Intelligent system for diabetes prediction in patients with chronic pancreatitis

This paper presents the results of the JSM-method for automated support of scientific research (ASSR JSM-method) implemented in a computer intelligent system (IS-JSM), which predicts the development of diabetes in patients with chronic pancreatitis. For the first time the ASSR JSM-method is applied to a sequence of expanding databases of facts, which was used for the detection of empirical regularities (ERs), viz., preserved causes of the studied effect (development of diabetes in patients with chronic pancreatitis). To recognize ERs in the IS-JSM, we used an algebraic lattice of JSM-reasoning strategies (inductive inference rules). These results have an informative clinical interpretation and prove the usefulness of data mining using the IS-JSM, which can be used as a tool for evidence-based medicine.     

Diversity in Basic Education in South Africa: intersectionality and Critical Diversity Literacy

The notion of essentialised racial difference was a keystone of apartheid education which served to cement white supremacy in South Africa. More recently there is a need for socially-just education that requires a robust analytical orientation in interrogating power, privilege and difference. Therefore this article engages the following questions: What are the philosophical, epistemological and pedagogical underpinnings of diversity in education in South Africa?; and What is the possible role of diversity literacy in fostering an active and participatory citizenship in the years ahead? We engage conceptually with the understanding of diversity in education in South Africa, followed by the presentation of a framework – Critical Diversity Literacy (CDL) – and a series of curricular questions emerging from this framework that might be pedagogically useful when engaging issues of power, privilege and difference in teacher training. CDL potentially addresses the weaknesses in previous approaches to engaging with issues of diversity in education and offers grounded, contemporary, and authentic opportunities for decolonising classroom content and practice.     

Rethinking Recommendations for Implementing Comprehensive School Physical Activity Programs: A Partnership Model

Recommended approaches to promoting children’s physical activity through schools call for physical education teachers to serve as champions for, and leaders of, Comprehensive School Physical Activity Programs (CSPAPs). Little evidence, however, exists to suggest that physical education teachers are ideally prepared or supported to assume CSPAP leadership roles. The purpose of this article is to consider expectations that must be met for physical education teachers to serve as central protagonists in CSPAP implementation efforts, and to propose a conceptual model aimed at increasing both effectiveness and sustainability of CSPAPs through key external-internal partnerships. Specifically, community-based participatory research, communities of practice, and service-learning are presented as possible strategies to expand the support system for growing and sustaining CSPAPs. In sum, this article offers some reasons for rethinking current recommendations for CSPAP implementation.     

The impact of alternative approaches to comforting,closeness of relationship,and gender on multiple measures of effectiveness

The impact of 6 approaches to comforting (suggesting a diversion, expressing optimism, providing an external account, offering assistance, explaining the perspective of the offender, and a combination of the first 5), attributed to either a good friend or a casual acquaintance, was assessed for 2 situations by 394 students. Distressed individuals responded to comforting messages along two dimension: feeling less upset and feeling demeaned, with some indications that yet a third dimension (appreciating the concern of the comforter) may exist. The message that combined elements from the other 5 approaches yielded generally the most positive responses, but responses to specific message approaches varied with situation and dimension of response. Messages from good friends were more successful than those from casual acquaintances in helping the distressed individual to feel less upset.     

A bibliometric analysis of the clinical development of drugs in Norway for the year 2000

Purpose: Bibliometric analysis of publications was used to investigate the research output relating to the development of drugs in Norway and to evaluate the impact of Norwegian involvement in this research. Material and methods: One hundred and nine articles published between 2002 and 2008 were analysed. Bibliometric methods used were as follows: information on peer review, impact factor (IF), the Science Citation Index (SCI) and the representation of Norwegians in the list of authors. Results: All publications were in journals with peer review or in publications with corresponding evaluation. Industrial support, international research cooperation and drug development in phases I, II and III seem to promote publication in journals with high IF and a high SCI. In 63% of the international project articles, the Norwegian contributors were not represented in the list of authors. Conclusion: In addition to a scientific standard secured by referees, three probably independent factors – industrial support, international cooperation and early phases of the research (phases I, II and III) – seem to promote publications in journals with high IF and a high SCI. A more active Norwegian contribution to the research should be encouraged.     

Modifying the System for Observing Fitness Instruction Time to Measure Teacher Practices Related to Physical Activity Promotion: SOFIT+

The System for Observing Fitness Instruction Time (SOFIT) is commonly used to measure variables related to physical activity during physical education (PE). However, SOFIT does not yield detailed information about teacher practices related to children’s moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). This study describes the modification of SOFIT (referred to as SOFIT+) to measure teacher practices related to students’ MVPA during PE lessons. Teacher practices that (a) promote and (b) limit children’s MVPA were identified and operationally defined via a literature review and Delphi Method. Reliability and validity data for SOFIT+ were obtained from 20 video recorded elementary PE lessons. Validity of teacher behaviors included in SOFIT+ was established using students’ accelerometer-derived MVPA. Twenty-seven teacher practices were identified. Inter-rater agreement ranged from 75.8% to 99.1% across 724 reliability scans. Six and seven practices were independently related to girls’ and boys’ MVPA, respectively. For example, during elimination activities, boys and girls were less likely to engage in MVPA. Boys were up to 1.51 times more likely to engage in MVPA while girls were up to 2.86 times more likely to engage in MVPA when a greater number of teacher practices were observed concurrently. Findings provide preliminary reliability and validity for SOFIT+, an instrument to comprehensively measure teacher practices related to children’s MVPA during PE.     

Contributions and challenges to vocational psychology from other disciplines: examples from narrative and narratology

Other disciplines offer new perspectives, concepts, and models that would help vocational psychology reinvigorate itself. The paper identifies contributions (such as narrative) that post-modern sources and scientific disciplines could make, though with reservations about importing ideas from the physical sciences into the social sciences. There would also be challenges for vocational psychology, primarily to its core values as a science but those could change over time. As an example, the paper then discusses how some of the lessons of narratology could enrich post-modern approaches, while its structuralism could enable vocational psychology to take advantage of the potential contributions of narrative.     

On the Class of JSM Reasoning That Uses the Isomorphism of Inductive Inference Rules

This paper defines a special class of JSM reasoning whose strategies use the isomorphism of direct products of lattices that represent inductive inference rules. It is shown that the JSM reasoning formed by inductive inferences rules, analogical inference rules, and procedures for abductive acceptance of hypotheses is relationally correct.