Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Open University ’ s repository of research publications and other research outputs Storytelling cultures in early years classrooms

Copyright and Moral Rights for the articles on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. For more information on Open Research Online's data policy on reuse of materials please consult the policies page. The analysis presented in this article draws on Rogoff's (2003) work on intent participation and Dyson's (2001, 2010) studies of children's written compositions to identify the nature of peers' contributions to meaning making, and cultural transmission processes claimed to occur when young children narrate stories to supportive adults. It draws on data collected during an evaluation of an in-service training programme that introduced UK-based early years practitioners to a version of Paley's (1990) storytelling and story acting curriculum known as the Helicopter Technique (HT). The HT draws on theatre practice and drama to foster narrative development and literacy skills. Children tell a story to a practitioner trained to scribe this exactly as told and who assists them to identify story characters that can be acted out later with peers. The significance of adults' contributions to these sessions is well understood, but less is known about the contribution of peers who may also be present. The evidence presented suggests that these peer-to-peer processes can be described as two-way transactions between more and less confident language users and may be particularly important for children with English as an Additional Language (EAL). Implications of these findings for practitioners supporting second language learners are discussed.
Translational Research in Acute Lung Injury and Pulmonary Fibrosis Space radiation-associated lung injury in a murine model

Melpo Christofidou-Solomidou, Ralph A. Pietrofesa, Evguenia Arguiri, Kelly S. Schweitzer, Evgeny V. Berdyshev, Maureen McCarthy, Astrid Corbitt, Joshua S. Alwood, Yongjia Yu, Ruth K. Globus, Charalambos C. Solomides, Robert L. Ullrich, and Irina Petrache Department of Medicine, Pulmonary Allergy and Critical Care Division, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Department of Medicine, Pulmonary and Critical Care Division, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana; Department of Medicine University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), Galveston, Texas; Oak Ridge Associated Universities, NASA Postdoctoral Program, Moffett Field, California; NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California; Department of Pathology, Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center, Indianapolis, Indiana
Spontaneous and evoked neuronal activities regulate movements of single neuronal mitochondria

Mitochondria produce ATP and act as internal Ca2+ storage sites in neurons. Their localization at active synapses can be beneficial both for the maintenance of normal neuronal activity and for preventing neurodegeneration. Mitochondrial distribution in neurons is a dynamic process that can, in turn, be determined by their activity. To examine these relationships, we used respiratory neurons that possess persistent rhythmic activity, to which mitochondria substantially contributed. Mitochondria were visualized using potentiometric dyes and two‐photon microscopy. The trajectories of mitochondrial movements were obtained by single particle tracking. Spontaneous and evoked synaptic activity and intracellular Ca2+ were measured by using FM 1‐43 and fura‐2, respectively. Inhibition of synaptic activity with N‐type Ca2+ and Na+ channel blockers, ω‐conotoxin GVIA, and tetrodotoxin, increased the run‐lengths of the directed transport. After brief periods of spontaneous synaptic activity and after membrane depolarization, mitochondrial movements were inhibited in correlation with the duration of intracellular [Ca2+] elevations. Movements of mitochondria were also suppressed after membrane depolarization in Ca2+‐free solutions, indicating that the effects of Ca2+ are indirect and other factors, e.g., ATP depletion, may be involved. Through the use of experimentally determined parameters of mitochondrial motions, we modeled the behavior of mitochondrial ensembles and showed a tendency of mitochondria to produce linear aggregates whose formation is enhanced by irregularities of mitochondrial movements. We propose that accumulation and clustering of mitochondria in neurons are caused by interruptions in the directed transport of mitochondria, leading to the inhibition of their movements at the active synapses. Synapse 59:403–411, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Disability, coping and quality of life in individuals with muscular dystrophy: a prospective study over five years

Purpose : The present study investigates progressive muscular dystrophy over a five year period. The purpose is twofold: to describe changes over time and to investigate relations between disability, coping and quality of life. Method : The study group comprised 45 adults (16 men and 29 women), with an average age of 44 years. All were assessed in 1991 and 1996, with the following instruments: the ADL staircase, the Self-report ADL, the Mental Adjustment to Cancer scale, the Sickness Impact Profile and the Psychosocial well-being questionnaire (Kaasa). Results : Increasing disability was accompanied by an increase in dependence on others and a significant deterioration of health-related quality of life and with regard to 'Satisfaction'. The predominant type of coping was 'Fighting spirit', whilst 'Fatalism' showed the greatest decline over time. 'Ambulation' and the ADL staircase correlated with 'Physical index' on the SIP. Correlations between disability, coping and quality of life were moderate. The results can serve as a basis for planning and evaluation of recurring rehabilitation for persons with MD.
Tracking the War of Ideas: A Poll of Ottawa Muslims

A 2008 poll of 430 Ottawa Muslims found predominantly negative views of the U.S. war on terrorism, including the war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan. This poll also assessed approval of Western powers (U.S., Canada, Israel, United Nations) and challengers of Western power (Al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hizballah, government of Iran). Surprisingly, attitudes of Ottawa Muslims toward militant Muslim groups were unrelated to their attitudes toward Western governments. Discussion suggests that this pattern, if confirmed in other Muslim polls, would mean that the war of ideas against radical Islam must address not one target but two: favorable opinions of militants and unfavorable opinions of the U.S. Muslims who come to like the West more may not like Muslim militants any less.
Back to the future: perspectives on current realities and future quality of educational research through the prism of Irish Educational Studies

While ‘paradigm wars’ have raged internationally during the past decade in particular, the research community, qua community in the Irish context has been largely silent on these important issues. This paper provides a synthesis of key aspects of these international discourses against a brief historical backdrop of the field of educational research. Thereafter, this theoretical lens is used to interrogate the more than 200 papers published in Irish Educational Studies (IES) over a period of 10 years: 1996–2006. This analysis seeks to establish the relative health and quality of educational research in the Irish context, and in the third section of the paper, this analysis is the basis for discussion of lessons that may be learned from insights and understandings gained. The paper concludes that a more systematic and comprehensive review of educational research funding in the Irish context would be particularly apposite and timely, while also advocating the necessity for a comprehensive educational research policy and the creation of a national educational research council. In the absence of such endeavours, research is likely to remain fragmented, small scale and easily dismissed by policy-makers, thus enabling advocacy rather than evidence and research generated elsewhere to overly-influence educational reform, while failing to enhance and extend a comprehensive ‘native’ research literature, a vibrant research culture, while funding and systematically supporting and developing the next generation of educational researchers. In the absence of policy and funding, quality and capacity will continue to falter in a more complex, sophisticated interdependent world.
“Mostly male and American”: The reporting of women and crime scholarship in introductory criminology textbooks

Female scholars often criticize the field of criminology for being male‐dominated. We study this claim by examining if the dissemination of published research findings in criminology is affected by gender. A study of prominent women and crime scholars shows that recent criminology textbooks, when compared to women and crime publications, are more likely to cite and to discuss male researchers than females. Because textbook authors also largely ignore the contributions of women and crime scholars who reside outside the United States, we argue that the reporting of women and crime scholarship in the books is “mostly male and American. ”
The contribution of personality traits, negative affectivity, locus of control and Type A to the subsequent reports of job stressors and job strains

Personality variables (negative affectivity, locus of control and two components of Type A behaviour), assessed in a cohort of graduating college seniors, were used approximately one year later to predict reports of job stressors (autonomy, role ambiguity, role conflict, workload, constraints and interpersonal conflict) and job strains (job satisfaction, work anxiety, frustration and somatic symptoms). For all variables, except work frustration, personality was a significant predictor. Possible mechanisms by which personality might affect reports of job stressors and strains, explanations for results, and suggestions for future research are discussed.
Development of an Immunochromatographic Test for Diagnosis of Visceral Leishmaniasis Based on Detection of a Circulating Antigen

Background Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a life-threatening disease caused by protozoan parasites of the Leishmania donovani complex. Early case detection followed by adequate treatment is essential to the control of VL. However, the available diagnostic tests are either invasive and require considerable expertise (parasitological demonstration of the parasite in tissue smears) or unable to distinguish between past and active infection (serological methods). Therefore, we aimed to develop a lateral flow assay in the form of an immunochromatographic test (ICT) device based on the detection of a circulating Leishmania antigen using monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). Methodology/Principal Findings mAbs were produced by fusion of murine myeloma cells with splenocytes isolated from a mouse immunized with L. donovani soluble crude antigen. Out of 12 cloned hybridoma cell lines, two secreted mAbs recognizing the same leishmanial protein. These mAbs were used to produce an ICT as a sandwich assay for the detection of circulating antigen in serum and blood samples. The ICT was evaluated with 213 serum samples from VL patients living in VL endemic areas in China, and with 156 serum samples from patients with other diseases as well as 78 serum samples from healthy donors. Sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic efficiency of the new ICT was 95.8%, 98.7% and 97.3%, respectively. Compared with a commercially available antibody detecting ICT, our antigen-based ICT performed slightly better. Conclusion/Significance The newly developed ICT is an easy to use and more accurate diagnostic tool which fulfils the performance and operational characteristics required for VL case detection under field and laboratory conditions. As our ICT detects a circulating antigen, it will also be useful in monitoring treatment success and diagnosing VL in immunocompromised patients.
Managing, Understanding, Applying, and Creating Knowledge in the Information Age: Next-Generation Challenges and Opportunities

New media, new knowledge practices, and concepts point to the need for greater understanding of cognitive processes underlying knowledge acquisition and generation in open informational worlds. The authors of the articles in this special issue address cognitive and instructional challenges surrounding multiple document comprehension—a prerequisite of digital literacy and knowledge work in the information age. In this article, we raise issues of conceptual clarity regarding constructs such as source and document, and discuss work in disciplinary literacy and knowledge-building communities to clarify uses of information resources to support knowledge creation. The discussion aims to (a) provide insights into the cognitive and social practices needed for students to manage, understand, apply, and create knowledge and (b) suggest research directions to advance these goals.
Influence of aquaporin-1 gene polymorphism on water retention in liver cirrhosis

Abstract Water retention is a major clinical problem in patients with liver cirrhosis. The factors that predispose to water retention are poorly understood but may involve genetic factors. Recent research suggests that renal aquaporins may be a pathophysiological factor involved in this condition. Aquaporin-1 (AQP1) is expressed in the proximal tubule and aquaporin-2 (AQP2) in the renal collecting duct cells. The aim of our study was to investigate the distribution of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of AQP1: rs1049305 (C/G) and AQP2: rs3741559 (A/G) and rs467323 (C/T) in 100 cirrhotic patients with ascites and to analyze their relationship with dilutional hyponatremia. Methods. Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood. Genotyping for the presence of different polymorphisms was performed using the Custom Taqman SNP Genotyping Assays. The possible influence of rs1049305 (C/G) in AQP1 gene expression was evaluated by luciferase assays in vitro. Results. The allelic frequencies of the AQP1 gene were the following: CC = 15%; CG = 49%; GG = 36%. Patients with CC genotype had significantly lower plasma sodium concentration than those with CG or GG genotype. Luciferase assays showed that the rs1049305 (C/G) in the AQP1 gene functionally affected the expression level in vitro. In addition, we did not find any relationship between AQP2 SNPs observed and plasma sodium concentration. Conclusions. Our results suggest that the rs1049305 (C/G, UTR3) AQP1 polymorphism could be involved in the genetic susceptibility to develop water retention in patients with liver cirrhosis.
Staking a Claim on Learning: What We Should Know about Learning in Higher Education and Why

Researchers can deepen investigations of college teaching and learning by attention on how students construe a lesson’s subject matter and on how teachers make sense of and respond to their students’ subject-matter thinking in the moment. While it is possible to examine teaching and learning minus subject-matter depth, doing so obscures the dynamics that define education. My illustrative example captures teaching and learning about the idea of Cartesian doubt in an introductory philosophy class. I analyze students’ struggles with this new (and to most, startling) idea in light of their prior knowledge. I also examine the instructor’s efforts to grasp and respond to students’ evolving conceptions of Cartesian doubt.
Global Optimality of Local Search for Low Rank Matrix Recovery

We show that there are no spurious local minima in the non-convex factorized parametrization of low-rank matrix recovery from incoherent linear measurements. With noisy measurements we show all local minima are very close to a global optimum. Together with a curvature bound at saddle points, this yields a polynomial time global convergence guarantee for stochastic gradient descent {\em from random initialization}.
Customer satisfaction factors of mobile commerce in Korea

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to distinguish features of m‐commerce from those of e‐commerce and identify factors to influence customer satisfaction (m‐satisfaction) and loyalty (m‐loyalty) in m‐commerce by empirically‐based case study.Design/methodology/approach – First, based on previous literature, the paper builds sets of customer satisfaction factors for both e‐commerce and m‐commerce. Second, features of m‐commerce are identified by comparing it with current e‐commerce through decision tree (DT). Third, with the derived factors from DT, significant factors and relationships among the factors, m‐satisfaction and m‐loyalty are examined by m‐satisfaction model employing structural equation model.Findings – The paper finds that m‐commerce is partially similar in factors like “transaction process” and “customization” which lead customer satisfaction after connecting an m‐commerce site, but it has unique aspects of “content reliability”, “availability”, and “perceived price level of mobile Interne.
Incidence, Prevalence, and Analysis of Risk Factors for Surgical Site Infection Following Adult Spinal Surgery

Study Design. A retrospective cohort study to identify rates and analyze the risk factors for postoperative spinal wound infection. Objective. To determine significant risk factors for postoperative spinal wound infection by comparing those patients who developed a postoperative wound infection with the rest of the cohort. Summary of Background Data. A surgical site infection (SSI) is a common complication after spinal surgery. SSI leads to higher morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs. To develop strategies to reduce the risk for SSI, independent risk factors for SSI should be identified. Methods. The electronic patient record of all 3174 patients who underwent orthopedic spinal surgery at out institution were abstracted. Individual patient and perioperative characteristics were stored in an electronic database. Results. In total, 132 (4.2%) patients were found to have an SSI with 84 having deep based infection. Estimated blood loss over 1 liter (P = 0.017), previous SSI (P = 0.012) and diabetes (P = 0.050) were found to be independent statistically significant risk factors for SSI. Obesity (P = 0.009) was found to significantly increase the risk of superficial infection, whereas anterior spinal approach decreased the risk (P = 0.010). Diabetes (P = 0.033), obesity (P = 0.047), previous SSI (P = 0.009), and longer surgeries (2–5 hours [P = 0.023] and 5 or more hours [P = 0.009]) were found to be independent significant risk factors for deep SSI. Conclusion. SSI is commonly seen after spinal surgery. In our study, we identified independent risk factors for both deep and superficial SSI. Identification of these risk factors should allow us to design protocols to decrease the risk of SSE in future patients.
Ecology and Acculturation Among Native Peoples of Central Brazil

Simple exposure to Western goods may not be a sufficient explanation of why isolated village communities increase their participation in external market economies. The degree of market participation by four native villages in central Brazil is related to the difficulty of making a living from slash-and-burn subsistence agriculture as measured by the ratio of labor input to food output.
Proline Metabolism Increases katG Expression and Oxidative Stress Resistance in Escherichia coli

ABSTRACT The oxidation of l-proline to glutamate in Gram-negative bacteria is catalyzed by the proline utilization A (PutA) flavoenzyme, which contains proline dehydrogenase (PRODH) and Δ1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate (P5C) dehydrogenase domains in a single polypeptide. Previous studies have suggested that aside from providing energy, proline metabolism influences oxidative stress resistance in different organisms. To explore this potential role and the mechanism, we characterized the oxidative stress resistance of wild-type and putA mutant strains of Escherichia coli. Initial stress assays revealed that the putA mutant strain was significantly more sensitive to oxidative stress than the parental wild-type strain. Expression of PutA in the putA mutant strain restored oxidative stress resistance, confirming that depletion of PutA was responsible for the oxidative stress phenotype. Treatment of wild-type cells with proline significantly increased hydroperoxidase I (encoded by katG) expression and activity. Furthermore, the ΔkatG strain failed to respond to proline, indicating a critical role for hydroperoxidase I in the mechanism of proline protection. The global regulator OxyR activates the expression of katG along with several other genes involved in oxidative stress defense. In addition to katG, proline increased the expression of grxA (glutaredoxin 1) and trxC (thioredoxin 2) of the OxyR regulon, implicating OxyR in proline protection. Proline oxidative metabolism was shown to generate hydrogen peroxide, indicating that proline increases oxidative stress tolerance in E. coli via a preadaptive effect involving endogenous hydrogen peroxide production and enhanced catalase-peroxidase activity.
Tools of the Trade Type I and Type II error concerns in fMRI research : rebalancing the scale

Statistical thresholding (i.e. P-values) in fMRI research has become increasingly conservative over the past decade in an attempt to diminish Type I errors (i.e. false alarms) to a level traditionally allowed in behavioral science research. In this article, we examine the unintended negative consequences of this single-minded devotion to Type I errors: increased Type II errors (i.e. missing true effects), a bias toward studying large rather than small effects, a bias toward observing sensory and motor processes rather than complex cognitive and affective processes and deficient meta-analyses. Power analyses indicate that the reductions in acceptable P-values over time are producing dramatic increases in the Type II error rate. Moreover, the push for a mapwide false discovery rate (FDR) of 0.05 is based on the assumption that this is the FDR in most behavioral research; however, this is an inaccurate assessment of the conventions in actual behavioral research. We report simulations demonstrating that combined intensity and cluster size thresholds such as P < 0.005 with a 10 voxel extent produce a desirable balance between Types I and II error rates. This joint threshold produces high but acceptable Type II error rates and produces a FDR that is comparable to the effective FDR in typical behavioral science articles (while a 20 voxel extent threshold produces an actual FDR of 0.05 with relatively common imaging parameters). We recommend a greater focus on replication and meta-analysis rather than emphasizing single studies as the unit of analysis for establishing scientific truth. From this perspective, Type I errors are self-erasing because they will not replicate, thus allowing for more lenient thresholding to avoid Type II errors.