Quality of Life and Neurocognitive Functioning in Children with Sickle Cell Disease: Investigating the Feasibility of a Computerized Cognitive Training Program

Children with sickle cell disease (SCD) have a high risk of neurocognitive impairment. No known research, however, has examined the impact of neurocognitive functioning on quality of life in this pediatric population. In addition, limited research has examined neurocognitive interventions for these children. In light of these gaps, two studies were undertaken to (a) examine the relationship between cognitive functioning and quality of life in a sample of children with SCD and (b) investigate the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a computerized working memory training program in this population. Forty-five youth (ages 8-16) with SCD and a caregiver were recruited for the first study. Participants completed measures of cognitive ability, quality of life, and psychosocial functioning. Results indicated that cognitive ability significantly predicted child- and parent-reported quality of life among youth with SCD. In turn, a randomized-controlled trial of a computerized working memory program was undertaken. Eighteen youth with SCD and a caregiver enrolled in this study, and were randomized to a waitlist control or the working memory training condition. Data pertaining to cognitive functioning, psychosocial functioning, and disease characteristics were obtained from participants. The results of this study indicated a high degree of acceptance for this intervention but poor feasibility in practice. Factors related to feasibility were identified. Implications and future directions are discussed.

La construcción de un lugar de memoria en la Provincia de Buenos Aires : Mansión Seré, Morón, 1983-2007

En este trabajo reconstruimos sintéticamente el proceso de constitución de Mansión Seré como un lugar de memoria (Nora, 1984). Durante los primeros años de la última dictadura militar en Argentina (1976-1983), esta casona funcionó como centro de tortura y desaparición de personas. En el año 2000, el Estado local junto a organismos de Derechos Humanos decidieron convertirla en un espacio de rememoración y transmisión de lo ocurrido bajo el terrorismo de Estado. A partir de documentos y entrevistas, reconstruimos y analizamos los antecedentes político-institucionales del desarrollo de una política de la memoria y el proceso inicial de elaboración de un programa de memoria en este sitio

La construcción de un lugar de memoria en la Provincia de Buenos Aires : Mansión Seré, Morón, 1983-2007

En este trabajo reconstruimos sintéticamente el proceso de constitución de Mansión Seré como un lugar de memoria (Nora, 1984). Durante los primeros años de la última dictadura militar en Argentina (1976-1983), esta casona funcionó como centro de tortura y desaparición de personas. En el año 2000, el Estado local junto a organismos de Derechos Humanos decidieron convertirla en un espacio de rememoración y transmisión de lo ocurrido bajo el terrorismo de Estado. A partir de documentos y entrevistas, reconstruimos y analizamos los antecedentes político-institucionales del desarrollo de una política de la memoria y el proceso inicial de elaboración de un programa de memoria en este sitio

La construcción de un lugar de memoria en la Provincia de Buenos Aires : Mansión Seré, Morón, 1983-2007

En este trabajo reconstruimos sintéticamente el proceso de constitución de Mansión Seré como un lugar de memoria (Nora, 1984). Durante los primeros años de la última dictadura militar en Argentina (1976-1983), esta casona funcionó como centro de tortura y desaparición de personas. En el año 2000, el Estado local junto a organismos de Derechos Humanos decidieron convertirla en un espacio de rememoración y transmisión de lo ocurrido bajo el terrorismo de Estado. A partir de documentos y entrevistas, reconstruimos y analizamos los antecedentes político-institucionales del desarrollo de una política de la memoria y el proceso inicial de elaboración de un programa de memoria en este sitio

La construcción de un lugar de memoria en la Provincia de Buenos Aires : Mansión Seré, Morón, 1983-2007

En este trabajo reconstruimos sintéticamente el proceso de constitución de Mansión Seré como un lugar de memoria (Nora, 1984). Durante los primeros años de la última dictadura militar en Argentina (1976-1983), esta casona funcionó como centro de tortura y desaparición de personas. En el año 2000, el Estado local junto a organismos de Derechos Humanos decidieron convertirla en un espacio de rememoración y transmisión de lo ocurrido bajo el terrorismo de Estado. A partir de documentos y entrevistas, reconstruimos y analizamos los antecedentes político-institucionales del desarrollo de una política de la memoria y el proceso inicial de elaboración de un programa de memoria en este sitio

An analysis of public information and education countermeasures: 1975, final report.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, D.C.

The effect of motor-encoding activities on memory and performance in a grade one reading program

This study examined the effectiveness of motor-encoding activities on memory and performance of students in a Grade One reading program. There were two experiments in the study. Experiment 1 replicated a study by Eli Saltz and David Dixon (1982). The effect of motoric enactment (Le., pretend play) of sentences on memory for the sentences was investigated. Forty Grade One students performed a "memory-for-sentences" technique, devised by Saltz and Dixon. Only the experimental group used motoric enactment of the sentences. Although quantitative findings revealed no significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group versus the control group, aspects of the experimental design could have affected the results. It was suggested that Saltz and Dixon's study could be replicated again, with more attention given to variables such as population size, nature of the test sentences, subjects' previous educational experience and conditions related to the testing environment. The second experiment was an application of Saltz and Dixon's theory that motoric imagery should facilitate memory for sentences. The intent was to apply this theory to Grade One students' ability to remember words from their reading program. An experimental gym program was developed using kinesthetic activities to reinforce the skills of the classroom reading program. The same subject group was used in Experiment 2. It was hypothesized that the subjects who experienced the experimental gym program would show greater signs of progress in reading ability, as evidenced by their scores on Form G of the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test--Revised. The data from the WRM--R were analyzed with a 3-way split-plot analysis of variance in which group (experimental vs. control) and sex were the between subjects variables and test-time (pre-test vs. post-test) was the within-subjects variable. Findings revealed the following: (a) both groups made substantial gains over time on the visual-auditory learning sub-test and the triple action of group x sex x time also was significant; (b) children in the experimental and control groups performed similarly on both the pre- and post-test of the letter identification test; (c) time was the only significant effect on subjects' performance on the word identification task; (d) work attack scores showed marked improvement in performance over time for both the experimenta+ and control groups; (e) passage comprehension scores indicated an improvement in performance for both groups over time. Similar to Experiment 1, it is suggested that several modifications in the experimental design could produce significant results. These factors are addressed with suggestions for further research in the area of active learning; more specifically, the effect of motor-encoding activities on memory and academic performance of children.

Program and rules of the competition for the selection of an architect for the monumental lighthouse which the nations of the world will erect in the Dominican Republic to the memory of Christopher Columbus.

"Book two: Impressions of and observations by an architect after having visited the Dominican Republic, dealing with ... aspects of its past, its present, its future, and above all with the wonder, the romance and the glory of the Spanish Main ...": p. [33]-72.

Understanding Notional Machines through Traditional Teaching with Conceptual Contraposition and Program Memory Tracing

A correct understanding about how computers run code is mandatory in order to effectively learn to program. Lectures have historically been used in programming courses to teach how computers execute code, and students are assessed through traditional evaluation methods, such as exams. Constructivism learning theory objects to students’ passiveness during lessons, and traditional quantitative methods for evaluating a complex cognitive process such as understanding. Constructivism proposes complimentary techniques, such as conceptual contraposition and colloquies. We enriched lectures of a “Programming II” (CS2) course combining conceptual contraposition with program memory tracing, then we evaluated students’ understanding of programming concepts through colloquies. Results revealed that these techniques applied to the lecture are insufficient to help students develop satisfactory mental models of the C++ notional machine, and colloquies behaved as the most comprehensive traditional evaluations conducted in the course.

Situated case-based reasoning as a constructive memory model for design reasoning

This paper describes an extended case-based reasoning model that addresses the notion of situatedness in designing through constructive memory. The model is illustrated through an application for predicting the corrosion rate for a specific material on a specific building.

Mediatisation and institutions of public memory : digital storytelling and the apology

Institutions of public memory are increasingly undertaking co-creative media initiatives in which community members create content with the support of institutional expertise and resources. This paper discusses one such initiative: the State Library of Queensland’s ‘Responses to the Apology’, which used a collaborative digital storytelling methodology to co-produce seven short videos capturing individual responses to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s 2008 ‘Apology to Australia’s Indigenous Peoples’. In examining this program, we are interested not only in the juxtaposition of ‘ordinary’ responses to an ‘official’ event, but also in how the production and display of these stories might also demonstrate a larger mediatisation of public memory.

A model for enhancing assessment and teaching practice at the coalface : Insights from a Fellow-In-Residence engagement program

Australian universities are currently engaging with new governmental policies and regulations that require them to demonstrate enhanced quality and accountability in teaching and research. The development of national academic standards for learning outcomes in higher education is one such instance of this drive for excellence. These discipline-specific standards articulate the minimum, or Threshold Learning Outcomes, to be addressed by higher education institutions so that graduating students can demonstrate their achievement to their institutions, accreditation agencies, and industry recruiters. This impacts not only on the design of Engineering courses (with particular emphasis on pedagogy and assessment), but also on the preparation of academics to engage with these standards and implement them in their day-to-day teaching practice on a micro level. This imperative for enhanced quality and accountability in teaching is also significant at a meso level, for according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, about 25 per cent of teachers in Australian universities are aged 55 and above and more than 54 per cent are aged 45 and above (ABS, 2006). A number of institutions have undertaken recruitment drives to regenerate and enrich their academic workforce by appointing capacity-building research professors and increasing the numbers of early- and mid-career academics. This nationally driven agenda for quality and accountability in teaching permeates also the micro level of engineering education, since the demand for enhanced academic standards and learning outcomes requires both a strong advocacy for a shift to an authentic, collaborative, outcomes-focused education and the mechanisms to support academics in transforming their professional thinking and practice. Outcomes-focused education means giving greater attention to the ways in which the curriculum design, pedagogy, assessment approaches and teaching activities can most effectively make a positive, verifiable difference to students’ learning. Such education is authentic when it is couched firmly in the realities of learning environments, student and academic staff characteristics, and trustworthy educational research. That education will be richer and more efficient when staff works collaboratively, contributing their knowledge, experience and skills to achieve learning outcomes based on agreed objectives. We know that the school or departmental levels of universities are the most effective loci of changes in approaches to teaching and learning practices in higher education (Knight & Trowler, 2000). Heads of Schools are being increasingly entrusted with more responsibilities - in addition to setting strategic directions and managing the operational and sometimes financial aspects of their school, they are also expected to lead the development and delivery of the teaching, research and other academic activities. Guiding and mentoring individuals and groups of academics is one critical aspect of the Head of School’s role. Yet they do not always have the resources or support to help them mentor staff, especially the more junior academics. In summary, the international trend in undergraduate engineering course accreditation towards the demonstration of attainment of graduate attributes poses new challenges in addressing academic staff development needs and the assessment of learning. This paper will give some insights into the conceptual design, implementation and empirical effectiveness to date, of a Fellow-In-Residence Engagement (FIRE) program. The program is proposed as a model for achieving better engagement of academics with contemporary issues and effectively enhancing their teaching and assessment practices. It will also report on the program’s collaborative approach to working with Heads of Schools to better support academics, especially early-career ones, by utilizing formal and informal mentoring. Further, the paper will discuss possible factors that may assist the achievement of the intended outcomes of such a model, and will examine its contributions to engendering an outcomes-focussed thinking in engineering education.