Cross-age tutoring in kindergarten and elementary school settings: A systematic review and meta-analysis

This systematic review summarizes effects of peer tutoring delivered to children between 5 and 11 years old by non-professional tutors, such as classmates, older children and adult community peer volunteers. Inclusion criteria for the review included tutoring studies with a randomized controlled trial design, reliable measures of academic outcomes, and duration of at least 12 weeks. Searches of electronic databases, previous reviews, and contacts with researchers yielded 11,564 titles. After screening, 15 studies were included in the analysis. Cross-age tutoring showed small significant effects for tutees on the composite measure of reading (g = 0.18, 95% CI: 0.08, 0.27, N = 8251), decoding skills (g = 0.29, 95% CI: 0.13, 0.44, N = 7081), and reading comprehension (g = 0.11, 95% CI: 0.01, 0.21, N = 6945). No significant effects were detected for other reading sub-skills or for mathematics. The benefits to tutees of non-professional cross-age peer tutoring can be given a positive, but weak recommendation. Effect Sizes were modest and in the range −0.02 to 0.29. Questions regarding study limitations, lack of cost information, heterogeneity of effects, and the relatively small number of studies that have used a randomized controlled trial design means that the evidence base is not as strong as it could be. Subgroup analyses of included studies indicated that highly-structured reading programmes were of more benefit than those that were loosely-structured. Large-scale replication trials using factorial designs, reliable outcome measures, process evaluations and logic models are needed to better understand under what conditions, and for whom, cross-age non-professional peer tutoring may be most effective.

An improved TLBO with elite strategy for parameters identification of PEM fuel cell and solar cell models

Clean and renewable energy generation and supply has drawn much attention worldwide in recent years, the proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells and solar cells are among the most popular technologies. Accurately modeling the PEM fuel cells as well as solar cells is critical in their applications, and this involves the identification and optimization of model parameters. This is however challenging due to the highly nonlinear and complex nature of the models. In particular for PEM fuel cells, the model has to be optimized under different operation conditions, thus making the solution space extremely complex. In this paper, an improved and simplified teaching-learning based optimization algorithm (STLBO) is proposed to identify and optimize parameters for these two types of cell models. This is achieved by introducing an elite strategy to improve the quality of population and a local search is employed to further enhance the performance of the global best solution. To improve the diversity of the local search a chaotic map is also introduced. Compared with the basic TLBO, the structure of the proposed algorithm is much simplified and the searching ability is significantly enhanced. The performance of the proposed STLBO is firstly tested and verified on two low dimension decomposable problems and twelve large scale benchmark functions, then on the parameter identification of PEM fuel cell as well as solar cell models. Intensive experimental simulations show that the proposed STLBO exhibits excellent performance in terms of the accuracy and speed, in comparison with those reported in the literature.

Expression of the NF-kappaB targets BCL2 and BIRC5/Survivin characterizes small B-cell and aggressive B-cell lymphomas, respectively

Nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappaB) activation has been proposed as a cardinal feature of tumourigenesis, although the precise mechanism, frequency, relevance, and extent of NF-kappaB activation in lymphomas remain to be fully elucidated. In this study, expression profiling and tissue microarray studies of 209 and 323 non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHLs) respectively, including the most frequent sub-types of NHL, were employed to generate a hypothesis concerning the most common NF-kappaB targets in NHL. These analyses showed that NF-kappaB activation is a common phenomenon in NHL, resulting in the expression of distinct sets of NF-kappaB target genes, depending on the cell context. BCL2 and BIRC5/Survivin were identified as key NF-kappaB targets and their expression distinguished small and aggressive B-cell lymphomas, respectively. Interestingly, in the vast majority of B-cell lymphomas, the expression of these markers was mutually exclusive. A set of genes was identified whose expression correlates either with BIRC5/Survivin or with BCL2. BIRC5/Survivin expression, in contrast to BCL2, was associated with a signature of cell proliferation (overexpression of cell cycle control, DNA repair, and polymerase genes), which may contribute to the aggressive phenotype and poor prognosis of these lymphomas. Strikingly, mantle cell lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukaemia expressed highly elevated levels of BCL2 protein and mRNA, higher than that observed in reactive mantle zone cells or even in follicular lymphomas, where BCL2 expression is deregulated through the t(14;18) translocation. In parallel with this observation, BIRC5/Survivin expression was higher in Burkitt's lymphoma and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma than in non-tumoural germinal centre cells. In vitro studies confirmed that NF-kappaB activation contributes to the expression of both markers. In cell lines representing aggressive lymphomas, NF-kappaB inhibition resulted in a decrease in BIRC5/Survivin expression. Meanwhile, in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL)-derived lymphocytes, NF-kappaB inhibition resulted in a marked decrease in BCL2 expression.

Content and methodology of predoctoral Geriatric Dentistry teaching in Europe

Objectives: To explore the content and methodology of predoctoral Geriatric Dentistry teaching amongst European dental schools.
Methods: The study was conducted by the European College of Gerodontology (ECG) Education Committee. Αn electronic questionnaire has been developed with close and open-ended items, including information on the prevalence and institutional anchorage of Gerodontology programs, the educators, the content and the methodology of teaching. An electronic mail, including a hyperlink to the questionnaire, was sent to 216 dental schools in 39 European countries (Winter/ Spring 2016). The Deans were asked to either answer themselves, or forward the link to faculty members with knowledge on Gerodontology teaching at their respective schools. Repeated reminders or telephone calls were used for non-respondents and personal networks were exploited to identify potential contact persons.
Results: Until August 2016, 121 dental schools from 29 countries responded to the survey (response rate 56%, EU response rate: 60%). Gerodontology was included in the predoctoral curricula of 86% of the respondents and was compulsory in 68%. The course was mainly offered in senior students and was interdisciplinary in 30% of the schools, delivered mainly by dentists (79%), physicians (21%), psychologists (10%), and nurses (5%). It was conducted as an independent lecture series in 40% of the schools and a course director was assigned in 44% of the respondents. When embedded in other disciplines, these were mainly Prosthodontics (31%). The content included a large number of items, such as epidemiology of oral health, medical problems in old age, prosthodontic management, xerostomia, and caries risk assessment. Lectures were the most common teaching format (69%), followed by small group seminars (27%). The most common types of educational material used were scientific articles (48%), printed textbooks (44%), lecture notes (40%) and e-learning material (21%). Clinical training was offered by 64% of the respondents, within the dental school clinics (49%) and/or in outreach locations (40%).
Conclusion: Amongst the respondent European dental schools (66%) there is an increasing number that teach Gerodontology at a pre-doctoral level with significant variations in content and methodology. Official guidelines and the dissemination of the ECG pre-doctoral curriculum guidelines might help to increase the prevalence and improve the status of Gerodontology teaching in Europe.

Costs, outputs and outcomes in school PFI contracts and the significance of project size

This article examines operational Private Finance Initiative (PFI) school projects and reports the experiences of UK headteachers. It considers the impact of project size on value for money (VFM). Headteachers involved in small projects are more satisfied with costs than those involved in large projects, but headteachers involved in larger projects are more satisfied with affordability. Generally, heads are more satisfied with the buildings than with the services. The authors question the government’s recent policy changes to increase the size of PFI projects.

Gender differences, responsiveness and memory of a potentially painful event in hermit crabs

Nonreflexive responses to a noxious event and prolonged memory are key criteria of a pain experience. In a previous study, hermit crabs, Pagurus bernhardus, that received a small electric shock within their shell often temporarily evacuated the shell and some groomed their abdomen and/or moved away from their vital resource. Most, however, returned to the shell. When offered a new shell 20 s later, shocked crabs were more likely than nonshocked crabs to approach and move into a new shell and did so more quickly (Elwood & Appel 2009, Animal Behaviour, 77, 1243-1246). Here we examined how increasing the time between the shock and the offering of a new shell influences the response. There was evidence of a memory of the aversive shock that lasted at least 1 day. Crabs tested after 30 min and 1 day were more likely to approach the shell and new shells were more likely to be taken 30 min after the shock. Shocked crabs approached the new shell more quickly and used fewer probes of the chelipeds prior to moving in and these results were stable over time and significant for specific times up to 1 day. Females were more likely than males to evacuate shells and did so after fewer shocks. These results extend previous work and demonstrate an extended memory of having been shocked. The findings are consistent with respect to criteria for pain that are accepted for vertebrates.

A need to belong?: The prevalence of experiences of belonging and exclusion in school among minority ethnic children living in the 'White hinterlands'

Based on a survey of 711 children in Northern Ireland, this paper explores a range of aspects of experiences of belonging and exclusion in relation to school among three main minority ethnic groups: Irish Traveller, Chinese/Asian and European Migrant children. The study examines variations between each group and how they compare to the White settled population. The findings indicate that all three groups experience lower levels of belonging and higher levels of exclusion compared to their White, settled Northern Irish peers. The experiences of Irish Traveller children were the most negative. The article adds to the dearth of data on minority ethnic children living in mainly white regions in the UK and Ireland. It argues for the need to move beyond achievement gaps in assessing minority ethnic children’s differential experiences in education and highlights the potential of belongingness as a concept for the further study of differential patterns of need and processes of inclusion.