framework for healthy community development which brings together cross-sector community members to change health determinants. Use of the VOICE framework in a long term project with a university campus is described. In the project, campus community members work as co-researchers to assess the health of the community, identify priority issues, mobilize existing resources, and create health-promoting change. Project achievements have included improvements in campus community health and increases in research and healthy community development capacity of all types of co-researchers. This paper focuses on the engagement of students and faculty as co-researchers and outcomes for each group from participation. Outcomes for non-academic co-researchers (other community members) are briefly described. Related literature on community service learning and undergraduate student researchers is reviewed. Other campuses and communities can easily adapt the VOICE framework and engagement strategies to change health determinants in their settings.Other UBCHealth and Social Development, Faculty of (Okanagan)Nursing, School of (Okanagan)Arts and Sciences, Irving K. Barber School of (Okanagan)Biology, Department of (Okanagan)ReviewedFacultyOtherUndergraduat

Creating a Healthier Campus Community Using Action Research and Health Promotion Strategies: Students and Organizational Leaders as Partners

Abstract: Although young adults are generally healthy, they often engage in risky behaviours and establish lifestyle patterns that have costly immediate and long-term health impacts (e.g. poor nutrition, inactivity, substance misuse). Many young people attend colleges and universities making campuses an ideal setting for interventions. Setting based health promotion approaches have been used to improve health of populations and communities, including campus communities, however, creating change that is meaningful to students and also organizational leaders (non-students) has been difficult. In 2006 at a rapidly growing campus in Canada, a program of research was started to increase knowledge about healthy campus development. The VOICE Study uses community based participatory action research methods in combination with setting based health promotion strategies. Students and organizational leaders (non-students) work as co-researchers and project partners to identify priority health issues and create health promoting change (individual and community levels). While the idea of campus community members working together on health related issues is appealing to many, diverse views exist about the responsibility of post-secondary institutions to promote health; some prefer an individual responsibility or consumer model. An ecosystem model of health and community informs this study. Photographic, quantitative and qualitative research methods have been used according to questions of interest. Action groups have been formed around diverse topics, for example, drinking water, “real” food, natural environment, physical activity, transportation and student space. Results indicate that the process of creating change through use of a methodological framework combining action research, setting based health promotion and youth/adult partnerships, is highly effective. Diverse students (youth) and organizational leaders (adults must be full partners throughout the process. Patience, persistence and a sense of humor are basic requirements. The results appear to be transferable to other settings when the egalitarian values embedded in the methodological framework are explicit, and the community designs the specifics (e.g. issues, actions) to fit their context. Study processes, outcomes, challenges and successes are discussed, followed by a case study on campus food to illustrate more specifically the use of the methodological framework and results.Health and Social Development, Faculty of (Okanagan)Nursing, School of (Okanagan)Non UBCReviewedFacult

Global Seroprevalence of Pre-existing Immunity Against AAV5 and Other AAV Serotypes in People with Hemophilia A.

Adeno-associated virus (AAV)-mediated gene therapy may provide durable protection from bleeding events and reduce treatment burden for people with hemophilia A (HA). However, pre-existing immunity against AAV may limit transduction efficiency and hence treatment success. Global data on the prevalence of AAV serotypes are limited. In this global, prospective, noninterventional study, we determined the prevalence of pre-existing immunity against AAV2, AAV5, AAV6, AAV8, and AAVrh10 among people ≥12 years of age with HA and residual FVIII levels ≤2 IU/dL. Antibodies against each serotype were detected using validated, electrochemiluminescent-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. To evaluate changes in antibody titers over time, 20% of participants were retested at 3 and 6 months. In total, 546 participants with HA were enrolled at 19 sites in 9 countries. Mean (standard deviation) age at enrollment was 36.0 (14.87) years, including 12.5% younger than 18 years, and 20.0% 50 years of age and older. On day 1, global seroprevalence was 58.5% for AAV2, 34.8% for AAV5, 48.7% for AAV6, 45.6% for AAV8, and 46.0% for AAVrh10. Considerable geographic variability was observed in the prevalence of pre-existing antibodies against each serotype, but AAV5 consistently had the lowest seroprevalence across the countries studied. AAV5 seropositivity rates were 51.8% in South Africa (n = 56), 46.2% in Russia (n = 91), 40% in Italy (n = 20), 37.2% in France (n = 86), 26.8% in the United States (n = 71), 26.9% in Brazil (n = 26), 28.1% in Germany (n = 89), 29.8% in Japan (n = 84), and 5.9% in the United Kingdom (n = 17). For all serotypes, seropositivity tended to increase with age. Serostatus and antibody titer were generally stable over the 6-month sampling period. As clinical trials of AAV-mediated gene therapies progress, data on the natural prevalence of antibodies against various AAV serotypes may become increasingly important