Teaching Compassion in Prison: A Key to Learning

In a project with long-term prisoners at HMP Dumfries, Scotland, tutors and students explore the notion and application of compassion, focusing in particular on the ways in which understanding compassion enables learning – not just the learning of academic subjects but also of interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence. The project highlights the benefits of teaching a so-called extracurricular subject, at the same time as revealing its centrality to learning in the first place. A lack of adequate teaching time in prison, and the fact that compassion is not considered a core subject in education, are both cited as obstacles in consolidating the work of the project. The benefits of teaching compassion - emotional, intellectual and spiritual - was made clear through written and verbal student feedback. Three short workshops highlighted the enormous potential in developing and establishing compassion as both subject and practice in prison education. It is hoped that practitioners and researchers will support the expansion of this work throughout prisons

The ecology of feral cats (Felis catus) on a New Zealand offshore island : considerations for management : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Pholosophy in Zoology at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand

Invasive species have contributed to the global biodiversity crisis, with the majority of recentday terrestrial vertebrate extinctions implicating invasive predators. Domestic cats (Felis catus), particularly feral cats, are among the main culprits. In New Zealand, the continued decline of native species is largely due to invasive predators, which has led conservation efforts to focus on pest management. Feral cats are often a secondary focus for pest control, and their impacts within an ecosystem are not well understood. The main objective of this study was to produce a comprehensive study of feral cat ecology using a population of feral cats on Ponui Island, New Zealand, and highlight factors that should be considered for efficient control operations. Predators distribute themselves and move within their environment in relation to prey availability and habitat type. These factors vary between locations, leading to differences in home range sizes that are difficult to predict. A relationship between home range size and population density was identified in the literature, which I used to predict changes in home range size with changing population density. I mapped the home ranges of eight cats for one year using location points from Very High Frequency (VHF) radio-telemetry and camera traps, then two males were removed from the population, seven months apart. The first removal resulted in an increase in the home range sizes of the remaining cats, whereas the second removal saw an invasion of four unmarked male cats. These results show that feral cats change their home ranges accordingly with changes in density, and removals (such as control operations) result in a change in feral cat ranging behaviour. Feral cats are often live-trapped during control programmes to reduce capturing non-target animals. This technique is labour intensive because traps need to be checked frequently for welfare purposes. Describing feral cat activity patterns can dictate when live-traps should be set and checked. Camera traps have recently been used to estimate activity patterns, but have yet to be validated against accelerometry devices. Therefore, I compared the activity patterns obtained through camera trap data to that from collar-mounted accelerometry devices, and found a high correlation (R2 >0.9) between the two methods. The highest correlation was when activity from 600 or more videos was used. Feral cats were most active between sunset and sunrise, and live-traps should be set during these times to increase trapping efficiency and reduce bycatch. The reproductive biology of invasive predators can be used to predict the recovery of populations following control operations, however there is very little information available for feral cats. Therefore, I investigated the reproduction of feral cats in a stable, insular population. Using camera trap data, I found that females had high reproductive output, averaging three kittens per litter and two litters per year. However, the recruitment rate was low in this population; only 3-4% of kittens survived to one-year-old. There were two infanticide events observed; the first reported for solitary-living feral cats. Females moved shorter distances when they had young kittens (less than seven-weeks-old). These results show that feral cats can rapidly recover from control operations. Females are less likely to encounter traps when they have young kittens, suggesting there are optimal seasons to capture cats. Population genetics is used in invasive biology to identify populations that are isolated and have limited immigration. Eradication of isolated populations will be easier and more cost-efficient, with low chances of reinvasion. Although offshore islands are geographically isolated, there is the chance of reinvasion that is assisted by humans. I investigated the population genetics of the feral cats on Ponui Island using genetic samples collected from adults and kittens, and also opportunistically studied parentage. Most of the fathers of the litters were the heaviest males, and the males that had the most home range overlap with queens. Population genetics showed that the cats have most likely been isolated with no recent introductions, suggesting the removal of cats from this island would be successful with low chances of reinvasion. Feral cats can have large impacts on native species, but prey on rats that also have detrimental effects on wildlife. This led me to investigate the diet of feral cats using scat analysis on an island with native birdlife, and rodents at high densities. I examined season and sex differences on diet and the impacts of cats on native species. Feral cats consumed prey based on seasonal availability, with cats eating rats when rats were at their highest density. Females ate smaller prey more frequently than males, such as passerines. The cats on this island are not reliant on the rat population, and were found to eat many native species such as brown kiwi, morepork, and fantails. The findings from this thesis can be applied to feral cat management to develop efficient control operations. The decision to control a population should be based on both dietary and genetic data to reduce possible cascading ecological effects from the predator removal and identify genetically isolated populations. Home range, activity, and diet data can be used to determine the control protocol, such as; trap spacing, the time traps should be set and checked, and if secondary or primary poisoning should be used and the seasons that cats would uptake the baits. Finally, knowledge of feral cat reproduction can be used to predict the recovery of the population

Geography and History of Periodical Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) in DuPage County, Illinois

The spatial distribution of periodical cicada (Magicicada septendecim L. and M. cassini Fisher) emergence in 2007 did not match either historical locations of woodlands or the cicadas’ own geography in the 19th and early 20th centuries in DuPage County, Illinois. Cicadas were present in forest areas that had remained above 61 ha throughout historic times, and they were absent from areas which at some point had been reduced below 52 ha by tree removal, mainly for agriculture. Isolation of forest areas also may have contributed to local extinctions. The insects have spread into new, urban woodlands created by residential plantings. Their distribution is associated with the early growth of towns along commuter railways in the eastern part of the county (toward Chicago). A peculiar gap in the main emergence area (encompassing two adjacent cities) may be the result of the cicadas shifting their emergence four years early. An active dispersal on 9–11 June, coinciding with the peak in cicada singing in forested areas, apparently placed scattered small groups of cicadas outside the main emergence area

Aspects of the taphonomy of the Cambrian Explosion in North Greenland

This thesis describes and elucidates the taphonomic pathways responsible for the exceptional preservation of some of the most common elements of the Sirius Passet Lagerstätte (early Cambrian), North Greenland. Investigative techniques including cathodoluminescence, are tested first on silicified molluscs from the Oligocene of Antigua, associated with a volcanic source; described in chapter 2. By describing the depositional environment of the Sirius Passet biota in detail and using a combination of analytical techniques such as SEM, EDAX, SEM-CL and elemental mapping two published papers address a number of the key research questions surrounding the unique taphonomic pathways in the Sirius Passet biota and their broader significance in understanding Cambrian ecosystems. The papers are included in the form of chapters 3 and 4 and the published versions included in the appendices. A unique, mat-dominated, tissue specific taphonomic pathway is proposed, more akin to the Proterozoic than the typical Burgess Shale Type (BST) preservation seen elsewhere in the Cambrian. This together with mouldic preservation indicates a range of taphonomic styles concomitant with the range of new biotas at the dawn of the Cambrian Explosion

Random Triangle Theory with Geometry and Applications

What is the probability that a random triangle is acute? We explore this old question from a modern viewpoint, taking into account linear algebra, shape theory, numerical analysis, random matrix theory, the Hopf fibration, and much much more. One of the best distributions of random triangles takes all six vertex coordinates as independent standard Gaussians. Six can be reduced to four by translation of the center to $(0,0)$ or reformulation as a 2x2 matrix problem. In this note, we develop shape theory in its historical context for a wide audience. We hope to encourage other to look again (and differently) at triangles. We provide a new constructive proof, using the geometry of parallelians, of a central result of shape theory: Triangle shapes naturally fall on a hemisphere. We give several proofs of the key random result: that triangles are uniformly distributed when the normal distribution is transferred to the hemisphere. A new proof connects to the distribution of random condition numbers. Generalizing to higher dimensions, we obtain the "square root ellipticity statistic" of random matrix theory. Another proof connects the Hopf map to the SVD of 2 by 2 matrices. A new theorem describes three similar triangles hidden in the hemisphere. Many triangle properties are reformulated as matrix theorems, providing insight to both. This paper argues for a shift of viewpoint to the modern approaches of random matrix theory. As one example, we propose that the smallest singular value is an effective test for uniformity. New software is developed and applications are proposed

Seismic Analysis Capability in NASTRAN

Seismic analysis is a technique which pertains to loading described in terms of boundary accelerations. Earthquake shocks to buildings is the type of excitation which usually comes to mind when one hears the word seismic, but this technique also applied to a broad class of acceleration excitations which are applied at the base of a structure such as vibration shaker testing or shocks to machinery foundations. Four different solution paths are available in NASTRAN for seismic analysis. They are: Direct Seismic Frequency Response, Direct Seismic Transient Response, Modal Seismic Frequency Response, and Modal Seismic Transient Response. This capability, at present, is invoked not as separate rigid formats, but as pre-packaged ALTER packets to existing RIGID Formats 8, 9, 11, and 12. These ALTER packets are included with the delivery of the NASTRAN program and are stored on the computer as a library of callable utilities. The user calls one of these utilities and merges it into the Executive Control Section of the data deck to perform any of the four options are invoked by setting parameter values in the bulk data