How was it for you? A cross-disciplinary study of ‘troublesome knowledge’ as identified by undergraduate students and lecturers in Geography, Medical Science and Psychology

We carried out a small scale pilot study to determine whether participants would spontaneously identify Threshold Concepts (TC’s) and/or troublesome knowledge during open questioning on the characteristics of their disciplines. Students and lecturers reflected upon both easy and difficult aspects of their studies or teaching practice in either group discussions or one-to-one interviews. We compared students and staff observations both within and between the disciplines we examined (Geography, Medical Sciences and Psychology undergraduate degrees). Our intention was to provide specific examples of TC’s within our three disciplines to inform further discussion of embedding the enhancement theme both in our practice and in the learning experiences of our students. Our working hypothesis was that if TC’s exerted an influence on the teaching and learning experience either negatively or otherwise, then we would find ample evidence supplied in our interviews. What we found was that overwhelmingly our interviewees focussed on generic skills-based aspects of teaching and learning. Only three potential content-specific TC’s were offered spontaneously by students and these were all from the discipline of geography

Individual Based Model to Simulate the Evolution of Insecticide Resistance

Insecticides play a critical role in agricultural productivity. However, insecticides impose selective pressures on insect populations, so the Darwinian principles of natural selection predict that resistance to the insecticide is likely to form in the insect populations. Insecticide resistance, in turn, severely reduces the utility of the insecticides being used. Thus there is a strong economic incentive to reduce the rate of resistance evolution. Moreover, resistance evolution represents an example of evolution under novel selective pressures, so its study contributes to the fundamental understanding of evolutionary theory. Insecticide resistance often represents a complex interplay of multiple fitness trade-offs for individual insects. Resistant individuals tend to suffer significant decreases in fitness when no insecticide is present, resulting in non-resistant individuals having the tendency to outcompete resistant ones in areas with no insecticide. In the use of standard modeling practices, difficulties arise when trying to incorporate these complexities in a fashion which facilitates the simulation of the model and analyzing the results. Individual based models (IBMs) are one approach to overcoming these difficulties by leveraging modern computational techniques and modern computer power. In an IBM each member of the population is simulated to follow a set of stochastic rules, which includes rules about the behaviors and interactions of individuals. We propose to apply an IBM approach to modeling the evolution of insecticide resistance in an insect species population. The fall armyworm is an economically damaging pest which has recently become invasive in Africa, India, and China. A common type of insecticide used control fall armyworms is Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). We hypothesize that individuals that are resistant to Bt grow at slower rates than their counterparts. This creates a strong fitness disadvantage when Bt is not present because the fall armyworms are cannibalistic, where smaller individuals have a large disadvantage. Thus we use our IBM to explore the nature of the fitness trade-offs between resistance and growth rate in order to understand how it could be exploited to lessen the rate of resistance evolution in the species. Adviser: Richard Rebarber and Brigitte Tenhumber

Alien Registration- Jamieson, Minnie B. (Portland, Cumberland County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/21461/thumbnail.jp

Alien Registration- Jamieson, Minnie B. (Portland, Cumberland County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/21461/thumbnail.jp

Bioaccumulation of persistent organic pollutants in the deepest ocean fauna

The Kermadec and Mariana ‘HADES’ expeditions (RV Thomas G. Thompson TN309, and RV Falkor FK141109) were funded through the National Science Foundation (NSF-OCE nos 1130712 and 1140494) and the Schmidt Ocean Institute. S.B.P. was supported by a Fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust. The analytical costs were supported by the Total Foundation (France) and the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology, Scotland (MASTS) through a Deep Sea Forum small grant award.Peer reviewedPostprin

DOWNHILL DOMINATION IN GRAPHS

A path π = (v1, v2, . . . , vk+1) iun a graph G = (V, E) is a downhill path if for every i, 1 ≤ i ≤ k, deg(vi) ≥ deg(vi+1), where deg(vi) denotes the degree of vertex vi ∈ V. The downhill domination number equals the minimum cardinality of a set S ⊆ V having the property that every vertex v ∈ V lies on a downhill path originating from some vertex in S. We investigate downhill domination numbers of graphs and give upper bounds. In particular, we show that the downhill domination number of a graph is at most half its order, and that the downhill domination number of a tree is at most one third its order. We characterize the graphs obtaining each of these bounds

Toward a Model for Fisheries Social Impact Assessment

This paper presents a model for Fisheries Social Impact Assessment (SIA) that lays the groundwork for development of fisheries-focused, quantitative social assessments with a clear conceptual model. The usefulness of current fisheries SIA’s has been called into question by some as incompatible with approaches taken by fisheries biologists and economists when assessing potential effects of management actions. Our model’s approach is closer to the economists’ and biologists’ assessments and is therefore more useful for Fishery Management Council members. The paper was developed by anthropologists initially brought together in 2004 for an SIA Modeling Workshop by the National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA. Opinions and conclusions expressed or implied are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policy of the National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA

Oral health inequalities and the corporate determinants of health: a commentary

Empirical research critically examining the role of the corporate determinants of health has gained traction in the past few years. Many of these reports have received strong, sometimes litigious, backlash from the corporations exposed. The aim of this paper is to provide a critical commentary on existing literature, policies, procedures and observations of issues, especially regarding the use of the corporate determinants of health as a research construct, in the persistence and flourishing of oral health inequalities at a global level. We discuss theoretical frameworks that underpin the power constructs of the corporate determinants of health, including Lukes “three faces of power” theory. This theory posits that power is exercised in three ways: through decision-making, through non-decision-making and ideologically. We will demonstrate, using examples of corporate determinants of health and oral health inequalities from several countries, how intervening at key leverage points is a crucial strategy for improving oral health inequalities at a global level

A note on the calculation of the effective range

The closed form of the first order non-linear differential equation that is satisfied by the effective range within the variable phase formulation of scattering theory is discussed. It is shown that the conventional method of determining the effective range, by fitting a numerical solution of the Schr\"odinger equation to known asymptotic boundary conditions, can be modified to include the first order contribution of a long range interaction.Comment: 4 page

Phylogenetic relationships among hadal amphipods of the Superfamily Lysianassoidea : Implications for taxonomy and biogeography

Date of Acceptance: 30/8/15 Acknowledgements We thank the chief scientists, crew and company of the Japanese RV Hakuho-Maru (KH0703 and KH0803), the RV Tansei-Maru (KT-09-03), the RV Kairei (KR0716), the German FS Sonne (SO197 and SO 209) and the New Zealand RV Kaharoa (KAH0190, KAH1109, KAH1202, KAH1301 and KAH1310). This work was supported by the HADEEP projects, funded by the Nippon Foundation, Japan (2009765188), the Natural Environmental Research Council, UK (NE/E007171/1) and the Total Foundation, France. We acknowledge additional support from the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland (MASTS) funded by the Scottish Funding Council (Ref: HR09011) and contributing institutions. We also acknowledge support from the Leverhulme Research Fellowship granted to SBP. Additional sea time was supported by NIWA’s ‘Impact of Resource Use on Vulnerable Deep-Sea Communities’ project (CO1_0906). From NIWA we thank Malcolm Clark, Ashley Rowden, Kareen Schnabel, Sadie Mills for logistical support at the NIWA Invertebrate Collection. We also thank Fredrik Søreide from Promare, USA, for supply of the Puerto-Rico samples, Marius Wenzel for helpful comments on manuscript drafts, and Dr. Tammy Horton (NOCS, UK) for identifying some of the earlier amphipod samplesPeer reviewedPostprintPostprin