A cross-syndrome comparison of sleep-dependent learning on a cognitive procedural task

Sleep plays a key role in the consolidation of newly acquired information and skills into long term memory. Children with Down syndrome (DS) and Williams syndrome (WS) frequently experience sleep problems, abnormal sleep architecture and difficulties with learning; thus, we predicted that children from these clinical populations would demonstrate impairments in sleep-dependent memory consolidation relative to children with typical development (TD) on a cognitive procedural task: The Tower of Hanoi. Children with DS (n = 17), WS (n = 22) and TD (n = 34) completed the Tower of Hanoi task. They were trained on the task either in the morning or evening, then completed it again following counterbalanced retention intervals of daytime wake and night time sleep. Children with TD and with WS benefitted from sleep for enhanced memory consolidation and improved their performance on the task by reducing the number of moves taken to completion, and by making fewer rule violations. We did not find any large effects of sleep on learning in children with DS, suggesting that these children are not only delayed, but atypical in their learning strategies. Importantly, our findings have implications for educational strategies for all children, specifically considering circadian influences on new learning and the role of children’s night time sleep as an aid to learning.<br/

Resistance in Britain

In recent years there have been expressions of anger and frustration against the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Coalition government and the predecessor New Labour government’s neoliberalising policies. The momentum against government policies that immiserate a larger proportion of the population (whilst the income of the super rich globally grows at a staggering rate of 14% per year (Bower, 2013)), may seem to have diminished at present (summer 2013) but it is likely to rise, especially as direct action and local and national demonstrations continue, and as new webs and political formations of and strategies for resistance are created. As Gramsci (1971) observed, hegemony is never won outright, and the continuation of such struggles is important in building class consciousness. Whilst we recognise the powerful and growing penetration of the idea that there is no alternative (TINA) to austerity neoliberalisation, and the concomitant imposition of increasing severe sentences on those who revolt against (and not merely evade) the status quo, we believe that resistance must strengthen at the levels of ideas and activism. This belief impels this chapter. The chapter has four sections. First we outline the current political landscape that has been moulded by the ruling capitalist class embarking on an aggressive policy agenda to expand, accelerate and deepen the reality and ideology of neoliberalisation. We examine expressions and demonstrations of public anger that are resisting the neoliberal and neoconservative status quo. We then, in section two, focus on the accumulation of anger/resistance and government/media responses to this. The third section focuses specifically on anger, activism, protest and resistance in education, at school, further/vocational college level and at university level.2. A brief fourth section reports on and analyses the current state of organisation and development of resistance to immiseration capitalism in England

Physiology and natural distribution of the bacterium caryophanon latum in fresh waters of Missouri

Students supported: 2 B.S. Students SupportedThe objective of this research program was to study the physiology of Caryophanon latum and to develop a selective medium for growing the organism to the exclusion of most, if not all, other organisms found in stream water. After development of this selective medium, the procedure was to be evaluated on sample stream waters with and without inoculation with the organism. The primary goal of this project is the development of a technique for the detection and possible enumeration of organisms of the genus Carophanon in natural waters. Demonstration of the presence of these organisms would prove fecal pollution by ruminants and enumeration methods would make it possible to locate the point of pollution.Project # A-048-MO Agreement # 14-31-0001-352

Impact and Evaluation in Designing Social Innovation: Insights from the DESIAP KL Workshop and Symposium

Measuring social impact is hard. If we want to achieve meaningful social impact, we need to acknowledge that dominant impact evaluation models are limited. The dominant models of evaluation prioritises quantifiable outcomes that poorly take into account longer term impact related to social value and transformative potential. There is often a disconnect between funders and communities because of the chain of intermediaries caught between the two constituents that are often tasked to serve different agendas. Impact evaluation was identified by practitioners in DESIAP events as a key theme and challenge in their work. This report is guided by this key question: How can impact evaluation be undertaken in a way that is centred on community-led, culturally grounded and iterative nature that typify most designing social innovation (DSI) projects? We invited 12 researchers and change-makers from Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia and The Philippines, who are designing social innovation to share their experiences and identify challenges and opportunities related to evaluating the impact of their work. This gathering aimed to explore alternative social impact evaluations that are more suited to the dynamic and complex characteristics of community-led DSI projects. This report is a summary of the three days (19-21st December 2017), beginning with an intensive 2-day workshop that led to insights and themes that were shared with the wider public on the 21st of December 2017. The report considers: 1) How designing social innovation practices shape the form and purpose of impact evaluation 2) How evaluation is embedded in designing social innovation processes 3) Questions and propositions for understanding impact evaluation. Alternative and culturally grounded evaluative practices are present if we choose to recognise them. For funders and commissioners, acknowledging evaluation as a form of learning requires a change in mindset from one of monitoring to one of support. We identify existing evaluative practices in D&SI projects, which often goes unnoticed because they differ from dominant or common models of evaluation. Highlighting and surfacing these differences is an important step forward in diversifying existing approaches. Key to undertaking effective evaluation in D&SI is to build trust among commissioners, communities and partners. This can open up discussions about how and what kind of impact could be achieved together. Adopting a culturally grounded evaluative practice enables project teams to be true to the needs of the communities they serve. For funders and commissioners, acknowledging evaluation as a form of learning requires a change in mindset from one of monitoring to one of support. It requires trust in the organisations that they fund and to co-design evaluative practices that acknowledges the transformative potential. It involves expanding evaluation methods and approaches to include a broader spectrum of informal and qualitative evaluation approaches to complement traditional outcome-driven approaches. It is also important to build an eco-system of practitioners who have strong evaluative practices to support people who want to apply a more evaluative practice to their work

Monitoring of lubricant film failure in a ball bearing using ultrasound

A lubricant-film monitoring system for a conventional deep groove ball bearing (type 6016, shaft diameter 80 mm, ball diameter 12.7 mm) is described. A high-firequency (50 MHz) ultrasonic transducer is mounted on the static outer raceway of the bearing. The transducer is focused on the ball-raceway interface and used to measure the reflection coefficient of the lubricant in the "contact" ellipse between bearing components. The reflection coefficient characterizes the lubricant film and can be used to calculate its thickness. An accurate triggering system enables multiple reflection measurements to be made as each lubricated contact moves past the measurement location. Experiments are described in which bearings were deliberately caused to fail by the addition of acetone, water and sand to the lubricant. The ultrasonic reflection coefficient was monitored as a function of time as the failure occurred. Also monitored were the more standard parameters, temperature and vibration. The results indicate that the ultrasonic measurements are able to detect the failures before seizure. It is also observed that, when us,ed in parallel, these monitoring techniques offer the potential to diagnose the failure mechanism and hence improve predictions of remaining life

Sleep disturbance as a predictor of anxiety in children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders and typically developing children

Background: High levels of anxiety and sleep problems are common features of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). The strong association between sleep and anxiety has been documented in typically developing (TD) populations and is thought to be bidirectional. The association between sleep and anxiety in children with FASD has not yet been examined. Methods: Caregivers of children with FASD (n = 91) and TD children (n = 103) aged 6–16 completed the Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ), Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale (SCAS), and a background questionnaire. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses, group comparisons and ANCOVA interaction models were used to test the associations between sleep and anxiety within and between the two groups. Results: Sleep disturbances and anxiety were at clinical levels for the majority of the FASD group, and significantly higher in the FASD group than the TD group. After controlling for age and sex, 27 % of the variance in anxiety scores in TD children was attributable to sleep problems, and 33 % in children with FASD. Conclusion: This study highlights associations between parent-reported sleep and anxiety in FASD. Sleep disturbances were significant predictors of anxiety in both children with FASD and in TD children. Given the importance of sleep to healthy neurodevelopment, there is a pressing need for sleep intervention studies in children with FASD. Early identification and intervention for sleep problems in this condition should be a therapeutic priority

Sleep and Cognition in Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) and Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)

Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) and Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) experience significantly higher rates of sleep disturbances than their typically developing peers. However, little is known about the association between sleep and the cognitive phenotype in these clinical populations. Structural damage affecting cortical and subcortical connectivity occurs as a result of prenatal alcohol exposure in children with FASD, whilst it is believed an abundance of short-range connectivity explains the phenotypic manifestations of childhood ASD. These underlying neural structural and connectivity differences manifest as cognitive patterns, with some shared and some unique characteristics between FASD and ASD. This is the first study to examine sleep and its association with cognition in individuals with FASD, and to compare sleep in individuals with FASD and ASD. We assessed children aged 6–12 years with a diagnosis of FASD (n = 29), ASD (n = 21), and Typically Developing (TD) children (n = 46) using actigraphy (CamNTech Actiwatch 8), digit span tests of working memory (Weschler Intelligence Scale), tests of nonverbal mental age (MA; Ravens Standard Progressive Matrices), receptive vocabulary (British Picture Vocabulary Scale), and a choice reaction time (CRT) task. Children with FASD and ASD presented with significantly shorter total sleep duration, lower sleep efficiency, and more nocturnal wakings than their TD peers. Sleep was significantly associated with scores on the cognitive tests in all three groups. Our findings support the growing body of work asserting that sleep is significant to cognitive functioning in these neurodevelopmental conditions; however, more research is needed to determine cause and effect

Establishment of Epstein-Barr Virus Growth-transformed Lymphoblastoid Cell Lines

Infection of B cells with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) leads to proliferation and subsequent immortalization, resulting in establishment of lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCL) in vitro. Since LCL are latently infected with EBV, they provide a model system to investigate EBV latency and virus-driven B cell proliferation and tumorigenesis1. LCL have been used to present antigens in a variety of immunologic assays2, 3. In addition, LCL can be used to generate human monoclonal antibodies4, 5 and provide a potentially unlimited source when access to primary biologic materials is limited6, 7