Surface: Selective Observation of Data in a Subantarctic Landscape

This contribution to the Art and Light Project emerged from a science/art collaboration with Janice Lord, plant evolutionary biologist and senior lecturer in the Department of Botany at the University of Otago. A hut book entry led to Janice’s nighttime fieldwork, which revealed the Campbell Island weta’s “novel and unexpected” nocturnal contribution to biotic pollination of subantarctic megaherbs

Glistens with Nectar

“To glisten with nectar”—to allude to the title of the artists’ book associated with this project — conjures up an image of moisture-laden, seductive abundance, like a carpet of winter snow shimmering in sunlight. However, it is not sunlight that informs this project, but the hours of darkness on the subantarctic islands. Plant evolutionary biologist Janice Lord studies the insects that visit the megaherbs endemic to this region during the night and investigates their prospects as plant pollinators. Megaherbs, with their large leaves and brightly coloured flowers, are a group of herbaceous perennial wildflowers that have adapted to survive the extreme weather conditions on the islands. An insect of particular interest to Lord is the nocturnal Campbell Island wētā, Notoplectron campbellensis, belonging to the orthopteran family Rhaphidophoridae that includes the cave wētā, an insect endemic to New Zealand

The evolutionary ecology of Festuca Novae-Zelandiae in Mid-Canterbury, New Zealand

Festuca novae-zelandiae (Hack.) Cockayne is a long-lived, caesptiose grass indigenous to New Zealand. It has expanded dramatically in range in 1000 years of human settlement. This study was conducted to determine how generalist life-history attributes and 'adaptive' variation have enabled this species to adjust to environmental change. A range of aspects of the biology of F. novae-zelandiae were investigated. Reproduction in 155 individuals over four seasons was monitored. Only 17.4% of individuals flowered every year and 36.1 % did not flower at all. However, the reproductive output of the population was still relatively consistent between years. Reproduction of individuals and the pre-dispersal fate of seeds was compared among eight sites. Differences existed among sites for most attributes measured. Site factors appeared to mask any effects of tussock density on culm production. Total seed predation was positively related to density and negatively to altitude. A flightless fly, Diplotoxa moorei (Diptera, Chloropidae) was found to be the most common identifiable seed predator, accounting for up to 8% of seeds produced in some populations. Seed germination was compared for eight populations in laboratory trials and most seeds germinated easily. Mean final % germination across all populations was 86%. Seedlings were monitored in the field for 30 months. They commonly established on mat-vegetation, were very slow-growing (mean of 0.6 leaves yr-1) and had a half-life of 12 months. Tillers in 26 tussocks were tagged and monitored for 30 months. Tillering was concentrated in spring, tillers lived on average 15.2 months and the majority (64%) did not produce daughter tillers. Tillering rate was not affected by either position within a tussock or size of the tussock. A stage-based approach was used to investigate population structure. Stages were defined using discriminant analysis. The discriminant function was then used to assign stages to 255 tussocks which had been measured at the beginning and end of a two year period. Transition probabilities were calculated between stages. Transitions were distinctly non-linear and tussock size and condition could vary widely in the space of two years in response to environmental fluctuations. The genetic identity of mapped tussocks was investigated using isozyme electrophoresis and it was found that clonal fragmentation did not contribute significantly to the maintenance of population densities. Patterns of variation at different taxonomic levels were compared using three taxa: F. novae-zelandiae s.s., a distinct high altitude form of F. novae-zelandiae and a closely related species, F. matthewsii. Vegetation composition was investigated using ordination and classification techniques. Environmental gradients in altitude, temperature and rainfall were important in explaining observed patterns. The vegetation composition at "high altitude" F. novae-zelandiae sites was more distinct from that of F. novae-zelandiae s.s. sites than the latter was from F. matthewsii sites. Morphological variation in the same taxa was investigated using Principal Components Analysis. The same environmental factors were important to observed patterns of variation. Populations within F. novae-zelandiae possessed some genetically-determined differentiation that related to habitat. A narrow zone of intermediacy was found between F. novae-zelandiae s.s. and F. matthewsii. Plants from populations of the three taxa were grown in cultivation. Culms of F. matthewsii emerged four weeks prior to F. novae-zelandiae s.s. "High altitude" F. novae-zelandiae was more similar to F. matthewsii in flowering phenology. Levels of biochemical variation in populations of all three taxa were investigated using isozyme electrophoresis. All populations were characterised by high within-population variation and relatively low between-population variation. The differences between the three taxa were small. Variation among populations related to environmental factors but not to the proximity of populations. The adaptiveness of populations to their own environment was tested using reciprocal transplants. No 'home-site' advantage was found. All populations proved to be highly plastic in growth responses. The findings of this study are discussed in terms of generalist versus specialist strategies in long-lived, polyploid, perennial grasses. I conclude that in environments characterised by unpredictable, short-term fluctuations, long-lived species will show adaptation to large-scale, long-term environmental trends only, and adopt a generalist strategy in the face of short-term fluctuations

Physical Activity and Nutrition INfluences In ageing (PANINI): consortium mission statement

First paragraph: Current demographic trends indicate that by the year 2020, almost one in five of the European population will be aged 65 years or over. Although life expectancy is increasing by 2 years per decade, the period of life spent in good health is not keeping pace and most Europeans spend their last decade in poor health. Consequently, there is an urgent need to understand how lifestyle factors can influence age-related changes from gene to society level and how they may be integrated into a net effect of healthy ageing. It is also crucial to develop and validate interventions and health policies to ensure that more of our older adults have a healthy and active later life. This is an urgent and cross-cutting research priority in Europe, and to achieve this, it is vital to increase research capacity in this area to push forward the frontiers of scientific understanding. The Horizon 2020 funded Marie Curie Sklodowska Innovative Training Network—PANINI is addressing this capacity issue by focusing on research and training in two major interacting lifestyle factors with impact at multiple levels, namely, physical activity and nutrition

TalkingBoogie: Collaborative Mobile AAC System for Non-verbal Children with Developmental Disabilities and Their Caregivers

Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) technologies are widely used to help non-verbal children enable communication. For AAC-aided communication to be successful, caregivers should support children with consistent intervention strategies in various settings. As such, caregivers need to continuously observe and discuss children's AAC usage to create a shared understanding of these strategies. However, caregivers often find it challenging to effectively collaborate with one another due to a lack of family involvement and the unstructured process of collaboration. To address these issues, we present TalkingBoogie, which consists of two mobile apps: TalkingBoogie-AAC for caregiver-child communication, and TalkingBoogie-coach supporting caregiver collaboration. Working together, these applications provide contextualized layouts for symbol arrangement, scaffold the process of sharing and discussing observations, and induce caregivers' balanced participation. A two-week deployment study with four groups (N=11) found that TalkingBoogie helped increase mutual understanding of strategies and encourage balanced participation between caregivers with reduced cognitive loads.SNU Undergraduate Research Program through the Faculty of Liberal Education, Seoul National University (2019-23) National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korean Government (NRF-2019S1A5A2A01045980

Enhanced visual search in infancy predicts emerging autism symptoms

In addition to core symptoms, i.e., social interaction and communication difficulties and restricted and repetitive behaviours, autism is also characterized by aspects of superior perception [1]. One well-replicated finding is that of superior performance in visual search tasks, in which participants have to indicate the presence of an odd-one-out element amongst a number of foils [2,3,4,5]. Whether these aspects of superior perception contribute to the emergence of core autism symptoms remains debated [6,4]. Perceptual and social interaction skills could reflect co-expressed but biologically independent pathologies, as suggested by a “fractionable” phenotype model of autism [7]. A developmental test of this hypothesis is now made possible by longitudinal cohorts of infants at high risk, such as of younger siblings of children with ASD. Around 20% of younger siblings are diagnosed with autism themselves [8], and up to another 30% manifest elevated levels of autism symptoms [9]. We used eye-tracking to measure spontaneous orienting to letter targets (O, S, V and +) presented amongst distractors (the letter X, Figure 1). At 9 and 15 months, emerging autism symptoms were assessed using the Autism Observation Scale for Infants (AOSI; 10) and at 2 years of age using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS; 11). Enhanced visual search performance at 9-month predicted a higher level of autism symptoms at 15 months and at 2 years. Infant perceptual atypicalities are thus intrinsically linked to the emerging autism phenotype

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Highly Successful Outcomes: How Teachers at an African-Centered Independent School Structure Mathematics Curriculum and Instruction

Africans and people of African descent have always desired the best for their children and education has been seen as the key to success (Madhubuti & Madhubuti, 1994, p. 4). When conscious African American teachers respect for students' cultural heritage and families are demonstrated in the classroom, and seen as an asset then students' ability to develop self-esteem and self-pride needed to support self in the world that we live in improves (Alim, 2014 & Gay, 2010). This study focused on how teachers at an African-centered school in East Oakland, California structure curriculum and instruction for pre-school-8 in a way that leads to highly successful outcomes for students especially in mathematics. The following research questions guided this case study of an African-centered school. First, what are the elements of an African-centered education and culturally responsive pedagogy that ensures the academic achievement of African-American students? Second, what occurs in teachers' classrooms where students strive for academic excellence? Third, what are the school practices that contribute to the academic success of all students? The findings are as follows in this research is that school climate and culture set the tone and expectation for all students. When students and staff are respected and valued each contribute to the success of the students and school programs with strong support inside the school (staff) and outside (family and community). Students need to be able to identify who they are and be empowered to develop agency for themselves. The start of the school day needs to focus and center students (for example breathing exercise, pouring libation and school pledge). The placement of mathematics at the beginning of the day is vital. The most challenging class is provided to students when most students have the most energy to focus, pay attention and stay on task. It is important for students to have extended time to think critically, to experience guided practice and independent practice. In addition, teachers who check for understanding frequently throughout the lesson are better prepared to comprehend where students are in the learning cycle (engagement, explore, explanation, elaboration and evaluate). Cooperative learning is a communal process to learn and is beneficial to many students rather than working independently and/or competitively. Next, technology should be used in modern classes to prepare students for the real world. Finally, belonging is an essential part of this school. Students feel as if they are members of a team; the staff is the leader of the team and they ensure that all students feel connected to school through common routines and practices. There is success for all, students, staff, parents and community. Key words: African-centered education; culturally responsive pedagogy, culturally sustaining pedagogy, mathematics acceleration program; African Americans; urban education, school practices, striving for excellence in education

Accessory costs of seed production and the evolution of angiosperms

Accessory costs of reproduction frequently equal or exceed direct investment in offspring, and can limit the evolution of small offspring sizes. Early angiosperms had minimum seed sizes, an order of magnitude smaller than their contemporaries. It has been proposed that changes to reproductive features at the base of the angiosperm clade reduced accessory costs thus removing the fitness disadvantage of small seeds. We measured accessory costs of reproduction in 25 extant gymnosperms and angiosperms, to test whether angiosperms can produce small seeds more economically than gymnosperms. Total accessory costs scaled isometrically to seed mass for angiosperms but less than isometrically for gymnosperms, so that smaller seeds were proportionally more expensive for gymnosperms to produce. In particular, costs of abortions and packaging structures were significantly higher in gymnosperms. Also, the relationship between seed:ovule ratio and seed size was negative in angiosperms but positive in gymnosperms. We argue that the carpel was a key evolutionary innovation reducing accessory costs in angiosperms by allowing sporophytic control of pre- and postzygotic mate selection and timing of resource allocation. The resulting reduction in costs of aborting unfertilized ovules or genetically inferior embryos would have lowered total reproductive costs enabling early angiosperms to evolve small seed sizes and short generation times.11 page(s