Use of molecular genetics and historical records to reconstruct the history of local communities

Recent advances in molecular genetics made the inference of past demographic events through the analysis of gene pools from modern populations possible. The technology uses genetic markers toprovide previously unavailable resolution into questions of human evolution, migration and the historical relationship of separated human populations. Some of the genetic markers used to measurevariation (polymorphism) within populations are found in the Y-chromosome and mitochondrial DNA. Variations in these two types of DNA can be grouped into continent-specific haplogroups or lineages.Geographic origin can be assigned to each lineage, and consequently trace back migration pattern of human populations. Y-chromosome and mitochondrial DNA are used to construct paternal and maternal lineages respectively. The use of these molecular techniques together with historical records in an integrated manner can greatly benefit the study of the social history of admixed communities, such as the Cape Muslim community living in the Western Cape of South Africa

Towards developing a test of global motion for use with Paralympic athletes

The Paralympic classification system for visual impairment only assesses static visual acuity and static visual field despite many Paralympic sports being dynamic in nature. As a first step towards determining whether motion perception tests should be used in Paralympic classification, we assessed whether motion coherence thresholds could be measured when visual acuity or visual fields were impaired at levels consistent with the current Paralympic classification criteria. Visual acuity and visual field impairments corresponding to Paralympic classification criteria were simulated in normally sighted individuals and motion coherence thresholds were measured. Mild-to-moderate visual acuity impairments had no effect on motion coherence thresholds. The most severe Paralympic class of acuity impairment (≥2.6 logMAR) significantly elevated thresholds. A trend towards superior motion coherence thresholds in the peripheral visual field compared to the central visual field was also present. Global motion perception appears to be measurable under simulated visual impairments that are consistent with the Paralympic classification. Poorer global motion perception was found for visual acuities >2.6 logMAR and visual fields <10° in diameter. Further research is needed to investigate the relationship between global motion perception and sports performance in athletes with real visual impairment

Geriatric Vision Care – a New Look at the Old

World-wide, Optometry is expanding its scope of practice in many jurisdictions. The campaign to use therapeutic pharmaceutical agents (TPAs) is on-going in most countries and optometrists are increasingly becoming involved in co-managing glaucoma and the ocular complications of diabetes, interfacing with systemic and ophthalmic specialists. Optometrists continue to define their role as members of the healthcare team by serving as post-operative care specialists following refractive and cataract surgeries. In addition, Optometry continues to be a leader in pediatric eye care and pediatric eye research, including working with children with learning disabilities and children with special needs (multiple-challenges). While low vision, contact lenses and orthoptics (vision training/binocular vision) remain staples of the traditional domain, they should not be ignored at the expense of new growth. Even as we struggle, some ask, “is the time ripe for Optometry to begin to recognize its own subspecialties?” Although all optometrists graduate as primary eye care providers, as the profession expands special interest practitioners have laid claim to areas of expertise such as sports vision specialist, rehabilitation vision specialist, neurooptometric specialty and so on. Just as medicine, and then ophthalmology before us, recognized sub-disciplines, should Optometry mature along a similar path

Multiple stressors in a top predator seabird: potential ecological consequences of environmental contaminants, population health and breeding conditions

Environmental contaminants may have impacts on reproduction and survival in wildlife populations suffering from multiple stressors. This study examined whether adverse effects of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) increased with poor population health and breeding conditions in three colonies (60–74°N) of great skua (Stercorarius skua) in the north-eastern Atlantic (Shetland, Iceland and Bjørnøya [Bear Island]). POPs (organochlorines [OCs] and polybrominated diphenyl ethers [BDEs]) were measured in plasma of incubating birds (n = 222), concentrations differing nearly tenfold among colonies: Bjørnøya (2009) &gt; Bjørnøya (2010) &gt; Iceland (2009) &gt; Shetland (2009). Reproductive success (hatching success and chick survival) showed that breeding conditions were favourable in Shetland and at Bjørnøya (2010), but were very poor in Iceland and at Bjørnøya (2009). Biomarkers indicated that health was poor in the Shetland population compared to the other populations. Females whose chicks hatched late had high POP concentrations in all colonies except at Bjørnøya (2010), and females losing their eggs at Bjørnøya (2009) tended to have higher concentrations than those hatching. Moreover, there was a negative relationship between female POP concentrations and chick body condition at hatching in Iceland and at Bjørnøya (2010). Supplementary feeding experiments were conducted, and in Iceland where feeding conditions were poor, significant negative relationships were found between female POP concentrations and daily growth-rate in first-hatched chicks of control nests, but not in food supplemented nests. This suggests that negative impacts of POPs were mitigated by improved feeding conditions. For second-chicks, there was a strong negative relationship between the female POP concentrations and growth-rate, but no effects of supplementary feeding. Lowered adult return-rate between breeding seasons with increasing POP loads were found both at Bjørnøya (2009) and in Shetland, especially related to BDEs. This indicates stronger fitness consequences of POPs following seasons with very poor breeding conditions and/or high reproductive effort. This study suggests that the impacts of POPs may differ depending on population health and breeding conditions, and that even low concentrations of POPs could have ecological consequences during adverse circumstances. This is important with regard to risk assessment of biomagnifying contaminants in marine ecosystems

Please mind the gap: students’ perspectives of the transition in academic skills between A-level and degree level geography

This paper explores first-year undergraduates’ perceptions of the transition from studying geography at pre-university level to studying for a degree. This move is the largest step students make in their education, and the debate about it in the UK has been reignited due to the government’s planned changes to A-level geography. However, missing from most of this debate is an appreciation of the way in which geography students themselves perceive their transition to university. This paper begins to rectify this absence. Using student insights, we show that their main concern is acquiring the higher level skills required for university learning

Students’ Perceptions of Learning Processes as Co-Authors of Digital Tabletop Activities

We conducted a small-scale study in order to explore students’ perceptions of the learning processes when engaged as co-authors of content for collaborative higher order thinking skills learning tasks. We specifically designed the process to allow for self-critique – where authors can observe their creations being solved and therefore understand where they may improve their design. We collected data over a three-day period from a sample of twelve thirteen year olds, working in teams, authoring content for Digital Mysteries (a higher order thinking skills collaborative learning application based on the digital tabletop). The study was structured to follow Bloom’s taxonomy, a continuum of cognitive skills that develop during a learning process. We found that 1) rather than follow this continuum, skills developed in a non-linear manner due to the abstract nature of the authoring activity, and 2) the students’ demonstrated good metacognitive insights into the authoring task, technology and collaborative learning as a whole

Whose life is it anyway? The role of digitally mediated life story and narrative in democratizing the discourses and practices of widening participation.

Three empirical papers critically assess the impact and potential of foregrounding life story and digitally mediated narrative in three widening participation (WP) projects carried out in the North-East, South-West and south coast of England. The projects share a critical perspective on deficit discourses in WP theory and practice. The projects draw upon life stories of under-represented students as a way of attending to the politics of representation and the need to diversify WP discourses, utilising digital technologies and participatory methods to foreground power and positioning, representation and ethics in WP work. The papers argue that attending to social justice issues methodologically has broader significance for educational research

Whose life is it anyway? The role of digitally mediated life story and narrative in democratizing the discourses and practices of widening participation.

Three empirical papers critically assess the impact and potential of foregrounding life story and digitally mediated narrative in three widening participation (WP) projects carried out in the North-East, South-West and south coast of England. The projects share a critical perspective on deficit discourses in WP theory and practice. The projects draw upon life stories of under-represented students as a way of attending to the politics of representation and the need to diversify WP discourses, utilising digital technologies and participatory methods to foreground power and positioning, representation and ethics in WP work. The papers argue that attending to social justice issues methodologically has broader significance for educational research

Seasonal shifts in foraging distribution due to individual flexibility in a tropical pelagic forager, the Ascension frigatebird

This is the final version of the article. Available from Inter Research via the DOI in this record.Predators exploiting tropical pelagic waters characterised by low fluctuations in seasonal temperature and salinity may require different foraging strategies than predators that can rely on persistently productive marine features. Consistent individual differences in foraging strategies have been found in temperate seabirds, but it is unclear whether such foraging special-isation would be beneficial in unpredictable tropical pelagic waters. We examined whether foraging trip characteristics of a tropical seabird were consistent between seasons and within individuals and explored whether seasonal changes could be explained by environmental variables. Ascension frigatebird Fregata aquila trips lasted up to 18 d and covered a total travel distance of up to 7047 km, but adult frigatebirds stayed within a radius of 1150 km of Ascension Island. We found that the 50% utilisation distribution of the population expanded southwestward in the cool season due to individuals performing more and longer trips in a southerly and westerly direction during the cool compared to the hot season. Individual repeatability was low (R < 0.25) for all trip characteristics, and we were unable to explain seasonal changes in time spent at sea using oceanographic or atmospheric variables. Instead, frigatebird usage per area was almost exclusively determined by distance from the colony, and although individuals spent more time in distant portions of their foraging trips, the amount of time spent per unit area decreased exponentially with increasing distance from the colony. This study indicates that, in a relatively featureless environment, high individual consistency may not be a beneficial trait for pelagic predators.The work on Ascension Island was partly funded by a Darwin Grant (# 19026) to Ascension Island Government and the University of Exeter (A.B. and B.G.), managed on-island by N.W. and S.W. Nigel Butcher and Andrew Asque assisted with preparation of loggers and equipment, and Elizabeth Marsden kindly provided the base station to download data

Curriculum policy reform in an era of technical accountability: 'fixing' curriculum, teachers and students in English schools

Drawing on a Levinasian ethical perspective, the argument driving this paper is that the technical accountability movement currently dominating the educational system in England is less than adequate because it overlooks educators’ responsibility for ethical relations in responding to difference in respect of the other. Curriculum policy makes a significant contribution to the technical accountability culture through complicity in performativity, high-stakes testing and datafication, at the same time as constituting student and teacher subjectivities. I present two different conceptualizations of subjectivity and education, before engaging these in the analysis of data arising from an empirical study which investigated teachers’ and stakeholders’ experiences of curriculum policy reform in ‘disadvantaged’ English schools. The study’s findings demonstrate how a prescribed programme of technical curriculum regulation attempts to ‘fix’ or mend educational problems by ‘fixing’ or prescribing educational solutions. This not only denies ethical professional relations between students, teachers and parents, but also deflects responsibility for educational success from government to teachers and hastens the move from public to private educational provision. Complying with prescribed curriculum policy requirements shifts attention from broad philosophical and ethical questions about educational purpose as well as conferring a violence by assuming control over student and teacher subjectivities