Continuous Professional Development and Work Conditions for English-Language Teaching Practitioners in Ireland: Where do we go from here?

In Ireland, English-language schools have historically constituted a lucrative sector for their owners and the Irish exchequer. However, teachers of English as a foreign language have not reaped financial rewards on an equitable scale. Two online surveys were conducted in 2020 and 2021 to ascertain teachers’ attitudes to continuous professional development and to their workplace conditions in privately-run schools. Findings from both surveys reflect a highly skilled, highly qualified and highly motivated cohort with a strong commitment to engaging in continuous professional development and a keen sense of their own professionalism. However, this was not found to be reflected in their work conditions. The results raise integral questions on stakeholder status

Optical Communication Noise Rejection Using Correlated Photons

This paper describes a completely new way to perform noise rejection using a two-photon sensitive detector and taking advantage of the properties of correlated photons to improve an optical communications link in the presence of uncorrelated noise. In particular, a detailed analysis is made of the case where a classical link would be saturated by an intense background, such as when a satellite is in front of the sun,and identifies a regime where the quantum correlating system has superior performance.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure, 1 tabl

Spectroscopic Studies of Bacterial Iron-Sulfur Proteins (Electron Paramagnetic Resonance, Magnetic Circular Dichroism).

Iron-sulfur proteins play a vital role in metabolism; mediating such life-sustaining processes as aerobic and anaerobic respiration, nitrogen fixation, and photosynthesis. This work employs low temperature magnetic circular dichroism (MCD), electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), and UV-visible spectroscopy to characterize the iron-sulfur clusters of the following bacterial proteins: Azotobacter vinelandii ferredoxinI, Thermus thermophilus ferredoxin, Escherichia coli nitrate reductase and the rubredoxin and ferredoxin from Clostridium pasteurianum. Novel 3Fe-xS clusters were identified in A. vinelandii FdI, T. thermophilus Fd, ferricyanide treated C. pasteurianum Fd, and E. coli nitrate reductase. The uniformity of the magnetic and electronic properties of these clusters in both the oxidized and the reduced states indicates a common iron-sulfur core structure for this type of cluster. E. coli nitrate reductase is the first example of an active enzyme which contains a 3Fe-xS cluster. This argues against the currently prevailing hypothesis that all such clusters are isolation artifacts. This work has also developed the potential of low temperature MCD for the detection and characterization of iron-sulfur clusters in multicluster enzymes. Studies on the well-characterized Clostridial proteins demonstrated that MCD magnetization curves provide a selective method of obtaining ground state g-values, spin states, and estimations of the polarizations of the electronic transitions for randomly oriented samples. Moreover, zero field splitting parameters were obtained by a detailed study of the temperature dependence of individual MCD transitions. This has led to a more detailed understanding of the complex Kramers\u27 and non-Kramers\u27 ground states exhibited by reduced 3Fe-xS clusters (S = 2) and oxidized and reduced rubredoxin (S = 5/2 and S = 2 respectively)

Elementary School Teacher Perceptions of Using Formative Strategies To Improve Instruction

Standardized test data from a southern suburban elementary school showed lagging student scores behind those of students from similar settings. These scores suggested a disconnection between teachers\u27 understanding of and practice in formative assessment. Bloom\u27s revised taxonomy, backward design planning theory, and differentiated learning theory guided this study, which focused on how elementary teachers use formative strategies in the classroom to inform instruction. Data collected through face-to-face interviews from 10 teachers were transcribed and organized in codes and themes. Member checks were then used to ensure credibility of interpretations. The key results showed that these 10 teachers used many formative assessment strategies with their students, yet they were unfamiliar with backward design theory and did not use peer feedback or self-assessment as strategies. The proposed project focused on providing professional development in 3 modules addressing professional learning community norms, backward design theory unit planning, and strategies for peer feedback and student goal setting. This project may lead to positive social change by empowering teachers to design curriculum and assessment with authentic learning experiences and providing students with goal-setting strategies to become responsible for learning. The project\u27s positive social change may lead to this school and district closing the identified achievement gap. It is recommended that further research on teacher perception of formative assessment should include more elementary and middle schools

Rhetorical moves in medical research article introductions: Alternative strategies adopted by English and German native speakers

Young doctoral students for whom English is an additional language are facing increasing pressure to publish their research in high-ranking English-language periodicals. However, a number of potential linguistic obstacles to editorial acceptance have been identified, including ‘interference’, a process in which specific rhetorical strategies adopted in the discourse of the home ‘large’ culture are transferred into the target language during the writing process. In this study, I investigate this phenomenon in my own teaching context by using rhetorical move analysis to explore the manner in which native speakers of English and German employ rhetorical strategies in introduction sections to original research articles in medicine. While a number of existing studies point towards differences in the rhetorical organisation of English and German academic writing, a critical examination of their work reveals some significant conceptual and methodological flaws. Chief among these are a deterministic, essentialist perception of culture and a lack of rigorous quantitative analysis. In an endeavour to address this, this study adopts an intercultural rhetoric theoretical framework to root the texts firmly in their socio-cultural context and utilizes a method combining quantitative corpus-analysis with qualitative text analysis, thus adopting both a top-down and a bottom-up approach. While the study reveals a broad congruence between the two cultures in terms of fundamental move structure, it also demonstrates the existence of significant differences in the ways in which German and US-American medical researchers employ specific rhetorical steps to reference other scholars’ contributions and to establish the necessity of their own research. These findings provide a basis for the development of pedagogical strategies to raise students’ awareness of the range of specific rhetorical steps at their disposal. Developing such an awareness will not only furnish them with a larger number of rhetorical resources to develop the richness of their writing, but will also facilitate more accommodative reading, sensitising them to a range of different author strategies

Vitamin D An Examination of Physician and Patient Management of Health and Uncertainty

Vitamin D has been a topic of much research interest and controversy, and evidence is mixed concerning its preventive effects and health benefits. The purpose of our study was to explore the decision-making strategies used by both primary care providers and community members surrounding vitamin D in relation to uncertainty management theory. We conducted semistructured interviews with primary care providers (n = 7) and focus groups with community members (n = 89), and transcribed and coded using the constant comparative method. Themes for providers included awareness, uncertainty, patient role, responsibility, skepticism, uncertainty management, and evolving perceptions. Community member focus group themes included uncertainty, information sources, awareness/knowledge, barriers, and patient–provider relationship. Both providers and community members expressed uncertainty about vitamin D but used conflicting strategies to manage uncertainty. Awareness of this disconnect might facilitate improved patient–provider communication

Intrinsic and extrinsic factors drive ontogeny of early-life at-sea behaviour in a marine top predator

Young animals must learn to forage effectively to survive the transition from parental provisioning to independent feeding. Rapid development of successful foraging strategies is particularly important for capital breeders that do not receive parental guidance after weaning. The intrinsic and extrinsic drivers of variation in ontogeny of foraging are poorly understood for many species. Grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) are typical capital breeders; pups are abandoned on the natal site after a brief suckling phase, and must develop foraging skills without external input. We collected location and dive data from recently-weaned grey seal pups from two regions of the United Kingdom (the North Sea and the Celtic and Irish Seas) using animal-borne telemetry devices during their first months of independence at sea. Dive duration, depth, bottom time, and benthic diving increased over the first 40 days. The shape and magnitude of changes differed between regions. Females consistently had longer bottom times, and in the Celtic and Irish Seas they used shallower water than males. Regional sex differences suggest that extrinsic factors, such as water depth, contribute to behavioural sexual segregation. We recommend that conservation strategies consider movements of young naïve animals in addition to those of adults to account for developmental behavioural changes

Atypical Clinical and Diagnostic Features in Ménétrier's Disease in a Child

Ménétrier's disease is one of the rarest protein-losing gastropathies in childhood. It is characterized clinically by non-specific gastrointestinal symptoms and edema, biochemically by hypoalbuminemia, and pathologically by enlarged gastric folds. In adults, this disease can be devastating with significant morbidity and mortality. In childhood, it is a self-limiting, transient and benign illness. Its treatment is largely supportive with total parenteral nutrition (TPN) while oral intake is encouraged. Acute onset of vomiting in healthy school age children can be initially explained by acute viral gastroenteritis. However, persistent vomiting associated with hematemesis and severe abdominal pain should warrant further work-up. This case report illustrates a self-limiting and rare cause of protein-losing enteropathy called Ménétrier's disease that presented with several variant clinical features not typically described in association with this entity

Identifying and Prioritizing Chemicals with Uncertain Burden of Exposure: Opportunities for Biomonitoring and Health-Related Research.

BackgroundThe National Institutes of Health's Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) initiative aims to understand the impact of environmental factors on childhood disease. Over 40,000 chemicals are approved for commercial use. The challenge is to prioritize chemicals for biomonitoring that may present health risk concerns.ObjectivesOur aim was to prioritize chemicals that may elicit child health effects of interest to ECHO but that have not been biomonitored nationwide and to identify gaps needing additional research.MethodsWe searched databases and the literature for chemicals in environmental media and in consumer products that were potentially toxic. We selected chemicals that were not measured in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. From over 700 chemicals, we chose 155 chemicals and created eight chemical panels. For each chemical, we compiled biomonitoring and toxicity data, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency exposure predictions, and annual production usage. We also applied predictive modeling to estimate toxicity. Using these data, we recommended chemicals either for biomonitoring, to be deferred pending additional data, or as low priority for biomonitoring.ResultsFor the 155 chemicals, 97 were measured in food or water, 67 in air or house dust, and 52 in biospecimens. We found in vivo endocrine, developmental, reproductive, and neurotoxic effects for 61, 74, 47, and 32 chemicals, respectively. Eighty-six had data from high-throughput in vitro assays. Positive results for endocrine, developmental, neurotoxicity, and obesity were observed for 32, 11, 35, and 60 chemicals, respectively. Predictive modeling results suggested 90% are toxicants. Biomarkers were reported for 76 chemicals. Thirty-six were recommended for biomonitoring, 108 deferred pending additional research, and 11 as low priority for biomonitoring.DiscussionThe 108 deferred chemicals included those lacking biomonitoring methods or toxicity data, representing an opportunity for future research. Our evaluation was, in general, limited by the large number of unmeasured or untested chemicals. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP5133