A systematic review of pedagogies that support, engage and improve the educational outcomes of Aboriginal students

This review analyses studies that identify pedagogies to support, engage and improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student outcomes. Some studies focus on pedagogies to support and engage, while others describe pedagogies that are designed to improve engagement, attendance and academic skills. The role of context emerges as a key theme, particularly in remote areas. In larger studies, Aboriginal students are often a subset of a larger student group, included because of socio-economic status and achievement levels. Key findings indicate a disconnect between practice and outcomes where links to improved outcomes are by implication rather than evidence. Further, definitions and detail about pedagogies are mostly absent, relying on ‘common understandings’ of what pedagogy means. This review highlights that most of the research identifies effective pedagogies to engage and support Aboriginal students rather than to improve their educational outcomes

Fisheries Sciences

The history of fisheries research in India goes back to the early 19th century, when dried or preserved material was sent to the Museums of Natural History in England and other European countries for identification and cataloguing (Silas, 2003). Some of the earliest scientific observations on fisheries in pre-independent India were the works of Francis Hamilton-Buchanan (1822) and Francis Day, whose initial work on ‘The Fishes of Malabar’ (1865), was followed by a monograph on ‘The Fishes of India’ (1875-78); and two more volumes on ‘Fishes’ in ‘The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma’ (1889). The enactment of Indian Fisheries Act of 1897 was a major landmark in the development of fisheries in pre-independent India. In the latter half of 19th century, emphasis on coastal and deep-water surveys in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea led to possession of valuable information on new deepwater fauna of fishes and crustaceans, hydrology and plankton. The initial work by the Zoological Survey of India on fisheries and marine biology through eminent leadership of its Directors, viz. Nelsen Annandale, Stanley Kemp, Seymour Sewell, Baini Prasad and S. L. Hora during first half of the 20th century led to generation of several first hand information on the taxonomy, bionomics, eco-biology, hydrology, and fish and fisheries of upland lakes, rivers and coastal waters. The emphasis shifted from coastal and deep-water surveys in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea to upland lakes, rivers and coastal waters in the beginning of the 20th century. With the establishment of the Bureau of Fisheries in 1907, the Madras Presidency became the pioneer for fisheries development in India. Establishment of the Marine Biological Station at Krusadai Island in 1924 and subsequently at West Hill and Ennore led to organized research programmes on pearl and chank fisheries in the Gulf of Mannar

dc readout experiment at the Caltech 40m prototype interferometer

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) operates a 40m prototype interferometer on the Caltech campus. The primary mission of the prototype is to serve as an experimental testbed for upgrades to the LIGO interferometers and for gaining experience with advanced interferometric techniques, including detuned resonant sideband extraction (i.e. signal recycling) and dc readout (optical homodyne detection). The former technique will be employed in Advanced LIGO, and the latter in both Enhanced and Advanced LIGO. Using dc readout for gravitational wave signal extraction has several technical advantages, including reduced laser and oscillator noise couplings as well as reduced shot noise, when compared to the traditional rf readout technique (optical heterodyne detection) currently in use in large-scale ground-based interferometric gravitational wave detectors. The Caltech 40m laboratory is currently prototyping a dc readout system for a fully suspended interferometric gravitational wave detector. The system includes an optical filter cavity at the interferometer's output port, and the associated controls and optics to ensure that the filter cavity is optimally coupled to the interferometer. We present the results of measurements to characterize noise couplings in rf and dc readout using this system

On Passion and Sports Fans:A Look at Football

The purpose of the present research was to test the applicability of the Dualistic Model of Passion (Vallerand et al., 2003) to being a sport (football) fan. The model posits that passion is a strong inclination toward an activity that individuals like (or even love), that they value, and in which they invest time and energy. Furthermore, two types of passion are proposed: harmonious and obsessive passion. While obsessive passion entails an uncontrollable urge to engage in the passionate activity, harmonious passion entails a sense of volition while engaging in the activity. Finally, the model posits that harmonious passion leads to more adaptive outcomes than obsessive passion. Three studies provided support for this dualistic conceptualization of passion. Study 1 showed that harmonious passion was positively associated with adaptive behaviours (e.g., celebrate the team’s victory), while obsessive passion was rather positively associated with maladaptive behaviours (e.g., to risk losing one’s employment to go to the team’s game). Study 2 used a short Passion Scale and showed that harmonious passion was positively related to the positive affective life of fans during the 2006 FIFA World Cup, psychological health (self-esteem and life satisfaction), and public displays of adaptive behaviours (e.g., celebrating one’s team victory in the streets), while obsessive passion was predictive of maladaptive affective life (e.g., hating opposing team’s fans) and behaviours (e.g., mocking the opposing team’s fans). Finally, Study 3 examined the role of obsessive passion as a predictor of partner’s conflict that in turn undermined partner’s relationship satisfaction. Overall, the present results provided support for the Dualistic Model of Passion. The conceptual and applied implications of the findings are discussed

Control sideband generation for dual-recycled laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors

We present a discussion of the problems associated with generation of multiple control sidebands for length sensing and control of dual-recycled, cavity-enhanced Michelson interferometers and the motivation behind more complicated sideband generation methods. We focus on the Mach–Zehnder interferometer as a topological solution to the problem and present results from tests carried out at the Caltech 40 m prototype gravitational wave detector. The consequences for sensing and control for advanced interferometry are discussed, as are the implications for future interferometers such as Advanced LIGO

Measurement of Optical Response of a Detuned Resonant Sideband Extraction Interferometer

We report on the optical response of a suspended-mass detuned resonant sideband extraction (RSE) interferometer with power recycling. The purpose of the detuned RSE configuration is to manipulate and optimize the optical response of the interferometer to differential displacements (induced by gravitational waves) as a function of frequency, independently of other parameters of the interferometer. The design of our interferometer results in an optical gain with two peaks: an RSE optical resonance at around 4 kHz and a radiation pressure induced optical spring at around 41 Hz. We have developed a reliable procedure for acquiring lock and establishing the desired optical configuration. In this configuration, we have measured the optical response to differential displacement and found good agreement with predictions at both resonances and all other relevant frequencies. These results build confidence in both the theory and practical implementation of the more complex optical configuration being planned for Advanced LIGO.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, for submission to Phys Rev Letter

Simultaneous non-negative matrix factorization for multiple large scale gene expression datasets in toxicology

Non-negative matrix factorization is a useful tool for reducing the dimension of large datasets. This work considers simultaneous non-negative matrix factorization of multiple sources of data. In particular, we perform the first study that involves more than two datasets. We discuss the algorithmic issues required to convert the approach into a practical computational tool and apply the technique to new gene expression data quantifying the molecular changes in four tissue types due to different dosages of an experimental panPPAR agonist in mouse. This study is of interest in toxicology because, whilst PPARs form potential therapeutic targets for diabetes, it is known that they can induce serious side-effects. Our results show that the practical simultaneous non-negative matrix factorization developed here can add value to the data analysis. In particular, we find that factorizing the data as a single object allows us to distinguish between the four tissue types, but does not correctly reproduce the known dosage level groups. Applying our new approach, which treats the four tissue types as providing distinct, but related, datasets, we find that the dosage level groups are respected. The new algorithm then provides separate gene list orderings that can be studied for each tissue type, and compared with the ordering arising from the single factorization. We find that many of our conclusions can be corroborated with known biological behaviour, and others offer new insights into the toxicological effects. Overall, the algorithm shows promise for early detection of toxicity in the drug discovery process