Cultural distance, mindfulness and passive xenophobia: Using Integrated Threat Theory to explore home higher education students' perspectives on 'internationalisation at home'

This paper addresses the question of interaction between home and international students using qualitative data from 100 home students at two 'teaching intensive' universities in the southwest of England. Stephan and Stephan's Integrated Threat Theory is used to analyse the data, finding evidence for all four types of threat that they predict when outgroups interact. It is found that home students perceive threats to their academic success and group identity from the presence of international students on the campus and in the classroom. These are linked to anxieties around 'mindful' forms of interaction and a taboo around the discussion of difference, leading to a 'passive xenophobia' for the majority. The paper concludes that Integrated Threat Theory is a useful tool in critiquing the 'internationalisation at home' agenda, making suggestions for policies and practices that may alleviate perceived threats, thereby improving the quality and outcomes of intercultural interaction. © 2010 British Educational Research Association

Manufacturing flow line systems: a review of models and analytical results

The most important models and results of the manufacturing flow line literature are described. These include the major classes of models (asynchronous, synchronous, and continuous); the major features (blocking, processing times, failures and repairs); the major properties (conservation of flow, flow rate-idle time, reversibility, and others); and the relationships among different models. Exact and approximate methods for obtaining quantitative measures of performance are also reviewed. The exact methods are appropriate for small systems. The approximate methods, which are the only means available for large systems, are generally based on decomposition, and make use of the exact methods for small systems. Extensions are briefly discussed. Directions for future research are suggested.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant DDM-8914277

Identification of regulatory variants associated with genetic susceptibility to meningococcal disease.

Non-coding genetic variants play an important role in driving susceptibility to complex diseases but their characterization remains challenging. Here, we employed a novel approach to interrogate the genetic risk of such polymorphisms in a more systematic way by targeting specific regulatory regions relevant for the phenotype studied. We applied this method to meningococcal disease susceptibility, using the DNA binding pattern of RELA - a NF-kB subunit, master regulator of the response to infection - under bacterial stimuli in nasopharyngeal epithelial cells. We designed a custom panel to cover these RELA binding sites and used it for targeted sequencing in cases and controls. Variant calling and association analysis were performed followed by validation of candidate polymorphisms by genotyping in three independent cohorts. We identified two new polymorphisms, rs4823231 and rs11913168, showing signs of association with meningococcal disease susceptibility. In addition, using our genomic data as well as publicly available resources, we found evidences for these SNPs to have potential regulatory effects on ATXN10 and LIF genes respectively. The variants and related candidate genes are relevant for infectious diseases and may have important contribution for meningococcal disease pathology. Finally, we described a novel genetic association approach that could be applied to other phenotypes

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Low energy beam induced background studies for a 12C(12C,p)23Na reaction cross section measurement

The cross section of 12C+12C fusion reactions determines the conditions of carbon ignition in stars. The presence of structures, which are likely to extend to low energies, makes the extrapolation of data collected at high energy to the stellar energy difficult and potentially inaccurate, so a direct measurement is desirable. Here we report on an extremely improbable two-step background process which prohibits the measurement of the 12C(12C,p)23Na carbon fusion reaction at low energies in the presence of deuterium contamination. It appears that with a modified setup and selected targets reliable measurements down to Ecm=2.0 MeV are possible