Gender stereotypes in UK children and adolescents:changing patterns of knowledge and endorsement

Across two studies, we investigated gender stereotype knowledge and endorsement in UK schoolchildren, and their impact on academic subject choice. In Study 1, children aged 9–11 (N = 68) and 13–15 (N = 61) completed a newly developed Gender Attribute scale assessing their knowledge and endorsement of gender stereotypes relating to academic subjects and occupations. Participants demonstrated gender stereotype knowledge and endorsement, although significantly higher knowledge than endorsement scores indicated a level of stereotype rejection. Stereotype knowledge was greater in the older age group, and older girls showed significantly higher levels of stereotype rejection than all other groups. In Study 2, children aged 13–15 (N = 165) completed the Gender Attribute scale and provided information on their school subject choices. Patterns of stereotype knowledge and endorsement followed those of Study 1. Subject choice information showed that boys selected significantly more masculine than feminine subjects, while girls chose a similar proportion of each. Further, boys’ level of gender stereotype endorsement predicted their subject choices, while girls’ did not. We suggest that in contemporary UK some progress is being made in relation to girls challenging stereotypes that work against them but that more work is needed to encourage boys into female-dominated disciplines

Developing a research design for comparative evaluation of marking and feedback support systems

Marking and provision of formative feedback on student assessment items are essential but onerous and potentially error prone activities in teaching and learning. Marking and Feedback Support Systems (MFSS) aim to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of human (not automated) marking and provision of feedback, resulting in reduced marking time, improved accuracy of marks, improved student satisfaction with feedback, and improved student learning. This paper highlights issues in rigorous evaluation of MFSS, including potential confounding variables as well as ethical issues relating to fairness of actual student assessments during evaluation. To address these issues the paper proposes an evaluation research approach, which combines artificial evaluation in the form of a controlled field experiment with naturalistic evaluation in the form of a field study, with the evaluation to be conducted through the live application of the MFSS being evaluated on a variety of units, assessment items, and marking schemes. The controlled field experiment approach requires the assessment item for each student to be marked once each using each MFSS together with a manual (non-MFSS) marking control method. It also requires markers to use all the MFSS as well as the manual method. Through such a design, the results of the comparative evaluation will facilitate design-based education research to further develop MFSS with the overall goal of more efficient and effective assessment and feedback systems and practices to enhance teaching and learning

Hubble Space Telescope Spectroscopy of the Balmer lines in Sirius B

Sirius B is the nearest and brightest of all white dwarfs, but it is very difficult to observe at visible wavelengths due to the overwhelming scattered light contribution from Sirius A. However, from space we can take advantage of the superb spatial resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope to resolve the A and B components. Since the closest approach in 1993, the separation between the two stars has become increasingly favourable and we have recently been able to obtain a spectrum of the complete Balmer line series for Sirius B using HST?s Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS). The quality of the STIS spectra greatly exceed that of previous ground-based spectra, and can be used to provide an important determination of the stellar temperature (Teff = 25193K) and gravity (log g = 8.556). In addition we have obtained a new, more accurate, gravitational red-shift of 80.42 +/- 4.83 km s-1 for Sirius B. Combining these results with the photometric data and the Hipparcos parallax we obtain new determinations of the stellar mass for comparison with the theoretical mass-radius relation. However, there are some disparities between the results obtained independently from log g and the gravitational redshift which may arise from flux losses in the narrow 50x0.2arcsec slit. Combining our measurements of Teff and log g with the Wood (1995) evolutionary mass-radius relation we get a best estimate for the white dwarf mass of 0.978 M. Within the overall uncertainties, this is in agreement with a mass of 1.02 M obtained by matching our new gravitational red-shift to the theoretical M/R relation.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societ

Local elites and social control: Building council houses in Stirling between the wars

This article examines the role played by local councillors in constructing new housing in Scotland during the inter-war period. Rather than view local authorities as simply the objective agency of central government's ambitions to construct council houses, we argue that the self-interest and motivations of councillors have to be recognized as significant factors in this process. It is argued also that the concerns of private landlords were neither ignored nor sacrificed in the rush to build new housing. Rather, given that councils remained dominated by local business men, many of whom were private landlords, councillors acted in ways to protect their own material and class interests. In so doing, they consciously, if implicitly, shaped the social geography of twentieth-century Scotland

The Epidemiology, Management, and Outcome of Field Hockey-related Fractures in a Standard Population

Background: Field hockey is one of the most popular sports in the world, yet little is known about patient outcome following fracture injuries sustained during this sport. Objectives: The aim of this study is to describe the epidemiology, management, and outcome of field hockey-related fractures in a known UK population at all skill levels. Materials and Methods: All fractures sustained during field hockey from 2007 to 2008 within the adult Lothian population were prospectively recorded and confirmed by an orthopedic surgeon during treatment at the sole adult orthopedic center in the region. Nonresident individuals were not included in the study. Follow-up data were obtained in September 2010 to determine return rates and times to field hockey. Results: Nineteen fractures were recorded over the study period in 19 patients. Seventeen (89) of the fractures were recorded in the upper limb, with 15 (79) recorded in hand. Eighteen fractures (85) in 18 patients (95) were followed up at a mean interval of 31 months (range: 25-37 months; standard deviation SD 2.1 months). The mean time for return to field hockey from injury was 10.8 weeks (range: 3-26 weeks; SD 7.1 weeks). For patients with upper limb injuries, the mean time was 9.2 weeks (range: 3-20 weeks; SD 5.7 weeks), compared to 22 weeks (range: 18-26 weeks; SD 5.7 weeks) for patients with lower limb injuries. Eleven percent of the cohort did not return to field hockey. Seventy-eight percent of the cohort returned to field hockey at the same level or higher. Fifty percent had ongoing related problems, yet only 17% had impaired field hockey ability because of these problems. Fractures with the highest morbidity in not returning to field hockey were as follows: Metacarpal 14% and finger phalanx 13%. Conclusions: The significant majority of field hockey-related fractures are sustained in the upper limb, notably the hand. Around ninety percent of patients sustaining a fracture during field hockey will return to this sport at a similar level. While half of these will have persisting symptoms 2 years postinjury, only one-third of symptomatic patients will have impaired field hockey ability because of this

Bend propagation in the flagella of migrating human sperm

A pre-requisite for sexual reproduction is successful unification of the male and female gametes; in externally-fertilising echinoderms the male gamete is brought into close proximity to the female gamete through chemotaxis, the associated signalling and flagellar beat changes being elegantly characterised in several species. In the human, sperm traverse a relatively high-viscosity mucus coating the tract surfaces, there being a tantalising possible role for chemotaxis. To understand human sperm migration and guidance, studies must therefore employ similar viscous in vitro environments. High frame rate digital imaging is used for the first time to characterise the flagellar movement of migrating sperm in low and high viscosities. While qualitative features have been reported previously, we show in precise spatial and temporal detail waveform evolution along the flagellum. In low viscosity the flagellum continuously moves out of the focal plane, compromising the measurement of true curvature, nonetheless the presence of torsion can be inferred. In high viscosities curvature can be accurately determined and we show how waves propagate at approximately constant speed. Progressing waves increase in curvature approximately linearly except for a sharper increase over a distance 20-27 m from the head/midpiece junction. Curvature modulation, likely influenced by the outer dense fibres, creates the characteristic waveforms of high viscosity swimming, with remarkably effective cell progression against greatly increased resistance, even in high viscosity liquids. Assessment of motility in physiological viscosities will be essential in future basic research, studies of chemotaxis and novel diagnostics

Childhood and the politics of scale: Descaling children's geographies?

This is the post-print version of the final published paper that is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2008 SAGE Publications.The past decade has witnessed a resurgence of interest in the geographies of children's lives, and particularly in engaging the voices and activities of young people in geographical research. Much of this growing body of scholarship is characterized by a very parochial locus of interest — the neighbourhood, playground, shopping mall or journey to school. In this paper I explore some of the roots of children's geographies' preoccupation with the micro-scale and argue that it limits the relevance of research, both politically and to other areas of geography. In order to widen the scope of children's geographies, some scholars have engaged with developments in the theorization of scale. I present these arguments but also point to their limitations. As an alternative, I propose that the notion of a flat ontology might help overcome some difficulties around scalar thinking, and provide a useful means of conceptualizing sociospatiality in material and non-hierarchical terms. Bringing together flat ontology and work in children's geographies on embodied subjectivity, I argue that it is important to examine the nature and limits of children's spaces of perception and action. While these spaces are not simply `local', they seldom afford children opportunities to comment on, or intervene in, the events, processes and decisions that shape their own lives. The implications for the substance and method of children's geographies and for geographical work on scale are considered

The functional outcome of total knee replacements in young patients : A 10-year matched case control study

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Preserving the palaeoenvironmental record in Drylands: Bioturbation and its significance for luminescence-derived chronologies

Luminescence (OSL) dating has revolutionised the understanding of Late Pleistocene dryland activity. However, one of the key assumptions for this sort of palaeoenvironmental work is that sedimentary sequences have been preserved intact, enabling their use as proxy indicators of past changes. This relies on stabilisation or burial soon after deposition and a mechanism to prevent any subsequent re-mobilisation. As well as a dating technique OSL, especially at the single grain level, can be used to gain an insight into post-depositional processes that may distort or invalidate the palaeoenvironmental record of geological sediment sequences. This paper explores the possible impact of bioturbation (the movement of sediment by flora and fauna) on luminescence derived chronologies from Quaternary sedimentary deposits in Texas and Florida (USA) which have both independent radiocarbon chronologies and archaeological evidence. These sites clearly illustrate the ability of bioturbation to rejuvenate ancient weathered sandy bedrock and/or to alter depositional stratigraphies through the processes of exhumation and sub-surface mixing of sediment. The use of multiple OSL replicate measurements is advocated as a strategy for checking for bioturbated sediment. Where significant OSL heterogeneity is found, caution should be taken with the derived OSL ages and further measurements at the single grain level are recommended. Observations from the linear dunes of the Kalahari show them to have no bedding structure and to have OSL heterogeneity similar to that shown from the bioturbated Texan and Florida sites. The Kalahari linear dunes could have therefore undergone hitherto undetected post-depositional sediment disturbance which would have implications for the established OSL chronology for the region

PFC Sigma Cobalt Chrome total knee replacements : early outcomes demonstrate no significant early failures at the three-year mark

The PFC Sigma Cobalt Chrome Sigma (PFCSCC) was introduced in 2006, and represents further development of the PFC Sigma design aiming at reducing the problem of backside wear. To ensure that there were no significant early failures following the introduction of this knee system to our hospital in 2006, we prospectively identified all patients undergoing TKA with the PFCSCC over a one-year period. Clinical and demographic patient data, American Knee Society scores, Oxford Knee scores, SF-12 scores and radiographic data were recorded preoperatively and at three-year post surgery. 233 patients underwent 249 primary knee arthroplasties with the PFCSCC. Seven patients (eight TKAs) died before the last review and eight cases were lost to follow up. Mean age was 66.7 (range 34 - 80) with 47.6% male. Mean follow-up days were 1109 (range 741 to 1591). 5 (2.2%) were revised for infection with 1 revised for pain. The 3-year survival rate was 97.6% and 99.6% for aseptic failure. AKS 46.2 (0 - 95) was preoperatively 88.3 (17 - 100) with 3 years P < 0.001. OKS 39.0 (22 - 53) was preoperatively 22.6 (12 - 53) with 3 years P < 0.001. 17 of the 219 who had x-rays (8%) had radiolucent zones on x-ray. Our results demonstrate a good early aseptic survivorship of the PFCSCC at three years of 99.6%, combined with a good functional and objective improvement in our patients in three years.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe