4,963 research outputs found
Indigenous Students and Mathematics: Teachers' Perceptions of the role of Teacher Aides
This study examined teachers' perceptions of the role of teacher aides in mathematics classrooms in rural and remote Indigenous communities. Twelve teachers from three schools in rural and remote Queensland participated in the study. The results from the first year of the project indicated that there were differences in how these teachers worked with their teacher aides, particularly the specific roles assigned to them in the mathematics classroom, with non-Indigenous teacher aides being given greater responsibilities for student learning and Indigenous teacher aides for behavioural management. As a result of teacher aide in-service on mathematics learning, teachers' perception of the Indigenous teacher aides changed, resulting in each being given greater responsibility for student learning
Exploring Young Students' Functional Thinking
The Early Years Generalising Project (EYGP) involves Australian Years 1-4 (age 5-9) students and investigates how they grasp and express generalisations. This paper focuses on data collected from six Year 1 students in an exploratory study within a clinical interview setting that required students to identify function rules. Preliminary findings suggest that the use of gestures (both by students and interviewers), self-talk (by students), and concrete acting out, assisted students to reach generalisations and to begin to express these generalities. It also appears that as students become aware of the structure, their use of gestures and self- talk tended to decrease
"Aim High - Beat Yourself": Effective Mathematics Teaching in a Remote Indigenous Community
In 2004, a young, non-Indigenous, second-year teacher in a remote Queensland Indigenous community developed a mathematics Unit based on an "Aim High - Beat Yourself" theme he developed to overcome the perceived unwillingness of his students to achieve in both sport and school. This paper investigates the apparent effectiveness of this Unit and draws inferences for mathematics teaching and learning in Indigenous communities. It describes the research and teaching contexts in which the Unit was developed and the students’ responses to the Unit. The paper provides further evidence for the efficacy of integrating mathematics learning with more generic programs that build pride, confidence and self worth in Indigenous students and challenge them to perform (Sarra, 2003)
Religion and Violence in Jesse James Films, 1972–2010
This essay analyzes recent depictions of Jesse James in cinema, examining filmic portrayals of the figure between the years of 1972 and 2010. Working from the intersection of the anthropology of film and religious studies approaches to popular culture, the essay fills significant gaps in the study of James folklore. As no substantial examinations of the religious aspects of the James myths exist, I hone in on the legend’s religiosity as contested in filmic form. Films, including revisionist Westerns, are not unlike oral-history statements recorded and analyzed by anthropologists, folklorists, and ethnographers. Jesse James movies, in other words, have much to do with the construction of American identity. Employing theorist Roland Barthes’s textual codes implicit within narrative accounts, I argue that these Revisionist Western films use religion as an intentional trope in their negotiated deconstructions and re-appropriations of the American legend. James is an enigma and the films’ depictions of religion and violence serve as narrative strategies to establish the identity and meaning of the controversial outlaw. In the corpus of eight films that serve as data for this study, the themes of violence, fanaticism, the Bible, sinfulness and atonement, and other frequent religious imageries and icons occur frequently in the intertextual filmic attempts to situate the enigma of Jesse James as either hero or terrorist
Rheology at the micro-scale: new tools for bio-analysis
We present a simple and non-invasive experimental procedure to measure the linear viscoelastic properties of cells by passive particle tracking microrheology. In order to do this, a generalised Langevin equation is adopted to relate the timedependent thermal fluctuations of a probe sensor, immobilised to the cell’s membrane, to the frequency-dependent viscoelastic moduli of the cell. The method has been validated by measuring the linear viscoelastic response of a soft solid and then applied to cell physiology studies. It is shown that the viscoelastic moduli are related to the cell’s cytoskeletal structure, which in this work is modulated either by inhibiting the actin/myosin-II interactions by means of blebbistatin or by varying the solution osmolarity from iso- to hypo-osmotic conditions. The insights gained from this form of rheological analysis promises to be a valuable addition to physiological studies; e.g. cell physiology during pathology and pharmacological response
Optical tweezers: wideband microrheology
Microrheology is a branch of rheology having the same principles as
conventional bulk rheology, but working on micron length scales and micro-litre
volumes.
Optical tweezers have been successfully used with Newtonian fluids for
rheological purposes such as determining fluid viscosity. Conversely, when
optical tweezers are used to measure the viscoelastic properties of complex
fluids the results are either limited to the material's high-frequency
response, discarding important information related to the low-frequency
behavior, or they are supplemented by low-frequency measurements performed with
different techniques, often without presenting an overlapping region of clear
agreement between the sets of results. We present a simple experimental
procedure to perform microrheological measurements over the widest frequency
range possible with optical tweezers. A generalised Langevin equation is used
to relate the frequency-dependent moduli of the complex fluid to the
time-dependent trajectory of a probe particle as it flips between two optical
traps that alternately switch on and off.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Special Issue of the Journal of
Optic
Measuring storage and loss moduli using optical tweezers: broadband microrheology
We present an experimental procedure to perform broadband microrheological
measurements with optical tweezers. A generalised Langevin equation is adopted
to relate the time-dependent trajectory of a particle in an imposed flow to the
frequency-dependent moduli of the complex fluid. This procedure allows us to
measure the material linear viscoelastic properties across the widest frequency
range achievable with optical tweezers.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Are fluoride levels in drinking water associated with hypothyroidism prevalence in England? A large observational study of GP practice data and fluoride levels in drinking water
Background
While previous research has suggested that there is an association between fluoride ingestion and the incidence of hypothyroidism, few population level studies have been undertaken. In England,
approximately 10% of the population live in areas with community fluoridation schemes and hypothyroidism prevalence can be assessed from general practice data. This observational study examines the association between levels of fluoride in water supplies with practice level hypothyroidism prevalence.
Methods
We used a cross-sectional study design using secondary data to develop binary logistic regression models of predictive factors for hypothyroidism prevalence at practice level using 2012 data on fluoride levels in drinking water, 2012/2013 Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) diagnosed hypothyroidism prevalence data, 2013 General Practitioner registered patient numbers and 2012 practice level Index of Multiple Deprivation scores.
Findings
We found that higher levels of fluoride in drinking water provide a useful contribution for predicting prevalence of hypothyroidism. We found that practices located in the West Midlands (a wholly fluoridated area) are nearly twice as likely to report high hypothyroidism prevalence in comparison to Greater Manchester (non-fluoridated area). Interpretation In many areas of the world, hypothyroidism is a major health concern and in addition to other factors—such as iodine deficiency—fluoride exposure should be considered as a contributing factor. The findings of the study raise particular concerns about the validity of community fluoridation as a safe public health measure
Natural fracture patterns at Swift Reservoir anticline, NW Montana : the influence of structural position and lithology from multiple observation scales
Acknowledgements We gratefully acknowledge constructive reviews by Amerigo Corradetti and an anonymous reviewer and thank Stefano Tavani for editorial handling. Adam J. Cawood is grateful to David Ferrill, Kevin Smart, and Paul Gillespie for helpful conversations about fracture patterns, although the data and interpretations shown here are of course the sole responsibility of the authors. This study was carried out as part of a University of Aberdeen doctoral programme supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Centre for Doctoral Training in Oil and Gas. Additional funding for fieldwork was provided by the University of Aberdeen Fold–Thrust Research Group. Petroleum Experts (formerly Midland Valley Exploration) is acknowledged for allowing the academic use of Move 2016.1 software. Financial support This research has been supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (grant no. NE/M00578X/1).Peer reviewedPublisher PD
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