Nostalgia, belonging and mattering: an institutional framework for digital collegiality drawn from teachers’ experience of online delivery during the 2020 pandemic

This article explores the experiences of two teachers in different institutions (UK and China) specifically selected for this study because of their largely positive institutional experiences of using technology during the first wave of the pandemic in early 2020. Our aim is to understand the emotional outcomes relative to their uses of technology, whilst working from home. In this study, we asked, “what is the role of technology in the affective outcomes of teaching during the pandemic when everyone was at home?” and “Why might teachers feel a sense of nostalgia for a moment of educational crisis?” A proposal was submitted and gained ethical approval from the University of Derby. A qualitative methodology was adopted using semi-structured online interviews and inductive analysis. We address concerns that ‘sense of belonging’ may be an incomplete account of the emotional landscape arising from the use of technology during this educational emergency. We identify three ways in which technology was used and which made experience (1) flexible (2) communal, and (3) visible. We map these uses onto corresponding emotional outcomes which are (1) mattering (2) belonging (3) nostalgia. As a result, we provide a model of ‘E-Motional Good Practice’ in support of institutional, and digital collegiality. Finally, we consider implications for university education departments

Risky behaviour: a new framework for understanding why young people take risks

Theories of youth risk taking range from the realist to the sociocultural. Much of this theorising, particularly in the field of epidemiology, has been strongly influenced by the Health Belief Framework. More recently, attention has shifted to understanding how young people perceive risk and what makes some of them resilient to risk taking. In this article we develop a framework that brings together diverse theoretical perspectives on youth risk taking. We draw on lessons from across the social science disciplines to inform a conceptual framework incorporating the broad context and internal processes of young people’s decisions to take risks. Our Youth Risk Interpretation Framework (Y-RIF) has been developed from insights gained during an ethnographic study conducted in South Africa (REMOVED FOR BLIND REVIEW). We argue that our framework is useful, as it offers new ways of understanding why some young people take risks while others are more cautious. It could be used to inform youth behaviour surveillance research and interventions. However, it will need to be rigorously tested

Model Cards for Model Reporting

Trained machine learning models are increasingly used to perform high-impact tasks in areas such as law enforcement, medicine, education, and employment. In order to clarify the intended use cases of machine learning models and minimize their usage in contexts for which they are not well suited, we recommend that released models be accompanied by documentation detailing their performance characteristics. In this paper, we propose a framework that we call model cards, to encourage such transparent model reporting. Model cards are short documents accompanying trained machine learning models that provide benchmarked evaluation in a variety of conditions, such as across different cultural, demographic, or phenotypic groups (e.g., race, geographic location, sex, Fitzpatrick skin type) and intersectional groups (e.g., age and race, or sex and Fitzpatrick skin type) that are relevant to the intended application domains. Model cards also disclose the context in which models are intended to be used, details of the performance evaluation procedures, and other relevant information. While we focus primarily on human-centered machine learning models in the application fields of computer vision and natural language processing, this framework can be used to document any trained machine learning model. To solidify the concept, we provide cards for two supervised models: One trained to detect smiling faces in images, and one trained to detect toxic comments in text. We propose model cards as a step towards the responsible democratization of machine learning and related AI technology, increasing transparency into how well AI technology works. We hope this work encourages those releasing trained machine learning models to accompany model releases with similar detailed evaluation numbers and other relevant documentation

Naturalising Semiramide in 1842: Adaptation, Spectacle and English Prima Donnas

This thesis examines how Rossini’s Semiramide was adapted by T.H. Reynoldson for Covent Garden in 1842, where it was mounted for the first time in the English language, in a spectacular production. Semiramide was performed by Adelaide Kemble, a compelling actress who overturned what had been the dominant interpretation of the role, Giuditta Pasta’s, creating a new one that was vulnerable and womanly. Mary Shaw as Arsace had a refined simplicity and gave meaning to recitative in a way that was unknown in England. With their high standard, Kemble and Shaw were seen as English singers who could compete as equals with the fashionable foreign singers at Her Majesty’s Theatre. The transfer of Semiramide to Covent Garden resulted in an entanglement of English, Italian and other cultural values and operatic practices. The main purpose of this study is, through a close reading of newspapers, memoirs, letters and other contemporary documents, as well as existing iconography, to examine how the opera was ‘naturalised’ for Covent Garden; and to test how well Werner and Zimmermann’s model of histoire croisée and Homi Bhabha’s theories about ambivalence can be applied to this revival of Rossini’s opera. In so doing, it analyses the norms, prejudices and preoccupations of the interpretative communities of the adapters, singers and critics. I argue that the adaptation and spectacle tilted the opera towards the populist genres of melodrama and pantomime. I also propose that Kemble and Shaw’s performances represented a fusion of English and Italian singing. On a larger scale, this study shines a light on the values and performance practices in London theatres at the time and adds to the body of literature about operatic adaptations and staging, as well as prima donna cultur

VEX1 controls the allelic exclusion required for antigenic variation in trypanosomes

Allelic exclusion underpins antigenic variation and immune evasion in African trypanosomes. These bloodstream parasites use RNA polymerase-I (pol-I) to transcribe just one telomeric variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) gene at a time, producing superabundant and switchable VSG coats. We identified trypanosome VSG exclusion-1 (VEX1) using a genetic screen for defects in telomere-exclusive expression. VEX1 was sequestered by the active VSG and silencing of other VSGs failed when VEX1 was either ectopically expressed or depleted, indicating positive and negative regulation, respectively. Positive regulation affected VSGs and nontelomeric pol-I-transcribed genes, whereas negative regulation primarily affected VSGs. Negative regulation by VEX1 also affected telomeric pol-I-transcribed reporter constructs, but only when they contained blocks of sequence sharing homology with a pol-I-transcribed locus. We conclude that restricted positive regulation due to VEX1 sequestration, combined with VEX1-dependent, possibly homology-dependent silencing, drives a "winner-takes-all" mechanism of allelic exclusion

Psychosocial Characteristics and Obstetric Health of Women Attending a Specialist Substance Use Antenatal Clinic in a Large Metropolitan Hospital

Objective. This paper reports the findings comparing the obstetrical health, antenatal care, and psychosocial characteristics of pregnant women with a known history of substance dependence (n = 41) and a comparison group of pregnant women attending a general antenatal clinic (n = 47). Method. Face-to-face interviews were used to assess obstetrical health, antenatal care, physical and mental functioning, substance use, and exposure to violence. Results. The substance-dependent group had more difficulty accessing antenatal care and reported more obstetrical health complications during pregnancy. Women in the substance-dependent group were more likely to report not wanting to become pregnant and were less likely to report using birth control at the time of conception. Conclusions. The profile of pregnant women (in specialised antenatal care for substance dependence) is one of severe disadvantage and poor health. The challenge is to develop and resource innovative and effective multisectoral systems to educate women and provide effective care for both women and infants

Antigenic variation in African trypanosomes: the importance of chromosomal and nuclear context in VSG expression control.

African trypanosomes are lethal human and animal parasites that use antigenic variation for evasion of host adaptive immunity. To facilitate antigenic variation, trypanosomes dedicate approximately one third of their nuclear genome, including many minichromosomes, and possibly all sub-telomeres, to variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) genes and associated sequences. Antigenic variation requires transcription of a single VSG by RNA polymerase I (Pol-I), with silencing of other VSGs, and periodic switching of the expressed gene, typically via DNA recombination with duplicative translocation of a new VSG to the active site. Thus, telomeric location, epigenetic controls and monoallelic transcription by Pol-I at an extranucleolar site are prominent features of VSGs and their expression, with telomeres, chromatin structure and nuclear organization all making vitally important contributions to monoallelic VSG expression control and switching. We discuss VSG transcription, recombination and replication control within this chromosomal and sub-nuclear context

Evaluating the cost-effectiveness of existing needle and syringe programmes in preventing hepatitis C transmission in people who inject drugs

AIM: To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of needle and syringe programmes (NSPs) compared with no NSPs on hepatitis C virus (HCV) transmission in the United Kingdom. DESIGN: Cost-effectiveness analysis from a National Health Service (NHS)/health-provider perspective, utilizing a dynamic transmission model of HCV infection and disease progression, calibrated using city-specific surveillance and survey data, and primary data collection on NSP costs. The effectiveness of NSPs preventing HCV acquisition was based on empirical evidence. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: UK settings with different chronic HCV prevalence among people who inject drugs (PWID): Dundee (26%), Walsall (18%) and Bristol (45%) INTERVENTIONS: Current NSP provision is compared with a counterfactual scenario where NSPs are removed for 10 years and then returned to existing levels with effects collected for 40 years. MEASUREMENTS: HCV infections and cost per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained through NSPs over 50 years. FINDINGS: Compared with a willingness-to-pay threshold of £20 000 per QALY gained, NSPs were highly cost-effective over a time-horizon of 50 years and decreased the number of HCV incident infections. The mean incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was cost-saving in Dundee and Bristol, and £596 per QALY gained in Walsall, with 78, 46 and 40% of simulations being cost-saving in each city, respectively, with differences driven by coverage of NSP and HCV prevalence (lowest in Walsall). More than 90% of simulations were cost-effective at the willingness-to-pay threshold. Results were robust to sensitivity analyses, including varying the time-horizon, HCV treatment cost and numbers of HCV treatments per year. CONCLUSIONS: Needle and syringe programmes are a highly effective low-cost intervention to reduce hepatitis C virus transmission, and in some settings they are cost-saving. Needle and syringe programmes are likely to remain cost-effective irrespective of changes in hepatitis C virus treatment cost and scale-up