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Exposing the Hidden Curriculum in Architectural Design Studio Pedagogy
No full textAlthough not included in the formal curriculum in architectural education, the concepts that are inherent to design studio shape the studio culture. The examination of these concepts by using hidden curriculum enables the comprehension of studio culture.</p
Shakespearean spiders and Shakespearean slime mould: allusion and posthuman identity in Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Time novels
No full textThis article draws on the debts to Shakespeare – in particular Hamlet, Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice and The Tempest – in Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Time novels in order to illuminate the trilogy’s complex engagement with posthuman identities. It identifies and analyses a sustained pattern of connections between Tchaikovsky’s allusive processes and the various biological processes which drive the trilogy’s complex plot. In response to critical disagreement over whether Tchaikovsky embraces or rejects an anthropocentric view of the universe, it argues that Shakespeare’s own practice of arguing in utramque partem, on both sides of the question, provides a model for decoding Tchaikovsky’s complex, shifting and playful exploration of humanity’s encounters with very different life forms.</p
The Role of the Intimacy Coordinator: New depictions of sex and consent in UK television culture
No full textThis project explores the relatively new role of the intimacy coordinator, which came to the fore following the viral #MeToo movement in 2017. With a focus on UK television culture, the study examines the significance of the profession in ensuring that on-set production practices are safer for everyone involved, and that intimate scenes are handled with care. It looks closely at the connections between offscreen practices of care and onscreen depictions of intimacy and considers the extent to which intimacy coordination is helping to engender creative new ways of depicting sex, intimacy, and consent.</p
Expression of transglutaminase-2 (TGM2) in the prognosis of female invasive breast cancer
No full textBACKGROUND: Transglutaminase 2 (TGM2) is a protein expressed in several isoforms in both intra- and extra-cellular tissue compartments. It has multiple functions that are important in cancer biology and several small studies have suggested expression of TGM2 in breast cancers is associated with a poorer prognosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of intra-cellular and extra-cellular TGM2 expression in breast cancer and to determine whether there were any differences by hormone receptor status.METHODS: We carried out TGM2 immunostaining of tissue micro-arrays comprising 2169 tumour cores and scored these for both intra- and extra-cellular and expression.RESULTS: Intra-cellular (tumour cell) TGM2 positivity was associated with a better prognosis (HR = 0.74, 95% CI 0.59–0.92) with a larger effect stronger in hormone-receptor-negative cases (HR = 0.56, 95% CI 0.37–0.85). Extra-cellular (stromal) TGM2 expression was associated with a poorer prognosis (HR = 1.47, 95% CI 1.06–2.03) with a stronger association in hormone-receptor-positive cases (HR = 1.60, 95% CI 1.09–2.34).CONCLUSION: Tissue compartment and hormone receptor status differences in the effect of TGM2 expression on clinical outcomes of breast cancer may reflect the different functions of TGM2.</p
What really makes cities smart? A human-centric approach to smartness
No full textSmart has become a highly sought after status for cities across the world – the ‘smart city’ seen as the pinnacle of 21st century development. Yet despite the shift to citizen inclusion, smart city narratives continue to advocate for technologification to deliver the much sought after ‘smart city status’, whilst companies in the realm of technological colossi attempt to become protagonists of the smart development story. However, uncertainty remains as to what a smart city really is, which continues to perplex and challenge those working in urban development, as what can now be technologically achieved can be prioritized and delivered over what perhaps should be put in place to bring effective improvements to citizens’ quality of life.This research therefore sought to explore this dissonance of smartness as currently found in practice, and unpack the notion of smart from specific yet relevant perspectives. The overall aim was to develop a set of fundamental tenets able to optimally articulate and underpin smart from citizen focused inclusive perspectives. To achieve this aim, the theories behind smart cities were initially analysed and synthesized to develop a new model of the smart city, in which outcome for the citizen is valorised over any output - which often manifests as the implementation of technology. Subsequently, naturally occurring data in the form of the highly influential International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Indicators for Smart cities and the IMD Smart City Index were sampled and unpacked through a Critical Discourse Analysis, able to reveal their contributions to the concept of the smart city within specific contexts, through the lens of the outcome model for smartness, thus making a unique contribution to knowledge in this space.Technology was found to be the determining and often the sole factor of smartness the ISO standard advocated for, often at the expense of citizens’ quality of life. The Smart City Index was found to have a very different understanding and measuring of smartness by being more considerate of citizens compared to the ISO standard, but was not referential to the ISO standard or any other policy or official guidance to smartness which city leaders consult. This lack of consistency suggests a disconnect between what regulators propose for the development of smart cities, and what the indices perceive and measure as smartness, confirming the need for simpler and more inclusive guidance. The overall aim of this study was to develop a set of core tenets able to underpin smartness for cities, based on the outcome model and the findings from the Critical Discourse Analysis. These tenets were further developed, and to some extent externally validated, through member-checking interviews with a small sample of smart city experts, ultimately leading to a final set of tenets able to be used in both academia and practice.In addition to this contribution to practice, recommendations are also made for further research of both the understanding and measuring of smartness, especially when it comes to the positioning of people therein, as well as the guidance provided to city leaders to develop and optimise the smartness of their cities. Without a shift of focus from technology to citizens, cities risk being (mis)guided into endless technology adoption that does not bring real benefit or smartness for those they seek to serve.</p
Predicting and preventing heart failure
No full textCurrent guidelines for the treatment of heart failure do not focus on its prevention despite the steady global rise in prevalence. A new framework is needed to help clinicians routinely and efficiently identify patients at high risk of heart failure based on family history and risk factors, including obesity, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus. At present, guidelines recommend lifestyle changes, healthy diet, physical activity, antihypertensive treatment, cholesterol-lowering agents, and sodium-glucose co-transporter two inhibitor treatment to address risk factors for heart failure. However, in recent years, outcomes for patients with a diagnosis of heart failure have stagnated, highlighting the need for earlier implementation of better prevention strategies. Updated guidelines must include a roadmap that specifies who should intervene and at what point in the care cycle, to give patients the best possible chance at avoiding or delaying heart failure. A combination of public awareness campaigns, education for healthcare professionals, and improved screening methods is needed to aid the prediction and, crucially, prevention of heart failure.</p
Putting lived experiences at the heart of research: showcasing the creative use of participatory inquiry in health and social care
No full textIt is a great pleasure to introduce you to this special issue of Educational Action Research (EARJ), offered as a tribute to the work of Professor Carol Munn-Giddings. Carol was an editor of EARJ for nearly 20 years. Throughout that time, she consistently championed two specific issues she recognised as under-represented in the general literature and in the journal itself. The first was the paucity of accounts of creative forms of action research taking place in health and social care settings. The second was the lack of visibility of research that engaged citizens and practitioners as researchers themselves – what we have termed ‘participatory inquiry’. We use this as an umbrella term for research approaches that use a participatory design. Participatory action research (PAR) is one such approach. It places participation in the knowledge production process as ‘an essential concomitant of participation in the movement to achieve social justice’ (McTaggart 1997, 16) Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is another participatory approach where the aim is for people whose lives or work might be affected by the issues being researched to have agency in the processes of identifying the research question, designing and undertaking the research, making meaning from what they find and then disseminating their knowledge. Despite differences between the range of participatory approaches, central to participatory inquiry is the commitment to facilitate genuine engagement across the range of people for whom the research has meaning.</p
The use of artificial intelligence in modern business education: the impact on students' cognitive and communication skills in the United Kingdom
No full textThis article aims to compare the effect of using artificial intelligence (AI) and neural networks in business education with conventional teaching methods. The article uses two versions of the Watson–Glaser critical thinking appraisal test to assess thinking abilities and the communication skills attitude scale (CSAS) to analyze students’ attitudes toward communication skills and their confidence in using them. The participants in the study, students from a UK Business School are split into experimental and control groups (N = 204). The experimental group is trained for six months using artificial intelligence through AI-powered interactive online courses, while the control group used traditional teaching methods. The results of the study show that the use of AI had no statistically significant effect on students’ cognitive and communication skills (p>0.05). The students fairly developed cognitive and communication abilities before and after the research, which may be related to the quality of their previous education and individual characteristics. The content of this article may be of interest to educators, scientists, AI and neural network specialists, and educational and research organizations discussing the safety of implementing AI in education.</p
Personality trait structures across three species of Macaca, using survey ratings of responses to conspecifics and humans
No full textComparative studies reliant on single personality surveys to rate wild primates are scarce yet remain critical for developing a holistic comparative understanding of personality. Differences in survey design, item exclusion, and factor selection impede cross-study comparisons. To address these challenges, we used consistently collected data to assess personality trait structures in wild rhesus (Macaca mulatta), bonnet (M. radiata), and long-tailed (M. fascicularis) macaques that varied in their degree of phylogenetic closeness, species-typical social styles, and anthropogenic exposure in urban or urban-rural environments. We administered 51-item personality surveys to familiar raters, and, after reliability and structure screenings, isolated 4–5 factor solutions among the species. Four consistent factors emerged: Confident, Sociable, Active, and Irritable/Equable. This latter factor had differential expression across species. Item composition of the Irritable/Equable factor was consistent with their anticipated differences in social styles, but confounded by cross-site anthropogenic variation. We also administered a 43-item survey confined to human-primate situations which paralleled our findings of social style variation, while also exhibiting variation that aligned with population differences in human density. Our findings indicate that macaque personality trait structures may be emergent outcomes of evolutionary and/or socioecological processes, but further research is needed to parse these processes’ relative contributions.</p
Insight into the biosecurity and isolation practices' knowledge related to strangles prevention in the UK equestrian community
No full textBackground: Strangles remains one of the most frequently reported equine infectious diseases, with more than 200 strangles cases reported in the UK alone in 2023. While Strangles vaccines are available, the implementation of biosecurity measures, diagnostic screening and carrier identification often remain the primary approach to prevent new outbreaks.
Objectives: To obtain insights about the biosecurity/isolation practices currently in place in the UK equestrian community to prevent or mitigate the occurrence of Strangles.
Study design: Surveys of horse owners
Methods: Two surveys were posted on over 350 equine-related Facebook groups and BHS-approved riding centres (December 2023 to January 2024). The first survey targeted horse owners (152 respondents) and the second focused on yard owners/workers (131 respondents).
Results: The horse owner survey reported that only 30.9% of respondents were aware of existing isolation policies for new horse arriving on the yard (36.2% for existing horse developing contagious diseases). This was significantly different from yard owners/workers answers (p 2 weeks, 29.5%) for new arrivals (no significant difference between respondent categories; p = 0.7). While hygiene/biosecurity procedures were relatively well identified by the respondents (even when no policies were reported), 48.7% of horse owners reported a complete absence of facility disinfection (22.9% for yard owners/works; p < 0.001) and the presence of a biosecurity plan had limited influence on the yard choice made by horse owners (56.0%). Irrespective of the respondent category, the lack of facility/area and space constraint remained the main reason mentioned for a policy absence (52.1%: p = 0.5). Welfare concerns for isolated horses was mentioned by 5.1% of respondents. While most respondents have a reasonable knowledge of biosecurity measures, the lack of space/facilities remains the primary limiting factor. These results are currently used to focus future Strangles Awareness Week campaigns in order to help equestrians overcoming these barriers.
Main limitations: Self-selection bias in survey respondents.
Conclusions: The proportion of horse owners that are unaware of biosecurity measures/requirements or their benefit/need in relation to strangles remains high.
Ethical animal research: Approved by Writtle University College Ethical committee (ref 1927, approved on the 18DEC23).
Informed consent: Completion of the survey was taken as consent.
Competing interests: None declared.
Funding: None.</p
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