Investigating the factors that influence the use of digital learning resources in the K-12 educational context

Australian and New Zealand governments have made a significant investment in the establishment of an on-line repository that will make digital learning resources, also called learning objects, available to teachers in the K-12 sector. The focus of this, and similar learning object initiatives around the world, has been on content development and delivery. Much of the current learning object research has been concerned with resolving the technical issues to support these processes, with little attention paid to pedagogical and practical issues that might influence learning object use. This paper argues for research to address this gap and reports on a study investigating the factors that influence the use of digital learning resources in the K-12 educational context. The findings of the study are relevant to understanding how learning object approaches can be best conceived of and supported

The implementation of chlamydia screening: a cross-sectional study in the south east of England

Background England's National Chlamydia Screening Programme (NCSP) provides opportunistic testing for under 25 year-olds in healthcare and non-healthcare settings. The authors aimed to explore relationships between coverage and positivity in relation to demographic characteristics or setting, in order to inform efficient and sustainable implementation of the NCSP. Methods The authors analysed mapped NCSP testing data from the South East region of England between April 2006 and March 2007 inclusive to population characteristics. Coverage was estimated by sex, demographic characteristics and service characteristics, and variation in positivity by setting and population group. Results Coverage in females was lower in the least deprived areas compared with the most deprived areas (OR 0.48; 95% CI 0.45 to 0.50). Testing rates were lower in 20 1324-year-olds compared with 15 1319-year-olds (OR 0.69; 95% CI 0.67 to 0.72 for females and OR 0.67; 95% CI 0.64 to 0.71 for males), but positivity was higher in older males. Females were tested most often in healthcare services, which also identified the most positives. The greatest proportions of male tests were in university (27%) and military (19%) settings which only identified a total of 11% and 13% of total male positives respectively. More chlamydia-positive males were identified through healthcare services despite fewer numbers of tests. Conclusions Testing of males focused on institutional settings where there is a low yield of positives, and limited capacity for expansion. By contrast, the testing of females, especially in urban environments, was mainly through established healthcare services. Future strategies should prioritise increasing male testing in healthcare settings

Structural Studies on a Mitochondrial Glyoxalase II

Glyoxalase 2 is a β-lactamase fold-containing enzyme that appears to be involved with cellular chemical detoxification. Although the cytoplasmic isozyme has been characterized from several organisms, essentially nothing is known about the mitochondrial proteins. As a first step in understanding the structure and function of mitochondrial glyoxalase 2 enzymes, a mitochondrial isozyme (GLX2-5) from Arabidopsis thaliana was cloned, overexpressed, purified, and characterized using metal analyses, EPR and 1H NMR spectroscopies, and x-ray crystallography. The recombinant enzyme was shown to bind 1.04 ± 0.15 eq of iron and 1.31 ± 0.05 eq of Zn(II) and to exhibit kcat and Km values of 129 ± 10 s-1 and 391 ± 48 μm, respectively, when using S-d-lactoylglutathione as the substrate. EPR spectra revealed that recombinant GLX2-5 contains multiple metal centers, including a predominant Fe(III)Z-n(II) center and an anti-ferromagnetically coupled Fe(III)Fe(II) center. Unlike cytosolic glyoxalase 2 from A. thaliana, GLX2-5 does not appear to specifically bind manganese. 1H NMR spectra revealed the presence of at least eight paramagnetically shifted resonances that arise from protons in close proximity to a Fe(III)Fe(II) center. Five of these resonances arose from solvent-exchangeable protons, and four of these have been assigned to NH protons on metal-bound histidines. A 1.74-Å resolution crystal structure of the enzyme revealed that although GLX2-5 shares a number of structural features with human GLX2, several important differences exist. These data demonstrate that mitochondrial glyoxalase 2 can accommodate a number of different metal centers and that the predominant metal center is Fe(III)Zn(II)

Assessing Oral Health Curriculum in U.S. Family Medicine Residency Programs: A National Survey

Background: During the past decade, national initiatives have called for improved oral health (OH) training for physicians. However, how Family Medicine residency programs have answered this call is unknown. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine how much oral health education is being provided to Family Medicine residents, if the program directors are aware of the importance of oral health, and if there are specific barriers to teaching oral health curricula in these programs. Methods: 452 Family Medicine residency directors were surveyed about numbers of hours of OH teaching, topics covered, and perceived barriers to this education. Results: 72% of respondents agreed that OH is an important topic, but only 32% were satisfied with their residents\u27 competency in OH. All but 4% of programs address OH in their curricula; 52% reported 1-2 hours and 45% reported 3+ hours of OH teaching. Most commonly covered topics were prevention and care of caries (89%) and pediatric screening (85%); less covered topics included fluoride varnish (58%) and pregnancy and oral health (61%). Barriers to OH education included competing priorities (85%), inadequate time (69%), and lack of faculty expertise (52%). Awareness of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine\u27s Smiles for Life (SFL) curriculum and the use of SFL modules were associated with increased hours of training. Training in fluoride varnish, but not the application itself, was associated with more hours of OH curriculum. Residency directors who indicated competing priorities or lack of faculty expertise as barriers reported fewer hours of OH training. Conclusion: Findings suggest that Family Medicine programs are including more hours than previously, yet continued efforts are needed to cover core OH topics and increase residents’ competence. Awareness of STFM\u27s Smiles for Life and use of its modules were associated with increased hours of training

Assessing Oral Health Curriculum in US Family Medicine Residency Programs: A CERA Study

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: During the past decade, national initiatives have called for improved oral health training for physicians. We do not know, however, how family medicine residency programs have answered this call. METHODS: Family medicine residency directors completed a survey that asked how many hours of oral health teaching are included in their programs in addition to what topics are covered and the perceived barriers to this education. The response rate was 35%. RESULTS: A total of 72% of respondents agreed that oral health is an important topic, but only 32% are satisfied with their residents\u27 competency in oral health. Barriers to this education included competing priorities (85%), inadequate time (69%), and lack of faculty expertise (52%). CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that programs are including more hours than in previous years, yet continued efforts are needed to cover core oral health topics and increase the competency of family medicine residents. Awareness of STFM\u27s Smiles for Life and use of its modules were associated with increased hours of training

Establishment of endomycorrhizal fungi on micropropagated teak (Tectona grandis L.f.)

No abstract available

Tunable Indistinguishable Photons From Remote Quantum Dots

Single semiconductor quantum dots have been widely studied within devices that can apply an electric field. In the most common system, the low energy offset between the InGaAs quantum dot and the surrounding GaAs material limits the magnitude of field that can be applied to tens of kVcm^-1, before carriers tunnel out of the dot. The Stark shift experienced by the emission line is typically 1 meV. We report that by embedding the quantum dots in a quantum well heterostructure the vertical field that can be applied is increased by over an order of magnitude whilst preserving the narrow linewidths, high internal quantum efficiencies and familiar emission spectra. Individual dots can then be continuously tuned to the same energy allowing for two-photon interference between remote, independent, quantum dots

On Secure Quantum Key Distribution Using Continuous Variables of Single Photons

We analyse the distribution of secure keys using quantum cryptography based on the continuous variable degree of freedom of entangled photon pairs. We derive the information capacity of a scheme based on the spatial entanglement of photons from a realistic source, and show that the standard measures of security known for quadrature-based continuous variable quantum cryptography (CV-QKD) are inadequate. A specific simple eavesdropping attack is analysed to illuminate how secret information may be distilled well beyond the bounds of the usual CV-QKD measures.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure