PENERAPAN MODEL PEMBELAJARAN CONNECTING, ORGANIZING, REFLECTING, EXTENDING (CORE) UNTUK MENINGKATKAN KEMAMPUAN BERPIKIR KRITIS MATEMATIS SISWA SMP

Penelitian ini mengkaji “Penerapan Model Pembelajaran Connecting, Organizing, Reflecting, Extending (CORE) untuk Meningkatkan Kemampuan Berpikir Kritis Matematis Siswa SMP” dengan desain kuasi eksperimen kelompok kontrol nonekivalen. Populasi penelitian ini adalah seluruh kelas VIII SMP Negeri 26 Bandung semester genap tahun ajaran 2013/2014. Sampel penelitiannya yaitu dua kelas yang diambil dari populasi yang telah ada dengan karakteristik yang serupa. Tujuan penelitian ini yaitu untuk menganalisis peningkatan kemampuan berpikir kritis matematis siswa SMP yang pembelajarannya menggunakan model CORE dan siswa yang mendapat pembelajaran dengan menggunakan model konvensional. Penelitian ini dibatasi pada pokok bahasan teorema Pythagoras. Instrumen penelitian yang digunakan adalah tes tertulis kemampuan berpikir kritis matematis siswa, angket skala sikap, dan lembar observasi. Hasil penelitian yang diperoleh berupa skor pretes dan postes yang kemudian diolah dengan metode statistika. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa peningkatan kemampuan berpikir kritis matematis siswa SMP yang pembelajarannya menggunakan model CORE lebih baik daripada siswa yang mendapat pembelajaran dengan model konvensional; kualitas peningkatan kemampuan berpikir kritis matematis siswa yang pembelajarannya menggunakan model CORE termasuk kedalam kategori sedang; dan sikap siswa terhadap pembelajaran yang menggunakan model CORE adalah positif. Kata kunci : Model Connecting, Organizing, Reflecting, Extending (CORE), Kemampuan Berpikir Kritis Matematis Siswa This research examines the application of Connecting, Organizing, Reflecting, Extending (CORE) Learning Model to Improve Mathematical Critical Thinking Ability of Junior High School Student with quasi-experimental design of a control non-equivalent group. The population of this research was all students of grade VIII of SMP Negeri 26 Bandung in the second semester of academic year 2013/2014. Research sample is drawn from two classes of existing population with similar characteristics. The purpose of this research is to analyze the enchancement of mathematical critical thinking ability of junior high school students who got CORE learning model and the students who got learning by using a conventional model. This research is confined in the subject of Pythagoras Theorem. The instrument of this research used a written test for students’ mathematical critical thinking ability, attitude scale questionnaire, and observation sheets. The results obtained in the form of pretest and posttest scores which then processed with statistical methods. The results showed that the enchancement in the ability of junior high school students on a mathematical critical thinking ability using CORE learning model is better than the students who received conventional model; the quality improvement skills of the students who learned mathematics using CORE learning model is in the medium category, and students’ attitude towards CORE learning model is positive. Keyword : Connecting, Organizing, Reflecting, Extending (CORE) learning model, Mathematical Critical Thinking Ability

Staff members' negotiation of power in client engagement: analysis of practice within an Australian aged care service

With increasing focus on client control and active client roles in aged care service provision, client engagement is highlighted as fundamental to contemporary care practice. Client engagement itself, however, is complex and is impacted by a range of issues including the relationships and power dynamics inherent in the care context. These dynamics do not simply reflect the roles that are available to or taken up by clients; just as important are the roles and positions that staff of aged care services are offered, and take up, in client engagement. This paper presents the findings of a study that explored client engagement practice within a large Australian service provider. Analysis of interview and focus group discussions addressed the ways in which staff were positioned – by both themselves and by clients – in terms of the roles that they hold within engagement practice and the power relations inherent within these. Analysis of power from the dominant policy perspective of choice and control, and the alternative perspective of an ethic of care suggests that power relations within the care context are dynamic, complex and involve on-going negotiation and regulation by clients and staff members in aged care. The use of these two contrasting perspectives reveals a more dynamic and complex understanding of power in care practice than dominant uni-dimensional approaches to critique suggest

Clathrodictyon and Ecclimadictyon (Stromatoporoidea) from the Ordovician of Tasmania

Five species of late Ordovician clathrodictyid stromatoporoids are described and illustrated from Tasmania. Of these, three are new species of Clathrodictyon-C. idense, C. molense and C. plicatwn-and a fourth is a new species of Ecclimadictyon-E. undatum. They come from localities in the Mole Creek, Ida Bay and Florentine Valley areas, from horizons towards the top of the Gordon Limestone Subgroup

Establishment and lineage replacement of H6N2 influenza viruses in domestic ducks in Southern China (2000-2007)

Multiple reassortant events between different subtypes of endemic avian influenza viruses have increased the genomic diversity of influenza viruses circulating in poultry in southern China. Gene exchange from the natural gene pool to poultry has contributed to this increase in genetic diversity. However, the role of domestic ducks as an interface between the natural gene pool and terrestrial poultry in the influenza ecosystem has not been well defined. Here we phylogenetically and antigenically analyzed 206 H6 viruses isolated from domestic ducks from 2000 to 2007 in southern China which contains the largest population of domestic ducks in the world. Three distinct H6 lineages were identified. Group 1 contained the majority of isolates with a single internal gene complex and was endemic in domestic ducks in Guangdong from the late 1990’s to 2005. Group 2 was derived from reassortment events in which the surface genes of Group 1 viruses were replaced by novel H6 and N2 genes, which appeared in 2004 and gradually replaced the Group 1 viruses and became the predominant H6N2 variant after 2005. Epidemiological and genetic findings also show that the Group 2 viruses started to disseminate from the coastal regions to inland provinces and was also introduced into terrestrial poultry. The Group 3 H6 viruses represent part of an influenza gene pool that undergoes frequent gene exchange with different subtypes. Our study revealed that gene exchanges between viruses from domestic duck and migratory duck occurred throughout the surveillance period. These findings suggest that domestic duck in southern China mediate the interaction of viruses between different gene pools and facilitate the generation of novel influenza variants circulating in poultry.postprintThe 4th Annual CEIRS Network Meeting, Fairport, NY., 3-5 August 2010. In Abstracts of the 4th Annual CEIRS Network Meeting, 2010, p. 2

Substitutions near the hemagglutinin receptor-binding site determine the antigenic evolution of influenza A H3N2 viruses in U.S. swine

Swine influenza A virus is an endemic and economically important pathogen in pigs, with the potential to infect other host species. The hemagglutinin (HA) protein is the primary target of protective immune responses and the major component in swine influenza A vaccines. However, as a result of antigenic drift, vaccine strains must be regularly updated to reflect currently circulating strains. Characterizing the cross-reactivity between strains in pigs and seasonal influenza virus strains in humans is also important in assessing the relative risk of interspecies transmission of viruses from one host population to the other. Hemagglutination inhibition (HI) assay data for swine and human H3N2 viruses were used with antigenic cartography to quantify the antigenic differences among H3N2 viruses isolated from pigs in the United States from 1998 to 2013 and the relative cross-reactivity between these viruses and current human seasonal influenza A virus strains. Two primary antigenic clusters were found circulating in the pig population, but with enough diversity within and between the clusters to suggest updates in vaccine strains are needed. We identified single amino acid substitutions that are likely responsible for antigenic differences between the two primary antigenic clusters and between each antigenic cluster and outliers. The antigenic distance between current seasonal influenza virus H3 strains in humans and those endemic in swine suggests that population immunity may not prevent the introduction of human viruses into pigs, and possibly vice versa, reinforcing the need to monitor and prepare for potential incursions

Conditional value-at-risk for water management in Lake Burley Griffin

Copyright © Australian Mathematical SocietyAs the centrepiece of Canberra, Lake Burley Griffin provides the setting for buildings of national importance and a venue for aquatic recreation while, as part of the Molonglo River, the lake has a role in the ecological processes of its broader setting. For the purposes of recreation and landscape a constant water level is preferred: the management plan requires the lake to be maintained at a prescribed normal level. In years of low rainfall this requirement could conflict with the water demands of other users. Episodes of high rainfall may also require compromise between competing objectives. For example, drawdown of lake levels for flood mitigation could impact on the lake's recreational and amenity values and the spill may not be a good use of water. Conditional Value at Risk, a risk measure developed by the financial industry for portfolio management, is defined as the expected loss given that some loss threshold is exceeded. Here, Conditional Value at Risk is applied as decision support for strategic planning and day-to-day operational problems in the hydraulic management of Lake Burley Griffin.R. B. Webby, J. Boland, P. G. Howlett, A. V. Metcalfe, T. Srithara

Age-Induced Diminution of Free Radical Scavenging Capacity in Bee Pollens and the Contribution of Constituent Flavonoids

Bee-collected pollen (“bee pollen”) is promoted as a health food with a wide range of nutritional and therapeutic properties. The objective of the current study is to evaluate the contribution made through the free radical scavenging capability of bee-collected floval pollens by their flavonoid/phenolics constituents, and to determine whether this capability is affected by aging. The free radical scavenging effectiveness of a bee pollen (EC50) as measured by the DPPH method is shown to be determined by the nature and levels of the constituent floral pollens, which can be assayed via their phenolics profiles by HPLC. Each pure floral pollen has been found to possess a consistent EC50 value, irrespective of its geographic origin or date of collection, and the EC50 value is determined to a large extent (ca. 50%) by the nature and the levels of the pollen's flavonoids and phenolic acids. Non-phenolic antioxidants, possibly proteins, account for the balance of the activity. Pollen aging over 3 years is demonstrated to reduce the free radical scavenging activity by up to 50% in the most active floral pollens, which tend to contain the highest levels of flavonoids/phenolic acids. It is suggested that the freshness of a bee pollen may be determined from its free radical scavenging capacity relative to that of fresh bee pollen containing the same floral pollen mix