Crafting a new materialist care story: Using wet wool felting to explore mattering and caring in early childhood settings

This article presents a methodological account of a postqualitative approach to research investigating entanglements among crafting experiences of wet wool felting and a story of caring in an early childhood education and care (ECEC) setting. The concept of care is understood as central to relationships in ECEC settings. Multiple theorisations shape contours of a conceptual landscape of care. Caring relationships may be envisaged as close, dyadic bonds of nurturing, or as networks of reciprocal relationships among humans, or entangled relations where care happens among humans, non-humans, and materials. From a posthumanist perspective, care stories in early childhood teaching and learning involve much more than human individuals. Early childhood practitioners, children in early childhood settings, their families, teacher educators, and policymakers can benefit from understanding how multiple, diverse components of early childhood settings continually produce care and caring relationships. New materialist theories reconceptualise care where humans, other-than-humans and materialities are constantly produced in intra-actions as temporary outcomes of entangled relations. Bringing materials into view as producing and being produced alongside humans raises possibilities for considering how care matters and how matter cares in early childhood education environments. Playfully, with curiosity, I engage with wet wool felting physically, intellectually, and emotionally. Entangled in crafting processes, I am produced as researcher, as carer and cared-for with materials. Concepts of caring and felting are multifaceted, providing rich contours of meaning. I am enmeshed in sensual experiences of thinking-making-doing, alongside some text from a research study into emotions in early childhood teaching in Aotearoa New Zealand. Contours of concepts of caring and felting are explored through crafting experiences interwoven with writing about care and caring relationships in ECEC settings

“She’s Me”: An Exploration of Pet Ownership from the Perspective of People Who Are Homeless

For many people who experience homelessness, having a pet is an important part of their lives. Although the benefit and meaning of pet ownership has been well recognized in the literature, few studies have explored its meaning from the perspectives of individuals who are homeless. This qualitative study explored the meaning of pet ownership from the perspectives of three men who previously or currently owned a pet while experiencing homelessness. In line with the chosen methodology, interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), semi-structured, in- depth interviews explored the phenomena of pet ownership. This paper is based on one of three themes from the research: human- animal bond. Findings within this theme suggest that pet ownership is a valued activity, with participants demonstrating reference to the emotional support the animals provided. Participants highlighted the reliable nature of their pets in comparison to the breakdown of previous human relationships and described the relationships as being formed out of mutual respect. Language used throughout the interviews reflected the perceived family bond participants had with their pets. From this research it is evident that pet ownership may enhance emotional well-being and also provide an important relationship for individuals experiencing homelessness. Therefore there is merit in homelessness service providers developing strategies and policies to enable persons accessing their services to keep their pets close by

The relationship between gender differences in dietary habits, neuroinflammation, and Alzheimer’s disease

Neurocognitive decline is one of the foremost dire issues in medicine today. The mechanisms by which dementia pathogenesis ensues are complicated and multifactorial, particularly in the case of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). One irrefutable, yet unexplained factor is the gender disparity in AD, in which women are disproportionately affected by AD, both in the rate and severity of the disease. Examining the multifaceted contributing causes along with unique gender dynamics in modifiable risk factors, such as diet, may lend some insight into why this disparity exists and potential paths forward. The aim of this brief narrative review is to summarize the current literature of gender differences in dietary habits and how they may relate to neuroinflammatory states that contribute to AD pathogenesis. As such, the interplay between diet, hormones, and inflammation will be discussed, along with potential interventions to inform care practices

Stellar Collisions and the Interior Structure of Blue Stragglers

Collisions of main sequence stars occur frequently in dense star clusters. In open and globular clusters, these collisions produce merger remnants that may be observed as blue stragglers. Detailed theoretical models of this process require lengthy hydrodynamic computations in three dimensions. However, a less computationally expensive approach, which we present here, is to approximate the merger process (including shock heating, hydrodynamic mixing, mass ejection, and angular momentum transfer) with simple algorithms based on conservation laws and a basic qualitative understanding of the hydrodynamics. These algorithms have been fine tuned through comparisons with the results of our previous hydrodynamic simulations. We find that the thermodynamic and chemical composition profiles of our simple models agree very well with those from recent SPH (smoothed particle hydrodynamics) calculations of stellar collisions, and the subsequent stellar evolution of our simple models also matches closely that of the more accurate hydrodynamic models. Our algorithms have been implemented in an easy to use software package, which we are making publicly available (see http://vassun.vassar.edu/~lombardi/mmas/). This software could be used in combination with realistic dynamical simulations of star clusters that must take into account stellar collisions.Comment: This revised version has 37 pages, 13 figures, 4 tables; submitted to ApJ; for associated software package, see http://vassun.vassar.edu/~lombardi/mmas/ This revised version presents additional comparisons with SPH results and slightly improved merger recipe

Young people with diabetes and their peers

Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) is amongst the most common form of chronic illness affecting young people in the UK. Self- management is crucial, but managing their T1D is often difficult for young people

Assessing the response of plant and algal biomarkers to high CO2_{2} levels

Biomarker-based reconstruction of climatic and environmental variables can and have provided great insight into the processes of the earth system. However, biomarkers are by definition produced by living organisms via complex processes of biosynthesis, and interpretation of information encoded in biomarkers relies heavily on knowledge of these processes observed in the modern. A robust understanding of the modern mechanisms underpinning biomarker behaviour is essential to accurate interpretations of their trends geologically. In particular, understanding how biomarkers and their source organisms responded to increased levels of CO$_{2}$ in the geologic record is of extreme importance for understanding how they will respond to anthropogenic climate change, and how climate mechanisms and feedbacks function in high CO$_{2}$ worlds. Since gradients of CO$_{2}$ concentration are rare in nature, observing biomarker response to CO$_{2}$ requires manipulation of environmental conditions in settings which are limited in size and complexity compared to the real world. This thesis examines the response of leaf wax n-alkane biomarkers to elevated CO$_{2}$ as part of a Free Air CO$_{2}$ Enrichment (FACE) experiment in two species over four years, with the aim of determining how, and why, plant biomarkers respond to CO$_{2}$, and what this could mean for their use in reconstructing past environments. In addition, this thesis will reconstruct atmospheric pCO$_{2}$ using the alkenone δ$^{13}$C proxy in the early Eocene: a time interval noted for its high CO$_{2}$ conditions. By examining the performance of the proxy in extreme CO$_{2}$ concentrations on geologic timescales, the underlying mechanics of the proxy can be evaluated, and the circumstances at which our understanding of alkenone biomarker response to pCO$_{2}$ breaks down can be examined. Changes to the distribution and carbon isotopic composition of leaf wax n-alkane homologues under elevated CO$_{2}$ allow for examination of a plant biomarker’s functional response to experimental CO$_{2}$ changes. This data shows that production of n-alkanes changes under elevated CO$_{2}$ in one of the two species studied: the observed changes likely acted to optimise plant response to its environment. This shows that n-alkane production can be changeable within a single generation of plants on extremely short timescales geologically, but that response is highly species-specific and cannot necessarily be extrapolated to the scale of entire catchments. It also provides qualitative evidence that some plants may adjust their production of molecules known to reduce water loss under elevated CO$_{2}$ in response to water savings made elsewhere in the plant, suggesting a hitherto undescribed feedback mechanism in plant-CO$_{2}$ relations, that may have implications for understanding of forest water use under climate change. This data also shows that biosynthetic processes act to alter the δ$^{13}$C of n-alkane biomarkers under elevated CO$_{2}$ in both studied species. Alongside previously published studies, this data suggests that plants often adjust biosynthesis of n-alkanes on short timescales in response to changes in atmospheric CO$_{2}$ concentration in ways which influence their δ$^{13}$C, but do so via multiple mechanisms. This suggests that post-photosynthetic fractionations of δ$^{13}$C should be considered when interpreting n-alkane δ$^{13}$C geologically, as these provide an additional mechanism by which n-alkane δ$^{13}$C can respond to environment geologically alongside the currently accepted model of plant δ$^{13}$C response. Finally, this thesis examines the response of alkenone biomarkers in a sediment core dating from the hot, high-CO$_{2}$ conditions of the early Eocene. The early Eocene environment represents the highest CO$_{2}$ and warmest sustained conditions of the last 66 Ma, and existing pCO$_{2}$ reconstructions give widely varying results depending on proxy used. The alkenone data presented here represent some of the earliest alkenone δ$^{13}$C data ever measured, and thus if the proxy can be successfully applied, the alkenone δ$^{13}$C-derived pCO$_{2}$ record could be extended backward through the early Eocene and could further constrain atmospheric pCO$_{2}$ reconstructions for the interval. The data presented here suggests that in these extreme conditions the commonly used assumptions made with algal biology in order to produce quantitative pCO$_{2}$ reconstructions may be inaccurate, and alkenone-producing algal biology should be regarded as more changeable on long timescales than is reflected in current data used for calibration. However, although quantitative pCO$_{2}$ reconstruction using the alkenone proxy is challenging due to extremely high uncertainty, this data provides a valuable lower constraint on pCO$_{2}$ through the interval: even with the combination of input parameters to the model that would produce the lowest pCO$_{2}$ estimations, pCO$_{2}$ levels remain at or above 1000 ppmv over the interval. This is compatible with the pCO$_{2}$ estimations for the interval made using Boron- and phytane-based proxies, but is much higher than the <700 ppmv predictions made using measurements taken from higher plant fossils. Thus, although the alkenone data presented here cannot quantify pCO$_{2}$ during this interval, it suggests that Eocene pCO$_{2}$ is best reconstructed from non-higher plant sources

Negotiations of personal professional identities by newly qualified early childhood teachers through facilitated self-study

Early childhood teachers spend their professional lives in social interactions with children, families and colleagues. Social interactions shape how people understand themselves and each other through discourses. Teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand negotiate their subjectivities, or self-understandings, within initial teacher education (ITE), professional expectations, education and society. They are shaped by historical and contemporary discourses of early childhood teaching professionalism as they gain status as qualified and registered teachers. Early childhood teachers’ understandings of their personal professional identities influence self-understandings of everyone they encounter professionally, especially young children. This poststructural qualitative collective case study investigates five newly-qualified early childhood teachers’ negotiations of their personal professional identities. My research study is based in postmodern understandings of identities as multiple, complex and dynamic, and subjectivities as self-understandings formed within discourses. In contrast, institutionally-directed reflective writing in early childhood ITE can reflect modernist perspectives that assume essentialist, knowable identities. Tensions exist between my postmodern theoretical framework and my data collection strategy of facilitated self-study, an approach that is usually based on the modernist assumption that there is a self to investigate and know. My participants explored their subjectivities through focus group discussions, individual interviews, and reflective writing, including institutionally-directed reflective writing. Three dominant discourses of early childhood education emerged from data analysis that drew on Foucault’s theoretical ideas: the authority discourse, the relational professionalism discourse and the identity work discourse. Positioned in these discourses, all participants regarded themselves as qualified and knowledgeable, skilled at professional relationships and as reflective practitioners. They actively negotiated tensions between professional expectations and understandings of their multiple, complex and changing identities. I concluded that these participants negotiated understandings of their personal professional identities within three dominant discourses through discursive practices of discipline and governmentality, seeking pleasurable subject positions, and agentic negotiation of tensions and contradictions between available subjectivities

Measuring storage and loss moduli using optical tweezers: broadband microrheology

We present an experimental procedure to perform broadband microrheological measurements with optical tweezers. A generalised Langevin equation is adopted to relate the time-dependent trajectory of a particle in an imposed flow to the frequency-dependent moduli of the complex fluid. This procedure allows us to measure the material linear viscoelastic properties across the widest frequency range achievable with optical tweezers.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Characteristics of successful risk management in product design

The paper reports results of one of the largest empirical studies to-date on the impact of design risk management practices on product design success. Through a survey of 224 practices, 38 (in 7 categories) where found to be statistically significant for at least 3 out of 4 performance metrics. The categories are: 1. Organizational Design Experience; 2. Risk Management Personnel and Resources; 3. Tailoring and Integration of Risk Management Process; 4. Risk-Based Decision Making; 5. Specific Mitigation Actions; 6. Monitoring and Review; and 7. Other ISO Risk Management Principles.King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (Center for Clean Water and Clean Energy at MIT and KFUPM (R11-DMN-09))Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Lean Advancement Initiativ