Beyond questionnaires – Exploring adult education teachers' mathematical beliefs with pictures and interviews

Because of the impact that mathematical beliefs have on an individual’s behaviour, they are generally well researched. However, little mathematical belief research has taken place in the field of adult education. This paper presents preliminary results from a study conducted in this field in Switzerland. It is based on Ernest’s (1989) description of mathematics as an instrumental, Platonist or problem solving construct. The analysis uses pictures drawn by the participants and interviews conducted with them as data. Using a categorising scheme developed by Rolka and Halverscheid (2011), the author argues that adults’ mathematical beliefs are complex and especially personal aspects are difficult to capture with said scheme. Particularly the analysis of visual data requires a more refined method of analysis.

Complex genital system of a haplogyne spider (Arachnida, Araneae, Tetrablemmidae) indicates internal fertilization and full female control over transferred sperm

The female genital organs of the tetrablemmid Indicoblemma lannaianum are astonishingly complex. The copulatory orifice lies anterior to the opening of the uterus externus and leads into a narrow insertion duct that ends in a genital cavity. The genital cavity continues laterally in paired tube-like copulatory ducts, which lead into paired, large, sac-like receptacula. Each receptaculum has a sclerotized pore plate with associated gland cells. Paired small fertilization ducts originate in the receptacula and take their curved course inside the copulatory ducts. The fertilization ducts end in slit-like openings in the sclerotized posterior walls of the copulatory ducts. Huge masses of secretions forming large balls are detectable in the female receptacula. An important function of these secretory balls seems to be the encapsulation of spermatozoa in discrete packages in order to avoid the mixing of sperm from different males. In this way, sperm competition may be completely prevented or at least severely limited. Females seem to have full control over transferred sperm and be able to express preference for spermatozoa of certain males. The lumen of the sperm containing secretory balls is connected with the fertilization duct. Activated spermatozoa are only found in the uterus internus of females, which is an indication of internal fertilization. The sperm cells in the uterus internus are characterized by an extensive cytoplasm and an elongated, cone-shaped nucleus. The male genital system of I. lannaianum consists of thick testes and thin convoluted vasa deferentia that open into the wide ductus ejaculatorius. The voluminous globular palpal bulb is filled with seminal fluid consisting of a globular secretion in which only a few spermatozoa are embedded. The spermatozoa are encapsulated by a sheath produced in the genital system. The secretions in females may at least partly consist of male secretions that could be involved in the building of the secretory balls or play a role in sperm activation. The male secretions could also afford nutriments to the spermatozoa.

Third party assessments in trust problems with conflict of interest: An experiment on the effects of promisesm

Is it possible to elicit reliable assessment from an assessor having a conflict of interest (e.g. a professor that writes a recommendation letter for a formal PhD student)? We propose an experimental test and show that compared to a not-incentivized assessment, a promise to give a truthful assessment reduces misreporting to the same extent as an incentivized assessment (i.e. when the assessor gains higher payoff if the assessment is correct).

The Social Geography of Education: Neighborhood, Class Composition, and the Educational Achievement of Elementary School Students in Zurich, Switzerland

Despite an impressive amount of research and policy intervention no robust pattern of neighborhood effects on educational attainment has previously been identified. Adequate theoretical modeling and the sensitivity of the results to the method of the study are the major challenges in this area of research. This paper elaborates the social mechanisms of neighborhood effects and applies various methodological approaches to test them. Using data from Switzerland, the research reported here has detected heterogeneous effects of neighborhood on elementary school students’ educational achievement in Zurich. Although modest in comparison with the effects of classroom composition, these effects appear to be mediated primarily through social integration into a local peer network and are differentiated according to students’ gender and their social origin.

Laparoscopic Ultrasound-Guided Repair of Uterine Scar Isthmocele Connected With the Extra-Amniotic Space in Early Pregnancy.

We present a video of an ultrasound-guided laparoscopic surgical management of a large uterine scar isthmocele connected with the extra-amniotic space in early pregnancy. A case of a pregnant patient who was diagnosed with a large isthmocele connected with the extra-amniotic space on routine ultrasound at 8 weeks of gestational age is presented. The uterine defect was successfully sutured laparoscopically under ultrasound guidance. The pregnancy continued uneventfully, and a healthy baby was delivered via cesarean section at 38 weeks gestational age.

Cognitive-Behavioural Analysis System of Psychotherapy (CBASP), a drug, or their combination: differential therapeutics for persistent depressive disorder: a study protocol of an individual participant data network meta-analysis.

INTRODUCTION Despite important advances in psychological and pharmacological treatments of persistent depressive disorders in the past decades, their responses remain typically slow and poor, and differential responses among different modalities of treatments or their combinations are not well understood. Cognitive-Behavioural Analysis System of Psychotherapy (CBASP) is the only psychotherapy that has been specifically designed for chronic depression and has been examined in an increasing number of trials against medications, alone or in combination. When several treatment alternatives are available for a certain condition, network meta-analysis (NMA) provides a powerful tool to examine their relative efficacy by combining all direct and indirect comparisons. Individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis enables exploration of impacts of individual characteristics that lead to a differentiated approach matching treatments to specific subgroups of patients. METHODS AND ANALYSIS We will search for all randomised controlled trials that compared CBASP, pharmacotherapy or their combination, in the treatment of patients with persistent depressive disorder, in Cochrane CENTRAL, PUBMED, SCOPUS and PsycINFO, supplemented by personal contacts. Individual participant data will be sought from the principal investigators of all the identified trials. Our primary outcomes are depression severity as measured on a continuous observer-rated scale for depression, and dropouts for any reason as a proxy measure of overall treatment acceptability. We will conduct a one-step IPD-NMA to compare CBASP, medications and their combinations, and also carry out a meta-regression to identify their prognostic factors and effect moderators. The model will be fitted in OpenBUGS, using vague priors for all location parameters. For the heterogeneity we will use a half-normal prior on the SD. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION This study requires no ethical approval. We will publish the findings in a peer-reviewed journal. The study results will contribute to more finely differentiated therapeutics for patients suffering from this chronically disabling disorder. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER CRD42016035886.

Epileptic networks are strongly connected with and without the effects of interictal discharges

OBJECTIVE Epilepsy is increasingly considered as the dysfunction of a pathologic neuronal network (epileptic network) rather than a single focal source. We aimed to assess the interactions between the regions that comprise the epileptic network and to investigate their dependence on the occurrence of interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs). METHODS We analyzed resting state simultaneous electroencephalography-functional magnetic resonance imaging (EEG-fMRI) recordings in 10 patients with drug-resistant focal epilepsy with multifocal IED-related blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) responses and a maximum t-value in the IED field. We computed functional connectivity (FC) maps of the epileptic network using two types of seed: (1) a 10-mm diameter sphere centered in the global maximum of IED-related BOLD map, and (2) the independent component with highest correlation to the IED-related BOLD map, named epileptic component. For both approaches, we compared FC maps before and after regressing out the effect of IEDs in terms of maximum and mean t-values and percentage of map overlap. RESULTS Maximum and mean FC maps t-values were significantly lower after regressing out IEDs at the group level (p < 0.01). Overlap extent was 85% ± 12% and 87% ± 12% when the seed was the 10-mm diameter sphere and the epileptic component, respectively. SIGNIFICANCE Regions involved in a specific epileptic network show coherent BOLD fluctuations independent of scalp EEG IEDs. FC topography and strength is largely preserved by removing the IED effect. This could represent a signature of a sustained pathologic network with contribution from epileptic activity invisible to the scalp EEG.

Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome in Men is Associated with Reduction of Relative Gray Matter Volume in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex Compared to Healthy Controls

Although chronic pelvic pain syndrome impairs the life of millions of people worldwide, the exact pathomechanisms involved remain to be elucidated. As with other chronic pain syndromes, the central nervous system may have an important role in chronic pelvic pain syndrome. Thus, we assessed brain alterations associated with abnormal pain processing in patients with chronic pelvic pain syndrome.

Comparison of objectively measured motor behavior with ratings of the motor behavior domain of the Bern Psychopathology Scale (BPS) in schizophrenia

Motor symptoms in schizophrenia occur frequently and are relevant to diagnosis and antipsychotic therapy. To date motor symptoms are difficult to assess and their pathobiology is a widely unresolved issue. The Bern Psychopathology Scale for the assessment of system-specific psychotic symptoms (BPS) was designed to identify homogenous patient groups by focusing on three domains: language, affectivity and motor behavior. The present study aimed to validate the motor behavior domain of the BPS using wrist actigraphy. In total, 106 patients were rated with the BPS and underwent 24 h continuous actigraphy recording. The ratings of the global severity of the motor behavior domain (GSM) as well as the quantitative and the subjective items of the motor behavior domain of the BPS were significantly associated with actigraphic variables. In contrast, the qualitative items of the motor domain failed to show an association with actigraphy. Likewise, scores of the language and the affectivity domains were not related to actigraphic measures. In conclusion, we provided substantial external validity for global, quantitative and subjective ratings of the BPS motor behavior domain. Thus, the BPS is suitable to assess the dimension of quantitative motor behavior in the schizophrenia spectrum.