Socioeconomic origin, future expectations, and educational achievement: A longitudinal three-generation study of the persistence of family advantage

Expectations about the future direct effort in goal-oriented action and may influence a range of life course outcomes, including educational attainment. Here we investigate whether such expectations are implicated in the dynamics underlying the persistence of educational advantage across family generations, and whether such dynamics have changed in recent decades in view of historical change. Focusing on the role of domain-specific (educational) and general (optimism and control) expectations, we examine parallels across parent–child cohorts in (a) the relationships between parental socioeconomic status (SES) and children’s future expectations and (b) the associations between children’s future expectations and their academic achievement. We estimate structural equation models using data from the prospective multigenerational Youth Development Study (N = 422 three-generation triads [G1-G2-G3]; G1 Mage in 1988 = 41.0 years, G2 Mage in 1989 = 14.7 years, G3 Mage in 2011 = 15.8 years; G2 White in 1989 = 66.4%, G3 White in 2011 = 64.4%; G1 mean annual household income, converted to 2008 equivalents = $41,687, G2 mean annual household income in 2008 dollars =$42,962; G1 mode of educational attainment = high school, G2 mode of educational attainment = some college). We find intergenerational similarity in the relationships between parental educational attainment and children’s future expectations. Children’s educational expectations strongly predicted their academic achievement in the second generation, but not in the third generation. With educational expansion, the more recent cohort had higher educational expectations that were less strongly related to achievement. Overall, the findings reveal dynamics underlying the persistence of educational success across generations. The role of future expectations in this intergenerational process varies across historical time, confirming a central conclusion of life span developmental psychology and life course sociological research that individual functioning is influenced by sociocultural contexts

Solid Particle Interaction Dynamics at Critical Stokes Number in Isotropic Turbulence

Binary solid spherical particle-particle interactions are studied in forced isotropic turbulence at = 29 and 197 using direct numerical simulation and an immersed boundary method. Isotropic turbulence in a periodic box is forced using a linear forcing method to maintain statistically stationary turbulence, with inter-particle interaction modelled using DLVO interaction forces which include attraction and repulsion due to van der Waals and electric double layer potential forces, respectively. Particle collisions are modelled using the inelastic hard sphere model with a coefficient of restitution of 0.4. The DLVO parameters are chosen to be representative of calcite particles, a simulant of nuclear waste material found in storage ponds in the UK. The Reynolds numbers chosen for the boxes are equivalent to typical values of that are found in the bulk flow and viscous sub-layer regions of a turbulent channel flow at =180. The techniques described are used to study the dynamics of critical Stokes number particles in turbulence by analysing probability density functions (PDFs) of collision statistics such as particle displacement and the particles’ relative velocities to determine the likelihood of agglomeration. The results indicate that agglomeration can occur in both the turbulent boxes considered. However, the occurrence is much more likely at lower values due to the higher dispersion of kinetic energy after impact

Self-esteem and self-efficacy in the status attainment process and the multigenerational transmission of advantage

Despite considerable evidence of the importance of self-esteem and self-efficacy for agentic, goal-oriented behavior, little attention has been directed to these psychological dimensions in the status attainment literature. The present research uses data from the longitudinal, three-generation Youth Development Study (N = 422 three-generation triads) to examine the extent to which adolescent self-esteem and economic self-efficacy affect adult educational and income attainment, and whether these psychological resources are transmitted from one generation to the next, accumulating advantage across generations. We present evidence indicating that both self-esteem and economic self-efficacy are implicated in the attainment process. Adolescent economic self-efficacy had a direct positive effect on adult educational attainment and an indirect effect through educational plans. The influence of self-esteem on adult educational attainment was entirely indirect, through school achievement. We also find evidence that economic self-efficacy was transmitted from parents to children. We conclude that future research should more broadly consider psychological resources in attainment processes from a longitudinal multigenerational perspective

The Hollybank Challenges: AT for People with Profound Disabilities

The use of Assistive Technology with people with profound and multiple disabilities is a specialised subfield. Drawing on its authors' experiences and observations at a UK charitable foundation that offers specialised educational, residential and therapeutic facilities, this paper describes the distinct challenges that present themselves when applying AT to address the needs of this often-overlooked sector of the community. It is hoped that this will help raise awareness and contribute to improving the overall quality of AT provision in this area

Methodology for environmental assessment of agri-environment schemes: the Agri Environmental Footprint Index

End of project reportAgri-environment schemes pay farmers for the provision of environmental services. Such schemes tend to have multiple measures that deliver multiple environmental objectives, and there is a lack of consistent methodology with which to measure the environmental benefits of such schemes. Funded by EU FP6, the Agri-Environment Footprint project (www.footprint.rdg.ac.uk) aimed to address this challenge, and this report provides results from selected components of the project.European Unio

Sexual selection and predation drive the repeated evolution of stridulation in Heteroptera and other arthropods

Acoustic and substrate-borne vibrations are among the most widely used signalling modalities in animals. Arthropods display a staggering diversity of vibroacoustic organs generating acoustic sound and/or substrate-borne vibrations, and are fundamental to our broader understanding of the evolution of animal signalling. The primary mechanism that arthropods use to generate vibroacoustic signals is stridulation, which involves the rubbing together of opposing body parts. Although stridulation is common, its behavioural context and evolutionary drivers are often hard to pinpoint, owing to limited synthesis of empirical observations on stridulatory species. This is exacerbated by the diversity of mechanisms involved and the sparsity of their description in the literature, which renders their documentation a challenging task. Here, we present the most comprehensive review to date on the systematic distribution and behavioural context of stridulation. We use the megadiverse heteropteran insects as a model, together with multiple arthropod outgroups (arachnids, myriapods, and selected pancrustaceans). We find that stridulatory vibroacoustic signalling has evolved independently at least 84 times and is present in roughly 20% of Heteroptera, representing a remarkable case of convergent evolution. By studying the behavioural context of stridulation across Heteroptera and 189 outgroup lineages, we find that predation pressure and sexual selection are the main behaviours associated with stridulation across arthropods, adding further evidence for their role as drivers of large-scale signalling and morphological innovation in animals. Remarkably, the absence of tympanal ears in most Heteroptera suggests that they typically cannot detect the acoustic component of their stridulatory signals. This demonstrates that the adoption of new signalling modalities is not always correlated with the ability to perceive those signals, especially when these signals are directed towards interspecific receivers in defensive contexts. Furthermore, by mapping their morphology and systematic distribution, we show that stridulatory organs tend to evolve in specific body parts, likely originating from cleaning motions and pre-copulatory displays that are common to most arthropods. By synthesising our understanding of stridulation and stridulatory organs across major arthropod groups, we create the necessary framework for future studies to explore their systematic and behavioural significance, their potential role in sensory evolution and innovation, and the biomechanics of this mode of signalling

Advertising agency engagement and regulatory empowerment in the world of new media

This paper examines how new media has impacted advertiser behaviours in relation to controversial advertising. This research seeks to explore the extent of advertiser engagement and regulatory empowerment in a new media environment, where an advertiser can show offensive advertising online via new media despite a ban by the self regulatory body in relation to traditional media. Specifically, we conduct ten interviews with members of the advertising industry to develop an understanding of this engagement and empowerment. Findings suggest that advertisers are very aware that new media creates an opportunity for engagement, however,feedback is interpreted subjectively to rationalise continued dissemination of offensive advertising messages and therein advertisers are empowered

Rapid identification of mutations in GJC2 in primary lymphoedema using whole exome sequencing combined with linkage analysis with delineation of the phenotype.

Background: Primary lymphoedema describes a chronic, frequently progressive, failure of lymphatic drainage. This disorder is frequently genetic in origin, and a multigenerational family in which eight individuals developed postnatal lymphoedema of all four limbs was ascertained from the joint Lymphoedema/Genetic clinic at St George's Hospital. Methods: Linkage analysis was used to determine a locus, and exome sequencing was employed to look for causative variants. Results: Linkage analysis revealed cosegregation of a 16.1 Mb haplotype on chromosome 1q42 that contained 173 known or predicted genes. Whole exome sequencing in a single affected individual was undertaken, and the search for the causative variant was focused to within the linkage interval. This approach revealed two novel non-synonymous single nucleotide substitutions within the chromosome 1 locus, in NVL and GJC2. NVL and GJC2 were sequenced in an additional cohort of individuals with a similar phenotype and non-synonymous variants were found in GJC2 in four additional families. Conclusion: This report demonstrates the power of exome sequencing efficiently applied to a traditional positional cloning pipeline in disease gene discovery, and suggests that the phenotype produced by GJC2 mutations is predominantly one of 4 limb lymphoedema