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The development of a Train-the-Trainer approach in Reciprocal Reading instruction in England’s primary schools
No full textThere is good evidence that targeted reciprocal reading instruction for struggling readers can lead to attainment gains in reading for children aged 9–12 years in England using the FFT Reciprocal Reading instruction programme when training is delivered by the programme developer. However, for programme scale-up, a train-the-trainer delivery approach is required. This study reports the development of a train-the-trainer delivery approach during a Phase-1 pilot to enable the programme’s delivery at greater scale. During the pilot, five trainers were trained to cascade training to 16 English primary schools, which implemented the programme with 217 children. The train-the-trainer approach developed used a workshop and cascade model recommended by both health and education sectors. Trainer and school staff perception feedback was collected during the development process, and independently designed standardised reading tests were used to explore children’s progress during the pilot. Feedback suggests that the train-the-trainer approach developed is implementable in schools, including observable pupil progress in reading. This train-the-trainer delivery approach should now be tested using RCT methodology.<br/
Biologic therapy practices in severe asthma; outcomes from the UK Severe Asthma Registry and survey of specialist opinion
No full textBACKGROUND: several biological treatments have become available for management of severe asthma. There is a significant overlap in the indication of these treatments with lack of consensus on the first-line biologic choice and switching practice in event of treatment failure.AIMS: to evaluate outcomes of biologic treatments through analysis of the UK Severe Asthma Registry (UKSAR), and survey of the UK severe asthma specialists' opinion.METHODS: patients registered in the UKSAR database and treated with biologics for severe asthma in the period between January 2014 and August 2021, were studied to explore biologic treatments practice. This was complemented by survey of opinion of severe asthma specialists.RESULTS: a total of 2,490 patients from 10 severe asthma centres were included in the study (mean age 51.3 years, 61.1% female, mean BMI 30.9kg/m2 ). Biologics use included mepolizumab 1,115 (44.8%), benralizumab 925 (37.1%), omalizumab 432 (17.3%), dupilumab 13 (0.5%), and reslizumab 5 (0.2%). Patients on omalizumab were younger and had earlier age of onset asthma than those prescribed mepolizumab or benralizumab. Patients prescribed mepolizumab and benralizumab had similar clinical characteristics. Those on benralizumab were more likely to continue treatment at approximately one year follow up (93.9%), than those on mepolizumab (80%), or omalizumab (69.6%). The first choice biologic differed between centres and changed over the study time period. Experts' opinion also diverged in terms of biologic initiation choice and switching practice.CONCLUSION: We observed significant variation and divergence in the prescribing practices of biologics in severe asthma that necessitates further research and standardisation.</p
Learning to 'Think' through playful interactions: a play-kit for incoming first-year computing students
No full textThis innovative practice paper presents a work-inprogress on the design of a 'play-kit' to introduce incoming first-year university students to diverse thinking styles through playful interactions, addressing the need for adaptable problemsolving skills development required to tackle increasingly complex global socio-technical challenges. Our initial design stage involves creating a prototype physical workbook to stimulate computational thinking skills through play. We will adapt lessons from existing computational thinking material, originally designed as a classroom-based tool for primary school students. We customize lessons for university students, and re-work them so that they become self-directed learning activities. Our workbook emphasizes essential computational components - decomposition, algorithms, pattern recognition, logic, representation, and abstraction. In time, the project will offer both physical and online 'Learning to Think' play-kits to widen accessibility and suit a diversity of learning styles.</p
The weighted position value for network games
No full textIn network games under a cooperative framework, the position value is a link-based allocation rule. It is obtained from the Shapley value of an associated cooperative game where the links in the network are considered players. The Shapley value of each of the links is then divided equally among the players who form those links. The inherent assumption is that the value is indifferent to the weights of the players in the network. Depending on how central a player is in the network or their ability to form links with other players, etc., players can be considered to have weights. Thus, in such situations, dividing the Shapley value equally among the players can be an overly simplistic notion. We propose a generalized version of the position value, that is, the weighted position value, that allocates the Shapley shares proportionally to the players’ weights. These weights for the players are exogenously given. We provide two axiomatic characterizations of our value. Finally, a bidding mechanism is formulated to show that any subgame-perfect Nash equilibrium (SPNE) of this mechanism coincides with the weighted position value.<br/
Screens, safety and social media: evidence from the Kids' Life and Times (KLT) and Young Life and Times (YLT) surveys
No full textElectronic cigarettes and cardiovascular diseases: An updated systematic review and network meta-analysis
No full textINTRODUCTION: The association between electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains inconclusive. This study aims to compare CVD risk from the use of e-cigarettes, cigarettes, combined cigarette and e-cigarette use, and non-use.METHODS: This study is a systematic review and network meta-analysis (NMA). MEDLINE and Scopus databases (through February 2024) were used to identify eligible studies. Observational studies that investigated the effect of e-cigarettes on the risk of composite CVD, myocardial infarction (MI), or stroke, compared to cigarette, dual use, or non-use, were included. NMA was applied to estimate relative effects (i.e. adjusted odds ratio, AOR) of e-cigarette, cigarette, and dual use, on composite CVD, MI, and stroke outcomes. Risk of bias was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute tool for surveys and the Newcastle-Ottawa scale for cohort studies.RESULTS: Eleven adult population studies were eligible for review. E-cigarette, cigarette, and dual use were significantly associated with composite CVD outcomes. Pooled AORs (95% CI) were 1.31 (1.05-1.62) for e-cigarette, 1.57 (1.30-1.88) for cigarette, and 1.67 (1.37-2.03) for dual use. Additionally, former cigarette and former dual use significantly increased the risk of composite CVD outcomes, compared to non-use. The pooled AORs (95% CI) were 1.29 (1.05-1.59) for former cigarette, and 1.46 (1.03-2.08) for former dual use, while former e-cigarette use was not significantly associated with composite CVD endpoints. For MI and stroke outcomes, only cigarette and dual use were significantly associated with these events.CONCLUSIONS: Current e-cigarette, cigarette, and dual use were significantly associated with increased risk of composite CVD outcomes, while only cigarette and dual use significantly increased the risk of MI and stroke, compared to non-use. However, these findings were primarily based on cross-sectional data limiting the temporality of effect; additional prospective cohort studies are needed to confirm our findings.</p
Co-design of a regional geoportal to support research, policy, education, and practice on environment and health in Northern Ireland
No full textResearchers and policymakers can avoid inefficient methods of data collation that use and rely upon individual city administrative sources, and instead harness consistently collected, environmental datasets using geospatial technologies such as Geographical Information Systems (GIS), in situ surveying, and derived datasets from spatial analytical methods. However, these data sources are often held by different data ‘owners’ and are at various scales and formats. This case study details the co-design and development of a regional geoportal to support research, policy, education, and practice on environment and health. Two co-design workshops with 40 multi-sectoral stakeholders helped inform the design, content, functionality, and format of the geoportal. We configured a Hub site on ArcGIS Online (AGOL) to serve as an interface that allowed users to connect with an online catalogue of data and a map viewer. The free, open access geoportal resource houses over 80 datasets across Northern Ireland. The geoportal offers an effective way for stakeholders to access data relating to a wide range of environmental variables, such as land cover, climate, infrastructure, air pollution, noise pollution, light pollution, and access to green space that affect health.<br/
Post-authorship and AI-assisted writing: singularity, communication, and pedagogy in higher education
No full textThis article explores the existential implications of AI-assisted writing and the rise of ‘post-authorship pedagogy.’ It refers to a condition where the human subject is no longer the exclusive arbitrator or the primary originator of thought and expression in higher education. AI’s auto-ideation not only predetermines meaning but also initiates a moment of ‘singularity’ characterized by post-authorship communication. As theorized here, it signals not the Barthesian death of the author but their replacement—an ontological shift in which authorship itself is outsourced, diminished, and reconfigured. This article examines the philosophical and pedagogical stakes of this shift: What happens to communication when human authorship is eclipsed by AI and manufactured via the high-tech manipulation of existing content? How might we reconceive pedagogy in a post-authorship age, where the learner’s tools for thinking are displaced and silenced by intelligent systems? The pedagogical implications include reducing the instructor to the role of a gatekeeper or AI intermediary, while the learner emerges as someone disengaged from the emotional and cognitive struggles traditionally involved in the act of expression. This Point of Departure argues that these are moments of pedagogical singularity and sites of existential rupture, offering pathways through which higher education teaching might not only respond but be reimagined
ProFlex as a linguistic bridge for decoding protein dynamics in normal mode analysis
No full textArtificial intelligence is revolutionizing structural bioinformatics, with AlphaFold arguably being the most impactful development to date. The structural atlases generated by these methods present significant opportunities for unraveling biological mysteries but also pose challenges in leveraging such massive datasets effectively. In this work, we explore the dynamic landscape of hundreds of thousands of AlphaFold-predicted structures using normal mode analysis. The resulting data serve to empirically define an alphabet summarizing relative protein flexibility, termed ProFlex. Leveraging ProFlex, we describe the flexibility information space occupied by this massive dataset. We believe leveraging the data compression offered by ProFlex-like approaches opens opportunities for understanding protein function, refining structural predictions, and rendering analyses computationally tractable
One size does not fit all: Are there any sustainable alternatives to soybean in chicken systems?
No full textThe overreliance on soybeans in broiler diets is unsustainable, driving interest in alternative proteins. However, most studies assess either performance or environmental impacts, limiting holistic assessment. We combined systematic review, meta-analysis and life cycle assessment (LCA) to evaluate circular bioeconomy-derived alternative proteins. The study involved 102 studies from the past 20 years. Alternative proteins were grouped into eight categories: aquatic, dried distillers’ grains with solubles (DDGS), seed, leaf, microbial, processed animal proteins (PAPs), rapeseed and mixed proteins. Broiler strains were grouped as Cobb, Ross or “Other”. Performance indicators (ADFI, ADG, Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR), digestibility and mortality) were analysed against protein type (PT), inclusion level (L) and strain (S) using mixed-effects and linear models with region as a random factor. For LCA, three top-performing alternatives proteins at two inclusion levels were compared with soybean diets across Ross 308 growth phases. Environmental impacts were quantified within broiler farm system boundary, using a functional unit of 1,000 kg carcass. PAPs use dominated in Europe (44%) and Asia (33%), DDGS in Americas (50%) and seed in Africa (56%). ADFI, ADG, and FCR showed a three-way interaction in starters (PT x L x S, p <0.05), ADG and FCR in growers, and none in finishers, suggesting a declining sensitivity to dietary substitution with age. Ross birds were most sensitive to PT and L (p < 0.05). Ileal DM and CP digestibility decreased (p < 0.05) at higher inclusion for all alternatives. Mortality varied by PT, with seed lower (p < 0.05) than DDGS and microbial proteins. Based on inverse variance-weighted relative FCR, microalgae, PAPs and DDGS were selected for LCA. Microalgae increased all environmental impacts except terrestrial acidification (-15.8%) and marine eutrophication (-22.6%). PAPs reduced all impacts but increased terrestrial acidification (8%). DDGS reduced all impacts per functional unit but increased all impacts in manure except global warming (-4%). No alternative protein fits all contexts and choices must balance broiler performance with environmental sustainability