An examination of the lived experience of students passing through the eleven-plus grammar school selection process: An interpretation through a Bourdieuian lens.

There are currently 153 grammar schools in England (Bolton, 2017). The option to attend a grammar school for secondary education is based on successfully passing the eleven-plus assessment. Government discourse when justifying the grammar school system has repeatedly highlighted the emancipatory nature of the selection process, citing increased opportunities for social mobility for those students from lower income households (Foster, Long, and Roberts 2016). Research has shown that there are potential dangers of high stakes testing on young people in terms of their mental health and wellbeing (Hutchins, 2015). Based on a review of the literature on selective education in England, there is a lack of research that focusses on the emotional impact of the eleven-plus on the young people who are in a selective system. This study aims to obtain accurate information about the very emotional personal experiences of children moving through the selection process for secondary school. The 'draw, write and tell' technique is used in order to gather the data. ‘Draw, write and tell’ involves the child drawing or constructing a piece of art using another medium such as clay and creating a piece of artwork which illustrates their thoughts or feelings about a particular research topic. The child is also encouraged to write words around the work and openly discuss their work with their peers which assists in the accurate interpretation of the work. The data obtained is from a sample of five students from a primary school based on the Wirral peninsula in the North West of England, this is a fully selective education authority. Using the tools of Pierre Bourdieu as a sociological lens through which to explore the selection process, the aim of this research is to highlight the significant socio-economic disparity between students who attend grammar schools and those who do not. Through the careful analysis of the children’s own narratives, many of Bourdieu’s key themes including habitus, capital, fields, doxa and symbolic violence are applied to the existence of the elevenplus and the reasons why students from deprived backgrounds are more likely to be unsuccessful in their endeavours to gain access to grammar schools. A clear emergent theme that comes from the analysis of the narratives within the context of the local data is that students who have access to capital in all its forms, are far more likely to pass the elevenplus. The study draws conclusions that support Bourdieu’s assertion that education serves to maintain the status quo in society and that despite the potential damaging effects of the selection process on the self-esteem of the students, individuals continue to behave as their habitus would predict and many strive to be a part of a field that they deem superior. On this basis it is recommended that if government want to address the issue of social mobility then the focus should be on promoting educational quality in all comprehensive schools in order to make them a more attractive destination. Efforts in improving outcomes from the comprehensive education system may reduce the desire for students to go through the selection process, which creates high levels of stress and anxiety for many, as well as public feelings of failure for the majority. The findings of the thesis suggest that whilst the selective education system does in fact largely maintain the status quo in society, the pressure experienced by students as they go through the selection process is largely dependent upon their socio-economic status and their familial habitus

The expression and influence on yield of the ‘double-podded’ character in chickpeas (Cicer arietinum L.)

The number and percentage of nodes bearing two pods in ‘double-podded’ cultivars of chickpeas grown in northern India (at Hissar) and peninsular India (at Hyderabad) were compared. At Hissar 11% of the pod-bearing nodes were double-podded; at Hyderabad 28% were double-podded on early-sown and 49% on late-sown plants. In all cases the number of double-podded nodes per plant was similar, but different numbers of single-podded nodes per plant were formed, depending on the length of the growing season. At Hyderabad the percentage of double-podded nodes was not significantly affected by population-density nor by shading the plants throughout the reproductive phase. Partial defoliation of the plants reduced the percentage of double-podded nodes, as did the removal of all flowers from the plants for the first two to four weeks of the reproductive phase. The conversion of ‘double-podded’ plants to ‘single-podded’ plants by cutting off one of the flowers at every double-flowered node had no effect on yield at a location in the Himalayas where the double-podded character was poorly expressed, but at Hyderabad the yield of the ‘single-podded’ plants was significantly reduced compared with the ‘double-podded’ controls. The results indicate that the double-podded character can confer an advantage in yield of about 6 to 11% under conditions in which the character is well-expressed

From social contract to 'social contrick' : the depoliticisation of economic policy-making under Harold Wilson, 1974–75

The 1974-79 Labour Governments were elected on the basis of an agreement with the TUC promising a redistribution of income and wealth known as the Social Contract. However, the Government immediately began to marginalise these commitments in favour of preferences for incomes policy and public expenditure cuts, which has led the Social Contract to be described as the 'Social Contrick'. These changes were legitimised through a process of depoliticisation, and using an Open Marxist framework and evidence from the National Archives, the paper will show that the Treasury's exchange rate strategy and the need to secure external finance placed issues of confidence at the centre of political debate, allowing the Government to argue there was no alternative to the introduction of incomes policy and the reduction of public expenditure

A novel hybrid aspirin-NO-releasing compound inhibits TNFalpha release from LPS-activated human monocytes and macrophages

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The cytoprotective nature of nitric oxide (NO) led to development of NO-aspirins in the hope of overcoming the gastric side-effects of aspirin. However, the NO moiety gives these hybrids potential for actions further to their aspirin-mediated anti-platelet and anti-inflammatory effects. Having previously shown that novel NO-aspirin hybrids containing a furoxan NO-releasing group have potent anti-platelet effects, here we investigate their anti-inflammatory properties. Here we examine their effects upon TNFα release from lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated human monocytes and monocyte-derived macrophages and investigate a potential mechanism of action through effects on LPS-stimulated nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) activation.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Peripheral venous blood was drawn from the antecubital fossa of human volunteers. Mononuclear cells were isolated and cultured. The resultant differentiated macrophages were treated with pharmacologically relevant concentrations of either a furoxan-aspirin (B8, B7; 10 μM), their respective furazan NO-free counterparts (B16, B15; 10 μM), aspirin (10 μM), existing nitroaspirin (NCX4016; 10 μM), an NO donor (DEA/NO; 10 μM) or dexamethasone (1 μM), in the presence and absence of LPS (10 ng/ml; 4 h). Parallel experiments were conducted on undifferentiated fresh monocytes. Supernatants were assessed by specific ELISA for TNFα release and by lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assay for cell necrosis. To assess NF-κB activation, the effects of the compounds on the loss of cytoplasmic inhibitor of NF-κB, IκBα (assessed by western blotting) and nuclear localisation (assessed by immunofluorescence) of the p65 subunit of NF-κB were determined.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>B8 significantly reduced TNFα release from LPS-treated macrophages to 36 ± 10% of the LPS control. B8 and B16 significantly inhibited monocyte TNFα release to 28 ± 5, and 49 ± 9% of control, respectively. The B8 effect was equivalent in magnitude to that of dexamethasone, but was not shared by 10 μM DEA/NO, B7, the furazans, aspirin or NCX4016. LDH assessment revealed none of the treatments caused significant cell lysis. LPS stimulated loss of cytoplasmic IκBα and nuclear translocation of the p65 NF-κB subunit was inhibited by the active NO-furoxans.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Here we show that furoxan-aspirin, B8, significantly reduces TNFα release from both monocytes and macrophages and suggest that inhibition of NF-κB activation is a likely mechanism for the effect. This anti-inflammatory action highlights a further therapeutic potential of drugs of this class.</p

Plant responses to fertilization experiments in lowland, species-rich, tropical forests.

We present a meta-analysis of plant responses to fertilization experiments conducted in lowland, species-rich, tropical forests. We also update a key result and present the first species-level analyses of tree growth rates for a 15-yr factorial nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) experiment conducted in central Panama. The update concerns community-level tree growth rates, which responded significantly to the addition of N and K together after 10 yr of fertilization but not after 15 yr. Our experimental soils are infertile for the region, and species whose regional distributions are strongly associated with low soil P availability dominate the local tree flora. Under these circumstances, we expect muted responses to fertilization, and we predicted species associated with low-P soils would respond most slowly. The data did not support this prediction, species-level tree growth responses to P addition were unrelated to species-level soil P associations. The meta-analysis demonstrated that nutrient limitation is widespread in lowland tropical forests and evaluated two directional hypotheses concerning plant responses to N addition and to P addition. The meta-analysis supported the hypothesis that tree (or biomass) growth rate responses to fertilization are weaker in old growth forests and stronger in secondary forests, where rapid biomass accumulation provides a nutrient sink. The meta-analysis found no support for the long-standing hypothesis that plant responses are stronger for P addition and weaker for N addition. We do not advocate discarding the latter hypothesis. There are only 14 fertilization experiments from lowland, species-rich, tropical forests, 13 of the 14 experiments added nutrients for five or fewer years, and responses vary widely among experiments. Potential fertilization responses should be muted when the species present are well adapted to nutrient-poor soils, as is the case in our experiment, and when pest pressure increases with fertilization, as it does in our experiment. The statistical power and especially the duration of fertilization experiments conducted in old growth, tropical forests might be insufficient to detect the slow, modest growth responses that are to be expected

La incuestionabilidad del riesgo

Con anterioridad a la década de 1980, la literatura especializada en análisis y gestión del riesgo estaba dominada por la llamada visión tecnocrática o dominante. Esta visión establecía que los desastres naturales eran sucesos físicos extremos, producidos por una naturaleza caprichosa, externos a lo social y que requerían soluciones tecnológicas y de gestión por parte de expertos. Este artículo se centra en desarrollar una nueva explicación para entender la persistencia hegemónica de la visión tecnocrática basada en el concepto de incuestionabilidad del riesgo. Esta propuesta conceptual hace referencia a la incapacidad y desidia de los expertos, científicos y tomadores de decisiones en general (claimmakers) de identificar y actuar sobre las causas profundas de la producción del riesgo ya que ello conllevaría a cuestionar los imperativos normativos, las necesidades de las elites y los estilos de vida del actual sistema socioeconómico globalizado.Before de 1980s, the natural hazard analysis and management specialized literature was dominated by the so called "dominant" or "technocratic" view. Such perspective had established that natural disasters are extreme physical events caused by a whimsical nature and that these events are external to society. These events required technological and management solutions developed by experts. The current article aims at addressing a new explanatory component in the hegemonic persistence of the technocratic view. Such assumption was based on the "unquestionability of the risk" concept. It is stated that the "unquestionability of the risk" is the overall incapacity and neglect of experts, scientists and decision makers to identify and act over the deep causes of risk production, since it would make them question the normative imperatives and the demands from the elite as well as the life style in nowadays globalized socio-economic system

Cytogerontology since 1881: A reappraisal of August Weismann and a review of modern progress

Cytogerontology, the science of cellular ageing, originated in 1881 with the prediction by August Weismann that the somatic cells of higher animals have limited division potential. Weismann's prediction was derived by considering the role of natural selection in regulating the duration of an organism's life. For various reasons, Weismann's ideas on ageing fell into neglect following his death in 1914, and cytogerontology has only reappeared as a major research area following the demonstration by Hayflick and Moorhead in the early 1960s that diploid human fibroblasts are restricted to a finite number of divisions in vitro. In this review we give a detailed account of Weismann's theory, and we reveal that his ideas were both more extensive in their scope and more pertinent to current research than is generally recognised. We also appraise the progress which has been made over the past hundred years in investigating the causes of ageing, with particular emphasis being given to (i) the evolution of ageing, and (ii) ageing at the cellular level. We critically assess the current state of knowledge in these areas and recommend a series of points as primary targets for future research