Student & tutor consensus: a partnership in assessment for learning

The mistakes made when attempting tasks often prove to be some of the most invaluable learning experiences. Despite this, outcome and results driven assessment formats largely penalise student performance errors or reward students who succeed by chance. The consequences of this paradigm are visible effects on student relationships with assessment. The student–tutor consensus approach to assessment was introduced to capture student learning achieved ‘from’ assessment to complement the measurement of performance outcomes. This approach parallels student and tutor judgement in a grade negotiation, affording the student an opportunity to share with their assessor what they have learned from the assessment activity. This student self-awareness was then considered alongside the conventional outcome-based score awarded by the tutor to generate a final grade for the assessed activity. Our study evaluated the perceptions of 90 undergraduate students enrolled in the bachelor of paramedic studies, who participated in this novel assessment approach as part of a final-year capstone topic. The results comprehensively indicated value for all aspects of the assessment approach, as well as a recognition that the skills will be useful in their future professional roles.     

How pre-service teachers navigate trade-offs of food systems across time scales: a lens for exploring understandings of sustainability

In response to the increasing recognition of the need for sustainable food systems, research on students’ and educators’ knowledge of food systems and sustainability more broadly has grown but has generally focused on what people ‘fail’ to understand. Moving away from this deficit approach, the present study used semi-structured interviews to explore how 12 pre-service teachers (PSTs) in the US consider sustainability in terms of the trade-offs – or concurrent costs and benefits – associated with using different agricultural resources over short, medium, and long terms. Drawing upon the constructs of framing, metacognition, and complex causality, the study found that the majority of PSTs referred to indirect experiences of seeing or hearing about agricultural resources to demonstrate stable knowledge of short-term trade-offs and construct tentative knowledge about medium-term trade-offs. Few described long-term trade-offs. Most participants also acknowledged some gaps in their knowledge in discussing trade-offs across the different time scales. Findings suggest the importance of leveraging and building upon educators’ (and ultimately students’) prior experiences to build their understanding of complex trade-offs that underlie food systems. The study also illustrates the value of using the concept of trade-offs across time scales to explore people’s conceptions and understandings of sustainability.     

Overexpression of Aldose Reductase Render Mouse Hepatocytes More Sensitive to Acetaminophen Induced Oxidative Stress and Cell Death

Acetaminophen (APAP) a commonly used drug for decrease the fever and pain but is capable to induced hepatotoxicity at over dose. This study was carried out to investigate the effect of APAP on the expression of anti-apoptotic and antioxidative defense genes, and whether aldose reductase over-expressing plasmid capable to protect against APAP-induced oxidative stress and cell death. APAP treatment induced oxidative stress and hepatotoxicity, and significantly increased aldose reductase mRNA and protein expression in mouse hepatocyte (AML-12). Unexpectedly, AML-12 cells over-expressing aldose reductase augmented APAP-induced reduction in cell viability, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, glutathione (GSH) depletion and glutathione S-transferase A2 expression. Moreover, over-expression of aldose reductase potentiated APAP induced reduction on proliferating cell nuclear antigen, B cell lymphoma-extra large (bcl-x_L), catalase, glutathione peroxidase-1 (GPx-1) and abolished APAP-induced B-cell lymphoma 2 (bcl-2) inductions. Further, over-expression of aldose reductase significantly abolished AMP activated protein kinase (AMPK) activity in APAP-treated cells and induced p53 expression. This results demonstrate that APAP induced toxicity in AML-12, increased aldose reductase expression, and over-expression of aldose reductase render this cell more susceptible to APAP induced oxidative stress and cell death, this probably due to inhibition AMPK or bcl-2 activity, or may due to competition between aldose reductase and glutathione reductase for NADPH.     

Global competition in a ‘flat’ world: a Foucauldian analysis of the neoliberal mentalities of 2 Million Minutes

Through an application of Foucauldian theories of power and neoliberalism, this article employs an ascending analysis to identify an embedded neoliberal agenda within the documentary 2 Million Minutes. The author argues that this neoliberal agenda serves to support and maintain notions of international white supremacy as it assumes relationships between whiteness and success, American identity and privilege, and through its definition of the global economy as one in which all students can equally take part. By articulating how the film engages in techniques of biopower through a comparative portrayal of high school students from India, China, and the United States, the author argues that representations of education ‘realities’ should be examined and questioned in order to locate powerful and hidden hegemonies.     

Beyond Boomer Meets NextGen: Examining Mentoring Practices among Pennsylvania Academic Librarians

A survey to assess mentoring experiences and attitudes towards work of Pennsylvania academic librarians was conducted in September 2006 with questions concerning mentoring experiences, work experiences, and attitudes towards work. Results of the survey are analyzed for differences among those librarians responding, especially generational differences, and implications for professional associations when developing mentoring programs are discussed.     

花状氧化铁的制备及其在废水处理中的应用

研究目的：研究花状氧化铁的制备并探讨其对砷的吸附性能和亚甲基蓝的催化性能。 创新要点：1.合成了花状氧化铁;2.发现Langmuir模型能更好地模拟砷的吸附过程;3.发现花状氧化铁对亚甲基蓝有很好的催化降解性能。 研究方法：1.使用扫描电镜、投射电镜、X射线衍射和BET比表面及孔径分析仪对合成的花状氧化铁进行表征;2.采用静态实验法研究砷的吸附性能及亚甲基蓝的催化行为。 重要结论：1.采用一种低成本的溶剂热法合成了花状氧化铁;2.合成的花状氧化铁有着较大的比表面积并对砷有着很好的吸附性能,并且吸附率随着pH的增加而降低。同时发现Langmuir模型能更好地模拟砷的吸附过程;3.亚甲基蓝的初始浓度和花状氧化铁的用量对催化性能影响较为明显,花状氧化铁有较好的重复利用性;4.合成的花状氧化铁可以应用于大批废水的处理。     

Game-based learning platform to enhance cybersecurity education

Education and Information Technologies - Computer security competitions have been playing a significant role in encouraging students to get into cybersecurity, as well as enhancing the...     

Significance: recognizing the value of research across national and linguistic boundaries

Internationalization of educational publishing promises fresh perspectives and new solutions—but not if US-based editors, reviewers, and readers fail to recognize the significance of research conducted outside the USA. This essay explores the concept of “significance” in the context of peer review of journal articles, and explains why US-based reviewers easily miss the social importance and the intellectual interest of research conducted elsewhere. It points to several steps that can be taken to increase publication of the full global range of educational scholarship.