Methodology for Research on Perceptions of Inclusion in a Children\u27s Museum

Inclusion in informal education settings, such as museums, is an increasingly important consideration for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Currently, there is minimal research on methods and techniques available for enhancing the accessibility of learning in these informal settings for individuals with varying abilities. This resource outlines the methodology developed for exploring the current status quo of inclusion in a Children\u27s Museum in London, ON, through a mixed method approach, using interviews and concept mapping to understand what the perceptions of inclusion are in parents of children with and without IDD and museum staff

TOWARD IMPROVING METALLOENZYME INHIBITOR DESIGN: A THERMODYNAMIC STUDY OF SMALL MOLECULE INTERACTIONS WITH ZINC(II) AND CALCIUM(II)

Histone deacetylases (HDAC) and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are metalloenzymes with catalytic Zn2+ ions that are over-expressed in a number of physiological conditions; thus, inhibiting these enzymes is an important therapeutic approach for many diseases. An HDAC structural mimetic was developed using a ligand, bis(2-picolyl)amine (BPA), that strongly chelated Zn2+ and did not dissociate upon addition of an HDAC inhibitor. Using Isothermal Titration Calorimetry (ITC) it was found that BPA binds Zn2+ very strongly in a 1:1 stoichiometric ratio. Two known zinc- binding HDAC inhibitors, acetohydroxamic acid and 8-hydroxyquinoline, were used to study the HDAC inhibitor interaction with the BPA-Zn2+ complex using ITC. Results confirmed that the BPA did not dissociate from Zn2+ upon titration of either of the inhibitors and that the BPA- Zn2+ complex left adequate coordination sites on Zn2+ such that a BPA-Zn2+-Inhibitor complex was formed. The interactions of three members of the tetracycline family antibiotics with Zn2+ and Ca2+ were also studied using ITC and/or UV- Vis spectroscopy. Though widely known for their antimicrobial properties, the tetracyclines have been reported to inhibit MMPs by binding structural Ca2+ and Zn2+ ions. Chemically modified tetracyclines have been developed that lack the antimicrobial activity but still inhibit MMPs to prevent further antibacterial resistance development. ITC studies of the interaction of Zn2+ with tetracycline, minocycline, and tigecycline were performed at pH 6.80 and at pH 7.50. Of the three antibiotics, minocycline was found to have the highest affinity for Zn2+, two- and four-times as high as for tigecycline and tetracycline, respectively. The composition of the tetracycline complex with Zn2+ was pH-dependent while that of minocycline and tigecycline with Zn2+ were not. Previous work in the Jin lab investigated the interaction of tetracycline, minocycline, and tigecycline with Ca2+ at pH 6.80 and at pH 7.50 using ITC. The stoichiometries for the interactions of tetracycline, minocycline and tigecycline with Zn2+ and Ca2+ obtained using ITC were confirmed using UV-Vis spectroscopy analyzed with Job’s method. Knowledge about active site metal-ion contribution to HDAC inhibitor binding energetics and about the energetics of tetracycline binding to structural MMP metal ions will enhance the design of HDAC and MMP inhibitors

Reforming Ports: Issues in the Privatisation Debate

Privatisation and corporatisation strategies are part of an ongoing microeconomic reform program aimed at commercialising and raising efficiency in the public sector. Within this ethos, ownership and efficiency are perceived to be inextricably linked. This paper examines port reform strategies implemented in Australia in recent times in particular in light of efficiency improvements. It raises also some unresolved social and policy issues associated with public ownership of commercial and profit oriented business and the provision of public good

Productivity of Australian Container Terminals: Some Critical Issues

Terminals: a Review which was prepared for the Western Australian Department of Transport and which was completed in April 1996. The Department was concerned at the continuing low levels of stevedoring productivity at Australian container terminals generally - despite an intensive waterfront reform program - and at terminals in the Port of Fremantle more particularly. The conventional wisdom was that low productivity was a function of a number of factors - inadequate infrastructure, poor equipment, bad work practices, poor labour relations; but in our view the central issue was, and remains, the inadequacy of the policy framework erected on Enterprise Based Agreements (EBAs) and set in place under the WIRA arrangements by the end of 1991. The initial Report focused on this issue with specific reference to the EBA framework adopted by P&O Ports; and to the new Productivity Employment Proposal or PEP scheme mooted by the company. Specific reference was also made to the Port of Fremantle where both major stevedoring companies - P&O Ports and Patrick - were operating under EBAs. In 1996 the industry is still some way off an appropriate framework and mechanisms for achieving higher stevedoring productivity - the PEP scheme is still under scrutiny; Patrick, despite a prolonged and often acrimonious debate with its Union counterpart, found it necessary to resort to arbitration to revise its EBA; and the proposed Australian Workplace Agreements of the new coalition Government will enter into law in 1997. Not surprisingly, our research is continuing

Magical realism in Ovid's Metamorphoses

This thesis explores aspects of magical realism in Ovid's Metamorphoses . It uses the Cien anos de soledad of Gabriel Garcia Marquez as a comparative tool, examining narrative devices common to both texts; each chapter analyses an important feature of magical realist theory or technique. The first chapter studies the narrative methods that create magical realism, such as anachronism, hybridism and use of internal narrators. In the second chapter, the theory that magical realism arises from a clash of cultures is explored by analysing magical realist episodes in each text from a cultural perspective. The third chapter focuses exclusively on magical realism's connection to Latin America, while the fourth chapter uses case studies of characters from each text to examine how effectively the mode depicts reality. The final chapter investigates the representation of artists and creativity in each work. By exploring Ovid's poem using a modern critical theory, this thesis provides fresh insight into magical aspects of Metamorphoses and broadens the scope of magical realism as a literary term

Science Content Knowledge: A Component of Teacher Effectiveness in a Primary School in Jamaica

Empirical evidence from the National Education Inspectorate suggested that teachers at the primary school in this study in an island country in the Caribbean have inadequate science content knowledge. Students\u27 average performance on the science Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) has been below 40% for the last 5 years. The purpose of this bounded case study, guided by Shulman\u27s conceptual framework, was to understand teachers\u27 science subject matter knowledge (SMK). The guiding questions focused on teachers\u27 abilities to demonstrate components of Shulman\u27s SMK during science teaching and lesson planning and to gather their views on their abilities to meet the SMK components in grades 4-6. The 9 participants were primary-trained and each had taught science at grades 4-6 for a minimum of 2 years. Data collection consisted of interviews, lesson observations, and lesson plan reviews. Data were analyzed using open coding, axial coding, and themes from Shulman\u27s SMK domains. The participants believed that they lacked proficiency in teaching science at the assigned grade level. They held misconceptions about the topics taught at the Grade 4-6 level and their lesson plans and observation data demonstrated lack of key components of SMK. Findings from this study were used to develop a science professional development project to empower teachers and, in turn, students in science content and processes. It is expected that implementation of the program could improve the science content knowledge of teachers at the primary school in this study. Positive social change might occur as improvement in teachers\u27 science content knowledge might serve to improve students\u27 learning outcomes in science at this and other settings in the island country

Decoding images in the mind's eye : the temporal dynamics of visual imagery

Mental imagery is the ability to generate images in the mind in the absence of sensory input. Both perceptual visual processing and internally generated imagery engage large, overlapping networks of brain regions. However, it is unclear whether they are characterized by similar temporal dynamics. Recent magnetoencephalography work has shown that object category information was decodable from brain activity during mental imagery, but the timing was delayed relative to perception. The current study builds on these findings, using electroencephalography to investigate the dynamics of mental imagery. Sixteen participants viewed two images of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and two images of Santa Claus. On each trial, they viewed a sequence of the four images and were asked to imagine one of them, which was cued retroactively by its temporal location in the sequence. Time-resolved multivariate pattern analysis was used to decode the viewed and imagined stimuli. Although category and exemplar information was decodable for viewed stimuli, there were no informative patterns of activity during mental imagery. The current findings suggest stimulus complexity, task design and individual differences may influence the ability to successfully decode imagined images. We discuss the implications of these results in the context of prior findings of mental imagery

The Role of Words in Cognitive Tasks: What, When, and How?

The current review focuses on how exposure to linguistic input, and count nouns in particular, affect performance on various cognitive tasks, including individuation, categorization and category learning, and inductive inference. We review two theoretical accounts of effects of words. Proponents of one account argue that words have top-down effects on cognitive tasks, and, as such, function as supervisory signals. Proponents of the other account suggest that early in development, words, just like any other perceptual feature, are first and foremost part of the stimulus input and influence cognitive tasks in a bottom-up, non-supervisory fashion. We then review evidence supporting each account. We conclude that, although much research is needed, there is a large body of evidence indicating that words start out like other perceptual features and become supervisory signals in the course of development

Capacity for movement is an organisational principle in object representations

The ability to perceive moving objects is crucial for threat identification and survival. Recent neuroimaging evidence has shown that goal-directed movement is an important element of object processing in the brain. However, prior work has primarily used moving stimuli that are also animate, making it difficult to disentangle the effect of movement from aliveness or animacy in representational categorisation. In the current study, we investigated the relationship between how the brain processes movement and aliveness by including stimuli that are alive but still (e.g., plants), and stimuli that are not alive but move (e.g., waves). We examined electroencephalographic (EEG) data recorded while participants viewed static images of moving or non-moving objects that were either natural or artificial. Participants classified the images according to aliveness, or according to capacity for movement. Movement explained significant variance in the neural data over and above that of aliveness, showing that capacity for movement is an important dimension in the representation of visual objects in humans