The Concept of Culture in Critical Mathematics Education

© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018. This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of a chapter published in The Philosophy of Mathematics Education Today. The final authenticated version is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77760-3A well-known critique in the research literature of critical mathematics education suggests that framing educational questions in cultural terms can encourage ethnic-cultural essentialism, obscure conflicts within cultures and promote an ethnographic or anthropological stance towards learners. Nevertheless, we believe that some of the obstacles to learning mathematics are cultural. ‘Stereotype threat’, for example, has a basis in culture. Consequently, the aims of critical mathematics education cannot be seriously pursued without including a cultural approach in educational research. We argue that an adequate conception of culture is available and should include normative/descriptive and material/ideal dyads as dialectical moments

First proton-proton collisions at the LHC as observed with the ALICE detector: measurement of the charged-particle pseudorapidity density at root s=900 GeV

-On 23rd November 2009, during the early commissioning of the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), two counter-rotating proton bunches were circulated for the first time concurrently in the machine, at the LHC injection energy of 450 GeV per beam. Although the proton intensity was very low, with only one pilot bunch per beam, and no systematic attempt was made to optimize the collision optics, all LHC experiments reported a number of collision candidates. In the ALICE experiment, the collision region was centred very well in both the longitudinal and transverse directions and 284 events were recorded in coincidence with the two passing proton bunches. The events were immediately reconstructed and analyzed both online and offline. We have used these events to measure the pseudorapidity density of charged primary particles in the central region. In the range vertical bar eta vertical bar S collider. They also illustrate the excellent functioning and rapid progress of the LHC accelerator, and of both the hardware and software of the ALICE experiment, in this early start-up phase

The Wide-field Spectroscopic Telescope (WST) Science White Paper

The Wide-field Spectroscopic Telescope (WST) is proposed as a new facility dedicated to the efficient delivery of spectroscopic surveys. This white paper summarises the initial concept as well as the corresponding science cases. WST will feature simultaneous operation of a large field-of-view (3 sq. degree), a high multiplex (20,000) multi-object spectrograph (MOS) and a giant 3x3 sq. arcmin integral field spectrograph (IFS). In scientific capability these requirements place WST far ahead of existing and planned facilities. Given the current investment in deep imaging surveys and noting the diagnostic power of spectroscopy, WST will fill a crucial gap in astronomical capability and work synergistically with future ground and space-based facilities. This white paper shows that WST can address outstanding scientific questions in the areas of cosmology; galaxy assembly, evolution, and enrichment, including our own Milky Way; origin of stars and planets; time domain and multi-messenger astrophysics. WST's uniquely rich dataset will deliver unforeseen discoveries in many of these areas. The WST Science Team (already including more than 500 scientists worldwide) is open to the all astronomical community. To register in the WST Science Team please visit https://www.wstelescope.com/for-scientists/participat

Isolated limb infusion for malignant melanoma: Predictors of response and outcome

Purpose Isolated limb infusion (ILI) is an alternative to isolated limb perfusion (ILP) for the treatment of unresectable limb melanoma recurrence. The aims of this study were to determine the response rates of unresectable local and/or in-transit melanoma of the upper or lower limb to ILI and to identify factors predictive of survival. Methodology A prospective database identified 74 patients (35 male and 39 female) with local and/or in-transit melanoma recurrence without metastatic disease who underwent hyperthermic ILI with melphalan at a single institution between January 1996 and December 2008. Three patients could not be evaluated for response. Median follow-up was 34 months. Results Of the 74 patients, the majority had N2c disease (57/74, 67%), while 17/74 (33%) patients had N3 disease. Median maximum temperature achieved was 38.1°C and median tourniquet time was 32.5 min. Wieberdink III/IV complications occurred following 7/74 (10%) ILI and were associated with higher limb volumes and higher total melphalan dose. Complete response (CR) was seen following 17/71 (24%) ILI and the partial response rate was 30% (22/71). The median duration of CR was 43 months. Univariable analyses found that limb volume >8.0 l and maximum limb temperature >38.5°C were the only independent factors predictive for a CR following ILI. Multivariate analyses identified CR and positive lymph nodes as the only independent prognostic factors for melanoma-specific survival. Conclusions Patients who obtain CR have significantly improved survival compared with nonresponders. The challenge remains to improve CR rates and prospectively identify responders