Learning through Digital Technologies

A Volume in International Perspectives on Mathematics Education - Cognition, Equity & Society Series Editor Bharath Sriraman, The University of Montana and Lyn English, Queensland University of Technology This volume represents a serious ..

Influenza epidemiology, vaccine coverage and vaccine effectiveness in sentinel Australian hospitals in 2013: the Influenza Complications Alert Network

The National Influenza Program aims to reduce serious morbidity and mortality from influenza by providing public funding for vaccination to at-risk groups. The Influenza Complications Alert Network (FluCAN) is a sentinel hospital-based surveillance program that operates at 14 sites in all states and territories in Australia. This report summarises the epidemiology of hospitalisations with confirmed influenza, estimates vaccine coverage and influenza vaccine protection against hospitalisation with influenza during the 2013 influenza season. In this observational study, cases were defined as patients admitted to one of the sentinel hospitals, with influenza confirmed by nucleic acid testing. Controls were patients who had acute respiratory illnesses who were test-negative for influenza. Vaccine effectiveness was estimated as 1 minus the odds ratio of vaccination in case patients compared with control patients, after adjusting for known confounders. During the period 5 April to 31 October 2012, 631 patients were admitted with confirmed influenza at the 14 FluCAN sentinel hospitals. Of these, 31% were more than 65 years of age, 9.5% were Indigenous Australians, 4.3% were pregnant and 77% had chronic co-morbidities. Influenza B was detected in 30% of patients. Vaccination coverage was estimated at 81% in patients more than 65 years of age but only 49% in patients aged less than 65 years with chronic comorbidities. Vaccination effectiveness against hospitalisation with influenza was estimated at 50% (95% confidence interval: 33%, 63%, P<0.001). We detected a significant number of hospital admissions with confirmed influenza in a national observational study. Vaccine coverage was incomplete in at-risk groups, particularly non-elderly patients with medical comorbidities. Our results suggest that the seasonal influenza vaccine was moderately protective against hospitalisation with influenza in the 2013 season. This work i

Intergroup Contact and White Racial Apathy: Findings from the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR)

Scholars theorize racial apathy is one form contemporary white racial prejudice takes. Racial apathy signals not caring about racial inequality. Invoking intergroup contact theory, we hypothesize interracial contact would predict less racial apathy among whites. To test our hypothesis, we analyze survey data from white teenagers participating in the 2003 National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR). We find interracial contact matters and its inclusion improves model fit over and above previously specified correlates. Specifically, interracial friendship and dating, and having a different race mentor predict the tendency to care about racial equality. Furthermore, any interracial contact and a count of interracial contact experiences across five settings, respectively, predict less racial apathy. We encourage scholars to investigate further the sociological significance of racial apathy and its correlates, including interracial contact

Rites of passage in initial teacher training: ritual, performance, ordeal and numeracy skills test

'Transition' was identified by cultural anthropologists in the early twentieth century as the liminal stage of a 'rite of passage'. Contemporary anthropology challenges the structural nature of these classic interpretations of ritual and analyses them as 'performance theory': 'social drama' (Turner), 'dramatism' (Burke), 'interaction rituals' (Goffman), and 'ritualisation' (Bell). In applying a contemporary anthropological lens to initial teacher training, we identify the transition not as a linear progression but as a complex process of extended and ambiguous 'in-betweenness' that involves play, performance and ordeal. We depict pre-service teachers enmeshed in the performance of symbolic acts and the undertaking of 'ritual ordeals'; and report how they narrate their passage as a complex 'game' of 'being' and 'becoming', and portray the holistic experience metaphorically in terms of 'play'. We explore, in particular, students' perceptions of the Numeracy Skills Test, the most recently imposed 'ritual ordeal': a 'rite of intensification' characterised by government as a device to police the boundaries of the teaching profession

Race-Related Correlates of Young Adults' Subjective Well-Being

We investigated how often young adults worry about race relationsand whether they perceive that white/black relations have beendeteriorating. We also explored the relationships betweenrace-related worry and pessimism, and subjective well-being. This study addressed the distribution of race-related worry andpessimism, and their relationship to subjective well-being innational probability samples of high school seniors completingself-administered questionnaires in 1996 and 1997 ( n = 4,514). Nearly one-third of high school seniors often worry about racerelations, and about 20% perceive that contemporary white/blackrelations have been getting at least a little worse. Worryingoften about race relations and perceiving that race relationshave been getting worse were significantly associated withdiminished levels of life satisfaction and happiness. Theresults confirm that race-related worry and pessimism werecommon, and that they impact youth's affective and cognitivestates.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43695/1/11205_2004_Article_279192.pd

Development of Experimental and Computational Aeroacoustic Tools for Advanced Liner Evaluation

Acoustic liners in aircraft engine nacelles suppress radiated noise. Therefore, as air travel increases, increasingly sophisticated tools are needed to maximize noise suppression. During the last 30 years, NASA has invested significant effort in development of experimental and computational acoustic liner evaluation tools. The Curved Duct Test Rig is a 152-mm by 381- mm curved duct that supports liner evaluation at Mach numbers up to 0.3 and source SPLs up to 140 dB, in the presence of user-selected modes. The Grazing Flow Impedance Tube is a 51- mm by 63-mm duct currently being fabricated to operate at Mach numbers up to 0.6 with source SPLs up to at least 140 dB, and will replace the existing 51-mm by 51-mm duct. Together, these test rigs allow evaluation of advanced acoustic liners over a range of conditions representative of those observed in aircraft engine nacelles. Data acquired with these test ducts are processed using three aeroacoustic propagation codes. Two are based on finite element solutions to convected Helmholtz and linearized Euler equations. The third is based on a parabolic approximation to the convected Helmholtz equation. The current status of these computational tools and their associated usage with the Langley test rigs is provided

Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness against Hospitalisation with Confirmed Influenza in the 2010-11 Seasons: A Test-negative Observational Study

Immunisation programs are designed to reduce serious morbidity and mortality from influenza, but most evidence supporting the effectiveness of this intervention has focused on disease in the community or in primary care settings. We aimed to examine the effectiveness of influenza vaccination against hospitalisation with confirmed influenza. We compared influenza vaccination status in patients hospitalised with PCR-confirmed influenza with patients hospitalised with influenza-negative respiratory infections in an Australian sentinel surveillance system. Vaccine effectiveness was estimated from the odds ratio of vaccination in cases and controls. We performed both simple multivariate regression and a stratified analysis based on propensity score of vaccination. Vaccination status was ascertained in 333 of 598 patients with confirmed influenza and 785 of 1384 test-negative patients. Overall estimated crude vaccine effectiveness was 57% (41%, 68%). After adjusting for age, chronic comorbidities and pregnancy status, the estimated vaccine effectiveness was 37% (95% CI: 12%, 55%). In an analysis accounting for a propensity score for vaccination, the estimated vaccine effectiveness was 48.3% (95% CI: 30.0, 61.8%). Influenza vaccination was moderately protective against hospitalisation with influenza in the 2010 and 2011 seasons

Analysis of Structure and Function of the Giant Protein Pf332 in Plasmodium falciparum

Virulence of Plasmodium falciparum, the most lethal parasitic disease in humans, results in part from adhesiveness and increased rigidity of infected erythrocytes. Pf332 is trafficked to the parasite-infected erythrocyte via Maurer's clefts, structures for protein sorting and export in the host erythrocyte. This protein has a domain similar to the Duffy-binding-like (DBL) domain, which functions by binding to receptors for adherence and invasion. To address structure of the Pf332 DBL domain, we expressed this region, and validated its fold on the basis of the disulphide bond pattern, which conformed to the generic pattern for DBL domains. The modelled structure for Pf332 DBL had differences compared with the erythrocyte-binding region of the αDBL domain of Plasmodium knowlesi Duffy-binding protein (Pkα-DBL). We addressed the function of Pf332 by constructing parasites that either lack expression of the protein or express an altered form. We found no evidence that Pf332 is involved in cytoadhesion or merozoite invasion. Truncation of Pf332 had a significant effect on deformability of the P. falciparum-infected erythrocyte, while loss of the full protein deletion did not. Our data suggest that Pf332 may contribute to the overall deformability of the P. falciparum-infected erythrocyte by anchoring and scaffolding

Are Risk and Protective Factors for Substance Use Consistent Across Historical Time?: National Data From the High School Classes of 1976 Through 1997

Researchers have seldom examined whether risk and protective factors are consistently linked to substance use across historical time. Using nationally representative data collected from 22 consecutive cohorts of high school seniors (approximate N = 188,000) from the Monitoring the Future (MTF) project, we investigated whether correlates of substance use changed across historical time. We found a high degree of consistency across historical time in predictors of past month cigarette use, past month alcohol use, past year marijuana use, and past year cocaine use. Some predictors such as religiosity, political beliefs, truancy, and frequent evenings out were consistently linked to substance use. The consistency of other predictors such as region, parental education, and college plans was contingent in part upon historical time period, the particular substance, and its level of use.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45499/1/11121_2004_Article_294343.pd

Subjectivity and cultural adjustment in mathematics education: a response to Wolff-Michael Roth

In this volume, Wolff-Michael Roth provides a critical but partial reading of Tony Brown’s book Mathematics Education and Subjectivity. The reading contrasts Brown’s approach with Roth’s own conception of subjectivity as derived from the work of Vygotsky, in which Roth aims to “reunite” psychology and sociology. Brown’s book, however, focuses on how discourses in mathematics education shape subjective action within a Lacanian model that circumnavigates both “psychology” and “sociology”. From that platform, this paper responds to Roth through problematising the idea of the individual as a subjective entity in relation to the two perspectives, with some consideration of corporeality and of how the Symbolic encounters the Real. The paper argues for a Lacanian conception of subjectivity for mathematics education comprising a response to a social demand borne of an ever-changing symbolic order that defines our constitution and our space for action. The paper concludes by considering an attitude to the production of research objects in mathematics education research that resists the normalisation of assumptions as to how humans encounter mathematics