The Undergraduate Classroom as a Community of Inquiry

This project contributes to the literature on action research and undergraduate pedagogy for leadership development through application and expansion of existing theory on collaborative ways of teaching and learning. I applied a participatory, inquiry-based approach to teaching an undergraduate course in leadership studies over four semesters using the action research process of recursively asking and answering living questions in real time about teaching and learning with students\u27 participating as co-researchers. Reflection on my initial, mostly traditional teaching strategies generated questions about the students\u27 detachment from and resistance to exercising leadership, as well as the challenge of aligning my deepest values with my teaching. I invited subsequent cohorts to be co-investigators of these questions with me, guided by Torbert\u27s method of action inquiry. I collected first-, second-, and third-person data from journals, course assignments, field notes, personal correspondence, discussion notes, interviews, collaborative writing, electronic discussion threads, and student course evaluations. The recursive action inquiry process led me to enact an increasingly experimental and emancipatory pedagogy which enabled the students to recognize the inertial passivity that restricted their capacity for agency, the experiences that had conditioned them in that way, and to acknowledge and act upon their responsibility for their own learning and exercise of leadership. At the same time I learned that my passion for liberating my students in this way paralleled and has been sustained by my ongoing, and unfinished struggle for my own emancipation from similar conditioning. Initially, I intended to contribute specifically to the improvement of pedagogy for undergraduate student leadership development; however, my findings have broader applicability. My narrative of the students\u27, my dissertation committee\u27s, and my struggles toward increasingly participatory and democratic forms of working in groups has larger application for those seeking to collaboratively transform their own groups and organizations with integrity, mutuality, and sustainability

Exact controllability in projections for three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations

The paper is devoted to studying controllability properties for 3D Navier-Stokes equations in a bounded domain. We establish a sufficient condition under which the problem in question is exactly controllable in any finite-dimensional projection. Our sufficient condition is verified for any torus in $R^3$. The proofs are based on a development of a general approach introduced by Agrachev and Sarychev in the 2D case. As a simple consequence of the result on controllability, we show that the Cauchy problem for the 3D Navier-Stokes system has a unique strong solution for any initial function and a large class of external forces.Comment: 24 page

The insufficiency of circulating miRNA and DNA as diagnostic tools or as biomarkers of treatment efficacy for Onchocerca volvulu

Skin snip evaluation for onchocerciasis has insufficient sensitivity when skin microfilarial (mf) densities are low, such as following ivermectin treatment. Mf density is suitable for assessing microfilaricidal efficacy but only serves as an indirect indicator of macrofilaricidal activity. We assessed circulating nucleic acids from Onchocerca volvulus as an alternative to skin snips. We screened a plasma sample set of infected individuals followed up at four, 12 and 21 months after microfilaricidal (ivermectin, n = four), macrofilaricidal (doxycycline, n = nine), or combination treatment (n = five). Two parasite-derived miRNAs, cel-miR-71-5p and bma-lin-4, and O-150 repeat DNA were assessed. Highly abundant DNA repeat families identified in the O. volvulus genome were also evaluated. miRNAs were detected in two of 72 plasma samples (2.8%) and two of 47 samples (4.3%) with microfilaridermia using RT-qPCR. O-150 DNA was detected in eight (44.4%) baseline samples by qPCR and the number of positives declined post-treatment. One doxycycline-treated individual remained O-150 positive. However, only 11 (23.4%) samples with microfilaridermia were qPCR-positive. Analysis by qPCR showed novel DNA repeat families were comparatively less abundant than the O-150 repeat. Circulating parasite-derived nucleic acids are therefore insufficient as diagnostic tools or as biomarkers of treatment efficacy for O. volvulus

Grasping at digitalisation: turning imagination into fact in the sugarcane farming community

Nutrient runoff from catchments that drain into the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is a significant source of stress for this World Heritage Area. An alliance of collaborative on-ground water quality monitoring (Project 25) and technologically driven digital application development (Digiscape GBR) projects were formulated to provide data that highlighted the contribution of a network of Australian sugar cane farmers, amongst other sources, to nutrient runoff. This environmental data and subsequent information were extended to the farming community through scientist-led feedback sessions and the development of specialised digital technology (1622 (TM) WQ) that help build an understanding of the nutrient movements, in this case nitrogen, such that farmers might think about and eventually act to alter their fertilizer application practices. This paper reflects on a socio-environmental sustainability challenge that emerged during this case study, by utilising the nascent concept of digi-grasping. We highlight the importance of the entire agricultural knowledge and advice network being part of an innovation journey to increase the utility of digital agricultural technologies developed to increase overall sustainability. We develop the digi-MAST analytical framework, which explores modes of being and doing in the digital world, ranging from 'the everyday mystery of the digital world (M)', through digital 'awareness (A)', digitally 'sparked' being/s (S), and finally the ability of individuals and/or groups to 'transform (T)' utilising digital technologies and human imaginations. Our digi-MAST framework allows us to compare agricultural actors, in this case, to understand present modes of digi-grasping to help determine the resources and actions likely to be required to achieve impact from the development of various forms of digital technological research outputs

Articles Aprepitant for the prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in children: a randomised, double-blind, phase 3 trial

Summary Background Oral aprepitant, a neurokinin-1 receptor antagonist, is recommended in combination with other antiemetic agents for the prevention of nausea and vomiting associated with moderately or highly emetogenic chemotherapy in adults, but its effi cacy and safety in paediatric patients are unknown. We did this phase 3 trial to examine the safety and effi cacy of such treatment in children