The car and crime: critical perspectives.

This thesis critically examines the literature on joyriding, car crime, motor projects and masculinities. Fieldwork in motor projects combined with the methods of cultural studies locates car crime within a gendered car culture. Thus motor projects are seen to 'work' within that gendered car culture but a longer term solution to car crime is to be found in 'green' transport policies and changes in gender relations. Theoretically it recognises the reality of car crime and also the reality of the environmental consequences of car use but also the ideological context which places the car at the centre of transport Policy and many men's dreams of transcendant personal freedom. It draws as many conclusions about criminology as about car crime

Improving supplementary feeding in species conservation

Supplementary feeding is often a knee-jerk reaction to population declines, and its application is not critically evaluated, leading to polarized views among managers on its usefulness. Here, we advocate a more strategic approach to supplementary feeding so that the choice to use it is clearly justified over, or in combination with, other management actions and the predicted consequences are then critically assessed following implementation. We propose combining methods from a set of specialist disciplines that will allow critical evaluation of the need, benefit, and risks of food supplementation. Through the use of nutritional ecology, population ecology, and structured decision making, conservation managers can make better choices about what and how to feed by estimating consequences on population recovery across a range of possible actions. This structured approach also informs targeted monitoring and more clearly allows supplementary feeding to be integrated in recovery plans and reduces the risk of inefficient decisions. In New Zealand, managers of the endangered Hihi (Notiomystis cincta) often rely on supplementary feeding to support reintroduced populations. On Kapiti island the reintroduced Hihi population has responded well to food supplementation, but the logistics of providing an increasing demand recently outstretched management capacity. To decide whether and how the feeding regime should be revised, managers used a structured decision making approach informed by population responses to alternative feeding regimes. The decision was made to reduce the spatial distribution of feeders and invest saved time in increasing volume of food delivered into a smaller core area. The approach used allowed a transparent and defendable management decision in regard to supplementary feeding, reflecting the multiple objectives of managers and their priorities

Improving supplementary feeding in species conservation

Supplementary feeding is often a knee-jerk reaction to population declines, and its application is not critically evaluated, leading to polarized views among managers on its usefulness. Here, we advocate a more strategic approach to supplementary feeding so that the choice to use it is clearly justified over, or in combination with, other management actions and the predicted consequences are then critically assessed following implementation. We propose combining methods from a set of specialist disciplines that will allow critical evaluation of the need, benefit, and risks of food supplementation. Through the use of nutritional ecology, population ecology, and structured decision making, conservation managers can make better choices about what and how to feed by estimating consequences on population recovery across a range of possible actions. This structured approach also informs targeted monitoring and more clearly allows supplementary feeding to be integrated in recovery plans and reduces the risk of inefficient decisions. In New Zealand, managers of the endangered Hihi (Notiomystis cincta) often rely on supplementary feeding to support reintroduced populations. On Kapiti island the reintroduced Hihi population has responded well to food supplementation, but the logistics of providing an increasing demand recently outstretched management capacity. To decide whether and how the feeding regime should be revised, managers used a structured decision making approach informed by population responses to alternative feeding regimes. The decision was made to reduce the spatial distribution of feeders and invest saved time in increasing volume of food delivered into a smaller core area. The approach used allowed a transparent and defendable management decision in regard to supplementary feeding, reflecting the multiple objectives of managers and their priorities

Moving I`iwi (Vestiaria coccinea) as a Surrogate for Future Translocations of Endangered `Akohekohe (Palmeria dolei)

Translocations often play an important role in the recovery of endangered species. To assess feasibility for translocation of endangered `Akohekohe (Palmeria dolei), we conducted an experimental translocation of I`iwi (Vestiaria coccinea) from east to west Maui. Mist-netting, veterinary screening of candidate birds, and helicopter transport of healthy I`iwi were successful, resulting in no injuries or mortalities. Translocated birds were assigned to two types of release. Hard release birds were radio tagged and released on the day of translocation. In contrast, soft release birds were held in large cages for 7 days and fed artificial nectar. During holding soft release I`iwi feeding rates, fecal production, and mass were monitored. Soft release birds suffered 33% mortality during the holding period. At the end of the holding period, soft release survivors were outfitted with a radio transmitter and released. All translocated I`iwi were followed by radio telemetry for an average of 21 days. Once released, soft release birds showed higher rates of movement, possibly reflecting conflict with established hard released I`iwi. Our results suggest that translocation efforts for wild `Akohekohe will be successful if hard release protocols are followed

E. coli folate synthesis and C. elegans ageing: Investigating the effect of sulfamethoxazole on bacterial lawn morphology and metabolism

The gut microbiota is essential for host nutrition and may influence ageing. The nematode worm C. elegans provides a useful simplified model for investigating bacterial-host interactions. E. coli is used as a food source for C. elegans. Previous research has shown a decrease in E. coli folate synthesis results in extension of C. elegans lifespan. Potential detrimental effects of bacteria when producing normal amounts of folate are unlikely to be mediated by bacterial growth rate or direct effects of folate on the nematode. Potential toxicity of metabolic chemicals produced by wild type E. coli could explain the shorter lifespan of C. elegans. This thesis aims to understand the interaction between E. coli and C. elegans by investigating components that may be affected by folate synthesis and influencing lifespan. Toxicity from bacterial formaldehyde synthesis was explored with a formaldehyde sensing lacZ reporter. A novel method was developed to quantify reporter output in a bacterial lawn. The lifespan of C. elegans maintained on E. coli constitutively expressing the formaldehyde detoxification enzymes FrmA/B was also investigated. Formaldehyde synthesis was not found to be a source of toxicity that accelerates C. elegans ageing. The effect of sulfamethoxazole on bacterial lawn growth, morphology and proliferation was examined and found to alter morphology, attenuate growth and impair proliferation compared to wild type and lifespan increasing mutant E. coli. A novel LC-MS/MS method was developed to analyse amino acids in agar. It revealed sulfamethoxazole alters bacterial amino acid metabolism associated with the serine-glycine pathway and growth. The absence of glycine in the media was also examined. It revealed changes to the exometabolome in both sulfamethoxazole treated and untreated conditions that may slow C. elegans ageing without altering bacterial growth. This work developed novel methods for exploring the bacterial lawn and metabolism, providing insight into the mechanism of how sulfamethoxazole disruption of bacterial folate synthesis may influence C. elegans ageing

Deconstructing Summary Writing: Further Exploration of L2 Reading and Writing

The hybrid nature of reading-to-write tasks calls for more empirical research on understanding the relationship between L2 reading, writing, and proficiency. This study examines summaries written by 46 Emirati university students, who were asked to write a 150-word summary of an expository text on the topic of “consumerism” during class hours. The summary was assessed based on an analytic rubric. It was also assessed quantitatively in terms of the inclusion of the number of important ideas from the source text, namely, content analysis scores. In addition, the students’ language proficiency, reading proficiency, and writing proficiency had already been externally ascertained with their recent IELTS scores. Significantly positive correlations were found between summary scores and IELTS reading scores, IELTS writing scores, and IELTS proficiency scores. Only a significantly positive relationship was found between content analysis scores and IELTS reading scores, but not the IELTS writing scores and IELTS proficiency scores. This implies the importance of enhancing students’ reading, writing, and language proficiency to help them write an effective summary, and reading in itself is insufficient in the production of an effective summary

The effects of language simplification and pictures on the ability of Emirati university students to comprehend and solve mathematics word problems

This paper presents a study of Emirati university students learning mathematics in a second language (English). The study focused on students\u27 responses to mathematical word problems in different versions: simpler/more complex versions of the problem in English; an Arabic translation of the problem; and the addition of a picture to support the text of the problem. Our findings suggest that neither language simplification nor pictures significantly affect students\u27 comprehension and performance on word problem assessments; the lexical and syntactic features of the word problems have little effect on their understanding and ability to answer the questions presented to them. In addition, evidence suggests that there is no first-language (Arabic) advantage when answering these assessments. These findings are in line with previous studies that found no evidence that simplifying the language of mathematics tests had a significant positive effect on student performance. Implications on the appropriate theoretical perspectives to use when studying the relationship of language and mathematics learning are discussed. In addition, practical recommendations are presented for instructors and professors in \u27globalist\u27 multilingual classrooms (Barwell, 2003). تستعرض هذه الدراسة أداء الطلاب الإماراتين أثناء تعلم الرياضيات باللغة الإنجليزية من خلال التركيز على تنوع استجابتهم للمسائل الرياضية Ù†Ùسها بصيغ مختلÙØ© (مركبة أو بسيطة)ØŒ وبعد ترجمتها إلى اللغة العربية، وكذلك بعد إضاÙØ© صورة توضيحية للمسائل. وقد تبين من خلال النتائج عدم تأثر الطالب باللغة المبسطة للمسألة أو بالصورة المضاÙØ© أثناء حل المسائل اللÙظية أي أن السمات المعجمية والنحوية للمسائل اللÙظية ليس لها تأثير يذكر على Ùهم الطالب وقدرته على الإجابة عن الأسئلة المعروضة عليه. كما لم تؤثر الترجمة على حل الطلبة للمسألة. وبذلك تتماشى هذه النتائج مع الدراسات السابقة التي لم تتوصل إلى أي تأثير إيجابي لاستخدام اللغة المبسطة على Ùهم مسائل الرياضيات. كما تناقش الدراسة الآثار المترتبة على استخدام النظريات المناسبة عند دراسة العلاقة بين الرياضيات واللغة. تعرض الدراسة ÙÙŠ نهايتها توصيات المعلمين والأساتذة العملية والمستÙادة من خبراتهم التدريسية ÙÙŠ بيئات مختلÙØ© حول العالم

Complexity and Choice: Reassessing Support for Women in Leadership Programs

Advice and support for achieving promotion is often one of the main tasks of leadership programs aimed at women in higher education. This paper will consider how leadership development strategies can be extended to meet current developments in higher education, where there is a need to respond to increasing complexity within the system, resulting from changes in government policy and the impact of globalisation.We propose that there is a need to address diversity in leadership roles to meet the challenge of complexity, as one outcome of a focus on promotion in leadership programs has been to emphasise and reinforce conventional managerial, hierarchical expectations of leadership. In this context, leadership is predominantly role-related and positional in nature. The ability to develop and change circumstances is gained through the power given by the role. Women in these roles are most often seen as successful leaders when they additionally demonstrate a nurturing and supportive approach.The paper will address the limitations of adopting this view of leadership and examine how leadership can be broadened by and for women in higher education. The paper will consider how different models of leadership in teaching and in research can be developed, and then their potential to influence broader leadership programs in higher education management