title: Calcium-mediated thermostability in the subtilisin superfamily: the crystal structure of Bacillus Ak.1 protease at 1.8 å resolution

authors: Smith, Clyde A.

subjects: calcium binding

abstract: Proteins of the subtilisin superfamily (subtilases) are widely distributed through many living species, where they perform a variety of processing functions. They are also used extensively in industry. In many of these enzymes, bound calcium ions play a key role in protecting against autolysis and thermal denaturation. We have determined the crystal structure of a highly thermostable protease from Bacillus sp. Ak.1 that is strongly stabilized by calcium. The crystal structure, determined at 1.8 Å resolution (R=0.182, Rfree=0.247), reveals the presence of four bound cations, three Ca2+ and one Na+. Two of the Ca2+ binding sites, Ca-1 and Ca-2, correspond to sites also found in thermitase and the mesophilic subtilisins. The third calcium ion, however, is at a novel site that is created by two key amino acid substitutions near Ca-1, and has not been observed in any other subtilase. This site, acting cooperatively with Ca-1, appears to give substantially enhanced thermostability, compared with thermitase. Comparisons with the mesophilic subtilisins also point to the importance of aromatic clusters, reduced hydrophobic surface and constrained N and C termini in enhancing the thermostability of thermitase and Ak.1 protease. The Ak.1 protease also contains an unusual Cys-X-Cys disulfide bridge that modifies the active site cleft geometry.

text: Calcium-mediated thermostability in the subtilisin superfamily: the crystal structure of Bacillus Ak.1 protease at 1.8 å resolution Proteins of the subtilisin superfamily (subtilases) are widely distributed through many living species, where they perform a variety of processing functions. They are also used extensively in industry. In many of these enzymes, bound calcium ions play a key role in protecting against autolysis and thermal denaturation. We have determined the crystal structure of a highly thermostable protease from Bacillus sp. Ak.1 that is strongly stabilized by calcium. The crystal structure, determined at 1.8 Å resolution (R=0.182, Rfree=0.247), reveals the presence of four bound cations, three Ca2+ and one Na+. Two of the Ca2+ binding sites, Ca-1 and Ca-2, correspond to sites also found in thermitase and the mesophilic subtilisins. The third calcium ion, however, is at a novel site that is created by two key amino acid substitutions near Ca-1, and has not been observed in any other subtilase. This site, acting cooperatively with Ca-1, appears to give substantially enhanced thermostability, compared with thermitase. Comparisons with the mesophilic subtilisins also point to the importance of aromatic clusters, reduced hydrophobic surface and constrained N and C termini in enhancing the thermostability of thermitase and Ak.1 protease. The Ak.1 protease also contains an unusual Cys-X-Cys disulfide bridge that modifies the active site cleft geometry.

year: 1999

title: Preparing for inclusive education through effective teaching

authors: Brown, Don F.

abstract: This thesis synthesizes developmental trends toward a more democratic and equitous education system in New Zealand. It traces progress toward inclusion in New Zealand schools. It describes how the reform of special education began with the Draft Review of Special Education in 1987 that advocated abandoning the parallel special/regular education system in favour of a combined general education system based upon mainstreaming, in which the author played a part. This reform was effected through the Special Education 2000 policy, introduced in 1996 which went a step further, introducing an intention to develop an inclusive education system within a decade. 

To achieve such a change required teachers and school leaders to adopt practices that enabled inclusion to be successful. In the period between these two events, the author was engaged in a systematic process of trialing the introduction of effective teaching and learning practices in primary and secondary schools.

The new policy demanded a paradigmatic change that was necessary for an inclusive education system. A series of stepping-stone projects carried out by the author contributed to the establishment of a national professional development programme for Resource Teachers: Learning and Behaviour (RTLB) which was expected to act as a catalyst for change. The ways in which this training programme has contributed to inclusive teaching practices is noted.

The thesis is set out in four parts.
Part One sets the scene where education has moved from highly selective, elitist schooling for a privileged few to universal education for all students. Within this context, inequities and disrespect for diversity, discrimination against students with disabilities, and elitism had still to be overcome. The author's advocacy for inclusion is noted.

Part Two goes on to describe three projects initiated by the author that laid out pathways toward effective teaching and learning. Each project builds upon those before it, demonstrating how teachers can respond to the needs of all their students, including those who are struggling to achieve. In the first two projects, ways in which a collaborative consultant can work with classroom teachers and school leaders to introduce effective teaching practices is illustrated. The third project describes ways in which trainee teachers can learn and put effective teaching strategies into practice.

Part Three examines four critical elements emerging from the stepping-stone projects and the literature, for implementing a paradigmatic change process in special and regular education - the change process itself, managing professional development, collaborative problem solving and ecological assessment.

Part Four examines the ways in which an emerging model for special education has developed in New Zealand through the RTLB professional development programme.
This thesis describes one person’s contribution to the challenge of reforming regular education to be inclusive of all students in New Zealand schools. The critical elements that make up a transformational change process are identified. A vision for the future is offered, noting the conceptual and operational issues that constitute a challenge for inclusive education in New Zealand.

text: Preparing for inclusive education through effective teaching This thesis synthesizes developmental trends toward a more democratic and equitous education system in New Zealand. It traces progress toward inclusion in New Zealand schools. It describes how the reform of special education began with the Draft Review of Special Education in 1987 that advocated abandoning the parallel special/regular education system in favour of a combined general education system based upon mainstreaming, in which the author played a part. This reform was effected through the Special Education 2000 policy, introduced in 1996 which went a step further, introducing an intention to develop an inclusive education system within a decade. 

To achieve such a change required teachers and school leaders to adopt practices that enabled inclusion to be successful. In the period between these two events, the author was engaged in a systematic process of trialing the introduction of effective teaching and learning practices in primary and secondary schools.

The new policy demanded a paradigmatic change that was necessary for an inclusive education system. A series of stepping-stone projects carried out by the author contributed to the establishment of a national professional development programme for Resource Teachers: Learning and Behaviour (RTLB) which was expected to act as a catalyst for change. The ways in which this training programme has contributed to inclusive teaching practices is noted.

The thesis is set out in four parts.
Part One sets the scene where education has moved from highly selective, elitist schooling for a privileged few to universal education for all students. Within this context, inequities and disrespect for diversity, discrimination against students with disabilities, and elitism had still to be overcome. The author's advocacy for inclusion is noted.

Part Two goes on to describe three projects initiated by the author that laid out pathways toward effective teaching and learning. Each project builds upon those before it, demonstrating how teachers can respond to the needs of all their students, including those who are struggling to achieve. In the first two projects, ways in which a collaborative consultant can work with classroom teachers and school leaders to introduce effective teaching practices is illustrated. The third project describes ways in which trainee teachers can learn and put effective teaching strategies into practice.

Part Three examines four critical elements emerging from the stepping-stone projects and the literature, for implementing a paradigmatic change process in special and regular education - the change process itself, managing professional development, collaborative problem solving and ecological assessment.

Part Four examines the ways in which an emerging model for special education has developed in New Zealand through the RTLB professional development programme.
This thesis describes one person’s contribution to the challenge of reforming regular education to be inclusive of all students in New Zealand schools. The critical elements that make up a transformational change process are identified. A vision for the future is offered, noting the conceptual and operational issues that constitute a challenge for inclusive education in New Zealand.

year: 2002

title: Uia ngā pou o te whare ask the posts of the whare:  (Re)storying the whare in curriculum

authors: Heaton, Sharyn

subjects: Whare

abstract: This research investigated the construction of whare tapawhā discourses in national curricula since 1999 and (re)presents other Māori perspectives of how a whare (house, building, school of learning, curriculum) can be known. I explored the constitutions and subjectivities of a whare and its relationship to hauora, well-being and its dimensions. The central questions raised in this thesis are how has a whare model of hauora, well-being been signified within dominant education texts, and how could a Māori (re)envisioning of a whare assist future Māori-medium hauora learning area developments? Further elaborations on how a whare can be known and its potential contribution to future hauora learning area developments take priority as a focus within this thesis.
For this study, I developed ngā pou whakaaro, a theoretical, conceptual, and methodological framework characterised by unfolding layers of awareness (and reflection) that I applied when thinking and reading through texts. Texts included primary and secondary literature such as curricula policy, hauora redevelopment wānanga (meetings, discussions) notes, hauora redevelopment video, hauora Ministry of Education milestone reports and interview transcripts. Within these texts, I searched for significations and signifiers of how the whare tapawhā model of hauora, well-being or a whare had been (re)presented. I searched for what was clearly evident and the assumptions made about a whare, and critiqued omissions of what had not yet been said. These gaps provided an opportunity to rewrite and reproduce other texts. 
I initially critiqued dominant representations of the whare tapawhā model of hauora, well-being, as evident in English-medium policy texts. I argue that the whare tapawhā model and its nuances in national curricula and compulsory schooling are not only driven by education imperatives, such as the valuing of the Māori language and knowledge in compulsory schooling, but are also assimilative in that the knowledge presented is simplistic and the understandings align more with Eurocentric ideals of well-being, albeit in the Māori language. I show that simplified significations of a whare in educational discourse shape the fictions that the texts seek to represent.
And then, in reading otherwise (Caputo, 1997, p. 62), I examined other texts about a whare and its nuances beyond what is currently known in curricula. I interviewed two Māori pouako (teachers), one Māori-medium curriculum developer, a health practitioner, a kairongoā (healer), and two tohunga whakairo (master carvers) to draw out the possibilities that exist for (re)presenting another Māori perspective of a whare. This space provided an opportunity to transgress from how the whare tapawhā model of hauora, well-being has been represented in curricula in Aotearoa. 
The main ideas that emerged from the interviews and the process of reflecting on the responses of the poukōrero (interview participants) provoked thinking about the possibilities of how in-depth understandings of a whare could support a (re)envisioning of the potential of a whare in future hauora learning area developments. In order to (re)turn to thinking about the place of mātauranga Māori (Māori ways of knowing), and how a whare can be known and experienced by Māori beyond what is currently (re)presented in curricula, the whare of Mautini Aroaro was examined. 
Representations of a whare may be partial and fragmented, but such representations need to be (re)traced back to their parts and elaborated upon to deepen understandings of the possible contribution that a Māori perspective could offer future Māori-medium hauora learning area re-developments. There is no one way to know a whare, nor does it need to be restricted to pre-determined representations identified in curricula. Through a restoration process, I suggest we engage with people’s experiences of a whare on different terms and (re)claim understandings of a whare as a repository and library for future generations.

text: Uia ngā pou o te whare ask the posts of the whare:  (Re)storying the whare in curriculum This research investigated the construction of whare tapawhā discourses in national curricula since 1999 and (re)presents other Māori perspectives of how a whare (house, building, school of learning, curriculum) can be known. I explored the constitutions and subjectivities of a whare and its relationship to hauora, well-being and its dimensions. The central questions raised in this thesis are how has a whare model of hauora, well-being been signified within dominant education texts, and how could a Māori (re)envisioning of a whare assist future Māori-medium hauora learning area developments? Further elaborations on how a whare can be known and its potential contribution to future hauora learning area developments take priority as a focus within this thesis.
For this study, I developed ngā pou whakaaro, a theoretical, conceptual, and methodological framework characterised by unfolding layers of awareness (and reflection) that I applied when thinking and reading through texts. Texts included primary and secondary literature such as curricula policy, hauora redevelopment wānanga (meetings, discussions) notes, hauora redevelopment video, hauora Ministry of Education milestone reports and interview transcripts. Within these texts, I searched for significations and signifiers of how the whare tapawhā model of hauora, well-being or a whare had been (re)presented. I searched for what was clearly evident and the assumptions made about a whare, and critiqued omissions of what had not yet been said. These gaps provided an opportunity to rewrite and reproduce other texts. 
I initially critiqued dominant representations of the whare tapawhā model of hauora, well-being, as evident in English-medium policy texts. I argue that the whare tapawhā model and its nuances in national curricula and compulsory schooling are not only driven by education imperatives, such as the valuing of the Māori language and knowledge in compulsory schooling, but are also assimilative in that the knowledge presented is simplistic and the understandings align more with Eurocentric ideals of well-being, albeit in the Māori language. I show that simplified significations of a whare in educational discourse shape the fictions that the texts seek to represent.
And then, in reading otherwise (Caputo, 1997, p. 62), I examined other texts about a whare and its nuances beyond what is currently known in curricula. I interviewed two Māori pouako (teachers), one Māori-medium curriculum developer, a health practitioner, a kairongoā (healer), and two tohunga whakairo (master carvers) to draw out the possibilities that exist for (re)presenting another Māori perspective of a whare. This space provided an opportunity to transgress from how the whare tapawhā model of hauora, well-being has been represented in curricula in Aotearoa. 
The main ideas that emerged from the interviews and the process of reflecting on the responses of the poukōrero (interview participants) provoked thinking about the possibilities of how in-depth understandings of a whare could support a (re)envisioning of the potential of a whare in future hauora learning area developments. In order to (re)turn to thinking about the place of mātauranga Māori (Māori ways of knowing), and how a whare can be known and experienced by Māori beyond what is currently (re)presented in curricula, the whare of Mautini Aroaro was examined. 
Representations of a whare may be partial and fragmented, but such representations need to be (re)traced back to their parts and elaborated upon to deepen understandings of the possible contribution that a Māori perspective could offer future Māori-medium hauora learning area re-developments. There is no one way to know a whare, nor does it need to be restricted to pre-determined representations identified in curricula. Through a restoration process, I suggest we engage with people’s experiences of a whare on different terms and (re)claim understandings of a whare as a repository and library for future generations.

year: 2022