Keeping Classrooms Christ-Centered in One-to-One Technology Classrooms

This article describes a one-to-one technology initiative in a Catholic high school, highlighting the advantages and challenges encountered in the first year of the program. The article offers recommendations and reflections for other schools intending to implement one-to-one programs, including an emphasis on the intentional use technology for instruction

The Development and Validation of an Instrument to Measure Teachers\u27 Perceptions of the Effect of Mobile Technology Initiatives on Classroom Climate

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate an instrument to measure teacher’s perceptions of the effect of mobile technology initiatives on classroom climate. The process proposed by Benson and Clark (1982) was used to develop the instrument in four phases: planning, item construction, quantitative evaluations, and validation. A 115-item pool was constructed and tested on a pool of K-12 educators (N=334) in mobile technology teaching environments. The pool was refined through a principal axis factor analysis to create a 35-item instrument. The Mobile Technology Classroom Climate Survey (MTCCS) was developed with four factors: Student Centered Innovation (α = 0.88), Challenges (α = 0.87), Policies and Support (α = 0.76), and Technical Skills (α = 0.76). The instrument domains are consistent with the literature that suggests mobile technology has increased student engagement (Argueta et al., 2011; Bebell & O’Dwyer, 2010; McLester, 2011; Rosen, 2011), teacher concerns about student distraction (Shieh, 2012) and shallow thinking (Bauerlein, 2011), and the importance of professional development (Cuban, 2009; Overbay, Mollette, & Vasu, 2011). Implications for future research include a need to explore associations between MTCSS results and student or teacher outcomes and a study of potential a relationships between the MTCCS and other classroom climate instruments, in an effort understand the impact of technology rich environments on classroom climate and to establish concurrent validity of the instrument

The protein tyrosine phosphatase Pez regulates TGFβ, epithelial–mesenchymal transition, and organ development

Epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT), crucial during embryogenesis for new tissue and organ formation, is also considered to be a prerequisite to cancer metastasis. We report here that the protein tyrosine phosphatase Pez is expressed transiently in discrete locations in developing brain, heart, pharyngeal arches, and somites in zebrafish embryos. We also find that Pez knock-down results in defects in these organs, indicating a crucial role in organogenesis. Overexpression of Pez in epithelial MDCK cells causes EMT, with a drastic change in cell morphology and function that is accompanied by changes in gene expression typical of EMT. Transfection of Pez induced TGFβ signaling, critical in developmental EMT with a likely role also in oncogenic EMT. In zebrafish, TGFβ3 is co- expressed with Pez in a number of tissues and its expression was lost from these tissues when Pez expression was knocked down. Together, our data suggest Pez plays a crucial role in organogenesis by inducing TGFβ and EMT

‘Go home, get a job, and pay some taxes to replace a bit of what you’ve wasted’: stigma power and solidarity in response to anti-open-cast mining activism in the coalfields of rural County Durham, UK

This article explores the nexus of stigmatisation and environmental activism in the Campaign to Protect Pont Valley against open-cast mining in the northeast of England. Drawing on Imogen Tyler’s work, our analysis examines stigma power as embedded in wider efforts to police and repress environmental dissent and defend core neoliberal values. Examination of qualitative interviews with campaigners, drive-past insults shouted at activists, online police statements and public responses, and online trolling of activists by mining employees and the wider public reveals stigmatisation to be a process of power, informed by neoliberal ideologies (of the threat and danger of worklessness), and reproduced through neoliberal power structures (the state, corporate power, and popular culture), shaped by the insecurities that are specific to social and political contexts. We show how the state mobilises stigma through ideologies associated with austerity and the hostile environment to delegitimate activism through association with worklessness/idleness and the inaccurate representation of activists as part of broader processes of criminalisation, policing, and management of protest. In an area renowned for its work ethic and high levels of unemployment, the work of environmental activists is dismissed as illegitimate, drawing on tropes associated with the disciplining of the so-called deviant working classes. The historical importance of coal and activism in the defence of the ‘mining way of life’ feeds into dominant narratives associated with work and individualism. Pride associated with coal mining is reconfigured and forms the basis of insults against those (working class and otherwise) who are recast as ‘outsiders’, ‘wasting time and money’ in resisting environmental destruction. Finally, we examine how activists were able to largely deflect stigmatisation through collective engagement, solidarity, and political analysis of the process they were subject to

“It Often Feels Like You Are Talking To A Wall”: Police and Private Security Responses To The Protect Pont Valley Campaign Against Opencast Coal Extraction

Conflict between police, private security and political protesters is a topic that has been researched widely in criminology and other disciplines (e.g., Choudry 2019; Gilmore et al. 2019; Goyes and South 2017; Jackson et al. 2018; Rigakos 2002; South 1988; Weiss 1978). Adopting a green criminological lens, this article seeks to contribute to this rich body of research by examining police and private security responses to campaigning against opencast (open-pit) coal mining in Pont Valley, County Durham, United Kingdom (UK). Based on qualitative interviews, the article examines activists’ perceptions of responses to their campaign. Our findings reveal that rather than acting as neutral arbiters, police colluded with private interests, overlooking the abusive behavior of private security and bailiffs, particularly during the eviction of a protest camp at the proposed mining site. Activists believed that their right to protest was not respected, that their safety was jeopardized, and that police had willfully ignored a wildlife crime perpetrated by the mining company in order to enable mining to go ahead. Our article argues that the Pont Valley case fits into a wider pattern of repression of environmentalism in the UK, supporting Gilmore and colleagues’ (2019) argument that a progressive transformation in policing has been overstated

Discovery and Use of a Natural Mutation that Results in Severe Combined Immuno Deficiency in Pigs

Piglets from the low residual feed intake (RFI) line at ISU were found to be affected with a lethal autosomal recessive mutation that causes Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID). Bone marrow allotransplantation rescued the immune deficiency in four of nine attempted transfers; the other five exhibited signs of severe graft versus host disease and were euthanized. A genome wide association study identified a 5.6 Mb region that contained the causative mutation. Affected haplotypes were traced back to the founders of the RFI population, who were sourced from the purebred Yorkshire population. The SCID pigs will be useful as a biomedical model, as pigs are anatomically and genetically more similar to humans than SCID mice, which are now widely used. Development of a genetic test for the causative mutation will be valuable to the swine industry, allowing breeders to identify carriers

A systematic exploration of differences in contextual factors related to implementing the MOVE! weight management program in VA: A mixed methods study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In January 2006, Veterans Affairs (VA) disseminated the MOVE!^®Weight Management Program to VA medical centers to address the high prevalence of overweight/obesity. In its second year, MOVE! implementation varied widely across facilities. The objective of this study was to understand contextual factors that facilitated or impeded implementation of MOVE! in VA medical centers in the second year after its dissemination.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We used an embedded mixed methods cross-sectional study design. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected simultaneously with the primary purpose to explore contextual factors most likely to influence MOVE! implementation effectiveness at five purposively selected facilities. Facilities were selected to maximize variation with respect to participation in MOVE! by candidate Veterans. Semi-structured phone interviews were conducted with 24 staff across the five facilities. Quantitative responses were elicited followed by open-ended questions. The quantitative measures were adapted from a published implementation model. Qualitative analysis was conducted using rigorous content analysis methods.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Qualitative and quantitative data converged to strengthen findings that point to several recommendations. Management support can help increase visibility of the program, commit needed resources, and communicate the importance of implementation efforts. Establishing a receptive implementation climate can be accomplished by emphasizing the important role that weight management may have in reducing incidence and severity of obesity-related chronic conditions. Coalescing highly functioning multi-disciplinary teams was an essential step for more effective implementation of MOVE!. In some situations, local champions can overcome challenging barriers in facilities that lack sufficient management support.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Key organizational factors at local VA medical centers were strongly associated with MOVE! implementation. Results pointed to recommendations that can help accelerate large-scale dissemination of complex weight management programs.</p

Collaborating with consumer and community representatives in health and medical research in Australia: results from an evaluation

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Objective</p> <p>To collaborate with consumer and community representatives in the <it>Alcohol and Pregnancy Project </it>from 2006-2008 <url>http://www.ichr.uwa.edu.au/alcoholandpregnancy</url> and evaluate researchers' and consumer and community representatives' perceptions of the process, context and impact of consumer and community participation in the project.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We formed two reference groups and sought consumer and community representatives' perspectives on all aspects of the project over a three year period. We developed an evaluation framework and asked consumer and community representatives and researchers to complete a self-administered questionnaire at the end of the project.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Fifteen researchers (93.8%) and seven (53.8%) consumer and community representatives completed a questionnaire. Most consumer and community representatives agreed that the process and context measures of their participation had been achieved. Both researchers and consumer and community representatives identified areas for improvement and offered suggestions how these could be improved for future research. Researchers thought consumer and community participation contributed to project outputs and outcomes by enhancing scientific and ethical standards, providing legitimacy and authority, and increasing the project's credibility and participation. They saw it was fundamental to the research process and acknowledged consumer and community representatives for their excellent contribution. Consumer and community representatives were able to directly influence decisions about the research. They thought that consumer and community participation had significant influence on the success of project outputs and outcomes.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Consumer and community participation is an essential component of good research practice and contributed to the <it>Alcohol and Pregnancy Project </it>by enhancing research processes, outputs and outcomes, and this participation was valued by community and consumer representatives and researchers. The National Health and Medical Research Council in Australia expects researchers to work in partnership and involve consumer and community representatives in health and medical research, and to evaluate community and consumer participation. It is important to demonstrate whether consumer and community participation makes a difference to health and medical research.</p