Degradation of collagen in parchment under the influence of heat-induced oxidation: Preliminary study of changes at macroscopic,microscopic, and molecular levels

This paper examines the impact of heat-induced oxidation for new and historical parchment with the purpose of improving diagnostic tools for use in practical parchment conservation. Oxidation was generated by heat aging at 120°C in a dry oven for 24, 48, and 96 hours, respectively. The degradation was assessed on all samples at macrolevel by measuring color changes, at microlevel by measuring the shrinkage temperature as well as by performing a visual assessment of the fibers’ morphology and determining the amount of damaged fibers, and finally, at molecular level where amino acid analysis was used to reveal changes in the oxidized collagen. The study shows that the heat-induced oxidation leads to significant color changes, decrease in hydrothermal stability, as well as changes in the amino acid composition. Surprisingly, the results show that the historical parchment is more sensitive towards dry heat oxidation on a molecular level than is the new parchment. Furthermore, for the first time, we can show that physical damage reflected in the morphological characteristics of fibers can be attributed to oxidation by dry heat.     

Knowing, Insight Learning, and the Integrity of Kinetic Movement

Psychologists, philosophers, and educators have traditionally interpreted the phenomenon of insight learning as the result of the sudden comprehension of abstract/conceptual ideas. The present article shows that such phenomenon may also follow and emerge from the kinetic movements of the human body; that is, we conceptualize insight learning as a post-kinetic phenomenon. Further, it is suggested that kinetic movement constitutes the ground of all human knowing. To illustrate this innovative conceptualization of insight learning, we present the analysis of an exemplary classroom episode taken from a two-year longitudinal video-based ethnographic project. Our project is concerned with elementary students?? mathematical knowing and learning. In the episode, which was selected among other structurally similar examples, three children are sorting geometrical objects. The evidence shown is interpreted as support for the theory of mathematics in the flesh, a radical approach to embodied cognition. In contrast to other embodiment/ enactivist theories in the field of mathematics education, we suggest that the kinetic movement of the human body constitutes a necessary condition for the emergence of abstract mathematical knowledge, and more specifically for the emergence of geometrical insight.     

Outreach initiatives operated by universities for increasing interest in science and technology

ABSTRACT

Since the 1990s, the low number of students choosing to study science and technology in higher education has been on the societal agenda and many initiatives have been launched to promote awareness regarding career options. The initiatives particularly focus on increasing enrolment in the engineering programmes. This article describes and compares eight European initiatives that have been established and operated by universities (and in some cases through collaboration with other actors in society). Each initiative is summarised in a short essay that discusses motivation, organisation, pedagogical approach, and activities. The initiatives are characterised by comparing the driving forces behind their creation, how the initiative activities relate to the activities at the university, size based on the number of participants and cost per participant and pedagogical framework. There seem to be two main tracks for building outreach activities, one where outreach activities are based on the university's normal activities, and one where outreach activities are designed specifically for the visiting students.     

Radical embodiment and semiotics: toward a theory of mathematics in the flesh

The idea that mathematical knowledge is embodied is increasingly taking hold in the mathematics education literature. Yet there are challenges to the existing conceptualizations: There tend to be breaks between (a) the living and experienced body (flesh) and linguistic forms of thought, (b) individual and collective forms of knowing, and (c) the material body and the source of intentionality. Grounded in material phenomenology, we theorize the living body as semiotic expression that not only grounds thought but also leads to its development. We provide a detailed case study that elucidates the three ways in which the living body serves as sign for the growth of a second-grade student??s geometric understanding and the other bodies he interacts with.     

A methodological approach to developing an assessment procedure for testing the neurobehavioral maturity of preterm infants

Using data from 179 preterm infants, a neurobehavioral maturity assessment was developed by using a process in which clusters characterized by conceptual coherence and face validity were systematically subjected to statistical analyses designed to test whether they also had high test-retest reliability, statistical cohesion, and developmental validity. The psychometric soundness of the test items was made a precondition for their inclusion into the assessment procedure. Also tested were cluster redundancy, as well as the impact of gestational and conceptional age, and of postbirth influences on the functions tested. 8 dimensions of neurobehavioral functioning were found to be stable with a test-retest reliability of at least .6 or higher on 2 consecutive days, nonredundant and developmentally valid. They were: Active Tone/Motor Vigor, Alertness and Orientation, Excitation Proneness, Inhibition Proneness, Scarf Sign, Popliteal Angle, Maturity of Vestibular Response, and Vigor of Crying.     

Untying a Dreamcatcher: Coming to Understand Possibilities for Teaching Students of Aboriginal Inheritance

Increasing the number of Aboriginal students graduating from university is a goal of many Canadian universities. Realizing this goal may present challenges to the orientation and methodology of university curricula that have been developed without consideration of the traditional epistemologies of Aboriginal peoples. In this article, three scholars in the Faculty of Education at the University of Victoria take up this issue by dialoguing with each other about the possibilities of incorporating Aboriginal perspectives into their courses. These conversations are woven together into the narrative form of a four-act play in which the authors caricature their personalities to highlight their initial resistances and eventual reconsiderations. As non-Aboriginal instructors from different cultural backgrounds, the authors confront issues of respect, responsibility, and (mis)representation as they struggle with the dilemmas involved in cross-cultural understanding. Through this journey they come to imagine a world where cultural differences, including the traditional epistemologies of Aboriginal peoples, present possibilities for greater understanding of each other and more authentic expressions of our humanity.     

Evaluation of Vocational Education in the Swedish Upper Secondary School

Axelsson, R. 1979. Evaluation of Vocational Education in the Swedish Upper Secondary School. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 23, 169‐184. The present evaluation is part of a continual evaluation of the new upper secondary school, with particular emphasis on vocational lines of study. It considers the view taken by school‐leavers of their vocational situation in relation to the goals of their education as a preparation for vocational activity and as a means of personal development. The study is primarily concerned with those students who completed their vocational studies in the spring of 1974. In October 1975 a questionnaire was sent to over 8,000 of the 23,000 in the target group, and a number of individuals were interviewed from each of the thirteen lines in question. Though the responses to the questionnaire were often positive, the interviewed students pointed out a number of deficiencies in their situation.     

Mathematical identity in women: The concept,its components and relationship to educative ability,achievement and family support

Mathematical identity and its relationship to mathematical achievement, educative ability and study support were studied among 133 women enrolled in the Swedish adult education system. A model of mathematical identity was constructed including self‐perceived mathematical knowledge, ability, motivation and anxiety. This model was transformed into a statistical factor model, tested using Lisrel. An acceptable fit was obtained. The first three factors were strongly negatively related to mathematical anxiety. The mathematical identity components correlated most strongly with earlier school grades in mathematics and, to a lesser extent, with the result of a diagnostic test. Unexpectedly, the relationships to educative ability and study support were weak. Using a person‐oriented approach, three typical patterns were found: one with extremely positive, and two with extremely negative, mathematical identity. The implications for further research are to investigate stability and change in the mathematical identity of women taking part in recurrent education.