Issues in the relationship between technology and practice

The paper explores some of the key themes and discussion points that were aired at the Association of Learning Technology conference in 2004. It discusses the findings of several of the keynote speakers and presenters within the context of the relationship between technology, practice and innovation. It references the papers presented in the technology infrastructure and new technology strands of the conference to examine whether educational technology currently has an appropriate balance between innovation and good practice. It then presents a case study of application in practice through some of the development activities that a national funding body, the JISC, has put into place. Finally, it draws conclusions about how well the learning technology community is achieving appropriate balance between innovation and technology

Communication and Learning in Natural Environments: Generalization and Collaboration between Speech-Language Pathologists, Educators, and Families

This study focuses on school-based speech language pathology and practicing SLPs perceptions of the current collaboration efforts between themselves, other professionals, and families. The purpose of this study is to understand the current generalization methods and collaborative practices used by SLPs who provide services to school-age children with speech and language impairments. This study involves the analysis of qualitative data through interviews, questions, and analysis of responses. The participants are speech-language pathologists who are currently employed by schools, were employed by schools within the last ten years, or working in schools, but are employed by private practices. The results of this study found that SLPs are engaging in collaboration activities to enhance generalization of speech and language abilities, especially with special education teachers, and that additional collaboration with educators and families would positively impact the generalization ability of students. Also, SLPs said that collaboration is a key factor in their practice, relating to initial and continuing assessment and intervention of students with speech and language impairments. Challenges to collaboration between SLPs and other professionals and ultimate generalization of communication abilities were noted as related to lack of time, a lack of awareness of the nature and role of an SLP, understanding the differences between speech impairments (articulation vs. fluency and voice) and language impairments, and large school populations, which results in less collaboration than in small school populations

Nickel and osmium isotope and trace element geochemistry of organic-rich sedimentary rocks: The first investigation of Ni isotope systematics in marine sediments

Understanding the chemical composition of organic-rich marine sediments has the potential to: 1) allow evaluation of variations in ocean chemistry, enabling assessment of changes in global processes throughout geological time; and 2) provide an increased temporal and spatial understanding of petroleum systems. Herein two geologically distinct organic-rich sedimentary formations are explored utilising trace elements, and rhenium-osmium (Re-Os) and nickel (Ni) isotope systematics. Additionally, this thesis is the first study to investigate the behaviour of Ni isotope systematics in organic-rich marine sediments. Osmium isotope profiling across the Sinemurian-Pliensbachian boundary GSSP indicates that there was a significant contribution of unradiogenic Os to the oceans at this time. Seawater 187Os/188Os(i) values range from ~0.20 – 0.48, becoming increasingly unradiogenic up-section. This progressive change in ocean chemistry is coincident with flooding of the Hispanic Corridor, formed during rifting of the Pangean supercontinent and creation of the Central Atlantic Ocean, evident from sudden levels of faunal exchange between the eastern Pacific and western Tethyan oceans. The Os isotope signal here reflects the onset of hydrothermal activity associated with formation of the Hispanic Corridor. New Ni stable isotope data presented herein for the Sinemurian-Pliensbachian (S-P) GSSP and the Devonian-Mississippian Exshaw Formation, demonstrates that organic-rich marine sediments are characterised by δ60Ni values that are distinct to those of extraterrestrial and abiotic terrestrial samples. Further, the level of Ni isotope fractionation in organic-rich sediments (ranging from ~1.32 ‰ in the S-P sediments, and ~2.04 ‰ in the Exshaw Formation) is far greater than that seen in the other sample suites (ranges of ~0.17 – 0.37 ‰; Cameron et al., 2009). Although there are limited datasets available for comparison at present, the ranges of δ60Ni values for the S-P GSSP and Exshaw Formation are similar (0.28 ± 0.05 to 1.60 ±0.05 ‰ and 0.46 ± 0.04 to 2.50 ± 0.04 ‰, respectively), suggesting that such variation in Ni isotope fractionation may be characteristic of organic-rich sediments. This may be due to complexities that are ubiquitous to the sediment-seawater depositional environment. In addition, trace element ratios utilised to establish depositional paleoredox conditions demonstrate that redox did not exert control on the level of Ni isotope fractionation observed in these sediments. The study herein also demonstrates that thermal maturation of the Exshaw Formation has a negligible effect on Ni isotope systematics in mature source rocks, strongly suggesting that Ni isotopes may have the potential to be developed as an oil-source correlation tool

Blown Whistle Falls on Deaf Ears: The Eighth Circuit Interprets MAP-21’s Whistleblower Provision

In recent years, whistleblowers have been praised as heroes by onlookers and in the media for bravely unveiling wrongdoing by their employers, but whistleblowers have not always enjoyed this white-hat status. These private employees expose themselves to serious risks of backlash and retaliation from their employers, historically without any guaranteed protection from Congress or their respective state legislatures. Decades-old social norms and corporate culture prioritized loyalty from employees. They allowed employers to fire employees who spoke out against the company and even blackball them from their respective industries. With blind loyalty or termination being the only options for employees witnessing wrongdoing within their company, silence was the norm. Over the last few decades, Congress has increasingly recognized the public importance of protecting these whistleblowers and has enacted more than two dozen statutes mandating protection from retaliation in a wide variety of industries, with more than half the states following suit

Predictive habitat modelling as a tool to assess the change in distribution and extent of an OSPAR priority habitat under an increased ocean temperature scenario:consequences for marine protected area networks and management

The aims of this study were to determine the extent and distribution of an OSPAR priority habitat under current baseline ocean temperatures; to illustrate the prospect for habitat loss under a changing ocean temperature scenario; and to demonstrate the potential application of predictive habitat mapping in "future-proofing" conservation and biodiversity management. Maxent modelling and GIS environmental envelope analysis of the biogenic bed forming species, Modiolus modiolus was carried out. The Maxent model was tested and validated using 75%/25% training/test occurrence records and validated against two sampling biases (the whole study area and a 20km buffer). The model was compared to the envelope analysis and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (Area Under the curve; AUC) was evaluated. The performance of the Maxent model was rated as 'good' to 'excellent' on all replicated runs and low variation in the runs was recorded from the AUC values. The extent of "most suitable", "less suitable" and "unsuitable" habitat was calculated for the baseline year (2009) and the projected increased ocean temperature scenarios (2030, 2050, 2080 and 2100). A loss of 100% of "most suitable" habitat was reported by 2080. Maintaining a suitable level of protection of marine habitats/species of conservation importance may require management of the decline and migration rather than maintenance of present extent. Methods applied in this study provide the initial application of a plausible "conservation management tool"

Adaptive management, international co-operation and planning for marine conservation hotspots in a changing climate

Acknowledgements This work received funding from the MASTS pooling initiative (The Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland) and their support is gratefully acknowledged. MASTS is funded by the Scottish Funding Council (Grant reference HR09011) and contributing institutions.Peer reviewedPublisher PD