High Throughput Phenotyping: Field Based Triticale Breeding and Educational Resource Impact

Triticale (Triticosecale) is a multifunctional hybrid cereal crop that adopted the hardiness of rye and wheat\u27s high-yielding and nutritional qualities. Plant breeding programs work to improve the quality and number of varieties available to producers through multiple rounds of evaluation and selection. However, traditional phenotyping methods are labor-intensive, time-consuming, and destructive, creating a phenotyping bottleneck. Remote sensing using unmanned aerial systems has the potential to alleviate this issue and change the evaluation of phenotypes in a breeding. Demand for educational resources to advance public awareness and prepare the workforce has increased with the utilization of more technology in agriculture. Limited research focuses on using UAV-derived vegetation indices to measure biomass in triticale. In addition, agriculture professionals need more education and understanding about the potential benefits and practical implementation of remote sensing technologies in plant breeding contexts. This research aims to (1) Evaluate the potential of UAV-derived vegetation indices to estimate above-ground biomass in triticale and (2) Assess the impact of open educational resources on the change in self-reported and objectively assessed knowledge of phenotype evaluation using high throughput phenotyping. The results of study one show high correlations between biomass and several vegetation indices, indicating that UAV-derived vegetation indices have the potential to be used as an alternative to destructive biomass sampling for phenotyping biomass in triticale. The results of study two show the open educational resource High Throughput Phenotyping in Plant Breeding increases learner overall self-reported knowledge, UAV self-reported knowledge and cross-listed self-reported knowledge. In addition, the lesson increases overall objectively assessed knowledge and cross-listed objectively assessed knowledge. Advisors: Donald Lee and Leah Sandal

Noise reducing encoding strategies for spin chains

We present an encoding technique that reduces the effects of noise on quantum spin systems whose operation is driven by Hamiltonian evolution. This technique is widely applicable, being most relevant to the scenarios where there are insufficient qubits to permit full scale error correction. Instead, our technique can be implemented over small numbers of qubits and still leads to noticeable improvements in the fidelity of operations. The encoding scheme is easy to implement, flexible with respect to choice of Hamiltonian, and close to optimal.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

Combatting the Effects of Disorder in Quantum State Transfer

In this paper, we examine disorder (i.e. static imperfections in manufacture) for the fixed-Hamiltonian evolution protocol of quantum state transfer. We improve the performance by optimising the choice of Hamiltonian, and by implementing an encoding/decoding procedure on small regions at either end of the chain. We find that encoding in only the single excitation subspace is optimal, and provides substantial enhancement to the operating regime of these systems.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure

British Council School Programmes in Scotland: an Impact Study: Final Report

This report evaluates the impact of British Council programmes in Scottish schools, particularly their contribution to closing the attainment gap for students from different socioeconomic backgrounds. British Council Scotland works with approximately a third of all schools in Scotland through programmes, including Erasmus+, Connecting Classrooms, e-Twinning, and Modern Language Assistants, that enrich curriculum, pedagogy and professional development with a global outlook. Despite a variety of definitions and treatments, there is growing attention to global citizenship education and sustainability education as important curricular goals across nations and systems.The research reported herein sought to document the impact of BC programmes in Scottish schools, and its contribution to the Attainment Challenge’s focus on achieving both excellence and equity. It used a mixed methods approach of quantitative data analysis (using open national data and individual pupil data) in combination with qualitative case studies of differently positioned schools and interviews with senior staff in key stakeholder agencies

A Longitudinal Examination of Children's Emotion Regulation Problems, Negative Parenting Behaviors, and the Development of Internalizing Behavior Problems.

Internalizing problems in preschool have been found to predict later anxiety and depressive disorders, and outcomes may vary according to children’s gender. Preschool children’s transitions to school pose additional risks, as this developmental period is associated with increased social and cognitive demands. Despite the significance of this age group and the long-term implications associated with early internalizing symptoms, most studies have focused on early behavior problems; relatively few have examined early precursors of internalizing disorders. One potential risk factor, particularly during the preschool-to-school age transition, is emotion dysregulation. Specifically, emotion overregulation, or excessive control of emotions, is ill-defined in current literature but may be associated with later internalizing outcomes. Therefore, in the present study, operational definitions of emotion overregulation were examined and clarified. Structural equation modeling analyses were also conducted to investigate both concurrent and longitudinal relationships between overregulation, negative parenting, and internalizing outcome variables. The potential roles of social context and gender in relationships with children’s adjustment were also explored. Participants were 235 children (113 girls) at elevated risk for behavior problems. Children’s emotion dysregulation was assessed using a multi-method approach: 1) laboratory-based behavioral task; 2) mothers’ reports of children’s emotion overregulation-related temperament; and 3) teachers’ reports of children’s emotion dysregulated behavior. Negative parenting behaviors were assessed via maternal parenting questionnaires. Mothers and teachers reported on child internalizing outcomes at ages 3, 6, and 10 years. Our analysis revealed several interesting pathways between predictor variables and internalizing outcomes. In particular, several emotion overregulation variables predicted internalizing behaviors concurrently and longitudinally, and negative parenting predicted internalizing behaviors across time. Shy temperament, negative parenting, and internalizing behaviors were also stable from preschool to kindergarten, and prediction models also suggested temporal stability of these variables from preschool to late school-age. As expected, some differences between mother- and teacher-reported outcomes were found, suggesting the importance of examining multiple contexts. Although gender was not a significant moderator in the proposed model relationships, unique gender-related findings were revealed. Results are discussed with respect to the value of multi-contextual, multi-level analyses of children’s early emotion regulation abilities and parenting behaviors for prevention of internalizing behavior problems.Ph.D.PsychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/86445/1/ckfan_1.pd

The Impact of Salient Naming Targets during Aphasia Therapy

Translational research has led to aphasia therapies that incorporate principles of experience dependent neuroplasticity. The neuroplasticity principle of salience has received less attention from speech language pathologists than other principles, such as dose and treatment intensity. Incorporating salience in aphasia therapies has the potential to increase functional outcomes by addressing multiple aspects of the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health. This study explored the impact of salient stimuli targets on picture naming acquisition and maintenance for two individuals with chronic aphasia, following cerebrovascular accident. Participants were enrolled in a five-week Intensive Comprehensive Aphasia Program (ICAP) at the time of the study. A single subject A-B-A research design was implemented to assess the role of saliency during naming acquisition. Photographic stimuli were created from “salient” words chosen by each participant. Control photographic stimuli matched the salient targets’ syllable length and frequency. Three baseline probes assessed pre-treatment naming accuracy, three naming probes were delivered during the treatment phrase, and three post-treatment probes were delivered within one week of the last intervention. Twelve, forty- five-minute, evidence-based treatment sessions were implemented during the treatment phase of the study. Effect sizes for the salient stimuli were large for both participants: P1 (d=4.04), P2 (d=4.08). The control stimuli effect size for P1 was large (d=2.14) and medium (d=.64) for P2. This preliminary study suggests that incorporating salient targets in confrontational naming therapies increases naming acquisition and maintenance of naming targets. Implications for these findings further support the use of person specific, highly motivating, salient stimuli in anomia therapies to increase functional outcomes and quality of life

The uses and impact of social and emerging media on public relations practices in Malaysia

Research has shown that social media has been widely discussed among public relations practitioners and scholars in relation to how it has changed public relations practices. A study by Wright and Hinson (2017) revealed that public relations practitioners continue to strongly agree that social and other emerging media technologies have brought dramatic changes to how public relations is practiced in the United States of America. In the Malaysian context, the explosion in social media, especially social networking site such as Facebook, has caused many public relations practitioners to recognise the need to embrace these new media for effective communication with the internal and external audiences. Drawing on Wright and Hinson’s (2016) survey instrument, this study measured the actual use of social and other emerging media by public relations practitioners in Malaysia, and explored its impact on public relations practices. Through a web-based survey, this study found evidence that public relations practitioners in Malaysia have frequently used social media especially Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. On average, they spent approximately 26% to 50% of their working time using social and emerging media for public relations and communications activities. The results of this study provide useful insights for academics, researchers and public relations practitioners on how social and emerging media technologies are used in the Malaysian public relations industry

An Interprofessional Education Nursing Home Dining Simulation Promotes Changes in Student Attitudes

INTRODUCTION The purpose of this study was to assess changes in attitudes toward interprofessional collaborative competency attainment of undergraduate dietetics, gerontology/long term care administration, and occupational therapy assistant (OTA) students as a result of participating in a problem-based simulated nursing home dining experience. METHODS A one-group quasi-experimental post-test design, with convenience sample, was used in this study. Forty-three students completed the Interprofessional Collaborative Competencies Attainment Survey (ICCAS) tool, a validated 20-item scale measuring attitudes toward interprofessional collaborative competency attainment. The ICCAS assesses six competencies: communication, collaboration, roles and responsibilities, collaborative patient/familycentered approach, conflict management/resolution and team functioning. A paired-sample t-test was conducted to evaluate the impact of the dining simulation on students’ ICCAS responses. RESULTS A statistically significant increase was found in the ICCAS summative score from the retrospective look designated as Time 1 (M=108.95; SD=19.76) to Time 2 [M=127.65; SD=17.86, t(42)= -8.63, p\u3c.0005]. CONCLUSION The results of this study have potential implications for educators, practitioners and researchers. Careful planning during case development enhanced the realism and accuracy of the simulation. This nursing home dining simulation using problem-based case scenarios was found to be an effective method of promoting interprofessional collaborative competencies with a unique group of healthcare students