Culturally responsive computing as brokerage: toward asset building with education-based social movements

Bridging schools and communities has been a goal, if not hurdle, for reformers who aim to improve the education of low-income and underrepresented students from the bottom-up. Strategies to create these connections are often characterized as ‘brokerage’, where individuals or organizations bridge two or more social worlds. This paper details the design and implementation of educational technologies that support the brokering of school–community connections using a ‘culturally responsive computing’ (CRC) framework. Culturally responsive education is often limited to content and learning styles, which misses the opportunities it creates for a brokerage process that also connects to education-based social movements for economic access in underrepresented communities. This paper provides empirical support for the claim that the CRC framework is well suited for both purposes. It allows schools and communities to build assets together, translating the knowledge and skills of underrepresented communities into math and computing education, while illuminating the ways in which technologies can motivate education-based social movement building.     

Liberalisation and R&D in network industries: The case of the electricity industry

Electricity sector liberalisation has coincided with a significant decline in R&D spending. This paper reviews the industrial organisation literature on R&D and innovation to explore the likely causes of the decline in R&D spending in the electricity sector. Meanwhile, R&D productivity and innovative outputs in utilities and equipment suppliers appear to have improved. However, a lasting decline in R&D expenditure can have a negative long-term effect on technological progress and innovation in the sector. We conclude that the decline in R&D could have been predicted from the literature. We also discuss the need to reorient the post-liberalisation technology policy.     

Increased plasma vaspin concentration in patients with sepsis: an exploratory examination

Introduction

Vaspin (visceral adipose tissue-derived serpin) was first described as an insulin-sensitizing adipose tissue hormone. Recently its anti-inflammatory function has been demonstrated. Since no appropriate data is available yet, we sought to investigate the plasma concentrations of vaspin in sepsis.

Materials and methods

57 patients in intensive care, fulfilling the ACCP/SCCM criteria for sepsis, were prospectively included in our exploratory study. The control group consisted of 48 critically ill patients, receiving intensive care after trauma or major surgery. Patients were matched by age, sex, weight and existence of diabetes before statistical analysis. Blood samples were collected on the day of diagnosis. Vaspin plasma concentrations were measured using a commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Results

Vaspin concentrations were significantly higher in septic patients compared to the control group (0.3 (0.1-0.4) ng/mL vs. 0.1 (0.0-0.3) ng/mL, respectively; P < 0.001). Vaspin concentration showed weak positive correlation with concentration of C-reactive protein (CRP) (r = 0.31, P = 0.002) as well as with SAPS II (r = 0.34, P = 0.002) and maximum of SOFA (r = 0.39, P < 0.001) scoring systems, as tested for the overall study population.

Conclusion

In the sepsis group, vaspin plasma concentration was about three-fold as high as in the median surgical control group. We demonstrated a weak positive correlation between vaspin and CRP concentration, as well as with two scoring systems commonly used in intensive care settings. Although there seems to be some connection between vaspin and inflammation, its role in human sepsis needs to be evaluated further.Key words: adipocytokine, inflammation, vaspin, CRP, intensive care     

A structured forensic interview protocol improves the quality and informativeness of investigative interviews with children: a review of research using the NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol

OBJECTIVE: To show how the results of research on children's memory, communicative skills, social knowledge, and social tendencies can be translated into guidelines that improve the quality of forensic interviews of children. METHOD: We review studies designed to evaluate children's capacities as witnesses, explain the development of the structured NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol, and discuss studies designed to assess whether use of the Protocol enhances the quality of investigative interviews. RESULTS: Controlled studies have repeatedly shown that the quality of interviewing reliably and dramatically improves when interviewers employ the NICHD Protocol. No other technique has been proven to be similarly effective. CONCLUSIONS: Use of the structured NICHD Protocol improves the quality of information obtained from alleged victims by investigators, thereby increasing the likelihood that interventions will be appropriate.     

A new look at infant pointing

The current article proposes a new theory of infant pointing involving multiple layers of intentionality and shared intentionality. In the context of this theory, evidence is presented for a rich interpretation of prelinguistic communication, that is, one that posits that when 12-month-old infants point for an adult they are in some sense trying to influence her mental states. Moreover, evidence is also presented for a deeply social view in which infant pointing is best understood--on many levels and in many ways--as depending on uniquely human skills and motivations for cooperation and shared intentionality (e.g., joint intentions and attention with others). Children's early linguistic skills are built on this already existing platform of prelinguistic communication.