An exploration of Key Stage 3 girls' peer group friendships outside the class-room and their influence within the class-room

Whilst there is some literature in the UK and internationally surrounding both peer groups and their activities during break-times and more generally group-work within the class-room, there is no research, as yet, that focuses specifically on the influence that peer groups' activity during break-times has on pedagogy. This is an under-explored and under-theorised area which suggests that there is little understanding in education of how social relationships outside the class-room influence learning within the class-room. Moreover, much of the available literature focusing on teaching and learning seems to have been underpinned by traditional models of learning. This research seeks to highlight the importance of friendships and its direct relationship with learning through the exploration and application of the socio-cultural theory (in particular through the work of Vygotsky and his zone of proximal development, Lave and Wenger's (1998) Communities of Practice literature and Bronfenbrenner's (1979) ecological approach). Here, learning is reconceptualised by moving the focus away from the individual in isolation and the personal, towards a focus on the social and active participation. This qualitative research Main Study was carried out within the autumn term in a secondary school in Wales. Taking part in the research were a total of forty-four female pupils (all within Key Stage 3) and eight teachers. The pupils participated in focus groups (which were all tape-recorded) and one friendship group from each year volunteered for participant observation which took place over two full days per group. The teachers were all interviewed individually using semi-structured interviews. The data from the field was all transcribed and analysed using the socio-cultural framework. A narrative was also written to help to provide a more holistic view of the data and to help situate the experience of friendships within the whole school day. One main over-riding theme emerged from the transcription, that of 'the secret world of friendship'. The theme revealed how much of peer group activity during break-times was opaque to many teachers and how pupils played out their powerlessness within the class-room in the face of oppression (due to the way that the education system is presently structured). Many secret notes were passed around and personal objects used as acts of resistance. The data showed that negotiating identities (by curtailing the tension between the personal and the social) and generally managing social relationships were a key element in a school pupil's life and important in their overall identity, but this area still remains predominantly secret to, or ignored by, many teachers. The socio-cultural approach highlights many of the tensions that are embedded within the present structure of the education system as it stands. By adopting this approach, or gaining an awareness of its key premises, the personal and the social become reunited and peer groups can become a positive and productive part of learning

Degeneration of the intervertebral disc

The intervertebral disc is a cartilaginous structure that resembles articular cartilage in its biochemistry, but morphologically it is clearly different. It shows degenerative and ageing changes earlier than does any other connective tissue in the body. It is believed to be important clinically because there is an association of disc degeneration with back pain. Current treatments are predominantly conservative or, less commonly, surgical; in many cases there is no clear diagnosis and therapy is considered inadequate. New developments, such as genetic and biological approaches, may allow better diagnosis and treatments in the future

Understanding the Functional Mobility of Adults with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) Through the International Classification of Functioning (ICF)

This phenomenological study explored the lived experience of six adults with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and its potential impact on functional mobility. Utilising the International Classification of Functioning (World Health Organisation, 2001), the data derived from interviews were analysed to consider how persistent motor impairments impact on activity engagement and participation. Recent Findings Much of the research evidence pertaining to DCD focuses on children. However, there is increasing acknowledgment that for some, the motor impairments synonymous with DCD continue into adulthood. Summary The findings from this study suggest that for this group of participants, functional mobility can be compromised, restricting activity and participation. At a body structure/function level, participants identified additional impairments that moved beyond mobility, suggesting that the secondary consequences of fatigue and anxiety were disabling. However, personal factors were seen to mitigate some difficulties encountered to allow participants to remain actively engaged in a range of adult roles

Practical and Theoretical Underpinnings of INFFER (Investment Framework For Environmental Resources)

INFFER (Investment Framework for Environmental Resources) was developed to help investors of public funds to improve the delivery of outcomes from environmental programs. It assists environmental managers to design projects, to select delivery mechanisms, and to rank competing projects on the basis of benefits and costs. The design of INFFER and the activities of the INFFER projects are based on extensive experience of working with environmental managers and policy makers. This experience has highlighted a number of important practical lessons, that have strongly influenced the design and implementation of INFFER. These lessons include the need for simplicity, training and support of users, trusting relationships with users, transparency, flexibility, compatibility with the needs and contexts of users, and supportive institutional arrangements. In additions, the developers have paid close attention to the need for processes that are theoretically rigorous, resulting in a tool that deals appropriately and consistently with projects for different assets types, of different scales and durations, consistent with Benefit: Cost Analysis. The paper outlines theoretical considerations underpinning the way that INFFER deals with asset valuation, time lags, uncertainty, and the design of the metric used to rank projects.Environmental Economics and Policy,

Lessons from implementing INFFER with regional catchment management organisations

Investment in natural resource management (NRM) by regional organisations in Australia has been widely criticised for failing to achieve substantial environmental outcomes. The Investment Framework for Environmental Resources (INFFER) is a tool for developing and prioritising projects to address environmental issues such as water quality and biodiversity decline, environmental pest impacts and land degradation. It aims to achieve the most valuable environmental outcomes with the available resources. During 2008 and 2009 INFFER has been implemented with a number of catchment management organisations (CMOs) throughout Australia. In this paper, we report on lessons from and implications of this experience. Data on implementation were collected in formal and informal ways from staff of organisations that were using INFFER and state agencies, including: an on-line survey, benchmarking questions at training workshops, a formal on-going monitoring and evaluation process tracking the use of INFFER by CMOs, and comments made in correspondence and informal feedback to the INFFER team. In this paper we describe issues that arise when implementing INFFER with regions and organisations, and how the INFFER team has attempted to address these. Key issues include a desire to consider the community as an asset and emphasise capacity building, a rejection of the need for targeted investment, and various difficulties associated with specific aspects of the Framework. Existing institutional arrangements, and the legacy of past institutional arrangements, remain serious barriers to the adoption of methods to improve environmental outcomes from NRM investment. A lack of rigour in investment planning has become accepted as the norm, and resistance to processes to improve rigour is common. However, many CMOs want to achieve better environmental outcomes with their limited funds, and we report on our efforts to work with them to achieve this by using INFFER.Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

The influence of nutrient supply and cell density on the growth and survival of intervertebral disc cells in 3D culture

The adult human intervertebral disc (IVD) is normally avascular. Changes to the extracellular matrix in degenerative disc disease may promote vascularisation and subsequently alter cell nutrition and disc homeostasis. This study examines the influence of cell density and the presence of glucose and serum on the proliferation and survival of IVD cells in 3D culture. Bovine nucleus pulposus (NP) cells were seeded at a range of cell densities (1.25 × 10(5)-10(6) cells/mL) and cultured in alginate beads under standard culture conditions (with 3.15 g/L glucose and 10 % serum), or without glucose and/or 20% serum. Cell proliferation, apoptosis and cell senescence were examined after 8 days in culture. Under standard culture conditions, NP cell proliferation and cluster formation was inversely related to cell seeding density, whilst the number of apoptotic cells and enucleated "ghost" cells was positively correlated to cell seeding density. Increasing serum levels from 10% to 20% was associated with increased cluster size and also an increased prevalence of apoptotic cells within clusters. Omitting glucose produced even larger clusters and also more apoptotic and senescent cells. These studies demonstrate that NP cell growth and survival are influenced both by cell density and the availability of serum or nutrients, such as glucose. The observation of clustered, senescent, apoptotic or "ghost" cells in vitro suggests that environmental factors may influence the formation of these phenotypes that have been previously reported in vivo. Hence this study has implications for both our understanding of degenerative disc disease and also cell-based therapy using cells cultured in vitro