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This article sets out a methodology for integrating a focus on the student voice in deliberations about the future of teaching and learning in the Arts and Humanities. Qualitative data gleaned from JISC's 20/21 Student Digital Experience Insights Survey and feedback collected from students studying on undergraduate programmes in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom (UK) is used to sketch out pedagogical imaginaries of the future that can be used heuristically by universities as they work their way through the pandemic and out the other side. The imaginaries, it argues, act as tools to kickstart debates, underpin experimentation and inform pedagogical planning and design. To address questions of credibility and plausibility, the imaginaries are rooted in the present, embody empirical trends and are consistent with practices, structures and technologies that have come to prominence during the pandemic.

This paper addresses a number of questions in the emerging area of blended Chinese language learning design. First, what are the strengths and weaknesses of the extant literature? Second, how might insights from the wider blended and blended language learning literature advance the field? Third, how might these literatures be synthesised to produce a set of parameters for effective blended Chinese language learning design? Fourth, what might a course based on these parameters look like in practice? The review of relevant literature, identified via a Google Scholar search, is carried out using an integrative literature review methodology. This approach proves a useful vehicle for critically evaluating the state of the literature and for developing practical guidance for blended Chinese language learning designers based on a synthesis of findings from the review with valuable insights from the wider blended language learning research. The design parameters that emerge from this process (mode, integration, research, asynchronicity, challenges, learners and evaluation, with the initial letter of each of the parameters providing the acronym MIRACLE) are discussed in turn and their applicability demonstrated using examples from a beginners' Chinese language course delivered at the University of Nottingham in the UK.

In his "Review of Modern Foreign Languages Provision in Higher Education in England", Michael Worton argues that to safeguard the health of their subjects, languages academics will need to establish "greater, sustainable collaborations" with a range of partners including "extra-educational organisations". For Worton's exhortation to languages academics to succeed, however, both cultural barriers to partnerships with external organisations and a lack of understanding and practical experience of so-called "third-stream" activity amongst languages academics need to be addressed. This article contributes to reducing the knowledge gap in this area by analysing the setting up and first year of operation of a collaboration in the area of blended language learning and training involving academics at Nottingham Trent University and a Nottingham-based small and medium sized enterprise (SME)--The Cool Creative Company Ltd. The paper focuses explicitly on the early stages of the relationship as it is often during this period that issues crucial to the success of collaborative third-stream activity, such as the aims and objectives of the partnership, organisational structure and questions of risk-sharing and reward, are addressed. It is also in this period that conflicts are most likely to arise. The article looks at the conflicts that occurred in the early stages of the collaboration and identifies the resources that were crucial to resolving them. It also evaluates the benefits of the initiative for the various players involved and the wider community within which they are located. It concludes with recommendations to languages academics considering a collaborative alliance with one or more private-sector partners.

In this article, we outline the challenges facing French Studies in regional Australian universities resulting from an increasingly vocational curriculum and doubts about the cost-effectiveness of language learning in higher education. These pressures have resulted in a process of discipline restructuring and significant cuts in the numbers of staff teaching French Studies. The other major consequence outlined is the dislocation that has taken place in the link between teaching and research as academics with interests in the traditional aspects of French Studies have found their roles restricted to the delivery of low-level communicative language classes. Despite these considerable challenges, we offer a hint of optimism to colleagues in the discipline based on evidence from an increasing body of research into the impact of approaches to language teaching that combine traditional face-to-face instruction and online learning. In our opinion, this blended approach offers French Studies in the regions, not to mention other language disciplines, an opportunity to address the efficiency agenda and, at the same time, help to rebuild disciplinary breadth by re-establishing the link between teaching and research. (Contains 3 notes.)

This article sets out a methodology for integrating a focus on the student voice in deliberations about the future of teaching and learning in the Arts and Humanities. Qualitative data gleaned from JISC's 20/21 Student Digital Experience Insights Survey and feedback collected from students studying on undergraduate programmes in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom (UK) is used to sketch out pedagogical imaginaries of the future that can be used heuristically by universities as they work their way through the pandemic and out the other side. The imaginaries, it argues, act as tools to kickstart debates, underpin experimentation and inform pedagogical planning and design. To address questions of credibility and plausibility, the imaginaries are rooted in the present, embody empirical trends and are consistent with practices, structures and technologies that have come to prominence during the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chinese Communist Party has always promulgated comprehensive social security for its constituents. However, the government is hard put to keep its state enterprises afloat and is being driven toward reform and privatization which are hallmarks of capitalism., 15 MILLION UNEMPLOYED? The Asian financial crisis has captured headlines and the attention of millions of investors. In Indonesia, Thailand, and South Korea, the crisis' source lies in the cozy [...]

The primary structure, biochemical properties and mechanism of action of the endo-beta1,4-galactanase expressed by Pseudomonas fluorescens subspecies sellulosa are described. A genomic library of Pseudomonas fluorescens was screened for galactanase-positive recombinants. Results reveal that the nine galactanase positive phage isolated contained the same galactanase gene designated GalA. Findings indicate that GalA catalyzes the hydrolysis of glycosidic bonds by a double displacement general acid-base mechanism.

The mechanisms involved in the cleavage of target substrates by mannase A (MANA) were analyzed by determining the key catalytic amino acids of the enzyme which belongs to the glycosyl hydrolase family 26. MANA from Pseudomonas fluorescens ssp. cellulosa hydrolyzes mannatetraose by a double-displacement mechanism. Two pairs of highly conserved aspartate and glutamate residues were also detected by hydrophobic cluster analysis in the glycosyl hydrolase family 26 enzyme. Furthermore, E212 and E320 are the acid base and nucleophile residues of the enzyme that are directly involved in the catalytic process.

The Elekta Unity MR-Linac (MRL) is expected to benefit spine stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) due to the improved soft tissue contrast available with onboard MR imaging. However, the irradiation geometry and beam configuration of the MRL deviates from the conventional linear accelerator (Linac). The purpose of the study was to investigate the feasibility of spine SBRT on the MRL. Treatment plans were generated for lumbar and thoracic spines. Target and spinal cord doses were measured with two cylindrical ion chambers inserted into an anthropomorphic spine phantom. Our study indicated that the Monaco treatment planning system (TPS) could generate clinical treatment plans for the MRL that were of comparable quality to the RayStation TPS with a conventional Linac. For both Linacs the planned dose within the gross tumor volume agreed with measurements within ±3%. For the spinal cord, while the measured doses from the TrueBeam were 1.8% higher for the lumbar spine plan and 6.9% higher for thoracic spine plan, the measured doses from MRL were 0.6% lower for the lumbar spine plan and 3.9% higher for the thoracic spine plan. In conclusion, the feasibility of spine SBRT in Elekta Unity MRL has been demonstrated, however, more effort is needed for such as optimizing the online plan adaptation method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]