Playing to win or trying your best: Media representations of national anxieties over the role of sport participation during the 2002 commonwealth games.

In the last few years, growing concern has emerged in New Zealand sport about the shift towards a more commercial or professionalised model of sport and away from a mass participation-based model. In the midst of a relatively intense period of debate and concern over this change in direction, the 2002 Commonwealth Games took place in Manchester, England. In this article, we analyse how media coverage of the Games articulated with the broader public debate over the direction of New Zealand sport. Grounded in the assumption that the media both reflects and impacts on public understandings of cultural issues, we believe this analysis of coverage of the Games reveals a profound ambivalence over a more profess ionalised model of sport and points to an unwillingness to give up traditional values of sports participation in order to win. We explore how this debate articulates with current tensions in the realm of Physical Education and suggest that health and physical educators have an important role to play in challenging current pressures towards a win-at-all-costs approach to sport

Capacity and Security of Heterogeneous Distributed Storage Systems

We study the capacity of heterogeneous distributed storage systems under repair dynamics. Examples of these systems include peer-to-peer storage clouds, wireless, and Internet caching systems. Nodes in a heterogeneous system can have different storage capacities and different repair bandwidths. We give lower and upper bounds on the system capacity. These bounds depend on either the average resources per node, or on a detailed knowledge of the node characteristics. Moreover, we study the case in which nodes may be compromised by an eavesdropper, and give bounds on the system secrecy capacity. One implication of our results is that symmetric repair maximizes the capacity of a homogeneous system, which justifies the model widely used in the literature.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure

Efficient Gene Targeting Mediated by Adeno-Associated Virus and DNA Double-Strand Breaks

Gene targeting is the in situ manipulation of the sequence of an endogenous gene by the introduction of homologous exogenous DNA. Presently, the rate of gene targeting is too low for it to be broadly used in mammalian somatic cell genetics or to cure genetic diseases. Recently, it has been demonstrated that infection with recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vectors can mediate gene targeting in somatic cells, but the mechanism is unclear. This paper explores the balance between random integration and gene targeting with rAAV. Both random integration and spontaneous gene targeting are dependent on the multiplicity of infection (MOI) of rAAV. It has previously been shown that the introduction of a DNA double-stranded break (DSB) in a target gene can stimulate gene targeting by several-thousand-fold in somatic cells. Creation of a DSB stimulates the frequency of rAAV-mediated gene targeting by over 100-fold, suggesting that the mechanism of rAAV-mediated gene targeting involves, at least in part, the repair of DSBs by homologous recombination. Absolute gene targeting frequencies reach 0.8% with a dual vector system in which one rAAV vector provides a gene targeting substrate and a second vector expresses the nuclease that creates a DSB in the target gene. The frequencies of gene targeting that we achieved with relatively low MOIs suggest that combining rAAV vectors with DSBs is a promising strategy to broaden the application of gene targeting

Advanced materials for space nuclear power systems

The overall philosophy of the research was to develop and characterize new high temperature power conversion and radiator materials and to provide spacecraft designers with material selection options and design information. Research on three candidate materials (carbide strengthened niobium alloy PWC-11 for fuel cladding, graphite fiber reinforced copper matrix composites for heat rejection fins, and tungsten fiber reinforced niobium matrix composites for fuel containment and structural supports considered for space power system applications is discussed. Each of these types of materials offers unique advantages for space power applications

Economic value of pollination services on crops in Benin, West Africa

Pollinators provide pollination services that are crucial for sexual  reproduction of many flowering plants. Beside wind and water, pollination services are provided by animals but mainly by insects. They improve the quality and the quantity of many crops. This study aimed at accessing the economic value of pollination services on selected crops in 2010 in Benin. Thus, 29 valued crops were considered and their individual pollination service values obtained from literature. At national scale, the individual gains in production due to pollination services of the selected crops were summed. In this study, all crops used for the calculation require pollination services and their economic added values were estimated to about 99,866.44 billion of local currency (FCFA) (that equal US $ 199.21 million) in 2010. This contributes substantially to the economy of Benin (3.03% of GDP). These results reveal the need to pay more attention to pollinators and their services in agricultural policies definition in Benin. We suggest a rational use of pesticides in agriculture and the preference of traditional practices in agriculture such as the preservation of few native plants in farming areas to give opportunity to conserve pollinators in these areas.Keywords: Added value, agriculture, conservation, pollinators

Managing the Link between Academic Development and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: The Case of South African Universities

Published ArticleThe link between Academic Development (AD) and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) in the South African Higher education quality context is as blurred as the conceptualisation of the terms. Academic development is a relatively ‘young’ discipline. It has come into being due to a wide variety of education pressures and needs locally and worldwide. Currently in South Africa, there appears to be no unified understanding of the purpose, role and practices among Academic Development practitioners. As such, managing AD practices is still quite ‘ad hoc’ and needs driven to the extent that even in one institution there are possible differences in how the practitioners conceptualise their roles and practices as data herein will show. Using three South Africa Universities and the ‘Best Practices’ frame of reference, this paper attempts to reveal the assumptions and perceptions that underline AD practitioners’ understanding of their (AD management) roles which ultimately shape their (scholarship of) teaching and learning practices. The intention is to establish if respective AD models and practices influence significantly on teaching and learning within respective institutions. Five purposively selected AD practitioners responded to a questaview that sought to unravel these assumptions and perceptions. Data were qualitavely analysed to discern trends if any. Recommendations and implications on higher education quality and access and teaching and learning policy are discussed within the context of the results