Community learning and development training for professionals engaged in community regeneration and community planning

The study was commissioned by the Scottish Executive Development Department to identify training needs and current provision of community learning and development (CLD) training for a range of professionals (other than those formally qualified in CLD) who are engaged in community regeneration and community planning (Local Government in Scotland Act 2003). It was one of a series of studies emanating from the Scottish Executive response to the review: „Empowered to Practice – the future of community learning and development training in Scotland‟. One of the themes of the report taken up by the Scottish Executive was the need for; „wider opportunities for joint training with other disciplines such as teachers, librarians, college lecturers, health workers and social workers‟

Digitally manipulating memory : effects of doctored videos and imagination in distorting beliefs and memories

In prior research on false autobiographical beliefs and memories, subjects have been asked to imagine fictional events and they have been exposed to false evidence that indicates the fictional events occurred. But what are the relative contributions of imagination and false evidence toward false belief and memory construction? Subjects observed and copied various simple actions, then viewed doctored videos that suggested they had performed extra actions, and they imagined performing some of those and some other actions. Subjects returned two weeks later for a memory test. False evidence or imagination alone was often sufficient to cause belief and memory distortions; the two techniques in combination appeared to have additive or even superadditive effects. The results bear on the mechanisms underlying false beliefs and memories, and we propose legal and clinical applications of these findings

Role of Schizosaccharomyces pombe RecQ homolog recombination and checkpoint genes in UV Damage tolerance

The cellular responses to DNA damage are complex and include direct DNA repair pathways that remove the damage and indirect damage responses which allow cells to survive DNA damage that has not been, or cannot be, removed. We have identified the gene mutated in the rad12.502 strain as a Schizosaccharomyces pombe recQ homolog. The same gene (designated rqh1) is also mutated in the hus2.22 mutant. We show that Rqh1 is involved in a DNA damage survival mechanism which prevents cell death when UV-induced DNA damage cannot be removed. This pathway also requires the correct functioning of the recombination machinery and the six checkpoint tad gene products plus the Cds1 kinase. Our data suggest that Rqh1 operates during S phase as part of a mechanism which prevents DNA damage causing cell lethality. This process may involve the bypass of DNA damage sites by the replication fork. Finally, in contrast with the reported literature, we do not find that rqh1 (rad12) mutant cells are defective in UV dimer endonuclease activity

The Long-Run Impacts of Same-Race Teachers

Black primary-school students matched to a same-race teacher perform better on standardized tests and face more favorable teacher perceptions, yet little is known about the long-run, sustained impacts of student-teacher demographic match. We show that assigning a black male to a black teacher in the third, fourth, or fifth grades significantly reduces the probability that he drops out of high school, particularly among the most economically disadvantaged black males. Exposure to at least one black teacher in grades 3-5 also increases the likelihood that persistently low-income students of both sexes aspire to attend a four-year college. These findings are robust across administrative data from two states and multiple identification strategies, including an instrumental variables strategy that exploits within-school, intertemporal variation in the proportion of black teachers, family fixed-effects models that compare siblings who attended the same school, and the random assignment of students and teachers to classrooms created by the Project STAR class-size reduction experiment

Southern expansion of the brown alga Colpomenia peregrina Sauvageau (Scytosiphonales) in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean

Blackler first recorded Colpomenia peregrina in the Northwest Atlantic based on collections from Nova Scotia, Canada. Five decades later we found large quantities of C. peregrina in Maine, USA, even though it was absent during earlier floristic studies in this region. Thus, C. peregrina has undergone a rapid southern expansion along the Northwest Atlantic coast. While the causes of such an expansion are unknown, it could have a major effect on both shellfish cultivation and native seaweeds within New England because of competitive interactions and increased drag

The Role of the Pericardium in the Valveless, Tubular Heart of the Tunicate, \u3cem\u3eCiona savignyi\u3c/em\u3e

Tunicates, small invertebrates within the phylum Chordata, possess a robust tubular heart which pumps blood through their open circulatory systems without the use of valves. This heart consists of two major components: the tubular myocardium, a flexible layer of myocardial cells that actively contracts to drive fluid down the length of the tube; and the pericardium, a stiff, outer layer of cells that surrounds the myocardium and creates a fluid-filled space between the myocardium and the pericardium. We investigated the role of the pericardium through in vivo manipulations on tunicate hearts and computational simulations of the myocardium and pericardium using the immersed boundary method. Experimental manipulations reveal that damage to the pericardium results in aneurysm-like bulging of the myocardium and major reductions in the net blood flow and percentage closure of the heart\u27s lumen during contraction. In addition, varying the pericardium-to-myocardium (PM) diameter ratio by increasing damage severity was positively correlated with peak dye flow in the heart. Computational simulations mirror the results of varying the PM ratio experimentally. Reducing the stiffness of the myocardium in the simulations reduced mean blood flow only for simulations without a pericardium. These results indicate that the pericardium has the ability to functionally increase the stiffness of the myocardium and limit myocardial aneurysms. The pericardium\u27s function is likely to enhance flow through the highly resistive circulatory system by acting as a support structure in the absence of connective tissue within the myocardium

Cereal crop tolerance to herbicides

The 1984 experimental programme was a continuation of that started in 1981. The programme was aimed at evaluating the major herbicides in current use for cereals as well as new herbicides against the recommended varieties at three main sites, these being Wongan Hills, Merredin and Mt Barker. In addition Stage 4 breeding lines were evaluated against the same herbicides but only at Wongan Hills. The herbicides used and their rates and time of application are presented in Table 1. Herbicides were applied at both the recommended and twice the recommended rates of application, except in the breeding line trial where only twice the recommended rate was used. Smaller experiments using only 3 wheat and 2 barley varieties were conducted at Geraldton (84GE52) and Avondale. The Geraldton and Avondale experiments indicated good tolerance to the herbicides used at the recommended rates with the exception of Glean on barley (applied prior to seeding rather than at the Z12-13 stage) at both sites. The work on herbicide tolerance of cereals in 1985 will look in more detail at the effects of environment on herbicide response with particular emphasis on the effects of low nutrient status of the crop and waterlogging, at upgrading the evaluation of Stage 4 breeding lines, and at the evaluation of new herbicides which promise selective grass control within the cereal crop

Large Amplitude, Short Wave Peristalsis and Its Implications for Transport

Valveless, tubular pumps are widespread in the animal kingdom, but the mechanism by which these pumps generate fluid flow is often in dispute. Where the pumping mechanism of many organs was once described as peristalsis, other mechanisms, such as dynamic suction pumping, have been suggested as possible alternative mechanisms. Peristalsis is often evaluated using criteria established in a technical definition for mechanical pumps, but this definition is based on a small-amplitude, long-wave approximation which biological pumps often violate. In this study, we use a direct numerical simulation of large-amplitude, short-wave peristalsis to investigate the relationships between fluid flow, compression frequency, compression wave speed, and tube occlusion. We also explore how the flows produced differ from the criteria outlined in the technical definition of peristalsis. We find that many of the technical criteria are violated by our model: Fluid flow speeds produced by peristalsis are greater than the speeds of the compression wave; fluid flow is pulsatile; and flow speed have a nonlinear relationship with compression frequency when compression wave speed is held constant. We suggest that the technical definition is inappropriate for evaluating peristalsis as a pumping mechanism for biological pumps because they too frequently violate the assumptions inherent in these criteria. Instead, we recommend that a simpler, more inclusive definition be used for assessing peristalsis as a pumping mechanism based on the presence of non-stationary compression sites that propagate unidirectionally along a tube without the need for a structurally fixed flow direction

Exercise Beliefs During Pregnancy in a Predominantly Low-Income, Urban Minority Population

In 2002, and reaffirmed in 2009, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommended that healthy pregnant women exercise for at least thirty minutes most days of the week. Exercise during a healthy pregnancy is safe and has many maternal and fetal benefits. Identified benefits include management of weight gain, improvement in mood, and preparation for labor. Previous research has evaluated women’s beliefs and practices of exercise in pregnancy, but it has focused on affluent, ethnic majority populations. This survey study was performed to assess beliefs about exercise in pregnancy in a predominantly low-income, urban minority population.https://jdc.jefferson.edu/cwicposters/1031/thumbnail.jp

Child Exploitation and the FIFA World Cup: A review of risks and protective interventions

This review was commissioned by the Child Abuse Programme (CAP) of Oak Foundation, a large international philanthropic organisation. It forms part of CAP’s effort to win societal rejection of practices such as the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents around major sporting events (MSEs), and to embed prevention and protection from exploitation as a permanent concern for global sports-related bodies. This review is intended to inform action in countries that host MSEs and to provide some suggestions on how hosting countries can avoid past pitfalls and mistakes in relation to child exploitation, especially economic and sexual exploitation. Importantly, it also acts as a call to action by those responsible for commissioning and staging MSEs, such as FIFA and the IOC, to anticipate, prepare for and adopt risk mitigation strategies and interventions. Positive leadership from these culturally powerful bodies could prove decisive in shifting hearts, minds and actions in the direction of improved safety for children