Conditions of the Production of Knowledge Today: Case Students’ Minutes

In the beginning of 2011, the Dean of the Humanities at Aalborg University invited researchers to forward project proposals in response to her strategic effort at boosting “the integration of research, teaching and knowledge interaction” across the faculty. The idea of Students’ Minutes was proposed by the present editors, accepted by the dean, and allocated funds. This special issue, then, attempts to facilitate the conversion of the energy present at the interface of research and education at universities into legitimate and BFI-recognized research. The call for the issue describes it as "consisting of articles which are edited and rewritten projects and theses from our students from all study programmes at the Faculty of Humanities", but emphasizes that the supervisor of the projects and theses becomes responsible as an active co-author, who must guarantee the scientific level of the articles: You must make sure that they fulfil the demands of research quality and communication, as the articles are subject to normal, external and anonymous reviews. So you must tell the students about the conditions of research that their articles can receive review feedbacks based on these questions: Can the manuscript be published as it is? Can the manuscript be published with minor adjustments?, Can the manuscript be published with major adjustments?, or Should the manuscript be rejected? We received articles from almost all the departments with a wide variation of subjects, as the present special issue of Academic Quarter demonstrates. It is obvious that the students whom the researchers and supervisors encourage to publish academically even under these strict conditions may feel tempted to pursue a researcher career, and this is one of the motivations for the special issue. The wider academic context of the issue is the subject of the article by the editors "Conditions of the Production of Knowledge Today Case Students’ Minutes". Jørgen Riber Christensen and Jens Kirk Conditions of the Production of Knowledge Today Case Students’ Minutes. The article demonstrates how the Danish Bibliometrical system works and attempts to evaluate its effects. As an incentive does it motivate and encourage researchers? Does it further the communication and spread of their research? What effect has it had on universities? The article discusses and describes the working conditions in research groups at Aalborg University, and it also focus on how the present research journal, Academic Quarter, has sought to meet the demands of the bibliometrical system and on the achievements of the journal within this system, locally, nationally and globally. The article attempts an outline of what we perceive as the key conditions that have formed the knowledge and research available in Students’ Minutes. We begin with the context of the Danish performance-based research funding system. We move on to what we consider to be a fundamental condition, i.e. BFI and to show how it permeates research and research management at Aalborg University, in particular the Faculty of the Humanities, the departments and the research groups. Then, we show how BFI paradoxically has given rise to the recognition of the very research activities it excludes in the form of what we see as the third condition, or BFI+. Lastly, we introduce the fourth basic condition of the present publication, i.e. a strategic initiative at the level of the faculty.&nbsp

Conditions of the Production of Knowledge Today: Case Students’ Minutes

In the beginning of 2011, the Dean of the Humanities at Aalborg University invited researchers to forward project proposals in response to her strategic effort at boosting “the integration of research, teaching and knowledge interaction” across the faculty. The idea of Students’ Minutes was proposed by the present editors, accepted by the dean, and allocated funds. This special issue, then, attempts to facilitate the conversion of the energy present at the interface of research and education at universities into legitimate and BFI-recognized research. The call for the issue describes it as "consisting of articles which are edited and rewritten projects and theses from our students from all study programmes at the Faculty of Humanities", but emphasizes that the supervisor of the projects and theses becomes responsible as an active co-author, who must guarantee the scientific level of the articles: You must make sure that they fulfil the demands of research quality and communication, as the articles are subject to normal, external and anonymous reviews. So you must tell the students about the conditions of research that their articles can receive review feedbacks based on these questions: Can the manuscript be published as it is? Can the manuscript be published with minor adjustments?, Can the manuscript be published with major adjustments?, or Should the manuscript be rejected? We received articles from almost all the departments with a wide variation of subjects, as the present special issue of Academic Quarter demonstrates. It is obvious that the students whom the researchers and supervisors encourage to publish academically even under these strict conditions may feel tempted to pursue a researcher career, and this is one of the motivations for the special issue. The wider academic context of the issue is the subject of the article by the editors "Conditions of the Production of Knowledge Today Case Students’ Minutes". Jørgen Riber Christensen and Jens Kirk Conditions of the Production of Knowledge Today Case Students’ Minutes. The article demonstrates how the Danish Bibliometrical system works and attempts to evaluate its effects. As an incentive does it motivate and encourage researchers? Does it further the communication and spread of their research? What effect has it had on universities? The article discusses and describes the working conditions in research groups at Aalborg University, and it also focus on how the present research journal, Academic Quarter, has sought to meet the demands of the bibliometrical system and on the achievements of the journal within this system, locally, nationally and globally. The article attempts an outline of what we perceive as the key conditions that have formed the knowledge and research available in Students’ Minutes. We begin with the context of the Danish performance-based research funding system. We move on to what we consider to be a fundamental condition, i.e. BFI and to show how it permeates research and research management at Aalborg University, in particular the Faculty of the Humanities, the departments and the research groups. Then, we show how BFI paradoxically has given rise to the recognition of the very research activities it excludes in the form of what we see as the third condition, or BFI+. Lastly, we introduce the fourth basic condition of the present publication, i.e. a strategic initiative at the level of the faculty.&nbsp

The Romantic Walk and Beyond

The article will address the cultural history of walking, and it will critically discuss the creative potentials of walking as it argues that the Romantic walk is not the only feature of this. Here the Situationist concept and method of the dérive with its urban settings will supplement the Romantic walk, and various cases of both are included in the article, just as psychogeography, geocriticism and literary samples of these movements illustrate the cognitive synergy they have with walking. Finally, the article will introduce the major scholarly publications about walking

The influence of ship movements on the energy expenditure of fishermen. A study during a North Sea voyage in calm weather

Background: Former studies of professional fishing activities have indicated that movements of a ship, in itself, may increase the energy expenditure in addition to the traditional work carried out by fishermen. We have studied the effects of exposure to the ships movement during calm weather by examining the crude relation between the ship movement and the energy expenditure of the fishermen, thus ignoringthe various tasks undertaken on board.Materials and methods: We have recruited 4 fishermen on 2 contemporary steel trawlers who participatedduring the whole study period. Each of 4 participants recorded his activities and health conditions oncean hour in a registration scheme for 4 days. Estimations of energy expenditure were done with a bodymonitoring system (SenseWear Pro 3) carried as an armband, placed at the surface on the right upper arm. Measurements of sea movements were obtained by a gyroscope placed in the vessels wheelhouse during fishing expeditions in the North Sea off the coast of Bergen. Data were analysed by linear regression.Results: The exposure monitored in calm weather conditions was small for all measurements of heelingand pitch being less than 10o for both vessels. However, the fishermen’s energy expenditure was influenced by these minor sea motions. Trends were seen in the individual graphs with increasing energy expenditureat higher exposures.Conclusions: Our data suggest that even the heel and pitch in calm weather have an impact on the fishermen by increasing their energy consumption, but without any observation of discomfort or negative health outcomes. This study has demonstrated the feasibility of the applied methods, which should be repeated with larger samples and in rough weather

A Case of Helicobacter cinaedi Bacteraemia in a Previously Healthy Person with Cellulitis

Helicobacter cinaedi is an infrequent, but well recognized cause of gastroenteritis in immunosuppressed patients. Here we report a case of an extra-intestinal infection in a previous healthy 61-year old heterosexual male. Focus for the infection was most likely cellulitis on the lower right leg. The bacterium was cultured from blood twice within one week. Electron microscopy of the isolate visualized bipolar flagella. Partial DNA sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene and phenotypic characterization of the isolate established the species diagnosis. The patient was treated with rifampicin. After end of treatment blood cultures were negative and the cellulitis had disappeared

The Moraxella catarrhalis immunoglobulin D-binding protein MID has conserved sequences and is regulated by a mechanism corresponding to phase variation.

The prevalence of the Moraxella catarrhalis immunoglobulin D (IgD)-binding outer membrane protein MID and its gene was determined in 91 clinical isolates and in 7 culture collection strains. Eighty-four percent of the clinical Moraxella strains expressed MID-dependent IgD binding. The mid gene was detected in all strains as revealed by homology of the signal peptide sequence and a conserved area in the 3′ end of the gene. When MID proteins from five different strains were compared, an identity of 65.3 to 85.0% and a similarity of 71.2 to 89.1% were detected. Gene analyses showed several amino acid repeat motifs in the open reading frames, and MID could be called a putative autotransport protein. Interestingly, homopolymeric {polyguanine [poly(G)]} tracts were detected at the 5′ ends within the open reading frames. By flow cytometry, using human IgD and fluorescein isothiocyanate-conjugated anti-IgD polyclonal antibodies, most strains showed two peaks: one high- and one low-intensity peak. All isolates expressing high levels of MID had 1, 2, or 3 triplets of G's in their poly(G) tracts, while strains not expressing MID had 4, 7, 8, or 10 G’s in their poly(G) tracts or point mutations causing a putative preterminated translation. Northern blot analysis revealed that the mid gene was regulated at the transcriptional level. Experiments with nonclumping variants of M. catarrhalis proved that bacteria lost their MID expression by removing a G in their poly(G) tracts. Moraxella strains isolated from the nasopharynx or from blood and sputum specimens expressed MID at approximately the same frequency. In addition, no variation was observed between strains of different geographical origins (Australia, Europe, Japan, or the United States). MID and the mid gene were found solely in M. catarrhalis, whereas related Neisseria and Moraxella species did not express MID. Taken together, MID appears to be a conserved protein that can be found in essentially all M. catarrhalis strains. Furthermore, MID is governed by poly(G) tracts when bacteria undergo phase variation

Transverse Momentum Spectra in Au+Au and d+Au Collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200 GeV and the Pseudorapidity Dependence of High pT_T Suppression

We present spectra of charged hadrons from Au+Au and d+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV measured with the BRAHMS experiment at RHIC. The spectra for different collision centralities are compared to spectra from ${\rm p}+\bar{{\rm p}}$ collisions at the same energy scaled by the number of binary collisions. The resulting ratios (nuclear modification factors) for central Au+Au collisions at $\eta=0$ and $\eta=2.2$ evidence a strong suppression in the high $p_{T}$ region ($>$2 GeV/c). In contrast, the d+Au nuclear modification factor (at $\eta=0$) exhibits an enhancement of the high $p_T$ yields. These measurements indicate a high energy loss of the high $p_T$ particles in the medium created in the central Au+Au collisions. The lack of suppression in d+Au collisions makes it unlikely that initial state effects can explain the suppression in the central Au+Au collisions.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Draft Genome Sequence of Type Strain Streptococcus gordonii ATCC 10558

Streptococcus gordonii ATCC 10558(T) was isolated from a patient with infective endocarditis in 1946 and announced as a type strain in 1989. Here, we report the 2,154,510-bp draft genome sequence of S. gordonii ATCC 10558(T). This sequence will contribute to knowledge about the pathogenesis of infective endocarditis

Infective Arthritis: Bacterial 23S rRNA Gene Sequencing as a Supplementary Diagnostic Method

Consecutively collected synovial fluids were examined for presence of bacterial DNA (a 700-bp fragment of the bacterial 23S rRNA gene) followed by DNA sequencing of amplicons, and by conventional bacteriological methods. One or more microorganisms were identified in 22 of the 227 synovial fluids (9,7%) originating from 17 patients. Sixteen of the patients had clinical signs of arthritis. For 11 patients molecular and conventional bacterial examinations were in agreement. Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus dysgalactiae subspecies equisimilis and Streptococcus pneumoniae, were detected in synovial fluids from 6, 2 and 2 patients, respectively. In 3 patients only 23S rRNA analysis was positive; 2 synovial fluids contained S. dysgalactiae subspecies equisimilis and 1 S. pneumoniae). The present study indicates a significant contribution by PCR with subsequent DNA sequencing of the 23S rRNA gene analysis in recognizing and identification of microorganisms from synovial fluids