Promoting engagement and learning in first year university studies: The role of personalisation

Student engagement in higher education can be conceptualised as involving three components: students’ social needs and circumstances, the cognitive characteristics of academic studies, and the prevailing institutional ethos or philosophy that specifies the relationships that students have with learning and knowledge. This paper reports on an investigation into student engagement in a first-year human development course at the University of Waikato at Tauranga, New Zealand where the teaching staff has a commitment to relating learning to individual experiences. Information from an end-of-course survey indicates that a philosophy of personalisation promotes learning engagement. Students reported that they were required to think a lot or a great deal, that they put time into the course assessments, and that they valued the human development course itself

The Judicial Legacy of Salmond J in New Zealand

John Salmond was a judge of the Supreme Court of New Zealand during the years 1920-1924. This paper examines the nature of Salmond J's contribution to judicial precedent in New Zealand in five areas of the law: administrative; family; procedural; property; and contract law. Salmond J's judgments in these areas amply justified his reputation as an outstanding jurist. They were characterised by balance, fairness and a keen sense of human reality, and were presented with admirable structure and clarity. Of particular note is Salmond J's interpretion of the significant body of legislation passed from 1908 onwards. Fortified by his experience of legislative drafting at the time when this legislation was passed, Salmond J confidently supplemented the legislation with case law based on the legislative intent. The overall effect of Salmond J's judicial work was that, during the eight decades after his death, his judgments provided his successors on the bench with apposite language, frameworks and reference points in the cases before them

Construction and Test of a Cryocatcher Prototype for SIS100

The main accelerator SIS100 of the FAIR-complex will provide heavy ion beams of highest intensities. Beam loss due to ionization is the most demanding loss mechanism at operation with high intensity, intermediate charge state heavy ions. A special synchrotron design has been devel- oped for SIS100, aiming for hundred percent control of ion- ization beam loss by means of a dedicated cryogenic ion catcher system. To suppress dynamic vacuum effects, the cryo catcher system shall provide a significantly reduced effective desorption yield. The construction and test of a prototype cryocatcher is a task of the EU-FP-7 workpack- age COLMAT. A prototype test setup, including cryostat has been constructed, manufactured and tested under real- istic conditions with beams from the heavy ion synchrotron SIS18. The design and results are presented

Estimation of Decay Losses and Dynamic Vacuum for the Beta-beam Accelerator Chain

The beta-beam is based on the acceleration and storage of radioactive ions. Due to the large number of ions required and their relatively short lifetime, beam losses are a major concern. This paper estimates the decay losses for the part of the accelerator chain comprising the CERN PS and SPS machines. For illustration purposes, the power deposition in these accelerators is compared to that expected for nominal CNGS proton operation. The beam losses induced vacuum dynamics is simulated and the consequences for machine operation are discussed

Reducing Carbon Emissions from the Tourist Accommodation Sector on Non-Interconnected Islands : A Case Study of a Medium-Sized Hotel in Rhodes, Greece

Acknowledgments: The authors would like to thank Mikhalis Markopoulos and Manolis Markopoulos for their assistance in gathering comprehensive information about the special demands of hotels, the hotel’s energy consumption and energy bills.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

A mechanistic multi-centre, parallel group, randomised placebo controlled trial of Mesalazine for treatment of irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhoea (IBS-D)

Introduction: Immune activation has been reported in the mucosa of irritable bowel syndrome patients with diarrhoea (IBS-D) and some small studies have suggested that Mesalazine may reduce symptoms. We performed a double blind, randomised placebo controlled trial of 2g Mesalazine twice daily versus placebo for 3 months in Rome III criteria IBS-D patients. Primary outcome was daily average stool frequency during weeks 11-12; secondary outcomes were abdominal pain, stool consistency, urgency and satisfactory relief of IBS symptoms. Methods: Participants were randomised after a 2-week baseline stool diary. All participants completed a 12-week stool diary and at the end of each week recorded the presence of “satisfactory relief of IBS symptoms”. Results: 136 patients with IBS-D (82 F, 54 M) were randomised, 10 patients withdrew from each group. Analysis by intention to treat showed the daily average stool frequency during weeks 11 and 12 were mean (SD), 2.8 (1.2) in Mesalazine and 2.7 (1.9) in placebo group with no significant group difference (95% confidence interval) 0.1 (-0.33,0.53); p=0.66. Mesalazine did not improve abdominal pain, stool consistency nor percentage with satisfactory relief compared to placebo during the last 2 weeks follow up. Conclusion: This study does not support any clinically meaningful benefit or harm of Mesalazine compared with placebo in unselected IBS with diarrhoea. More precise subtyping based on underlying disease mechanisms is needed to allow more effective targeting of treatment in IBS. (ClinicalTrials.gov number NCT01316718

Radiolarian biostratigraphy of Peninsular Malaysia and implications for regional palaeotectonics and palaeogeography

Peninsular Malaysia consists of three terranes, a western Gondwanan affinity terrane (Sibumasu), an eastern Cathaysian affinity terrane (Indochina/East Malaya) and an accretionary complex terrane (the Palaeo-Tethyan Bentong-Raub suture zone) which contains fault-bounded blocks and clasts of radiolarian-bearing chert and argillite. ... The representation of the Palaeo-Tethyan suture zone of Peninsular Malaysia as a narrow zone (13 - 18 km wide) is not favoured in this study. The Gondwanan affinity Sibumasu terrane is narrower than presently defined and includes only passive margin continental sequences. All radiolarian-bearing chert and argillite, belts of mélange and imbricate thrust slices of marine sedimentary rocks characteristic of accretionary complexes are not part of the Sibumasu or Indochina/East Malaya terranes, but are of Palaeo-Tethyan origin, and form a distinct accretionary complex terrane which has been thrust westwards over the eastwards-dipping Sibumasu terrane. The Bentong-Raub suture zone of Peninsular Malaysia, the Uttaradit-Nan/Sra Kaeo suture zone of Thailand and the Changning-Menglian suture zone of South China have yielded radiolarian faunas of similar biostratigraphic ages, ranging from Upper Devonian (Famennian), through Middle Triassic (Ladinian). These ages suggest that the Palaeo-Tethys ocean existed between the Sibumasu and Indochina terranes from at least Late Devonian through to Middle Triassic (Ladinian) time. Results of this thesis support tectonic models that propose Late Silurian - Early Devonian rifting of continental fragments from the Gondwanan margin, Devonian opening of the Palaeo-Tethys, and subsequent closure of the ocean in Peninsular Malaysia and Southeast Asia during the Late Triassic

Delirium management by palliative medicine specialists: a survey from the association for palliative medicine of Great Britain and Ireland

Objectives Delirium is common in palliative care settings. Management includes detection, treatment of cause(s), non-pharmacological interventions and family support; strategies which are supported with varying levels of evidence. Emerging evidence suggests that antipsychotic use should be minimised in managing mild to moderate severity delirium, but the integration of this evidence into clinical practice is unknown.Methods A 21-question online anonymous survey was emailed to Association for Palliative Medicine members in current clinical practice (n=859), asking about delirium assessment, management and research priorities.Results Response rate was 39%: 70% of respondents were palliative medicine consultants. Delirium guidelines were used by some: 42% used local guidelines but 38% used none. On inpatient admission, 59% never use a delirium screening tool. Respondents would use non-pharmacological interventions to manage delirium, either alone (39%) or with an antipsychotic (58%). Most respondents (91%) would prescribe an antipsychotic and 6% a benzodiazepine, for distressing hallucinations unresponsive to non-pharmacological measures. Inpatient (57%) and community teams (60%) do not formally support family carers. Research priorities were delirium prevention, management and prediction of reversibility.Conclusion This survey of UK and Irish Palliative Medicine specialists shows that delirium screening at inpatient admission is suboptimal. Most specialists continue to use antipsychotics in combination with non-pharmacological interventions to manage delirium. More support for family carers should be routinely provided by clinical teams. Further rigorously designed clinical trials are urgently needed in view of management variability, emerging evidence and perceived priorities for research

Cripto: Expression, epigenetic regulation and potential diagnostic use in testicular germ cell tumors

Type II germ cell tumors arise after puberty from a germ cell that was incorrectly programmed during fetal life. Failure of testicular germ cells to properly differentiate can lead to the formation of germ cell neoplasia in situ of the testis; this precursor cell invariably gives rise to germ cell cancer after puberty. The Nodal co-receptor Cripto is expressed transiently during normal germ cell development and is ectopically expressed in non-seminomas that arise from germ cell neoplasia in situ, suggesting that its aberrant expression may underlie germ cell dysregulation and hence germ cell cancer. Here we investigated methylation of the Cripto promoter in mouse germ cells and human germ cell cancer and correlated this with the level of CRIPTO protein expression. We found hypomethylation of the CRIPTO promoter in undifferentiated fetal germ cells, embryonal carcinoma and seminomas, but hypermethylation in differentiated fetal germ cells and the differentiated types of non-seminomas. CRIPTO protein was strongly expressed in germ cell neoplasia in situ along with embryonal carcinoma, yolk sac tumor and seminomas. Further, cleaved CRIPTO was detected in media from seminoma and embryonal carcinoma cell lines, suggesting that cleaved CRIPTO may provide diagnostic indication of germ cell cancer. Accordingly, CRIPTO was detectable in serum from 6/15 patients with embryonal carcinoma, 5/15 patients with seminoma, 4/5 patients with germ cell neoplasia in situ cells only and in 1/15 control patients. These findings suggest that CRIPTO expression may be a useful serological marker for diagnostic and/or prognostic purposes during germ cell cancer management