The role of the teacher in object-level and meta-level learning

The National Curriculum statement, or NCS for short, proposes significant shifts in the way that teachers carry out their work. Strategies, such as investigation and collaborative work were promoted as a reform model for effective teaching and learning. Thus, the intention of this research project is to determine how mathematics teachers are implementing the new reform in South Africa. Based on Sfard’s theory of commognitive development, a theoretical framework has been established and the focus specified in the following research questions: 1. How does a teacher mediate instruction during object-level & meta-level learning? 2. What enables and constrains her/his facilitative mediation in the case of Congruency in Grade 9? 3. What can we learn about the practical efficacy of Sfard’s discourse theory? In order to explore the actual teaching process the research project presents a case study constituted from two teaching practices on one topic, Congruency, at a College in Johannesburg. The purpose of observing and interviewing two teachers on the same lessons is to get a greater variety of conversation on object-level and meta-level learning. At the same time analysing their teaching process in-depth creates an opportunity to have different possibilities of mediating collaborative learning. The study addresses the three research questions through two related activities – non-participant observation and semi-structural interviews with teachers (in order to provide an opportunity for teachers to express their opinion). Two main findings can be summarized: Firstly, the way the teacher manages instruction originates from her/his teaching style. The data analysis clearly confirms that mediation of the two teachers on the topic Congruency does not differ according object-level and meta-level learning, but according to the teachers. The second finding is related with Sfard’s theoretical perspective: on the one hand the Department recommends investigative activities, whilst, on the other hand, Sfards’ theory states that reinvention by the learner is highly unlikely. Therefore the practical efficacy of Sfard’s theory is that in meta-level learning investigative activities are not appropriate and the role of the teacher should be dominant, not necessarily as facilitator. This research study is an empirical proof of the validity of Sfard’s theory and unspecified requirements of the Department of Education. KEYWORDS: object-level learning, meta-level learning, Congruency, Commognitive theory

RedTell: an AI tool for interpretable analysis of red blood cell morphology

Introduction: Hematologists analyze microscopic images of red blood cells to study their morphology and functionality, detect disorders and search for drugs. However, accurate analysis of a large number of red blood cells needs automated computational approaches that rely on annotated datasets, expensive computational resources, and computer science expertise. We introduce RedTell, an AI tool for the interpretable analysis of red blood cell morphology comprising four single-cell modules: segmentation, feature extraction, assistance in data annotation, and classification.Methods: Cell segmentation is performed by a trained Mask R-CNN working robustly on a wide range of datasets requiring no or minimum fine-tuning. Over 130 features that are regularly used in research are extracted for every detected red blood cell. If required, users can train task-specific, highly accurate decision tree-based classifiers to categorize cells, requiring a minimal number of annotations and providing interpretable feature importance.Results: We demonstrate RedTell’s applicability and power in three case studies. In the first case study we analyze the difference of the extracted features between the cells coming from patients suffering from different diseases, in the second study we use RedTell to analyze the control samples and use the extracted features to classify cells into echinocytes, discocytes and stomatocytes and finally in the last use case we distinguish sickle cells in sickle cell disease patients.Discussion: We believe that RedTell can accelerate and standardize red blood cell research and help gain new insights into mechanisms, diagnosis, and treatment of red blood cell associated disorders

Population ecology and conservation of red-billed choughs in Scotland. Final report on Knowledge Transfer Project

This report summarises the results of a Knowledge Transfer Research Project that was undertaken by Dr Jane Reid (University of Aberdeen), Professor Pat Monaghan, (University of Glasgow), Dr Eric and Mrs Sue Bignal (Scottish Chough Study Group) and Dr Davy McCracken (Scottish Agricultural College). Dr Maria Bogdanova was employed as the postdoctoral research assistant on the project. The work was carried out in partnership with Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). Funding was provided by a Knowledge Transfer Grant from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC, PIs P. Monaghan & J. Reid), with matching partnership funding and in-kind support from SNH and RSPB. The overall aims of the project were to develop the scientific understanding of the population ecology of choughs on Islay, and to use this understanding to inform the development of appropriate conservation strategies and policies. The project built on existing long-term research on Islay’s choughs. It involved further analysis of long-term data, plus two years of intensive fieldwork designed to answer specific questions. The work aimed primarily to understand the ecology of choughs in their sub-adult years (ie, from fledging to breeding age). Survival from fledging to breeding is a key factor in causing population change. However, relatively little was previously known about the behaviour and ecology of choughs during this time. This report provides an overview of the results of the scientific study and focuses on presenting the scientific evidence on which resulting recommendations for chough conservation management on Islay are based. The report is written with the intention of presenting the results of the data analyses, and the rationale underlying those analyses, in a way that is accessible to non-specialists. Further details of analyses and technicalities are provided in published, peer-reviewed papers and/or are available on request. The report provides information that will be of use to policy makers and conservation practitioners, and also highlights topics where further research is required before informed management decisions can be taken

The Impact of Environmental and Anthropogenic Factors on the Migration of the Rural Arctic Population of Western Siberia

Environmental and anthropogenic factors represent challenges impacting the lifestyle and demographic rural population’s behaviour in the Russian Arctic that threaten its social and food security. We aim to explore (1) which key “push” factors are jeopardising social sustainability and increasing migration outflows in the Arctic rural communities of Western Siberia (2) and how the Siberian population’s sustainable development could be secured. The methodology and analysis were based on Lee’s theory of migration factors with the main focus on the “push” factors forcing people to migrate to other Arctic and non-Arctic territories. The primary sources included fieldwork data and interviews collected during expeditions to the Arctic zone of Western Siberia between 2000 and 2021. Both men and women confirmed the insignificant impact of environmental factors on their emigration plans. However, they signified social and personal motives related to low standards of living that threatened their social and food security. The rural Siberian population’s migration strategies could be re-evaluated only by increasing the physical availability of food products and developing the social infrastructure of the settlements as either “models of rural cities” or “service centres for nomadic and rural population”

INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES IN DOCTOR – PATIENT COMMUNICATION IN ENGLISH: SELECTION CRITERIA

Background. Communication between doctor and patient is an important component of the treatment process. The main task of the doctor is to collect all the necessary information about the patient’s problem and the history of its occurrence, to clarify all the circumstances of the situation and to offer options for action. In order to solve this problem, it is necessary to use certain speech means that should help the doctor get all the information and get what they want from the patient. Questions are one of the means that determine the effectiveness of interaction. Purpose. The purpose of the study of this article is to analyze the interrogative sentences used in the doctor – patient dialogues in English, to determine their communicative load, to identify the most frequent constructions and to describe the criteria for choosing the types of interrogative sentences. Materials and methods. The material of the study was the scripts of conversations between doctors and patients in English, presented in open sources. In the course of the study, a continuous sample of interrogative sentences used by the doctor was carried out. The questions were divided into types according to their grammatical structure, the communicative load of each type was determined. The most and least frequent types of questions are singled out, possible grounds for such a pattern are identified. Results. The article describes the main types of questions in English in terms of their grammatical structure: general, special, alternative and disjunctive. The results of own research based on the material of audio recordings and their scripts of conversations between doctors of various specialties and their patients at various stages of the treatment process are presented. In the process of research, each type of questions was analyzed in the context of their use in order to describe their communicative load. This approach made it possible to identify criteria for selecting certain types of questions, which are determined by the target settings of the communicative “doctor-patient” situation. Practical implications. The results of the study can be applied in the practice of teaching Medical English, in the professional activities of healthcare professionals when communicating with patients, in theoretical courses on English grammar