Resisting the desire for the unambiguous: productive gaps in researcher, teacher and student interpretations of a number story task

This article offers reflections on task design in the context of a Grade R (reception year) in-service numeracy project in South Africa. The research explores under what conditions, and for what learning purpose, a task designed by someone else may be recast and how varying given task specifications may support or inhibit learning, as a result of that recasting. This question is situated within a two-pronged task design challenge as to emerging gaps between the task designer’s intentions and teacher’s actions and secondly between the teachers’ intentions and students’ actions. Through analysing two teachers and their respective Grade R students’ interpretations of a worksheet task, provided to teachers in the project, we illuminate the way explicit constraints, in the form of task specifications, can be both enabling and constraining of learning. In so doing we recast this ‘double gap’ as enabling productive learning spaces for teacher educators, teachers and students

Requirement of a Membrane Potential for the Posttranslational Transfer of Proteins into Mitochondsria

Posttranslational transfer of most precursor proteins into mitochondria is dependent on energization of the mitochondria. Experiments were carried out to determine whether the membrane potential or the intramitochondrial ATP is the immediate energy source. Transfer in vitro of precursors to the ADP/ATP carrier and to ATPase subunit 9 into isolated Neurospora mitochondria was investigated. Under conditions where the level of intramitochondrial ATP was high and the membrane potential was dissipated, import and processing of these precursor proteins did not take place. On the other hand, precursors were taken up and processed when the intramitochondrial ATP level was low, but the membrane potential was not dissipated. We conclude that a membrane potential is involved in the import of those mitochondrial precursor proteins which require energy for intracellular translocatio

Muscle pain induced by hypertonic saline in the knee extensors decreases single-limb isometric time to task failure

Purpose: Increased nociceptive activity and the experience of exercise-induced pain (EIP) may contribute to fatigue during endurance exercise. To investigate this, a pain model that produces pain similar to EIP and decouples its’ relationship to exercise intensity is required. This study 1) compared the quality of pain caused by a hypertonic saline injection into the vastus lateralis in resting and exercise conditions, and 2) investigated whether this pain contributes to changes in time to task failure. Methods: On separate days, eighteen participants completed a time to task failure at 20% maximal voluntary torque (MVT), a resting hypertonic saline intramuscular injection, and in a further three visits a time to task failure at 10% MVT following injection of isotonic saline, hypertonic saline or a control (no injection). Results: In a subset of eligible participants (n = 12), the hypertonic saline combined with 10% MVT produced a qualitative experience of pain (assessed by the McGill Pain Questionnaire) that felt similar to EIP. 10% MVT with hypertonic saline significantly elevated pain intensity in the first 20% of the time to task failure and caused a significantly (P < 0.05) shorter time to task failure (448 ± 240 s) compared with the isotonic saline (605 ± 285 s) and control (514 ± 197 s) conditions. Conclusion: These findings demonstrate that hypertonic saline increases the intensity of pain during exercise, which results in a faster occurrence of exercise-induced fatigue. These results provide important evidence supporting pain as a limiting factor in endurance performance

Conceptualising the more knowledgeable other within a multi-directional ZPD:

From a Marxian/Vygotskian perspective, learning is social in origin and it happens in the presence of others that are more knowledgeable. Extending this view to the learning of mathematics, such learning also becomes inseparable from the presence of others (people and artefacts). Researchers over decades have studied different interactions to see how such learning with others occurs, what is the role of the (more knowledgeable) other, and if at all this role alternates between the participants. In this paper, we looked at a 5-year-old’s (Lila) interaction with her mother (Mellony) and a television remote control as Lila attempted to count in threes using the three by three physical layout of the numbered buttons 1–9 on the remote control. We specifically looked at the emergence of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) as Lila’s attention was caught by the properties of the remote control and by her mother’s questions. We also pay attention to how the role of the more knowledgeable other alternates among the participants. Our findings suggest that Lila, at times, used resources provided by the physical properties of the remote control and sometimes, used resources provided by Mellony to think about the task of counting in threes. In Lila’s interaction, we interpreted a multi-directional ZPD as the role of the more knowledgeable other alternated between Mellony, Lila and the remote control

Do sensorimotor cortex activity, an individual's capacity for neuroplasticity, and psychological features during an episode of acute low back pain predict outcome at 6 months: a protocol for an Australian, multisite prospective, longitudinal cohort study

INTRODUCTION:Low back pain (LBP) is the leading cause of disability worldwide, with prevalence doubling in the past 14 years. To date, prognostic screening tools display poor discrimination and offer no net benefit of screening over and above a 'treat all' approach. Characteristics of the primary sensory (S1) and motor (M1) cortices may predict the development of chronic LBP, yet the prognostic potential of these variables remains unknown. The Understanding persistent Pain Where it ResiDes (UPWaRD) study aims to determine whether sensorimotor cortex activity, an individual's capacity for plasticity and psychosocial factors in the acute stage of pain, predict LBP outcome at 6 months. This paper describes the methods and analysis plan for the development of the prediction model. METHODS AND ANALYSIS:The study uses a multicentre prospective longitudinal cohort design with 6-month follow-up. 120 participants, aged 18 years or older, experiencing an acute episode of LBP (less than 6 weeks duration) will be included. Primary outcomes are pain and disability. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION:Ethical approval has been obtained from Western Sydney University Human Research Ethics Committee (H10465) and from Neuroscience Research Australia (SSA: 16/002). Dissemination will occur through presentations at national and international conferences and publications in international peer-reviewed journals. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER:ACTRN12619000002189; Pre-results.Luke C Jenkins, Wei-Ju Chang, Valentina Buscemi, Matthew Liston, Barbara Toson, Michael Nicholas, Thomas Graven-Nielsen, Michael Ridding, Paul W Hodges, James H McAuley, Siobhan M Schabru

An increased response to experimental muscle pain is related to psychological status in women with chronic non-traumatic neck-shoulder pain

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Neck-shoulder pain conditions, e.g., chronic trapezius myalgia, have been associated with sensory disturbances such as increased sensitivity to experimentally induced pain. This study investigated pain sensitivity in terms of bilateral pressure pain thresholds over the trapezius and tibialis anterior muscles and pain responses after a unilateral hypertonic saline infusion into the right legs tibialis anterior muscle and related those parameters to intensity and area size of the clinical pain and to psychological factors (sleeping problems, depression, anxiety, catastrophizing and fear-avoidance).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Nineteen women with chronic non-traumatic neck-shoulder pain but without simultaneous anatomically widespread clinical pain (NSP) and 30 age-matched pain-free female control subjects (CON) participated in the study.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>NSP had lower pressure pain thresholds over the trapezius and over the tibialis anterior muscles and experienced hypertonic saline-evoked pain in the tibialis anterior muscle to be significantly more intense and locally more widespread than CON. More intense symptoms of anxiety and depression together with a higher disability level were associated with increased pain responses to experimental pain induction and a larger area size of the clinical neck-shoulder pain at its worst.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results indicate that central mechanisms e.g., central sensitization and altered descending control, are involved in chronic neck-shoulder pain since sensory hypersensitivity was found in areas distant to the site of clinical pain. Psychological status was found to interact with the perception, intensity, duration and distribution of induced pain (hypertonic saline) together with the spreading of clinical pain. The duration and intensity of pain correlated negatively with pressure pain thresholds.</p

Assessing fossil fuel CO_2 emissions in California using atmospheric observations and models

Analysis systems incorporating atmospheric observations could provide a powerful tool for validating fossil fuel CO_2 (ffCO_2) emissions reported for individual regions, provided that fossil fuel sources can be separated from other CO_2 sources or sinks and atmospheric transport can be accurately accounted for. We quantified ffCO_2 by measuring radiocarbon (^(14)C) in CO_2, an accurate fossil-carbon tracer, at nine observation sites in California for three months in 2014–15. There is strong agreement between the measurements and ffCO_2 simulated using a high-resolution atmospheric model and a spatiotemporally-resolved fossil fuel flux estimate. Inverse estimates of total in-state ffCO_2 emissions are consistent with the California Air Resources Board's reported ffCO_2 emissions, providing tentative validation of California's reported ffCO_2 emissions in 2014–15. Continuing this prototype analysis system could provide critical independent evaluation of reported ffCO_2 emissions and emissions reductions in California, and the system could be expanded to other, more data-poor regions

Exploratory mathematics talk in a second language: a sociolinguistic perspective:

This paper illuminates challenges confronting teachers and students at the literacy/numeracy interface in contexts where students have not developed sufficient English language proficiency to be learning mathematics through English but, due to socio-politically and economically driven perceptions are being taught in English. We analyse transcript data of classroom talk in a South African grade 4 mathematics lesson on fractions. Together with interview data, the lesson data highlight some of the consequences students’ diminished access to their home language appear to have on their access to mathematical meaning-making