AFLP fingerprint analysis of hybrid salamanders in the Missouri Caverns section of Onondaga Cave

Two species and one subspecies of salamander in the genus Eurycea, two species of Plethodon and one species of Typhlotriton (recently considered to be Eurycea) salamander currently reside in an area of Onondaga Cave known as the Missouri Caverns section. Due to the presence of two known interbreeding subspecies of salamanders, Eurycea Longicauda (Long-tailed salamander) and Eurycea longicauda melanopleura (Dark-sided salamander), the possibility may exist for interbreeding of one or all of these taxa. Specifically, it is hypothesized that the two species of Eurycea longicauda may interbreed with Eurycea lucifuga (Cave salamander). through visual assessment and phenotypic analysis, all known species were identified. Tissue samples were used to identify any undiagnosed specimens through DNA fingerprinting, also known as Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP), a method measuring genotypic differences. This information was used to support evidence of hybridization among the co-existing species. Evidence of hybridization may indicate that the removal of human disturbance in this area may have had a prominent impact on multiple salamander species and their willingness to compete for food and other precious resources --Abstract, page iii

An examination of international students in three public two-year colleges.

International students have attended American colleges since colonial times. Although international students attend all types of colleges and universities, most studies and reports which have examined their presence on American campuses have been directed at four-year institutions. This is not surprising in that 86% of all international students in the United States, (based on 1990/91 data), were enrolled in four-year institutions. 57,720 international students were enrolled in two-year institutions by 1990/91. While such research is helpful in providing key data and information regarding international students at some of the largest and most prestigious U.S. institutions, comparatively little research has been directed at international students in two-year colleges. The purpose of this study has been to conduct a qualitative examination of international students in three public two-year colleges in New England. Using a case-study approach, four questions were investigated: Why do international students choose a public two-year college? What are their experiences? What are the experiences of faculty and administrators who work with them? What policy questions are important for these institutions? Field research included twenty-one interviews with international students, twenty-two interviews with faculty, and eight interviews with administrators. Also, on-site observations were conducted and available institutional documents reviewed. The study revealed a group of highly motivated international students who, for the most part, were quite satisfied with their educational experiences in the two-year community colleges. The study also revealed that international students are prominent in the academic life of the institutions and faculty members were, on the whole, pleased with the performance and presence of international students. The greatest policy challenge to public two-year community colleges that enroll international students, is the challenge of fully embracing a wider philosophy and vision of the institution\u27s role and contribution in international education. While the overall assessment of the two-year college experience from international students, faculty and administrators was a positive one, it is also clear that institutions could do more to improve the educational experience of international students and the faculty who work with them. Ten recommendations are offered including an examination of mission statements, development of on-going faculty and staff training programs, strengthening of international student orientation programs, development of more creative recruitment efforts, and strengthening of the institutional data base on international students

A critical realist analysis of coaching as a disability accommodation

Although dyslexia affects 5-8% of the workforce, this developmental disorder is insufficiently researched in adult populations from a psychological perspective. Dyslexia confers legal protections and employers must provide ‘reasonable adjustments’, accommodations that protect employment and improve work performance. Using Critical Realist Evaluation principles, I conducted a multi-disciplinary literature review of the biopsychosocial and macro-legislative context for dyslexia in adults which highlighted the need for intervention evaluation. The following expansive research question was formed: Given a legislative context in which the dyslexic adult is considered disabled, and a social context which confers increased vulnerability to occupational and social exclusion, (1) what types of intervention exist to mediate such risk, (2) on which psychological mechanisms do they aim to operate, (3) and to what extent do interventions achieve a successful outcome? Original survey data (N = 271) supported practitioner assertions that coaching is a widely adopted accommodation intervention and that the focus therein for adults is developing cognitive, behavioural and emotional skills, rather than solely literacy. A narrative systematic review was conducted to extract relevant psychological mechanisms and intervention protocols. The synthesis suggested ‘Working Memory’ and ‘Self-Efficacy’ as viable psychological mechanisms that can be successfully targeted by coaching. Intervention protocols compliant with Social Cognitive Learning Theory (SCLT) and Goal Setting Theory (GST) produced consistently effective results. Two quasi-experimental field studies using double-blind controls tested these propositions: (study 1) SCLT and GST compliant coaching would improve Working Memory and Self-Efficacy for dyslexic adults, which would be correlated with improvements in work performance (N=67) and; (study 2) coachees’ metacognitive development and / or emotion management were intervening variables (N=52) mediating this impact. Between-groups comparisons reported some improvements to these measures, including the maintenance after the coaching was complete, though correlations between measures were rarely significant. A consistent improvement from the control groups indicated a potentially active element to the testing process and weakened the between-groups findings. As such, a novel data analytic technique was created which elicited overall improvement value (Meta-Impact) and separated smaller, potential practice effects, resulting in a significant difference between the intervention and control groups. Coaching was, theoretically and when applied, able to improve the experience of dyslexic adults upon cognitive, behavioural psycho-social and emotional domains of experience, though in likelihood the experience will be personalised and limited to one or two domains, rather than all. In conclusion, I challenge the medical model approach to dyslexia, and specifically the targeting of working memory deficit as a proxy for broader, contextual outcomes. I suggest that a multi-domain based intervention might produce outcomes that are more ecologically valid. This thesis potentially supports the premise of coaching as a disability accommodation, though further research is required to evaluate the longer term effects of coaching on contextual outcomes such as job sustainability and career progression outcomes. I further argue that any disability accommodation, including coaching, must mediate between the meso and individual level in order to be ethically and legislatively compliant and to increase occupational inclusion for this heretofore marginalised group

An IoT architecture for decision support system in precision livestock

Sustainable animal production is a primary goal of technological development in the livestock industry. However, it is crucial to master the livestock environment due to the susceptibility of animals to variables such as temperature and humidity, which can cause illness, production losses, and discomfort. Thus, livestock production systems require monitoring, reasoning, and mitigating unwanted conditions with automated actions. The principal contribution of this study is the introduction of a self-adaptive architecture named e-Livestock to handle animal production decisions. Two case studies were conducted involving a system derived from the e-Livestock architecture, encompassing a Compost Barn production system - an environment and technology where bovine milk production occurs. The outcomes demonstrate the effectiveness of e-Livestock in three key aspects: (i) abstraction of disruptive technologies based on the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence and their incorporation into a single architecture specific to the livestock domain, (ii) support for the reuse and derivation of an adaptive self-architecture to support the engineering of a decision support system for the livestock subdomain, and (iii) support for empirical studies in a real smart farm to facilitate future technology transfer to the industry. Therefore, our research’s main contribution is developing an architecture combining machine learning techniques and ontology to support more complex decisions when considering a large volume of data generated on farms. The results revealed that the e-Livestock architecture could support monitoring, reasoning, forecasting, and automated actions in a milk production/Compost Barn environment.Na indústria pecuária, a produção animal sustentável é o principal objetivo do desenvolvimento tecnológico. Porém, é fundamental manter boas condições no ambiente devido à suscetibilidade dos animais a variáveis como temperatura e umidade, que podem causar doenças, perdas de produção e desconforto. Assim, os sistemas de produção pecuária requerem monitoramento, controle e mitigação das condições indesejadas através de ações automatizadas. A principal contribuição deste estudo é a introdução de uma arquitetura auto-adaptativa denominada e-Livestock para apoiar as decisões relacionadas à produção animal. Foram conduzidos dois estudos de caso, envolvendo a arquitetura e-Livestock, que foi utilizada no sistema de produção Compost Barn - ambiente e tecnologia onde ocorre a produção de gado leiteiro. Os resultados demonstraram a utilidade do e-Livestock para avaliar três aspectos principais: (i) abstração de tecnologias disruptivas baseadas em Internet das Coisas (IoT) e Inteligência Artificial, e sua incorporação em uma arquitetura única, específica para o domínio da pecuária, (ii) suporte para a reutilização e derivação de uma arquitetura auto-adaptativa para apoiar o desenvolvimento de uma aplicação de apoio à decisão para o subdomínio da pecuária e (iii) suporte para estudos empíricos em uma fazenda inteligente real para facilitar a transferência de tecnologia para a indústria. Portanto, a principal contribuição dessa pesquisa é o desenvolvimento de uma arquitetura combinando técnicas de machine learning e ontologia para apoiar decisões mais complexas ao considerar um grande volume de dados gerados nas fazendas. Os resultados revelaram que a arquitetura e-Livestock pode apoiar monitoramento, controle, previsão e ações automatizadas em um ambiente de produção de leite/Compost Barn.CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superio

Modelling effective choral conducting education through an exploration of example teaching and learning in England

A growing corpus of research provides evidence of the musical and non-musical\ud benefits from choral participation, yet the preparation of individuals for their role as\ud choral leaders and conductors within educational environments has not been given\ud similar attention. Whilst choral leaders within schools, community or church contexts\ud may emphasise the inadequate support mechanisms for choral education, there seem\ud to be very few courses in the United Kingdom (UK) that deal with the preparation of\ud choral conductors.\ud A new socially-located, heuristic framework has been developed, influenced by the\ud theoretical constructs of Cognitive Apprenticeship, Situated Learning, and theories of\ud expertise, as well as educational research on effective teaching and learning within\ud higher education and the workplace. The framework encompasses five interconnected\ud parameters, as part of an investigation into effective choral conducting education\ud within several educational environments in the UK. These parameters relate to\ud biographies, expectations, values and behaviours connected with (i) the tutor, (ii) the\ud learner, (iii) the sequence and amount of training (process of preparation), (iv) the\ud learning outcomes and (v) the socio-cultural contexts, including the teaching contexts,\ud where choral practice takes place. A predominantly qualitative approach has been\ud used for the collection and analysis of the data, concentrating on the participants'\ud written self-reflective narratives, interviews and questionnaire responses. Five choral\ud conducting education courses have been observed; three offered within higher\ud education and two by independent bodies. Although data analyses suggest that none\ud of the observed courses encompassed all the ingredients suggested by the framework,\ud the framework itself offers insights and related methods of examining choral\ud conducting education contexts

The leadership experiences of female secondary school principals in Sekhukhune District, Limpopo

Studies on women principals and leadership have been conducted in both developed and developing countries. Not much research on women leadership has been undertaken in Sekhukhune region in rural Limpopo, South Africa. The study’s interests were in the representation of women in leadership in this region. It sought to explore leadership experiences of women principals working in secondary schools in rural areas. In addition, the study sought to understand what led to their appointment, particularly in a deeply traditional and patriarchal society such as Sekhukhune region, considering both barriers as well as enhancers and how they impacted on their progress to principalship. Data were collected by means of qualitative methods; semi-structured interviews were held with six women principals from public schools only. Structured observation was also conducted during school visits, as well during interviews wherein field notes were also taken. School documents such as SGB and minute books, some policy documents, noticeboard documents, time-books, attendance registers were analysed. Existing literature on women and leadership was reviewed. Data collected was transcribed, analysed, interpreted, and findings were presented. Women principals spoke of their everyday work experiences within the context of sharing challenges and strengths in their careers. The study found out that women are their own motivators, which serves as a strong enhancer. However, women still face organisational barriers particularly in the selection procedures where gender discrimination is evident. Findings revealed that women principals continue to face myriad administrative and personal challenges when caring out their managerial duties. These include resistance from communities and staff often displayed by stereotypical attitudes and discrimination. In order to cope with some of the challenges, participants in this study innovatively employed various leadership styles such as care and nurturing, collaboration, androgyneity and spirituality. Stereotyping still exists as leadership is viewed from a male perspective. In conclusion, this study discovered that women principals displayed some values of liberal feminism in their leadership experiences; they demonstrated that they can do great things by taking part in the public sphere.Educational Leadership and ManagementM. Ed. (Educational Leadership and Management