bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Why is habitat breadth correlated strongly with range size? Trends amongst the alien and native floras of Mediterranean islands
Authors: Lambdon Philip W. 
Published: April 2008

AbstractAim  To identify the factors determining the relationship between habitat breadth and range size in the Mediterranean alien flora. Strong relationships have previously been uncovered between the two variables, which raises the possibility that habitat breadth could be used as a powerful predictor of invasiveness. However, previous investigations have yet to explain the phenomenon adequately, and greater understanding is required to establish its importance.Location  Ninety‐one islands in the Mediterranean basin.Methods  I examined a data base of Mediterranean naturalized plant species created for the EU project EPIDEMIE, and containing information on island distributions, habitat occupancy and other descriptive parameters compiled from published floras. As a null hypothesis, I assumed that the relationship between habitat breadth and range size was a spatial scale artefact: if species colonize habitats at random, with the likelihood determined by a weighted probability in each habitat, then perceived habitat breadth will increase with the number of populations examined. I modelled this effect, and also considered circumstantial evidence (via indirect indicator variables) for six hypotheses to determine whether both habitat breadth and range size may be jointly driven by a major third factor (introduction frequency, residence time, dispersal ability, generation time, dependence on mutualisms, release from herbivory). The explanatory power of the hypotheses was compared using correlative statistics.Results  When habitat breadth was modelled according to the null hypothesis, the form of its relationship with range size was very similar to that from the observed data, and the predicted range size estimates explained almost half the observed variance. The unexplained component may have been due to the same mechanism operating at finer spatial scales. From the direction of the residual effect, increases in habitat breadth were probably driven by range size rather than vice versa. None of the alternative hypotheses were found to be significant predictors of habitat breadth and range size in invasive species.Main conclusions  Although a number of minor explanations cannot be ruled out (e.g. that widespread species have greater regional genetic diversity enabling them to adapt to local conditions), it seems likely that the habitat breadth effect is largely artefactual and does not have particularly great value as a predictor of invasiveness.
Databases in the classroom*
Authors: & D. Freeman , Tagg W. 
Published: April 2008

AbstractHandling information on a variety of media from difference sources has always been an integral part of learning. Children now have the opportunity to use information‐handling programs on microcomputers that support the existing curriculum and open up new possibilities for self‐directed enquiry learning. This paper summarizes the background to the development of the QUEST ‘family’ of programs and demonstrates the way they are used in History and Geography. Comparisons are also made with other database programs.
Learner control in computer‐assisted learning*
Authors: Holmes N. , Robson E. H. , Steward A. P. 
Published: April 2008

AbstractCognitive theorists believe that students should be active in organizing their learning. Thus learner control may assist learning directly and promote good strategies.A teaching programme is described that offers to the student control over content, style and level of difficulty. The material was delivered by PET microcomputer and the subject was binary arithmetic. Four groups of young secondary schoolchildren were exposed to different treatments of the same material.The treatments were:

learner control;
learner control with advice;
random program control;
adaptive program control.

The effect of advice on pupil's choices was clearly evident. The random group performed less well than the other groups but no differences were observed between learner and adaptive control.
A perspective on intelligent computer‐assisted learning*
Authors: Self J. 
Published: April 2008

AbstractThe recent impressive developments in intelligent knowledge‐based systems design have led inevitably to proposals to design intelligent tutoring systems along similar lines. At the core of such a tutoring system is an ‘expert system’ able to perform whatever task the learner is to master. This methodology focuses on expertise, views actual student behaviour as deviant and encourages conformance to some predetermined standard. This paper describes an alternative research strategy involving the design of ‘guided discovery learning’ systems built around machine learning programs.
Problem solving with spreadsheets*
Authors: Catterall P. , Lewis R. 
Published: April 2008

AbstractThe recent availability of spreadsheets has provided new opportunities for pupil and student use of microcomputers. Whilst much has been written on the use of database and word processing packages, the educational uses of spreadsheets is relatively undocumented. In this paper reference is made to exploratory work aimed at providing opportunities for additional experience in problem solving.
Handwriting versus wordprocessed print: an investigation into teachers' grading of English Language and Literature essay work at 16 +
Authors: Peacock M. 
Published: April 2008

Abstract Selections of English Language and Literature CSE (now GCSE) course work essays are graded by a total of 411 teachers in two forms: handwritten and wordprocessed. Mistakes in the original handwritten versions are not edited out. It is found that the wordprocessed English Language essays are, on average, marked up a grade. However, it is found that relatively high quality English Literature work is not affected. Results suggest:— that the less directly pupil work is specifically related to an external referent (such as a work of literature), the more likely it is that computer‐assisted methods of presentation will significantly enhance its apparent quality relative to handwritten work.— that relatively lower quality work will tend to be enhanced more than relatively higher quality work.The implications of the results for examination boards are also considered.
Making sense of the future
Authors:   Educational Technology Center Harvard Graduate School of Education
Published: April 2008

Abstract  Since 1983, the Educational Technology Center has studied the uses of computers and other technologies to improve K‐12 instruction in science, mathematics and computing. Our collaborative research groups‐including scientists and mathematicians, practising teachers, learning theorists and software designers‐have focused on ‘targets of difficulty’, or curricular topics that are both crucial to students' further progress in these fields and widely recognized as difficult to teach and learn. More than fifteen research projects have studied the nature of students' difficulties, clarified the educational advantages that computer technology offers and designed experimental lessons that use computers as well as traditional materials to address these difficult topics. During the past year, three research groups tried out promising teaching units in five Massachusetts high schools to learn about their use in regular classrooms and schools. This essay summarizes the results of the Educational Technology Center's work and their implications for policymakers, school practitioners and others concerned about science and mathematics education.Neither a technical report nor a formal proposal with references, data tables and methodological detail, it is intended to stimulate discussion on this important topic.
Promoting creative confrontations
Authors: Brna P. 
Published: April 2008

Abstract We outline a methodology for confronting students with the inconsistencies entailed by their own beliefs. We illustrate this with reference to one particular physics subdomain which stresses an understanding of process (how things are made to happen): the dynamics domain.The aspects of the methodology described are: the construction of a variety of situations which are expected to cause a student some conceptual difficulty; the predictions made by the student prior to modelling; and the observations of the student's attempts to model the situation. We use a case study to illustrate the approach.
Naked into the World: IT experiences on a final primary school teaching practice—a second survey
Authors: Dunn S. , Ridgway J. 
Published: April 2008

Abstract This study reports a survey of 103 student teachers who were asked about their experiences of IT on their final teaching practice. Data are related to those from an earlier survey of the same group of students on their first teaching practice. The use of IT was higher than before, but still unacceptably low. A large majority of students will graduate with no classroom experience of databases and other applications software; a significant number will graduate without any classroom experiences using IT whatsoever. The patterns of IT use in class were most disappointing. A predominant use was for pupils to work on tasks unrelated to lesson plans, often practising basic skills.Those students who had taken a course in computer studies were more confident in their use of IT, made more use of IT in class, and experienced fewer technical problems than students who had not taken this course. However, students who had taken this course were no more likely to use a computer in class than those who had not. Students who do use IT in class reported increased confidence and a desire to make greater use of IT in the future. It is concluded that compulsory courses on the educational uses of IT, and use of IT early in teaching practice will help improve the current unacceptable situation, so long as they address the problem of ensuring appropriate classroom use of IT by students.
Collaborative learning and directive software
Authors: Wegerif R. 
Published: April 2008

AbstractIn this paper interactions of groups of school students working with a variety of educational software are analysed to develop an account of the structure of collaborative educational activities supported by directive software. First the application of a quantitative method is described and its results used to question the hypothesis that directive software limits the quality of discussion between groups of users. The nature of the talk occurring around directive software is then explored in more detail. It is argued that the structure of educational activities around directive software can allow for the possibility of embedding exploratory symmetrical pupil discussion within a directed teaching programme: an educationally desirable combination otherwise difficult to achieve.
The Liverpool Congenital Malformations Registry
Authors: Owens J.R. , Simpkin J.M. , McGuinness L. , Harris F. 
Published: April 2008

SummaryData collection and validation for the Liverpool Congenital Malformations Registry (LCMR) are described. Founded in 1960, the LCMR increased its area of surveillance in 1979 to include five health districts in Liverpool and its environs with approximately 20 000 births per annum. The LCMR is now one of the members of the European Congenital Anomalies Register (EUROCAT). Multiple sources of ascertainment are employed, the most useful of these being OPCS notifications, hospital discharge letters and data from specialised paediatric units. In spite of several difficulties encountered in data collection the data base is an invaluable tool both for routine monitoring of prevalence rates and as a starting point for epidemiological research.
Perinatal mortality audit in a Zimbabwean district
Authors: Muylder X. De 
Published: April 2008

SummaryPerinatal deaths were systematically investigated over a 25‐month period in a Zimbabwean district and were classified into pathological subgroups according to Wigglesworth. There were 319 perinatal deaths (a rate of 30.6 per 1000) including 83 normally formed macerated stillbirths, 28 cases of congenital malformation, 79 deaths associated with immaturity, 111 due to asphyxial conditions developing in labour and 18 specific problems. Syphilis infection was a contributory factor among 27 cases, hypertension in 39 cases, amniotic fluid infection in 31 cases and diabetes in 11 cases. An avoidable factor was detected among 242 cases (75.6%) involving the mother in 120 cases, the maternity centres in 28 and the hospital in 94. These data suggest that educational programmes should try to convince all the pregnant women to attend an antenatal clinic at least once. A further perinatal mortality reduction might be obtained through treatment for syphilis, hypertension, diabetes and amniotic fluid infection, closer monitoring of the fetal condition during labour and skillful management of dystocia.
The Chernobyl accident, congenital anomalies and other reproductive outcomes
Authors: Little J. 
Published: April 2008

Summary.Studies of the association between the Chernobyl accident in April 1986 and reproductive outcome, with particular reference to congenital anomalies, are reviewed. All of the studies so far have been based on the detection of a change in frequency over time. An increased frequency of trisomy 21 in the former West Berlin in January 1987, and increases in the frequency of neural tube defects in several small hospital‐based series in Turkey, are not confirmed in larger and more representative series in Europe. No clear changes in the prevalence at birth of anomalies which might be associated with the accident are apparent in Byelorussia or the Ukraine, the republics with the highest exposure to fallout. However, these data are difficult to interpret as the methods of acquisition have not been described and they have not yet been reported in full. Thus, there is no consistent evidence of a detrimental physical effect of the Chernobyl accident on congenital anomalies. This is also the case for other measured outcomes of pregnancy. There is evidence of indirect effects ‐ an increase in induced abortions substantial enough to show as a reduction in total births, due to anxieties created.Data are not available on the reproductive outcomes of women pregnant at the time of the accident who were evacuated from the 30 km zone of immediate contamination, of workers in the plant at the time of the accident or of decontamination workers. Moreover, no data are available from several of the other countries closest to the Chernobyl area.
International variations in the incidence of childhood soft‐tissue sarcomas
Authors: Stiller C. A. , Parkint D. M. 
Published: April 2008

Summary. In the study of international childhood cancer incidence coordinated by the International Agency for Research on cancer, soft‐tissue sarcomas comprised between 4 and 8% of all cancers between 0 and 14 years of age. Among predominantly white populations, the age‐standardised annual incidence rate (ASR) for all soft‐tissue sarcomas was between 5 and 9 per million. The most common histological subtypes were rhabdomyosarcoma (ASR 4–7 per million) and fibrosarcoma, including other malignant fibromatous tumours (ASR 1–2 per million). In the United States the incidence of rhabdomyosarcoma for black girls was only half that for white girls, while the rates for boys were similar in the two ethnic groups; fibrosarcoma had a higher incidence among black people than white people for both sexes. Throughout most of Asia, soft‐tissue sarcomas almost invariably had a total ASR below 6 per million, rhabdomyosarcoma and fibrosarcoma again being the most common histological types. In Africa, incidence rates could not generally be calculated, but there were substantial numbers of registrations for rhabdomyosarcoma and fibrosarcoma. The majority of cases of Kaposi's sarcoma were in African children, and in eastern and southern Africa where Kaposi's sarcoma is endemic among adult men it comprised 25–50% of soft‐tissue sarcomas and 2–10% of all childhood cancers; the sex ratio (M/F) was 2.2:1, in contrast to the overwhelming male predominance among adults.Variations between ethnic groups in the incidence of rhabdomyosarcoma and fibrosarcoma, together with their occurrence in a number of heritable syndromes, suggest that genetic predisposition is important in their aetiology. There was little evidence for an environmental aetiology in rhabdomyosarcoma and fibrosarcoma but an infectious agent may be responsible for childhood Kaposi's sarcoma.
Identification of clinically relevant yeast species by DNA sequence analysis of the D2 variable region of the 25–28S rRNA gene
Authors: Putignani Lorenza , Paglia Maria G. , Bordi Eugenio , Nebuloso Elena , Pucillo Leopoldo P. , Visca Paolo 
Published: April 2008

SummaryClinically relevant yeasts are conventionally identified by a combination of phenotypic tests, which occasionally provide ambiguous results for atypical isolates or uncommon species. In this study, we evaluate a direct polymerase chain reaction‐sequencing method, which exploits sequence divergence in the hypervariable D2 region of the large subunit of the 25–28S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene for identification of facultative pathogenic asco‐ and basidiomycota. A panel of 53 yeasts, including 40 clinical isolates and 13 reference strains representative of some clinically relevant taxa, was investigated by combining standard phenotypic tests with commercial identification systems (RapID, API 20C AUX), and results were compared with the taxonomic allocations inferred by D2 sequence analysis. Species‐level resolution was achieved for almost all (52/53) strains by combining internet‐based D2 sequence homology (BLAST and FASTA) searches in free‐access synchronised databases with phylogenetic analysis. The phylogenetic information carried by the short D2 sequence substantiates a pattern of molecular evolution, which is similar to that inferred from analysis of the larger D1/D2 region, and consistent with previously published 25–28S rRNA phylogenetic architectures of facultative pathogenic yeast, including recently identified species. Inconsistency between conventional and molecular identification results was observed for 11/53 strains, likely on account of the ambiguous interpretation of phenotypic tests.
Stoichiometry of endothermy: shifting the quest from nitrogen to carbon
Authors: Klaassen Marcel , Nolet Bart A. 
Published: April 2008

AbstractFor many animals, notably herbivores, plants are often an inadequate food source given the low content of protein and high content of C‐rich material. This conception is mainly based on studies on ectotherms. The validity of this conception for endotherms is unclear given their much higher carbon requirements for maintenance energy metabolism than ectotherms. Applying stoichiometric principles, we hypothesized that endotherms can cope with diets with much higher (metabolizable) carbon to nitrogen ratios than ectotherms. Using empirical data on birds, eutherian mammals, marsupials and reptiles, we compiled and compared measurements and allometric equations for energy metabolism as well as nitrogen requirements. Our analysis supports our hypothesis that plants, and especially their leaves, are generally sufficiently rich in nitrogen to fulfil protein demands in endotherms, at least during maintenance conditions, but less so in ectotherms. This has important implications with respect to community functioning and the evolution of endothermy.
Effect of a large prostate gland on open and robotically assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy
Authors: Chan Robert C. , Barocas Daniel A. , Chang Sam S. , Herrell S. Duke , Clark Peter E. , Baumgartner Roxy , Smith Joseph A. , Cookson Michael S. 
Published: April 2008

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the outcomes based on gland size between robotically assisted radical prostatectomy (RALP) and open RP (RRP), as larger prostates might increase the difficulty of RP.PATIENTS AND METHODSWe reviewed 660 patients who had RALP and 340 who had RRP from May 2003 to August 2006; the patients were divided into two groups, with a prostate of >75 and ≤75 g. The clinical characteristics, surgical approach, perioperative and postoperative outcomes were evaluated.RESULTSPatients with large prostates were significantly older (P < 0.001), but had a lower pathological stage (RALP, P = 0.046, and RRP, P = 0.008) than patients with small glands, regardless of technique. There was no difference in length of stay or transfusion rates between the groups. A large prostate increased the operative duration of RALP (P < 0.001) but not of RRP. For both RALP and RRP, positive margin rates were lower with larger glands (RALP, P = 0.014; RRP, P = 0.033). Overall, the positive margin rates were lower with RALP (9.9% and 19.0%) than RRP (18.5% and 35.5%) among patients with larger or smaller (P < 0.001) glands, respectively.CONCLUSIONSProstates of ≥75 g had fewer positive margins than smaller glands, regardless of surgical technique. There was also a significant decrease in positive margin rate in among prostates of >75 g in favour of RALP. Thus, RALP appears to be comparable with RRP for patients with large glands, and might reduce the positive margin rate.
The prevalence of transmitted antiretroviral drug resistance in treatment‐naïve patients and factors influencing first‐line treatment regimen selection
Authors: Huang H‐Y , Daar ES , Sax PE , Young B , Cook P , Benson P , Cohen C , Scribner A , Hu H 
Published: April 2008

ObjectivesTo estimate the prevalence of transmitted antiretroviral (ARV) drug resistance, and to assess whether resistance testing influences first‐line ARV regimen selection.MethodsData on patients' characteristics were collected through questionnaires. ARV drug resistance was tested by genotypic methods and defined by Quest–Stanford classification rule. Physicians reported the intended and actual treatments and the factors considered in treatment selection.ResultsTwo hundred and twenty‐eight patients were included. The prevalence of ARV drug resistance was 12.1%, with 9.8% for non‐nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs), 4.5% for nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors and 1.8% for protease inhibitors (PIs). Pill burdens, dosing frequency and physicians' experience with regimens were the major factors considered in treatment selection. The intended and actual treatment differed for 73 and 44% of the patients with and without ARV drug resistance, respectively [odds ratio (95% confidence interval, CI)=3.6 (1.5–9.0), P=0.006]. NNRTI‐based regimens were intended for 10 patients with resistance to NNRTIs; these patients were prescribed PI‐based regimens after genotypic testing.ConclusionsTransmitted ARV drug resistance was detected in 12.1% of treatment‐naïve patients, with resistance to NNRTIs the most common. Resistance‐testing results played a partial role in first‐line treatment selection. However, resistance to NNRTIs pre‐empted NNRTI use.