For the Public Good: Quality Preparation for Every Teacher

The goal is to ensure that teachers enter the profession ready for the demands of the 21st-century classroom. The first report from Bank Street College of Education's Sustainable Funding Project  looks at ways of reaching that goal through yearlong co-teaching experiences, commonly referred to as residencies, in classroom settings with experienced mentors.The report—"For the Public Good: Quality Preparation for Every Teacher"—also identifies public funding streams to support residency programs nationwide and outlines how teacher preparation providers and school districts can establish mutually beneficial partnerships to support high-quality teacher preparation

Smart windows—-dynamic control of building energy performance

This paper explores the potential of thermotropic (TT) windows as a means of improving overall building energy performance. Capitalising on their ability to dynamically alter solar and visible light transmittance and reflectance based on window temperature, they have the ability to reduce solar heat gains and subsequently reduce cooling loads when the external conditions exceed those required for occupant comfort. Conversely when the external conditions fall short of those required for comfort, they maintain a degree of optical transparency thus promoting opportunities afforded by passive solar gains. To test their overall effectiveness, thermotropic layers made of varying hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) concentrations (2 wt.%, 4 wt.% and 6 wt.%) were firstly synthesised and their optical properties measured. Building performance predictions were subsequently conducted in EnergyPlus for four window inclinations (90°, 60°, 30° and 0° to the horizontal) based on a small office test cell situated in the hot summer Mediterranean climate of Palermo, Italy. Results from annual predictions show that both incident solar radiation and outdoor ambient temperature play a significant role in the transmissivity and reflectivity of the glazing unit. If used as a roof light, a 6 wt.% HPC-based thermotropic window has a dynamic average Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC) between 0.44 and 0.56, this lower than that of 0.74 for double glazing. Predictions also show that in the specific case tested, the 6 wt.% HPC-based thermotropic window provides an overall annual energy saving of 22% over an equivalent double glazed unit. By maintaining the thermotropic window spectral properties but lowering the associated transition temperature ranges, it was found that the lowest temperature range provided the smallest solar heat gains. Although, this is beneficial during periods where cooling may be needed, in those periods where heating may be required, opportunities gained through passive solar heating are limited. In addition, with lower solar heat gain, there is a possibility that artificial lighting energy demand increases resulting in additional energy consumption

Understanding and countering the influence of cyber racism on Australian world views

University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.In an age when the Internet allows the proliferation of race hate and vilification with increasing speed and impact, liberal democratic societies need to understand the implications of this trend and curb its influence. However, research in this field is only beginning to develop, with work in Australia so far primarily focused on everyday racism and anti-racism. The Australian Cyber Racism and Community Resilience (CRaCR) Project, to which I was attached to as the higher degree research student, is the first in Australia to make these areas a major focus of research. The CRaCR project explores the phenomenon of cyber racism, drawing on a range of social science perspectives. This thesis adds an important and unique anthropological perspective, which examines how the greater proliferation of racism on social media impacts on the worldviews of Internet users. Given the cultural diversity in multicultural nations such as Australia, countering cyber racism through the promotion of community resilience demands a sophisticated insight into how more tolerant and cosmopolitan worldviews may be corroded or, alternatively reinforced and cultivated. Four case studies were conducted on Facebook and Twitter over varying periods. A narrative approach and the anthropological perspective allowed the development of an understanding of the worldviews of the authors in the context of cultural exclusion in Australia. The value of a narrative approach is in the way it enables analysis that draws out the underlying meaning in the social media posts and its potential influence on those that interact with it. The premise of this methodology is that the proliferation of societal narratives on social media, such as those found in the case studies, may influence individual and ultimately national worldviews related to cultural exclusion. The research questions were designed to understand these phenomena in the context of the enabling characteristics of social media. The findings show that a culturally inclusive worldview is undermined in Australia through the reproduction of narratives that promote cultural exclusion and foster the denial of racism and white privilege. The ease of interaction, favouring of free speech and lack of legal consequences on social media platforms also contribute to the development and growth of communities with racist worldviews. In contrast, community resilience case studies show that target groups can build social media communities that put forward alternative narratives, which promote cultural inclusion, challenge negative stereotypes and work against the denial of racism and an uncritical acceptance of white privilege. These narratives support community resilience by creating safe spaces on Facebook and Twitter where target groups and their supporters can come together to develop and spread worldviews that counter racist influences. The community resilience case studies in this research demonstrate the potential for future action against racism on social media that is not just relevant in an Australian context but could be applied internationally

Building SMARTER Communities of Resistance and Solidarity

The Cyber-Racism and Community Resilience (CRaCR) project included an examination into features of online communities of resistance and solidarity. This work formed a key part of the project’s focus on resilience and produced a deeper understanding of a range of types of actors working in this space and how they might individually contribute effectively to creating resilience. The need for new synergies between different types of stakeholders and approaches was highlighted as an area of future work. This paper explores a design for that future work that builds and supports online communities of resistance and solidarity by drawing on the lessons from the earlier research and extending them. This new work both presents a model for cooperation and explains how different stakeholders can positively engage under the model in a smarter way. That is, through a system which facilitates Solidarity in Moving Against Racism Together while Enabling Resilience. This new approach draws on the strengths of individuals actors, but also seeks to turn points of weakness for one actor into opportunities for cooperation that strengthen the system as a whole

Hate Speech: a Quality of Service Challenge

Abstract-The use of social media has become pervasive across many aspects of our lives. We now depend on social media platforms more than ever before. Our dependence on social media has created a greater demand for a higher quality of service, but also for this quality to apply in new areas. As the social media experience and "real world" experience merge, there is an increased expectation that the norms of society will also apply in social media settings. There is an increasing demand for social media platforms to empower users with tools to report hate speech and other forms of dangerous content. There is also an increasing demand for greater quality of service in the way these reports are managed. The approach of social media companies to this problem, which is to largely avoid the issue by not publishing the data needed to assess the relevant quality of service, is being overcome by third party solutions. This paper discusses one such solution which is currently under development, as well as some of the challenges to improving quality of service in this area. e-services; quality of service; hate speech; social medi

Smart solar concentrators for building integrated photovoltaic façades

In this study a novel static concentrating photovoltaic (PV) system, suitable for use in windows or glazing façades, has been designed. The developed smart Concentrating PV (CPV) system is lightweight, low cost and able to generate electricity. Additionally, this system automatically responds to climate by varying the balance of electricity generated from the PV with the amount of solar light and heat permitted through it into the building. It therefore offers the potential to contribute to, and control, energy consumption within buildings. A comprehensive optical analysis of the smart CPV is undertaken via 3-D ray tracing technique. To obtain optimal overall optical performance of the novel smart CPV analysis has been based upon all necessary design parameters including the average reflectivity of the thermotropic reflective layer, the glazing cover dimension, the glazing cover materials as well as the dimensions of the solar cells. In addition, a hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) hydrogel polymer, suitable for use as the reflective thermotropic layer for the smart CPV system, was synthesized and experimentally studied

Prospective Mediation Models of Sleep, Pain, and Daily Function in Children With Arthritis Using Ecological Momentary Assessment

Sleep is an emerging area of concern in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). Research shows the presence of poor sleep quality and related adverse outcomes in pediatric pain populations, including JIA, but few studies have examined the prospective patterns of association between sleep and associated outcomes. This prospective study evaluated the direction and magnitude of associations between subjective sleep characteristics (sleep quality, difficulty initiating sleep, and sleep duration), pain intensity, and functional limitations in children with JIA. We hypothesized that pain intensity would partially mediate the relationship between sleep and functional limitations

Validating methods for testing natural molecules on molecular pathways of interest in silico and in vitro

Differentially expressed genes can serve as drug targets and are used to predict drug response and disease progression. In silico drug analysis based on the expression of these genetic biomarkers allows the detection of putative therapeutic agents, which could be used to reverse a pathological gene expression signature. Indeed, a set of bioinformatics tools can increase the accuracy of drug discovery, helping in biomarker identification. Once a drug target is identified, in vitro cell line models of disease are used to evaluate and validate the therapeutic potential of putative drugs and novel natural molecules. This study describes the development of efficacious PCR primers that can be used to identify gene expression of specific genetic pathways, which can lead to the identification of natural molecules as therapeutic agents in specific molecular pathways. For this study, genes involved in health conditions and processes were considered. In particular, the expression of genes involved in obesity, xenobiotics metabolism, endocannabinoid pathway, leukotriene B4 metabolism and signaling, inflammation, endocytosis, hypoxia, lifespan, and neurotrophins were evaluated. Exploiting the expression of specific genes in different cell lines can be useful in in vitro to evaluate the therapeutic effects of small natural molecules

Complementary and Alternative Medical Therapies for Chronic Low Back Pain: What Treatments are Patients Willing to Try?

Background: Although back pain is the most common reason patients use complementary and alternative medical (CAM) therapies, little is known about the willingness of primary care back pain patients to try these therapies. As part of an effort to refine recruitment strategies for clinical trials, we sought to determine if back pain patients are willing to try acupuncture, chiropractic, massage, meditation, and t'ai chi and to learn about their knowledge of, experience with, and perceptions about each of these therapies. Methods: We identified English-speaking patients with diagnoses consistent with chronic low back pain using automated visit data from one health care organization in Boston and another in Seattle. We were able to confirm the eligibility status (i.e., current low back pain that had lasted at least 3 months) of 70% of the patients with such diagnoses and all eligible respondents were interviewed. Results: Except for chiropractic, knowledge about these therapies was low. Chiropractic and massage had been used by the largest fractions of respondents (54% and 38%, respectively), mostly for back pain (45% and 24%, respectively). Among prior users of specific CAM therapies for back pain, massage was rated most helpful. Users of chiropractic reported treatment-related "significant discomfort, pain or harm" more often (23%) than users of other therapies (5–16%). Respondents expected massage would be most helpful (median of 7 on a 0 to 10 scale) and meditation least helpful (median of 3) in relieving their current pain. Most respondents indicated they would be "very likely" to try acupuncture, massage, or chiropractic for their back pain if they did not have to pay out of pocket and their physician thought it was a reasonable treatment option. Conclusions: Most patients with chronic back pain in our sample were interested in trying therapeutic options that lie outside the conventional medical spectrum. This highlights the need for additional studies evaluating their effectiveness and suggests that researchers conducting clinical trials of these therapies may not have difficulties recruiting patients