Niobium uptake and release by bacterial ferric ion binding protein

Ferric ion binding proteins (Fbps) transport FeIII across the periplasm and are vital for the virulence of many Gram negative bacteria. Iron(III) is tightly bound in a hinged binding cleft with octahedral coordination geometry involving binding to protein side chains (including tyrosinate residues) together with a synergistic anion such as phosphate. Niobium compounds are of interest for their potential biological activity, which has been little explored. We have studied the binding of cyclopentadienyl and nitrilotriacetato NbV complexes to the Fbp from Neisseria gonorrhoeae by UV-vis spectroscopy, chromatography, ICP-OES, mass spectrometry, and Nb K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy. These data suggest that NbV binds strongly to Fbp and that a dinuclear NbV centre can be readily accommodated in the interdomain binding cleft. The possibility of designing niobium-based antibiotics which block iron uptake by pathogenic bacteria is discussed

Co-constructing accountability in Ghana's home grown school feeding programme

The Ghana School Feeding Programme has ambitions to feed 3 million children this year. This paper examines how the potentially confrontational tool of social audit has contributed to constructing an accountability community engaging public, private and civic sectors of society in more effective partnership working , and developing a shared agenda for both ‘proving’ and ‘improving’ what they do

Research-informed teaching: releasing the power of the student research conference

In May 2018 the School of Sport, Leisure and Nutrition ran an inaugural student research conference that was entitled ‘The Power of Sport’.  Students at all levels of study can benefit in a variety of ways through being actively engaged in research and enquiry.  Such student activity can also support the development of research in the institution as well as the impact of research in the community.  Hosting the conference intended to provide a way of developing and promoting such approaches in the curriculum and to give students a safe environment in which to test and disseminate their work.  In essence, it was an activity that blurred the lines between research and student education.  The two core aims of The Power of Sport were: to enhance student learning and confidence through engagement in research and research conversations; and to assist programme teams to further implement research-informed teaching in the curriculum for presentation at the conference.  This short paper touches on the theoretical basis for these two aims by considering both research-informed teaching and student empowerment in the context of the conference.

Supply chain collaboration aligns order-winning strategy with business outcomes

The paper aims to find out whether appropriate choice of collaboration will enable the required order-winners, leading to improved business outcomes. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed with cross-sectional data to test the hypothesised relationships among order-winners, modes of collaboration, and business outcomes. Results indicate that firms that focus on flexibility, quality, and delivery should develop strategic collaboration with suppliers to achieve market and innovation improvement. Cost- and quality-focussed firms should develop operational collaboration to achieve resource efficiency. The model allows managers to understand the right alignment of external suppliers while working on their own order-winners being pursued to win business performance

Age-related biomarkers can be modulated by diet in the rat

This study seeks to establish the normal serum concentrations of biochemical markers related to nutrition, inflammation and disease, and to investigate how the levels change with age and diet in the rat. To this end, we fed rats from weaning on three diets differing in their protein, carbohydrate and fatty acid content. The diets consisted of a control, nutritionally balanced diet, this same diet supplemented with 10% (wt/wt) beef tallow, and a diet that was high in fat and carbohydrate and low in protein. Blood samples from rats at two different ages, 3 months and 12 months, were then analysed. In control rats, with advancing age there was a general decrease in potassium, iron and serum albumin concentrations and in the activities of aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase, and an increase in total and HDL cholesterol. These changes were modulated by diet: many of the age-related changes (serum concentrations of potassium, iron and cholesterol, and liver enzyme activities) were not observed in animals eating the high fat diet. In contrast, the high carbohydrate, high fat, low protein diet-fed animals showed several additional changes (serum concentrations of sodium, urea, creatinine and TG, and activity of alkaline phosphatase) that can be related to kidney, liver and cardiovascular health

Social moderation and calibration versus codification: a way forward for academic standards in higher education?

A key responsibility of higher education providers is the accurate certification of the knowledge and skills attained by their students. However, despite an intense focus on developing relevant quality assurance regulations, academic standards in higher education have remained resistant to explication and consistent application. In this paper, we initially deconstruct and evaluate academic standards and dominant practitioner perspectives on their nature and use, including techno-rational, sociocultural and sociomaterial approaches. The limited prior research on the effectiveness of calibration and social moderation processes is reviewed, highlighting the significant challenges in sharing tacitly held understandings of assessment criteria (attributes of quality) and standards (levels of achievement). Further complications are considered that arise from the varying expertise and power relationships of assessors and the complexities inherent in the development and use of codified artefacts for capturing and sharing standards. We opine that because of the difficulties in clearly representing and agreeing standards, it is unsurprising that there is little evidence of marking consistency to be found in the literature even in contexts where carefully crafted artefacts, such as rubrics, are in use. We conclude that effectiveness would be enhanced through sharing understandings more widely and refocusing the use of assessment codifications towards how they may catalyse effective social moderation and calibration dialogues. Dialogues that foreground individuals’ positions of consensus and dissensus at significant points of interpretation in the assessment process are identified within the paper

Development of new teachers in higher education: interactions with students and other influences upon approach to teaching

There is little longitudinal, empirical evidence on which to base our understanding of teacher development in higher education. Although there is an extensive literature about teachers’ conceptions of and approaches to teaching, which acts as a useful theoretical foundation, there are a number of limitations in using these broad categories of description for investigating complex experiences such as teaching and teacher development. The aim of the current investigation was to provide an insight into how new lecturers in higher education develop as teachers and to identify some of the main influences upon this development. An important consideration in this was the use of fine-grained analysis to produce a more detailed account of teachers’ experiences than the traditional conceptions of teaching categories allow. The study employed a qualitative, longitudinal design with three semi-structured interviews over a two-year period. The eleven participating teachers had less than two years experience and were from a range of higher education institutions and settings. The teachers were from the subject areas of Sport, Physiotherapy, Psychology and History. Interviews were designed to encourage the participants to describe their everyday teaching experiences. The purpose of this was to ensure that the data represented real and specific instances rather than the questions generating general, idealistic responses. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed based upon the principles of building theories from case study research. In the first part of the main analysis, full case studies for three participants were developed to illustrate their experiences of development over the two-year period. This approach allowed for the generation of fine-grained and idiosyncratic insights into how new teachers in higher education typically develop. The second main part of the analysis identified a number of common themes in the data. This stage of the analysis was a highly iterative process that moved between the case studies, the interview transcripts and the literature. A range of criteria were used to check the analysis and ensure its quality. The principal finding from the current study was the identification of a number of influences upon the new teachers’ development. At the core of these influences were instances of interactions with students. These instances provided the teachers with richer and fuller feedback about their teaching, which appeared to support their development. There were also a number of other influences upon development, which in themselves impacted upon the amount and level of interaction between the teacher and students. These included confidence as a teacher and familiarity with the teaching situation, both of which were strongly related to the teacher’s content and pedagogical knowledge. The final influence, which also was seen to interact with the other influences, was the peer support and training received by the teacher in relation to teaching. Despite these common influences the idiosyncratic contextual factors, such as topic to be taught, also emerged as being significant for the way an individual taught and developed as a teacher. Based upon these insights, it is suggested that teacher development could be enhanced by focussing upon specific instances of interactions with students. These instances appear to provide highly specific and tangible moments that allow the conceptual aspects of teaching and development to be discussed, but also give an insight into the real challenges that a particular teacher is facing in their subject at a particular time

Managing logistics outsourcing to China: business problems and solutions for Australian firms

This study aims to investigate the outsourcing relationships between firms in Australia and China by using a problem-solution approach, and find out practical solutions. Empirical data from Australian firms were collected by a questionnaire survey and interviews. The survey data were analysed by descriptive statistics and correlation to find the most common problems and related solutions, and then eight case studies were compiled. The results agree that outsourcing can achieve many significant benefits, though it presents a variety of new risks. Solutions found include increasing communication levels, trust and management control

Leadership and learning: facilitating self-directed learning in enterprises

Purpose - To show that a key aspect of learning and development of individual employees is that of self-directedness. This paper will consider the role of the leader in facilitating workforce development in terms of employees\u27 self-directedness for learning. The research was designed to investigate the views that \u27learning leaders\u27 in organizations have towards the development of self-directedness in employees; and to identify strategies that are feasible in developing self-directedness in operating organizations. Design/methodology/approach - Draws on a national research project undertaken in 12 organizations in Australia, representing a range of sizes and a number of industry sectors. Data collection involved interviewing learning and development managers in each organization to gauge the relative feasibility of the implementation of a number of pre-identified strategies designed to develop self-directedness among employees within operating work environments. Findings - Showed that: learning managers and leaders were generally well disposed towards the development of self-directedness, and some had already moved to do so; and identified a number of possible strategies for implementation of varying degrees of feasibility. The paper will consider these findings in relation to the concept of a \u27learning leader\u27. Research limitations/implications - Although the research was conducted in a diverse set of 12 enterprises, applicability of the results across an even wider set of enterprises would need to be tested. Originality/value - The findings of this research provide guidance to learning and development personnel on feasible strategies to use within their own organization to assist with the development of self-directed learning among employees. <br /