Meltwater temperature in streams draining Alpine glaciers

Water temperature is of considerable importance with respect to lotic habitats. Water temperature influences physical, chemical and biological conditions within river environments and is, therefore, a key determiner of the health of a river. Climate change is significantly impacting lotic environments, through changes to hydrology, biodiversity and species distribution. Effects of climate change are greatest at high elevation and biota in and around glacier-fed rivers is likely, therefore, to be at great risk. How climate change influences the hydrology will have great impact on river water temperature and glacier-fed rivers in Alpine environments are extremely sensitive to climatic change. This paper assesses five rivers: Four glacier-fed rivers (36.9 - 82% percentage glacierisation) located in the Swiss Alps, and one located in an ice-free catchment in the Bernese Oberland, Switzerland. The aim was to assess the impact of basin characteristics on river water temperature. A distinct paradoxical relationship was identified whereby water temperature in some glacier-fed rivers was reduced during the time of highest incoming shortwave radiation receipts and high air temperature. Whether a summer cooling effect presented itself in all glacier-fed rivers within this study was researched. The key findings were that the identified summer cooling effect was not present in all rivers, despite percentage glacierisation. Percentage glacier cover has often been reported as they key determiner of water temperature in such rivers. More important was the stream dimensions, notably stream surface area. Understanding the controlling factors that influence water temperature of glacier-fed rivers will help river managers and planners in knowing how climate change will impact fisheries downstream of glaciers over the coming decades. This may allow plans to be introduced to try and mitigate warmer water temperature that will result, in some glacier-fed rivers, as the climate warms

Thinking dispositions for teaching : enabling and supporting resilience in context

Preparing pre-teachers for an increasingly challenging teaching profession is a complex work and requires teacher educators to engage in the careful design of both programmes and professional learning opportunities. This chapter explores how an explicit focus on thinking dispositions that enable effective teaching are developed in a Master of Teaching (Secondary) programme. This programme, delivered on-site at a secondary school, included carefully constructed teaching opportunities to support development of thinking dispositions. Ways of thinking and the impact they have on feelings, actions and beliefs will be examined along with how the implementation of our thinking dispositions framework supports the development of resilience in challenging teaching and learning contexts

Risk-taking attitudes and their association with process and outcomes of cardiac care: a cohort study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Prior research reveals that processes and outcomes of cardiac care differ across sociodemographic strata. One potential contributing factor to such differences is the personality traits of individuals within these strata. We examined the association between risk-taking attitudes and cardiac patients' clinical and demographic characteristics, the likelihood of undergoing invasive cardiac procedures and survival.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We studied a large inception cohort of patients who underwent cardiac catheterization between July 1998 and December 2001. Detailed clinical and demographic data were collected at time of cardiac catheterization and through a mailed survey one year post-catheterization. The survey included three general risk attitude items from the Jackson Personality Inventory. Patients' (n = 6294) attitudes toward risk were categorized as risk-prone versus non-risk-prone and were assessed for associations with baseline clinical and demographic characteristics, treatment received (i.e., medical therapy, coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)), and survival (to December 2005).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>2827 patients (45%) were categorized as risk-prone. Having risk-prone attitudes was associated with younger age (p < .001), male sex (p < .001), current smoking (p < .001) and higher household income (p < .001). Risk-prone patients were more likely to have CABG surgery in unadjusted (Odds Ratio [OR] = 1.21; 95% CI 1.08–1.36) and adjusted (OR = 1.18; 95% CI 1.02–1.36) models, but were no more likely to have PCI or any revascularization. Having risk-prone attitudes was associated with better survival in an unadjusted survival analysis (Hazard Ratio [HR] = 0.78 (95% CI 0.66–0.93), but not in a risk-adjusted analysis (HR = 0.92, 95% CI 0.77–1.10).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These exploratory findings suggest that patient attitudes toward risk taking may <b>contribute to </b>some of the documented differences in use of invasive cardiac procedures. An awareness of these associations could help healthcare providers as they counsel patients regarding cardiac care decisions.</p

Activating teaching dispositions in carefully constructed contexts : Examining the impact of classroom intensives

The current policy stance in Australia which seeks to produce ‘classroom ready’ teachers requires that pre-service teachers (PSTs) be assessed against national professional standards that articulate minimum skills and knowledge required of beginning teachers. There is no mention within these standards of affective qualities (e.g. humour, passion, inspiration) or thinking dispositions (e.g. curiosity, reflection, creativity) that enable good teaching and professional learning and which capture the complexity that is inherent within good teaching. This study focuses on the research of a team of teacher educators in a regional Australian university who believe that a focus on dispositions is central to effective teacher education. They have embedded a ‘Dispositions for Teaching Framework’ within a Master of Teaching (Secondary) program to allow PSTs’ various thinking dispositions to be activated within carefully constructed professional learning contexts. The context in this study was a Classroom Intensive experience at a P-12 School in regional Victoria where PSTs participated in structured classroom observations over a two day period. The key research questions were: Did the Classroom Intensive experience activate the dispositions in the PSTs? Were some dispositions activated more than others? How could evidence be collected of these dispositions in action? A variety of research methods enabled a complex data-set to be collected. It was identified that the Classroom Intensive experience provided a rich professional learning context which activated all five of the thinking dispositions in the framework, and that these dispositions are not discrete but interconnect and rely upon each other. © Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2016