Assessing Potential Cognitive Precursors to Math Anxiety: Non-Symbolic Operations and Symbolic Ordinality in Adults

Math anxiety, or a sense of dread related to performing mathematics, affects a wide population of students and adults, but we do not fully understand how math anxiety comes into being. One possibility is the Reduced Capacities Theory, which suggests that natural variations in numeric/spatial capacities are a causal factor in math anxiety. To understand how these numeric capacities relate to math anxiety in adults, this work focuses on three areas that remain underexplored. Chapter 2 focuses on performing operations on nonsymbolic quantities, which has not yet been tested in relation to math anxiety. We tested the hypothesis that performing addition and subtraction with dots using the Approximate Number System would relate to math anxiety. We asked participants to complete a math anxiety survey, two measures of working memory, a timed symbolic arithmetic test, and a non-symbolic “approximate arithmetic” task, in which participants performed addition and subtraction on dot arrays. Using Bayesian analysis and multiple regression, we found evidence for there being no relation between approximate arithmetic performance and math anxiety, suggesting that difficulties performing operations does not constitute a basic number ability linked to math anxiety. In chapter 3, we measured the relation between number and letter ordinal processing and math anxiety. In separate blocks, we asked participants to determine if triads of numbers and letters were in order (e.g., 4 5 6) or out of order (e.g., C E A) to measure response time and accuracy. Participants also completed a timed arithmetic test to understand the relation between ordinality, arithmetic, and math anxiety. Several hypotheses were assessed including the specificity of math anxiety to numbers (comparing number ordinal trials to letter trials. We found that there was no relation between math anxiety on any measure except that high math anxiety related to slower responses to number ordinal judgement, and that math anxiety mediated the relation between ordinal judgement performance and arithmetic. Together, these data suggest that ordinal processes are unlikely to be a causal factor for math anxiety, despite being critical for early mathematics learning. In chapter 4, we assessed responses to counting sequences and inhibitory control in relation to math anxiety. We developed a modified Go/No-Go task in which we manipulated trial length, whether they responded to completed vs “violated” (e.g., 21 22 23 vs 21 22 24, respectively) sequences, and distance (violated being +1 or +4, between subjects). Participants also completed a math anxiety survey. We assessed response time, and accuracy to understand counting sequence representation’s relation to MA, and false alarm rates to understand inhibition’s relation to MA. We found that the high MA group was significantly slower to respond when number to respond to was not consecutive. There were no relations between MA and any other measure. When viewed together, these data suggest that the Reduced Capacities theory may not be a viable framework for understanding the origin of math anxiety, as all results can be more easily explained by the effects of anxiety on performance. However, because these data were all collected with adults, it remains plausible that children who go on to develop MA may struggle with these capacities during early schooling and see equal gains as their low MA peers. We end by suggesting several potential avenues of research related to MA, focusing on students’ and adults’ emotional interpretation of their math experiences

You stab my back, I'll stab yours: Management experience and perceptions of organization political behaviour

This paper reports the findings of a survey of 250 British managers, exploring their experience and perceptions of organization politics. Political behaviour appeared to be common. Most managers viewed political behaviour as ethical and necessary, and aspects of organizational effectiveness, change, resourcing and reputation were attributed to political tactics, although 80% had no training in this area. Tactics experienced frequently included networking, using 'key players' to support initiatives, making friends with power brokers, bending the rules, and self-promotion. Tactics experienced as rare, but not unknown, included misinformation, spreading rumours, and keeping 'dirt files' for blackmail. A consistent pattern of responses concerning willingness to engage in politics, the need to act ruthlessly and the appropriateness of reciprocity when faced with political behaviour implies an attitude of 'you stab my back, I'll stab yours'. Findings are discussed using an 'antecedents–behaviours–consequences' framework of perceived organization politics to guide rese

A Heretic from a Good Family? A New Look at Why Levi b. Abraham b. Ḥayim Was Hounded

Levi b. Abraham b. Ḥayim, a popularizer of rationalist philosophy active around 1300 in Occitania, was identified as a transgressor by proponents of a ban on the study of philosophy. The nature of Levi's transgressive activities and the reasons why he was targeted have remained elusive, though a consensus view suggests that his socioeconomic standing and genuinely radical ideas contributed to his being singled out. In fact, a careful reassessment of the extant sources demonstrates that Levi, as an established member of the elite class, was an inadvertent target, identified in the course of a misunderstanding between Solomon Ibn Adret and his confidant in Perpignan, Crescas Vidal. No more radical than others and one of many popularizers of rationalism, Levi became a convenient exemplar and test case for ban proponents. They struggled to define the nature of Levi's potentially dangerous effects on his students, however, and Levi remained an equivocal figure even to his detractors. Though vilified and forced out of the home of his patron, Levi was accorded basic respect and often defended; he was never subject to excommunication, censure, or any type of halakhic prosecution

Immune modulation by group B Streptococcus influences host susceptibility to urinary tract infection by uropathogenic Escherichia coli

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is most often caused by uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC). UPEC inoculation into the female urinary tract (UT) can occur through physical activities that expose the UT to an inherently polymicrobial periurethral, vaginal, or gastrointestinal flora. We report that a common urogenital inhabitant and opportunistic pathogen, group B Streptococcus (GBS), when present at the time of UPEC exposure, undergoes rapid UPEC-dependent exclusion from the murine urinary tract, yet it influences acute UPEC-host interactions and alters host susceptibility to persistent outcomes of bladder and kidney infection. GBS presence results in increased UPEC titers in the bladder lumen during acute infection and reduced inflammatory responses of murine macrophages to live UPEC or purified lipopolysaccharide (LPS), phenotypes that require GBS mimicry of host sialic acid residues. Taken together, these studies suggest that despite low titers, the presence of GBS at the time of polymicrobial UT exposure may be an overlooked risk factor for chronic pyelonephritis and recurrent UTI in susceptible groups, even if it is outcompeted and thus absent by the time of diagnosis

Early hospital discharge of infants born to group B streptococci‐positive mothers: a decision analysis

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90120/1/j.1471-0528.2011.03249.x.pd

In search of 'managerial work' : past, present and future of an analytical category

Based on a comprehensive review of literature, the paper examines how ‘managerial work’ as a fluid analytical category has been approached methodologically, theoretically, and empirically over the last 60+ years. In particular, we highlight the existence of competing scholarly understandings regarding its nature, performance, meaning, and politics. We suggest that subsequent empirical investigations have too often worked, methodologically and theoretically, to slot in, and thus effectively reduce, the term to a particular pre-existing box, rather than exploring open-endedly what and how, but also why of ‘managerial work’ as a distinct mode of situated ordering. Having represented the concept’s past and present by identifying four distinct research approaches reflected in representative publications, we suggest more attention should be devoted to a mode of analytical departure that promises to directly address suggested shortcomings in the literature. Specifically, we argue that much could be gained if contemporary notions of practice are brought into the study of managerial work. To this end, we outline the contours of a practice-based approach as a sensitizing framework for understanding managerial work, by highlighting the situated, relational, sociomaterial, meaning-making, and consequence-oriented analytical foci the approach suggests, and suggesting a number of conjoint research questions, as well as acknowledging subsequent limitations

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE CONTENT OF IRON AND COPPER IN THE SOILS AND WINES FROM THE LOCAL VINEYARDS OF THE CONTINENTAL CROATIA: A PRELIMINARY RESEARCH

Crvena i bijela vina iz domaće proizvodnje i pripadajuća tla vinograda uzorkovana su na području kontinentalne Hrvatske. Uzorci tla (pseudoglej i rendzina) razvijeni su na pliokvartarnim nevezanim naslagama šljunaka, pijesaka, siltova i gline ili laporovitim vapnencima. U tlima razvijenim na nevezanim naslagama izmjerene su pH vrijednosti u rasponu od 5,4 do 6,6, dok je maksimum od 7,5 izmjereno u tlu razvijenom na laporovitim vapnencima. U uzorcima tla i vina određen je ukupni sadržaj bakra i željeza pomoću plamene atomske apsorpcije (FAAS). Rezultati ispitivanja uspoređeni su s maksimalno dopuštenim koncentracijama (MDK) prema pripadajućim pravilnicima Republike Hrvatske. Vrijednosti bakra povišene su u svim uzorcima vina (od 1,7× do 2,0× u odnosu na MDK) i u dva uzorka tla (do maksimalno 2,4× u odnosu na MDK), što je najvjerojatnije posljedica intenzivne primjene agrokemikalija u vinogradarstvu. Povišena je i koncentracija željeza u tlu i pripadajućem vinu na jednom od lokaliteta s tlom niskog pH (5,5). Preliminarna istraživanja ukazuju na moguću povezanost između sadržaja elemenata u tlu razvijenom na određenoj litološkoj podlozi i vinu. Povišene vrijednosti bakra u vinima domaće proizvodnje ukazuju na potrebu edukacije stanovništva o upotrebi eko-agrokemikalija. Potrebna su detaljnija istraživanjima sa ekstenzivnim uzorkovanjem i fizikalno-kemijskom obradom uzoraka tla.Samples of red and white wine together with corresponding soils from the domestic vineyards of the continental Croatia were selected for analysis. Vineyard soil cover (Stagnosols and Rendzina) is developed over the Plio-Quaternary non-consolidated deposits (gravel, sand, silt, clay) or marly limestones. Within soils overlying non-consolidated deposits containing clays pH value range from 5.4 to 6.6, whereas maximum measured pH of 7.5 is attributed to soil developed over marly limestones. Soil and wine samples was determined by the total content of copper and iron using flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). Results are compared to the maximum permitted concentrations (MPC) by the relevant Croatian regulations. Copper concentrations are elevated within all measured wines (from 1.7× to 2.0× with respect to MPC) and two soil samples (up to 2.4× with respect to MPC), due to extensive use of agrochemicals in the vineyards. Increased concentrations of iron within wine and corresponding soil were determined at locality with low soil pH (5.5). Preliminary research demonstrates a plausible link between the content of elements within soils developed over a specific lithology and associated wines. Increased copper concentration within wines of domestic production points to need for education of population in line with use of eco-agrochemicals. Further extensive studies with detailed physico-chemical processing of soil samples are needed

The frequency of genes encoding three putative group B streptococcal virulence factors among invasive and colonizing isolates

BACKGROUND: Group B Streptococcus (GBS) causes severe infections in very young infants and invasive disease in pregnant women and adults with underlying medical conditions. GBS pathogenicity varies between and within serotypes, with considerable variation in genetic content between strains. Three proteins, Rib encoded by rib, and alpha and beta C proteins encoded by bca and bac, respectively, have been suggested as potential vaccine candidates for GBS. It is not known, however, whether these genes occur more frequently in invasive versus colonizing GBS strains. METHODS: We screened 162 invasive and 338 colonizing GBS strains from different collections using dot blot hybridization to assess the frequency of bca, bac and rib. All strains were defined by serotyping for capsular type, and frequency differences were tested using the Chi square test. RESULTS: Genes encoding the beta C protein (bac) and Rib (rib) occurred at similar frequencies among invasive and colonizing isolates, bac (20% vs. 23%), and rib (28% vs. 20%), while the alpha (bca) C protein was more frequently found in colonizing strains (46%) vs, invasive (29%). Invasive strains were associated with specific serotype/gene combinations. CONCLUSION: Novel virulence factors must be identified to better understand GBS disease

Leadership and charisma: a desire that cannot speak its name?

Leadership has proved impossible to define, despite decades of research and a huge number of publications. This article explores managers’ accounts of leadership, and shows that they find it difficult to talk about the topic, offering brief definitions but very little narrative. That which was said/sayable provides insights into what was unsaid/ unsayable. Queer theory facilitates exploration of that which is difficult to talk about, and applying it to the managers’ talk allows articulation of their lay theory of leadership. This is that leaders evoke a homoerotic desire in followers such that followers are seduced into achieving organizational goals. The leader’s body, however, is absent from the scene of seduction, so organizational heteronormativity remains unchallenged. The article concludes by arguing that queer and critical leadership theorists together could turn leadership into a reverse discourse and towards a politics of pleasure at work