The Live(d) Curriculum: Life Feeling Itself

The article focuses on the ideas and meanings that emerge for the author as she experiences the death of her father. Here, through a series of vignettes which expose curricula as live(d) by herself, her father, and others, the author explores multiple conceptions of the live(d) curriculum. As a result, ideas and meanings of (in)visibility, last(ing) rituals, and life feeling itself surface and in significant ways occasion the author’s new awareness and deeper understanding of the live(d) curriculum

Arithmetic: Craft or Art? A Recursive (Re)view of Paul Lockhart’s A Mathematician’s Lament and Arithmetic

Paul Lockhart is a former computer programmer, elementary teacher, research mathematician, university professor, and somewhat more recently a K-12 mathematics teacher and author. Lockhart’s first written composition appeared two decades ago in 2002. All of 25 pages, his essay A Mathematician\u27s Lament began like this: A musician wakes from a terrible nightmare. In this dream he finds himself in a society where music education has been made mandatory ... Educators, school systems, and the state are put in charge of this vital project. Studies are commissioned, committees are formed, and decisions are made—all without the advice or participation of a single working musician or composer.” (p. 1

Return On Contribution (ROC): A Metric for Enterprise Social Software

Abstract. The value of enterprise social media applications, components, and users is difficult to quantify in formal economic terms such as Return On Investment. In this work we propose a different approach, based on human service to other humans. We describe a family of metrics, Return On Contribution (ROC), to assist in managing social software systems. ROC focuses on human collaboration, namely the creation and consumption of information and knowledge among employees. We show how ROC can be used to track the performance of several types of social media applications, and how ROC can help to understand the usage patterns of items within those applications, and the performance of employees who use those applications. Design implications include the importance of “lurkers ” in organizational knowledge exchange, and specific types of measurements that may be of value to employees, managers, and system administrators

Effects of a Multitouch Keyboard on Wrist Posture, Typing Performance and Comfort

Alan Hedge Geri GayThe design of computer keyboards is rapidly evolving as portable computing becomes increasingly ubiquitous due to wireless networking and the increased popularity of personal digital assistants and notebook computers. However, there is a balance between mobility and productivity, in terms of text-entry accuracy and speed, which needs to be maintained as computer keyboards become smaller and slimmer through the introduction of ultra low-profile designs. In addition, the ergonomic benefits, in terms of the reduction of awkward wrist postures and user comfort, of ultra-low profile designs are unclear. This study tests a new prototype ultra-low profile MultiTouch keyless keyboard (MTK) that uses a MultiTouch surface to create an extremely thin typing environment that requires no force to register a keystroke and allows mousing and gestural input on the same surface. In this study, the MTK was tested against a conventional keyboard (CK) for typing speed, accuracy, wrist postures and user comfort. It was hypothesized that the lack of key travel would increase speed and accuracy, while the ultra-thin design would reduce the amount of wrist extension, which could decrease the risk of a wrist injury or other hand and wrist musculoskeletal disorder. Finally, it was hypothesized that there would be a significant short-term learning effect on typing speed and accuracy for the MTK. A laboratory experiment was conducted with 6 males and 6 females typing using two QWERTY keyboard designs: a CK and a MTK. Subjects visited the lab for 1.5 hours for 2 non-consecutive days in the same week, for a total of 3 hours. Each visit consisted of eight randomly assigned 7.5-minute typing tasks of text passages of similar difficulty and identical length. Quantitative measures of typing speed and accuracy were collected using Typing Quick and Easy 13.0 and qualitative measures of user preference and comfort were gathered by self-report questionnaires. A wrist glove electrogoniometer system was used to record right-hand wrist positioning data, which was analyzed to assess the risk of injury. The two keyboards were evaluated in a repeated measures within-subjects factorial design. Subjects, typed slower (F1,11 = 41.86, p=0.000) and less accurately (F1,11 = 23.55, p=0.001) on the MTK during the typing tasks. Subjects preferred the CK and reported a higher level of ease (F1,11 = 49.732, p=0.00) and enjoyment (F1,11 = 51.129, p=0.00) during its use. Mean wrist extension was lower for the MTK (F1,11= 10.205, p=0.000) while radial and ulnar deviation did not differ significantly between the two keyboards. The MTK had a lower percentage of highest-risk wrist extension (F1,11= 6.437, p=0.028), and conversely, a higher percentage of neutral wrist posture (F1,11= 12.947, p=0.004). A significant positive linear trend was observed across the within-subjects scores for speed (F1,11= 9.308, p=0.011) and accuracy (F1,11= 11.903, p=0.005) across tasks in the MTK condition. Limitations to this study include practice effects, due to the naive subjects' lack of training on the MTK and the limited duration of exposure to this novel keyboard. Fatigue effects may have also been a factor, even though the experimental conditions were spread out over two non-consecutive days in the same week. Future research directions include additional testing of the unique mousing and gestural capabilities of the MTK. Other research suggests that practice and extended exposure to the MTK may raise performance to comparable levels associated with CK devices.College of Human Ecology, Cornell Universit

The impact of cardiorespiratory fitness on classical cardiovascular disease risk factors in rheumatoid arthritis: a cross-sectional and longitudinal study

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Advanced measures of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) are associated with CVD risk factors. The present study aimed to examine whether CVD risk factors can predict clinic-based measures of CRF, using the Siconolfi step test and to determine if exercise can improve RA patients’ cardiovascular health. Sixty-five RA patients (46 females, age 58 ± 11 years) completed assessments of CRF, CVD risk factors, body composition and RA characteristics. Ten patients participated in a follow-up 8-week exercise intervention. CRF was low (22 ml kg−1 min−1) and associated with higher diastolic blood pressure (r = − 0.37, p = 0.002), higher global CVD risk (r = − 0.267, p = 0.031) and worse body composition profile (body fat, r = − 0.48, p < 0.001; waist, r = − 0.65, p < 0.001; hip, r = − 0.58, p < 0.001). Regular exercise significantly improved CRF (p = 0.021), lower body strength (p < 0.001), agility (p < 0.001), systolic blood pressure (p = 0.021), body fat (p = 0.018), waist circumference (p = 0.035), hip circumference (p = 0.016), disease activity (p = 0.002), disability (p = 0.007) and QoL (p = 0.004). Elevated diastolic blood pressure and worse body composition profile are strong predictors of clinic-based measures of CRF. CRF is an important determinant of CVD risk and warrants inclusion in the routine assessment of RA patients. Regular exercise can improve CRF and CVD risk factors without any exacerbation of disease activity and should be offered as part of routine care

Promotion of healthy aging within a community center through behavior change: health and fitness findings from the AgeWell pilot randomized controlled trial

The purpose of this randomized controlled trial was to determine if behavior change through individual goal setting (GS) could promote healthy aging, including health and fitness benefits in older adults who attended a community “AgeWell” Center for 12 months. Seventy-five older adults were randomly allocated to either a control or a GS group. Health outcomes were measured at baseline and after 12 months of the participants’ having access to the exception of Agewell Center facilities. The findings demonstrate that participation in the Center in itself was beneficial, with improved body composition and reduced cardiovascular risk in both groups (p < .05), and that this kind of community-based resource offers valuable potential for promoting protective behaviors and reducing health risk. However, a specific focus on identifying individual behavior change goals was required in order to achieve increased activity engagement (p < .05) and to bring about more substantial improvements in a range of health, diet, and physical function measures (p < .05)

Data from: Novel microsatellite markers for epiphytic bromeliad Tillandsia recurvata L., in an urban landscape in South-eastern Brazil

The authors present seven novel microsatellite markers for Tillandsia recurvata L. The genome assemble sequences of T. recurvata were obtained from NCBI (7.2Gb) (Sayers et al. 2022). The BioProject Accession and accession numbers are PRJNA701548 and SRX10089449, respectively. The microsatellite identification software Krait (0.5.2) (Du et al. 2018) was used to detect suitable microsatellites, both genome-wide and in the noncoding regions of T. recurvata. The single sequence repeats (SSRs) were refined to a minimum number of seven repeats of di-, tri-, or tetra-nucleotide repeat motifs. These sequences were further limited to SSRs of more than 100bp in length and low GC content (<50%). Krait (0.5.2) (Du et al. 2018) was also used to design the primers for the selected SSR sequences, in conjunction with the integrated Primer3 software. The criteria for primer selection included: a primer length of 18-26bp, an optimal melting temperature (Tm) of 54-59°C and GC content of <50%. These designed primers were single-plexed and amplified using the following PCR cycle: initial denaturation (95°C for 3 min), 34 cycles of 95°C for 30s, annealing for 30s (JP01-JP12: 54°C, 4873TD + 35251TD: 56°C, 19286TD: 53°C, 5044TD + 186664TD + 214633TD: 58°C), 72°C for 1 min and a final extension of 72°C for 5 mins. The authors make this information available to other researchers, to continue the investigation of epiphyte genetics

Projective geometry and spatial reasoning for STEM learning

Projective geometry is a prominent area in many fields including art, design, architecture, and mathematics, but how it can contribute to children’s spatial reasoning as well as a supplementary geometry to that of Euclid’s in school mathematics curricula raises the need for further consideration. With emphasis on the dynamic relationship between 2D and 3D objects, projective geometry not only offers important concepts but a meaningful context in which to develop spatial reasoning for STEM learning. In this article, we overview spatial reasoning as it relates to STEM and in particular, mathematics. Making a case for projective geometry, we present activities for the classroom, demonstrating how this mathematics topic connects to and opens new possibilities to promote spatial reasoning for STEM learning in the elementary grades

Layering methodological tools to represent classroom collectivity

Our research is guided by the question: “How might we observe, document, display, and analyze data from a collective systems perspective?” In this research forum, we share new research tools for studying mathematics classrooms, highlight opportunities for observation and analysis by layering these tools, and then illustrate how the layering of tools allows for visual distinctions across lessons and classrooms.Research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada