A short history off-line

Emerging technologies for learning report - Article exploring the history of ICT in education and the lessons we can learn from the pas

A Survey of the Prior Programming Experience of Undergraduate Computing and Engineering Students in Ireland

It has become apparent that increasing numbers of students arriving into undergraduate computing and engineering degree programmes in Irish 3rd-level institutions have prior experience of computer programming. As the extent of this prior exposure as well as its nature, origins, and usefulness is not known beyond anecdotal evidence, an annual survey of prior programming experience of freshman undergraduates who study programming as part of their degree has been designed and administered. This paper reports on the first two years of this survey in 2015 and 2016. It found that around one third had some prior experience of programming with nearly half of that group reporting a reasonable level of fluency in one or more languages. The authors expect that the effect of proposed changes to primary and 2nd-level curricula alongside the increasing popularity of informal programming clubs will be increasingly felt in coming years and therefore plan to continue and extend the survey in order to clarify the effect of such developments. The results should be of interest to 3rd-level educators in the planning of curriculum and teaching practice

A decade of TeachMeet: an Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis of participants’ tales of impact

TeachMeet is an emerging informal professional development event organised by teachers for teachers, commonly described as an unconference. It is a volunteer-led global phenomenon without any established hierarchy.   To celebrate the first ten years of TeachMeet, the  founders announced an open call for particpants to submit, online, their stories of impact. The resulting submissions were subjected to an Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) capitalizing on the ‘double hermeneutic’ lens of the experience of researchers whose positionality is that of informed insiders. Findings reveal the categories in which the lived experience reported by participants shows the impact of TeachMeet: ranging from appreciative description of the event they attended to reflective confessions of life-enhancing transformation in their personal and professional lives, their classrooms and the wider teaching community. These finding are examined in the light of how they align with several models of evaluation of teacher learning (Guskey 1998, Kennedy 2005, Kirkpatrick 2006, Desimone 2011, Wenger, Trayner and deLatt 2011), and what they indicate about where evolving TeachMeet communities and networks may be situated in an informal learning landscape.Amond, M.; Johnston, K.; Millwood, R.; Mcintosh, E. (2020). A decade of TeachMeet: an Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis of participants’ tales of impact. En 6th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd'20). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. (30-05-2020):483-491. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAd20.2020.11089OCS48349130-05-202

Undergraduate Student As Action-Researcher: Work-focused Learning

This paper describes and evaluates an approach to online supported, work-focused learning where undergraduate students operate as action-researchers; planning and implementing action for improvement in their workplace as a basis for award-bearing credit in higher education. A model is proposed for a meaningful, ongoing tripartite relationship between the Higher Education Institution, learner and small and medium enterprises that is viable. The way the design enables the learner to develop their "higher level skills that embody the essence of higher education" (Willis, 2008) is an important issue if the ideas and approach are to be widely adopted. The paper outlines the curriculum design and the nature of the students work-focused inquiries. Data from final year research reports was analysed to identify the characteristics of the projects undertaken by students uncovering 'who they have become'. Challenges and issues of the approach are discussed

Assessing the bioconfinement potential of a Nicotiana hybrid platform for use in plant molecular farming applications

Background The introduction of pharmaceutical traits in tobacco for commercial production could benefit from the utilization of a transgene bioconfinement system. It has been observed that interspecific F1Nicotiana hybrids (Nicotiana tabacum × Nicotiana glauca) are sterile and thus proposed that hybrids could be suitable bioconfined hosts for biomanufacturing. We genetically tagged hybrids with green fluorescent protein (GFP), which was used as a visual marker to enable gene flow tracking and quantification for field and greenhouse studies. GFP was used as a useful proxy for pharmaceutical transgenes. Results Analysis of DNA content revealed significant genomic downsizing of the hybrid relative to that of N. tabacum. Hybrid pollen was capable of germination in vitro, albeit with a very low frequency and with significant differences between plants. In two field experiments, one each in Tennessee and Kentucky, we detected outcrossing at only one location (Tennessee) at 1.4%. Additionally, from 50 hybrid plants at each field site, formation of 84 and 16 seed was observed, respectively. Similar conclusions about hybrid fertility were drawn from greenhouse crosses. In terms of above-ground biomass, the hybrid yield was not significantly different than that of N. tabacum in the field. Conclusion N. tabacum × N. glauca hybrids show potential to contribute to a bioconfinement- and biomanufacturing host system. Hybrids exhibit extremely low fertility with no difference of green biomass yields relative to N. tabacum. In addition, hybrids are morphologically distinguishable from tobacco allowing for identity preservation. This hybrid system for biomanufacturing would optimally be used where N. glauca is not present and in physical isolation of N. tabacum production to provide total bioconfinement

An orange fluorescent protein tagging system for real-time pollen tracking

BACKGROUND: Monitoring gene flow could be important for future transgenic crops, such as those producing plant-made-pharmaceuticals (PMPs) in open field production. A Nicotiana hybrid (Nicotiana. tabacum x Nicotiana glauca) shows limited male fertility and could be used as a bioconfined PMP platform. Effective assessment of gene flow from these plants is augmented with methods that utilize fluorescent proteins for transgenic pollen identification. RESULTS: We report the generation of a pollen tagging system utilizing an orange fluorescent protein to monitor pollen flow and as a visual assessment of transgene zygosity of the parent plant. This system was created to generate a tagged Nicotiana hybrid that could be used for the incidence of gene flow. Nicotiana tabacum \u27TN 90\u27 and Nicotiana glauca were successfully transformed via Agrobacterium tumefaciens to express the orange fluorescent protein gene, tdTomato-ER, in pollen and a green fluorescent protein gene, mgfp5-er, was expressed in vegetative structures of the plant. Hybrids were created that utilized the fluorescent proteins as a research tool for monitoring pollen movement and gene flow. Manual greenhouse crosses were used to assess hybrid sexual compatibility with N. tabacum, resulting in seed formation from hybrid pollination in 2% of crosses, which yielded non-viable seed. Pollen transfer to the hybrid formed seed in 19% of crosses and 10 out of 12 viable progeny showed GFP expression. CONCLUSION: The orange fluorescent protein is visible when expressed in the pollen of N. glauca, N. tabacum, and the Nicotiana hybrid, although hybrid pollen did not appear as bright as the parent lines. The hybrid plants, which show limited ability to outcross, could provide bioconfinement with the benefit of detectable pollen using this system. Fluorescent protein-tagging could be a valuable tool for breeding and in vivo ecological monitoring

Alcohol intake and cause-specific mortality: conventional and genetic evidence in a prospective cohort study of 512 000 adults in China

Background Genetic variants that affect alcohol use in East Asian populations could help assess the causal effects of alcohol consumption on cause-specific mortality. We aimed to investigate the associations between alcohol intake and cause-specific mortality using conventional and genetic epidemiological methods among more than 512 000 adults in China. Methods The prospective China Kadoorie Biobank cohort study enrolled 512 724 adults (210 205 men and 302 519 women) aged 30–79 years, during 2004–08. Residents with no major disabilities from ten diverse urban and rural areas of China were invited to participate, and alcohol use was self-reported. During 12 years of follow-up, 56 550 deaths were recorded through linkage to death registries, including 23 457 deaths among 168 050 participants genotyped for ALDH2-rs671 and ADH1B-rs1229984. Adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for cause-specific mortality by self-reported and genotype-predicted alcohol intake were estimated using Cox regression. Findings 33% of men drank alcohol most weeks. In conventional observational analyses, ex-drinkers, non-drinkers, and heavy drinkers had higher risks of death from most major causes than moderate drinkers. Among current drinkers, each 100 g/week higher alcohol intake was associated with higher mortality risks from cancers (HR 1·18 [95% CI 1·14−1·22]), cardiovascular disease (CVD; HR 1·19 [1·15−1·24]), liver diseases (HR 1·51 [1·27−1·78]), non-medical causes (HR 1·15 [1·08−1·23]), and all causes (HR 1·18 [1·15−1·20]). In men, ALDH2-rs671 and ADH1B-rs1229984 genotypes predicted 60-fold differences in mean alcohol intake (4 g/week in the lowest group vs 255 g/week in the highest). Genotype-predicted alcohol intake was uniformly and positively associated with risks of death from all causes (n=12 939; HR 1·07 [95% CI 1·05−1·10]) and from pre-defined alcohol-related cancers (n=1274; 1·12 [1·04−1·21]), liver diseases (n=110; 1·31 [1·02−1·69]), and CVD (n=6109; 1·15 [1·10−1·19]), chiefly due to stroke (n=3285; 1·18 [1·12–1·24]) rather than ischaemic heart disease (n=2363; 1·06 [0·99–1·14]). Results were largely consistent using a polygenic score to predict alcohol intake, with higher intakes associated with higher risks of death from alcohol-related cancers, CVD, and all causes. Approximately 2% of women were current drinkers, and although power was low to assess observational associations of alcohol with mortality, the genetic evidence suggested that the excess risks in men were due to alcohol, not pleiotropy. Interpretation Higher alcohol intake increased the risks of death overall and from major diseases for men in China. There was no genetic evidence of protection from moderate drinking for all-cause and cause-specific mortality, including CVD. Funding Kadoorie Charitable Foundation, National Natural Science Foundation of China, British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, GlaxoSmithKline, Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council, and Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology

MTHFR and risk of stroke and heart disease in a low-folate population: a prospective study of 156 000 Chinese adults

Background The relevance of folic acid for stroke prevention in low-folate populations such as in China is uncertain. Genetic studies of the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) C677T polymorphism, which increases plasma homocysteine (tHcy) levels, could clarify the causal relevance of elevated tHcy levels for stroke, ischaemic heart disease (IHD) and other diseases in populations without folic acid fortification. Methods In the prospective China Kadoorie Biobank, 156 253 participants were genotyped for MTHFR and 12 240 developed a stroke during the 12-year follow-up. Logistic regression was used to estimate region-specific odds ratios (ORs) for total stroke and stroke types, IHD and other diseases comparing TT genotype for MTHFR C677T (two thymine alleles at position 677 of MTHFR C677T polymorphism) vs CC (two cytosine alleles) after adjustment for age and sex, and these were combined using inverse-variance weighting. Results Overall, 21% of participants had TT genotypes, but this varied from 5% to 41% across the 10 study regions. Individuals with TT genotypes had 13% (adjusted OR 1.13, 95% CI 1.09–1.17) higher risks of any stroke [with a 2-fold stronger association with intracerebral haemorrhage (1.24, 1.17–1.32) than for ischaemic stroke (1.11, 1.07–1.15)] than the reference CC genotype. In contrast, MTHFR C677T was unrelated to risk of IHD or any other non-vascular diseases, including cancer, diabetes and chronic obstructive lung disease. Conclusions In Chinese adults, the MTHFR C677T polymorphism was associated with higher risks of stroke. The findings warrant corroboration by further trials of folic acid and implementation of mandatory folic acid fortification programmes for stroke prevention in low-folate populations

Plasma proteomics to identify drug targets for ischemic heart disease

Background Integrated analyses of plasma proteomic and genetic markers in prospective studies can clarify the causal relevance of proteins and discover novel targets for ischemic heart disease (IHD) and other diseases. Objectives The purpose of this study was to examine associations of proteomics and genetics data with IHD in population studies to discover novel preventive treatments. Methods We conducted a nested case-cohort study in the China Kadoorie Biobank (CKB) involving 1,971 incident IHD cases and 2,001 subcohort participants who were genotyped and free of prior cardiovascular disease. We measured 1,463 proteins in the stored baseline samples using the OLINK EXPLORE panel. Cox regression yielded adjusted HRs for IHD associated with individual proteins after accounting for multiple testing. Moreover, cis-protein quantitative loci (pQTLs) identified for proteins in genome-wide association studies of CKB and of UK Biobank were used as instrumental variables in separate 2-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) studies involving global CARDIOGRAM+C4D consortium (210,842 IHD cases and 1,378,170 controls). Results Overall 361 proteins were significantly associated at false discovery rate <0.05 with risk of IHD (349 positively, 12 inversely) in CKB, including N-terminal prohormone of brain natriuretic peptide and proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9. Of these 361 proteins, 212 had cis-pQTLs in CKB, and MR analyses of 198 variants in CARDIOGRAM+C4D identified 13 proteins that showed potentially causal associations with IHD. Independent MR analyses of 307 cis-pQTLs identified in Europeans replicated associations for 4 proteins (FURIN, proteinase-activated receptor-1, Asialoglycoprotein receptor-1, and matrix metalloproteinase-3). Further downstream analyses showed that FURIN, which is highly expressed in endothelial cells, is a potential novel target and matrix metalloproteinase-3 a potential repurposing target for IHD. Conclusions Integrated analyses of proteomic and genetic data in Chinese and European adults provided causal support for FURIN and multiple other proteins as potential novel drug targets for treatment of IHD