http://hdl.handle.net/11343/159 2019-07-23T15:50:48Z http://hdl.handle.net/11343/225804 Early childhood teachers beliefs and knowledge on preschool retention Betschart, Petra This study examined early childhood teachers’ beliefs and knowledge on children’s school readiness and preschool retention. The study collected questionnaires and interview data from early childhood teachers in mainstream, Montessori and Steiner preschool programmes on children’s school readiness and preschool retention, in an attempt to understand current retention beliefs, knowledge and practices of particular educational philosophies. Results indicate that teachers regardless of their educational philosophy believe that preschool retention is appropriate for children considered socially and emotionally immature. Beliefs were based on teaching experiences rather than research results. This study has important implications for teacher education and policy makers in addressing the discrepancy between teachers’ beliefs and practice, and current research on the effectiveness of retention. © 2019 Petra Betschart 2019-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11343/225802 Role of rDNA chromatin in sensitizing OVCA to RNA polymerase I transcription inhibitors Son, Jinbae The ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes (rDNA) are arrayed in multiple tandem repeats on the 5 acrocentric chromosomes, and are transcribed by RNA Polymerase I (Pol I) which gives rise to the 47S pre-rRNA, the precursor of 18S, 5.8S and 28S rRNAs. rDNA transcription accounts for around 35-60% of all cellular transcription and is a highly energy consuming process as well as a key determinant of cellular growth and proliferation rates. The highly repetitive and actively transcribed nature of rDNA gives rise to a high recombinogenic potential. Further, structural dynamics and variation in the rDNA loci have been reported in over 50% of solid human cancers (Stults et al. 2009). Although the rate of rDNA transcription is likely to be rate limiting in ribosome biogenesis, only a subset of rRNA genes are transcribed from “active” rDNA at any given time. rDNA chromatin exists in active or silent forms. Active rDNA chromatin is “open” and bound by the upstream binding transcription factor (UBF), which is essential for establishing and maintaining active rDNA states (Sanij et al. 2008). We have reported that rDNA silencing increases during terminal differentiation of granulocytes due to decreased UBF levels (Sanij et al. 2015). Conversely, our studies utilizing MYC-driven B-lymphoma mouse model, demonstrated reactivation of silent rDNA as MYC-driven B-cells progress towards malignancy. We have also demonstrated that inhibition of rDNA transcription by the novel Pol I transcription inhibitor CX-5461 can selectively kill MYC-driven B-lymphoma cells in vivo, while sparing wild-type B-cells (Bywater et al. 2012). Although, CX-5461 activates p53-dependent and p53-independent cellular stress response pathways leading to apoptosis, senescence and cell cycle arrest, the mechanisms underlying tumour cell sensitivity to CX-5461 remain unclear. We have undertaken a systematic approach across a panel of ovarian cancer (OVCA) cell lines to examine their sensitivity to CX-5461. We have demonstrated that OVCA cell lines display similar sensitivities to Pol I transcription inhibition, however, they exhibit differential cellular proliferative growth responses, associated with an immediate or a delayed cell cycle delay and arrest. Furthermore, our studies demonstrate that increased ratio of active to inactive active rDNA chromatin and not rDNA transcription rate per se determines the growth inhibitory sensitivity to CX-5461 treatment of OVCA cells. We utilized RNAi based knock-down of UBF to modulate rDNA chromatin as well as ZFN and CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing knock-out (KO) of rDNA repeats approaches to investigate whether rDNA chromatin states and/or rDNA copy number play a role in determining sensitivity to CX-5461. We demonstrated the important role of rDNA in ribosome biogenesis and genome wide instability. Specifically, reducing rDNA copy number can modulate rDNA chromatin states which possibly mediate global genome instability. We propose that rDNA chromatin states could potentially serve as a biomarker to identify OVCA patients that may benefit from CX-5461 treatment. © 2019 Dr. Jinbae Son 2019-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11343/225800 China's South-to-North Water Diversion Project empowers sustainable water resources system in the north Kattel, GR; Shang, W; Wang, Z; Langford, J 2019-07-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11343/225791 Australian Indigenous language learner’s guides for revitalisation: language acquisition and materials evaluation Chiang, Yu-Ting Given that many Australian Indigenous communities have undergone language loss and wish to (re)learn their heritage language, and that existing learner’s guides for these languages written by linguists are limited in their pedagogical capacities, this study is set out to investigate the current state and possible improvement of learner’s guides in response to Penfield and Tucker’s (2011) call for applied linguists with an expertise in language acquisition to step into this area. Specifically, this present study first adopts the learner-centred second language acquisition (SLA) stance and interviews four community-based language workers to identify the learning goals and needs of Indigenous communities. The study also evaluates nine existing learner’s guides published over the past four decades with Tomlinson’s (2010, 2011, 2016) principles proposed for SLA materials development as the fundamental framework. Findings suggest that one of the major learning goals of Indigenous communities be communicative competence, which matches with Tomlinson’s (2016) emphasis. Additionally, comprehensibility is the most salient issue of learner’s guides at present. To compare the insights of the interviewees in this study and the results of the learner’s guides evaluation, it is found that the SLA frameworks adopted in this study can indeed inform future development of learner’s guides for Australian Indigenous languages, but the application requires modifications in order to achieve cultural appropriateness, especially considering the colonial history of Australia. Beyond learner’s guides per se, the governing principle of future learner’s guides development is to have community consultation, involvement, and ideally, initiation. Positioned as an initial attempt to bridge language revitalisation and SLA, this study provides novel perspectives to both fields, introducing a theoretically and practically informed approach to develop pedagogical materials for Indigenous languages and an insight into a less studied audience in SLA research. © 2019 Yu-Ting Chiang 2019-01-01T00:00:00Z