Beings in their own right? Exploring Children and young people's sibling and twin relationships in the Minority World

This paper examines the contributions that the sociological study of sibship and twinship in the Minority World can make to childhood studies. It argues that, in providing one forum within which to explore children and young people's social relationships, we can add to our understanding of children and young people's interdependence and develop a more nuanced understanding of agency. As emergent subjects, children, young people and adults are in a process of ‘becoming’. However, this does not mean that they can ‘become’ anything they choose to. The notion of negotiated interdependence (Punch 2002) is useful in helping us to grasp the contingent nature of children and young people's agency

Young people today: news media, policy and youth justice

The new sociology of childhood sees children as competent social agents with important contributions to make. And yet the phase of childhood is fraught with tensions and contradictions. Public policies are required, not only to protect children, but also to control them and regulate their behaviour. For children and young people in the UK, youth justice has become increasingly punitive. At the same time, social policies have focused more on children's inclusion and participation. In this interplay of conflict and contradictions, the role the media play is critical in contributing to the moral panic about childhood and youth. In this article, we consider media representations of “antisocial” children and young people and how this belies a moral response to the nature of contemporary childhood. We conclude by considering how a rights-based approach might help redress the moralised politics of childhood representations in the media

CD80 costimulation is required for Th2 cell cytokine production but not for antigen-specific accumulation and migration into the lung

The CD28 ligands CD80 and CD86 are expressed on APC, and both provide costimulatory function. However, the reason for the expression of two separate CD28 ligands remains unclear. We have previously shown that blockade of CD80 costimulation by Y100F-Ig, a CTL-associated Ag-4 (CTLA4)-Ig mutant that does not bind CD86, inhibits the development of lung inflammatory immune responses, but does not affect blood eosinophilia or Ab production. Each of those responses was inhibited by treatment with CTLA4-Ig, which binds both CD80 and CD86. To clarify the mechanism underlying these observations we have developed a model of lung inflammation using adoptively transferred CD4(+) T cells expressing a Valpha11(+)Vbeta3(+) transgenic TCR specific for I-E(k) and moth cytochrome c. Treatment with Y100F-Ig inhibited the induction of lung eosinophilia in adoptively transferred mice. However, Y100F-Ig did not detectably affect the accumulation of Ag-specific T cells at the site of peptide deposit or in the draining lymphoid tissues. Acquisition of an activated phenotype and expression of adhesion molecules required for migration into the lung were modestly affected. Importantly, treatment with Y100F-Ig diminished the ability of T cells to produce the cytokines IL-4 and IL-5 following intranasal challenge with Ag. All the responses examined were severely inhibited by treatment with CTLA4-Ig. We conclude that T cells require CD80 costimulation for the optimal production of IL-5 following intranasal administration of Ag. Decreased IL-5 production is the most likely explanation for the diminished airway eosinophilia observed

Investigating child participation in the everyday talk of a teacher and children in a preparatory year

In early years research, policy and education, a democratic perspective that positions children as participants and citizens is increasingly emphasized. These ideas take seriously listening to children’s opinions and respecting children’s influence over their everyday affairs. While much political and social investment has been paid to the inclusion of participatory approaches little has been reported on the practical achievement of such an approach in the day to day of early childhood education within school settings. This paper investigates talk and interaction in the everyday activities of a teacher and children in an Australian preparatory class (for children age 4-6 years) to see how ideas of child participation are experienced. We use an interactional analytic approach to demonstrate how participatory methods are employed in practical ways to manage routine interactions. Analysis shows that whilst the teacher seeks the children’s opinion and involves them in decision-making, child participation is at times constrained by the context and institutional categories of “teacher” and “student” that are jointly produced in their talk. The paper highlights tensions that arise for teachers as they balance a pedagogical intent of “teaching” and the associated institutional expectations, with efforts to engage children in decision-making. Recommendations include adopting a variety of conversational styles when engaging with children; consideration of temporal concerns and the need to acknowledge the culture of the school

Understanding children’s constructions of meanings about other children: implications for inclusiveeducation

This paper explores the factors that influence the way children construct meanings about other children, and especially those who seem to experience marginalisation, within school contexts. The research involved an ethnographic study in a primary school in Cyprus over a period of 5 months. Qualitative methods were used, particularly participant observations and interviews with children. Interpretation of the data suggests that children's perceptions about other children, and especially those who come to experience marginalisation, are influenced by the following factors: other children and the interactions between them; adults’ way of behaving in the school; the existing structures within the school; and the cultures of the school and the wider educational context. Even though the most powerful factor was viewed to be the adults’ influence, it was rather the interweaving between different factors that seemed to lead to the creation of particular meanings for other children. In the end, it is argued that children's voices should be seen as an essential element within the process of developing inclusive practices.<br/

Light Hadron Masses from Lattice QCD

This article reviews lattice QCD results for the light hadron spectrum. We give an overview of different formulations of lattice QCD, with discussions on the fermion doubling problem and improvement programs. We summarize recent developments in algorithms and analysis techniques, that render calculations with light, dynamical quarks feasible on present day computer resources. Finally, we summarize spectrum results for ground state hadrons and resonances using various actions.Comment: 53 pages, 24 figures, one table; Rev.Mod.Phys. (published version); v2: corrected typ

Damping mechanisms of the Delta resonance in nuclei

The damping mechanisms of the Delta(1232) resonance in nuclei are studied by analyzing the quasi-free decay reactions 12C(pi+,pi+ p)11B and 12C(3He,t pi+ p)11B and the 2p emission reactions 12C(pi+,pp)10B and 12C(3He,t pp)10B. The coincidence cross sections are calculated within the framework of the isobar-hole model. It is found that the 2p emission process induced by the decay of the Delta resonance in the nucleus can be consistently described by a pi+rho+g' model for the Delta+N -> N+N decay interaction.Comment: 9 pages, 5 Postscript figures, uses RevTex, psfig.sty. Accepted by Physical Review

Virtual Compton Scattering and the Generalized Polarizabilities of the Proton at Q^2=0.92 and 1.76 GeV^2

Virtual Compton Scattering (VCS) on the proton has been studied at Jefferson Lab using the exclusive photon electroproduction reaction (e p --> e p gamma). This paper gives a detailed account of the analysis which has led to the determination of the structure functions P_LL-P_TT/epsilon and P_LT, and the electric and magnetic generalized polarizabilities (GPs) alpha_E(Q^2) and beta_M(Q^2) at values of the four-momentum transfer squared Q^2= 0.92 and 1.76 GeV^2. These data, together with the results of VCS experiments at lower momenta, help building a coherent picture of the electric and magnetic GPs of the proton over the full measured Q^2-range, and point to their non-trivial behavior.Comment: version 2: modified according to PRC Editor's and Referee's recommendations. Archival paper for the E93-050 experiment at JLab Hall A. 28 pages, 23 figures, 5 cross-section tables. To be submitted to Phys.Rev.

The ratio of proton's electric to magnetic form factors measured by polarization transfer

The ratio of the proton's elastic electromagnetic form factors was obtained by measuring the transverse and longitudinal polarizations of recoiling protons from the elastic scattering of polarized electrons with unpolarized protons. The ratio of the electric to magnetic form factor is proportional to the ratio of the transverse to longitudinal recoil polarizations. The ratio was measured over a range of four-momentum transfer squared between 0.5 and 3.5 GeV-squared. Simultaneous measurement of transverse and longitudinal polarizations in a polarimeter provides good control of the systematic uncertainty. The results for the ratio of the proton's electric to magnetic form factors show a systematic decrease with increasing four momentum squared, indicating for the first time a marked difference in the spatial distribution of charge and magnetization currents in the proton.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, version of paper after corrections due to referees comments and shortened by removing one figure for Physical Review Letter

Backward electroproduction of pi0 mesons on protons in the region of nucleon resonances at four momentum transfer squared Q**2 = 1.0 GeV**2

Exclusive electroproduction of pi0 mesons on protons in the backward hemisphere has been studied at Q**2 = 1.0 GeV**2 by detecting protons in the forward direction in coincidence with scattered electrons from the 4 GeV electron beam in Jefferson Lab's Hall A. The data span the range of the total (gamma* p) center-of-mass energy W from the pion production threshold to W = 2.0 GeV. The differential cross sections sigma_T+epsilon*sigma_L, sigma_TL, and sigma_TT were separated from the azimuthal distribution and are presented together with the MAID and SAID parametrizations.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures, information can be found at http://hallaweb.jlab.org/experiment/E93-050/vcs.html updated content about SAID analysis updated MAID results following new reference nucl-th/0310041 updated figure