Natural History of Stuttering to 4 Years of Age: A Prospective Community-Based Study

These findings from a community-ascertained cohort refute long-held views suggesting that developmental stuttering is associated with a range of poorer outcomes. If anything, the reverse was true, with stuttering predicting subsequently better language,nonverbal skills, and psychosocial health-related quality of life at 4 years of age.Future research with this cohort will support a more complete longitudinal understanding of when and in whom recovery occurs. Current best practice recommends waiting for 12 monthsbefore commencing treatment, unlessthe child is distressed, there is parental concern, or the child becomes reluctant to communicate. It may be that for many children treatment could be deferred even longer. Treatment is efficacious15 but is both intensive (median of 15.4o ne-hour clinical sessions followedby 10 one-hour clinical maintenance sessions) and expensive; this "watchful waiting" recommendation would therefore help target allocation of scarce resources to the small number of children who do not resolve and experience adverse outcomes, secure in the knowledge that delaying treatment by a year or more has been shown not to compromise treatment efficac

Mathematics coursework as facilitator of formative assessment, student-centred activity and understanding

We seek to illuminate reasons why undertaking mathematics coursework assessment as part of an alternative post-compulsory, pre-university scheme led to higher rates of retention and completion than the traditional route. We focus on the students’ experience of mathematical activity during coursework tasks, which we observed to be qualitatively different to most of the other learning activities observed in lessons. Our analysis of interviews found that these activities offered: (i) a perceived greater depth of understanding; (ii) motivation and learning through modelling and use of technology; (iii) changes in pedagogies and learning activities that supported student-centred learning; and (iv) assessment that better suited some students. Teachers’ interviews reinforced these categories and highlighted some motivational aspects of learning that activity during coursework tasks appears to provide. Thus, we suggest that this experience offered some students different learning opportunities, and that this is a plausible factor in the relative success of these students

Mathematics students’ aspirations for higher education: class, ethnicity, gender and interpretative repertoire styles

This paper reports how students talk about their aspirations in regard to higher education (HE) and their mathematics, what ‘repertoires’ they use to mediate this discourse, and how students’ predominant ‘repertoire style’ relates to their cultural background. Our analyses draw on an interview sample (n=40) of students selected because they are ‘on the cusp’ of participation or non‐participation in mathematically demanding programmes in further and higher education. The interviews explored the students’ aspirations for their future in general and HE in particular, influences on these choices, and the place of mathematics in these. Thematic analysis revealed four interpretative repertoires commonly in use, which we call ‘becoming successful’, ‘personal satisfaction’, ‘vocational’, and ‘idealist’ repertoires. Most of the sample was found to use a single, predominant repertoire, which we call their repertoire ‘style’: what is more, this style is found to be strongly related to background factors independently obtained. The implications for policy and practice are discussed

Students' views on their transition from school to college mathematics: rethinking ‘‘transition’’ as an issue of identity

We examine the transition from school (compulsory education) to college (postcompulsory/ pre-university) of students who are continuing their mathematical education. Previous work on transition between institutions suggests that transitional problems can be critical, and students often regard mathematics as ‘difficult’ during transitional periods. However, our analysis of students’ interviews showed a more positive discourse, one of reported challenge, growth and achievement; transition was not seen as an obstacle but as an opportunity to develop a new identity. Particularly in relation to mathematics, this was reflected in a need for a better understanding of the subject, and for being more responsible for their learning. Thus, we propose to re-think transition as a question of identity in which persons see themselves developing due to the distinct social and academic demands that the new institution poses. Conceptualising transition in this way could have important practical implications for the way that institutions support students’ transition

Developing a ‘leading identity’: the relationship between students’ mathematical identities and their career and higher education aspirations

The construct of identity has been used widely in mathematics education in order to understand how students (and teachers) relate to and engage with the subject (Kaasila, 2007; Sfard & Prusak, 2005; Boaler, 2002). Drawing on cultural historical activity theory (CHAT), this paper adopts Leont’ev’s notion of leading activity in order to explore the key ‘significant’ activities that are implicated in the development of students’ reflexive understanding of self and how this may offer differing relations with mathematics. According to Leont’ev (1981), leading activities are those which are significant to the development of the individual’s psyche through the emergence of new motives for engagement. We suggest that alongside new motives for engagement comes a new understanding of self—a leading identity—which reflects a hierarchy of our motives. Narrative analysis of interviews with two students (aged 16–17 years old) in postcompulsory education, Mary and Lee, are presented. Mary holds a stable ‘vocational’ leading identity throughout her narrative and, thus, her motive for studying mathematics is defined by its ‘use value’ in terms of pursuing this vocation. In contrast, Lee develops a leading identity which is focused on the activity of studying and becoming a university student. As such, his motive for study is framed in terms of the exchange value of the qualifications he hopes to obtain. We argue that this empirical grounding of leading activity and leading identity offers new insights into students’ identity development

Repertoires of aspiration, narratives of identity, and cultural models of mathematics in practice

In this chapter we will draw on work from our project, Opening doors to mathematically-demanding programmes in Higher Education and in particular on four of the project’s recent papers (Black, Davis, Hernandez-Martinez, Pampaka, Wake, & Williams, under review; Hernandez-Martinez, Black, Williams, Davis, Pampaka, & Wake, 2008; Williams, 2007; Williams, Black, Hernandez-Martinez, Davis, Hutcheson, Nicholson, & Wake, 2007) to demonstrate three distinct methodological frameworks, based on ‘discursive psychology’, a narrative approach to identity, and cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) respectively. The first two of these papers analysed interview data to gain insight into how different students formulate different aspirations and identities in regard to mathematics. The latter two increasingly draw on a broader set of case study data that includes observations of classrooms and interviews of observed students and their teachers, and indeed managers and principals in the colleges where the learners were studying. (Continues...)

Mathematics coursework as facilitator of formative assessment, student-centred activity and understanding

We seek to illuminate reasons why undertaking mathematics coursework assessment as part of an alternative post-compulsory, pre-university scheme led to higher rates of retention and completion than the traditional route. We focus on the students’ experience of mathematical activity during coursework tasks, which we observed to be qualitatively different to most of the other learning activities observed in lessons. Our analysis of interviews found that these activities offered: (i) a perceived greater depth of understanding; (ii) motivation and learning through modelling and use of technology; (iii) changes in pedagogies and learning activities that supported student-centred learning; and (iv) assessment that better suited some students. Teachers’ interviews reinforced these categories and highlighted some motivational aspects of learning that activity during coursework tasks appears to provide. Thus, we suggest that this experience offered some students different learning opportunities, and that this is a plausible factor in the relative success of these students

Fluoxetine treatment during the postpartal period may have short-term impacts on murine maternal skeletal physiology

Postpartum depression affects many individuals after parturition, and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are often used as the first-line treatment; however, both SSRIs and lactation are independently associated with bone loss due to the role of serotonin in bone remodeling. Previously, we have established that administration of the SSRI fluoxetine during the peripartal period results in alterations in long-term skeletal characteristics. In the present study, we treated mice with either a low or high dose of fluoxetine during lactation to determine the consequences of the perturbation of serotonin signaling during this time period on the dam skeleton. We found that lactational fluoxetine exposure affected both cortical and trabecular parameters, altered gene expression and circulating markers of bone turnover, and affected mammary gland characteristics, and that these effects were more pronounced in the dams that were exposed to the low dose of fluoxetine in comparison to the high dose. Fluoxetine treatment during the postpartum period in rodents had short term effects on bone that were largely resolved 3 months post-weaning. Despite the overall lack of long-term insult to bone, the alterations in serotonin-driven lactational bone remodeling raises the question of whether fluoxetine is a safe option for the treatment of postpartum depression

Toxicity of wine effluents and assessment of a depuration system for their control: assay with tadpoles of Rhinella arenarum (BUFONIDAE)

We evaluated the toxicity of the winery effluent and the efficiency of a symbiotic depuration system by means an experiment with Rhinella arenarum tadpoles. The studied effluent was taken from warehouses during the cleaning season. These effluents subsequently subjected to the purification treatment under evaluation. The effluent samples differentiated into two treatment levels: “raw” where the effluent was evaluated with field conditions and “treated” where the effluent was previously filtered with the symbiotic depuration system. The results of the bioassays compared with the physicochemical parameters determined in the effluent samples. The lethal response had a clear-cut correspondence with the effluent quality assessed utilizing physicochemical parameters. In all cases, dilution of the samples resulted in a significant reduction of their toxicity. It concluded that (a) winery effluents could be harmful to tadpoles of R. arenarum, (b) the symbiotic purification system used to treat wine effluents it would produce a significant reduction in the contaminant levels of the effluent. However, this reduction in contaminant levels does not provide sufficient safety for the release of the effluents into the environment.Fil: Navas Romero, Ana Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas; ArgentinaFil: Herrera Moratta, Mario Andres. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas; ArgentinaFil: Rodríguez, María Rosa. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ingeniería; ArgentinaFil: Quiroga, Lorena Beatriz. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Filosofía, Humanidades y Artes. Instituto de Ciencias Básicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan; ArgentinaFil: Echegaray, Marcelo Eduardo. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ingeniería; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan; ArgentinaFil: Sanabria, Eduardo Alfredo. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Filosofía, Humanidades y Artes. Instituto de Ciencias Básicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan; Argentin

Multiple paternity in a viviparous toad with internal fertilisation

Anurans are renowned for a high diversity of reproductive modes, but less than 1% of species exhibit internal fertilisation followed by viviparity. In the live bearing West African Nimba toad (Nimbaphrynoides occidentalis), females produce yolk-poor eggs and internally nourish their young after fertilisation. Birth of fully developed juveniles takes place after nine months. In the present study, we used genetic markers (eight microsatellite loci) to assign the paternity of litters of 12 females comprising on average 9.7 juveniles. In nine out of twelve families (75%) a single sire was sufficient; in three families (25%) more than one sire was necessary to explain the observed genotypes in each family. These findings are backed up with field observations of male resource defence (underground cavities in which mating takes place) as well as coercive mating attempts, suggesting that the observed moderate level of multiple paternity in a species without distinct sperm storage organs is governed by a balance of female mate choice and male reproductive strategies