A literature-based thematic unit for a multi-age classroom : friendship

A literature-based thematic unit, friendship, has been developed for a multi-age classroom (grades three and four). This thematic unit can contribute to a major goal of a multi-age classroom: to provide students with a learning community in which they can find meaningful learning experiences, thus strengthening their personal-social and thinking-language abilities. The strands for the unit not only included friendship among peers, but also they extended the horizons of friendship to young children through mentoring, to peers at a distance through pen pals, and to the elderly through visitations to a retirement home. In developing a print-rich learning environment for the unit, experiences with the different genres of literature and many options for related expressive activity were developed. Such a learning environment provides students with many opportunities to create meaning (Harms & Lettow, 1998; Langer, 1995; Routman, 1991)

Basics of Communication Research

This book is organizedinto three main parts. Part 1 examines introductory issues of interest to both quantitavely oriented and qualitatively oriented producers/consumers. Chapter 1 introduces readers to the domain of communication, discussing the kinds of issues addressed by communication researchers and how students can access published communication research. Chapter 2 offers an overview of the research process, providing a step by step discussion of the major kinds of decisions that face researchers as they plan a study. Chapter 3 discusses four of the major sets af assumptions in which communication research is grounded: the positivist paradigm, the system paradigm, the interpretive paradigm, and critical paradigm. Chapter 4 emphasizes the role of logic and reasoning in the research process. Chapter 5 presents an in depth discussion of the ethics that guide communication research. Part 2 of the book is devoted to issues and methods of particular relevance to producers/consumers of quantitatively oriented communication research. Chapter 6 continues the Babbie tradition of a lucid discussion of conceptualization and operationalization. Chapter 7 is devoted largely to probability based sampling methods, although nonprobability sampling methods are previewd for a return performance in part 3 of the book. Chapter 8 is devoted to standardized questionnaires and interviews. Chapter 9 discusses pre experiments, quasi experiments, and classic experiments. Chapter 10 provides detailed treatment of the two text analysis methods most commonly found in communication research. Chapters 11 and 12 fuction as an introductory “primer” of sorts to descriptive and inferential statistics. Part 3 shifts our attention issues and methods relevant to producers/consumers of qualitative communication research. Participant observation takes many forms, and these are presented and illustrated in chapter 13. Chapter 14 presents unstructured and semi structured interviewing. Chapter 15 examines how qualitative researchers study naturally occurring communication messages and symbols what we call social texts. Chapter 16 can be thought of as the qualitative counterpart of chapter 11 and 12

“You’re My Parent but You’re Not”: Dialectical Tensions in Stepchildren’s Perceptions about Communicating with the Nonresidential Parent

The nonresidential parent plays a role in the lives of stepchildren and in stepfamily households. The focus of the present study was on the interaction between the nonresidential parent and his/her child who resides as part of a stepfamily household. Grounded in relational dialectics theory, the researchers performed an interpretive analysis of 50 transcribed interviews with college-aged stepchildren. Stepchildren’s perceptions of communication with the nonresidential parent were animated by two contradictions: parenting/nonparenting and openness/closedness. These two contradictions form a totality, interwoven with one another. The parenting/nonparenting contradiction reflected stepchildren’s ambivalence over parenting attempts of nonresidential parents. Stepchildren wanted nonresidential parent involvement and parenting, and at the same time they resisted it, often finding communication to be awkward and challenging. In addition, stepchildren wanted open and intimate communication with their nonresidential parents, yet they found openness to be problematic and managed these contradictory demands via segmentation. Implications of these findings are discussed, along with insights to guide professionals working with stepfamilies and adults co-parenting children to better understand and interact in ways that promote healthy stepfamilies

Turning Points in the Development of Blended Families

A modified retrospective interview technique (RIT) was employed with members of 53 blended families to determine the types of turning points they reported experiencing and the developmental trajectories of their respective blended family’s first 4 years. Findings revealed 15 primary types of turning points, of which “Changes in Household Configuration,” “Conflict,” “Holidays/Special Events,” “Quality Time,” and “Family Crisis” were the most frequent. A cluster analysis revealed five basic trajectories of development for the first 48 months of family development: Accelerated, Prolonged, Stagnating, Declining, and High-Amplitude Turbulent. The trajectories differed in the overall positive-to-negative valence ratio, the frequency of conflict related events, the average amplitude of change in feeling like a family, and the current reported level of feeling like a family

Types of Communication Triads Perceived by Young-Adult Stepchildren in Established Stepfamilies

This study was an analysis of the kinds of residential parent-stepparent-stepchild triadic communication structures expressed in interviews with 50 college-aged children from established stepfamilies. In an interpretive analysis of the interview transcripts, four communication structures were identified. In the linked triad the stepchild relied on indirect communication with the stepparent through his or her residential parent. The outsider triad was characterized by the stepchild communicating primarily with the residential parent with limited awareness of interdependence with the stepparent. In the adult-coalition triad the stepchild perceived that the residential parent and stepparent had formed a coalition, leading to cautious and distrustful communication with both adults. The complete triad featured the stepchild experiencing a “real family” with open communication with both the residential parent and the stepparent. Contributions of studying stepfamilies from the perspective of triadic communication structures versus stepfamily dyads are discussed

Telling the Story of Stepfamily Beginnings: The Relationship between Young-adult Stepchildren’s Stepfamily Origin Stories and their Satisfaction with the Stepfamily

The current study adopts a narrative perspective in examining the content of 80 stepchildren’s stepfamily origin stories. Results reveal five types of stepfamily origin stories: Sudden, Dark-sided, Ambivalent, Idealized, and Incremental. Results support the hypothesis that story type would predict differences in family satisfaction; stepchildren who described their stepfamily origins as Idealized were more satisfied than those whose origins were Dark-sided or Sudden. Overall, participants framed their stepfamily identity more positively when their stepfamily beginnings were characterized by closeness, friendship, and even expected ups and downs, rather than when they were left out of the process of negotiating or forming the stepfamily and when the beginnings were tainted by issues they considered to be dark. Stepparents or practitioners may benefit from these findings by examining the means by which stepparents may involve stepchildren in the process of stepfamily courtship, facilitate closeness, and set up realistic expectations for negotiating stepfamily life

Structures of Phytophthora RXLR Effector Proteins: a conserved but adaptable fold underpins functional diversity

Phytopathogens deliver effector proteins inside host plant cells to promote infection. These proteins can also be sensed by the plant immune system, leading to restriction of pathogen growth. Effector genes can display signatures of positive selection and rapid evolution, presumably a consequence of their co-evolutionary arms race with plants. The molecular mechanisms underlying how effectors evolve to gain new virulence functions and/or evade the plant immune system are poorly understood. Here, we report the crystal structures of the effector domains from two oomycete RXLR proteins, Phytophthora capsici AVR3a11 and Phytophthora infestans PexRD2. Despite sharin

On the Potts model partition function in an external field

We study the partition function of Potts model in an external (magnetic) field, and its connections with the zero-field Potts model partition function. Using a deletion-contraction formulation for the partition function Z for this model, we show that it can be expanded in terms of the zero-field partition function. We also show that Z can be written as a sum over the spanning trees, and the spanning forests, of a graph G. Our results extend to Z the well-known spanning tree expansion for the zero-field partition function that arises though its connections with the Tutte polynomial

Mechanisms of hypertension during and after orthotopic liver transplantation in children

The aim of this study was to assess the hormonal alterations that may mediate the systemic hypertension that develops in patients during the perioperative period of orthotopic liver transplantation. We studied nine pediatric patients without previous hypertension or renal disease during six time points, starting before transplantation and ending at 48 hours after surgery. Hypertension developed in all patients in association with central venous pressures <10 mm Hg. Free water clearance was negative in all nine patients. Vasopressin levels increased intraoperatively but fell as hypertension developed. Atrial natriuretic factor levels increased as systemic blood pressure rose. A high level of plasma renin activity was observed in four patients with renal insufficiency. In six patients, postoperative 24-hour urinary norepinephrine excretion was within the normal age-adjusted range. These findings suggest that the combination of cyclosporine, corticosteroids, and, in some patients, an elevated plasma renin activity prevents the kidney from responding to the acute volume and salt overload with an appropriate diuresis and natriuresis, thus leading to systemic hypertension. The treatment of hypertension after liver transplantation may include salt restriction, diuretics, and, in those patients with a low creatinine excretion index, anglotensin coverting enzyme inhibitors. © 1989 The C. V. Mosby Company

An Age-Dependent Pharmacokinetic Study of Intravenous and Oral Mycophenolate Mofetil in Combination with Tacrolimus for GVHD Prophylaxis in Pediatric Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation Recipients

Acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) still remains a major limiting factor following allogeneic stem cell transplantation (AlloSCT) in pediatric recipients. Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), an uncompetitive selective inhibitor of inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase, is a new immunosuppressant agent without major mucosal, hepatic, or renal toxicity compared to other prophylactic aGVHD immunosuppressant drugs. Although there has been an extensive pharmacokinetic (PK) experience with MMF administration following solid organ transplantation in children, there is a paucity of PK data following its use in pediatric AlloSCT recipients. We investigated the safety and PK of MMF as GVHD prophylaxis following intravenous (i.v.) and oral (p.o.) administration (900 mg/m2 every 6 hours) in conjunction with tacrolimus, after myeloablative (MA) and nonmyeloablative (NMA) conditioning and AlloSCT in 3 distinct age groups of pediatric AlloSCT recipients (0-6 years, 6-12 years, and 12-16 years). Mycophenolic acid (MPA) in plasma samples was measured either by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) or liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) as we have previously described. Plasma samples were obtained at baseline and at 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 hours after i.v. dosing on days +1, +7, +14, and at 2 time points between day +45 and +100 after p.o. administration post AlloSCT. MPA PK analysis included AUC (0-6 hours), Cmax, Tmax, Css, Vss, C trough (C0), CL, and T½. Thirty-eight patients, with a median age of 8 years (0.33-16 years), 20/18 M:F ratio, 21/17 malignant/nonmalignant disease, 17/21 MA: NMA conditioning, 16 of 22 related/unrelated allografts. Median time to myeloid and platelet engraftment was 18 and 31 days, respectively. Mean donor chimerism on day +60 and +100 was 83% and 90%, respectively. Probability of developing aGVHD grade II-IV and extensive chronic GVHD (cGVHD) was 54% and 34%, respectively. There was significant intra- and interpatient MMF PK variability. There was a significant increase in i.v. MPA area under the curve (AUC)0-6hour and Cmax (P < .0003) and a significant decrease in CLss (P < .002) and Vss (P < .001) on day +14 versus day +7. Children <12 years of age had a significant increase in i.v. MPA Tmax (P = .01), Vss (P = .028), and CLss (P < .001) compared to the older age group. There was a trend in increased i.v. MPA CLss following MA versus NMA conditioning (P < .054); i.v. and p.o. MMF administration (900 mg/m2 every 6 hours) in combination with tacrolimus was well tolerated in pediatric AlloSCT recipients. There was a significant increase in MPA exposure on day +14 versus day +7, suggesting improved enterohepatic recirculation at day +14 post-AlloSCT. Children <12 years of age appear to have a significantly different MPA PK profile compared to older children and adolescents and may require more frequent dosing