Subordination in Children’s Writing

This paper reports an investigation into the use of subordinate clauses in the writing of a class of seven to nine year old children when attempting five different writing tasks. The investigation was undertaken in part-response to an inspection report on the school by the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) which recommended that the school should extend the writing skills of pupils in this age-range. The importance of developing subordination in writing is related to previous research and to evidence from reviews of Ofsted inspection evidence. The different patterns of subordination are discussed, between tasks and pupils and in relation to variation in the writing of individual children when tackling the different tasks. The paper ends by suggesting how similar informal investigations can assist schools in promoting writing development. It also outlines how the teaching approaches outlined in the National Literacy Strategy will provide opportunities for this promotion, particularly by exploiting links between reading and writing

Investigating the structure of the autism-spectrum quotient using Mokken scaling

Traits similar to those shown in autism spectrum condition (ASC) are apparent in relatives of individuals with ASC, and in the general population without necessarily meeting diagnostic criteria for an ASC. We assess whether the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ), a self-report measure, has hierarchical properties using Mokken scaling. Hierarchical scales allow the presence of a latent trait to be identified by discovering whether and how many specific items form an ordered array along it. Data were collected from 2 groups: (1) people with ASC (n = 449: 240 males, 209 females, M age 35.4 years, SD = 12.8) and (2) university students (n = 943: 465 males, 475 females, M age = 23.0 years, SD = 8.4). A single Mokken scale was obtained in the data from university students and 3 scales were obtained in the data from people with ASC. The scales all showed moderate Mokken scaling properties with the single scale obtained from university students showing weak invariant item ordering and 2 of the scales from people with ASC showing weak invariant item ordering. The AQ formed reliable Mokken scales. There was a large overlap between the scale from the university student sample and the sample with ASC, with the first scale, relating to social interaction, being almost identical. The present study confirms the utility of the AQ as a single instrument that can dimensionalize autistic traits in both university student and clinical samples of ASC, and confirms that items of the AQ are consistently ordered relative to one another

Slit coordinates cardiac morphogenesis in Drosophila

AbstractSlit is a secreted guidance cue that conveys repellent or attractive signals from target and guidepost cells. In Drosophila, responsive cells express one or more of three Robo receptors. The cardial cells of the developing heart express both Slit and Robo2. This is the first report of coincident expression of a Robo and its ligand. In slit mutants, cardial cell alignment, polarization and uniform migration are disrupted. The heart phenotype of robo2 mutants is similar, with fewer migration defects. In the guidance of neuronal growth cones in Drosophila, there is a phenotypic interaction between slit and robo heterozygotes, and also with genes required for Robo signaling. In contrast, in the heart, slit has little or no phenotypic interaction with Robo-related genes, including Robo2, Nck2, and Disabled. However, there is a strong phenotypic interaction with Integrin genes and their ligands, including Laminin and Collagen, and intracellular messengers, including Talin and ILK. This indicates that Slit participates in adhesion or adhesion signaling during heart development

A5_7 Neutron activation of the Unity Node of the ISS

The paper describes the calculation of the annual radiation dose of an astronaut on the ISS from gamma rays created by solar neutron activation of the aluminium structure of the Unity Node. It is calculated that the annual dose is 2.32 x 10-5 mSv, and the solar neutron flux required to reach the maximum legal annual dose is 828 neutrons cm-3 s-1. The results show that the annual neutron activation gamma ray dose is very small compared to the legal limit (some six orders of magnitude smaller)

Particle Kinetics of Gas-Solid Particle Mixtures

In this thesis the interaction of a normal gas dynamic shock wave with a gas containing a distribution of small solid spherical particles of two distinct radii, σ1 and σ2, is studied (1) to demonstrate that the methods of kinetic theory can be extended to treat solid particle collision phenomena in multidimensional gas-particle flows; (2) to elucidate some of the essential physical characteristics associated with particle-particle collision processes; and (3) to give some indication regarding the importance of particle collisions in particle-laden gas flows. It is assumed that upstream of the shock wave particles σ1 are uniformly distributed while particles σ2 are non-uniformly distributed parallel to the shock face and in much smaller numbers than particles σ1. Under these conditions the gas-particle σ1 flow downstream of the shock wave is very nearly one-dimensional and independent of the presence of particles σ2. The usual shock relaxation zone is established by the interaction of particles σ and the gas downstream of the shock wave. The collisional model pro- posed by Marble3 is then extended and used with a modified form of the mean free path method of kinetic theory to calculate the macroscopic distribution and velocity of particles σ2 as determined by the particle σ1- particle σ2 and particle σ2-gas interactions. Within the condition that the random velocity imparted to a particle σ2 by a collision is damped by its viscous interaction with the gas before it suffers another collision, the kinetic theory method established here may be extended to include more general particle-particle and particle-gas interaction laws than those used by Marble. However, the collisional model employed is particularly important because the criteria for its application are easy to establish and because it admits a wide class of physically interesting situations. Within the restrictions of this collision model, it is possible to analyze the macroscopic motion of particles σ2 in three important limiting cases: (σ2/σ1)2 >> ⊥,(σ2/σ1)2 &#60;&#60; ⊥ and (σ2/σ1)2 ~ ⊥. It is found that when (σ2/σ1)2 >> ⊥ there is essentially no redistribution of particles σ2 normal to the gas flow. The only effect of particle σ1 -particle σ2 encounters is a drag force acting to slow down particles σ2. When (σ2/σ1)2 &#60;&#60; ⊥ it is found that particles σ2. may have many collisions during their passage through the shock relaxation zone. As a consequence there may be a substantial redistribution of particles σ2 downstream of the shock wave. The physical features of this process are studied in detail together with the range of validity of this diffusion model. The case (σ2/σ1)2 ~ ⊥ is analyzed under the condition particles σ2 have at most one collision during their passage through the shock relaxation zone. It is found that when the gas or particle σ1 density is low, the single collision effects may be important even when σ2/σ1 differs significantly from unity and the particles are not very small. Under most conditions of practical significance, because there is invariably a distribution of particles sizes present in a dusty gas, the calculation of the particle distribution in the shock relaxation zone should account for the effects of particle-particle encounters. It is suggested that an experimental observation of particle size distribution in a shock relaxation zone can yield significant information on particle-particle and particle-gas interaction laws.</p

My Baby Bird - Living With Type 1 Diabetes: A Phenomenological Analysis

“This is a life-changing experience for all of us. You have one child with diabetes and your whole family has diabetes” (Isenberger, 2009, p. 134). More than two million Canadians have diabetes; 10% live with type 1 diabetes, involving the pancreas not being able to produce insulin (Canadian Diabetes Association, 2009). The incidence of type 1 diabetes is greater than has previously been described (Karvonen et al, 2000). One longitudinal phenomenological study used interviews for data collection to uncover family members’ lived experiences when their children (aged 9-14) were diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (Wennick &amp; Hallstrom, 2006, 2007; Wennick, Lundqvist, &amp; Hallström, 2009). Interestingly, Balfe (2009) wrote, “young adults with type 1 diabetes are a “forgotten group” (p. 128). The purpose of our ongoing phenomenological research is to explore the experiences of young adults and their family members. We are having challenges recruiting potential participants (individuals and their family members) to write about and email their experiences living with or having a young adult member who lives with type 1 diabetes; however, we have one description of a lived experience written by a young adult which is so eloquent, that we wanted to share it with others. We have completed a Giorgi (2009; Giorgi &amp; Giorgi, 2003) descriptive phenomenological analysis guided by the humanbecoming theory for nurses (Parse, 1998) and have related the findings to the literature. This paper includes a moving metaphorical illustration about what it is like for one young adult to live with type 1 diabetes.

A5_8 A Great Punch Line

Leicester University has a prodigious history with its Karate Club and this paper investigates the total force transferred in a Karate punch and the mass limit needed for a person to be able to break wood with such a technique. The results show that the mass needed to overcome the Ultimate Tensile strength of wood is 104 kg

A5_1 Power of a Star in an Unreasonably Priced Car

The inaugural Formula E motor-racing championship features electric cars whose batteries are not currently capable of lasting an entire race, meaning drivers must change cars halfway through. This paper investigates the possibility of using solar panels to recharge the battery during the race; thereby ensuring only 1 car per driver is required. Whilst it is established that the car could support a sufficiently large solar array, the required area of 1920m2 is clearly too large to be of practical use

A5_5 Don’t go to the Dark Side!

This paper investigates the assumptions made in “A5_2 Living in the Dark” as to whether a satellite at the second Lagrangian point will be completely in the shadow of its host planet. The paper finds that while this assumption holds to some degree for satellites in orbit about Mercury and a hot Jupiter at Mercury’s orbital distance, a satellite at Earth’s L2 point would still receive a portion of its flux directly from the Sun