Improving middle school math achievement using a web-based program and extended written tasks

This thesis outlines a dual-intensity approach using a web-based program, MyMathLab, for procedural fluency and, in parallel, extended written tasks for helping students improve their reasoning skills, to learn to use multiple representations, and securing mathematical knowledge. The new Common Core State Standards have increased expectations and achievement goals at all grade levels, the required changes being most significant at earlier grade levels (in elementary and middle schools). It is my assertion that a combined approach, one that encompasses both procedure-oriented practice for fluency and extended written tasks designed to stretch thinking and reasoning is needed to meet these goals

Dangerous Practices: The Practicum Experiences of Non-Indigenous Pre-Service Teachers in Remote Communities

This paper seeks to explore the risks of providing pre-service teachers with professional experiences in remote communities. In particular this paper focuses on the risks associated with this kind of professional experience. Twelve pre-service teachers were interviewed while on a three-week practicum around Katherine and in Maningrida in the Northern Territory during 2012. The dangers outlined in this paper relate to the way their experiences continued to be mediated by stereotypes and perpetuating colonial practices. The pre-service teachers’ limited understandings of Indigenous knowledges and languages are discussed before exploring the vexed issue of reverse culture shock that some of the participants identified when they returned home. The paper concludes by exploring the notion of ‘allies’ as a way to negotiate the problematic nature of this work

Gender and the political economy of health and health care of women with reference to African women in the Natal/Zululand region.

Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1990.The purpose of this thesis is two-fold: it attempts to develop a feminist theory of health and health care of women and moves beyond the political economy theory of health and health care grounded in Marxist principles. Secondly, it attempts to apply these feminist theoretical principles, incorporating the methodology of historical materialism, to a specific historical situation - that of African women in Natal/Zululand in the nineteenth century. The thesis is divided into three parts. The first provides an overview of the political economy of health and the Marxist theory on which it is based. The second section deals specifically with feminist theoretical concerns: particularly the need to incorporate the concept of gender and the sexual division of labour into analysis of the position of women in society. In addition, it focusses on women's particular health needs and attempts to incorporate these into a feminist theory of health and health care. The third part examines the health and health care of African women in pre-colonial Natal/Zululand by focussing on their role in procreation and production, and changing health patterns and health care under colonial rule

What is Youth Justice? Reflections on the 1968 Act

he Kilbrandon committee was established in 1961 in response to concerns about rising levels of youth crime. Reporting in 1964, the committee observed that the needs of children in conflict with the law did not differ from the needs of children who required welfare and protection and proposed that these needs should be met through a single system. In a radical shake up of the youth justice system, this proposal was enacted in the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968, and the first Children’s Hearing took place in 1971. This paper draws upon archival records, literature, data, media reports and testimony from policymakers and practitioners in order to chart the development of youth justice since that time. It describes policy and practice change since then that has been slow and incremental, rather than radical. And while the legacy of Kilbrandon has been a clear and strong set of principles acting as a beacon to guide both policy and practice, an unintended legacy is the often erroneous assumption that, because of Kilbrandon, Scotland is getting it right for children in conflict with the law. The paper documents the fact that, even with the best of intentions, policy and practice do not always adhere to such admirable principles when things get challenging. Inspired by Kilbrandon, the authors propose that the time is right for a big step change in how Scotland responds to children who are in conflict with the law, by genuinely and completely rooting the youth justice response in children’s rights

Variants in the human potassium channel gene (KCNN3) are associated with migraine in a high risk genetic isolate

The calcium-activated potassium ion channel gene (KCNN3) is located in the vicinity of the familial hemiplegic migraine type 2 locus on chromosome 1q21.3. This gene is expressed in the central nervous system and plays a role in neural excitability. Previous association studies have provided some, although not conclusive, evidence for involvement of this gene in migraine susceptibility. To elucidate KCNN3 involvement in migraine, we performed gene-wide SNP genotyping in a high-risk genetic isolate from Norfolk Island, a population descended from a small number of eighteenth century Isle of Man ‘Bounty Mutineer’ and Tahitian founders. Phenotype information was available for 377 individuals who are related through the single, well-defined Norfolk pedigree (96 were affected: 64 MA, 32 MO). A total of 85 SNPs spanning the KCNN3 gene were genotyped in a sub-sample of 285 related individuals (76 affected), all core members of the extensive Norfolk Island ‘Bounty Mutineer’ genealogy. All genotyping was performed using the Illumina BeadArray platform. The analysis was performed using the statistical program SOLAR v4.0.6 assuming an additive model of allelic effect adjusted for the effects of age and sex. Haplotype analysis was undertaken using the program HAPLOVIEW v4.0. A total of four intronic SNPs in the KCNN3 gene displayed significant association (P < 0.05) with migraine. Two SNPs, rs73532286 and rs6426929, separated by approximately 0.1 kb, displayed complete LD (r2 = 1.00, D′ = 1.00, D′ 95% CI = 0.96–1.00). In all cases, the minor allele led to a decrease in migraine risk (beta coefficient = 0.286–0.315), suggesting that common gene variants confer an increased risk of migraine in the Norfolk pedigree. This effect may be explained by founder effect in this genetic isolate. This study provides evidence for association of variants in the KCNN3 ion channel gene with migraine susceptibility in the Norfolk genetic isolate with the rarer allelic variants conferring a possible protective role. This the first comprehensive analysis of this potential candidate gene in migraine and also the first study that has utilised the unique Norfolk Island large pedigree isolate to implicate a specific migraine gene. Studies of additional variants in KCNN3 in the Norfolk pedigree are now required (e.g. polyglutamine variants) and further analyses in other population data sets are required to clarify the association of the KCNN3 gene and migraine risk in the general outbred population

Versatile, Cheap, Readily Modifiable Sample Delivery Method for Analysis of Air-/Moisture-Sensitive Samples Using Atmospheric Pressure Solids Analysis Probe Mass Spectrometry

A cheap, versatile, readily modified, and reusable glass probe system enabling delivery of solid air-/moisture-sensitive samples for mass spectrometric (MS) analysis using an Atmospheric pressure Solids Analysis Probe (ASAP) is described. The simplicity of the design allows quick and easy ASAP MS analyses of sensitive solid and liquid samples without the need for any modifications to commercially available vertically loaded ASAP mass spectrometers. A comparison of ASAP mass spectra obtained for metal complexes under air and an inert atmosphere is given

'Stuff it': Respectability and the voice of resistance in letter to brezhnev

Exploring Letter to Brezhnev through concepts of respectability as feminine cultural capital this article suggests that the film’s affective impulse stems from its representation of a female, working class experience under Thatcherism. This experience is articulated through two structures of feeling derived from the intersecting conventions of social realism, and the consumerist and romantic tropes of the ‘woman’s film’. Through this intersection the daily abjection of women through degrading work or unemployment is traced, whilst being counterpointed to the escapist pleasures of a ‘night out’ constituted through the spatial and aesthetic shifts of the narrative, and the feminisation of the ‘jack the lad’ staple of British screen culture. In this way, Letter to Brezhnev exposes the centrality of respectability to women’s social mobility, or lack of it, thus offering a powerful critique of Thatcherite ideologies and women’s position as primary consumers within them. The article also offers a corrective to existing scholarship that has focussed on cinematic representations of a crisis of masculinity under Thatcherism to the neglect of its corrosive impact on feminine respectability

Metal β-diketoiminate precursor use in aerosol assisted chemical vapour deposition of gallium- and aluminium-doped zinc oxide

Aerosol assisted chemical vapour deposition (AACVD) has been used to deposit thin films of ZnO from the single-source precursor [Zn(OC(Me)CHC(Me)N(iPr))2] (1) affording highly transparent (>80%) and conductive films (sheet resistance ∼70 KΩ/sq). Extension of this AACVD method whereby related precursors of the type, [R2M(OC(Me)CHC(Me)N(iPr))] (R = Et, M = Al (2); R = Me, M = Ga (3)), isolated as oils, were added to the precursor solution allowed for the deposition of aluminium- and gallium-doped ZnO (AZO and GZO) films, respectively. Complexes 1–3 were characterised by elemental analysis, NMR and mass spectrometry. Films were deposited in under 30 min at 400 °C, from CH2Cl2/toluene solutions with a N2 carrier gas. Herein we report the bulk resistivity, ρ, of AZO (0.252 Ω cm) and GZO (0.756 Ω cm) films deposited from this novel approach. All the films transparency exceeded 80% in the visible, X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed all films to crystallise in the wurtzite phase whilst X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) confirmed the presence of the Al and Ga dopants in the films, and highlighted the low C-contamination (<5%) this route offers. Investigation of a mechanism analogous to the Kirkendall effect confirmed that heating of GZO films at 1000 °C produced the spinel structure GaZn2O4

Working at the interface of physics and biology : An early career researcher perspective

We are a network of Early Career Researchers (ECRs) and a Project Manager who are working on UKRI's "Physics of Life" grants which aim to merge ideas and techniques predominantly used in physics and apply them to biological questions. We have been collaborating since early 2021 to share research, experiences, and provide peer to peer support. Interdisciplinary projects are known for presenting challenges, bringing together disparate subjects and people with not only different knowledge bases, methods, and equipment but also varying ways of working and common languages. This has been the subject of commentary by researchers and funders from a management perspective, and we wanted to add to this discourse, using our experience to share the lessons and challenges we have encountered, from an ECR perspective

Antidepressant use and orthostatic hypotension in older adults living with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer disease

Objectives: Antidepressant use is often reported as a risk factor for Orthostatic Hypotension (OH), however this relationship has never been explored in those with mild/moderate Alzheimer Disease (AD), who may represent a particularly vulnerable cohort. Methods: We performed a cross‐sectional analysis of baseline data from the NILVAD study. Participants with mild‐moderate AD were recruited from 23 centres in nine countries. Systolic and Diastolic Blood Pressure (SBP/DBP) was recorded in the seated position and after both 1 and 5 minutes of standing. OH was defined as a drop of ≥20 mmHg SBP/≥10 mmHg DBP. We examined the relationship between antidepressant use, orthostatic BP drop and the presence of OH, controlling for important covariates. Results: Of 509 participants (72.9 ± 8.3 years, 61.9% female), two‐fifths (39.1%; 199/509) were prescribed a regular antidepressant. Antidepressant use was associated with a significantly greater SBP and DBP drop at 5 minutes (β: 1.83, 0.16‐3.50, P = .03 for SBP; β: 1.13, 0.02‐2.25, P < .05 for DBP). Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) use was associated with a significantly greater likelihood of OH (OR 2.0, 1.1‐3.6, P = .02). Both findings persisted following robust covariate adjustment. Conclusions: In older adults with AD, antidepressants were associated with a significantly greater SBP/DBP drop at 5 minutes. SSRI use in particular may be a risk factor for OH. This emphasises the need to screen older antidepressant users, and particularly those with AD, for ongoing orthostatic symptoms in order to reduce the risk of falls in this vulnerable cohort