"Developing Writers": The Multiple Identities of an Embedded Tutor In the Developmental Writing Classroom

In her essay “When Basic Writers Come to College,” Patricia Bizzell explains that writers placed in developmental courses “are asked to join an academic community ... united almost entirely by its language” (296). Specifically, students are asked to learn “new dialect and discourse conventions ... [and] the outcome of such learning is the acquisition of a whole new world view” (297), which requires not only a different way of writing and communicating but a different way of thinking. This is no small task. Therefore, some of the problems that developmental writers face “are best understood as stemming from the initial distance between their world views and the academic world view” (297). James Paul Gee further defines these communities as “Discourses” where students can create an “‘identity kit,’ which comes complete with the appropriate costume and instructions on how to act, talk, and often write, so as to take on a particular role that others will recognize” (7). Many of us would agree that most writing center tutors have successfully negotiated these different communities and Discourses, adapted alternative viewpoints, and even created various identities through their work in our centers, which results in tremendous change and growth. As Hughes, Gillespie, and Kail have demonstrated through the Peer Writing Tutor Alumni Research Project, the work of tutoring has a profound impact, changing the way tutors perceive writing, learn critical thinking, value the power of collaborative learning, and develop a new-found sense of personal confidence.University Writing Cente

So near and yet so far: Harmonic radar reveals reduced homing ability of nosema infected honeybees

Pathogens may gain a fitness advantage through manipulation of the behaviour of their hosts. Likewise, host behavioural changes can be a defence mechanism, counteracting the impact of pathogens on host fitness. We apply harmonic radar technology to characterize the impact of an emerging pathogen - Nosema ceranae (Microsporidia) - on honeybee (Apis mellifera) flight and orientation performance in the field. Honeybees are the most important commercial pollinators. Emerging diseases have been proposed to play a prominent role in colony decline, partly through sub-lethal behavioural manipulation of their hosts. We found that homing success was significantly reduced in diseased (65.8%) versus healthy foragers (92.5%). Although lost bees had significantly reduced continuous flight times and prolonged resting times, other flight characteristics and navigational abilities showed no significant difference between infected and non-infected bees. Our results suggest that infected bees express normal flight characteristics but are constrained in their homing ability, potentially compromising the colony by reducing its resource inputs, but also counteracting the intra-colony spread of infection. We provide the first high-resolution analysis of sub-lethal effects of an emerging disease on insect flight behaviour. The potential causes and the implications for both host and parasite are discussed

So near and yet so far: Harmonic radar reveals reduced homing ability of nosema infected honeybees

Pathogens may gain a fitness advantage through manipulation of the behaviour of their hosts. Likewise, host behavioural changes can be a defence mechanism, counteracting the impact of pathogens on host fitness. We apply harmonic radar technology to characterize the impact of an emerging pathogen - Nosema ceranae (Microsporidia) - on honeybee (Apis mellifera) flight and orientation performance in the field. Honeybees are the most important commercial pollinators. Emerging diseases have been proposed to play a prominent role in colony decline, partly through sub-lethal behavioural manipulation of their hosts. We found that homing success was significantly reduced in diseased (65.8%) versus healthy foragers (92.5%). Although lost bees had significantly reduced continuous flight times and prolonged resting times, other flight characteristics and navigational abilities showed no significant difference between infected and non-infected bees. Our results suggest that infected bees express normal flight characteristics but are constrained in their homing ability, potentially compromising the colony by reducing its resource inputs, but also counteracting the intra-colony spread of infection. We provide the first high-resolution analysis of sub-lethal effects of an emerging disease on insect flight behaviour. The potential causes and the implications for both host and parasite are discussed

Collaboration among government agencies : a study in the management of roadside skips

published_or_final_versionPolitics and Public AdministrationMasterMaster of Public Administratio

Simulation Modelling of Inequality in Cancer Service Access

This paper applies economic concepts from measuring income inequality to an exercise in assessing spatial inequality in cancer service access in regional areas. We propose a mathematical model for accessing chemotherapy among local government areas (LGAs). Our model incorporates a distance factor. With a simulation we report results for a single inequality measure: the Lorenz curve is depicted for our illustrative data. We develop this approach in order to move incrementally towards its application to actual data and real-world health service regions. We seek to develop the exercises that can lead policy makers to relevant policy information on the most useful data collections to be collected and modeling for cancer service access in regional areas.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Development of Non-Petroleum-Based Binders for Use in Flexible Pavements – Phase II

Bio-binders can be utilized as asphalt modifiers, extenders, and replacements for conventional asphalt in bituminous binders. From the rheology results of Phase I of this project, it was found that the bio-binders tested had good performance, similar to conventional asphalt, except at low temperatures. Phase II of this project addresses this shortcoming and evaluates the Superpave performance of laboratory mixes produced with the enhanced bio-binders. The main objective of this research was to develop a bio-binder capable of replacing conventional asphalt in flexible pavements by incorporating ground tire rubber (GTR) into bio-oil derived from fast pyrolysis of agriculture and forestry residues. The chemical compatibility of the new bio-binder with GTR was assessed, and the low-temperature performance of the bio-binders was enhanced by the use of GTR. The newly developed binder, which consisted of 80 percent conventional binder and 20 percent rubber-modified bio-oil (85 percent bio-oil with 15 percent GTR), was used to produce mixes at two different air void contents, 4 and 7 percent. The laboratory performance test results showed that the performance of the newly developed bio-binder mixes is as good as or better than conventional asphalt mixes for fatigue cracking, rutting resistance, moisture sensitivity, and low-temperature cracking. These results need to be validated in field projects in order to demonstrate adequate performance for this innovative and sustainable technology for flexible pavements