Media and development – where’s the gap?

John Davison, the Head of Media at Christian Aid has begun his personal visiting research fellowship at Polis with a research seminar at which he outlined his plans for a study of the relationship between journalism and NGOs in Africa

Factorization is not violated

We show that existing proofs of factorization imply the cancellation of certain multiladder contributions that Gotsman, Levin, and Maor had suggested would invalidate the basic factorization theorem in QCD. No modifications of the original argument are necessary, although the details of the example offer useful insight into the mechanisms of factorization.Comment: 11 pages including 10 figure

The association of cobalt with iron and manganese (oxyhydr)oxides in marine sediment.

Formation and dissolution of authigenic Fe and Mn (oxyhydr)oxides influence cycling of trace metals in oxic/suboxic surface sediments.We used the diffusive gradients in thin films technique (DGT) to estimate the association of cobalt with iron and manganese oxides. We compared Co, Fe and Mn maxima measured by DGT in the pore waters of fresh and aged marine sediment cores and estimated the Co/Fe and Co/Mn ratios in the metal oxides. A Mn maximum was not visible in DGT concentration profiles of freshly collected sediment cores, but after ageing the sediment we observed a distinct Mn peak, presumably due to broadening of the depth range over which the various electron acceptors occur. Estimated Co/Mn ratios from both experiments are within the range of literature values for marine sediments, but the value from the aged experiment is at the lower end of the range. This is attributed to stimulation of sulphate reduction and precipitation of cobalt sulfides. The good correlation between Co and Fe maxima in the fresh sediments is attributed to the similarity of their reactions with sulphide rather than Co being released during authigenic Fe oxide reduction

The importance of endoglin for cardiac structure and function

PhD ThesisEndoglin is an accessory receptor for the transforming growth factor beta family. Patients carrying mutations in the endoglin gene develop the inherited vascular dysplasia, Hereditary Haemorrhagic Telangiectasia (HHT). However, it is becoming apparent that endoglin may also be important in acquired cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension, atherosclerosis and heart failure. The work in this thesis investigates the role of endoglin in the structure and function of the adult cardiovascular system by utilising a conditional endoglin knockout model and murine cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR). I established and validated murine CMR at Newcastle University allowing accurate quantification of in vivo cardiac structure and function in a number of mouse models of cardiac disease either at single time points or in longitudinal studies. Immunohistochemical analysis confirmed that endoglin is expressed in the endocardium and vasculature of the adult mouse heart. Following myocardial infarction there was increased endoglin expression which co-localised with endothelial cells and myofibroblasts. Cre-lox genetics was then used to ubiquitously knockdown endoglin in the adult mouse. This resulted in significant ventricular remodelling within three weeks, with ventricular dilatation associated with cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. These changes gradually progressed over three months following endoglin knockdown; however, overt heart failure was not seen within this time frame. Invasive measurement of ventricular function suggested an impairment of vasomotor control and reduced contractile reserve following endoglin knockdown. Also, using an endothelial-specific endoglin knockdown mouse I demonstrated that these novel cardiac changes were due to endoglin depletion in endothelial cells. Together these data suggests that the alterations in cardiac structure and function are secondary to alterations in the wider cardiovascular system. This is supported by evidence of eNOS uncoupling following endoglin knockdown. The results reported in this thesis describe a novel phenotype and highlight the importance of endoglin in the maintenance of cardiac structure and function. Further work will clarify the mechanism behind these alterations.British Heart Foundation Clinical Research Training Fellowship

Describing the Cognitive Complexity of Counselors-in-Training Enrolled in a Group Dynamics and Methods Course

Research supports the link between higher levels of cognitive complexity and counseling efficacy. Counselor educators, therefore, strive to promote higher levels of cognitive complexity in different areas of counselor preparation, such as individual counseling and multicultural training. Presently, the research literature lacks studies focused on cognitive complexity in group work training. To address this gap in the literature, this study used content analysis, a qualitative methodology to describe cognitive complexity of 10 counselors-in-training enrolled in a Group Dynamics and Methods course. Using Bloom’s Cognitive Taxonomy to analyze participants’ written reflection assignments, I found that participants demonstrated cognitive complexity primarily in knowledge through application levels. Several categories/themes emerged from a separate analysis, including leader styles/techniques, norms, activities, and sharing/disclosing. I discuss these findings and highlight key aspects of the findings in relation to the broader literature. I identify implications for counselor educators and suggest future studies for counselor education researchers

Scan Time Goals with Analysis of Scan Times from Aquatic Facilities

This paper aims to understand the challenges associated with establishing a time goal for scanning a lifeguard’s area of responsibility and identifying critical incidents requiring a response. It analyzed the results of 289 lifeguard inspections from aquatic facilities with management emphasis on scanning. The scanning summaries from the inspections cover 15,737 lifeguard observations where lifeguards were trained using two different scanning goals: 1) scan their area of responsibility within 15 s with an emphasis on using visual recognition signals to identify an incident and 2) recognize victims within 10 seconds in their area of responsibility. Analysis showed an average scan time of 22.65 s with 41.86% within 0-15 s and 37.03% within 16-30 s. The 10 s goal averaged 25.96 s and the 15 s goal has an average 21.96 s scan time. The weak implication was that if guards were trained using the goal of a scan taking 15 s or less, there was a reasonable chance that a large percentage of their scans will be at 30 s or less. Additional research is needed to discover whether there are other goals or methods that might produce even more effective scanning and times