Integrating learning with life: a study of higher education students in a further education college: 2000-2003

In Scotland, further education colleges provide 28% of all higher education; this includes over half of part-time undergraduate higher education. This provision has contributed to wider participation in higher education in Scotland by “non traditional” students and to progress towards a mass system of higher education within a learning society. This thesis is a case study of higher education students in a Scottish further education college. It explores the nature of the students’ experience and its relevance to institutional management and higher education policy. Evidence is drawn from the college’s records, from focus groups and from a questionnaire survey of whole year groups (full-time and part-time students) over three successive years. The theoretical focus is upon a new definition of lifelong learning as learning integrated with life, drawn from literature on motive, motivation, participation and retention. The research explores the students’ experiences of combining study with work and family life. The student experience is found to be heterogeneous, complex and distinct from the stereotype of a young full-time university student. Vocational motives predominate and there is evidence of a significant investment of meaning, expectation and purpose in the experience of higher education. The students’ ability to balance and integrate learning with life is a determining factor in the achievement of sustained participation. The quality of support networks both in college and in the students’ work and family lives are found to be more significant than personal or demographic characteristics. The case study contributes to current thinking about the professional role of college senior managers in creating a student-centred institutional culture that responds to the complexity of the students’ experience. A case is made for a review of the current inequity of financial support for full-time and part-time higher education students and of the marginal status of colleges in the development of higher education policy

Threonine 180 Is Required for G-protein-coupled Receptor Kinase 3- and β-Arrestin 2-mediated Desensitization of the µ-Opioid Receptor in Xenopus Oocytes

To determine the sites in the µ-opioid receptor (MOR) critical for agonist-dependent desensitization, we constructed and coexpressed MORs lacking potential phosphorylation sites along with G-protein activated inwardly rectifying potassium channels composed of Kir3.1 and Kir3.4 subunits in Xenopus oocytes. Activation of MOR by the stable enkephalin analogue, [D-Ala2,MePhe4,Glyol5]enkephalin, led to homologous MOR desensitization in oocytes coexpressing both G-protein-coupled receptor kinase 3 (GRK3) and beta -arrestin 2 (arr3). Coexpression with either GRK3 or arr3 individually did not significantly enhance desensitization of responses evoked by wild type MOR activation. Mutation of serine or threonine residues to alanines in the putative third cytoplasmic loop and truncation of the C-terminal tail did not block GRK/arr3-mediated desensitization of MOR. Instead, alanine substitution of a single threonine in the second cytoplasmic loop to produce MOR(T180A) was sufficient to block homologous desensitization. The insensitivity of MOR(T180A) might have resulted either from a block of arrestin activation or arrestin binding to MOR. To distinguish between these alternatives, we expressed a dominant positive arrestin, arr2(R169E), that desensitizes G protein-coupled receptors in an agonist-dependent but phosphorylation-independent manner. arr2(R169E) produced robust desensitization of MOR and MOR(T180A) in the absence of GRK3 coexpression. These results demonstrate that the T180A mutation probably blocks GRK3- and arr3-mediated desensitization of MOR by preventing a critical agonist-dependent receptor phosphorylation and suggest a novel GRK3 site of regulation not yet described for other G-protein-coupled receptors

Integrating learning with life : a study of higher education students in a further education college : 2000-2003

In Scotland, further education colleges provide 28% of all higher education; this includes over half of part-time undergraduate higher education. This provision has contributed to wider participation in higher education in Scotland by “non traditional” students and to progress towards a mass system of higher education within a learning society. This thesis is a case study of higher education students in a Scottish further education college. It explores the nature of the students’ experience and its relevance to institutional management and higher education policy. Evidence is drawn from the college’s records, from focus groups and from a questionnaire survey of whole year groups (full-time and part-time students) over three successive years. The theoretical focus is upon a new definition of lifelong learning as learning integrated with life, drawn from literature on motive, motivation, participation and retention. The research explores the students’ experiences of combining study with work and family life. The student experience is found to be heterogeneous, complex and distinct from the stereotype of a young full-time university student. Vocational motives predominate and there is evidence of a significant investment of meaning, expectation and purpose in the experience of higher education. The students’ ability to balance and integrate learning with life is a determining factor in the achievement of sustained participation. The quality of support networks both in college and in the students’ work and family lives are found to be more significant than personal or demographic characteristics. The case study contributes to current thinking about the professional role of college senior managers in creating a student-centred institutional culture that responds to the complexity of the students’ experience. A case is made for a review of the current inequity of financial support for full-time and part-time higher education students and of the marginal status of colleges in the development of higher education policy.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Planning Information Infrastructure through a New Library Research Partnership: Interim Report, July 2005

This document is an interim report on a Small Grant for Exploratory Research (SGER). This interim report was submitted to the National Science Foundation in July 2005.The Cornell Language Acquisition Laboratory and Albert R. Mann Library are in the midst of developing an innovative collaboration between a research laboratory and an academic library to plan for the data preservation and discovery needs of the twenty-first century. Digital technology and internet communication now provide the opportunity to revolutionize the research process, through the ability to store, preserve, share, discover, and reanalyze vast amounts of data. While some disciplines, such as genomics or astronomy, have already developed sophisticated information technology infrastructure for these tasks, others are only beginning such work. In many, if not most research fields, it is especially difficult for those uninitiated to discover where data are located, what they describe, and how they may be used. This project has begun to tackle these issues by taking advantage of the library's existing expertise in preservation, archiving, and metadata creation, building on the existing ontology-software tools the library has developed, and introducing a new conceptual framework that divides the tasks of data sharing into discrete levels that may be managed and presented in defferent ways not only for different audiences but respecting political divisions and control issues that will always be present throughout the laboratories and institutions of academia.This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation, Grant No. 0437603. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation

The National Falls and Bone Health Audit: Implications for UK emergency care

Introduction: The National Clinical Audit of Falls and Bone Health, coordinated by the Royal College of Physicians, assesses progress in implementing integrated falls services across the UK against national standards and enables benchmarking between service providers. Nationally, falls are a leading contributor towards mortality and morbidity in older people and account for 700 000 visits to emergency departments and 4 million annual bed days in England alone. Methods: Two rounds of national organisational audit in 2005 and 2008 and one national clinical audit in 2006 were carried out based on indicators developed by a multidisciplinary group. Results: These showed that management of falls and bone health in older people remains suboptimal in emergency departments and minor injury units and opportunities are being missed in carrying out evidence-based risk assessment and management. Conclusions: Older people attending emergency departments in the UK following a fall are receiving a poor deal. There is an urgent need to ensure more effective assessment and management to prevent further falls and fractures

Antitrust and Competition Law Update: Agencies Send a Strong Message on HSR Filing

The Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division last week each announced enforcement actions against and settlements with parties that alleged failed to make required notifications of transactions under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended. Each case resulted in a significant fine (one of $800,000 and one of$1 million) and signaled the agencies’ intent to pursue vigorously parties that fail -- intentionally or negligently -- to meet their obligations under the HSR Act. Moreover, both cases address the scope of the HSR Act’s “investment only” exemption and show that the agencies construe it strictly to apply only when the acquiror’s interest and intent concerning the acquired firm is truly passive. Finally, these cases serve as a reminder that the Act’s filing requirements apply not only to purchases of an entire company or all of its assets, but also to any purchase of voting securities so long as certain thresholds are met -- whether or not the purchaser obtains any significant percentage ownershi

Distinct domains of the -opioid receptor control uncoupling and internalization.

ABSTRACT Homologous desensitization of the opioid receptor (OR) can be resolved into distinct processes that include the uncoupling of the OR from its G-protein effectors and internalization of cell surface receptors. Using electrophysiological recordings of OR activation of G-protein-coupled K ϩ channels (K ir 3) in Xenopus laevis oocytes and AtT20 cells, confocal microscopy of receptor localization, and radioligand binding of cell surface receptors, we resolved these desensitization mechanisms to determine the domain of OR important for receptor uncoupling. Activation of OR by saturating concentrations of [D-Ala 2 ,N-Me-Phe 4 ,Gly 5 -ol]-enkephalin (DAMGO), methadone, or fentanyl, but not morphine, produced robust internalization of a green fluorescent protein-tagged OR. A subsaturating concentration of DAMGO (100 nM) did not cause receptor internalization but markedly reduced the subsequent responsiveness of K ir 3 by uncoupling OR. OR desensitization in AtT20 cells was confirmed to be homologous, because desensitization by 100 nM DAMGO was blocked by dominant-negative forms of either G protein-coupled receptor kinase (GRK) or arrestin, and pretreatment with DAMGO did not affect the K ir 3 response to somatostatin receptor activation. Alanine substitution of a single threonine in the second cytoplasmic loop of the OR (Threonine 180) blocked agonist-dependent receptor uncoupling without affecting receptor internalization. These results suggest that GRK-dependent phosphorylation of OR required threonine 180 for uncoupling but that a different GRK and arrestin-dependent mechanism controlled OR internalization in AtT20 cells