title: ‘Is it ever enough?’ Exploring academic language and learning advisory identities through small stories

authors: Grossi, Vittoria

abstract: Contemporarily, higher education workplaces are characterised by collaboration, transitions, fluidity and the crossing of boundaries, where individuals are involved in ongoing negotiation of multilayered identities and simultaneous membership to various groups. These conditions impact the negotiation of professional identities, work and work relationships. One group of professionals affected by the impetus to fluidly operate within institutions are academic language and learning (ALL) advisors. In this article, we explore the identity negotiation of a novice ALL advisor through a positioning lens, focusing on small stories conveyed during an interview. We highlight the ways in which she constructs identities vis-à-vis interactions with students and within the ideological and institutional structures of the contemporary university. This article contributes an important new perspective to existing depictions of ALL advisors as a marginalised group of professionals, making space for the study of advisory agency alongside structural analyses. While continuing to negotiate structural challenges, we argue that the participant’s sense of agency needs to be garnered to strengthen group identity and allow for professionals to transition to the role.

text: ‘Is it ever enough?’ Exploring academic language and learning advisory identities through small stories Contemporarily, higher education workplaces are characterised by collaboration, transitions, fluidity and the crossing of boundaries, where individuals are involved in ongoing negotiation of multilayered identities and simultaneous membership to various groups. These conditions impact the negotiation of professional identities, work and work relationships. One group of professionals affected by the impetus to fluidly operate within institutions are academic language and learning (ALL) advisors. In this article, we explore the identity negotiation of a novice ALL advisor through a positioning lens, focusing on small stories conveyed during an interview. We highlight the ways in which she constructs identities vis-à-vis interactions with students and within the ideological and institutional structures of the contemporary university. This article contributes an important new perspective to existing depictions of ALL advisors as a marginalised group of professionals, making space for the study of advisory agency alongside structural analyses. While continuing to negotiate structural challenges, we argue that the participant’s sense of agency needs to be garnered to strengthen group identity and allow for professionals to transition to the role.

year: 2019

title: Strangles: The Molecular Identification and Epidemiology of Streptococcus equi subsp. equi

authors: Patty, Olivia Anne

subjects: strangles

abstract: A conventional PCR diagnostic test was established to confirm the microbiological isolation of Streptococcus equi subsp. equi (S. equi), the causative agent of strangles. This test was based on the amplification of the seeI gene, which is species-specific for S. equi. Further, a multiplex PCR was developed using species-specific primers; to identify the presence of S. equi and two other streptococci know complicate the diagnosis of strangles in horses, Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus (S. zooepidemicus) and Streptococcus dysgalactiae subsp. equisimilis (S. equisimilis). A total of 18 clinical isolates of S. equi plus the Pinnacle IN vaccine isolate, two isolates of S. zooepidemicus and four isolates of S. equisimilis were obtained via culture and used in the development of the multiplex diagnostic tool. Two multiplex tests were trialed; a conventional multiplex PCR and a real-time multiplex PCR.

Both the conventional and real-time multiplex PCR’s were able to distinguish between the streptococci and accurately identified all isolates. However, further testing on 26 field specimens revealed that the real-time multiplex PCR had lower specificity, sensitivity and diagnostic accuracy as compared to the conventional multiplex PCR. This was theorised to be the result of the PEG/KOH solution used in the DNA extraction, possibly interfering with the intercalating dye in the real-time reaction. Based on these preliminary results, the conventional multiplex PCR diagnostic test developed here is recommended for further trials to determine its robustness.

The 19 S. equi isolates obtained, including the vaccine, were further subjected to epidemiological studies. These included sequencing of the variable N-terminal region of the antiphagocytic M-protein SeM to determine SeM allele subtypes and a Sau-PCR amplification method, which previously has not been trialled on S. equi isolates. Sau-PCR involves digestion of genomic DNA and subsequent amplification. Two novel strains of S. equi were found within NZ based on the variable region of the seM gene, SeM alleles 99 and 100. SeM allele 100 had a higher pervalance over allele 99 as it was isolated in 6 out of 9 outbreaks and was found to occur on both the North and South Islands of New Zealand. SeM allele 99 was only found to occur on the North Island. Further to this study, the Pinnacle IN vaccine strain, SeM 2 was isolated from lymph node abcesses of two horses. It was unclear as to whether this ‘vaccine breakdown’ was just a severe adverse reaction to the vaccine or if the vaccine reverted to a more virulent type. The Sau-PCR was able to differentiate between the field isolates of S. equi and the vaccine strain but was unable to further differentiate between the field isolates and was therefore determined not as valuable for S. equi epidemiological studies.

text: Strangles: The Molecular Identification and Epidemiology of Streptococcus equi subsp. equi A conventional PCR diagnostic test was established to confirm the microbiological isolation of Streptococcus equi subsp. equi (S. equi), the causative agent of strangles. This test was based on the amplification of the seeI gene, which is species-specific for S. equi. Further, a multiplex PCR was developed using species-specific primers; to identify the presence of S. equi and two other streptococci know complicate the diagnosis of strangles in horses, Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus (S. zooepidemicus) and Streptococcus dysgalactiae subsp. equisimilis (S. equisimilis). A total of 18 clinical isolates of S. equi plus the Pinnacle IN vaccine isolate, two isolates of S. zooepidemicus and four isolates of S. equisimilis were obtained via culture and used in the development of the multiplex diagnostic tool. Two multiplex tests were trialed; a conventional multiplex PCR and a real-time multiplex PCR.

Both the conventional and real-time multiplex PCR’s were able to distinguish between the streptococci and accurately identified all isolates. However, further testing on 26 field specimens revealed that the real-time multiplex PCR had lower specificity, sensitivity and diagnostic accuracy as compared to the conventional multiplex PCR. This was theorised to be the result of the PEG/KOH solution used in the DNA extraction, possibly interfering with the intercalating dye in the real-time reaction. Based on these preliminary results, the conventional multiplex PCR diagnostic test developed here is recommended for further trials to determine its robustness.

The 19 S. equi isolates obtained, including the vaccine, were further subjected to epidemiological studies. These included sequencing of the variable N-terminal region of the antiphagocytic M-protein SeM to determine SeM allele subtypes and a Sau-PCR amplification method, which previously has not been trialled on S. equi isolates. Sau-PCR involves digestion of genomic DNA and subsequent amplification. Two novel strains of S. equi were found within NZ based on the variable region of the seM gene, SeM alleles 99 and 100. SeM allele 100 had a higher pervalance over allele 99 as it was isolated in 6 out of 9 outbreaks and was found to occur on both the North and South Islands of New Zealand. SeM allele 99 was only found to occur on the North Island. Further to this study, the Pinnacle IN vaccine strain, SeM 2 was isolated from lymph node abcesses of two horses. It was unclear as to whether this ‘vaccine breakdown’ was just a severe adverse reaction to the vaccine or if the vaccine reverted to a more virulent type. The Sau-PCR was able to differentiate between the field isolates of S. equi and the vaccine strain but was unable to further differentiate between the field isolates and was therefore determined not as valuable for S. equi epidemiological studies.

year: 2012

title: Te Raupatu o Tauranga Moana = The confiscation of Tauranga lands. [Volume 1]

authors: Stokes, Evelyn

subjects: Tauranga lands

abstract: A report providing a historical and geographical overview on the confiscation of Tauranga lands. In two volumes, volume one comprises a narrative of the events described as the raupatu, the confiscation of lands in the Tauranga Moana tribal area under the New Zealand Settlements Act 1863.  Volume two is a collection of documents, edited and annotated which were compiled in support of the report. These documents include personal accounts, tribal history, land purchases, lands returned and crown transactions.

text: Te Raupatu o Tauranga Moana = The confiscation of Tauranga lands. [Volume 1] A report providing a historical and geographical overview on the confiscation of Tauranga lands. In two volumes, volume one comprises a narrative of the events described as the raupatu, the confiscation of lands in the Tauranga Moana tribal area under the New Zealand Settlements Act 1863.  Volume two is a collection of documents, edited and annotated which were compiled in support of the report. These documents include personal accounts, tribal history, land purchases, lands returned and crown transactions.

year: 1990