A functional MRI study of the relationship between naming treatment outcomes and resting state functional connectivity in post-stroke aphasia

Background: The majority of studies investigating the neural mechanisms underlying treatment in people with aphasia have examined task-based brain activity. However, the use of resting-state fMRI may provide another method of examining the brain mechanisms responsible for treatment-induced recovery, and allows for investigation into connectivity within complex functional networks Methods: Eight people with aphasia underwent 12 treatment sessions that aimed to improve object naming. Half the sessions employed a phonologically-based task, and half the sessions employed a semantic-based task, with resting-state fMRI conducted pre- and post-treatment. Brain regions in which the amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (ALFF) correlated with treatment outcomes were used as seeds for functional connectivity (FC) analysis. FC maps were compared from pre- to post-treatment, as well as with a group of 12 healthy older controls Results: Pre-treatment ALFF in the right middle temporal gyrus (MTG) correlated with greater outcomes for the phonological treatment, with a shift to the left MTG and supramarginal gyrus, as well as the right inferior frontal gyrus, post-treatment. When compared to controls, participants with aphasia showed both normalization and up-regulation of connectivity within language networks post-treatment, predominantly in the left hemisphere Conclusions: The results provide preliminary evidence that treatments for naming impairments affect the FC of language networks, and may aid in understanding the neural mechanisms underlying the rehabilitation of language post-stroke.

Changes in white matter connectivity following therapy for anomia post stroke

Background. The majority of studies investigating the neural mechanisms underlying treatment-induced recovery in aphasia have focused on the cortical regions associated with language processing. However, the integrity of the white matter connecting these regions may also be crucial to understanding treatment mechanisms. Objective. This study investigated the integrity of the arcuate fasciculus (AF) and uncinate fasciculus (UF) before and after treatment for anomia in people with aphasia. Method. Eight people with aphasia received 12 treatment sessions to improve naming; alternating between phonologically-based and semantic-based tasks, with high angular resolution diffusion imaging conducted pre and post treatment. The mean generalized fractional anisotropy (GFA), a measure of fiber integrity, and number of fibers in the AF and UF were compared pre and post treatment, as well as with a group of 14 healthy older controls. Results. Pre treatment, participants with aphasia had significantly fewer fibers and lower mean GFA in the left AF compared with controls. Post treatment, mean GFA increased in the left AF to be statistically equivalent to controls. Additionally, mean GFA in the left AF pre and post treatment positively correlated with maintenance of the phonologically based treatment. No differences were found in the right AF, or the UF in either hemisphere, between participants with aphasia and controls, and no changes were observed in these tracts following treatment. Conclusions. Anomia treatments may improve the integrity of the white matter connecting cortical language regions. These preliminary results add to the understanding of the mechanisms underlying treatment outcomes in people with aphasia post stroke.

Teaching engineering tribology: Elements of assessment design for different learning styles

This study involves teaching engineering students concepts in lubrication engineering that are heavily dependent on mathematics. Excellent learning outcomes have been observed when assessment tasks are devised for a diversity of learning styles. Providing different pathways to knowledge reduces the probability that a single barrier halts progress towards the ultimate learning objective. The interdisciplinary nature of tribology can be used advantageously to tie together multiple elements of engineering to solve real physical problems—an approach that seems to benefit a majority of engineering students. To put this into practice, various assessment items were devised on the study of hydrodynamics, culminating in a project to provide a summative evaluation of the students’ learning achievement. A survey was also conducted to assess other aspects of students’ learning experiences under the headings: ‘perception of learning’ and ‘overall satisfaction’. High degrees of achievement and satisfaction were observed. An attempt has been made to identify the elements contributing to success so that they may be applied to other challenging concepts in engineering education.

Post-exercise cold water immersion attenuates acute anabolic signalling and long-term adaptations in muscle to strength training

We investigated functional, morphological and molecular adaptations to strength training exercise and cold water immersion (CWI) through two separate studies. In one study, 21 physically active men strength trained for 12 weeks (2 d⋅wk–1), with either 10 min of CWI or active recovery (ACT) after each training session. Strength and muscle mass increased more in the ACT group than in the CWI group (P<0.05). Isokinetic work (19%), type II muscle fibre cross-sectional area (17%) and the number of myonuclei per fibre (26%) increased in the ACT group (all P<0.05) but not the CWI group. In another study, nine active men performed a bout of single-leg strength exercises on separate days, followed by CWI or ACT. Muscle biopsies were collected before and 2, 24 and 48 h after exercise. The number of satellite cells expressing neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) (10−30%) and paired box protein (Pax7)(20−50%) increased 24–48 h after exercise with ACT. The number of NCAM+ satellitecells increased 48 h after exercise with CWI. NCAM+- and Pax7+-positivesatellite cell numbers were greater after ACT than after CWI (P<0.05). Phosphorylation of p70S6 kinaseThr421/Ser424 increased after exercise in both conditions but was greater after ACT (P<0.05). These data suggest that CWI attenuates the acute changes in satellite cell numbers and activity of kinases that regulate muscle hypertrophy, which may translate to smaller long-term training gains in muscle strength and hypertrophy. The use of CWI as a regular post-exercise recovery strategy should be reconsidered.

The eternal return of teaching in the time of the corporation

This article addresses the new conditions under which teachers are making the choice to teach. Our core contention is that the reorganisation of schools according to the logic of the corporation, as described in Deleuze's ‘Postscript’, is changing the flows and forces on the primary surface of ‘the classroom’. These changes block the usual movements of teaching to discipline, normalise and individualise, which was the role of the school as precursor to the factory. Blocked from repeating, or returning, teaching as it has always been done, teachers must actively re-will to teach; teachers cannot use order words to name themselves and direct flows and forces as they have usually been done. While many choices to teach will be undertaken, the most popular being that of choosing to teach toward the corporation, the repetition of teaching toward enclosed spaces becomes less compelling. Like Nietzsche's Zarathustra, teachers, who have the courage to actively choose, face a new dawn in which teaching cannot be what it once was. In that moment they must choose to repeat that choice an infinite number of times, the choice of eternal return, and it is from here that new times might begin.

Manipulating the data: Teaching and NAPLAN in the control society

High-stakes testing is changing what it means to be a ‘good teacher’ in the contemporary school. This paper uses Deleuze and Guattari's ideas on the control society and dividuation in the context of National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) testing in Australia to suggest that the database generates new understandings of the ‘good teacher’. Media reports are used to look at how teachers are responding to the high-stakes database through manipulating the data. This article argues that manipulating the data is a regrettable, but logical, response to manifestations of teaching where only the data counts.

The logics of good teaching in an audit culture: A Deleuzian analysis

This article examines the attempted reform of education within an emerging audit culture in Australia that has led to the implementation of a high-stakes testing regime known as NAPLAN. NAPLAN represents a machine of auditing, which creates and accounts for data that are used to measure, amongst other things, good teaching. In particular, we address the logics of a policy intervention that aims to improve the quality of education through returning ‘good teaching’. Using Deleuze’s concepts of series, events, copies and simulacra, we suggest that an attempt to return past commonsense logics of ‘good teaching’ as a result of NAPLAN is not possible. In an audit culture as exemplified by NAPLAN, ‘good teaching’ is being reconceptualized through those practices and becomes unrecognizable. Whilst policy claims to improved equity and quality are admirable, this article suggests that the simulacral change to logics of good teaching may actualize something very different.

The paradox of creative uncertainty in learning and teaching

In an ever-changing and globalised world there is a need for higher education to adapt and evolve its models of learning and teaching. The old industrial model has lost traction, and new patterns of creative engagement are required. These new models potentially increase relevancy and better equip students for the future. Although creativity is recognised as an attribute that can contribute much to the development of these pedagogies, and creativity is valued by universities as a graduate capability, some educators understandably struggle to translate this vision into practice. This paper reports on selected survey findings from a mixed methods research project which aimed to shed light on how creativity can be designed for in higher education learning and teaching settings. A social constructivist epistemology underpinned the research and data was gathered using survey and case study methods. Descriptive statistical methods and informed grounded theory were employed for the analysis reported here. The findings confirm that creativity is valued for its contribution to the development of students’ academic work, employment opportunities and life in general; however, tensions arise between individual educator’s creative pedagogical goals and the provision of institutional support for implementation of those objectives. Designing for creativity becomes, paradoxically, a matter of navigating and limiting complexity and uncertainty, while simultaneously designing for those same states or qualities.

Making connections within the Asia-Pacific region: Case study around the Mentoring for Effective Teaching (MET) program

University strategic plans emphasise the essential nature of partnerships at national and international levels. Along with establishing collaborative research partnerships, providing professional development to key stakeholders is considered a crucial activity for making and sustaining partnerships. Utilising knowledge from professional development in Australian contexts can be managed creatively for making connections internationally. Indeed, knowledge transfer is a cornerstone for the globalisation of education and needs to occur as a multiplex dialogue between participating countries. This paper presents a qualitative study around the Mentoring for Effective Teaching (MET) program, its growth and development nationally (e.g., scope and impact) along with insights into making connections within the Asia-Pacific region. At a national level, we outline how to facilitate a program though relationship building and face-to-face implementation of professional learning. Internationally, we highlight how to mould and shape Australian professional learning for the Asia-Pacific region, particularly with regard to facilitating fluid interactions within environments outside of Australia. The contexts for the study include a university in Hong Kong and another university in the Philippines. In this presentation, examples will be provided from the MET program to demonstrate contextual differences and similarities for implementation in Australian and Asian contexts. For instance, determining strategies for mentoring pedagogical knowledge can elicit viewpoints that align between cultures (e.g., use of specific teaching and questioning strategies) and also present alternative ideas as a result of cultural differences. We have learnt about having a structured program that draws on the research yet has sufficient flexibility to cater for cultures and contexts. With openmindedness, facilitating professional learning can become a two-way knowledge transfer, where learnings from other cultures and contexts can be refined for advancing programs in Australia.

Nonlinear analysis for the pre- and post-yield behaviour of a hybrid structure by a higher-order element with the refined plastic hinge approach

Efficient and accurate geometric and material nonlinear analysis of the structures under ultimate loads is a backbone to the success of integrated analysis and design, performance-based design approach and progressive collapse analysis. This paper presents the advanced computational technique of a higher-order element formulation with the refined plastic hinge approach which can evaluate the concrete and steel-concrete structure prone to the nonlinear material effects (i.e. gradual yielding, full plasticity, strain-hardening effect when subjected to the interaction between axial and bending actions, and load redistribution) as well as the nonlinear geometric effects (i.e. second-order P-d effect and P-D effect, its associate strength and stiffness degradation). Further, this paper also presents the cross-section analysis useful to formulate the refined plastic hinge approach.

Post-quantum key exchange for the TLS protocol from the ring learning with errors problem

Lattice-based cryptographic primitives are believed to offer resilience against attacks by quantum computers. We demonstrate the practicality of post-quantum key exchange by constructing cipher suites for the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol that provide key exchange based on the ring learning with errors (R-LWE) problem, we accompany these cipher suites with a rigorous proof of security. Our approach ties lattice-based key exchange together with traditional authentication using RSA or elliptic curve digital signatures: the post-quantum key exchange provides forward secrecy against future quantum attackers, while authentication can be provided using RSA keys that are issued by today's commercial certificate authorities, smoothing the path to adoption. Our cryptographically secure implementation, aimed at the 128-bit security level, reveals that the performance price when switching from non-quantum-safe key exchange is not too high. With our R-LWE cipher suites integrated into the Open SSL library and using the Apache web server on a 2-core desktop computer, we could serve 506 RLWE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 HTTPS connections per second for a 10 KiB payload. Compared to elliptic curve Diffie-Hellman, this means an 8 KiB increased handshake size and a reduction in throughput of only 21%. This demonstrates that provably secure post-quantum key-exchange can already be considered practical.

Mentors’ personal attributes for enhancing their mentees’ primary science teaching

Problems can occur in mentoring relationships if there is a “lack of mentoring skills on the part of the mentor” (Soutter, Kerr - Roubicek & Smith, 2000, p. 6), which includes the effectiveness of mentor’s personal attributes. There is little Australian research that analyses primary teachers’ personal attributes for mentoring; hence this study aims to examine preservice teachers’ perceptions of their mentors’ personal attributes. Specifically, this study focuses on mentors’ personal attributes in relation to their mentoring of primary science teaching....

Mentors and modelling primary science teaching practices

Introduction There are concerns about the science performance of Australian primary school students (Good rum, Hackling & Rennie, 2001), which requires a “major set of initiatives that focus on teacher beliefs and practices in the teaching and learning of science” (Sharpley, Tytler & Conley, 2000, p. 1). The science education community is calling for a “new approach” to science education in American schools, with an approach where a “mentor models, then coaches, then scaffolds, and then gradually fades scaffolding” (Barab & Hay, 2001, pp. 74, 90). The mentor, as modeller of practice, appears to be a key factor for enhancing science teaching, which may assist towards implementing science education reform