Parties in Northern Ireland reach out beyond their core base under stable conditions but retreat to their ethnic constituencies in times of uncertainty

Drawing on semi-structured interviews with parties from Northern Ireland, Cera Murtagh and Allison McCulloch examine the extent to which dominant parties in Northern Ireland reach beyond their core ethnic constituencies, how they do that, and why. Their findings suggest that under favourable conditions, flexible power-sharing can create space for incremental moves by ethnic parties to reach out to constituencies beyond their core, gradually moving the system towards more inclusive representation

A Framework to Support Teacher Noticing of Students\u27 Mathematical Thinking in Technology-mediated Environments

The practice of teacher noticing students\u27 mathematical thinking often includes three interrelated components: attending to students\u27 strategies, interpreting students\u27 understandings, and deciding how to respond on the basis of students\u27 understanding. This practice gains complexity in technology mediated environments (i.e., using technology-enhanced math tasks) because it requires attending to and interpreting students\u27 engagement with technology. Current frameworks implicitly assume the practice includes noticing the ways students use tools (including technology tools) in their work, but do not explicitly highlight the role of the tool. While research has shown that using these frameworks supports preservice secondary mathematics teachers (PSTs) developing noticing practices, it has also shown that PSTs largely overlook students\u27 technology engagement when they are working on technology enhanced tasks (Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 2010; 41(2):169–202). In this article, we describe our adaptation of Jacobs et al.\u27s framework for teacher noticing student mathematical thinking to include a focus on making students\u27 technology-tool engagement explicit when noticing in technology-mediated environments, the Noticing in Technology-Mediated Environments (NITE) framework. We describe the theoretical foundations of the framework, provide a video case example, and then illustrate how the framework can be used by mathematics teacher educators to support PSTs\u27 noticing when students are working in technology-mediated environment

In Search of Professional Dispositions that Yield Cultural Relevance in Primary Grade Pedagogy: A Cautionary Tale of One Kindergarten Teacher

Primary grade teachers are challenged to establish firm learning foundations for all children, yet for many teachers cultural diversity makes this a complex pedagogical challenge. It is widely assumed that the success with which teachers meet this challenge is reflected in their dispositions toward diversity, and ultimately toward culturally relevant pedagogy as a professional orientation. This article describes a multi-year study of cultural relevance in early mathematics teaching. Using the case of one kindergarten teacher who exhibited positive dispositions toward cultural relevance, the authors examine factors that seemed to work against its adoption in her pedagogy

Interstitial inflammation and fibrosis in rats with diet-induced hypercholesterolemia

Interstitial inflammation and fibrosis in rats with diet-induced hypercholesterolemia. Abnormalities in lipid metabolism appear to play a pathogenic role in progressive renal disease. To elucidate the cellular and molecular basis of renal interstitial fibrosis in uninephrectomized rats with diet-induced hypercholesterolemia, we fed experimental rats with standard rat chow supplemented with 4% cholesterol and 1% cholic acid. Control rats were fed an isocaloric diet. Groups of 7 control and 7 experimental rats were killed after 4, 8, and 12 weeks. Hypercholesterolemic rats developed albuminuria; serum creatinine was elevated at 12 weeks. By 12 weeks numerous oil red O-positive cells were present throughout the interstitium and to a lesser extent in tubules. Total renal lipid-peroxidation products were significantly increased (172 ± 15, 198 ± 28, and 197 ± 13mmol malondialdehyde/kidney at 4, 8, and 12 weeks vs. 123 ± 17, 144 ± 6, and 125 ± 10mmol in controls). Immunostaining revealed oxidatively modified lipoproteins within tubular and interstitial cells. The interstitial disease was characterized by an interstitial infiltrate of monocytes. Significant increases were detected in renal cortical mRNA levels for monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), osteopontin, and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1), associated with changes in the pattern of immunostaining for each encoded proteins. Total kidney collagen was significantly increased at 12 weeks (9.8 ± 0.9mg/kidney vs. 7.8 ± 0.9mg in controls). At 12 weeks there was a significant increase in interstitial immunostaining for collagen I, collagen III, collagen IV, fibronectin and tenascin. A significant threefold increase in renal cortical mRNA levels for transforming growth factor beta-1 (TGF-β1) at 4 and 12 weeks was associated with the appearance of TGF-β1-positive interstitial cells. Renal matrix protein mRNA levels were measured at 4, 8, and 12 weeks. The only statistically significant elevations were procollagen α1(I) and procollagen α1(III) at weeks 8 and 12. In contrast, renal cortical mRNA levels for the tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-1 (TIMP-1) were significantly increased at 4, 8 and 12 weeks (1.4 ± 0.5, 2.7 ± 0.9 and 2.7 ± 1.4 arbitrary densitometric units, respectively, vs. 1.0 ± 0.4, 1.0 ± 0.5 and 1.0 ± 0.4 units for controls), and urokinase-type plasminogen activator (μPA) mRNA levels were significantly decreased at 4, 8, and 12 weeks (0.4 ± 0.1 arbitrary densitometric units for all three experimental groups vs. 1.0 ± 0.4, 1.0 ± 0.3, and 1.0 ± 0.4 units for the control groups). In summary, rats with diet-induced hypercholesterolemia develop renal interstitial fibrosis over several weeks. Following the accumulation of lipids within tubulointerstitial cells, interstitial nephritis develops. The fibrotic phase is characterized by modest changes in matrix protein mRNA levels, up-regulated TIMP-1, and down-regulated μPA levels, suggesting that altered matrix degradation plays a role in the interstitial fibrogenesis in this model

Preservice mathematics teachers’ professional noticing of students’ mathematical thinking with technology

The purpose of this study is to examine the ways in which preservice secondary mathematics teachers (PSMT) professionally notice middle school students’ mathematical thinking on a technology enhanced mathematical task. The middle school students’ work was captured as a videocase for PSMTs to examine. Findings show that every PSMT included a discussion of the middle school students’ interaction with the technology in their noticing prompts, demonstrating that PSMTs recognized that the middle school students’ mathematical understanding was tied to their interactions with the technology. Additionally, results from PSMTs’ justifications for their predictions of middle school students’ responses to the task, incorporated the middle school students language and described how the middle school students would interact with the technology

Eating Disorder Intervention, Prevention, and Treatment: Recommendations for School Counselors

Permission to include this article granted by the American School Counselor AssociationSchool counselors are in daily contact with the highest risk group for developing eating disorders-children and adolescents. School counselors are in a position to identify at-risk individuals, implement effective school-based prevention programs, make appropriate referrals, and provide support for recovering individuals. An overview of a theory of recovery for eating disorders reinforces the importance of early intervention.Ye

Deglacial sea surface temperatures of the western tropical Pacific : a new look at old coral

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2004. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Paleoceanography 19 (2004): PA4031, doi:10.1029/2004PA001084.Using Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) ion microprobe techniques, we generated annual Sr/Ca cycles with subweekly resolution from chunks of Porites coral retrieved from a Tahiti barrier reef drill core (149°W, 17°S), representing the period 13,650 to 13,100 years B.P. The centers of pristine skeletal septa were selectively targeted with a 10 μm diameter ion beam spot, avoiding adjacent pore spaces occupied by secondary aragonite needles. Applying a Sr/Ca–sea surface temperature (SST) calibration equation derived from modern Tahiti Porites having the same low growth rate as the fossil specimens, we obtained SSTs ∼0.5°–1.5°C cooler during the Bølling-Allerod relative to the present day, with no significant change in seasonality. On the contrary, we estimate that analysis of bulk samples would yield excessively cool Sr/Ca-based SST estimates due to the occupation by secondary aragonite crystals of up to 50% of the skeletal pore space in the ancient samples. We find that growth rate effects on coral Sr/Ca further depress the apparent mean annual derived SSTs (by >3°C) and amplify the apparent seasonality by selectively enhancing wintertime cooling. Our microscale analysis of pristine skeleton and application of an appropriate growth-dependent calibration yield Sr/Ca-derived SSTs that are in good agreement with those derived from Mg/Ca ratios of calcitic foraminifera which indicate a continuous postglacial warming of the western tropical Pacific, in phase with the warming of the tropical Atlantic.Funds for this study were provided by NSF MG&G award number OCE-0241075

The IDEAL framework in neurosurgery: a bibliometric analysis

Funder: University of CambridgeAbstract: Background: The Idea, Development, Exploration, Assessment and Long-term study (IDEAL) framework was created to provide a structured way for assessing and evaluating novel surgical techniques and devices. Objectives: The aim of this paper was to investigate the utilization of the IDEAL framework within neurosurgery, and to identify factors influencing implementation. Methods: A bibliometric analysis of the 7 key IDEAL papers on Scopus, PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases (2009–2019) was performed. A second journal-specific search then identified additional papers citing the IDEAL framework. Publications identified were screened by two independent reviewers to select neurosurgery-specific articles. Results: The citation search identified 1336 articles. The journal search identified another 16 articles. Following deduplication and review, 51 relevant articles remained; 14 primary papers (27%) and 37 secondary papers (73%). Of the primary papers, 5 (36%) papers applied the IDEAL framework to their research correctly; two were aligned to the pre-IDEAL stage, one to the Idea and Development stages, and two to the Exploration stage. Of the secondary papers, 21 (57%) explicitly discussed the IDEAL framework. Eighteen (86%) of these were supportive of implementing the framework, while one was not, and two were neutral. Conclusion: The adoption of the IDEAL framework in neurosurgery has been slow, particularly for early-stage neurosurgical techniques and inventions. However, the largely positive reviews in secondary literature suggest potential for increased use that may be achieved with education and publicity