Online Professional Learning Communities as Sites for Learning and Connection: Teacher Agency and the Rhizome

This paper responds to the themes of learning and connected communities and technology enhanced learning. It explores the relationship between teacher agency and online Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) – specifically the use of social media tools among trainee teachers. Using a discourse analysis methodology we present the early experiences and reflections of the curriculum development team and trainee teachers as we seek to integrate social media, both formally and informally into a distance-learning environment, merging the best practices of face-to-face and blended learning. The site of learning is a distance learning Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) provided by a large University in the North of England. This Master’s level course enhances the practice-based development of trainee teachers (leading to Qualified Teacher Status). It provides opportunities for trainee teachers to create and share knowledge, and to connect with educational theory, evidence informed research and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Originally established as face-to-face and blended provision, the curriculum development team has moved towards distance learning, and two cohorts are currently enrolled, constituted of 75 students. The University works in partnership with School Based Initial Teacher Training providers (SCITTs). The curriculum architecture of this PGCE is premised upon notions of Heutagogy, Rhizomatic Learning and Instructional Design. It embeds Master’s level attributes, promoting self-determined learning, high levels of autonomy, epistemic curiosity and a willingness to engage and participate. The affordances of social media tools supports the creation of learner-generated content, and emerging communities of practice, facilitated and moderated by several agents, including the curriculum team, the trainee teachers, and their mentors. We reflect on our ongoing research into participation in constructed and facilitated Professional Learning Communities. This paper contributes to debates surrounding heutagogy, PLCs, instructional design, and non-participation. It will be of interest to academics and practitioners seeking to debate social media in education and curriculum development, whether for blended, online or distance learning

Oedema of the metatarsal heads II-IV and forefoot pain as an unusual manifestation of Lyme disease: a case report

We report the case of a healthy 36 year old man who suffered from foot pain lasting for weeks, without having a specific medical history relating to it. The clinical evaluation was interpreted as a transfer metatarsalgia caused by a splayfoot. The radiographs revealed no pathology except the splayfoot deformity. Due to persistent pain and swelling of the entire forefoot, after two weeks of conventional treatment, magnet resonance images (MRI) and a blood sample were taken. The laboratory investigation showed raised levels of white blood cell count and C-reactive protein. The MRI showed up oedema in the metatarsal heads II-IV, as well as soft tissue swelling of the forefoot without any signs of decomposition

Preferences and constraints: the value of economic games for studying human behaviour

© 2020 The Authors. As economic games have spread from experimental economics to other social sciences, so too have critiques of their usefulness for drawing inferences about the ‘real world’. What these criticisms often miss is that games can be used to reveal individuals' private preferences in ways that observational and interview data cannot; furthermore, economic games can be designed such that they do provide insights into real-world behaviour. Here, we draw on our collective experience using economic games in field contexts to illustrate how researchers can strategically alter the framing or design of economic games to draw inferences about private-world or real-world preferences. A detailed case study from coastal Colombia provides an example of the subtleties of game design and how games can be combined fruitfully with self-report data. We close with a list of concrete recommendations for how to modify economic games to better match particular research questions and research contexts.Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropolog

Understanding key constraints and practice design in Rugby Union place kicking : experiential knowledge of professional kickers and experienced coaches

Place kicks present valuable opportunities to score points in Rugby Union, which are typically performed under varying constraints in competitive performance environments. Previous quantitative studies suggest these interacting constraints can influence fluctuations in place kick success. To further the understanding of how fluctuations in place kicking success emerge, our aim was twofold: i) to explore and identify the key constraints that professional place kickers and experienced place kicking coaches perceive to influence the difficulty of a place kick and ii) to understand the level to which current place kicking practice environments represent these key constraints experienced in performance environments. Six professional place kickers and six experienced place kicking coaches were interviewed. Using a deductive thematic analysis, 11 key constraints were identified: individual constraints of expectation for success and fatigue, task constraints of angle and distance to goalposts, environmental constraints of wind, weather, pitch, and crowd, and situational constraints of previous kicking performance, time remaining and current score margin. Place kicking is typically practised individually or with a small number of place kickers in isolation from team sessions. Where possible, coaches should be encouraged to include place kicking in simulated game scenarios during practice to represent key constraints from performance environments. Our study demonstrates how experiential knowledge can enrich the understanding of sport performance and inform the design of practice environments which simulate relevant constraints of competitive performance to enhance skill adaptation of athletes

Redox linked flavin sites in extracellular decaheme proteins involved in microbe-mineral electron transfer

Extracellular microbe-mineral electron transfer is a major driving force for the oxidation of organic carbon in many subsurface environments. Extracellular multi-heme cytochromes of the Shewenella genus play a major role in this process but the mechanism of electron exchange at the interface between cytochrome and acceptor is widely debated. The 1.8 Å x-ray crystal structure of the decaheme MtrC revealed a highly conserved CX8C disulfide that, when substituted for AX8A, severely compromised the ability of S. oneidensis to grow under aerobic conditions. Reductive cleavage of the disulfide in the presence of flavin mononucleotide (FMN) resulted in the reversible formation of a stable flavocytochrome. Similar results were also observed with other decaheme cytochromes, OmcA, MtrF and UndA. The data suggest that these decaheme cytochromes can transition between highly reactive flavocytochromes or less reactive cytochromes, and that this transition is controlled by a redox active disulfide that responds to the presence of oxygen

Total humerus replacement for osteosarcoma with proximal part of humerus: a case report

Incisional biopsy and intramedullary pinning were performed for pathological fracture associated with a malignant bone tumor of the proximal humerus. Osteosarcoma, for which preoperative chemotherapy had been performed, was confirmed by postoperative pathological examination. To achieve wide resection and acquire a safe resected margin, total humerus replacement was performed, and the whole humerus was reconstructed using the Howmedica Modular Reconstruction system. The patient resumed normal activities, although mild contracture of the elbow joint remains 8 years after surgery

Laboratory observations of double-diffusive convection using high-frequency broadband acoustics

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2008. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Springer for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Experiments in Fluids 46 (2009): 355-364, doi:10.1007/s00348-008-0570-9.High-frequency broadband (200-300 kHz) acoustic scattering techniques have been used to observe the diffusive regime of double-diffusive convection in the laboratory. Pulse compression signal processing techniques allow 1) centimetre-scale interface thickness to be rapidly, remotely, and continuously measured, 2) the evolution, and ultimate merging, of multiple interfaces to be observed at high-resolution, and 3) convection cells within the surrounding mixed layers to be observed. The acoustically measured interface thickness, combined with knowledge of the slowly-varying temperatures within the surrounding layers, in turn allows the direct estimation of double-diffusive heat and buoyancy fluxes. The acoustically derived interface thickness, interfacial fluxes and migration rates are shown to support established theory. Acoustic techniques complement traditional laboratory sampling methods and provide enhanced capabilities for observing the diffusive regime of double-diffusion in the ocean.Funding for this project was provided by the Ocean Acoustics program at the Office of Naval Research, and by the WHOI Cecil and Ida Greene Technology Award

Children and older adults exhibit distinct sub-optimal cost-benefit functions when preparing to move their eyes and hands

"© 2015 Gonzalez et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited"Numerous activities require an individual to respond quickly to the correct stimulus. The provision of advance information allows response priming but heightened responses can cause errors (responding too early or reacting to the wrong stimulus). Thus, a balance is required between the online cognitive mechanisms (inhibitory and anticipatory) used to prepare and execute a motor response at the appropriate time. We investigated the use of advance information in 71 participants across four different age groups: (i) children, (ii) young adults, (iii) middle-aged adults, and (iv) older adults. We implemented 'cued' and 'non-cued' conditions to assess age-related changes in saccadic and touch responses to targets in three movement conditions: (a) Eyes only; (b) Hands only; (c) Eyes and Hand. Children made less saccade errors compared to young adults, but they also exhibited longer response times in cued versus non-cued conditions. In contrast, older adults showed faster responses in cued conditions but exhibited more errors. The results indicate that young adults (18 -25 years) achieve an optimal balance between anticipation and execution. In contrast, children show benefits (few errors) and costs (slow responses) of good inhibition when preparing a motor response based on advance information; whilst older adults show the benefits and costs associated with a prospective response strategy (i.e., good anticipation)