Pictures Block the Learning of Sightwords

Young children were taught to name 12 single words, six in the presence of appropriate pictures (compound stimuli) and six in their absence (simple stimuli). There were two compound conditions: one in which the picture was a large line drawing above a small printed word (enhanced salience condition) and one in which it was a small line drawing below a large printed word (reduced salience condition); and two corresponding simple conditions of a large word alone (enhanced salience condition) and a small word alone (reduced salience condition). Each child experienced all four conditions with three different words in each condition in a series of randomly ordered learning and test trials, until each child achieved the criterion of three consecutive correct responses for each of the words in at least one of the conditions. Two experimental studies were completed with 16 children in each, and the percentage of correct responses was calculated for each presentation condition. Comparisons of the compound (picture) and simple (no‐picture) conditions showed that twice as many words were correctly recognised in the simple (no‐picture) conditions in both experiments. No reliable differences were detected between the different levels of salience, and it was concluded that prior association between the picture and the naming response to the picture ‘blocked’ the acquisition of a new association between the written word and the naming response to it.     

Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach and the Brokering of Learning Provision for Young Adults

This paper argues that Amartya Sen’s (Development as freedom, New York: Random House, 1999) concept of “capabilities” provides a useful framework for interpreting the brokering of learning provisions that emerged as a key feature of reforms to education and training in Queensland (Australia) for young people. Sen’s capability approach is presented as a way of understanding the place of vocational learning in capability deprivation and enhancement. Methodologically, this account comes from a case study of the reforms’ birthing and trial phases (2000–2006) (Harreveld and Singh 2007, Queensland’s education and training reforms for the future: the journey so far in senior phase learning. Brisbane, Qld: Department of Education, Training and the Arts). Evidence about the brokering of learning provision for young people comes from Queensland’s youth support coordinators, community mentoring scheme, flexible learning services and a work readiness program.

Asymmetry in nature—Discrete symmetries in particle physics and their violation

This two-part article considers certain fundamental symmetries of nature, namely the discrete symmetries of parity (P), charge conjugation (C) and time reversal (T), and their possible violation. Recent experimental results are discussed in some depth. In the first part of this article we present a general background and discuss parity violation. B Ananthanarayan is at the Centre for Theoretical Studies, Indian Institute of Science His research interests are in the field of elementary particle physics. J Meeraa is finishing her MSc at the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai. Bharti Sharma is finishing her MSc at Aligarh Muslim University. Seema Sharma is finishing her MSc at the University of Rajasthan, Jaipur. Ritesh K Singh is working towards his PhD at the Indian Institute of Science in the field of elementary particle physics.     

Institutional Discourse and Practice. A Case Study of the Social Construction of Technological Competence in the Primary Classroom

In this paper concepts from Bernstein's theory of pedagogic discourse are used to analyse student communication in the computer setting of the classroom. The perceptions of the classroom teacher and year fwe students, four girls and seven boys, about social relations in the classroom are the focus of analysis. It is argued that the pedagogic device of technocratic masculinity is socially constructed to relay power/knowledge relations. In the case study a group of male students manage to gain a position of power because they select, sequence, organise and transmit technological knowledge forms. The boys’ control over power/knowledge relations in the computer setting is strengthened by the support of the classroom teacher, who acknowledges the boys’ claim to computer expertise. Through the dual actions of a group of boys and the classroom teacher, a fiction about computer knowledge and competency is socially constructed in the classroom. Within the fiction of the technological patriarchy regulating classroom practice, the behaviour of boys is interpreted as ‘risk‐taking’ ‘experimental’ and ‘technologically competent’. Girls are positioned as inactive, passive and rule‐followers within the regulative discourse. While some girls position themselves within the structures of technocratic discourse, other girls deconstruct the ‘truth’ of their computer incompetence and passivity. For the girls, movement across and within the symbolic categories of regulative discourses is a constant struggle of the inner and outer voice. The girls must mediate their social relations with significant ‘others’. In addition, the girls must reconcile their inner voices. They must struggle to negotiate a positioning for themselves as ‘nice’ and ‘good’, carriers of messages, the domestic, the subservient. At the same time, these girls, the daughters of professional career mothers, must struggle to be ‘not nice’, to be powerful, active and gain credit for their computing skills.     

Higher education and development

Chief Project Officer, Education Programme, Commonwealth Secretariat, London, with responsibility for higher education. Until 1990 she was Professor of sociological studies, Faculty of Education, University of Malaya, where she also served as Dean, Institute of Advanced Studies. Her principal interests in teaching and research are education and social mobility, education, learning orientation and work in developing societies. Author of numerous articles in her fields of competence.     

ekstasis@cyberia

Elvis presided over the birth of a great new means of expression, one of three such flowerings in America since World War II. The second was television from broadcast to cable to music videos. The third is the net.

(Katz, Wired, pp. 10–14)

The lived meaning of space, time, and subjectivity has been radically altered by electronic technologies in an experience that may be described, and cannot be denied/

(Dery, Flame Wars, 1994, p. 19)

     

Serum lipid profile and lipoprotein lipase activity in patients of ischaemic heart disease

Total lipids, cholesterol, phospholipids, free fatty acids, total glycerides and lipoprotein lipase (LPL) activity of 26 patients of Ischaemic Heart Disease (IHD) and similar number of age and sex matched control individuals were studied to find out abnormality in lipid metabolism. Incidence of IHD was more common amongst males as compared to females. Significant low levels of serum LPL activity and higher levels of other parameters was thus evident in patients of IHD and this may explain the altered lipid metabolism and hypertriglyceridemia in patients of IHD.     

Effect of nicorandil and amlodipine on bio-chemical parameters during isoproterenol induced myocardial necrosis in rats

Objective  To investigate the protective effect of nicorandil and amlodipine in isoproterenol induced myocardial necrosis in rats. Methods  The effect of nicorandil and amlodipine on bio-chemical parameters during isoproterenol induced myocardial necrosis in rats was examined by determining the activity of creatine phosphokinase (CK), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and transaminases (AST, ALT) in the serum of the animals. Results  Isoproterenol (150mg/kg/day) administered rats showed statistically significant rise in activities of LDH(1.02±0.19 to 1.85±0.05), CK(4.3±0.19 to 7.37±.27), AST(0.38±.03 to 0.78±.05) and ALT(0.19±.017 to 0.346±.027) in the serum. Pre-co-treatment of rats with nicorandil and amlodipine significantly lowered the raised levels of these enzymes and thereby restoring the enzyme activity to near normal as was clear from the chart i.e. LDH was 1.10±0.04, CK was 4.37±0.19, AST and ALT were 0.39±0.028 and 0.199±0.04 respectively. Conclusion  It is demonstrated that pre-co-treatment with nicorandil and amlodipine either alone or in combination help in providing protective effect on isoproterenol induced myocardial necrosis.     

Glutathione linked red cell enzymes in iron deficiency anaemia

Red blood cells (RBC) from iron-deficient chidren were found to have decreased levels of reduced glutathione and reduced content of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, glutathione peroxidase and glutathione reductase than RBC from normal control children. These findings suggest an increased oxidant stress on iron-deficient red cells which may be one of the mechanisms responsible for membrane alterations leading to shortened life span of erythrocytes in iron-deficiency anaemia.