Bronchopulmonary infection with pseudomonas aeruginosa in cystic fibrosis

Imperial Users onl

A Clumsy Encounter: The dyspraxic ideal meets drawing from observation as an official and discriminatory discourse

Drawing from observation is a form of practice employed in art and design secondary education in the UK. It is positioned within a pedagogical concept of art education that combines particular forms of representation with the development of skill and technical accomplishment. This study engages with the 'voices' of four 'dyspraxic' participants whose experiences of art education sit within this context. Dyspraxia, alternatively referred to as Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), is a term that identifies difficulties with the development of physical coordination related to sensory processing. However, it could be argued that factors used in determining whether a child is identified as dyspraxic are subject to complex social, cultural and more specifically educational contexts. This study focuses on the way in which drawing from direct observation is experienced by pupils as part of their art and design education and these experiences are viewed through a 'dyspraxic lens' in order to sharpen the focus on technical skill and accomplishment in producing representations through drawing. It offers a critique of the creation of the dyspraxic subject and drawing from observation by exploring the point at which the' dyspraxic ideal' derived from, or created by, the literature intersects with participants' experiences of compulsory art education. This is an interrogation of the complexity of observational drawing as a specific practice not within a closed community of art education but within the social and cultural domain of other critical debates within education, specifically those related to inclusion. The complexity of these sites is explored here and approaches that seek to rationalise and compartmentalise educational experience are challenged and disrupted

The Biopolitics of Art Education

Editorial introduction to special issue of the Journal Of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies, by guest editors Penketh and Adams, for this issue on the topic of 'The Biopolitics of Art Education'. This issue of JLCDS offers a timely opportunity for an extended discussion of current practices at the intersection of art education and disability studies, a discussion that has the potential to further practice and theory in both domains.Editorial introduction to special issue of the Journal Of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies, by guest editors Penketh and Adams, for this issue on the topic of 'The Biopolitics of Art Education'. This issue of JLCDS offers a timely opportunity for an extended discussion of current practices at the intersection of art education and disability studies, a discussion that has the potential to further practice and theory in both domains

Optimal position of an emitter in a wavelength-scale parabolic reflector (article)

This is the final version. Available on open access from the Optical Society of America via the DOI in this recordThe dataset associated with this article is available in ORE at https://doi.org/10.24378/exe.1883, with the title 'On the optimal position of an emitter in a wavelength-scale parabolic reflector'We investigate the optimum emitter position within reflecting parabolic antennas whose size is comparable to the emission wavelength. Using finite-element modeling we calculate the dependence of the amount of power directed into a 20° half-angle cone on the emitter’s position and compare with results obtained using geometrical optics. The spatially varying density of states within the wavelength-scale reflector is mapped and its impact discussed. In addition, it is demonstrated that changing the characteristic size of the reflector within the range from 0.5 to 1.5 times the emission wavelength has a strong bearing on the optimum emitter position, a position that does not in general coincide with the parabola’s focus. We calculate that the optimal antenna size and emitter position allow for the maximum directed power to exceed that obtained in the geometrical optics regime.DysonEngineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC

Special Educational Needs and Art and Design Education: Plural Perspectives on Exclusion

Education policy proposals by the UK Coalition government appeared to be based on a process of consultation, participation and representation. However, policy formation seems to prioritise and confirm particular ways of knowing and being in the world. This paper recognises the ontological and epistemological invalidation at work in education policy by examining the shared context for policy formation in Special Educational Needs (SEN/D) and art and design education. There is value in recognising plurality, acknowledging the ways in which apparently singular policies relating to special education are understood through subject or disciplinary perspectives. The neoliberal aim to foster an economically productive ‘subject’ is evident in policy formation relating to art and design education as well as SEN/D. Both subjects, the disabled child and art and design education, are defined as excessive and are excluded where they do not conform to particular notions of productivity. The paper explores theoretical frameworks that are essential for recognising meaning in education when subjects cannot be put to work

Turnitin said it wasn't happy: Can the regulatory discourse of plagiarism detection operate as a change artefact for writing development?

This paper centres on the tensions between the introduction of plagiarism detection software (Turnitin) for student and tutor use at undergraduate level and the aim to promote a developmental approach to writing for assessment at a UK university. Aims to promote developmental models for writing often aim to counteract the effects of the structural organisation of learning and assessment in higher education. This paper will discuss the potential for the implementation of plagiarism detection software to operate as a 'change artefact', creating opportunities for a departure from the habits of practice created by the demands of writing for assessment and the potential for the emergence of enclaves of good practice in respect of writing development. Tutor and student qualitative responses, gathered via questionnaires and focus groups were analysed in order to investigate the effectiveness of this initiative. In this inquiry plagiarism detection emerges as a dominant theme within regulatory discourses of malpractice in higher education. The promotion of writing development via a tool for regulation and plagiarism detection seems to be a mismatch and the extent to which Turnitin can be operate as a change artefact to promote developmental approaches to writing for assessment in higher education is questioned. The suitability of plagiarism detection software as a tool to promote writing development will be discussed in light of the findings from this inquiry

Putting Disability Studies to Work in Art Education

Putting disability studies to work in art education suggests a form of action or industry, a creative opportunity for something to be done, recognising the relationship between theory and practice. Drawing on discourse analysis, this article offers an initial theoretical discussion of some of the ways in which disability is revealed and created through discourses about art education in articles published over the last 30 years in iJADE. This article proposes that the lens of critical social pedagogies applied to work relating to gender, race and class should be extended to disability in order to promote critical engagement through art education rather than critical avoidance. Drawing on Elliot Eisner's six lessons in what can be learnt from the arts, the article concludes by recognising the importance of art education as a means of epistemic validation, where different ways of being in the world are valued. Art education and arts practice offer a means of valuing and expressing the 'dynamic difference of what it means to be human'. The article argues that the combination of disability studies and art education can, therefore, be a force to be reckoned with

Telomere length heterogeneity in placenta revealed with high-resolution telomere length analysis

Introduction Telomeres, are composed of tandem repeat sequences located at the ends of chromosomes and are required to maintain genomic stability. Telomeres can become shorter due to cell division and specific lifestyle factors. Critically shortened telomeres are linked to cellular dysfunction, senescence and aging. A number of studies have used low resolution techniques to assess telomere length in the placenta. In this study, we applied Single Telomere Length Analysis (STELA) which provides high-resolution chromosome specific telomere length profiles to ask whether we could obtain more detailed information on the length of individual telomeres in the placenta. Methods Term placentas (37–42 weeks) were collected from women delivering at University Hospital of Wales or Royal Gwent Hospital within 2 h of delivery. Multiple telomere-length distributions were determined using STELA. Intraplacental variation of telomere length was analysed (N = 5). Telomere length distributions were compared between labouring (N = 10) and non-labouring (N = 11) participants. Finally, telomere length was compared between female (N = 17) and male (N = 20) placenta. Results There were no significant influences of sampling site, mode of delivery or foetal sex on the telomere-length distributions obtained. The mean telomere length was 7.7 kb ranging from 5.0 kb to 11.7 kb across all samples (N = 42) and longer compared with other human tissues at birth. STELA also revealed considerable telomere length heterogeneity within samples. Conclusions We have shown that STELA can be used to study telomere length homeostasis in the placenta regardless of sampling site, mode of delivery and foetal sex. Moreover, as each amplicon is derived from a single telomeric molecule, from a single cell, STELA can reveal the full detail of telomere-length distributions, including telomeres within the length ranges observed in senescent cells. STELA thus provides a new tool to interrogate the relationship between telomere length and pregnancy complications linked to placental dysfunction