Parents' experiences of mathematics learning at home during the COVID-19 pandemic: a typology of parental engagement in mathematics education.

The COVID pandemic disrupted the schooling of students worldwide resulting in many having had a period of at-home learning. Many parents found themselves assuming responsibility for supporting their children's at-home learning. Parents often find it difficult to support their children's mathematics learning compared with other curriculum areas. There has been limited research exploring parental engagement in mathematics education generally, and little into parental engagement in mathematics education during the COVID pandemic. This paper examines how parents supported their child's mathematics education during the school closures and identifies the factors that impacted this engagement. The Ecologies of Parental Engagement (EPE) model was used to help describe the engagement of different parents in mathematics education during the school closures and to examine the way the home space and available capital shaped parental engagement. Eight parents were selected from a larger Australian study that explored the impact of the pandemic-induced period of at-home schooling on primary school mathematics and science. One-on-one narrative interviews were conducted online with participants. Analysis identified three categories of parental engagement: monitors, facilitators, and enhancers. Parents in each category responded to their role in at-home learning differently, and accessed and activated different capital to support their child's at-home learning in mathematics during the pandemic. Results highlight the value of emotional capital, as well as knowledge of mathematics and mathematics education, with implications for schools hoping to engage parents in mathematics learning. The study offers a typology to be explored in future research concerning parental engagement in mathematics education.

Comparison of the effects of propofol and alfaxalone on the electrocardiogram of dogs, with particular reference to QT interval.

Cardiac electrical activity is often altered by administration of anesthetic drugs. While the effects of propofol in this regard have previously been described in dogs, to date, there are no reports of the effect of alfaxalone. This study investigated the impact of both propofol and alfaxalone on the ECG of 60 dogs, after premedication with acepromazine and methadone. Heart rate increased significantly in both groups. The PR and QRS intervals were significantly increased following propofol while with alfaxalone the QRS duration was significantly increased and ST segment depression was observed. The QT and JT interval were significantly shorter following induction with alfaxalone, but, when corrected (c) for heart rate, QTc and JTc in both groups were significantly greater following induction. When comparing the magnitude of change between groups, the change in RR interval was greater in the alfaxalone group. The change in both QT and JT intervals were significantly greater following alfaxalone, but when QTc and JTc intervals were compared, there were no significant differences between the two drugs. The similarly increased QTc produced by both drugs may suggest comparable proarrhythmic effects.

Kinematic Analysis Using 3D Motion Capture of Drinking Task in People With and Without Upper-extremity Impairments.

Kinematic analysis is a powerful method for objective assessment of upper extremity movements in a three-dimensional (3D) space. Three-dimensional motion capture with an optoelectronic camera system is considered as golden standard for kinematic movement analysis and is increasingly used as outcome measure to evaluate the movement performance and quality after an injury or disease involving upper extremity movements. This article describes a standardized protocol for kinematic analysis of drinking task applied in individuals with upper extremity impairments after stroke. The drinking task incorporates reaching, grasping and lifting a cup from a table to take a drink, placing the cup back, and moving the hand back to the edge of the table. The sitting position is standardized to the individual's body size and the task is performed in a comfortable self-paced speed and compensatory movements are not constrained. The intention is to keep the task natural and close to a real-life situation to improve the ecological validity of the protocol. A 5-camera motion capture system is used to gather 3D coordinate positions from 9 retroreflective markers positioned on anatomical landmarks of the arm, trunk, and face. A simple single marker placement is used to ensure the feasibility of the protocol in clinical settings. Custom-made Matlab software provides automated and fast analyses of movement data. Temporal kinematics of movement time, velocity, peak velocity, time of peak velocity, and smoothness (number of movement units) along with spatial angular kinematics of shoulder and elbow joint as well as trunk movements are calculated. The drinking task is a valid assessment for individuals with moderate and mild upper extremity impairment. The construct, discriminative and concurrent validity along with responsiveness (sensitivity to change) of the kinematic variables obtained from the drinking task have been established.

A Landscape-Scale, Applied Fire Management Experiment Promotes Recovery of a Population of the Threatened Gouldian Finch, Erythrura gouldiae, in Australia's Tropical Savannas.

Fire is an integral part of savanna ecology and changes in fire patterns are linked to biodiversity loss in savannas worldwide. In Australia, changed fire regimes are implicated in the contemporary declines of small mammals, riparian species, obligate-seeding plants and grass seed-eating birds. Translating this knowledge into management to recover threatened species has proved elusive. We report here on a landscape-scale experiment carried out by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) on Mornington Wildlife Sanctuary in northwest Australia. The experiment was designed to understand the response of a key savanna bird guild to fire, and to use that information to manage fire with the aim of recovering a threatened species population. We compared condition indices among three seed-eating bird species--one endangered (Gouldian finch) and two non-threatened (long-tailed finch and double-barred finch)--from two large areas (> 2,830 km2) with initial contrasting fire regimes ('extreme': frequent, extensive, intense fire; versus 'benign': less frequent, smaller, lower intensity fires). Populations of all three species living with the extreme fire regime had condition indices that differed from their counterparts living with the benign fire regime, including higher haematocrit levels in some seasons (suggesting higher levels of activity required to find food), different seasonal haematocrit profiles, higher fat scores in the early wet season (suggesting greater food uncertainty), and then lower muscle scores later in the wet season (suggesting prolonged food deprivation). Gouldian finches also showed seasonally increasing stress hormone concentrations with the extreme fire regime. Cumulatively, these patterns indicated greater nutritional stress over many months for seed-eating birds exposed to extreme fire regimes. We tested these relationships by monitoring finch condition over the following years, as AWC implemented fire management to produce the 'benign' fire regime throughout the property. The condition indices of finch populations originally living with the extreme fire regime shifted to resemble those of their counterparts living with the benign fire regime. This research supports the hypothesis that fire regimes affect food resources for savanna seed-eating birds, with this impact mediated through a range of grass species utilised by the birds over different seasons, and that fire management can effectively moderate that impact. This work provides a rare example of applied research supporting the recovery of a population of a threatened species.

A high-throughput microchromatography platform for quantitative analytical scale protein sample preparation.

Protein analysis (using either specific protein quantitation by methods such as HPLC and immunoassays or structural analysis by methods such as LC-MS) usually requires significant sample preparation, including quantitative purification of the target protein from complex sample matrices and potentially enzymatic treatment or labeling. We have developed platform for high-throughput microchromatography, capable of running 96 or more small volume samples in parallel, producing from 10 pg to 100 µg of purified protein from each sample. The platform is based on disposable cartridge devices with 5 µL packed bed of resin. The cartridges may be operated as spin columns or run on a modified 96-channel liquid handler with ultra-low dead volume syringes that directly connect to the cartridges, providing very precisely controlled positive-displacement flow control. A major application is quantitative purification of target proteins using affinity or physical chromatography. Using large diameter nonporous beads, standard microplate enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay reagents can be used to perform 30-min immunoassays. Enzymatic digestion methods have also been developed on the system for application in glycan profiling.