An exploration of the application of a theory of basic psychological needs in developing practice in a secondary school

DAppEdPsy ThesisThe fulfilment of Basic Psychological Needs, from a Self Determination Theory perspective, is a growing area of research within psychology. This theory’s emphasis on the environmental conditions which support positive human functioning has led to an ongoing interest in what this might mean for children and young people in our schools. The first chapter of this thesis critically reviews existing research, considering the relationship between the fulfilment of Basic Psychological Needs and school engagement from a Self Determination Theory perspective. The conclusions of my systemic review suggested that there are inconsistencies in the relationships found within the literature, however all studies suggested a relationship between the fulfilment of at least one need and one element of school engagement. This led to the tentative suggestion that this may be helpful framework for guiding practice. Following on from this, in chapter 3 an empirical paper explores the factors that influence teachers’ application of a theory of Basic Psychological Needs in their practice. Using a collaborative action research approach, teachers were supported to apply a theory of Basic Psychological needs in their practice to make changes to promote positive outcomes for pupils. Within my analysis, several themes were constructed from the data which identified possible factors that may have impacted upon teachers in the changes that they made within this context. This led to a discussion of the possible influence of challenge, dialogue, ecological factors and Basic Psychological Need fulfilment on the changes that were made. Implications for Educational Psychologists and wider systems are identified

Justice or differential treatment? : Adult offenders with an intellectual disability in the criminal justice system

The purpose of the study was to present a thorough examination of the extent of participation of adult offenders with an intellectual disability within all levels of the criminal justice system in Western Australia, that is, from arrest to charge, to court appearance and finally to conviction. Western Australia provides a unique opportunity to examine the operations of the criminal justice system, because it possesses comprehensive computerised data sources on offenders, and by utilising the State central register on people with disabilities; it was possible to include in the study a significant proportion of those people with an intellectual disability in Western Australia. The study was a longitudinal study over a ten-year period where it was possible to examine all levels of the criminal justice system, that is, from arrest to court appearance and finally to conviction and possible detention. In examining the different outcomes, it was also possible to control for the number and types of offences committed by first time offenders. In addition, the available data provided the opportunity to study the rate of recidivism of people with an intellectual disability compared with other offenders. Eight hundred and forty three individuals with an intellectual disability were tracked through the justice system and their experiences were compared with two thousand four hundred and forty two other offenders. At the first stage of the justice process, namely arrest, the study found that people with an intellectual disability were no more likely to be arrested and charged with a criminal offence than others within the general population. However, once they entered the system, they were subsequently rearrested at nearly double the rate compared with the non-disabled sample. In addition, it was found that there was substantial disparity in the offending profiles, at arrest, between the two groups. A notable finding was the difference in the charge pattern over time. Not only were people with an intellectual disability charged more often, they were charged at a far greater rate over the latter part of the study period, while arrests for the non-disabled sample were about the same over the two five year periods. It is suggested that the higher incidence of arrests during the period 1990-1994, may offer support for the view that the rise of arrests of people with an intellectual disability within the criminal justice system, has corresponded with the deinstitutionialisation of state facilities. At the next stage of the justice process, formal prosecution in the court, it was found that people with an intellectual disability appear to be treated differently in the types of penalties imposed, and the different penalties imposed for similar offences. It was also found that differing uses were made of alternatives to imprisonment. An important aspect of the study of offenders with an intellectual disability is the prevalence of recidivism. A considerably higher probability of re-arrest was found for offenders with an intellectual disability compared with other offenders, and the study canvassed several explanations for this higher recidivism rate. The conclusion of this study is that explanations of psychological and sociological disadvantage or the susceptibility hypothesis which have been put forward as possible reasons for people with an intellectual disability being over-represented in prison populations are not sufficient to account for the findings of this study. The fact that different outcomes were experienced by people with an intellectual disability as they proceeded through the criminal justice system is not inconsistent with the different treatment hypothesis. In addition there is strong evidence to suggest that the equality of services is a critical factor relevant to the rate of recidivism. A service model is recommended to assist in reducing the high rate of re-arrest of people with an intellectual disability

The use of Bayesian networks to determine software inspection process efficiency

Adherence to a defined process or standards is necessary to achieve satisfactory software quality. However, in order to judge whether practices are effective at achieving the required integrity of a software product, a measurement-based approach to the correctness of the software development is required. A defined and measurable process is a requirement for producing safe software productively. In this study the contribution of quality assurance to the software development process, and in particular the contribution that software inspections make to produce satisfactory software products, is addressed. I have defined a new model of software inspection effectiveness, which uses a Bayesian Belief Network to combine both subjective and objective data to evaluate the probability of an effective software inspection. Its performance shows an improvement over the existing published models of inspection effectiveness. These previous models made questionable assumptions over the distribution of errors and were essentially static. They could not make use of experience both in terms of process improvement and the increased experience of the inspectors. A sensitivity analysis of my model showed that it is consistent with the attributes which were thought important by Michael Fagan in his research into the software inspection method. The performance of my model show that it is an improvement over published models and over a multiple logistic regression model, which was formed using the same calibration data. By applying my model of software inspection effectiveness before the inspection takes place, project managers will be able to make better use of inspection resource available. Applying the model using data collected during the inspection will help in estimation of residual errors in a product. Decisions can then be made if further investigations are required to identify errors. The modelling process has been used successfully in an industrial application

Challenging Exclusionary Naturalism

The purpose of this paper is to reconstruct Hilary Kornblith’s (2002) argument for excluding conceptual analysis from epistemological inquiry, and then provide three objections to it.  More specifically, Kornblith argues that epistemological properties such as ‘knowledge’ reduce to natural kinds (with a constitutive essence) which can only be discovered and investigated using the a posteriori methods of the natural sciences. Thus, he continues, conceptual analysis can’t properly illuminate the target domain.  The three objections to Kornblith’s argument which I present are as follows: (i) Multiple Realizeability, (ii) Psychological Explanation, (iii) Starting Points.  On strength of these objections, I conclude that Kornblith’s brand of a posteriori epistemology both eliminates our ability to make epistemic evaluations in general, and also implies a strong form of scepticism.&nbsp

Use of genetic markers for the detection of off-types for DUS phenotypic traits in the inbreeding crop, barley

Detection of crop off-types is of interest for multiple uses, including the assessment of uniformity for new plant variety applications during distinctness, uniformity and stability (DUS) testing for the awarding of plant breeders’ rights (PBR). Here, we investigate whether genetic markers, in this case Kompetitive Allele-Specific PCR (KASP), can be used for the identification off-types for phenotypes assessed for DUS in the inbreeding cereal crop, barley (Hordeum vulgare). To demonstrate proof of principle, KASP markers diagnostic for phenotypic expression of nine DUS phenotypes, and DNA from two barley varieties (‘Pelican’ and ‘Felicie’) carrying contrasting alleles at each marker were used. We found that for the majority of markers, it was possible to robustly call alleles down to template DNA concentrations of 2 ng, but not ≤ 0.2 ng. When used in mixtures of DNA consisting of ‘Felicie’ DNA spiked with different concentrations of ‘Pelican’ DNA, robust allele calling was possible in DNA mixtures down to 18 ng:2 ng. Collectively, this demonstrates that where diagnostic markers are available, molecular identification of a single off-type for a given DUS trait within a bulk of ten individuals should be possible. We validated this assumption, with all of the diagnostic genetic markers investigated found to robustly detect DUS off-types at a frequency of 10% in DNA extracted from tissue collected from pools of 10 individuals. Ultimately, this work demonstrates that, where diagnostic polymorphisms are known for DUS traits, KASP markers should be able to robustly detect off-types or cross-contamination within DNA samples from a diploid inbred species down to 10%. While just two varieties that contrasted for the eight DUS targeted were investigated in this study, as the markers used are diagnostic for their relevant phenotype (or a proportion of the variation observed for that phenotype), in theory the approach should be valid for any variety studied— although the introduction of novel alleles via spontaneous mutation or more exotic germplasm pools may mean that marker sets would need to be periodically added to or updated. However, we nevertheless demonstrate the principle that, for a subset of DUS traits, molecular markers can now be robustly used as a tool towards determining all three components of the DUS testing process in barley. These results are relevant for the assessment of varietal uniformity by crop breeders, crop testing authorities and germplasm maintenance, as well as highlighting the potential use of bulk samples rather than individual plant samples for assessment of distinctness by molecular methods

Microglial Phagocytosis of Bacteria and Synapses

Microglia, the resident brain macrophage, are essential for maintaining normal brain homeostasis through removal of pathogens - including bacteria and fungi - via phagocytosis. However, the mechanisms that regulate these phagocytic events are not clear. In this work, involvement of calreticulin, galectin-3, apolipoprotein E and β-amyloid in microglial phagocytosis of bacteria were studied. Microglia activated with bacterial endotoxin upregulated and released extracellular calreticulin and galectin-3 in culture, and both proteins could bind the surface of the gram-negative bacteria E. coli. Moreover, association of these proteins with the bacteria opsonised them for phagocytosis by microglia. This opsonisation was inhibitable by sugars, or by blocking microglial receptors MerTK or LRP1. LPS-activated microglia phagocytosed more E. coli than unactivated microglia, and this phagocytic induction was inhibited by an antibody against calreticulin, sugars, blocking MerTK or LRP1, or simply exchanging the cellular media. Thus, calreticulin and galectin-3 are bacterial opsonins, which may play an important role in immune responses to bacteria in the brain. Apolipoprotein E and β-amyloid – both of which are known to circulate extracellularly in the brain - also bound and opsonised E. coli for phagocytosis by microglia, and may further contribute to bacterial clearance in the brain. Extracellular nucleotides mediate a variety of microglial functions by binding receptors exposed by the microglia, including the phagocytic receptor P2Y6R and the chemotactic receptor P2Y12R. Both E. coli and inflammatory-activated microglia released extracellular agonist of P2Y6R, as did non-activated microglia, astrocytes and pheochromocytoma under specific experimental conditions. Exogenous UDP induced microglial phagocytosis of the bacteria in a time-sensitive manner, and this effect was inhibitable by blocking P2Y6R, suggesting that P2Y6R signalling regulates bacterial phagocytosis. Furthermore, LPS-induction of phagocytosis was inhibited by apyrase, or by blocking P2Y6R, indicating that LPS-induced phagocytosis is mediated by microglial P2Y6R. Moreover, exogenous ADP (which activates P2Y12R) inhibited E. coli phagocytosis by microglia, as did blocking P2Y12R, consistent with a role for ADP- P2Y12R signalling in microglial chemotaxis toward bacteria. In addition to eliminating pathogens, microglial phagocytosis of synapses is a crucial facilitator of the ‘synaptic pruning’ that occurs in the developing brain, but this regulation is poorly understood. Here, the mechanisms that regulate microglial phagocytosis of synapses were studied. Calreticulin and galectin-3 opsonised isolated synapses, or ‘synaptosomes’, in a similar fashion to the bacteria, suggesting diverse regulatory functions for these proteins. Microglial phagocytosis of synaptosomes was also enhanced by apolipoprotein E and extracellular tau, which may play a role in pathological synaptic loss during neurodegeneration. In addition, blocking P2Y6R or P2Y12R inhibited microglial phagocytosis of synaptosomes. Through a novel model of inflammatory synaptic loss in cerebellar neuronal cultures, LPS was found to induce synaptic loss without neuronal loss, which was mediated by microglia and consistent with microglial phagocytosis of the synapses. Such synaptic loss was absent in cultures lacking P2Y6R, and in cultures treated with a P2Y12R antagonist – further implicating both P2Y6R and P2Y12R in microglial phagocytosis of synapses. Taken together, these findings provide insights into novel mechanisms through which microglial phagocytosis of two diverse targets – bacteria and synapses - is regulated

A simple modification of the A. nidulans transformation protocol increases the transformation frequency

After transformation of Aspergillus nidulans with plasmid DNA the transformants are usually incubated at 37C until transformants appear. We have found that pre-incubation of the transformation plates at room temperature for 24h leads to increased transformation frequencies