Combining fiber dissection,plastination, and tractography for neuroanatomical education: Revealing the cerebellar nuclei and their white matter connections

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in white matter anatomy of the human brain. With advances in brain imaging techniques, the significance of white matter integrity for brain function has been demonstrated in various neurological and psychiatric disorders. As the demand for interpretation of clinical and imaging data on white matter increases, the needs for white matter anatomy education are changing. Because cross‐sectional images and formalin‐fixed brain specimens are often insufficient in visualizing the complexity of three‐dimensional (3D) white matter anatomy, obtaining a comprehensible conception of fiber tract morphology can be difficult. Fiber dissection is a technique that allows isolation of whole fiber pathways, revealing 3D structural and functional relationships of white matter in the human brain. In this study, we describe the use of fiber dissection in combination with plastination to obtain durable and easy to use 3D white matter specimens that do not require special care or conditions. The specimens can be used as a tool in teaching white matter anatomy and structural connectivity. We included four human brains and show a series of white matter specimens of both cerebrum and cerebellum focusing on the cerebellar nuclei and associated white matter tracts, as these are especially difficult to visualize in two‐dimensional specimens and demonstrate preservation of detailed human anatomy. Finally, we describe how the integration of white matter specimens with radiological information of new brain imaging techniques such as diffusion tensor imaging tractography can be used in teaching modern neuroanatomy with emphasis on structural connectivity. Anat Sci Educ. 7: 47–55. © 2013 American Association of Anatomists.     

Education for girls in Ireland: secondary and vocational curricular provision 1930–1960

A challenge for historians of education is to explain the ways in which the development of education has been a gendered process. The literature tends to focus on primary and secondary schools; the role played by religious orders; the experiences of female teachers; ideological influences on curriculum; and the preparation of young girls for their role in society. Few historians, however, have examined vocational education and the impact of its ‘social efficiency’ orientation on girls. The literature that exists tends to treat both systems separately, and little effort has been made to compare the impact of both systems on girls’ opportunities within the society in which they lived. This omission in the literature is significant as such a comparison facilitates insights regarding state policies and priorities for the education of girls, the impact of social class, and national and local circumstances. This article compares both systems of education in Ireland and their impact on girls during the period 1930–1960.     

Conceptualising the heterogeneity of research-based spin-offs: A multi-dimensional taxonomy

Research-based spin-offs (RBSOs) have become an important aspect of the technology transfer process. Emanating from what is conventionally a non-commercial environment, RBSOs pose major challenges if they are to realise their potential to meet the objectives of their founders and the parent research organisations (PROs) from which they emerge. An important issue is to understand the heterogeneity of RBSOs. This paper reviews the literature on RBSO typologies to develop a taxonomy of RBSOs. We identify common themes in relation to these typologies in relation to (1) spin-off creation and (2) spin-off development. The dimensions that differentiate between firms are the type of resources, the business model and the institutional link. We identify gaps in current typologies in order to propose avenues for future conceptual and empirical research.     

Inequalities in educational opportunities in France: educational expansion,democratization or shifting barriers?

This paper is concerned with inequalities in educational opportunities in France and presents data collected from cohorts born between 1919 and 1973, a period characterized by educational expansion. Data from large-scale representative French surveys were compiled in such a way as to make accurate historical and international comparisons possible. The paper argues that there has been a shift in social inequalities, from entry into collège (lower secondary school) to entry into lycée (upper secondary school leading to the baccalauréat). Finally, policy implications have been drawn from international comparisons of data on the reduction of social inequality.     

Attendance, schooling quality, and the demand for education of Mexican Americans, African Americans, and non-Hispanic whites

This study examines the influence of the opportunity costs of school attendance, educational quality attributes, and household socioeconomic status on the educational demand of Mexican Americans, African Americans, and non-Hispanic whites using the 1988–1990 surveys of the National Education Longitudinal Study. Implementing a utility-maximizing framework, educational demand assumes the form of schools' average daily attendance rates and student dropout decisions between the 8th and 10th grades. The basic results suggest that a school's attendance rate is sensitive to educational quality and student characteristics. Moreover, the demand for education measured by student attrition inversely relates to unexplained school attendance, and is positively affected by household socioeconomic status. Some policy recommendations based on the results are discussed.     

Cinema and Choric Connection: Lost in Translation as Sensual Experience

The rise of the new information technologies, and corresponding proliferation of signs, images, and information, has contributed to a growing sense of alienation and dislocation. For many, the contemporary moment is an unending and disorienting sea of sensory-symbolic excesses. Lost in Translation is a film addressed to these anxieties. Engaging the film as a sensual experience, we argue that Lost in Translation equips viewers to confront the feelings of alienation and dislocation brought on by the sensory-symbolic excesses of (post)modernity by fostering a sense of choric connection. This sense, we demonstrate, is elicited primarily by the film's material (nonsymbolic, aesthetic) dimensions. Drawing on an analysis of the film's aesthetic elements, we conclude by reflecting on the implications for film studies, rhetorical studies, and everyday life.     

Collaboration between Library,Faculty, and Instructional Design to Increase All Open Educational Resources for Curriculum Development and Delivery

ABSTRACT

Students at universities spend an average of $1,250 yearly on textbooks and course materials. Can a collaboration between the Library and the Instructional Design Department create value for student populations by incorporating OER into the course development process? This is a case study of one University with a large online and distributed network with controls over the course design, timeline and curriculum delivered by the faculty. This University’s team tested whether the entire course could be designed in a scalable format using OERs collaborating with a librarian to organize the resources so students will have ready access to OER every time the course is offered. The result was an internal recommendation on structuring collaboration with the Library and course developers and presentation of the selected OERs in the Learning Management System. The result explored how adopting OERs redesigned course assignments and assessments in courses and fostered the development of original OERs in discipline-specific topics and content. The impact was a greater use of library resources by faculty and students and an economic impact to the student who does not have to purchase costly course materials. This process also supported course authentic assessment creation that are not dependent upon paid resources.     

Here is something you can't understand: the suffocating whiteness of communication studies

ABSTRACT

The authors utilize a modernity-coloniality framework to highlight practices of whiteness and white dominance within the academy and the field of communication studies in particular. The article grounds its framework in personal experience and theories in the flesh to build comradery with feminist of color scholarly forebears and to share with those who struggle to create spaces of change within the academy today and in the future. The authors advocate for an active consciousness of “included exclusion” as the first step toward decolonization. Decolonizing discursive and embodied knowledges creates avenues for social justice and change within the academy and beyond.     

Preschool Children's Evolving Conceptions of Badness: A Longitudinal Study

The purpose of this research was to investigate longitudinally preschool children's conceptions of badness. Forty children from the Block and Block study of personality and cognitive development were interviewed at ages 3, 4, and 5 years. When asked to generate things children do that are “bad”, preschoolers predominately generated events entailing negative consequences to others, that is, moral transgressions. They also mentioned events pertaining to conventional violations, emotional expressions, prudential situations, and punishments, but these were comparatively rare. The moral transgressions generated involved physical harm, property violations, and inter- personal trust violations. Physical harm was referred to significantly more often than the latter two moral categories. These findings were stable across the preschool years.