Discipline ranks as one of the major concerns expressed by the public about schools and the education system. These concerns afe mirrored in the often dramatic coverage by the media of stories about unruly students, bullying
and violence in classrooms and on playgrounds around the country, Many are left with the impression that schools are in a state of crisis and teachers are losing a battle to maintain order. This paper examines the question of whether there is a crisis of discipline in Australian schools. It does so within the context of an international perspective on discipline in schools, and with particular attention to the role of the media in creating andfostering a distorted view of the situation.
Classroom management rates highly as one of the major concerns and problems experienced by techers. Unfortunately, evidence of the extent and nature of management problems, particularly data related to behaviourally and emotionally disturbed children in classrooms is conflicting. The result is that differences in opinion exist as to the complexity and magnitude of the interventions required to deal with such children. This study investigates the proposition that extreme behaviour problems are rare in primary classrooms and that procedures for preventive management are sufficiently powerful to alleviate most classroom behaviour disturbances.
Compared with other Western countries Australia stands out as having one of the most highly mobile populations. Despite this, there is very little recognition of this phenomenon and its social and educational effects. School personnel are particularly culpable in this regard, maintaining an image of schooling as a system focussed on relatively stable class groups. The available data, however, paint a very different picture, and one which compels the attention of not only educators but also a variety of individuals from the helping professions and welfare agencies. This article explores the nature of student mobility, its effects on children, and their adjustment to school.
Yersinia pseudotuberculosis, a gastro-intestinal bacterium, produces three closely related T cell superantigens, YPMa, YPMb and YPMc, which have no significant sequence similarity to other proteins, let alone other bacterial superantigens. Y. pseudotuberculosisderived mitogen (YPM) has been shown to play a role in the pathogenesis of human and animal Y. pseudotuberculosis infection. The three-dimensional structure of YPMa, as determined by X-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, exhibits a jelly roll fold, a structural motif not observed in other superantigens. YPMa is structurally most similar to virus capsid proteins and members of the tumour necrosis factor (TNF) superfamily. In the crystal structure, YPMa forms a trimer, another feature shared with virus capsid proteins and TNF superfamily proteins. However, in solution YPMa exists as a monomer, and any functional relevance of the trimer observed in the crystals is yet to be established. Structures of YPM bound to the T cell receptor and/or the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) are not yet available and mapping of existing mutagenesis data onto the three-dimensional structure of YPMa did not reveal potential T cell receptor/MHC binding sites. Knowledge of the structure will aid the design of functional studies aimed at further characterizing this superantigen.
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