Adults learning mathematics in the workplace through their trade unions: what motivates them?

It is known that motivating people to learn mathematics can be difficult. My research explores adults’ motivation to learn mathematics and focuses on learners who are overcoming many barriers to study in the workplace, in classes organised and funded by their trade union. The adults are aiming to gain a formal qualification, using less formal learning approaches, in a non-traditional context, hence this research offers teachers in more conventional education settings an opportunity to learn about successful alternative practice. Using a grounded theory approach on qualitative data and by exploring the findings within a range of sources of research literature into motivation and mathematics learning for adults, the research distinguishes between initial motivation to re-engage with learning and motivation to continue learning. It identifies the dynamic interplay in motivation between the personal needs or goals of individual learners, and the influence of other members of faceto- face learning groups. This interplay is seen as shaped in the wider context of UK society, and, in particular, by the role of trade unions. Adults in trade union organised classes report being able to successfully develop their mathematical skills and confidence through the use of ‘collective’ learning approaches, which develop positive social and emotional encounters in the classroom that are different from their previous experiences. Developing confidence while learning mathematics helps to shape their identities and, for this sample, has considerable influence on their motivations both inside and outside the classroom. The significance of developing confidence is reinforced by the adults’ use of emotional language when reporting changes in their feelings towards mathematics from negative to positive and their motivation to learn, described as an adult’s ‘Affective Mathematical Journey’. This emphasises the importance of considering the emotional connection to motivation and cognitive development when reflecting on professional practice associated with adults learning mathematics

One-step volumetric additive manufacturing of complex polymer structures.

Two limitations of additive manufacturing methods that arise from layer-based fabrication are slow speed and geometric constraints (which include poor surface quality). Both limitations are overcome in the work reported here, introducing a new volumetric additive fabrication paradigm that produces photopolymer structures with complex nonperiodic three-dimensional geometries on a time scale of seconds. We implement this approach using holographic patterning of light fields, demonstrate the fabrication of a variety of structures, and study the properties of the light patterns and photosensitive resins required for this fabrication approach. The results indicate that low-absorbing resins containing ~0.1% photoinitiator, illuminated at modest powers (~10 to 100 mW), may be successfully used to build full structures in ~1 to 10 s

The impact of power clean ability and training age on adaptations to weightlifting-style training

The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether weightlifting actions are a viable method for improving athletic performance amongst weaker, inexperienced lifters when compared to individuals with a greater power clean result, and hence weightlifting ability and experience. Two groups of males with distinctly different power clean performances (higher performance (HP): N = 8; BM = 78.1±4.0 kg; 1RM PC = 1.08±0.09 kg.BM-1; lower performance (LP): N = 8; BM=82.6±14.0 kg; 1RM PC=0.78±0.1 kg⸱BM-1) and resistance training age (HP: resistance training experience=3.5±1.2 years; LP: resistance training experience=1.44±1.50 years) undertook 10 weeks of training involving weightlifting derivatives, in addition to supplemental ballistic and plyometric exercises. Testing of athletic performance (represented by measures derived from the countermovement jump) occurred at baseline, after five weeks of training, and after ten weeks of training. Both groups significantly improved across the majority of outcome variables following training (Hedges g=0.98–2.55, P≤0.01-0.05). Only the HP participants experienced significant changes at mid-test (g = 0.99–1.27, P ≤ 0.01-0.05), while no significant changes were revealed between mid- and post-test in this group. In contrast to this, the LP participants displayed a significant improvement in relative impulse (g=1.39, P<0.01) and rate of force development (g=1.91, P<0.01) during this final period (P<0.01). As weaker, inexperienced lifters underwent a significant and meaningful enhancement in maximal neuromuscular measures following weightlifting derivative focused training, practitioners should consider early implementation of such exercises. However, it is important for coaches to note that a delayed training effect might be present in weaker, less experienced lifters

Yoga for Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: A Pilot Study

Intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) include diagnoses such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), Down syndrome (DS), and fragile X syndrome (FXS). Generally, individuals with IDD have an increased risk of experiencing poor functional fitness compared to adults without IDD, which can lead to an increased rate of health deterioration and reduced ability to complete activities of daily living. Functional fitness might be positively impacted by yoga, which is an ancient mind-body practice that that synchronously uses controlled breath practices, mindfulness, and physical postures. Yoga has generally been demonstrated to be effective for improving functional fitness for adults, both with and without disability. Little research, however, has been done regarding yoga for individuals with IDD. This single-arm pilot study measured pre and post test functional fitness after a yoga intervention delivered for 60-minutes twice a week for six weeks in a special population recreation center for people with IDD. Eligible individuals completed a battery of functional fitness physical performance measures. A team of yoga teachers and a yoga therapist developed a standardized intervention protocol to promote improving muscular strength and balance. Each yoga session included a standardized progression of postures, breath work, and guided meditation, and affirmations called “mantras” (e.g. I am strong, I am loved). Multiple modifications were offered for engaging in postures including participating from a chair. Each session ended with a four-minute relaxation pose. Pre- and posttest scores were compared using a Wilcoxon Signed Rank test and were further examined with a percent change calculation (Time 1-Time 2/Time 1 * 100). Nine participants assented and completed pre and post-testing. There was a significant improvement in three of the six functional fitness measures. This intervention study indicates positive outcomes to promote functional fitness among individuals with IDD. The preliminary significant results indicate that a yoga intervention may have the potential to enhance functional fitness in people with IDD

Profile of the most common complaints for five health professions in Australia

© 2019 AHHA. Objective: The aims of this study were to profile the most common complaints and to examine whether any demographic factors are associated with receiving a complaint for five health professions in Australia. Methods: A national cohort study was conducted for all complaints received for medicine, nursing/midwifery, dentistry, pharmacy and psychology from 1 July 2012 to 31 December 2013 (18 months). Data were collected from the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA), the New South Wales (NSW) Health Professional Councils' Authority and the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission. The frequency and risk of complaints were summarised for the five professions and by demographic information. Results: There were 545 283 practitioners registered with AHPRA between 1 July 2012 and 31 December 2013, consisting of 20 935 dentists, 101 066 medical practitioners, 363 040 nurses/midwives, 28 370 pharmacists and 31 872 psychologists. During the study period there were 12 616 complaints, corresponding to an annual rate of 1.5 per 100 practitioners. Complaints were most common for doctors and dentists (5% per annum per practitioner) and least common for nurses/midwives (0.5% per annum per practitioner). Sex (P < 0.01), age (P < 0.01) and country of birth (P < 0.01) were all associated with risk of complaint. The most common complaints were clinical care (44% of all complaints), medication (10%) and health impairment of the practitioner (8%). Types of complaints varied by profession, sex and age. Conclusions: The risk of a complaint is low, but varies by profession and demographics. The types of complaints also vary by profession and demographics. Differences between professions is most likely driven by their different work tasks and work environments. What is already known on this subject?: Although complaints are summarised annually from state and national health regulators, no overall national summary of complaints across professions exists. Thus, it is difficult to examine which complaints are most common, how professions differ from each other or what factors may be associated with risk and type of complaint. Previous studies have primarily focused on a single profession, such as medicine, where, for example, the number of prior complaints, sex, doctor speciality and age have been found to be associated with recurrent complaints. What does this paper add?: This paper is the first of this kind to provide a national summary of all complaints from five of the most common health professions in Australia. We found that regardless of profession, men were at least twice as likely to have a complaint made against them than women. We also found that the types of complaint differed between men and women. There were similarities across professions for the most common types of complaints, but clear differences between professions were also noted. Not surprising, clinical care was typically the most common type of complaint for the five professions, but somewhat surprising was the inclusion of health impairment as one of the most common types of complaints. What are the implications for practitioners?: Identifying the most common complaints, and the factors associated with these, may assist practitioners to understand their risk(s) of complaint and could potentially assist educators and regulators develop education programs that help reduce complaints

The fundamental pro-groupoid of an affine 2-scheme

A natural question in the theory of Tannakian categories is: What if you don't remember \Forget? Working over an arbitrary commutative ring $R$, we prove that an answer to this question is given by the functor represented by the \'etale fundamental groupoid \pi_1(\spec(R)), i.e.\ the separable absolute Galois group of $R$ when it is a field. This gives a new definition for \'etale \pi_1(\spec(R)) in terms of the category of $R$-modules rather than the category of \'etale covers. More generally, we introduce a new notion of "commutative 2-ring" that includes both Grothendieck topoi and symmetric monoidal categories of modules, and define a notion of $\pi_1$ for the corresponding "affine 2-schemes." These results help to simplify and clarify some of the peculiarities of the \'etale fundamental group. For example, \'etale fundamental groups are not "true" groups but only profinite groups, and one cannot hope to recover more: the "Tannakian" functor represented by the \'etale fundamental group of a scheme preserves finite products but not all products.Comment: 46 pages + bibliography. Diagrams drawn in Tik

Analysis of the giant genomes of Fritillaria (Liliaceae) indicates that a lack of DNA removal characterizes extreme expansions in genome size.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Plants exhibit an extraordinary range of genome sizes, varying by > 2000-fold between the smallest and largest recorded values. In the absence of polyploidy, changes in the amount of repetitive DNA (transposable elements and tandem repeats) are primarily responsible for genome size differences between species. However, there is ongoing debate regarding the relative importance of amplification of repetitive DNA versus its deletion in governing genome size. Using data from 454 sequencing, we analysed the most repetitive fraction of some of the largest known genomes for diploid plant species, from members of Fritillaria. We revealed that genomic expansion has not resulted from the recent massive amplification of just a handful of repeat families, as shown in species with smaller genomes. Instead, the bulk of these immense genomes is composed of highly heterogeneous, relatively low-abundance repeat-derived DNA, supporting a scenario where amplified repeats continually accumulate due to infrequent DNA removal. Our results indicate that a lack of deletion and low turnover of repetitive DNA are major contributors to the evolution of extremely large genomes and show that their size cannot simply be accounted for by the activity of a small number of high-abundance repeat families.Thiswork was supported by the Natural Environment ResearchCouncil (grant no. NE/G017 24/1), the Czech Science Fou nda-tion (grant no. P501/12/G090), the AVCR (grant no.RVO:60077344) and a Beatriu de Pinos postdoctoral fellowshipto J.P. (grant no. 2011-A-00292; Catalan Government-E.U. 7thF.P.)

Systematic reviews of point-of-care tests for the diagnosis of urogenital Chlamydia trachomatis infections.

BACKGROUND: WHO estimates that 131 million new cases of urogenital Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) infections occur globally every year. Most infections are asymptomatic. Untreated infection in women can lead to severe complications. Screening and treatment of at-risk populations is a priority for prevention and control. OBJECTIVES: To summarise systematic reviews of the performance characteristics of commercially available point-of-care tests (POCT) for screening and diagnosis of urogenital CT infection. METHODS: Two separate systematic reviews covering the periods 2004-2013 and 2010-2015 were conducted on rapid CT POCTs. Studies were included if tests were evaluated against a valid reference standard. RESULTS: In the first review, 635 articles were identified, of which 11 were included. Nine studies evaluated the performance of eight antigen detection rapid POCTs on 10 280 patients and two studies evaluated a near-patient nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) on 3518 patients. Pooled sensitivity of antigen detection tests was 53%, 37% and 63% for cervical swabs, vaginal swabs and male urine, and specificity was 99%, 97% and 98%, respectively. The pooled sensitivity and specificity of the near-patient NAAT for all specimen types were >98% and 99.4%, respectively. The second review identified two additional studies on four antigen detection POCTs with sensitivities and specificities of 22.7%-37.7% and 99.4%-100%, respectively. A new two-step 15 min rapid POCT using fluorescent nanoparticles showed performance comparable to that of near-patient NAATs. CONCLUSIONS: The systematic reviews showed that antigen detection POCTs for CT, although easy to use, lacked sufficient sensitivity to be recommended as a screening test. A near-patient NAAT shows acceptable performance as a screening or diagnostic test but requires electricity, takes 90 min and is costly. More affordable POCTs are in development

Epstein-Barr virus persistence and infection of autoreactive plasma cells in synovial lymphoid structures in rheumatoid arthritis.

OBJECTIVES: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with an increased Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) blood DNA load, a robust immune response to EBV and cross-reactive circulating antibodies to viral and self-antigens. However, the role of EBV in RA pathogenesis remains elusive. Here, we investigated the relationship between synovial EBV infection, ectopic lymphoid structures (ELS) and immunity to citrullinated self and EBV proteins. METHODS: Latent and lytic EBV infection was investigated in 43 RA synovial tissues characterised for presence/absence of ELS and in 11 control osteoarthritis synovia using RT-PCR, in situ hybridisation and immunohistochemistry. Synovial production of anti-citrullinated protein (ACPA) and anti-citrullinated EBV peptide (VCP1/VCP2) antibodies was investigated in situ and in vivo in the severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID)/RA chimeric model. RESULTS: EBV dysregulation was observed exclusively in ELS+ RA but not osteoarthritis (OA) synovia, as revealed by presence of EBV latent (LMP2A, EBV-encoded small RNA (EBER)) transcripts, EBER+ cells and immunoreactivity for EBV latent (LMP1, LMP2A) and lytic (BFRF1) antigens in ELS-associated B cells and plasma cells, respectively. Importantly, a large proportion of ACPA-producing plasma cells surrounding synovial germinal centres were infected with EBV. Furthermore, ELS-containing RA synovia transplanted into SCID mice supported production of ACPA and anti-VCP1/VCP2 antibodies. Analysis of CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell localisation and granzyme B expression suggests that EBV persistence in ELS-containing synovia may be favoured by exclusion of CD8+ T cells from B-cell follicles and impaired CD8-mediated cytotoxicity. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated active EBV infection within ELS in the RA synovium in association with local differentiation of ACPA-reactive B cells