School of Natural Sciences

This arts-based inquiry research approach investigates learners' situated knowledge, experiences, and implicit theories based on previously gathered empirical and interpretive data. In this article, we discuss the use of experiential workshops to create a "third space" or "incubation" space as a way of facilitating effective learning environments. The "third space" is placed at the core of the higher educational curriculum to foster creativity, reflection, and critical thinking. The experience fosters transformative ways of thinking for both the teacher and student, leading to more engaging, meaningful, and contemplative interactions. To understand how creativity and reflective practice is fostered in adult learners, the experiential workshops scaffold (systematically structuring experience and knowledge) and embeds rituals, such as rhythmic breathing, into traditional Fresco molds through frottage (rubbing technique) into the learning environment of the "third space." The framework is conceptualized as participants' inward journeys "moving" through (in and out of) levels of creativity through action and reflection. Workshops were presented in Zaragoza and Valencia, Spain; and Athens, Greece, integrating traditional symbolic artifacts from classical Spanish and Greek, and Australian Indigenous mythologies to extend modes of expression through playful relaxation. Participants experimented with the different ways color and pattern can heighten self-awareness, reflection, and praxis.

This symposium examines the praxis of mentoring and the potential of professional experience as praxis. A series of four papers present four distinctive but interrelated themes of consequence that together explore what Zeichner (2010) refers to as the third space in teacher education. The aim of the symposium is to reframe existing views of professional experience learning and mentoring by drawing from a suite of vignettes to portray the contextual, relational and mutually formative space that this space entails. In this symposium we draw on relevant research and a number of vignettes of recent innovations in mentoring practices to move discussion on from an historical focus on definitions of the roles of mentors and mentees, in what might be considered as largely ‘supervisory arrangements’. The vignettes are taken from four different Australian university professional experience programs. The actual doings of those involved in the mentoring relationships presented in the vignettes ...

The decisions made by the designers of mentorship programs impact upon the development of the praxis of the teachers involved. The recent development of online mentoring provides an opportunity to revisit the question of how to design mentoring programs that support the development of a high quality of praxis in the participants. This chapter argues for a broad understanding of mentoring as formally convened, dialogic communities of teachers that include arrangements such as online, peer and group mentoring. It suggests that a high quality of praxis occurs in a space where mentors adopt a critical stance for reflecting upon the intentions behind the technical skills of mentoring. The theoretical understanding of the praxis of mentoring is explored by describing a design-based research project, TeachConnect, that facilitates online mentoring aimed primarily at preservice teachers. The challenges experienced in convening communities within TeachConnect are used to highlight some of the key issues in fostering a high quality of praxis of mentoring in the online space, including the need to balance a fluid adoption of roles within mentorship with the need for well-prepared mentors.

y of inoculum (hereon referred to as the inoculum approach). The second compares the growth of plants grown in sterilised and unsterilised soil (hereon referred to as the unsterilised soil approach). The strength of the unsterilised soil approach over the inoculation approach is that it allows the assessment of the influence of soil microbial communities at somewhat natural densities and composition (Brinkman et al. 2010; see van de Voorde et al. 2012). However, the weakness of this approach is that the abiotic soil properties may be impacted by the sterilisation treatment, resulting in differences between the sterilised and unsterilised soils. This is because the killed microbes and other soil organisms release their cell contents into the soil after sterilisation, causing a flush of nutrients, amongst other changes (McNamara et al. 2003; Dietrich et al. 2020). If these changes are not accounted for, they may significantly impact the validity of inferences made from

Aos meus pais Vera e Sílvio e a minha irmã Karina, com amor e gratidão. Devo meus sinceros agradecimentos a todos que contribuíram para a realização deste trabalho, e também aos que fizeram parte da minha vida ao longo desses três anos. Ao meu pai Silvio, minha mãe Vera e minha irmã Karina pelo apoio, dedicação e compreensão. Agradeço também aos meus familiares, principalmente à minha avó, por todo apoio. Ao meu orientador Hilton Ferreira Japyassú por toda orientação, dedicação, ensinamento e amizade. Ao meu co-orientador César Ades pela oportunidade, ensinamento, dedicação e apoio financeiro para a coleta de campo no Uruguai. Ao Professor Gilberto Xavier pelo ensinamento nas disciplinas e participação na banca examinadora. Ao Professor Pedro Ribeiro pela participação na banca examinadora. Á Carmen Viera pela hospitalidade no Uruguai, pelo ensinamento e amizade; Ao Miguel Simó pela hospitalidade, ensinamento e morfoespeciação da Badumna; Á

Foram analisados efeitos de diferentes histórias de incontrolabilidade por perda ou ganho de pontos sobre o desempenho posterior de participantes humanos na construção de frases. Inicialmente, os participantes podiam ganhar ou perder pontos independentemente de qualquer característica da frase construída. Posteriormente, recebiam pontos por construir frases iniciadas apenas pelo pronome "ele". Os resultados mostram que a exposição à incontrolabilidade pode dificultar condições posteriores de novas aprendizagens sob reforçamento positivo. Interessantemente, essas dificuldades foram menos acentuadas e, em certos casos, até mesmo superadas, no caso de uma história de exposição a ganhos incontroláveis de pontos. Em contrapartida, no caso de uma história de perdas incontroláveis de pontos, aprendizagens subsequentes sob reforço positivo tenderam a ser prejudicadas. Esses resultados contribuem para os estudos de incontrolabilidade e desamparo aprendido, em particular por apresen...

Human participants were exposed to a task in which, by constructing sentences, the effects of different stories of uncontrollability were assessed through the loss or acquisition of points in a subsequent exposure to a new learning condition. Initially, subjects could lose or win points regardless of any specific response. Subsequently, they would receive points for constructing any sentence beginning with the pronoun "he". Results show that exposure to uncontrollability can make it difficult to acquire a subsequent learning task. In particular, the effects of the history of exposure to uncontrollable points gains were relatively short-lived, concentrated at the beginning of the learning process and

To the extent permitted by law, the copyright holder (including its employees and consultants) exclude all liability to any person for any consequences, including but not limited to all losses, damages, costs, expenses and any other compensation, arising directly or indirectly from using this report (in part or in whole) and any information or material contained in it. The contents of this publication do not purport to represent the position of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority. They are presented to inform discussion for improved management of the Basin's natural resources.

Intensive water resource developments and landuse changes within semi-arid zone floodplain wetlands have added to the heavy burden of agricultural and environmental stressors on inland rivers in Australia. In particular, in-channel and floodplain structures, such as weirs, embankments and canals, serve to impede, trap, divert, spread and/or convey water throughout floodplain wetlands for a variety of purposes. These structures affect flow hydraulics and processes of sediment erosion, transport and deposition across the continuum of hydrological conditions in wetlands, from channel base-flows to widespread overbank floods. Geomorphic and ecologic impacts occur at a range of spatial scales, from individual and site specific, to cumulative and system wide. Our examples from iconic floodplain wetlands in the Murray-Darling Basin show that consequences of artificial structures within channels and on the floodplain include: perturbation and redirection of flows, exacerbation of erosion an...

Channel and floodplain morphodynamics are driven by intrinsic sedimentation and erosion processes in many lowland-dryland rivers of the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia. Sites of avulsion and floodout tend to occur in the distal reaches of these rivers, where new channels are formed and others may be abandoned, or where channels become discontinuous and floodwaters and sediments are spread over vertically accreting floodplains. This study investigated the geomorphology and sedimentary products of avulsion and floodout in Monkeygar Marsh, a perennial floodplain wetland in the Macquarie Marshes. In this system, avulsion and channel breakdown have shifted the foci of flooding and sedimentation on the floodplain over time and wetlands have responded by relocating, expanding and contracting. Low levees and a broad alluvial ridge now border the main channel and in many places proximal cross-floodplain gradients are greater than the prevailing longitudinal bed gradients. In-channel vegetati...

Floodplain wetlands and floodouts in the Macquarie Marshes are fed by numerous anastomosing and distributary channels on the lower reaches of the Macquarie River, southeastern Australia. River discharge is seasonally and annually variable and is affected by both interannual and interdecadal climatic trends, related to ENSO and IPO. A downstream comparison of hydrologic data shows that flows decrease significantly in magnitude and stream power along the allogenic lower Macquarie River as distributary outflows are not matched by tributary inputs. Intrinsic hydrologic and geomorphic thresholds along the lower Macquarie River lead to the breakdown of the trunk stream into smaller distributaries, with disintegration of channelised flows and development of extensive wetlands on the low gradient, dryland alluvial floodplain-fan. Cross-sectional analysis shows that the morphology and morphometry of the trunk stream change accordingly, with adjustments in planform and cross-sectional shape and marked downstream reductions in channel capacity and bed width. Despite monotonic declines in river discharge, gross stream power and channel cross-sectional area, there is a threshold change in the geomorphic response. Channel width-to-depth ratio decreases in the middle reaches and then increases, while channel sinuosity increases until

Paleoecological responses to coupled geomorphic and hydrological changes have rarely been studied using a multiproxy approach in freshwater floodplain wetlands of semiarid Australia. The Macquarie Marshes are a large, multi-channelled and morphodynamic floodplain wetland system in the lowland interior of the Murray-Darling Basin, southeastern Australia. Evidence from historical maps, aerial photographs, geomorphology and sedimentology indicate that avulsion in the southern Macquarie Marshes caused the formation of a major new channel (Monkeygar Creek) and the abandonment of a reach of the Macquarie River in the last 200 years. Paleobiological samples from near-uniform sediment cores were studied to determine the environmental changes related to this avulsion, as well as associated floodplain evolution and hydrological changes in the adjoining flood-reliant wetlands. Fifteen macrophyte taxa, seven charophyte taxa, 28 diatom taxa and 18 aquatic invertebrate taxa were identified in sediments from the terminal reach of the Macquarie River and the active lower reach of Monkeygar Creek. Paleoecological reconstruction indicates that the slowly accreting marsh (ca 0.032 to 0.037 cm a 71) around the Macquarie River (Terminus Marsh) was more frequently and deeply inundated in the past (presence of limnetic zooplankton before ca 1626 cal. years BP) than during the penultimate pre-avulsion phase (absence of limnetic zooplankton and more diverse terrestrial and aquatic vegetation from ca 540 cal. years BP). In contrast, the floodplain near lower Monkeygar Creek was only periodically inundated prior to avulsion (high diversity of charophytes and low diversity of diatoms and invertebrates before ca 149 years BP), before experiencing disturbance, rapid accretion and ecological succession during the avulsion (paucity of wetland biota in distinct flood facies ca 149 years BP). This part of the floodplain became a substantial wetland, dominated by algae (charophytes and diatoms) and submerged macrophytes, due to a more consistent flood regime following the avulsion. The contemporary marsh on lower Monkeygar Creek has evolved in the last ca 54 years into a shallower, less frequently flooded wetland (new dominance of emergent macrophytes, charophytes and littoral cladocerans), probably due to changes in inundation caused by rapid local floodplain accretion (ca 0.409 to 0.556 cm a 71) and possibly river regulation. This multiproxy approach provides some of the first evidence of significant changes in wetland communities and ecological successions that are directly related to the geomorphic processes of avulsion and floodplain evolution in a semiarid wetland system such as the Macquarie Marshes.

Gross primary productivity (GPP) of phytoplankton and planktonic respiration (PR) (i.e., planktonic metabolism) are critical pathways for carbon transformation in many aquatic ecosystems. In inland floodplain wetlands with variable inundation regimes, quantitative measurements of GPP and PR are rare and their relationships with wetland environmental conditions are largely unknown. We measured PR and the GPP of phytoplankton using light and dark biological oxygen demand bottles in open waters of channel and non-channel floodplain habitats of inland floodplain wetlands of southeast Australia that had been inundated by environmental water. Overall, GPP varied from 3.7 to 405.5 mg C m À3 h À1 (mean ± standard error: 89.4 ± 9.2 mg C m À3 h À1 , n = 81), PR from 1.5 to 251.6 mg C m À3 h À1 (43.2 ± 5.6 mg C m À3 h À1 , n = 81), and GPP/PR from 0.2 to 15.6 (3.0 ± 0.3, n = 81). In terms of wetland environmental conditions, total nitrogen (TN) ranged from 682.0 to 14,700.0 mg m À3 (mean ± standard error: 2,643.0 ± 241.6 mg m À3 , n = 81), total phosphorus (TP) from 48.0 to 1,405.0 mg m À3 (316.8 ± 31.4 mg m À3 , n = 81), and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from 1.9 to 46.3 g m À3 (22.0 ± 1.6 g m À3 , n = 81). Using ordinary least-squares multiple regression analyses, the rates of GPP and PR, and their ratio (GPP/PR) were modeled as a function of TN, TP, and DOC that had been measured concomitantly. The ''best'' models predicted GPP and GPP/PR ratio in channel habitats as a function of DOC; and GPP, PR, and GPP/PR in non-channel floodplain habitats as a function of TN and/or TP. The models explained between 46 and 74 % of the variance in channel habitats and between 17 and 87 % of the variance in non-channel floodplain habitats. Net autotrophy (mean GPP/PR 3.0) of planktonic metabolism in our work supports the prevailing view that wetlands are a net sink for carbon dioxide. We propose a nutrient-DOC framework, combined with hydrological and geomorphological delineations, to better predict and understand the planktonic metabolism in inland floodplain wetlands.

A procedure for modification of the valve stem of a 40 K French pressure cell is described. The modification should be done by a machinist and requires a metalworking lathe. After modification of the valve stem, a torlon 4203 plastic ball is used between the valve stem and valve seat to control the pressure within the cell. The torlon plastic ball is a key component needed to obtain the high pressures required for efficient disruption of microbial cells.

The sodium bicarbonate co-transporter, NBC3, is expressed in a range of tissues including heart, skeletal muscle and kidney, where it modulates intracellular pH and bicarbonate levels. NBC3 has a three-domain structure: 67 kDa N-terminal cytoplasmic domain, 57 kDa membrane domain and an 11 kDa C-terminal cytoplasmic domain (NBC3Ct). The role of C-terminal domains as important regulatory regions is an emerging theme in bicarbonate transporter physiology. This study determined the functional role of human NBC3Ct and characterized its structure using biochemical techniques. The NBC3 C-terminal domain deletion mutant (NBC3DeltaCt) had only 12 +/- 5% of wild-type transport activity. This low activity is attributable to low steady-state levels of NBC3DeltaCt and almost complete retention inside the cell, as assessed by immunoblots and confocal microscopy, suggesting a role of NBC3Ct in cell surface processing. To characterize the structure of NBC3Ct, amino acids 1127-1214 of NBC3 were expressed as a GST fusion protein (GST.NBC3Ct). GST.NBC3Ct was cleaved with PreScission Protease and native NBC3Ct could be purified to 94% homogeneity. Gel permeation chromatography and sedimentation velocity ultracentrifugation of NBC3Ct indicated a Stokes radius of 26 and 30 angstroms, respectively. Shape modelling revealed NBC3Ct as a prolate shape with long and short axes of 19 and 2 nm, respectively. The circular dichroism spectra of NBC3Ct did not change over the pH 6.2-7.8 range, which rules out a large change of secondary structure as a component of pH sensor function. Proteolysis with trypsin and chymotrypsin identified two proteolytically sensitive regions, R1129 and K1183-K1186, which could form protein interaction sites.