The ontology of science teaching in the neoliberal era

Because of ever stricter standards of accountability, science teachers are under an increasing and unrelenting pressure to demonstrate the effects of their teaching on student learning. Econometric perspectives of teacher quality have become normative in assessment of teachers’ work for accountability purposes. These perspectives seek to normalize some key ontological assumptions about teachers and teaching, and thus play an important role in shaping our understanding of the work science teachers do as teachers in their classrooms. In this conceptual paper I examine the ontology of science teaching as embedded in econometric perspectives of teacher quality. Based on Foucault’s articulation of neoliberalism as a discourse of governmentality in his ‘The Birth of Biopolitics’ lectures, I suggest that this ontology corresponds well with the strong and substantivist ontology of work under neoliberalism, and thus could potentially be seen as reflection of the influence of neoliberal ideas in education. Implications of the mainstreaming of an ontology of teaching that is compatible with neoliberalism can be seen in increasing marketization of teaching, ‘teaching evangelism’, and impoverished notions of learning and teaching. A shift of focus from teacher quality to quality of teaching and building conceptual models of teaching based on relational ontologies deserve to be explored as important steps in preserving critical and socially just conceptions of science teaching in neoliberal times.     

Teachers' concerns about inclusive education in Ahmedabad,India

This study was undertaken to determine the concerns of primary school teachers about the inclusion of students with disabilities in Ahmedabad, India. A total of 560 teachers, working in government‐run schools, returned the completed survey. A two‐part questionnaire was used in this study. Part 1 gathered information relating to personal and professional characteristics of the teachers. Part 2 was a 21‐item Likert scale titled Concerns about Inclusive Education – Gujarati. The major finding of the study was that the teachers in Ahmedabad were moderately concerned about including students with disabilities in their classrooms. The teachers were most concerned about lack of infrastructural resources and least concerned about lack of social acceptance of students with disabilities in inclusive education classrooms. Significant differences existed in teacher concerns based on the following background variables: gender, qualifications in special education, teaching experience and number of students with disabilities in class. A number of implications are discussed to address teacher concerns for inclusive education in India.     

Serum ionised calcium in birth asphyxia

Serum total and ionised calcium levels were measured at birth and at 48 hours in 25 term neonates with birth asphyxia (one minute APGAR score of 6 or less) and in 25 normal term neonates (one minute APGAR score of 7 or more). Infants were categorised into two groups TAGA (term appropriate for gestational age) and TSGA (term small for gestational age). Asphyxiated infants had significantly lower serum total and ionised calcium values at birth as well as at 48 hours. Abnormal clinical features were observed in 48% of asphyxiated infants. Low ionised calcium was detected in symptomatic babies, who had otherwise normal total calcium values. Due to hyocalcemia especially ionised calcium in asphyxiated infants and high frequency of functional derangement associated with this hypocalcemioa, serial monitoring of serum isonised calcium levels is necessary.     

Serum adenosine deaminase in carcinoma breast

Serum Adenosine Deaminase (ADA) activity was studied in 20 control cases and 32 patients with carcinoma breast. In control group the ADA activity ranged from 13–94 IU/L with a mean of 43.75±21.55 IU/L while in patients of carcinoma breast it was 16–95 IU/L with a mean of 47.46±22.54 IU/L, but these values were not statistically different. The ADA activity was also compared with other parameters in patients of carcinoma breast but the difference was not statistically significant in the various parameters like duration of disease, menopausal status, tumor size, hemoglobin level, total leucocyte count, absolute lymphocyte count, total serum proteins, serum albumin, histological grade of tumor and lymphocytic infiltration. The only significant difference in ADA activity was when N1 status of lymph node was compared with N2 status of lymph node.     

Diagnosis of Sanfilippo Disease Correlating Clinical, Radiological and Biochemical Findings–A Case Report

Mucopolysaccharidoses (MPS) are a group of genetic diseases and its diagnosis is a challenging task due to multiple differential diagnosis. We had combined clinical findings, radiological and ophthalmological features. Biochemical test for urine glycosaminoglycans (GAG) was done for confirmation of diagnosis in the patient. The case of Sanfilippo disease was characterized by slowly progressive, severe CNS involvement with mild somatic disease. Radiological features were suggestive of Sanfilippo disease and urine GAG test for MPS was positive in the case. With the clinical features we had multiple differential diagnoses. The radiological investigations minimized the list and the biochemical test confirmed GAG in urine. In this case the combination of clinical, radiological and biochemical findings confirmed the diagnosis of Sanfilippo disease.     

External quality assessment of RIA for thyroid related hormones

An external quality assessment was conducted for RIA of thyroid related hormones. Thirtyfive laboratories (35 for T₄, 34 for T₃ and 23 for TSH) from different parts of country participated in the programme. Twentyfour samples (16 pools: 5 simple and 11 manipulated pools) in 8 batches, 3 per batch per month were sent for analysis of T₄, T₃ and TSH. Some of the samples were repeated 3 times at different occasions to assess the imprecision of the laboratory. The overall mean percent CV obtained for T₄, T₃ and TSH were 22.7, 36.32 and 52.38 respectively. The recovery for added T₄ was 86.73% while that for T₃ was 117.4%. A large variation was obtained for recovery of TSH. For T₄ estimations, 13 laboratories had a desirable performance i. e. bias less than ±10.0% and variability of bias (VB) and imprecision (IP) less than 15.0%. None of the laboratories had a desirable performance for T₃ or TSH. The number of laboratories with acceptable performance i. e. bias between ±10.0–15.0%, VB and IP between 20.0–25.0% for T₄, T₃ and TSH were 4, 3 and 0 respectively. The number of laboratories which required attention (bias between ±15.0–20.0%; VB and IP between 20.0–25.0%) were 5,7 and 1 respectively. The unacceptable results with larger bias, VB and IP for T₄, T₃ and TSH were 6, 18 and 17 respectively. Our results are in general agreement that the performance of T₄ assay is better than T₃ and both in turn are much better than TSH. Quantitation of circulating thyroid hormones (TH) viz. tri-iodothyronine (T₃), thyroxine (T₄) and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), which form the largest percentage of hormones estimated in a clinical laboratory is mainly done by radio-immunoassay (RIA) procedures. The reliability and reproducibility of these assays are generally monitored by using internal quality control (IQC) samples in every assay batch. Thus, the IQC provides information whether the assay results are satisfactory and can be released. However, external quality assessment (EQA) is a procedure whereby an external agency undertakes evaluation of the quality of an analytical service by providing samples for analysis to individual laboratories performing the assay. The data gathered is analysed collectively. EQA therefore provides a means by which performance of a laboratory is assessed in relation to other laboratories and matching the assay unbiased by removing systematic error, if present. This is important since RIA procedure involves several steps (collection and storage of samples, quality of the reagents, procedure followed for performance of an assay, counting equipment used and the mode of the data analysis) and therefore prone to systematic errors. We therefore undertook the EQA programme for assessment of thyroid related hormones as a joint collaborative project of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, India and International Atomic Energy Agency.     

A general framework for progressive point-sampled geometry

INTRODUCTION With the recent advances in 3D digital photog- raphy and scanning technology, unstructured dense point sets sampled from the surfaces of physical ob- jects have become a new representation of geometric shapes. The shape thus specified is usually referred to as point-sampled geometry (Amenta and Kil, 2004; Liu et al., 2004; Pauly et al., 2003; Zwicker et al., 2002), in which two key techniques are involved: (1) The raw point data P is discrete in nature while the physical ob…     

新能源节能动力汽车及电工电子设计研发

本文介绍了新能源节能动力汽车及电工电子设计研发,从汽车电工电子设计技术等方面较深入地探讨了汽车节能的方法,论述了研发新能源节能动力汽车与技术动向。相信未来有更节能、更环保、更先进的动力机汽车出现。     

Association of Interleukin-6 and Myeloperoxidase with Insulin Resistance in Impaired Fasting Glucose Subjects

Impaired fasting glucose (IFG) is a high risk subclinical condition for the progression of type 2 diabetes mellitus and the hyperglycemia seen in this condition is because of the development of insulin resistance (IR). Obesity, inflammation, oxidative stress and many other factors have been implicated in development of IR in type 2 diabetes mellitus and its successive complications. Current study was aimed to ascertain the correlation of inflammation and oxidative stress markers [interleukin-6 (IL-6) and myeloperoxidase (MPO)] with IR in subjects with IFG. In this study, 80 subjects (40 IFG, 40 healthy controls) aged 25–45 years were selected based on their fasting plasma glucose (FPG) values and clinical history. Serum insulin, IL-6 and MPO were estimated by ELISA method and IR was calculated using Homeostatic Model Assessment Index 2 (HOMA 2) calculator. Pearson’s correlation coefficient and independent sample ‘t’ test were used for statistical analysis. IL-6 and MPO were found to be significantly elevated in IFG group and both correlates significantly with IR (r 0.413, r 0.645). Only MPO had significant correlation with FPG (r 0.388). In conclusion, the association of altered levels of IL-6 and MPO with IR are suggestive of a role of inflammation and oxidative stress in the initiation and progression of IR in individuals with IFG.