Student perceptions of the effectiveness of self-editing on their writing: towards a self-regulated approach.

A number of studies have highlighted the importance of teaching students to self-edit their work. Self-editing within higher education has been demonstrated to support students' academic writing skills. It also capitalises on lecturers' written corrective feedback on students' essay-based assignments making it more effective and meaningful. Utilising a collaborative approach between the Study Support and the School of Health Sciences at a UK-based university, this research evaluated the usefulness of a self-editing worksheet based on the perspectives of students, writing tutors, and the subject lecturer (staff) feedback. Students' perspectives were investigated by content analysing their responses provided in the reflection section of the self-editing worksheet. Qualitative analysis of staff feedback on pre-and post-edit writing was also evaluated. The results show that 65% of students' found the worksheet useful and the worksheet helped them make some positive changes to their essays. Evidence would suggest that this pedagogical model is effective in improving levels of academic writing. Implications and suggestions for effective teaching practice and future research are provided in this paper

Wellness Research & Programming for Bodybuilders

This project explores the occupational impact on bodybuilders and wellness & program development for competitive bodybuilders. Phase one focuses on research to understand the occupational impact on bodybuilders during competition. Phase two, which focuses on program development, highlights the alignment to the objectives as they allow for the development of an educational program intended for bodybuilder coaches to help with health prevention and wellness with their bodybuilder clients.https://soar.usa.edu/otdcapstonesspring2024/1045/thumbnail.jp

Exploring the experience of participating in a peer support intervention for individuals with chronic non-cancer pain: a qualitative systematic review protocol. [Protocol]

Chronic pain is a prevalent and costly issue. It is defined as pain that persists beyond 12 weeks or past normal healing times. It has been recognized as one of the most prominent causes of disability worldwide and affects up to half of the population in the UK. The cost of chronic pain is also substantial, not only for patients, but also the healthcare system and economy. With such an astounding impact, recent health policies have focused on empowering patients to improve skills with self-management. Improved condition management can be attained by ensuring adequate amounts of social support, particularly support that is condition-specific. Peer support interventions could play a pivotal role in the management of chronic pain as their purpose is to empower patients by equipping them with self-management skills which can aid in improving health outcomes. This is a protocol for a systematic review, the object of which is to synthesize what is known about the patient experience of participating in peer support interventions and identify gaps in the evidence base. This information will be used to make practice recommendations where relevant and to inform further research in the field. It aims to answer the following research questions: 1) What are the perceptions of individuals with chronic non-cancer pain regarding participation in peer support interventions? 2) What are patients' perceptions in terms of format, delivery, role and training of peer support volunteer and duration of intervention? 3) What are the patients' perceptions of the strengths and limitations of peer support interventions? 4) What do patients perceive to be the barriers and facilitators to implementation of peer support interventions

Compromise of Localized Graviton with a Small Cosmological Constant in Randall-Sundrum Scenario

A new mechanism which leads to a linearized massless graviton localized on the brane is found in the $AdS$/CFT setting, {\it i.e.} in a single copy of $AdS_5$ spacetime with a singular brane on the boundary, within the Randall-Sundrum brane-world scenario. With an help of a recent development in path-integral techniques, a one-parameter family of propagators for linearized gravity is obtained analytically, in which a parameter $\xi$ reflects various kinds of boundary conditions that arise as a result of the half-line constraint. In the case of a Dirichlet boundary condition ($\xi = 0$) the graviton localized on the brane can be massless {\it via} coupling constant renormalization. Our result supports a conjecture that the usual Randall-Sundrum scenario is a regularized version of a certain underlying theory.Comment: 6 pages, no figure, V2 12 pages, one more author added, will appear in PL

Supporting Foster Care Transition into Adulthood and Independent Living

The focus of this project was to enhance currently existing foster youth programming to promote engagement and participation in independent living skills (ILS) development. Research shows that although such programming exists to support foster youth transitioning into independent living, services are underutilized and may greatly benefit from a more personalized and holistic approach to engage participants. The process of this project included conduction of a needs assessment to understand site-specific areas of concern impacting occupational performance. Findings from the needs assessment informed development of a manual containing occupational therapy strategies for program staff to address concerns and promote engagement and participation. In addition to program enhancement recommendations, the manual also provided education on occupational therapy’s scope of practice and role in supporting foster youth and childhood trauma. In doing so, the aim of the project was also to advocate for the inclusion of occupational therapy in community-based practice supporting foster youth’s transition into adulthood and independent living.https://soar.usa.edu/otdcapstonesfall2021/1002/thumbnail.jp

Read all about it? :newspaper coverage of the archaeological excavation, retention, and reburial of human remains within the United Kingdom

PhD ThesisHuman remains are one of the most popular aspects of archaeology for the public in the United Kingdom, yet they are also one of the most sensitive and debated. Changes in attitudes and guidance in the UK in recent years means that it has become increasingly important for archaeologists to engage and communicate with the public. The mass media such as newspapers provide an important, yet complex and often mistrusted interface through which this communication can happen. To date little research exists in this area, and this research project starts to address this gap by exploring newspaper coverage of the archaeological excavation, retention, and reburial of human remains in the UK between 1989 and 2009. An analysis of 413 newspaper articles, 59 surveys of osteoarchaeologists, six interviews with senior archaeologists in the North East of England and surveys from 100 members of the public allows the newspaper coverage of the archaeological excavation, retention, and reburial of human remains to be explored from a number of perspectives. When data sets are compared, it can be seen that there are different expectations and understandings of newspaper coverage. Survey data from osteoarchaeologists show that newspaper coverage is expected to be a clear, detailed account which explains the process and reasons behind excavation, and reburial of human remains, and contributes to the public knowledge. However, content analysis of newspaper articles demonstrates that the reality is different. The newspaper article is a social construct, influenced by a number of external and internal factors including the news values of elites, negativity, and unexpectedness; the ability to time and coordinate the flow of information from archaeology to the newspapers; available word count; and presentations of archaeology in the wider mass media. Concern about newspaper coverage from osteoarchaeologists was common and was found to lie in the perceptions of the negative effects that a newspaper article may have, such as the potential for poor public image and loss of support for the subject. This research project suggests that in reality the negative impact from newspaper coverage was minimal, and its key role was in creating an overview and interest in the ii subject. Issues of the public’s trust in newspapers, low level of recall of newspaper article details, and the interconnected nature of the different mass media mean that the impact from newspapers on the public is more complex than is often assumed.Arts and Humanities Research Council who funded the research through their doctoral award scheme

Chromosomal localization of Ewing sarcoma EWSR1/FLI1 protein promotes the induction of aneuploidy

Ewing sarcoma is a pediatric bone cancer that expresses the chimeric protein EWSR1/FLI1. We previously demonstrated that EWSR1/FLI1 impairs the localization of Aurora B kinase to the midzone (the midline structure located between segregating chromosomes) during anaphase. While localization of Aurora B is essential for faithful cell division, it is unknown whether interference with midzone organization by EWSR1/FLI1 induces aneuploidy. To address this, we generated stable Tet-on inducible cell lines with EWSR1/FLI1, using CRISPR/Cas9 technology to integrate the transgene at the safe-harbor AAVS1 locus in DLD-1 cells. Induced cells expressing EWSR1/FLI1 displayed an increased incidence of aberrant localization of Aurora B, and greater levels of aneuploidy, compared with noninduced cells. Furthermore, the expression of EWSR1/FLI1-T79A, containing a threonine (Thr) to alanine (Ala) substitution at amino acid 79, failed to induce these phenotypes, indicating that Thr 79 is critical for EWSR1/FLI1 interference with mitosis. In contrast, the phosphomimetic mutant EWSR1/FLI1-T79D (Thr to aspartic acid (Asp)) retained the high activity as wild-type EWSR1/FLI1. Together, these findings suggest that phosphorylation of EWSR1/FLI1 at Thr 79 promotes the colocalization of EWSR1/FLI1 and Aurora B on the chromosomes during prophase and metaphase and, in addition, impairs the localization of Aurora B during anaphase, leading to induction of aneuploidy. This is the first demonstration of the mechanism for EWSR1/FLI1-dependent induction of aneuploidy associated with mitotic dysfunction and the identification of the phosphorylation of the Thr 79 of EWSR1/FLI1 as a critical residue required for this induction