Academic activism in UK Higher Education: A critical pedagogy perspective

This research investigated academic activism in UK higher education, a marginalised and under-researched area. Universities are subject to increasing privatisation and intensive marketisation, bringing challenges and contradictions for those academics with a social justice agenda who wish to defend the university as a public good and a site for an activist and transformative pedagogy and practice. This work was guided by two questions posed by Blomley (1994) ‘Can I be an academic and an activist at the same time? If so, how?’ Its general research aim therefore was to investigate the practice and theory of critical pedagogy and academic activism research in UK higher education. The conceptual framework of the research drew from critical pedagogy literature, particularly the relational ontology of Paulo Freire (1970) which is underpinned by a dialectical materialist analysis which does not separate theory from practice. The research was also informed by theories of contradiction (Ollman, 2015) and of crisis (Harvey, 2014). Empirical data were collected using semi-structured in-depth interviews with 17 lecturers from a range of UK universities who self-identified as academic activists. Thematic analysis was used to identify themes along with the use of Freire’s limit situations as both analytical tool and conceptual framework. Findings revealed that despite increasingly adverse conditions in the university the participants were committed to enacting an activist and transformative pedagogy and practice. Indeed, their practice often emerged from, and was a challenge, to the contradictions and limitations that they encountered. There was no reductive contrast between theory and practice and the participants were engaged academics (Freedman, 2017) who saw activism, in different forms, as central to their work. The originality of this research lies in first, its focus on the convergence, and dialectical interplay, of three areas: the neoliberal university, academic activism and critical pedagogy. Second, its use of the concept of the social individual as a method of analysis and to challenge the prevailing discourse of the entrepreneurial individual in higher education. Its findings have relevance for those in higher education attempting an academic activist approach

A health needs assessment of offenders on probation caseloads in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire - report of a pilot study

This study was commissioned by the Care Services Improvement Partnership (CSIP) in the East Midlands to investigate the health needs of a sample group offenders managed by The Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Probation Services

Structure of the Mycobacterium smegmatis alpha-maltose-1-phosphate synthase GlgM

Mycobacterium tuberculosis produces glycogen (also known as alpha-glucan) to help evade human immunity. This pathogen uses the GlgE pathway to generate glycogen rather than the more well known glycogen synthase GlgA pathway, which is absent in this bacterium. Thus, the building block for this glucose polymer is alpha-maltose-1-phosphate rather than an NDP-glucose donor. One of the routes to alpha-maltose-1-phosphate is now known to involve the GlgA homologue GlgM, which uses ADP-glucose as a donor and alpha-glucose-1-phosphate as an acceptor. To help compare GlgA (a GT5 family member) with GlgM enzymes (GT4 family members), the X-ray crystal structure of GlgM from Mycobacterium smegmatis was solved to 1.9 angstrom resolution. While the enzymes shared a GT-B fold and several residues responsible for binding the donor substrate, they differed in some secondary-structural details, particularly in the N-terminal domain, which would be expected to be largely responsible for their different acceptor-substrate specificities

Designing Mobile Educational Games on Voter‟s Education: A Tale of Three Engines

The rapid growth of mobile learning is influenced by the ability to access learning content anytime and anywhere. The on demand capability is available because mobile devices allow for convergence of internet and communications technologies. At the same time, the availability of engines makes development of mobile applications faster and seamless. However, not all mobile development engines are alike. This paper discusses on the development of mobile learning applications using mobile development engines in teaching Filipinos on responsible voting. Specifically, this paper discusses how AndEngine, Ren’Py, and homegrown Usbong were used to develop a mobile board game and a mobile comic book to promote responsible voting to the Filipino youth

Fama and Fiction in Vergil's Aeneid

Item embargoed for five year

Active Stat3 is required for survival of human squamous cell carcinoma cells in serum-free conditions

BACKGROUND: Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the skin is the most aggressive form of non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC), and is the single most commonly diagnosed cancer in the U.S., with over one million new cases reported each year. Recent studies have revealed an oncogenic role of activated signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (Stat3) in many human tumors, especially in those of epithelial origin, including skin SCC. Stat3 is a mediator of numerous growth factor and cytokine signaling pathways, all of which activate it through phosphorylation of tyrosine 705. RESULTS: To further address the role of Stat3 in skin SCC tumorigenesis, we have analyzed a panel of human skin-derived cell lines ranging from normal human epidermal keratinocytes (NHEK), to non-tumorigenic transformed skin cells (HaCaT), to highly tumorigenic cells (SRB1-m7 and SRB12-p9) and observed a positive correlation between Stat3 phosphorylation and SCC malignancy. We next determined the role of Stat3 activity in cell proliferation and viability under serum-free culture conditions. This was accomplished by suppressing Stat3 activity in the SRB12-p9 cells through stable expression of a dominant negative acting form of Stat3β, which contains a tyrosine 705 to phenylalanine mutation (S3DN). The S3DN cells behaved similar to parental SRB12-p9 cells when cultured in optimal growth conditions, in the presence of 10% fetal calf serum. However, unlike the SRB12-p9 cells, S3DN cells underwent apoptotic cell death when cultured in serum-free medium (SFM). This was evidenced by multiple criteria, including accumulation of sub-G1 particles, induced PARP cleavage, and acquisition of the characteristic morphological changes associated with apoptosis. CONCLUSION: This study provides direct evidence for a role for Stat3 in maintaining cell survival in the conditions of exogenous growth factor deprivation produced by culture in SFM. We also propose that delivery of the S3DN gene or protein to tumor cells could induce apoptosis and/or sensitize those cells to the apoptotic effects of cancer therapeutic agents, raising the possibility of using S3DN as an adjunct for treatment of skin SCC

Musées et recherche en histoire de l’art en Grande-Bretagne : le cas de la Renaissance

Vu de ce côté-ci de la Manche, l’histoire de l’art en Grande-Bretagne donne l’impression d’être anglo-saxonne au sens où les passerelles entre musées et universités semblent beaucoup plus nombreuses, actives et fréquentées. Les musées, mais aussi les collections sont souvent historiquement liés à des lieux d’enseignement (la Christ Church Picture Gallery d’Oxford par exemple), plusieurs conservateurs ont été de grands professeurs (pensons simplement à Anthony Blunt…), de nombreux universitair..

Ligand-bound Structures and Site-directed Mutagenesis Identify the Acceptor and Secondary Binding Sites of Streptomyces coelicolor Maltosyltransferase GlgE

GlgE is a maltosyltransferase involved in -glucan biosynthesis in bacteria that has been genetically validated as a target for tuberculosis therapies. Crystals of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis enzyme diffract at low resolution so most structural studies have been with the very similar Streptomyces coelicolor GlgE isoform 1. Although the donor binding site for -maltose 1-phosphate had been previously structurally defined, the acceptor site had not. Using mutagenesis, kinetics, and protein crystallography of the S. coelicolor enzyme, we have now identified the +1 to +6 subsites of the acceptor/product, which overlap with the known cyclodextrin binding site. The sugar residues in the acceptor subsites +1 to +5 are oriented such that they disfavor the binding of malto-oligosaccharides that bear branches at their 6-positions, consistent with the known acceptor chain specificity of GlgE. A secondary binding site remote from the catalytic center was identified that is distinct from one reported for the M. tuberculosis enzyme. This new site is capable of binding a branched -glucan and is most likely involved in guiding acceptors toward the donor site because its disruption kinetically compromises the ability of GlgE to extend polymeric substrates. However, disruption of this site, which is conserved in the Streptomyces venezuelae GlgE enzyme, did not affect the growth of S. venezuelae or the structure of the polymeric product. The acceptor subsites +1 to +4 in the S. coelicolor enzyme are well conserved in the M. tuberculosis enzyme so their identification could help inform the design of inhibitors with therapeutic potential