Catching the virus – a peer-to-peer game that encourages active participation in microbiology lectures

An important part of learning within lectures and classrooms is active participation, but this is sometimes difficult in larger lecture rooms. Questioning students is also not very fruitful in larger rooms for many reasons and invariably results in a wall of silence. Playing active-learning games changes the student–teacher dynamic and energizes the lecture room, making the lecture more memorable and worthwhile for the students. In our microbiological lectures, particularly lectures on virology and immunology, students play the ‘catch-the-virus’ game. As all students are in the game together, there is a competitive edge, and students forget about the anxiety of the the lecture theatre. Importantly, because of the nature of the game, the entire lecture room is involved, including students in the back rows. Interestingly, the recent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, and its impact on student lives, makes the catch-a-virus game even more poignant.

Gavin Vinson – a curious endocrinologist 1939 - 2021

Few who knew him would not agree that Gavin Vinson was one of the truly colourful characters in British Endocrinology over the last half century. Many will recall his contributions to Society meetings not only in the lecture theatre, but also in providing the musical entertainment at our receptions, and on the dance floor after conference dinners. Sadly Gavin died earlier this year after a long illness and we felt it important for members of the Society to remember this extraordinary man who strongly supported and contributed to this organization.

881 Delivering Consultant-Led Teaching During A Global Pandemic

Aim Providing high quality teaching has become increasingly difficult as social distancing and disrupted schedules caused by the COVID-19 pandemic make large in-person gatherings impractical. Yet the need and demand for this has only increased. We sought to use an innovative virtual + in-person format to facilitate delivery. Method We designed a 6-session ENT teaching programme for GP trainees over 3 evenings. Each session was consultant-led, delivered in-person in a large lecture theatre, and simultaneously broadcast on Microsoft Teams. The in-person element was intended to permit practical demonstrations, e.g., of the Dix-Hallpike test, to supplement presenter’s videos. Attendees could attend in-person or virtually. Sessions were timed to allow staff from the nearby hospital to join immediately after work. Results All attendees attended virtually. And all felt that the video demonstrations were sufficient, and that in-person replication was unnecessary. Course delivery was rated ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’ by 88% (n = 17), and the course overall was rated similarly by 94%. Several comments suggested that in future we focus on virtual delivery by shifting the starting time later to “allow a natural break after work”. Conclusions The COVID-19 pandemic has altered many aspects of our lives, and teaching delivery is not immune to this. The overwhelming preference for virtual attendance amongst our cohort suggests that many doctors are comfortable with, and even enthusiastic for, this change, and that teaching can still be effective. Future iterations of this course will likely emphasise the virtual element and record the sessions to allow for time-shifted viewing.

Analysis of Kytococcus sedentarius Strain Isolated from a Dehumidifier Operating in a University Lecture Theatre: Systems for Aerobic Respiration, Resisting Osmotic Stress, and Sensing Nitric Oxide

A strain of Kytococcus sedentarius was isolated from a dehumidifier operating in a university lecture theatre. Genome analysis and phenotypic characterisation showed that this strain, K. sedentarius MBB13, was a moderately halotolerant aerobe with a branched aerobic electron transport chain and genes that could contribute to erythromycin resistance. The major compatible solute was glycine betaine, with ectoine and proline being deployed at higher osmolarities. Actinobacteria possess multiple WhiB-like (Wbl) regulatory proteins, and K. sedentarius MBB13 has four (WhiB1, WhiB2, WhiB3, and WhiB7). Wbls are iron-sulfur proteins that regulate gene expression through interactions with RNA polymerase sigma factors and/or other regulatory proteins. Bacterial two-hybrid analyses suggested that WhiB1 and WhiB2, but not WhiB3 and WhiB7, interact with the C-terminal domain of the major sigma factor, σA; no interaction was detected between any of the Wbl proteins and the only alternative sigma factors, σB, σH, or σJ. The interaction between σA and WhiB1 or WhiB2 was disrupted in a heterologous system under growth conditions that produce nitric oxide and the iron-sulfur clusters of the isolated WhiB1 and WhiB2 proteins reacted with nitric oxide. Thus, K. sedentarius strain exhibits the major phenotypic characteristics of the type strain and a comprehensive examination of the interactions between its four Wbl proteins and four sigma factors suggested that the Wbl proteins all operate through interaction with σA.

The Effect of Digital Device Usage on Student Academic Performance: A Case Study

The aim of this investigation was to explore student behaviour when students brought their own digital devices into a lecture theatre. A total of 361 undergraduate psychology students from the University of Liverpool who used at least one digital device during lecture time fully completed an online questionnaire (159 first-, 124 second- and 78 third-year psychology students) during the 2018–2019 academic year. Although all the three years of undergraduate students brought laptops and/or smartphones into a lecture theatre, there was no significant difference in academic performance over the years of studies. The findings have linked student multitasking processes in a lecture theatre to Social Cognitive Theory principles (reciprocal interactions between behaviours, learning environment, and individuals). There was a significant difference between the three years regarding the use of applications and student characteristics after controlling for the different types of devices. Students who used only one application during lecture time were more likely to achieve higher academic performance as they were less distracted from their primary tasks of processing and retaining information. Overall, this investigation concluded the importance of reconsidering the teaching delivery process so as to avoid students’ escapism using devices during lecture theatres due to their engagement level and lecture norm pressures.

Daylighting Evaluation and Optimisation of Window to Wall Ratio for Lecture Theatre in the Tropical Climate

A base case model is a more potent dose for applied research; the passive architectural design for sustainability requires optimised experiments. However, experimenting with physical developments require construction and deconstruction until they achieved the optimal scenario. These wastes resources and time; hence, base models' development as useful instruments in the optimisation design process is desirable. Lecture theatres in universities have no specific design model whereby optimising one may not apply to the other. Therefore, this research evaluated a base model for lecture theatre regarding spatial configuration, daylighting potentials, and optimised window-to-wall ratio (WWR) for tropical daylighting. A study of ten existing lecture theatres in eight universities within eight states in Nigeria's hot-humid climate was analysed descriptively for the base model. The study employed Simulations with IES-VE software. The daylighting performance analysis adopted the daylighting rule of thumb, daylight factor, work plane illuminance (WPI), and WPI ratio. The results show that a typical lecture theatre in the study area has a dimensional configuration of 12×20 m floor plan, 6 m ceiling height, and a window wall ratio (WWR) of 13%. In the deduced base model, 4H was required for adequate daylighting against the thumb's 2.5 H daylighting rule. The research concludes a low window-wall ratio with poor daylighting quality and quantities in the base model; therefore, it implies that the daylighting was not a criterion in the designs. However, the experiment revealed a progression in daylighting performance with an increase in WWR from the base case until 30% WWR. Beyond that, there was a decline in the daylighting performance. Therefore, 30% WWR was optimal for daylighting performance in lecture theatre retrofitting within the tropical climate.

Integrated Unfold-PCA Monitoring Application for Smart Buildings: An AHU Application Example

This paper presents a complete methodology, together with its implementation as a web application, for monitoring smart buildings. The approach uses unfold-Principal Component Analysis (unfold-PCA) as a batch projection method and two statistics, Hotelling’s T-squared (T2) and the squared prediction error (SPE), for alarm generation resulting in two simple control charts independently on the number of variables involved. The method consists of modelling the normal operating conditions of a building (entire building, room or subsystem) with latent variables described expressing the principal components. Thus, the method allows detecting faults and misbehaviour as a deviation of previously mentioned statistics from their statistical thresholds. Once a fault or misbehaviour is detected, the isolation of sensors that mostly contribute to such detection is proposed as a first step for diagnosis. The methodology has been implemented under a SaaS (software as a service) approach to be offered to multiple buildings as an on-line application for facility managers. The application is general enough to be used for monitoring complete buildings, or parts of them, using on-line data. A complete example of use for monitoring the performance of the air handling unit of a lecture theatre is presented as demonstrative example and results are discussed

Making Class Time Count

This case study describes the ‘semi-flipped' redesign of an undergraduate Introductory Management Accounting module with a large cohort, using a newly refurbished ‘collaborative lecture theatre' at a large English research-intensive university. The chapter outlines the affordances of the collaborative lecture theatre and explains how these were used to promote the active application of theories and techniques in small groups during redesigned lecture sessions. The case considers the approach, design, practice, and space, and includes pedagogies readily transferable to other disciplines. The chapter considers the evaluation of the collaborative lecture theatre and the module redesign from staff and student perspectives. It identifies current challenges relating to the topic in the institutional context and concludes with recommendations and solutions for other institutions wishing to reconfigure spaces to promote active learning approaches.

Brutalism: as a preferred style for institutional buildings in modern architecture period

From the 1950s onward, Brutalist style spread all over the world and dedicate many breathtaking architectural movements to buildings. Architect’s opinion about this prominent approach to building design varies greatly. Brutalist style has known primarily for its aesthetics and property for institutional buildings with the use of functional reinforced concrete, steel, modular, and repetitive elements. Besides all advantages of brutalism, this style is sharply criticized for being cold, crude, cruel, and not appropriate for many climates. Brutalism also became popular with governmental and institutional buildings in modern architecture period and most of the well-known university campuses were built in this style. The purpose of this paper is to study the adaptability of brutalist style with institutional buildings and evaluate it from this point of view. Three institutional buildings have been selected as case studies for evaluating in this research such as The Royal College of Physicians, Brunel University Lecture Theatre, and Metu faculty of architecture. Due to this study, Brutalist style through their fire-resistant and durable materials which don’t need to be renovated constantly is suitable for institutional buildings.