The policy and practice of learning entrepreneurial skills and future ‘qualities of mind’

The policy and practice of learning entrepreneurial skills and future qualities of ‘mind’ Gerald Lidstone Goldsmiths University of London Towards a new concept of arts education Creativity in Arts Education In the last 12 years there have been a number of guiding documents and major conferences initiated by UNESCO and others that have created new cultural and educational policy directions - from Stockholm in 1998 to Seoul 2010 including the adoption of the UNESCO convention on the protection and the Promotion Diversity of Cultural Expressions 2005 and the World Conferences on Education for Sustainable Development. Each of these landmark events has provided an impetus to rethink education policy and practice. The groundbreaking work of Sir Ken Robinson in All Our Futures (i) made significant reference to the work of Howard Gardner with his classification of diverse intelligences. All our Futures is now just over ten years old however it is only now just beginning to have significant impact, it is essentially concerned with creative education – both learning and teaching creatively but also crucially recognising how to develop creative talent in students of all ages. On one level this has provoked a significant debate ( in a number of countries) on curriculum content; on one side an emphasis focusing on traditional mathematical and literacy skills the other on creative abilities developed around the Gardner intelligences, linguistic, mathematical, spatial, kinaesthetic, musical, interpersonal and intrapersonal. It is now necessary to move on from this debate ( although many countries have yet to fully understand or adopt the principals) to consider how the space in which creativity (ii) can flourish and be respected in all educational disciplines, can be can itself be created. This is essentially the teaching of entrepreneurial thinking ‘entrepreneurship education is a process which develops individuals’ mindsets, behaviours, skills and capabilities and can be applied to create value’ (iii) in a range of contexts and environments ( please note that this should not be confused with ‘enterprise’ - business thinking ). To return to Gardner, he now suggests five overarching qualities of mind for the 21st century. An expertise in a discipline, an ability to synthesize information and communicate it, the creating mind, an engagement with and a respect for diversity and finally to be able to act ethically. If these qualities or capacities (which sound very reasonable) are to be learnt effectively then they will need to be developed through a cultural lens. The ‘culture’ referred to is increasingly global in nature as it is often engaged with through digital means. The digital expert Jaron Lanier points out a key concern with culture in this form. The difference between real culture and fake culture is whether you internalise the thing before you mash (iv) it. Does it become part of you? Is there some way your meaning, your spirit, your understanding has touched this thing? Or is it just a touch of novelty for a moment to get some attention? Culture involves some work, some risk, some exploration, some surprise (v). This paper will deal with the issues generated by learning entrepreneurial (self determining) skills and future qualities of ‘mind’ within the context of a global culture. i KACES has translated the Ken Robinson book Out of Our Minds into Korean and the ideas therein are being disseminated. ii It is understood that creativity can not be taught but the conditions for its development can be put in place. iii Developing Entrepreneurial Graduates Putting Entrepreneurship at the centre of higher education Durham University 2009 iv A Mash (up) is a term in web development referring to an application or web page that puts together data or a function from different sources to create a new page or function. v Jaron Lanier, author of 'You Are Not A Gadget' interviewed in the Observer Newspaper London 21/02/2010 Unesco & the Government of the Republic of Korea World Conference on Arts Education Seoul 25-28 May 2010 Identification form for the submission of abstracts on Arts Education (research/case studies/experiences of best practices) Surname: Lidstone Name: Gerald Mr/Ms/Dr/Prof: Dr Past and present occupation (detailed description): 2008 - Director Institute of Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship ICCE 2004 -2008 HOD Drama Department 1985 -2004 University Lecturer Organization/Institution/University: Goldsmiths University of London Address: ICCE 114 Whitehead, Goldsmiths, Lewisham Way New Cross, London SE14 6NW UK Telephone (+international code): +44 (0) 207 919 7424 Fax (+international code): +44 (0) 207 919 7413 E-mail Address: [email protected] Title of the Paper: The policy and practice of learning entrepreneurial skills and future qualities of 'mind

National Youth Dance Company 2012 – 2015: Three Year Evaluation

Executive summary of findings When NYDC began, there were seven areas of the project that were identified for the evaluation to report on. This has been done in detail in section four of this report. However, over the three years of the evaluation it became clear that there were important overarching themes emerging from the programme that as evaluators we felt were unique to NYDC and would be valuable to look at in more depth. The articulation of these themes provides a deeper understanding of what has been achieved and where additional value has been added to the company and programme to allow it to develop further. These themes are dealt with in section 3 of the report

Validation of presumptive tests for non-human blood using Kastle Meyer and Hemastix reagents

Kastle Meyer and Hemastix reagents are presumptive tests commonly used in forensic casework for the detection of blood, and their suitability has been reviewed in numerous publications. However, studies to date have focused on the validation of these tests on human blood alone, and no published work has looked at the sensitivity, specificity and effect on DNA analysis when using these reagents to presumptively test for animal blood. The aim of this study was to validate the two reagents for use with animal blood, and compare their performance in order to choose the best test based on the circumstances in wildlife crime investigation. The sensitivity, specificity, stability and robustness of the methods were assessed by experiments with dilutions of animal blood (from 1:4 to 1:65536) using direct and indirect (rub) tests, potential interfering substances, blood sources from different species and aged blood. The effects of the two reagents on subsequent DNA analysis were also investigated. During the direct tests, Kastle Meyer showed a higher sensitivity, detecting blood down to a dilution of 1:16,384, one order of magnitude lower than Hemastix. However during the rub test, Hemastix showed a higher sensitivity, detecting blood down to a dilution of 1:64 on porous materials while Kastle Meyer was positive only down to a dilution of 1:16. Moreover, when using the same swab for presumptive testing and DNA extraction, Hemastix testing allowed amplification of a sufficient amount of DNA for species identification at its limit of sensitivity on porous materials (1:64) while Kastle Meyer inhibited most amplification of DNA at its less sensitive limit of 1:16 dilution. On the other hand, Hemastix showed a much lower specificity, producing false positive results when exposed to tomato, potato, rust, avian uric acid, bleach and sink rot, while Kastle Meyer only produced a faint positive reaction from potato. Both tests performed equally well detecting fresh blood of different animal species. The stability test gave comparable results among the tests except for aged fish blood stains, where the Kastle Meyer test performed poorly. Owing to its ease of use, higher sensitivity, and lack of interference with downstream DNA analysis, and despite its reduced specificity compared to Kastle Meyer, the Hemastix method is more appropriate for use in wildlife crime investigations. Positive results would always be confirmed with DNA analysis and the low interference of the reagent will allow the use of a single swab for presumptive testing and DNA sampling

Prediction of 7-year psychopathology from mother-infant joint attention behaviours: a nested case–control study

<br>Background: To investigate whether later diagnosis of psychiatric disorder can be predicted from analysis of mother-infant joint attention (JA) behaviours in social-communicative interaction at 12 months.</br> <br>Method: Using data from a large contemporary birth cohort, we examined 159 videos of a mother-infant interaction for joint attention behaviour when children were aged one year, sampled from within the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) cohort. Fifty-three of the videos involved infants who were later considered to have a psychiatric disorder at seven years and 106 were same aged controls. Psychopathologies included in the case group were disruptive behaviour disorders, oppositional-conduct disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, pervasive development disorder, anxiety and depressive disorders. Psychiatric diagnoses were obtained using the Development and Wellbeing Assessment when the children were seven years old.</br> <br>Results: None of the three JA behaviours (shared look rate, shared attention rate and shared attention intensity) showed a significant association with the primary outcome of case–control status. Only shared look rate predicted any of the exploratory sub-diagnosis outcomes and was found to be positively associated with later oppositional-conduct disorders (OR [95% CI]: 1.5 [1.0, 2.3]; p = 0.041).</br><br>Conclusions: JA behaviours did not, in general, predict later psychopathology. However, shared look was positively associated with later oppositional-conduct disorders. This suggests that some features of JA may be early markers of later psychopathology. Further investigation will be required to determine whether any JA behaviours can be used to screen for families in need of intervention.</br&gt

Patterns of diagnoses among children and young adults with life-limiting conditions: a secondary analysis of a national dataset

Background: Numbers of children and young people with life-limiting conditions are rising, and increasing lifespans require young adults with life-limiting condition to transit to appropriate adult services. Aim: To describe the prevalence of life-limiting condition in children and young adults by age, sex, diagnostic group, ethnicity and deprivation. Design: A secondary analysis of the English Hospital Episode Statistics dataset was undertaken to calculate prevalence per 10,000 population. Setting/participants: Individuals (040 years) with life-limiting conditions were identified within an English Hospital Episode Statistics dataset by applying a customised coding framework of International Classification of Diseases, 10th Edition, disease codes. Results: There were 462,962 inpatient hospital admissions for 92,129 individual patients with a life-limiting condition. Prevalence-byage group curve is U shaped with the highest overall prevalence in the under 1-year age group (127.3 per 10,000), decreasing until age 2125 years (21.1 per 10,000) before rising steeply to reach 55.5 per 10,000 in the 3640 -year age group. The distribution by diagnostic group varies by age: congenital anomalies are most prevalent in children until age 1620 years with oncology diagnoses then becoming the most prevalent. Conclusion: Non-malignant diagnoses are common in children and young adults, and services that have historically focussed on oncological care will need to widen their remit to serve this population of life-limited patients. The diagnosis determining a patients lifelimiting condition will strongly influence their palliative care service needs. Therefore, understanding the diagnostic and demographic breakdown of this population of teenagers and young adults is crucial for planning future service provision

CHOP Mediates Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-Induced Apoptosis in Gimap5-Deficient T Cells

Gimap5 (GTPase of the immunity-associated protein 5) has been linked to the regulation of T cell survival, and polymorphisms in the human GIMAP5 gene associate with autoimmune disorders. The BioBreeding diabetes-prone (BBDP) rat has a mutation in the Gimap5 gene that leads to spontaneous apoptosis of peripheral T cells by an unknown mechanism. Because Gimap5 localizes to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), we hypothesized that absence of functional Gimap5 protein initiates T cell death through disruptions in ER homeostasis. We observed increases in ER stress-associated chaperones in T cells but not thymocytes or B cells from Gimap5−/− BBDP rats. We then discovered that ER stress-induced apoptotic signaling through C/EBP-homologous protein (CHOP) occurs in Gimap5−/− T cells. Knockdown of CHOP by siRNA protected Gimap5−/− T cells from ER stress-induced apoptosis, thereby identifying a role for this cellular pathway in the T cell lymphopenia of the BBDP rat. These findings indicate a direct relationship between Gimap5 and the maintenance of ER homeostasis in the survival of T cells

A Novel Role for the Centrosomal Protein, Pericentrin, in Regulation of Insulin Secretory Vesicle Docking in Mouse Pancreatic β-cells

The centrosome is important for microtubule organization and cell cycle progression in animal cells. Recently, mutations in the centrosomal protein, pericentrin, have been linked to human microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism (MOPD II), a rare genetic disease characterized by severe growth retardation and early onset of type 2 diabetes among other clinical manifestations. While the link between centrosomal and cell cycle defects may account for growth deficiencies, the mechanism linking pericentrin mutations with dysregulated glucose homeostasis and pre-pubertal onset of diabetes is unknown. In this report we observed abundant expression of pericentrin in quiescent pancreatic β-cells of normal animals which led us to hypothesize that pericentrin may have a critical function in β-cells distinct from its known role in regulating cell cycle progression. In addition to the typical centrosome localization, pericentrin was also enriched with secretory vesicles in the cytoplasm. Pericentrin overexpression in β-cells resulted in aggregation of insulin-containing secretory vesicles with cytoplasmic, but not centrosomal, pericentriolar material and an increase in total levels of intracellular insulin. RNAi- mediated silencing of pericentrin in secretory β-cells caused dysregulated secretory vesicle hypersecretion of insulin into the media. Together, these data suggest that pericentrin may regulate the intracellular distribution and secretion of insulin. Mice transplanted with pericentrin-depleted islets exhibited abnormal fasting hypoglycemia and inability to regulate blood glucose normally during a glucose challenge, which is consistent with our in vitro data. This previously unrecognized function for a centrosomal protein to mediate vesicle docking in secretory endocrine cells emphasizes the adaptability of these scaffolding proteins to regulate diverse cellular processes and identifies a novel target for modulating regulated protein secretion in disorders such as diabetes

Whole-genome sequencing reveals host factors underlying critical COVID-19

Critical COVID-19 is caused by immune-mediated inflammatory lung injury. Host genetic variation influences the development of illness requiring critical care1 or hospitalization2–4 after infection with SARS-CoV-2. The GenOMICC (Genetics of Mortality in Critical Care) study enables the comparison of genomes from individuals who are critically ill with those of population controls to find underlying disease mechanisms. Here we use whole-genome sequencing in 7,491 critically ill individuals compared with 48,400 controls to discover and replicate 23 independent variants that significantly predispose to critical COVID-19. We identify 16 new independent associations, including variants within genes that are involved in interferon signalling (IL10RB and PLSCR1), leucocyte differentiation (BCL11A) and blood-type antigen secretor status (FUT2). Using transcriptome-wide association and colocalization to infer the effect of gene expression on disease severity, we find evidence that implicates multiple genes—including reduced expression of a membrane flippase (ATP11A), and increased expression of a mucin (MUC1)—in critical disease. Mendelian randomization provides evidence in support of causal roles for myeloid cell adhesion molecules (SELE, ICAM5 and CD209) and the coagulation factor F8, all of which are potentially druggable targets. Our results are broadly consistent with a multi-component model of COVID-19 pathophysiology, in which at least two distinct mechanisms can predispose to life-threatening disease: failure to control viral replication; or an enhanced tendency towards pulmonary inflammation and intravascular coagulation. We show that comparison between cases of critical illness and population controls is highly efficient for the detection of therapeutically relevant mechanisms of disease