Exploring teaching practice to support young children's prosocial behaviour : "What would we tell Pig and Frog to do?" : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education (Early Years) at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand

This thesis presents the results of a collaborative action research (CAR) study undertaken with a small group of early childhood education (ECE) teachers to explore teaching practices to support children’s prosocial behaviour development. Prosocial behaviour is an essential component of children’s social-emotional development and has been shown to be a critical factor for children’s positive life outcomes. As many children attend early childhood education centres, the ECE teachers in these settings need to have effective strategies to support and enhance children’s development of prosocial behaviour. In this study, the teacher participants wanted to make changes to their existing teaching practices and the CAR inquiry process acted as a form of professional learning and development to support teachers to make these changes. Placed within the theoretical paradigm of social constructivism and pragmatism, qualitative data was gathered using a range of methods. As part of the action research process, the initial research question was refined to form two questions: 1) in what ways did teachers change their teaching practice to support children’s prosocial behaviours, and 2) how did the CAR process support the adoption of changed teaching practice. Data analysis was conducted using a thematic coding approach. Findings from question one showed that teachers adopted an integrated and strategic approach, implementing a scenario-based learning strategy using puppets at the group level and supporting this with prompts to children’s thinking in the natural context of play. Findings from question two revealed that each of the five stages of the CAR process was instrumental in supporting the teachers to achieve the aims of their inquiry. Furthermore, an overarching theme of intentionality and intentional teaching emerged from both research questions. As a result of the CAR process teachers developed shared intentions for children’s prosocial behaviour that shaped their subsequent teaching strategies. Consistent with previous research in professional learning and development, the CAR process of engaging with research and evidence enabled teachers to make shifts in their teaching theories of practice resulting in teachers embracing more intentional teaching strategies

Electrophilicity Equalization Principle

A new electronic structure principle, viz., the principle of electrophilicity equalization is proposed. An analytical justification as well as a numerical support for the same is provided.Comment: 9 pages, 2 table

Dehydrogenated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and UV bump

Recent calculations have shown that the UV bump at about 217.5 nm in the extinction curve can be explained by a complex mixture of PAHs in several charge states. Other studies proposed that the carriers are a restricted population made of neutral and singly-ionised dehydrogenated coronene molecules (C24Hn, n less than 3), in line with models of the hydrogenation state of interstellar PAHs predicting that medium-sized species are highly dehydrogenated. To assess the observational consequences of the latter hypothesis we have undertaken a systematic study of the electronic spectra of dehydrogenated PAHs. We use our first results to see whether such spectra show strong general trends upon dehydrogenation. We used state-of-the-art techniques in the framework of the density functional theory (DFT) to obtain the electronic ground-state geometries, and of the time- dependent DFT to evaluate the electronic excited-state properties. We computed the absorption cross-section of the species C24Hn (n=12,10,8,6,4,2,0) in their neutral and cationic charge-states. Similar calculations were performed for other PAHs and their fullydehydrogenated counterparts. pi electron energies are always found to be strongly affected by dehydrogenation. In all cases we examined, progressive dehydrogenation translates into a correspondingly progressive blue shift of the main electronic transitions. In particular, the pi-pi* collective resonance becomes broader and bluer with dehydrogenation. Its calculated energy position is therefore predicted to fall in the gap between the UV bump and the far-UV rise of the extinction curve. Since this effect appears to be systematic, it poses a tight observational limit on the column density of strongly dehydrogenated medium-sized PAHs.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figures, Astronomy & Astrophysics, in pres

Interventionist versus expectant care for severe pre-eclampsia between 24 and 34 weeks' gestation.

Background: Severe pre-eclampsia can cause significant mortality and morbidity for both mother and child, particularly when it occurs remote from term, between 24 and 34 weeks' gestation. The only known cure for this disease is delivery. Some obstetricians advocate early delivery to ensure that the development of serious maternal complications, such as eclampsia (fits) and kidney failure are prevented. Others prefer a more expectant approach delaying delivery in an attempt to reduce the mortality and morbidity for the child associated with being born too early. Objectives: The objective of the review was to compare the effects of a policy of interventionist care and early delivery with a policy of expectant care and delayed delivery for women with early onset severe pre-eclampsia. Search methods: We searched the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group's Trials Register (28 February 2013). Selection criteria: Randomised trials comparing the two intervention strategies for women with early onset severe pre-eclampsia. Data collection and analysis: Two review authors independently assessed trials for inclusion, extracted data and assessed risk of bias. Data were checked for accuracy. Main results: Four trials, with a total of 425 women are included in this review. Trials were at low risk of bias for methods of randomisation and allocation concealment; high risk for blinding; unclear risk for incomplete outcome data and other bias; and low risk for selective reporting. There are insufficient data for reliable conclusions about the comparative effects on most outcomes for the mother. For the baby, there is insufficient evidence for reliable conclusions about the effects on stillbirth or death after delivery (risk ratio (RR) 1.08, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.69 to 1.71; four studies; 425 women). Babies whose mothers had been allocated to the interventionist group had more intraventricular haemorrhage (RR 1.82, 95% CI 1.06 to 3.14; one study; 262 women), more hyaline membrane disease (RR 2.30, 95% CI 1.39 to 3.81; two studies; 133 women), require more ventilation (RR 1.50, 95% CI 1.11 to 2.02; two studies; 300 women) and were more likely to have a lower gestation at birth in days (average mean difference (MD) -9.91, 95% CI -16.37 to -3.45; four studies; 425 women), more likely to be admitted to neonatal intensive care (RR 1.35, 95% CI 1.16 to 1.58) and have a longer stay in the neonatal intensive care unit (average MD 11.14 days, 95% CI 1.57 to 20.72 days; two studies; 125 women) than those allocated an expectant policy. Nevertheless, babies allocated to the interventionist policy were less likely to be small-for-gestational age (RR 0.30, 95% CI 0.14 to 0.65; two studies; 125 women). Women who had been allocated to the interventionist group were more likely to have a caesarean section (RR 1.09, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.18; four studies; 425 women) than those allocated an expectant policy. There were no statistically significant differences between the two strategies for any other outcomes. Authors' conclusions: This review suggests that an expectant approach to the management of women with severe early onset pre-eclampsia may be associated with decreased morbidity for the baby. However, this evidence is based on data from only four trials. Further large trials are needed to confirm or refute these findings and establish if this approach is safe for the mother

Electronic spectroscopy of medium-sized polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: Implications for the carriers of the 2175 {\AA} UV bump

Mixtures of polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have been produced by means of laser pyrolysis. The main fraction of the extracted PAHs were primarily medium-sized, up to a maximum size of 38 carbon atoms per molecule. The use of different extraction solvents and subsequent chromatographic fractionation provided mixtures of different size distributions. UV-VIS absorption spectra have been measured at low temperature by matrix isolation spectroscopy and at room temperature with PAHs as film-like deposits on transparent substrates. In accordance with semi-empirical calculations, our findings suggest that large PAHs with sizes around 50 to 60 carbon atoms per molecule could be responsible for the interstellar UV bump at 217.5 nm.Comment: 6 pages, 4 Postscript figures, published in Astrophys. J. Lett. (2010

Notes From the Chrysalis: Feminine Beauty, Gender Transition, and My Attempts at Untangling the Two

In this creative essay, Eden explores the common metaphor of the transgender butterfly as a way of interrogating the broader cultural myth of transition and trans identity. Primarily through personal reflection, she argues that feminine metamorphosis is a poor and harmful understanding of trans identity and that transition is much more like Falling in Love than it is a metamorphosis

Letter Concerning Lecture on Scholarly Publishing 1985

Letter to faculty from Margot Duley announcing scholarly publishing lecture from Dr. Karen Reeds, 1985