Session C, 2015 Third Place: Tardigrada Prevalence in Moss Cushion Growth Forms Among Habitats at Cranberry Lake

Tardigrades (phylum Tardigrada) are most durable animals due to their ability to enter a state of cryptobiosis during extreme conditions. Tardigrades are often found living in mosses due to the mosses’ ability to retain moisture, but can be found in moss in dry habitats due to their ability to survive desiccation. This study assessed the abundance of Tardigrades in moss cushion life forms of marsh, brook, lake shore, and forest habitats. Relative abundance of Tardigrades among sites was quantified, soil pH was measured at each site, and percent moisture at each site was collected. ANOVA and Tukey’s Test were used to analyze variance of Tardigrades among the four sites. It was hypothesized that there would be more Tardigrades per gram of moss in the marsh habitat than the brook, lake shore, and forest habitats. There was no significant difference found in abundance of tardigrades among different habitats. In conclusion, the habitat in which the moss was located did not affect the amount of Tardigrades in the moss. A study looking at specific species of moss among or at habitats with greater differences in moisture content is recommended

Entrance into teaching and need for support – narratives from diverse national and local contexts

Denne studien undersøker hvordan en gruppe nye lærere i ulike nasjonale og lokale sammenhenger erfarer inngangen til læreryrket. Studien er basert på narrativer fra nye lærere i Australia, England og Norge. Ved å lytte til deres fortellinger, er målet å utvikle en forståelse for denne spesifikke fasen i læreres profesjonelle liv og å lære mer om hvordan nyutdannede kan støttes. Funnene indikerer at det på tvers av de aktuelle nasjonene er flere likheter enn forskjeller knyttet til inngangen til lærerprofesjonen. Når det gjelder støtte, er behovene mye de samme, men rammene rundt veiledning og annen støtte er forskjellige. Studien impliserer at det er likheter som gjør det mulig å lære av hverandre når det gjelder rammeverket for støtte og veiledning og når det gjelder hva som bidrar til profesjonell utvikling på tvers av nasjonale kontekster.publishedVersio

Estimating the numbers of malaria infections in blood samples using high-resolution genotyping data

People living in endemic areas often habour several malaria infections at once. High-resolution genotyping can distinguish between infections by detecting the presence of different alleles at a polymorphic locus. However the number of infections may not be accurately counted since parasites from multiple infections may carry the same allele. We use simulation to determine the circumstances under which the number of observed genotypes are likely to be substantially less than the number of infections present and investigate the performance of two methods for estimating the numbers of infections from high-resolution genotyping data.THE SIMULATIONS SUGGEST THAT THE PROBLEM IS NOT SUBSTANTIAL IN MOST DATASETS: the disparity between the mean numbers of infections and of observed genotypes was small when there was 20 or more alleles, 20 or more blood samples, a mean number of infections of 6 or less and where the frequency of the most common allele was no greater than 20%. The issue of multiple infections carrying the same allele is unlikely to be a major component of the errors in PCR-based genotyping.Simulations also showed that, with heterogeneity in allele frequencies, the observed frequencies are not a good approximation of the true allele frequencies. The first method that we proposed to estimate the numbers of infections assumes that they are a good approximation and hence did poorly in the presence of heterogeneity. In contrast, the second method by Li et al estimates both the numbers of infections and the true allele frequencies simultaneously and produced accurate estimates of the mean number of infections

Monitoring Success in Choice Neighborhoods: A Proposed Approach to Performance Measurement

Offers a framework and tools for performance management in the initiative to transform poor neighborhoods into revitalized, sustainable mixed-income communities. Proposes system components, logic model, management reports, and performance indicators

Children and inequality: closing the gap

Policy brief accompanying the South African Child Gauge 2012, published by the Children's Institute, UCT

Exploring emotional dysregulation and avoidance with caregivers as the mechanisms linking social communication understanding and aggressive behaviours

PurposeMany autistic adolescents and young adults present with aggressive behaviours, which can be challenging for caregivers. The present study aimed to explore the underlying mechanisms between social communication understanding and aggressive behaviours in autistic and non-autistic adolescents, specifically the role of emotional dysregulation and its impact on avoidance with caregivers. MethodsCaregivers of autistic (n = 275) and non-autistic adolescents (n = 123) completed standardised caregiver-report questionnaires measuring social communication understanding, emotional dysregulation, avoidance between the adolescent and caregiver and aggressive behaviours. ResultsA serial mediation analysis indicated that levels of social communication understanding were indirectly associated with aggressive behaviours. This occurred through increased emotional dysregulation, which may have led to increased avoidance between the autistic and non-autistic adolescents and their caregivers.ConclusionThese findings support a sequential process by which adolescents with low social communication understanding are more likely to behave aggressively through being emotionally dysregulated and the impact of this on the increased avoidance within the caregiver-adolescent dyad. This process was found within autistic and non-autistic adolescents, suggesting a mechanism across individuals with aggression. These findings indicate that interventions based on improving emotion regulation ability and responses between adolescents and their caregivers may aid in reducing aggressive behaviours in adolescents and young adults with lower social communication understanding