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This paper presents a systematic review of 52 empirical studies of formally-organized and informally-developed online teacher communities from the early 2000s to the present time. Focusing on the social as well as technological aspects of online participation, the review explores how teacher communities are shaped by broader contexts of teaching. The review shows that while formally-organized and informally-developed communities address different needs amongst teachers and support different outcomes, they also share several common characteristics. Indeed, regardless of type, online communities can be a valuable means of developing supportive and collegial professional practices. That said, more evidence is required on the specific collaborative merits of teachers' online interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During early literacy skills development, rhyming is an important indicator of the phonological precursors required for reading. To determine if neural signatures of rhyming are apparent in early childhood, we recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) from 3- to 5-year-old, preliterate children (N = 62) in an auditory prime-target nonword rhyming paradigm (e.g., bly - gry , blane - vox ). Overall, nonrhyming targets elicited a larger negativity (N450) than rhyming targets over posterior regions. In contrast, rhyming targets elicited a larger negativity than nonrhyming targets over fronto-lateral sites. The amplitude of the two rhyming effects was correlated, such that a larger posterior effect occurred with a smaller anterior effect. To determine whether these neural signatures of rhyming related to phonological awareness, we divided the children into two groups based on phonological awareness scores while controlling for age and socioeconomic status. The posterior rhyming effect was stronger and more widely distributed in the group with better phonological awareness, whereas differences between groups for the anterior effect were small and not significant. This pattern of results suggests that the rhyme processes indexed by the anterior effect are developmental precursors to those indexed by the posterior effect. Overall, these findings demonstrate early establishment of distributed neurocognitive networks for rhyme processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores teachers' reflections on the competences that come into play in technology-mediated teaching activities. Underpinned by educational design research, the collaboration between researchers and teachers followed a methodological design involving three iterative phases: (1) workshops in which teachers and researchers collaborated to develop instructional scenarios involving digital technologies, (2) lessons enacting instructional scenarios, and (3) reflective discussions based on video sequences from the instructional scenarios. The researchers selected video clips of instructional sequences involving so-called critical incidents where the teachers encountered some kind of challenge in the technology-mediated teaching activities. The unit of analysis comprised transitional episodes identified in the reflective discussions, where temporal shifts took place as the teachers elaborated on challenges and oriented towards future actions. Theoretically, the study is based on sociocultural perspectives, acknowledging social interaction as collective thinking. To analytically scrutinise temporal shifts in the interaction, interaction analysis was employed. The findings show that while the elicited video clips supported retrospective reflections, the collaborative context with colleagues and researchers interacting supported prospective reflections. These findings are discussed in terms of how the temporal shifts in the reflections can analytically be understood as teachers' envisioned or enacted transformative agency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Measurement of breath alcohol concentration is strongly influenced by timing and the breathing pattern. In particular, shallow expiration and hyperventilation leads to underestimation of the breath alcohol concentration. In the present study, expirograms of alcohol, water and carbon dioxide were recorded in 30 healthy individuals at various breathing manoeuvres (tidal volume, slow maximum and vital capacity expiration, breath holding, and hyperventilation). Estimation of the end expiratory alcohol concentration with the use of simultaneously measured carbon dioxide was shown to reverse the tendency of underestimation at shallow expiration and hyperventilation. These findings indicate that breath alcohol estimations can be performed at shorter expiration time and reduced expired volume compared to existing alcolocks. This is believed to improve their usability and to prevent a possible route for manipulation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Potassium channel openers (KCOs) decrease insulin secretion from β-cells. Some KCOs also protect against damage to β-cell function and type 1 diabetes in animal models. Previously we have found that the KCO NNC 55-0118 counteracted islet cell dysfunction, and this was associated with a lowering of the mitochondrial membrane potential (Δψ). Presently we aimed to explore whether inhibition of insulin secretion per se or rather inhibition of mitochondrial function correlates to counteraction of β-cell suppression. For this we used two novel KCOs (NNC 55-0321 and NNC 55-0462), which at certain concentrations have different actions regarding insulin secretion and the Δψ, with NNC 55-0321 being a potent inhibitor of Δψ and NNC 55-0462 being a potent inhibitor of insulin secretion. At 10μM NNC 55-0321, but not with NNC 55-0462, the islet ATP content and ATP/ADP ratio was acutely decreased. This was accompanied by a complete protection against streptozotocin-induced suppression of islet insulin secretion using the former KCO. In cardiac research KCOs have been used to induce an ischemic preconditioning (IPC) response. In line with an IPC-like mechanism we found that NNC 55-0321 induced an initial free oxygen radical formation, PKC-ɛ isoform activation and a subsequent phosphorylation of the survival promoting factor Akt. Thus, KCOs may elicit mitochondrial events that resemble classical IPC seen in cardiomyocytes, and this could explain the enhanced islet cell function observed. KCOs with this property may be particularly interesting compounds to study as a rescue therapy during acute episodes of β-cell suppression/destruction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In rodent islets, exposure to interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and interferon-γ (IFN-γ) induces expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and subsequent nitric oxide (NO) formation, which may inhibit islet function. However, cytokines may also induce NO-independent islet suppression. The present aim was to investigate the effect of cytokine exposure to iNOS deficient (iNOS−/−) mouse islets on various islet functions. Islets from iNOS−/− and wt mice exposed to IL-1β or (IL-1β+IFN-γ) for 2–20h showed different kinetics of glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. In iNOS−/− islets, IL-1β at high glucose induced a delayed and prolonged stimulation of insulin secretion, and this was followed by an increase in phospholipase D mRNA expression. After 6 and 24h, proinsulin convertase 1 and 2 (PC1 and PC2) mRNA expression was suppressed and proinsulin secretion increased from wt islets. In iNOS−/− islets, PC1 expression was recovered after 24h, and there was no difference in proinsulin secretion. PDX-1 mRNA expression was suppressed independent of NO-formation. We conclude that cytokines induce both NO-dependent and NO-independent functional inhibition of murine β-cells. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Cytokines may be involved in islet destruction during Type 1 diabetes. Exposure to interleukin-1β (IL-1β) or IL-1β plus interferon-γ (IFN-γ) of rodent islets induces expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2). Subsequent formation of nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) may impair β-cell function. Using iNOS deficient (iNOS -/-) islets, we have further investigated the relation between NO formation and PGE2 induction. We found that iNOS -/- islets responded with a reduced PGE2 formation following IL-1β or (IL-1β + IFN-γ) treatment compared to wild-type (wt) islets, while COX-2 mRNA or protein content were unchanged. By the addition of an NO donor together with IL-1β, PGE2 formation could be stimulated from iNOS -/- islets. We conclude that the lowered capacity of PGE2 formation observed from cytokine exposed iNOS -/- islets is due to a decreased stimulation of PGE2 formation by the COX-2 enzyme in the absence of NO, rather then differences in expressed COX-2 protein. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The cytokine IL-15 might contribute to inflammatory processes, but also act as an inhibitor of apoptosis in different cell lines. Furthermore, it has been reported that islet cells express IL-15 after exposure to proinflammatory cytokines, which could indicate a defence reaction. We aimed in this study to investigate if IL-15 could influence cell death and/or functional impairment of rat pancreatic islets induced by in vitro exposure to a combination of cytokines (25 U/ml IL-1β+1000 U/ml IFN-γ+1000 U/ml TNF-α). The effect of IL-15 itself on the function of rat pancreatic islets was also studied. Isolated rat islets were exposed for 24 h to IL-15 at different concentrations in the presence or absence of the cytokine mixture. The cytokines caused a strong inhibition of glucose-stimulated insulin release and the glucose oxidation rates. IL-15 (0.1–10 ng/ml) could not prevent the functional suppression caused by these effects. The cytokine combination caused a decline in whole islet DNA content and a marked increase in non-viable cells analysed by propidium iodide (PI) and annexin V staining. However, there was no significant decrease in whole islet DNA content when IL-15 (0.1 or 1.0 ng/ml) was present together with the cytokine mixture. On the other hand, IL-15 failed to influence the increase in cell death after PI and annexin V staining. If anything, IL-15 alone had a slight stimulatory effect (glucose oxidation rate) on islet cells. In conclusion, we can not exclude that IL-15 might antagonize some cytokine mediated cell death in islet cells, however, IL-15 fails to counteract functional suppression induced by cytokines. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article highlights the importance of cloud computing in education and explores the environment surrounding schools' adoption of cloud services. Based on the technology leadership literature, the study investigates the beliefs and perceptions of school principals toward cloud computing. Principals of primary and high schools in Sweden were invited to participate in an online survey and 342 responses were received. Results suggest principals of Swedish schools believe the main benefits of cloud computing to be its ability to allow users to access data and software anywhere as long as there is Internet access and its ability to facilitate sharing of learning materials and data. The biggest obstacle is the concerns about security and privacy of data. Moreover, principals of public schools perceived more obstacles than those of private schools. Results also indicate a misalignment of beliefs between the principals and other stakeholders such as the municipalities' information technology (IT) departments and lawyers. This lack of shared views is another major obstacle for cloud computing adoption. Results provide useful first-hand information to municipalities, school administrators, and teachers on the beliefs and perceptions of the principals toward this new technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role that moderation plays in the effective functioning of online communities is relatively well studied in relation to both general free-time social media groups and discussion groups that are part of formal educational and professional learning initiatives. However, at the intersection of these domains, there are a growing number of large-scale informally-developed professional-learning groups. While this kind of group has been studied more generally, little attention has been paid to the particular moderation concerns at play in these hybrid online spaces. In this study, we examine moderation over a three-year period in a teacher-professional Facebook group with over 13,000 members. Maintaining an interpretivist stance while drawing on an exploratory statistical analysis of trace data to identify critical instances in the activity of the group, we adopt a Goffmanian approach to examine how moderation is performed. Based on this analysis, we find that moderation in the case group involved a particular balance of three different moderation concerns. In addition to the facilitation role that moderators are often described as having in groups associated with formal educational and professional learning initiatives, our findings show that moderation can also involve the monitoring of group norms more commonly associated with general free-time social media groups and the third moderation concern of acting as an expert member. • Large-scale informal professional-development groups on social media have a particular balance of moderator concerns. • Volunteer moderators balance monitoring, facilitation and expert membership. • Competing moderation concerns reveal tensions associated with sustaining community participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]