The thyroid and environmental stress in mammals

The effects of hyperoxia at ambient pressure on thyroid function and thyroid hormone metabolism have been assessed. Thyroidal activity was depressed in mice and rats by exposure to hyperoxia, due at least in part to a decrease in the rate of secretion of pituitary thyrotropin. The effects of hyperoxia on the peripheral deiodination of thyroxine were dependent on the concentration of oxygen employed and/or the duration of exposure. When significant changes were observed a reduction in the rate of deiodination and in the deiodinative clearance of T sub 4 occurred. Hyperoxia also resulted in a marked fall in circulating T sub 4 concentration and a decrease in T sub 4-binding activity in serum. Many of these effects of hyperoxia were prevented by the concomitant administration of large amounts of Vitamin E. These decreases in thyroid function and T sub 4 metabolism were associated with a decrease in the rate of whole body oxygen consumption. It was concluded that the deleterious effects of oxygen in the rat were not due to an oxygen induced hyperthyroid state in the peripheral tissues. Thyroxine was shown to be essential for survival during acute cold stress

Toward a social pedagogy of classroom group work

In any classroom, pupils will be drawn together for many purposes and we can refer to such within classroom contexts as 'groupings'. The teacher often creates these, and the way that they are set up, and how they are used for particular learning purposes. If the relationships between grouping size, interaction type and learning tasks in groups are planned strategically then learning experiences will be more effective. However, research suggests that the relationships between these elements are often unplanned and the 'social pedagogic' potential of classroom learning is therefore unrealised. In this paper we explore the notion of social pedagogy in relation to group work. It is argued that research and theory relevant to group work in classrooms is limited, and that a new approach, sensitive to group work under everyday classroom conditions is required. This paper identifies key features of a social pedagogy of classroom group work, which can inform effective group work in classrooms. It also describes the background to a current large scale UK project which has been set up to design with teachers a programme of high quality group work in classrooms at both primary and secondary phases. © 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Discrete Mereotopology

PublishedWhereas mereology, in the strict sense, is concerned solely with the part–whole relation, mereotopology extends mereology by including also the notion of connection, enabling one to distinguish, for example, between internal and peripheral parts, and between contact and separation. Mereotopology has been developed particularly within the Qualitative Spatial Reasoning research community, where it has been applied to, amongst other areas, geographical information science and image analysis. Most research in mereotopology has assumed that the entities being studied may be subdivided without limit, but a number of researchers have investigated mereotopological structures based on discrete spaces in which entities are built up from atomic elements that are not themselves subdivisible. This chapter presents an introductory treatment of mereotopology and its discrete variant, and provides references for readers interested in pursuing this subject in further detail

On generically dependent entities

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from IOS via the DOI in this record.An entity x is said to be generically dependent on a type F if x cannot exist without at least one entity of type F existing. In this paper several varieties of generic dependence are distinguished, differing in the nature of the relationship between an entity and the instances of a type on which it generically depends, and in the light of this, criteria of identity for generically dependent entities are investigated. These considerations are then illustrated in detail in a series of three case studies, covering shapes, linguistic entities such as letters, words and sentences, and collectives. Each case study examines how far the entities involved have robust identity criteria, and to the extent that they do not it is questioned whether they can be regarded as bona fide examples of generic dependent entities. Finally, in the light of this, a number of possible accounts that may be given of the ontological status of such entities are considered

States, Processes and Events, and the Ontology of Causal Relations

The subject of causality is large, and fraught with difficulties. In this paper, we concentrate on two aspects which are of importance when we seek to handle causality from an ontological point of view, The first concerns the range of particulars between which causal and causal-like relations may hold. In addition to events — the domain most typically chosen as the objects of causation — we consider the role played by processes and states, taking a particular view of the nature of these entities. The second aspect concerns the range of different causal and causal-like relations to be considered. In addition to causation itself we consider such things as initiation and termination, perpetuation, enablement and prevention. We do not present a fully-fledged ontological theory of causation, but lay down some basic ingredients that should be taken into account in the construction of such a theor

Prolegomena to an ontology of shape

PublishedConference ProceedingInfluenced by the four-category ontology of Aristotle, many modern ontologies treat shapes as accidental particulars which (a) are specifically dependent on the substantial particulars which act as their bearers, and (b) instantiate accidental universals which are exemplified by those bearers. It is also common to distinguish between, on the one hand, these physical shapes which form part of the empirical world and, on the other, ideal geometrical shapes which belong to the abstract realm of mathematics. Shapes of the former kind are often said to approximate, but never to exactly instantiate, shapes of the latter kind. Following a suggestion of Frege, ideal mathematical shapes can be given precise definitions as equivalence classes under the relation of geometrical similarity. One might, analogously, attempt to define physical shape universals as equivalence classes under a relation of physical similarity, but this fails because physical similarity is not an equivalence relation. In this talk I will examine the implications of this for the ontology of shape and in particular for the relationship between mathematical shapes and the shapes we attribute to physical objects

Fake Gods and False History: Being Indian in a contested Mumbai neighbourhood

In an age where history is a global battleground and fake news proliferates, culture wars are being waged across India over its future – majoritarian or inclusive, neoliberal or socialist, religious or secular? Fake Gods and False History takes us to the BDD Chawls, a central Mumbai neighbourhood of tenement blocks (chawls) on the brink of a controversial redevelopment. It reveals how contested narratives of Indian history play out in the daily life of this divided neighbourhood and how the legacies of certain godlike but very human historical figures, such as Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and Chhatrapati Shivaji, are invoked by different communities. Jonathan Galton draws on research conducted among the formerly untouchable Dalit Buddhist community, who are staunchly opposed to the redevelopment plans and deeply critical of the religious nationalism they perceive in their Hindu neighbours. We also meet young male migrants living in village-linked dormitory rooms called Gramastha Mandals, trapped in a liminal space between urban and rural. Throughout the book, which is woven through with candid reflections on methodology and research ethics, readers are challenged into drawing connections with their own experiences of history impinging on their lives. A story that might initially seem parochial will thus resonate with a diverse global audience

The Scope of the National Environmental Policy Act: Should the 102(2)(C) Impact Statement Provision Be Applicable to a Federal Agency\u27s Activities Having Environmental Consequences Within Another Sovereign\u27s Jurisdiction?

This Note analyzes the scope of the National Environmental Policy Act\u27s 102(2)(C) provision to determine its applicability to federal agencies\u27 actions abroad

Moving on : the challenges for foreign language learning on transition from primary to secondary school

Europe's commitment to language learning has resulted in higher percentages of pupils studying foreign languages during primary education. In England, recent policy decisions to expand foreign language learning at primary level by 2010 create major implications for transition to secondary. This paper presents findings on transition issues from case studies of a DfES-funded project evaluating 19 local authority Pathfinders piloting the introduction of foreign language learning at primary level. Research on transition in other countries sets these findings in context. Finally, it investigates the challenges England faces for transition in the light of this expansion and discusses future implications

Prosauropod dinosaurs (Reptilia: Saurischia) of North America

The prosauropods from the Lower Jurassic Portland Formation of the Connecticut Valley are referred to two monospecific genera: the slender-footed Anchisaurus polyzelus (junior synomyns A. colurus, Yaleosaurus colurus) and the broad-footed Ammosaurus major (junior synonyms Ammosaurus solus, Anchisaurus solus); the material from Arizona is referred to Ammosaurus cf. major. The family Anchisauridae is restricted to three slenderfooted genera (Anchisaurus, Efraasia, Thecodontosaurus); the remaining anchisaurids are broad-footed forms which are transferred to the family Plateosauridae along with Ammosaurus, a genus long regarded as an extremely primitive coelurosaur. The replacement of prosauropods by ornithischians as the dominant smallto medium-sized (up to 10 m) terrestrial herbivores is attributed to the development in ornithischians of cheeks and self-sharpening teeth that dealt much more efficiently with resistant plant material than could the prosauropod dentition. The sauropodomorphs remained essentially quadrupedal, because they were herbivorous with the pubes anteroventrally directed as in most other reptiles