Applying Social Constructivism in a Middle School Social Studies Classroom

The purpose of this Action Research Project is to assess how I am applying what I have learned about educational theory and practice along with the goals I have as a teacher in the classroom. Specifically the project focuses on my use of social constructivism to guide instructional practice, the strategies I use to develop students skills in the discipline of social studies, and how I engage students in the distance learning setting. This research project focuses on my process of revising a lesson I observed my mentor teacher deliver earlier in my student teaching. I collected data about my teaching practice from a reflection I wrote about the lesson prior to revisions, the revised lesson plans, and observation feedback from my mentor teacher. Using this data I was able to evaluate how my lesson planning and instruction aligned with the goals I had set for myself. Through doing this Action Research project I have learned the importance of reflective practice. I was able to discover where my practice was not achieving the expectations I had set for myself including in the area of supporting students\u27 construction knowledge. The insights gained from this experience can help me continue my development as a teacher

Rural Primary School Students’ Experiences of a University Science Outreach Programme: Explorations of a Cultural Fit between Students’ Culture and the Chemistry Outreach Programme

There are widespread concerns internationally (Logan & Skamp. 2013; Martin, Mullis, Foy & Stanco, 2012) and in New Zealand (Chamberlain & Caygill, 2013; Gluckman, 2011; Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, 2014) about the decline in students’ interest and engagement in science education. As a result, fewer students are choosing to study science in the later secondary school years and to pursue science careers. This has lead to a decreasing number of science graduates, potentially negatively impacting on nations’ economic competitiveness and productivity. Furthermore, there are fewer scientifically literate citizens who are able to participate in science orientated discussions, debates and developments in society. This study explored rural primary school students’ experiences of Chemistry Outreach, a year-long science programme, which culminated in the students planning, designing, conducting and evaluating scientific investigations in their community. Previous research in science education has focused predominantly on single-level classes within urban and larger rural schools whereas this study’s focus was exclusively on a multi-level class in a very small New Zealand rural primary school. This phenomenological study investigated nine Year 4 – 6 students’ experiences of Chemistry Outreach with a specific focus on students’ attitudes, engagement, use of scientific skills, and scientific language. Focus group interviews, videos, reflective writing and science book covers were analysed from the individual and social perspective using phenomenology and discourse analysis. The findings were examined in relation to the specific rural culture of these participants through the culturally responsive pedagogy outlined in Tātaiako: Cultural Competencies for Teachers of Māori Learners (Ministry of Education, 2011). The results revealed the individual journeys the students took, and in the process, exposed the multifaceted influences on their attitudes, engagement and thinking in science. The study highlights the importance of making science useful, relevant and meaningful for these rural students by incorporating their rural culture into the teaching and learning programme

Constraining white-dwarf kicks in globular clusters : IV. Retarding Core Collapse

Observations of white dwarfs in the globular clusters NGC 6397 and Omega Centauri indicate that these stars may get a velocity kick during their time as giants. If the mass loss while on the asymptotic giant branch is slightly asymmetric, the resulting white dwarf could be born with such a velocity kick. These energetic white dwarfs will impart their excess energy on other stars as they travel through the cluster. A Monte-Carlo simulation of the white-dwarfs kicks combined with estimate of the phase-space diffusion of the white dwarfs reveals that as the white dwarfs equilibrate, they lose most of their energy in the central region of the cluster. They could possibly augment the effect of binaries, delaying core collapse or increasing the size of globular cluster cores.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, changes to reflect version accepted to MNRA

Functional Morphology of Stereospondyl Amphibian Skulls

Stereospondyls were the most diverse clade of early tetrapods, spanning 190 million years, with over 250 species belonging to eight taxonomic groups. They had a range of morphotypes and have been found on every continent. Stereospondyl phylogeny is widely contested and repeatedly examined but despite these studies, we are still left with the question, why were they so successful and why did they die out? A group-wide analysis of functional morphology, informing us about their palaeobiology, was lacking for this group and was carried out in order to address the questions of their success and demise. Based on an original photograph collection, size independent skull morphometrics were used, in conjunction with analyses of the fossil record and comparative anatomy, to provide a synthesis of the functional morphology of stereospondyl amphibians. Stereospondyls originated in the Carboniferous and most taxonomic groups were extinct at the end of the Triassic. The early Triassic had exceptionally high numbers of shortlived genera, in habitats that were mostly arid but apparently experienced occasional monsoon rains. Genera turnover slowed and diversity was stable in the Middle Triassic, then declined with a series of extinctions of the Late Triassic. Stereospondyls showed the pattern of ‘disaster’ taxa: rapidly diversifying following a mass extinction, spreading to a global distribution, although this high diversity was relatively short-lived. Geometric morphometrics on characteristics of the skull and palate was carried out to assess general skull morphology and identified the orbital position and skull outline to be the largest sources of skull variation. Comparing anatomy of stereospondyls with extant species revealed that the differences in head shape and orbit positions between stereospondyls allows inference of a range of feeding behaviours, ranging from rapid head swipes, to crushing invertebrates with wide palatal bones, and crocodilian-type ambushing. The range of feeding modalities meant stereospondyl species were able to coexist with minimal competition. The success was, however, short lived, as highly specialised shapes in the middle and Late Triassic probably meant that stereospondyls were not able to adapt to a more generalised lifestyle when the end Triassic extinction eliminated ecosystems

Measurement of stimulated Hawking emission in an analogue system

There is a mathematical analogy between the propagation of fields in a general relativistic space-time and long (shallow water) surface waves on moving water. Hawking argued that black holes emit thermal radiation via a quantum spontaneous emission. Similar arguments predict the same effect near wave horizons in fluid flow. By placing a streamlined obstacle into an open channel flow we create a region of high velocity over the obstacle that can include wave horizons. Long waves propagating upstream towards this region are blocked and converted into short (deep water) waves. This is the analogue of the stimulated emission by a white hole (the time inverse of a black hole), and our measurements of the amplitudes of the converted waves demonstrate the thermal nature of the conversion process for this system. Given the close relationship between stimulated and spontaneous emission, our findings attest to the generality of the Hawking process.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures. This version corrects a processing error in the final graph 5b which multiplied the vertical axis by 2. The graph, and the data used from it, have been corrected. Some minor typos have also been corrected. This version also uses TeX rather than Wor

Understanding severe coronavirus disease in humans from the analysis of clinical samples with RNA sequencing

Coronaviruses in humans have been of concern since the emergence of SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 over the past two decades. Coronavirus disease in humans can range from asymptomatic to mild or severe where symptomatic disease is associated with fever, cough, and respiratory symptoms. Next generation sequencing and phylogeny studies can provide insight into viral evolution due to the nucleotide polymorphisms which arise due to the inherent error rates. Nanopore sequencing can facilitate these studies rapidly and are therefore a useful public health tool for genome surveillance. MERS-CoV emerged in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and is associated with sporadic outbreaks. To facilitate rapid genomic surveillance of MERS-CoV in Saudi Arabia, a PCR amplification sequencing method compatible with Nanopore was designed. This approach is useful as data derived from this methodology can be used for phylogeny and variant analysis which supports investigation into transmission events and viral evolution. Upon the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 in late 2019, this approach was then repurposed and utilised on a subset of patients from the UK. Alternative viral genome sequencing approaches were then employed to assess the tissue tropism of SARS-CoV-2 in fatal COVID-19 cases, where tropism was widespread, while inflammation was exclusive to pulmonary tissues. To complement the analysis conducted on the tissue of fatal COVID-19 patients, blood from patients at point of care were utilised for blood transcriptomics analysis. Both illumina and nanopore sequencing methodologies were employed to assess differences in transcript abundance in these patients. Transcriptomic profiles from COVID-19 patients were compared to profiles from Influenza patients and healthy controls, in addition to fatal and non-fatal COVID-19 cases. The key finding from this analysis was that immunoglobulin domains transcripts exhibited altered abundance when comparing COVID and Influenza patients, as well as between fatal and non-fatal COVID-19 cases. From this insight, it is hypothesised that an early adaptive immune response is associated with survival, or a delayed adaptive response is associated with fatality. As it is challenging to control variables from patient data, an hACE2 mice model was utilised to explore the host response against Influenza A virus and SARS-CoV-2 as independent and sequential infections using lung tissue. Transcriptomic analysis revealed a sustained cytokine and interferon response in coinfected mice. Transcripts changing in abundance in both human blood and mice lungs were compared to generate a subset of transcripts that may be essential to the response to SARS-CoV-2 infection. In summary, the results described within this thesis provide insights into the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 disease in humans. Additionally, the outputs of this thesis provide a foundation for further investigation and development of Nanopore sequencing methodologies as a prognostic tool

Lactate, N-acetylaspartate, choline and creatine concentrations, and spin-spin relaxation in thalamic and occipito-parietal regions of developing human brain

Previous studies of the brains of normal infants demonstrated lower lactate (Lac)/choline (Cho), Lac/creatine (Cr), and Lac/ N-acetylaspartate (Naa) peak-area ratios in the thalamic region (predominantly gray matter) compared with occipitoparietal (mainly unmyelinated white matter) values. In the present study, thalamic Cho, Cr, and Naa concentrations between 32-42 weeks\u27 gestational plus postnatal age were greater than occipito-parietal: 4.6 +/- 0.8 (mean +/- SE), 10.5 +/- 2.0, and 9.0 +/- 0.7 versus 1.8 +/- 0.6, 5.8 +/- 1.5, and 3.4 +/- 1.1 mmol/kg wet weight, respectively: Lac concentrations were similar, 2.7 +/- 0.6 and 3.3 +/- 1.3 mmol/kg wet weight, respectively. In the thalamic region, Cho and Naa T2s increased, and Cho and Lac concentrations decreased, during development. Lower thalamic Lac peak-area ratios are principally due to higher thalamic concentrations of Cho, Cr, and Naa rather than less Lac. The high thalamic Cho concentration may relate to active myelination; the high thalamic Naa concentration may be due to advanced gray-matter development including active myelination. Lac concentration is higher in neonatal than in adult brain

Neuroprotective Effects of Growth Hormone Against Hypoxic-Ischemic Brain Injury in Neonatal Rats: 1H Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Study

Using 1H-MRS, we evaluated the effects of growth hormone (GH) as a caspase inhibitor on hypoxic-ischemic injury in neonatal rat brains. The right common carotid arteries of rats were ligated, allowed to recover for 3 hr, and exposed to 8% oxygen for 2 hr. GH was given just prior to HI insult and animals were divided into four groups: control, intracerebroventricular (ICV), intracerebroventricular/intraperitoneal (ICV/IP), and intraperitoneal (IP). Localized in vivo 1H-MRS and TUNEL staining were performed 24 hr after HI injury. Lipid/N-acetyl aspartate (NAA) and lipid/creatine (Cr) ratios were used as apoptotic markers. Gross morphologic changes at 2 weeks were used to evaluate the effects of GH. The lipid/NAA ratio was lower in the ICV and ICV/IP groups than in the control, and the lipid/Cr ratio was lower in the ICV group than in the control. The number of TUNEL positive cells was decreased in the ICV and ICV/IP groups, and the degree of morphologic change indicative of brain injury was lower in the ICV group and somewhat lower in the ICV/IP group. The degree of morphologic change correlated with the lipid/NAA and lipid/Cr ratios. These findings suggest that GH exerts neuroprotective effects in cerebral hypoxic-ischemic injury

Alcoholic vs non-alcoholic fatty liver in rats: distinct differences in endocytosis and vesicle trafficking despite similar pathology

Background: Non-alcoholic and alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD and AFLD, respectively) are major health problems, as patients with either condition can progress to hepatitis, fibrosis, and cirrhosis. Although histologically similar, key differences likely exist in these two models. For example, altered content of several vesicle trafficking proteins have been identified in AFLD, but their content in NAFLD is unknown. In this study, we compared select parameters in NAFLD and AFLD in a rat model. Methods: We fed either Lieber- DeCarli liquid control or alcohol-containing (35 % as calories) diet (AFLD model) or lean or high-fat (12 or 60 % derived from fat, respectively) pellets (NAFLD model) for 8–10 weeks, n = 8 in each model. Serum, hepatocytes and liver tissue were analyzed. Liver injury markers were measured in serum, triglyceride content and endocytosis (binding and internalization of 125I- asialoorosomucoid) was measured in isolated hepatocytes, and content of selected trafficking proteins (Rab3D, Rab7 and Rab18) were determined in whole liver tissue. Results: Although liver injury markers and triglyceride content were similar in both models, binding and internalization of 125I- asialoorosomucoid was significantly impaired in the hepatocytes from AFLD, but not NAFLD, animals. In addition, protein content of the asialoglycoprotein receptor (ASGPR) and three trafficking proteins, Rab3D, Rab7and Rab18, were significantly decreased after alcohol, but not high-fat feeding. Levels of protein carbonylation, amount of glutathione stores, and lipid peroxidation were similar irrespective of the insult to the livers that resulted in fatty liver. Conclusion: Impairments in protein trafficking in AFLD are likely a direct result of alcohol administration, and not a function of fatty liver