Being punk in higher education: subcultural strategies for academic practice

Since its beginnings in the late 1970s, punk culture has been associated with counter-mainstream ideology and anti-institutional antagonism. In particular, formal education has been criticised in punk for sustaining oppressive social and conceptual orders and associated behavioural norms. Drawing on literature and interviews, this paper focuses on the experiences of higher education teachers who self-identify as punks, and considers how they negotiate and reconcile their subcultural and academic identities in their academic practice. The findings reveal that participants’ affiliations with punk subculture give rise to counter-cultural pedagogies in which both the ethics and aesthetics of punk are applied in classroom contexts. Furthermore, the participants draw upon subcultural ethical and epistemological narratives to formulate and rationalise their responses to the state of contemporary UK higher education

A Unique Regulator Contributes to Quorum Sensing and Virulence in Burkholderia cenocepacia

Burkholderia cenocepacia causes chronic and life-threatening respiratory infections in immunocompromized people. The B. cenocepacia N-acyl-homoserine lactone (AHL)-dependent quorum sensing system relies on the production of AHLs by the synthases CepI and CciI while CepR, CciR and CepR2 control expression of many genes important for pathogenesis. Downstream from, and co-transcribed with cepI, lies BCAM1871 encoding a hypothetical protein that was uncharacterized prior to this study. Orthologs of B. cenocepacia BCAM1871 are uniquely found in Burkholderia spp and are conserved in their genomic locations in pathogenic Burkholderia. We observed significant effects on AHL activity upon mutation or overexpression of BCAM1871, although these effects were more subtle than those observed for CepI indicating BCAM1871 acts as an enhancer of AHL activity. Transcription of cepI, cepR and cciIR was significantly reduced in the BCAM1871 mutant. Swimming and swarming motilities as well as transcription of fliC, encoding flagellin, were significantly reduced in the BCAM1871 mutant. Protease activity and transcription of zmpA and zmpB, encoding extracellular zinc metalloproteases, were undetectable in the BCAM1871 mutant indicating a more significant effect of mutating BCAM1871 than cepI. Exogenous addition of OHL restored cepI, cepR and fliC transcription but had no effect on motility, protease activity or zmpA or zmpB transcription suggesting AHL-independent effects. The BCAM1871 mutant exhibited significantly reduced virulence in rat chronic respiratory and nematode infection models. Gene expression and phenotypic assays as well as vertebrate and invertebrate infection models showed that BCAM1871 significantly contributes to pathogenesis in B. cenocepacia

Educational archaeology and the practice of utopian pedagogy

This paper explores the idea, and some elements of the (potential) practice, of utopian pedagogy. It begins by outlining the general aims of ‘utopian pedagogy’ and notes the shift within contemporary writings away from the metaphor of the architect (armed with a utopian ‘blueprint’) towards that of the archaeologist. The ontological underpinnings of educational archaeology are discussed before attention turns to a critical examination of the pedagogical process of excavation. The key questions here are (to labour the metaphor) where to dig and how to identify a utopian find. The paper argues that, without a substantive normative vision to serve as a guide, utopian archaeology is conceptually flawed and practically ineffectual, romanticising an endlessly open process of exploration. The final section suggests that the fears associated with utopian architecture (authoritarian imposition, totalising closure) are misplaced and that drawing up a ‘blueprint’ should be the aim and responsibility of utopian pedagogy

Genomic Expression Analysis Reveals Strategies of Burkholderia cenocepacia to Adapt to Cystic Fibrosis Patients' Airways and Antimicrobial Therapy

Pulmonary colonization of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients with Burkholderia cenocepacia or other bacteria of the Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc) is associated with worse prognosis and increased risk of death. During colonization, the bacteria may evolve under the stressing selection pressures exerted in the CF lung, in particular, those resulting from challenges of the host immune defenses, antimicrobial therapy, nutrient availability and oxygen limitation. Understanding the adaptive mechanisms that promote successful colonization and long-term survival of B. cenocepacia in the CF lung is essential for an improved therapeutic outcome of chronic infections. To get mechanistic insights into these adaptive strategies a transcriptomic analysis, based on DNA microarrays, was explored in this study. The genomic expression levels in two clonal variants isolated during long-term colonization of a CF patient who died from the cepacia syndrome were compared. One of the isolates examined, IST439, is the first B. cenocepacia isolate retrieved from the patient and the other isolate, IST4113, was obtained three years later and is more resistant to different classes of antimicrobials. Approximately 1000 genes were found to be differently expressed in the two clonal variants reflecting a marked reprogramming of genomic expression. The up-regulated genes in IST4113 include those involved in translation, iron uptake (in particular, in ornibactin biosynthesis), efflux of drugs and in adhesion to epithelial lung tissue and to mucin. Alterations related with adaptation to the nutritional environment of the CF lung and to an oxygen-limited environment are also suggested to be a key feature of transcriptional reprogramming occurring during long-term colonization, antibiotic therapy and the progression of the disease

Evidence-Based Teaching in Higher Education: Application to Counselor Education

The authors examined best practices in university-level teaching, as premised on the evidence-based teaching (EBT) literature found in fields external to counselor education. Findings were reported in relation to 3 areas: developing an effective learning environment, structuring intentional learning experiences, and assessing teaching effectiveness. Implications regarding the training of doctoral-level counselor educators using EBT practices are discussed