Classroom assistants:their impact in Scottish primary schools

This research project aimed to explore the impact of paid additional adults in classrooms on pupils and teachers in their day to day lives in primary schools. The project was devised and conducted against the backdrop of the class size discourse and in the context of Scottish primary school education system. In recent years the composition of the workforce in primary schools in Scotland has changed. This research project focused on the introduction of classroom assistants in primary schools in Scotland. There was little in the research literature that focused on pupil/adult ratios in primary school classes. There was a gap in the research and literature on the perceptions and experiences of pupils in this changing school and classroom environment. Data on the tasks and activities of classroom assistants were collected. This project investigated these three themes. In order to explore the complex real life setting of the primary school classroom the research design chosen allowed the researcher to collect both qualitative and quantitative data. The participants in the case study were drawn from three primary schools in the city of Aberdeen. In each of these three schools one middle stages class (primary four or five) its teacher and classroom assistant formed the participants in the case study. The researcher undertook direct observation of teachers and classroom assistants in their work place setting using an observation schedule. The data collected during this phase of the project was enhanced and supported by qualitative data from the participants from semi-structured interviews and focus group sessions. In addition the researcher’s in depth knowledge of the primary school class setting, her awareness and understanding of relationships and roles of the participants added strength to the validity of the data collected. This multiple small-scale multi-method study allowed the researcher to create a detailed description of the impact of classroom assistants on the day to day experiences of teachers and pupils in primary schools. The influence of classroom assistant support was seen in teacher behaviour, workload and the activities they undertook. The researcher also found evidence to support the positive influence of classroom assistants on pupil behaviour

A Test of Future Planning Ability in the Rat

The aim of this study was to investigate the planning abilities of nonhumans, specifically rats. This was assessed by the animals’ tendency to behave in response to future rather than present motivations. For the purposes of this study the future motivation in question was anticipatory sensory specific satiety, i.e., the animals were trained to expect satiating exposure to a certain flavour of rat pellet in the near future. At the testing phase of the study the animals were offered an unexpected choice of two flavours prior to being exposed to the excess of the experimental flavour. This unexpected flavour choice consisted of the flavour that the animal was about to receive (the flavour congruous with the animal’s expectation), and an alternative flavour, of equal familiarity and palatability (the incongruous flavour). The consumption of the congruous and incongruous flavours was recorded. When faced with this choice, an animal successfully anticipating satiation to the upcoming flavour would be expected to consume proportionally more of the alternative (incongruous) flavour, in order to maintain the pleasantness of the anticipated flavour. However the results were inconclusive: there was no significant difference between the proportion of the congruous and the incongruous flavours consumed, suggesting that the current group of animals was not capable of spontaneously anticipating the upcoming flavour. An altered procedure then investigated whether the animals were capable of learning to anticipate the upcoming flavour by introducing regular (and therefore expected) flavour choices. Under these new circumstances the animals consumed significantly higher proportions of the congruous compared to the incongruous flavour. Taken together, these results suggest both that the animals were unable to spontaneously anticipate being satiated by an upcoming flavour, and were unable to learn to anticipate this satiation following repeated trials. The results and certain assumptions of the study are discussed

Implications of Social Support as a Self-Control Resource

Self-control is an intricate component of decision making and effectively managing day-to-day life. Failing to maintain adequate self-control can have negative effects on many desired goals and social experiences. As such, understanding how different facets of the human experience may affect self-control is an important undertaking. One area that is yet unclear is the possible relationships between social support and self-control. Research suggests that social support can be an effective resource in reducing stress and promoting health and well-being. Research has also indicated that stress can be a limiting factor on self-control. In contrast, few studies have focused on social support as a potential resource for self-control. The goal of this mini-review article is to explore the intersections between self-control and social support and encourage integration of these two relatively independent areas of research. This review will help provide a broader understanding of self-control resources and how we can better understand the relationships between social well-being and our ability to monitor and utilize our capacity to maintain self-control

Implications of Sarcopenia in Major Surgery

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141677/1/ncp0175.pd

https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2017.00219 Decreasing Sedentary Behavior: Effects on Academic Performance, Meta-Cognition, and Sleep

There is growing interest in using activity workstations as a method of increasing light physical activity in normally sedentary environments. The current study (N = 117) compared the effects of studying in college students while slowly pedaling a stationary bike with a desktop with studying at traditional desks across 10 weeks in an academic semester. The students were assigned to study either on the stationary bike or at a traditional desk located in the campus library for a minimum of 2 h a week. During the 10 weeks, the students studied for tests or worked on other required academic activities while working at their assigned desk. In addition, the participants completed a pre survey, weekly surveys, and a post survey. We found that although students studying at the traditional desks reported more ease of studying and more effective studying than those using the stationary bikes, the two groups performed equally well on tests in an introductory psychology course. Moreover, the students using the traditional desks reported a decrease in sleep quality later in the semester while those using the activity workstation reported stable levels of sleep quality. The current results indicate that activity workstations could be implemented in university settings to encourage light physical activity without negatively affecting academic performance while providing possible long-term health and well-being benefits. Furthermore, the results suggests that activity workstations could be a means of combating sedentary behavior in environments where individuals are expected to sit either while waiting (e.g., doctor\u27s waiting rooms, airports) or when completing a necessary task (e.g., the workplace, educational settings)

Comparison of Body Size, Morphomics, and Kidney Function as Covariates of High‐Dose Methotrexate Clearance in Obese Adults with Primary Central Nervous System Lymphoma

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154919/1/phar2379.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154919/2/phar2379_am.pd

Spectroscopic characterization of model compounds, reactants, and byproducts connected with an isocyanate production chain

Aromatic amines and amine hydrochloride salts play an important part in certain large-scale isocyanate production chains. For the first time, via a combination of periodic-DFT calculations, infrared spectroscopy, and inelastic neutron scattering, this work provides a comprehensive vibrational assignment of 4-benzylaniline (C6H4CH2C6H4NH2), 4,4′-methylenedianiline (H2NC6H4CH2C6H4NH2), and their associated amine hydrochloride salts. Deuterated analogues are additionally utilized to assist vibrational assignments. The heightened awareness of vibrational transitions for these technically relevant reagents and byproducts provides the opportunity to apply infrared spectroscopy as an in-line diagnostic tool within the industrial-scale process operation

Host chemokine signature as a biomarker for the detection of pre-cancerous cervical lesions

Background The ability to distinguish which hrHPV infections predispose to significant disease is ever more pressing as a result of the increasing move to hrHPV testing for primary cervical screening. A risk-stratifier or “triage” of infection should ideally be objective and suitable for automation given the scale of screening. Results CCL2, CCL3, CCL4, CXCL1, CXCL8 and CXCL12 emerged as the strongest, candidate biomarkers to detect underlying disease [cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 or worse (CIN2+)]. For CIN2+, CCL2 had the highest area under the curve (AUC) of 0.722 with a specificity of 82%. A combined biomarker panel of six chemokines CCL2, CCL3, CCL4, CXCL1, CXCL8, and CXCL12 provides a sensitivity of 71% and specificity of 67%. Conclusion The present work demonstrates that the levels of five chemokine-proteins are indicative of underlying disease. We demonstrate technical feasibility and promising clinical performance of a chemokine-based biomarker panel, equivalent to that of other triage options. Further assessment in longitudinal series is now warranted. Methods A panel of 31 chemokines were investigated for expression in routinely taken archived and prospective cervical liquid based cytology (LBC) samples using Human Chemokine Proteomic Array kit. Nine chemokines were further validated using Procartaplex assay on the Luminex platform

Development of an in-house ELISA to detect anti-HPV16-L1 antibodies in serum and dried blood spots

Measuring anti-HPV antibody levels is important for surveillance of the immunological response to both natural infection and vaccination. Here, an ELISA test for measurement of HPV-16L1 antibodies was developed and validated in sera and dried blood spots. An in-house ELISA was developed for measuring anti-HPV-16L1 IgA and IgG levels. The assay was standardized against WHO international standard serum and validated on serum, dried blood spots and cervical liquid based cytology samples from women attending colposcopy clinics in Scotland. Antibody avidity index was also measured in serum samples. The average HPV 16-L1 specific IgG and IgA levels measured in sera, in women attending a routine colposcopy service were 7.3 units/ml and 8.1 units/ml respectively. Significant correlations between serum and dried blood spot eluates for both IgG and IgA were observed indicating that the latter serve as a credible proxy for antibody levels. Average IgG Avidity Index was 35% (95% CI 25%-45%) suggesting previous, historical challenge with natural infection. This ELISA has potential for use in epidemiological and field studies of antibody prevalence and if coupled with avidity measurement may be of use in individual case monitoring of vaccine responses and failures