Using participatory action research to support pupil participation in improving a sense of community in a secondary school

In 2007 specific guidance was issued to schools about the duty of staff to promote community cohesion (DCSF, 2007). An aspect of this concerns the extent to which pupils experience a sense of belonging to their school. ‘Belonging’ can be understood through the construct of a psychological sense of community. Research by McMillan and Chavis (1986) has identified four major components of sense of community, along with an index that can be used to survey this. This index, the Sense of Community Index- 2 (Chavis et al. 2008), was revised and administered to pupils in a large secondary school. Aims- The research described in this report and supported by the Children’s Workforce Development Council, identified a representative group of volunteer pupils to investigate the outcomes of a survey about the sense of community in the school. Data were collected using participatory action research (PAR). The research aimed to learn about the use of PAR itself. Method- Following an initial recruitment meeting, eight data collection meetings were held, with the number of pupils attending ranging from zero to 14, with a typical attendance of four pupils. Recognising that pupils might need support to become action researchers, materials were prepared outlining the steps involved in action research. The co-researchers were also supported by discussion and a variety of forms to assist with their planning and record keeping. The intention was that the pupil co-researchers would gather information and ideas from their own tutor groups and return to a weekly research group that the lead researchers would facilitate. The group would use the tools its members brought to make an action plan to improve the sense of community in the school. Findings- The research group demonstrated a good understanding of sense of community and a commitment to investigating it further, in particular identifying how to improve aspects of ‘influence’, ‘membership’, and ‘fulfilment of needs’. At the same time, difficulties were encountered trying to maintain momentum with the pupils, leading to a decision to terminate this stage of the research and to refocus it. Ultimately, a significant outcome of this research concerns the circumstances that might allow PAR to flourish

Reversible Self-Actuated Thermo-Responsive Pore Membrane.

Smart membranes, which can selectively control the transfer of light, air, humidity and temperature, are important to achieve indoor climate regulation. Even though reversible self-actuation of smart membranes is desirable in large-scale, reversible self-regulation remains challenging. Specifically, reversible 100% opening/closing of pore actuation showing accurate responsiveness, reproducibility and structural flexibility, including uniform structure assembly, is currently very difficult. Here, we report a reversible, thermo-responsive self-activated pore membrane that achieves opening and closing of pores. The reversible, self-actuated thermo-responsive pore membrane was fabricated with hybrid materials of poly (N-isopropylacrylamide), (PNIPAM) within polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) to form a multi-dimensional pore array. Using Multiphysics simulation of heat transfer and structural mechanics based on finite element analysis, we demonstrated that pore opening and closing dynamics can be self-activated at environmentally relevant temperatures. Temperature cycle characterizations of the pore structure revealed 100% opening ratio at T = 40 °C and 0% opening ratio at T = 20 °C. The flexibility of the membrane showed an accurate temperature-responsive function at a maximum bending angle of 45°. Addressing the importance of self-regulation, this reversible self-actuated thermo-responsive pore membrane will advance the development of future large-scale smart membranes needed for sustainable indoor climate control

Smooth-car mixed models for spatial count data

Penalized splines (P-splines) and individual random effects are used for the analysis of spatial count data. P-splines are represented as mixed models to give a unified approach to the model estimation procedure. First, a model where the spatial variation is modelled by a two-dimensional P-spline at the centroids of the areas or regions is considered. In addition, individual area-effects are incorporated as random effects to account for individual variation among regions. Finally, the model is extended by considering a conditional autoregressive (CAR) structure for the random effects, these are the so called “Smooth-CAR” models, with the aim of separating the large-scale geographical trend, and local spatial correlation. The methodology proposed is applied to the analysis of lip cancer incidence rates in Scotland.Mixed models, P-splines, Overdispersion, Negative Binomial, PQL, CAR models, Scottish lip cancer data

Non-proper helicoid-like limits of closed minimal surfaces in 3-manifolds

We show that there exists a metric with positive scalar curvature on S2xS1 and a sequence of embedded minimal cylinders that converges to a minimal lamination that, in a neighborhood of a strictly stable 2-sphere, is smooth except at two helicoid-like singularities on the 2-sphere. The construction is inspired by a recent example by D. Hoffman and B. White.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, replaced because of corrupted fil

AKT1 and AKT2 isoforms play distinct roles during breast cancer progression through the regulation of specific downstream proteins

The purpose of this study was to elucidate the mechanisms associated with the specific effects of AKT1 and AKT2 isoforms in breast cancer progression. We modulated the abundance of specific AKT isoforms in IBH-6 and T47D human breast cancer cell lines and showed that AKT1 promoted cell proliferation, through S6 and cyclin D1 upregulation, but it inhibited cell migration and invasion through β1-integrin and focal adhesion kinase (FAK) downregulation. In contrast, AKT2 promoted cell migration and invasion through F-actin and vimentin induction. Thus, while overexpression of AKT1 promoted local tumor growth, downregulation of AKT1 or overexpression of AKT2 promoted peritumoral invasion and lung metastasis. Furthermore, we evaluated The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset for invasive breast carcinomas and found that increased AKT2 but not AKT1 mRNA levels correlated with a worse clinical outcome. We conclude that AKT isoforms play specific roles in different steps of breast cancer progression, with AKT1 involved in the local tumor growth and AKT2 involved in the distant tumor dissemination, having AKT2 a poorer prognostic value and consequently being a worthwhile target for therapy.Fil: Riggio, Marina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Fundación de Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Perrone, Maria Cecilia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Fundación de Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Polo, Maria Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Fundación de Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Rodriguez, Maria Jimena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Fundación de Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental; ArgentinaFil: May, Maria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Fundación de Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Abba, Martín Carlos. Universidad Nacional de La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Lanari, Claudia Lee Malvina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Fundación de Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Novaro, Virginia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Fundación de Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental; Argentin

Gravitational waves from compact binaries in post-Newtonian accurate hyperbolic orbits

We derive from first principles third post-Newtonian (3PN) accurate Keplerian-type parametric solution to describe PN-accurate dynamics of non-spinning compact binaries in hyperbolic orbits. Orbital elements and functions of the parametric solution are obtained in terms of the conserved orbital energy and angular momentum in both Arnowitt-Deser-Misner type and modified harmonic coordinates. Elegant checks are provided that include a modified analytic continuation prescription to obtain our independent hyperbolic parametric solution from its eccentric version. A prescription to model gravitational wave polarization states for hyperbolic compact binaries experiencing 3.5PN-accurate orbital motion is presented that employs our 3PN-accurate parametric solution