Book Reviews

Review of Prehistory, by Derek Roe; Aspects of Prehistory, by Grahame Clark; World Prehistory, by Grahame Clark; Introductory Readings in Archaeology, by Brian M. Fagan, ed.; The Origins of Civilization, by Carroll L. Riley; The Archaeology of Early Man, by J. M. Coles and E. S. Higgs; Shipwrecks and Archaeology, by Peter Throckmorton; A History of Dyed Textiles, by Stuart Robinson; Food in Antiquity, by Don and Patricia Brothwell; World Archaeology, Vol. 1, nos. 1, 2, 3, by Roy Hodson and Colin Platt, eds.; The Structure and Growth of Australia's Aboriginal Population, by F. Lancaster Jones; Attitudes and Social Conditions, by Ronald Taft, John L. M. Dawson, and Pamela Beasley; Aboriginal Settlements, by J. P. M. Long; The Destruction of Aboriginal Society, by C. D. Rowley; Aboriginal Advancement to Integration, by H. P. Schapper

Chess : making a move in schools

Chess is one of the fastest-growing activities in Australian schools. Consider the figures: in 2002, the Chess Kids National Interschool Chess Championships involved 821 children. By 2007, there were more than 9,000 students taking part. That is an increase of more than 900 per cent in five years. Why? There are two reasons. First, chess appeals to children from diverse backgrounds and of all ages. Even those as young as four and five years are able to grasp the basic rules of the game and enjoy play. Second, it offers educational benefits that have been proven in research and are now being experienced by educators first-hand as schools across the country grow their own successful chess programs. Chess is not just another school sport, like teeball, netball or football. It does provide similar benefits, such as boosting self confidence, but it is all-inclusive, non-gender specific and, most importantly, a powerful tool for strengthening the mind. Chess, as an ongoing component of the curriculum, is truly an integrated activity that covers all key learning areas. It leads to improved performance in all fields of endeavour and develops life skills and attitudes that can often be difficult to teach. If educators want the best for children, then the teaching of chess has to be a serious consideration. [Author abstract, ed

Playing the game a new way : the changing role of chess in schools

Educators are realising the educational benefits of chess, not just as an extracurricular activity, but as something that can be built into the curriculum. There has been a real shift in the way that chess is viewed in schools and there are several reasons for this. Firstly, the attitude towards intelligence and intellectual pursuit has changed. Secondly, there is a growing realisation that engagement in learning is really powerful; games are a great way of engaging children in the learning process. Finally, the broad-ranging cross-curricular aspect of chess makes it stand out as a particularly good game for school children. Te author offers some advice for teachers contemplating introducing chess at their schools. They can win the early engagement challenge by teaching the game in the right way, which means making it easy to learn, showing passion and having a role model for the group. This is why a professional chess tutor has to be at least a part of any implementation strategy. [Author abstract, ed

Signaling pathways downstream to receptor tyrosine kinases: targets for cancer treatment

Mammalian cells have the ability to respond to a myriad of diverse extracellular stimuli that modulate cell function. This often involves ligands binding to cell surface receptors and subsequent activation of intracellular signaling pathways. These pathways can lead to changes in gene expression patterns that in turn regulate cell growth, differentiation, migration, and function. One important type of cell surface receptor is the receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK). In response to in response to ligand binding, RTKs dimerize, then trans-phosphorylate each other, leading to activation of downstream pathways. While the signaling proteins in these pathways are important for normal cell growth control, when improperly regulated they can lead to uncontrolled growth and sometimes cancer. For this reason, they are often considered to be good candidates for drug targets for chemotherapeutic drugs. RTKs can activate multiple different signaling pathways. Some of the signaling proteins in these pathways can have crosstalk with other RTK activated pathways, and some of them can be activated by multiple mechanisms in addition to activation by RTKs. While there is a wide array of different signaling proteins and pathways activated by RTKs, in this review we will discuss components of several key pathways including the MAPK pathway, the Her2/Neu pathway, mTOR, and Pak kinases. We provide an overview of the roles for these pathways in cell signaling and discuss how different components of these pathways are being considered as targets for cancer treatment

A comparison of a distance education and locally based course in an urban university setting

The purpose of this research was to compare the academic performance and attitudes of students at the instructor-based site of a televised course and the distant site. An earlier pilot program indicated the need for certain technical and structural interventions at the distant site such as multiple press-to-touch microphones, a site-administrator and participative seating arrangements. At the beginning of the class, demographic data were collected from the students at both sites through a questionnaire and supplemented with information from students\u27 records. Factors such as age, gender, ethnicity, marital status, number of children, current class status, major, work status and CLAST scores (achievement tests) were examined. There were no significant differences between the students at the sites except ethnicity and reading CLAST scores. The instructor-based site had a higher percentage of Hispanic students and the distant site had a larger percentage of Caucasian and Black Americans. The distant site scored significantly better on the reading section of the CLAST achievement test. An evaluation instrument was distributed to both sites, at the midpoint of the semester, measuring their attitude toward the organizational, technical, and pedagogical factors of the course. A second evaluation instrument, measuring similar factors, but more in-depth, was distributed to both sites near the end of the term. Nine students at the distant site were interviewed along with the site administrator to collect additional information. Course completion rates, dropout rates, pass rates and final grades of students at both sites were compared. There were no significant differences in academic performance between the students at both sites, however, there were significant differences in their attitudes. Those at the instructor-based site gave better ratings to most of items in the evaluation instruments. Problems at the distant site included audio and visual clarity, lack of available assistance, too much nonrelated talking, not enough opportunities to ask questions or to interact with the instructor during class

Strategies for coping with stress in emergency medicine: Early education is vital

Introduction: Physician burnout has received considerable attention in the literature and impacts a large number of emergency medicine physicians, but there is no standardized curriculum for wellness in resident education. A culture change is needed to educate about wellness, adopt a preventative and proactive approach, and focus on resiliency. Discussion: We describe a novel approach to wellness education by focusing on resiliency rather than the unintended endpoint of physician burnout. One barrier to adoption of wellness education has been establishing legitimacy among emergency medicine (EM) residents and educators. We discuss a change in the language of wellness education and provide several specific topics to facilitate the incorporation of these topics in resident education. Conclusion: Wellness education and a culture of training that promotes well-being will benefit EM residents. Demonstrating the impact of several factors that positively affect emergency physicians may help to facilitate alert residents to the importance of practicing activities that will result in wellness. A change in culture and focus on resiliency is needed to adequately address and optimize physician self-care