The Effectiveness of the Critical Friends Model for Teacher Collaboration

This study analyzed teacher perceptions regarding the value of modified version of the Critical Friends collaboration model. Fifteen teachers completed an anonymous survey regarding current collaboration practices. The results of the survey indicated that many teachers were unhappy with current methods of administrator lead collaboration and felt teachers should have flexibility and choice for topics of discussion during collaboration time. To research the efficacy of a structured collaboration model, a small focus group of four teachers participated used the Critical Friends Collaboration Model which included strict utilization protocols and norms. Using a modified version of the Critical Friends Consultancy Protocol, the group engaged in a structured discussion of a teacher-presented current classroom issue and then provided critical feedback to the presenter. The participating teachers provided feedback on the process after completing four half-hour sessions. While three of the four teachers found the structure to be more effective than current practices, consensus was not reached on how to disseminate and sustain the process within the school community

Artisans in the North Carolina Backcountry

During the quarter of a century before the thirteen colonies became a nation, the northwest quadrant of North Carolina had just begun to attract permanent settlers. This seemingly primitive area may not appear to be a likely source for attractive pottery and ornate silverware and furniture, much less for an audience to appreciate these refinements. Yet such crafts were not confined to urban centers, and artisans, like other colonists, were striving to create better lives for themselves as well as to practice their trades. As Johanna Miller Lewis shows in this pivotal study of colonial history and material culture, the growing population of Rowan County required not only blacksmiths, saddlers, and tanners but also a great variety of skilled craftsmen to help raise the standard of living. Rowan County\u27s rapid expansion was in part the result of the planned settlements of the Moravian Church. Because the Moravians maintained careful records, historians have previously credited church artisans with greater skill and more economic awareness than non-church craftsmen. Through meticulous attention to court and private records, deeds, wills, and other sources, Lewis reveals the Moravian failure to keep up with the pace of development occurring elsewhere in the county. Challenging the traditional belief that southern backcountry life was primitive, Lewis shows that many artisans held public office and wielded power in the public sphere. She also examines women weavers and spinsters as an integral part of the population. All artisans—Moravian and non-Moravian, male and female—helped the local market economy expand to include coastal and trans-Atlantic trade. Lewis\u27s book contributes meaningfully to the debate over self-sufficiency and capitalism in rural America. Johanna Miller Lewis is assistant professor of history and assistant coordinator of the public history program at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Miller\u27s book provides fresh insight into the workings of consumer culture and the market economy in a region of colonial America we are beginning to understand better. —Arkansas Historical Quarterly A shrewd and insightful book that overturns previous misconceptions about the absence of artisans in the backcountry, settlers \u27self-sufficiency,\u27 and the growth of capitalism in agrarian America. —Jeffrey J. Crow Breaks new ground on several scores. —Journal of American History Lewis has broadened our perception of backcountry life by providing a great deal of useful information on a previously neglected topic. —Journal of Appalachian Studies Weds several themes in the historiography of colonial America by examining artisans on the colonial North Carolina frontier and by infusing these men and women into the emerging frontier market to investigate self-sufficiency and capitalism in rural America. —Labor Historyhttps://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_united_states_history/1128/thumbnail.jp

Artisans in the Carolina backcountry: Rowan County, 1753-1770

Artisans played an important role in the social and economic life of Rowan County, North Carolina beginning with its creation in 1753. Whether they came individually with their families to obtain land and establish new lives, or they were chosen by the Moravian Church to settle the 100,000 acre Wachovia Tract, all of these artisans were part of the huge wave of immigration to the backcountry of North Carolina which occurred during the third quarter of the eighteenth century.;The development of the artisan population paralleled the growth of Rowan County. In the early 1750s a handful of artisans produced objects that the small groups of settlers needed to survive and create new lives in the backcountry. Blacksmiths, weavers, tailors, tanners, and saddlers made clothes, shoes, saddles, and ironware for backcountry inhabitants; and millwrights and carpenters built structures which helped Rowan County develop.;As more people poured into the county (which consisted of the northwest quadrant of the colony) so did more artisans. Hatters, joiners, masons, coopers, turners, wheelwrights, wagonmakers, potters and gunsmiths joined the expanding community of craftspeople. Simultaneously, improvements and growth in the road and ferry system increased the range of local trade networks all the way to the coast, and across the Atlantic Ocean. While backcountry residents once looked to Cross Creek, Charles Town, or London, to fill their desire for conspicuous consumption, local silversmiths, cabinetmakers, gunstockers, and watchmakers came to fill their needs. Public and private accounts record artisans making raised paneled room interiors, silver shoe buckles, fancy beaver hats, walnut tables and chests of drawers, and fancy riding chairs for a demanding clientele.;No other studies of Rowan County or the North Carolina backcountry have focused on the artisans of that region. Research in the county\u27s court records, apprentice bonds, deeds, and wills, as well as extant invoices and account books, indicates that artisans played a significant role in increasing the quality of life in backcountry North Carolina. The presence of artisans and the availability of their products in Rowan County shows that inhabitants of the backcountry did not always live in the most slovenly manner described by many historians

Birds, Bees and Bias: How Absent Sex Ed Standards Fail New York's Students

Many public school districts across New York State provide sex-ed instruction that is inaccurate, incomplete and biased, according to Birds, Bees and Bias: How Absent Sex Ed Standards Fail New York's Students. This report examines sex-ed materials used during the 2009-2010 and 2010-11 school years from across New York State

Education Interrupted: The Growing Use of Suspensions in New York City's Public Schools

The New York Civil Liberties Union analyzed 10 years of discipline data from New York City schools, and found that:*The total number of suspensions in New York City grew at an alarming rate over the last decade: One out of every 14 students was suspended in 2008-2009; in 1999-2000 it was one in 25. In 2008-2009, this added up to more than 73,000 suspensions.*Students with disabilities are four times more likely to be suspended than students without disabilities.*Black students, who comprise 33 percent of the student body, served 53 percent of suspensions over the past 10 years. *Black students with disabilities represent more than 50 percent of suspended students with disabilities.*Black students also served longer suspensions on average and were more likely to be suspended for subjective misconduct, like profanity and insubordination.*Suspensions are becoming longer: More than 20 percent of suspensions lasted more than one week in 2008-2009, compared to 14 percent in 1999-2000. The average length of a long-term suspension is five weeks (25 school days).*Between 2001 and 2010, the number of infractions listed in the schools' Discipline Code increased by 49 percent. During that same period, the number of zero tolerance infractions, which mandate a suspension regardless of the individual facts of the incident, increased by 200 percent.*Thirty percent of suspensions occur during March and June of each school year

Attending to Eliza: Rapid brain responses reflect competence attribution in virtual social feedback processing

Schindler S, Miller GA, Kißler J. Attending to Eliza: Rapid brain responses reflect competence attribution in virtual social feedback processing. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. 2019;14(10):1073-1086.In the age of virtual communication, the source of a message is often inferred rather than perceived, raising the question of how sender attributions affect content processing. We investigated this issue in an evaluative feedback scenario. Participants were told that an expert psychotherapist, a layperson or a randomly acting computer was going to give them online positive, neutral or negative personality feedback while high-density EEG was recorded. Sender attribution affected processing rapidly, even though the feedback was on average identical. Event-related potentials revealed a linear increase with attributed expertise beginning 150 ms after disclosure and most pronounced for N1, P2 and early posterior negativity components. P3 and late positive potential amplitudes were increased for both human senders and for emotionally significant (positive or negative) feedback. Strikingly, feedback from a putative expert prompted large P3 responses, even for inherently neutral content. Source analysis localized early enhancements due to attributed sender expertise in frontal and somatosensory regions and later responses in the posterior cingulate and extended visual and parietal areas, supporting involvement of mentalizing, embodied processing and socially motivated attention. These findings reveal how attributed sender expertise rapidly alters feedback processing in virtual interaction and have implications for virtual therapy and online communication.how attributed sender expertise rapidly alters feedback processing in virtual interaction and have implications for virtual therapy and on-line communication.</jats:p

Einfluss einer therapeutischen Hypothermie auf das myokardiale Outcome im porcinen Langzeit-Polytraumamodell

Background: After cardiopulmonary resuscitation, especially as a consequence of primary cardiac events an induced hypothermia improves cardiac outcome. The impact of therapeutic cold application to myocardial function and morphology of polytrauma patients after cardiac contusion and relevant hemorrhagic shock has not been investigated yet. The aim of the present work was to figure out if therapeutic hypothermia within a porcine long-term model for multiple trauma leads to a cardioprotective effect with deducible clinical relevance. Materials und methods: The experimental group included 60 male pigs randomized into three cohorts. Two intervention cohorts with multiple trauma of varying severity (Cohort L, Low Blood Loss: n = 30, Cohort H, High Blood Loss: n = 20) and one control cohort with a sham treatment (Cohort C, Control: n = 10) were differentiated. Trauma consisted of blunt injury to the chest wall, liver laceration, pressure- and volume-controlled hemorrhage as well as a tibia fracture. All cohorts were separated into two groups. Mild therapeutic hypothermia down to 33 °C was applied to pigs of therapy groups after trauma for twelve hours with following rewarming. Laboratory animals of non-therapy groups stayed normothermic. Primary endpoint was histological evaluation graded by an ischemic score (range 0 - 3). Assessment of cardiac troponin levels and hemodynamic parameters were defined as secondary endpoints. Results: Significant temperature-dependent relation did not occur neither for ischemic score (Cohort L: p = 0,436, Cohort H: p = 0,863) nor for troponin levels (Cohort L, H: TnI ratio 2 - 4 > 0,05). Significant results only refered to a positive correlation between higher histological scores as well as higher laboratory troponin levels with intensified trauma. A long-term temperature-dependent benefit of therapy groups was also not seen considering hemodynamic parameters process. Conclusion: Therapeutic hypothermia within a polytrauma setting did not substantially influence cardiac outcome. However, consecutive vasoconstriction and bradycardia of cold application did not have measurable negative or positive effects on myocardium. Trauma severity seemed to affect the extent of myocardial injury. High mortality rates in case of multiple trauma with cardiac involvement demonstrate clinical relevance of the present work.Einleitung: Nach kardiopulmonaler Reanimation, insbesondere in Folge primärer kardialer Ereignisse, verbessert der Einsatz einer kontrolliert induzierten Hypothermie das kardiale Outcome. Die Auswirkungen einer therapeutischen Kälteanwendung auf die myokardiale Funktion und Morphologie polytraumatisierter Patienten nach kardialer Kontusion und relevantem Volumenmangelschock wurden bislang nicht untersucht. Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit war daher herauszufinden, ob der Einsatz therapeutischer Hypothermie in einem porcinen Langzeit-Polytraumamodell einen kardioprotektiven Effekt mit ableitbarer klinischer Relevanz aufweist. Material und Methoden: Die Versuchsgruppe umfasste 60 männliche Schweine, die in drei Kohorten randomisiert wurden. Dabei wurden zwei Interventionskohorten mit unterschiedlicher Traumaschwere (Kohorte L, Low Blood Loss: n = 30, Kohorte H, High Blood Loss: n = 20) und eine Kontrollkohorte (Kohorte C, Control: n = 10) gebildet. Das Kombinationstrauma beinhaltete ein stumpfes Thoraxtrauma, ein penetrierendes Abdominaltrauma, eine druck- und volumenkontrollierte Hämorrhagie sowie eine Tibiafraktur. Alle drei Kohorten wurden jeweils zur Hälfte in zwei Gruppen unterteilt. In der Gruppe (T, Therapy) wurde eine kontrolliert induzierte Hypothermie von 33 °C für zwölf Stunden mit anschließender Wiedererwärmung durchgeführt. Die Versuchstiere der Gruppe (N, Non-Therapy) wurden für die gesamte Versuchsdauer im normothermen Bereich von 37 - 39 °C gehalten. Der primäre Endpunkt entsprach histologischen Hinweisen auf eine myokardiale Ischämie und wurde mithilfe eines Ischämie-Scores mit 0 (keine Leukozyteninfiltration, kein Zelluntergang) bis 3 (Leukozyteninfiltration mit großflächigem Zelluntergang) graduiert. Zu den sekundären Endpunkten zählten die Beurteilung der herzspezifischen Troponinwerte sowie der hämodynamischen Parameter im Versuchsablauf. Ergebnisse: Weder für den Ischämie-Score (Kohorte L: p = 0,436, Kohorte H: p = 0,863) noch für die Troponinwerterhöhung (Kohorte L und H: TnI-Quotient 2 - 4 > 0,05) ließen sich signifikante temperaturabhängige Zusammenhänge ermitteln. Signifikante Ergebnisse bezogen sich lediglich auf die Korrelation zwischen histologisch höheren Ischämie-Scores und laborchemisch höheren Troponinwerten bei intensiviertem Trauma. Ein langfristiger temperaturabhängiger Vorteil der Hypothermie-Gruppen ließ sich auch vom Verlauf der hämodynamischen Parameter nicht ableiten. Schlussfolgerung: Die therapeutisch eingesetzte Hypothermie beeinflusste das myokardiale Outcome im Polytraumasetting nicht wesentlich. Es lässt sich jedoch festhalten, dass die konsekutive Vasokonstriktion und Bradykardie der Kälteanwendung keine messbaren negativen oder positiven Auswirkungen auf das Myokard hatten. Die Traumaschwere dagegen bestimmte das Ausmaß der myokardialen Schädigung. Hohe Mortalitätsraten bei einer Herzbeteiligung im Rahmen einer Polytraumatisierung verdeutlichen die klinische Relevanz der vorliegenden Arbeit

Child Abusers: Can we accurately predict them by personality?

Many studies label parents with certain demographic characteristics as being more prone to abuse children than others. Many predictors such as: gender, childhood abuse history, parental satisfaction, parent’s attribution style, child’s age, child disruptive behaviors, parental ethnicity, parental marital status, parental socioeconomic status, parental education, family size, household disorganization, coercive caregiver-child interaction patterns, and family social support are not accounting for alternative characteristics (Begle, Dumas, & Hanson, 2010). The Minnesota Multi-phasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2), a measure of adult personality characteristics; might give us a more robust picture of what, if any, personality characteristics predict child abuse potential beyond the factors listed above. Archival evaluation records of at-risk parents have been collected, coded, and examined for abuse potential. Using a sample of 100 parental evaluations (63 abusers, 21 non-abusers) personality characteristics that predict abuse will be identified. If certain personality dimensions are identified as statistically significant predictors of abuse perpetration, above and beyond other predictors, this could aid in more accurately predicting child abuse and identifying at-risk individuals to better prevent abuse and keep families whole. Meanwhile, this research may help eliminate some of the stigma associated with belonging to an “at-risk demographic.

Shotgun ion mobility mass spectrometry sequencing of heparan sulfate saccharides

Despite evident regulatory roles of heparan sulfate (HS) saccharides in numerous biological processes, definitive information on the bioactive sequences of these polymers is lacking, with only a handful of natural structures sequenced to date. Here, we develop a “Shotgun” Ion Mobility Mass Spectrometry Sequencing (SIMMS2) method in which intact HS saccharides are dissociated in an ion mobility mass spectrometer and collision cross section values of fragments measured. Matching of data for intact and fragment ions against known values for 36 fully defined HS saccharide structures (from di- to decasaccharides) permits unambiguous sequence determination of validated standards and unknown natural saccharides, notably including variants with 3O-sulfate groups. SIMMS2 analysis of two fibroblast growth factor-inhibiting hexasaccharides identified from a HS oligosaccharide library screen demonstrates that the approach allows elucidation of structure-activity relationships. SIMMS2 thus overcomes the bottleneck for decoding the informational content of functional HS motifs which is crucial for their future biomedical exploitation