Using the Voice of the Student to Evaluate Learning Management Systems

A learning management system is an educational tool employed in higher education to organize, document, track, report, and deliver courses. Selecting the appropriate learning management system is a critical decision for a university. This study explores the usability of two leading systems, Blackboard and Canvas, from the students’ perspective. The goal is to gather and analyze user preferences in order to select an appropriate learning management system. Data was collected through surveys of student’s experience with the two learning management systems. The survey evaluated the ease of the following tasks: finding course documents, viewing grades, ease of navigation, intuitiveness, and communicating with professors. A usability study was also conducted on both learning management systems. The information was combined to provide an overall ranking of the learning management systems

East Midlands Research into Ageing Network (EMRAN) Discussion Paper Series

Academic geriatric medicine in Leicester . There has never been a better time to consider joining us. We have recently appointed a Professor in Geriatric Medicine, alongside Tom Robinson in stroke and Victoria Haunton, who has just joined as a Senior Lecturer in Geriatric Medicine. We have fantastic opportunities to support students in their academic pursuits through a well-established intercalated BSc programme, and routes on through such as ACF posts, and a successful track-record in delivering higher degrees leading to ACL post. We collaborate strongly with Health Sciences, including academic primary care. See below for more detail on our existing academic set-up. Leicester Academy for the Study of Ageing We are also collaborating on a grander scale, through a joint academic venture focusing on ageing, the ‘Leicester Academy for the Study of Ageing’ (LASA), which involves the local health service providers (acute and community), De Montfort University; University of Leicester; Leicester City Council; Leicestershire County Council and Leicester Age UK. Professors Jayne Brown and Simon Conroy jointly Chair LASA and have recently been joined by two further Chairs, Professors Kay de Vries and Bertha Ochieng. Karen Harrison Dening has also recently been appointed an Honorary Chair. LASA aims to improve outcomes for older people and those that care for them that takes a person-centred, whole system perspective. Our research will take a global perspective, but will seek to maximise benefits for the people of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, including building capacity. We are undertaking applied, translational, interdisciplinary research, focused on older people, which will deliver research outcomes that address domains from: physical/medical; functional ability, cognitive/psychological; social or environmental factors. LASA also seeks to support commissioners and providers alike for advice on how to improve care for older people, whether by research, education or service delivery. Examples of recent research projects include: ‘Local History Café’ project specifically undertaking an evaluation on loneliness and social isolation; ‘Better Visits’ project focused on improving visiting for family members of people with dementia resident in care homes; and a study on health issues for older LGBT people in Leicester. Clinical Geriatric Medicine in Leicester We have developed a service which recognises the complexity of managing frail older people at the interface (acute care, emergency care and links with community services). There are presently 17 consultant geriatricians supported by existing multidisciplinary teams, including the largest complement of Advance Nurse Practitioners in the country. Together we deliver Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment to frail older people with urgent care needs in acute and community settings. The acute and emergency frailty units – Leicester Royal Infirmary This development aims at delivering Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment to frail older people in the acute setting. Patients are screened for frailty in the Emergency Department and then undergo a multidisciplinary assessment including a consultant geriatrician, before being triaged to the most appropriate setting. This might include admission to in-patient care in the acute or community setting, intermediate care (residential or home based), or occasionally other specialist care (e.g. cardiorespiratory). Our new emergency department is the county’s first frail friendly build and includes fantastic facilities aimed at promoting early recovering and reducing the risk of hospital associated harms. There is also a daily liaison service jointly run with the psychogeriatricians (FOPAL); we have been examining geriatric outreach to oncology and surgery as part of an NIHR funded study. We are home to the Acute Frailty Network, and those interested in service developments at the national scale would be welcome to get involved. Orthogeriatrics There are now dedicated hip fracture wards and joint care with anaesthetists, orthopaedic surgeons and geriatricians. There are also consultants in metabolic bone disease that run clinics. Community work Community work will consist of reviewing patients in clinic who have been triaged to return to the community setting following an acute assessment described above. Additionally, primary care colleagues refer to outpatients for sub-acute reviews. You will work closely with local GPs with support from consultants to deliver post-acute, subacute, intermediate and rehabilitation care services. Stroke Medicine 24/7 thrombolysis and TIA services. The latter is considered one of the best in the UK and along with the high standard of vascular surgery locally means one of the best performances regarding carotid intervention

Professional Standards for School-Based Behavior Analysts

The Professional Standards for School-Based Behavior Analysts are intended to serve as an enhanced foundational layer for behavior analysts working specifically in the context of public school settings. These Professional Standards were developed by a team of behavior analysts with experience working in public schools and feedback was obtained from additional behavior analysts and other education professionals. There are five identified Professional Standard areas including: 1) Ethical & Professional Practice; 2) Collaboration; 3) Systems Capacity Building; 4) Instruction; and 5) Leadership & Policy

Effects of Long-Term Pioglitazone Treatment on Peripheral and Central Markers of Aging

BACKGROUND: Thiazolidinediones (TZDs) activate peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma) and are used clinically to help restore peripheral insulin sensitivity in Type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Interestingly, long-term treatment of mouse models of Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD) with TZDs also has been shown to reduce several well-established brain biomarkers of AD including inflammation, oxidative stress and Abeta accumulation. While TZD\u27s actions in AD models help to elucidate the mechanisms underlying their potentially beneficial effects in AD patients, little is known about the functional consequences of TZDs in animal models of normal aging. Because aging is a common risk factor for both AD and T2DM, we investigated whether the TZD, pioglitazone could alter brain aging under non-pathological conditions. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We used the F344 rat model of aging, and monitored behavioral, electrophysiological, and molecular variables to assess the effects of pioglitazone (PIO-Actos® a TZD) on several peripheral (blood and liver) and central (hippocampal) biomarkers of aging. Starting at 3 months or 17 months of age, male rats were treated for 4-5 months with either a control or a PIO-containing diet (final dose approximately 2.3 mg/kg body weight/day). A significant reduction in the Ca2+-dependent afterhyperpolarization was seen in the aged animals, with no significant change in long-term potentiation maintenance or learning and memory performance. Blood insulin levels were unchanged with age, but significantly reduced by PIO. Finally, a combination of microarray analyses on hippocampal tissue and serum-based multiplex cytokine assays revealed that age-dependent inflammatory increases were not reversed by PIO. CONCLUSIONS: While current research efforts continue to identify the underlying processes responsible for the progressive decline in cognitive function seen during normal aging, available medical treatments are still very limited. Because TZDs have been shown to have benefits in age-related conditions such as T2DM and AD, our study was aimed at elucidating PIO\u27s potentially beneficial actions in normal aging. Using a clinically-relevant dose and delivery method, long-term PIO treatment was able to blunt several indices of aging but apparently affected neither age-related cognitive decline nor peripheral/central age-related increases in inflammatory signaling

Sustainable human resource management and job satisfaction— unlocking the power of organizational identification: A cross-cultural perspective from 54 countries

Sustainable human resource management is gaining importance in organizations due to its role in developing a sustainable work environment and well-being. This paper discusses the relationship between employee perceptions of sustainable human resource management and job satisfaction in 54 countries. We propose that sustainable HRM is positively associated with job satisfaction but that this relationship is moderated by employees’ identification with the organization and country-level individualism-collectivism. Thus, we suggest national culture functions as a second-level moderator of the relationship of sustainable HRM with organizational identification on job satisfaction. Findings from the multi-level analyses using data from 14,502 employees nested within 54 countries provided support for our hypotheses, namely that employee perceptions of sustainable HRM were positively associated with job satisfaction and that this relationship was more pronounced for employees with lower levels compared to higher levels of organizational identification in individualistic rather than collectivistic countries. These findings bear important implications for both theory and practice

Lessons learned and study results from HIVCore, an HIV implementation science initiative

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138261/1/jia21261.pd

Postnatal Changes in the Expression Pattern of the Imprinted Signalling Protein XLαs Underlie the Changing Phenotype of Deficient Mice

The alternatively spliced trimeric G-protein subunit XLαs, which is involved in cAMP signalling, is encoded by the Gnasxl transcript of the imprinted Gnas locus. XLαs deficient mice show neonatal feeding problems, leanness, inertia and a high mortality rate. Mutants that survive to weaning age develop into healthy and fertile adults, which remain lean despite elevated food intake. The adult metabolic phenotype can be attributed to increased energy expenditure, which appears to be caused by elevated sympathetic nervous system activity. To better understand the changing phenotype of Gnasxl deficient mice, we compared XLαs expression in neonatal versus adult tissues, analysed its co-localisation with neural markers and characterised changes in the nutrient-sensing mTOR1-S6K pathway in the hypothalamus. Using a newly generated conditional Gnasxl lacZ gene trap line and immunohistochemistry we identified various types of muscle, including smooth muscle cells of blood vessels, as the major peripheral sites of expression in neonates. Expression in all muscle tissues was silenced in adults. While Gnasxl expression in the central nervous system was also developmentally silenced in some midbrain nuclei, it was upregulated in the preoptic area, the medial amygdala, several hypothalamic nuclei (e.g. arcuate, dorsomedial, lateral and paraventricular nuclei) and the nucleus of the solitary tract. Furthermore, expression was detected in the ventral medulla as well as in motoneurons and a subset of sympathetic preganglionic neurons of the spinal cord. In the arcuate nucleus of Gnasxl-deficient mice we found reduced activity of the nutrient sensing mTOR1-S6K signalling pathway, which concurs with their metabolic status. The expression in these brain regions and the hypermetabolic phenotype of adult Gnasxl-deficient mice imply an inhibitory function of XLαs in energy expenditure and sympathetic outflow. By contrast, the neonatal phenotype of mutant mice appears to be due to a transient role of XLαs in muscle tissues

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Illustrations for Health Assessment Techniques of the Atlantic Horseshoe Crab, Limulus polyphemus

Horseshoe crab blood cells detect extremely small amountsof bacteria allowing them to be used in medicine to test thesterilization of medical devices, vaccines, and implants. This is aworldwide standard test called Limulus Amebocyte Lysate. TheNational Aquarium in Baltimore, MD, has developed guidelinesfor health examinations that are aimed to improve healthmaintenance and conservation strategies for horseshoe crabs.Illustrations were created to accompany this specic literatureto ensure the overall eectiveness of the material. A total of 28color illustrations were created to help educate veterinariansand veterinarian technicians, aquarists, and biologists

Challenges to the pair bond: neural and hormonal effects of separation and reunion in a monogamous primate

Social monogamy at its most basic is a group structure in which two adults form a unit and share a territory. However, many socially monogamous pairs display attachment relationships known as pair bonds, in which there is a mutual preference for the partner and distress upon separation. The neural and hormonal basis of this response to separation from the adult pair mate is under-studied. In this project, we examined this response in male titi monkeys (Callicebus cupreus), a socially monogamous New World primate. Males underwent a baseline scan, a short separation (48 hours), a long separation (app. two weeks), a reunion with the female pair mate, and an encounter with a female stranger (with nine males completing all five conditions). Regional cerebral glucose metabolism was measured via positron emission tomography (PET) imaging using 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) co-registered with structural MRI, and region of interest analysis was carried out. In addition, plasma was collected and assayed for cortisol, oxytocin (OT), vasopressin (AVP), glucose, and insulin concentrations. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was collected and assayed for OT and AVP. We used generalized estimating equations to examine significant changes from baseline. Short separations were characterized by decreases in FDG uptake, in comparison to baseline, in the lateral septum (LS), ventral pallidum (VP), paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN), periaqueductal gray (PAG), and cerebellum, as well as increases in CSF OT, and plasma cortisol and insulin. Long separations differed from baseline in reduced FDG uptake in the central amygdala (CeA), reduced whole brain FDG uptake, increased CSF OT and increased plasma insulin. The response on encounter with a stranger female depended on whether or not the male had previously reproduced with his pair mate, suggesting that transitions to fatherhood contribute to the neurobiology underlying response to a novel female. Reunion with the partner appeared to stimulate coordinated release of central and peripheral OT. The observed changes suggest the involvement of OT and AVP systems, as well as limbic and striatal areas, during separation and reunion from the pair mate