MILO: Models of innovation in learning online at Key Stage 3 and 14-19: Final report executive summary

This summary report presents and analyses the key findings from eight case studies, which reflect a wide range of models of online learning, each of which has been developed for specific reasons, largely in relation to visions of how technology can transform learning, but also to solve practical problems such as re-engaging disaffected learners and coping with rising pupil numbers

MILO: Models of innovation in learning online at Key Stage 3 and 14-19: Final report appendices

This document contains the appendices to the main report, which presents case studies, which reflect a wide range of models of online learning, each of which has been developed for specific reasons, largely in relation to visions of how technology can transform learning, but also to solve practical problems such as re-engaging disaffected learners and coping with rising pupil numbers

MILO: Models of innovation in learning online at Key Stage 3 and 14-19: Final report

The report presents and analyses eight case studies, which reflect a wide range of models of online learning, each of which has been developed for specific reasons, largely in relation to visions of how technology can transform learning, but also to solve practical problems such as re-engaging disaffected learners and coping with rising pupil numbers

A cohort study of the effectiveness of influenza vaccine in older people, performed using the United Kingdom general practice research database.

BACKGROUND: The effectiveness of influenza vaccination against hospitalization and death can only ethically be assessed in observational studies. A concern is that individuals who are vaccinated are healthier than individuals who are not vaccinated, potentially biasing estimates of effectiveness upward. METHODS: We conducted a historical cohort study of individuals >64 years of age, for whom there were data available in the General Practice Research Database for 1989 to 1999 in England and Wales. Rates of admissions for acute respiratory diseases and rates of death due to respiratory disease were compared over 692,819 person-years in vaccine recipients and 1,534,280 person-years in vaccine nonrecipients. RESULTS: The pooled effectiveness of vaccine against hospitalizations for acute respiratory disease was 21% (95% confidence interval [CI], 17%-26%). The rate reduction attributable to vaccination was 4.15 hospitalizations/100,000 person-weeks in the influenza season. Among vaccine recipients, no important reduction in the number of admissions to the hospital was seen outside influenza seasons. The pooled effectiveness of vaccine against deaths due to respiratory disease was 12% (95% CI, 8%-16%). A greater proportionate reduction was seen among people without medical disorders, but absolute rate reduction was higher in individuals with medical disorders, compared with individuals without such disorders (6.14 deaths due to respiratory disease/100,000 person-weeks vs. 3.12 deaths due to respiratory disease/100,000 person-weeks). Clear protection against death due to all causes was not seen. CONCLUSIONS: Influenza vaccination reduces the number of hospitalizations and deaths due to respiratory disease, after correction for confounding in individuals >64 years of age who had a high risk or a low risk for influenza. For elderly people, untargeted influenza vaccination is of confirmed benefit against serious outcomes

A Deductive, Participative, And Iterative Process: A Case Study In Curricular Review

This paper focuses on a deductive, participative, and iterative process for curricular revision at a public Midwestern university in the Merchandising and Fashion Design program. A systematic, nonlinear, organized process is presented and details specific components used in curricular review. The guiding framework for the redesign was that of Garner and Buckley (1988). That is, feedback was solicited and incorporated from educators, students, and employers. In each of the two-year process, the program was viewed as a whole, with input from faculty at every step, and also viewed from a micro-perspective by examining each course individually. The process included peer review, with each faculty member encouraged to review not only their own courses, but those of their colleagues as well. At times, the curricular review process seemed overwhelming with the significant amount of data and resource constraints to consider. The systematic process presented assisted in managing multiple considerations and constituents involved in the curriculum review. Besides maintaining a relevant and current curriculum, the process provided a multitude of benefits for the department. Significant changes were made to the curriculum, but more honest relationships were reestablished and an increased understanding among colleagues was an unexpected benefit of the lengthy, but necessary, examination of the program and resulting curricular changes in the department

The economics of alternative crop production systems in the context of farmer participation in carbon trading markets

This work is funded through the Scottish Government Underpinning Capacity and Strategic Research Programme under the Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services (RESAS) division (RESAS 2.3.9). For running the Centre for Sustainable Cropping platform, thanks go to Euan Caldwell, David Young and Andrew Christie (field/crop management), Andy Steven (agronomy), Gillian Banks, Paul Neave, and Linda Nell (field surveys). All usual caveats apply.Peer reviewedPostprin

Multidimensional Identities And Meaning-Making Structures Of White Faculty And Staff As Critical Social Justice Practitioners

The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of how white faculty and staff thought about and acted upon social justice issues in US higher education. White faculty and staff are assumed to be prepared to educate students about social justice issues. However, even the most self-aware white individuals operate within the historic, systematically oppressive structures of higher education. Research questions considered how participants valued practicing critical social justice, how they understood their social identities, and how they responded to tension narratives. Through a combined framework of constructivism and critical whiteness studies, this narrative study included interviews with nine white participants who were identified by campus diversity staff as initiating positive efforts in advocating for social justice. Findings focused on the motivations of participants, possible development topics for white faculty and staff, concepts for understanding resistance narratives experienced by white faculty and staff, and coping strategies

The representation of protein complexes in the Protein Ontology

Representing species-specific proteins and protein complexes in ontologies that are both human and machine-readable facilitates the retrieval, analysis, and interpretation of genome-scale data sets. Although existing protin-centric informatics resources provide the biomedical research community with well-curated compendia of protein sequence and structure, these resources lack formal ontological representations of the relationships among the proteins themselves. The Protein Ontology (PRO) Consortium is filling this informatics resource gap by developing ontological representations and relationships among proteins and their variants and modified forms. Because proteins are often functional only as members of stable protein complexes, the PRO Consortium, in collaboration with existing protein and pathway databases, has launched a new initiative to implement logical and consistent representation of protein complexes. We describe here how the PRO Consortium is meeting the challenge of representing species-specific protein complexes, how protein complex representation in PRO supports annotation of protein complexes and comparative biology, and how PRO is being integrated into existing community bioinformatics resources. The PRO resource is accessible at http://pir.georgetown.edu/pro/

Development of a Case Study Problem in Engineering Economics Based on a Telephone Replacement Undertaking at UW-Platteville

General Engineering 2820 (GE 2820) is a course offered to all undergraduate students at the College of Engineering, Mathematics, and Science (EMS), University of Wisconsin –Platteville. A constant exercise for the instructors in this course is to update the course material with interesting case study problems which are then solved by students as an assignment. In recent days, the University of Wisconsin –Platteville, is contemplating replacement of its current Voice over IP (VoIP) phone service (catered by the local utility company “Century Link”) with a “Unified Communications” service. Current services cost the university $18,900 per month. With the new system being contemplated and the since the university has necessary infrastructure in place, the cost for the university is estimated to be approximately$7000 per month. Therefore, a breakeven analysis was undertaken for studying the economic feasibility of this undertaking by the students in this course. Part of this case study involved – defining the problem correctly, processing the interest rate data so as to calculate an appropriate effective annual rate, processing the financial data related to the phone services, and finally performing a breakeven study using the annual worth computation. Based on student performances, such case study problems have benefited the students in understanding the concepts of time value of money and various method of analysis in engineering economy

Perceived Stress and Self-Care in Graduate Students Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic

Introduction: This study examines the perceived stress and self-care behaviors of graduate students as impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Students who participated had varying degree concentrations, with the majority of participants having a Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Couples and Family Therapy, Dance Movement Therapy, or Clinical Psychology focus. This study is particularly relevant to health care workers, especially those whose focus is mental health. Markedly elevated prevalence of reported adverse mental and behavioral health conditions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic highlight the broad impact of the pandemic and the need to prevent and treat these conditions. This study sought to examine the presence and significance of a relationship between perceived stress, self-care strategies, and participant characteristics and the impact of COVID-19. Methods: Utilizing a quantitative approach, data were collected via survey method using related questionnaires and assessments; approximately 700 surveys were disseminated to the student-body, with a response rate of 24% yielding 170 initial participants. Pearson bivariate and multiple regression were used to determine the statistical significance of any potential relationship as posed by the research questions. Results: A statistically significant relationship was found between perceived stress and the impact of COVID-19 for the students. Also, using multiple regression, age (p = .005) and race/ethnic identity (p = .006) contributed to the reported levels of perceived stress. Racial identity was a significant predictor of the reported scores on the impact of COVID-19 (p = .01). There was also a significant relationship (p \u3c.001) between adequate sleep and eating nutritiously (p = .016) and reported perceived stress and the impact of COVID-19. Lastly, engaging in social activism was related to an increased impact of COVID-19 (p=.037), specifically for the subscale of hyperarousal (p=.016). Conclusion: A summary of our findings indicates a significant relationship between participant’s perceived stress and the impact of COVID-19; specifically, as the level of perceived stress increased for our participants, so did the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Seemingly, those who experience greater daily stress in their lives reported a more significant impact of COVID-19 on their daily lives. These results point to the need for wellness strategies specific to stress reduction strategies to also help in alleviating the distress associated with COVID-19. As universities transition to online learning, online accessible interventions aimed at helping students address stress, depression, and wellbeing, may prove beneficial