Artemidorus, Dream Exegesis, and the Case of the Interpolating Expert Dreamer

This article makes the following case: according to Artemidorus of Daldis’ Oneirocriticon one main task of the dream interpreter is to identify, through knowledge of the dreamer, which components of a dream are internal in order to assess—as far as possible—the external components of a dream. I argue that very similar hermeneutic issues were being extensively theorised in Artemidorus’ period by Jewish and Christian writers who were concerned with the problem of prophetic interpolation: in particular, cases in the Bible in which prophecies do not come true. In making this comparison, I hope to clarify a number of features of Artemidorus’ hermeneutic, including the relationship between the origin and structure of dreams and the exegetical practice of the dream-interpreter

Implementing a Reggio Emilia inspired approach in a mainstream Western Australian context: The impact on early childhood teachers\u27 professional role

Reggio Emilia, an approach to early childhood that was developed in a Northern Italian city of the same name, is highly regarded as acknowledged by educators and researchers world-wide (Gandini, 1993). The Reggio Emilia philosophy is distinguished by the presentation of an image of children as being strong, rich and powerful learners (Hendricks, 2004; Millikan, 2003). This approach is marked as being adopted and adapted to suit particular cultural and educational settings. These situation sensitive approaches are noted as being Reggio Emilia inspired. This qualitative case study investigated how the professional role of four early childhood teachers was impacted by the implementation of a Reggio Emilia inspired approach in a mainstream Western Australian context. As part of the investigation, the factors that facilitated the change process and those which inhibited it were identified. The study was conducted in two schools, one private and the other government. The study participants were four pre-primary teachers who were implementing a Reggio Emilia inspired approach in their pre-primary settings. A school leader from each of the study schools was also interviewed. Qualitative data collection methods included observation, semi-structured interviews, field notes, reflective journals and document analysis. Data were analysed using thematic analysis procedures. The study found that as the teachers engaged with the Reggio Emilia philosophy, they were challenged to change their pedagogical practices which, in turn, impacted on their professional role. These changes were found to conform to the Reggio Emilia approach as described by Fu, Stemmel and Hill (2002). While the factors that influenced the change process differed across the two cases, there were commonalities. The first of these was the influence of the school’s policies and governance. In one of the cases, the lack of support from the school leadership team, processes and policies impacted negatively on the change process and the teacher involved. In contrast, in the second case, a supportive leadership team and a whole school approach facilitated the change process. The second factor found to support the change process was related to internal teacher qualities of commitment, knowledge, self-belief, resilience and self-reflection. These qualities were identified as influencing both the changes the teachers made in their pedagogical practices and in their professional roles. The study found that the internal factors were interrelated and supported the teachers to both undertake and persist in the change process. Finally, it would seem that a weakness in some facilitating factors can be compensated by strengths in others. This was evident in the first case where the teacher was working in isolation and largely without the support of the school leadership, yet with high levels of commitment, knowledge, self-belief, resilience and self-reflection was able to resist considerable pressure to conform to a teacher-driven approach requiring more direct teaching. In the second case, even though a number of the teachers reported the negative influence of low levels of knowledge and self-belief, the change process was sustained through collegiate support and strong school leadership. The findings of the study are relevant to those who are engaging with, or seek to understand the implementation and impact of a Reggio Emilia inspired approach in a different cultural, social and political context. Of particular note, is the recognition that pedagogical change impacts on the role of the teacher. Further, that the change process is either supported or impeded by the key factors of school policy and governance and internal teacher characteristics. The findings further suggest that the positive influence of these factors can be increased by professional learning, networking and access to collegiate support

Libby in Limbo

Libby in Limbo is a scripted narrative podcast that follows Libby as she moves back to her small hometown, gets a job as a librarian, and learns to navigate life in a small, tight-knit community. This podcast serves two main purposes: to create entertainment media about a library that does not promote harmful stereotypes about libraries and to create awareness and accessibility of scripted podcasts

Civic Aspirations: Why Some Higher Education Faculty are Reconnecting Their Professional and Public Lives

In higher education today, most institutions reward faculty for such things as research productivity, course enrollment, and academic completion. There is little incentive for them to focus on educating students in their civic development. In spite of this, civic engagement programs are popping up across higher education, and faculty have played a critical role in initiating these programs on their campuses. Building on research by Harry Boyte and KerryAnn O'Meara. The Kettering Foundation seeks to make visible the motivations of these faculty. In this study for Kettering, based on faculty interviews, Claire Snyder-Hall explains this movement using Hannah Arendt's concept of "public happiness," a sense of fulfillment from engaging with others. Beyond higher education, this study has relevance across fields to practitioners struggling to integrate their civic aspirations into their professional work

Subtyping somatic tinnitus: a cross-sectional UK cohort study of demographic, clinical and audiological characteristics

Somatic tinnitus is the ability to modulate the psychoacoustic features of tinnitus by somatic manoeuvres. The condition is still not fully understood and further identification of this subtype is essential, particularly for the purpose of establishing protocols for both its diagnosis and treatment. This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of somatic tinnitus within a large UK cohort using a largely unselected sample. We believe this to be relatively unique in comparison to current literature on the topic. This was investigated by using a total of 608 participant assessments from a set of recognised tinnitus and audiology measures. Results from a set of chi-square tests of association found that amongst the individuals with somatic tinnitus, a higher proportion had pulsatile tinnitus (different from heartbeat), were under the age of 40, reported variation in the loudness of their tinnitus and reported temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder. The same pattern of results was confirmed using a multivariate analysis of the data based on logistic regression. These findings have strong implications towards the profiling of somatic tinnitus as a distinct subtype of general tinnitus

A cohort study of the recovery of health and wellbeing following colorectal cancer (CREW study): protocol paper

Background: the number of people surviving colorectal cancer has doubled in recent years. While much of the literature suggests that most people return to near pre-diagnosis status following surgery for colorectal cancer, this literature has largely focused on physical side effects. Longitudinal studies in colorectal cancer have either been small scale or taken a narrow focus on recovery after surgery. There is a need for a comprehensive, long-term study exploring all aspects of health and wellbeing in colorectal cancer patients. The aim of this study is to establish the natural history of health and wellbeing in people who have been treated for colorectal cancer. People have different dispositions, supports and resources, likely resulting in individual differences in restoration of health and wellbeing. The protocol described in this paper is of a study which will identify who is most at risk of problems, assess how quickly people return to a state of subjective health and wellbeing, and will measure factors which influence the course of recovery. Methods: this is a prospective, longitudinal cohort study following 1000 people with colorectal cancer over a period of two years, recruiting from 30 NHS cancer treatment centres across the UK. Questionnaires will be administered prior to surgery, and 3, 9, 15 and 24 months after surgery, with the potential to return to this cohort to explore on-going issues related to recovery after cancer. Discussion: outcomes will help inform health care providers about what helps or hinders rapid and effective recovery from cancer, and identify areas for intervention development to aid this process. Once established the cohort can be followed up for longer periods and be approached to participate in related projects as appropriate and subject to funding<br/

Annotation of the Understudied Kinome and Preliminary Testing of Kinase Inhibitor Combinations

A technique utilizing multiplexed inhibitor beads and mass spectrometry (MIB/MS) detects functional protein kinases in breast cancer cell lines. Data from this technique was used to shed light on the understudied kinome, a portion of which is captured by the MIB/MS method. Regression analysis was performed to find correlations in kinase activity. The functional linkages were then used to annotate the understudied kinases. Annotations revealed new possible functions and disease relations for many understudied kinases. Kinase inhibitor combinations were suggested by principle components analysis (PCA) results performed on MIB/MS data from treated breast cancer cell lines. The combinations were preliminarily tested for signs of effectiveness. Dose curves and growth assays were performed to compare drug combinations in the SKBR3 cell line. The interpretation of in vitro experiment results was impeded because of poor accuracy and reproducibility. Possible designs for in vitro experiments producing interpretable results are presented.Master of Scienc

Changes in structural network topology correlate with severity of hallucinatory behavior in Parkinson's disease

Inefficient integration between bottom-up visual input and higher order visual processing regions is implicated in visual hallucinations in Parkinson's disease (PD). Here, we investigated white matter contributions to this perceptual imbalance hypothesis. Twenty-nine PD patients were assessed for hallucinatory behavior. Hallucination severity was correlated to connectivity strength of the network using the network-based statistic approach. The results showed that hallucination severity was associated with reduced connectivity within a subnetwork that included the majority of the diverse club. This network showed overall greater between-module scores compared with nodes not associated with hallucination severity. Reduced between-module connectivity in the lateral occipital cortex, insula, and pars orbitalis and decreased within-module connectivity in the prefrontal, somatosensory, and primary visual cortices were associated with hallucination severity. Conversely, hallucination severity was associated with increased between- and within-module connectivity in the orbitofrontal and temporal cortex, as well as regions comprising the dorsal attentional and default mode network. These results suggest that hallucination severity is associated with marked alterations in structural network topology with changes in participation along the perceptual hierarchy. This may result in the inefficient transfer of information that gives rise to hallucinations in PD. Author SummaryInefficient integration of information between external stimuli and internal perceptual predictions may lead to misperceptions or visual hallucinations in Parkinson's disease (PD). In this study, we show that hallucinatory behavior in PD patients is associated with marked alterations in structural network topology. Severity of hallucinatory behavior was associated with decreased connectivity in a large subnetwork that included the majority of the diverse club, nodes with a high number of between-module connections. Furthermore, changes in between-module connectivity were found across brain regions involved in visual processing, top-down prediction centers, and endogenous attention, including the occipital, orbitofrontal, and posterior cingulate cortex. Together, these findings suggest that impaired integration across different sides across different perceptual processing regions may result in inefficient transfer of information