Third World gap year projects: Youth transitions and the mediation of risk

This is the post-print version of the final published article. The definitive, peer-reviewed and edited version of this article is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2008 Pion.In recent years in the UK there has been a great expansion in the number of young people travelling to Third World countries between school and university in order to participate as volunteers on structured gap year projects. Travel to such places is commonly perceived as ‘risky’, and takes young people outside the protective cocoon of UK health and safety legislation. One of the functions played by the providers of gap year projects is to mediate risk. On the basis of analysis of promotional literature, interviews with organisers of gap year projects, and focus groups of returned volunteers, in this paper I argue that the various strategies of risk mediation undertaken by gap year providers serve to reconcile modernising tendencies in UK society toward risk control and structure with postmodern inclinations towards individualisation and uncertainty

Constraints on Randall-Sundrum model from top-antitop production at the LHC

We study the top pair production cross section at the LHC in the context of Randall-Sundrum model including the Kaluza-Klein (KK) excited gravitons. It is shown that the recent measurement of the cross section of this process at the LHC restricts the parameter space in Randall-Sundrum (RS) model considerably. We show that the coupling parameter ($\frac{k}{\bar{M}_{pl}}$) is excluded by this measurement from 0.03 to 0.22 depending on the mass of first KK excited graviton ($m_1$). We also study the effect of KK excitations on the spin correlation of the top pairs. It is shown that the spin asymmetry in $t\bar{t}$ events is sensitive to the RS model parameters with a reasonable choice of model parameters.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figure

Negotiating sacred roles:a sociological exploration of priests who are mothers

In 1992, in a historic move, the Church of England voted to allow women's ordination to priesthood and in 1994 the first women priests started to be ordained. Despite much research interest, the experiences of priests who are mothers to dependent children have been minimally investigated. Based on in-depth interviews with seventeen mothers ordained in the Church, this paper will focus on how the sacred-profane boundary is managed. Priests who are mothers have a particular insight into the Church hierarchy as they symbolically straddle the competing discourses of sacred and profane. However, instead of reifying these binaries, the experiences of these women show how such dualisms are challenged and managed in everyday life. Indeed, in terms of experience, ritual, ministry and preaching, priests who are mothers are resisting, recasting and renegotiating sacred terrain in subtle and nuanced ways. Mothers thus not only negotiate the practical and sacramental demands placed on priests, but also illuminate how the sacred domain is regulated and constructed

Suscetibilidade da mosca-dos-chifres, Haematobia irritans irritans (Diptera: Muscidae), a inseticidas no Brasil.

Since horn fly populations became established throughout Brazil, complaints regarding control failure have increased around the country. A broad survey to evaluate the susceptibility of horn flies to both organophosphate (OP) and pyrethroid insecticides was conducted from October 2000 to April 2003. Bioassays using filter papers impregnated with cypermethrin, permethrin or diazinon were conducted on 154 horn fly populations in 14 states and 78 municipalities

Initiation of Strike‐Slip Faults, Serpentinization, and Methane: The Nootka Fault Zone, the Juan de Fuca‐Explorer Plate Boundary

The Nootka fault zone is a ridge‐trench‐trench transform fault that was initiated ~4 Ma when the Explorer ridge became independent of the Juan de Fuca ridge. Multibeam data around the fault zone and a compilation of several seismic reflection surveys provide insight into initiation of strike‐slip faults. Previous interpretations assumed that the two faults seen cutting the seafloor are subparallel to shear between the Explorer and Juan de Fuca plates and formed instantaneously at 4 Ma. Increased data density shows that these faults are subparallel to seafloor magnetic anomalies and appear to have utilized extensional faults formed at the ridge. They are surrounded by numerous buried steeply dipping, small‐offset growth faults; at least some of which are likely still active. Our observations corroborate analogue models of strike‐slip fault initiation that predict formation of Riedel‐like shears within a zone of faulting and that displacement localizes over time. The existence of several long subparallel faults and a very wide zone of faulting has been predicted by models of distributed shear at depth. Along the Nootka fault zone basement has risen by several hundred meters and bright reversed‐polarity reflectors some of which are interpreted to be methane hydrate reflectors are common. Hydration, likely as serpentinization, of the upper mantle could explain both sets of observations: Serpentinization can result in a 30–50% volume expansion and methane is observed in vents driven by this process. Biogenic sources of methane are likely to be present and concentrated by currently active fluid flow in the faulted sediments

Changing times in England: the influence on geography teachers’ professional practice

School geography in England has been characterised as a pendulum swinging between policies that emphasise curriculum and pedagogy alternately. In this paper, I illustrate the influence of these shifts on geography teacher's professional practice, by drawing on three “moments” from my experience as a student, teacher and teacher educator. Barnett's description of teacher professionalism as a continuous project of “being” illuminates how geography teachers can adapt to competing influences. It reflects teacher professionalism as an unfinished project, which is responsive, but not beholden, to shifting trends, and is informed by how teachers frame and enact policies. I argue that recognising these contextual factors is key to supporting geography teachers in “being” geography education professionals. As education becomes increasingly competitive on a global scale, individual governments are looking internationally for “solutions” to improve educational rankings. In this climate, the future of geography education will rest on how teachers react locally to international trends. Geography teacher educators can support this process by continuing to inform the field through meaningful geography education research, in particular in making the contextual factors of their research explicit. This can be supported through continued successful international collaboration in geography education research

Buccal soft tissue lipoma in an adult Nigerian: a case report and literature review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Lipomas are benign mesenchymal neoplasms composed of mature adipocytes, usually surrounded by a thin fibrous capsule. They are uncommon intra-oral tumors with 1% to 4% occurring in this region. The literature is scanty on lipomas occurring in the buccal soft tissue, especially in our environment.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We present a case of a 35-year-old woman of the Tiv ethnic group of Nigeria who presented with a slow growing left cheek swelling that was treated by intra-oral local excision.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The purpose of this report is to highlight the existence of this rare but not uncommon disease even in our environment and to emphasize that a high index of suspicion is needed in making a diagnosis. Surgical excision as treatment is associated with an excellent outcome.</p

The plight of the sense-making ape

This is a selective review of the published literature on object-choice tasks, where participants use directional cues to find hidden objects. This literature comprises the efforts of researchers to make sense of the sense-making capacities of our nearest living relatives. This chapter is written to highlight some nonsensical conclusions that frequently emerge from this research. The data suggest that when apes are given approximately the same sense-making opportunities as we provide our children, then they will easily make sense of our social signals. The ubiquity of nonsensical contemporary scientific claims to the effect that humans are essentially--or inherently--more capable than other great apes in the understanding of simple directional cues is, itself, a testament to the power of preconceived ideas on human perception

School Direct, a policy for initial teacher training in England: plotting a principled pedagogical path through a changing landscape

This paper explores the role of teacher educators in schools and universities in England and the changes that have arisen within the field of Initial Teacher Training (ITT) as a result of the Coalition government’s (2010 onwards) School Direct initiative. The discussion which follows and the conclusions suggested are live, current and of pivotal interest to all universities with ITT programmes, as well as all schools involved in the delivery of ITT, and all parties with a policy interest in the supply of effective teacher education. After setting the context, the discussion starts with a critical examination of ITT policy in England over the course of the last 20 years. We then consider troubling binaries inherent in teacher education and go on to explore insights from research: the importance of beliefs; the problem of enactment; the theory/practice divide. These are then used to craft the enabling constraints for third-space activity designed to set in motion a hybridisation process from which a new breed of teacher educator could emerge. We suggest that university and school colleagues working together in collaborative partnership can provide a principled pedagogical path through a changing landscape of education policy