Polling learning: modelling the use of technology in classroom questioning

This project used an audience response system to explore its value for providing structured in-class feedback to tutors and learners, with a particular emphasis on supporting a tutor's use of questioning techniques. The research was conducted within a BSc Mathematics programme forming part of an undergraduate initial teacher training course. A key strategic aim for learning and teaching development at the University of Wales Newport is to embed feedback as part of the learning experience. This was achieved with the use of ‘clickers’, a valuable tool that tutors can use occasionally, or frequently to support more effective and satisfying feedback through question and discussion techniques. An additional element of this project was to model the use of clickers for student teachers in order to encourage their adoption of similar techniques in their own classroom teaching. The findings illustrate the impact on teaching in both diagnostic aspects and in social, classroom aspects

The Mosaic Law in Christian Perspective

When Jesus spoke of fulfilling the law and the prophets, he was referring to the Mosaic law, nearly all of which is in the four books we consider in this Article: Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In an effort to discern the Mosaic law’s guidance for contemporary secular law, we first place it in covenantal perspective and identify three of its key concerns: God’s nature, as revealed in Scripture; the nature of Israel; and the role of the land. After summarizing the regulation in the four books under consideration and noting a few of its characteristics, we conclude by discussing a few possible implications of a Christian perspective on the Mosaic law for contemporary criminal law; economic and commercial law; and the fraught issues of marriage, divorce and sexuality

The Mosaic Law in Christian Perspective

When Jesus spoke of fulfilling the law and the prophets, he was referring to the Mosaic law, nearly all of which is in the four books we consider in this Article: Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In an effort to discern the Mosaic law’s guidance for contemporary secular law, we first place it in covenantal perspective and identify three of its key concerns: God’s nature, as revealed in Scripture; the nature of Israel; and the role of the land. After summarizing the regulation in the four books under consideration and noting a few of its characteristics, we conclude by discussing a few possible implications of a Christian perspective on the Mosaic law for contemporary criminal law; economic and commercial law; and the fraught issues of marriage, divorce and sexuality

Age and affinity of granitic detritus in Lower Palaeozoic conglomerates, S.W. Scotland: implications for Caledonian evolution

No abstract availabl

Differential response of chlorophyll-a concentrations to explosive volcanism in the western South Pacific

When it is deposited in the ocean, volcanic ash has the potential to release iron and other nutrients into surface water to stimulate ocean productivity. In the western South Pacific Ocean (SPO), one of the most important volcanic ash deposition regions, occasional widespread transport of volcanic ash may supply the nutrients not only locally around source islands but also within the wider the western SPO, accompanied by phytoplankton response. Through a comparative analysis of satellite and reanalysis data for the past 19 years (2004–2022), this study reveals that four explosive volcanic eruptions, Rabaul volcano, Papua New Guinea (October, 2006), Ambae volcano, Vanuatu (July, 2018), Ulawun volcano, Papua New Guinea (June, 2019), and Hunga volcano, Tonga (January, 2022), had the most strong stratospheric injection (>15 km) and mass loading of volcanic materials over the wider the western SPO (covering an area of >765,000 km2). The transport of 2006, 2018, 2019 volcanic emissions, was not likely associated with significant ash deposition over the western SPO. However, the Hunga eruption led to the deposition of ash-laden volcanic plumes over a wide area (~2,000 km from source), and was followed by the increase in chlorophyll-a concentrations (Chl-a) in the region (~70% increase). Minor changes related to other nutrient sources (e.g., hydrothermal input) suggest a link between the increase in Chl-a and 2022 Hunga ash falls over the western SPO. Our results indicate that volcanic ash deposition has implications for phytoplankton productivity in the western SPO, and highlights the need for further research into understanding how nutrient supply alleviated limitations of phytoplankton at the community level

Critical management education: Selected auto-ethnographic vignettes on how attachment to identity may disrupt learning

In this essay, we explore the underlying processes of identity work in teaching from a critical management education (CME) perspective. Identity is a concern for both teachers and students and especially where the assumptions and routines on which it is grounded are challenged as in a CME learning environment. Through auto-ethnographic accounts of our teaching experience, we focus on the problems that result from being attached to an identity and how this might be explored through reflexive participative learning. Identity work describes the pursuit of these attachments without challenging the pursuit itself. A distinctive part of our contribution is to consider how in taking identity for granted as a laudatory accomplishment, CME scholars often fail to recognise how our attachment to it can be an obstacle for management learning. To conclude, we speculate on the implications of our pedagogy for inculcating more critical forms of identity work, through which we might free ourselves to think and engage with the world differently

Critical management education: Selected auto-ethnographic vignettes on how attachment to identity may disrupt learning

In this essay, we explore the underlying processes of identity work in teaching from a critical management education (CME) perspective. Identity is a concern for both teachers and students and especially where the assumptions and routines on which it is grounded are challenged as in a CME learning environment. Through auto-ethnographic accounts of our teaching experience, we focus on the problems that result from being attached to an identity and how this might be explored through reflexive participative learning. Identity work describes the pursuit of these attachments without challenging the pursuit itself. A distinctive part of o2ur contribution is to consider how in taking identity for granted as a laudatory accomplishment, CME scholars often fail to recognise how our attachment to it can be an obstacle for management learning. To conclude, we speculate on the implications of our pedagogy for inculcating more critical forms of identity work, through which we might free ourselves to think and engage with the world differently

Africa 2060: good news from Africa, April 16, 2010

This repository item contains a single issue of the Pardee Conference Series, As the keystone event of a research program called “Africa 2060,” the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future at Boston University convened a conference on April 16, 2010 called Africa 2060: Good News from Africa. The program featured more than a dozen expert panelists from Boston University and across the world, and the approximately 100 participants included many African scholars and citizens from the continent who contributed to lively and well-informed discussion. The Pardee Center conference was co-sponsored by Boston University’s Africa Studies Center (ASC), the African Presidential Archives & Research Center (APARC), and the Global Health & Development Center (GHDC).This report provides commentary reflecting upon and information pertaining to the substance of the conference. An introductory overview looks at the major issues discussed at the event, which are placed within the larger literature on Africa’s future. Four short essays prepared by Boston University graduate students provide readers with more specific reflections and highlights of each conference session and the main issues discussed by panelists. The final section presents analyses of key trends and projections related to societal, economic, and governance issues for Africa and a commentary on what this information tells us about the drivers that will determine the continent’s future

A Century of Drought in Hawaiʻi: Geospatial Analysis and Synthesis across Hydrological, Ecological, and Socioeconomic Scales

Drought is a prominent feature of Hawaiʻi’s climate. However, it has been over 30 years since the last comprehensive meteorological drought analysis, and recent drying trends have emphasized the need to better understand drought dynamics and multi-sector effects in Hawaiʻi. Here, we provide a comprehensive synthesis of past drought effects in Hawaiʻi that we integrate with geospatial analysis of drought characteristics using a newly developed 100-year (1920–2019) gridded Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) dataset. The synthesis examines past droughts classified into five categories: Meteorological, agricultural, hydrological, ecological, and socioeconomic drought. Results show that drought duration and magnitude have increased significantly, consistent with trends found in other Pacific Islands. We found that most droughts were associated with El Niño events, and the two worst droughts of the past century were multi-year events occurring in 1998–2002 and 2007–2014. The former event was most severe on the islands of O’ahu and Kaua’i while the latter event was most severe on Hawaiʻi Island. Within islands, we found different spatial patterns depending on leeward versus windward contrasts. Droughts have resulted in over $80 million in agricultural relief since 1996 and have increased wildfire risk, especially during El Niño years. In addition to providing the historical context needed to better understand future drought projections and to develop effective policies and management strategies to protect natural, cultural, hydrological, and agricultural resources, this work provides a framework for conducting drought analyses in other tropical island systems, especially those with a complex topography and strong climatic gradients

Mutations in the SPG7 gene cause chronic progressive external ophthalmoplegia through disordered mitochondrial DNA maintenance.

Despite being a canonical presenting feature of mitochondrial disease, the genetic basis of progressive external ophthalmoplegia remains unknown in a large proportion of patients. Here we show that mutations in SPG7 are a novel cause of progressive external ophthalmoplegia associated with multiple mitochondrial DNA deletions. After excluding known causes, whole exome sequencing, targeted Sanger sequencing and multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification analysis were used to study 68 adult patients with progressive external ophthalmoplegia either with or without multiple mitochondrial DNA deletions in skeletal muscle. Nine patients (eight probands) were found to carry compound heterozygous SPG7 mutations, including three novel mutations: two missense mutations c.2221G>A; p.(Glu741Lys), c.2224G>A; p.(Asp742Asn), a truncating mutation c.861dupT; p.Asn288*, and seven previously reported mutations. We identified a further six patients with single heterozygous mutations in SPG7, including two further novel mutations: c.184-3C>T (predicted to remove a splice site before exon 2) and c.1067C>T; p.(Thr356Met). The clinical phenotype typically developed in mid-adult life with either progressive external ophthalmoplegia/ptosis and spastic ataxia, or a progressive ataxic disorder. Dysphagia and proximal myopathy were common, but urinary symptoms were rare, despite the spasticity. Functional studies included transcript analysis, proteomics, mitochondrial network analysis, single fibre mitochondrial DNA analysis and deep re-sequencing of mitochondrial DNA. SPG7 mutations caused increased mitochondrial biogenesis in patient muscle, and mitochondrial fusion in patient fibroblasts associated with the clonal expansion of mitochondrial DNA mutations. In conclusion, the SPG7 gene should be screened in patients in whom a disorder of mitochondrial DNA maintenance is suspected when spastic ataxia is prominent. The complex neurological phenotype is likely a result of the clonal expansion of secondary mitochondrial DNA mutations modulating the phenotype, driven by compensatory mitochondrial biogenesis