Does Long-Term Macrophyte Management in Lakes Affect Biotic Richness and Diversity?

We hypothesize that the richness and diversity of the biota in Lake Moraine (42°50’47”N, 75°31’39”W) in New York have been negatively impacted by 60 years of macrophyte and algae management to control Eurasian watermilfoil ( Myriophyllum spicatum L.) and associated noxious plants. To test this hypothesis we compare water quality characteristics, richness and selected indicators of plant diversity, zooplankton, benthic macroinvertebrates and fish in Lake Moraine with those in nearby Hatch Lake (42°50’06”N, 75°40’67”W). The latter is of similar size and would be expected to have similar biota, but has not been subjected to management. Measurements of temperature, pH, oxygen, conductivity, Secchi transparency, calcium, total phosphorus and nitrites + nitrates are comparable. Taxa richness and the diversity indices applied to the aquatic macrophytes are similar in both lakes. (PDF has 8 pages.

Identity and acceptance of mental health problems and related disabilities in individuals with severe and enduring mental health problems

The research literature proposes that the concept of identity may be central to understanding responses to having severe and enduring mental health problems. Theorists hypothesise a relationship between identity and the individual's acceptance of having mental health problems mediated by societal pressures. Given the inconclusive findings from research carried out a decade ago, this study has attempted to explore whether the participants' identification as a community member or patient affected, or was affected by, their belief that they have mental health problems, need medication, need to see healthcare professionals and their awareness of disabilities. A quantitative methodology was employed to examine the main variables. Forty five individuals living in the community with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder or schizoaffective disorder were interviewed. Both within-group and between-group analyses were employed. The relationship between the independent variables and their relationships with sociodemographic and diagnostic factors, self-esteem and health and social functioning were explored. Measures that had been either standardised or used in previous related research were employed. The three central measures were taken from previous research studies in this area. Socio-demographic information was obtained from clinical files. Neither beliefs about mental health problems nor awareness of disabilities were found to be associated with identity, as measured in this study. Health and social functioning and work-related variables appeared to contribute to an identification as a community member. It is suggested that defensive responses to disabilities existed to protect the individual's sense of self-worth. Furthermore, socially valued experiences prior to illness and level of ability may have contributed to the participants' identification as a community member. The clinical implications are discussed

Westminster Hospital.

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Bifurcations and chaotic dynamics in a tumour-immune-virus system

Despite mounting evidence that oncolytic viruses can be effective in treating cancer, understanding the details of the interactions between tumour cells, oncolytic viruses and immune cells that could lead to tumour control or tumour escape is still an open problem. Mathematical modelling of cancer oncolytic therapies has been used to investigate the biological mechanisms behind the observed temporal patterns of tumour growth. However, many models exhibit very complex dynamics, which renders them difficult to investigate. In this case, bifurcation diagrams could enable the visualisation of model dynamics by identifying (in the parameter space) the particular transition points between different behaviours. Here, we describe and investigate two simple mathematical models for oncolytic virus cancer therapy, with constant and immunity-dependent carrying capacity. While both models can exhibit complex dynamics, namely fixed points, periodic orbits and chaotic behaviours, only the model with immunity-dependent carrying capacity can exhibit them for biologically realistic situations, i.e., before the tumour grows too large and the experiment is terminated. Moreover, with the help of the bifurcation diagrams we uncover two unexpected behaviours in virus-tumour dynamics: (i) for short virus half-life, the tumour size seems to be too small to be detected, while for long virus half-life the tumour grows to larger sizes that can be detected; (ii) some model parameters have opposite effects on the transient and asymptotic dynamics of the tumour.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Multilingual gendered identities: female undergraduate students in London talk about heritage languages

In this paper I explore how a group of female university students, mostly British Asian and in their late teens and early twenties, perform femininities in talk about heritage languages. I argue that analysis of this talk reveals ways in which the participants enact ‘culturally intelligible’ gendered subject positions. This frequently involves negotiating the norms of ‘heteronormativity’, constituting femininity in terms of marriage, motherhood and maintenance of heritage culture and language, and ‘girl power’, constituting femininity in terms of youth, sassiness, glamour and individualism. For these young women, I ask whether higher education can become a site in which they have the opportunities to explore these identifications and examine other ways of imagining the self and what their stories suggest about ‘doing being’ a young British Asian woman in London

Lexical acquisition through category matching: 12-month-old infants associate words to visual categories

Although it is widely recognized that human infants build a sizeable conceptual repertoire before mastering language, it remains a matter of debate whether and to what extent early conceptual and category knowledge contributes to language development. We addressed this question by investigating whether 12-month-olds used preverbal categories to discover the meanings of new words. We showed that one group of infants (n = 18) readily extended novel labels to previously unseen exemplars of preverbal visual categories after only a single labeling episode, but two other groups struggled to do so when taught labels for unfamiliar categories (those who had been previously exposed, n = 18, or not exposed, n = 18, to category tokens). These results suggest that infants expect labels to denote categories of objects and are equipped with learning mechanisms responsible for matching prelinguistic knowledge structures with linguistic inputs. This ability is consistent with the idea that our conceptual machinery provides building blocks for vocabulary and language acquisition

The illusion of competency versus the desirability of expertise: Seeking a common standard for support professions in sport

In this paper we examine and challenge the competency-based models which currently dominate accreditation and development systems in sport support disciplines, largely the sciences and coaching. Through consideration of exemplar shortcomings, the limitations of competency-based systems are presented as failing to cater for the complexity of decision making and the need for proactive experimentation essential to effective practice. To provide a better fit with the challenges of the various disciplines in their work with performers, an alternative approach is presented which focuses on the promotion, evaluation and elaboration of expertise. Such an approach resonates with important characteristics of professions, whilst also providing for the essential ‘shades of grey’ inherent in work with human participants. Key differences between the approaches are considered through exemplars of evaluation processes. The expertise-focused method, although inherently more complex, is seen as offering a less ambiguous and more positive route, both through more accurate representation of essential professional competence and through facilitation of future growth in proficiency and evolution of expertise in practice. Examples from the literature are also presented, offering further support for the practicalities of this approach

Understanding the process of psychological development in youth athletes attending an intensive wrestling camp

This study used a grounded theory methodology to understand if and how psychological development in youth athletes was facilitated by an ‘intensive’ summer wrestling camp experience. The theoretical sampling approach involved 10 athlete participants of the camp, nine parents of athletes, the director of the camp, and four camp staff members, who took part in a series of interviews before, during, and after the camp. Two researchers were also embedded in the camp and attended all sessions, took detailed notes, collected camp materials, and conducted observations. Following a grounded theory analysis approach, a model is presented that outlines how youth participants’ developed psychological qualities from the coach created hallenges and adversity that were systematically designed to facilitate sport performance enhancement and life skills. Variations emerged in psychological antecedents and characteristics, how the challenging wrestling camp environment was interpreted and experienced, and how learning was transferred to sport and life domains outside of the wrestling camp. This study provided insight into a unique youth sport context that was able to simultaneously develop psychological qualities to be used as sport performance enhancement and life skills

Defining the gap between research and practice in public relations programme evaluation - towards a new research agenda

The current situation in public relations programme evaluation is neatly summarized by McCoy who commented that 'probably the most common buzzwords in public relations in the last ten years have been evaluation and accountability' (McCoy 2005, 3). This paper examines the academic and practitioner-based literature and research on programme evaluation and it detects different priorities and approaches that may partly explain why the debate on acceptable and agreed evaluation methods continues. It analyses those differences and proposes a research agenda to bridge the gap and move the debate forward