Good things happen when we work well together!

Working as team to write the report was a good experience. It was very interesting to see the different writing styles and how the report came together.

We started communicating in the forum created for the team report as soon as the forum was opened, and we formed our group even before the course started. We were one of the first teams to be set up, the third one in fact.

Everyone in my team was very up front and clear about their goals for this paper, and about their general abilities. They were up for the challenge, were available for whenever we needed something done for the report, and they opened their homes for our meetings.

We created a Facebook account as soon as the group was formed, so that we could communicate more easily, but we also exchanged emails and text messages. We also had a few Skype sessions and met in person three times. Therefore, communication within our group was excellent!

I don’t believe we played any specific Belbin team roles in our team, but we definitely showed features from some of these roles. We nominated a leader – Nadine – and we identified her as being the “Plant” role. She came up with many ideas for how we should address the objectives for the report and most definitely, when we had an issue with the content of the report at the very end; she came up with a very good solution on how we could fix the issue.

We can say that Nicole was our “Co-ordinator”, she was very good at identifying what had to be done, added it to our minutes for follow ups, and she also helped us to focus in our tasks. Melinda was definitely our “Resource Investigator”, she was the one with really good contacts for the interviews and she organized them very promptly and very efficiently. I believe that I was the “Implementer”, since I am crazy about meeting deadlines and I collected everybody’s ideas and work to put it all together and produce the report.

We worked really well together and we completed all our tasks. The only downside was that we identified, in the very last week before the report was due; that we hadn’t covered the “Ethical” concerns surrounding our topics properly. We realised that we had missed very import points in regards to the ethical questions.

So as a team, we decided that we would change the content of the report slightly to try and address the ethical questions. However, by doing that we disrupted the entire final editing process, and therefore our report was not finished at the highest standard that we planned for. We were all aware there would be a compromise, but we decided to take the risk.

Nonetheless, I believe we achieved a lot in a short period of time, produced a very good report and most of all worked well together…

…just as I was finishing writing this blog, I saw that our grades for the report were already available at the Stream website….We got an “A”!!!!  That is the proof of the good work we did together!!!

Congratulations to my team!! The “A” team!!

 

Measles outbreak in the United States

One of the subjects covered in my team report was the very controversial topic about Immunisation. Our analyses was in favor of the topic and explained all the benefits and the importance about vaccines in New Zealand. Coincidentally enough, not long after we submitted our report, I heard the news on TV about the measles outbreak in the United States.

From January 1 to January 23, 2015, 68 people from 11 states in the U.S. were reported to have measles (CDC). Most of these cases are part of a large, ongoing outbreak that began at Disneyland in Southern California and U.S health officials say that it continues to spread across the nation.

The outbreak was said to have started after an unvaccinated California woman apparently transmitted the virus through airports and the theme park, health officials said.

The CDC calls measles the “most deadly of all childhood rash/fever illnesses” and the virus is highly contagious and is transmitted through an infected person’s coughs or sneezes.

Vaccines are said to be 99% effective. However, a recent anti-vaccination movement in the U.S has falsely and misleadingly linked autism to the vaccines and even though there are no background or scientific evidence to support this claim, parents aren’t vaccinating their children anymore.

This anti-vaccination movement is happening in many other countries around the world and immunizations rates are dropping. This is very concerning because many children are being put at risk of contracting diseases due to the lack of information and ignorance.

Cases like this measles outbreak in the U.S could have been completely avoided since vaccination could have prevented the outbreak.

 

 

http://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/index.html

http://www.cdc.gov/measles/cases-outbreaks.html

 

Historical Antarctic photos used for climate change study

UK scientists are using aerial photos from the 1940s and 1950s to study Antarctic’s climate history. These historical images are from the pioneering days of polar exploration and are held by the British Antarctic Survey and the US Geological Survey.  

Scientists are comparing old and new data to analyse the changes that occurred in the continent of Antarctic over the past decades. They are extracting the 3D data from these pictures by creating a new elevation model of the area, using the latest optical satellite data and current aerial photos.

This study is being conduct by British Antarctic Survey (BAS), Newcastle University and University of Gloucestershire and is yet to be completed. However, they have already found very interesting facts; such as how some glaciers seem to have thickened at the rear as their fronts have dramatically retreated.                                                                 

Stadium glacier 1957-2003: Blue line shows the old ice front and blue dots show thickening at higher elevations (photo and text from BBC website)

 

 

 

 

The Antarctic Peninsula - the northernmost part of the mainland of Antarctica - has experienced significant warming in recent decades. That is why this study is so important, by understanding the climate changes that has occurred in that area in the past, scientists will be able to create new models to estimate the contribution of ice loss to processes such as sea level rise.

"We need to understand what's happened in the past, going back over multiple decades, to give us the foundation to anchor these models and, in so doing, reduce the uncertainties associated with them”, says Dr Pauline Miller from Newcastle University.

I personally think this is an incredible study and of such vital importance for the environment. If these scientists are able to map the patterns of climate change in Antarctic and understand why and how the glaciers are retreating so rapidly, they may be able to come up with some ideas to slow down this process. They may also be able to present to government and business leaders around the world a more accurate forecast on global warming and how fast and severely this will impact the environment and humanity. Perhaps then, these leaders may come up with a real plan to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions around the world. One can only hope…

 

 

Antarctic photo science archive unlocked (2014, December 20)
Retrieved from: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30471542#

The things I think are most important for writing in science

 

This week we had to submit our first assignment, the Position Paper. It was hard work, but in my opinion the toughest challenge still lies ahead of us: The team report.

 

Writing the position paper was daunting at times. Trying to be clear and concise and in the same time being consistent to the information from my researches, as well as being fair to both sides of the argument; proved to be difficult. However, it was a massive learning curve for me and opened my eyes to a whole different world in writing.

I am very passionate about my point of view when taking a side in an argument and trying to prove it right, and therefore sometimes is hard to give the opposition the credit it deserves. So, I tried to use the 7 steps from the “Thinking and Arguing objectively” video that was posted on week 1, which by the way, was very informative and really good advice. The tips helped me to take a different approach when defending an idea in an argument.

Verifying the credibility of researched information was another new thing for me, so was using different search engines, such as Google Scholar. Another essential learning from the lessons was to learn how to read a scientific paper and how to make the most of its contents.

So far, I identified that efficient researching, selective reading, using verifiable data and detaching yourself from the subject are imperative to prepare yourself for writing about a scientific subject. That is the base. Then, you must organise your ideas and present them in a clear order, making it easy for the reader to understand it. You also need to demonstrate your understanding of the subject fairly but succinctly, and last but not least: check, double check, and triple check your work before publishing it!

All learnings that I will take with me throughout my journey completing my BSc and beyond that. For me, I believe that organisation, clarity, brevity, and proof reading are the most important elements in writing in science. I hope I will be able to use these elements efficiently to help my team write an outstanding report for assignment 2.

 

Happy writing everyone!

 

Summarising the debate

I am writing my position paper on the topic: “Fruit and vegetables should be government subsidized”. One piece of information that I am using a lot to back up my arguments is the “Food Prices Strategies” paper that was published in 2012. The authors in this paper studied how food pricing strategies can encourage healthy eating habits. They have statistical data that clearly shows how food prices impact on consumption and therefore they recommended that a mix of taxes and subsidies should be used to help lower the cost of healthy food items. I believe that the authors have taken this position because they are experienced professionals in the Health Sector looking to improve the general health of the New Zealand population. Also, the findings of their research show how important it is to make healthy food more affordable in New Zealand. They understand that this can not only help to improve the health of the population, but also to alleviate the costs with obesity related diseases.

The opposing argument is, of course, from the government. I have not found any published research paper stating their opinions and the reasons why they have not created a fruit and vegetable subsidy to this date, or any food pricing strategies that could reduce the cost of healthy foodstuff for that matter. However, I am using the debates section from the New Zealand Parliament website, with a debate from 2010 between parliament members on a proposition for the removal of GST on healthy foods, such as fruit and vegetables. The idea was rejected in the basis that New Zealand GST system has been relatively unchanged since it was created. Therefore, no exemptions should be made and such exemptions would just increase costs to the government. In my opinion, I think they have taken this approach because they haven’t fully analyzed costs of new policies against current costs of obesity in New Zealand.

 

 

Eyles, Helen; Ni Mhurchu, Cliona; Nghiem, Nhung; Blakely, Tony (2012). Food Pricing Strategies, Population Diets, and Non-Communicable Disease: A Systematic Review of Simulation Studies. PLoS Medicine. Dec2012, Vol. 9 Issue 12. Retrieved from PLOS Medicine: http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1001353

 

 

Goods and Services Tax (Exemption of Healthy Food) Amendment Bill - First Reading [Volume:666;Page:13803] (2010, September 8)

Retrieved from Hansard (debates): http://www.parliament.nz/en-nz/pb/debates/debates/49HansD_20100908_00001000/goods-and-services-tax-exemption-of-healthy-food-amendment

 

 

 

 

 

Literature. “The Truth Is Out There”…

As soon as the requirements for the assignments were posted on Stream, I picked a topic for my position paper and started doing research for it. However, after completing some of the lessons, especially from week 2; I realized that the information I collected so far may not be valuable at all. I only used “Google” up until last week, so I had to go through the material I had in hand to check for veracity. It turned out that I had a lot of tertiary literature and some papers that weren’t actually published scientific papers. It wasn’t all a waste though, I did find some useful information, and as mentioned in lesson 1 from week 1, “tertiary literature gives you a good overview on the topic and it can be a good starting point”.

After learning about “Google Scholar” and the “Massey Library” I was able to find more reliable data for my research. To be honest, I did have some difficulties finding the information I wanted using these tools. I think I wasn’t using very clear terms for the search, so I went back to the papers I found on Google and noted any references to the authors that I could find. I then did a search using the authors’ names and was able to find some publications related to my topic. Also, from the tertiary literature, I found the names of some scientific journals, so I went straight to their websites to look for more information.

Another thing I found to be very useful was looking at the Reference lists on the first papers I had in hand; it led me to other very good sources of information. There are still a couple of papers that I cannot verify the authenticity just yet though. One is a paper that was presented in a conference in 2009, so I am trying to find more recent data from this presentation or if it was actually published in any journal after 2009… but I will get there!

The researching methods presented in the lessons, the importance of distinguishing the different types of sources when doing a research, and how and where to find these sources are all very interesting topics. I had never used “Google Scholar” before and had no idea on how scientific information was published. Very interesting indeed! I am so glad I started my BSc with this communication paper. I am sure I will be much more prepared for future research assignments!

“The important thing is to never stop questioning.”

                                                             -Albert Einstein

 

Introduction

Hi everyone and welcome! My name is Ana Thornton and this is my weekly blog for the ‘Communication in the Sciences’ paper with Massey University. I am looking forward to writing and discussing about topics related to this paper and also to explore other science related themes and I hope that we can exchange some exciting and useful information.

I am 33 years old, originally from Brazil, and just recently relocated back to New Zealand with my husband and son after living in Australia for seven years. For over ten years I have worked in the Food Manufacturing Industry in Supply Chain and Customer Service. However, for quite some time, I have been contemplating a career change and also the idea of going back to university to do a Bachelor of Science. After doing some research of New Zealand’s universities, I found out that Massey University has very good programs via distance learning which is ideal for me. So, I decided to take on the challenge and so I enrolled myself with Massey.

I have just started my Bachelor of Science, with Biological Sciences as my major and Environmental Sciences as my minor. For many years I have wanted to study a program in biology and I have a genuine interest in the environment and conservation. For that reason, I want to pursue a career in this area and will be doing my best to complete my degree with good results and to absorb as much knowledge and skills as I can from my studies.

Communication in the Sciences is the very first paper of my program with Massey. I believe it will be of great benefit to me and an excellent start to my studies. I have good communication skills that I acquired over the years from working experiences, but since English is my second language, I do not dominate the grammar completely. Therefore, I expect that this course will give me the tools to help me improve my writing skills and also to develop the abilities of writing and communicating efficiently, concisely, and correctly in the Science world.