Drug-induced renal Fanconi syndrome: A case report

The renal Fanconi syndrome which results from renal tubular dysfunction can be either associated with various inbom errors of metabolism or acquired from various etiology. We report a case of gentamycin-induced Fanconi syndrome in a 4-month old infant who presented with aminoaciduria, glucosuria, phosphaturia and compensated metabolic acidosis.     

Optimal pruning for tree-structured vector quantization

Tree-structured vector quantization (VQ) is a technique designed to represent a codebook that simplifies encoding as well as vector quantizer design. Most design algorithms for tree-structured VQ used in the past are based on heuristics that successively partition the input space. Recently, Chou, Lookabaugh and Gray proposed a tree-pruning heuristic in which a given initial tree is pruned backwards according to certain optimization criterion. We define the notion of an optimal pruned tree subject to a cost constraint and study the computational complexity of finding such an optimal tree for various cost functions. Under the assumption that all trees are equally probable, we show that, on the average, the number of pruned trees in a given tree is exponential in the number of leaves. Furthermore, we prove that finding an optimal pruned tree subject to constraints such as entropy or the expected-depth is NP-hard. However, we show that when the constraint is the number of leaves, the problem can be solved in polynomial time. We develop an algorithm to find the optimal pruned tree in O(nk) time, where n is the size of the initial tree and kis the constraint size.     

Building parallel corpora by automatic title alignment using length-based and text-based approaches

Cross-lingual semantic interoperability has drawn significant attention in recent digital library and World Wide Web research as the information in languages other than English has grown exponentially. Cross-lingual information retrieval (CLIR) across different European languages, such as English, Spanish, and French, has been widely explored; however, CLIR across European languages and Oriental languages is still in the initial stage. To cross language boundary, corpus-based approach is promising to overcome the limitation of the knowledge-based and controlled vocabulary approaches but collecting parallel corpora between European language and Oriental language is not an easy task. Length-based and text-based approaches are two major approaches to align parallel documents. In this paper, we investigate several techniques using these approaches and compare their performances in aligning English and Chinese titles of parallel documents available on the Web.     

Using the web to encourage student-generated questions in large-format introductory biology classes

Students rarely ask questions related to course content in large-format introductory classes. The use of a Web-based forum devoted to student-generated questions was explored in a second-semester introductory biology course. Approximately 80% of the enrolled students asked at least one question about course content during each of three semesters during which this approach was implemented. About 95% of the students who posted questions reported reading the instructor's response to their questions. Although doing so did not contribute to their grade in the course, approximately 75% of the students reported reading questions posted by other students in the class. Approximately 60% of the students reported that the Web-based question-asking activity contributed to their learning of biology.     

Teachers' education, classroom quality, and young children's academic skills: results from seven studies of preschool programs

In an effort to provide high-quality preschool education, policymakers are increasingly requiring public preschool teachers to have at least a Bachelor's degree, preferably in early childhood education. Seven major studies of early care and education were used to predict classroom quality and children's academic outcomes from the educational attainment and major of teachers of 4-year-olds. The findings indicate largely null or contradictory associations, indicating that policies focused solely on increasing teachers' education will not suffice for improving classroom quality or maximizing children's academic gains. Instead, raising the effectiveness of early childhood education likely will require a broad range of professional development activities and supports targeted toward teachers' interactions with children.     

Effects of national policies on teachers' sense of professionalism: findings from an empirical study in Portugal and in England

This paper reports on research aimed at investigating the ways in which teachers in Portugal and in England are experiencing recent changes in the policy environment which have affected their sense of professionalism and their professional identity. Data were collected through questionnaires and focus group interviews. Findings suggest the existence of some strengths in teachers' views on their professionalism, namely the importance of vocationalism, continuing learning and collaborative cultures, the relevance of project‐oriented work at school and an integrated perspective of the curriculum. However, a number of limitations also emerged, such as feelings of ambivalence and conflict, associated with increased bureaucracy, qualities of school leadership, cultures of loneliness and the lack of understanding and ownership of the process of change.

Cet article rend compte des données sur une étude réalisée au Portugal et en Angleterre sur la manière dont les enseignants des deux pays vivent les plus récents changements dans leur travail en résultat des politiques nationales. Plus concrètement, l'étude a analysé la manière dont les enseignants des deux pays caractérisent leur professionnalisme et leur identité professionnelle. Les données ont été recueillies à travers des questionnaires et des entretiens en groupe. Les résultats suggèrent quelques points forts, notamment l'importance du sentiment de vocation, de l'apprentissage continu, des cultures de collaboration et du travail de projet ainsi qu'une perspective intégrée du curriculum. Par contre, les points plus faibles ont été les sentiments d'ambivalence et de conflit, ainsi que la bureaucratie, la culture de solitude et l'absence de compréhension du processus de changement.

El artículo se basa en un estudio realizado por las Universidades del Minho (Portugal) y Nottingham (Inglaterra) sobre la forma como los profesores de los dos países han reaccionado a los recientes cambios en la política curricular, bien como sobre sus implicaciones en su profesionalismo y su identidad. Los datos fueron recogidos a través de cuestionario y entrevista de grupo. La lectura que surge de los datos indica un conjunto de puntos fuertes en la definición del profesionalismo de los profesores, especialmente la importancia atribuida al aprendizaje continuo y a las culturas de colaboración, así como la importancia del trabajo de proyecto y un entendimiento más amplio de los papeles de la escuela y de los profesores. Sin embargo, también surgieron algunas limitaciones, sobretodo en lo que respecta a sentimientos de alguna manera ambivalentes y conflictivos, determinados por el aumento de la burocracia, de la cultura individualista y la falta de comprensión y asimilación de los procesos de cambio.

Dieser Artikel berichtet über eine Studie, welche untersucht hat, inwiefern Lehrer aus Portugal und England die jüngsten Veränderungen im politischen Umfeld erleben, und inwiefern sich diese Veränderungen auf die berufliche Einstellung und Identität der Lehrer auswirken. Die Daten wurden durch Fragebögen und Fokusgruppeninterviews erhoben. Die Untersuchungsergebnisse zeigen, dass die Lehrer ihre Weiterbildung und Mitarbeitskultur, projektorientierte Schularbeit, eine integrierte Perspektive des Curriculums und ein breites Verständnis für die Schule und für die Lehrerarbeit als wichtig erachten. Es wurden jedoch auch einige Schwachpunkte identifiziert, wie beispielsweise mit erhöhtem Bürokratismus verbundene Ambivalenz‐ und Konfliktgefühle, Einsamkeitskultur, sowie Verständnislosigkeit gegenüber dem Veränderungsvorgang.     

Teaching primary mathematics with challenging tasks: How should lessons be structured?

Engaging students in a challenging (cognitively demanding) task and launching a mathematics lesson with a task before instruction are two characteristics of a reform-oriented approach to mathematics instruction often considered together. The authors systematically contrasted teaching with challenging tasks using a task-first lesson structure with that of a discussion-first lesson structure to three composite classes of first- and second-grade students (n = 73). Subsequent assessments of mathematical performance revealed that the discussion-first lesson structure was somewhat more efficacious in improving fluency performance but both structures similarly improved problem-solving performance. The findings suggest there is more than one way of incorporating challenging tasks into mathematics lessons to produce sizeable learning gains.     

Academic identity,confidence and belonging: The role of contextualised admissions and foundation years in higher education

This article presents a cross-national exploration of responses to widening participation (WP), with a specific focus on the provision of foundation year (FY) programmes and the use of contextualised admissions (CA) in selective Irish and UK institutions. There remains a dearth of research on these routes, with little understanding of the characteristics of students who utilise them, of why students use these routes and little knowledge of their effect on students’ experiences in university and their overall sense of belonging. A year-long longitudinal comparative case study design examined three alternative entry routes in two selective higher education institutions (HEIs) in England and Ireland: a well-established FY; a newly formed FY; and a CA pathway. Data were collected through a mixed-method approach. Questionnaires and in-depth focus groups were employed at fixed points with participating students in each route. Results indicated that FY students had lower levels of familial educational history and parental occupation. FY students’ sense of belonging significantly increased over the year, with students reporting increased confidence and sense of belonging due to the relationships established during the FY. CA students’ sense of belonging remained the same, with students reporting feeling different and isolated. Results indicate that while students utilising FYs may be ‘more disadvantaged’ than CA students, their experiences helped establish a sense of belonging; illustrating the need for diverse WP routes catering to a wide range of needs. Results highlight the importance of providing opportunities to develop social and bridging social capital for all non-traditional students.