Measuring constructive alignment: an alignment metric to guide good practice

We present a computational model that represents and computes the level to which an educational design is constructively aligned. The model is able to provide ‘alignment metrics’ for both holistic and individual aspects of a programme or module design. A systemic and structural perspective of teaching and learning underpins the design of the computational model whereby Bloom’s taxonomy is used as a basis for categorising the core components of a teaching system and some basic principles of generative linguistics are borrowed for representing alignment structures and relationships. The degree of alignment is computed using Set theory and linear algebra. The model presented forms the main processing framework of a software tool currently being developed to facilitate teachers to systematically and consistently produce constructively aligned programmes of teaching and learning. It is envisaged that the model will have broad appeal as it allows the quality of educational designs to be measured and works on the principle of ‘practice techniques’ and ‘learning elicited’ as opposed to content

Unfamiliar Objects in Familiar Spaces: The Public Response to Art-in-Architecture

Examines the public response to a sample of 41 public art projects funded through the federal government's Art-In-Architecture program and attempts to illuminate the factors that lead to official or organized conflict

Artful Living: Examining the Relationship Between Artistic Practice and Subjective Wellbeing Across Three National Surveys

Over the past few decades, elected officials and policy leaders have increasingly focused on "quality of life issues," seeking ways to not only create jobs and grow the economy but also to help people both strengthen family and community life and advance health and happiness. The arts have a role to play in this new agenda. In 2011, the National Endowment for the Arts collaborated with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to host a convening examining the relationship between the arts and wellbeing. From that meeting emerged an interagency task force involving 13 federal agencies and departments with the goal to encourage more research on how the arts help people develop their full potential at all stages of life. Rocco Landesman helped frame the new initiative when he remarked, "How do the arts help build us as a people and as individuals? We share a fundamental mission -- how to improve the quality of life. The arts are central to human development".This report represents an initial exploration of the thesis that the arts are essential to a high quality of life. Using three national datasets, we examine the correlation between artistic practice and wellbeing among a representative national sample of adults, a sample of undergraduate seniors, and a sample of former arts graduates. Overall, we find strong support that artistic practice is associated with higher levels of life satisfaction, a more positive self image, less anxiety about change, a more tolerant and open approach to diverse others, and, in some cases, less focus on materialistic values and the acquisition of goods

Taxation and Corporate Pension Policy

Section I introduces the material in the context of existing research. In Section II the effects of the tax structure on the desirability of having pension plans and on the funding and investment policies of such plans is discussed. Section III discusses the discrepancies between the prescriptions presented above and current practice. The Appendix contains a detailed analysis of each of the two tax provisions that apply to corporate pension plans.

Pain Perception: Investigating Links Between Pain Transmission and CCK(+) Neurons, with Regard to the Opioid Crisis

With dependence on opioids, such as codeine, morphine, and heroin, steadily increasing amongst the American public, the withdrawal symptoms associated with disuse are receiving much more attention. Our research identifies neurons that are implicated in the hyperanalgesic response to the cessation of opiate medication after dependence has been established. These neurons, identified by the cholecystokinin protein (CCK), are localized in regions of the central nervous system that are responsible for transducing painful signals from the periphery to the brain. In particular, our research focuses on the substantia gelatinosa of the spinal cord and the trigeminal nucleus within the brain stem; the spinal cord is responsible for transmitting painful signals from below the shoulders, and the trigeminal nucleus is responsible for transmitting pain from above the shoulders. Our research supports the hypothesis that neurons with high levels of CCK expression (CCK(+) neurons) are involved in the transmission of pain from the periphery, where the pain occurs, to the brain, where it is perceived. We did not find that the CCK(+) neurons communicate through GABA neurotransmission, and we will continue researching how these neurons communicate, as well as the implications they have on the modulation of pain by opiate use/disuse