20 research outputs found

    In their own voice: the role of the Shape of the Australian Curriculum: The Arts paper writers in ensuring equitable access to quality Arts education in Australia

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    This paper examines the personal and professional experiences of the five arts leaders who co-wrote the foundation document for Australia’s first national curriculum in the Arts. Their personal and professional backgrounds, which were explored during in depth interviews, drove the complex collaborative process that informed the first iteration of the Australian Curriculum: The Arts. Though each couched their responses in the context of their background and arts discipline, they shared an awareness of the important role of the Arts in providing the analytical tools for children and young people to identify and subsequently challenge social injustice. The findings, which are presented as a group narrative using a Narrative Inquiry approach, reveal how the five arts leaders’ individual lived experience, disciplinary experience and expertise, and commitment to collaborative leadership informed their approach. It was one driven by their shared belief that all Australian students, regardless of their background, are entitled to a quality arts education

    Growth rings show limited evidence for ungulates' potential to suppress shrubs across the Arctic

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    Global warming has pronounced effects on tundra vegetation, and rising mean temperatures increase plant growth potential across the Arctic biome. Herbivores may counteract the warming impacts by reducing plant growth, but the strength of this effect may depend on prevailing regional climatic conditions. To study how ungulates interact with temperature to influence growth of tundra shrubs across the Arctic tundra biome, we assembled dendroecological data from 20 sites, comprising 1153 individual shrubs and 223 63 annual growth rings. Evidence for ungulates suppressing shrub radial growth was only observed at intermediate summer temperatures (6.5 degrees C-9 degrees C), and even at these temperatures the effect was not strong. Multiple factors, including forage preferences and landscape use by the ungulates, and favourable climatic conditions enabling effective compensatory growth of shrubs, may weaken the effects of ungulates on shrubs, possibly explaining the weakness of observed ungulate effects. Earlier local studies have shown that ungulates may counteract the impacts of warming on tundra shrub growth, but we demonstrate that ungulates' potential to suppress shrub radial growth is not always evident, and may be limited to certain climatic conditions

    Growth rings show limited evidence for ungulates’ potential to suppress shrubs across the Arctic

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    Global warming has pronounced effects on tundra vegetation, and rising mean temperatures increase plant growth potential across the Arctic biome. Herbivores may counteract the warming impacts by reducing plant growth, but the strength of this effect may depend on prevailing regional climatic conditions. To study how ungulates interact with temperature to influence growth of tundra shrubs across the Arctic tundra biome, we assembled dendroecological data from 20 sites, comprising 1153 individual shrubs and 223 63 annual growth rings. Evidence for ungulates suppressing shrub radial growth was only observed at intermediate summer temperatures (6.5 ◦C–9 ◦C), and even at these temperatures the effect was not strong. Multiple factors, including forage preferences and landscape use by the ungulates, and favourable climatic conditions enabling effective compensatory growth of shrubs, may weaken the effects of ungulates on shrubs, possibly explaining the weakness of observed ungulate effects. Earlier local studies have shown that ungulates may counteract the impacts of warming on tundra shrub growth, but we demonstrate that ungulates’ potential to suppress shrub radial growth is not always evident, and may be limited to certain climatic conditions.Research Council of Norwayhttp://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326dm2022Mammal Research InstituteZoology and Entomolog

    The tundra phenology database: More than two decades of tundra phenology responses to climate change

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    Observations of changes in phenology have provided some of the strongest signals of the effects of climate change on terrestrial ecosystems. The International Tundra Experiment (ITEX), initiated in the early 1990s, established a common protocol to measure plant phenology in tundra study areas across the globe. Today, this valuable collection of phenology measurements depicts the responses of plants at the colder extremes of our planet to experimental and ambient changes in temperature over the past decades. The database contains 150,434 phenology observations of 278 plant species taken at 28 study areas for periods of 1 to 26 years. Here we describe the full dataset to increase the visibility and use of these data in global analyses, and to invite phenology data contributions from underrepresented tundra locations. Portions of this tundra phenology database have been used in three recent syntheses, some datasets are expanded, others are from entirely new study areas, and the entirety of these data are now available at the Polar Data Catalogue (https://doi.org/10.21963/13215)

    CMB-S4

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    We describe the stage 4 cosmic microwave background ground-based experiment CMB-S4

    Drone data reveal heterogeneity in tundra greenness and phenology not captured by satellites

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    This is the final version. Available on open access from IOP Publishing via the DOI in this recordData availability statement The data and code that support the findings of this study are openly available at the following URL: (https://github.com/jakobjassmann/qhi_phen_ts).Data across scales are required to monitor ecosystem responses to rapid warming in the Arctic and to interpret tundra greening trends. Here, we tested the correspondence among satellite- and drone-derived seasonal change in tundra greenness to identify optimal spatial scales for vegetation monitoring on Qikiqtaruk - Herschel Island in the Yukon Territory, Canada. We combined time-series of the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from multispectral drone imagery and satellite data (Sentinel-2, Landsat 8 and MODIS) with ground-based observations for two growing seasons (2016 and 2017). We found high cross-season correspondence in plot mean greenness (drone-satellite Spearman's ρ 0.67-0.87) and pixel-by-pixel greenness (drone-satellite R 2 0.58-0.69) for eight one-hectare plots, with drones capturing lower NDVI values relative to the satellites. We identified a plateau in the spatial variation of tundra greenness at distances of around half a metre in the plots, suggesting that these grain sizes are optimal for monitoring such variation in the two most common vegetation types on the island. We further observed a notable loss of seasonal variation in the spatial heterogeneity of landscape greenness (46.2%-63.9%) when aggregating from ultra-fine-grain drone pixels (approx. 0.05 m) to the size of medium-grain satellite pixels (10-30 m). Finally, seasonal changes in drone-derived greenness were highly correlated with measurements of leaf-growth in the ground-validation plots (mean Spearman's ρ 0.70). These findings indicate that multispectral drone measurements can capture temporal plant growth dynamics across tundra landscapes. Overall, our results demonstrate that novel technologies such as drone platforms and compact multispectral sensors allow us to study ecological systems at previously inaccessible scales and fill gaps in our understanding of tundra ecosystem processes. Capturing fine-scale variation across tundra landscapes will improve predictions of the ecological impacts and climate feedbacks of environmental change in the Arctic.Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)National Geographic SocietyParrot Climate Innovation GrantAarhus University Research FoundationEuropean Union Horizon 202

    Validation of a Geriatric Trauma Prognosis Calculator: A P.A.L.Li.A.T.E. Consortium Study

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    Background/objectives: The P.A.L.Li.A.T.E. (prognostic assessment of life and limitations after trauma in the elderly) consortium has previously created a prognosis calculator for mortality after geriatric injury based on age, injury severity, and transfusion requirement called the geriatric trauma outcome score (GTOS). Here, we sought to create and validate a prognosis calculator called the geriatric trauma outcome score ii (GTOS II) estimating probability of unfavorable discharge. Design: Retrospective cohort. Setting: Four geographically diverse Level 1 trauma centers. Participants: Trauma admissions aged 65 to 102 years surviving to discharge from 2000 to 2013. Intervention: None. Measurements: Age, injury severity score (ISS), transfusion at 24 hours post-admission, discharge dichotomized as favorable (home/rehabilitation) or unfavorable (skilled nursing/long term acute care/hospice). Training and testing samples were created using the holdout method. A multiple logistic mixed model (GTOS II) was created to estimate the odds of unfavorable disposition then re-specified using the GTOS II as the sole predictor in a logistic mixed model using the testing sample. Results: The final dataset was 16,114 subjects (unfavorable discharge status = 15.4%). Training (n = 8,057) and testing (n = 8,057) samples had similar demographics. The formula based on the training sample was (GTOS II = Age + [0.71 × ISS] + 8.79 [if transfused by 24 hours]). Misclassification rate and AUC were 15.63% and 0.67 for the training sample, respectively, and 15.85% and 0.67 for the testing sample. Conclusion: GTOS II estimates the probability of unfavorable discharge in injured elders with moderate accuracy. With the GTOS mortality calculator, it can help in goal setting conversations after geriatric injury

    Validation of a Geriatric Trauma Prognosis Calculator: A P.A.L.Li.A.T.E. Consortium Study

    No full text
    Background/objectives: The P.A.L.Li.A.T.E. (prognostic assessment of life and limitations after trauma in the elderly) consortium has previously created a prognosis calculator for mortality after geriatric injury based on age, injury severity, and transfusion requirement called the geriatric trauma outcome score (GTOS). Here, we sought to create and validate a prognosis calculator called the geriatric trauma outcome score ii (GTOS II) estimating probability of unfavorable discharge. Design: Retrospective cohort. Setting: Four geographically diverse Level 1 trauma centers. Participants: Trauma admissions aged 65 to 102 years surviving to discharge from 2000 to 2013. Intervention: None. Measurements: Age, injury severity score (ISS), transfusion at 24 hours post-admission, discharge dichotomized as favorable (home/rehabilitation) or unfavorable (skilled nursing/long term acute care/hospice). Training and testing samples were created using the holdout method. A multiple logistic mixed model (GTOS II) was created to estimate the odds of unfavorable disposition then re-specified using the GTOS II as the sole predictor in a logistic mixed model using the testing sample. Results: The final dataset was 16,114 subjects (unfavorable discharge status = 15.4%). Training (n = 8,057) and testing (n = 8,057) samples had similar demographics. The formula based on the training sample was (GTOS II = Age + [0.71 × ISS] + 8.79 [if transfused by 24 hours]). Misclassification rate and AUC were 15.63% and 0.67 for the training sample, respectively, and 15.85% and 0.67 for the testing sample. Conclusion: GTOS II estimates the probability of unfavorable discharge in injured elders with moderate accuracy. With the GTOS mortality calculator, it can help in goal setting conversations after geriatric injury

    Measurement of fasted state gastric antral motility before and after a standard bioavailability and bioequivalence 240 mL drink of water: Validation of MRI method against concomitant perfused manometry in healthy participants.

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    ObjectiveThe gastrointestinal environment in which drug products need to disintegrate before the drug can dissolve and be absorbed has not been studied in detail due to limitations, especially invasiveness of existing techniques. Minimal in vivo data is available on undisturbed gastrointestinal motility to improve relevance of predictive dissolution models and in silico tools such as physiologically-based pharmacokinetic models. Recent advances in magnetic resonance imaging methods could provide novel data and insights that can be used as a reference to validate and, if necessary, optimize these models. The conventional method for measuring gastrointestinal motility is via a manometric technique involving intubation. Nevertheless, it is feasible to measure gastrointestinal motility with magnetic resonance imaging. The aim of this study was is to develop and validate a magnetic resonance imaging method using the most recent semi-automated analysis method against concomitant perfused manometry method.Material and methodsEighteen healthy fasted participants were recruited for this study. The participants were intubated with a water-perfused manometry catheter. Subsequently, stomach motility was assessed by cine-MRI acquired at intervals, of 3.5min sets, at coronal oblique planes through the abdomen and by simultaneous water perfused manometry, before and after administration of a standard bioavailability / bioequivalence 8 ounces (~240mL) drink of water. The magnetic resonance imaging motility images were analysed using Spatio-Temporal Motility analysis STMM techniques. The area under the curve of the gastric motility contractions was calculated for each set and compared between techniques. The study visit was then repeated one week later.ResultsData from 15 participants was analysed. There was a good correlation between the MRI antral motility plots area under the curve and corresponding perfused manometry motility area under the curve (r = 0.860) during both antral contractions and quiescence.ConclusionNon-invasive dynamic magnetic resonance imaging of gastric antral motility coupled with recently developed, semi-automated magnetic resonance imaging data processing techniques correlated well with simultaneous, 'gold standard' water perfused manometry. This will be particularly helpful for research purposes related to oral absorption where the absorption of a drug is highly depending on the underlying gastrointestinal processes such as gastric emptying, gastrointestinal motility and availability of residual fluid volumes.Clinical trialThis trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov as NCT03191045
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