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Many undergraduate students struggle to engage with higher order skills such as evaluation and synthesis in written assignments, either because they do not understand that these are the aim of written assessment or because these critical thinking skills require more effort than writing a descriptive essay. Here, we report that students who attended a freely available workshop, in which they were coached to pose a question in the title of their assignment and then use their essay to answer that question, obtained higher marks for their essay than those who did not attend. We demonstrate that this is not a result of latent academic ability amongst students who chose to attend our workshops and suggest this increase in marks was a result of greater engagement with ‘critical thinking’ skills, which are essential for upper 2:1 and 1st class grades. The tutoring method we used holds two particular advantages: First, we allow students to pick their own topics of interest, which increases ownership of learning, which is associated with motivation and engagement in ‘difficult’ tasks. Second, this method integrates the development of ‘inquisitiveness’ and critical thinking into subject specific learning, which is thought to be more productive than trying to develop these skills in isolation

Towards a typology of video exercises

L’utilisation de la vidéo à bon escient dans un cours de langue doit toujours dépasser le simple visionnement d’une séquence vidéo en suscitant des réactions de la part des apprenants. Ces derniers doivent, en effet, être actifs lorsqu’ils regardent d’où le besoin d’une médiation didactique en forme d’exercices utiles, efficaces et intelligents exploitant le document brut. Cet article, ainsi que la typologie qu’il décrit, tente de définir et de catégoriser les différents types d’exercices susceptibles d’accompagner une séquence vidéo. La typologie a pour origine l’importante banque d’exercices et l’expérience de l’équipe du DLVP, Bordeaux 2 dans la didactisation des informations pour VIFAX au cours des cinq dernières années.The effective use of video in language teaching must always involve more than simply replaying a television programme and eliciting learner reaction. Language learners must be active while they watch hence the need for didactic mediation in the form of varied, thought-provoking, helpful, effective support materials that exploit the raw video document. This paper and the typology it describes attempt to define and categorise the various exercise types suitable for video support materials. The typology draws on the bank of exercises and the experience gained by the team at the DLVP Bordeaux 2 in didactising news reports for VIFAX over the past five years

The role of renal transporters and novel regulatory interactions in the TAL that control blood pressure

Hypertension (HTN), a major public health issue is currently the leading factor in the global burden of disease, where associated complications account for 9.4 million deaths worldwide every year (98). Excessive dietary salt intake is among the environmental factors that contribute to HTN, known as salt sensitivity. The heterogeneity of salt sensitivity and the multiple mechanisms that link high salt intake to increases in blood pressure are of upmost importance for therapeutic application. A continual increase in the kidney's reabsorption of sodium (Na+) relies on sequential actions at various segments along the nephron. When the distal segments of the nephron fail to regulate Na+, the effects on Na+ homeostasis are unfavourable. We propose that the specific nephron region where increased active uptake occurs as a result of variations in Na+ reabsorption is at the thick ascending limb of the loop of Henle (TAL). The purpose of this review is to urge the consideration of the TAL that contributes to the pathophysiology of salt sensitive HTN. Further research in this area will enable development of a therapeutic application for targeted treatment

Colour preferences of UK garden birds at supplementary seed feeders

Supplementary feeding of garden birds generally has benefits for both bird populations and human wellbeing. Birds have excellent colour vision, and show preferences for food items of particular colours, but research into colour preferences associated with artificial feeders is limited to hummingbirds. Here, we investigated the colour preferences of common UK garden birds foraging at seed-dispensing artificial feeders containing identical food. We presented birds simultaneously with an array of eight differently coloured feeders, and recorded the number of visits made to each colour over 370 30-minute observation periods in the winter of 2014/15. In addition, we surveyed visitors to a garden centre and science festival to determine the colour preferences of likely purchasers of seed feeders. Our results suggest that silver and green feeders were visited by higher numbers of individuals of several common garden bird species, while red and yellow feeders received fewer visits. In contrast, people preferred red, yellow, blue and green feeders. We suggest that green feeders may be simultaneously marketable and attractive to foraging birds

A novel 3D human glioblastoma cell culture system for modeling drug and radiation responses

Background. Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common primary brain tumor, with dismal prognosis. The failure of drug–radiation combinations with promising preclinical data to translate into effective clinical treatments may relate to the use of simplified 2-dimensional in vitro GBM cultures. Methods. We developed a customized 3D GBM culture system based on a polystyrene scaffold (Alvetex) that recapitulates key histological features of GBM and compared it with conventional 2D cultures with respect to their response to radiation and to molecular targeted agents for which clinical data are available. Results. In 3 patient-derived GBM lines, no difference in radiation sensitivity was observed between 2D and 3D cultures, as measured by clonogenic survival. Three different molecular targeted agents, for which robust clinical data are available were evaluated in 2D and 3D conditions: (i) temozolomide, which improves overall survival and is standard of care for GBM, exhibited statistically significant effects on clonogenic survival in both patient-derived cell lines when evaluated in the 3D model compared with only one cell line in 2D cells; (ii) bevacizumab, which has been shown to increase progression-free survival when added to standard chemoradiation in phase III clinical trials, exhibited marked radiosensitizing activity in our 3D model but had no effect on 2D cells; and (iii) erlotinib, which had no efficacy in clinical trials, displayed no activity in our 3D GBM model, but radiosensitized 2D cells. Conclusions. Our 3D model reliably predicted clinical efficacy, strongly supporting its clinical relevance and potential value in preclinical evaluation of drug–radiation combinations for GBM

Do patients who die from an alcohol-related condition ‘drift’ into areas of greater deprivation? Alcohol-related mortality and health selection theory in Scotland

Background: Health selection has been proposed to explain the patterning of alcohol-related mortality by area deprivation. This study investigated whether persons who die from alcohol-related conditions are more likely to experience social drift than those who die from other causes. Methods: Deaths recorded in Scotland (2013, >21 years) were coded as ‘alcohol-related’ or ‘other’ and by deprivation decile of residence at death. Acute hospital admissions data from 1996 to 2012 were used to provide premortality deprivation data. χ² tests estimated the difference between observed and expected alcohol-related deaths by first Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) decile and type of death. Logistic regression models were fitted using type of death as the outcome of interest and change in SIMD decile as the exposure of interest. Results: Of 47 012 deaths, 1458 were alcohol-related. Upward and downward mobility was observed for both types of death. An estimated 31 more deaths than expected were classified ‘alcohol-related’ among cases whose deprivation score decreased, while 204 more deaths than expected were classified ‘alcohol-related’ among cases whose initial deprivation ranking was in the four most deprived deciles. Becoming more deprived and first deprivation category were both associated with increased odds of type of death being alcohol-related after adjusting for confounders. Conclusion: This study suggests that health selection appears to contribute less to the deprivation gradient in alcohol-related mortality in Scotland than an individual’s initial area deprivation category

Two times three little pigs: Dysfluency, cognitive complexity and autism

This paper presents an analysis of dysfluencies in two oral tellings of a familiar children's story by a young boy with autism. Thurber & Tager-Flusberg (1993) postulate a lower degree of cognitive and communicative investment to explain a lower frequency of non-grammatical pauses observed in elicited narratives of children with autism in comparison to typically developing and intellectually disabled controls. we also found a very low frequency of non-grammatical pauses in our data, but indications of high engagement and cognitive and communicative investment. We point to a wider range of disfluencies as indicators of cognitive load, and show that the kind and location of dysfluencies produced may reveal which aspects of the narrative task are creating the greatest cognitive demand: here, mental state ascription, perspectivization, and adherence to story schema. This paper thus generates analytical options and hypotheses that can be explored further in a larger population of children with autism and typically developing controls

Autonomy and visibility:the rewards of mobile working

What are the benefits of mobile working? When Police Scotland rolled out devices to 11,000 officers, they called on an independent academic team to assess the results - which were overwhelmingly positive. Chief Inspector Martin Gallagher, Deputy Business Lead, outlines the project, alongside Professor Lesley Diack of Robert Gordon University and Dr. William Graham of Abertay University.<br/

Benefits of implementation of mobile devices with frontline police officers in Police Scotland

STUDY BACKGROUND: The ‘Mobile Working Project’ is part of Police Scotland’s ‘Digitally Enabled Policing Programme’ (DEPP), which seeks to equip operational officers with a digital mobile policing solution to replace the traditional paper notebook system, to provide remote, live access to key policing information systems.The project’s aim is to increase efficiency and improve frontline service delivery, and visibility, for both officers and the communities of Scotland.STUDY AIM: The research study’s aim was to evaluate the implementation, impact, and benefits realisation, of the national phased roll-out of digital mobile policing across Police Scotland.The evaluation was undertaken concurrently with the phased Divisional roll-out of mobile devices, to identify associated issues, benefits and challenges; which will inform the final stages of roll-out to over 10000 police officers across Scotland

Scientific autobiography: some characteristics of the genre

Cet article s’intéresse à une douzaine de récits autobiographiques écrits par des scientifiques et s’attache à en caractériser le genre. Il apparaît clairement qu’une lecture attentive de ces textes est riche en enseignements sur la façon dont la connaissance scientifique est créée, diffusée, recyclée, ainsi que sur les contextes au sein desquels ce processus a lieu. Les inclusions et les omissions de chacun de ces exemples de l’« écriture de soi » est le reflet des influences et processus sociaux qui opèrent lors de la production et l’application de la connaissance scientifique. On discerne également une tension permanente entre l’interprétation personnelle des évènements et l’avancement du projet de la communauté scientifique toute entière.This article focuses on a dozen examples of autobiographical writing by scientists and attempts to characterise the genre. I argue that a careful reading of autobiographical texts reveals a great deal about the ways and the contexts in which scientific knowledge is created, popularised, and recycled. The material included and omitted in each of these examples of life writing reflects the social influences and processes at work in the production and application of scientific knowledge. A permanent tension between self-promotion, personal interpretation and the furtherance of the project of the scientific community as a whole is also evident