title: An overview of nano-crystalline cellulose nanofibers and their applications in drug delivery

authors: Aljbour, ND

abstract: Made from a variety of natural sources, Nano Crystalline Cellulose (NCC) is a unique renewable nanomaterial with a wide range of applications due to its high stiffness and strength, low weight, biodegradability, and environmental benefits. Because of its special inherent qualities, NCC is one of the most renewable materials to be addressed by nanomaterials. The origins, manufacture, characteristics, and applications of nanomaterials, including NCC and nanofibers, have been extensively studied by a large number of researchers throughout the years. Strong chemical reactivity, crystallinity, strength and stiffness, biocompatibility, biodegradability, shape, and nanoscale dimensions are just a few of the remarkable properties that these nanomaterials have been shown to possess in countless investigations. These characteristics enable the application of these nanoparticles in a number of fields, including medicine. Among the most traditional and popular techniques. Electrospinning is one of the earliest and most popular techniques for producing nanofibers. This method works well and can be modified to produce continuous nanofibers. NCC-based nanofibers are novel materials in the biomaterials industry. Recent studies demonstrated that electrospun nanofibers could be efficiently loaded with a wide range of drugs, such as proteins, chemotherapeutic agents, antibiotics, and analgesics with anti-inflammatory qualities. One application of NCC and nanofibers in the medical field is drug delivery. This review highlights a number of issues related to NCC nanofibers and their use in drug delivery applications, beginning with discussing the various natural polymer types used in drug delivery applications, the physicochemical and biological properties of NCC, its various applications, its significance, and its preparation techniques.

text: An overview of nano-crystalline cellulose nanofibers and their applications in drug delivery Made from a variety of natural sources, Nano Crystalline Cellulose (NCC) is a unique renewable nanomaterial with a wide range of applications due to its high stiffness and strength, low weight, biodegradability, and environmental benefits. Because of its special inherent qualities, NCC is one of the most renewable materials to be addressed by nanomaterials. The origins, manufacture, characteristics, and applications of nanomaterials, including NCC and nanofibers, have been extensively studied by a large number of researchers throughout the years. Strong chemical reactivity, crystallinity, strength and stiffness, biocompatibility, biodegradability, shape, and nanoscale dimensions are just a few of the remarkable properties that these nanomaterials have been shown to possess in countless investigations. These characteristics enable the application of these nanoparticles in a number of fields, including medicine. Among the most traditional and popular techniques. Electrospinning is one of the earliest and most popular techniques for producing nanofibers. This method works well and can be modified to produce continuous nanofibers. NCC-based nanofibers are novel materials in the biomaterials industry. Recent studies demonstrated that electrospun nanofibers could be efficiently loaded with a wide range of drugs, such as proteins, chemotherapeutic agents, antibiotics, and analgesics with anti-inflammatory qualities. One application of NCC and nanofibers in the medical field is drug delivery. This review highlights a number of issues related to NCC nanofibers and their use in drug delivery applications, beginning with discussing the various natural polymer types used in drug delivery applications, the physicochemical and biological properties of NCC, its various applications, its significance, and its preparation techniques.

year: 2025

title: Enhancing teachers' use of web-based resources: A case study of secondary technology teachers

authors: Mangan, Jennifer

subjects: web-based resources

abstract: The need for teachers to develop their content knowledge and understanding of the nature of technology remains an issue for technology education in New Zealand, and although web-based resources (WBRs) offer an effective means of supporting teachers in this endeavour, and have acknowledged potential to transform education, teachers are not necessarily well prepared to integrate WBRs effectively into their pedagogy.
This research set out to investigate how teachers could be supported to enhance their classroom use of WBRs in secondary school technology education. This involved investigating the nature and extent of the participants’ existing classroom practice using WBRs, designing and implementing a sustained intervention programme to support them to expand and enhance the ways in which they integrated WBRs into their technology programmes, and evaluating how and why this influenced their classroom practice. The participants – seven experienced secondary school technology teachers – were from three different schools, had a range of backgrounds, and taught a range of technological areas including food, textiles and structural technology.
The study employed an interpretive research design and qualitative research methods, and was underpinned by a sociocultural theoretical perspective. The design of the intervention was informed by literature on characteristics of effective teacher professional development in general, ICT professional development in particular, sociocultural theories of learning, and Bell and Gilbert’s (1994) model of teacher professional development which emphasises the importance of addressing three dimensions of teacher development (personal, professional and social). The intervention incorporated the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework (Mishra & Koehler, 2006) as a tool for communicating the complex knowledge base required for effective integration of WBRs. The framework was also used to analyse participants’ developing knowledge as they integrated new ideas and approaches in the classroom.
This research concludes that when particular components are included in a professional development programme, teachers can be supported to enhance their classroom use of WBRs and to become empowered to continue their own ongoing development, even when they have limited skills and knowledge and face significant constraints. While the critical elements of the intervention were not new, the particular combination of components was unique. 
The study also draws attention to the complex range of variables that can influence individual teachers as they progress in their integration of WBRs and development of TPACK. It explores, using velocity as an analogy, how various factors, and their interactions, impacted on the degree, and rate, of change of the teachers’ integration of WBRs.
Findings indicate that in the current educational and ICT environment, and in technology education in particular, with recent curriculum and assessment changes, teachers are likely to acknowledge a need to increase and/or enhance their classroom use of ICT and are therefore willing to engage in professional development that appears relevant and manageable in their particular teaching context. 
Although examples of transformative use exist, the overall impact of ICT in education remains limited despite government funding for ICT initiatives and increasing use of ICT in education. Therefore the conclusions of this study are particularly relevant in the current educational environment. Although the research is limited in scope to integrating WBRs in technology education, it is likely that the key principles of the intervention can be more broadly applied to ICT professional development in other subject areas.

text: Enhancing teachers' use of web-based resources: A case study of secondary technology teachers The need for teachers to develop their content knowledge and understanding of the nature of technology remains an issue for technology education in New Zealand, and although web-based resources (WBRs) offer an effective means of supporting teachers in this endeavour, and have acknowledged potential to transform education, teachers are not necessarily well prepared to integrate WBRs effectively into their pedagogy.
This research set out to investigate how teachers could be supported to enhance their classroom use of WBRs in secondary school technology education. This involved investigating the nature and extent of the participants’ existing classroom practice using WBRs, designing and implementing a sustained intervention programme to support them to expand and enhance the ways in which they integrated WBRs into their technology programmes, and evaluating how and why this influenced their classroom practice. The participants – seven experienced secondary school technology teachers – were from three different schools, had a range of backgrounds, and taught a range of technological areas including food, textiles and structural technology.
The study employed an interpretive research design and qualitative research methods, and was underpinned by a sociocultural theoretical perspective. The design of the intervention was informed by literature on characteristics of effective teacher professional development in general, ICT professional development in particular, sociocultural theories of learning, and Bell and Gilbert’s (1994) model of teacher professional development which emphasises the importance of addressing three dimensions of teacher development (personal, professional and social). The intervention incorporated the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework (Mishra & Koehler, 2006) as a tool for communicating the complex knowledge base required for effective integration of WBRs. The framework was also used to analyse participants’ developing knowledge as they integrated new ideas and approaches in the classroom.
This research concludes that when particular components are included in a professional development programme, teachers can be supported to enhance their classroom use of WBRs and to become empowered to continue their own ongoing development, even when they have limited skills and knowledge and face significant constraints. While the critical elements of the intervention were not new, the particular combination of components was unique. 
The study also draws attention to the complex range of variables that can influence individual teachers as they progress in their integration of WBRs and development of TPACK. It explores, using velocity as an analogy, how various factors, and their interactions, impacted on the degree, and rate, of change of the teachers’ integration of WBRs.
Findings indicate that in the current educational and ICT environment, and in technology education in particular, with recent curriculum and assessment changes, teachers are likely to acknowledge a need to increase and/or enhance their classroom use of ICT and are therefore willing to engage in professional development that appears relevant and manageable in their particular teaching context. 
Although examples of transformative use exist, the overall impact of ICT in education remains limited despite government funding for ICT initiatives and increasing use of ICT in education. Therefore the conclusions of this study are particularly relevant in the current educational environment. Although the research is limited in scope to integrating WBRs in technology education, it is likely that the key principles of the intervention can be more broadly applied to ICT professional development in other subject areas.

year: 2016

title: He tangi mai i te puehu: He whakatewhatewha i te mahi whakamāori me te reo ā-tuhi a ngā tūpuna

authors: Apiata, Hāwea

subjects: Māori spirituality

abstract: Kei te pūtahi o tēnei tuhinga whakapae ko te whakatewhatewha i te whakapapa o te whakaaro Māori (Māori intellectual history) mā ēnei pātai e rua: He aha ā te Māori i tuhituhi ai i te tōmuatanga o te rautau rua tekau? Ā, he pēhea tāna wetewete i ngā huatau whakawairua nō waho i te ao Māori? 

Ina koa, ko tā te tuhinga whakapae nei he whakaaranga, he whakaatu hoki i ētahi huarahi e toru hei rangahau i ngā whakapapa o te whakaaro taketake: ko te ketuketu rua mahara (archival research); ko te tātari ariā (conceptual analysis); me te reo e whakamahia ana kia wetewete i te kaupapa. Mā te mahi ketuketu rua mahara e āhei ai ki te wānanga i ngā whakaputanga a Wiremu Takana, he kaituhi, he kaiwhakamāori nō Ngāti Kahungunu. Ka whakaputaina tāna tuhinga tuatahi i te tau 1915. Ā, e rua anō i whakaputaina e ia i te tau whai muri mai i 1916. Ko ēnei tuhinga āna e whakatewhatewha ana i te whakamāoritanga o te rongopai me te āheinga o ngā pūrākau Māori kia whakamārama i ngā whakaakoranga Moromona. Kāore anō kia āta tātaritia, kia āta rangahaua āna pukapuka e tētahi atu o mua. Ko te huarahi rangahau tuarua ko te tātari i te whakamāoritanga o ētahi ariā whakawairua e kitea ana i roto i ngā karaipiture o te Hāhi o Ihu Karaiti o te Hunga Tapu o ngā Rā o Muri nei. E toru ngā ariā kua tīpakongia hei tirotiro, arā, ko heaven, hell me baptism. Ā, hei whakawhānui atu i te titiro ki tēnei kaupapa, ka huritaongia ngā hua o te tuhinga reo Māori, arā, ka matapakina ngā take kia tuhituhi i te mahi rangahau i roto i te reo Māori.

I te mutunga iho, mā te āta wānanga i ngā whakaputanga reo Māori a te Hāhi o Ihu Karaiti (LDS) e whakawhānuitia ai tō tātou māramatanga ki te hītori o te mahi whakaputa pukapuka i roto i te Hāhi, te mahi punenga a te Māori, te whakareretanga o ngā tuhituhinga reo Māori, me te hītori o te Hāhi o Ihu Karaiti i Aotearoa nei.

text: He tangi mai i te puehu: He whakatewhatewha i te mahi whakamāori me te reo ā-tuhi a ngā tūpuna Kei te pūtahi o tēnei tuhinga whakapae ko te whakatewhatewha i te whakapapa o te whakaaro Māori (Māori intellectual history) mā ēnei pātai e rua: He aha ā te Māori i tuhituhi ai i te tōmuatanga o te rautau rua tekau? Ā, he pēhea tāna wetewete i ngā huatau whakawairua nō waho i te ao Māori? 

Ina koa, ko tā te tuhinga whakapae nei he whakaaranga, he whakaatu hoki i ētahi huarahi e toru hei rangahau i ngā whakapapa o te whakaaro taketake: ko te ketuketu rua mahara (archival research); ko te tātari ariā (conceptual analysis); me te reo e whakamahia ana kia wetewete i te kaupapa. Mā te mahi ketuketu rua mahara e āhei ai ki te wānanga i ngā whakaputanga a Wiremu Takana, he kaituhi, he kaiwhakamāori nō Ngāti Kahungunu. Ka whakaputaina tāna tuhinga tuatahi i te tau 1915. Ā, e rua anō i whakaputaina e ia i te tau whai muri mai i 1916. Ko ēnei tuhinga āna e whakatewhatewha ana i te whakamāoritanga o te rongopai me te āheinga o ngā pūrākau Māori kia whakamārama i ngā whakaakoranga Moromona. Kāore anō kia āta tātaritia, kia āta rangahaua āna pukapuka e tētahi atu o mua. Ko te huarahi rangahau tuarua ko te tātari i te whakamāoritanga o ētahi ariā whakawairua e kitea ana i roto i ngā karaipiture o te Hāhi o Ihu Karaiti o te Hunga Tapu o ngā Rā o Muri nei. E toru ngā ariā kua tīpakongia hei tirotiro, arā, ko heaven, hell me baptism. Ā, hei whakawhānui atu i te titiro ki tēnei kaupapa, ka huritaongia ngā hua o te tuhinga reo Māori, arā, ka matapakina ngā take kia tuhituhi i te mahi rangahau i roto i te reo Māori.

I te mutunga iho, mā te āta wānanga i ngā whakaputanga reo Māori a te Hāhi o Ihu Karaiti (LDS) e whakawhānuitia ai tō tātou māramatanga ki te hītori o te mahi whakaputa pukapuka i roto i te Hāhi, te mahi punenga a te Māori, te whakareretanga o ngā tuhituhinga reo Māori, me te hītori o te Hāhi o Ihu Karaiti i Aotearoa nei.

year: 2021