108 research outputs found
Alien Registration- Webber, Marie Louise (Bangor, Penobscot County)
https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/13964/thumbnail.jp
Using capital, habitus and field to explore Foundation Year students’ Higher Education experiences
This article explores Foundation Year students’ experiences of Higher Education learning. The research took place during the COVID-19 pandemic and provided a unique opportunity to formulate factors which contribute to the success of a Foundation Year programme. During the pandemic, the demand to study from home, created uncertainty as to whether students, classically with low confidence, reliant on university support, would cope away from a high level of face-to-face guidance during national lockdown. This article draws on qualitative data from interviews with six students from one University in England. Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, field and capital demonstrate students can develop capital through a Foundation Year programme. This capital can be utilised during extreme learning situations like COVID-19. The findings show that the students felt prepared for independent, online learning due to the capital they had developed during the Foundation Year of their course. Initial analysis, from this small-scale project, identifies five factors which suggest an environment which is conducive to achieving study success for Foundation Year students. These factors contribute to a shift of habitus from when they first started at university
Penile trauma burden and aetiology in the paediatric and adult population: a scoping review and critical analysis of the literature
ABSTRACTBackground: Penile trauma is rare. It is associated with the impairment of physiological functions and deterioration in patients' quality of life. Currently, the relevance of age demographics in the occurrence of this debilitating injury has not been well discussed. Objective: To provide a scoping review of penile trauma within the lens of the legal age of maturityMethod: A search of the PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science databases was conducted, and then, the identified publications were used to conduct this scoping review focusing on the study aim.Results: The results identified were categorized into five themes. This included publication information (author, year, country, study duration); demographic information (age of presentation, number of patients, relative burden); penile trauma clinical pattern (type, severity, associated injury), risk factors and clinical consequences. While mobile and active young adults were at risk of outdoor trauma, the report on penile trauma in the paediatric population is rare and usually focused on sexual trauma. Penetrating trauma has been more extensively studied in comparison to blunt penile trauma despite the significance of the latter in the paediatric population. Injury severity classification is not available for most studies limiting their usefulness in the universal comparison of trauma severity and injury prognostication.Conclusion: There is a diversity in the burden and presentation of penile trauma. Available research studies are limited in the paediatric population, mostly focused on penile fracture in adults and generally devoid of a standardized penile trauma severity description. Additional studies with a specific focus on penile trauma is required to characterize aetiological risks and injury severity across the legal age of maturity.<br/
Probing intermolecular interactions and three-dimensional packing of organic molecules by solid-state NMR
Identifying the ordered three-dimensional structures formed by atoms and molecules is essential to understanding the properties of solid-state materials. Solid-state NMR is an extremely sensitive structural probe and offers atomic-level information regarding the three-dimensional packing of molecules and the intermolecular interactions, for example, hydrogen bonding, which control this. Recently, the combination of advanced solid-state NMR experiments and complementary computational techniques have led to the emergence of the field of `NMR crystallography', which shows great potential for the structural determination of systems where traditional diffraction-based methods are not suitable. The work in this thesis uses a combined approach of high-resolution MAS NMR experiments and first-principles (GIPAW) calculations of NMR parameters to provide structural insight into a range of challenging organic systems. In particular, 1H-13C and 1H DQ (double-quantum) CRAMPS (combined rotation and multiple pulse spectroscopy) techniques are employed to identify 1H and 13C NMR chemical shifts and close 1H-1H interatomic proximities. A new 1H DQ-13C SQ (single-quantum) experiment is presented that better allows intra- and intermolecular 1H-1H distances to be identified in the pharmaceutical compound, penicillin and the disaccharide, β-maltose monohydrate, notably enabling, for the first time, the full 1H resonance assignment of the latter. Using a similar methodology, a `spectrum to structure' approach is applied to identify modes of self assembly for guanosine derivatives for which single-crystal diffraction structures could not be obtained. In addition, chemical shift calculations on the full unit cell (348 atoms) of a complex pyrazole allow the complete assignment of experimental 1H, 13C resonances for each of the six independent molecules of the asymmetric unit cell. Finally, hydrogen-bond mediated 2hJ15N17O and 2hJ15N13C couplings across NH...O and N...HC hydrogen bonds are determined experimentally for the first time by the use of heteronuclear spin-echo experiments. The J couplings, which have also been determined using first-principles calculations, are a quantitative measure of hydrogen-bonding strength.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceEngineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)European Union (EU) (EU-NMR)GBUnited Kingdo
Comprehensive gene assessment of estrogen receptor positive breast cancers reveals that HER2 positive status plays an important role in resistance to neoadjuvant letrozole
Background
The ER positive/ HER2 positive molecular subtype accounts for up to 10% of all breast
cancers, these cancers have a worse prognosis than ER positive/ HER2 negative breast
cancers. There is considerable evidence that ER positive/ HER2+ positive cancers exhibit
resistance to endocrine therapy, yet it is unclear what is driving this resistance to therapy.
The challenge is in identifying, early in the process of treatment decision making, who will
respond to neoadjuvant letrozole therapy and who might benefit from the addition of
combined HER2 targeted agents.
Aims
1. To investigate which ER positive/ HER2 positive breast cancers respond to
letrozole.
2. To compare the mechanisms of resistance to endocrine therapy in ER+/ HER2+ and
ER+ / HER2- breast cancers.
3. To determine which cancers should be considered for combined endocrine and anti-
HER2 treatment.
Methods
17 postmenopausal women with large, operable, locally advanced ER positive/ HER2
positive breast cancers treated with neoadjuvant Letrozole had their clinical response
assessed using periodic 3D ultrasound. Core biopsies were taken at 0, 14 days and 3 months
of treatment. RNA was extracted, amplified, labelled and hybridised to Illumina HT-12
whole genome beadarrays. A group of patients with ER positive/ HER2 negative disease
were identified to compare clinical and molecular response.
Results
8 (47%) ER+/ HER2+ patients responded (R) and 9 (53%) patients did not (NR). HER2
expression was significantly higher at baseline in the NR group (p=0.005). Differences
between R and NR and between the HER2+/ER+ and HER2-/ER+ groups were evident
during treatment in terms of rate of change, magnitude of gene expression changes, and in
change of functional molecular pathways. ER+/ HER2+ responding tumours had similar
changes in gene expression over 3 months to ER+/ HER2- responding tumours. Analysis of
responding tumours showed a clear association between good response and up regulation of
stromal and immune response genes and down regulation of proliferation genes. In non
responding tumours, mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) signalling and
phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) signalling play important roles in resistance to
neoadjuvant letrozole.
Conclusions
• ER+/ HER2+ and ER+/ HER2- responding tumours demonstrate similar gene
changes in response to neoadjuvant letrozole, suggesting ER rather than HER2 is
influencing growth in these cancers.
• ER+/ HER2+ non responding tumours have fewer overall molecular changes on
letrozole, maintaining high proliferation gene expression and active MAPK and
PI3K signalling possibly suggesting HER2 signal transduction.
• This may allow us to select ER+/ HER2+ tumours that will not benefit from
endocrine therapy but may respond to HER2 or MAPK or PI3K targeted therapies
The preparation, training and support requirements of expatriate trailing spouses
BACKGROUND : Decades have passed since trailing spouses were first identified as the primary causes of expatriate failure. This has led to numerous studies to determine how best to avoid such failures. In particular, it was determined that through the preparation, training and support of trailing spouses multinational enterprises (MNEs) can not only assist with their adjustment to the host country, but also reduce the likelihood of expatriate failure. AIM : With the impact of the trailing spouse still being a major concern for the success of an international assignment decades after it was first identified as such, this research aimed to determine the preparation, training and support requirements of trailing spouses prior to, and during an international assignment. SETTING : The article includes the responses from trailing spouses who at the time of the study were on assignment in 52 countries on six continents. METHODS : Both non-probability judgement sampling and snowball sampling were used to identify the 218 respondents who completed a self-administered questionnaire which respondents were able to access online. The data was then analysed using exploratory factor analysis, Cronbach’s alpha, a t-test and paired t-test. RESULTS : Statistically significant differences were found between the preparation, training and support required by trailing spouses and what was offered to them by MNEs for all the specific forms of preparation, training and support measured in this study. CONCLUSION : MNEs are still falling short of the preparation, training and support needs of trailing spouses. In particular, MNEs seem to focus on some operational aspects of spousal adjustment while the social aspects are still not sufficiently addressed.National Research Foundation of South Africahttp://www.sajems.orghj2020Business Managemen
Winter seal-based observations reveal glacial meltwater surfacing in the southeastern Amundsen Sea
Funding: This work is funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council under the iSTAR Programme through grants NE/J005703/1 (K.J.H., D.P.S., B.G.M.W.); European Research Council (under H2020-EU.1.1.) under research grant COMPASS (Climate-relevant Ocean Measurements and Processes on the Antarctic continental Shelf and Slope, grant agreement ID: 741120, K.J.H., Y.Z.); National Science Foundation Division of Polar Programs and Natural Environment Research Council under the research grant TARSAN (Thwaites-Amundsen Regional Survey and Network, NSF PLR 1738992 and NE/S006419/1, K.J.H.).Y.Z. is supported by China Scholarship Council and University of East Anglia. L.C.B. is supported by a Wallenberg Academy Fellowship (WAF 2015.0186) and Swedish Research Council grant (VR2019-04400) of S. Swart.Determining the injection of glacial meltwater into the polar oceans is crucial for quantifying the response of the climate system to ice sheet mass loss. However, meltwater is poorly observed and its pathways poorly known, especially in winter. Here we present winter meltwater distribution in the eastern Amundsen Sea near Pine Island Glacier, revealing a highly variable meltwater distribution with two meltwater-rich layers in the upper 250 m and at around 450 m, connected by scattered meltwater-rich columns. We show that the hydrographic signature of meltwater is clearest in winter, when its presence can be unambiguously mapped throughout the water column. We argue that the buoyant meltwater provides near-surface nutrient that enhances productivity and heat that helps maintain polynyas, close to ice shelves across the Amundsen Sea. Therefore, although the processes determining the distribution of meltwater are challenging, they are important to represent in Earth system models.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe
Asylum Seekers and the Labour Market: Spaces of Discomfort and Hostility
This article examines the relationship in the UK between asylum-seeking and the labour market. Since 2002, asylum-seekers have not been allowed to work unless they have waited over twelve months for an initial decision on their asylum claim. This policy change occurred as employment was considered a ‘pull factor’ encouraging unfounded asylum claims. Despite not having the right to work, asylum-seekers – and especially those whose applications for refugee status have been refused by the UK government – interact with the labour market in manifold ways. Drawing on an ESRC-funded study in the UK's Yorkshire and Humber region and related studies, this article argues that both asylum-seekers and refused asylum-seekers form a hyper-exploitable pool of ‘illegalised’ and unprotected workers. As a vital part of their survival terrain, work is largely experienced as for-cash labouring in low-paid labour market sectors where the spectre of exploitation and even ‘modern slavery’ are perpetual threats. Recent policy shifts are deepening such threats through creating increasingly ‘uncomfortable’ and ‘hostile’ environments for certain categories of migrants
Multifaceted personas in context:mental health social worker perspectives on the intersection of mental health, social work and professional identity in England and Wales
Mental health provision in England and Wales has fluctuated between promoting social work as a valued, distinct contributor and viewing it as an adjunct to a generic workforce. Perspectives are divided on whether the profession should emphasise social work, mental health work or a cross-disciplinary blend, and definitional attempts have proved challenging, with wide variation in practice. This article explores how mental health social workers view their professional identity across practice contexts. Using a mixed-methods approach, 248 mental health social workers completed an online survey, and 30 undertook a subsequent semi-structured interview. Survey data were statistically analysed using Kruskal–Wallis H-tests to explore differences across settings. Qualitative interview data were analysed using a framework thematic approach. Participants demonstrated a strong but flexible professional identity, adopting a multifaceted, fluid sense of self that prioritised the aspect of identity most relevant to the context. Contrary to narratives of poor articulation, this was framed within a specialist knowledge- and values-based perspective that influenced practice approaches and accommodated context without requiring external validation. This fluidity suggests a need to move away from restrictive task-based definitions of social work in order to actively engage the workforce in developing professional roles that embrace this flexibility to offer holistic services
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