An analysis of the relationship of school entrance age to mental age and school achievement in grades I, III, V, and VIII

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Helping Faculty Design Assignment-Centered Courses

Faculty developers must help faculty shift from a teaching paradigm to a learning paradigm. Workshops that help faculty plan the assignment-centered course are a productive approach to that challenge. This article shows faculty developers how to plan and lead such a workshop. Research suggests that faculty often focus on content and coverage in their course planning. To combat this tendency, the workshop leads faculty through the course-planning process. In the workshop, faculty first develop learning objectives, then plan the assignments and exams that will both teach and test the essential skills and knowledge of the course. Then faculty choose and organize their instructional methods and the use of in-class and out-of-class time to maximize the development of the most important knowledge and skills. This approach contrasts with the text-lecture-coverage-centered course, in which the teacher concentrates first on the topics she or he will cover. The assignment-centered course is one of the strategies that research suggests will enhance students\u27 critical thinking in higher education

Impacts of epigeic, anecic and endogeic earthworms on metal and metalloid mobility and availability

The introduction of earthworms into soils contaminated with metals and metalloids has been suggested to aid restoration practices. Eisenia veneta (epigeic), Lumbricus terrestris (anecic) and Allolobophora chlorotica (endogeic) earthworms were cultivated in columns containing 900 g soil with 1130, 345, 113 and 131 mg kg1 of As, Cu, Pb and Zn, respectively, for up to 112 days, in parallel with earthworm-free columns. Leachate was produced by pouring water on the soil surface to saturate the soil and generate downflow. Ryegrass was grown on the top of columns to assess metal uptake into biota. Different ecological groups affected metals in the same way by increasing concentrations and free ion activities in leachate, but anecic L. terrestris had the greatest effect by increasing leachate concentrations of As by 267%, Cu by 393%, Pb by 190%, and Zn by 429% compared to earthworm-free columns. Ryegrass grown in earthworm-bearing soil accumulated more metal and the soil microbial community exhibited greater stress. Results are consistent with earthworm enhanced degradation of organic matter leading to release of organically bound elements. The degradation of organic matter also releases organic acids which decrease the soil pH. The earthworms do not appear to carry out a unique process, but increase the rate of a process that is already occurring. The impact of earthworms on metal mobility and availability should therefore be considered when inoculating earthworms into contaminated soils as new pathways to receptors may be created or the flow of metals and metalloids to receptors may be elevated

Chromosomal Localization of the Carcinoembryonic Antigen Gene Family and Differential Expression in Various Tumors

Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is a glycoprotein which is important as a tumor marker for a number of human cancers. It is a member of a gene family comprising about 10 closely related genes. In order to characterize mUNAs transcribed from individual genes we have identified by DNA and RNA hybridization experiments, gene-specific sequences from the 3 ' noncoding regions of CEA, and of nonspecific cross-reacting antigen (NCA) mRNAs, which have been recently cloned. With these probes, CEA mRNAs with lengths of 3.5 and 3.0 kilobases and an NCA mRNA species of 2.5 kilobases were identified in various human tumors. A 2.2-kilobase mRNA species, however, could only be detected in leu kocytes of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia by hybridization with a probe from the immunoglobulin-like repeat domain of CEA. This region is known to be very similar among the various members of the CEA gene family, and indeed the probe hybridizes with all four mRNA species. In situ hybridization with a cross-hybridizing probe from the NCA gene localized the members of the CEA gene family to the short and to the long arm of chromosome 19. In addition, a CEA cDNA probe was found to hybridize to the long arm of chromosome 19 only

Teams and Tasks: A Temporal Framework for the Effects of Interpersonal Interventions on Team Performance

Researchers have studied interpersonal interventions as a means of increasing the performance of work teams. However, for short-term teams working on contrived tasks of short duration—a combination common in research studies—interpersonal interventions do not seem to affect team performance as much as task interventions. Yet, for short-term teams working on real tasks of longer duration and for ongoing teams, the effects of interpersonal interventions on team performance are more positive. This article presents a temporal framework of teams and tasks that predicts the expectation of benefit, which in turn mediates the effectiveness of interpersonal interventions on team performance

Madame de Gondi: A Contemporary Seventeenth-Century Life

There are few sources of information about Madame de Gondi’s life, and the prevailing view has held that she was selfish, insecure, and neurotic. This sketch of her many virtues comes from a 1630 collection of women’s lives written by Brother Hilarion de Coste and appears to have been unknown to Pierre Coste and other scholars of Vincent de Paul’s relationship with Madame de Gondi. Brother Hilarion’s information came from oral and published sources, and he also knew Vincent, quoting him regarding one incident. This portrait of Madame de Gondi has particular authenticity. In accordance with contemporary expectations of women, Brother Hilarion praises her obedience to and dependence on her spiritual directors. He also cites her intelligence, which suggests that her submissiveness was, as Barbara Diefendorf says, “a deliberate conformity to an expected social role—and not an innate character trait.” Her care for her vassals and her management of her estates do not conform to her image as “clinging and demanding.” Reasons for the prevalence of this image are discussed in Diefendorf’s introduction