Early Learning Teacher Collaboration and Classroom Transitions: A Qualitative Case Study

The purpose of this collective case study was to examine how Early Head Start and Head Start teachers collaborate to create successful transitions for students from classroom to classroom. The theory guiding this study was the sociocultural theory by Lev Vygotsky (1978), which focuses on learning through interactions and communications with others and collaborative learning. Vygotsky’s theory aligned with the study by informing educators that children learn from a guide and teachers should be intentional in adding to children’s knowledge and supporting children’s ways of understanding the world around them. This study addressed the following research questions: How do early learning teachers collaborate to prepare students for transitions to a classroom? How do teachers collaborate with families to create a positive transition experience for students? How are teachers utilizing transition strategies to ensure a smooth transition for students? For this study, a case study was used, and the sample was Early Head Start and Head Start teachers in various Early Head Start and Head Start programs in Washington, DC. Data were drawn from interviews, document analysis, and focus groups to capture the case under study in its complexity and entirety through interviews, analyzing documents, and focus groups. The data analysis involved consolidating, reducing, and interpreting codes, themes, and data analysis strategies. The following six themes emerged after completing the data analysis: (a) communication amongst educators; (b) communication with parents and guardians; (c) improvement needed; (d) positive teacher collaboration experiences; (e) program support; and (f) transition strategies

\u27Just dance\u27 with digital literacy

In a rapidly changing higher education environment, Deakin University’s promise is to offer “brilliant education where the students are ‐ and where they want to go”. Targets set for learning, teaching and research, have significant implications across the University. Collaboration at all levels of the organization is core to achieving goals that deliver value to the student community.The Library is charged with delivering one of the University\u27s eight graduate learning outcomes, Digital Literacy, with initiatives required to build staff capability and contribute to student learning. Deakin University defines Digital Literacy as using technologies to find, use and disseminate information.This paper provides an analysis of a case study in which liaison librarians collaborated with science academics to develop innovative digital literacy activities and assessment tasks for undergraduate units related to ‘Judging Reliability and Accuracy of Information’.The case study reveals that engaging students in meaningful learning activities and assessment tasks creates dynamic and powerful learning experiences for first and second year students. In addition, the leadership that the liaison librarians demonstrate in activities that capitalise on problem based learning, elements of gaming, peer assessment, and new ways of communicating has prompted open conversations and collaborations with academics about further opportunities

"Unscrupulously Epic": Examining Female Epic in the Poetry of Felicia Hemans and Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Virginia Woolf once remarked that, “[t]here is no reason to think that the form of the epic ... suit[s] a woman any more than the [masculine] sentence” (Woolf 84). This thesis represents an attempt to explore what the epic genre, as imagined and written by women, might look like in regards to the verse of fellow women poets Felicia Hemans and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Despite the persistent critical misconception that women’s poetry of the Romantic and Victorian periods is comprised mainly of light, lyric verse and tends to lack that “great effort” – for example, the epic poem – which often appears in the work of their male contemporaries, this thesis will argue conversely that Hemans and Barrett Browning do assume certain aspects of traditional epic poetry – a genre “almost coterminous” with masculinity (Schweizer 1) – in their work, while also managing to transform the genre in order that their work might successfully embody a more feminine perspective. The first chapter of the thesis examines the ways in which these two women poets are able to bridge the private and public spheres by transforming the quintessential role of the female poet as record-keeper into that of the poet as prophet and visionary in their political poetry. The two following chapters will highlight the ways in which both Hemans and Barrett Browning remodel the epic form in order to draw attention to the female voice (chapter two) and to examine new and unconventional prototypes of female heroinism, for example the pioneering female artist and the militant mother (chapter three). With strong ties to a masculine tradition of epic, yet incorporating aspects of femininity hitherto foreign – perhaps even inimical – to the traditional conception of the genre, female epic, while admittedly something of a hybrid, arguably represents a distinctive genre in its own right and one which certainly merits more critical attention in the future

Cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and carotid ultrasound

Cardiovascular disease contributes significantly to global morbidity and mortality and is particularly prevalent among individuals with Type 2 diabetes, which is thought to in part be due to the association between diabetes and the metabolic syndrome. Traditional cardiovascular risk prediction scores perform well in the general population but their use in people with Type 2 diabetes is limited as they are thought to underperform in high risk groups. Indeed, the use of any risk prediction in people with Type 2 diabetes is a point of discussion among clinicians as people with diabetes are thought by some to be at immediate high risk of CVD, whereas others view them as having a degree of modifiable risk which can be addressed using risk prediction. In the general population, novel markers such as cIMT and carotid plaque, as well as other potential biomarkers of cardiovascular risk, have been explored as possible adjuncts to risk scores in the prediction of cardiovascular disease. The evidence for their use in general populations has been established, although there have been no firm conclusions with regard to recommendations for their use, which is partly due to the high degree of variability in cIMT measurement. However, the evidence for their use in people with Type 2 diabetes is sparse, despite the use of such markers as surrogate CV endpoints in clinical trials. This thesis aimed to describe the frequency, distribution and change of cIMT and carotid plaque, as well as to explore the relationship of cIMT and carotid plaque with cardiovascular risk factors, prevalent cardiovascular disease and future cardiovascular events in older people with Type 2 diabetes. The association between cIMT, carotid plaque and other novel risk markers was also explored. The analysis was performed using data from the Edinburgh Type 2 Diabetes Study (ET2DS). This study is a large, prospective cohort study of 1066 men and women with Type 2 diabetes, aged 60-75 years at recruitment, living in Edinburgh and the Lothians. cIMT and carotid plaque were measured at year 1 follow up of the study. Variables concerning cardiovascular risk factors used in this thesis were obtained from the data collection performed at baseline and year 1. A mean of 3.5 years of follow up was available for analysis and is complete for the baseline cohort as data linkage was performed. Mean values of cIMT in the ET2DS were comparable with other studies of cIMT in people with Type 2 diabetes and may indeed be higher than cIMT in the general population. Measurement of cIMT by the sonographer was comparable with computer aided measurements. Increasing cIMT was independently associated (although only modestly) with increasing age, male sex and raised systolic blood pressure. Mean cIMT was associated with prevalent vascular disease and was predictive of incident global cardiovascular events and coronary artery events (but not stroke) over and above UKPDS risk factors, although the clinical impact of this on the reclassification of vascular risk (as demonstrated by net reclassification index (NRI)) was limited. There was a high prevalence of carotid plaque, and in particular “high risk” plaque, in the ET2DS. Different measures of carotid plaque were independently associated with several cardiovascular risk factors. Carotid plaque thickness was independently associated, albeit modestly, with increasing age, male sex, duration of diabetes and hypertension, plaque score with increasing age, hypertension, smoking and low BMI, and high risk plaque with hypertension and low BMI. All measures of carotid plaque were associated with prevalent vascular disease. However, despite these associations, carotid plaque did not have any additional predictive value for incident cardiovascular events over and above UKPDS risk factors. Finally, measures of cIMT and carotid plaque in the ET2DS were associated with the biomarkers ankle brachial index (ABI) and NTproBNP. In addition these markers were significantly higher in those individuals with prevalent vascular disease, suggesting a more extensive exploration of the association of these markers in relation to cardiovascular disease in the ET2DS may be warranted. cIMT and carotid plaque are modestly associated with traditional cardiovascular risk factors and prevalent cardiovascular disease in older adults with Type 2 diabetes. cIMT has been shown to be predictive of incident events while carotid plaque was not, in people with Type 2 diabetes, over and above traditional cardiovascular risk factors, although its impact on risk reclassification may only be small. Further evidence is required from the longer follow up of the ET2DS before firm conclusions can be drawn on the usefulness of cIMT and carotid plaque as risk markers in people with Type 2 diabetes. In addition, large collaborative studies could be used to further explore the relationship of carotid plaque, and change in cIMT with incident cardiovascular events, as well as exploring the additive effect of cIMT and plaque on risk prediction

DNA methylation age is accelerated in alcohol dependence.

Alcohol dependence (ALC) is a chronic, relapsing disorder that increases the burden of chronic disease and significantly contributes to numerous premature deaths each year. Previous research suggests that chronic, heavy alcohol consumption is associated with differential DNA methylation patterns. In addition, DNA methylation levels at certain CpG sites have been correlated with age. We used an epigenetic clock to investigate the potential role of excessive alcohol consumption in epigenetic aging. We explored this question in five independent cohorts, including DNA methylation data derived from datasets from blood (n = 129, n = 329), liver (n = 92, n = 49), and postmortem prefrontal cortex (n = 46). One blood dataset and one liver tissue dataset of individuals with ALC exhibited positive age acceleration (p < 0.0001 and p = 0.0069, respectively), whereas the other blood and liver tissue datasets both exhibited trends of positive age acceleration that were not significant (p = 0.83 and p = 0.57, respectively). Prefrontal cortex tissue exhibited a trend of negative age acceleration (p = 0.19). These results suggest that excessive alcohol consumption may be associated with epigenetic aging in a tissue-specific manner and warrants further investigation using multiple tissue samples from the same individuals

Host response to cuckoo song is predicted by the future risk of brood parasitism

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Introduction: Risk assessment occurs over different temporal and spatial scales and is selected for when individuals show an adaptive response to a threat. Here, we test if birds respond to the threat of brood parasitism using the acoustical cues of brood parasites in the absence of visual stimuli. We broadcast the playback of song of three brood parasites (Chalcites cuckoo species) and a sympatric non-parasite (striated thornbill, Acanthiza lineata) in the territories of superb fairy-wrens (Malurus cyaneus) during the peak breeding period and opportunistic breeding period. The three cuckoo species differ in brood parasite prevalence and the probability of detection by the host, which we used to rank the risk of parasitism (high risk, moderate risk, low risk). Results: Host birds showed the strongest response to the threat of cuckoo parasitism in accordance with the risk of parasitism. Resident wrens had many alarm calls and close and rapid approach to the playback speaker that was broadcasting song of the high risk brood parasite (Horsfield’s bronze-cuckoo, C. basalis) across the year (peak and opportunistic breeding period), some response to the moderate risk brood parasite (shining bronze-cuckoo, C. lucidus) during the peak breeding period, and the weakest response to the low risk brood parasite (little bronzecuckoo, C. minutillus). Playback of the familiar control stimulus in wren territories evoked the least response. Conclusion: Host response to the threat of cuckoo parasitism was assessed using vocal cues of the cuckoo and was predicted by the risk of future parasitism

Photocatalytic degradation of eleven microcystin analogues and nodularin by TiO2 coated glass microspheres

Microcystins and nodularin are toxic cyanobacterial secondary metabolites produced by cyanobacteria that pose a threat to human health in drinking water. Conventional water treatment methods often fail to remove these toxins. Advanced oxidation processes such as TiO2 photocatalysis have been shown to effectively degrade these compounds. A particular issue that has limited the widespread application of TiO2 photocatalysis for water treatment has been the separation of the nanoparticulate powder from the treated water. A novel catalyst format, TiO2 coated hollow glass spheres (Photospheres™), is far more easily separated from treated water due to its buoyancy. This paper reports the photocatalytic degradation of eleven microcystin variants and nodularin in water using Photospheres™. It was found that the Photospheres™ successfully decomposed all compounds in 5min or less. This was found to be comparable to the rate of degradation observed using a Degussa P25 material, which has been previously reported to be the most efficient TiO2 for photocatalytic degradation of microcystins in water. Furthermore, it was observed that the degree of initial catalyst adsorption of the cyanotoxins depended on the amino acid in the variable positions of the microcystin molecule. The fastest degradation (2min) was observed for the hydrophobic variants (microcystin-LY, -LW, -LF). Suitability of UV-LEDs as an alternative low energy light source was also evaluated

Spaceborne GNSS-Reflectometry for ocean winds: First results from the UK TechDemoSat-1 mission

First results are presented for ocean surface wind speed retrieval from reflected GPS signals measured by the Low-Earth-Orbiting UK TechDemoSat-1 satellite (TDS-1). Launched in July 2014, TDS-1 provides the first new spaceborne Global Navigation Satellite System-Reflectometry (GNSS-R) data since the pioneering UK-Disaster Monitoring Mission experiment in 2003. Examples of onboard-processed delay Doppler Maps reveal excellent data quality for winds up to 27.9 m/s. Collocated ASCAT scatterometer winds are used to develop and evaluate a wind speed algorithm based on Signal-to-Noise ratio (SNR) and the Bistatic Radar Equation. For SNR greater than 3 dB, wind speed is retrieved without bias and a precision around 2.2 m/s between 3–18 m/s even withoutcalibration. Exploiting lower SNR signals however requires good knowledge of the antenna beam, platform attitude and instrument gain setting. This study demonstrates the capabilities of low-cost, low-mass, low-power GNSS-R receivers ahead of their launch on the NASA CYGNSS constellation in 2016

Smad4-dependent pathways control basement membrane deposition and endodermal cell migration at early stages of mouse development

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Smad4 mutant embryos arrest shortly after implantation and display a characteristic shortened proximodistal axis, a significantly reduced epiblast, as well as a thickened visceral endoderm layer. Conditional rescue experiments demonstrate that bypassing the primary requirement for Smad4 in the extra-embryonic endoderm allows the epiblast to gastrulate. Smad4-independent TGF-β signals are thus sufficient to promote mesoderm formation and patterning. To further analyse essential Smad4 activities contributed by the extra-embryonic tissues, and characterise Smad4 dependent pathways in the early embryo, here we performed transcriptional profiling of Smad4 null embryonic stem (ES) cells and day 4 embryoid bodies (EBs).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Transcripts from wild-type versus Smad4 null ES cells and day 4 EBs were analysed using Illumina arrays. In addition to several known TGF-β/BMP target genes, we identified numerous Smad4-dependent transcripts that are mis-expressed in the mutants. As expected, mesodermal cell markers were dramatically down-regulated. We also observed an increase in non-canonical potency markers (<it>Pramel7</it>, <it>Tbx3</it>, <it>Zscan4</it>), germ cell markers (<it>Aire</it>, <it>Tuba3a</it>, <it>Dnmt3l</it>) as well as early endoderm markers (<it>Dpp4</it>, <it>H19</it>, <it>Dcn</it>). Additionally, expression of the extracellular matrix (ECM) remodelling enzymes <it>Mmp14 </it>and <it>Mmp9 </it>was decreased in Smad4 mutant ES and EB populations. These changes, in combination with increased levels of <it>laminin alpha1</it>, cause excessive basement membrane deposition. Similarly, in the context of the Smad4 null E6.5 embryos we observed an expanded basement membrane (BM) associated with the thickened endoderm layer.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Smad4 functional loss results in a dramatic shift in gene expression patterns and in the endodermal cell lineage causes an excess deposition of, or an inability to breakdown and remodel, the underlying BM layer. These structural abnormalities probably disrupt reciprocal signalling between the epiblast and overlying visceral endoderm required for gastrulation.</p