Math and Science Education

Resnick provides an excellent brief account of current work in cognitive psychology and its important implications for math and science education. As she indicates, most cognitive psychologists view knowledge as consisting of highly organized schemata into which new experiences are assimilated and view the learner as actively constructing new knowledge. This view is consistent with the ideas that Piagetian theorists and educators have been propounding for many years, although Resnick’s discussion is rooted in the more detailed analysis of specific knowledge and learning in specific content areas that typifies the information-processing paradigm of modern cognitive science

Analysis of inequalities in personal exposure to PM2.5: A modelling study for the Greater London school-aged population

Exposure to air pollution can lead to negative health impacts, with children highly susceptible due to their immature immune and lung systems. Childhood exposure may vary by socio-economic status (SES) due to differences in both outdoor and indoor air pollution levels, the latter of which depends on, for example, building quality, overcrowding and occupant behaviours; however, exposure estimates typically rely on the outdoor component only. Quantifying population exposure across SES requires accounting for variations in time-activity patterns, outdoor air pollution concentrations, and concentrations in indoor microenvironments that account for pollution-generating occupant behaviours and building characteristics. Here, we present a model that estimates personal exposure to PM2.5 for ~1.3 million children aged 4–16 years old in the Greater London region from different income groups. The model combines 1) A national time-activity database, which gives the percentage of each group in different residential and non-residential microenvironments throughout a typical day; 2) Distributions of modelled outdoor PM2.5 concentrations; 3) Detailed estimates of domestic indoor concentrations for different housing and occupant typologies from the building physics model, EnergyPlus, and; 4) Non-domestic concentrations derived from a mass-balance approach. The results show differences in personal exposure across socio-economic groups for children, where the median daily exposure across all scenarios (winter/summer and weekends/weekdays) is 17.2 μg/m3 (95%CIs: 12.1 μg/m3–41.2 μg/m3) for children from households in the lowest income quintile versus 14.5 μg/m3 (95%CIs: 11.5 μg/m3 – 27.9 μg/m3) for those in the highest income quintile. Though those from lower-income homes generally fare worse, approximately 57 % of London's school-aged population across all income groups, equivalent to 761,976 children, have a median daily exposure which exceeds guideline 24-h limits set by the World Health Organisation. The findings suggest residential indoor sources of PM2.5 are a large contributor to personal exposure for school children in London. Interventions to reduce indoor exposure in the home (for example, via the maintenance of kitchen extract ventilation and transition to cleaner cooking fuels) should therefore be prioritised along with the continued mitigation of outdoor sources in Greater London

A pharmacological mouse model suggests a novel risk pathway for postpartum psychosis

Postpartum psychosis (PP) is a severe psychiatric disorder affecting a small proportion of new mothers shortly after childbirth. The molecular pathophysiology underlying the disorder is currently poorly understood, and there are no amenable animal models for the condition; maternal deficiency for the enzyme steroid sulfatase has been proposed as a potential risk mechanism. Here we show that inhibition of steroid sulfatase with 667-COUMATE (10 mg/kg p.o.) in new mouse mothers results in behavioural abnormalities that can be partially alleviated by the administration of the clinically-efficacious antipsychotic ziprasidone (0.3–1.0 mg/kg i.p.). The pattern of behavioural abnormalities in 667-COUMATE-treated mice implicated a genetic substrate at 21–23cm on chromosome 15; of the 17 genes within this chromosomal interval, only one (Nov/Ccn3) was significantly differentially expressed in the brains of vehicle and 667-COUMATE-treated mice. Two additional members of the Ccn family (Ccn2/Ctgf and Ccn4/Wisp1) were also significantly differentially expressed between the two groups, as were three further genes co-expressed with Nov/Ccn3 in brain (Arhgdig) or previously implicated in disorder risk by clinical studies (Adcy8 and Ccl2). The expression of Nov/Ccn3, but not of the other differentially-expressed genes, could be normalised by ziprasidone administration (1.0 mg/kg). NOV/CCN3 lies directly under a linkage peak for PP risk at 8q24, and the associated protein possesses numerous characteristics that make it an excellent candidate mediator of PP risk. Our data suggest the 667-COUMATE-treated mouse as a model for PP with some degree of face, construct, and predictive validity, and implicate a novel, and biologically-plausible, molecular risk pathway for P

ESG Framework for Investment Managers of WUIMC

ESG Framework for Investment Managers for Sustainability Exchange, Washington University in St. Louis, Fall 202

Verbal Learning and Memory After Cochlear Implantation in Postlingually Deaf Adults: Some New Findings with the CVLT-II

OBJECTIVES: Despite the importance of verbal learning and memory in speech and language processing, this domain of cognitive functioning has been virtually ignored in clinical studies of hearing loss and cochlear implants in both adults and children. In this article, we report the results of two studies that used a newly developed visually based version of the California Verbal Learning Test-Second Edition (CVLT-II), a well-known normed neuropsychological measure of verbal learning and memory. DESIGN: The first study established the validity and feasibility of a computer-controlled visual version of the CVLT-II, which eliminates the effects of audibility of spoken stimuli, in groups of young normal-hearing and older normal-hearing (ONH) adults. A second study was then carried out using the visual CVLT-II format with a group of older postlingually deaf experienced cochlear implant (ECI) users (N = 25) and a group of ONH controls (N = 25) who were matched to ECI users for age, socioeconomic status, and nonverbal IQ. In addition to the visual CVLT-II, subjects provided data on demographics, hearing history, nonverbal IQ, reading fluency, vocabulary, and short-term memory span for visually presented digits. ECI participants were also tested for speech recognition in quiet. RESULTS: The ECI and ONH groups did not differ on most measures of verbal learning and memory obtained with the visual CVLT-II, but deficits were identified in ECI participants that were related to recency recall, the buildup of proactive interference, and retrieval-induced forgetting. Within the ECI group, nonverbal fluid IQ, reading fluency, and resistance to the buildup of proactive interference from the CVLT-II consistently predicted better speech recognition outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Results from this study suggest that several underlying foundational neurocognitive abilities are related to core speech perception outcomes after implantation in older adults. Implications of these findings for explaining individual differences and variability and predicting speech recognition outcomes after implantation are discussed

Marine litter-fauna interactions: a standardised reporting framework and critical review of the current state of research with a focus on submarine canyons

Litter is ubiquitous in the ocean, interacting with fauna and causing impacts that are unquantified at present. Mainly sourced from land, marine litter is very persistent, and undergoes slow degradation upon settling on the ocean floor. Submarine canyons contain more litter than other oceanographic features due to hydrological processes, but study of litter in canyons is made difficult by logistical requirements. Monitoring and quantification of marine litter often do not consider interactions between fauna and litter, meaning impacts are largely unconsidered and unknown. Among publications that have reported litter-fauna (L-F) interactions in canyons, the large majority occur in the Mediterranean Sea, and the most reported interaction is of corals entangled in fishing gear. When it occurs, the reporting of L-F interactions is unstandardised, resulting in a lack of global comparison and trend analysis. A standardised, comprehensive framework for the reporting of L-F interactions has been created and includes 6 major categories: entanglement, ingestion, smothering, habitat provision, adaptive behaviour, and encountering (entanglement and smothering occur on abiotic features as well). Use of the framework will aid in research collaboration and creation of a global dataset of L-F interactions. Impacts resulting from interactions are plentiful, most coming from entanglement and smothering