title: Electing a candidate: A speculative history of the bacterial phylum OP10

authors: Dunfield, Peter F.

subjects: 16s ribosomal-rna

abstract: In 1998, a cultivation-independent survey of the microbial community in Obsidian Pool, Yellowstone National Park, detected 12 new phyla within the Domain Bacteria. These were dubbed candidate divisions OP1 to OP12. Since that time the OP10 candidate division has been commonly detected in various environments, usually as part of the rare biosphere, but occasionally as a predominant community component. Based on 16S rRNA gene phylogeny, OP10 comprises at least 12 class-level subdivisions. However, despite this broad ecological and evolutionary diversity, all OP10 bacteria have eluded cultivation until recently. In 2011, two reference species of OP10 were taxonomically validated, removing the phylum from its candidate status. Construction of a highly resolved phylogeny based on 29 universally conserved genes verifies its standing as a unique bacterial phylum. In the following paper we summarize what is known and what is suspected about the newest described bacterial phylum, the Armatimonadetes.

text: Electing a candidate: A speculative history of the bacterial phylum OP10 In 1998, a cultivation-independent survey of the microbial community in Obsidian Pool, Yellowstone National Park, detected 12 new phyla within the Domain Bacteria. These were dubbed candidate divisions OP1 to OP12. Since that time the OP10 candidate division has been commonly detected in various environments, usually as part of the rare biosphere, but occasionally as a predominant community component. Based on 16S rRNA gene phylogeny, OP10 comprises at least 12 class-level subdivisions. However, despite this broad ecological and evolutionary diversity, all OP10 bacteria have eluded cultivation until recently. In 2011, two reference species of OP10 were taxonomically validated, removing the phylum from its candidate status. Construction of a highly resolved phylogeny based on 29 universally conserved genes verifies its standing as a unique bacterial phylum. In the following paper we summarize what is known and what is suspected about the newest described bacterial phylum, the Armatimonadetes.

year: 2012

title: Action-research in education: a narrative of a longitudinal case study

authors: Kelly, Martin

abstract: In recent years some academics have started to approach the study of Accounting from the perspective of social studies, and several journals have evolved to promote such an approach. These academics believe accounting practices are understood better when considered from a perspective which acknowledges the psychological, emotional and intuitive influences which impact upon individuals preparing and using accounting information. Many people no longer accept Accounting as an “objective and neutral”, “true and fair” record of financial transactions: it may be better understood from a social studies perspective. This will involve a change in accounting education towards a more holistic approach which goes beyond the ‘technical’. However, many university courses are still taught from this technical perspective.

Educational practice generally has developed in such a way that many students are encouraged to consider education to involve little more than the rote learning and regurgitation of ‘true’ facts. Such learning may enable students to become suitably qualified to gain employment within contemporary society, but I believe university students should obtain more than this. They should be encouraged to acquire attributes which will allow them to continue to develop throughout their lives, and to aid societal development.

This report provides a narrative concerning the development of a fourth year integrative course, which encourages students to approach Accounting from a social-studies perspective, and to challenge current practices where they deem it appropriate. The course is student-centred. It involves six modes of learning developed from ideas furnished by Rogers (1983). It provides an example of a longitudinal study, which describes the development of a course over five iterations. I attempt to provide holistic learning opportunities which will encourage students to develop attributes which I believe will benefit their ongoing development. I undertake an investigation into the immediate impact of the course, and into its longer term impact on graduates to ascertain if the graduates believe, after they have spent several years in the workplace, that the course did provide holistic learning opportunities and outcomes. I attempt to evaluate the use of an ‘action-research’ methodology in developing the course, and the use of ‘narrative’ for reporting on the design and implementation process.

text: Action-research in education: a narrative of a longitudinal case study In recent years some academics have started to approach the study of Accounting from the perspective of social studies, and several journals have evolved to promote such an approach. These academics believe accounting practices are understood better when considered from a perspective which acknowledges the psychological, emotional and intuitive influences which impact upon individuals preparing and using accounting information. Many people no longer accept Accounting as an “objective and neutral”, “true and fair” record of financial transactions: it may be better understood from a social studies perspective. This will involve a change in accounting education towards a more holistic approach which goes beyond the ‘technical’. However, many university courses are still taught from this technical perspective.

Educational practice generally has developed in such a way that many students are encouraged to consider education to involve little more than the rote learning and regurgitation of ‘true’ facts. Such learning may enable students to become suitably qualified to gain employment within contemporary society, but I believe university students should obtain more than this. They should be encouraged to acquire attributes which will allow them to continue to develop throughout their lives, and to aid societal development.

This report provides a narrative concerning the development of a fourth year integrative course, which encourages students to approach Accounting from a social-studies perspective, and to challenge current practices where they deem it appropriate. The course is student-centred. It involves six modes of learning developed from ideas furnished by Rogers (1983). It provides an example of a longitudinal study, which describes the development of a course over five iterations. I attempt to provide holistic learning opportunities which will encourage students to develop attributes which I believe will benefit their ongoing development. I undertake an investigation into the immediate impact of the course, and into its longer term impact on graduates to ascertain if the graduates believe, after they have spent several years in the workplace, that the course did provide holistic learning opportunities and outcomes. I attempt to evaluate the use of an ‘action-research’ methodology in developing the course, and the use of ‘narrative’ for reporting on the design and implementation process.

year: 1999

title: Countering gentrification in Tāmaki Makarau: Towards a framework for urban environmental justice

authors: Terruhn, Jessica

abstract: This policy brief argues for urban policies that actively aim to end gentrification.

Gentrification is intimately tied to state-led processes of urban renewal. Though historically understood as the displacement of low-income households as an unfortunate byproduct of socioeconomic and demographic neighbourhood change, contemporary gentrification is constituted by profit-driven investment decisions that erase undervalued neighbourhoods and their communities in the name of urban renewal (variously referred to as redevelopment, regeneration, renaissance, or revitalisation).

These processes of gentrification fundamentally contribute to environmental injustice. At the same time as creating ‘zones of abundance’, neighbourhood regeneration projects simultaneously (re-)create ‘zones of neglect and sacrifice’, which are burdened with environmental risks. As low-income and ethnic minority households are more likely to either reside in or to be displaced into these neighbourhoods, they are disproportionately exposed to environmental risk factors.

Moreover, gentrification enables and legitimises the exclusion of marginalised communities in multiple ways: 1) it devalues existing places and their residents in favour of regeneration, 2) it displaces longtime residents from regenerated neighbourhoods because of increasing property values, and/or 3) it alienates longtime residents as neighbourhood aesthetics, amenities and services change and become unaffordable and/or irrelevant.

As gentrification contributes to low-income households’ experiences of precarity and severs community ties and place attachments, it generates significant costs to personal and community health and wellbeing as well as social cohesion. The recommendations articulated in this brief emphasise the importance of transformative policy solutions that actively counter gentrification.
These include:
• Equitable investment in urban infrastructure
• Prioritising affordable housing
• Ensuring accessible transportation
• Empowering local communities
• Implementing a Te Tiriti o Waitangi approach to policy development

text: Countering gentrification in Tāmaki Makarau: Towards a framework for urban environmental justice This policy brief argues for urban policies that actively aim to end gentrification.

Gentrification is intimately tied to state-led processes of urban renewal. Though historically understood as the displacement of low-income households as an unfortunate byproduct of socioeconomic and demographic neighbourhood change, contemporary gentrification is constituted by profit-driven investment decisions that erase undervalued neighbourhoods and their communities in the name of urban renewal (variously referred to as redevelopment, regeneration, renaissance, or revitalisation).

These processes of gentrification fundamentally contribute to environmental injustice. At the same time as creating ‘zones of abundance’, neighbourhood regeneration projects simultaneously (re-)create ‘zones of neglect and sacrifice’, which are burdened with environmental risks. As low-income and ethnic minority households are more likely to either reside in or to be displaced into these neighbourhoods, they are disproportionately exposed to environmental risk factors.

Moreover, gentrification enables and legitimises the exclusion of marginalised communities in multiple ways: 1) it devalues existing places and their residents in favour of regeneration, 2) it displaces longtime residents from regenerated neighbourhoods because of increasing property values, and/or 3) it alienates longtime residents as neighbourhood aesthetics, amenities and services change and become unaffordable and/or irrelevant.

As gentrification contributes to low-income households’ experiences of precarity and severs community ties and place attachments, it generates significant costs to personal and community health and wellbeing as well as social cohesion. The recommendations articulated in this brief emphasise the importance of transformative policy solutions that actively counter gentrification.
These include:
• Equitable investment in urban infrastructure
• Prioritising affordable housing
• Ensuring accessible transportation
• Empowering local communities
• Implementing a Te Tiriti o Waitangi approach to policy development

year: 2025