Demonstrating ‘Impact’: Insights from the Work of Preservice Teachers Completing a Graduate Teacher Performance Assessment

Initial Teacher Education (ITE) reform in Australia has mandated that graduating teachers demonstrate their practice and ‘impact’ through the completion of a Teaching Performance Assessment (TPA) prior to graduation. The requirement to analyse ‘impact’ in teaching, requires a nuanced understanding of what ‘impact’ is and how it manifests in varied contemporary classrooms. This paper reports on how a sample of high-performing pre-service teachers from one Australian ITE institution, within a framework devised by Australia’s largest TPA consortium, appraised the impact of their teaching in the context of the disciplinary area of Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS). How ‘impact’ was articulated through GTPA submissions revealed data-informed and holistic interpretations layered to include opportunistic teaching moments and relational and affective impact as well as analysis of cognitive progress. The paper also identifies ways in which analysis of impact might be further finessed with greater attention to pedagogical content knowledge and discipline-specific progression

Growing Up Policed in the Age of Aggressive Policing Policies

Spray-painted atop an old tenement building in the East Village of Manhattan is a large fossilized graffiti image of a tyrannosaurus rex that reads: “NYC EATS ITS YOUNG.” With its ribs exposed and mouth open, this image represents symbolically what many young people in the neighborhood already know intimately and have experienced: New York City (NYC) is not an easy place to grow up. Their social safety nets are being dismantled and the public institutions they rely on every day often fail them. In NYC, public school budgets are being slashed each year even though the high school dropout/push-out rates are far too high. Neighborhoods are fast becoming gentrified as the ever-rising cost of rent makes it increasingly difficult for the working class and poor to raise families anywhere in the city. A truly comprehensive health system in the United States is still only a future hope, while countless NYC young people are without adequate healthcare; the logic of the welfare state is forever being attacked. And then there is the mounting police presence. It is this public institution--The New York City Police Department (NYPD), its aggressive policing policies, and how these policies are related to youth experience--that we will take up here. In this article, we will explore what it is like to grow up policed in NYC

Gender-specific changes in energy metabolism and protein degradation as major pathways affected in livers of mice treated with ibuprofen.

Ibuprofen, an inhibitor of prostanoid biosynthesis, is a common pharmacological agent used for the management of pain, inflammation and fever. However, the chronic use of ibuprofen at high doses is associated with increased risk for cardiovascular, renal, gastrointestinal and liver injuries. The underlying mechanisms of ibuprofen-mediated effects on liver remain unclear. To determine the mechanisms and signaling pathways affected by ibuprofen (100 mg/kg/day for seven days), we performed proteomic profiling of male mice liver with quantitative liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) using ten-plex tandem mass tag (TMT) labeling. More than 300 proteins were significantly altered between the control and ibuprofen-treated groups. The data suggests that several major pathways including (1) energy metabolism, (2) protein degradation, (3) fatty acid metabolism and (4) antioxidant system are altered in livers from ibuprofen treated mice. Independent validation of protein changes in energy metabolism and the antioxidant system was carried out by Western blotting and showed sex-related differences. Proteasome and immunoproteasome activity/expression assays showed ibuprofen induced gender-specific proteasome and immunoproteasome dysfunction in liver. The study observed multifactorial gender-specific ibuprofen-mediated effects on mice liver and suggests that males and females are affected differently by ibuprofen

Proteomes of Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus LBB.B5 Incubated in Milk at Optimal and Low Temperatures.

We identified the proteins synthesized by Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus strain LBB.B5 in laboratory culture medium (MRS) at 37°C and milk at 37 and 4°C. Cell-associated proteins were measured by gel-free, shotgun proteomics using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrophotometry. A total of 635 proteins were recovered from all cultures, among which 72 proteins were milk associated (unique or significantly more abundant in milk). LBB.B5 responded to milk by increasing the production of proteins required for purine biosynthesis, carbohydrate metabolism (LacZ and ManM), energy metabolism (TpiA, PgK, Eno, SdhA, and GapN), amino acid synthesis (MetE, CysK, LBU0412, and AspC) and transport (GlnM and GlnP), and stress response (Trx, MsrA, MecA, and SmpB). The requirement for purines was confirmed by the significantly improved cell yields of L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus when incubated in milk supplemented with adenine and guanine. The L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus-expressed proteome in milk changed upon incubation at 4°C for 5 days and included increased levels of 17 proteins, several of which confer functions in stress tolerance (AddB, UvrC, RecA, and DnaJ). However, even with the activation of stress responses in either milk or MRS, L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus did not survive passage through the murine digestive tract. These findings inform efforts to understand how L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus is adapted to the dairy environment and its implications for its health-benefiting properties in the human digestive tract. IMPORTANCELactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus has a long history of use in yogurt production. Although commonly cocultured with Streptococcus salivarius subsp. thermophilus in milk, fundamental knowledge of the adaptive responses of L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus to the dairy environment and the consequences of those responses on the use of L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus as a probiotic remain to be elucidated. In this study, we identified proteins of L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus LBB.B5 that are synthesized in higher quantities in milk at growth-conducive and non-growth-conductive (refrigeration) temperatures compared to laboratory culture medium and further examined whether those L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus cultures were affected differently in their capacity to survive transit through the murine digestive tract. This work provides novel insight into how a major, food-adapted microbe responds to its primary habitat. Such knowledge can be applied to improve starter culture and yogurt production and to elucidate matrix effects on probiotic performance

Behaviour and diet of the Tasman parakeet (Cyanoramphus cookii) on Norfolk Island, South Pacific : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Conservation Biology, Massey University, Albany, New Zealand

Conservation of threatened species requires an understanding of their biology in the wild, including aspects of their dietary diversity, general behaviours and interactions with other species. For many threatened species however, obtaining even basic information about their biology in the wild proves challenging. This is because they often occur in small numbers, or in remote locations, limiting our ability to quantitatively describe behaviours. The Tasman parakeet (Cyanoramphus cookii) endemic to Norfolk Island, has experienced two cycles of critically low numbers in the last 40 years. Since the 1970s, the species is the subject of regular management, chiefly including introduced predator control and the provisioning and maintenance of predator-proof nests within the Norfolk Island National Park. These actions have resulted in population increases to approximately 400 individuals by 2018. As Tasman parakeets numbers increase, managers face challenges to target interventions that could help Tasman parakeets establish and reproduce as they disperses outside the National Park. In this thesis I examine the behaviour of Tasman parakeets and crimson rosellas (Platycercus elegans) during winter and spring to understand the response of both species to disturbance (presence of observers). I also examined the diversity of food species consumed by Tasman parakeets and crimson rosellas within and outside the boundaries of the National Park. During this research, Tasman parakeets were first sighted at shorter distances than crimson rosellas, furthermore, Tasman parakeets were observed at lower heights than crimson rosellas. Overall, these findings reinforce that Tasman parakeets are behaviourally more vulnerable to introduced predators than crimson rosellas, with further research required. I also determined that Tasman parakeets and crimson rosellas overlap in feeding resources and both species rely heavily on seeds of Norfolk pine (Araucaria heterophylla) during winter, however further examination of seed availability and potential competition is required