title: Biophysical modeling of neural plasticity induced by transcranial magnetic stimulation

authors: Wilson, Marcus T.

subjects: Science & Technology

abstract: Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a widely used noninvasive brain stimulation method capable of inducing plastic reorganisation of cortical circuits in humans. Changes in neural activity following TMS are often attributed to synaptic plasticity via process of long-term potentiation and depression (LTP/LTD). However, the precise way in which synaptic processes such as LTP/LTD modulate the activity of large populations of neurons, as stimulated en masse by TMS, are unclear. The recent development of biophysical models, which incorporate the physiological properties of TMS-induced plasticity mathematically, provide an excellent framework for reconciling synaptic and macroscopic plasticity. This article overviews the TMS paradigms used to induce plasticity, and their limitations. It then describes the development of biophysically-based numerical models of the mechanisms underlying LTP/LTD on population-level neuronal activity, and the application of these models to TMS plasticity paradigms, including theta burst and paired associative stimulation. Finally, it outlines how modeling can complement experimental work to improve mechanistic understandings and optimize outcomes of TMS-induced plasticity.

text: Biophysical modeling of neural plasticity induced by transcranial magnetic stimulation Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a widely used noninvasive brain stimulation method capable of inducing plastic reorganisation of cortical circuits in humans. Changes in neural activity following TMS are often attributed to synaptic plasticity via process of long-term potentiation and depression (LTP/LTD). However, the precise way in which synaptic processes such as LTP/LTD modulate the activity of large populations of neurons, as stimulated en masse by TMS, are unclear. The recent development of biophysical models, which incorporate the physiological properties of TMS-induced plasticity mathematically, provide an excellent framework for reconciling synaptic and macroscopic plasticity. This article overviews the TMS paradigms used to induce plasticity, and their limitations. It then describes the development of biophysically-based numerical models of the mechanisms underlying LTP/LTD on population-level neuronal activity, and the application of these models to TMS plasticity paradigms, including theta burst and paired associative stimulation. Finally, it outlines how modeling can complement experimental work to improve mechanistic understandings and optimize outcomes of TMS-induced plasticity.

year: 2018

title: Papua New Guinea Primary School Technology Teachers: The Impacts of Support Materials on Their Perceptions and Practices

authors: Hagunama, Eron

subjects: Papua New Guinea

abstract: This thesis explores the perceptions of technology and technology education held by
six primary school teachers in Papua New Guinea, and their views of the materials
developed to use as a support for teaching technology and the impacts on their
perceptions and their teaching practices of technology. Based on the interpretivist
paradigm, a case study approach and qualitative data collection methods were used to
explore the teachers' views of technology and technology education and how the support materials influenced these perceptions and practices. One to one, semistructured
interviews with the teachers, and an analysis of their planning documents were used to collect data.
As part of the curriculum reforms, technology education was introduced as a new
subject into primary education in PNG in 1994. However, no formal professional
development was provided for helping the primary teachers implement technology
education. Instead, curriculum materials were developed and distributed to teachers in
2005 as a support for their technology teaching.
This thesis supports the idea that teachers need support to help them learn. It is also
argues that teachers' beliefs about subject areas, teaching, their students, and
curriculum materials influence how they interact with these support materials. The
findings show that the support materials were very useful in enhancing the teachers'
knowledge of technology and effective teaching of technology.
There were changes to teachers' perceptions of technology and technological
practices when they began to use the support materials. Changes included the views of
technology as more than modern artefacts to include traditional technology, that
technology was more than just practical. It also has a knowledge base. However, not
all aspects of technology as advocated in the support materials have been taken up by
these teachers. Problem-solving and design aspects have received marginal attention.
Other factors were at play including subject subcultures, subject backgrounds, past
hands-on experiences and ownership of personal technological artefacts. To be even
more effective technology teachers, it is advocated that teacher professional
development is required for Papua New Guinean primary teachers to implement the
technology successfully.

text: Papua New Guinea Primary School Technology Teachers: The Impacts of Support Materials on Their Perceptions and Practices This thesis explores the perceptions of technology and technology education held by
six primary school teachers in Papua New Guinea, and their views of the materials
developed to use as a support for teaching technology and the impacts on their
perceptions and their teaching practices of technology. Based on the interpretivist
paradigm, a case study approach and qualitative data collection methods were used to
explore the teachers' views of technology and technology education and how the support materials influenced these perceptions and practices. One to one, semistructured
interviews with the teachers, and an analysis of their planning documents were used to collect data.
As part of the curriculum reforms, technology education was introduced as a new
subject into primary education in PNG in 1994. However, no formal professional
development was provided for helping the primary teachers implement technology
education. Instead, curriculum materials were developed and distributed to teachers in
2005 as a support for their technology teaching.
This thesis supports the idea that teachers need support to help them learn. It is also
argues that teachers' beliefs about subject areas, teaching, their students, and
curriculum materials influence how they interact with these support materials. The
findings show that the support materials were very useful in enhancing the teachers'
knowledge of technology and effective teaching of technology.
There were changes to teachers' perceptions of technology and technological
practices when they began to use the support materials. Changes included the views of
technology as more than modern artefacts to include traditional technology, that
technology was more than just practical. It also has a knowledge base. However, not
all aspects of technology as advocated in the support materials have been taken up by
these teachers. Problem-solving and design aspects have received marginal attention.
Other factors were at play including subject subcultures, subject backgrounds, past
hands-on experiences and ownership of personal technological artefacts. To be even
more effective technology teachers, it is advocated that teacher professional
development is required for Papua New Guinean primary teachers to implement the
technology successfully.

year: 2008

title: Ko Te Kawa Tūpanapana i ngā Hau Tūpua a Tāwhiri-mātea : The validation, revitalisation and enhancement of Māori environment knowledge of weather and climate

authors: Skipper, Apanui Sonny

subjects: Maori Environmental knowledge

abstract: KO TE KAWA TŪPANAPANA I NGĀ HAU TŪPUA A TĀWHIRI-MĀTEA – THE RITUALISTIC FORMS GOVERNING THE SUPERNATURAL WINDS OF TĀWHIRI-MĀTEA
Mankind has always gazed skyward observing the im immense power generated by forked lightning when it strikes the land. The resounding thunder booming across the landscape never failed to capture the awe and imagination of a people. Māori were no different. The legacy of their Polynesian ancestors, who populated most of the Islands of Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, the largest ocean on the planet, based on belief, courage, and navigational expertise, honed over many millenia, reached Aotearoa approximately in the 12 century. These highly skilled ancestors from the tropics applied a formalised process of settling a new land. It also required their own weatherlore to be recalibrated to the local conditions, in order to survive in a much harsher, colder climate.

Over the centuries the descendants of these early Polynesian settlers, developed an extensive localised knowledge of weather, climate, and seasonal indicators to accurately predict daily weather, monthly or annual climate conditions. The ongoing lessons learned especially after experiencing a fatality were incorporated into cultural practices of important everyday activities such as ahuwhenua, te mahi hī ika, kohi rongoā, whakaako tamariki, gathering pounamu, whakatū rāhui, and kaitiakitanga, in order to minimise further loss of life.

Formal recognition of these contributions was made at the inaugural Māori Climate Forum in Wellington in 2003, where a number of Māori elders highlighted the importance of giving a greater account of Māori knowledge of environmental change. Among the many priorities identified for research at this forum, an opportunity based on a challenge from a Māori elder led to the development of a pilot project to explore traditional Māori understandings of weather–climate variability and change. 

One of the key outcomes from this work was the identification of Māori environmental indicators to anticipate local weather and climate conditions and thereby manage the risk associated with weather-climate extremes. However, in spite of the work achieved, there remain unanswered questions about the use and ongoing efficacy of environmental indicators to forecast and monitor weather and climate risks, including how new opportunities might be created to promote learning about subtle signals in nature that can reveal much about changes in weather and climate conditions. 

Due to the fact that many of the elders that provided the basis of this thesis have passed away, a great sense of responsibility has remained with me to complete this research. To identify the gaps in the previous research, to ground-truth it, to consolidate and carefully document the level of localised environmental knowledge of weather and climate specifically with iwi from Tainui-Hauraki, Te Whānau-a-Apanui, and Ngāi Tahu. A total of 56 interviews and 17 group wānanga were conducted during 2009-2016. Examples of Māori Environmental Knowledge were also sourced from numerous personal conversations with knowledge holders from 1989-2003, adding to the body of knowledge that was analysed to provide further context. A conceptual framework coined `Ngā Whenu Tapu e Waru’ was created from identifying the key themes of the interviews to inform how Māori Environmental Knowledge was described in the three regions. This study has yielded understandings of wind, rain, thunder, lightning, and cloud classifications; weather and climate indicators; spiritual signs of misfortune and death; memory techniques; longitudinal weather predictions, and lunar calendars in each region.

This thesis is underpinned by a Kaupapa Māori theory and research methodology that links to a body of transformative research and literature conducted by Māori scholars based on the knowledge and experience of tūpuna  Māori. 

Heoti anō rā kei ngā kākahi whakairoiro, kei ngā matataiko, nau piki mai, nau kake mai ki tēnei wānanga nui whakaharahara.

text: Ko Te Kawa Tūpanapana i ngā Hau Tūpua a Tāwhiri-mātea : The validation, revitalisation and enhancement of Māori environment knowledge of weather and climate KO TE KAWA TŪPANAPANA I NGĀ HAU TŪPUA A TĀWHIRI-MĀTEA – THE RITUALISTIC FORMS GOVERNING THE SUPERNATURAL WINDS OF TĀWHIRI-MĀTEA
Mankind has always gazed skyward observing the im immense power generated by forked lightning when it strikes the land. The resounding thunder booming across the landscape never failed to capture the awe and imagination of a people. Māori were no different. The legacy of their Polynesian ancestors, who populated most of the Islands of Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, the largest ocean on the planet, based on belief, courage, and navigational expertise, honed over many millenia, reached Aotearoa approximately in the 12 century. These highly skilled ancestors from the tropics applied a formalised process of settling a new land. It also required their own weatherlore to be recalibrated to the local conditions, in order to survive in a much harsher, colder climate.

Over the centuries the descendants of these early Polynesian settlers, developed an extensive localised knowledge of weather, climate, and seasonal indicators to accurately predict daily weather, monthly or annual climate conditions. The ongoing lessons learned especially after experiencing a fatality were incorporated into cultural practices of important everyday activities such as ahuwhenua, te mahi hī ika, kohi rongoā, whakaako tamariki, gathering pounamu, whakatū rāhui, and kaitiakitanga, in order to minimise further loss of life.

Formal recognition of these contributions was made at the inaugural Māori Climate Forum in Wellington in 2003, where a number of Māori elders highlighted the importance of giving a greater account of Māori knowledge of environmental change. Among the many priorities identified for research at this forum, an opportunity based on a challenge from a Māori elder led to the development of a pilot project to explore traditional Māori understandings of weather–climate variability and change. 

One of the key outcomes from this work was the identification of Māori environmental indicators to anticipate local weather and climate conditions and thereby manage the risk associated with weather-climate extremes. However, in spite of the work achieved, there remain unanswered questions about the use and ongoing efficacy of environmental indicators to forecast and monitor weather and climate risks, including how new opportunities might be created to promote learning about subtle signals in nature that can reveal much about changes in weather and climate conditions. 

Due to the fact that many of the elders that provided the basis of this thesis have passed away, a great sense of responsibility has remained with me to complete this research. To identify the gaps in the previous research, to ground-truth it, to consolidate and carefully document the level of localised environmental knowledge of weather and climate specifically with iwi from Tainui-Hauraki, Te Whānau-a-Apanui, and Ngāi Tahu. A total of 56 interviews and 17 group wānanga were conducted during 2009-2016. Examples of Māori Environmental Knowledge were also sourced from numerous personal conversations with knowledge holders from 1989-2003, adding to the body of knowledge that was analysed to provide further context. A conceptual framework coined `Ngā Whenu Tapu e Waru’ was created from identifying the key themes of the interviews to inform how Māori Environmental Knowledge was described in the three regions. This study has yielded understandings of wind, rain, thunder, lightning, and cloud classifications; weather and climate indicators; spiritual signs of misfortune and death; memory techniques; longitudinal weather predictions, and lunar calendars in each region.

This thesis is underpinned by a Kaupapa Māori theory and research methodology that links to a body of transformative research and literature conducted by Māori scholars based on the knowledge and experience of tūpuna  Māori. 

Heoti anō rā kei ngā kākahi whakairoiro, kei ngā matataiko, nau piki mai, nau kake mai ki tēnei wānanga nui whakaharahara.

year: 2020