The impact of residential adventure education on primary school pupils

This is a mixed method study carried out from a pragmatist philosophical position. The research question is how (if at all) do primary school pupils change following a residential adventure education experience, how does any change relate to their experience during the residential and what implications does that have for the provision of residential adventure education? It is a three phase study. Phase 1 is quantitative: a survey to assess whether there is a correlation between the extent of residential opportunities and whole school performance measures. Phase 2 is qualitative: a series of interviews with headteachers, parents and policy makers to discover their perceptions of the impact of a residential programme. Phase 3 is quantitative: designing and testing an instrument to measure the impact on pupils of different aspects of a residential programme and comparing this with their classroom attainment and their social and emotional development. No relationship was found between the extent of residential opportunities and whole school performance measures, although it was found that opportunities are inversely correlated with deprivation. Interview data produced a rich source of evidence for the way in which different aspects of a course combine together to produce a powerful impact. Complexity theory was used as a theoretical perspective to suggest that a non-linear step change in self-confidence could arise naturally and possibly inevitably as a result of the fact that residential adventure education is a complex system. Analysis of the pupil impact survey showed that many different aspects of the experience combine to create the impact but that it can reliably be separated into four components: living with others, challenge, teacher relationships and learning about self. There was a significant correlation between the improvement in individual pupils’ classroom attainment over the course of a term and the impact that the residential had on them. There was a significant improvement from pre-course to post-course in pupils’ prosocial behaviour and a significant reduction in perceived hyperactivity

Information flow through a model of the C. elegans klinotaxis circuit

Understanding how information about external stimuli is transformed into behavior is one of the central goals of neuroscience. Here we characterize the information flow through a complete sensorimotor circuit: from stimulus, to sensory neurons, to interneurons, to motor neurons, to muscles, to motion. Specifically, we apply a recently developed framework for quantifying information flow to a previously published ensemble of models of salt klinotaxis in the nematode worm C. elegans. The models are grounded in the neuroanatomy and currently known neurophysiology of the worm. The unknown model parameters were optimized to reproduce the worm's behavior. Information flow analysis reveals several key principles underlying how the models operate: (1) Interneuron class AIY is responsible for integrating information about positive and negative changes in concentration, and exhibits a strong left/right information asymmetry. (2) Gap junctions play a crucial role in the transfer of information responsible for the information symmetry observed in interneuron class AIZ. (3) Neck motor neuron class SMB implements an information gating mechanism that underlies the circuit's state-dependent response. (4) The neck carries non-uniform distribution about changes in concentration. Thus, not all directions of movement are equally informative. Each of these findings corresponds to an experimental prediction that could be tested in the worm to greatly refine our understanding of the neural circuit underlying klinotaxis. Information flow analysis also allows us to explore how information flow relates to underlying electrophysiology. Despite large variations in the neural parameters of individual circuits, the overall information flow architecture circuit is remarkably consistent across the ensemble, suggesting that information flow analysis captures general principles of operation for the klinotaxis circuit

Lucy Negro, Redux

Lucy Negro, Redux is a collection of poetry that uses the lens of Shakespeare\u27s Dark Lady sonnets to explore the way questions about and desire for the black female body have evolved over time, from Elizabethan England to the Jim Crow South to the present day. Research for the collection began with the discovery in early 2012 of a connection between the historical Elizabethan figure Black Luce--a notorious brothel owner--and William Shakespeare, by Professor Duncan Salkeld of the University of Chichester. A grant from the University of Mississippi yielded an opportunity for on-site research with Dr. Salkeld in order to explore Bridewell Prison records, now held in the Bethlem Hospital Archives in England. Galvanized by that research, the work evolved into a collection that experiments with form, dialect, the adoption of historical personas, and the very voices these personas project

Nesting Observations of the Piping Plover near Sioux City

From mid-April to early August 1985 members of the Loess Hills Audubon Society monitored the nesting of Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) on fly-ash settling ponds of the IPS Port Neal Generating Station, on the Missouri River near Salix, Iowa. Declining regional and national populations (Barie, 1985; Kaufman, 1984; and Evans, 1985) make the discovery of nesting individuals quite exciting. Piping Plovers were first found at this site in 1984. The ash ponds appear to be very good nesting habitat (Evans, 1985). There are large areas of gravel-like substrate with little to no vegetation, minimal human disturbance, and an available source of water. Observations were made at irregular intervals by a team of interested individuals. A total of six nests were discovered during the study period and 23 eggs were produced. The first 1985 sighting occurred on 18 April, with the discovery of three adult birds. Two days later, 20 April, six individuals were seen. Courting and territorial behavior was noted on both dates. The first nest was found on 11 May, but no adults could be associated with this nest. A second nest, with defensive adults, was located on 12 May

Social violence in Canada : theoretical frameworks and statistical implications

This project will be comprised of two chapters. The first section will include a comprehensive literature review component defining violence, exploring the current theoretical explanations of violence, as well as coming up with a better way to categorize causal factors and the role of institutions. The triad of social violence is proposed as a more effective theoretical discourse towards effectual social policy. The first section is intended to establish a theoretical link between naturally occurring social violence and social indicators such as poverty and population increases. In section two, I seek to illustrate the argument that declining violent crime rates in Canada are unnatural. Attitudes and public perceptions of the justice system will be statistically analyzed using the data from the General Social Survey on victimization. The relationship between deteriorating attitudes and declines in reported violence are then discussed in greater detail

Environmental sampling to assess the bioburden of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis in drylot pens on California dairies.

Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) is a bacterium that can cause substantial economic losses in infected dairy herds due to reduced milk production and increased cow-replacement costs. In order to control MAP in dairies with drylot pens, a standardized environmental sampling protocol to quantify MAP in fecal slurry was developed based on an existing protocol for freestall pens. Specifically, following a 24 h hold of the flush, a grab sample of approximately 10 ml of fecal slurry was collected every 1 m along the flush lane of the drylot pens, avoiding individual cow fecal pats. To determine the reliability and repatability of the new environmental sampling protocol for estimation of MAP bioburden at the pen level, two collectors simultaneously collected fecal slurry samples every day for 3 days from six drylot cow pens on two Central California dairies. During the study period no cow movement between pens was allowed with the exception of sick cows. The study herds had MAP seroprevalence of 5.8% and 3.2%, respectively, based on whole pen serum ELISA results. Variance components models for quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) results showed samples collected from different pens on different dairies accounted for greater variablitiy in MAP concentration (65%), while samples collected by different collectors had the least variability (0.1%). In contrast, variability in MAP concentration in environmental samples collected on different days had 25% variability. The intraclass correlation coefficient showed high reliability (93%) of environmental sampling simultaneously by different collectors. In contrast, the reliability of environmental sampling at different days was 65%, which was similar to the reliability for sampling by different collectors on different days. Investigators can expect high reliability when employing the new environmental sampling protocol along with qPCR testing of environmental samples from drylot pens

A Predictive Approach to On-line Time Warping of Motion

The paper presents a novel approach to real-time temporal alignment of motion sequences, called On-line Predictive Warping (OPW) and considers potential uses in interactive applications. The approach develops on the methods of aligning motions based on least cost, used in dynamic time warping (DTW), with the short term predictions of smoothing algorithms, in an iterative step through approach. The approach allows a recorded motion sequence to be warped to align it with a users motion as it is being captured. The paper demonstrates the potential feasibility of the approach to support applications in MR and VR, allowing virtual characters to perform and interact with users and live actors in a variety of rehearsal, training, visualisation and performance scenarios