title: Technological practice in early childhood as a dispositional milieu

authors: Carr, Margaret

subjects: early childhood education

abstract: This study investigated the learning of a group of four-year-olds as they worked in the construction area of a sessional early childhood setting. The researcher participated and observed as the children constructed with cardboard, rolled painted marbles around in a box to make Jackson Pollock style paintings, added collage and paint to pictures and constructions, and screen-printed cut-out figures and shapes of various kinds. These were described as technological practices, and five of them were compared as contexts for learning dispositions.
Although the literature had provided discussion and definition of dispositions in early childhood, the connection between the psychological notion of disposition and an historically or socioculturally framed dispositional milieu had not been researched. The study investigated empirical evidence for a transactional model of the interface between learning disposition and dispositional milieu, and learning dispositions were located in discourse, narrative and technological practice. The affordance of the technology and the tools played an important part in the transaction between individual and environment, in particular the technology's transparency, challenge, and accessibility. The five technological practices were analysed as complex sociocultural worlds in which multiple discourses jostled for privileged positions, children made decisions about whether discourse membership was for display or for exploration, they tackled difficulty with enthusiasm or avoided it in imaginative ways, and they engaged with others from a range of positions of power and responsibility. These sequences of events were described as learning narratives: historically and socioculturally co­constructed event structures about goals, challenge, and agency. A learning narrative was defined, identified, and investigated. 
Learning dispositions have been defined but not specified for early childhood. This study suggests that dispositions can be interpreted as parts of a learning narrative, and for this study key dispositional domains were identified as privileged discourses, preferred responses to difficulty, and favoured patterns of responsibility. Four learning dispositions emerged from these domains: courage, mindfulness, perseverance, and responsibility. These learning dispositions find a parallel in the strands of the early childhood curriculum document for Aotearoa New Zealand, Te Whāriki. The researcher followed up the observations by interviewing the children for their viewpoint on preferred responses to difficulty using an interview that reflected their experiences back to them as a picture book. 
Although much of the learning appeared to be attached to the context, and the privileged meaning and intent for that context was a key element, the transactional nature of the learning revealed individual learning dispositions and narratives that were developing in the early years and that may be robust and enduring.

text: Technological practice in early childhood as a dispositional milieu This study investigated the learning of a group of four-year-olds as they worked in the construction area of a sessional early childhood setting. The researcher participated and observed as the children constructed with cardboard, rolled painted marbles around in a box to make Jackson Pollock style paintings, added collage and paint to pictures and constructions, and screen-printed cut-out figures and shapes of various kinds. These were described as technological practices, and five of them were compared as contexts for learning dispositions.
Although the literature had provided discussion and definition of dispositions in early childhood, the connection between the psychological notion of disposition and an historically or socioculturally framed dispositional milieu had not been researched. The study investigated empirical evidence for a transactional model of the interface between learning disposition and dispositional milieu, and learning dispositions were located in discourse, narrative and technological practice. The affordance of the technology and the tools played an important part in the transaction between individual and environment, in particular the technology's transparency, challenge, and accessibility. The five technological practices were analysed as complex sociocultural worlds in which multiple discourses jostled for privileged positions, children made decisions about whether discourse membership was for display or for exploration, they tackled difficulty with enthusiasm or avoided it in imaginative ways, and they engaged with others from a range of positions of power and responsibility. These sequences of events were described as learning narratives: historically and socioculturally co­constructed event structures about goals, challenge, and agency. A learning narrative was defined, identified, and investigated. 
Learning dispositions have been defined but not specified for early childhood. This study suggests that dispositions can be interpreted as parts of a learning narrative, and for this study key dispositional domains were identified as privileged discourses, preferred responses to difficulty, and favoured patterns of responsibility. Four learning dispositions emerged from these domains: courage, mindfulness, perseverance, and responsibility. These learning dispositions find a parallel in the strands of the early childhood curriculum document for Aotearoa New Zealand, Te Whāriki. The researcher followed up the observations by interviewing the children for their viewpoint on preferred responses to difficulty using an interview that reflected their experiences back to them as a picture book. 
Although much of the learning appeared to be attached to the context, and the privileged meaning and intent for that context was a key element, the transactional nature of the learning revealed individual learning dispositions and narratives that were developing in the early years and that may be robust and enduring.

year: 1997

title: Medicinal cannabis for neuropathic pain

authors: McKinnon, Marion

abstract: Neuropathic pain is caused by a dysfunction of the nervous system. It differs from normal pain sensations as it is no longer protective and can be present in the absence of a stimulus. It affects eight percent of the population worldwide and has several causes. Diabetes is the most prevalent cause, with about half of those diagnosed developing diabetic neuropathy. Other causes are genetic diseases (e.g. Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease), immune disorders or medications (e.g. chemotherapy drugs) or injury. Neuropathic pain, regardless of its cause, is often poorly managed leading to poor quality of life for those patients. The currently available analgesic options show little efficacy and are often dose-limiting due to adverse effects. Treatments that improve efficacy or offer lower adverse effects need to be investigated; one such potential treatment is medicinal cannabis. To this end, cannabis isolates and a high CBD whole extract were tested to determine efficacy to relieve neuropathic pain symptoms in a pre-clinical mouse model of neuropathy.
A dose-response trial using gene expression biomarkers was completed in wildtype mice. This was to determine what doses of orally administered CBD (25 - 150 mg/kg) in an olive oil vehicle had a biological effect in the dorsal root ganglia of peripheral nerves of mice. CBD (6.25 - 100 mg/kg), a high CBD whole extract (containing CBD 12.5 mg/kg and THC 0.867 mg/kg) and a pure CBD:THC mix (at the same concentrations) were then used to determine efficacy in ameliorating neuropathic pain in a CMT2A mouse model. Finally, a single high-dose streptozotocin-induced diabetic neuropathy mouse model was characterised to determine the parameters of peripheral neuropathy and neuropathic pain symptoms in male wildtype B6:D2 mice. 
A pure isolate of 12.5 mg/kg CBD showed the greatest efficacy in treating thermal hyperalgesia symptoms in CMT2A mice. This paralleled a clinically relevant dose of gabapentin (40mg/kg) in efficacy for improving thermal hyperalgesia, both as a single dose and in multiple doses across eight hours. Of the cannabinoids tested, high CBD whole extract showed greater efficacy in improving thermal hyperalgesia symptoms in CMT2A mice, with a wider therapeutic window than either CBD alone or CBD:THC. This indicates that in addition to THC, other components in cannabis may contribute to efficacy, or be the result of an entourage effect. 
Characterisation of the diabetic neuropathy model was completed, with two-thirds of the mice developing high blood glucose (≥ 17 mmol/L) within two weeks of a single high dose of streptozotocin. All diabetic mice showed thermal hyperalgesia symptoms and 40% of those also developed mechanical allodynia; with symptoms evident from as early as week four post- streptozotocin. There was no loss of motor function seen across the trial period of 13 weeks. Sciatic nerve tissue taken from these mice showed a marked loss of acetylated alpha-tubulin in both proximal and distal sciatic nerves when compared to the wildtype control group.

text: Medicinal cannabis for neuropathic pain Neuropathic pain is caused by a dysfunction of the nervous system. It differs from normal pain sensations as it is no longer protective and can be present in the absence of a stimulus. It affects eight percent of the population worldwide and has several causes. Diabetes is the most prevalent cause, with about half of those diagnosed developing diabetic neuropathy. Other causes are genetic diseases (e.g. Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease), immune disorders or medications (e.g. chemotherapy drugs) or injury. Neuropathic pain, regardless of its cause, is often poorly managed leading to poor quality of life for those patients. The currently available analgesic options show little efficacy and are often dose-limiting due to adverse effects. Treatments that improve efficacy or offer lower adverse effects need to be investigated; one such potential treatment is medicinal cannabis. To this end, cannabis isolates and a high CBD whole extract were tested to determine efficacy to relieve neuropathic pain symptoms in a pre-clinical mouse model of neuropathy.
A dose-response trial using gene expression biomarkers was completed in wildtype mice. This was to determine what doses of orally administered CBD (25 - 150 mg/kg) in an olive oil vehicle had a biological effect in the dorsal root ganglia of peripheral nerves of mice. CBD (6.25 - 100 mg/kg), a high CBD whole extract (containing CBD 12.5 mg/kg and THC 0.867 mg/kg) and a pure CBD:THC mix (at the same concentrations) were then used to determine efficacy in ameliorating neuropathic pain in a CMT2A mouse model. Finally, a single high-dose streptozotocin-induced diabetic neuropathy mouse model was characterised to determine the parameters of peripheral neuropathy and neuropathic pain symptoms in male wildtype B6:D2 mice. 
A pure isolate of 12.5 mg/kg CBD showed the greatest efficacy in treating thermal hyperalgesia symptoms in CMT2A mice. This paralleled a clinically relevant dose of gabapentin (40mg/kg) in efficacy for improving thermal hyperalgesia, both as a single dose and in multiple doses across eight hours. Of the cannabinoids tested, high CBD whole extract showed greater efficacy in improving thermal hyperalgesia symptoms in CMT2A mice, with a wider therapeutic window than either CBD alone or CBD:THC. This indicates that in addition to THC, other components in cannabis may contribute to efficacy, or be the result of an entourage effect. 
Characterisation of the diabetic neuropathy model was completed, with two-thirds of the mice developing high blood glucose (≥ 17 mmol/L) within two weeks of a single high dose of streptozotocin. All diabetic mice showed thermal hyperalgesia symptoms and 40% of those also developed mechanical allodynia; with symptoms evident from as early as week four post- streptozotocin. There was no loss of motor function seen across the trial period of 13 weeks. Sciatic nerve tissue taken from these mice showed a marked loss of acetylated alpha-tubulin in both proximal and distal sciatic nerves when compared to the wildtype control group.

year: 2024

title: Defence not defiance: The shaping of New Zealand’s volunteer force

authors: Clayton, Garry James

subjects: New Zealand Army history

abstract: In the latter half of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth New Zealand's land defences were primarily the responsibility of its Volunteer Force. This Force over a period of fifty-two years evolved from ill-considered vigilante bands to a well organised and disciplined Army. This thesis examines the evolution of this Volunteer Army in chronological sequence concentrating on the factors which shaped and developed it.
The preface provides a brief outline of this study on New Zealand's Volunteer Force. The thesis then presents the history of the Force in eight chapters. These chapters are in four basic divisions. The first section, of three chapters. examines the origins of the Force, its role in the New Zealand Wars and its subsequent development in the period of tenuous peace during the 1870's . The second section, comprising of two chapters only, examines the transformation of the Volunteers from a military body which primarily looked inward. into a Force which concentrated on protecting the nation's main ports. The third section , also comprising two chapters , then views the development of this coastal protection Force into a Colonial Army, able and willing to provide for the nation's own security as well as expeditionary units to· serve with the British Imperial Forces ·. The last Section, of one Chapter only, concentrates on the demise of Volunteering and the moves to compulsory military training. The conclusion then draws together the analytical threads of the thesis. 
As the thesis is extensive in its coverage of time, it is only possible to outline the very nature of Volunteering. It will be for Regimental Historians to show the uniqueness of each of the 658 different units that comprised the New Zealand Volunteer Force over its fifty-two years of existence. What this broad survey does do, however, is provide a unique window for the examination of the development of an embryonic Colonial Army in the context of a developing nation.

text: Defence not defiance: The shaping of New Zealand’s volunteer force In the latter half of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth New Zealand's land defences were primarily the responsibility of its Volunteer Force. This Force over a period of fifty-two years evolved from ill-considered vigilante bands to a well organised and disciplined Army. This thesis examines the evolution of this Volunteer Army in chronological sequence concentrating on the factors which shaped and developed it.
The preface provides a brief outline of this study on New Zealand's Volunteer Force. The thesis then presents the history of the Force in eight chapters. These chapters are in four basic divisions. The first section, of three chapters. examines the origins of the Force, its role in the New Zealand Wars and its subsequent development in the period of tenuous peace during the 1870's . The second section, comprising of two chapters only, examines the transformation of the Volunteers from a military body which primarily looked inward. into a Force which concentrated on protecting the nation's main ports. The third section , also comprising two chapters , then views the development of this coastal protection Force into a Colonial Army, able and willing to provide for the nation's own security as well as expeditionary units to· serve with the British Imperial Forces ·. The last Section, of one Chapter only, concentrates on the demise of Volunteering and the moves to compulsory military training. The conclusion then draws together the analytical threads of the thesis. 
As the thesis is extensive in its coverage of time, it is only possible to outline the very nature of Volunteering. It will be for Regimental Historians to show the uniqueness of each of the 658 different units that comprised the New Zealand Volunteer Force over its fifty-two years of existence. What this broad survey does do, however, is provide a unique window for the examination of the development of an embryonic Colonial Army in the context of a developing nation.

year: 1990