Effect of increased intra-abdominal pressure and decompressive laparotomy on aerated lung volume distribution

Increased intra-abdominal pressure(IAP) is common in intensive care patients,affecting aerated lung volume distribution.The current study deals with the effect of increased IAP and decompressive laparotomy on aerated lung volume distribution.The serial whole-lung computed tomography scans of 16 patients with increased IAP were retrospectively analyzed between July 2006 and July 2008 and compared to controls.The IAP increased from(12.1±2.3) mmHg on admission to(25.2±3.6) mmHg(P<0.01) before decompressive lap...     

Students’ Persistence in a Distributed Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership in Higher Education: A Mixed Methods Study

The purpose of this mixed methods sequential explanatory study was to identify factors contributing to students’ persistence in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Distributed Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership in Higher Education by obtaining quantitative results from surveying 278 current and former students and then following up with four purposefully selected typical respondents to explore those results in more depth. In the first, quantitative, phase, five external and internal to the program factors were found to be predictors to students’ persistence in the program: “program”, “online learning environment”, “student support services”, “faculty”, and “self-motivation”. In the qualitative follow up multiple case study analysis four major themes emerged: (1) quality of academic experiences; (2) online learning environment; (3) support and assistance; and (4) student self-motivation. The quantitative and qualitative findings from the two phases of the study are discussed with reference to prior research. Implications and recommendations for policy makers are provided.     

Constructing an understanding of water-quality: Public perceptions and attitudes concerning three different water-bodies

Summary Data from the interviews discussed in this paper, along with other interview data from over 150 respondents at Hamilton Lake, Karapiro Lake and the Waikato River, are documented and discussed in Happs (1986). Overall results suggest that groups such as “residents”, “active users” and “passive users” provided varying, and often unpredictable responses to questions concerning water appearance and quality. The influence of media reports, anecdotes and personal bias was evident in many responses with prior “knowledge” and attitudes mediating in decision-making. It seems likely that the whole question of public perception and understanding of environmental phenomena is a complex issue which cannot be reduced to the identification of single variables which determine human response. Rather, a web of interrelated factors may lead to a subjective construction of understanding about water quality. Impartiality and the consideration of available evidence should be important elements in reaching conclusions about water quality. This investigation had led to results which suggest that many members of the public might have difficulty in arriving at objective conclusions about the appearance and quality of water-bodies.     

Types and Qualities of Knowledge and their Relations to Problem Solving in Physics

Based on empirical findings and theoretical considerations related to the field of expertise research, the importance of “types” and “qualities” of knowledge in relation to problem solving in physics was investigated. The students (N =138) in this study had a level of competence that corresponds to an intensive beginner college course in physics. It was found that conceptual declarative knowledge and problem scheme knowledge are excellent predictors of problem solving performance. However, a detailed analysis shows that the first knowledge type is more typical for low achievers (novices) in physics problem solving whereas the second type is predominately used by high achievers (experts). Regarding types and qualities of knowledge and their relations to problem solving, the results of a multidimensional scaling analysis (MDS) indicate that two dimensions of knowledge can be distinguished. On the extreme limits of the first dimension, which could be named “problem solving relevance vs. structure of discipline”, are the types of knowledge and the qualities of knowledge, respectively. The second dimension of knowledge could be named “single knowledge elements vs. organised knowledge units”. There are types of knowledge as well as qualities of knowledge distributed along this dimension. Consequences of these results for improving physics education are discussed.     

Supervising mentors’ lived experience on supervision in teaching, nursing and social care education. A participation-oriented phenomenological study

Research concerning the supervisor role in separate educational programmes has been undertaken, but cross-professional studies are few. The aim of this study was to explore the lived experience of supervising mentors in Sweden during the practice-based, off-campus sections of the education in teaching, nursing, and social care. The study used a participatory phenomenological approach in which four researchers and nineteen supervising mentors worked together in the research process which was accomplished in four different phases. The data collecting method used was interview. The results constituted a main essence entitled “Struggle of power and control of professional quality enhancement” built upon four themes: “Constitutes a motivating force”, “Feelings of responsibility”, “Feelings of frustration” and “Wishes for alteration”. Conclusions from the study are that communication, information and contact between the professionals in the fields and university teachers need to be strengthen to keep up supervising mentors’ motivating force and to give them support.     

Ready...Fire...Aim! Toward meaningful technology standards for educators and students

Conclusion I applaud ISTE, AASL, AECT, and the other organizations involved for tackling the “messy work” of developing standards for the use of technology and information resources in schools. And, at the same time, I call for a “second generation” of standards that define realistic expectations for teachers based on the subjects and levels they are called upon to teach. I propose that professional organizations from each subject work with ISTE and AECT to complete this huge task, and I propose that we consider as a “next step” the creation of a set of on-line learning experiences through which teachers can gain the identified skills and knowledge by using the very technologies we’re hoping they’ll embrace in their own teaching. There’s an old saying, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will do.” As far as educational technologies are concerned, this is also true. For many, the goal seems to have been simply to “get more computers into the schools,” without much thought about purpose. To return to Phil Schlechty’s metaphor, It’s generally been a brief and misguided “Ready” stage (occupied with questions like “How many do we need?” “What type?” “Where?” and “How shall we connect them?”), followed by “Fire!” (the acquisition and installation of equipment). What we need is: “Ready” (the creation of appropriate teams of people who will combine their insights to plan for the district)... “Aim” (a series of discussions about what technologies can accomplish for schools and the students they serve)... “Fire” (acquisition, installation, and professional development according to plan)... “Aim” (an assessment of how well the technologies and related programs met the intended goals, and a new planning effort designed to close the gap)... “Fire” (acquisition and implementation designed to eliminate the gap)... “Aim” (another gap assessment)... “Fire” (another attempt to close gaps)..., And so on.     

Always growing and learning: A case for self-assessment

Conclusion In conclusion, the entire self-assessment process is dynamic and ongoing. It is challenging and time-consuming, yet most gratifying as educators develop enhanced self-understanding and self-knowledge. The self-assessment process simultaneously enables teachers to touch reality (present focus) as well as to dream (future focus). The self-assessment process allows teachers to take care of themselves. Although the incoming president of the NAEYC appropriately urged participants in the 1994 Professional Development Institute “to look out for each other, take care of each other” (Daniels, 1994), it behooves each one of us to make sure that we take care of ourselves as well. This advice is not intended to be a call for self-centeredness; we do a much better job in our own work with others when we have taken care of ourselves. Continuous personal and professional self-assessment provides that opportunity to take care of ourselves. The kind of renewal that self-assessment provides is “preserving and enhancing the greatest asset you have—you” (Covey, 1989, p. 288).     

The Rhetoric of Care: Preservice Teacher Discourses that Depoliticize, Deflect, and Deceive

How teachers “care” for students is a well-established line of inquiry in educational research, but the ways such “care” may function as symbolic violence have received scant attention. In this ethnographic investigation of classroom disciplinary interactions, the characteristics and functions of preservice teachers’ care discourses are examined. By translating deficit discourses into expressions of praise for students’ nonacademic talents, the participants’ rhetoric of care effectively shifts blame for failure from teacher to student. The preservice teachers’ expressions of care also function to veil the power being produced in such rhetoric, to frame the teacher as victim when said care is rejected, and to reverse the carer/cared-for dynamic when teachers’ attempts to inspire academic progress are unsuccessful. Implications for teacher education and teacher development are provided as are suggestions for how to recognize and implement more authentic forms of care.     

The study on the core concepts of contemporary sociology of education and its theoretical construction

Within the sphere of contemporary social sciences, the terms “modernity,” “post-modernity” and “globalization” have penetrated, as the core concepts, into various fields of social sciences in a logical way. In constituting the concept of “modernity,” sociology of education develops the educational theory, as sociological theory does, into a “grand narrative” and “foundationalist” theory; the contribution of post-modernity is pluralism and self-examination in an attempt to transcend modernity. Globalization, a kind of expanded modernity, makes education sociologists broaden their perspective from single and traditional “nationality,” “society” and “nation” to an international society and even to the global society, which has broken through the research paradigm of modernity with ethnocentrism, anthropocentrism and Euro-centrism. These changes have required urgent constitution of the conceptions and theoretical frameworks of sociology of education to be applied on a global level. __________ Translated from Peking University Education Review, 2006 (1)     

Models of supervision in early childhood programs: Implications for training

Many child care directors inherit their role of supervisor without having had adequate training or experience. Given the wide disparity in the field with respect to staff preparation, child care directors, in their role as supervisors, are called on to develop, train, evaluate, and appraise child care workers on a daily basis. The literature in the field suggests that there are common threads among supervisory models in early childhood and that directors of child care programs can benefit from in-service training that specifically addresses their supervisory functions. “The most difficult part of my job as Director is trying to get my staff to change certain practices.” Director, Church Preschool Program “I don't feel comfortable with my role as evaluator; I guess I don't like telling people they're doing something wrong.” Director, Day Care Center     

Affection and cognition in transaction and the mapping of cultural space

Summary In this article, an attempt has been made to treat affection and cognition “transactionally” and to report work underway in the development of a rationale for mapping “sign components” of “cultural space.” The development of statistical procedures and applications remains to be undertaken.     

Teaching Euclid in a Practical Context: Linear Perspective and Practical Geometry

This article explores the transmission of practical knowledge in the XV and XVI centuries. According to cosmographer Egnatio Danti, optics and other mathematical sciences had “been banished” from the main philosophical schools of his period, and “the little which remains to us is limited to some practical aspects learned from the mechanical artificers”. The “mechanical artificers” were architects, painters and surveyors whose mathematical training constitutes the subject dealt with in this article. The context of Danti’s remark was the letter to the “Accademici del Disegno” of Perugia which introduce his Italian translation of Euclid’s Optics. After the great Medieval season of optical studies, in effect, this science progressed mainly through its practical applications, especially through “that part of perspective which pertains to painting” (Piero della Francesca), and through the spread of methods and instruments for measuring by sight.     

Knowledge of derivational suffixes in students with language learning disabilities

Knowledge of derivational suffix meanings was investigated in 10- to 12-year-old students with language learning disabilities and individually matched chronological- and language-age peers. Students produced derived forms from nonce bases in an elicitation task and selected derived forms in a forced choice task. For instance, students produced a word to label the baby of an invented animal called a TEM (TEMlet, TEMette, TEMkin, etc.) and chose an appropriate label from four options (TEMlet, TEMkin, TEMship, TEMhood). Twenty-eight suffixes (e.g., less, y, ize) conveying seven derivational meanings (e.g., “without X,” “approximately X,” “to make X”) were studied. All groups showed higher accuracy on the forced choice task than on the elicitation task. However, elicitation task accuracy of students with language learning disabilities fell substantially below that of typically achieving students. Suffixes for “agent X,” “character of X,” and “to make X” were produced in the elicitation task with higher accuracy than suffixes for “approximately X,” “diminutive X,” and “state of X.” In both tasks, suffix use was associated with productivity (i.e., regularity of suffix attachment). All groups chose highly productive suffixes (e.g., TEMlet) over less productive suffixes (e.g., TEMkin) to convey each meaning.     

Why a Special Issue on Collaborative Learning in Postsecondary and Professional Settings?

To introduce the special issue on collaborative learning in postsecondary and professional education, the editors describe their reasons for assembling it. First, most of the existing collaborative learning research focuses on K-12 settings; second, some forms of collaborative learning are used predominantly or exclusively in postsecondary or professional education; and finally, increasing numbers of adults are getting some or all of their college education online. The introduction concludes with the editors explaining their decision not to take a position on the nomenclature question (“collaborative” vs. “cooperative” vs. “peer” vs. “small group” learning) which pervades the literature.     

Four dialogues and metalogues about the nature of science

We analyse and explore, in the form of dialogues and metalogues questions about the dialogic nature of beliefs and students belief talk about the nature of science and scientific knowledge. Following recent advances in discursive psychology, this study focuses not on students' claims but on the discursive resources and dialogical practices that support the particular claims they make. We argue that students' discourse is better understood as a textual bricolage that is sensitive to conversational context, common sense, interpretive repertoires, and textual resources available in the conversational situation. Our text is reflexive as it embodies the discursive construction of knowledge and undercuts any claims to authoritative knowledge. The very conception of “belief” is itself an expression or construction from within the mundane idiom.... We learn to use “belief” in conditions when the “objective facts” are unknown or problematic and we want to indicate the tenuous character of our claim.... The notion of “real world” or “objective reality” is embedded in an extensive, pervasive language game which includes as an intelligible move or possibility the use of the very concept of “belief” itself. (Pollner, 1987, p. 21)     

The Effective Research-Based Characteristics of Professional Development of the National Science Foundation’s GK-12 Program

This study investigates the effective research-based characteristics of professional development (ERBCPD) of the National Science Foundation’s GK-12 Program—a program which partners institutions of higher education with local school districts and places science, technology, engineering, and mathematics graduates in the K-12 classroom with teachers. Final evaluations of 26 GK-12 sites were analyzed with a priori and emergent content analyses, which included rigorous inter- and intra-reliability testing. The results of the a priori analysis demonstrated that the GK-12 program incorporates all ERBCPD, but to drastically varying degrees (76–5%). The a priori characteristics that appeared most often were “Treats Fellows as professionals,” and “Professional development is on-going.” The two emergent characteristics included “Improves communication skills” and “Has real world application.”     

Workplace correlates and scholarly performance of clinical pharmacy faculty

The workplace, especially the academic department or division, provides an intriguing research site for study of correlates of scholarly performance. The objective of this study was to estimate a correlate model of three-year scholarly performance of clinical faculty in colleges of pharmacy. Two-hundred and ninety-six clinical faculty in pharmacy responded to an author-developed questionnaire. The scholarly performance items factored into three dimensions: “Refereed Research,”, “Grants/Books Research,” and “Nonresearch Scholarship.” A fourth single-item variable, “Contracts,” was also used as a dependent dimension. Eight correlates, including two related to the departmental workplace, emerged as factors significantly explaining the variation in scholarly performance. The two most significant were “Off-Campus Conversations” and “Department: Percent Time in Research.” These results as well as others were contrasted with prior correlate studies and suggestions were made for future additional study.     

The “System of Chymists” and the “Newtonian dream” in Greek-speaking Communities in the 17th–18th Centuries

The acceptance of new chemical ideas, before the Chemical Revolution of Lavoisier, in Greek-speaking communities in the 17th and 18th centuries did not create a discourse of chemical philosophy, as it did in Europe, but rather a “philosophy” of chemistry as it was formed through the evolution of didactic traditions of Chemistry. This “philosophical” chemistry was not based on the existence of any academic institutions, it was focused on the ontology of principles and forces governing the analysis/synthesis of matter and formulated two didactic traditions. The one, named “the system of chymists”, close to the Boylean/Cartesian tradition, accepted, contrary to Aristotelianism, the five “chymical” principles and also the analytical ideal, but the “chymical” principles were not under a conceptual and experimental investigation, as they were in Europe. Also, a crucial issue for this tradition remained the “mechanical” principles which were under the influence of the metaphysical nature of the Aristotelian principles. The other, close to the Boylean/Newtonian tradition, was the integrated presentation of the Newtonian “dream”, which maintained a discursive attitude with reference to the “chemical attractions”–“chemical affinities” and actualised the mathematical atomism of Boscovich, according to which the elementary texture of matter could be causally explained within this complex architecture of mathematical “punkta”. In this tradition also coexisted, in a discursive synthesis, the “chemical element” of Lavoisier and the arguments of the new theory and its opposition to the phlogiston theory, but the “chemical affinities” were under the realm of the “physical element” as “metaphysical point”.     

Collaboration, scaffolding and the promotion of problem solving strategies in Mexican pre-schoolers

Research in Mexican schools, drawing upon earlier research in the UK, has led to the development and use of a method for describing, comparing and evaluating the particular approaches and interactional strategies used by teachers and learners. Using this method, qualitative and quantitative comparisons are made to distinguish between teachers who use a conventional, formal, directive approach when teaching 5-year-old children mathematical skills (called the “Official” method) and those who use a more interactive, collaborative, supportive, “scaffolded” approach to teach similar classes of children (called the “High Scope” method). In an earlier study, we found more competent and independent problem-solving among High/Scope pupils than among their peers taught by the Official method. In the present study, discourse analysis and statistical analysis of the relative frequencies of types of teacher-pupil interaction in the classrooms of two “Official” teachers and two “High’ Scope” teachers are used to explain the improved problem-solving of the “High Scope” pupils. The findings support the view that by creating a more collaborative, scaffolded version of classroom education, teachers can more successfully enable children to develop their own problem-solving skills, learning strategies and curriculum-related understanding. The research also contributes to the development and implementation of methods for promoting a more effective style of teacher-learner interaction in the classroom.     

Solution of an inverse problem for ＂fixed-fixed＂ and ＂fixed-free＂ spring-mass systems

The tridiagonal coefficient matrix for the ＂fixed-fixed＂ spring-mass system was obtained by changing spring length. And then a new algorithm of the inverse problem was designed to construct the masses and the spring constants from the natural frequencies of the ＂fixed-fixed＂ and ＂fixed-fres＂ spring-mass systems. An example was given to illustrate the results.