How Do the Different Components of Episodic Memory Develop? Role of Executive Functions and Short‐Term Feature‐Binding Abilities

This study investigated the development of all 3 components of episodic memory (EM), as defined by Tulving, namely, core factual content, spatial context, and temporal context. To this end, a novel, ecologically valid test was administered to 109 participants aged 4-16 years. Results showed that each EM component develops at a different rate. Ability to memorize factual content emerges early, whereas context retrieval abilities continue to improve until adolescence, due to persistent encoding difficulties (isolated by comparing results on free recall and recognition tasks). Exploration of links with other cognitive functions revealed that short-term feature-binding abilities contribute to all EM components, and executive functions to temporal and spatial context, although ability to memorize temporal context is predicted mainly by age.     

Pond life that ‘know their place’: exploring teaching and learning support assistants’ experiences through positioning theory

Teaching and learning support assistants (TLSAs) are notoriously underpaid and undervalued as members of school workforces in England and elsewhere in the world, where the discourse of support has worked to legitimize their poor status. This article reports and explores empirical findings through the lens of positioning theory. This theoretical approach has revealed ways in which the positions occupied by TLSAs are consolidated in social acts and discursive practices that contribute to a narrative that is shared and understood by those positioned and those positioning. The multiplicity of, and sometimes competing, positions occupied by TLSAs are revealed through different readings of the collective storylines of pond life and knowing one’s place that determine a set of social and occupational practices. These serve to illustrate the discursive fights TLSAs were engaged in to assert their professionalism in schools and to challenge their low status.     

Reinstatement of fear to an extinguished conditioned context

Rats were shocked in the black but not the white compartment of a shuttlebox and then exposed to the black compartment in the absence of the shock unconditioned stimulus (US) to extinguish fear responses (passive avoidance). In five experiments, rats were then shocked in a reinstatement context (distinctively different from the shuttlebox) to determine the conditions that reinstate extinguished fear responding to the black compartment. Rats shocked immediately upon exposure to the reinstatement chamber failed to show either reinstatement of avoidance of the black compartment or fear responses (freezing) when tested in the reinstatement chamber. In contrast, rats shocked 30 sec after exposure to the reinstatement chamber exhibited both reinstatement of avoidance of the black compartment and freezing responses in the reinstatement chamber (Experiment 1). Rats shocked after 30 sec of exposure to the reinstatement chamber but then exposed to that chamber in the absence of shock failed to exhibit reinstatement of the avoidance response and did not freeze when tested in the reinstatement chamber (Experiment 2). Rats exposed to a signaled shock in the reinstatement chamber and then exposed to that chamber in the absence of shock also failed to exhibit reinstatement of the avoidance response (Experiment 5). These rats showed fear responses to the signal but not to the reinstatement chamber. Finally, rats exposed for some time (20 min) to the reinstatement chamber before shock exhibited reinstatement of the avoidance response but failed to freeze when tested in the reinstatement chamber (Experiments 3 and 4). These results are discussed in terms of the contextual conditioning (Bouton, 1994) and the US representation (Rescorla, 1979) accounts of postextinction reinstatement.     

Detection of macroenzymes: establishing upper reference limits for eight enzymes after polyethylene glycol precipitation

IntroductionThe presence of macroenzymes in blood can cause diagnostic confusion. Therefore, confirming the presence of macroenzymes is important to reduce unnecessary (non-)invasive investigations. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) precipitation is a simple and fast first-line method for the detection of macroenzymes. However, there is no consensus on the upper reference limit for the PEG-precipitable activity (%PPA) of monomeric enzymes. The aim of this study was to verify a PEG precipitation protocol for the detection of macroenzymes in our laboratory by establishing upper reference limits (URLs) and determining imprecision for eight enzymes after PEG precipitation. In addition, we aimed to clinically verify the URLs using samples containing macroenzymes as identified by electrophoresis.Materials and methodsPer enzyme, at least 40 leftover blood samples from adult patients with either normal or increased enzyme activities were diluted 1:1 with 25% PEG 6000 and 1:1 with 0.9% NaCl. Mixtures were incubated for 10 min at 37°C and centrifuged. Supernatant enzyme activity was measured on Cobas c702 and the %PPA was calculated.ResultsThe following URLs were obtained: 26% PPA for amylase, 29% PPA for alkaline phosphatase (ALP), 61% PPA for alanine aminotransferase, 48% PPA for aspartate aminotransferase, 24% PPA for creatine kinase (CK), 55% PPA for gamma-glutamyltransferase, 65% PPA for lactate dehydrogenase, and 56% PPA for lipase. The within-lab imprecision was < 15%. Regarding the clinical verification, the two historical samples with proven macroCK showed a %PPA of 69% and 43%, respectively, and a sample with proven macroALP had a %PPA of 52%.ConclusionIn this study, URLs for monomeric enzyme activities after PEG precipitation for eight different enzymes were established. The URLs are suitable for clinical use, but are only partially in line with other studies. Therefore, our data highlight the importance of establishing laboratory-specific upper reference limits for %PPA to allow a correct interpretation.     

Coverage and overlaps in bibliographic databases relevant to forensic medicine: a comparative analysis of MEDLINE

This study was designed to make a comparative evaluation of the performance of MEDLINE in covering serial literature. Forensic medicine was chosen because it is an interdisciplinary subject area that would test MEDLARS at the periphery of the system. The evaluation of database coverage was based upon articles included in the bibliographies of scholars in the field of forensic medicine. This method was considered appropriate for characterizing work used by researchers in this field. The results of comparing MEDLINE to other databases evoked some concerns about the selective indexing policy of MEDLINE in serving the interests of those working in forensic medicine.     

The use of semantic network analysis to manage customer complaints

Effective handling of customer complaints is obviously in the consumers’ interest, but analysis of the letters can also provide valuable information to the organization. Organizations can use customer complaints as a way of recording organizational information and tracking effectiveness of their consumer relationship management. In this paper, we argue that organizations should adopt the use of semantic network analysis as an efficient and effective means to track complaints ‐ and what customers are complaining about ‐ over time. We present an example of the use of semantic network analysis with the complete texts of all complaint letters sent to an organization during a one‐year period. The semantic network analysis of the text of the complaint letters identifies the central concerns of this customer group and suggests that the organization address these issues. Through the use of semantic network analysis, an organization can uncover trends and provide support for decision‐making regarding customer relationship management issues.     

Predicting parents' satisfaction with the education of their child with Down's syndrome

This study investigated parents' satisfaction with the schooling of their children with Down's syndrome and its relationship to parent identity. Responses to a postal questionnaire from 131 parents of children with Down's syndrome aged from 4 to 19 years were recorded for analysis. Using identity process theory to provide a theoretical framework, it was predicted that parent satisfaction with education would be a function of the extent to which the identity principles described by this theory are threatened by perceived educational circumstances. Composite measures of identity, perceived school climate and parents' satisfaction with school were obtained, and correlations among these variables calculated. Regression analysis confirmed the prediction that parents' satisfaction is closely related to self-efficacy, perceived involvement with their children's education and perceived school climate.     

Narratives of learning communities in environmental education

Abstract

This article introduces the core concepts that emerged from five environmental education action research studies conducted by a group called Learning Communities in Environmental Education, Science and Mathematics (CEAMECIM) from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande (FURG) in the south of Brazil. The studies focus on teacher education processes in learning communities involving teachers, researchers and environmental educators, and the critical writing and reading texts of classroom recordings to problematise participants’ teaching practices. CEAMECIM used action research cycles to examine narratives of educational action, narratives from teachers concerning their development as environmental educators, and narratives of their development of a sense of belonging, with a particular focus on critiquing social models that are based on hierarchies and individuality. From this analysis, we propose a new perspective on being and learning how to become a learning community, crystallised by the belief that ‘we are more when we are together’.