Human Brain Reacts to Transcranial Extraocular Light

Transcranial extraocular light affects the brains of birds and modulates their seasonal changes in physiology and behavior. However, whether the human brain is sensitive to extraocular light is unknown. To test whether extraocular light has any effect on human brain functioning, we measured brain electrophysiology of 18 young healthy subjects using event-related potentials while they performed a visual attention task embedded with emotional distractors. Extraocular light delivered via ear canals abolished normal emotional modulation of attention related brain responses. With no extraocular light delivered, emotional distractors reduced centro-parietal P300 amplitude compared to neutral distractors. This phenomenon disappeared with extraocular light delivery. Extraocular light delivered through the ear canals was shown to penetrate at the base of the scull of a cadaver. Thus, we have shown that extraocular light impacts human brain functioning calling for further research on the mechanisms of action of light on the human brain.Public Library of Science open acces

Teacher interventions in students’ collaborative work in a technology-rich educational makerspace

This study reports on an investigation of teacher interventions in students' collaborative work in an educational makerspace. We draw on a qualitative analysis of video data on teacher-student interaction derived from 94 students (aged 9-12) and their teachers in a Finnish school. The results show that the teacher interventions were both student- and teacher-initiated. Three leading teacher intervention strategies were identified, namely authoritative, orchestrating and unleashing which emerged in teacher-student interactions dealing with conceptual, procedural, technological, behavioural and motivational issues. The study demonstrates the demands makerspaces pose for teacher-student interaction, and how moving from authoritative to collaborative interaction requires collective efforts and cultural change.Peer reviewe

Ligand-Dependent Conformations and Dynamics of the Serotonin 5-HT2A Receptor Determine Its Activation and Membrane-Driven Oligomerization Properties

From computational simulations of a serotonin 2A receptor (5-HT2AR) model complexed with pharmacologically and structurally diverse ligands we identify different conformational states and dynamics adopted by the receptor bound to the full agonist 5-HT, the partial agonist LSD, and the inverse agonist Ketanserin. The results from the unbiased all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations show that the three ligands affect differently the known GPCR activation elements including the toggle switch at W6.48, the changes in the ionic lock between E6.30 and R3.50 of the DRY motif in TM3, and the dynamics of the NPxxY motif in TM7. The computational results uncover a sequence of steps connecting these experimentally-identified elements of GPCR activation. The differences among the properties of the receptor molecule interacting with the ligands correlate with their distinct pharmacological properties. Combining these results with quantitative analysis of membrane deformation obtained with our new method (Mondal et al, Biophysical Journal 2011), we show that distinct conformational rearrangements produced by the three ligands also elicit different responses in the surrounding membrane. The differential reorganization of the receptor environment is reflected in (i)-the involvement of cholesterol in the activation of the 5-HT2AR, and (ii)-different extents and patterns of membrane deformations. These findings are discussed in the context of their likely functional consequences and a predicted mechanism of ligand-specific GPCR oligomerization

Preservice Elementary Science Teachers' Argumentation Competence: Impact of a Training Programme

The recent literature has shown the importance of Preservice Elementary Science Teachers (PESTs) having a deep understanding of argumentation, as this factor may affect the nature of the class activities that are taught and what students learn. A lack of understanding of this factor may represent an obstacle in the development of science education programmes in line with the development of scientific competences. This paper presents the results of the design and implementation of a training programme of 6 sessions (12 hours of class participation plus 8 hours of personal homework) on argumentation. The programme was carried out by 57 Spanish PESTs from Malaga, Spain. The training programme incorporates the innovative use of certain strategies to improve competence in argumentation, such as teaching PESTs to identify the elements of arguments in order to design assessment rubrics or by including peer assessment during evaluation with and without rubrics. The results obtained on implementing the training programme were evaluated based on the development of PESTs’ argumentation competence using Toulmin’s argumentative model. Data collection methods involved two tasks carried out at the beginning and the end of the programme, i.e., pre-test and post-test, respectively. The conclusion of the study is that students made significant progress in their argumentation competence on completing the course. In addition, PESTs who followed the training programme achieved statistically better results at the end than those in the control group (n = 41), who followed a traditional teaching programme. A 6-month transfer task showed a slight improvement for the PESTs of the experimental group in relation to the control group in their ability to transfer argumentation to practice, especially to the extent to which they mentioned argumentation in their practice portfolios.This work is part of the “I+D Excelencia” project “Development and evaluation of scientific competences through context based and modelling teaching approaches” case studies (EDU2013-41952-P), funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Finance through its 2013 research call

The social construction of learning and teaching in a classroom community of inquiry

Abstract This thesis concentrates on investigating the social construction of learning and teaching in a classroom that was encultured into working and acting as a community of inquiry across the curriculum. The theoretical and methodological premises of the study draw on sociocultural and sociolinguistic views on learning and instruction. Through this framework, the study aims at investigating the development, implementation and evaluation of the processes and conditions for communal inquiry across different pedagogical situations and across the curriculum in the case study classroom. In addition, the study aims at creating a pedagogical rationale for supporting meaningful, student-centred and problem-based learning in classroom. The research project was realised as a series of qualitative case studies. The subjects of the study were seventeen third-grade students from a Finnish elementary school and their teacher. The empirical data corpus consists of nine hours of videotaped classroom sessions gathered from the domains of philosophy, science and mathematics. Detailed, micro- and multilevel analyses were completed on the transcribed video recordings of whole classroom interaction. The results of the research project indicate that social interactions in the case study classroom were quite dominantly characterized by multilateral interactions amongst classroom members. Instead of mere information exchange, the nature of knowledge in this classroom was largely based upon sharing and defining views as well as negotiating evidence. In general, the students in this classroom clearly took charge of the cognitive work whereas the teacher’s responsibility was more directed towards managing the interactional practices during the joint discussions. However, there were occasions when the teacher stepped in as an analytic authority. The teacher scaffolding was grounded in the on-going interactions and varied in both quantity and quality whilst engaging in dialogue with individual students demonstrating different participation modes. Overall, the results of the study indicate that teacher scaffolding in this classroom supported communal inquiry from both the cognitive, social and socio-emotional perspectives.Tiivistelmä Väitöstutkimus tarkastelee oppimisen ja opetuksen sosiaalista rakentumista luokassa, jonka toimintakulttuuri rakentuu tutkivan yhteisön periaatteille yli oppiainerajojen. Tutkimuksen teoreettinen viitekehys perustuu sosiokulttuurisille ja sosiolingvistisille oppimis- ja opetuskäsityksille. Tästä teoriataustasta käsin tutkimuksen tavoitteena on tarkastella tutkivan yhteisön periaatteille rakentuvan toimintakulttuurin prosesseja ja ehtoja tapaustutkimusluokassa. Lisäksi tutkimuksen pedagogisena tavoitteena on kehittää suuntaviivoja merkitykselliselle, oppilaskeskeiselle ja ongelmalähtöiselle oppimiselle. Tutkimusprojekti toteutettiin laadullisten tapaustutkimusten sarjana. Tutkimuskohteena ovat seitsemäntoista suomalaisen alakoulun 3. luokan oppilasta ja heidän opettajansa. Tutkimusaineisto koostuu yhdeksästä tunnista videoituja oppituntitilanteita filosofian, luonnontiedon ja matematiikan oppiaineissa. Koko luokan vuorovaikutustilanteita sisältävät litteroidut videotallenteet analysoitiin yksityiskohtaisin, mikro- ja monitasoisin analyysimenetelmin. Tutkimustulokset osoittavat, että tapaustutkimusluokan sosiaaliset vuorovaikutustilanteet rakentuivat vahvasti jäsenten väliselle, monenkeskiselle vuorovaikutukselle. Pelkän informaation vaihdon sijaan tiedon luonne tutkimuskohteena olleessa luokassa perustui yhteiselle näkökulmien jakamiselle, tarkentamiselle ja perustelemiselle. Luokan oppilaat ottivat vastuuta tiedollisista neuvotteluista, kun taas opettajan vastuu kohdentui enemmänkin vuorovaikutuksen ohjaamiseen yhteisten keskustelujen aikana. Kuitenkin opettaja astui esiin luokan vuorovaikutustilanteissa välillä myös analyyttisenä asiantuntijana. Opettajan tuki määrittyi luokan vuorovaikutustilanteiden kautta, ja se vaihteli määrältään ja laadultaan opettajan ollessa vuorovaikutuksessa osallistumiseltaan erilaisten oppilaiden kanssa. Kaiken kaikkiaan tutkimustulokset osoittavat, että opettajan ohjaus luokkayhteisössä tuki tutkivan yhteisön rakentumista niin tiedollisesta, sosiaalisesta kuin sosioemotionaalisesta näkökulmasta

Suomi–ruotsi-kaksikielisten 5–6-vuotiaiden lasten sanasto

Tämän pro gradu -tutkielman tarkoituksena oli tarkastella 5–6-vuotiaiden suomi-ruotsi- kaksikielisten lasten suomen kielen sanastoa. Tutkimuksessa vertailtiin kaksikielisten lasten suoriutumista sanastotestissä yksikielisten lasten suoriutumiseen. Sanaston tasoa arvioitiin sekä ymmärtävän että tuottavan sanaston osalta. Tutkimuksessa tarkasteltiin myös substantiivien ja verbien hallintaa. Lisäksi selvitettiin suomen kielelle altistumisajan ja sanaston tason välistä yhteyttä. Koehenkilöinä tutkimuksessa oli 24 kielellisesti tyypillisesti kehittynyttä 5–6-vuotiasta lasta. Kaksikielisten koehenkilöiden ryhmässä oli 11 lasta ja kontrolliryhmässä 13 yksikielistä lasta. Kaksikielisten lasten kotikielet olivat suomi ja ruotsi. Sanaston tasoa arvioitiin “Language Impairment in a Multilingual Society: Linguistic Patterns and the Road to Assessment” -hankkeen yhteydessä kehitetyllä CLT-testillä (Crosslinguistic lexical task). Testi koostui neljästä tehtäväosiosta: substantiivien ja verbien ymmärtäminen sekä substantiivien ja verbien tuottaminen. Pisteytyksessä noudatettiin testin ohjeistusta. Tutkimus osoitti, että kaksi- ja yksikielisten lasten sanaston tasossa on eroja. Kaksikielisten koehenkilöiden suoriutuminen sanastotestissä oli tilastollisesti merkitsevästi heikompaa kaikilla tutkituilla osa-alueilla (substantiivien ymmärtäminen, verbien ymmärtäminen, substantiivien tuotto ja verbien tuotto) kuin yksikielisillä koehenkilöillä. Suomen kielelle altistumisajan ja sanaston tason välillä havaittiin melko voimakas positiivinen ja tilastollisesti merkitsevä yhteys. Tutkimuksen perusteella voidaan päätellä, että kaksi- ja yksikielisten lasten sanastoissa on tilastollisesti merkitsevä ero, kun sanastoa tarkastellaan vain yhden kielen osalta. Pienen otoskoon vuoksi tuloksiin on hyvä suhtautua varauksella mutta tuloksia voidaan silti pitää suuntaa antavina. Tutkimus osoittaa, että kaksikielisten lasten sanaston vertaaminen yksikielisiin normeihin ei välttämättä anna aitoa kuvaa lasten sanaston tasosta. Kaksikielisten lasten sanastoa tarkastellessa olisikin syytä huomioida molempien kielten yhteissanasto

Novel Delivery Systems for Improving the Clinical Use of Peptides

Peptides have long been recognized as a promising group of therapeutic substances to treat various diseases. Delivery systems for peptides have been under development since the discovery of insulin for the treatment of diabetes. The challenge of using peptides as drugs arises from their poor bioavailability resulting from the low permeability of biological membranes and their instability. Currently, subcutaneous injection is clinically the most common administration route for peptides. This route is cost-effective and suitable for self-administration, and the development of appropriate dosing equipment has made performing the repeated injections relatively easy; however, only few clinical subcutaneous peptide delivery systems provide sustained peptide release. As a result, frequent injections are needed, which may cause discomfort and additional risks resulting from a poor administration technique. Controlled peptide delivery systems, able to provide required therapeutic plasma concentrations over an extended period, are needed to increase peptide safety and patient compliancy. In this review, we summarize the current peptidergic drugs, future developments, and parenteral peptide delivery systems. Special emphasis is given to porous silicon, a novel material in peptide delivery. Biodegradable and biocompatible porous silicon possesses some unique properties, such as the ability to carry exceptional high peptide payloads and to modify peptide release extensively. We have successfully developed porous silicon as a carrier material for improved parenteral peptide delivery. Nanotechnology, with its different delivery systems, will enable better use of peptides in several therapeutic applications in the near future.PharmacologyBiopharmaceutic

'Dotcom' Women Entrepreneurs in the UK

Drawing on two areas of academic interest, i.e. female entrepreneurship and the Internet sector, this paper provides an overview of female entrepreneurship in the web-based business sector in the UK. Based on a field study of 20 web-based small Internet-based companies owned by women, the paper explores why women start up DotCom businesses and presents a typology of DotCom women entrepreneurs. Although the sample size of the project is limited, yet the findings provide interesting and indicative insights into patterns of female entrepreneurship in this growth sector