A Retrospective Appraisal of Teacher Induction

A Retrospective Appraisal of Teacher Induction Abstract Examination of an induction program for new teachers was undertaken from the viewpoint of induction graduates three years after participation. Their retrospective perspectives were investigated as to their satisfaction with assimilation in school in the induction year, their attitudes towards organizational aspects of the program, and the program\u27s contribution to their professional development. Comparisons were made to beginning teachers in the midst of their induction year. Data were collected from 98 induction graduates and 390 induction participants using questionnaires. Compared to induction participants, graduates retrospectively remembered the induction year at school less positively and more often recommended extending induction support. The graduates ascribed only moderate contribution to the induction program. In general retrospective appraisals of active teachers and non-teaching graduates were similar. Implications for the use of retrospective evaluations are discussed

Borges, Dante e l'ambiguo tempo dell'arte

È frequente in Borges il riferimento a Dante come a uno degli scrittori fondamentali per la creazione della propria poetica. I suoi Saggi danteschi e, in particolare, Il falso problema di Ugolino, consentono di rintracciare alcuni degli aspetti più pregnanti del legame che Borges stabilisce tra sé e lo scrittore toscano e di fare luce su alcuni dei principi chiave che guidano la poetica borgesiana. In particolare, l’episodio di Ugolino e, più precisamente, il verso (poscia, più che ’l dolor, poté ’l digiuno), in cui Dante trasmette l’eterna oscillante immagine di Ugolino [che] divora e non divora gli amati cadaveri, costituisce per Borges una delle massime espressioni di un principio estetico fondamentale per la propria poetica: la capacità di esprimere i fatti tramite allusioni – evitando quindi di limitarne le possibili infinite biforcazioni – piuttosto che attraverso la mera esposizione circostanziata

PTPN22 gene polymorphism in Takayasu's arteritis

Objective. Takayasu's arteritis (TA) is a chronic, rare granulomatous panarteritis of unknown aetiology involving mainly the aorta and its major branches. In this study, genetic susceptibility to TA has been investigated by screening the functional single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of PTPN22 gene encoding the lymphoid-specific protein tyrosine phosphatase. Methods. Totally, 181 patients with TA and 177 healthy controls are genotyped by PCR-RFLP method for the SNP rs2476601 (A/G) of PTPN22 gene. Polymorphic region was amplified by PCR and digested with Xcm I enzyme. Results. Detected frequencies of heterozygous genotype (AG) were 5.1% (9/177) in control group and 3.8% (7/181) in TA group (P = 0.61, odds ratio: 0.75, 95% CI: 0.3, 2.0). No association with angiographic type, vascular involvement or prognosis of TA was observed either. Conclusion. The distribution of PTPN22 polymorphism did not reveal any association with TA in Turkey. © The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology. All rights reserved

Novel NLRP3/cryopyrin mutations and pro-inflammatory cytokine profiles in Behçet's syndrome patients

The role of mutations in NLRP3 in inflammatory features of Behçet's syndrom

Serum Anti-Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Antibodies in Greek Patients with Behcet's Disease

We tested 59 Greek patients with Behcet's Disease (BD) for serum anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae antibodies. No increase of these antibodies was detected in the cases compared to 55 healthy unrelated blood donors from the same population. This finding is in contrast with the correlation between Saccharomyces cerevisiae antibodies and BD as reported in other populations. It seems that environmental factors may contribute to disease expression in different populations, producing different effects according to the individual's genetic predisposition. Saccharomyces cerevisiae antibodies do not seem to be of any significance in the Greek population

The relationship between the perception of distributed leadership in secondary schools and teachers' and teacher leaders' job satisfaction and organizational commitment

This study investigates the relation between distributed leadership, the cohesion of the leadership team, participative decision-making, context variables, and the organizational commitment and job satisfaction of teachers and teacher leaders. A questionnaire was administered to teachers and teacher leaders (n=1770) from 46 large secondary schools. Multiple regression analyses and path analyses revealed that the study variables explained significant variance in organizational commitment. The degree of explained variance for job satisfaction was considerably lower compared to organizational commitment. Most striking was that the cohesion of the leadership team and the amount of leadership support was strongly related to organizational commitment, and indirectly to job satisfaction. Decentralization of leadership functions was weakly related to organizational commitment and job satisfaction

Intestinal Perforations in Behçet’s Disease

Behçet’s disease accompanied by intestinal involvement is called intestinal Behçet’s disease. The intestinal ulcers of Behçet’s disease are usually multiple and scattered and tend to perforate easily, so that many patients require emergency operation. The aim of this study is to determine the extent of surgical resection necessary to prevent reperforation and to point out the findings of concurrent oral and genital ulcers and multiple intestinal perforations in all patients of our series. During a 25-year study period, information of 125 Behçet’s disease cases was gathered. Among the 82 patients who were diagnosed with intestinal Behçet’s disease, 22 cases had intestinal perforations needing emergency laparotomy. We investigated and analyzed these cases according to the patients’ demographic characteristics, clinical presentations, laboratory data, and surgical outcome. There were 14 men and 8 women ranging from 22 to 65 years of age. Nine cases were diagnosed preoperatively, and the diagnoses were confirmed in all 22 cases during the surgical intervention. Surgical resection was performed in every patient, with right hemicolectomy and ileocecal resection in 11 cases, partial ileum resection in 8 cases with two reperforations, and ileocecal resection in 3 cases with one reperforation

Improving the memory management performance of RTSJ

International audienceFrom a real-time perspective, the garbage collector (GC) introduces unpredictable pauses that are not tolerated by real-time tasks. Real-time collectors eliminate this problem but introduce a high overhead. Another approach is to use memory regions (MRs) within which allocation and deallocation is customized. This facility is supported by the memory model of the Real-Time Specification for Java (RTSJ). RTSJ imposes strict access and assignment rules to avoid both the dangling inter-region references and the delays of critical tasks of the GC. A dynamic check solution can incur high overhead, which can be reduced by taking advantage of hardware features. This paper provides an in-depth analytical investigation of the overhead introduced by dynamic assignments checks in RTSJ, describing and analysing several solutions to reduce the introduced overhead