Gaining a “sense of place”: students’ affective\ud experiences of place leading to transformative\ud learning on international fieldwork

This paper reveals the extent to which undergraduate students demonstrate transformative learning whilst on international fieldwork in Barcelona, Spain. Groups of students create a series of discrete active learning situations that allow them and their peers to engage more fully with their locale and in turn experience a deeper understanding of “place”. Reflective field trip notebooks are used to capture the experiences of students. Results show that through the use of the affective domain (Krathwohl’s taxonomy) and applying cyclic experiential learning (Kolb) combined with critical reflection (Mezirow), students demonstrate progression and, in some cases, regression along Krathwohl’s taxonomy

Creating global students: opportunities, challenges and experiences of internationalizing the Geography curriculum in Higher Education

Killick (2015) defines university internationalization as an institution’s “response to the globalization of our world” which can be viewed as a process of changing the student experience in response to changes in the wider world. Internationalization has become an important feature of universities, stimulated by the generation of fees from international students, the promotion of international “branding”, reputation and prestige (in international league tables), and to address the need for graduates to compete in an increasingly global workplace due to globalization (Haigh, 2002). The internationalization of institutions by attracting foreign students to study has received the most attention, and the opportunities and issues have been well documented (Ryan, 2013). However, the internationalization of curricula is becoming more important for maintaining the quality and competitiveness of Higher Education in an increasingly globalized neo-liberalized market (Harris, 2008) and the desire for branding as a “Global University” (Clifford & Montgomery, 2011), the increasing diversity of student and staff, and the need to broaden the relevance and appeal of higher education to wider society (Kenna, 2017)

Unravelling the geographical palimpsest through fieldwork: discovering a sense of place

Fieldwork enables students to gain a greater understanding of the people and places that they encounter. Urban areas are popular destinations for fieldwork because they present a landscape that is in a continual state of change. Yet,as this article indicates, the past is ever present in the urban landscape as each place can be regarded as a palimpsest, where layers of history, geography, culture and politics co-exist. Through active participation in fieldwork, students have the potential to unravel this palimpsest and discover a deeper sense of that place. The example used here reflects upon urban fieldwork in Barcelona as experienced by a group of undergraduate students who, as they carried out and reflected upon their field work, benefited from gaining a sense of place informed by a range of geographical processes and meanings. The article concludes with a series of suggestions for those embarking on fieldwork and wishing to unravel the geographical palimpsest

Emotional geographies experienced during international fieldwork: an evaluation of teaching and learning strategies for reflective assessment

The benefits and challenges of international fieldwork are well rehearsed. However, understanding of students’ affective experiences during fieldwork is less well developed. Little examination has been given to how tutors respond to the affective and emotional geographies that arise during international fieldwork which also affect perceptions of “place”. Using the innovative strategy of student-led teaching of peers, this paper examines how, firstly, the emotional geographies on international fieldwork can be identified and, secondly, how tutors can respond with appropriate teaching and learning strategies to enhance the fieldwork experience of students in terms of their personal and scholarly development. Based on field courses to Barcelona, Spain, we analyse a range of media from video and oral interviews, field notebooks and reflective essays to reveal students’ perceptions and emotions of participating in international fieldwork. Most revealing are the themes and issues raised by more “immediate” reflection undertaken in-the-field compared to the more “refined” and considered reflexivity completed after the fieldtrip. Such understandings of the emotional geographies can enable appropriate teaching and learning strategies to be employed

External validation of the Computer Aided Risk Scoring system in predicting in-hospital mortality following emergency medical admissions

BackgroundClinical prediction models have the potential to improve the quality of care and enhance patient safety outcomes. A Computer-aided Risk Scoring system (CARSS) was previously developed to predict in-hospital mortality following emergency admissions based on routinely collected blood tests and vitals. We aimed to externally validate the CARSS model.MethodsIn this retrospective external validation study, we considered all adult (≥18 years) emergency medical admissions discharged between 11/11/2020 and 11/11/2022 from The Rotherham Foundation Trust (TRFT), UK. We assessed the predictive performance of the CARSS model based on its discriminative (c-statistic) and calibration characteristics (calibration slope and calibration plots).ResultsOut of 32,774 admissions, 20,422 (62.3 %) admissions were included. The TRFT sample had similar demographic characteristics to the development sample but had higher mortality (6.1 % versus 5.7 %). The CARSS model demonstrated good discrimination (c-statistic 0.87 [95 % CI 0.86–0.88]) and good calibration to the TRFT dataset (slope = 1.03 [95 % CI 0.98–1.08] intercept = 0 [95 % CI −0.06–0.07]) after re-calibrating for differences in baseline mortality (intercept = 0.96 [95 % CI 0.90–1.03] before re-calibration).ConclusionIn summary, the CARSS model is externally validated after correcting the baseline risk of death between development and validation datasets. External validation of the CARSS model showed that it under-predicted in-hospital mortality. Re-calibration of this model showed adequate performance in the TRFT dataset

Values in computing

Whether it is in the form of software, system architecture or interface design, anything digital is inevitably affected by values: the organizational values of the project sponsor, the values of the research partners, and the values of each developer and designer. Some values (e.g. commercial success, academic prestige) are easier to quantify than others (e.g. social justice, care for the environment) with the latter often dismissed in decision making processes as lacking of measurable ‘evidence’. However, less easy to measure values are not less real: they are simply less visible. The aim of this one-day workshop is precisely to investigate mechanisms which give more exposure to those values in computing that are less frequently considered. We do so by bringing together practitioners from different computing backgrounds (e.g. software engineering, interaction design, information systems) who have first-hand experience of trying to represent on an equal footing all human values in computing

Genetic evaluation of days to harvest in crossbred lambs

Days to harvest (DTH) is the number of days a lamb is fed before reaching a target level of fatness. Although economically relevant, this trait has not been thoroughly evaluated in sheep. Most lambs harvested in the United Kingdom are crossbreds sired by purebred terminal sires, with Charollais, Suffolk, and Texel most commonly used. Sires from these breeds were selected on an index designed to increase lean growth while constraining fat. The purpose of this research was to 1) evaluate the effects of index selection in terminal sires on DTH and 2) evaluate the feasibility of incorporating DTH into genetic evaluation programs. Charollais, Suffolk, and Texel sheep had participated in sire referencing schemes where genetic links among flocks were established by sharing rams. Rams with high or low index scores were chosen from these schemes and mated to crossbred ewes at 3 farms in the United Kingdom. Lambs were harvested at a target 11% subcutaneous fat. Records on DTH from 6,350 lambs were analyzed in 2 ways: 1) as time to harvest fitting a survival model and 2) as a normally distributed variable in a bivariate analysis with weight at harvest. The survival analysis was stratified by rearing type (single or twin). In both approaches, sires were fitted using a multivariate normal distribution with a relationship matrix. Regardless of model fitted, sire index did not affect DTH (P \u3e 0.10). However, Texel-sired lambs reached harvest faster (P \u3c 0.01) than either Charollais- or Suffolk-sired lambs although DTH in those 2 breed types did not differ (P \u3e 0.1). Ewe lambs reached harvest faster than wethers (P \u3c 0.01). Lambs from older ewes were harvested faster (P \u3c 0.001). The heritability of DTH was 0.21 from the survival model and 0.20 from the bivariate model. Rank correlation of sire EBV between methods was 0.9, suggesting strong agreement. The use of high or low index sires did not extend DTH in lambs harvested at a target fatness. Importantly, there is no antagonism between improving carcass merit and extending the grazing season. Furthermore, DTH is moderately heritable. If economically justified within a breeding program, it could be reduced through genetic selection

Anxiety and autism:towards personalized digital health

For many people living with conditions such as autism, anxiety manifests so powerfully it has a big impact on quality of life. By investigating the suitability of truly customizable wearable health devices we build on prior research that found each experience of anxiety in people with autism is unique, so 'one-suits all' solutions are not suitable. In addition, users desire agency and control in all aspects of the system. The participative approach we take is to iteratively co-develop prototypes with end users. Here we describe a case study of the co-development of one prototype, a digital stretch wristband that records interaction for later reflection called Snap. Snap has been designed to sit within a platform that allows the distributed and sustainable design, manufacture and data analysis of customizable digital health technologies. We contribute to HCI with (1) lessons learned from a DIY co-development process that follows the principles of modularity, participation and iteration and (2) the potential impact of technology in self-management of anxiety and the broader design implications of addressing unique anxiety experiences

Nanosat Intelligent Power System Development

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is developing a class of satellites called nano-satellites. The technologies developed for these satellites will enable a class of constellation missions for the NASA Space Science Sun-Earth Connections theme and will be of great benefit to other NASA enterprises. A major challenge for these missions is meeting significant scientific- objectives with limited onboard and ground-based resources. Total spacecraft power is limited by the small satellite size. Additionally, it is highly desirable to minimize operational costs by limiting the ground support required to manage the constellation. This paper will describe how these challenges are met in the design of the nanosat power system. We will address the factors considered and tradeoffs made in deriving the nanosat power system architecture. We will discuss how incorporating onboard fault detection and correction capability yields a robust spacecraft power bus without the mass and volume penalties incurred from redundant systems and describe how power system efficiency is maximized throughout the mission duration

Computing and mental health:intentionality and reflection at the click of a button

Automated passive sensing applications and self-reported smart diaries seem to hold promise for the management of anxiety in autism and other mental health conditions. However, passive sensing often struggles with noisy data, ambiguous feedback and weak user agency over the device, whilst self-reporting relies on user-entered data which can be time consuming and cognitively demanding. To address these limitations, we explore a different approach, whereby individuals consciously actuate personal data capture and are in control of it at all times; yet, the interaction solely involves clicking a button, thus avoiding cognitive overload whilst supporting immediate reflection. We call this approach intentive computing. Through our initial investigations we found that conscious interactions cannot only provide real-time relief in anxiety management, but can also function as memory anchors irrespective of the content captured and even prior to data visualizatio