Research into learning and teaching in higher education: underground and undervalued?

Previous studies have drawn attention to the challenges faced by researchers undertaking research into learning and teaching in higher education. These challenges are particularly highlighted at times of national measurement of research excellence. It is against the context of the UK Research Excellence Framework (REF), that this paper presents findings from a recent survey of research into higher education in Scottish Higher Education Institutions. Discussion focuses on the underground and undervalued nature of some of this research. Researchers are often based within disciplines and their research is not always well known within wider higher education research discourse. Many academics face pressure to prioritise publishing within their main discipline over publishing research into higher education. There is also a lack of capacity within some Scottish institutions to return research into higher education within the forthcoming REF exercise. The wider implications of these findings are then examined

Higher Education Research in Scotland: Report of a Survey Undertaken by Universities Scotland Educational Development Sub-Committee

The aim of this study was to gain an insight into a range of higher educational research taking place across Scotland with a particular focus on the nature, expertise, support and dissemination of this research. For the purposes of this study, we used the term ‘research into higher education’ to refer to a range of higher educational research activity that included: research into higher education policies and practice, pedagogical research, research into learning and teaching taking place in higher education and research about transition from further education or school into higher education. The findings point to the underground nature of pedagogic research taking place in Scotland. Many researchers are based within disciplines and their pedagogic research is disseminated in a variety of settings that do not always make it easily accessible within generic higher education research discourse. Pedagogic research is also apparently undervalued, with many academic staff experiencing pressure to prioritise publishing within their main discipline over and above pedagogic research. In addition there appears to be a lack of capacity within Scottish institutions to maximise the profile of higher educational research in the forthcoming UK Research Excellence Framework (REF) exercise

Extended atmospheres of comets and outer planet-satellite systems

For the hydrogen coma of comet P/Halley, both a Lyman-alpha image and extensive Lyman-alpha scan data obtained by the Pioneer Venus Orbiter Ultraviolet spectrometer as well as H-alpha ground-based spectral observations obtained by the University of Wisconsin Space Physics Group were successfully interpreted and analyzed with our Monte Carlo particle trajectory model. The excellent fit of the model and the Halley data and the water production rate determined near perihelion (9 Feb. 1986) from 13 Dec. 1985 to 13 Jan. 1986 and from 1 Feb. to 7 Mar. 1986 are discussed. Studies for the circumplanetary distribution of atomic hydrogen in the Saturn and Neptune systems were undertaken for escape of H atoms from Titan and Triton, respectively. The discovery of a new mechanism which can dramatically change the normal cylindrically symmetric distribution of hydrogen about the planet is discussed. The implications for the Titan-Saturn and Triton-Neptune are summarized

Abnormal flowers and pattern formation in floral

“From our acquaintance with this abnormal enabled to unveil the secrets that normal us, and to see distinctly what, from the regular we can only infer.” - J. W. von Goethe (1790

Genetic interactions among floral homeotic genes of Arabidopsis

We describe allelic series for three loci, mutations in which result in homeotic conversions in two adjacent whorls in the Arabidopsis thaliana flower. Both the structure of the mature flower and its development from the initial primordium are described by scanning electron microscopy. New mutations at the APETALA2 locus, ap2-2, ap2-8 and ap2-9, cause homeotic conversions in the outer two whorls: sepals to carpels (or leaves) and petals to stamens. Two new mutations of PISTILLATA, pi-2 and pi-3, cause second and third whorl organs to differentiate incorrectly. Homeotic conversions are petals to sepals and stamens to carpels, a pattern similar to that previously described for the apetala3-1 mutation. The AGAMOUS mutations, ag-2 and ag-3, affect the third and fourth whorls and cause petals to develop instead of stamens and another flower to arise in place of the gynoecium. In addition to homeotic changes, mutations at the APETALA2, APETALA3 and PISTILLATA loci may lead to reduced numbers of organs, or even their absence, in specific whorls. The bud and flower phenotypes of doubly and triply mutant strains, constructed with these and previously described alleles, are also described. Based on these results, a model is proposed that suggests that the products of these homeotic genes are each active in fields occupying two adjacent whorls, AP2 in the two outer whorls, PI and AP3 in whorls two and three, and AG in the two inner whorls. In combination, therefore, the gene products in these three concentric, overlapping fields specify the four types of organs in the wild-type flower. Further, the phenotypes of multiple mutant lines indicate that the wild-type products of the AGAMOUS and APETALA2 genes interact antagonistically. AP2 seems to keep the AG gene inactive in the two outer whorls while the converse is likely in the two inner whorls. This field model successfully predicts the phenotypes of all the singly, doubly and triply mutant flowers described

Training-ValueNet: A new approach for label cleaning on weakly-supervised datasets

Manually labelling training data for machine learning has always been incredibly time-consuming and expensive. For those who seek to apply modern deep learning algorithms however, the cost of acquiring enough accurately labelled data is quickly becoming the single greatest obstacle impeding progress. Weakly-supervised learning offers a promising alternative by enabling practitioners to rapidly apply weak sources of supervision to large amounts of data. Unfortunately, the presence of label noise in these datasets remains a critical issue as it can severely impair the performance of a machine learning model. In this thesis, we investigate a new approach for performing label cleaning on weakly-supervised data without human supervision. We propose that the boundary between correctly labelled and mislabelled examples might best be described in terms of the impact that an individual training example has on performance. Specifically, we hypothesise that mislabelled training examples will reliably detriment the generalization performance of a classifier and can be identified as such. To this end, we present the Training-Value approximation network (Training-ValueNet) which learns to estimate the training-value of each example - an objective measure of its impact on performance. In a series of three key experiments, we demonstrate that by simply discarding examples with a negative training-value, Training-ValueNet can significantly reduce the proportion of label noise in weakly-supervised datasets and improve the final performance of an image classification model as a result. In a label noise detection task, our method achieves a substantial 39% lower detection error than the current state-of-the-art outlier detection method for label cleaning. Furthermore, we demonstrate that when our method is used for label cleaning, weakly-supervised learning can achieve comparable performance with the fully-supervised paradigm. This highlights the potential for data-driven approaches like ours to eradicate the need for manual label cleaning all-together

Asthma: a major pediatric health issue

The incidence, prevalence, and mortality of asthma have increased in children over the past three to four decades, although there has been some decline in the most recent decade. These trends are particularly marked and of greatest concern in preschool children. Internationally, there are huge variations among countries and continents, as demonstrated by the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood. In general, asthma rates were highest in English-speaking countries (UK, New Zealand, Australia, and North America) and some Latin American countries (Peru and Costa Rica), and lowest in South Korea, Russia, Uzbekistan, Indonesia, and Albania. There is currently no unifying hypothesis to explain these trends or any associated risk factors. Environmental factors that may lead to asthma include air pollution; genetic factors, the hygiene hypothesis, and lifestyle differences also play potentially causative roles. Asthma may develop as a result of persistent activation of the immune system alone or in combination with physiologic airway remodeling in early childhood. Further studies are needed to confirm this hypothesis

Preliminary Candidate Advanced Avionics System (PCAAS)

Specifications which define the system functional requirements, the subsystem and interface needs, and other requirements such as maintainability, modularity, and reliability are summarized. A design definition of all required avionics functions and a system risk analysis are presented

Prescribing practices for intravenous aminoglycosides in UK cystic fibrosis clinics: a questionnaire survey

Background: Intravenous aminoglycoside antibiotics are widely used to treat pulmonary infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa in individuals with cystic fibrosis (CF). Over the last decade evidence has accumulated showing that the choice of aminoglycoside and the dosing regimen may help reduce adverse effects such as nephrotoxicity. Methods: We undertook an online survey to determine current practice in UK CF Centres. Results: We received a response from 35/48 (73%) centres. A once daily regimen was used in 30/35 (86%) centres. Around one third had stopped using gentamicin in the last 10 years. In most cases respondents reported changing practice in response to new evidence or evidence based guidelines. Obstacles to introducing evidence based practice were identified both at the level of the CF Centre and the hospital trust. Conclusions: A once daily aminoglycoside regimen is now used in the majority of UK CF Centres. Tobramycin is first line and many centres have stopped using gentamicin. Obstacles to evidence based practice remain in a minority of centres

Control of flower development in Arabidopsis thaliana by APETALA1 and interacting genes

Mutations in the APETALA1 gene disturb two phases of flower development, flower meristem specification and floral organ specification. These effects become manifest as a partial conversion of flowers into inflorescence shoots and a disruption of sepal and petal development. We describe the changes in an allelic series of nine apetala1 mutants and show that the two functions of APETALA1 are separable. We have also studied the interaction between APETALA1 and other floral genes by examining the phenotypes of multiply mutant plants and by in situ hybridization using probes for several floral control genes. The results suggest that the products of APETALA1 and another gene, LEAFY, are required to ensure that primordia arising on the flanks of the inflorescence apex adopt a floral fate, as opposed to becoming an inflorescence shoot. APETALA1 and LEAFY have distinct as well as overlapping functions and they appear to reinforce each other's action. CAULIFLOWER is a newly discovered gene which positively regulates both APETALA1 and LEAFY expression. All functions of CAULIFLOWER are redundant with those of APETALA1. APETALA2 also has an early function in reinforcing the action of APETALA1 and LEAFY, especially if the activity of either is compromised by mutation. After the identity of a flower primordium is specified, APETALA1 interacts with APETALA2 in controlling the development of the outer two whorls of floral organs