Instructional Practices Used in Teaching the Social Studies in One Hundred Schools

The decisions as to what methods are to be used in determining learning experiences and materials to be used in teaching the social studies, the following questions for consideration in the solution of this problem include: 1. Are children given opportunities for initiative, self-direction, and responsibility? 2. Do children have opportunities to work independently or in groups in collecting, organizing, interpreting and presenting data? 3. Is sufficient flexibility of the program given to meet the needs and interests of students? 4. What effort is made toward utilization of many kinds of materials and resources? 5. Is provision made for development of desirable behavior patterns as reflective thinking, work habits, study, skills, knowledge, social attitudes, interests and appreciations? In recent years there have been various methods used in teaching the social studies. Since there has been much interest in this particular subject, the writer has made this study to investigate methods of instruction in teaching the social studies, and to give results of this investigation

Exploring planetary atmospheric processes from terrestrial worlds to giant planets

Hannah Joyce and Blair McGinness report on the RAS Specialist Discussion Meeting ‘Exploring Planetary Atmospheric Processes from Terrestrial Worlds to Giant Planets’

Homochiral oligopeptides by chiral amplification: Interpretation of experimental data with a copolymerization model

We present a differential rate equation model of chiral polymerization based on a simple copolymerization scheme in which the enantiomers are added to, or removed from, the homochiral or heterochiral chains (reversible stepwise isodesmic growth or dissociation). The model is set up for closed systems and takes into account the corresponding thermodynamic constraints implied by the reversible monomer attachments, while obeying a constant mass constraint. In its simplest form, the model depends on a single variable rate constant, the maximum chain length N, and the initial concentrations. We have fit the model to the experimental data from the Rehovot group on lattice-controlled chiral amplification of oligopeptides. We find in all the chemical systems employed except for one, that the model fits the measured relative abundances of the oligopetides with higher degrees of correlation than from a purely random polymerization process.Comment: 18 pages, 12 figures, 9 table

Clinical Case Mix and other Challenges to Detroit\u27s Medicaid-Dependent Nursing Homes

Nursing homes that care for the poor in Detroit are frequently dependent upon Medicaid as their principal source of revenue. These facilities face numerous challenges because they face limited resources for maintenance of facilities, staff and administrative supports, and other normal costs. They lack the kinds of support that are provided in-kind, or by more generous sources of revenue and are often characterized as institutions of poor quality; yet nearly 70% of the nation’s Medicaid-recipient elderly nursing home patients are in for-profit facilities that are sustained largely on Medicaid funding. These facilities are often sources of care for underserved minority populations, the adult mentally-ill, and others for whom alternative venues of care are no longer available. The case mix of aged, mentally ill, and numerous other chronic adult conditions is unlike any other health care environment in Michigan, yet the facilities that offer such care are poorly understood and insufficiently supported. The situation has established a health care disparity for the aged, urban poor

On the G_2 bundle of a Riemannian 4-manifold

We study the natural G_2 structure on the unit tangent sphere bundle SM of any given orientable Riemannian 4-manifold M, as it was discovered in \cite{AlbSal}. A name is proposed for the space. We work in the context of metric connections, or so called geometry with torsion, and describe the components of the torsion of the connection which imply certain equations of the G_2 structure. This article is devoted to finding the G_2-torsion tensors which classify our structure according to the theory in \cite{FerGray}.Comment: Completely improved, new examples, 26 page

Dissociation of long-term verbal memory and fronto-executive impairment in first-episode psychosis

Background: Verbal memory is frequently and severely affected in schizophrenia and has been implicated as a mediator of poor clinical outcome. Whereas encoding deficits are well demonstrated, it is unclear whether retention is impaired. This distinction is important because accelerated forgetting implies impaired consolidation attributable to medial temporal lobe (MTL) dysfunction whereas impaired encoding and retrieval implicates involvement of prefrontal cortex. Method: We assessed a group of healthy volunteers (n=97) and pre-morbid IQ- and sex-matched first-episode psychosis patients (n=97), the majority of whom developed schizophrenia. We compared performance of verbal learning and recall with measures of visuospatial working memory, planning and attentional set-shifting, and also current IQ. Results: All measures of performance, including verbal memory retention, a memory savings score that accounted for learning impairments, were significantly impaired in the schizophrenia group. The difference between groups for delayed recall remained even after the influence of learning and recall was accounted for. Factor analyses showed that, in patients, all variables except verbal memory retention loaded on a single factor, whereas in controls verbal memory and fronto-executive measures were separable. Conclusions: The results suggest that IQ, executive function and verbal learning deficits in schizophrenia may reflect a common abnormality of information processing in prefrontal cortex rather than specific impairments in different cognitive domains. Verbal memory retention impairments, however, may have a different aetiology

Approaches to considering sex and gender in continuous professional development for health and social care professionals : an emerging paradigm

Consideration of sex and gender in research and clinical practice is necessary to redress health inequities and reduce knowledge gaps. As all health professionals must maintain and update their skills throughout their career, developing innovative continuing professional education programs that integrate sex and gender issues holds great promise for reducing these gaps. This article proposes new approaches to partnership, team development, pedagogical theory, content development, evaluation and data management that will advance the integration of sex and gender in continuing professional development (CPD). Our perspectives build on an intersectoral and interprofessional research team that includes several perspectives, including those of CPD, health systems, knowledge translation and sex and gender

Evaluation of diversity among common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) from two centers of domestication using 'omics' technologies

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Genetic diversity among wild accessions and cultivars of common bean (<it>Phaseolus vulgaris </it>L.) has been characterized using plant morphology, seed protein allozymes, random amplified polymorphic DNA, restriction fragment length polymorphisms, DNA sequence analysis, chloroplast DNA, and microsatellite markers. Yet, little is known about whether these traits, which distinguish among genetically distinct types of common bean, can be evaluated using omics technologies.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Three 'omics' approaches: transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics were used to qualitatively evaluate the diversity of common bean from two Centers of Domestication (COD). All three approaches were able to classify common bean according to their COD using unsupervised analyses; these findings are consistent with the hypothesis that differences exist in gene transcription, protein expression, and synthesis and metabolism of small molecules among common bean cultivars representative of different COD. Metabolomic analyses of multiple cultivars within two common bean gene pools revealed cultivar differences in small molecules that were of sufficient magnitude to allow identification of unique cultivar fingerprints.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Given the high-throughput and low cost of each of these 'omics' platforms, significant opportunities exist for their use in the rapid identification of traits of agronomic and nutritional importance as well as to characterize genetic diversity.</p

G₂-structures and quantization of non-geometric M-theory backgrounds

We describe the quantization of a four-dimensional locally non-geometric M-theory background dual to a twisted three-torus by deriving a phase space star product for deformation quantization of quasi-Poisson brackets related to the nonassociative algebra of octonions. The construction is based on a choice of $G_2$-structure which defines a nonassociative deformation of the addition law on the seven-dimensional vector space of Fourier momenta. We demonstrate explicitly that this star product reduces to that of the three-dimensional parabolic constant $R$-flux model in the contraction of M-theory to string theory, and use it to derive quantum phase space uncertainty relations as well as triproducts for the nonassociative geometry of the four-dimensional configuration space. By extending the $G_2$-structure to a $Spin(7)$-structure, we propose a 3-algebra structure on the full eight-dimensional M2-brane phase space which reduces to the quasi-Poisson algebra after imposing a particular gauge constraint, and whose deformation quantisation simultaneously encompasses both the phase space star products and the configuration space triproducts. We demonstrate how these structures naturally fit in with previous occurences of 3-algebras in M-theory.Comment: 41 pages; v2: Final version published in JHE