ImpaCT2: learning at home and school: case studies

Strand 3 explored the nature of teaching and learning involving ICT in various settings, with a focus on the views of pupils, teachers, and parents. Working in 15 of the 60 schools selected for Strands 1 and 2, this project focused on: learning and teaching environments; learning and teaching styles; and the impact of networked technologies on the perceptions of teachers, managers, pupils and parents. ImpaCT2 was a major longitudinal study (1999-2002) involving 60 schools in England, its aims were to: identify the impact of networked technologies on the school and out-of-school environment; determine whether or not this impact affected the educational attainment of pupils aged 8 - 16 years (at Key Stages 2, 3, and 4); and provide information that would assist in the formation of national, local and school policies on the deployment of ICT

Suspected Propofol-Related Infusion Syndrome After Lumbar Spinal Fusion With Total Intravenous Anesthesia: A Case Report

Propofol-related infusion syndrome (PRIS) is a welldocumented yet rare complication of prolonged infusions of propofol. It is characterized by a myriad of metabolic abnormalities, including cardiac arrhythmias, rhabdomyolysis, acute kidney injury, metabolic acidosis, and other disturbances. First described in children receiving extended propofol infusions to maintain sedation while in the intensive care unit, PRIS has now been described in every age group. It typically results in death. Management of this potentially devastating complication involves supportive treatment of the metabolic problems encountered and discontinuing the use of propofol. We describe a patient with suspected PRIS who underwent a two-stage lumbar spine procedure with total intravenous anesthesia, using propofol as the anesthetic. At 6-weeks postoperatively, he could walk without assistive devices and did not require pain medication. Findings of the current case may help inform healthcare providers of the possibility of PRIS after spinal fusion, allowing for a potentially lifesaving diagnosis

A disciplinary commons for database teaching

This paper discusses the experience of taking part in a disciplinary commons devoted to the teaching of database systems. It will discuss the structure of a disciplinary commons and our experience of the database version

Non-sexist Language Policy and the Rise (and Fall?) of Combined Pronouns in British and American Written English

This paper focuses on the use of combined pronouns (s/he, his or her, him/her, etc.) as an example of late twentieth-century non-sexist language reform which had an overt democratizing aim. Within the scope of second-wave feminism, the use of combined pronouns increased the visibility of women in discourse by encouraging the use of feminine pronouns (she, her, hers) alongside masculine pronouns (he, him, his). Despite their promotion, however, the use of combined pronouns is relatively rare. This paper uses the LOB and Brown families of corpora to diachronically and synchronically study patterns in the use of combined pronouns in written American (AmE) and British English (BrE) from the 1930s to the early 2000s. The analysis not only determines what forms these patterns take, but questions whether combined pronouns are influenced by (a combination of) syntax and/or semantics, and questions whether combined pronouns are really democratic at all

Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness against Hospitalisation with Confirmed Influenza in the 2010-11 Seasons: A Test-negative Observational Study

Immunisation programs are designed to reduce serious morbidity and mortality from influenza, but most evidence supporting the effectiveness of this intervention has focused on disease in the community or in primary care settings. We aimed to examine the effectiveness of influenza vaccination against hospitalisation with confirmed influenza. We compared influenza vaccination status in patients hospitalised with PCR-confirmed influenza with patients hospitalised with influenza-negative respiratory infections in an Australian sentinel surveillance system. Vaccine effectiveness was estimated from the odds ratio of vaccination in cases and controls. We performed both simple multivariate regression and a stratified analysis based on propensity score of vaccination. Vaccination status was ascertained in 333 of 598 patients with confirmed influenza and 785 of 1384 test-negative patients. Overall estimated crude vaccine effectiveness was 57% (41%, 68%). After adjusting for age, chronic comorbidities and pregnancy status, the estimated vaccine effectiveness was 37% (95% CI: 12%, 55%). In an analysis accounting for a propensity score for vaccination, the estimated vaccine effectiveness was 48.3% (95% CI: 30.0, 61.8%). Influenza vaccination was moderately protective against hospitalisation with influenza in the 2010 and 2011 seasons

Rapid evolution and gene expression : a rapidly-evolving Mendelian trait that silences field crickets has widespread effects on mRNA and protein expression

A major advance in modern evolutionary biology is the ability to start linking phenotypic evolution in the wild with genomic changes that underlie that evolution. We capitalised on a rapidly-evolving Hawaiian population of crickets (Teleogryllus oceanicus) to test hypotheses about the genomic consequences of a recent Mendelian mutation of large effect which disrupts the development of sound-producing structures on male forewings. The resulting silent phenotype, flatwing, persists because of natural selection imposed by an acoustically-orienting parasitoid, but it interferes with mate attraction. We examined gene expression differences in developing wing buds of wild-type and flatwing male crickets using RNA-seq and quantitative proteomics. Most differentially expressed (DE) transcripts were down-regulated in flatwing males (625 up vs. 1716 down), whereas up and down-regulated proteins were equally represented (30 up and 34 down). Differences between morphs were clearly not restricted to a single pathway, and we recovered annotations associated with a broad array of functions that would not be predicted a priori. Using a candidate gene detection test based on homology we identified 30% of putative Drosophila wing development genes in the cricket transcriptome, but only 10% were DE. In addition to wing related annotations, endocrine pathways and several biological processes such as reproduction, immunity and locomotion were DE in the mutant crickets at both biological levels. Our results illuminate the breadth of genetic pathways that are potentially affected in the early stages of adaptation.PostprintPeer reviewe

Planet Hunters. VI: An Independent Characterization of KOI-351 and Several Long Period Planet Candidates from the Kepler Archival Data

We report the discovery of 14 new transiting planet candidates in the Kepler field from the Planet Hunters citizen science program. None of these candidates overlapped with Kepler Objects of Interest (KOIs) at the time of submission. We report the discovery of one more addition to the six planet candidate system around KOI-351, making it the only seven planet candidate system from Kepler. Additionally, KOI-351 bears some resemblance to our own solar system, with the inner five planets ranging from Earth to mini-Neptune radii and the outer planets being gas giants; however, this system is very compact, with all seven planet candidates orbiting $\lesssim 1$ AU from their host star. A Hill stability test and an orbital integration of the system shows that the system is stable. Furthermore, we significantly add to the population of long period transiting planets; periods range from 124-904 days, eight of them more than one Earth year long. Seven of these 14 candidates reside in their host star's habitable zone.Comment: 27 pages, 6 figures, 5 tables, Accepted to AJ (in press) (updated title from original astro-ph submission

"The daily grunt": middle class bias and vested interests in the 'Getting in Early' and 'Why Can't They Read?' reports.

It is a long-standing and commonly held belief in the UK and elsewhere that the use of elite forms of language reflects superior intellect and education. Expert opinion from sociolinguistics, however, contends that such a view is the result of middle-class bias and cannot be scientifically justified. In the 1960s and 1970s,such luminaries as Labov (1969) and Trudgill (1975) were at pains to point out to educationalists, with some success, that this 'deficit 'view of working-class children's communicative competence is not a helpful one. However, a close reading of recent think-tank reports and policy papers on language and literacy teaching in schools reveals that the linguistic deficit hypothesis has resurfaced and is likely to influence present-day educational policy and practice. In this paper I examine in detail the findings, claims and recommendations of the reports and I argue that they are biased, poorly researched and reflect the vested interests of certain specialist groups, such as speech and language therapists and companies who sell literacy materials to schools. I further argue that we need to, once again, inject the debate with the social dimensions of educational failure, and we need to move away from the pathologisation of working-class children's language patterns

Resolving fine-scale population structure and fishery exploitation using sequenced microsatellites in a northern fish

Funding Information Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Strategic Project Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and Department of Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation grants allocated to the Labrador Institute (MC) Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Genomics Research and Development Initiative (GRDI) Weston Family AwardPeer reviewedPublisher PD

Associations with photoreceptor thickness measures in the UK Biobank.

Spectral-domain OCT (SD-OCT) provides high resolution images enabling identification of individual retinal layers. We included 32,923 participants aged 40-69 years old from UK Biobank. Questionnaires, physical examination, and eye examination including SD-OCT imaging were performed. SD OCT measured photoreceptor layer thickness includes photoreceptor layer thickness: inner nuclear layer-retinal pigment epithelium (INL-RPE) and the specific sublayers of the photoreceptor: inner nuclear layer-external limiting membrane (INL-ELM); external limiting membrane-inner segment outer segment (ELM-ISOS); and inner segment outer segment-retinal pigment epithelium (ISOS-RPE). In multivariate regression models, the total average INL-RPE was observed to be thinner in older aged, females, Black ethnicity, smokers, participants with higher systolic blood pressure, more negative refractive error, lower IOPcc and lower corneal hysteresis. The overall INL-ELM, ELM-ISOS and ISOS-RPE thickness was significantly associated with sex and race. Total average of INL-ELM thickness was additionally associated with age and refractive error, while ELM-ISOS was additionally associated with age, smoking status, SBP and refractive error; and ISOS-RPE was additionally associated with smoking status, IOPcc and corneal hysteresis. Hence, we found novel associations of ethnicity, smoking, systolic blood pressure, refraction, IOPcc and corneal hysteresis with photoreceptor thickness