Sylvian fissure and parietal anatomy in children with autism spectrum disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by deficits in social functioning and language and communication, with restricted interests or stereotyped behaviors. Anatomical differences have been found in the parietal cortex in children with ASD, but parietal subregions and associations between Sylvian fissure (SF) and parietal anatomy have not been explored. In this study, SF length and anterior and posterior parietal volumes were measured on MRI in 30 right-handed boys with ASD and 30 right-handed typically developing boys (7–14 years), matched on age and non-verbal IQ. There was leftward SF and anterior parietal asymmetry, and rightward posterior parietal asymmetry, across groups. There were associations between SF and parietal asymmetries, with slight group differences. Typical SF asymmetry was associated with typical anterior and posterior parietal asymmetry, in both groups. In the atypical SF asymmetry group, controls had atypical parietal asymmetry, whereas in ASD there were more equal numbers of individuals with typical as atypical anterior parietal asymmetry. We did not find significant anatomical-behavioral associations. Our findings of more individuals in the ASD group having a dissociation between cortical asymmetries warrants further investigation of these subgroups and emphasizes the importance of investigating anatomical relationships in addition to group differences in individual regions.This study was supported by a program project grant from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (U19 DC 03610), which is part of the NICHD/NIDCD funded Collaborative Programs on Excellence in Autism, as well as funding for the GCRC at Boston University School of Medicine (M01-RR0533). We thank all of our research assistants for help in collecting the data and Andrew Silver, Melanee Schuring, Danielle Delosh, and Jeremy Siegal for completing the total hemisphere measurements. We also extend our sincere gratitude to the children and families who participated in this study. (U19 DC 03610 - National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders; NICHD/NIDCD; M01-RR0533 - Boston University School of Medicine)Published versio

Bone diagenesis : an experimental study of selected trace elements.

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:DX176085 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Measuring uncertainty in economic evaluations: A case study in liver transplantation

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University, 29/11/2006.It is important to account for all sources of uncertainty when evaluating the clinical or cost-effectiveness of health care technologies. Therefore, this thesis takes as its basis a cost-effectiveness study in liver transplantation and identifies two previously unexplored issues that can arise in clinical and cost-effectiveness studies. A literature review of studies evaluating the effectiveness, costs or cost-effectiveness of solid organ transplantation confirmed that these issues were important and relevant to other transplantation studies. The first issue concerns the selection of an appropriate method for estimating mean study costs in the presence of incomplete (censored) data. Twelve techniques were identified and their accuracy was compared across artificially created mechanisms and levels of censoring. Lin's method with known cost histories and short interval lengths is recommended for accurately estimating mean costs and their uncertainty. It is assumed that these findings are generalisable to any solid organ transplant study where censoring is an issue. The second issue explored in this thesis relates to methods for measuring uncertainty around survival, HRQL and cost estimates derived from prognostic models in the absence of observed data. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis is recommended for measuring prognostic model parameter uncertainty and estimating individual patient outcomes and their uncertainties, as it is able to incorporate the additional uncertainty from using prognostic models to estimate control group outcomes. This thesis shows the quantitative importance of these issues and the methodological guidance offered should enable decision makers to have more confidence in clinical and cost-effectiveness estimates. Providing decision makers with a fuller estimate of the uncertainty around clinical and cost effectiveness estimates will aid them in decisions about the necessity of conducting further research in to the clinical or cost-effectiveness of health care technologies.Department of Healt

An analysis of the caesarean section rate at Mowbray Maternity Hospital using Robson's Ten group Classification System by Tracey Anne Horak.

Includes synopsis. Includes bibliographical references

"What is going on here?" Challenges experienced by white teachers in a government school in a remote Aboriginal community

As practitioners at the coalface, teacher voices are critical in conversations about how to improve persistent abysmal education outcomes for remote Aboriginal students. Yet, despite significant interest and research conducted by educators, academics, government and influential others, teacher voices are resoundingly silent. Foregrounding non- Indigenous teachers in situ, this critical ethnographic study sought to identify challenges experienced by primary teachers in a remote Aboriginal community school and ascertain why challenges to teacher practice endure. The site of this study was a government school in a very remote Aboriginal community, where the teachers, including the researcher/practitioner, were white. Eighteen teachers including the researcher, from a possible 19, participated in the two and a half year study. Six preservice teachers, with support from their families, constituted the advisory group concerning Aboriginal practices in the community. Teacher practice is critical to student academic achievement (Hattie, 2009). Yet, despite an abundance of funding, research and public critique of Indigenous education, teacher practice fails to deliver the desired student academic outcomes (ACARA, 2016f). This study is premised on a belief there is more going on at the borderline between the institution of education and the Aboriginal community than inadequate teacher practice. This study foregrounds non-Indigenous teacher voice as one voice that is critical to finding out what is going on in this remote Aboriginal community school. This critical ethnographic study utilised the theoretical lens of Third Space (Bhabha, 1994) to identify the school as an "in-between" Space in which educators from the dominating institution of education and Aboriginal clans from the local community meet at the borderline of each other's culture. Third Space theory conceives of two different cultural groups, such as non-Aboriginal teachers and the Aboriginal community, as being from two different Spaces. From the teachers' perspective, the First Space is the institution of education and the Second Space is the remote Aboriginal community comprising Aboriginal clans. The First Space is most familiar to the teacher while the Second Space is, for most teachers, foreign. Bhabha (1994) recognises the borderline as an enunciative Space in which talk happens between people including "discussion, dispute, concession, apology and negotiation" (Bhabha, 1994, p. x). A Third Space is a hybrid Space of both First Space and Second Space that is unrecognisable as belonging to either one or the other. Rather, the Third Space is a coconstructed composition of both. In the construction of the Third Space, members from both groups actively destabilise "the unequal and uneven forces of cultural representations" (Bhabha, 1994, p. 245). The shape of contemporary Aboriginal education requires consideration of the historical coloniser/colonised relationship that continues to influence government and Aboriginal clan relationships (Nakata, 2007). In its current form, the school is unable to address challenges experienced by teachers because the government continues to dominate the social arrangements within the school. Obligated to practice according to institutional demands, teachers find themselves in "borderline engagements of cultural difference" (1994, p. 3) caught between institutional demands and practices and those of Aboriginal students, local employees and families that originate in clan social orders and arrangements. Third Space theory complements critical ethnography because they both contest existing norms and "move from 'what is' to 'what could be'" (Madison, 2012, p. 5). Data were collected from researcher observations, conversations with teachers during day-to-day teacher practice and a semi-structured group interview involving all participants. Teachers' accounts of contradiction, confusion and conflict provided insight into the conditions contributing to the challenges affecting their practice. Kemmis, McTaggart and Nixon's "Practice Architectures" framework (2014, p. 81) was utilised to delve deeply into teacher sayings, doings and relatings to identify the cultural-discursive, material-economic and social-political arrangements that shape and are shaped by teacher practice. With a 'sense of what could be', this study identified the conditions currently holding teacher practice in place, practice resulting in student academic failure. The research found adverse home conditions preclude teacher effectiveness and the institution's regulation of schools and teachers undermines teacher effectiveness at the borderline. Further, the institution's interpretation of 'schooling' locates teachers in the middle of a tug-of-war of legitimacy between the institution and local clans. In its current form, education in this remote Aboriginal community is untenable for both the community and the teachers. Many challenges reported by teachers have been repeatedly highlighted in the literature in academic research, government reports and documents produced by Indigenous leaders; however, the emphasis is mostly placed on Indigenous people. Challenges experienced by Indigenous people in remote communities are presented as detrimental to Indigenous people with little consideration to the service providers, including teachers, whose practice is also affected by the same challenges. This study shows that the current shape of schooling in this remote Aboriginal community is problematic for students AND teachers rather than the current intimation of being problematic BECAUSE OF teachers. Teachers are unable to perform their duties to teacher and institution satisfaction because the institution's insistence of dominance has led to the school being a battleground between two different cultures. In the middle of the battleground, teachers are accused of being the main perpetrator of poor education for Aboriginal students. As a matter of urgency, this study highlights the need for the school to become a Third Space, a "Space of intervention in the here and now" (Bhabha, 1994, p. 10). 'What is' cannot continue because it is failing both teachers and students and their respective first Spaces, the institution of education and the local Aboriginal community. The school needs to be reconstructed by institution and community leaders as a Third Space to tackle the entrenched challenges reported by teachers. Challenges described by teachers in this study need to be heard in discussions that create new arrangements

Beating the Red Stick

My thesis explores the history of Roller Derby, its modern revival, and the way that it changes the lives of the women who play it. From October 2009 to March 2011, I conducted ethnographic research and interviews with the Red Stick Roller Derby in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. My perspective is that of an observer turned player, and the piece centers around my own story of personal transformation. This work is part cultural history, part ethnography, and part memoir, written from an explicitly feminist perspective

Strategies and characteristics of effective one-to-one literacy tutors

What makes an effective one-to-one tutor of literacy is unclear. Researchers (Anand Bennie, 2004; Chapman, Tunmer, Prochnow, 1999; Holland, 2004; Oliver, 2000) in New Zealand have investigated the effectiveness of one-to-one tutoring programmes; however there are very few studies on tutor effectiveness especially in the context of New Zealand education. The present New Zealand study explored the strategies that effective one-to-one tutors of literacy used as well as the observed and perceived characteristics distinctive to effective one-to-one literacy tutors. Three effective tutors were observed at the Hamilton Children's Reading Centre during their regular tutoring with two of their tutees over a period of four weeks. To determine the strategies used and the characteristics distinctive to the three tutors, tutoring sessions were audio-tape recorded, and observational notes were recorded. The time spent engaged in various teaching activities was recorded and tutors were required to comment on the successes and challenges of the session in a journal entry after each tutoring session. Individual and group interviews with the tutors were conducted to gain further insight into observational data and journal entries. Numerous strategies were identified during observations of the three effective tutors; the use of these strategies was further explored during individual and group interviews. The majority of each one-to-one tutoring session focused on the teaching of direct letter-sound relationships, listening to tutees read, and phonemic awareness activities. Open questions were asked more frequently than closed questions. Tutees were praised frequently. Scaffolding was observed regularly throughout tutoring sessions. The effective tutors used Questioning as their most frequent type of help and used Demonstrating least frequently. High levels of engaged teaching were maintained throughout tutoring sessions. A higher percentage of words were spoken by the effective tutors than the tutees. Written planning did not appear to play a role in the effectiveness of the tutor. Role reversal was a strategy used frequently by one of the effective tutors. Effective tutors used a variety of ways to motivate tutees to read, complete homework, and remain on task. Many characteristics of effective tutors were revealed during observations and journal entries. The perceived characteristics of effective tutors were explored during interviews with the three tutors. The ability to establish positive, caring relationships appeared to play a major role in the tutees' learning and confidence. The tutors believed being responsive to tutees' emotional needs was the most important characteristic of an effective tutor. The tutors ensured that the sessions were positive and laughter was frequently observed. Good communication was maintained with parents and tutees. The effective tutors were flexible during tutoring sessions, yet consistent with routines. The three effective tutors were knowledgeable and experienced in working with children experiencing reading difficulties. They believed effective tutors are aware of their tutees' areas of greatest need, understand their tutee, and maximise all teaching opportunities