Possibilities for pedagogy in Further Education: Harnessing the abundance of literacy

In this report, it is argued that the most salient factor in the contemporary communicative landscape is the sheer abundance and diversity of possibilities for literacy, and that the extent and nature of students' communicative resources is a central issue in education. The text outlines the conceptual underpinnings of the Literacies for Learning in Further Education project in a social view of literacy, and the associated research design, methodology and analytical framework. It elaborates on the notion of the abundance of literacies in students' everyday lives, and on the potential for harnessing these as resources for the enhancement of learning. It provides case studies of changes in practice that have been undertaken by further education staff in order to draw upon students' everyday literacy practices on Travel and Tourism and Multimedia courses. It ends with some of the broad implications for conceptualising learning that arise from researching through the lens of literacy practices

Forming a Young Advisory Group for Natural England's Children's People and Nature Survery (C-PaNS)

The Children’s People and Nature Survey is a social survey that collects information from Children and Young People (CYP) aged 8–15 on their feelings, beliefs and behaviours relating to the natural environment. Data is collected twice a year (once during school summer holidays and once during term time) and published as Official Statistics. This report discusses the formation and implementation of NE’s first Young Advisory Group (YAG) for C-PaNS. The group was set up to work with CYP to improve the survey and improve NE’s understanding of how they view the environment. Facilitated by researchers at the University of Central Lancashire and the University of East London, the group comprised of 24 CYP from North-West England and London representing diverse ethnicities and sociocultural backgrounds. Over three-months each subgroup met for a series of workshops, both in-person and online. During workshops the YAG scrutinised and provided feedback on C-PaNS survey design, analysis, and how findings are reported. Additional insights into CYP’s gaps in knowledge, environmental concerns, environmental interests, perceptions of outdoor spaces and recommendations about how young people’s voices can inform future work also emerged during discussions. This project highlights the value of working directly with CYP. The YAG provided unique insights and have improved the validity of the survey. Additionally, the project empowered young people to think about their own relationship with the natural environment and outdoor spaces, as well as engage in discussions and actions that benefit nature

Quantitative phospho-proteomics reveals the Plasmodium merozoite triggers pre-invasion host kinase modification of the red cell cytoskeleton

The invasive blood-stage malaria parasite - the merozoite - induces rapid morphological changes to the target erythrocyte during entry. However, evidence for active molecular changes in the host cell that accompany merozoite invasion is lacking. Here, we use invasion inhibition assays, erythrocyte resealing and high-definition imaging to explore red cell responses during invasion. We show that although merozoite entry does not involve erythrocyte actin reorganisation, it does require ATP to complete the process. Towards dissecting the ATP requirement, we present an in depth quantitative phospho-proteomic analysis of the erythrocyte during each stage of invasion. Specifically, we demonstrate extensive increased phosphorylation of erythrocyte proteins on merozoite attachment, including modification of the cytoskeletal proteins beta-spectrin and PIEZO1. The association with merozoite contact but not active entry demonstrates that parasite-dependent phosphorylation is mediated by host-cell kinase activity. This provides the first evidence that the erythrocyte is stimulated to respond to early invasion events through molecular changes in its membrane architecture.</p

A potential library for primary MFL pedagogy: the case of Young Pathfinders

As readers of this journal will know very well, 2010 will see all KS2 (ages 7-11) pupils in England entitled to learn a modern foreign language in normal curriculum time. This development of the commitment to primary language learning should provide an excellent opportunity and experience for pupils, whilst at the same time requiring some radical changes for many teachers, schools and much of the wider language learning community. Recent research has indicated general trends suggesting an increase in primary languages already, in anticipation of this development and even beforehand. One of the most recent studies indicates that 43% of primary children currently learn a foreign language at KS2, either in class or as an extra-curricular activity, although the extent of this learning varies considerably (Driscoll, Jones and Macrory, 2004). It has also been suggested (Muijs et al, 2005) that there are certain aspects of the process that will be particularly demanding if the challenge of providing this entitlement are to be met

Differential Proteomic Analysis of Human Erythroblasts Undergoing Apoptosis Induced by Epo-Withdrawal

The availability of Erythropoietin (Epo) is essential for the survival of erythroid progenitors. Here we study the effects of Epo removal on primary human erythroblasts grown from peripheral blood CD34+ cells. The erythroblasts died rapidly from apoptosis, even in the presence of SCF, and within 24 hours of Epo withdrawal 60% of the cells were Annexin V positive. Other classical hallmarks of apoptosis were also observed, including cytochrome c release into the cytosol, loss of mitochondrial membrane potential, Bax translocation to the mitochondria and caspase activation. We adopted a 2D DIGE approach to compare the proteomes of erythroblasts maintained for 12 hours in the presence or absence of Epo. Proteomic comparisons demonstrated significant and reproducible alterations in the abundance of proteins between the two growth conditions, with 18 and 31 proteins exhibiting altered abundance in presence or absence of Epo, respectively. We observed that Epo withdrawal induced the proteolysis of the multi-functional proteins Hsp90 alpha, Hsp90 beta, SET, 14-3-3 beta, 14-3-3 gamma, 14-3-3 epsilon, and RPSA, thereby targeting multiple signaling pathways and cellular processes simultaneously. We also observed that 14 proteins were differentially phosphorylated and confirmed the phosphorylation of the Hsp90 alpha and Hsp90 beta proteolytic fragments in apoptotic cells using Nano LC mass spectrometry. Our analysis of the global changes occurring in the proteome of primary human erythroblasts in response to Epo removal has increased the repertoire of proteins affected by Epo withdrawal and identified proteins whose aberrant regulation may contribute to ineffective erythropoiesis

CD47 surface stability is sensitive to actin disruption prior to inclusion within the band 3 macrocomplex

AbstractCD47 is an important ‘marker of self’ protein with multiple isoforms produced though alternative splicing that exhibit tissue-specific expression. Mature erythrocytes express CD47 isoform 2 only, with membrane stability of this version dependent on inclusion within the band 3 macrocomplex, via protein 4.2. At present a paucity of information exists regarding the associations and trafficking of the CD47 isoforms during erythropoiesis. We show that CD47 isoform 2 is the predominant version maintained at the surface of expanding and terminally differentiating erythroblasts. CD47 isoforms 3 and 4 are expressed in all cell types tested except mature erythrocytes, but do not reach the plasma membrane in erythroblasts and are degraded by the orthochromatic stage of differentiation. To identify putative CD47 interactants, immunoprecipitation combined with Nano LC-MS/MS mass spectrometry was conducted on the erythroleukaemic K562 cell line, expanding and terminally differentiating primary erythroblasts and mature erythrocytes. Results indicate that prior to incorporation into the band 3 macrocomplex, CD47 associates with actin-binding proteins and we confirm that CD47 membrane stability is sensitive to actin disrupting drugs. Maintenance of CD47 at the cell surface was also influenced by dynamin, with sensitivity to dynamin disruption prolonged relative to that of actin during erythropoiesis.</jats:p

Ten questions concerning energy flexibility in buildings

Funding Information: The authors are key collaborators in the IEA EBC Annex 82 project. Dr. Li leads IEA EBC Annex 82 “Energy Flexible Buildings Towards Resilient Low Carbon Energy Systems.” Mr. Satchwell researches utility regulatory and business models that achieve greater deployment of energy efficiency, demand flexibility, and other distributed energy resources. Prof. Finn investigates demand response measures in the residential and commercial building sectors. Senior researcher Christensen researches the role of users in smart energy solutions and low-carbon energy transitions. Prof. Michaël Kummert's research focuses on modeling and control of building-scale and community-scale energy systems to optimize energy flexibility and resilience. Dr. Le Dréau researches energy flexibility of buildings both at building and district scales, develops occupant behavior models and prediction techniques related to flexibility. Dr. Lopes is involved in two international projects funded by the European Union's H2020 programme where he is developing and applying energy flexibility characterization methodologies and optimization algorithms in several demonstration activities. Prof. Madsen leads a national research project ‘Energy Flexible Denmark’ and he focuses on grey-box modeling, digital twins, forecasting and control for smart buildings in smart grids. Dr. Salom research works focus on zero/positive energy buildings and districts and their interaction with energy infrastructures being involved in several international projects. Prof. Henze researches model predictive and reinforcement learning control and data analytics for the integration of building and district energy systems with the electric grid. Mr. Wittchen research works focus on zero/positive energy buildings and districts and implementation of European legislation on building's energy performance. Funding Information: The authors acknowledge the many organizations that directly or indirectly supported the completion of this article. We acknowledge the European Commission for the ARV (grant number 101036723 ), Syn.ikia (grant number 869918 ), Hestia (grant number 957823 ) projects; the Danish Energy Agency for supporting the Danish delegates participating IEA EBC Annex 82 through EUDP (grant number 64020-2131 ); Innovation Fund Denmark in relation to SEM4Cities ( IFD 0143–0004 ) and Flexible Energy Denmark ( IFD 8090-00069B ); the Building Technologies Office, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, at the US Department of Energy , under Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (contract number DE-AC02-05CH11231 ); the Center of Technology and Systems (CTS UNINOVA) and the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through the Strategic Program UIDB/00066/2020 ; Research Council of Norway in relation to Research Centre on Zero Emission Neighborhoods in Smart Cities - FME-ZEN (No. 2576609 ) and FlexBuild (No. 294920 ); the AGAUR Agency from the Generalitat de Catalunya through the project ComMit-20 ( 2020PANDE00116 ); the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC Discovery Grant RGPIN 2016-06643 ). Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The AuthorsDemand side energy flexibility is increasingly being viewed as an essential enabler for the swift transition to a low-carbon energy system that displaces conventional fossil fuels with renewable energy sources while maintaining, if not improving, the operation of the energy system. Building energy flexibility may address several challenges facing energy systems and electricity consumers as society transitions to a low-carbon energy system characterized by distributed and intermittent energy resources. For example, by changing the timing and amount of building energy consumption through advanced building technologies, electricity demand and supply balance can be improved to enable greater integration of variable renewable energy. Although the benefits of utilizing energy flexibility from the built environment are generally recognized, solutions that reflect diversity in building stocks, customer behavior, and market rules and regulations need to be developed for successful implementation. In this paper, we pose and answer ten questions covering technological, social, commercial, and regulatory aspects to enable the utilization of energy flexibility of buildings in practice. In particular, we provide a critical overview of techniques and methods for quantifying and harnessing energy flexibility. We discuss the concepts of resilience and multi-carrier energy systems and their relation to energy flexibility. We argue the importance of balancing stakeholder engagement and technology deployment. Finally, we highlight the crucial roles of standardization, regulation, and policy in advancing the deployment of energy flexible buildings.publishersversionpublishe