Teaching and learning analogue electronics in undergraduate courses : preliminary findings from the ETL project

This paper describes ongoing research into the teaching and learning of analogue electronics in three course units at two research-intensive universities. It draws on students' experiences of teaching and learning in analogue course units to explore the nature of the learning they were undertaking and examines the teaching-learning activities they found most supportive of their studying

Comparison of eight prosthetic aortic valves in a cadaver model

OBJECTIVES: Proper valve selection is critical to ensure appropriate valve replacement for patients, because implantation of a small valve might place the patient at risk for persistent gradients. Labeled valve size is not the same as millimeter measure of prosthetic valve diameters or the annulus into which it will fit. Studies that use the labeled valve size in lieu of actual measured diameter in millimeters to compare different valves might be misleading. Using human cadaver hearts, we sized the aortic annulus with 8 commonly used prosthetic aortic valve sizers and compared the valves using geometric orifice area. This novel method for comparing prosthetic valves allowed us to evaluate multiple valves for implantation into the same annulus. METHODS: Aortic annular area was determined in 66 cadavers. Valve sizers for 8 prosthetic valves were used to determine the appropriate valve for aortic valve replacement. Regression analyses were performed to compare the relationship between geometric orifice area and aortic annular area. RESULTS: Tissue valves had a larger orifice area for any annular size but were not different at small sizes. Supra-annular valves were larger than intra-annular valves for the small annulus, but this relationship was not uniform with increasing annular size. CONCLUSIONS: Labeled valve size relates unpredictably to annular size and orifice area. No advantage in geometric orifice area could be demonstrated between these tissue valves at small annular sizes. Valves with the steepest slope on regression analysis might provide a larger benefit with upsizing with respect to geometric orifice area

The reflective learning continuum: reflecting on reflection

The importance of reflection to marketing educators is increasingly recognized. However, there is a lack of empirical research which considers reflection within the context of both the marketing and general business education literature. This paper describes the use of an instrument which can be used to measure four identified levels of a reflection hierarchy: habitual action, understanding, reflection and intensive reflection and two conditions for reflection: instructor to student interaction and student to student interaction. Further we demonstrate the importance of reflective learning in predicting graduates’ perception of program quality. Although the focus was on assessment of MBA level curricula, the findings have great importance to marketing education and educators

Inception of early-life allergen–induced airway hyperresponsiveness is reliant on IL-13+CD4+ T cells

Airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) is a critical feature of wheezing and asthma in children, but the initiating immune mechanisms remain unconfirmed. We demonstrate that both recombinant interleukin-33 (rIL-33) and allergen [house dust mite (HDM) or Alternaria alternata] exposure from day 3 of life resulted in significantly increased pulmonary IL-13+CD4+ T cells, which were indispensable for the development of AHR. In contrast, adult mice had a predominance of pulmonary LinnegCD45+CD90+IL-13+ type 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) after administration of rIL-33. HDM exposure of neonatal IL-33 knockout (KO) mice still resulted in AHR. However, neonatal CD4creIL-13 KO mice (lacking IL-13+CD4+ T cells) exposed to allergen from day 3 of life were protected from AHR despite persistent pulmonary eosinophilia, elevated IL-33 levels, and IL-13+ ILCs. Moreover, neonatal mice were protected from AHR when inhaled Acinetobacter lwoffii (an environmental bacterial isolate found in cattle farms, which is known to protect from childhood asthma) was administered concurrent with HDM. A. lwoffii blocked the expansion of pulmonary IL-13+CD4+ T cells, whereas IL-13+ ILCs and IL-33 remained elevated. Administration of A. lwoffii mirrored the findings from the CD4creIL-13 KO mice, providing a translational approach for disease protection in early life. These data demonstrate that IL-13+CD4+ T cells, rather than IL-13+ ILCs or IL-33, are critical for inception of allergic AHR in early life

"Then you get a teacher" - Guidelines for excellence in teaching

Background: Current literature calls for the explicit teaching to health-science educators of the skills, knowledge and dispositions that are required for successful teaching in higher education. Aims: This paper draws on evidence from an Oral Hygiene department at a South African university in order to illustrate these teaching-competency needs. Insights from the evidence are synthesised with current literature regarding best teaching practice, in support of an appropriate framework for the development of teaching competencies to health-science educators. Description: A qualitative approach, using a case study, was adopted. The cohort comprised fifteen students in the first-year Oral Hygiene cohort class and the ten educators who taught their programme. Data was collected through semistructured interviews and open-ended questionnaires. The topics that emerged from the combined analysis of the interviews and the questionnaires were organised into a grid so that common themes could be identified. Current literature regarding teaching and learning was used as a framework for interpreting the empirical evidence, from which three categories emerged. The first category included suggestions from students regarding what to do to teach better. A review of the literature indicates that these competencies can be effectively learnt from self-help guides. The second category included requests for skills development. Literature review suggests that these might effectively be learnt from single-event workshops facilitated by more able peers. Responses in the final category highlighted the need for an underpinning theory of teaching and learning, and signalled the need for a more theoretically grounded and detailed approach to teacher development. Conclusion: The framework developed from the empirical study and current literature makes it possible for individual clinical teachers, and staff developers, to construct teaching-competency development plans that are pertinent to individual teachers’ needs, relevant and practical, educationally sound, and cost-effective in terms of time and effort

Simplicity in Visual Representation: A Semiotic Approach

Simplicity, as an ideal in the design of visual representations, has not received systematic attention. High-level guidelines are too general, and low-level guidelines too ad hoc, too numerous, and too often incompatible, to serve in a particular design situation. This paper reviews notions of visual simplicity in the literature within the analytical framework provided by Charles Morris' communication model, specifically, his trichotomy of communication levels—the syntactic, the semantic, and the pragmatic. Simplicity is ultimate ly shown to entail the adjudication of incompatibilities both within, and between, levels.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68281/2/10.1177_105065198700100103.pd

Including the public in pandemic planning: a deliberative approach

Background: Against a background of pandemic threat posed by SARS and avian H5N1 influenza, this study used deliberative forums to elucidate informed community perspectives on aspects of pandemic planning. Methods: Two deliberative forums were carried out with members of the South Australian community. The forums were supported by a qualitative study with adults and youths, systematic reviews of the literature and the involvement of an extended group of academic experts and policy makers. The forum discussions were recorded with simultaneous transcription and analysed thematically. Results: Participants allocated scarce resources of antiviral drugs and pandemic vaccine based on a desire to preserve society function in a time of crisis. Participants were divided on the acceptability of social distancing and quarantine measures. However, should such measures be adopted, they thought that reasonable financial, household and psychological support was essential. In addition, provided such support was present, the participants, in general, were willing to impose strict sanctions on those who violated quarantine and social distancing measures. Conclusions: The recommendations from the forums suggest that the implementation of pandemic plans in a severe pandemic will be challenging, but not impossible. Implementation may be more successful if the public is engaged in pandemic planning before a pandemic, effective communication of key points is practiced before and during a pandemic and if judicious use is made of supportive measures to assist those in quarantine or affected by social isolation measures.Annette J Braunack-Mayer, Jackie M Street, Wendy A Rogers, Rodney Givney, John R Moss, Janet E Hiller, Flu Views tea

Student understandings of evidence-based management : ways of doing and being

This paper advances the literature on Evidence Based Management (EBMgt) by exploring how students understand EBMgt. We conduct a qualitative inductive study of undergraduate students who were introduced to EBMgt and applied evidence-based processes as part of an introductory management course. Our findings identify four qualitatively different student understandings of EBMgt: (1) EBMgt as an unrealistic way of doing management; (2) EBMgt as a way of doing management in particular situations; (3) EBMgt as a generally useful way of doing management; and (4) EBMgt as an ideal way of being a manager. We find that variations in student understanding are based upon perceptions of the utility of evidence-based processes, the stance taken towards scientific evidence as a form of knowledge, and the focus of reflection about the practice of EBMgt. By opening up insight into the how undergraduate students understand and make sense of EBMgt as ways of doing and being, we contribute to the theoretical literature on EBMgt and to the practice of EBMgt teaching and learning and offer new paths for future research.PostprintPeer reviewe

The use of hedgerows as flight paths by moths in intensive farmland landscapes

Linear boundary features such as hedgerows are important habitats for invertebrates in agricultural landscapes. Such features can provide shelter, larval food plants and nectar resources. UK butterflies are known to rely on such features, however their use by moths is understudied. With moth species suffering from significant declines, research into their ecology is important. This research aimed to determine whether UK moth species are using hedgerows as flight paths in intensive farmland. The directional movements of moths were recorded along hedgerows at 1, 5 and 10 m from the hedgerow face. The majority of moths recorded within the study were observed at 1 m from the hedgerow (68 %), and of these individuals, 69% were moving parallel in relation to the hedge. At further distances, the proportion of parallel movements was reduced. These results suggest that hedgerows may be providing sheltered corridors for flying insects in farmland landscapes, as well as likely providing food plants and nectar resources, emphasising the importance of resource-based approaches to conservation for Lepidoptera