Special Session - It’s A Jungle Safari Out There: An Allegory for Learning to Navigate Academia

One of the key challenges at the beginning of an academic career is learning to live in the university working environment. Interactions between academics can be significantly different to those found in industry; and whilst many of the drivers for the organisation are similar, there are also some aspects that are unique to a university. Being able to successfully navigate through the office politics is exceptionally valuable to academic staff, both new and established. In order to do this, it is essential to understand what motivates both yourself and your colleagues. This workshop will use an African Safari as a metaphor for the academic working environment, allocating animals to represent some of the archetypes that are present within an Engineering department

The Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA) and the development of the Arts Council in Scotland : background, politics, visual art policy 1919-1947

This work is a history of how the arts council system of public funding of contemporary art developed in Scotland between 1919 and 1947, with a specific focus on the visual arts. It treats that history as belonging, primarily, to the history of education and, through its origins in the voluntary sector, to the history of the emerging welfare state. The thesis explores the significance of philosophical Idealism, both as social theory and aesthetic theory. It argues that Idealism had a profound, if in some respects conflicting, influence on the processes described here, including the seminal importance of The 1919 Report and in forming then-contemporary ideas of national cultural identity. Central to the purpose of the thesis is an account of the political and administrative context within which this development took place, especially in relation to the Scottish Education Department. The thesis presents in effect a case study in the negotiation of administrative devolution, to secure a Scottish dimension while preserving an over-arching British unity. The conclusion is that the success of Scottish demands for devolution in the face of strong resistance in London was crucial to preserving the Arts Council's British identity, but that this was a Pyrrhic victory for those Scots who believed that devolution would be a brief interlude before full independence was achieved under Home Rule.The third part of the thesis examines visual art policy and activities between 1940 and 1947. As policy is nothing without practice, the thesis presents an overview of the actual activities that were carried out in these years, as far as imperfect data allow. A picture emerges of a major, and creditable, effort, with limited resources in difficult circumstances, to make visual art more accessible and comprehensible to a much wider public in Scotland than in pre-war years.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Dietary patterns and chronic kidney disease: a cross-sectional association in the Irish Nun Eye Study

Associations between dietary patterns and chronic kidney disease are not well established, especially in European populations. We conducted a cross-sectional study of 1033 older Irish women (age range 56–100 years) with a restricted lifestyle. Dietary intake was assessed using a food frequency questionnaire. Renal function was determined by estimated glomerular filtration rate. Two dietary patterns were identified within the study population using factor analysis. A significant negative association was found between unhealthy dietary pattern adherence and renal function in both unadjusted and adjusted models controlling for potential confounding variables (p for trend <0.001), with a mean difference in estimated glomerular filtration rate of −6 ml/min/1.73 m2 between those in the highest fifth of adherence to the unhealthy dietary pattern compared to the lowest, in the fully adjusted model. Chronic kidney disease risk was significantly greater for the highest fifth, compared to the lowest fifth of unhealthy dietary pattern adherence in adjusted models (adjusted odds ratio = 2.62, p < 0.001). Adherence to the healthy dietary pattern was not associated with renal function or chronic kidney disease in adjusted models. In this cohort, an unhealthy dietary pattern was associated with lower renal function and greater prevalence of chronic kidney disease

New possibilities for research on reef fish across the continental shelf of South Africa

[From introduction] Subtidal research presents numerous challenges that restrict the ability to answer fundamental ecological questions related to reef systems. These challenges are closely associated with traditional monitoring methods and include depth restrictions (e.g. safe diving depths for underwater visual census), habitat destruction (e.g. trawling), mortality of target species (e.g. controlled angling and fish traps), and high operating costs (e.g. remotely operated vehicles and large research vessels. Whereas many of these challenges do not apply or are avoidable in the shallow subtidal environment, the difficulties grow as one attempts to sample deeper benthic habitats. This situation has resulted in a paucity of knowledge on the structure and ecology of deep water reef habitats around the coast of South Africa and in most marine areas around the world. Furthermore, the inability to effectively survey deep water benthic environments has limited the capacity of researchers to investigate connectivity between shallow and deep water habitats in a standardised and comparable fashio

Megapixel imaging of (micro)nutrients in mature barley grains

Understanding the accumulation and distribution of essential nutrients in cereals is of primary importance for improving the nutritional quality of this staple food. While recent studies have improved the understanding of micronutrient loading into the barley grain, a detailed characterization of the distribution of micronutrients within the grain is still lacking. High-definition synchrotron X-ray fluorescence was used to investigate the distribution and association of essential elements in barley grain at the micro scale. Micronutrient distribution within the scutellum and the embryo was shown to be highly variable between elements in relation to various morphological features. In the rest of the grain, the distribution of some elements such as Cu and Zn was not limited to the aleurone layer but extended into the endosperm. This pattern of distribution was less marked in the case of Fe and, in particular, Mn. A significant difference in element distribution was also found between the ventral and dorsal part of the grains. The correlation between the elements was not consistent between and within tissues, indicating that the transport and storage of elements is highly regulated. The complexity of the spatial distribution and associations has important implications for improving the nutritional content of cereal crops such as barley

Associations with photoreceptor thickness measures in the UK Biobank.

Spectral-domain OCT (SD-OCT) provides high resolution images enabling identification of individual retinal layers. We included 32,923 participants aged 40-69 years old from UK Biobank. Questionnaires, physical examination, and eye examination including SD-OCT imaging were performed. SD OCT measured photoreceptor layer thickness includes photoreceptor layer thickness: inner nuclear layer-retinal pigment epithelium (INL-RPE) and the specific sublayers of the photoreceptor: inner nuclear layer-external limiting membrane (INL-ELM); external limiting membrane-inner segment outer segment (ELM-ISOS); and inner segment outer segment-retinal pigment epithelium (ISOS-RPE). In multivariate regression models, the total average INL-RPE was observed to be thinner in older aged, females, Black ethnicity, smokers, participants with higher systolic blood pressure, more negative refractive error, lower IOPcc and lower corneal hysteresis. The overall INL-ELM, ELM-ISOS and ISOS-RPE thickness was significantly associated with sex and race. Total average of INL-ELM thickness was additionally associated with age and refractive error, while ELM-ISOS was additionally associated with age, smoking status, SBP and refractive error; and ISOS-RPE was additionally associated with smoking status, IOPcc and corneal hysteresis. Hence, we found novel associations of ethnicity, smoking, systolic blood pressure, refraction, IOPcc and corneal hysteresis with photoreceptor thickness