Academic self-concept, gender and single-sex schooling

This paper assesses gender differences in academic self-concept for a cohort of children born in 1958 (the National Child Development Study). We address the question of whether attending single-sex or co-educational schools affected students’ perceptions of their own academic abilities (academic self-concept). Academic selfconcept was found to be highly gendered, even controlling for prior test scores. Boys had higher self-concepts in maths and science, and girls in English. Single-sex schooling reduced the gender gap in self-concept, while selective schooling was linked to lower academic self-concept overall

Chimeric Bovine Respiratory Syncytial Virus with Attachment and Fusion Glycoproteins Replaced by Bovine Parainfluenza Virus Type 3 Hemagglutinin-Neuraminidase and Fusion Proteins

Chimeric bovine respiratory syncytial viruses (BRSV) expressing glycoproteins of bovine parainfluenza virus type 3 (BPIV-3) instead of BRSV glycoproteins were generated from cDNA. In the BRSV antigenome cDNA, the open reading frames of the major BRSV glycoproteins, attachment protein G and fusion protein F, were replaced individually or together by those of the BPIV-3 hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) and/or fusion (F) glycoproteins. Recombinant virus could not be recovered from cDNA when the BRSV F open reading frame was replaced by the BPIV-3 F open reading frame. However, cDNA recovery of the chimeric virus rBRSV-HNF, with both glycoproteins replaced simultaneously, and of the chimeric virus rBRSV-HN, with the BRSV G protein replaced by BPIV-3 HN, was successful. The replication rates of both chimeras were similar to that of standard rBRSV. Moreover, rBRSV-HNF was neutralized by antibodies specific for BPIV-3, but not by antibodies specific to BRSV, demonstrating that the BRSV glycoproteins can be functionally replaced by BPIV-3 glycoproteins. In contrast, rBRSV-HN was neutralized by BRSV-specific antisera, but not by BPIV-3 specific sera, showing that infection of rBRSV-HN is mediated by BRSV F. Hemadsorption of cells infected with rBRSV-HNF and rBRSV-HN proved that BPIV-3 HN protein expressed by rBRSV is functional. Colocalization of the BPIV-3 glycoproteins with BRSV M protein was demonstrated by confocal laser scan microscopy. Moreover, protein analysis revealed that the BPIV-3 glycoproteins were present in chimeric virions. Taken together, these data indicate that the heterologous glycoproteins were not only expressed but were incorporated into the envelope of recombinant BRSV. Thus, the envelope glycoproteins derived from a member of the Respirovirus genus can together functionally replace their homologs in a Pneumovirus background

Space, place and social exclusion: an ethnographic study of young people outside education and employment

This paper reports on the first two years of a longitudinal ethnographic study of 20 young people in northern England who have been officially classified as not in education, employment or training (NEET). Drawing on Henri Lefebvre's conceptualisation of space as perceived, conceived and lived, this paper analyses how young people comprehend, use and encounter places and spaces relating to residence, work and learning, and the role of spatialities in reproducing or interrupting aspects of social exclusion and marginality. A number of key themes emerging from the data are discussed, including the interaction of conceived, perceived and lived space in young people's struggles for subjectivity, the importance of agency and biography in shaping how different lived spaces emerge from this interaction, and the possibility of critical incidents causing shifts in lived space that intensify the difficulties young people face in finding appropriate education or employment. A particularly significant finding is that participants often feel isolated and lack control over their lives, resulting in alienation from authority and community that tends to further marginalise these young people, distancing them from meaningful contexts of education, training and work