Thyroid disorders in women of Puducherry

Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), Free Thyroxine (FT₄) and Free Triiodothyronine (FT₃) were assayed in 505 women of this region. 60 women had previous history of thyroid disease. The remaining 445 women formed the “Disease free group”. A “Reference group” was obtained by excluding women with previous and present history of thyroid dysfunction. Of the total 505 women examined 15.8% had thyroid dysfunction and 84.2% were euthyroid. 11.5% were hypothyroid (9.5% sub-clinical) and 1.8% hyperthyroid (1.2% clinical). The geometric mean TSH for the total population was 2.65 μIU/ml. It was significantly (p=0.025) lower in the reference population 2.17 μIU/ml. There was no significant difference in the FT₃ and FT₄ values between groups. 19% of women over 60 years had elevated TSH above 4.5 μIU/ml. The 2.5 and 97.5 percentiles of the reference population was 1.1–5.2 μIU/ml. 6.1% of women in the reference group had TSH levels above the reference intervals. Hypothyroidism particularly sub-clinical hypothyroidism is predominantly present amongst women in this iodine sufficient region. Evaluation of thyroid status could help in early detection and treatment.     

A mathematical model for estimating the effectiveness of bigram coding

This paper discusses bigram coding as a technique for compacting data. A mathematical model is developed that estimates the effectiveness of such a code as a function of the fraction of bigram tokens that are encodeable: this model accounts for the degree of overlap of encodeable tokens by assuming that bigram token occurrences have a Markov property. The model requires that a single parameter be fit to the data. The results of an experiment testing this model on a file of catalog data in a library is given, and excellent agreement is found. This model provides substantial improvement over an earlier model in which bigrams are assumed to occur independently of each other.     

Back to the future on gender and anti‐school boys: a response to Jeffrey Smith

This article examines recent claims by Jeffrey Smith that: (1) ‘hegemonic masculinity’ is an expression of working class counter‐school culture; (2) some teachers are ‘cultural accomplices’ in constructing ‘hegemonic masculinities’ of anti‐school working class boys, thereby contributing to their underachievement; and (3) these ‘cultural accomplices’ are an emerging response to recent moral panics and neo‐liberal managerialism concerned with ‘failing boys’ at school. It is suggested that ‘hegemonic masculinity’ is not necessarily associated with anti‐school values in working class culture. Many working class boys might subscribe to ‘hegemonic masculinity’ without rejecting learning. Contrary to Smith’s emphasis on how working class culture generates anti‐school ‘hegemonic masculinity’, there is the possibility that ‘hegemonic masculinity’ is fused with anti‐school values produced by organisational differentiation. The continuing commonalities between working class anti‐school boys and the ‘gender regime’ of some secondary schools for over 20 years implies something more enduring at work than recent moral panics.     

Heuristic literacy development and its relation to mathematical achievements of middle school students

The relationships between heuristic literacy development and mathematical achievements of middle school students were explored during a 5-month classroom experiment in two 8th grade classes (N = 37). By heuristic literacy we refer to an individual’s capacity to use heuristic vocabulary in problem-solving discourse and to approach scholastic mathematical problems by using a variety of heuristics. During the experiment the heuristic constituent of curriculum-determined topics in algebra and geometry was gradually revealed and promoted by means of incorporating heuristic vocabulary in classroom discourse and seizing opportunities to use the same heuristics in different mathematical contexts. Students’ heuristic literacy development was indicated by means of individual thinking-aloud interviews and their mathematical achievements – by means of the Scholastic Aptitude Test. We found that heuristic literacy development and changes in mathematical achievements are correlated yet distributed unequally among the students. In particular, the same students, who progressed with respect to SAT scores, progressed also with respect to their heuristic literacy. Those students, who were weaker with respect to SAT scores at the beginning of the intervention, demonstrated more significant progress regarding both measures.