International students learning experience in a post COVID era: preference on delivery model for academic English support

The Higher Education landscape has changed substantially since the 2020 COVID pandemic. Emerging back from two disrupted years, it is apparent that UK universities are not going back to what was normal before this but evolving into a different system, and the international area is not an exception. While many predicted international recruitments would stop in 2020/21, the UK’s Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) reported that during that academic year enrolment for international students actually increased 10.6% in 2020/21 and 12.3% in 2021/22 for overseas students. Nevertheless, a proportion of these students did start or complete their courses virtually rather than in the UK, despite not being enrolled for a fully online or distance course. For international students, the experience of studying abroad differed from what it was expected, adding new challenges, especially for those who arrived after the course started. Cultural adaptation and understanding the new learning and teaching system are the main challenge for international students, and they can impact equally on the performance and outcome of the study abroad experience. This research project aimed to understand the post-COVID changes on the learning preferences between online and presential L&T (Learning and Teaching) of international students, with special focus on Academic English. Manchester Metropolitan University, through the “Coaching for Academic English” programme offers free language support to all international students which includes English for Academic Purposes classes and writing consultations. The delivery mode pre-COVID, was either face to face classes or with consultations for the 1,828 students in 2017/18, and 1,915 students in 2018/19) that engaged with this service. Online consultations were available pre-COVID but, there was not a demand for them. During the academic years 2019/20 and 2020/21, all sessions were moved to online, however, from the academic year 2021/22 the service has offered a mix of face to face and online classes for all areas except for writing consultations which continue to be online. From 2019/20, the service also started offering ESP courses and consultations (English for Specific Purposes). This consists of workshops created with a specific unit assessment in mind. Students are then given the opportunity to submit a draft for feedback. This has replaced the need for consultations for many students. The attendance in 2122 for online classes and face to face classes shows a preference for online, demonstrated by the attendance to the module “Dissertation writing course” (5 weeks): 121 students online and only 23 students (<20%) attending face to face. This is mirrored across all courses. One students commented: ““Dear tutor, my colleagues and I would like to request if the academic skills class could be run online as most if us will be attending the OET (Occupational English Test) course online and will be unable to make it on time / attend.” Data indicates that students continue to prefer online delivery after experiencing blended delivery during the COVID academic years (2019-2021). The impact of the mode of delivery on international students’ experience is evident based on lower attendance to face to face English sessions, compared to online sessions. This ultimately will continue to affect their employability and their proficiency of the English language

3D computational fluid dynamic modelling for pulsatile blood wave propagation in the event of car crash

Blunt traumatic aortic rupture (BTAR) is one of the leading causes of rapid fatality in motor vehicle crashes. The mechanism of BTAR, however, is still not clear due to its complicated process. This paper looks the pattern alteration of blood wave propagation of the aorta caused by impact loading to identify the sources of rupture of aorta. In this paper, a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamic (CFD) human aortic model was established. Pulsatile pressure and velocity, representing the cardiac transient pressure and velocity for the healthy adult, were applied at the inlet and outlets of aortic model as the boundary conditions. Blood flow propagation along the ascending aorta to thoracic descending aorta were analysed using ABAQUS CFD. The results indicate that the waves as a result of the impact loading have a significant effect on the patterns of blood wave propagation, which may be considered as one of the sources of rupture of aorta

Acceptability and feasibility of a pilot randomized controlled trial of Narrative e-Writing Intervention (NeW-I) for parent-caregivers of children with chronic life-threatening illnesses in Singapore

Background Narrative e-Writing Intervention (NeW-I) is a novel psycho-socio-spiritual intervention which aims to bridge gaps in paediatric palliative care by providing anticipatory grief support to parent-caregivers who are looking after their child with a chronic life-threatening illness in Singapore. This is done via a therapist-facilitated smartphone app that focuses on strengths and meaning derived from parents’ caregiving journey. NeW-I is empirically informed by an international systematic review and a Singapore-based qualitative inquiry on the lived experience of parental bereavement and supported by anticipatory grief interventions literature for improving the holistic well-being for parent-caregivers of seriously ill children. NeW-I is implemented in Singapore as an open-label two-armed randomized controlled trial comprising an intervention and control group. Methods This study examined the acceptability (via analysis of participants’ post-intervention qualitative feedback and responses to a post-intervention evaluation survey) and feasibility (via records and memos of therapists’ experience of delivering the intervention) of NeW-I among 26 intervention participants drawn from the larger trial. Results Framework analysis of participants’ post-intervention feedback revealed four themes, namely: (i) Meaningful opportunity for reflection, (ii) Congruity with parent-caregivers’ needs, (iii) Compatibility of online narrative writing and (iv) Sustainability and enhancement recommendations. The post-intervention evaluation survey showed that participants were overall satisfied with their NeW-I experience with a large number of participants acknowledging that NeW-I had improved their spiritual well-being, hopefulness about the future and perception of social support that was available to them, as well as lessened their feelings of sadness and depression, caregiver burden and fear and anxiety about their child’s illness. The research team found it feasible to deliver the intervention in the current setting. Conclusion NeW-I is an innovative e-health tool that could immeasurably value-add to paediatric palliative care services for Asian families in Singapore and around the world

Structure-rheology relationships of protein-polysaccharide complexes at oil/water interfaces : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Physics at Biophysics and Soft Matter Group, School of Fundamental Science, Massey University

Figures 1.1 & 1.2 are reproduced under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) license. Figure 2.1 is reproduced under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license. Figures 1.4 (=de Kruif et al., 2004 Fig 3) & 1.6 (=Kubo et al., 2019 Fig 1.5) were removed for copyright reasons.The complexation of proteins with polysaccharides to form bio-complexes is being utilized in a variety of applications including food formulations, microencapsulation, protein separation and bioactive deliveries. Understanding the impact of these biomolecules on each other with discernment will not only improve our existing usages but also aid in devising newer applications. The duo of beta -lactoglobulin (beta -lg), a surface active globular whey protein, and pectin, a plant-derived polysaccharide, is the model protein-polysaccharide system of this study. Beta -lg and pectin have been reported to undergo complexation driven by electrostatic attraction leading to contrasting interfacial rheological properties depending on the fine structures of the polysaccharide. The aim of this thesis is to understand the role of fine structures of the polysaccharide in protein adsorption and the interfacial film formation. Given that beta -lg is the interfacially active molecule in this study, assemblies of beta -lg at dodecane/water interfaces at pHs 3 and 4, and at different conditions of ionic strength, salt type and temperature were studied. These parameters were tuned to vary the relative amounts of two native species, namely, monomer and its smallest aggregate, the dimer, while the interface was monitored using rheology and tensiometry. Unfolding of beta -lg dimers at the interface triggers the formation of disulfide linkages between the free thiol groups located at cys121 of the monomers. In this way, it is demonstrated here for the first time that beta -lg dimers are the smallest elastic network building unit of the protein. A higher concentration of dimers increases the final interfacial elastic strength of the network. The lack of the elastic film forming ability of beta -lg monomer is attributed to the absence of multiple free thiol groups. Moreover, beta -lg monomer exhibited minimal reduction in interfacial tension akin to a pure buffer solution. This fundamental relation between the quaternary structure of beta -lg and its subsequent interfacial network suggests a possible interfacial role in its biological function. Besides, these results will also be used as control for assessing the behaviors of beta -lg/polysaccharide complexes. In the next phase of this study, transient interfacial rheology of pre-mixed solutions of beta -lg and polysaccharides with different lengths and charge densities at pHs 3 and 4 are presented. It was found that, while the interfacial activity of beta -lg/pectin complexes is dictated by the amount of charge on the polysaccharide, the kinetics of the complexed beta -lg’s adsorption and its subsequent interfacial film formation is largely controlled by the contiguity of the charges on the polysaccharide molecule. Using subphase injection techniques, it is further shown that the structure of the beta -lg in the protein/polysaccharide complex prior to adsorption is the major contributor to the lag time duration before the onset of an elastic film formation. This is exemplified by the contrasting behaviors of beta -lg/pectin complexes with high polysaccharide charge density as compared to beta -lg/pectin complexes with low polysaccharide charge density, where the latter can be used as a one shot delivery system to obtain reinforced oil/water interfaces. It is further proposed that the mechanism by which a polysaccharide molecule reinforces beta -lg interfacial film is by concatenating multiple protein units and establishing cross-links in the aqueous subphase. The final phase of this study presents microrheology measurements of oil/water interfaces laden with beta -lg and beta -lg/polysaccharide complexes. Microrheology further ascertains the viscous nature of beta -lg monomer laden interfaces and the elastic nature of the interfaces with beta -lg dimers. In addition, the presence of heterogeneity in the entangled films made of beta -lg dimers in the form of confinements was also observed. A sharp transition was exhibited from an inelastic to elastic interface occurring around a surface dimer concentration of 56 ng/m2 at pH 3, 15 mM NaCl. Further, a slightly denser interface was observed for almost all the beta -lg/polysaccharide complexes at pH 4. The heterogeneity that was observed at dimeric interfaces was not seen for interfaces with beta -lg/polysaccharide complexes indicating the presence of the polysaccharide molecules beneath the interfacial film. On the whole, this thesis demonstrates the advantages of using of interfacial rheological techniques to tease out the structure-rheology relationships of biomolecules such as proteins and protein/polysaccharide complexes and thereby provide valuable insights about molecular manipulations

Occurrence of the Indian shag Phalacrocorax fuscicollis Stephens in Kerala

Volume: 88Start Page: 442End Page: 44

A comparative study on the diagnostic utility of ultrasonography with conventional radiography and computed tomography scan in detection of zygomatic arch and mandibular fractures

Objectives: The objective of the following study is to evaluate the usefulness of ultrasonography (USG) in comparison with conventional radiography and computed tomography (CT) scan in the diagnosis of zygomatic arch and mandibular fractures. Materials and Methods: A total of 40 patients with suspected fracture of the zygomatic arch and/or mandibular fractures were included in the study. Two groups (one for zygomatic arch fractures and the other for mandibular fractures) of 20 patients each were designed for the study. Ultrasonographic examinations were performed using small linear probe (LA435, Siemens Acuson Antares) with 10 MHz frequency. Data from CT and conventional radiography were compared with that of USG. Results: Sensitivity and specificity of USG in assessing zygomatic arch fractures were 100% and 100%, respectively; and that of mandibular fractures were 94.74% and 100%, respectively. Overall sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of USG against CT in diagnosing zygomatic arch and mandibular fractures were found out to be 97.4%, 100%, 100%, and 66.7%, respectively. Conclusion: USG is a very reliable tool in detection of fractures involving zygomatic arch and mandible. It can be used for screening of suspected fractures of zygomatic arch and mandible to avoid unnecessary radiation exposure from conventional radiography and CT scans