More-than-human knowing, showing and sharing in human/landscape fire relationships

Focusing on Australians of settler heritage, this PhD shows how an evaluation which adopts and refines a more-than-human conceptual framework can generate deep understandings of human /fire /land relationships with implications for land and fire management, training, policy and academic research. The research was initially commissioned to evaluate the Hotspots Fire Training Program (Hotspots) which seeks to train landholders in New South Wales in the sustainable management of landscape fire. In commissioning the evaluation, Hotspots staff were seeking to provide funding bodies with substantive evidence that the program achieves its objectives and to identify ways in which the program could be improved. In order to respond to these expectations, this thesis includes a utilisation, or service, evaluation focusing on the success of Hotspots within the framework defined by staff members (Appendix A). However, this approach privileges the views of program staff and funding bodies about what constitutes success and may limit the relevance of the evaluation beyond its immediate context. Alternative approaches, such as pluralistic evaluations, begin with the lives of the human participants, seeking to understand how the program is positioned within their lives and whether or not it is relevant to them. Yet even the complexities of human experience may not be sufficient to understand the ways in which a training program is entangled in fiery relations. In other research fields, recent more-than-human research has shown the complex ways in which the bio- (including human), geo- and atmo-spheres are inextricably entangled. Such insights have important implications for research into, and understandings of, human /fire /land relationships. Until recently, almost all fire training projects working with non-indigenous Australians framed fire as a hazard, failing to acknowledge the much more complex role of fire within the Australian material / cultural environment. This is now changing but, with notable exceptions, current projects working to encourage sympathy with the potential benefits of fire provide a scientific and legislative education in using and managing fire in the landscape. This is in-keeping with an Australian history in which the ‘ways of knowing’ attributed to settlers and their descendants, and the laws and culture created around these assumed ways of knowing, have tended towards the ‘modern’. Historical and contemporary evidence suggests that this may not tell the whole story about the dynamic relationships of non-indigenous Australians with landscape fire, however. As Australia struggles to come to terms with its cultural and environmental history and seeks to work towards a more just and sustainable future, there is evidence to suggest that its current inhabitants of non-indigenous heritage may be open to different ways of knowing landscape fire. Rather than viewing knowledge as a solely cerebral, or even human social process, this thesis suggests that fiery knowledge develops as human minds and bodies are challenged by multiple, multidirectional, more-than-human relationships continually generating change and demanding responses within fire-prone environments. Whilst landholders are learning to co-exist with landscape fire through observation, experimentation and adaptation, researchers, staff members of training organisations and policy-makers frequently spend much less time actively engaging with land and fire and far more time in environments which demand forms of accountability amenable to measurement and control such as journal papers, highly structured workshop plans and policy documents. Perhaps as a result, institutional responses to human co-existence with landscape fire have largely focused on abstracted sciences of fire and fire management, the logics of planning and response and the building of ever more complex resources and infrastructure. These approaches do have their place but represent just one of many ways of knowing fire. Thus, the main body of this thesis draws on the potential of conceptual paradigms which look beyond the human and human agency to explore how fire training programs weave into and through broader human / landscape fire entanglements and to consider the implications and potential outcomes of promoting different ways of knowing landscape fire

Writing Focused Professional Development for Content-Area Teachers: The Effects of Writing Instruction on Content-Area Student Achievement

The purpose of this study was to analyze the impact of writing on the content areas when coupled with ongoing professional development and support for content-area teachers. Research shows that writing is an essential skill for success in and beyond the school setting. Research further indicates that writing plays an important role in student learning through its development of cognitive processes; however, in general, writing as a mode of learning is not a focus of either pre or in-service teacher training. As such, writing beyond note-taking and fill-in-the-blank activities is not necessarily a strategy utilized in content-area teacher classrooms. This dissertation analyzed the impact of writing professional development and implementation on content-area student achievement in both content-area knowledge and writing skill. Data were collected through a survey instrument, pre and postassessments, benchmark assessments, and teacher reflection questionnaires for qualitative and quantitative results. Teacher participants were employees at a rural public charter high school in North Carolina. Student participants were high school students enrolled in participating teacher content-area courses. Per analysis of the data, it was determined that writing professional development and implementation impacted student achievement in both content-area knowledge and writing. In addition, the results indicated that both student and teacher attitudes toward writing as a mode of learning were positively affected

Microscopy Techniques for Investigating Interactions in Microbial Systems

Biological interactions occur on multiple length scales, ranging from molecular to population wide interactions. This work describes the study of two specific areas of biological interactions in microbial systems: intracellular protein-protein interactions and cell-to-cell interactions. The implementation of optical and atomic force microscopy and the methodologies developed during this study proved to be invaluable tools for investigating these systems. Identifying and characterizing protein interactions are fundamental steps toward understanding complex cellular networks. We have developed a unique methodology which combines an imaging-based protein interaction assay with a fluorescence recovery after photobleaching technique (FRAP). Protein interactions are readily detected by co-localization of two proteins of interest fused to green fluorescent protein (GFP) and DivIVA, a cell division protein from Bacillus subtilis. We demonstrate that the modified co-localization assay is sensitive enough to detect protein interactions over four orders of magnitude. FRAP data was analyzed using a combination of various image processing techniques and analytical models. This combined approach made it possible to estimate cell morphology parameters such as length, diameter, the effective laser probe volume, as well as to the mobile protein concentration in vivo, the number of bound molecules at the cellular poles, and the biophysical parameter koff. Cells not only utilize molecular interactions in the intracellular environment, but also express proteins, polysaccharides and other complex molecules to mediate interactions with the surrounding extracellular environment. In Azospirillum brasilense, cell surface properties, including exopolysaccharide production, are thought to play a direct role in promoting cell-to-cell interactions. Recently, the Che1 chemotaxis-like pathway from A. brasilense was shown to modulate flocculation, suggesting an associated modulation of cell surface properties. Using atomic force microscopy, distinct changes in the surface morphology of flocculating A. brasilense Che1 mutant strains were detected. Further analyses suggest that the extracellular matrix differs between the cheA1 and the cheY1 deletion mutants, despite similarity in the macroscopic floc structures. Collectively, these data indicate that disruption of the Che1 pathway is correlated with distinctive changes in the extracellular matrix, which likely result from changes in surface polysaccharides structure and/or composition

An exploration of sarcasm detection in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of the following article: Amanda K. Ludlow, Eleanor Chadwick, Alice Morey, Rebecca Edwards, and Roberto Gutierrez, ‘An exploration of sarcasm detection in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder’, Journal of Communication Disorders, Vol. 70: 25-34, November 2017. Under embargo. Embargo end date: 31 October 2019. The Version of Record is available at doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcomdis.2017.10.003.The present research explored the ability of children with ADHD to distinguish between sarcasm and sincerity. Twenty-two children with a clinical diagnosis of ADHD were compared with 22 age and verbal IQ matched typically developing children using the Social Inference–Minimal Test from The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT, McDonald, Flanagan, & Rollins, 2002). This test assesses an individual’s ability to interpret naturalistic social interactions containing sincerity, simple sarcasm and paradoxical sarcasm. Children with ADHD demonstrated specific deficits in comprehending paradoxical sarcasm and they performed significantly less accurately than the typically developing children. While there were no significant differences between the children with ADHD and the typically developing children in their ability to comprehend sarcasm based on the speaker’s intentions and beliefs, the children with ADHD were found to be significantly less accurate when basing their decision on the feelings of the speaker, but also on what the speaker had said. Results are discussed in light of difficulties in their understanding of complex cues of social interactions, and non-literal language being symptomatic of children with a clinical diagnosis of ADHD. The importance of pragmatic language skills in their ability to detect social and emotional information is highlighted.Peer reviewe

Environmental memory from a circadian oscillator:the Arabidopsis thaliana clock differentially integrates perception of photic vs. thermal entrainment

The constraint of a rotating earth has led to the evolution of a circadian clock that drives anticipation of future environmental changes. During this daily rotation, the circadian clock of Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) intersects with the diurnal environment to orchestrate virtually all transcriptional processes of the plant cell, presumably by detecting, interpreting, and anticipating the environmental alternations of light and temperature. To comparatively assess differential inputs toward phenotypic and physiological responses on a circadian parameter, we surveyed clock periodicity in a recombinant inbred population modified to allow for robust periodicity measurements after entrainment to respective photic vs. thermal cues, termed zeitgebers. Lines previously thermally entrained generally displayed reduced period length compared to those previously photically entrained. This differential zeitgeber response was also detected in a set of diverse Arabidopsis accessions. Thus, the zeitgebers of the preceding environment direct future behavior of the circadian oscillator. Allelic variation at quantitative trait loci generated significant differences in zeitgeber responses in the segregating population. These were important for periodicity variation dependent on the nature of the subsequent entrainment source. Collectively, our results provide a genetic paradigm for the basis of environmental memory of a preceding environment, which leads to the integrated coordination of circadian periodicity

Mentoring Relationships

The purpose of this module is to establish a framework for successful mentoring practices in order to enhance the teaching and learning process. The module addresses the importance of the Four Pillars as a framework for building successful mentor/mentee relationships. The framework pillars are identified as pedagogical competencies,relationship building, reflection, and administrative support. Each pillar is defined with research provided to support the importance of each as a foundational element of successful mentor/mentee relationships. Additionally the module provides reflection activities and additional resources for consideration and site-level implementation. The learning module is intended for use by all educators. Visit professional learning module.https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/improve/1005/thumbnail.jp

Exploring unwarranted clinical variation: The attitudes of midwives and obstetric medical staff regarding induction of labour and planned caesarean section

Background: Unexplained clinical variation is a major issue in planned birth i.e. induction of labour and planned caesarean section. Aim: To map attitudes and knowledge of maternity care professionals regarding indications for planned birth, and assess inter-professional (midwifery versus medical) and intra-professional variation. Methods: A custom-created survey of medical and midwifery staff at eight Sydney hospitals. Staff were asked to rate their level of agreement with 45 “evidence-based” statements regarding caesareans and inductions on a five-point Likert scale. Responses were grouped by profession, and comparisons made of inter- and intra-professional responses. Findings: Total 275 respondents, 78% midwifery and 21% medical. Considerable inter- and intra-professional variation was noted, with midwives generally less likely to consider any of the planned birth indications “valid” compared to medical staff. Indications for induction with most variation in midwifery responses included maternal characteristics (age≥40, obesity, ethnicity) and fetal macrosomia; and for medical personnel in-vitro fertilisation, maternal request, and routine induction at 39 weeks gestation. Indications for caesarean with most variation in midwifery responses included previous lower segment caesarean section, previous shoulder dystocia, and uncomplicated breech; and for medical personnel uncomplicated dichorionic twins. Indications with most inter-professional variation were induction at 41+ weeks versus 42+ weeks and cesarean for previous lower segment caesarean section. Discussion: Both inter- and intra-professional variation in what were considered valid indications reflected inconsistency in underlying evidence and/or guidelines. Conclusion: Greater focus on interdisciplinary education and consensus, as well as on shared decision-making with women, may be helpful in resolving these tensions

Examining indigenous perspectives on the history of Fairbanks: a historical fiction work for fourth grade study

Master's Project (M.Ed.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2022A historical fiction story, Carried by the current: a history of Fairbanks, Alaska in the Tanana Valley, told in eight chapters, is an attempt to tell the story of the history of Fairbanks, Alaska with an emphasis on the perspective of the Indigenous people of the area, and how the settling of the city and surrounding area affected their lives. There is a need for educational resources that are told from perspectives other than that of the conqueror, as well as a need for representation of people from diverse backgrounds and cultures. This story can stand on its own or be incorporated into a unit study, providing a background of Indigenous ways of life pre-Russian contact, how Indigenous people in the Tanana Valley reacted to Westerners coming into their territory, and how their ways of life changed as a consequence. The story is written for an audience of 4th or 5th grade students in an urban Alaska public school setting