Web-Based Instruction and Learning: Analysis and Needs Assessment

An analysis and needs assessment was conducted to identify kindergarten through grade 14 (K-14) customer needs with regard to using the World Wide Web (WWW) for instruction and to identify obstacles K-14 teachers face in utilizing NASA Learning Technologies products in the classroom. The needs assessment was conducted as part of the Dryden Learning Technologies Project which is a collaboration between Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC), Edwards, California and Tne Pennsylvania State University (PSU), University Park, Pennsylvania. The overall project is a multiyear effort to conduct research in the development of teacher training and tools for Web-based science, mathematics and technology instruction and learning

The World Wide Web as a Medium of Instruction: What Works and What Doesn't

A conference was held on March 18-20, 1997 to investigate the lessons learned by the Aeronautics Cooperative Agreement Projects with regard to the most effective strategies for developing instruction for the World Wide Web. The conference was a collaboration among the NASA Aeronautics and Space Transportation Technology Centers (Ames, Dryden, Langley, and Lewis), NASA Headquarters, the University of Idaho and The Pennsylvania State University. The conference consisted of presentations by the Aeronautics Cooperative Agreement Teams, the University of Idaho, and working sessions in which the participants addressed teacher training and support, technology, evaluation and pedagogy. The conference was also undertaken as part of the Dryden Learning Technologies Project which is a collaboration between the Dryden Education Office and The Pennsylvania State University. The DFRC Learning Technology Project goals relevant to the conference are as follows: conducting an analysis of current teacher needs, classroom infrastructure and exemplary instructional World Wide Web sites, and developing models for Web-enhanced learning environments that optimize teaching practices and student learning

Redesigning Primary Care Processes to Improve the Offering of Mammography. The use of Clinic Protocols by Nonphysicians.

OBJECTIVE: To develop, within the framework of continuous quality improvement, new processes for offering mammography and determine whether protocols executed completely by nonphysicians would increase mammography utilization. DESIGN: A prospective follow-up study with patients from an intervention clinic and two control clinics. SETTING: Three general internal medicine clinics in a large, urban teaching hospital in Detroit, Michigan. PATIENTS/PARTICIPANTS: A total of 5,934 women, aged 40 through 75 years, making 16,546 visits to one of the clinics during the study period (September 1, 1992, through November 31, 1993). INTERVENTION: Medical assistants and licensed practical nurses in the intervention clinic were trained to identify women due for screening mammography, and to directly offer and order a mammogram if patients agreed. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Patients were considered up-to-date with screening if they had a mammogram within 1 year (if age 50-75) or 2 years (if age 40-49) prior to the visit or a mammogram within 60 days after the visit. The proportion of visits each month in which a woman was up-to-date with mammography was calculated using computerized billing records. Prior to the intervention, the proportion of visits in which women were up-to-date was 68% (95% confidence interval [CI] 63%, 73%) in the intervention clinic and 66% (95% CI 61%, 71%) in each of the control clinics. At the end of the evaluation, there was an absolute increase of 9% (95% CI 2%, 16%) in the intervention clinic, and a difference of 1% (95% CI -5%, 7%) in one of the control clinics and -2% (95% CI -3%, 5%) in the other. In the intervention clinic, the proportion of visits in which women were up-to-date with mammography increased over time and was consistent with a linear trend (p = .004). CONCLUSIONS: Redesigning clinic processes to make offering of mammography by medical assistants and licensed practical nurses a routine part of the clinic encounter can lead to mammography rates that are superior to those seen in physicians\u27 usual practice, even when screening levels are already fairly high. Physicians need not be considered the sole, or even the primary, member of the health care team who can effectively deliver some preventive health measures

What Is Justice? Perspectives of Victims-Survivors of Gender-Based Violence

This article explores “how do victims-survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) experience and perceive justice?” based on interviews with 251 victims-survivors with experience of different types of GBV and criminal, civil, and family justice systems. Victims-survivors were found to have multiple perceptions of justice, related to different points in their journey following abuse and regarding individual, community, and societal responses. Perceptions relate to accountability; fairness in outcome and process; protection from future harm; recognition; agency; empowerment; affective justice; reparation; and social transformation. Current understandings of justice in legislative and policy approaches reproduce the “justice gap” by failing to take account of how survivors themselves understand and demand justice

People-selectivity, audiovisual integration and heteromodality in the superior temporal sulcus

The functional role of the superior temporal sulcus (STS) has been implicated in a number of studies, including those investigating face perception, voice perception, and face–voice integration. However, the nature of the STS preference for these ‘social stimuli’ remains unclear, as does the location within the STS for specific types of information processing. The aim of this study was to directly examine properties of the STS in terms of selective response to social stimuli. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to scan participants whilst they were presented with auditory, visual, or audiovisual stimuli of people or objects, with the intention of localising areas preferring both faces and voices (i.e., ‘people-selective’ regions) and audiovisual regions designed to specifically integrate person-related information. Results highlighted a ‘people-selective, heteromodal’ region in the trunk of the right STS which was activated by both faces and voices, and a restricted portion of the right posterior STS (pSTS) with an integrative preference for information from people, as compared to objects. These results point towards the dedicated role of the STS as a ‘social-information processing’ centre

Thymus transplantation for complete DiGeorge syndrome: European experience

Background: Thymus transplantation is a promising strategy for the treatment of athymic complete DiGeorge syndrome (cDGS). Methods: Twelve patients with cDGS were transplanted with allogeneic cultured thymus. Objective: To confirm and extend the results previously obtained in a single centre. Results: Two patients died of pre-existing viral infections without developing thymopoeisis and one late death occurred from autoimmune thrombocytopaenia. One infant suffered septic shock shortly after transplant resulting in graft loss and the need for a second transplant. Evidence of thymopoeisis developed from 5-6 months after transplantation in ten patients. The median (range) of circulating naïve CD4 counts (x10663 /L) were 44(11-440) and 200(5-310) at twelve and twenty-four months post-transplant and T-cell receptor excision circles were 2238 (320-8807) and 4184 (1582 -24596) per106 65 T-cells. Counts did not usually reach normal levels for age but patients were able to clear pre-existing and later acquired infections. At a median of 49 months (22-80), eight have ceased prophylactic antimicrobials and five immunoglobulin replacement. Histological confirmation of thymopoeisis was seen in seven of eleven patients undergoing biopsy of transplanted tissue including five showing full maturation through to the terminal stage of Hassall body formation. Autoimmune regulator (AIRE) expression was also demonstrated. Autoimmune complications were seen in 7/12 patients. In two, early transient autoimmune haemolysis settled after treatment and did not recur. The other five suffered ongoing autoimmune problems including: thyroiditis (3); haemolysis (1), thrombocytopaenia (4) and neutropenia (1). Conclusions: This study confirms the previous reports that thymus transplantation can reconstitute T cells in cDGS but with frequent autoimmune complications in survivors

Lack of relationship between TIMP-1 tumour cell immunoreactivity, treatment efficacy and prognosis in patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 1 (TIMP-1) is a natural inhibitor of the matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) which are proteolytic enzymes involved in degradation of extracellular matrix thereby favoring tumour cell invasion and metastasis. TIMP-1 activity in tumour tissue may therefore play an essential role in the progression of a malignant tumour.</p> <p>The primary aim of the present study was to evaluate TIMP-1 protein immunoreactivity in tissue from primary ovarian cancer patients and associate these findings with the course of the disease including response to treatment in the individual patient.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>TIMP-1 was assessed by immunohistochemistry (in tissue micro arrays) in a total of 163 ovarian cancer specimens obtained from primary debulking surgery during 1991-1994 as part of a randomized clinical protocol.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Positive TIMP-1 immunoreactivity was found in 12.3% of the tumours. The median survival time for the 143 patients with TIMP-1 negative tumours was 23.7 months [19.0-29.4] 95% CI, while the median survival time for the 20 patients with TIMP-1 positive tumours was 15.9 months [12.3-27.4] 95% CI. Although a difference of 7.8 months in median overall survival in favor of the TIMP-1 tumour negative patients was found, this difference did not reach statistical significance (<it>p </it>= 0.28, Kaplan-Meier, log-rank test). Moreover, TIMP-1 immunoreactivity was not associated with CA125 response (p = 0.53) or response at second look surgery (p = 0.72).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>TIMP-1 immunoreactivity in tumour tissue from patients with primary epithelial ovarian cancer did not correlate with patient survival or response to combination platinum/cyclophosphamide therapy.</p

Finding a Disappearing Nontimber Forest Resource: Using Grounded Visualization to Explore Urbanization Impacts on Sweetgrass Basketmaking in Greater Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina

Despite growing interest in urbanization and its social and ecological impacts on formerly rural areas, empirical research remains limited. Extant studies largely focus either on issues of social exclusion and enclosure or ecological change. This article uses the case of sweetgrass basketmaking in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, to explore the implications of urbanization, including gentrification, for the distribution and accessibility of sweetgrass, an economically important nontimber forest product (NTFP) for historically African American communities, in this rapidly growing area. We explore the usefulness of grounded visualization for research efforts that are examining the existence of fringe ecologies associated with NTFP. Our findings highlight the importance of integrated qualitative and quantitative analyses for revealing the complex social and ecological changes that accompany both urbanization and rural gentrification